Sushi Rice?

[lupo pazzesco]

Anyone make their own?? I've got the rice vinegar, sugar and salt, but all the recipes I've found have had proportions that just aren't coming out right. I want to make some of my own sushi rolls, since I don't feel much like cooking in the summer, and it's a healthier alternative to some of the other crap I could be eating.

So? Anyone?

Anyone at all??

Don't everyone answer at once now...

[Magpie]

My husband's most recent venture was to heat the mixture very slowly. We've had the liquid evaporate off and then nothing dissolves, and it's horrible. If you're using seasoned mirin make sure to cut back on the sugar and salt, and/or find a recipe that is for seasoned stuff. Because otherwise it'll be too strong (I was the only one who found this though).

What's the problem you're having?

[Caffienated_Caramel]

I have cooked my own sushi rice. I do recommend short grain since its stickier. When cooking (white) in a rice cooker, the water level is supposed to be up at the first finger joint. I usually go a little higher.

When its donem you take it out on have it on a really big plate ( I use two ><) and use the rice paddle to break it up and flip it back into a pile and repeat. At this time you do add the sushi vinegar. (which is sweeter than normal)

from what I remember correctly you do that whole break it apart and re-pile it until it room temp or all the vinegar is mixed in. Its one of the two.

I hope this helps I did get it off a cooking show >>

[KiaKat]

Best recipe for seasoned vinegar:

Makes enough for 2C uncooked rice.

1C rice wine vinegar
1T sugar
1tsp salt

Put the vinegar in a small saucepan on the stove. Heat slowly, until just steaming. Add the sugar and salt and stir until dissolved. Set aside and let cool while you cook the rice.

After the rice is cooked, put it in a large metal or wooden bowl. With a flat bamboo paddle or spoon, fluff the rice while slowly drizzling the vinegar mixture. The idea is to cool the rice while mixing in the vinegar. If the rice seems to be getting wet or mushy, stop adding the vinegar and let it sit for a bit. You do NOT want wet rice.

Make sure the rice is room temp or cooler (throw it in the fridge for a bit) before making the sushi.

To make a sushi roll:

Have two bamboo rolling mats. One should be covered in plastic wrap. This will be for inside-out rolls.

Cut your nori sheets into squares (usually you can just cut off a bit from one side). Place one sized sheet on a rolling mat. If you're making an inside-out roll, put a thin layer of rice over the entire sheet. If you're making a normal roll, leave a strip un-riced at the bottom. Make sure the layer of rice is THIN. Best way to do this is to put a glob of rice across the top of the sheet and then draw it down carefully, making sure that it's mostly covered. Lay your ingredients about 1" from the top of the rice'd sheet, then use the bamboo mat to roll it up. Roll slowly, making sure the rice is tight around the ingredients.

If it's an inside-out roll, after ricing, turn the sheet over and repeat the instructions above about laying ingredients and rolling.

Take a sharp (VERY SHARP) knife and slice the roll in half. Put the two halves next to each other and slice in half again, then slice each quarter in half. You now have a perfect sushi roll!

Well, ok, not so much. The first dozen tries are usually crap. But practice, and you'll eventually get a perfect sushi roll.

The rice is HARD. Practice that a LOT. Figure out the proportion of vinegar to rice by tasting as you stir. You may find that you prefer a different proportion than mine, or that the recipe is too sweet/not sweet enough/etc. Play around with it and find what is to your taste.

EDIT: Oh, and make sure you're using Sushi Rice. You need the extra starch to hold everything together.

[Magpie]

Oh, I forgot to mention: don't stint on the cooling. You need to stir the rice CONSTANTLY while it cools. Stir carefully so you don't turn it to mush. (We use the bamboo/wood paddle and just carefully cut through the rice and flip it.) Use a fan, because moving air increases the rate of cooling by a phenomenal amount.

