anyone got a good sushi rice recepie?

[kenshin-dono]

just wondering if anyone knows a good ratio of rice vinegar/sugar/salt to make sushi rice? I havent done it in a while and last time i dug out the rice cooker for rifce balls, i screwed it up, it tasted blea. I dont see the premade sushi rice mix anywhere around here so i gotta remember how to make it myself.

I usually make it for about 2 cups or rice btw. I dont remember but i THINK i did something like 4 tablespoons of vinegar, 3 of sugar, and 2 teaspoons of salt, or something along that line in the saucepan. Anyone know what a good ratio for about 2 cups would be? Also do you guys usually throw a little piece of konbu in the sauce mixture? I usually do but didn't have any this time

[Morgia]

gaaaahhhhh 2 ts of salt for only 2 cups of rice is far too much... it's best to add as little taste as possible to that stuff while it is in the process of cooking (I don't use a rice-cooker, a normal pot does the trick just fine as well). So cut those additives of yours down to about 1/4th. Half a teaspoon of salt is enough for your described amount... about he same amont of sugar and I'd just use a sip of vinegar out of the wrist... which would amount to one tablespoon in total I guess... GAHHH... you men that always need everything exactly quantified... >_>

[mgz]

gaaaahhhhh 2 ts of salt for only 2 cups of rice is far too much... it's best to add as little taste as possible to that stuff while it is in the process of cooking (I don't use a rice-cooker, a normal pot does the trick just fine as well). So cut those additives of yours down to about 1/4th. Half a teaspoon of salt is enough for your described amount... about he same amont of sugar and I'd just use a sip of vinegar out of the wrist... which would amount to one tablespoon in total I guess... GAHHH... you men that always need everything exactly quantified... >_>

yea silly us expecting some kind of rigid set amount for things while attempting to cook stuff to save time and money on experimenting SILLY US lol

[TwEeD]

GAHHH... you men that always need everything exactly quantified... >_>

lol, in most cases it is actually the opposite. I always have discussion with women about quantities when talking about recipes, "a bit of salt", "a good pinch of sugar", etc.. are mostly not acceptable terms in a women's cookbook. And then there is the "thing" that a overwhelming ratio of good cooks are actually male. I wouldn't go on bashing men in relation to cooking

(sry Kenshin, have no tested recipe for you (yet))

[Morgia]

lol, in most cases it is actually the opposite. I always have discussion with women about quantities when talking about recipes, "a bit of salt", "a good pinch of sugar", etc.. are mostly not acceptable terms in a women's cookbook. And then there is the "thing" that a overwhelming ratio of good cooks are actually male. I wouldn't go on bashing men in relation to cooking

hmm well...I'm not a woman then, since above mentioned quantities are perfectly fine with me :x

sorry about my little rant... it's just... my man left the kitchen in Hiroshima conditions this morning when he decided to use the sandwich-maker for breakfast... and I just finished cleaning.. >_> (don't ask me how you can make such a mess with a sandwich maker...I'll just point out that I found splatters of pancake dough on the floor...)

Back to the rice... as I mentioned before.. if you make it for sushi purposes you don't want the rice to have a strong taste of its own - after all you still want to enjoy the taste of high quality raw fish (which is not as strong as when the fish is cooked...and if it is really strong fishy taste, it's almost certain that the fish has gone bad). Wasabi and pickled ginger with a dash of lemon juice are all the spices you need here.

[spinsane]

I don't even have much asian materials around the house, but I do keep nori on hand for making "leftover-maki."

Less than a quarter cup of white wine and some salt for 2 dry cups of rice typically works out nicely. Obviously, all that goes in after it's done cooking. The wine should be just enough to make the cooked rice go sticky and pliant. I like to think of it as cold risotto, you just keep adding wine (and mixing) until you get the right texture of rice, so don't add it all at once.

