Craving for sushi rice? Let’s cook sushi rice at home. But if you wonder how to make sushi rice, you are at the right place for the sushi rice recipe. Let’s dig in.
Sushi rice is traditional Japanese rice consumed worldwide and mainly in Japan. There are various ways to consume delicious sushi rice, so there are plenty of ways to cook sushi rice.
Making sushi rice is not very hard. Even amateur cooks can cook sushi rice also; if you are a die-hard fan of sushi rice, you can quickly cook the sushi rice. Making sushi rice mainly consists of patience, or we can say making sushi is a test of patience.
History of Sushi Rice
As per the historians, they can track the origin of sushi rice as of now is about the 2nd century, but the written history of sushi rice was not founded/spotted by them till the 10th century. It is exciting that the sushi rice we eat today as the food was not prepared as food; instead, it was used to preserve raw fish, also famously known as “NAREZUSHI.
Now you may ask for rice to preserve raw fish? They used fermented rice to preserve the fish pickle, and it could be stored for up to one year from then. However, the fermented rice was later thrown away and was not a part of the food. Later in the 14th-century, people started eating fermented rice and fish.
Unlike every contemporary thing, the food had also changed back in those days in japan people used to eat raw fish until pollution made the consumption health hazardous. Things changed the way of consumption after so many years of the food revolution. We get to see the sushi rice as it is o now.
Why is it called sushi rice?
Sushi is called sushi because, as the name sushi itself suggests, the sour taste, the literal meaning of sushi is sour, and the whole sushi dish is sour flavor along with some savory flavor.
So I hope now you know why it is called sushi rice.
What is sushi rice?
Sushi rice has a solid ethnic bond with the Japanese culture, and the story of sushi also started in the rice fields. The modern inventor of sushi rice is Hanaya Yohei, who invented the nigiri-zushi, the type of sushi we consume today, seafood pressed in vinegar flavored rice and served with a few side dishes.
In plain words, who is not aware of what sushi rice is? Then let me tell you that sushi rice is nothing but plain short-grain white rice seasoned with vinegar, sugar, and salt. Hope I had till now cleared the doubt about how to make sushi rice.
How long does it take to prepare sushi rice?
There are various ways to cook the sushi rice, but it takes approximately 30 minutes to cook the rice, and also sushi rice can be cooked in various ways. We will explain here how to cook sushi rice one by one.
Ingredients
To prepare the sushi rice, make sure you have all the ingredients; here is a list of the following ingredients to prepare sushi rice.
To cook sushi rice, we need rice; cold cooked rice is not preferred. Instead, we choose uncooked rice here. Also, keep in mind that long-grain rice like Jasmine rice or any other rice is not preferred as they have the tendency to fall apart and will not make any sushi rice; therefore, the rice should be short grain rice which is also known as sticky rice/Japanese rice in case if you do not have any short-grain Japanese rice we can also opt for any rice which has a higher starch content and also short-grained.
We need vinegar we can take any vinegar from for healthier option and also for better taste enhancement we can also end choosing apple cider vinegar or rice wine vinegar also known as rice vinegar, rice vinegar also has two varieties one is the plain rice wine vinegar the other is the seasoned vinegar choose as per your taste. However, plain rice wine vinegar is recommended. Next, we need sugar and salt.
Now let us point out once again what we need for how to make sushi rice:-
- short-grain rice/sticky rice
- vinegar solution
- sugar and salt (table salt) [ 1/4 th cup of sugar and salt 1 tablespoon.
- Rice cooker
- rice paddle
- instant pot also works in place of the rice cooker.
Now let’s start making our favorite sushi rice recipe for homemade sushi night or sushi day of your choice.
