Uploaded May 2021 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
The key to making your own sushi is the rice. This recipe outlines the necessary steps. We use a rice cooker to get perfectly cooked rice.
The key considerations are to avoid smashing the rice with the paddle and to cool down the rice while also thoroughly mixing it with the sushi vinegar. Traditionally, a low wooden bowl is used to mix the rice with the vinegar; that vessel is called an oke. If you don’t have one, a plastic, ceramic or glass bowl will be fine. Avoid metal in order to avoid off-flavors which might be caused by the vinegar reacting with the metal.
We use a seasoned sushi vinegar, which has already been sweetened, salted, and soaked with kelp. It is also possible to use plain rice vinegar and add roughly 1 sugar to 2 vinegar by volume, and a fourth-part of salt. Soak that mixture with kombu (5-10 sq in) in a non- metal, non-reactive container, preferably overnight. The rough ratio is to use one-quarter the volume of dry rice to season the finished rice.
We make sushi at the end. Ingredients for those simple rolls are included below. The Japanese term for rolled sushi is maki, while the style of laying a piece of fish upon a ball of rice is called nigiri. It is very easy to make nigiri, and it is a great way to enjoy really special fish. One pricy chunk of sushi fish can make a small amount of excellent nigiri to go with maki made from less expensive ingredients to create a quite reasonably-priced meal.
Makes enough for 2-3 people.
Equipment:
• sushi rolling mat, wrapped in plastic film, for making rolls
• large plastic bowl for preparing the sushi rice
• rice cooker
Ingredients:
2 “cup” short-grain rice ours is very close to 6 fl oz
to mark water
2-3 oz seasoned sushi vinegar
for sushi:
6 oz special fish, optional we had FAS chutoro – medium-fatty tuna
2-3 oz smoked salmon
2-3 oz cream cheese brick-style is easier to handle
1 ea Turkish hothouse cucumber similar to English but smaller and tastier
5 sheets nori
Procedure:
1. Start by placing the measured rice into the insert of the rice cooker.
2. Repeatedly rinse the rice with cold water and then drain it, until the water remains clear.
3. Fill the rice cooker to the appropriate mark given how many cups of rice were used. Our “two cups” made 5 rolls and 6 pieces of nigiri with a little left over, probably enough for one more roll or 4 more nigiri.
4. Set the cooker to ‘sushi’ if necessary, and let it cook the rice.
5. Meanwhile, some mise en place may occur:
6. Vegetables, and most other ingredients for rolls, should be cut into long julienne.
7. Do not cut any fish ahead of time. Keep all the fish and proteins cold until the very last minute.
8. Once the rice has cooked, season it and prepare it for use in sushi making.
9. Turn the cooked rice out into the plastic bowl.
10. Carefully break open the dome of cooked rice. Some chefs remove the top (previously bottom) layer, saying it’s often overcooked. Rice cookers certainly vary.
11. Drizzle the vinegar mixture all over the rice. Get it everywhere.
12. Using the paddle, cut streaks through the rice, and carefully move it around. Be careful not to crush or smash the rice.
13. Continue to mix and fluff the rice until it cools down to nearly body temperature.
14. Cover the rice with a clean towel soaked with hot water and then wrung out.
15. The rice is ready for making sushi.
16. To handle the rice more easily, keep some clean water on the counter, to wet your fingers.
17. With wet hands, grab about 2 Tbsp of rice and form it into a ball, for nigiri. It is best to do this after the meat is cut and annointed as desired with wasabi or whatever other aromatics might be indicated.
18. To make a roll with the nori on the outside, lay a sheet of nori on the rolling mat.
19. Cover the bottom half of the nori with a thin layer of rice.
20. Lay the long julienned cucumber sticks along the rice.
21. Using the mat, roll the near edge of the nori up over the pile of cucumber and around it. Squeeze to force the rice around the cucumber and into a rough, squarish cylinder.
22. Get the nori wet just past where the rice stops to encourage it to stick, and keep rolling.
23. The roll will easily become circular as you finish rolling the mat over it.
24. To make an inside-out roll, cover the bottom half or so with rice once again.
25. Dust the rice with toasted sesame seeds, then turn it over, with the un-riced portion nearest you.
26. Place the fillings along the nori (and remember, the rice is on the under side of the nori, on the edge furthest from you).
27. Roll up the ingredients in the naked nori, and then as the rolling continues, the rice will end up surrounding the roll on the outside. This roll has more tendency to stick to the plastic around the sushi rolling mat, so be careful.
28. Enjoy fresh sushi immediately, especially if raw fish is involved.
29. Good side dishes include miso soup, gomaae salad (either spinach or kale), and tempura.
Music: bensound.com/royalty-free-music
The key to making your own sushi is the rice. This recipe outlines the necessary steps. We use a rice cooker to get perfectly cooked rice.
