The beauty of Japanese cuisine is in its wide variety of ingredients and cooking methods. The various ways of preparing the many different categories of ingredients combine to create healthy, nutritionally well-balanced meals. Here is an introduction to some of the principal categories of Japanese cuisine. Once the characteristics of each category are understood, Japanese cooking can be more fun and healthier.

recipes

Sushi

Everybody loves it! The iconic Japanese dish

Sushi is the combination of sushi rice seasoned with sushi vinegar (a mixture of vinegar and seasonings) with a filling or a topping, called neta, mainly seafood and some vegetables.

Typical sushi dishes in Tokyo include Edomae-zushi or nigiri-zushi and, in Osaka, Osaka-zushi or oshi-zushi. There are many other types such as chirashi-zushi, inari-zushi, maki-zushi and chakin-zushi.

In most cases, sushi in English refers to nigiri-zushi, which is usually a small clump of rice topped with neta with a small amount of wasabi in between and served with soy sauce for dipping.

related recipes

California Roll

349kcal / per person

California roll is an inside-out sushi invented in the US. The nori side is hidden on the inside along with the stuffing such as avocado; it is invented for Californians who are not used to the black nori laver.

Salmon Nigiri-zushi

434kcal / per person

Nigiri-zushi is made with sushi vinegar-seasoned rice formed into bite-sized shapes and topped with wasabi and seafood.

Beef Maze-zushi

455kcal / per person

This is a sushi dish prepared with salty-sweet simmered beef instead of seafood.