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Sushi rice




I find cooking rice for sushi challenging: you need to buy proper sushi rice and then wash it several times in cold water, until the water runs clear. And then cook it by absorption. The doses are about 1 and 3/4 (three quarters) cups of sushi rice for 2 cups of water, but that depends on the type of pot. You need a pot with a good lid, or you will loose too much steam. I kind of regulate myself by ear now, since I know my pots and pans. Bring the pot to boiling point, lower the heat and simmer until all the water has been absorbed. Once the rice is ready pour it into a bowl and stir it with a wooden spatula, cooling it with a fan if you can. I then add some ready made sushi vinegar, about 2 tablespoons, but this is my personal taste. If I don't have sushi vinegar I use 2 tbsp of rice vinegar, a little sugar and a little salt (to taste, and I don't like to use too much sugar or salt!). I used the rice to fill some inari (Japanese tofu pockets), which you can buy already made from Asian stores. This time I also put a piece of avocado inside each inari, but this is not exactly 'traditional'.



The green stuff you see here are fake grasses, I got a big packet from a Japanese friend who knows that I like cooking and presenting food 'nicely'. I have to say that they last a long time (I had this packet for years now, there are hundreds inside!), but I am starting to think that once I have finish them I will not buy them, they just make more 'rubbish' and it is much better to use a bamboo leaf from my garden. Also take away sushi shops often give you some, and they can be washed and re-used. The pink stuff is pickled ginger, often it is very pink in colour, but I liked the look of this one because it seems less 'artificially' coloured!


海苔



And then I made some norimaki (large rolled sushi). To be honest this is not my best rolling, but it wasn't planned either! The truth is that there were 8 inari pouches in the packet, but I broke 4 trying to open them :-P!! I made a bit of a mess, not something to photograph! The children and I ate them while we were making them. I quickly rolled the remaining rice with a sheet of nori seaweed, and filled it with avocado, cucumber and red capsicum strips. Serve with wasabi, pickled ginger and Japanese soy sauce.


Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©


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Comments

  1. Mary BergfeldJanuary 10, 2010 at 7:44 AM

    I found your tips for sushi rice to be very helpful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AlessandraJanuary 10, 2010 at 9:47 PM

    Thank you Mary, from you it is a real compliment! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Simply LifeJanuary 11, 2010 at 1:29 AM

    YUM! this looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  4. ClaudFebruary 15, 2010 at 12:59 AM

    Continuo a pensare che non sarò mai capace di farli come i tuoi!

    ReplyDelete

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