If you're making the rice for onigiri I wouldn't recommend this, but for raw fish and maki it isn't bad. I'm not a fan of refined sugar that isn't in desserts, so I prefer using sake or white wine to vinegar+sugar any day. A cheap Nigori-sake tastes pretty darn good in rice.

[mgz]

GAHHH... you men that always need everything exactly quantified... >_>

lol, in most cases it is actually the opposite. I always have discussion with women about quantities when talking about recipes, "a bit of salt", "a good pinch of sugar", etc.. are mostly not acceptable terms in a women's cookbook. And then there is the "thing" that a overwhelming ratio of good cooks are actually male. I wouldn't go on bashing men in relation to cooking

(sry Kenshin, have no tested recipe for you (yet))

no, i think your just dealing with odd people or its changed.

Women in general used to learn a recipe and not need exact amounts, as opposed to a cook book. Which is why cooking is associated with non exact quantities or at least was in the past. With the advent of things like the food network and many chefs becoming very famous and more average people trying to do more extravagant and risky cooking it became a necessity to have things strictly layed out for more people to do them.

Im sure if you grab some old ass cooking books you would probably even find them using terms that are much less then exact.

Because its just an older way of doing things, and the result of people experimenting and finding what works to their liking.
Because maybe a full cup of sugar is too sweet but a lil less then a cup of sugar isnt

[TwEeD]

Strange, you could be right though but my personal experience is based on having been brought up in a restaurant (so had different cooks, female and male, to compare with), having done schooling in cooking (also mixed gender) and how it goes with my friends & family (some of which are cooks). Stuff like measuring spoons and such were almost never used by males but alot by females.

Anyway trivial discussion though, let's get back to the Sushi recipes (i'm quite interested in it)

[mgz]

could simply have been the women you dealt with were more professional.
In a restaurant atmosphere reproducing the same dish over and over is needed which is where strictly defined recipes come into play vs wingin it. Cook A needs to more or less be able to reproduce the same thing as Cook B. Or your restaurant goes down the shitter fast

[kenshin-dono]

hmm.. moriga, id have to use more than a quarter of what i listed and a 'sip' of vinegar. i need enough to fold into the rice when its cooked.

I should clarify, this isn't for sushi purposes, this is just to make Onigiri. I like to make a few and then have them as a snack or light lunch later. So what spin and moria were talking about doesn't really work.

I usually just use a good short grain rice. I hear botan is really good but i dont have anyplace that sells it around here. i did find some online recently at a place i get seaweed snacks and japanese mayo from:

http://www.veryasia.com/bocari.html

im curious, do you still have to add the sushi vinigar to that stuff after its done cooking? Wondering if it comes pre seasoned or something since its actually called sushi rice

what i used to do in the past was just throw the 2 cups in the cooker with the water lvl at the sushi rice lvl, set it going, then throw the vinigar mix recepie into a small saucepan and cook it over low heat just to melt the sugar and mix it. id usually throw a flick of seaweed in there too. Then when the rice was done id take it out and fold it over while pouring the vinigar mix over the rice as i did it. I was always told to fan it while i did that so i do.. though im not really sure if that does anything. I think its suposed to dry it off faster?

is that how your suposed to do it? It worked great in the past, the rice tasted good and slightly sweet but i cant friggin remember the mix i used =( last time it tasted way off.

i see some sushi seasoning on that site
http://www.veryasia.com/104197.html

maybe i'll just try that if no one knows of a good ratio.. Hell even what kinda part ratio i should use might work

maybe i'll just try it plain right outa the cooker. id imagine thatd be kinda bland though and wouldn't stick as well

ah well, at least i can kinda cook a bit these days. I remember back when i was reduced to making the infamous 'pop tart sandwich' lol

[Morgia]

the stickiness of the rice is not really a matter of the seasoning. I could make you rice that wasn't seasoned at all but sticky as hell...
like I said, I don't use a rice cooker, but as a general rule for sushi rice (the round-korn is perfect btw) you take two cups of water for every cup of rice used (so if you use 2 cups of rice - 4 cups of water), close the lid and cook it until the rice absorbed all the water (in a pot... not too sure about the rice-cooker), but you'll have to stir regularly otherwise you'll have a nice crust of burnt rice on the bottom (some people even make it that way and enjoy nibbling the crust afterwards).

