No poetry today. Today we will talk about the best Japanese invention ever, Sushi!!! I am no Sushi expert but I am a Susi lover. Susi is on my list of foods that I call Day Changers, the kind of food that has the power to change a bad day into a good one. I mean after a long day of stubbing my toe, dropping my things, falling on my face, getting late everywhere, pointless arguments with cab drivers and cancellations of long-awaited plans, I could go to a good sushi place for dinner and come back home a happy woman. Day Changer! 🙂
Today I woke up and decided to educate my self about Sushi as thoroughly as possible. I can’t tell why I have no Sushi plans in near future but what I can tell you is everything you need to know about Sushi.
ORIGIN OF SUSHI
Let’s start at the beginning, did you know that although the Japanese rightfully call it their food as the sushi we eat today definitely originated in Japan but the inspiration of it came from Nare-zushi (fermented fish wrapped in sour rice) which originated in southeast Asia around the Mekong River and tasted a little like a sour cheese before Japan found it and did something amazing with it.
Sushi in Japan started as a street food and a cheap snack in movie theaters. (good old days!) The devastation from the earthquake of 1923 made real estate prices dropped so much that suddenly sushi chefs could afford brick-and-mortar restaurants bringing sushi and themselves off the street.
NOT SUSHI
Sashimi and Sushi, not the same thing!
Sashimi is simply raw slices of fish without the rice typically served with soy sauce and wasabi paste. Sashimi isn’t necessarily is a fish either, it could also be raw slices of octopus or chicken. Loosely translated it means cut meat.
TYPES OF SUSHI
- Makizushi
(Sushi becomes zushi when the type is specified)
It is the most popular type of sushi also called Maki Roll or Sushi roll. It is generally wrapped in Nori (seaweed), but can occasionally be wrapped in a thin omelette, soy paper, cucumber, or shsiso (perilla) leaves.
There are several variations of Makizushi or Sushi Rolls :
Hosomaki – Thin roll, rice on inside, nori on the outside
Chumaki – Medium roll, rice on inside, nori on the outside
Futomaki – Thick roll, rice on inside, nori on the outside, usually cut in thinner slices
Uramaki – Not a very traditional form of maki, it’s sushi inside-out, rice on the outside, nori on the inside wrapped around ingredients in the middle.
Temaki – A cone-shaped hand roll made of nori and filled with rice, fish and other ingredients.
- NigirizushiIt is the other very popular type of sushi meaning “hand-pressed sushi”. It is typically a rectangle/oval handmade strip of sushi rice with a swipe of wasabi on top, finished with a piece of fish expertly pressed to stick on top.
Nigiri should be eaten with the fingers with the fish side down so that it’s the fish that is dipped in soy and first touches the tongue and at the same time it keeps the rice from falling and you looking like a silly mess. Let’s face it we have all been there or have feared being there when we first started with sushi.
- Chirashizushi
Meaning scattered sushi, it is not too common outside Japan. Chirashi is a type of Sushi served in a bowl with sushi rice and covered with various toppings of shashimi, vegetables and garnishing. The number of toppings varies but 9 seems to be a common number.
It is popular in Japanese homes because it is simple to make and ideal for using up leftovers.
- InarizushiFor those who like crispy food this is the sushi to try. It is a pouch of fried tofu (abura age) filled with Sushi Rice.
- OshizushiMeaning “pressed sushi”. It is also known as hako-sushi which means “box sushi”. A wooden mold, called oshibako is used to make a firm, rectangular box form of sushi which is then cut into squares, triangles of smaller rectangles.
That’s about all the traditional types of sushi you need to know about. These days they keep coming up with some fun versions of sushi, like sushi was not fun enough already but I am not complaining. 🙂
SUSHI LINGO
- Nori: The dried, black-and-green seaweed used in sheets to create sushi.
- Roe: Fish eggs put on top of sushi to add color, texture, and saltiness.
- Wasabi: A term used for the spicy, green paste provided with sushi. Real Japanese wasabi root is perishable and expensive, so dyed horseradish is often substituted instead.
- Gari: Sliced, pickled ginger served with sushi. Gari is used to clean the palette between different types of pieces. Ginger also aids digestion and helps to kill microbes in the raw fish.
- Hashi: The Japanese word for chopsticks. Chopsticks are used for eating sashimi; other forms of sushi could/should be eaten with the fingers and nigri should always be eaten with fingers.
- Sake: Properly pronounced “sah-keh” not “sah-key.” Fermented rice wine served either warm or cold. Sake can have an alcohol content as high as 20 percent. In some authentic sushi experiences, you can complement the chef by buying the two of you a shot of sake.
SEA FOOD USED IN SUSHI
- Maguro: Tuna (different words denote species and cuts of the tuna).
- Toro: The fattiest part of a bluefin tuna belly; usually the most expensive and sought-after piece.
- Hamachi: Yellowtail fish, often a Japanese amberjack.
- Saba: Mackerel
- Sake: Salmon
- Unagi: Freshwater eel; usually grilled rather than eaten raw.
- Anago: Sea eel.
- Tako: Octopus
- Ika: Squid
- Ebi: Shrimp
- Kani: Crab (real crab, not surimi)
- Hotate: Scallop
- Uni: Sea Urchin
- Mirugai: Clam
- Awabi: Abalone
- Tamago: Sweet egg; gyoku is used to refer to the sweet, square omelets.
