Japanese Short-Grain Rice: Table Rice, Sushi Rice and What to Buy
Japanese everyday table rice is commonly described as uruchimai.
Japanese everyday table rice is commonly described as uruchimai. Its grains cook into a cohesive bowl while remaining identifiable. That gentle stickiness is useful for eating with chopsticks and shaping foods such as onigiri.
The important distinction is between ordinary table rice and mochigome, the glutinous rice used for particular sweets and other preparations. Both can be short-grained. The shape of the grain does not make them interchangeable.
What does sushi rice mean on a packet?
Outside Japan, ordinary Japanese-style rice is often sold as sushi rice. In the finished dish, sushi rice is cooked rice seasoned with a vinegar mixture. The bag itself is not necessarily seasoned; check the ingredients and preparation directions.
If you want a plain bowl with dinner, an unseasoned bag labelled sushi rice can be suitable. You do not have to add vinegar just because the packet features a sushi roll.
A rice-cooker detail worth checking
Rice cookers often supply a measuring cup that differs from a standard kitchen cup. Use the cup and water markings according to the appliance instructions rather than mixing measurement systems.
For white short-grain rice, Namiko Hirasawa Chen describes a rice-to-water starting ratio of around 1:1.1–1.2 by volume in her rice-cooker guide. That is not a replacement for a particular cooker's instructions or for different directions on brown rice. Follow one coherent method.
Choosing for the meal
For an everyday bowl, look for Japanese-style table rice and use its cooking directions. For sushi, add the separate seasoning step specified by the recipe. For a mochi preparation calling for glutinous rice, buy mochigome instead.
Check the product form as carefully as the picture on the bag. Rice flour, whole rice and a ready-cooked pouch may all show a reassuring bowl of rice, but dinner begins rather differently with each.