Sushi is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients, seafood, vegetables and sometimes tropical fruits. Ingredients and forms of sushi presentation vary widely, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is rice. In Japan, sushi is usually enjoyed on special occasions, such as celebration.
Sushi can be prepared with either brown or white rice. Sushi is often prepared with raw seafood, but some common varieties of sushi use cooked ingredients. Raw fish (or occasionally meat) sliced and served without rice is called sashimi. Sushi is often served with shredded ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce. Popular garnishes are often made using daikon.
There are many different types of Sushi that are available in Japan. The common ingredient across all kinds of sushi is vinegared sushi rice. Variety arises from fillings, toppings, condiments, and preparation. In spelling sushi, its first letter s is replaced with z when a prefix is attached, as in nigirizushi, due to consonant mutation called rendaku in Japanese.
• Nigiri- zushi
It is the best- known variety of sushi. It consists of small rice balls with fish, shellfish, and vegetable, placed on an oblong finger of lightly vinegared rice, often seasoned with a dab of wasabi. Fish is usually raw; shellfish is sometimes cooked. Some common fish used are tuna, shrimp, eel, squid, octopus, and fried egg.
• Maki- zushi
It is made with bamboo mat, which is used to form strips of tuna, cucumber or other ingredients along with a mass of vinegared rice into long, seaweed- covered rolls. The rolls are then cut into slices (six or eight pieces). Makizushi is generally wrapped in nori (seaweed), but is occasionally wrapped in a thin omelette, soy paper, cucumber, or shiso (perilla) leaves.
• Temaki
It is similar to maki- sushi. It is a large cone- shaped piece of nori on the outside and the ingredients spilling out the wide end. It is usually filled with sushi rice, seafood and vegetables. The finished cone- shaped product is eaten by hand, with or without soy sauce.
• Sashimi
It is an assortment of sliced raw fish served on a platter with shredded radish and other garnishes. It’s often served as an appetizer with drinks.
• Chirashi
It consists of sashimi and cropped vegetables arranged over a bowl of rice. It usually comes as a set meal, in price levels based on size and quality of ingredients.
• Oshi- zushi
It is a specialty of Osaka, made by pressing a layer of fish into a layer of rice in a large wooden mold. Afterwards, the oshi- zushi is removed from the mold and cut into bite- size rectangular pieces.
• Inari- zushi
It is rice and chopped vegetables stuffed into a pouch of fried tofu. It can sometimes be found in outdoor food stalls, grocery stores and department stores.
Comments
Post a Comment