Rice dishes ── Sushi toppings
Kuruma-ebi (Yude)
tiger prawn, boiled straight on a skewer and shelled for nigiri
A live tiger prawn boiled straight along a skewer, then shelled and shaped for nigiri. Much of the work is said to go into the prep that keeps its body straight and its tail intact right through boiling — one of the few shrimp still commonly sold alive.
Lineage
What it's made of
A tiger prawn in its striped shell, boiled before serving. Unlike raw sweet shrimp, cooking firms the flesh, giving it a faint sweetness and a springy bite. Faint stripes carry over into the meat itself, echoing the pattern on the shell.
How it's made
A live tiger prawn is skewered straight through from the underside to keep it from curling, then boiled. Once cooled, the shell and vein are removed and the body opened out to lay a whole prawn across a piece of nigiri. The skewer is used because boiling it loose would let the body curl and lose its shape.
Why it took this shape
Tiger prawns have long been farmed in brackish water and are among the few shrimp that reach market still alive. The practice of skewering it straight before boiling is thought to have taken hold as a way to carry the beauty of its living shape through to the sushi counter.
Before you go
- How to use a convenience storeA quick guide to choosing rice balls and hot snacks, buying coffee, paying by cash, IC card, or tap payment, using the eat-in corner, and sorting your trash — the basics for a first visit.
- Station food and ekiben (station bento)Where and when to find ekiben (station bento) before it sells out, etiquette for eating on board, how standing soba and udon stalls work, and where to find souvenirs sold inside the station.
- Soraben and airport diningA guide to what soraben means and how it differs from ekiben, whether to buy before or after security, etiquette for eating on board, airport restaurants, and things to check before buying food souvenirs to take home.
Dishes in the same style
- AkagaiA clam named for its red flesh, colored by blood that carries an iron-based pigment rather than the copper most mollusks use. Prized for its crisp bite, it's a premium topping often substituted commercially with the smaller ark shell relative sarubō-gai, and freshness shapes the work more than almost anything else.
- Akami no ZukeLean tuna cured in a soy-based marinade. Born as a way to keep the fish from spoiling before refrigeration existed, it's said to survive today as its own deliberate preparation even now that fattier cuts get the attention — one of the founding techniques of Edomae sushi itself.