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Sushi on a roll!

Bakshish Dean, Executive Chef at The Park hotel in New Delhi, offers a few tips to try out the latest food fad, sushi

PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

FISHING FOR THE RIGHT INGREDIENT Chef Bakshish Dean says once you graduate as a sushi fan, you will love to try it out at home as well

With the restaurant scene in Indian cities increasingly becoming a frenzy of construction, where one gets to see a new eatery popping up every few days, so are surely the cuisines. Delhi, once considered a haven for Punjabi cuisine, seems to be getting experimental, the changing mores and eating trends have demanded a change apparently. And the latest trend to hit the city is the Japanese speciality dish sushi.

Just a decade back, sushi was something that only the well-travelled guests and chefs had experienced. During the days when I was working as a commie, the exact preparation had always been in question, none of my senior chefs were able to provide clarity on how sushi is made. All we knew was, this is something, which the Japanese could only eat.

Sushi today, whether in Delhi or in Mumbai, suddenly seems to be almost the city's staple. Particularly the Dilliwalas, with their big appetite, are just gobbling it up by the dozens. To give a time frame, one can say that this global frenzy reached our first city just about a year back and will be here for a while surely.

PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

The whole experience of eating sushi is entertainment at its best where one can sip the Japanese drink, sake and appreciate the skilled sushi chefs who dice, slice, roll and tuck tuna, salmon, eel, veggies etc into flavourful mouthfuls. Sushi is not only delicious but also very good for your health. Freshness is the most important aspect of sushi and it is low in calorie.

Sushi with a filling of an oily fish, is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. It is an excellent source of carbohydrate and protein, is gluten-free, aids digestion, is rich in vitamins and finally, wasabi, the Japanese sauce one has with sushi, has powerful anti-bacterial properties. No wonder then, the life expectancy for the Japanese is one of the highest in the world.

Sushi, for Indians, is an acquired taste and hence, I suggest for the first timers to order a chicken teriyaki on your visit to a Japanese restaurant and share the sushi platter with your partner. Trust me, even if you may have rejected the idea of eating sushi and the idea of eating raw fish may have not appealed to you, after having it a couple of times, you will feel, there's nothing like a sushi meal. Another interesting fact about sushi is, it is the rice and not fish that makes it a sushi. There is lots of sushi that are made without fish as well.

The easiest and the most versatile of all the varieties is Chirashi Zushi. It is served in individual bowls or brought on to the table on a large platter. The ingredients are often cooked and mixed together with sushi rice, something closer to a rice salad. Then comes the stuffed variety called the Inari Zushi. This form uses thin omelettes, cabbage leaves or deep-fried tofu as a wrapping material for sushi rice and other cooked ingredients. Next, we have the pressed variety called the Oshi Zushi. This is the oldest form of sushi developed from the ancient method of preserving fish by packing it tightly in boxes of fermented rice. Rice and other ingredients are pressed together in a wooden sushi mould to form a block, which is then cut into bite size pieces. The rolled or the Maki Zushi is the most recognisable sushi. It consists of rice and fish, vegetables or omelette rolled into a cylinder with seaweed "nori" around it, also known as "nori rolls" or the nori maki. There are different types of rolled sushi - thin rolls are called hoso maki, the thick rolls, futo maki, inside-out rolls, uramaki and cornet shaped, temaki zushi.

Then comes the hand-formed sushi called Nigiri Zushi which is the most popular form of sushi in Japan. The chef gently squeezes a small quantity of rice into an oval, adds some wasabi, then presses on a thin slice of fish. Finally, we have the battleship sushi called the Gunkan Maki, this is especially for the fish roe and oysters as they do not stay on the sushi rice without some containment. The seaweed "nori" is cut wider than usual and rolled around the sushi rice and the fish roe is then heaped inside, giving it the battleship shape.

How to eat sushi

Most Sushi is eaten with chopsticks but it is perfectly acceptable to use your fingers. Sushi is always consumed by dipping it into soy sauce. Make sure you do not drown your sushi in it, it has to be carefully dipped at one corner and when dipping the Nigiri Zushi, turn it around and dip only the topping in the soy and then consume.

One needs to be careful with wasabi as well. Dab a little on the piece before dipping it in soy, this way you can savour the flavour of the fish and the essence of wasabi and soy sauce. Pickled ginger, though addictive, is intended as a palate cleanser and should be eaten a slice at a time between different flavours of sushi.

As for me, I'd say sushi is the healthiest fast food available. The best and the most authentic sushi could be had at "Sakura" at The Metropolitan Nikko in New Delhi.

I sign off with a promise that once you graduate as a sushi fan, you will love to try it out at home as well.

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