How to cook sushi rice

Video: How to Make Sushi Rice - The Quickest and EASY Sushi Rice!

Content

Method 1 of 1: Cooking in the Oven
Tips
Warnings
What do you need

1 Buy the right rice. Sushi is usually made with a special Japanese white rice commonly referred to as sushi rice. These are high quality short grains that are slightly sticky and slightly sweet (not to be confused with glutinous rice).

For best results, go to Asian stores and ask for sushi rice. High quality rice will contain virtually no broken grains.Real sushi rice has a good balance of starches (amylose and amylopectin) to stick together when you eat it with chopsticks to carry it from the plate to your mouth. In most cases it is called sushi rice. Equipment and condiments such as a bamboo rice pad, bamboo spatulas, nori sheets, and sushi vinegar (Asian white vinegar that's lightly sweetened and also healthy) can also be found there.
If rice for sushi is not available, dungbei rice (grown in northeastern China, whose natural environment resembles Japan's cold climate) is a better alternative. Its level of sweetness and stickiness is extremely similar to sushi rice. Dungbei rice is round, pearly in color and has the rare property of never returning to the texture of raw rice after cooking, i.e. does not harden and retains its soft texture even after it gets cold. This trait is essential for making real sushi and onigiri. Dungbei rice is a type of high quality Chinese rice. While relatively expensive, it is still cheaper than sushi rice and can be found in quality major Chinese grocery stores. Another alternative is to buy sushi rice online.
Cheaper selection of 'Calrose' rice from brands such as BotanCalrose and Kokuho Rose.
Other types of rice you can buy are long (commonly found in supermarkets) and basmati. Long rice will not clump or come close to the flavor and texture of sushi rice. Brown brown rice comes in many varieties. Brown rice is never used for real sushi, but it can be used for healthy meals.

2 Measure out the right amount of rice. Depending on how hungry you are, if there are snacks and desserts, 600 grams of rice should be enough for four adults if your meal includes an appetizer and possibly some kind of dessert. 600 grams is also a very good serving for a regular sized pot and oven when you fill the pot halfway with rice for the best result, moisture and the right texture. Cooking rice in an egg cooker is the safest way to cook rice.

3 Next, rinse and soak the rice. One way to do this is to find a really large pot that you can fill with plenty of cold water. Rinse the rice with plenty of cold water, then use your hands to stir the rice in a water bath to clean as much of the little dirt and starch particles as possible that make the water grayish. You don't have to do this for very long, just mix the rice and water well, and then pour the water over and over. Alternatively, you can put the rice in a strainer and put the filter in the jar. Fill the pot with water, add the rice, then lift the filter out of the pot so you can pour out the dirty water. Do this four or five times until the water appears relatively clear. After the last rinse, fill in fresh water for the last time and leave to soak for about half an hour. Some sources recommend leaving the rice in water for thirty minutes to an hour.

4 You need to boil 100 milliliters of cold water for every 100 grams of rice. In our case, this would be 600 milliliters of water per 600 grams of rice. Regardless of which container you use to measure out your rice, use it to measure out the water as well. Put the water and rice in a pot or egg cooker, place a lid on top (do not remove until the rice is cooked) and turn the heat up to maximum. If you are using the stove to cook rice, let it do its job, and you skip the next two steps and go straight to chilling the rice (as soon as the rice is cooked, of course). There is also the option of making sushi rice in the oven, as described in the next section.Otherwise...

5 Watch the pot until the contents boil. It is best to choose a pot with a glass lid so you can see the bubbles because you cannot remove the lid, let off steam, and stir during the cooking process. Once the rice has boiled, turn on the timer. You want seven minutes to pass with maximum heat under the pot. You’ll think, “Oh no, this will cause a lot of rice to collect at the bottom,” and you are partly right - some of the rice will stick to the bottom, but that's okay, because we won't use this rice for sushi anyway. It is inevitable that some of the rice will stick to the bottom, but some of the rice grains will have to be "killed" to the end for the whole rice to be perfect.

Do not use a Teflon pot or other type of non-stick coating on the inside to cook rice. We "want" the rice to stick to the bottom because the alternative is a kind of crust on the bottom of the pot, where the rice is crispy, tastes great on its own, but doesn't really mix well with the rest of the rice in maki sushi rolls or pieces of nigiri.

6 After seven minutes have passed, you must turn off the heat at maximum power so that the rice can simply simmer for another fifteen minutes. Remember - never remove the lid or you will ruin the rice. After these last fifteen minutes, the rice can be considered ready. But this is definitely not the case.

