Today, I’ll be sharing how to make delicious sushi rice (known as sumeshi at home and shari in sushi restaurants). All you need are rice, sugar, rice vinegar, and salt. The recipe for sushi rice varies depending on the region in Japan. Since my father worked closely with many Edomae style sushi restaurants, it’s the Edomae that we followed at home.
Sushi chefs at every sushi restaurant not just the traditional ones take great pride in their sushi rice. The rice reflects each restaurant’s unique style, tastes, and technique, from the ingredients and measurements to the water temperature, water quality, and the types of rice, sugar, vinegar, and salt they use.
Whenever my mother visits a sushi restaurant, she always starts by ordering hikarimono (shiny, silver-skinned fish like kohada or pickled mackerel). She believes that the way such fish are prepared and the quality of the sushi rice are a good indicator of whether the restaurant is up to her standards.
These days, sushi rice in many popular sushi places tends to be on the sweeter side. My mother’s often quick to point this out when we try new sushi spots.
At home, we sometimes make a simpler version of sushi rice without sugar, using only vinegar and salt which is the traditional Edomae style.
But for this recipe, I’ve kept it easy and a bit sweeter, similar to what you might typically find in a typical sushi restaurant. This sushi rice works well for sushi rolls, chirashi sushi, or inari sushi, and it’s absolutely delicious!
For the vinegar, I recommend using Mizkan’s pure rice vinegar. It’s great not only for sushi but also for a variety of Japanese and Chinese dishes.
For Inari sushi recipe, click the link below!
Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and tag @recipescometrue on Instagram and hashtag it #recipescometrue.
Sushi Rice
Ingredients
- 360 ml sushi rice (2 rice cooker cups)
- 360 ml water
- 30 ml rice vinegar (I recommend Mizkan’s pure rice vinegar)
- 15 g sugar
- 3 g salt
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar for moistening of the surface of the large deep dish (optional)
Instructions
- Wash the 360ml of sushi rice in a pot.
- Drain the rice using a sieve to remove excess water.
- Put the drained rice back in the pot and add 360 ml of water.
- Let the rice soak for 15 minutes if you’re short on time. But for best results soak for 1 to 2 hours.
- Set a timer for 16 minutes, then cook the rice: heat on high until it boils (about 5 minutes), then turn the heat down to low and cook for another 11 minutes.
- While the rice cooks, mix together the 15g of sugar, the 30ml of rice vinegar, and the 3g of salt to prepare the sushi vinegar.Tip: The sugar and salt might not dissolve easily in the vinegar here, but they’ll melt when you pour the mixture over the hot rice, so no worries!
- Once the rice is done, remove the pot from the heat, take off the lid, and sprinkle the sushi vinegar evenly over the rice.
- Quickly cover the pot again and let it steam for 10 minutes.
- Add about 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar to a large deep dish to moisten the surface, then lightly dab any excess moisture with a kitchen paper towel. Tip: This helps prevent the sushi rice sticking to the dish (although some sticking may still occur). Keep the rice vinegar-soaked paper towel, as you'll use it later to cover the sushi rice and prevent it from drying out.
- After 10 minutes, open the lid and gently fluff the rice from the bottom up. Transfer the sushi rice to the large deep dish to cool.
- Gently fluff the rice while using a fan or paper fan to cool it down completely, ensuring that the moisture evaporates properly. Once the steam has dissipated and the rice is cool, it’s ready to use.
- Cover the rice with the rice vinegar-soaked kitchen paper towel to prevent it from drying out too much until you’re ready to use it.
- Enjoy the sushi rice in hand-rolled sushi with nori and sashimi, as chirashi sushi with toppings of your choosing, or as inari sushi in seasoned tofu pockets.
