Have you ever wondered how professional sushi chefs make sushi rice at top-class sushi restaurants?
For sushi, sushi vinegar and shari (Vinegared rice) are very important. Delicious rice makes the main seafood stand out.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could make delicious and authentic Shari at home?
This time, we will introduce how to make sushi vinegar, which is essential for making exquisite sushi, how to choose the right rice for sushi, and how to make sushi.
How to make sushi vinegar
First, let’s prepare the sushi vinegar.
It’s easy to make, but the key to making delicious sushi is the balance of the sushi vinegar mixture.
Ingredients (3 cups of rice)
・Rice vinegar…60ml
・Sugar (caster sugar)…2 tablespoons (30g)
・Salt…1 tablespoon (15g)
tool
・Small bowl or container
・Chopsticks or small whisk
How to make
Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix well with chopsticks or a whisk until the sugar is dissolved.
Once mixed, it’s best to let it sit for a day to allow the flavors to meld.
Quick memo
The ratio of sushi vinegar varies depending on each sushi restaurant, but the general ratio is “rice vinegar: sugar: salt = 4:2:1.”
When making sushi vinegar, it is important to adjust the taste by increasing or decreasing the amount of sugar, not salt. If you reduce the salt, the vinegar will not be as good.
How to make Shari
Now, let’s make Shari. The key to choosing rice for shari is to choose a variety that is not sticky and has a light flavor.
Sushi restaurants often use Sasanishiki”,Akitakomachi”, and “Hitomebore”. New rice has a high water content and tends to be sticky, so old rice or a blend of old and new rice is better for sushi.
material
・Old rice or blended rice…3 cups
・Water…2.9 go (slightly less water than regular rice to make it firmer)
・Sushi vinegar…Amount made using the above recipe
tool
・Sushi oke, or a large bowl and large flat plate that makes it easy to mix the sushi (wet it with water and wipe it beforehand)
・Uchiwa
・Large cloth or hand towel
How to make
1.Cook the rice
As for the amount of water, the ratio of rice to water for regular rice is 1:1.2, but for vinegared rice, the basic rule is to use a ratio of 1:1 or slightly less water.
2.Transferring rice
Once the rice is cooked, if your rice cooker has a steam function, immediately transfer it to a sushi oke or large bowl while still hot. If it doesn’t work, let it steam for about 5 minutes before transferring.
3.Sprinkle vinegar
After transferring the rice, quickly sprinkle the sushi vinegar over the rice evenly. If the rice gets cold, the sushi vinegar won’t be able to get into it, so make sure it’s still hot.
4.Cut the rice
Hold a rice scoop perpendicular to the sushi bowl and loosen the rice by cutting off any chunks of rice. Once the rice has loosened, use a rice paddle to scoop it up from the bottom of the sushi bowl and turn it over to distribute the sushi vinegar all over the rice. After that, let the rice scoop rest and use the edge of the rice scoop to cut through the rice to loosen it.
It is important to work quickly in this process, and the approximate time it takes is about 1 minute. It will get sticky, so be careful about two things: don’t knead the rice when mixing, and don’t touch the rice except when turning it with a rice scoop.
5.Cool down
Spread the rice evenly in the sushi bowl and quickly stir the rice until no steam comes out from the rice. As a rough guide, it takes about 10 seconds to cool down to the level of “human skin”.
Afterwards, turn the rice over again with the rice scoop, spread it out, and fan it with a fan. Repeat this until no steam comes out of the rice.
6.Let the shari rest
Once the sushi rice has cooled to about the same temperature as human skin, gather up the rice grains in the corners of the sushi bowl and make a flat lump. To prevent the rice from drying out, cover the rice with a damp cloth.
The reason for rapidly cooling the rice is to give it a shine and to seal in the sushi vinegar inside the rice. In addition, if you use a bowl, do not do this in the bowl, but after transferring the rice to a large flat plate.
Shari will be a little sticky right after working, so let it rest for at least an hour. Please keep it at room temperature so as not to spoil the flavor and texture of the sushi.
Simple yet profound Shari is the key to sushi!
This time, we introduced how sushi restaurants make sushi vinegar and sushi rice, as well as how to choose the rice that is essential for delicious sushi rice.
It is said that the deliciousness of sushi is 60% sushi and 40% toppings, and making sushi is an important part of making sushi that looks like a sushi restaurant. Delicious sushi is created through the experience and skills of a skilled sushi chef, including how to cook the rice, cut the rice, and set it aside.
