Sushi Glossary
Learn these Japanese words, useful when ordering at a restaurant or shopping for ingredients.
Anago: conger eel broiled and brushed with a sweet sauce
Bonito: a type of tuna with a strong flavor; often dried andused as the base for soups
Struggling to cook healthy? We'll help you prep.
Ebi: shrimp
Futomaki: thick sushi rolls, often made with pickledvegetables
Gari: pickled ginger root that is used to cleanse the palatebetween bites of different sushi
Gyoku: rolled egg omelette
Hasomaki: thin sushi rolls
Hirame: flounder
Ika: squid
Ikura: salmon roe
Kani: crab
Kappa: cucumber
Maguro: tuna
Maki: sushi that is rolled in nori
Masago: crab roe
Miso: fermented soybean paste that is a basic flavoring inmany Japanese dishes
Nigiri: slices of raw or cooked seafood served on a layer ofrice
Nori: toasted seaweed sheets used to hold sushi rollstogether
Otoro: fatty tuna
Saba: mackerel
Sake: salmon
Sashimi: slices of raw seafood
Short-grain rice: grains stick together, unlike long-grainrice that fluffs, making it ideal for sushi
Shoyu: Soy sauce
Sushi: refers to seasoned rice, not raw fish
Tako: octopus
Temaki: a.k.a. "hand rolls;" sushi that is wrapped in noriin a cone shape
Unagi: eel
Uni: sea urchin roe
Wasabi: a potent Japanese horseradish that is served as acondiment for sushi and can be mixed with soy sauce to make adipping sauce