Sushi Rice

By littlefish

Ingredients

• to season 5 cups raw rice:
• 1 1/4 c suschi rice (short grain white rice)
• 1 1/2 c water
• 1 piece kombu, opt.
• 2 T sushi rice seasoning (see below)
• 3/4 c white vinegar
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 T salt
• 2 slices fresh ginger
• Bring to a boil, remove from heat, discard ginger. Stir hot rice to cool with a large paddle-shaped spoon, stirring in vinegar sauce evenly. Fan rice to cool as it is stirred.
• Note that mirin or rice vinegar was not as widely available in the 70's. (Before the sushi boom)
• And that there is no definitve recipe; every cook has a favorite balance of flavors. You can cut down the recipe as needed: 10 parts vinegar, 8 parts sugar, 1 part salt and ginger

Details

Servings 24

Preparation

Step 1

I use two cups of vinegar (plus a cup of sugar and about a quarter cup of salt) for seven cups of raw rice (cooked, of course).

(You didn't ask for it, but here's some of my earlier advice, cut and pasted from an earlier thread)
I'm a former sushi chef, and here's what I do when I make sushi at home.

1. Wash rice two or three times.
2. Start the rice in the rice cooker.
3. Mix the su (vinegar dressing) in whatever proportions you like.
4. Allow the rice to rest in the rice cooker for 15 minutes after it shuts off (don't lift the lid...let it continue to steam).
5. Carefully scoop the rice out into a big baking pan (I don't have a wooden tub), taking care not to scrape the sides of the rice pot. Leave whatever sticks to the pot in the pot...you don't want torn-up, mashed, or damaged rice in your sushi. You can scrape the koge later, for snacking.
6. IMMEDIATELY pour the su over the rice, and start folding it in. Don't stir or mix, because that leads to crushed rice grains. Fold, fold, fold. (My usual instructions also include advice to add WAY more su than you think is necessary. The rice will absorb a surprising amount of liquid as it cools, but once it's cooled, you can't add more liquid. When the rice/vinegar mixture is hot, it's going to look like you added too much, but as it cools - and the sheen builds - it'll start to look and feel right. I admit, tho...the first few times, it's a 'leap of faith' thing.)
7. Fold some more. Fold until you're sure that the su is evenly distributed in the rice. Then let it cool. I don't fan anymore, because I don't have a flunky to fan it and I'm usually too busy getting other ingredients together to fan it. I don't notice a marked drop in quality from not having fanned the rice. (Then again, it could be that, because at one time *I* was the flunky who had to fan the rice, I developed a distaste for it!)
8. As the mixture cools, fold some more.

To keep it from drying out too much, cover it with a damp kitchen towel.