7 Additionally: Let the rice cool if you don't want it to get too sticky until you use it as directed. The trouble with cooling it is because we don't want the rice to dry out by staying on the kitchen counter and interacting with the air. We want it to cool down pretty quickly. A good tip is to use a couple of clean kitchen towels soaked in cold water (but not wet). Spread one towel on the table, put the rice on top of it (remember to scrape the rice from the bottom of the pot, you don't want the half-burnt rice in the sushi) and place another towel on top of the rice so the air won't dry it out. This way you can chill the rice in about an hour.

8 Make a sous. For those interested, the word sushi is actually a combination of su (meaning vinegar) and shi (meaning handcraft). So sushi is a bit like mastering the art of vinegar. You need good rice vinegar, some salt (probably coarse salt, as it has a lot of additives that keep the rice from sticking, but they don't taste very good!) And some sugar. Since the brands of vinegar taste so different, it's a good idea to sample many of them through the tasting process. But the general rule of thumb is that for every 100 milliliters of vinegar, you need to add three tablespoons of sugar and one and a half teaspoons of salt. Put all this in a saucepan and heat, stirring all the time, until all the salt is dissolved. Now, try not to have too much vinegar. Add sugar. Not enough salt? Add salt. Something is wrong? Add vinegar. Then let cool to room temperature.

9 Combine sous and rice. Traditionally, this is done in a flat-bottomed round wooden tub or barrel using a wooden spoon. Alternatively, you can use a baking pan or cookie sheet (but not aluminum foil, as this will react with the vinegar). You gently stir the rice with the sous so that the heat gradually dissipates (if you haven't chilled the rice yet). Otherwise, the rice will continue to cook on its own heat. You can also spread the rice so that it cools faster, but don't remember it!

Add additives to your liking. Add some sous, then stir in a circle (gently) with a wooden spatula or spoon. Lacks? Repeat. You will probably need anywhere between 100 - 250 milliliters of sous for our rice dosage.Remember to constantly taste the rice for saltiness when adding sous. The reason we don't use salt in rice in the first place is to prevent the sous from making the rice salty, as the sushi needs to be dipped in soy sauce, which is very salty on its own.
Use sushi rice when it is at room temperature. If the rice is still warm, cover it with a damp cloth until dry and leave until the rice is at room temperature. Sushi tastes best if made with freshly cooked rice without refrigeration.

10 If you must refrigerate the sushi and then reheat it in the microwave, do so carefully. Use chunks of lettuce to wrap the rice lightly (so that it doesn't dry out) so that the texture becomes soft, as if freshly cooked. If you are using sushi rice or dungbei rice (which does not harden like other types), a little warming is sufficient. If the heating was too strong, wait until the rice has cooled to room temperature.

Method 1 of 1: Cooking in the Oven

1 Preheat oven to 190 degrees.
2 Place the washed and soaked rice in an 8x8 heat-resistant dish.
3 Pour the already boiling water into a bowl.
4 Cover the dish tightly with foil.
5 Leave in the oven for 20 minutes.

Tips

The moisture in the rice after cooking is important. Since different types of rice absorb water differently during cooking, it will take trial and error to learn how to cook non-sticky rice. Your goal is for the individual grains to be sticky enough to hold their shape without turning into mush.
If you plan to cook rice dishes frequently, consider purchasing a quality rice cooker with features such as flexible controls, a timer, and a variety of settings to accommodate different types of rice.
There are several types of rice vinegar available at regular stores: flavored rice vinegar and plain rice vinegar. Rice vinegar was mentioned above. Flavored rice vinegar already contains some sugar and salt. If you decide to buy this type of vinegar, add sugar and salt to taste.
An alternative way to get great rice is to buy a Japanese rice cooker made by Mitsubishi or Zojirushi. If you mix equal parts of water and rice, everything usually turns out great.
To cool the mixture faster, try placing it in a bowl that is submerged in ice water. This should help speed up the process.
Ask someone to help you dry the rice while you stir it. This will help you get rid of excess moisture and heat faster and with greater consistency. A small desk fan or dryer set for minimal cool (no heat) will do the trick.

Warnings

Don't use a metal bowl. Better to take a wooden container / bowl. Vinegar can react with metal and change the taste of rice.
Rinse the rice thoroughly. Many brands sprinkle talcum powder on rice to keep it from absorbing moisture and sticking together during storage, and this is not what you need to cook. Some brands use starch that is safe to eat, but it's always best to rinse the rice just in case.
Cooking sushi rice is harder than it sounds. People trying to do this for the first time may find the process difficult.