Getting to Know Sushi

Sushi is a Japanese dish made of little rolls of rice with a garnish. (guarnición) The garnish is sometimes, but not always, raw fish (pescado crudo). The taste sensations, presentation of the dishes, colours and sounds that accompany a meal at a popular sushi bar make it a special experience, especially if you are actually in Japan.

         

In Japanese, “sashimi” is the word for raw fish, and “sushi” actually refers to the mixture of sweet vinegar and rice. So, if some of your guests (invitados) don’t like raw fish, you can make your sushi with cooked fish instead. Try (prueba) sushi with shrimp (gambas/langostino) or with vegetables (such as cucumber (pepino) and mushrooms (champiñones)), or with egg and vegetables.

There are four basic categories of sushi:

Chirashi – scattered (esparcido) sushi rice


Maki – rolled (enrollado) sushi rice


Nigiri – finger-shaped  (con forma de dedo) sushi rice


Oshi – pressed (presionado) sushi rice



Nigiri is the type of sushi that you usually see in sushi bars. But another popular kind, made by rolling the ingredients in a piece of seaweed, (alga) is the maki-sushi. It is easy to make.


Ingredients

Short-grain (de grano corto) rice, one cup per roll

Water

Sushi vinegar, 1 dessert spoon (cucharada de postre) for each cup of rice

1 cucumber cut into slices (rodajas)

Sheets (hojas) of nori (dried seaweed)

A bamboo mat (esterilla de bambú)


Method

Rinse (aclara) the rice for several minutes and then drain (escurre) it. Put equal quantities of rice and water in a large saucepan.(olla) Cook the rice. When it boils, cook for one minute, cover, and then simmer (cuece a fuego lento) for 20 minutes. The rice should not be too soft. Remove (retira) the rice from the heat and let it stand (déjalo reposar) for 10 minutes.

Put the rice in a large bowl and mix it with the sushi vinegar. Spread (extiende) the rice on a large sheet of aluminium foil to cool.(enfriar)

Put one sheet of nori on a bamboo mat. Spread the sushi rice on the nori. Put the cucumber slices on top of the rice. Roll up the bamboo mat so that the sushi is in a cylindrical shape. Press the mat so that the rice sticks together (se pegue) and then remove the mat from around the sushi. Cut the sushi into pieces and serve.