[spinsane]

"Sushi rice" doesn't come preseasoned.

All ingredients added to "sushi rice" is done so AFTER it is done cooking. Pretty much you steam it, let it chill, then add all the junk in. Technically speaking, all of the stuff was probably originally a way to preserve the rice so that it would last longer, but the flavor of vinegar is not too desirable, so sweetening became popular (that's my guess). Now a days, white rice vinegar has a very clear and clean and crisp flavor that doesn't require much, if any, sugar to compensate. Again, a dilution of sake with white rice vinegar will usually do the same thing. If someone is marketing 'sushi rice', it's probably semi-gimmicky. It may be a very good strain of rice for sushi, but that it is ultimately white rice.

I'm not sure about the 'boiling a mix' thing- haven't heard of that. But... y'know what they say, every Japanese family has their own secrets. Heck, if you google recipes for "sushi rice," you'll get bombarded by at least a thousand different mixes and fancy techniques to get different but similar results. I recommend going the simplest most holistic route, but ultimately it just depends on your taste prefence. Some cool tricks result in neat flavors. I think I'm going to try your boiling thing using some kombu and benito flakes.

The stickiness is definitely dependent upon the water/rice ratio, cooking temperature, and the amount of water allowed to escape during steaming. A pressure cooker will probably hold more liquid than a saucepan, while a rice cooker will not lose any liquid. Rice cookers will give you consistent results, so, while I don't use one, I would actually recommend getting used to the settings so that you can get what you want. Even if the rice isn't sticky as it comes out, a small amount of added liquid (the alcohol) will fluff up the rice nicely if its mixed in properly. Technically speaking, you're 'supposed' to let the rice cool to room temperature.

I don't know any ratios or measurements (in terms of added liquid/sugar), but the basics are 1.5c water to 1c White Rice and 2c water to 1c brown rice (yea- you can do brown rice sushi style). I typically do a max of 1/8c liquid per 1c dry rice, but rarely ever use that much liquid. It sounds ridiculous, but even the humidity can have an effect on stickiness, so a specific recipe will never give you exactly what you specifically want. Baking, for example, is CRAAAZY complicated when you consider the conditions of the bakery. Room temp and humidity can cause the 2/5 ratio for bread baking to fluctuate to as much as 2.75/5- which... technically speaking, is a pretty huge difference (which is why a rice cooker is nice for its consistency, but how the rice rests will partially depend upon the temp/humidity). Ultimately, it's about getting a desirable texture, stickiness and fluffiness. All of that will depend upon how it is steamed and the quantity of alcoholic liquid you add afterwards, other ingredients don't really play into this factor, so long as you don't add too much to disrupt the giri of each rice (thai basil is a great additive for rice- after it's done steaming, just toss some thai basil in there while it does it rests, the result is a nice fragrance and flavor).

*shrugs* The fun of cooking is experimentation, as long as you have an idea of what variables you're dealing with, you can eventually get something palatable. I never really took sushi recipes seriously since most of them are ridiculous and gimmicky. Again, it's all derived from vinegar being used as a perservative. So as long as you keep that in mind, regulate the liquid content with the steaming method, you'll find something you'll like. And, well, if it tastes like crap, you can either adjust your added liquid (again, nigiri-sake and mizurin blend is nice) or throw some sugar in. I would DEFINITELY stabilize a BASE before getting comfortable adding extra ingredients (like seaweed).

For extra fun- use arborio rice. fricken amazing for sushi. I had some dry left over after making risotto, that stuff blows the pants off of any white rice I've ever used.

Right- I'm no expert, but I'd call myself a follower of Gourmandism. So- I definitely recommend experimenting and having fun and just thinking about the whole process.

