The Basic: Sushi Rice / Sushi-meshi / 寿司用醋饭

Sushi rice or vinegar-ed rice in English, 寿司飯 (read as sushi-meshi) or 舎利/シャリ (read as Shari) in Japanese, whatever you call it, they are all referring to the same thing - the basic ingredient for all kind of sushi. The taste of sushi-meshi varies from chef to chef, in term of sweetness and sourness. Feel free to adjust the amount of the sugar and vinegar, or the vinegar dressing, according to your taste.

I have also included "recipe" for hand-vinegar at the end of the post. Do remember to prepare it before started making the sushi. For preparing the sushi rice, please spend a few minutes take note of the following important points:

• It is mentioned in Japanese Home Cooks that rice for cooking sushi rice should be soaked before cooking. In addition to it, as the kitchen gadgets getting more advance, if an IH pressure rice cooker is used and normal rice cooking function is selected, rice can be cooked without soaking in advance.
• If using premixed sushi vinegar (寿司醋) [Sushi vinegar and rice vinegar are two different things], it can be used straight away from the bottle, without adding sugar or salt unless sweeter or saltier sushi-meshi is preferred.
• If using a wooden mixing bowl or barrel (known as hangiri/handai in Japanese), wet the bowl/barrel with water then pat-dry using a clean kitchen towel. This is to prevent the wooden bowl/barrel from absorbing sushi vinegar when preparing sushi rice.
  

Sushi Rice / Sushi-meshi / 寿司用醋饭

Ingredients:

2 rice cups uncooked short-grain rice / Japanese rice

Water

Sushi vinegar:

3 tbsp rice vinegar (Acid 4.2%)

3 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

Method:

1. Rinse the rice until the water is running clear. Put the rice into rice cooker pot and fill with water up to mark "2".
2. Soak the rice for at least 2 hours then cook as usual. (omit this step if using an IH rice cooker)
3. For the sushi vinegar, combine all three ingredients in a bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
4. Soon after the rice is cooked, transfer it into a large wooden or non-metal bowl. Add in the sushi vinegar gradually while the rice is still hot. Mix well.
5. Use a hand fan or a card board to fan the rice to bring down the temperature rapidly (to body temperature). Then cover it with a clean damp towel. Sushi rice is ready to use.

For shaping/making the sushi, hand-vinegar (手酢, te-zu in Japanese) is used to prevent sushi rice from sticking on the hands. Dip fingers in the hand-vinegar, shake gently to remove excess solution then rub each palm with fingers.

Hand-vinegar (手酢/手醋):

In a bowl, mix together 1 part of rice vinegar with 2 parts of water. Ready to use.

Now you are ready to make some decent sushi for your family and friends.