Nothing more popular than sushi can hardly be found in Japanese cuisine. Naturally, the Japanese eat not only this dish, although in view of the general popularity of sushi, this is precisely the impression that is formed. Although it is not at all necessary to be Japanese in order to adore sushi and overeat it at least every day, since now cooking sushi at home is not a problem. The ingredients are sold in supermarkets, and photo recipes make it quick and easy to understand the essence of cooking. You can start your acquaintance with the preparation of sushi with nigiri. This is the simplest type of sushi that does not require intricate steps.

Ingredients to prepare nigiri sushi (for 2 servings):

• rice for sushi (if not, regular round rice) - 200 g
• water - 400 ml
• rice vinegar - 1-1.5 tbsp. l.
• wasabi - 5 g
• salmon or slightly salted salmon - 300 g
• nori - 2 sheets
• soy sauce, ginger - for serving

Recipe

Rice for making sushi is important to wash well in cold water, and at least 5-7 times.

Then lower it into boiling water, without stirring, cook over medium heat for 12-15 minutes. 3 minutes before turning off the fire should be increased.

When the rice has completely cooled, it must be seasoned with rice vinegar and mixed with a wooden spatula. This is perhaps the main action for preparing all types of sushi.

For nigiri, you need to form rice balls. To do this, with wet hands, pick up rice in the palm of your hand (but do not pick it up more than it fits in the palm of your hand) and make the base.

Brush the top of the rice base with wasabi. Be sure to make a thin layer, because wasabi is a very spicy sauce, it should only emphasize, and not interrupt the taste of sushi.

Red fish (salmon or salmon) for nigiri should be cut into strips that will cover the top of the rice base.

Lay the fish on the rice balls and press down lightly to combine with the wasabi.

Cut the nori sheets into long strips. Wrap nigiri-sushi in strips, but not completely, but only in the middle - to make a kind of belt. That's all! Affordable and simple, we prepared Japanese sushi at home.

It is advisable to serve the dish with special chopsticks, and pickled ginger and soy sauce are traditionally offered with sushi. Nigiri sushi is ready!

Bon Appetit!

Nutritious and very healthy, since their main ingredients are rice, seaweed, fresh fish and seafood. There are many variations of this dish. We will introduce you to the most famous - nigiri. Tamago yaki is a Japanese omelette topped with the same ingredients as nigiri sushi. One option is an omelet with fried salmon skin. In addition, we will show you how to properly prepare rice for sushi, the so-called sumeshi.

Rice for sushi (sumeshi)

For 1 liter of boiled rice you will need:
340 g round rice, 500 ml water, 2 tbsp. l. rice vinegar, 2 tbsp. l. sugar, 1.5 tbsp. l. salt
First of all, you need to prepare rice for sushi, the so-called sumeshi.
* In principle, any non-steamed round-shaped rice with a high starch content is suitable for this dish (this makes it especially sticky).

Rinse the rice, changing the water, until the water is completely clear. Transfer to a pot of water and let sit for 10 minutes. Close the lid, put on high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until all water is absorbed, 5 to 7 minutes. Increase the heat for 30 seconds to dry out the rice. Remove from heat and leave covered for 20 minutes.

Transfer rice to a large bowl. Add vinegar, sugar and salt. Mix thoroughly to break up lumps. Cool down.
*Japanese rice vinegar - sweet in taste. It is added to rice as a flavoring agent and at the same time a preservative.

For the simplest type of sushi - nigiri - you need to make small rice sausages. Take rice in small portions and, putting it on the palm of your hand, form sausages 6 cm long and 3 cm wide.

For cooking 30 pcs. you will need:
1 liter of boiled rice for sushi, 400 g each of smoked eel, salted salmon and squid, 1 tsp. wasabi (spicy Japanese horseradish), 0.5 sheets of nori (pressed dry seaweed), 150 g of soy sauce, 50 ml of dry white wine, 1.5 tbsp. l. sugar, 1 tbsp. l. sesame seeds

Put the eel on a cutting board, make an incision along the ridge and remove the skin. Carefully separate the fillet from the spinal bone, remove the remaining costal bones. Save skin and bones. Cut the fillet into 10 pieces about 2.5-3 cm wide.

In a saucepan, combine soy sauce, wine and sugar. Add eel skin and bones. Place over medium heat and simmer until the sauce thickens, 30 minutes. Strain.

Cut the nori into strips 1 cm wide. Fry the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan for 3 minutes. Put 1 piece of eel on rice sausages, lightly press with your fingers, wrap with a strip of nori. Brush the eel with the sauce using a pastry brush and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Wash the squid, put it in boiling water and cook for 4 minutes. Cool down. Cut salmon and squid into pieces of the same size as rice sausages.

Dictionary.
Nori- very thin dark green sheets of dried seaweed. Used for making sushi or as a side dish. Rich in minerals, especially calcium and potassium. From the moisture absorbed from rice, they become soft. Sold in supermarkets or Japanese goods stores.

Wasabi is a light green paste made from Japanese horseradish root. Very spicy in taste, so use it very carefully. Can be replaced with spicy mustard. In addition to wasabi, pickled ginger root is served with nigiri, which is eaten with each type of sushi in order to better feel the taste of a new dish.

Mirin- very sweet rice wine. Used for cooking only.

Sake- Japanese rice wine. Served warm in small cups.

We are glad to welcome you, dear readers of the site !!! In this article, we will consider not only the history and description of nigiri sushi, but also interesting facts. It will be interesting!