- Surimi: Imitation crab or lobster meat made with fish paste. Kani kama is a term for imitation crab meat.
Ok! So, now that you have read this or have marked it on your phone, you are officially ready to take your date to a Sushi place and own that shit! 🙂
If you are looking for recommendations, here are some of the best Sushi places I have been to in different cities of India:
- Delhi – Setz, DLF Emporio
Yauatcha, Ambience Mall - Gurgaon – Yum Yum Cha, Cyber Hub
- Mumbai – Yuuka, The St. Regis Mumbai
- Chennai – Sora Jima, The Accord Metropolitan
- Goa – Sakana
If there are places that you would like to recommend or share any fun Sushi facts and experience or if you have any further Sushi questions please do leave a comment.
Have a great day and if the day is shity, go have sushi! 😉
Love,
N
October 7, 2017 at 6:11 pm
Great information…
We don’t have a restaurant here where I would trust the freshness of the fish…sad but true… I have a hard time eating out these days with not knowing what is going on in the kitchen and well just most of it lolol…
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October 7, 2017 at 6:28 pm
Haha….I understand, specially with sushi one needs to be extra careful. I make sure I only go to reply highly rated and recommended places for sushi.
Going to busy places helps because they usually don’t have really old stock so you don’t need to worry if the fish is too old and has gone bad.
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October 7, 2017 at 8:44 pm
interesting post. I grew up in the Midwest where it is beef, pork and chicken country. not a whole lot of fresh sea food here.
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October 7, 2017 at 9:11 pm
Thanks Jim! That’s a great thing about India, You get all of that and fresh sea food too. Beef is a little difficult to find at times but you get it if you know where to look.
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October 8, 2017 at 2:25 am
Thank you for this Niharika. I am not a Sushi fan for the failure to appreciate raw fish on the table.
Your post is to change that as yours is one I look forward to and the blogger I respect.
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October 8, 2017 at 8:23 am
Thank you Kurian!
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October 8, 2017 at 8:01 am
Oh, I am joining you here Niharika …I am a big sushi lover too. My favourite is Nigirizushi. Soooo good. Xx
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October 8, 2017 at 8:26 am
hahaha…. Finally I have a Sushi buddy! 🙂
My favourite is Maki roll because I really like nori.
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October 8, 2017 at 8:33 am
Yay….. nori is good too. So healthy as well. X
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October 8, 2017 at 8:49 am
Yeah…that’s the best part about sushi, so indulging yet so healthy! 🙂
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October 8, 2017 at 11:24 am
Haven’t has Sushi in a while. Now you got my mouth watering to go and get some!! Thanks for sharing!!
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October 8, 2017 at 12:18 pm
Hey Jan, thanks for visiting.
And go for it!
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October 8, 2017 at 5:31 pm
You did quite a bit of research there, N! :O
You know, I was like whoaaaa. She read my mind. I’ve been working on writing a post like this about Japan because I love it so much!
Loved it. Now I wanna go have some sushi! I’ve never had it even though I’ve always wanted to (after watching all those anime!)
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October 9, 2017 at 7:14 pm
Hahaha…. you should go for it!
And wasabi is to be taken in very very small quantity with each bite (I wish someone told me that the first time I went to have sushi) 😀
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October 11, 2017 at 11:45 am
Thanks, N!
I don’t know when I’ll be eating Sushi now so I don’t know if I’ll remember but if I do, I’ll take teeny bits of wasabi! 😀
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October 12, 2017 at 11:05 am
😀
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October 9, 2017 at 6:10 am
This is a well researched post. Well done! Is sushiology really a word 🤔🤓
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October 9, 2017 at 1:06 pm
hahaha…No. A pun I came up with for a friend who really enjoys puny jokes. 😀
Thank you!
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October 11, 2017 at 2:19 pm
“Sushi has the power to change a bad day into good one” 😂 omg those are the EXACT words that I said to my friend when I recently went to go eat sushi with her!!!
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October 12, 2017 at 11:06 am
hahaha… I think we are going to become good friends. 🙂
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October 30, 2017 at 3:06 pm
Very informative. My daughter loves sushi but I’m afraid for me raw is raw is eugh! I like my food well cooked! Yes, I’ve tried it. No, I didn’t like it 😀
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October 30, 2017 at 5:22 pm
Hahaha…My parents don’t like it either.
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November 11, 2017 at 5:19 am
Love sushiiiii . The first time I tasted it was like what! raw! but who cares. I can eat anything as long as its called FOOD. My stomach is so tough that when I try something new it dosent bother me.
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November 11, 2017 at 10:56 am
That’s a very good stomach… I guess my stomach is tough too, it probably had to be…I love experimenting with food.
I guess I love experimenting in life. 🙂
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November 11, 2017 at 11:48 pm
yea me too. I love varieties, hate to restrict myself. I see some people living that kind of life and wonder… spicing things up is fun to me.
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November 12, 2017 at 4:51 am
I know exactly what you mean! 🙂
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December 4, 2017 at 8:44 am
Nice blog. Loved it. I am going to follow your blog now 🙂
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December 4, 2017 at 8:47 am
Thank you and welcome to my blog! 🙂
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