Reiko Hashimoto of Hashi Cooking has shared her straightforward step by step recipe of how to make great sushi rice
Ingredients:
3 cups short- grain white rice
3¼ cups water (or 10% more than rice)
SUSHI vinegar/seasoning:
½ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup sugar
½ tsp salt
½ tsp concentrated DASHI stock or powdered DASHI stock
Or
¾ cup pre-made sushi seasoning
Method:
- Put all ingredients for Sushi vinegar in the saucepan and heat up gently to mix them well. Simmer gently for about 10 min until slightly thickened.
- Place rice in the pan you will use. Lightly rinse rice with cold water and drain. Repeat this for three or four times so that water becomes almost clear. Drain and then fill water with the right amount in the pan you will be cooking the rice and leave rice soaked for at least 30 minutes. You can soak the rice up to 5 hours. If the soaking time is longer, cooking time becomes slightly less.
- Either: cook rice in rice cooker; Just switch on after the above process. When rice is cooked, the rice cooker automatically switches to “keep warm” position but do not keep warm. You need to take the plug off to rest without any heat. Then allow rice to stand for 15 minutes.
- Or: cook rice in saucepan; Cover the pan tightly then bring to boil. Once it comes to boil, reduce heat and simmer with the lid on for about 12-15 minutes or until water is absorbed, making sure lid is on all the time. Remove from the heat, and then allow rice to stand for 15 minutes, keeping the lid on.
- Spread the cooked rice in a wide & flat-bottomed bowl (preferably wood*) while rice is still steaming hot. Gradually pouring in the sushi seasoning and mix with a wooden large flat spatula as if cutting through the lumps of rice and separate grain at a sharp angle and folding over. You must not stir otherwise rice grain will be crushed and becomes lumpy. Continue folding rice gently and funning at the same time by using the other hand until rice becomes room temperature. Fanning is particularly important as is the most efficient way to cool the rice temperature quickly. Rice should be shiny and sticky but still each grain separates. Keep damp cloth over rice to stop rice drying out and getting hardened until use.
*You must not use a stainless steel bowl, a ceramic bowl or the pan you cooked the rice in because, they will keep the heat and condensation and so change the texture of the rice.