Rice vinegar- This useful product which is used for cooking oriental cuisine. This is a mandatory ingredient for rolls and sushi, which cannot be excluded from the recipe, but can be replaced.
Rice vinegar - properties and application features
There are many types of vinegars - wine, apple, rice, balsamic, table. Each has its own characteristics:
- White wine vinegar is softer than balsamic vinegar and adds an interesting note to salads, sauces, and meats. Its variety is grape vinegar. It has a sweet and sour taste and a light aroma.
- Apple cider vinegar is recognizable in dishes due to its light sour-fruit taste and delicate aroma.
- Balsamic vinegar is dark and thick, with a sweet and sour taste. It is suitable for seasoning soups, salads and desserts.
- Table vinegar cannot be confused with anything, as it has a pungent odor and scalding sour taste. Among other vinegars, it is the most concentrated. This is a synthetic product, however, vinegar is popular due to its low cost and is used in pickling vegetables, fruits, meat, and as a salad dressing.
- Rice vinegar gives the most delicate flavor. It is used for marinating fish, dressing salads and sauces, for making rolls and sushi.
Rice vinegar is used to prepare a seasoning for sushi rice and rolls.
Rice vinegar has a mild taste and delicate aroma, as well as lower acidity compared to other types of vinegar. He is dietary product and good for health.
- Does not damage the gastric mucosa and is not contraindicated for people with diseases of the digestive system.
- Contains amino acids and microelements, helps remove toxins from the body.
- Helps normalize metabolism.
Rice vinegar in sushi is not common ingredient, which can be excluded. It performs an important function - it holds rice and seaweed together. If it is not possible to use it when preparing rolls or sushi, there are two options:
- Make your own rice vinegar;
- replace it.
Rice vinegar is a healthy dietary product
How can you replace it in sushi and roll recipes?
Sushi and rolls are especially loved by gourmets. Many people want to enjoy it without spending money by preparing it with their own hands. Sometimes it is difficult to buy vinegar, which plays the role of dressing in dishes, due to its absence in the store or its high price. It is not recommended to exclude it from the recipe, since final result It's unlikely to make you happy. But it can be replaced. Apple, wine (white or grape) vinegar, as well as ginger marinade or lemon juice are considered successful replacement options for preparing sushi and rolls. Calculate the amount of dressing and rice in a ratio of 1:5. In general, you can add it to rice to taste.
Ideal Substitutes - Gallery
Apple cider vinegar - a budget substitute for rice 
Grape vinegar with salt and sugar can be included in roll recipes instead of rice vinegar 
Lemon juice is an alternative to rice vinegar in oriental dishes
Apple and wine cider vinegar dressing
By making a dressing with apple cider vinegar, you can add a subtle taste and fruity aroma to rice. You will need the following ingredients:
- vinegar - 2 tbsp. l.;
- sugar - 2 tsp;
- salt - 1 tsp;
- hot water - 3 tbsp. l.
Mix in a saucepan Apple vinegar with sugar and salt. Add hot water and mix the ingredients well until you obtain a homogeneous dressing.
White wine vinegar is also a great substitute for rice vinegar, as they have similar taste and aroma.
Please note: the recipe uses nori seaweed, not kelp (seaweed)!
List of required products:
- 2.5 tbsp. l. wine vinegar;
- 2.5 tbsp. l. Sahara;
- ½ tsp. salt;
- 1 sheet of nori.
Mix all the ingredients and heat the resulting mixture, add the crumbled nori sheet. Beat the ingredients until homogeneous mass. If you prepare the dressing with nori, then you don’t have to add it when cooking rice for sushi and rolls.
Wine vinegar with nori is an excellent dressing for sushi
Video - preparing seasoning for rice
Lemon juice will soak the rice well for rolls and add flavor pleasant sourness. You will need products:
- lemon juice - 2 tbsp. l.;
- sugar - 1 tsp;
- warm water - 2 tbsp. l.;
- salt - ½ tsp.
Pour in 2 tbsp. l. warm water into lemon juice, add sugar and salt and mix everything thoroughly.
Lemon juice soaks rice well, used for making sushi and rolls.
