All About Japanese Fish Rolls

Sushi connoisseurs love sushi in roll form. Sushi rolls served in Japanese and American sushi bars are of two basic types.

Seaweed called nori on outside of sushi is one variety of sushi rolls. The second type has nori inside the roll.

The texture and flavor of sushi rolls change dramatically with the presence of seaweed inside or outside.

Seaweed on outside of sushi rolls is more preferred by nori lovers. Such sushi rolls are called futomaki.

A sushi roll with the nori on the inside is called uramaki.

Futomaki is preferred to uramaki as it is more popular and and traditional in form. A sushi restaurant or sushi bar, even a grocery store, would supply you the futomaki variant.

A typical futomaki sushi is vegetarian but has fish eggs as toppings. Generally futomaki is cut into pieces and then served. However, on certain Japanese festivals it is offered as a roll.

Since Japanese prefer to eat with their fingers, uramaki is not a preferred choice. Uramaki is sticky and difficult to eat with fingers or chopsticks. On top of that it falls apart under pressure. Moreover, a uramaki sushi roll is essentially non-vegetarian with fish eggs or sesame toppings.

Uramaki is primarily a North American dish, as Americans are not typically fond of the black coating left on futomaki.

Hosomaki is the unsung hero of the sushi roll family. Like futomaki, hosomaki is wrapped with the nori on the outside of the roll.

Kappamaki, Tekkamaki, Negitoromaki and Tsunamayomaki are the four varieties of hosomaki.

Kappamaki contains cucumber, as well as some other ingredients, and is used to cleanse the palate between raw fish dishes and other parts of the meal.

Tekkamaki is the tuna sushi roll, named after the red color of the fish meat.

Negitoromaki variety of sushi rolls has scallions and tuna in them.

Lastly Tsunamayomaki has canned tuna and mayonnaise in it. This is called a domestic version of sushi that can easily be prepared at home.

Kimikoshi Sumo is a Japanese food expert. Her sushi help website at http://www.hereishelp.com offers simple yet delicious sushi recipes. Kimi’s sushi cookbook “Introduction to Sushi” is jam packed with tips for making mouth watering sushi delicacies. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service