Sushi is a popular Japanese dish that can be enjoyed not only in a specialized restaurant, but also in your own kitchen. The most important moment in the preparation of this goodies is properly cooked rice for sushi.

Choosing Rice for Japanese Cooking

The main task, in addition to properly cooked rice, is also its choice when buying.

So, experienced chefs most often use these varieties of rice:

Rice "Mochigome". It has a dense texture, tastes good after cooking and holds its shape well when rolling sushi;
Urutimai rice. The Japanese like to put this type of rice in sushi more than others. It has a sweetish aftertaste, a pleasant aroma and what is very important - it releases a sticky substance very well;
you can also use rice of round varieties, from which pilaf or rice porridge is often prepared. It can also compete with these two varieties if you choose a quality and not the cheapest product.

Cooking rice correctly is 90% of successful sushi making at home.

How to cook rice for sushi

Rice must be washed before cooking. This is necessary in order to wash off the substances that often process cereals before packaging. But it happens that rice is processed not with additives, but with starch. In this case, he does not need to be washed, but to calm the soul, it is better to do this. Pour the required amount into a plate, pour in water, and mix it several times in a circular motion. Then drain the water and repeat the procedure. Then do the same again. Then again until the drained water is clear without cloudy impurities.

The ratio for cooking is the same as in the preparation of pilaf 1:1. That is, if you need to cook one glass of rice, fill it with one glass of water. If two glasses of rice - two glasses of water. Before you send the pot of rice to the fire, it must be soaked for at least 30-40 minutes. Then, as many Japanese chefs do, rice groats should be boiled in the same water. We put the container on the fire, and reduce it to a minimum. After boiling, rice should be cooked for 10 minutes. But it is better to try it in order to understand exactly whether the cereal is ready. There are different ways to prepare sushi rice. Some types cook a little longer, others faster.

Cooking in a multicooker

Sushi making is an art that the Japanese have been learning for years. Therefore, do not be upset if the ideal result does not work the first time. Like any other business, cooking this dish requires special skills. The basis for sushi can be cooked in a saucepan, in a cauldron, in a saucepan. But if the kitchen has such an assistant as a slow cooker, this will greatly facilitate the process. Anyone who has this miracle of technology, desire, and, of course, rice groats can cook rice in a slow cooker.

So, we take the right amount of rice. For example, 1 glass. Pour the cereal with water, rinse 4-7 times, and set aside for 40-45 minutes. Then pour the rice into the rice cooker. We set the “rice” mode, if this is not the case, then the “buckwheat” mode will do and after 10 minutes the rice will be ready.

With rice vinegar

Rice vinegar is an essential ingredient in making sushi. Without it, you definitely won’t get such sushi as in a restaurant. How much it needs to be added and when it is better to do it, let's try to figure it out.

Rice vinegar is added to this dish in order to give the rice suppleness. Thanks to vinegar, you can “blind” any figure from it, and it will keep its shape. It is also very healthy and has a strong antibacterial effect.

Sushi rice dressing

Delicious sushi requires not only vinegar, but also sugar and salt. These ingredients are used to make rice dressing. The correct proportion is 2 tablespoons of vinegar per 400-500 g of rice. Salt and sugar should be taken 1 teaspoon each. Vinegar must be heated, but not brought to a boil. Pour salt, sugar, then add this mixture to the rice, which is in the process of cooking. Rice should be gently mixed with a wooden spatula.

Choosing the right rice is very important for sushi. A large part of the success in cooking depends on this. We figured out how to cook rice for sushi, now let's look at some secrets for cooking rice.

For example:

