Kombu, a dried brown seaweed known to us as kelp, is usually added to sushi rice. Kombu is very difficult to find in stores outside of Japan, which is why the taste of real Japanese sushi is so different from sushi made in other countries.

Nori is a thin plate of fried seaweed in which rolls, gunkan maki, temaki, and other types of sushi are wrapped. This seaweed used to be scraped off the bottoms of ships, but now it is specially cultivated off the coast of Japan. The seaweed is pressed into rectangular sheets and dried in the sun. Although seaweed is not fried in Japan, well-fried seaweed is usually exported. Fresh nori is bright green, shiny, almost transparent, and void-free. Over time, they change color to green-brown. To roll nori, the sheets are held over steam, although the water in the rice is usually sufficient.

Tamago (thin omelette) is an optional ingredient in sushi and is used in some kinds instead of nori.

Preparation wasabi – a very spicy bright green sauce made from the Wasabi japonica plant.Sushi fillings:
Fish (tuna, salmon, herring, mackerel) usually raw, but can be used salted or slightly fried;
caviar;
seafood (shrimp, oysters, clams, octopus, eel, crabs)
fresh and pickled vegetables and fruits (daikon, mushrooms, cucumbers, avocados, apples, onions, spinach, lettuce, bean pods, pumpkin, corn, peas, beans and even burdock root)
meat raw or lightly cooked (beef, horse meat, ham);
eggs or scrambled eggs;
cheese, tofu.

Soy sauce is served separately with sushi containing fish to enhance its flavor.

Wasabi is a very spicy, bright green sauce made from the plant Wasabi japonica, which grows not only in Japan but also in America and New Zealand. This plant is not related to horseradish, as is mistakenly believed. The Japanese variety of horseradish is used to make an imitation of this sauce. Wasabi is spread on sushi ingredients or served separately. Real wasabi has antimicrobial properties, which is very important when eating raw fish.

Gari (pickled ginger) is served separately with some types of sushi to refresh the taste buds when moving on to another variety. Ginger is not commonly served with fish sushi.

Ocha or agari is a green tea traditionally served with sushi. Such tea is made from unopened buds, has a strong fresh flavor and is of equal quality to sencha.

Sushi equipment

The basic prerequisite for making sushi is a very sharp knife, allowing the ingredients to be sliced into thin strips. The sharpness of the knife is especially important for rolls. An insufficiently sharp knife can crumple the roll and even break the fragile nori shell.

To prepare sushi, you need a cutting board, a saucer of water with lemon juice in which to wash your fingers from the sticky rice, a wet towel or napkins and a bamboo mat (makisu) with which to roll the rolls easily.

Sushi is traditionally served in a minimalist style: on wooden planks or monochrome porcelain plates. Western-style sushi is beautifully arranged on large plates, decorated with ingredients and served with several sauces at once. Some artisans create entire cakes, paintings and sculptures out of sushi.

In Japanese restaurants, sushi is usually served on a conveyor belt that runs through the room, and diners can choose their favorite sushi. Different kinds are arranged on plates of different colors, depending on the price; the plate usually has a pair of sushi on it. The bill is based on which plates and how many times they were taken.

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Like many modern Japanese things, sushi originated in Southeast Asia (it is still unclear whether it was in China, Vietnam, or Thailand) around the 4th century B.C., and in the 7th or 8th century A.D. the sushi recipe reached Japan. Originally, sticky rice served to preserve fish. The only way to preserve the catch and raw meat for several months in ancient times was through fermentation or pickling. Raw fish or pork were cut up, salted, and placed under a burden. With this method, fish and meat were ready in 50 to 60 days. Over time, it was discovered that rice speeds up the fermentation process and allows one to keep fish for up to two years because it releases lactic acid during fermentation (just like sauerkraut). In this case, raw fish is edible in just a few days, and when stored in rice for a long time, it acquires a special flavor. The lactic acid of rice breaks down raw fish and meat into amino acids and makes them easily digestible. In some places in Vietnam, Malaysia and other Asian countries you can still find precursors to sushi – meat or fish fermented in rice. At first, the over-fermented “spent” rice was thrown away, but when the time for fermentation decreased with the invention of rice vinegar, the rice had no time to decompose and could be eaten quite well. Thus came the simplest of rice and fish sushi (nari-sushi). Sushi prepared according to this recipe has a rather unpleasant smell, so they have not become as popular as later variants. Nari sushi is now found only in a few restaurants in Japan. Funa sushi is a private version of nari sushi. They are made only from fermented funa fish (a type of carp). Saba sushi is made with mackerel.

Cooking sushi In China by the 10th century sushi went out of use, and Japanese cooks in the 8th-10th centuries changed a little the Chinese recipe and began to wrap fresh fish, not salted, in vinegar-soaked rice. That’s how sei sei sushi came to be. They were already a dish in their own right, not a way to preserve fish. In the 17th century a modernized version appeared: haya-sushi. Such sushi was filled not only with fish, but also with other seafood and fresh, pickled or dried vegetables. Boiled rice was topped with vinegar mixed with seawater, sake, and sugar. Traditional ways of cooking this dish appeared in every area of Japan. In the 18th century there were already all the modern types of sushi. They were sold everywhere in stores and stalls, and were served in restaurants in large cities. At this time sushi was served with wasabi and other sauces.

At the beginning of the 19th century, sushi underwent another change that made this dish later popular worldwide. Life in Edo (the old name of Tokyo) was already hectic in the 19th century. Busy people often did not have time for home-cooked meals. The famous Edo chef Hanaya Yohei proposed the dish that became the first fast food in history: nigiri sushi. (The original name for this dish was edomai-sushi because it used fish and shellfish caught near Edo.) You could take them with you on the road and eat them with chopsticks or your hands. To this day, such sushi is still part of the bento, the lunch boxes that children and adults take with them. The fish in nigiri sushi is not fermented, but quickly processed in soy sauce, so there is no need for seasoning. The original nigiri-sushi was cooked in seconds and could not be stored for long. In its modern form, nigiri sushi is a piece of seasoned rice with a slice of fish on top, tied with a ribbon of seaweed. An alternative to nigiri sushi in the 19th century was mosaic kansai sushi, which originated in Osaka. They were sold in beautiful boxes or bamboo leaves, and the rice in them was mixed with various ingredients. Today, Osaka sushi is not as popular as nigiri sushi, probably because it is harder to prepare.

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If you plan to eat several types of sushi, start with rolls or temaki, because the nori in which these types of sushi are wrapped can lose its crispiness while you enjoy other treats. Although ginger is meant to prepare your palate for a new taste, don’t overdo it or you risk not feeling anything at all.

Sushi can be eaten with your hands or with chopsticks. Modern Japanese etiquette dictates that women eat only with chopsticks, while men can choose whether to eat with chopsticks or hands. Centuries ago in Japan, noble people ate everything except soup with chopsticks, while poor people ate with their hands. Noble women could never eat with their hands, while noble men had to eat only with their hands. This custom survives in traditional Japanese families to this day. Where did this division come from? It is believed that the noble men, visiting geisha in tea houses, had to eat with their hands to keep themselves within the bounds of propriety. After all, dirty hands stained geisha kimono could cost him a fortune. Warriors, on the other hand, were only supposed to eat with chopsticks so that they could grab a sword at any time. Women should not get their hands dirty for the same reason: to quickly get a dagger and stand up for themselves.

Types of modern sushi

It is impossible to list all types of sushi in modern Japan, because each area has its own distinctive recipes with specific products, and each recipe has its own name. Let’s take a look at the main types of sushi.

Nigiri sushi consists of a piece of rice slightly smaller than a chicken egg and a piece of fish or other seafood. The rice is formed with your fingers. A little wasabi is spread between the components. Often the entire structure is tied with a strip of nori.

Maki sushi, norimaki or rolls are the most popular sushi in the world because they are convenient, beautiful and allow you to improvise with the ingredients. Maki sushi is a roll of rice wrapped in nori and cut into thin circles. Anything can be used as a filling.

Hoso maki – very thin rolls, up to 3 cm in diameter.

Kappa maki – thin rolls with cucumber, usually served as a refresher after raw fish sushi or other ingredients that taste bright.

Tekka maki – thin rolls with tuna fillets and wasabi. Supposedly originated with avid gamers who didn’t want to interrupt the game for food.

Negitoro maki are thin rolls with finely chopped tuna and green onions.

Futo maki – thick rolls, about 5 cm. in diameter, containing several ingredients.

Ura maki are rolls inside out, with the rice on the outside. Ura maki is rare in Japan, but in America it is much more popular than traditional rolls.

Gunkan-maki (from the word “battleship”) is similar to nigiri-sushi in that it is also a lump of rice, but wrapped with a nori sheet around the perimeter so that there is room on top for other ingredients: caviar, fish, crab, greens, and salads.

Temaki-sushi – rice and other ingredients are wrapped in a nori cone about 10 cm long and served as a whole, without cutting it into pieces. Temaki-sushi is usually made at the table, selecting ingredients from those offered, and eaten with the hands because the cone is not fixed.

Fukusa sushi consists of traditional ingredients, but is not wrapped in nori but in a very thin omelet, and is therefore rectangular in shape. In some areas, such sushi is called chakin sushi.

Inari sushi is a bag of fried tofu filled with rice and vegetables.

Oshi sushi are store-bought pressed sushi consisting of several layers of rice and fish.

Temari sushi – balls of rice filled with fish or vegetables. Recommended for beginners.

Bara sushi – a salad of rice and other ingredients seasoned with vinegar.

Chirashi sushi – a festive meal of scattered rice and seafood and vegetables arranged beautifully on top of a plate.

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