Controversial options: unusual balsamic and regular table
Chefs agree that balsamic vinegar is not suitable for dressing sushi and rolls, since it changes the taste of rice to a bright herbal one. But there is still no consensus on the dining room. His opponents do not recommend such impregnation for rice. Others are more optimistic and believe that with skillful preparation, the replacement is not noticeable. In addition, adding soy sauce will soften the harsh taste and smell. The dressing recipe is simple. Have to take:
- 50 ml table vinegar (6%);
- 20 g sugar;
- 50 ml soy sauce.
Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a bowl.
If you can't use another substitute, you can try this recipe. However, in this case you should not hope for exquisite taste and aroma. The main thing is not to overdo it and stick to proportions.
Making rice vinegar at home
If you do not intend to buy rice vinegar and do not want to use substitutes, then prepare it at home. True, you should be patient, since you will have to spend effort and time on cooking.
For preparation you will need the following ingredients:
- round rice - 300 g;
- sugar - 900 g;
- dry yeast - 1/3 tbsp. l.
Preparation procedure:
- Rinse the rice in cold water and fill in 1.2 liters of water. Use glassware.
- Leave the rice in a warm place for 4-5 hours and then refrigerate for 4 days.
- Strain the rice and add 900 grams of sugar.
- Infuse the mixture in a water bath for 30 minutes, then cool and pour into a jar.
- Add yeast, previously diluted in warm water, as indicated in the instructions on the package.
- Infuse the mixture for a month (do not close the jar with a lid, but use gauze for this).
- Strain and boil the mixture.
The volume will be sufficient for several applications.
Rice vinegar can be made at home
Rice vinegar is also used for marinating seafood and fish. It is better suited for such products, as it does not drown out their natural aroma and taste, but only adds a slight sourness.
Options for marinating meat, fish, ginger
When pickling ginger, rice is traditionally used; it can be replaced with apple or grape vinegar, diluted to 4% concentration. Store-bought ones have a concentration of 9%. To obtain a solution of 4% concentration, you need to dilute them with boiled water: 1 part vinegar to 1.5 parts water.
A replacement for marinating seafood or meat is soaking in lemon juice, pre-mixed with dissolved in boiled water sugar:
- lemon juice - 4 tbsp. spoons;
- boiled water - 4 tbsp. spoons;
- sugar - 2 teaspoons.
Before marinating, seafood is thawed and boiled for 2-3 minutes in salted water:
- prepare a marinade of lemon, sugar and water using the proportions described above;
- Place cooled seafood in a small container;
- add 1 tbsp. spoon vegetable oil(for 2 tsp. lemon marinade), add spices if desired;
- mix with your hand, distributing the ingredients evenly and close the container with a lid;
- leave for 10–12 hours in a cool, dark place.
When pickling ginger, rice vinegar can be replaced with grape or apple vinegar.
Video recipe - pickled ginger
Don’t give up the idea of cooking and trying delicious and healthy dishes only because unfamiliar product names are scary. Make sushi and rolls at home without significant costs by replacing rice vinegar with apple or wine vinegar, as well as lemon juice. If you intend to achieve a taste close to the original, make your own rice vinegar.
There is hardly a housewife who, at least once in her life, has not tried to cook something unusual for her family.
If you have not yet achieved such a feat, I invite you to join me in wondering about the method of preparing sushi dressing.
Sushi and rolls are included in our daily life. Now you no longer have to go to a restaurant to try these dishes. Japanese cuisine. All ingredients can be bought in the store. Homemade rolls and sushi are no worse than those you can taste in restaurants. But they may not always be at hand necessary products eg rice vinegar.
How to replace rice vinegar or how to prepare it at home - that’s what my article today will be about.
Rice
Special sushi rice can be replaced with regular round grain rice. In no case do we use steamed varieties or rice in bags. They make a nice side dish, but not a sticky rice mass for rolls.
Proportions of water for cooking 1 cup of rice:
- Rice pre-soaked for 1-2 hours - 1:1;
- Dry rice grain - 1.5 cups of water: 1 cup of water.
