At the very heart of every great sushi roll lies a carefully chosen rice and its importance just can’t be overstated. The full potential of a sushi dish might really depend on selecting the correct type of rice. This could be the key to the most delightful experience of your day and in Fukuro we take this pretty seriously. If you want to put it otherwise, we don’t roll the dice when it comes to rice!
Sushi experts often opt for white, short grain rice, the kind that makes the finest choice for a delicious sushi roll or a great nigiri.
Two common forms of Japanese rice
Two common forms of Japanese rice include uruchimai, which some call the “ordinary” rice and mochigome – the “sweet” rice. The latter is usually used for making mochi rice cakes. Some argue that, while uruchimai is, generally speaking, the preferred choice for sushi, mochigome on the other hand offers a stickier texture, suited for different culinary delights.
That well known stickiness of the Japanese rice arises from its high moisture content and also starch composition. This is the key feature behind a perfect sushi bite, a culinary piece of art held together by our hero of the day – the almighty rice. Basically, if the rice you use for making your sushi dish is the right one then the rice will hold together easily in every single bite you take.
This “holding together” part is also a good indication on whether the rice you’ve been served complies to all the criteria a top-notch sushi has to comply to. If you want to learn more on how to recognize if the sushi you’ve been served is really fresh, you can find out this valuable information right here – How can you tell if your sushi is really fresh? – Fukuro Sushi & Sashimi Bar.
Sushi Rice & Japanese Rice
When people talk about sushi and the rice used in preparation, they usually use the terms “sushi rice” and “Japanese rice” equivalently, like they’re one and the same. But, this is how they confuse sushi lovers around the world.
Breakthrough Sushi points out that sushi rice, known as Sumeshi, represents vinegared rice prepared with aforementioned Japanese short grained rice, sugar, salt and edible seaweed kombu (this is optional). On the other hand, Japanese rice, is the short – grain rice served as the foundation for a lot of culinary miracles such as Japanese curry and rice balls.
This short overview of the rice needed for a great sushi experience might be concluded this way. The rice you will receive in your sushi dish should be fresh, moist and even a bit sticky although not too much. It should have the texture you will love with every new bite, it definitely cannot be dry, cannot be overly sweet, the taste should actually be pretty neutral even a bit acidic which is an ideal match for fresh raw fish.
If you’re after and impeccable sushi, the one that really makes the day, then settle for non-less than perfect stickiness, moisture, composition and taste of your rice.
See you in Fukuro, Sushi&Sashimi Bar, the sushi heart of Rijeka!
