Keeping sushi rice from drying out so fast

Question

I love making sushi but I feel that I'm not making the rice correctly because it tends to dry out extremely fast like within a few hours. Does this normally happen? If it helps, when I make sushi rice, I make it in a rice cooker and then add a tablespoon or so of sushi vinegar plus some sugar and a little salt. Is there anything I can do or add to the rice to keep it from drying out so fast and getting nasty?

Answer 1

Well, many Japanese people have the same problem when they make sushi rice for a lot of people and need to leave sushi rice out for a couple of hours.

Anyway, all you need to do is to place a dump towel directly on sushi rice. That helps prevent sushi rice from getting too dry. And one more suggestion that I want to make is if you want to make better sushi rice, it's better to use a wooden sushi oke called Hangiri: http://www.ekitron.com/eshop/ids_cate_fi...

I've made sushi rice for many people for my American husband's company party (well...potluck party)and used a stainless steel bowl and sushi oke to keep sushi rice in. Guess which bowl keeps sushi rice better?

Sushi Oke.

Anyway, if you make sushi rice often and need to leave sushi rice for a couple of hours, it's better for you to use a sushi oke and place a dump towel directly on the rice. Or if you need to leave the rice out for more than 2 hours, place two dump towels. Well, that's what I do usually because it works better than just one dump towel.

Answer 2

The problem lies in that you're not making the rice properly. Although you may be adding the right ingredients to make sushi rice, they must be done in a proper order.

The rice should be cooked in water only. Once it is cooked, it should be transferred to a container and must be cooled down.

The vinegar mixture should be made separately, then mixed into the cooled (but still warm) rice.

Made properly, the rice will last for a couple of days (left in a cool room). If refrigerated, it will keep for several days.

Answer 3

here are some tips

   1. Use a non-reactive metal or wooden container for the final step of seasoning the rice, as some metals will react with the vinegar and mar the flavor of the rice.

   2. Be careful not to squish the grains of rice together when adding the vinegar mixture. You want to maintain the integrity of the rice grains.

   3. Spreading out the rice makes it cool down faster. This stops the rice cooking in its own heat. To make sushi, the rice should be at about room temperature.

   4. If you are not going to make the sushi right away, cover the seasoned rice with a damp cloth to ensure that it doesn't dry out.

   5. Never refrigerate sushi rice, as it will get too hard to work with or eat.

this site tells you step by step directions on how tomake the "perfect"  sushi rice

http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Make_Perfec...

Answer 4

I think your problem is that you're keeping the rice for too long.  it should be made into sushi as soon as it's cooled down, or the starch solidifies. You need to cool it as fast as possible, spread it on a plate that's been in the freezer, and make the sushi asap. Otherwise it carries on cooking and even more starch is developed. The less it cooks the better it is.

If you must keep it, cool it as fast as possible, and spread it out on a plate in the fridge.  If it has gone slodgy, heat it in an oven for 30 mins at 50C, stirring twice, it should separate again.