{"id":110395,"title":"Nigiri explained: how to make it","modified":"2025-10-29T17:11:55+01:00","plain":"One of the wonderful things about sushi (or even Japanese cuisine in general) is that you don\u2019t need to know the name of every little variety to enjoy it. This is especially true if you go to conveyor belt sushi restaurants, where you\u2019re free to pick any dish that catches your eye.\n\n\n\nBut if you\u2019re ordering from a menu, it helps to be at least somewhat familiar with the main types of sushi, so you have a rough idea of what you\u2019ll get if you order each one. And in Japan, at least, the most popular type of sushi is called nigiri.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhat is sushi?\n\n\n\nBut first, what exactly is sushi? At its core, sushi is a Japanese dish made with specially prepared rice, combined with another ingredient\u2014usually some kind of fish or seafood, often raw but sometimes cooked.\n\n\n\nSushi can be made in several different ways, but it always includes rice\u2014and even though the word sushi is often automatically linked to raw fish, it\u2019s not wrong to say that the main ingredient in sushi is vinegared rice. In fact, the word \u201csushi\u201d is a blend of the Japanese words for vinegar and rice. The toppings may change, but sushi always includes rice.\n\n\n\nSushi rice is a pretty deep topic, and sushi chefs in Japan spend years training just to learn how to make sushi rice before they ever pick up a knife to start slicing fish.\n\n\n\nBut in short, sushi rice is a medium-grain white rice that\u2019s prepared with vinegar and other seasonings (salt and sugar). When it\u2019s made properly, sushi rice has a sticky texture that allows it to be shaped or rolled.\n\n\n\nWhat is nigiri sushi?\n\n\n\nThat brings us to nigiri. Nigiri sushi is that very common style of sushi made with an oval-shaped mound of rice topped with a slice of (usually) raw fish. The word nigiri comes from the Japanese nigirizushi, which means \u201chand-pressed sushi.\u201d Just like temaki, there\u2019s no need for a bamboo mat!\n\n\n\nSo, nigiri is a type of sushi where the rice is shaped by hand and the fish or other topping is pressed by hand onto the rice. And it\u2019s the stickiness of the rice, combined with the moisture from the topping, that helps the strip of raw fish stick to the mound of rice underneath.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSometimes, the chef will put a small amount of wasabi between the rice and the fish, and it\u2019s also common to see toppings like chopped green onions or ginger placed on the fish.\n\n\n\nThe fish is almost always raw. Typical examples include tuna, salmon, yellowtail, and albacore. Fatty tuna, which comes from the belly section of bluefin tuna, is another popular topping.\n\n\n\nA few notable exceptions to the \u201calmost always raw\u201d rule include shrimp nigiri, which uses boiled and butterflied shrimp, and eel nigiri, which is a mound of sushi rice topped with a strip of grilled eel.\n\n\n\nWhether cooked or raw, the fish and seafood for nigiri\u2014and really for all sushi\u2014must be extremely fresh and handled with great care.\n\n\n\nWhile sushi restaurants do provide chopsticks, the preferred way to eat sushi is to pick it up with your fingers and eat each piece in one bite. Sushi etiquette is a whole other huge topic we can\u2019t fully cover here, but in general, nigiri should be dipped in soy sauce so that the fish, not the rice, is immersed, and eaten upside down, with the fish against your tongue.\n\n\n\nThe reason for dipping the fish side down is so the rice doesn\u2019t soak up too much soy sauce, and to keep grains of rice out of the soy sauce dish.\n\n\n\nNigiri vs. maki\n\n\n\nNigiri sushi is different from what is, at least in Europe, the most popular type of sushi\u2014the rolled style known as maki.\n\n\n\nMaki sushi is shaped like a tube, held together by a sheet of dried seaweed called nori, with a layer of rice and then a layer of fillings, which can include things like raw fish, cooked shellfish, vegetables, and even Philadelphia cream cheese.\n\n\n\nMy maki sushi recipe\n\n\n\nThe rolled tube is then cut into individual bite-sized pieces. Sometimes, the roll is made inside out so the rice is on the outside, and versions with a thin strip of fish, eel, or shrimp on the outside are also common. Like nigiri, maki is also best eaten with your hands.\n\n\n\nNigiri vs. sashimi\n\n\n\nAnother common item at Japanese sushi restaurants is sashimi, which is simply strips of raw fish served without any rice at all (though rice may be served alongside sashimi).\n\n\n\nAs such, sashimi isn\u2019t technically a type of sushi since sushi, by definition, always contains rice. But you can think of nigiri sushi as a mound of hand-pressed rice with a strip of sashimi on top. Unlike nigiri and maki, sashimi is eaten with chopsticks.\n\n\n\nDifferent types of nigiri sushi\n\n\n\nIn addition to the main type of nigiri sushi described above, there\u2019s something called gunkan-maki. Gunkan-maki is a type of nigiri with a soft or semi-liquid topping, like chopped tuna, fish roe, or sea urchin.\n\n\n\nWhat makes gunkan-maki different is that it has a strip of nori wrapped around the outside of the rice mound, making it look like a battleship. The top edge extends above the rice, forming a kind of bowl or container that holds the topping in place.\n\n\n\nAnother variation or sub-type of nigiri is known as nori-tied nigiri, where the topping is secured to the rice mound with a thin strip of nori that\u2019s wrapped or attached vertically around the nigiri. This is done when the topping doesn\u2019t have enough moisture to stick properly to the rice. Unagi sushi is made with strips of grilled or simmered eel, and tamagoyaki sushi is topped with a sweet omelet.\n\n\n\nNigiri recipe\n\n\n\n\n\n\tThe Best Nigiri Sushi Recipe\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\tNigiri BasicsSushi riceSushi rice seasoning (Click for the recipe)WasabiPickled gingerLight soy saucesheets noriMost Popular ToppingsSushi-grade salmonSushi-grade tunaCooked shrimpOctopusUni (sea urchin)\t\n\t\n\t\tRinse the rice under cold water, then add it to the rice cooker with water.Cook the rice until tender, then transfer to a bowl to cool slightly.Season the rice with the sushi seasoning.Prepare the toppings by cutting them into strips about 5 to 6 cm long.Scoop about 3 tablespoons of rice and press it into an oval in your hand.Place the topping of your choice on the rice.If desired, wrap a thin strip of nori around each nigiri to hold the rice and topping together.Serve with wasabi, pickled ginger, and soy sauce to taste.\t\n\t\n\t\tNote on Raw Fish\nYou must absolutely use sushi-grade fish; it has been frozen at -20 degrees for a period of time to ensure it contains no parasites.\n\t\n\t\n\t\tSushiJaponaiseNigiri sushi, sushi","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110395"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110648,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110395\/revisions\/110648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}