How to Make Rice

For most people, knowing how to make rice isn't really considered a skill that needs to be reviewed (especially if you're Asian). However, you would be surprised as to how many people make mistakes with the simple procedure of making rice. Also, there are so many different ways to make rice for so many different types of tastes. Some like their rice dry, while others like it soft and mushy. For sushi rice, we need a texture that is distinct and firm, yet moist both inside and out. Remember, good sushi starts with good vinegar rice, and good vinegar rice starts with good rice.

For sushi, you will need some medium/short-grain white rice. Most sushi restaurants use short grain rice but medium grain is a fine substitute.
I personally like to buy Shirakiku or Nishiki brand, but it doesn't really matter what brand you buy.

So let's take a look at the process of making rice.

Measure rice. In this picture, I measured 3 cups of rice into the rice pot. At this point, it doesn't really matter how many cups you choose to use right now. When making sushi, however, you will need to keep track of how many cups of dry rice you are using.

Add water to the pot (enough to cover rice, plus a little extra).

The first step to making rice is washing. Washing the rice will eliminate odors given by the residue left over from the starch on the outer coating of the rice. Wash rice for 1-2 minutes. Do not wash too long or the rice grains will start to fall apart.

Dump the water. Leave the rice in the container

Next, rinse the rice. Basically, you will need to add water, slush it around for a second or two, and then dump it. Rinse the rice at least 5-6 times.

The third step is to dry the rice. This is a very important, yet often neglected step to making rice. Drying the rice will allow moisture from the water to soak into the rice, offering an equal amount of moisture both inside and out. Pour the rice into a colander and let dry. Dry rice for a minimum of 30 minutes, up to 24 hours. If you plan on drying it for a few hours or more, cover it up with plastic wrap and leave it in the fridge.

Once the rice is dry, pour it back into the container. Measure out an equal amount of water to dry rice, plus a little bit more. (In this picture, I measured 3 cups of water, plus about 2 tablespoons). For under 5 cups of dry rice, you want to generally add a tablespoon or 2 of extra water. For 5 cups of dry rice you will use 5 1/4 cups of water, and for 10 cups of dry rice you will use 10 1/2 cups of water.
(If you use too much water in comparison to the amount of dry rice, the rice will come out very sticky and mushy. Mushy rice is no good for sushi.)

Once the water and rice are measured, pop it in an automatic rice cooker and wait! We use a sanyo brand automatic rice cooker. You can also cook the rice in a pot over a stovetop, but I would recommend using a rice cooker. Cooking it over a stovetop requires that you constantly watch the rice.

Once the rice is finished, pour it into a bowl, serve and enjoy!

Next up is a recipe on how to make "sushi rice". I use quotation marks because "sushi" actually refers to the vinager rice, so many consider "sushi rice" to be an incorrect terminology. I still like to use it to be more specific. Anyway, stick around! I'll cover "sushi rice" and some basic sushi rolls this week.