Before cooking rice, it must be thoroughly washed. In Japanese restaurants, novice chefs do this for several years before they start cooking. There is an opinion that rice feels the attitude of a person towards him, so it is important to cook with love. After some time, an experienced chef can determine by touch how high-quality rice is in front of him. Rinse it before cooking 6-7 times.
After the rice is washed, it must be soaked. This will make it softer after cooking. It is important not to drain the water after soaking, but to cook in it. Korda rice stood in water for 30-4 minutes, it should become like balls of starch.
Japanese chefs know about 1000 ways to cook rice and soak it. Most of them provide for soaking for 3-5 hours. However, this option is not suitable for sushi. And they also came up with a method that requires only 40 minutes of soaking and 10-15 minutes of cooking.
If the pan tends to burn, you can cover its bottom with a piece of foil.
Many people advise cooking rice over low heat to avoid sticking and burning. However, some experienced cooks cook rice at maximum heat, and do not lift the lid during the cooking process. Then, after 15 minutes, remove the pan from the heat and let the rice "rest".
During the formation of sushi, hands should be moistened in this solution: 30 ml of rice vinegar, 500 ml of water and the juice of half a lemon. Mix these three ingredients and wet your fingers. This will help keep the rice from sticking and give it a nice flavor.

Tasty, healthy, healthy, exquisitely beautiful Japanese cuisine gave the world rolls and sushi. Many still confuse these dishes, and for good reason.

They are actually very similar. The only difference is the method of serving and the amount of ingredients used.

Rolls are rice and fish pieces folded in a special way, wrapped in a sheet of pressed nori seaweed. In fact, this is just a kind of sushi - rice and seafood dishes with vinegar dressing.

In any case, the basis of rolls and sushi is rice. Its taste and texture differ from the product used in Russian or, for example, Uzbek cuisine. Rice is combined with any seafood: fish, seaweed, shrimp, caviar. Fresh cucumbers, sesame seeds, fruits are often put in rolls.

Any experiment can be done. But the main component of rolls and sushi is still rice. To get real pleasure from food, it is important to know how to cook rice for rolls and sushi. Based on it, you can supplement traditional recipes to your liking, experiment with filling, each time getting a new taste.

How to cook rice for rolls and sushi - general cooking principles

Cooking Japanese dishes at home is within the power of every housewife. Today, the cuisine of the island nation is so popular that in any supermarket there is a rack with all the necessary products: Japanese rice, pressed nori seaweed, rice and soy vinegar, pickled ginger.

Before you cook rice for sushi, you need to decide on the type of grain. Incorrectly cooked rice for rolls or sushi falls apart as soon as a piece is in a bowl of soy sauce. This happens for two reasons:

1. the dish is made from the wrong rice;

2. the rice itself is cooked incorrectly.

As for the “right” rice, it is not necessary to buy a product labeled “Japanese” or “for sushi”. In fact, we are talking about ordinary round-grain rice, and you should not overpay for a “hint”.

Of course, you can buy real Japanese rice. But our Krasnodar is quite suitable for an overseas dish. And all because it has the necessary qualities: it boils well and has high stickiness. It is important that the boiled rice grains are well glued together.

The story about crumbly rice is not for sushi. Therefore, you can not use long-grain, including steamed rice. A useful brown, brown, black (wild) product will not work either. For rolls and sushi, only white sticky grains are needed. Otherwise, the question of how to cook rice for rolls becomes meaningless.

They need to be properly prepared: rinse in several waters (at least seven times). The water must be very cold and clean. Drained from a rice grain that is completely ready for cooking, it should remain absolutely transparent.

The principles for preparing rice cereal are as follows:

Boil it properly until fully cooked;

Prepare the filling separately (you definitely need rice vinegar, salt and sugar);

Combine hot rice and vinegar filling.

In principle, you can simply boil the rice grain the way you are used to doing it, and then pour it with dressing and mix thoroughly. Or pour grain into a slow cooker and entrust the process to her. But to get the maximum restaurant effect, you should learn how to cook rice for rolls and sushi. There are several ways, and mastering them is not at all difficult.

How to cook rice for rolls in the traditional way

Ideal rice is soft, tender, but not overcooked grains. They easily take the desired shape, so rolls and sushi are tasty, keep their shape perfectly and are not much different from restaurant ones. How to cook rice for sushi in the traditional way?

Ingredients:

A glass of round-grain (or special Japanese) rice grain;

One and a half glasses of water;

Half a tablespoon of granulated sugar;

Half a teaspoon of salt;

50 ml real rice vinegar.

Cooking method:

Put the prepared grains of snow-white rice in a thick-walled pan.

Pour rice with a measured portion of water. The ratio of one to one and a half is the ideal ratio of grain and water. Do not salt the water, do not add any spices.

Turn on a strong fire and wait for the water to boil. The lid must be open.