After the water boils (it will take about 10 minutes), reduce the heat and cook for 15 minutes. It is advisable not to lift the lid. After the time has passed, turn off the heat and let the porridge brew for 20-25 minutes, opening the lid.
Add the dressing to the rice when both the dressing and the rice have cooled a little.
Rice vinegar
This ingredient can rarely be found on the shelves of regular stores due to its high cost.
Or maybe there are no specialized stores in your small town or you rarely go to huge supermarkets? Then the question of replacing such vinegar will immediately arise the first time you want to cook an exotic dish.
In such cases, our housewives have learned to replace rice vinegar and generously share recipes on forums or blogs. True, the taste of cooked rice will be slightly different, but we are just learning and may the Japanese forgive us!
Alternative dressing for rice
To prepare an alternative seasoning for rice, we may need apple, wine or grape white vinegar. These types vinegar essence Quite accessible and inexpensive compared to rice.
✔ We use red grape vinegar
The second name is wine vinegar. A contraindication to its use may be increased acidity stomach or allergy to grapes.
Very often at home, old red wine is used instead of wine vinegar.
- 3 tsp Sahara
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp. grape vinegar
Place the prepared ingredients in enamel dishes and bring to a boil. The dressing should not boil. A sign of readiness is the complete dissolution of sugar and salt.
✔ Apple cider vinegar
This type of vinegar essence is one of the highest quality, having behind it big list useful properties. It is obtained by fermenting sweet apples and apple wine, which makes its taste much softer than ordinary table vinegar.
- 1 tsp Sahara
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp. l. apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp. boiled water
Preparation is similar to the previous recipe. Readiness is also determined by the dissolution of dry substances.
✔ White grape vinegar
If there are no contraindications to the use of vinegar, then you can try regular table vinegar 6% or white wine. The cooking recipe is similar to the one where red grape tincture was used.
You can also combine vinegar with soy sauce, which will add a special twist to the soak.
- 1 tbsp. l. Sahara
- 2.5 tbsp. l. soy sauce
- 2.5 tbsp. table or white wine vinegar
Heat all ingredients until sugar dissolves.
✔ Using lemon juice
Lemon juice is a good option for soaking rice. The fact is that rice vinegar has a very mild taste that is difficult to reproduce. Lemon juice diluted with a small amount sugar, may well replace it. Very rarely can anyone tell the difference in taste.
- 2 tbsp. l. boiled warm water
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 tsp. Sahara
- 0.5 tsp salt
Mix everything until the sugar and salt dissolve. Under no circumstances let the mixture boil.
✔ If there is nori
If you have seaweed in the kitchen (just not kelp, otherwise you'll end up with a bitter-tasting dressing), you can get almost Japanese version refills.
- 2.5 tbsp. l. any vinegar (table, wine, apple)
- 2.5 tbsp. Sahara
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 1 sheet of nori
Heat all ingredients except seaweed until dissolved and only then add nori. You can take more seaweed - instead of one sheet 2. Chop the seaweed and beat the mixture until smooth.
What not to use
Experienced cooks are strongly against using balsamic vinegar when making rice vinegar. The latter has a bright, specific taste, infused with a bouquet of herbs. It is completely capable of changing the taste of rice, which should have just a hint of sourness.
We use 9% or 6% table vinegars, which are familiar to our kitchens, only as a last resort.
Homemade Rice Vinegar
If you have already learned how to cook sushi at home and have decided that it will become a frequent guest on your menu, you should not use substitute dressings. I suggest making a dressing for rice for future use.
To prepare real rice vinegar at home, we need:
- 1 cup short grain rice
- 250 ml water
- 4 tbsp. Sahara
- Dry yeast - 1/3 teaspoon
Pour the rice into a tray or liter glass container and fill with water.
Let it sit for 4 hours at room temperature, then put it in the refrigerator overnight.
In the morning, without squeezing out the swollen rice, strain it through a clean cloth. The solution should be a glass, if it is less, add warm boiled water to the full capacity.
Add sugar to the resulting solution and dissolve it, stirring everything with a wooden spoon.
Place rice syrup on water bath for 20 minutes. We count down the time from the moment when the water under the syrup boils.