Two ways to make easy sushi rice for beginners
1. How to make sushi rice the easy way
First, take a small saucepan and 2 medium cups of uncooked rice. The rice must be sushi rice for one person or in case you are trying it all alone, but in case you are enjoying it with a bunch of your favorite people, then take a large bowl and 6-7 cups of sushi rice and then rinse the rice, and let the rice soak in the small saucepan for about 30 minutes to overnight based on your personal choice, as I had said earlier making good sushi rice is all about patience.
Now, let’s move to the next step of how to make sushi rice; light up the gas woven and keep it on medium heat. Now take a rice cooker, add the rinsed sushi rice to the rice cooker bowl, and add water. The water must be about 3/4 of the sushi rice (because we want the sushi rice to absorb the water from the rice cooker completely), and bring it to a good boil; remember to cook the sushi rice until you lose the patience, to check the rice is cooked evenly you can use the rice paddle as well.
Once the rice grains are cooked, now remove the sushi rice from the heat to get steamed evenly, do not remove the lead/cover of the pan, and let us start preparing the sushi vinegar mixture, which is our next step of how to make sushi rice.
We need rice vinegar, sugar, and salt to prepare the sushi vinegar. All we can do to prepare the vinegar mixture is to combine rice vinegar, sugar, and salt into a mixing bowl (remember the bowl must be a non-metallic bowl to prevent any reaction of the rice vinegar with the mixing bowl) and mix it until the whole is dissolved or to mix it even faster we can put it into the gas woven into a medium-high heat until it is dissolved.
We are at the last step of how to make sushi rice. Now remove the lead of the rice cooker bowl of sushi rice and add the vinegar mixture to the sushi rice. With the help of a rice paddle/wooden spoon, gently fold all the rice with the vinegar mixture till it is evenly mixed; let the rice cool, and that is it; your sushi rice is ready.
Now you can enjoy your sushi rice as sushi rolls or add a side dish cuisine.
NOTE: Remember, if your sushi vinegar, sugar, and salt are not balanced, the taste will be imbalanced.
2. How to make sushi rice in the instant pot?
There are many ways to cook sushi rice. One such way is to use an instant pot/pressure cooker. While cooking in an instant pot, remember you won’t be able to use a rice paddle as much as you can in other methods to check the cooked rice, so you have to be very clever with measurements and time.
Let’s learn how to make sushi rice in an instant pot. So let’s start making sushi rice in an instant pot.
Take short-grain rice and rinse the rice. You can also soak the rinsed sushi rice for fast cooking, but it is not necessary in case of cooking the sushi rice in an instant pot.
Now take 2 cups of rinsed rice, add water in the rice cooker bowl up to the mentioned line, and put it in the instant pot; set the settings as white rice setting, keep the pressure low, and let it cook automatically. once cooked, take the cooked rice out of the instant pot immediately and let the rice cool
Now moving on to the next step, take a wooden bowl to make the vinegar solution; now take vinegar, sugar, and salt (you can also add oil if you want. Any vegetable oil will work fine, but I would suggest using sesame oil as it has extensive use in the Japanese dish cuisine) and whisk until the sugar crystals got dissolved completely.
Also, note that while taking vinegar of your choice, add less sugar if you are using readymade sushi vinegar because vinegar is usually in sour flavor. Still, the sushi vinegar is already slightly sweet. So more sugar will turn the sushi rice too sweet and turn the dish into a disaster.
Now we are at the last step of how to make sushi rice in an instant pot. Moving forward, you add the cooked rice into the wooden bowl and gently fold it until it is evenly mixed with the seasoned sushi vinegar, and thus you have the authentic sushi rice ready.
Now you can eat the sushi rice and your favorite side dish or rice balls called Onigiri in Japanese.
NOTE: Remember to let the rice cool before mixing sushi rice with a rice paddle/wooden spoon. Though the sushi rice is sticky rice but not mushy rice, mixing it hot can break the short-grain rice shorter, releasing more starch and making it way more sticky like an instant adhesive.
