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Sushi Rice Recipe With Rice Cooker (suihonki)
Rice cooker ingredients for a single serving: If you can't find seasoned rice vinegar you'll need to add the seasoning yourself. Vinegar Seasoning: 4 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar prepare the mixture in a glass or plastic bowl and warm in microwave oven for about 10 seconds or warm enough to dissolve the sugar and salt. Mix and set it aside or place in refrigerator to cool. Do not add to rice cooker water.
Special Kitchen tools:
Preparation 1 1/2 cups (11 ounces, 330 milliliter) makes about 3 regular size rolls cut into 8 bite-sized pieces with no left-over rice. That's 24 bite-sized rolls. The above is measured with the measuring cup that comes with a rice cooker. Add the rice to the rice cooker pot. Wash Rice Add Water If you have no measuring cup to use to measure the rice amount, place a flat hand with palm down above the rice in the pot. The water level should just cover the top your fingers at the knuckles. Soak Rice for 30 I say good drinking water because some tap water may not be ideal for taste. Here in the city where I live the raw tap is not the best so I use filtered water for soaking and tap water for rice washing. Its okay for washing the rice with this tap since it will be used briefly to rinse the grains. Add Kombu 
Cook Rice Soak Rice Tub Place water in the wood tub and let it soak for about 10 minutes or until the rice completes its cook and sitting time. This will prevent the rice from sticking to the surfaces. Settle Cook Rice Longer for more rice. 3 cups of rice should let it sit for about 10 to 15 minutes after cooking. This allows the heat to back off and the rice to settle. The rice will completely stop cooking during this time. Don't lift the lid on the rice cooker yet. Doing so is like letting out the steam while it still has to cook. Allow it to complete this step before opening the pot. I've learned this lesson the hard way. I used to open the pot after the light switched to 'warm'. The grains would still be moist and glistening on the outer part of the grain but the inside would be a tad stiff. Its kinda like not-yet-cooked through spaghetti noodles. 
Open the rice cooker, discard the kombu, and use a cooked-rice paddle or spatula. First wet the paddle so that fewer rice will adhere to it. If you haven't yet, empty the water used to soak the wood tub. Scoop the cooked rice into the rice tub or large mixing bowl. This step takes the rice out of the hot pot which is generally small and tight to allow the rice to cool. 
Next pour the seasoned rice vinegar over the rice paddle so as to sprinkle the vinegar over the rice. (pictured above) If you have a feel for what 3 tablespoons is like from the bottle, you may do what is pictured, but don't try this if you're feeding others. Gently stir the rice and then sprinkle more vinegar, repeat till all 3 tablespoons of the vinegar is used. While stirring the rice, fan the rice to cool to room temperature. Never put it in the fridge cause that would dry it. Stir the vinegar into the rice to wet the grains. It will seem to have lost its stickiness but that is normal and will become sticky again after the vinegar soaks into the grains. That's it. This is the basic way to make cooked rice well suited for sushi. Tips: Avoid cooking just 1 cup of rice in a rice cooker. It can be done. Just know that it has a tendency to come out too hard or soft. Store the vinegarized cooked rice at room temperature with clean wet cloth or towel placed over the rice until it is ready to use later in the day. Store cooked unvinegarized rice in a freezer safe zip lock bag in the freezer to store it for weeks. Place in a microwave oven for a few minutes to use again. Cut the kombu square into strips to release more of the flavor. In Japan its all about the rice. It's regarded as sacred. Be careful not to crush any rice grains during any part of stirring, or removing rice from the pot. Important: Make sure to use the right type of rice and that its cooked so that the rice is not too stiff or hard (add more water to the pot before cooking)or too soft (use less water). Get this step right and you will enjoy great fresh made sushi. At first it may be a bit much. You'd think this home sushi stuff would be easier. It does get easier once you've gone through it once or twice and let it become a routine. Practice once or twice a week to get used to it. It really is worth it. I tried the store bought packaged sushi from Smiths food store. Then, shortly after, I went out and made my own like the ones on this website. I've learned time and time hands down nothing beats fresh home made sushi. Return from Rice Cooker to Sushi Rice Page
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