Cool the solution, add yeast and let it ferment in a glass jar for a week. Cover the top of the container with clean gauze, thereby allowing access to air, which is necessary for the vital activity of yeast bacteria.
After the solution stops bubbling (the fermentation process is complete), let the rice-sugar solution brew for another month.
After the specified time, filter the resulting mixture again through cheesecloth and boil. Don't be alarmed if the vinegar turns out cloudy - this is its normal condition. If you wish, you can lighten the solution by adding whipped water to it while boiling. egg white.
The clarification process will require another filtration, after which we pour the homemade rice vinegar into a dark glass bottle and store it in the refrigerator.
How to Add Rice Vinegar to Cooked Rice
After we've made the dressing for the rice and cooked the rice, it's time to combine them. How to do it right?
- In order to combine the dressing and rice, use a wooden spoon and utensils.
- Place the rice in wooden tub, pour in the dressing and stir with a wooden spatula or spoon.
- Mix carefully, moving the top layer of rice down. Intense stirring will turn the rice into an incomprehensible mess.
After preparing the rice and seasoning, you can start preparing the rolls. And the story about how to wrap sushi and what to use for the filling is the topic of a completely different article.
I hope this collection of secrets for cooking rice and rice vinegar will help you make sushi successfully.
Even if you have to replace rare ingredients, let your rolls please your household and become the next conquered peak of culinary art!
Japanese cuisine is very popular these days. Having lunch or dinner with sushi or rolls has become the order of the day. There is a joke that making sushi at home is not only a fun activity, but also “budget-saving” and “health-saving”, so let’s pay a little attention to an important component when making sushi - dressing for rice, rolls and sushi.
Why is it needed? rice dressing? It gives sushi not only the necessary taste, but also increases the stickiness, so it will not fall apart.
Since no salt is added to rice during cooking, sushi rice dressing contains both salt and sugar. Vinegar plays the main role in seasoning rice. Rice vinegar can be found in specialized departments of stores where they sell other sushi ingredients. But what should you do if you still couldn’t buy rice vinegar? What can replace it?
Rice vinegar is usually replaced with white vinegar. wine vinegar, grape vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or, at worst, table vinegar. Here you need to choose the right proportions so as not to spoil the taste of the rice.
You can also try ready-made recipes, and then adjust the amount of ingredients to taste.
Rice Vinegar Dressing Recipe
Ingredients:
- rice vinegar – 100 ml;
- sugar – 3 teaspoons;
- salt – 1 teaspoon.
Apple Cider Vinegar Recipe
Ingredients:
- apple cider vinegar – 2 tbsp. spoons;
- water – 3 tbsp. spoons;
- sugar – 2 teaspoons
- salt – 1 teaspoon.
Recipe with grape vinegar
Ingredients:
- grape vinegar - 4 tbsp. spoons;
- sugar – 3 teaspoons;
- salt – 1 teaspoon.
Recipe with table vinegar
Ingredients:
- table vinegar 6% - 50 ml;
- soy sauce– 50 ml;
- sugar – 20 g.
Preparation
Boil everything and stir until completely dissolved. Add to rice while warm. And if you have prepared the dressing for future use, store it in the refrigerator and reheat it before use.
Rice vinegar recipe
You can make your own rice vinegar if you wish. If you have time and desire.
Ingredients:
- sugar;
- yeast;
- egg white.
Preparation
Pour water over the rice and leave to steep overnight. The next day we decant the water and add about 
180 g sugar. Place the dishes in a water bath and stir until the sugar dissolves, cook for about twenty minutes. Cool, pour into a jar and add a quarter tablespoon of yeast per liter of liquid. The fermentation process will take about a week. When the bubbles disappear completely, pour into a clean jar. We insist for a month.
After a month, strain the mixture. Boil with beaten raw egg white (for cleaning), and strain again.
It's such a long way, but it's real rice vinegar homemade will always be at your service.
With this dressing you can prepare both classic and more complex ones.
