What is nigiri?
Nigiri comes from the Japanese verb nigiru, meaning to grip or press. The form arose in the early 19th century in Edo, today's Tokyo, where vendors sold sushi at street stalls. Today you usually get nigiri in pairs at a sushi bar. Maki sushi needs a bamboo mat, but for nigiri you need only your hands, well-seasoned rice, and fish you can eat raw.
The right ingredients
- Rice: Use Japanese short-grain rice sold as sushi rice. How to wash, cook, and season it is covered in detail in the recipe for sushi rice.
- Fish: Buy fish labeled suitable for raw consumption or sushi grade, and tell the fishmonger you plan to eat it raw. Farmed salmon and tuna are the easiest to start with. Wild-caught fish that was not previously frozen should be frozen for at least 24 hours at minus 20°C (minus 4°F) before you eat it raw.
- Shrimp: For nigiri you cook them (ebi). First skewer them lengthwise so they do not curl, then peel them and cut them open along the belly.
- Wasabi: Paste from a tube is mostly horseradish. Real wasabi root is expensive and rare.
How to make nigiri: the key steps
Slicing the fish
Cut the fish with a long, sharp knife in a single stroke at an angle against the grain. Each slice measures about 7 cm long, 2.5 cm wide, and 5 mm thick. Do not saw back and forth, or the fish frays. Wipe the blade with a damp cloth between cuts.
Shaping the rice
Set out a bowl of water with a splash of rice vinegar (tezu) and dampen your hands with it. Take about 20 g of rice, a generously heaped tablespoon, and press it into an oblong ball in your cupped hand. It should hold together, with the grains staying whole.
Topping
Lay the fish slice on the fingers of your left hand, spread a trace of wasabi on it, and set the rice ball on top. Flip the nigiri over and lightly press the fish with your index and middle fingers until it settles around the rice.
Common mistakes
- Wrong rice temperature: Hot rice warms the fish, and rice from the refrigerator turns hard. The rice should be about body temperature.
- Too much rice: You eat a nigiri in one bite. At 25 g of rice or more it gets too big.
- Rice in the soy sauce: The rice soaks it up and falls apart. Flip the nigiri and dip only the fish.
- Dry hands: The rice sticks to your fingers. Dampen your hands again before every piece.
Variations
Besides salmon (sake) and tuna (maguro), you can use yellowtail, cooked shrimp, grilled eel, or Tamagoyaki. You secure the omelet to the rice with a narrow strip of nori. If you briefly sear the salmon with a gas torch, it is called aburi. Serve the same fish without rice as Sashimi, or spread over a bowl of rice as Chirashi Sushi.
What goes with it
Serve nigiri with gari, soy sauce, and a miso soup with shiitake and tofu. For a main course, plan on 8 to 10 pieces per person. Between two kinds of fish, eat a slice of ginger.