As soon as the first signs of boiling appear, reduce the fire to a minimum and cover the pan with a lid as tightly as possible.

How to cook rice for sushi? No more than ten or fifteen minutes. It is important that the moisture is completely evaporated, but it is impossible to overexpose the rice on fire. Overcooked rice grains will spoil an excellent dish.

While the rice is cooking, prepare the dressing. To do this, pour vinegar into a saucepan or a small saucepan (you need rice vinegar, and not some other).

Pour sugar and salt into it.

Put the dishes on a small fire and wait for the grains to completely dissolve. It is important to stir the sauce so that the sugar dissolves faster and does not burn.

When grains of sugar and salt disappear, the filling is ready.

Remove the boiled rice from the heat and leave covered for ten minutes.

Transfer rice grains to a large wide bowl, pour over hot vinegar dressing.

Gently mix rice with vinegar filling with a wooden spatula.

When the rice has cooled to a warm state, proceed to the formation of rolls or sushi.

How to cook rice for sushi in a "hot" way

Tender, glutinous rice can be cooked in a different way. In this case, rice is poured into boiling water, and its amount increases. How to cook rice for rolls hot?

Ingredients:

A glass of white round rice;

Two glasses of clean water;

Two tablespoons of vinegar;

A teaspoon of sugar;

A teaspoon of salt.

Cooking method:

Boil water in a suitable pot (the amount of rice will increase by about three times).

Rinse rice until clear water.

Pour the grains into the boiling water, reduce the fire to a minimum.

Cover the pan tightly with a lid, cook the rice for 15-20 minutes until the water is completely absorbed into the grain.

Prepare the dressing as described in the first recipe.

Remove the cooked rice from the heat, sprinkle with filling and mix with wooden sticks or a wooden spoon.

How to cook sushi rice with nori seaweed

You can use a nori sheet to give the rice a special flavor. You will need a small piece of pressed sheet. Before you cook rice for sushi, you just need to put it in water. It is important to remove it from the pan after boiling water. Proportions are indicated for a large number of rolls.

Ingredients:

Four hundred grams of rice;

Half a liter of water;

A small piece of pressed noria seaweed;

50 ml of rice vinegar;

30 g of granulated sugar;

10 g salt.

Cooking method:

Pour cold water over rice.

Throw a piece of nori into the water, cover the pan with a lid.

Turn on the maximum fire and wait for the water to boil.

Take out the seaweed, reduce the fire to a minimum level.

Cook the rice for exactly twelve minutes.

Turn off the heat and leave the rice covered for another fifteen minutes.

Prepare the vinegar dressing.

Combine it with rice, mix.

The maximum cooking time for rice after boiling water is twenty minutes. If possible, do not remove the cover. For the first time, of course, one cannot do without checking the grain for boiling water. Rice can be cooked in 15 or 20 minutes. Much depends on the characteristics of the plate and the variety of rice. But over time, experience will come, which will provide the grain with complete rest under the lid.

In no case should you touch the rice with a spoon, stir and disturb it. Remember one of the commandments: complete rest!

Ready rice should be cooked immediately. Leave it for another day, you can not store it in the refrigerator. In just a few hours, boiled grains will rapidly lose moisture. The rice will become tough and completely unsuitable for making rolls and sushi.

Dressing and rice must be mixed hot. The filling should not boil: it needs to be allowed to cool for a few minutes. The amount of filling should not be too large. The task is to give the rice a light aroma and a sharp vinegary taste.

You can buy ready-made dressing for sushi rice in the store. It replaces the homemade dressing of rice vinegar and sugar and salt.

Rolls and sushi should be prepared from cooled, fully cooked rice. The Japanese use a special fan to fan and cool boiled rice grains. If you want to feel yourself in the atmosphere of old Japan, you can work with a fan. However, this is not required.

Sushi and rolls - traditional Asian dishes - have become very popular outside of Asia. There are no less restaurants where you can try such food now than pizzerias.

At the same time, unlike pizza, which our housewives have long been successfully preparing at home, not everyone is at risk to try to make sushi or rolls on their own. This is largely due to the need to purchase specific products of Asian cuisine - seaweed, sauces, caviar and others.

You can not find all the necessary ingredients in every store. The cooking process itself is not too complicated and quite exciting.

For everything to work out, it is very important to choose and cook rice correctly. It should not be undercooked, but it should also not be allowed to turn into gruel. There are several ways to achieve the correct state of readiness of rice.

Suitable for making sushi is Mistral rice, a regular white round-grain or special variety sold in Asian food stores or departments with products for preparing it in supermarkets.

Steamed and long grain varieties are not suitable. Groats can be polished. Such rice contains a lot of starch, due to which it absorbs water well and becomes tender and crumbly.

The calorie content of rice itself is about 350 kcal per 100 g of finished cereals. Cooking time depends on the chosen method. Usually, along with soaking, it takes up to 40-50 minutes to cook.

Rice should be washed well before cooking. This is done in the following way:

the right amount of porridge is poured with water in a bowl or pan, the rice is quickly mixed by hand;
they drain the water, letting go with it those grains, husks and debris that have risen to the surface of the water;
rub the rice lightly in the palms, picking up several handfuls;
rinse again and repeat this action until the drained water becomes clear.

Then the cereal is soaked for 20 minutes in cold water.

Classic Asian Rice Recipe

This recipe follows the traditional way as closely as possible.

Products:

700 g of washed rice;
700 g of cold filtered water.

Calories per 100 g: 344 kcal.

How to cook rice for sushi at home? Let's consider this process in detail. Rice is poured with water and placed in a saucepan on the stove, turned on over a slow fire.

Before the water begins to boil, the fire increases, and at the moment of boiling, the temperature is made weak. Cook for another 20 minutes, during which time the liquid evaporates and is absorbed into the rice. Then they turn on a big fire for 10 seconds, after which they turn off the stove.

It is very important not to stir the porridge during cooking. You can loosen it with a wooden stick after turning off the stove.

Covering the pan with a towel and then a lid, let it stand for 20 minutes before cooking.

Cooking Rice with Rice Vinegar

Now we cook rice for sushi at home in a different way - with vinegar. Let's get started!

Products:

200 g of washed rice;
250 ml of water;
1 tsp white sugar;
2 g of table or sea salt;
1 tbsp rice vinegar.

Time required for cooking: 45 min.

Calories per 100 g: 353 kcal.

Grains are poured with cold fresh water and allowed to boil at medium temperature. The fire is changed to minimum and boiled for 14 minutes with the lid closed.

Opening the lid and stirring the porridge is not allowed. Then the pan is set aside from the stove, salt, sugar and vinegar are added. Before cooking, the porridge should stand a little, cool down, so that it is comfortable to hold it in your hands when preparing sushi.

Another Easy Rice Recipe

Below we will describe how to properly cook regular sushi rice.

Products:

200 g plain washed rice;
250 ml filtered water;
1 piece of konbu seaweed - no more than 5 cm.

Time required for cooking: 35 min.

Calories per 100 g: 342 kcal.

Grains in a saucepan are poured with water, while the container should be such that the water fills it by a third, no more. Konbu algae are placed in the water, but they must be pulled out before the liquid boils.

Up to this point, the pan is covered with a lid. After boiling, the porridge is boiled for 10-13 minutes at a minimum temperature.

Cooking in a multicooker

It is much easier to cook rice in a slow cooker, since you do not need to control the process. So, how long and how to cook rice for sushi in a slow cooker?

Pre-soaked washed cereals with water in a ratio of 1 part cereal to 1.5 parts of water are placed in a multicooker bowl. Some devices have "Rice" or "Buckwheat" modes, you can set them for cooking.

In the absence of special functions, porridge is cooked for 10 minutes in the "Baking" mode, and then another 20 - in "Stew".

If liquid remains after cooking, it is drained. Before cooking, the porridge should cool down.

Delicious Sushi Rice Dressing Recipes

Before you start cooking sushi or rolls, rice needs to be seasoned. This is done using vinegar mixtures.

Products:

2 tbsp rice vinegar (you can take wine, or even apple, if there is no rice in the store);
1 tsp sugar and soy sauce.

All ingredients are mixed so that the sugar dissolves. Then the dressing can be warmed up a little in the microwave so that it is slightly warm. The resulting mixture is poured over the cooled rice. Now you can start making sushi.