Several years ago, Japanese cuisine entered our lives and firmly established itself. More recently, sushi, rolls, miso soup and various dishes with rice, seafood and seaweed seemed something distant, unknown and exotic. Today, we increasingly dine or spend a romantic evening in Japanese restaurants. Along with products such as wasabi, pickled ginger and soy sauce, our diet also included rice vinegar - an essential component of many Japanese, Chinese and Thai dishes.
Features of rice vinegar
In Japan, it is a fairly common seasoning, which is used to enhance the taste of food and as one of the main ingredients in sauces, gravies and dressings. Interestingly, rice vinegar is side effect production of the famous Japanese sake vodka. It is made from glutinous rice varieties and comes in several types and, accordingly, colors. Each of them has its own characteristic taste and is used to prepare certain dishes. Let's take a closer look at them.
White, black, red: let's talk about types of vinegar
The most popular in Russia and other countries is white rice vinegar. It has a light straw color and is particularly soft. It is used to make sushi, adding it when cooking rice. In addition, dressings are often prepared from it. vegetable salads. Black vinegar is actually a rich, dark brown color. It is best known in China, where the bulk of it is produced. It is usually served as a sauce for stews or fried meat. The rarest of all is red vinegar, which has a persistent aroma. It is used in soups and also rice noodles and various seafood dishes. All these varieties can be easily found in Japan or China, but in Russia (especially in small cities) rice vinegar, unfortunately, is still quite rare product. But you can cook it yourself.
Making rice vinegar in your kitchen
If you are a fan of Japanese cuisine, then you will probably be interested in learning how to make rice vinegar yourself. Of course, its taste will be slightly different from the traditional one, but it will definitely turn out better and more pleasant than the canteen we are used to. Rinse 300 grams of short grain rice and fill it with water (1.2 liters). Leave covered for 4 hours, then put in a cool place and leave overnight. In the morning, strain the infusion, add 900 grams of sugar and cook in a water bath for 20 minutes. Cool the mixture, mix with dry yeast (1/3 tablespoon), pour into glass jar and leave to ferment for up to 7 days. Then you need to change the container, cover the neck with gauze and keep at room temperature for two weeks to a month. The specific time depends on the desired taste (softer or sharper). Strain the finished vinegar again and pour into jars. Store in the refrigerator. The shelf life of this product is quite long, so it can be used for a long time.
Experiments with table vinegar
Homemade rice vinegar, the recipe for which is described above, takes quite a long time to prepare. For those for whom this process seems complicated and dreary, you can use the following advice. Buy regular table vinegar at the store. Mix 50 milliliters with the same amount of soy sauce and add 20 grams of sugar. Stir the mixture well and let it sit for a while in the refrigerator. The taste of the resulting sauce will become much more tender and pleasant than it was originally. Use it when preparing Japanese and Chinese cuisine, and for salad dressing mix with olive oil.
Fans of Japanese cuisine know well what kind of important role Rice vinegar (su) plays in it. Without adding it, it is impossible to prepare rolls and sushi, since it holds the rice together without making it slippery and unpleasant to the taste and appearance. But not everyone is aware that the product is also good for health. In particular, it improves liver function and helps normalize blood sugar levels. Asian cosmetologists add su to tonics and creams, as it promotes skin rejuvenation, nourishes and moisturizes it, smoothes and tightens it. Cooks respect rice vinegar for its pleasant sweet and sour taste, which can transform the taste of any dish, while it does not irritate the stomach as much as regular vinegar. This is also used by people on a diet, seasoning their dishes with rice vinegar instead of mayonnaise and ketchup, energy value which is only 18 kcal.
Rice vinegar industrial production in our country it is no longer a scarce commodity; it can be purchased in most supermarkets and just large grocery stores. However, this product is not cheap, and not every housewife can afford to add it to dishes as generously as apple or grape. However, you can prepare rice vinegar itself and its analogues yourself. If you know how to make rice vinegar at home, you can cook your favorite Japanese dishes as often as you want. In terms of benefits, such a product will not be inferior to a store-bought one and may even be of better quality than a store-bought one.
Cooking features
The process of making rice vinegar at home is no more complicated than creating a similar product from apples or grapes. The technology has its own specifics, but it is enough to learn a few secrets to avoid mistakes and get the expected result.
