Maki, nigiri, sashimi: what you are actually ordering
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The short version: sushi means the seasoned rice, not the fish. So sashimi, which is fish with no rice, is technically not sushi at all. Everything else on the menu is a different way of arranging rice, fish and seaweed.
This trips up almost everyone, including people who eat sushi every week. The word refers to the vinegared rice. That is the whole definition. Once you know that, the menu stops being a list of foreign words and becomes quite logical.
The eight you will actually meet
| Name | What it is | Make at home? |
|---|---|---|
| Maki | The classic roll. Rice and filling wrapped in nori, cut into six or eight. | Yes, start here |
| Nigiri | A pressed oval of rice with a slice of fish laid over it. | Yes, easier than it looks |
| Sashimi | Sliced raw fish, no rice. Not sushi. | Only with very good fish |
| Uramaki | Inside out roll, rice on the outside, often with sesame. The California roll is one. | Later |
| Temaki | A hand roll, cone shaped, eaten immediately. | Yes, and the most forgiving |
| Gunkan | Battleship. Rice wrapped in a nori collar, filled with something loose like roe. | Fiddly |
| Chirashi | Scattered. A bowl of sushi rice with fish arranged on top. | Yes, the easiest of all |
| Inari | Sweet fried tofu pouches filled with rice. No fish. | Yes, buy the pouches |
Where to start if you are making it
Chirashi if you want to eat well tonight with no technique at all. Good rice in a bowl, whatever you like on top. It is what Japanese families actually eat at home far more often than rolls.
Temaki if you have people over. Put rice, nori sheets and fillings on the table and let everyone build their own cone. Nothing has to be cut, so nothing can fall apart in front of an audience.
Maki when you want the thing that looks like sushi. It is the one most people picture, and it is genuinely achievable on a first evening.
Leave uramaki until later. Rice on the outside means handling the rice far more, and it goes wrong in ways that are annoying rather than instructive.
A note on the word sushi
Since sushi means the rice, ordering sashimi and calling it sushi is a small error that nobody will correct you on. But it explains why a vegetarian can eat plenty of sushi, and why the quality of a sushi restaurant is judged first on its rice and only second on its fish.
If you want to try maki and nigiri this week, our free step-by-step guide walks through both. The kit includes a nigiri mold, which is the shortcut for the pressed oval shape.
Sushi Making Kit on Amazon $23.99 · 4.3★ from 293 ratings · profit pays for the care of FreemanQuestions
What is the difference between sushi and sashimi?
Sushi is defined by the seasoned rice. Sashimi is sliced raw fish served with no rice, so despite being sold alongside sushi it is not technically sushi at all.
What is the difference between maki and nigiri?
Maki is a roll: rice and filling wrapped in nori and sliced. Nigiri is a hand-pressed oval of rice with a single slice of fish laid across the top.
Which type of sushi is easiest to make at home?
Chirashi, which is simply a bowl of sushi rice with toppings scattered over it and needs no rolling or cutting. Temaki hand rolls are the easiest of the wrapped types.
Can vegetarians eat sushi?
Yes, easily. Sushi is defined by the rice rather than the fish, so cucumber, avocado, pickled vegetable and inari options are all genuinely sushi.
More: our free sushi recipes.