[jedimaster91]

Make sure you rinse the rice a few times before you cook it. Otherwise you get that chalky taste. The Sushi for Dummies book has a good recipie. Mr Jedi found a seasoning powder at our local Asian market that makes amazing sushi rice. I wish I knew the name of it because IIRC, all I did was boil the rice and add the powder. If you go this route, you have to make a LOT of rice at once. I think it comes out to 7 cups of cooked rice. But it freezes well.

[lupo pazzesco]

Wow, yay responses!

I used rice vinegar, not rice wine vinegar, and the recipes I found call for more salt than what's been recommended. So the rice came out really salty and icky. I have both mirin and rice vinegar, I just haven't tried both because the recipes I found online specifically call for rice vinegar, which combined with all the salt made a very bitter tasting sushi rice.

[KiaKat]

I generally only use mirin if I'm doing brown rice.

Jedi is absolutely right about rinsing the rice before cooking it. I tend to neglect this step.

Hm. Now I want sushi. I wonder if my little half-price place (they're half-price for their opening, amazing quality for $2.50/roll) is booked for tonight...

[Crossbow]

3 key steps for sushi rice: rinsing, cooling, and patience.
For some hints that I liked, take a look here:
http://www.seriouseats.com/tags/sushi%20week

[lordlundar]

There's also this. The start for the info is at 3:05 in.

Basic rules of thumb:

- Short grain rice ONLY, and never parboiled stuff. It never comes out right.
- No salt at time of cooking. It makes the rice too salty
- Rice WINE vinegar, which is made differently than rice vinegar and produces a different flavour. (rice wine vinegar is sake that goes sour, while rice vinegar is a direct fermentation and sourness technique) And use the Japanese stuff which is primarily made for sushi. Chinese and Korean varieties are too strong.
- Use non-metallic vessels and hardware. You need to slowly cool the rice, and metal causes the heat to dissipate too quickly. Wooden non-varnished is ideal to also wick away excess moisture.
- Fluff the rice a little, drizzle the syrup over the rice, then continue fluffing and cooling with a hand fan or paper plate until the rice reaches room temperature. Do not stop until that has been achieved.

[Jester]

After the rice is cooked, put it in a large metal or wooden bowl.

Use non-metallic vessels and hardware. You need to slowly cool the rice, and metal causes the heat to dissipate too quickly. Metal non-varnished is ideal to also wick away excess moisture.

I'm confused. Can we use metal bowls or not?

Until the other day, all my mixing bowls were plastic. When my Neighborhood Watering Hole closed its doors, I picked up a few things from them, including two metal mixing bowls.

So, can I use metal or not? Or do I have to invest in a wooden bowl?

Just wondering, as I have been wanting to start making sushi for years. As it is, I make an amazing sashimi platter, and I want to add to my repertoire.

[KiaKat]

Lundar is actually right. I was looking at an old recipe I'd written out years ago, based on what I had on hand at the time. Wooden is your best bet, though I do use plastic now.

[jedimaster91]

Any non-reactive bowl will do, though wood is probably best. I use my Pyrex glass bowls and they work well.

[Jester]

What do you mean by "non-reactive"? What kind of bowl is reactive? Once again, I am so lost.

[lordlundar]

So, can I use metal or not? Or do I have to invest in a wooden bowl?

Whoops! typo on my part. That "metal non-varnished" should be "wooden non varnished"

As for what type of bowl in particular, a non-varnished salad bowl is perfect. And those are a great investment because if you treat them well, they will last longer than you.

What do you mean by "non-reactive"? What kind of bowl is reactive? Once again, I am so lost.

A reactive container means one who's chemical composition can be broken down by acids in the food and trace amounts wind up in the food, giving it an odd taste. Cast iron, aluminum and copper are examples of reactive metals, though there are aluminum pots and pans that are given a non-reactive coating. Ideally, pure gold will work the best, though it has other issues (not the least of which is cost) but stainless steel is the most common non-reactive cookware. Plastic also counts as a reactive material, though you don't usually taste it in the food, the plastic tends to absorb flavors itself. They also tend to absorb fats and are near impossible to clan at that point.