How-to Basics: Rice & Sushi Rice

One of the most common questions we get is this: how to cook Japanese rice?

We'll be featuring different methods for the variety of rice we currently have on our website.

We will also be including a little section for making Sushi Rice. Sushi Rice is not a type of Rice - it is, in fact, cooked rice marinated with Sushi Vinegar.

If you've prepared a Chirashi Don for yourself with unmarinated rice, you'd find it to be lacking and it just wouldn't taste as good as the ones you get outside. So please don't skip this!

Japanese Rice from scratch

If you, like us, are a typical Asian who has rice as a staple, you'll be pleased to know that cooking Japanese rice isn't that much different from cooking your usual Jasmine rice.

For those who already know how to cook the usual Jasmine rice, cook pearl rice (or Japanese rice) the same way, i.e. same water to rice ratio. Or if you have some special method of cooking Jasmine rice, please follow the following steps too: 

1. Measure your rice. If you are feeding 2 people, 1 cup of rice would be more than sufficient. 

2. (You can skip this step if you've bought our Kinmemai Rice or Niigata Koshihikari Rice - or just wash it once and drain.) Wash grains and drain. Do this twice. Do not over wash, i.e. squeezing the rice too much (it will become pulp if done continuously) or spin it too vigorously. 

3. Fill with clean tap water. If your rice cooking pot has a line, follow the line that says '1', that's the water level for 1 cup. Please look at that line when the pot is placed on an even surface at eye level. 

4. Just to be sure, place your index finger tip on the rice level (finger tip touching the layer of rice - do not sink finger in) and check that the water is up to your first knuckle line.

If your index finger doesn't have 3 knuckle lines,  the water ration is one cup of rice to approximately two cups of water.

Japanese Rice with Microwave (Instant Rice)

Unlike the ones you get from $2 shops, we sell quality instant Hitomebore rice for people who don't have the time to worry about cooking good rice! One packet serves 2 pax comfortably. 

Tear the plastic film on instant rice to the line indicated on the green portion, heat on 500W~600W (medium) for 2min. 
(If there's 2 packets in one microwave, heat up for 4min.)

How-to: Sushi Rice

Once your rice is hot and cooked, here's how to make sushi/chirashi rice: 

1. Spread hot cooked rice on to a large flat dish to cool. 

2. Sprinkle Sushi Su over the rice while hot. Note: If you add Sushi Su when the rice has cooled, the rice will become very sticky, forming hard-to-separate clumps. The rice will also lose its sheen. 

3. Coat rice evenly with Sushi Su by using a rice paddle stirring rice from the bottom up (be gentle - you don't want to make rice paste).

4.Once done, leave it out to cool with a fan and cover with a wet cloth so it doesn't dry out. Do not put it in the fridge as it will damage the rice. 

How much Sushi Su to use? Follow this:

Add 2~3 tbsp of Sushi Su for 1 cup of rice.

Add 5~6 tbsp of Sushi Su for 2 cup of rice.

Add 1.5~2 tbsp of Sushi Su for 1 packet of cooked rice. 

Note: You don't have to worry if it tastes too sour, having the sushi rice with Sashimi would balance the flavours out. 

*BONUS: Ready-to-use Sushi Rice*

It was love at first sight for us when we saw this product in Japan.

It was rice that was already cooked AND marinated with Sushi Su AND shaped nicely into a sushi. 

Unlike rice that you freeze at home, this rice is flash frozen with a special technology that keeps rice as good as freshly cooked ones!

Heating Steps: Heat at 500W, for 10 pieces is 2 min 30s. 

*The cooking time may vary depending on the microwave model. 
*Please do not overheat and be careful to avoid burns!
*In order to prevent uneven heating, we recommend heating at the 500W setting.
*If the product is still cold after heating, try heating again 10 seconds at a time.
*Overheating may affect the quality of the product. (Which we are not liable for.)

To make sushi with raw fishes, please make sure to let sushi cool to near room temperature before use.