Delicious Japanese Sushi

What is Sushi

Sushi is a typical Japanese food consisting of rice formed with side dishes in the form of seafood, meat, raw or cooked vegetables. Sushi rice has a soft sour taste because it is seasoned with a mixture of rice vinegar (mizkan), salt, and sugar.

It is said that the habit of preserving fish using rice and vinegar comes from mountainous areas in Southeast Asia. The scientific basis behind the fermentation process of fish packed in rice is because vinegar produced from rice fermentation breaks down amino acids in fish meat. The result is one of five healthy basic tastes.

The origin of the word sushi is an adjective for sour taste written with sushi kanji. In the beginning, sushi written in kanji was a term for a type of fish preservation called gyoshō that covered fish with salt, yeast powder or sake dregs. Writing sushi using kanji letters that began in the mid-Edo period is a way of writing ateji (writing in other kanji letters that sound the same).

The History of Sushi

Basically, sushi was actually first made by native Chinese in the second century BC. Initially, sushi emerged thanks to the habits of Chinese residents who often have the habit of preserving food.

At that time, fish were deliberately placed in rice as a form of the process of fee station. This method allows one to maintain the condition and taste of fish for some time. When you want to eat it, you only have to throw rice and the fish is ready to eat.

Over time, this method successfully spread throughout mainland China, even to Japan's Sakura. They took the concept and modified it further.

Initially, the dishes served were only rice and fish. However, in the early 18th century, the Matsumoto district of Yoshiici Edo (now Tokyo) began to season rice and fish with wine vinegar. This allows buyers to eat right away, without having to wait for months like native Chinese do.

In the early 19th century, a Japanese man named Hanaya Yoheii made a big change in the process of processing and serving sushi. He no longer wraps the fish meat with rice, Yohei instead presents a piece of fresh fish meat on a rectangular piece of rice.

This technique is known as 'nigiri sushi' or 'edomae sushi'. Until now, almost all sushi restaurants in Japan present their products with this technique. In the past, sushi was sold by stalls on the sidewalks as light snacks. Therefore, this food is known as the first fast food in Japan.

After the end of World War II, many sushi stalls began to be closed, and some were moved to a more decent and clean area. The concept also began to change. More formal seating is provided, and indirectly, this method has also succeeded in changing the mindset of all circles that sushi is one of the 'luxury' foods in the country.

In its development until now, sushi is not only associated as one of the traditional foods of Japan, this food itself has begun to evolve to a more modern level, and even more complex than before.

There have been many Western cultural influences that gave birth to sushi processing styles with the latest look and feel. Let's just say one of them is California rolls. This is a type of modern sushi (fusion) that can be found in upscale sushi restaurants.

Types of Sushi

Sushi has many types with different looks and tastes. For that, here are some types of sushi that you might not know about:

Maki Sushi

The first is Maki Sushi. Maki sushi itself is one type of sushi that is quite popular. This sushi roll consists of fresh ingredients such as fish and thinly sliced ​​vegetables that are rolled in toasted nori or better known as nori, then shaped into cylinders before being cut into small pieces. Although it looks almost the same Maki Sushi has a difference with Futomaki Sushi. Futomaki Sushi has a shape that is bigger, and thicker than Maki Sushi.

Uramaki Sushi

Another variation of Maki sushi, uramaki sushi is sometimes also referred to as inside-out. Because the rice is usually outside, while the chunks of vegetables, fish, and nori are inside.

Norimaki Sushi

This type of norimaki sushi is very often found in Indonesia but rarely in Japan. This sushi consists of rice which is then wrapped with nori or seaweed which then contains dried seaweed and pieces of salmon, tuna, octopus, squid, shrimp, and others.

Nigiri Sushi

Nigiri is a sushi that has an elegant appearance, which makes it much more expensive than other types of sushi. The combination of thin slices of fresh raw fish, also cooked shrimp and omelet. Smeared with wasabi paste then formed using warm rice.

Sashimi Sushi

Sashimi sushi is a thin slice of raw fish without rice. Sushi This type is quite popular for people who are undergoing a diet program but want to enjoy delicious sushi. This sushi is popular because it uses yellowfin tuna slices or better known as hamachi, and fresh salmon fillet slices.

Temaki Sushi

Temaki sushi is a long, conical roll-shaped sushi. It looks like an ice cream cone but the outer layer of temaki comes from nori, inside it is filled with warm rice with sliced ​​fish or fish eggs.

Gunkan Sushi

This type of sushi is shaped like a small cup which is then filled with special rice sushi and rolled with seaweed. On top of rice, usually topped with seaweed and also several types of raw fish or sea urchin eggs.

And now I'll show you how to make your homemade sushi at home

ingredients

• 3 cups of special sushi rice
• 1/2 rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 3 pieces of dried nori / seaweed
• 5 tablespoons mayonnaise (spicy / original according to taste)
• 1 avocado / cucumber (can be added / subtracted according to taste)
• 250gr salmon / tuna (can be added / subtracted according to taste)
• 5 teaspoons soy sauce (can be added / subtracted according to taste)
• 2 teaspoons wasabi (can be added / subtracted according to taste)

Steps to make sushi:

1. Cook rice with 3 cups of water
2. After cooking, give 1/2 cup of rice vinegar, 2 teaspoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of salt. Then stir until evenly distributed
3. Take 1 sheet of nori, put 1 handful of rice and press it until the entire surface of the nori is covered
4. Take the contents according to taste, make sure the contents do not exceed 1/3 part of the rice
5. Give a little mayonnaise on top/edge of the filling that has been placed before
6. Roll slowly using bamboo rolls
7. After successfully being rolled perfectly, cut the sushi into several pieces
8. Repeat the above steps until all the ingredients are used
9. Homemade sushi creations ready to be served!

After going through the super simple and practical stages, now you can enjoy your creation of sushi! Don't forget to prepare wasabi and soy sauce if you like both.

Share this post