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Many of the bottled ingredients used when making sushi and its side dishes are probably familiar to most of you. Japanese soy sauce is found in grocery stores everywhere, as are rice vinegar and sake. Better grocery stores and Japanese and Asian markets have the rest. These bottled ingredients keep, unopened and in a cool dark pantry, for many months unless noted otherwise.
 | Refrigerate opened bottles of ingredients, such as soy sauce or rice vinegar, to preserve the flavor. |
Thick chili sauce
Even though chili sauce didn't start out as a Japanese ingredient, sushi bars would have to close their doors if they ran out of it! People love chili sauce in their sushi. One favorite is Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce, the same thick chili sauce that many sushi bars favor, but you can use whatever thick chili sauce you like.
Mirin (sweet cooking sake)
Mirin, a slightly syrupy, sweet cooking sake (about 8 percent alcohol), adds not only heightened sweetness but a lovely sheen as well. Once opened, mirin will keep refrigerated for several months.
 | Mirin and rice wine vinegar look similar, both faintly golden. Be careful that you don't mix the two up, or you'll have peculiar-tasting dishes! |
Plum wine
True Japanese plum wine (umeshu) is made with unripened plums, rock sugar, and shochu (a strong distilled spirit), making it more of a sweet, fruity liquor than a wine. A good brand to try is Choya, bottled with plums in it. Just as good for our purposes is a plum wine made of sweetened white wine flavored with plum essence.
Ponzu sauce
Authentic ponzu sauce derives its unusual fragrance and zip from yuzu, a lemon-colored, tangerine-shaped citrus grown for its zest, not pulp. Use ponzu when you need a lighter, brighter soy sauce for delicate fish such as tai or sushi. Try the brand Otafuku, which contains yuzu. Opened ponzu sauce keeps its fresh flavors for a couple of months when refrigerated.
Rice vinegar
Mild but full of flavor, rice vinegar is what gives prepared sushi rice its clean, almost crisp taste. Buy the best rice vinegar (no salt or sugar added) you can afford. Its pleasant flavor and scent will linger in the rice for hours. In a pinch, apple cider vinegar is a good substitute. Refrigerate opened vinegar and use it up within several months for the freshest flavor.
| Bottled seasoned rice vinegar, sometimes called sushi vinegar, tastes a bit sharp compared to homemade vinegar dressing. It takes only two minutes to make fresh, fragrant rice vinegar dressing. |
Sake (Japanese rice wine)
Sake is primarily consumed as a beverage, but it's also used in cooking. You needn't invest in expensive sake for cooking purposes, but do buy one that is drinkable. Those types labeled cooking sake don't taste as good, and can take away from — not add to — your dish. Refrigerate opened sake, using it up within a month or two.
Sansho (Japanese pepper)
Sansho, called Japanese pepper, is actually the dried and ground pods of the prickly ash tree. The result is a fragrant, finely ground pale spice that's more minty-citrusy or tangy than spicy hot. Add sansho at the end of any preparation to preserve its fresh scent and flavor. It's sold in small spice bottles. Freeze open bottles if you don't use it frequently.
Soy sauce (shoyu)
Soy sauce was introduced to the Japanese by the Chinese centuries ago. The Japanese took this fermented soy bean sauce and ran with it, tweaking its taste to suite their palates. Japanese soy sauce is sold in several variations:
- Regular (koikuchi shoyu), meaning standard soy sauce. (The word regular isn't always printed on the label.)
- Light color (usukuchi shoyu), meaning lighter in color, to be used in dishes where the darker color of regular soy sauce would mar the dish's appearance. It's lighter in color but actually saltier in taste, too salty to be a dipping sauce by itself.
- Lite, meaning reduced salt.
The best-tasting soy sauces are naturally brewed. Kikkoman makes very good naturally brewed soy sauces. One popular brand of soy sauce for dipping is Higeta Honzen. Refrigerate opened bottles of soy sauce.
Shichimi togarashi (seven spice chili seasoning)
Buckle up and get ready for some really great chili seasoning that's so good it has jumped out of sushi bars and into the kitchens of professional chefs and good cooks all around the world!
Shichimi togarashi traditionally contains fresh chili flakes, black and white sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sansho (see the reference earlier in this section), ao-nori, and Mandarin orange peel. Shichimi isdelicious on any sushi that needs a spicy taste, on Japanese noodles, and especially on fried rice. This reddish seasoning is usually sold in small spice bottles.
Dark sesame seed oil
The roasted, nutty fragrance of dark sesame seed oil is enough to make anyone hungry! It's sold in small bottles. Refrigerate it after you open it.
Spicy sesame seed oil (rayu)
Take dark sesame seed oil, heat it up with chili, and you have rayu. A drop or two adds just the right combination of warmth and flavor to sushi. Use it in soups, sauces, or wherever you want a toasted, nutty flavor with kick. It's sold in small bottles. Refrigerate it after you open it.
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