Japanese cuisine is very popular these days. Having lunch or dinner with sushi or rolls has become the order of the day. There is a joke that making sushi at home is not only a fun activity, but also “budget-saving” and “health-saving”, so let’s pay a little attention important component when making sushi - dressing for rice, rolls and sushi.
Why do you need rice dressing? It gives sushi not only the necessary taste, but also increases the stickiness, so it will not fall apart.
Since no salt is added to rice during cooking, rice dressing for sushi contains both salt and sugar. Vinegar plays the main role in seasoning rice. Rice vinegar can be found in specialized departments of stores where they sell other sushi ingredients. But what should you do if you still couldn’t buy rice vinegar? What can replace it?
Rice vinegar is usually replaced with white wine vinegar, grape vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or, at worst, table vinegar. Here you need to choose the right proportions so as not to spoil the taste of the rice.
You can try ready-made recipes and then adjust the amount of ingredients to taste.
Rice Vinegar Dressing Recipe
Ingredients:
- rice vinegar – 100 ml;
- sugar – 3 teaspoons;
- salt – 1 teaspoon.
Apple Cider Vinegar Recipe
Ingredients:
- apple cider vinegar – 2 tbsp. spoons;
- water – 3 tbsp. spoons;
- sugar – 2 teaspoons
- salt – 1 teaspoon.
Recipe with grape vinegar
Ingredients:
- grape vinegar - 4 tbsp. spoons;
- sugar – 3 teaspoons;
- salt – 1 teaspoon.
Recipe with table vinegar
Ingredients:
- table vinegar 6% - 50 ml;
- soy sauce – 50 ml;
- sugar – 20 g.
Preparation
Boil everything and stir until completely dissolved. Add to rice while warm. And if you have prepared the dressing for future use, store it in the refrigerator and reheat it before use.
Cooking recipe rice vinegar
You can make your own rice vinegar if you wish. If you have time and desire.
Ingredients:
- sugar;
- yeast;
- egg white.
Preparation
Pour water over the rice and leave to steep overnight. The next day we decant the water and add about 
180 g sugar. Place the dishes in a water bath and stir until the sugar dissolves, cook for about twenty minutes. Cool, pour into a jar and add a quarter tablespoon of yeast per liter of liquid. The fermentation process will take about a week. When the bubbles disappear completely, pour into a clean jar. We insist for a month.
After a month, strain the mixture. Boil with beaten raw egg white (for cleaning), and strain again.
Like this long haul, but real homemade rice vinegar will always be at your service.
With this dressing you can prepare both classic and more complex ones.
And rolls have ceased to be exotic dishes for us. Many of us have tried and loved them. There are plenty of restaurants and cafes where you can enjoy these dishes. You can also cook them yourself. It's quite simple, you just need to follow some rules and everything will work out. Below you will learn how to properly cook rice for rolls at home.
What kind of rice is needed for rolls?
So, let's start by deciding what kind of rice we will need to make delicious rolls. In the departments of stores where you can buy everything for sushi, you can find special rice. But it's quite expensive. Ordinary round rice is absolutely in no way inferior to it. You should not take the oblong one; it is not suitable for our purposes.
How to cook rice for rolls - recipe?
Ingredients:
- round rice - 1 cup;
- rice vinegar – 25 ml;
- sugar – 15 g;
- water – 1.25 cups;
- salt – 5 g.
Preparation
Place the rice in a colander and rinse very well under running water. This must be done before clear water. After this, pour it into a saucepan, pour in water and bring to a boil over high heat with the lid on. After boiling, immediately reduce the heat to the minimum possible and cook for another 12 minutes. Then turn off the stove and let the rice brew for another 15 minutes. The lid must not be opened during the entire cooking process. Now let's make the dressing for the rice rolls. Add sugar and salt to the vinegar and lightly heat the mixture in the microwave, and then stir. After 15 minutes, place the rice in a wide bowl and pour the resulting dressing over it. Let it cool a little, and after that we use it for further work with rolls.
How to cook rice for rolls in a slow cooker?
Ingredients:
Preparation
First, rinse the rice well, and then put it in a multicooker pan. Pour in water and select the “Rice” mode. The time we need to prepare is 25 minutes. After this, do not rush to open the lid, let the rice steep for another 10 minutes. For the dressing, combine rice vinegar with lemon juice, salt, soy sauce and sugar. Heat the mass until the bulk ingredients dissolve and let it cool. Pour the marinade over the finished rice. That's it, the source material for the rolls is ready!
If you decide to make sushi at home, then the first thing you will have to deal with is how to prepare sushi rice. Avid sushi connoisseurs will argue that rice for sushi must be of a special Japanese variety, and cooking rice in a steamer or rice cooker will make the taste of sushi as close to Japanese as possible.
But such statements could have been followed a few years ago, when preparing sushi at home was a fantasy, and in order to taste Japanese cuisine, you had to go to a restaurant. Now the situation is a little different, and personally, I always prepare sushi and rolls at home - it’s cheaper and I’m always confident in the quality and freshness of the ingredients used. So, before you start making sushi rolls at home, you need to know the following:
Rice for sushi should be round-grained, with a high percentage of gluten.
