how to make sushi with long grain rice work out as well as possible?

February 25, 2011 2:19 PM

I know it's a sin, but I have to use long grain rice to make sushi. No short grain of any kind in my area, I promise. So, any cooking tips for how to make it turn out as good as possible? Should I skip washing it so it is stickier? Should I tweak the cooking time? etc.
posted by dahliachewswell to food & drink (16 answers total)

Sushi is the rice. If you don't have the rice, do sashimi instead, imo.
posted by empath at 2:22 PM on February 25, 2011 [3 favorites]

Wait, you can get sushi grade fish but not short grain rice? Can you then also find sushi seasoning? I would definitely recommend using that, if the rice is already going to be a little off.
posted by rkent at 2:24 PM on February 25, 2011

Redefine sushi. Instead of making rolls (maki), go ahead and make the long grain rice, seasoning it with the sushi vinegar as you would to make rolls. Serve the rice in a bowl, with the normal additions to your sushi served in seperate bowls. Season the ingredients with such things as soy and garlic, just soy, sesame oil and soy, perhaps shrimp sauce. Anything that you normally like to eat in your rolls will work, just play with what seasoning you like. Then, when serving, just eat some rice with each ingredient. When we do this, we also serve things like pickles soaked in garlic and soy, or tuna soaked in garlic and soy, but you only eat maybe 1/4 cup of the sides to probably 1 to 1-1/2 cup of rice. The sides should taste rather strong, and the rice is used to cut the flavor. This is how my japanese sister in law taught me how to eat rice anyway.
posted by lynnshaze at 2:30 PM on February 25, 2011 [9 favorites]

You can get sushi rice on Amazon! Or is this something you're trying to make tonight?
posted by argonauta at 2:31 PM on February 25, 2011

I have no idea if this is heresy (it probably is) but what about tossing the rinsed rice in a little cornstarch so that it clings, then cooking it? Some experimentation may be necessary to avoid forming a chunk o' rice.
posted by maudlin at 2:34 PM on February 25, 2011

OK, this is a suggestion of pure desperation, but I'd go to the local chinese takeout and order steamed white rice, season with rice wine vinegar, and proceed from there.
posted by zippy at 2:36 PM on February 25, 2011 [3 favorites]

Wait, you can get sushi grade fish but not short grain rice? Can you then also find sushi seasoning? I would definitely recommend using that, if the rice is already going to be a little off.

"sushi seasoning" is usually just a corn syrup and vinegar concoction. It's just as easy and cheap to make up the traditional vinegar and sugar recipe.

You can try not rinsing the rice, for more starchiness, but the texture will still be a little off, even if everything sticks together. Are you making nigiri sushi or maki? If nigiri, I think I would instead make chirashizushi, where the texture and stickiness of the rice will be less of an issue.
posted by oneirodynia at 2:50 PM on February 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

Oh, and if for some reason you are able to get medium grain risotto rice, that would be an improvement over long grain.
posted by oneirodynia at 2:51 PM on February 25, 2011

I do this all the time, because I am lazy. I do it brown rice (gasp!)

Make whatever rice you have around. Coat it in a sushi vinegar mixture to make it sweet and sticky (some rice vinegar and sugar, heated to melt the sugar). Make your maki. It may not be authentic, but it will still be delicious.

Heresy? Perhaps. But still delicious. Delicious, delicious heresy.
posted by gnutron at 3:04 PM on February 25, 2011 [9 favorites]

Lift the lid and stir it once or twice. Stirring makes long grain rice sticky. You might need to add a tablespoon or more of water to replace what escapes the pot when you lift the lid.
posted by zinfandel at 3:25 PM on February 25, 2011

Can you break the rice? I think there's a kind of Thai sticky rice that is actually broken long grain rice rather than short grain rice. So maybe breaking the rice would help it be more sushi-ish.

I would probably just make it with the long grain rice, but I have also been known to make hummus with peanut butter. Screw authenticity!
posted by mskyle at 4:10 PM on February 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Jesus Christ, this sounds almost as bad as the hot steaming mayo and warm wilted slimy lettuce pizza I mistakenly ordered in Japan after recovering from food poisoning.

There is no such thing as sushi seasoning. It's simply a sweeter variety of rice vinegar. That's rice vinegar. Don't add cornstarch to the rice to make it sticky.
posted by KokuRyu at 4:16 PM on February 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

My guess on this one: Should I skip washing it so it is stickier? would be yes.

Rinsing it is the mechanism that's supposed to trigger the world of light and fluffy, because it removes the starch. So I'd say go for that and go for cooking it with a couple of tablespoons of extra water and then doing the seasoning as it cools.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 4:53 PM on February 25, 2011

I've made sushi with long-grain jasmine. Whatever, foodies, it was delicious. Yes, skip washing it. Yes add a little more water (and if you're using a rice cooker, leave it on "warm" for a bit longer). Then just use it like regular short-grain. If it doesn't stick, throw it all in a bowl and eat it like a sushi salad.
posted by specialagentwebb at 6:53 PM on February 25, 2011

OK, this is a suggestion of pure desperation, but I'd go to the local chinese takeout and order steamed white rice, season with rice wine vinegar, and proceed from there.

IME, most if not all chinese restaurants serve long grain rice. Try Korean or Japanese and ask what type of rice they use.
posted by wongcorgi at 8:02 PM on February 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Guess I underestimated the fervor of sushi purists and should have been clearer.

We're making maki/rolls with vegetarian ingredients and canned smoked salmon. We did a test run last night. I didn't rinse, but adding extra water made it a bit too mushy...next time will watch out for overcooking. Still it tasted awesome and stuck together well. I only have shitty "sushi seasoning" because strangely in the country I'm in I could find that but not regular rice vinegar. Anywho. Thanks for the help, I knew there must have been people out there who had tried to make inauthentic rolls at home....agreed "Whatever, foodies, it was delicious."
posted by dahliachewswell at 10:32 AM on February 26, 2011