Many Japanese dishes and appetizers include rice cooked using special technology. If you don’t know the features of its preparation, sushi and rolls may not turn out to be as tasty as they should be. But knowing how to cook rice for rolls, you can not worry that the dish will not work.
Material Content:
Which rice is better to choose for cooking rolls
One of the main tasks is to choose the right rice. Large supermarkets sell bundles called “Rice for sushi”, which you can safely buy. But it is permissible to use ordinary round-grain cereals. If everything is done correctly, there is no particular difference between it and the Japanese variety. The main thing is not to buy a long-grain variety - it is completely unsuitable for these dishes.
Rice for rolls must be round, large, solid, not steamed.
The main characteristic of such grains is a high gluten content, which allows the finished rice to be quite sticky and dense. The finished mass should be sticky in moderation so that it holds its shape well, but not so much that it sticks to the teeth during meals.
How and how to cook rice for rolls
Cooking rice properly is not as difficult as it seems at first glance.
Basic cooking rules:
- Before cooking, the croup must be sorted out to avoid surprises during the meal in the form of small pebbles and black pieces of unpeeled cereals.
- Then rinse the cereal thoroughly with cold water several times. At the same time, Europeans believe that 3-4 times is enough, but the Japanese say that the more you wash the rice, the tastier it is. Therefore, Japanese cooks washed cereals at least 7 times. The drained liquid must be completely transparent and clean. When washing, the Japanese monitor whether all the rice sink to the bottom.Those specimens that float to the surface are considered unusable and are simply thrown away.
- Sometimes it is recommended for the last time to pour grains with water and leave for 40 - 50 minutes, and then rinse and pour again in a ratio of 1 to 1.25.
- For cooking, you can use a conventional pan with a thick bottom or a cast-iron cauldron. The contents of the container are brought to a boil, then the fire is reduced, covered with a lid and boiled for about ¼ h.
- Mixing and lifting the lid is not necessary. When steam comes out, taste is lost. The cereal should be completely at rest, therefore, stirring it with a spoon, touching it, checking readiness, is impossible. Knowing how much to cook rice, you do not need to try to boil it longer than the specified time, since the grains will digest and stick to the bottom of the pan. Of course, the first time it is difficult to guess how the rice will behave, in addition, it depends on the performance characteristics of the plate. But over time, experience and knowledge come, how to cook rice so that it is tasty and reaches the right condition.
- Having left the container from the fire, leave it for 12-14 minutes. Remains of water and steam should be absorbed into the rice. Only after that the cereal can be transferred to another bowl and seasoned. It is impossible to mix the mass intensively after adding the dressing, otherwise it will turn into an unattractive viscous porridge. Moreover, if the rice is cooked correctly, it will not stick to the pan.
In general, the cooking time for rice for rolls does not exceed 35 minutes. To make the rolls brighter and more elegant, you can add natural dyes to it. Plum vinegar gives the mass a pleasant crimson hue, turmeric - orange-yellow, and chopped seaweed - soft grassy.
Cook in a traditional way in a pan
Ingredients:
- Japanese rice - 1 tbsp .;
- rice vinegar - ¼ st .;
- water - 250 ml;
- sugar and salt - 0.5 tsp each.
Cooking:
- Rinse the cereal well at least 6 times.
- Pour it into the pan and pour water. No spices and salt to add.
- Bring to a boil, close the lid and reduce the heat. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes until the liquid evaporates.
- Prepare dressing: pour sugar and salt into vinegar and heat on a stove, stirring to dissolve the ingredients. You can just put the container with the dressing in the microwave and heat to the desired temperature.
- Leave the finished mass for 12 minutes, so that it is steamed well, and only then transfer to another plate, pour in the dressing and mix.
When the mass has cooled, it can be used to make rolls. You can’t leave rice the next day - the grains will become hard and tasteless, will lose moisture.
If you still need to save the mass for the future, you can do this: divide it into several small parts and put it in plastic bags. If you put the whole mass in the bag, its inside will be oversaturated with moisture, and the top will dry out. You need to keep such blanks in a cool place, but not in the refrigerator - the temperature is too low there. But in this form, rice can be stored for no more than 48 hours.
Recipe for making rice for rolls in a slow cooker
The slow cooker copes with cooking rice for sushi and rolls. For this, the “Rice” or “Buckwheat” modes are used.
Required Products:
- rice - 2 tbsp .;
- water - 2.5 tbsp.
The cooking process almost does not require human intervention:
- Sorted and washed rice should be transferred to the multicooker bowl and pour water.
- Set the "Rice" mode. If it is not there, which is already very rare, you can turn on the buckwheat mode. Alternatively, you can use a combination of “Baking” (10 min) and “Stewing” (20 min). Do not open the lid during cooking.
The finished cereal will only have to be transferred to a separate bowl and seasoned.
Fragrant rice cooked with nori
Nori seaweed gives a special aroma and unique taste. To prepare in this way, it’s enough to put a small piece of pressed nori into the water before boiling, and then remove them after boiling, otherwise they will ruin the taste of the cereal.
For 200 g of rice you need to take:
- 250 ml of water;
- some algae.
Cooking:
- Pour the sorted and washed cereal with cold water. Add nori.
- Boil water, remove algae, reduce heat to a minimum and close the lid.
- Cook no more than a quarter of an hour.
After switching off, do not lift the lid for ¼ h. At this time, it is convenient to prepare a dressing and then connect it to the grits.
How to make apple cider vinegar
You can also cook rice with apple cider vinegar. The following number of components is indicated per 500 g cereal:
- apple cider vinegar - 75 ml;
- ordinary vinegar - 15 ml;
- sugar - 60 g;
- salt - 35 g.
Combine all the ingredients and melt on a stove until salt is dissolved with sugar. Instead of apple, you can use grape vinegar or lemon juice. Refueling is added along with water at the very beginning of cooking.
Cooking Rice Dressings
Another important step is preparing a gas station. You can buy it ready-made or cook it yourself. The amount of ingredients in the recipe is indicated below per 1 kg of dry rice. If the portion is smaller, then the number of components must be proportionally reduced.
Essential Ingredients:
- rice vinegar - 180 ml;
- salt - 1 tbsp. l with a slide;
- sugar - 6 tbsp. l .;
- Kombu seaweed in dry form - 3 g.
Instead of ordinary table salt, you can take sea salt, this will give rice a real Japanese flavor. All ingredients should be mixed, slightly warmed, but not boiled. So that the bulk ingredients dissolve faster, the solution can be mixed with a spoon. It is enough to put algae in the dressing for 10 minutes, and then remove it.
Refueling should be slightly cooled and added to still warm rice. The exact ratio of ingredients can be adjusted to your liking.
Refueling, unlike rice, can be prepared for future use. Just store it in a hermetically sealed glass container so that it does not absorb extraneous odors.
Rolls and sushi are made from already slightly cooled rice, but in no case are cereals allowed to cool by themselves. In Japan, a fan is used for quick cooling, since it is believed that grains chilled in a short time acquire a special shine.
Knowing the intricacies of cooking rice using Japanese technology, you can safely surprise your loved ones and friends with the delicious national dishes of the Land of the Rising Sun.