The key considerations are to avoid smashing the rice with the paddle and to cool down the rice while also thoroughly mixing it with the sushi vinegar. Traditionally, a low wooden bowl is used to mix the rice with the vinegar; that vessel is called an oke. If you don’t have one, a plastic, ceramic or glass bowl will be fine. Avoid metal in order to avoid off-flavors which might be caused by the vinegar reacting with the metal.
We use a seasoned sushi vinegar, which has already been sweetened, salted, and soaked with kelp. It is also possible to use plain rice vinegar and add roughly 1 sugar to 2 vinegar by volume, and a fourth-part of salt. Soak that mixture with kombu (5-10 sq in) in a non- metal, non-reactive container, preferably overnight. The rough ratio is to use one-quarter the volume of dry rice to season the finished rice.
We make sushi at the end. Ingredients for those simple rolls are included below. The Japanese term for rolled sushi is maki, while the style of laying a piece of fish upon a ball of rice is called nigiri. It is very easy to make nigiri, and it is a great way to enjoy really special fish. One pricy chunk of sushi fish can make a small amount of excellent nigiri to go with maki made from less expensive ingredients to create a quite reasonably-priced meal.
Makes enough for 2-3 people.
Equipment:
• sushi rolling mat, wrapped in plastic film, for making rolls
• large plastic bowl for preparing the sushi rice
• rice cooker
Ingredients:
2 “cup” short-grain rice ours is very close to 6 fl oz
to mark water
2-3 oz seasoned sushi vinegar
for sushi:
6 oz special fish, optional we had FAS chutoro – medium-fatty tuna
2-3 oz smoked salmon
2-3 oz cream cheese brick-style is easier to handle
1 ea Turkish hothouse cucumber similar to English but smaller and tastier
5 sheets nori
Procedure:
1. Start by placing the measured rice into the insert of the rice cooker.
2. Repeatedly rinse the rice with cold water and then drain it, until the water remains clear.
3. Fill the rice cooker to the appropriate mark given how many cups of rice were used. Our “two cups” made 5 rolls and 6 pieces of nigiri with a little left over, probably enough for one more roll or 4 more nigiri.
4. Set the cooker to ‘sushi’ if necessary, and let it cook the rice.
5. Meanwhile, some mise en place may occur:
6. Vegetables, and most other ingredients for rolls, should be cut into long julienne.
7. Do not cut any fish ahead of time. Keep all the fish and proteins cold until the very last minute.
8. Once the rice has cooked, season it and prepare it for use in sushi making.
9. Turn the cooked rice out into the plastic bowl.
10. Carefully break open the dome of cooked rice. Some chefs remove the top (previously bottom) layer, saying it’s often overcooked. Rice cookers certainly vary.
11. Drizzle the vinegar mixture all over the rice. Get it everywhere.
12. Using the paddle, cut streaks through the rice, and carefully move it around. Be careful not to crush or smash the rice.
13. Continue to mix and fluff the rice until it cools down to nearly body temperature.
14. Cover the rice with a clean towel soaked with hot water and then wrung out.
15. The rice is ready for making sushi.
16. To handle the rice more easily, keep some clean water on the counter, to wet your fingers.
17. With wet hands, grab about 2 Tbsp of rice and form it into a ball, for nigiri. It is best to do this after the meat is cut and annointed as desired with wasabi or whatever other aromatics might be indicated.
18. To make a roll with the nori on the outside, lay a sheet of nori on the rolling mat.
19. Cover the bottom half of the nori with a thin layer of rice.
20. Lay the long julienned cucumber sticks along the rice.
21. Using the mat, roll the near edge of the nori up over the pile of cucumber and around it. Squeeze to force the rice around the cucumber and into a rough, squarish cylinder.
22. Get the nori wet just past where the rice stops to encourage it to stick, and keep rolling.
23. The roll will easily become circular as you finish rolling the mat over it.
24. To make an inside-out roll, cover the bottom half or so with rice once again.
25. Dust the rice with toasted sesame seeds, then turn it over, with the un-riced portion nearest you.
26. Place the fillings along the nori (and remember, the rice is on the under side of the nori, on the edge furthest from you).
27. Roll up the ingredients in the naked nori, and then as the rolling continues, the rice will end up surrounding the roll on the outside. This roll has more tendency to stick to the plastic around the sushi rolling mat, so be careful.
28. Enjoy fresh sushi immediately, especially if raw fish is involved.
29. Good side dishes include miso soup, gomaae salad (either spinach or kale), and tempura.
Music: bensound.com/royalty-free-music