The Japanese rice varieties Nishiki, Kahomai, Maruyu, Kokuho, Minori are ideal for making sushi at home, but it’s okay if you buy rice from a domestic manufacturer with a mark on the package “Rice for sushi”, the quality of the sushi rolls will not suffer from this.
How much rice do you need?
I have experimentally found that 200 grams of raw rice is enough for two people. If you are preparing rice for four people, then take 400 grams of rice.
Before you cook
Before cooking sushi rice, be sure to rinse it several times in cold water until the water becomes clear.
How much water does it take to cook sushi rice?
If we are preparing rice for sushi, then we need to pour 1.5 times more water than the volume of rice. Pour the rice into a measuring cup to the 250 ml mark. (this will be 200 grams of rice) and measure out 1.5 times more water - 375 ml.
5. Pour in rice cold water, cover with a lid and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and leave to cook for another 10-15 minutes until the rice has absorbed all the water. Next, remove the rice from the heat and let it sit under the lid closed for at least 15 minutes.
Sushi rice dressing
For 200 grams of rice we will need the following ingredients:
- juice from one lemon (or 25 ml rice vinegar)
- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp. water
- 2 tsp Sahara
- 1 tsp salt
Mix all dressing ingredients until dissolved. Taste the dressing - if it's too sour, add more water. When the rice has cooled, pour in the dressing and mix thoroughly with a wooden spatula so that all the dressing is evenly distributed over the rice. You will immediately see how the density and structure of the rice will change. The rice will spread very easily over the seaweed sheets.
How to cook sushi rice?
In Japan, rice is used to prepare a wide variety of dishes, not just sushi and rolls, and the taste of the dish will depend on its proper preparation. And despite this, there is no one correct way to cook rice, we will look at different options how to properly cook rice for sushi and rolls. And they will all be correct, choose to your taste.
How to cook sushi rice
Rice for rolls and sushi is cooked in the same way, as it should become viscous and stick together well. Before cooking, it is recommended to rinse rice for sushi and rolls until the water turns clear and dry on a sieve for about 30 minutes. When choosing a type of rice, choose round rice, it tends to stick together and be viscous.
The first way to cook sushi rice
- Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Place the rice on a sieve and leave to dry for 30 minutes.
- Place the rice in a saucepan and add water. The proportions of rice and water should be 1:1.5. For more flavor, add a small piece of seaweed to a pot of water and rice. When the water boils, it will need to be pulled out.
- After the water boils, cover the pan with a lid and reduce the heat to low. How long to cook rice for sushi... You need to cook the rice until it has absorbed all the water (this will take 10-15 minutes).
- When the rice is cooked, it needs to stand for 10 minutes under a closed lid.
- In a separate bowl, mix 1 tablespoon of sushi vinegar, 2 teaspoons of salt and 7 teaspoons of granulated sugar. Make sure everything dissolves.
- Spray the rice with the resulting mixture, mix gently and let the rice cool.
The second way to cook rice for rolls and sushi
- Buy special sushi rice and wash 175 gr. in cold water on a sieve. The water should become clear.
- Boil 250 ml of water and add washed rice there. Boil it for two minutes.
- Remove the pan from the stove and leave the rice to swell with the lid closed for 10 minutes.
- Open the lid and let the rice sit for another 10 minutes.
- Mix 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar with 1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. granulated sugar. Heat this mixture.
- Sprinkle this mixture over the cooked rice and stir it gently.
The third way to properly cook sushi rice
- Whether to rinse the rice or not is up to you. It is necessary to fill the rice with water (take 1.5 times more water than rice) and leave it to swell for 30 minutes.
- Then bring the rice to a boil.
- Turn the heat to low and cook the rice covered for 10 minutes.
- Remove the rice from the heat and leave the rice covered for 20 minutes.
- Mix vinegar, sugar and salt as usual.
- Place the rice on parchment, sprinkle with vinegar and stir the rice with a wooden spatula as if cutting it. And at the end we cool the rice.
Sushi came to us, as we know, from Japanese cuisine, in which every ingredient plays a role special role. Often people who decide to make sushi on their own wonder what rice vinegar for sushi is and how to use it correctly? After all, it is usually mentioned in recipes. You can find the answer to this question with us; we will tell you about the correct use of this product so that you definitely do not make a mistake! How much rice vinegar should I add? What does it taste like? The questions will be covered in detail, and you will be pleasantly surprised by preparing everything according to our recommendations.
What is it and how to use it?
Rice vinegar has a sweetish taste, it is soft enough and without it it is not sushi at all, the Japanese definitely know a lot about cooking. No one can tell you exactly how much rice vinegar you need, because everyone has their own secrets, so try experimenting.
You need to add vinegar to flavor the rice; besides, it makes it a little sticky. This will help you shape the rice into a variety of shapes. How much vinegar is needed to make the rice sticky enough should also be determined during cooking. A lot depends on how much rice vinegar you add, and one of the best things is that it has many health benefits and is even antibacterial.
But how much?
To make rice vinegar dressing, you will need sugar and salt. For 450-500 g of rice you need to put 2 tbsp. vinegar and 1 tsp. salt and sugar. Without bringing to a boil, the dressing is stirred, then the rice is sprinkled with this mixture or simply watered, using wooden utensils. Stir gently, without pressing, so as not to accidentally cook porridge.