6th Post- Sushi

Whenever you think of Japan, the most common and well known food will remind us about “Sushi”. Sushi comes from Japan and is a vinegared rice topped or mixed with a variety of fresh ingredients, usually fish or seafood. Sushi has become the most famous Japanese dish outside of Japan or even among the Japanese themselves. In Japan, sushi is usually served on special occasions such as a celebration.

During the Edo period, “sushi” is referring to pickled fish preserved in vinegar. Nowadays sushi is defined as a dish containing rice which has been prepared with sushi vinegar. There are many different types of sushi. Some popular or commons are:

Nigiri-sushi

Small rice balls with fish, shellfish, etc. on top. There are numerous varieties of nigirizushi, some of the most common ones are tuna, shrimp, eel, squid, octopus and fried egg.

Maki-zushi

Translated as "roll sushi," sushi rice and seafood or other ingredients are placed on a sheet of seaweed (nori) and rolled into a cylindrical shape on a bamboo mat and then cut into smaller pieces. Sushi rolls prepared "inside out" are very popular outside of Japan, but rarely found in Japan.

Temaki

Sometimes refer to as “hand-roll”. Basically is the same as makizushi, except that the nori seaweed is rolled into a cone-shape with the ingredients placed inside.

Chirashi

Chirashizushi is a dish in which seafood, mushroom and vegetables are being placed on top of sushi rice. It can look like domburi with the difference being that chirashizushi uses sushi rice while domburi uses regular, unseasoned rice.

Inari

Inarizushi is a simple and inexpensive type of sushi. Instead of using the traditional vinegar rice sushi rice is filled into aburaage (deep fried tofu) bags.

Oshizushi

Oshizushi is a pressed sushi from the Kansai Region, a favourite and specialty of Osaka. Oshizushi is pressed sushi, in which the fish is pressed onto the sushi rice in a wooden box and then cut into bite-sized pieces.