- The basis for preparing rice vinegar is rice cereal. Parboiled rice is best suited for this purpose, since unparboiled sous comes out too cloudy.
- To prepare vinegar, rice is washed well, usually warm water, then pour in clean liquid and infuse. After straining, rice water is obtained, which later turns into vinegar.
- To prepare rice vinegar, sugar and yeast are also used, which provide fermentation. Sugar can be used white or brown. The ratio of rice water, sugar and yeast must be exactly as indicated in the recipe, otherwise the result may differ from what was expected.
- It is advisable to use dry yeast for making rice vinegar. Pressed ones will give the product a specific smell that is not characteristic of real rice vinegar.
- If fermentation does not occur or occurs slowly after mixing rice water with sugar and yeast, then you mixed the yeast with too hot or too cold a liquid. The optimal temperature for activating yeast is 30 to 40 degrees. In a cold environment they refuse to work, and under the influence hot temperature die. If the yeast has been activated correctly, but rice water still ferments weakly, try moving the container with it to a warmer place. The higher the room temperature, the more actively the product ferments.
- Immediately after preparation, homemade rice vinegar always turns out to be cloudy, but this does not affect its organoleptic qualities. If you want a perfect result, you can clarify the vinegar with protein. This requires protein raw egg. It is dipped in cloudy vinegar, boiled until the protein coagulates (this happens quickly), then the vinegar is filtered - it becomes transparent.
For preparing sushi and rolls in pure form Rarely used, it is usually adjusted to the desired taste by adding salt or soy sauce, regular or brown sugar. This is done immediately before preparing the food.
If homemade rice vinegar is poured into clean bottles and sealed tightly, it may stored quite long, up to several months. The shelf life of the product will be longer if kept in a cool place.
Homemade Rice Vinegar Recipe
- rice cereal – 0.21 kg;
- boiled water – 1 l;
- sugar – 0.25 kg;
- dry yeast – 5 g;
- chicken egg (raw) – 1 pc.
Cooking method:
- Rinse the rice. Fill it with warm boiled water in the amount indicated in the recipe. Leave for 2-4 hours at room temperature, covering the container with rice with a thin cloth or regular lid.
- After the specified time, put the rice in the refrigerator and leave for at least 12 hours (but no more than a day).
- Strain. Pour the rice infusion into a saucepan, add sugar.
- Heat over low heat, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved.
- Remove the pan from the heat. Cool its contents to 35–40 degrees.
- Add yeast and stir.
- Pour the mixture into a glass jar with a capacity of at least 1.5 liters. Tie the neck with gauze. Place the jar in a warm and dark place.
- The rice infusion will ferment for 4–7 days, then the bubbles will disappear and fermentation will stop.
- Pour the mixture into a clean container, cover with a lid, making a narrow hole in it with a knife. Leave to infuse at room temperature for 1–1.5 months.
- Strain the mixture and pour it into a saucepan.
- Separate the egg white, beat it with a whisk or mixer, and add to the rice vinegar.
- Bring the mixture to a boil. Strain to remove any bits of coagulated protein from the vinegar.
All that remains is to pour the vinegar into clean bottles, seal and store in a cool place.
Rice vinegar dressing for sushi
- rice vinegar – 60 ml;
- sugar – 30–40 g;
- salt – 10 g.
Cooking method:
- Pour in required quantity bite into a cup.
- Add salt and sugar, mix thoroughly.
The dressing prepared according to this recipe is enough to make rolls or sushi from two glasses of prepared rice.
Apple Rice Cider Vinegar
- apple cider vinegar (6 percent) – 50 ml;
- soy sauce – 50 ml;
- granulated sugar – 20 g.
Cooking method:
- Mix apple cider vinegar with soy sauce.
- Add sugar. Stir until the crystals are completely dissolved.
Apple cider vinegar can be replaced with grape cider vinegar. Of course, the resulting composition will not be rice vinegar, but it will resemble it in taste and in its qualities.
Rice vinegar - important product for preparing Japanese dishes. You can make it at home. This process is simple but time consuming.
