Sushi Rice

[mgaretz]

At the county fair yesterday, on a whim, I bought a sushi "maker". I have a mat/roll but I have never tried it.

Anyway, the booklet that came with the gadget suggested putting the vinegar, salt and sugar into the rice cooker with the water and rice. But looking at my books and the web, no one else recommends this (and some say not to do it). Has anyone tried it?

One other question (observation): If we must use short grain rice because it's sticky, why does everyone recommend rinsing the starch off the rice so thoroughly? (I have found for making long grain rice like basmati in my rice cooker, I can't tell the difference if I rinse it or not, so I never do any more.)

Thoughts?

[TheTInCook]

Because all the loose starch and the processing aids for polishing rice make for gunky rice. You can see it by all the scum the rice throws off in foam and boil overs while it cooks. I also think rinsing makes the rice taste better. Also, soaking rice (rinsing is part of it) generally makes a better textured rice.

Never tried adding the seasonings to the raw rice.

[TheNoodleIncident]

Complete guess here, but I would assume that if you added the vinegar/salt/sugar first, it would wind up cooking INTO the rice, whereas when you add it after cooking it creates more of a sticky coating on the outside?

[_john]

I'm curious to know what a "sushi maker" is. The only sushi maker I know is a 32 year old Japanese guy.

You need to get short grain rice. It is usually labeled as calrose or sushi rice. Cook it in your rice cooker using the instructions that came with the rice cooker. Do not add the vinegar, sugar and salt before cooking. I don't know what recipe the sushi maker came with but this is the basic ratio for making "sushi vinegar", which is a mixture of the seasonings used in sushi rice: rice vinegar 1.8ℓ：sugar 1.2kg：salt300g. You can scale this ratio to make as little or as much as you want. You can boil the sushi vinegar to dissolve the sugar and salt but it is easier to just let it sit over night. Once you have the cooled sushi vinegar and the hot rice you need to combine the two. How much sushi vinegar should you add? I add about 32ml to 250g of cooked rice. You can just sprinkle it over the hot rice and taste it until it has enough flavor for you. Mix the rice and sushi vinegar using a cutting motion and let it sit to cool.

When you wash rice you are washing away some starch but that is not the purpose of rinsing. You are rinsing to wash away rice bran powder and other impurities from the polishing process.

[dcarch]

Washing rice is also to wash away talc. Talc in rice is banned in many countries.

dcarch

[ojisan]

Anyway, the booklet that came with the gadget suggested putting the vinegar, salt and sugar into the rice cooker with the water and rice. But looking at my books and the web, no one else recommends this (and some say not to do it). Has anyone tried it?

Think of it like making spaghetti - you cook the pasta and the sauce separately, then combine them at the end.

[threestars]

Agree with dcarch. Make sure you wash the rice properly, maybe 2-3 times of washing will do.

[Anna N]

This post and the next four were moved from here, to keep the discussions focused.

 

On 3/12/2019 at 7:47 PM, Shelby said:

Not sure it helped me make my onigirazu any prettier 🤣

 Yours look delicious but in my very humble opinion using rice that has been seasoned for sushi will change the consistency of the rice such that you will never be able to make a neat sandwich.  But delicious beats neat for most of us.  For those of us who like tasty AND neat, there are other ways to season rice without changing its consistency. These include mixing it with furikake, seasoning it with salt or with a seasoned salt (matcha salt perhaps) or mixing in some toasted sesame seeds. In other words, any seasoning that does not include additional liquid. 

Edited March 16, 2019 by Mjx (log)

[Shelby]

58 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 Yours look delicious but in my very humble opinion using rice that has been seasoned for sushi will change the consistency of the rice such that you will never be able to make a neat sandwich.  But delicious beats neat for most of us.  For those of us who like taste AND neat, there are other ways to season rice without changing its consistency. These include mixing it with furikake, seasoning it with salt or with a seasoned salt (matcha salt perhaps) or mixing in some toasted sesame seeds. In other words, any seasoning that does not include additional liquid. 

I think you are very right.  When I first made the sushi rice, though, it was way more "sticky" than it is now that it's been in the freezer.  

 

I will be making plain rice ( with your advice for seasonings)  for the next batch.