Over the centuries, the Japanese have an ingrained love for nature, which is often embodied in food. For any Japanese nigiri sushi is an integral part of the sushi meal. The Japanese say that the most important thing in the process of making nigiri is creating harmony between the rice and the taste of the topping. Like, and nigiri are served in pairs.

Nigiri, as an independent type of sushi, appeared not so long ago - in the 19th century, in Tokyo. Despite the youth of the dish, nigiri has gained great popularity, both among the Japanese and among other lovers of oriental cuisine. By the way, you should also read ...

What is Nigiri Sushi?

And so, nigiri is a sushi dish based on rice and topping (seafood, scrambled eggs, etc.), where the main idea is to create a balance of tastes. To prepare nigiri, you need to take some sushi rice in the palm of your hand and squeeze it into a block, giving it a beautiful shape with the fingers of your second hand. Then, put a pre-sliced ​​fish fillet or other topping on a rice block, smearing it with wasabi on the inside. Properly prepared nigiri sushi should not fall apart in the hands, but have a holistic design. Translated from Japanese, nigiri means the word "squeeze", which is the main stage in cooking. That is, for a coherent composition, the correct nigiri must be properly compressed into a block.

Another important fact is that nigiri sushi is considered ethical to eat with your hands. Despite the fact that chopsticks are the main attribute of serving Japanese cuisine.

Nigiri appeared in Tokyo in the 19th century as an independent type of sushi. This dish is a sushi based on rice and topping (it can be raw fish, seafood or a special omelette, etc.), it is adored in Japan and many other countries where it has gained particular popularity. By the way, in Japan, specially designed robots have long been used to make nigiri sushi, but this is not entirely correct, because sushi is a special philosophy, and process automation takes away this sacrament. It is very important when preparing nigiri at home to try to balance the tastes of the two main ingredients of the dish - rice and raw fish.

Ingredients (2 servings of nigiri):

1. raw red fish - 300 g;
2. rice - 150 g;
3. water 350 ml;
4. nori - 1 sheet;
5. salt and sugar - 0.25 tsp each;
6. rice vinegar - 1 tbsp. a spoon;
7. ginger, wasabi - for serving.

The first thing to do is rinse the rice. This is done several times, preferably until the water is clear. If time permits, dry the washed rice for an hour before boiling.

Prepare a suitable container for cooking rice, keep in mind that it will swell to 2 times its original volume. Pour rice with cold water, bring to a boil over medium heat, and cook for 15 minutes over low heat. Do not stir the rice; cook it in a saucepan with the lid closed. Let the rice sit for another 15-20 minutes.

It is necessary to start modeling sushi only when the rice is seasoned with rice vinegar. For dressing, you need vinegar, but not in pure, but diluted form. Mix a spoonful of vinegar with the same amount of water, add salt and sugar, mix.

Pour over the cooled rice. You may not get perfect rice grains the first time, but understanding and skills will come with experience.

Now we need to prepare the fish. Free the fillet of red fish from bones and skin. Cut the fillet into strips about 3x5 cm in size.

Cut the nori into long but narrow strips. This can be done with ordinary scissors.

Cover each rice ball with a strip of raw fish.

Although fish and rice “stick together” well, a strip of nori as a safety net will not be superfluous. Wrap the sushi with a strip of nori in the middle, the ends can be glued with a drop of water.

Place 3-4 pieces of nigiri sushi on a serving plate, add some wasabi and pickled ginger. By the way, wooden sticks are not needed for this type of sushi, since nigiri can be taken with your hands and it will be ethical.

Nigiri - sushi recipe at home

Do not be afraid that something may not work out, start with a simple nigiri recipe, and over time you can move on to rolls and purl sushi. Nigiri is a small rice ball, which is complemented by fish (salmon, trout, salmon) or squid. The whole "construction" is held with a strip of nori.

Even more interesting options for nigiri sushi and rolls can be ordered with home delivery. It is sushi with delivery in Kazan that works around the clock, and this is a great solution when you don’t have time to cook sushi yourself.

To prepare 10 nigiri sushi, you will need the following ingredients:

- boiled rice 250g (you can take long or round);

- red fish (lightly salted trout) - 200g;

- nori sheet - 1 pc.;

- lemon juice - 2 tbsp. spoons;

- sugar - 0.5 tsp;

- wasabi and ginger - for serving;

- soy sauce - optional.

How to cook nigiri

Boiled rice must be seasoned with sugar and lemon juice. If you like spicy, then you can use wine vinegar instead of lemon juice or vinegar specially designed for sushi. By the way, for sushi, you can take ordinary packaged rice, which is convenient to cook and tastes good for exotic recipes.

Use scissors to cut the nori sheet into long strips, which we will then use to tie the nigiri.

Trout fillet must be cut into small rectangles, approximately 3x6cm. See if any bones are caught, if there are any, remove them with tweezers.

We form balls from the finished seasoned rice, it is most convenient to do this with wet hands. Approximately 1 ball will need 25 g of rice. You can make them more or less, according to your taste.

Then we spread the fish on each rice ball, lightly press it to the rice. The length of the fish should completely cover the top of the ball.

Then we take a thin strip of nori, wrap it around the nigiri in the middle so that the “string” holds, you need to slightly moisten the tip of the nori, then it will easily stick and prevent the nigiri from falling apart.

Remember that nigiri, and sushi in general, should be served immediately after cooking. It is also very important that all the ingredients you use in the recipe are fresh, especially fish. These must be served with soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi.