Sushi Rice

Sushi rice is short grain rice, though I didn't know that today when I was at Fred Meyer's shopping for our sushi dinner ingredients. Turns out it doesn't matter much. We made sushi rice with jasmine rice and it was just fine. I think that's really the nice thing about sushi---it's very forgiving. You can put pretty much anything in it and you can really get away with a lot before you mess it up too badly. It will still taste good.

I had no idea there was such a thing as sushi rice before I went to Kate's on New Year's Eve this year. I'd always made sushi with just plain rice (which was just fine---you see how this works?) and Christy sometimes even makes it with brown rice, but Kate's rice was definitely better. I investigated a little and found a few recipes. (Kate--any other versions or ideas?)

Here's one trick:

1. Stir 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil (optional), 1/8 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt together over medium heat just until the sugar dissolves (or microwave for 30-40 seconds). Let mixture cool and stir into just cooked rice. Let some of the liquid evaporate before using the rice.
   

* I started with 1 cup rinsed, uncooked rice which will give about 3 cups cooked rice. This was enough for about 5 rolls.
** How to make (vegan) sushi at home coming soon!