[Anna N]

Just now, Shelby said:

I think you are very right.  When I first made the sushi rice, though, it was way more "sticky" than it is now that it's been in the freezer.  

 

I will be making plain rice ( with your advice for seasonings)  for the next batch.

 But in the end I hope you go with what suits you and not what suits me.  

 

As an aside, I have been reading a new book on Japanese food by Tim Anderson  and he claims to have a way to keep rice from hardening in the refrigerator.  It involves the use of baking soda while cooking the rice. I haven’t tried it and I’m not sure I would, but it is intriguing.

 

 

[heidih]

There seems to be confusion with the term "sushi rice". Shorter grain somewhat sticky rice is the base and then it is stirred up with vinegar, sugar and salt when used as a sushi base. But standing alone it is just a shorter grain rice. I use Calrose which we grow here in California - just a variety - kinda popular.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calrose_rice

[Katie Meadow]

On 3/12/2019 at 6:50 PM, heidih said:

There seems to be confusion with the term "sushi rice". Shorter grain somewhat sticky rice is the base and then it is stirred up with vinegar, sugar and salt when used as a sushi base. But standing alone it is just a shorter grain rice. I use Calrose which we grow here in California - just a variety - kinda popular.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calrose_rice

True enough, and yet our biggest and best Japanese market in the east bay labels all short and some medium rice as "sushi rice" on the shelves, just to compound the problem. Recently I bought a bag of Kokuho Rose. The package says it is medium grain, but it looks like short grain to me. Before jumping on the onigirazu band wagon I didn't buy much short grain rice. This one's very good, I think. I haven't had the Calrose in several years, so I can't compare.

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

For short grain rice I stock Tamaki Gold and Santo Tomas Bomba.  Both excellent but I doubt I could tell between them.  It's more about how the rice is prepared.  In my opinion.

 

[Anna N]

On 3/12/2019 at 9:50 PM, heidih said:

There seems to be confusion with the term "sushi rice". Shorter grain somewhat sticky rice is the base and then it is stirred up with vinegar, sugar and salt when used as a sushi base. But standing alone it is just a shorter grain rice. I use Calrose which we grow here in California - just a variety - kinda popular.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calrose_rice

 But even my Zojirushi rice cooker has a water level setting for sushi rice. I think the fight for a differentiation between raw short grain rice and cooked rice seasoned for sushi was lost a long time ago. 

Edited to fix along

Edited March 18, 2019 by Anna N (log)

[ojisan]

On 3/17/2019 at 10:11 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

For short grain rice I stock Tamaki Gold and Santo Tomas Bomba.  Both excellent but I doubt I could tell between them.  It's more about how the rice is prepared.  In my opinion.

 

I use Tamaki Gold for sushi, and also for risotto (which I cook in a stovetop pressure cooker.)

[stephen129]

I have some koshihikari and a Zojirushi at home. If I'm making sushi rice, should I add less water than usual when cooking the rice, as it'll absorb liquid from the vinegar?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 hours ago, stephen129 said:

I have some koshihikari and a Zojirushi at home. If I'm making sushi rice, should I add less water than usual when cooking the rice, as it'll absorb liquid from the vinegar?

 

I'd use the water level scale marked "sushi" on my Zojirushi.

 

[EatingBen]

On 7/12/2011 at 2:40 PM, mgaretz said:

At the county fair yesterday, on a whim, I bought a sushi "maker". I have a mat/roll but I have never tried it.

Anyway, the booklet that came with the gadget suggested putting the vinegar, salt and sugar into the rice cooker with the water and rice. But looking at my books and the web, no one else recommends this (and some say not to do it). Has anyone tried it?

One other question (observation): If we must use short grain rice because it's sticky, why does everyone recommend rinsing the starch off the rice so thoroughly? (I have found for making long grain rice like basmati in my rice cooker, I can't tell the difference if I rinse it or not, so I never do any more.)

Thoughts?

I e never put the seasoning in with the cooking water. I spray it using a sprayer while using a paddle to mix. 
 

Rinsing cleans excess starch and dust, the rice ends up shiny, nicer textured and produces a nicer bowl of rice. Japanese rice isn’t gluggy sticky, the grains will stick to one another but pull apart easily and once you add the seasoning properly the grains of rice get really shiny.