How to Prepare Sushi Rice
I made inari sushi for my lunch bento last weekend (simple the quickest and the easiest!) and wasn’t intending to blog it at all. The pictures of it were merely to pass the time because I was bored of my readings and needing a bit of a breather in the form of cooking and gazing out the window whilst waiting for whatever’s on the hob to be done cooking. But everyone’s been asking about my bento (it’s not prettily dressed up, no time for that!), how to make sushi rice and where they can buy it readymade, etc. so I thought a quick post on it would be pretty useful. I don’t normally post ‘how to’ stuff because I don’t see myself as being qualified to write from a detailed and instructive position. Sushi rice, however, is dead easy and after lots of practise, I can quite possibly prepare it half asleep! You only need these simple steps (and ingredients) to get the foundations set for all the sushi possibilities.
Once you get the hang of it, you won’t be wanting to buy readymade or cracking your brain to figure out the compositions, etc. I’m sure.
Recipe yields 4 servings
Sushi Rice
Ingredients
- 320g uncooked Japanese rice
100ml rice vinegar
2 tbs white sugar
1 tsp salt
Cooking the rice:
To cook the rice, soaking and washing are the first important steps to getting the right texture. Of course you can use an electric rice-cooker that does the cooking time estimation and water measurements all for you which is real simple. But I like to cook mine old school in a saucepan.
Place rice in a heavy-based saucepan and cover with water. Let it sit to soak for 20 mins. Pour away the water and rinse in cold water (use your hands to sieve through the grains and remove any unwanted particles, kinda like searching for gold nuggets), then drain. Repeat the rinsing process twice, then drain. You may choose to wash the rice twice but I always wash mine thrice out of habit.
Add 400ml water to the pan (cooking rice efficiently means using the right amount of water to cook it). Put a lid on, bring to the boil then reduce heat and let simmer until all the water is cooked off, about 10-12 mins. Turn heat off and leave for about 5 mins with lid on for the rice to steam a little more to perfection.
Before using the cooked rice, use a wooden rice spatula to stir and fluff up the rice.
The sushi dressing:
Put the rice vinegar in a small saucepan or milkpan and heat gently. When warm, add the sugar and salt and mix to dissolve. Bring to the boil then remove from heat. Set aside and allow to cool.
Add the sushi dressing to the cooked rice and carefully mix in. If the rice is still a little too hot to handle between your hands, set the lid 3/4 over the pan of rice and allow to cool a little more until its comfortable for shaping, etc.
Sushi rice, done.
February 9th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
I love home cooked Sushi rice. It tastes a great world of a difference.
February 10th, 2010 at 12:08 am
I love homemade sushi – you’ve reminded me that I haven’t made some in a while.
I must say I’ve never soaked the rice like how you do, will have to try it this way next time around.
February 10th, 2010 at 5:26 am
You know, some who can’t eat sushi.. always go for Inari.. I love the sweet taste it has, its one of my favorites. Well done for making this dish at home.
February 10th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
What a co-incidence! I also made sushi rice today but no time to take any photos. Love your step-by-step instructions. Really helpful for me.
February 10th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Thank you for you post, i recently came across your blog and have been reading along.. I should just give up and take lessons from you
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February 10th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
I love sushi. I took a course and it was fun to make.
February 10th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
Fantastic! I love those little packages…
Cheers,
Rosa
February 10th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Fantastic job! I couldn’t agree more Diva! Sushi is surprisingly easy to prepare. I used to think the rolls would be so complicated but they weren’t!
February 11th, 2010 at 6:17 am
Oh man, I’ve always wanted to know how to make sushi rice. Sometimes at the deli (they have sushi in the morning) I pick the fish/egg off the top and steal the rice only. It’s terrible. Guess I won’t have to do that now.
Eric
February 11th, 2010 at 9:04 am
For some Chinese New Year symbolism, that is like rice in a golden treasure bag
February 11th, 2010 at 9:25 am
tigerfish: AH thank u for saying that! I was a little worried that being away from family (and close friends) this year meant there’d be not even an inch of CNY decor/spirit in my house but suppose there is something there, even if it’s in the tiny form of an inari sushi!
Happy Chinese New Year ,gong xi fa chai
xx
February 11th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
Happy CNY!!!!! These little packets will disappear in no time here!
February 11th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Incredible photos! You make rice look luscious and mouth-watering! I follow a similar recipe and love the taste but mine is stickier than yours looks. Maybe because I don’t soak it first?
February 11th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Jamie: If your rice is stickier it might be the type of rice you’ve used. I think there may be quite a few factors involved like where it comes from, what grade and also how much water you’ve used to cook it all that
But in my opinion, as long as its sticky that’s good! Imagine sushi rice that doesn’t stick together! 
xx
February 11th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
I love inari sushi so much, it’s my very favourite! I love your pictures too! But how do you make the fried tofu thing at home?
February 11th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Using the black sesame is a good idea. I also like my inari with shiitake mushroom.
February 11th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
I’ve never made sushi at home, but By Blog! I could eat tonnes of sushi rice! Congrats on the Top 9 – woohoo! xxx
February 12th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Oh, I want to find those little parcels in my lunchbox!! Have never made sushi (or sushi rice) at home before, and now I’m wondering why?!
February 14th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
These are beautiful!!! I love sushi rice in seaweed bu thtis looks amazing and delicious in those skins. What are they may I ask? the skins i mean? lovely and very mouth watering…craving fo rsome right now ^^
February 14th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
This has been very helpful, I bought some sushi rice in Waitrose once, followed the instructions on the packet but really wasn’t happy with it. They didn’t say about soaking it so this clearly makes all the difference. I don’t bother to soak and rinse my basmati rice for curries as I don’t think you notice any change but for sushi rice it must make a difference.
March 14th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
The little brown wrappers are fried tofu and you can get them premade in any asian store in the cold section or they are a pain to make by hand. I love ordering them when ever my husband and I go out for sushi but when I found them on a trip to the asian market I knew I just had to have them, my first attempt at making sushi rice was suuuuuuuper sticky so I think I will rinse it next time . thanks for the post