For another filling you will need:

70 g plum vinegar (or apple);
1 tsp preferably sea salt;
3 tbsp mirin (rice wine).

A mixture of the listed ingredients is poured into porridge, distributed evenly with wooden sticks.

Dressing can be used to change the color of cooked rice. Then the sushi will be more original. Red plum vinegar gives the grits a pleasant pinkish tint.

If you add 1 teaspoon of turmeric seasoning to water before cooking porridge, the color of the finished rice will be yellowish. Ground seaweed (1-2 tablespoons), mixed into the finished porridge, will make it soft green.

In order for the cereal to cook properly, you must remember to rinse and soak it before cooking. It is best to use wooden utensils when cooking: sticks or small flat spatulas for loosening and stirring, wooden bowls for soaking and cooling rice in them.

Dressing and porridge, when mixed, should be still warm, but not hot or cold.

In order for hot porridge to cool faster, it should not be placed in a cold place, even on a windowsill.

In Japan, a fan is used to speed up the cooling process. You can fan the porridge with your palms, a magazine or a sheet of paper.

It is better not to store rice in the refrigerator if cooking is not planned immediately. It is recommended to use porridge for dishes on the day of its preparation.

Good rice for sushi and rolls may not come out right away. Each time it will come out better and the sushi will turn out to be as tasty as in restaurants.

You can also learn about the intricacies of cooking rice for sushi and rolls from the following video.

How to cook rice for sushi?

In Japan, rice is used to prepare a wide variety of dishes, not only sushi and rolls, and the taste of the dish will depend on its proper preparation. And despite this, there is no one right way to cook rice, we will look at different options for how to cook rice for sushi and rolls correctly. And all of them will be correct, choose to your taste.

How to cook rice for sushi

Rice for rolls and sushi is cooked in the same way, as it should become viscous and stick together well. Before cooking, rice for sushi and rolls is advised to be washed until the color of the water is clear and dried on a sieve for about 30 minutes. When choosing a rice variety, stop at the round one, it tends to stick together and be viscous.

The first way how to cook rice for sushi

Wash rice until clear water. We spread the rice on a sieve and leave to dry for 30 minutes.
Put rice in a saucepan and fill with water. The proportions of rice and water should be 1:1.5. For more flavor, put a small piece of seaweed in a pot of water and rice. When the water boils, it will need to be pulled out.
Once the water boils, cover the pot with a lid and reduce the heat to low. How long to cook rice for sushi ... You need to cook rice until it absorbs all the water (it will take 10-15 minutes).
When the rice is cooked, it needs to stand for 10 minutes under a closed lid.
In a separate bowl, mix 1 tablespoon of sushi vinegar, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 7 teaspoons of granulated sugar. Make sure everything dissolves.
Sprinkle rice with the resulting mixture, mix gently and let the rice cool.

The second way to cook rice for rolls and sushi

Buy special sushi rice and rinse with 175 gr. in cold water on a sieve. The water should become transparent.
Boil 250 ml of water and pour in the washed rice. Boil it for two minutes.
Remove the pan from the stove and leave the rice to swell with the lid closed for 10 minutes.
Open the lid and let the rice rest for another 10 minutes.
Mix 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar with 1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. granulated sugar. Warm up this mixture.
Sprinkle the cooked rice with this mixture and stir gently.

The third way how to cook rice for sushi

Rinse the rice or not, that's up to you. It is necessary to fill the rice with water (take 1.5 times more water than rice) and leave it to swell for 30 minutes.
Then bring the rice to a boil.
Reduce heat to low and cook rice covered for 10 minutes.
Remove the rice from the stove and leave the rice covered for 20 minutes.
Mix vinegar, sugar and salt as usual.
We spread the rice on parchment, sprinkle with vinegar and mix the rice with a wooden spatula in such a way as if we were cutting it. And at the end we cool the rice.

Today, many people strive to learn how to cook rolls and sushi, and on this path everyone faces certain difficulties.

How to cook good sushi rice, how to roll rolls and many other questions reflect the seriousness of the process.

Today we will try to answer the very first, basic question, without which good rolls or sushi cannot be answered in principle: how to cook rice for sushi?

