How to Prepare Perfect Sushi Rice

How to Prepare Perfect Sushi Rice. 

Prep the Sushi Rice

And the first ingredient is of course sushi rice. A special medium-grain rice, it's beautifully pearlescent. We're going to need 2 cups of that. Very important we're going to rinse that in a strainer very well for a few minutes, and then we're going to let that drain and dry for 1 hour.

Cook the Sushi Rice

After an hour pour, the rice in a heavy bottomed pot with a lid, and add 2 1/4 cups water. Bring that to a simmer and set you timer for 10 minutes. So we're going to cook that covered for 10 minutes on low heat.

Mix the Rice Vinegar

While we're waiting I'm going to get the rice vinegar ready. I have 1/4 cup of seasoned rice vinegar. You can make your own by using a 1/4 cup of regular rice vinegar, 1 1/2 tbsp of sugar, and 1 tsp of salt. Mix it until it dissolves.

Cool the Sushi Rice

So when the timer rings, turn off the heat and let it sit covered for 10 minutes. All right we're going to need something to fan the rice with. I just use this folder. After the 10 minutes pour it on a tray and drizzle over the rice vinegar a few teaspoons at a time. We're going to use 4 tablespoons all together. 

Using the tip of a fork, we're going to fan and fluff, and fan and fluff so all the grains kind of dry and cool. They should be sticky, but separate. I'm going to drizzle over the rest of the rice vinegar. The fanning also gives the grains a cool shine, and a perfect texture if done correctly.

Sushi Rice Texture

Once that's been fanned and cooled, it's ready to work with. Now here's the key to how you know you have perfect sushi rice. You can form it into any shape you want, but when you go to bite into it, it just collapses. 

So you want it to hold a shape for when you are making something like a California roll like I have here. You want it to hold together so you can eat it, pick it up with chopsticks, but when you bite into it you want it to just crumble, so it has that nice light airy texture. 

And that it! Sushi rice - so easy to make. By the way, sushi is the name of the rice preparation. Sushi is not raw fish. Raw fish is what you put on sushi. I'm glad we got that cleared up. I hope you give this a try. Roll some sushi, and enjoy. 

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How to Make Katsuo Dashi

How to Make Katsuo Dashi. To make katsuo dashi, you will need:

• 2 oz. Katsuo Bushi (Dried Bonito Flakes)
• 4-1/4 cups water

This recipe makes 4 cups of broth.

Make the Katsuo Dashi

Let's make katsuo dashi. Bring 4-1/4 cups of water to a boil. Turn off the heat. Add bonito flakes at once. Wait for about 3 minutes, let the bonito flakes sink to the bottom of the pot and strain.

When you strain the dashi, use cheese cloth, triple-layered, or use double layers of paper towels and strain.

Tips for Using the Katsuo Dashi

Katsuo dashi is smokey and a little bit fishy. It's great to use for a dipping sauce for soba, or udon noodles. It is also used to cook clear soup, noodle soup, egg custard, rice.

You can also use katsuo dashi to make nimono. Nimono is a Japanese stew, typically using root vegetables and beef, chicken, or anything you like, seasoned with soy sauce, sake, mirin, and a little bit of sugar. Of course, dashi is most important.

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