Hand-Made Sushi (Nigiri- Zushi).

This is the classic sushi. Take about two tablespoons of prepared rice in your hand and shape into an oblong about 2 inches by 1 inch. Fillets of fish should just droop over the sides of the rice. Put a dab of wasabi on the top of the rice, and then the slice of fish. A butterflied cooked shrimp is especially popular, as is raw tuna. I have seen vegetables such as cucumber on rice like this, wrapped with a thin strip of nori, but seafood is the most common. Giant clam, conch, abalone, squid and octopus are also good this way, but the octopus can be quite chewy.

Eel is heated first, then placed on the rice. A narrow strip of nori is wrapped around rice and eel. Then tare sauce is dabbed onto the top and it is sprinkled with sesame seeds. The eel must be cooked, but not canned, it must be fairly firm like smoked fish. Actually, any smoked fish would be delicious in this manner. I have had trouble finding tare sauce, which might be described as thickened light soy sauce. It is neither too salty nor too sweet.