[Morgia]

spinsane... we were never talking about pre-seasoned rice. We were barely talking about the ingredients that you add into the water in which the rice is boiled. Ever asked yourself why you boil pasta and rice in salted water? One reason is the flavor of the endproduct of course, since salt will be allowed to be absorbed during the cooking process.. but another reason is that salt actually has an effect on the boiling temperature of water. Since usually neither of us lives on absolute zero height, water in our kitchens doesn't boil at 100°C, but rather at around 95-98°C. Salt lowers that boiling temperature even further, so as to achieve a "perfect" cooking temperature for aforementioned food at around 85-89°C (merely adding salt won't usually lower the boiling point that far unless you use A LOT, but it achieves a good middle).
And I really doubt that the vinegar was added for storage reasons. If you want to store rice, you store it in its dry form. Rice is usually cooked in just the amount you need. So it's really more of a taste thingy. Plus the extra fertility of the added sugar would ruin the storage effect of vinegar anyway. (Unless you use a huge amount of sugar and produce sirup... that's too much - even for fungus )

[TwEeD]

could simply have been the women you dealt with were more professional.
In a restaurant atmosphere reproducing the same dish over and over is needed which is where strictly defined recipes come into play vs wingin it. Cook A needs to more or less be able to reproduce the same thing as Cook B. Or your restaurant goes down the shitter fast

Nope, not at all actually. I think it rather boils down on the fact that if you don't need measurements to make good dishes/be an excellent cook, that you got the feeling for it (aka more professional) ...  "Fingerspitzengefühl' as the germans would say...

[mgz]

could simply have been the women you dealt with were more professional.
In a restaurant atmosphere reproducing the same dish over and over is needed which is where strictly defined recipes come into play vs wingin it. Cook A needs to more or less be able to reproduce the same thing as Cook B. Or your restaurant goes down the shitter fast

Nope, not at all actually. I think it rather boils down on the fact that if you don't need measurements to make good dishes/be an excellent cook, that you got the feeling for it (aka more professional) ...  "Fingerspitzengefühl' as the germans would say...

more experienced yes, but being more profressional in the restaurant industry would be more along the lines of having a consistent reproducible meal in the sense that your recipe is able to be prepared by others. So when describing it to another professional who is inquiring about it one would be able to communicate the recipe in a clear concise manner. Not with vague amounts for ingredients that could completely change the outcome of a dish. Your mistaking the ability to prepare a good meal based on experience with being professional.

Now thats not to say that a  professional wouldnt take a recipe that requires say 1 cup of something and be able to fairly accurately add said amount to a dish in preparation.
But trying to descripe that as part of its recipe is very unprofessional.

[kenshin-dono]

ah shoulda been a bit clearer. I wasn't asking for ratios for water to rice. As morgia pointed out, I was asking for ratio of sugar to vinegar/salt for seasoning the rice once its out of the cooker. Hell, the cooker itself plainly says not to throw seasoning in it while its cooking =) One thing odd about my cooker though is that the cup it came with and tells you to use is not actually a full cup. its about 6 OZ. It specifically tells you to only use the cup provided so i always assumed you use one of their full cup for all the ratios listed. i wonder if ive been using too little rice by 2oz's this entire time?

As i said this is for onigiri not actual sushi. Actually, do people even traditionally even add a sushi seasoning/vinegar mix to regular rice balls? I just tend to prefer it because it makes it taste a bit sweeter. I am aware the stickiness has nothing to do with the seasoning added after cooking, i just like the taste it gives and it makes it a bit easier to pat into the balls. The rice tends to come outa the cooker quite sticky as is.

