Citizens, few things in my life are as enjoyable as savoring a perfectly-made plate of nigiri-style sushi, aka raw fish on rice. Sushi is often confused with sashimi, a related Japanese dish consisting of thinly sliced raw fish and an optional serving of rice on the side unlike nigiri-style sushi, which is always served on top of a pad of rice.
Sushi (すし, 寿司, 鮨?) is the Japanese preparation and serving of specially prepared vinegared rice (鮨飯 sushi-meshi) combined with varied ingredients (ネタ neta) such as chiefly seafood (often uncooked), vegetables, and rarely, other ingredients.
Sushi is almost always served with pickled ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce. Daikon radish is popular as a garnish.
Despite the ultimate simplicity of this meal’s ingredients, it takes a lifetime to master the nuances of the craft of making this properly!
While you and I will never equal the mastery of a Sushi sensei (master), we can aspire to achieve a fraction of his skill at home!
As such, please enjoy the following recipe for a home Sushi feast – in true Japanese fashion, there are no shortcuts here, but it will reward you with the best sushi you’ve probably ever had outside of the best Japanese restaurants!
First off – please do get it out of your head that the defining element of sushi is raw fish: it is not as many think, but instead it is actually the sushi rice, referred to as shari (しゃり), or sumeshi (酢飯).
Sushi to the Japanese is synonomous with seasoned sticky rice. In Japan the correct preparation of the rice is so important that in their finest resaurants, there are chefs whose sole responsibility it is to cook the rice.
There, the proportions of vinegar and sugar can vary by season, chef, or even by the type of sushi you are preparing. Note that is very important to use short or medium grain rice only – TFD recommends Nishiki brand.
Pickled ginger root is eaten to refresh your mouth between bites of sushi. It can be bought in Asian food stores if you don’t want to pickle it yourself.
While you can certainly use regular soy sauce for home sushi, TFD endorses making the correct “Tosa-style” soy sauce, of course!
As for wasabi, please, for the love of God, use only REAL wasabi if you can! it can be purchased from here. Be sparing with it.
As noted on makesushi.com:
Yes, it’s true. Over 95% of wasabi served in sushi restaurants does not contain any real wasabi. Most fake wasabi is made from a blend of horseradish, mustard flour, cornstarch and green food colorant. This means that most people who think they know wasabi have actually never tasted the stuff!
To properly make grated wasabi (and the real deal is a revelation, I assure you!), use the finest grater you can find or the special Japanese tool for it (made from genuine sharkskin!) – I love mine and you can buy it here.
The Fish:
Use whatever fish you can that is SUPREMELY fresh – nothing less will do. Be sure you let your fishmonger know that the fish is to be used in sushi.
Easily-obtained favorites for creating a mixed sushi platter are bluefin tuna (ideally a mix of maguro (dark red) and chu- or o-toro (fatty tuna belly – very expensive, but exquisite), yellowtail tuna (hamachi), flounder (hirame) and sea bass (tai).
Alternatively and even better, follow the seafood that is in season as noted here.
WARNING – AT HOME, DO NOT USE ANY FRESHWATER FISH FOR SUSHI (INCLUDING SALMON) OR SWORDFISH UNLESS YOU BOUGHT THEM FROM A FISHMONGER WHO KNOWS YOU ARE USING IT FOR SUSHI! ALL OF THESE ARE FREQUENTLY CONTAMINATED WITH PARASITES THAT ARE ONLY KILLED BY COOKING UNLESS COMMERCIALLY FROZEN FIRST TO KILL THEM!
You can actually buy very good, pre-packaged fish for sushi at any Ranch 99 Chinese grocery store – they also have an exceptional fresh fish selection. The fish for sushi should be sliced, but not very thin.
A useful phrase in a Japanese restaurant or to teach your dinner guests is “Gochiso-sama deshita, domo arigato gozaimasu” (this is said after eating and means in very polite Japanese “it was a feast, thank you very much”- a very useful phrase to know).
Anecdotally, a phrase I wish I had known during my last trip to Tokyo is “Sono kaeru o nameru na. Genkaku o okosaseru” – roughly translated, this means “Do not lick that frog. It is hallucinogenic.”
Your logical response in Japanese would be “honto?” – “Are you serious?” My reply: “Kiite gokuraku mite jigoku” – again roughly translated, this means “Sounds like paradise, but hell when you taste it”
Just for the record: the frog licking part was all just “uso” – a joke. Also, toads are the hallucinogenic amphibians. Not frogs. No joke.
