The word Sushi in it's literal meaning refers to the property of 'being sour' and is used to describe a style of cuisine that has become synonymous with Japan. The rice used in all types of sushi is a short-grain white rice treated with vinegar which is where the term sushimeshi or 'sour rice' comes from.
Sushi is famous the world over for the serving of raw fish, however not all sushi is made with raw fish and in fact there is a wide variety of vegetarian sushi, and westernized-sushi commonly makes use of cooked beef and chicken too.
Types of Sushi
There are various uses of the rice in sushi, with each style recognized by a different name. Cuts of raw fish served without rice are known as sashimi. Toasted seaweed or nori is often used to hold the rice and other ingredients together, some variations are described below:
Nigiri
Is an oblong block of rice with any type of topping ranging from raw salmon to sweet fried tofu (inari). Sometimes the topping is held in place with a small band of seaweed.
Maki
Refers to rolls created by lining a sheet of toasted seaweed with rice and rolling the ingredients with it. 'Uramaki' is a variety that are larger in size and have the rice facing the outside of the roll, whilst 'hosomaki' usually only have one main filling ingredient and the seaweed faces the outside of the roll.
Temaki
Cone shaped wraps of rice and various possible fillings.
Gunkan
Coming from the Japanese word for battle-ship, a block of nigiri is 'walled' by toasted seaweed and a topping fills the space created.
Chirachi
Comes from the Japanese word for 'scattered' and is usually a bed of rice with different toppings scattered over it.