Now let’s make a bowl of easy sushi rice
Let’s learn how to make sushi rice most straightforwardly; its enormous variety is one good thing about sushi. You can make a sushi filling combination of your own, so this sushi rice recipe is created with a hint of the Indian version and is my new favorite recipe and excellent homemade sushi for vegans. This recipe calls for a lot of vegetables. Still, you can also add meat or fish of your choice.
This recipe can take 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the cook.
recipe calls/ ingredients
- short-grain rice
- rice vinegar/apple cider vinegar
- Sea salt
- sugar
- sesame oil
- Sesame seed
- nori/seaweed
- carrot
- cucumber
- mushroom
- avocado
- tomatoes
- bell peppers
- and any vegetables of your choice
- tofu
- fish-like Salmon/ tuna ( For non-vegetarians )
- ground beef/ minced pork ( For non-vegetarians )
- pickled Jalapeno
- hot sauce (you can add this of your choice )
- soy sauce
- scallions/green onions
- fish sauce
- Chilli flakes
- turmeric
- chili powder
- add sour cream
- garlic powder/paste (for non-veg)
- ginger powder/paste (for non-veg)
- bamboo mat/ parchment paper
- now, let us dive into the best sushi rice recipe
First of all, take a small saucepan and rinse sushi rice, you can also use a rice cooker or an instant pot if you want to, but I prefer a small saucepan to check the rice.
Now you may ask, how much rice?
Well, for one person, 2 standard cups of rice are delicate, and you can always add more depending upon the portion consumption of the person. If you are making for more people, you can add the 2 standard cups X the number of people [ 2 cups X number of persons].
Place the saucepan on the stovetop on medium heat and add water and the uncooked rice; cook the rice for 20 minutes.
you can prepare the rest of the vegetables or fillings till the rice is prepared (details below)
By using a wooden spoon, check whether the rice has thoroughly boiled. If it needs water, you can add a little bit of water. Please Do not overdo it because we want the rice to absorb the water completely.
If the rice is not cooked correctly, then cook the rice a bit more till you lose patience.
Once cooked, let it sit aside for 10-12 more minutes to simmer with the lid on. While simmering away from the stovetop, it will cool down on its own till then; we will do the rest of the preparation for our perfect sushi rice.
To make the rice seasoning follow the following steps:-
Let’s learn how to make sushi rice seasoning. To make the seasoning take a nonmetallic mixing bowl and avoid the seasoned rice vinegar; instead, take plain rice vinegar.
Now add 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar/ apple cider vinegar, add 1 tablespoon of sesame oil ( the sesame oil is entirely optional; I add it because of personal preference), about 1 tablespoon if you are a solo eater, add 1 tablespoon salt ( depending upon your taste) and add 2 tablespoons packed sugar ( Note: the sugar must be more as compared to salt as per your taste).
Whisk until the granulated sugar mixes with the season entirely, and there you have your homemade sushi vinegar. You can always multiply the said portion by the number of people consuming it.
3 tablespoons of vinegar +1 tablespoon sesame oil+1 tablespoon salt + 2 tablespoons full-sugar X [ The number of eaters].
One more way to create sushi vinegar for this recipe is
Take a nonmetallic mixing bowl to add the store-bought sushi vinegar. Remember, this is sweet as compared to other kinds of vinegar. This time cut the sugar/use less sugar. We will prepare here as per one standard serving and always multiply the food materials as per the number of consumers.
Therefore take the bowl, add 3 tablespoons of the store-bought sushi vinegar, add 1 tablespoon salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil ( the sesame oil is entirely optional; I add it because of personal preference) whisk until the seasoning altogether blends well with zero granulated sugar or salt, here you have your ultimate sushi vinegar ready.
Prepare the seasoning a bit more from the same suggested way and amount for making a dip further.
Now mix the sushi vinegar with rice well so that every grain particle mixes evenly with the rice, and now the perfect sushi rice is ready. Hope now you have learned how to make sushi rice.
