🍤 Ebi nigiri (shrimp)
Ebi nigiri is vinegared sushi rice topped with a butterflied cooked shrimp, its pink-and-white stripes making it one of the most recognisable pieces of sushi. The shrimp is firm and sweet, the rice tangy and soft, with a little wasabi in between. Because the shrimp is cooked, ebi is a popular first sushi for children and for anyone who prefers to avoid raw fish.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 200 g Japanese short-grain rice
- 240 ml water
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 10 large shrimp, shell on
- 1 tsp wasabi paste
Method
- Rinse the rice until the water runs clear, then cook it with the water and let it rest covered for 10 minutes.
- Warm the vinegar with the sugar and salt until dissolved, fold it into the hot rice with a cutting motion and let it cool to body temperature.
- Thread each shrimp on a skewer to keep it straight, boil 2–3 minutes, cool in ice water, then peel and slit along the belly to open it flat.
- With wet hands, shape about 20 g of rice into a small oblong, dab a little wasabi on the underside of the topping and press it gently onto the rice.
- Serve right away, 2 pieces per person as a snack or 8–10 as a meal.
How to make it lighter
- Count pieces: the rice makes up most of the calories, so 2–4 pieces alongside a salad is lighter than a full sushi platter.
- Shrimp is lean and high in protein; skip fried tempura-shrimp rolls and choose plain ebi nigiri instead.
- Ask for smaller rice balls or order the same topping as sashimi to skip the rice entirely.
History
Nigiri is the hand-pressed style of sushi that took shape in Edo, today's Tokyo, in the early 19th century, when street stalls sold quick bites of vinegared rice topped with fish from Edo Bay. Its invention is usually credited to the sushi maker Hanaya Yohei, though the story is hard to verify. Before refrigeration, many toppings were cured, simmered or marinated, and raw toppings became common only in the 20th century. Boiled shrimp was among the classic cooked toppings of Edo-style sushi and remains a standard piece today.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →