Sushi Rice

I am a huge fan of sushi. I’ve even made rolls a few times at home! But that practice had to fall by the wayside, once I learned that fake “krab” is full of gluten, cream cheese is obviously made of cream cheese, and packaged pre-cooked eel is never prepared with a gluten-free soy sauce. That left me with some pretty sparse roll choices, because no way am I brave enough to try the raw stuff at home. Salmonella is just far too real of a threat with the filthy children that live in this house… But all was not lost! I decided there was no reason I couldn’t make the same awesome sushi rice as a side dish that would go great alongside any number of fish entrees.

The secret is, instead of rolling it up in seaweed paper, I just sprinkle little bits of the wakame (seaweed shreds) throughout the rice, and the flavor is identical to eating a bite of sushi (well, a bite without any fish in it, anyway.) My health food store carries it, but if yours doesn’t you can certainly find it at any Asian market. This very much counts as a serving of vegetables, by the way. Seaweed is one of the healthiest vegetables out there–not only is it packed with vitamins and omega fatty acids, but it is a highly alkaline food. The human body is healthiest when it is slightly on the alkaline side of the pH scale, and being on the acidic side can lead to a variety of diseases. (Can you guess what the most extremely acidic foods are in the American diet? Bread products, dairy products, artificial and white sugars, and meat. Surprise, surprise.)

Watermelon is another extremely alkaline food, by the way.

Okay, okay, I’m sorry, back to the recipe. I’m getting there, I swear. Anyway, the thing is, even though this bag of wakame is in little shreds instead of big sheets, it still expands a ton when it’s cooked. I find that I have to pulverize it in the food processor before it even approaches a palatable “seasoning” size in the final dish.

My food processor is old and cheap, and it kind of makes a mess on the counter.

Do the whole bag at once and funnel it back in (this one has a little zip-top built into it, but any airtight bag will work,) and you’re set for months. I actually took these pictures forever ago, in anticipation of writing up this recipe someday. Look at my impressive foresight!

Alright, fast forward to today, when we’re actually making sushi rice. (We are, I promise. We’re getting there.) Keep in mind “sushi rice” is an actual kind of rice you can buy, that is shorter and stickier than normal rice. In my ricemaker, that’s one and a half cups of sushi rice, and two and a quarter cups of water, and then I add 1 teaspoon of the shredded wakame.

While the rice cooks, mix 1/4 cup of sugar with 1/4 cup of rice vinegar in a small pot.

Also add in 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Slowly heat it, stirring constantly, until everything is dissolved.

Once the rice is done, pour in only about half of the liquid, and mix it thoroughly. Then add a little bit more at a time until you have a nice consistency and flavor.

I usually end up using about 3/4ths of the vinegar mixture, but it can cross the line into being too wet very quickly, so go slowly. See how the wakame turned a pretty emerald green once it soaked? These pieces are actually still kind of big, but if you grind them small enough, there’s no way the kids will be able to eat around them. And of course if you wanted, you could make the rice and vinegar mixture without the wakame shreds and then roll it up in nori sheets the proper way. That is, if your kitchen is as sanitized as a professional sushi prep station, unlike mine.

Happy Eating!

Sushi Rice

1 1/2 cups short-grain sushi rice
2 1/4 cups water
1 tsp dried wakame shreds
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt