The best authentic Japanese sushi rice recipe on the planet!

This sushi rice recipe was passed down to me by my Japanese mother, now 80, who passed it on to her in the 1940s.

My mother, who was always looking for ways to improve her own recipes, talked to many popular sushi chefs in Japan (mainly in the Osaka and Nagasaki areas) to try to piece together the “secret” of their sushi rice to improve her own. recipe.

Did those sushi chefs always share? No. Most were very protective of their prescriptions. Aim… some did…even if it was just a “hint”…

So what started out as a family sushi rice recipe passed down to my mother and then to me by my mom, was also tweaked and perfected over the decades, resulting in what I think is the best sushi rice recipe ever. of the planet. .

And now, here it is for you.

Sushi Rice Recipe From My 80 Year Old Japanese Mother

Ingredients and supplies you will need:

2 cups Japanese short grain white rice

2 tablespoons sake (such as Gekkeikan) plus enough water to fill a 2-cup measure

4″ x 6″ Piece of Kombu (Dashi Kombu/Dried Seaweed)

4 tablespoons plain Japanese rice vinegar (such as Marukan or Mizkan)

5 tablespoons of sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Small electric fan or hand fan, regular or rice cooker, rice paddle

We need to talk a little bit about each of these ingredients just a little bit and the importance of not skipping a single one of them.

Japanese Short Grain White Rice

The Japanese short grain is the most glutinous and is the best to use in this recipe. If you can’t find a short grit, you can use a medium grit in a pinch, but the result won’t be as good. Also, look for rice that is not older than a year if possible. Ask your Japanese grocer for “Shinmai,” which means “current year’s harvest.”

The reason you want “Shinmai” is because the longer a rice ages, the more water it takes to soften it. With a year’s crop in progress, the measure of rice to be irrigated is normally 1 cup of rice to 1 cup of water.

When a rice is more than a year old, it is more difficult to maintain consistency when cooking it because you have to measure how much more water you need to add to soften it to the correct texture.

Shinmai takes care of that.

You’ll also need to get the kind that you have to wash, not the pre-washed variety. Again, this is for consistency. The pre-washed cooking requirements are different from the type you have to wash. We don’t want to have a problem with that. Get the kind you have to wash.

japanese rice vinegar

Get the plain rice vinegar here, not the premade sushi seasoning. To make the best sushi rice, you need to make your own sushi rice seasoning.

kombu

Normally used to make dashi, kombu is also excellent for making sushi rice. This is one of my mother’s secrets. Don’t skip this article.

Reason

Sake is another “secret” ingredient in this recipe. Gekkeikan is a good enough sake for this and is available at most liquor stores. Don’t skip this article either.

Sugar and common table salt are self explanatory.

Making Sushi Rice Seasoning

Add the 4 tablespoons of rice vinegar, 5 tablespoons of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to a bowl. Mix this vigorously until all the sugar is dissolved. What you can do is mix it periodically as you wash, soak, and cook the rice in the following steps.

washing the rice

Place the rice in a regular heavy-bottomed pot or rice cooker and cover with cold tap water. Move the rice by hand to wash it. The water will turn white. Drain the water and repeat this flushing process 4-6 times or until the water runs almost clear.

Let the rice drain in a colander for 30 minutes.

soak rice

I’ll assume you’re using a regular pot or a simple rice cooker. With a “fancy” rice cooker (the ones with all the bells and whistles) sometimes you don’t need to soak the rice first and let it steam last. If you have one of those, follow the instructions on that rice cooker.

1. After the rice has drained in the colander, add it to the pot.

2. Now, add the 2 tablespoons of sake to a 2-cup measure and fill the rest with water. I recommend using bottled water, especially if you have tap water that has a funny taste. This again adds to the consistency of your sushi rice. Add the water to your pot.

3. Brush the Kombu a little and put it in the pot with the rice and water. Push it down into the rice to keep it under the water and not float to the top.

4. Let this rice soak for 20 minutes.

5. At the end of the 20 minutes, the rice should have turned “white”. Is this what we want.

cook the rice

1. If you are using a single rice cooker, turn it on. If you’re using a regular pot, turn the heat up to high until it starts to boil, then turn it back down to low and place the lid on top.

2. Cook this rice on low heat for 15 minutes and then turn off the stove. Your rice cooker will at this point turn itself off.

3. Let the rice rest in the pot or rice cooker for 20 minutes. This is important. This allows the rice to “steam”. Do not remove the lid of the pot or rice cooker at any time during this cooking and steaming process.

4. At the end of the 20 minute steaming period, remove the lid and use a wooden spoon or rice paddle to turn the rice a few times to mix and fluff it up.

5. Replace the lid for an additional 5 minutes.

mix sushi rice

The following steps will need to be done quickly when you add all the ingredients into the hangiri or bowl, so be prepared. You will also need to have a constant wind source blowing on the rice, such as a small electric fan or hand fan, while you mix the rice with the sushi rice seasoning.

1. Point a small electric fan over the mixing bowl and turn it on (or be prepared to use a small handheld fan).

2. Pour the hot rice into a hangiri or bowl (remove the kombu) and then spoon the sushi rice seasoning all over the rice.

3. Start turning the rice constantly with a wooden spoon or rice paddle, being careful not to crush the rice grains. At the same time, fan the rice or have the electric fan blow over the rice while mixing.

4. Continue mixing the rice until all the liquid it is fully absorbed and the rice has a nice shine. If in doubt, keep chilling and mixing the rice until you’re sure.

When all the liquid is absorbed, your sushi rice is ready to use in any sushi recipe you like.