Kitchen Gadgetry

Veering further off on my dead rice cooker tangent, I now face the new challenge of learning how to cook sushi rice properly in my Instant Pot. Anyone done it before? What’s the water to rice ratio (I found it’s more than* 1:1 for jasmine rice despite internet advice), and would olive oil (to minimize sticking to the pan) screw it up? I’m thinking yes, yes it would screw it up. I only have enough for a specific number of batches that I intend to make this week/weekend, so don’t want to sacrifice any before my next shopping trip.

I pretty much do 1:1 with rice, sometimes a tad more. I use a rice cooker thought.

The only thing I know about Japanese rice is they really, really wash the rice before they cook it. They push down on it and mill it. It’s to get rid of the old hard bits outside. I’ve done it a couple of times, and it does seem to make it … better rice.

Definitely do a thorough washing of the rice ahead of cooking. That should help keep the sticking to a minimum. There will always be some outside of a well-made rice cooker, IMO, but hey, that’s rice for ya.

I wouldn’t add oil. Even a little may throw off the texture later on down the road.

I never bother to wash basmati rice, but it helps with jasmine/sushi rice.

First step is to not use jasmine rice for sushi :p

EDIT: I’ll add a few other tips.

Rinsing really well is important, as noted above.
Once the rice is done cooking, take off the lid and start fanning the rice while slowly fluffing it. Don’t let any of the moisture in the pot re-accumulate on the rice.
After that is done, season as specified in your recipe.

For pressure cooker specific things, I’ve found that slightly less water than specified on the package works best, especially with brown or semi-brown rice.

Definitely haven’t been doing that; poor phrasing on my part.

Thanks for the tips, guys. Sounds like washing the rice thoroughly, washing the pan vigorously, using a 1:1 ratio and no oil will minimize any isues.

Oh yeah I think you want to soak 30 minutes. I assume the rice cooker includes this soak time (30 mins soak, 20 mins actual cook time).

My ancient SodaStream Jet gave up the ghost the same week my rice cooker died. It was leaking gas (only when activated) through what looked like a crack and I wasn’t able to repair it myself, so I went ahead and picked up a SodaStream Source. The Source doesn’t accept 130-L cylinders, unfortunately. Any suggestion for what to do with the empties other than a landfill? No one I know who is local to me needs them.

Craigslist?

Doh! Of course. Thanks. :)

Edit: Hauled 'em into my local exchange shop and they traded for them anyway. I think the girl at the counter might have been crushing on me a little, because she even applied a discount to the exchange.

Pairing these with my Breville juicer.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DN6001G
https://www.amazon.com/Brieftons-Silicone-Sleeves-Insulated-Protection/dp/B076BMYS9Z

This is working out pretty well. I did a batch last week, and it provided part of four meals. Really nice. And folks seem to really like the crust. It isn’t getting as crispy as I’d like it on the bottom, but that’s an issue of lack of stone/steel. Still, it’s working pretty well.

The second batch:

I’ll post decent pictures of one of the pizzas in the cooking thread.

Thanks again for this recipe.

-xtien

I’ve been reading a bit about the way that plastic straws are bad for the environment, so I looked into various options. Eventually I purchased these.

They are wide enough to drink a smoothie or milkshake through. Solidly constructed. The cleaning brush is nice but they will be going into the dishwasher. Oh and, borosilicate glass.

I purchased some really nice silicon straws. I like them better than the glass or stainless steel ones because they are very flexible. Mine are also wider than a standard straw and suitable for smoothies.

I love this post, Rich. I was talking about this with my girlfriend’s mom a few weeks ago, because she got this cool cup with a metal straw for my girlfriend’s kid.

I tend to wash and reuse straws a lot, because I think throwing them away is silly and a waste. i like that cleaning brush, though.

-xtien

That’s what I’ve been doing as well. I put them in the silverware basket in the dishwasher. It shows you just how indestructible plastic straws are. The dishwasher, which can ruin a good knife, doesn’t bother them!

Never washed my GFs straws but I like the options you guys are talking.

Does anybody have an opinion on squeeze bottles? I want to buy some, but have no idea if there’s a difference between various offerings. My insurance inct is to buy the cheapest, dishwasher safe commodity food service ones I can find, because, well, they’re just extruded plastic, but maybe there’s actually a difference?

The kind of plastic is important, some really absorb food odors/flavors, some you shouldn’t use with hot or acidic contents. But I don’t know what is best for which.

I bought these a couple years ago and use them for hot sauce, which I purchase by the half-gallon. They work fine.