As promised, here’s a little tutorial on how to make sticky sushi rice like a pro at home!

I buy my sushi rice from the farmer’s market in bulk but I’ve seen it in grocery stores too. This whole bag is a little over a buck!

Sushi rice is different from regular rice in that it’s a short grain, (you can see it’s kind of rounder and fatter) and it’s more glutinous than regular rice, which makes it sticky when cooked.

For two people, 3/4 cup of uncooked rice should be enough.  If you’re super hungry, make a full cup. The rice to water ratio is 1 to 1, easy to remember.

Before you cook it you need to rinse it. Just run some cool water over it until the water that drains out is mostly clear, not cloudy.  This takes out some of the starch so that it doesn’t just form a gluey porridge when cooked.

Put both the water and the rice in a pot that has enough room for it to expand some and steam.  Now here’s where the important stuff starts.  Turn the temperature up to high and wait for it to boil uncovered.  As soon as it boils, turn the heat all the way down to the very lowest setting and put the lid on.  Set a timer for 15 minutes and get ready to make the seasoning.

Sushi seasoning is basically a mixture of salty, sour, and sweet flavors.  There are many recipes, but the one we use is this: A three-finger pinch of salt, 1 tbsp mirin, and 1 tbsp rice vinegar. Mix it together and set aside.

When the timer goes off for your rice, remove the pot from the eye and set another timer for 10 minutes.  Do not open the lid at any time!

When that timer goes off, dump your rice into some sort of plate or dish with high sides. We use a baking dish for this.  Try not to mess with the rice too much from here on out. You want to “cut it” with a spatula and fold it, but don’t stir or press.  Be gentle! Fan it like crazy, fold again, fan like crazy some more.

Pour your seasoning slowly over the back of your spatula and lightly fan the spatula to spread the seasoning around.  Fold and fan like crazy one or two more times.

What you’ll have is a pleasantly sweet and slightly sour rice that sticks together, making it simple to pick up with chopsticks.

It may seem like a lot of work, but really most of the process is spent waiting on the rice to cook.  There’s plenty of time left over to create something to go with it. Top it with a stir-fry or roasted vegetables, maybe some simmered squash and tofu, and you’ve just made a donburi!

Sushi rice

How to make sushi rice on the stovetop.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Yield: 1 and 1/2 cups cooked

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup short grain sushi rice
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp. mirin
• 1 tbsp. rice vinegar
• a 3 finger pinch of salt

Cooking Directions

1. Rinse rice until water runs clear.
2. Put rice and water in a pot and allow to come to a boil uncovered.
3. As soon as it boils, cover and turn the heat down to low.
4. Cook on low for 15 minutes then turn the heat off and allow to sit covered for another 10.
5. Mix together mirin, rice vinegar, and salt in a small bowl to make the seasoning.
6. Pour rice into a dish, fold and fan it to cool.
7. Pour over seasoning and continue fanning until cooled.

Hope this was helpful. Maybe someday I’ll finally get a rice cooker and I can have it do all the work for me!

October 26, 2010 Alayna How To, Recipes 6 comments

Mmmm…so warm and comforting!

If you haven’t noticed, I cook Japanese food a lot.  It’s easy, healthy, and delicious. What’s not to love?

But if cooking Japanese food sounds intimidating to you, I completely understand why. Many recipes require ingredients not found in the typical Western pantry, and even if you could find them at a local asian market, would you ever use them more than once?

Many of the typical cooking techniques used in making Japanese foods are also not typical for an American home cook, but none of them are difficult, just different.

I think one problem that many people have with cooking Japanese foods is just that they don’t really know what those foods are outside of sushi. Sushi is admittedly not a meal for a beginner to prepare, especially if you want it to look nice. But there’s just so much more out there, and I think that one good place to start is with the donburi.

A donburi is, in essence, a bowl of rice with something tasty on top of it.  Traditionally, most donburi toppings are simmered slowly in a dashi-based stock with other flavorful sauces added, and left to reduce until all the liquid is evaporated and/or absorbed by the ingredients.

Here’s one I made last night that contains a few substitutions for some more traditional items.  You need:

• Half a butternut squash, cubed
• One block extra firm tofu, pressed and cubed
• Vegetable broth to cover
• 3 tbsp. mirin
• 3 tbsp. soy sauce
• approx. 3 tbsp. miso paste
• sprinkle of sugar

Just add all the liquids to a pot and turn it on to medium-high heat.  Whisk to incorporate the miso, then add the squash and tofu. It should look like this…

All you need to do is keep this pot at a steady simmer, but not boiling, until most of the liquid is absorbed. Don’t stir or you’ll break apart the squash, just let it do it’s thang.  It’ll look like this after 30 to 40 minutes…

That’s really it.  Put stuff in pot. Simmer. Eat.

As you can imagine, this technique works well with most any vegetables or cuts of meat you may have on hand.  The sauce can also be tweaked to whatever your tastes are or whatever ingredients you have in the fridge. I used butternut squash this time because I had some pre-chopped and waiting in the freezer, though I think sweet potato would have been even better. I used vegetable stock so that I wouldn’t have to add the extra step of making dashi stock. (Dashi tutorial will follow soon!)

That’s the beauty of the donburi, the addition of rice turns a bunch of random stuff into an impressive meal with minimal effort.  With all the time you’ll have left over you can concentrate on making perfectly sticky sushi rice!

Come to think of it, I should show you how to make sushi rice too.  Coming soon!

October 24, 2010 Alayna Recipes Comments Off on Japanese-style simmered squash and tofu

So, speaking of how differently I eat at home versus at restaurants…

Friday, Jeff and I went out with some friends to Cafe di Sol in the Poncey-Highlands area of town. It’s a cute place with a fantastic patio for people-watching, and a pretty fabulous menu as well.

We started with an app for everyone called Devils On Horseback.  It’s rum-soaked dates stuffed with pistachios, honey, and gorgonzola, wrapped in bacon.

These were pretty good, but a little too sweet. I had one and a half.

Then we got to the good stuff.  Jeff had the same sandwich he gets every time which is a turkey burger with cranberry sauce on pumpernickel bread.

And I went all out and got the Antipasti Plate…

So Good!  3 types of charcuterie, camembert, roasted peppers, a beet-pickled deviled egg, olives, marinated mushrooms, toasted pistachios and pinolis, all with crusty bread.

I should have ordered the soup and salad like I was thinking, but I have little self-control when it comes to meals like this.  Bread with cured meats and fancy cheeses is seriously one of two meals I would choose from to be my last meal.  The other is toasted sesame bagels with cream cheese and lox.  I have no intention to ever deny myself my favorite meal, but it’s a treat food now, and I probably won’t have it again for a while.

We had a great time at Cafe di Sol, we need to remember to go there more often.

Well, that was Friday. Last night we had dinner with a different set of friends at Taqueria del Sol (what’s with all the di Sol, del Sol names?) This one’s right in Decatur so we were able to walk.

We had chips and guac for the table…

And a pitcher of these to go around…

I don’t like salt on my margaritas.  I know, I’m weird.

What I did have was the fish tacos.  They come with tons of super-hot pickled jalepenos and cilantro cream. Jeff was stealing bites every time I set it down!

He always gets the enchiladas with red sauce…

They really are excellent. The sauce has a deep roasted flavor. I was surprised that he chose to get one of his enchiladas with bean-only filling instead of his usual all-beef.  I think all the vegetarian meals I’m making at home are rubbing off on him!

I’m realizing in looking at these pictures that I need to be better about capturing ourselves and our friends in them.  I just could not wait to eat and didn’t wanna fool around with the camera for very long.

Well, that was our weekend.  How was yours?

October 24, 2010 Alayna Discussion 1 comment