Battle on – The Generalissimo
Print
The Hirshon Japanese Nigiri-Style Sushi Feast – ニギリ寿司
- Total Time: 0 hours
Ingredients
- The Sushi Rice:
- 1 cup/250 ml Japanese rice
- 300 ml less 1 tablespoon water
- 1 small piece of kombu (dried kelp), about 3 cm square, for flavoring (optional but strongly recommended)
- 2 tablespoons Japanese rice vinegar
- 1 1/4 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Hand Vinegar:
- 4 tablespoons Japanese rice vinegar
- 1 cup / 250 ml water
- Gari, pickled ginger root:
- 2 large ginger roots (ideally, use Young Ginger)
- 1 cup rice vinegar
- 5-7 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- Tosa Soy Sauce :
- 5 tsp. sake
- 3 TBS. mirin
- 2 inch piece of dried Kombu (giant kelp)
- 1 1/4 cup top-quality Japanese soy sauce
- 1 small handful dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi)
Instructions
- Make the rice:
- Wash the rice thoroughly, changing the water several times, until the water is clear. Drain and leave in the strainer for 1 hour.
- Transfer to a deep, heavy-based saucepan, add the water and a piece of kombu, if using. Cover and bring to the boil over a high heat, about 5 minutes. Discard the kombu. Simmer over low heat, allowing the rice to steam for 10-15 minutes more with the cover on at all times.
- Now remove from the heat, remove the lid momentarily to stretch a clean tea towel over the pot and replace the cover (this prevents condensation from dripping back on the rice). Let it remain covered and without heat to finish steaming for another 10-15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix the rice vinegar, sugar and salt together in a small saucepan. While stirring, heat the mixture until the sugar dissolves. Set aside the mixture to cool to room temperature.
- Transfer the cooked rice to a large, shallow dish or handai (Japanese wooden sumeshi tub). Sprinkle generously with the vinegar dressing, then take a wooden spatula or spoon and cut and fold the rice – do not use beating or stirring motions, as you want to avoid smashing the grains.
- As you do this, have an assistant fan the hot rice mixture in order to remove moisture as well as cool it. This should take about 10 minutes. The rice grains will have a nice sheen. The result will be ideal sushi rice with a slightly chewy consistency and just a touch of stickiness.
- The rice should ideally be used within an hour after preparation. Keep the rice covered with a clean cloth and at room temperature.
- How to make Sushi:
- Prepare “hand vinegar” to keep your hands moist as you make the sushi.
- Dip your hands in the hand vinegar and take a handful of the vinegared rice in one hand. Take a few tablespoons of rice in your right hand and gently form it into an oval-shape. Hold a slice of fish in left hand.
- Put a streak of wasabi paste on the fish slice with right index finger.
- Press ball of rice down on fish slice. Roll piece over either with your fingers or your left-hand thumb. Gently press down of piece with one or two fingers, rotate 180 degrees and repeat. Remember not to press the rice too hard or it will become pasty and unappetizing. The ideal is to have each piece of rice intact.
- The fish is supposed to be chilled. Don’t hold fish in your hand for too long because it will absorb the heat from your hand. The finished piece should have an arch to it and hang over the rice on all four sides. A sushi expert can make more than 12 pieces in a minute – it only takes a sushi chef 10 years to master this! For home use, be happy with doing it halfway-well.
- Serve with gari (pickled ginger root), wasabi paste or freshly grated wasabi root, and top-quality soy sauce for dipping, plus o-cha (green tea) as a beverage. Note that traditional sushi etiquette calls for dipping the fish side only in soy – and only briefly, just to bring out the flavor. Eat it fish-side down and in one bite.
- Wasabi paste using fresh wasabi:
- Select a wasabi rhizome. Choose a firm, unwrinkled root with fresh, crisp looking leaves.
- Remove any leaves from the end of the rhizome by cutting them off with a knife. The leaves do not necessarily need to be discarded – they can be eaten and make a flavorful addition to salads. (You can also dry them to use later.)
- Prepare the wasabi to make it ready to eat. Wash the outside of the rhizome. Trim off any odd bumps or marks. Let the wasabi root air dry.
- Use a fine grater to shave off the amount of wasabi you want to use.
- Gather together the grated wasabi. If using a sharkskin grater, use a circular motion to obtain a paste. Form and press the wasabi paste into a ball for guest use – no need to do so if you are using it just to make sushi.
- Let the wasabi rest for about 10 minutes prior to serving it. This will enhance the flavor.
- If using the “normal” fake wasabi or genuine wasabi powder – just mix the powder with equal amounts of water and let rest 10 minutes.
- Make the Gari:
- Peel the ginger root. Cut the ginger into medium-sized pieces and salt it. Leave the ginger in a bowl for 30 min., then put the ginger into a clean jar. Mix rice vinegar and sugar in a pan and bring to a boil, then pour the hot mixture on the ginger.
- Allow it to cool, then cover with a lid and place in the refrigerator. In a week, the ginger changes color to light pink and is then ready. Slice thinly to serve. The pickled ginger lasts about a month in the fridge.
- Tosa Soy Sauce:
- Mix the sake and mirin in a sauce pan and boil off the alcohol.
- Put all ingredients in a bowl.
- Let stand 24 hours. Strain through cheese cloth.
- Let stand 30 days in refrigerator. Best aging time is 6 months to 1 year.
- Prep Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 0 hours
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