Geisha about Sushi

Japanese People

The Japanese people believe that food must satisfy all senses. Food must be always prepared with due care and attractively presented: sometimes very easily and sometimes very artistically.  Freshness of the ingredients is expressed in a form pleasing the sight as well as the taste. Spices are added very carefully to preserve the natural taste of used ingredients. Sushi is a combination of seasonal sea food and rice as the basic part of japanese nutrition. A whole scale of vegetables takes part of the preparation as well.

Maki

Today’s modern sushi bars serve maki – sushi, the bite-size rolls made of rice, fish, sea food or vegetables, wrapped in seaweed. .

Nigri

Nigiri consist of finely sliced raw fish or other ingredient (vegetables, fruits...) laid on top of rice oblongs.

Sashimi 

Sashimi may be served with fresh vegetables or herbs, green salad, shredded white radish called daikon and sometimes with seaweed or cucumber, all cut very thinly . Sashimi has no scent and is very delicate. Thicker cut sashimi is served with soya sauce. Sashimi cut this way is served with ponza sauce which tastes of citruses. Mixture of wasabi, red peppers and spring onion in the sauce may be served at the same time. The beauty of sashimi is in its lack of fish taste and smell which would decrease its quality.

Temaki

Temaki or hand rolls are large cone-shaped pieces of nori (seaweed) filled with rice and other ingredients.

Chirasi

Sushi rice served in a bowl. It is the easiest way of preparation.

Wasabi

Japanese horseradish is olive green with bumpy skin. The best are the 4-5 years old, 10-15 cm long and possibly juicy pieces. Fresh wasabi is relatively expensive and hard to get outside of Japan. It can be replaced by wasabi powder or paste. The powder mixed with warm water into the paste is affordable, but we prepare it in small amount because it dries quickly. Sometimes wasabi can be bought grated or frozen. When served with sushi, wasabi is shaped into decorative forms such as leaves and a like.

Nori

Sheets of sea weed used for sushi rolls. They have 19-20 cm and are sold in cellophane or plastic bags. Once the bag is open, nori should be used as soon as possible.

Be careful to buy toasted nori called yaki-nori, which is dark green. Black or dark red nori is raw and must be toasted on fire.

Gari

Thin slices of ginger marinated in soution of salt and sweet vinegar. They have delicat pink color and are sold in jars.

Wakame

Wakame is a kind of seaweed available mostly in dried form but easy to recover under running water.

Hagiri

Hagiri is a shallow, broad bowl with relatively low edge used to cool down the rice when adding vinegar. This bowl can be replaced by any non metalic bowl.Wooden hagiri must be well cleaned and dried after every use.

Hiva

Flat bamboo or paper fan needed for fanning the rice when mixing and adding vinegar.