First, let's clarify right away: it is impossible to cook rice for sushi without certain products. These products are, in addition to suitable rice, rice vinegar and kombu seaweed (nori), without which it is also impossible to make the rolls themselves. Today you can buy seaweed for sushi and rice vinegar in almost all major retail chains in any city: with the popularization of sushi and rolls, their purchase has ceased to be a problem - you just have to look and you will definitely find the right products. But rice for sushi is not at all necessary to buy a special one.

Now there are so many types of rice on the market that it is dizzying, and now it is very important to choose the “right” rice for sushi, sashimi and rice for rolls.

As you probably already guessed, the simple rice from which we prepare risotto, pilaf and milk porridge is not at all suitable for sushi. Therefore, before preparing a classic Japanese dish, you should not buy long-grain rice, steamed, jasmine, brown, basmati rice and the famous devzra variety, from which delicious Uzbek pilaf is prepared. The grains of these types of rice are dry and crumbly, so attempts to mold anything from them will never be successful.
Rice for sushi belongs to the class of round-grain varieties. The starch that this rice is so rich in makes it sticky. This type of rice after cooking keeps its shape and does not fall apart, it is thanks to this property that it is easy to mold the basis for sushi and rolls from it.

When buying rice for sushi, remember that it must have the following characteristics:
- the same grain size
- opaque or pearly white color (rice should be free of cracks and dark spots).
- the integrity of each rice grain, they should not be broken or broken
- lack of rice husks.

The Japanese say that sushi rice should not crumble even if you tap it with your finger, but it should definitely melt in your mouth.

Rice comes in long-grain, medium-grain, and round-grain. If in the first two types of rice (and these are the types, the varieties will be discussed later) there is little starch and its “stickiness” is small, then in round-grain rice the maximum starch content, and due to the ability of boiled rice to stick together, this rice is optimal for cooking rice for sushi, rolls, sashimi. You can use unidentified sushi rice grown in Russia. The round shape of the rice grain, approximately 4-5 mm long, will help you identify the correct variety. But, nevertheless, a test cooking will be necessary to determine the ability of the rice to stick together.
But rice varieties such as "Koshi-Higari", or "Sushiki" are guaranteed to be suitable for Japanese and Chinese cuisine. The most general advice is to look for sushi meshes, i.e. rice for sushi. I am sure that sellers in specialized stores will understand you and be able to help you choose rice for sushi.

For the preparation of rolls and sushi, you can use any round-grain rice. Often, what is sold in stores with the inscription "sushi rice" is ordinary round-grain rice, and not at all special Japanese rice. The use of ordinary round-grain sushi rice is possible not in theory, but in practice, tested by many culinary experts.

Cooking rice for sushi

Rice is the main ingredient in sushi and rolls. It depends on him how tasty they turn out. If you choose and cook the rice correctly, consider that you have already done 80% of the work in making sushi.
There are many recipes for making rice for sushi, in this regard, the situation is comparable to cooking rice in principle.

However, there are principles common to all methods:

Rice is boiled until tender;
Rice dressing is prepared from rice vinegar, sugar and salt;
Ready rice is transferred to a large container and watered with cooked vinegar dressing.

Let's get started...

Whatever rice you use for making sushi: special or regular round grain, it must be rinsed well with cold running water until it becomes transparent.
All pop-up rice must be removed - according to the rules of the Japanese, only "bad" rice floats in the water, and it should be thrown away. Of course, when washing rice, you also need to remove all debris, all dark grains of rice.

Method 1 . First, rinse the rice in plenty of running water. Then drain the water and leave the rice for about an hour.
Put the washed rice in a thick-bottomed pan, pour water in the following ratio: for every 200 g of rice there should be 250 ml of water. For flavor, a square of nori seaweed (kombu) is placed in rice, but it must be removed before the water boils.
The pot should be filled with water and rice no more than a third.
Cover the pan with a lid, turn on medium heat, bring to a boil, reduce heat to a minimum, boil the rice for 10-15 minutes at a low boil until the water is completely absorbed, remove the pan from the stove without opening the lid and leave for another 10-15 minutes.

After removing the seaweed, cover the rice and do not open the lid again until the rice is completely cooked.

