Sushi is a popular Japanese food with over 1000 years of history and
tradition. It is actually vinegar rice topped with fish and some other
ingredients. Preserved with salt, the traditional form of sushi is
fermented rice and fish. This Japanese dish has become very popular in
the western world as well. The variety of sushi comes from the different
fillings, toppings and condiments and the way these ingredients are put
together.
Types of sushi
One of the most popular varieties of sushi is the Nigirizushi,
which is hand-formed sushi. This type of sushi is a four-sided mound of
sushi rice pressed between the palms with a bit of wasabi and a topping
of salmon, tuna and other seafood over it. There are some toppings,
which are bound to the rice with a thin strip of nori (sheet of
seaweed), tako or octopus, unagi or freshwater ell, ika or squid, anago
or sea eel and tamago or sweet egg. Nigirizushi further is found in
different varieties.
Gunkanmaki is a special type of nigirizushi, which was invented
at the Ginza Kyubey restaurant in 1931. Gunkanmaki or warship roll is
oval in shape and is a hand-formed clump of sushi rice having a strip or
‘nori’ wrapping to form a vessel filled with loose, soft or fine-chopped
ingredient necessary to confine the nori that includes roe, sea urchin,
natto, corn, oysters with mayonnaise and quail eggs.
The ball-shaped Temarizushi is made by hand pressed rice and fish
into a ball-shaped form using a plastic wrap.
A cylindrical piece, Makizushi or rolled sushi is formed with
bamboo mat known as makisu. Usually wrapped in nori and occasionally in
thin omelette, cucumber, soy paper or parsley, makizushi is cut into
many pieces. There are various types of makizushi available like
Futomaki, which has nori on the outside and it is made with two or three
fillings chosen for their tastes and colour. Hosomaki or thin rolls have
one filling or tuna or carrots, cucumber avocado and kanpyo. Temaki has
a large cone-shaped piece of nori on its outside, this type of makizushi
is eaten soon after it is made.
Uramaki also known as inside-out rolls has the filling in the
centre which is surrounded by nori, a layer of rice and an outer coating
of roe or toasted sesame seeds.
Named after the Shinto God Inari, Inarizushi or stuffed sushi is
a pouch, which is usually fashioned as deep-fried tofu. The pouches are
sometimes made of a thin omelette.
Sukeroku is a combination set of inarizushi and makizushi and
it is served as a single-portion takeout style sushi-pack.
Narezushi known as matured sushi in English is a traditional form
of fermented sushi. Oshizushi is a block-shaped piece that is formed
using a wooden mold. Chirashizushi or scattered sushi is bowl of sushi
rice having other a mixture of various other ingredients.
Apart from the above-mentioned sushi types, another popular sushi is the
western sushi; this is more popular in the western world. This
variation of sushi initially came into existence by the invention of the
California roll. While in Hawaii, one of the most predominant styles of
sushi making includes shoyu tuna or canned tuna, which is not fresh,
tamago, kanpyo, kamaboko and red and green hana ebi or shrimp powder.
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