How to make sushi rice filling the vegan wayÂ
how to make sushi rice the vegan way, Firstly wash the vegetables nicely and let them dry.Â
Then you can either shred or Julian the carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, tomatoes and bell peppers, and other vegetables of your choice separately one by one.
Now the next step of how to make sushi rice then peel off the avocados and thinly slice them vertically as it will help to roll the sushi roll easily.
Cut it into thinly rectangular shapes or dice the tofu and the mushrooms and season it with salt, turmeric chili powder, and sour cream. Let it rest for 15 minutes.
You can also stir fry the shredded vegetables, but if you prefer raw, then do not work hard for it.
Now take a frying pan and keep it on the stovetop on medium heat. The pan is hot, add the sesame oil, let the oil there for five minutes, adds the tofu and the mushrooms, and stir fry them till golden – golden-brown, depending on your choice.
How to make sushi rice filling for non-vegetarian sushi
Wash the vegetables nicely and then dry.
If you are using tuna or salmon, you can serve it fresh/ or stir fry it, depending upon your choice.
For those who generally prefer meat over fish, use sour cream, add salt, garlic powder/paste, ginger powder/paste, turmeric powder, and salt. Mix it well and let it rest for 15-20 minutes
to
Slice up the avocados vertically. Thinly, you can shred or Jullian the carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, tomatoes, bell peppers, and other vegetables of your choice separately.
Now cook the meat of your preference till all the flavor gets incorporated and smells delicious.
Now for the dipping
You can serve the soy sauce on a sauce plate solo and make another dip of your choice. This dish should be tried with both.
Let’s learn how to make sushi rice dips. To make the dip take a mixing bowl and add 1 tablespoon chili flakes, 2 small thinly sliced scallions/green onions, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, hot sauce as per your taste, and 1/2 tablespoon of previously seasoned rice vinegar made for the rice incorporate everything well. And here, you have your ultimate dip for the sushi rolls.
Now for the sushi rolls
Place the bamboo mat/or parchment paper that works fine for a homemade setup; place it on a clean and even surfaced counter.
Now it is time to assemble the rice with the rest of the fillings.
Place the nori sheet/seaweed on the top of the bamboo mat/ parchment paper, then place sushi rice on the top of it and spread it evenly to the length of the nori sheet.
Now start assembling all the vegetables layer by layer and also do not overdo or make a heap as it will be difficult to roll the rice. First, put the carrot over the rice and then cucumber, now add bell papers, tomatoes, avocadoes, and then the masterpiece of the dish, the stir-fried tofu and mushrooms/meat.
Remember to assemble it in a line, and each ingredient should be on top of the other.
Now gently roll the rice with the help of the bamboo mat, and keep pressing it in between so it assembles well. Remember, the bamboo mat is for rolling from outside. Do not roll the whole mat/sheet in between; let’s jump into the next step of how to make sushi rice.
You will be left with a nori-wrapped cylinder with rice and vegetables stuffed inside; take a sharp knife and gently cut the sushi rolls into small pieces. Now season the sushi rolls with sesame seeds; thus, you have one of the best sushi rice.
Grab your plate and serve it with soy sauce and dipping sauce. Remember to put both the dips into different plates/sauce bowls/dipping bowls.
Hope you liked this version of how to make sushi rice at home. Now enjoy the sushi rolls from the comfort of your home without ordering or going out.
Did you know?
The starting price of sushi is anywhere between 15 USD to 20 USD, 2 plates of the sushi is sufficient for 1 adult. Until now, the most expensive sushi is priced up to 2000 USD, and it has also made a Guinness record for it. But the question is, how can sushi be that expensive? Well, it is not just any random sushi like we had mentioned. This recipe is on another level. Now you might ask, what does that sushi contain, gems or Jewels? Yes, you guessed that it contains edible gems and jewels like diamonds, pearls, and gold.
But 2000 dollars for one sushi plate, do you think this is that much worthy? Let us know in the comment section.
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