How to make perfect rice for perfect sushis.
Buy the right rice. There are probably many good rice but the one we buy is called Kokuho Rose. If you live in Helsinki area, you can find some at Tokyokan in Annankatu. http://www.tokyokan.fi/
Cleaning the rice. You need to wash the rice before cooking it. Just pour some water in it, mix and empty. If the water is white it means the rice needed to be washed.
Cooking the rice.
Yumi gave us the protocol. We used about 600g of rice for 7 people. You need 1,2 times as much water. So 720ml of water. Then you pour the water. Turn on the stove. Cover the pot and it’s the last time you see the rice before it will be ready. You should never open the pot to check what is happening.
1 – The water must be boiling after 10 mins of heating. Do it the way you want, try, experiment… but it should take you 10 mins to bring the water to 100C. You can listen carefully to tell if it’s boiling. Don’t forget to use a timer also. Keep the lid closed.
2 – Once the water is boiling, you should lower a little bit the heat so that it continues boiling for 3-4 mins. Keep the lid closed.
3 – Then you should lower the heat to almost the minimum for 15 mins. It should still be cooking. Keep the lid closed.
4 – Now very important. You have to turn on the heat to the maximum for 5 seconds. Keep the lid closed.
5 – Turn off the stove and let the rice cool down for 20 mins. Keep the lid closed.
6 – Open the lid and tranfer the rice to another container to cool it down faster. You can separate the rice in multiple containers in order to cool it down. Use a wooden spoon to mix the rice. Don’t overdo it otherwise it will get very sticky. We just want the rice to be a bit sticky. If you feel like eating the rice right out of the pot, it’s a good sign…
Let it cool down for another few minutes.
Pour 5-6 liters of water in a pot. This will be used to clean your hands between each sushi.
During the rice cooking you’ve been cutting the fish in pieces to go on top of the rice cakes. Fresh salmon is good. Tuna is even better but it can be hard to get some depending where you live. In Helsinki you can get fresh tuna on Thursdays. It comes from Sri Lanka. (yeah, i wonder if that’s considered fresh…)
Tokyokan sells frozen Maguro, which is the best type of Tuna. It’s just utterly expensive. 58 euros for 200g.
Now comes the easiest part. Putting the fish on the rice. First you need to take a bit of rice in your hand. Compress it a bit in your left hand and roll it so to give it a nice sushi shape. Put your right fingers on the wasabi and put some on the rice in your left hand. Take a piece of fish and put on the rice. You’re done.
Repeat 30-40 times and you have a feast!
