How To Make Rice For Sushi

If you’re thinking of making your own sushi at home, making the rice is one of the most important parts of the process.

What you’ll need

  • 3 cups short grain rice (long grain rice is not suitable as it does not stick together)
  • 3 1/4 cups water
  • 1/3 cup rice vinegar
  • 3 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt

Wash the rice

Put the rice into a large bowl and wash it with cold water – continue washing until the water becomes almost clear. Place the rice into a rice cooker, and let it soak for at least half an hour.

Cook the rice

Next, turn on the rice cooker; once the rice is cooked, let it steam for about 15 minutes.

Prepare the sushi vinegar

Prepare sushi vinegar (sushi-zu) by mixing rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a sauce pan. Put the pan on low heat and heat until the sugar dissolves. Cool the vinegar mixture.

Cool the rice

This is the most important part – as rice cools down, it produces a bacteria which can cause quite serious food poisoning, so you’ll need to cool it as quickly as possible. Spread it thinly over a large dish and sprinkle over the vinegar. Stir occasionally, and use a fan to help cool it if you can. As soon as it’s cool, place it into the fridge.

That’s it! You should now have some deliciously sticky rice ready to make your sushi. We recommend using the rice as soon as possible, but if you have made it correctly, it should last in a sealed container in the fridge for a day.

Learn From The Pro’s

Want to learn how to roll your sushi? Check out our sushi making workshop