Dishes of Japanese cuisine based on rice and fish appeared on the tables of Russians not so long ago, but have already firmly won their place. Many people do not rush to restaurants for overseas treats, preferring to cook them at home. An important component of making sushi and rolls is rice vinegar. Unfortunately, not every locality in the country can easily find this ingredient. How to replace rice vinegar - read the article below.
Is it possible to cook Japanese dishes without rice vinegar?
Rice vinegar is a rare and quite expensive product, so many people who master Japanese cuisine are wondering: “Can an ingredient be excluded from the recipe?” The answer to this question is negative, because vinegar is not needed at all in order to make rice sticky.
This ingredient serves to give the dish a certain taste, and without it the zest of Japanese dishes is lost. Vinegar contains wine, sugar, salt, and therefore sets off unleavened rice.
In addition, the product has antiseptic properties, when working with raw fish it is extremely important. The taste of rice vinegar is soft compared to other types of vinegar, so it began to be included in European dishes.
How to make vinegar yourself?
For one reason or another, not all housewives can afford the purchase of this Japanese cuisine product. Therefore, they are faced with the question: "How to replace rice vinegar at home?" Or maybe we will not replace it, but just cook it yourself? The product will be natural and the taste will be difficult to distinguish from the original. But it should be noted that cooking vinegar with your own hands will take a lot of time and effort. Glassware can be used strictly glass, mix the components only with wooden devices.
So, the algorithm is as follows:
- Rinse 300 grams of jasmine rice several times, fill with water and close the lid for 4 hours.
- Then put the dishes in the refrigerator overnight.
- In the morning strain the rice through cheesecloth so that you have rice water left. Pour a glass of sugar into it and mix thoroughly.
Cook the resulting solution for half an hour in a water bath, then set to cool.
We continue to cook vinegar at home
Pour the cooled solution into a glass container and add yeast to it (follow the instructions on the package). A week of vinegar must roam. Then it is poured into another jar, and its neck is bandaged with sterile gauze. In a dark place, vinegar should roam for another two months. Filter the finished product, boil and pour into a smaller container for convenient storage and use.
Now you know how to replace rice vinegar without unnecessary financial costs. By the way, to make the solution less cloudy before boiling (after fermentation), egg protein can be added to it.
The result is homemade soft and pleasant rice vinegar with a delicate aroma and a sweetish aftertaste.
What can replace rice vinegar if there is no desire to spend so much time on its production? Here's an interesting option: mix a tablespoon of sugar and apple cider vinegar, two tablespoons of water and a little salt. Heat, but do not bring to a boil. Such a gas station will be sharper and more acidic than the original, but still quite good. Or mix 4 tablespoons of wine vinegar, 3 tablespoons of sugar and salt. Cook as previous.
Homemade nori seaweed dressing
Not every housewife knows how to replace rice vinegar, but there are many ways. One of them is the use of nori seaweed. Take 2.5 tbsp. tablespoons of wine vinegar, 2.5 tbsp. tablespoons of sugar, a little salt. Heat all ingredients in a pan until salt and sugar dissolve. Then chop the nori leaf, add to the pan and beat lightly. Here you can add a little orange zest or dried seaweed.
Can rice vinegar be replaced with ginger marinade? Yes!
It has a sweet and sour taste and goes well with rice. Lemon will also help: 2 tbsp. tablespoons of citrus juice, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of water, half a tbsp. tablespoons of sugar and two pinches of salt mix and heat. Of course, such sauces are different from real rice vinegar, but in no case will spoil your dish.
Reflecting on the question of how to replace rice vinegar, it is better to stop on the first option - home dressing. But the other sauces on offer interestingly set off the taste of boiled rice.
What can not replace rice vinegar?
Masters of Japanese cuisine in no way recommend trying to replace rice vinegar with balsamic! To prepare the last product, spicy herbs are used, which is not combined with fresh rice and raw fish. If you use balsamic dressing when cooking rice, then instead of a slightly sour taste, you will get a real spicy aroma that clogs the main taste of the dish.
Do not use strong 9% vinegar for making sauces for cooking rice. Sushi is too acidic and will smell like vinegar.
Many dryers do not recommend replacing rice vinegar with any analogs, but this is a moot point. The strict observance of proportions and the selection of products for the manufacture of gas stations allow you to create wonderful and inexpensive analogues of the rare component of Japanese cuisine. It remains to skillfully use them and not go too far with the amount.