Has anyone ever tried using glutinous/sweet rice? I considered trying that but i think you use that stuff to make mochi, so id imagine it would be absurdly gooey/sticky. Im really not sure what its consistancy/flavor is like. Plus i never see it around here id have to look online. I think its also called Thai sticky rice. Spin mentions trying arborio rice for fun. Ive never used that i looked it up and it looks like a really chewy type?

oh and also @spin. I should clarify, i dont actually boil the mixture, it really is just to heat it up and melt the sugar, as well as blend the flavors better. If you boiled it it would probably ruin the flavor. Ohhh benito flakes, that sounds good. unfortunately i never see that around here anywhere. I can sometimes find the Konbu though and like i said i do throw a pice of that in there.

maybe i should try the setting for the glutinous rice with the regular rice on the cooker and see how goopey that makes it, lol.I usually just use the plain rice/short grain setting on soft

[TwEeD]

As i said this is for onigiri not actual sushi. Actually, do people even traditionally even add a sushi seasoning/vinegar mix to regular rice balls?

Nope, apart from salt no seasoning/vinegar is traditionally added

[TwEeD]

it makes it a bit easier to pat into the balls.

Well there is a method that I always use that makes it easy to make the shape if you don't have moulds or having trouble doing it barehanded:

I use a small bowl which I put a plastic foodwrap in. Just wet it a bit with salted water (so the rice doesn't stick to the wrap), remove the excess moisture and put the rice in. If you'restuffing it just make a hole in the middle for it, add the stuffing and cover with rice. Take the wrap out of the bowl by the sides overlapping the bowl and twist it at the top until you end up with a wrapped ball with all the air out. This should make it easier now to make the triangular shape with your hands, the rice will be better compressed/sticked together and no chance it falls apart before your finished with it. Also it helps to counter the heat if the rice is still very warm

Btw: Stickyness isn't altered by seasoning afaik, what is important is washing it the right way (rinse 3-4 times, after that gently put pressure on the rice between your palms but not so much that the grains completely break, proceed with rinsing again until the water gets clear, let the rice dry for a half hour and then let it soak in water for another half-hour/hour) and letting the rice rest for 10 mins after cooking (I don't use a rice cooker so I put a tea-towel over my pot after cooking)

[spinsane]

Onigiri, right. Sorry. I get excited when someone mentions food...

spinsane... we were never talking about pre-seasoned rice. We were barely talking about the ingredients that you add into the water in which the rice is boiled. Ever asked yourself why you boil pasta and rice in salted water? One reason is the flavor of the endproduct of course, since salt will be allowed to be absorbed during the cooking process.. but another reason is that salt actually has an effect on the boiling temperature of water. Since usually neither of us lives on absolute zero height, water in our kitchens doesn't boil at 100°C, but rather at around 95-98°C. Salt lowers that boiling temperature even further, so as to achieve a "perfect" cooking temperature for aforementioned food at around 85-89°C (merely adding salt won't usually lower the boiling point that far unless you use A LOT, but it achieves a good middle).
And I really doubt that the vinegar was added for storage reasons. If you want to store rice, you store it in its dry form. Rice is usually cooked in just the amount you need. So it's really more of a taste thingy. Plus the extra fertility of the added sugar would ruin the storage effect of vinegar anyway. (Unless you use a huge amount of sugar and produce sirup... that's too much - even for fungus )

Shushi rice is basically the equivalent of pickled rice- historically, restaurants make large batches of rice that wont always be consumed all the way, a little vinegar will allow it to last a bit longer than normal. I said that traditionally they would not have used sugar at all, but it would be added in the future to create a contrast with the vinegar flavor to make it more palatable. Right on the salt thing, if I implied otherwise then it's my bad. "All ingredients added to "sushi rice" is done so AFTER it is done cooking" doesn't mean that salt should be excluded from boiling. Salting to taste and salting boiling water is a different thing entirely.

[Arc-sama]

Well I don't make rice balls (Onigiri) ... but more like a sushi roll.

I lightly toast the nori on the stove to get it crispy.  Then I apply a layer or rice to about 75 to 80% of the nori.  The more rice that is added the thicker your roll will be.  Add salt to taste, roll from the edge that has all the rice.  The edge that has none is the end part.  I wet the edge of the nori with water using my finger then seal & eat.

I don't use any seasonings or prepping the rice prior to making my rolls.