Method 2. Rinse the rice, put it in a saucepan, pour in water in the ratio of 2 parts of water to 1 part of rice, leave for half an hour, then put on the stove, cover with a lid and bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to a minimum, boil the rice for 10 minutes, turn off the heat leave the rice covered for another 20 minutes.

Method 3. Pour the washed rice into boiling water, reduce the heat to a minimum, cover the pan with a lid, simmer the rice until the liquid is completely absorbed. The proportions of rice and water are the same as in the second method - 1: 2

Preparing the rice dressing

Dressing for sushi rice is made from rice vinegar, sugar and salt, and this is done very simply.

For 450 g of cooked rice, approximately 2 tablespoons are required. vinegar and 1 tsp. sugar and salt.
Salt and sugar are poured into rice vinegar and the mixture is heated until they are completely dissolved, stirring over medium heat. Sprinkle the finished dressing over the rice, stirring it lightly with a wooden spoon or sushi chopsticks.

There are other ways to prepare the dressing, for example, nori can be added to vinegar along with salt and sugar, but then the seaweed does not need to be added to the rice during cooking.

Features of cooking rice for sushi

After the rice and dressing are cooked, they need to be mixed. Vinegar dressing rice is watered or sprinkled with stirring with wooden (!) Appliances. Stir the rice carefully so as not to turn it into porridge.

Before adding to the rice, the dressing needs to be slightly cooled, like the rice itself, but they are mixed while still hot, then the seasoned rice needs to be cooled, according to Japanese traditions, this is done with a fan, but in principle, even without this, the rice will cool down normally.

It is believed that fanning the rice gives it a pearly sheen.

The rice should be cool enough so that the hands are not hot. When forming rolls and sushi, it is recommended to regularly wet your hands in water to which rice vinegar has been added.
Based on materials from ovkuse.ru, domosushi.ua

Rice for sushi and rolls

We take the purchased rice and pour the required amount into a flat cup.

Be sure to thoroughly rinse the rice. Rinse rice for sushi and rolls should be cold water and this should be done for a long time. It is impossible to give recommendations on the number of "washings", it will depend on the variety of rice and on its contamination. But the main task of the procedure is not just to achieve the cleanliness of rice, the starch dust covering the rice must be removed, the water in which the rice is immersed must become almost transparent. I think that for this it is necessary to change the water about 10 times.

You can use a steamer to cook sushi rice using almost any model. There is no double boiler - there is no big trouble, we will cook rice for sushi in the classic way. After washing, let the rice for rolls “rest” for about 45 minutes, leaving the rice to lie without water. During this time, the sushi rice will swell, absorbing the remaining moisture after washing. Pour one cup of rice with one and a quarter cups of water. To cook sushi rice, use an enamel pot or stainless steel cookware with a tight lid on the pot. It is recommended to put 1 sheet of nori seaweed in the bowl in which the rice will be cooked. We put the pan on the stove and bring to a boil, before boiling the water, the algae leaf should be removed. Cook rice over medium heat for 10 minutes, then cover the lid of the pan with a towel and wait another 10 minutes.

Add rice vinegar to cooked rice. But first, sugar and salt should be dissolved in vinegar. For 1 tbsp of vinegar (the amount needed for one cup of dry rice, about 180 grams), you need to take 1 tsp. sugar and ½ tsp. salt. Sugar is better to use cane, and sea salt. Pour rice with vinegar with sugar and salt dissolved in it.

Mix thoroughly...

And leave to "dry", during this procedure, the rice will completely "take" the vinegar

Rice was “dried” in such wooden tubs in the old days. Many connoisseurs of Japanese cuisine still recommend using a wooden plate or bowl and a wooden spatula or wooden spoon to stir the rice when adding vinegar to sushi meshes.

It shows step by step how many minutes you need to get wet rice, cook and defend it before we start making rolls and sushi from it.

Rice stands for 10 minutes after we washed it.
Next, cook it after boiling water for 15 minutes.
Next, without opening the lid, keep the rice for 15 minutes.
Next, transfer the rice to a wooden or earthenware bowl to mix with the sauce and cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes.

That's all, after cooking rice, you can make any rolls and sushi of your choice! Surprise loved ones!