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If you’re ready to tackle homemade sushi, purchasing the essential ingredients you need to make it at home may be the easiest part of the process. While we love to admire the quick handiwork of those talented chefs at the sushi bar, they definitely make it look easy. Even if you’ve got the freshest hamachi, the brightest vegetables, and the greenest nori, you’ll still need to master one technique: Getting your sushi rice right. You’ll want to avoid some of the mistakes that could be ruining your at-home sushi, so we asked Dr. Jae Choi, Chef-founder of the casual Asian-inspired restaurant Jakitori Jinbei, which mistake can quickly derail your homemade sushi. “The biggest mistake people make when preparing sushi rice is overcooking or undercooking the rice,” he said.
Making perfect sushi rice every time comes down to a few tips and tricks that will determine how easily your rice is cooked, and how you can achieve the exact texture you’re looking for. Ideal sushi rice starts with the correct ratio of ingredients, according to Choi. “You should use precise measurements to prepare the rice so that it is not too mushy, nor too hard,” he advised. Chef Choi, whose restaurant serves Korean cuisine with a Japanese twist, admits that the process could take a little practice. He recommends using a rice cooker, like this Rice Robot personal rice cooker from Amazon, for consistent outcomes.
How to make your sushi rice and avoid other common mistakes
With measurements and ingredients being key to not overcooking or undercooking the rice, the perfect sushi rice calls for 2 cups of sushi rice, 3 cups of water, ¼ cup of rice vinegar, 4 teaspoons of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Before you dump everything in the rice cooker, take heed. There’s another major mistake you could be making with homemade sushi, and that’s not rinsing the rice. While you want the starch in sushi rice to keep it sticky, you don’t want too much starch. Place the rice in a bowl of water and move the rice through the water, changing it out until it becomes clear.
When cooking the sushi rice, check the user manual for your particular rice cooker. It may give exact times for sushi rice, but if it doesn’t, 30 minutes is generally the correct time for sushi rice. Chef Choi recommends letting the rice rest for a few minutes after the rice cooker finishes. Once the rice has rested, you can place it in a wide-based bowl where you can spread it out to slightly cool before handling.
We also asked Chef Choi if you can make sushi rice ahead of time. “You can make the sushi rice about 3-4 hours before serving,” he said. “You will want to try to keep the rice warm if you can. For the best results, you will want to make sushi rice immediately before you serve it.”
