Molasses Joe's Quick and Easy Sushi Rice

Doing sushi rice exactly the right way takes so much time and effort,
especially for an amateur chef, that going out to a sushi restaurant is far
more efficient, despite the exorbitant prices.  And yet, I've had it come out
far better by cheating, as follows, than by precisely following the
traditional directions.  So here's how I do it:


2 cups medium (or short) grain white rice
2.5 cups water
4 Tbsp rice vinegar
2.5 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 electric fan

(Note:  The rice vinegar, sugar and salt constitute "sushi vinegar".  You can
use bottled sushi vinegar in place of these three ingredients; just throw in
a little extra sugar.)

Boil the water in any suitable stove top cookware with a tight-fitting lid.
Stir in all the rest of the ingredients except for the electric fan.  Turn
down the heat, cover and simmer for twenty minutes.

If you have a big-ass traditional wooden sushi rice bowl (hangiri), lucky
you.  I don't (and wouldn't have room for it if I did), so I use a cookie
sheet.  Spread out the rice as evenly as possible with a wooden spoon or with
your hands.  (Keep your hands wet whenever handling sushi rice, or you'll
never be able to put it down.)  Plop down your cookie sheet or hangiri full
of rice in front of the electric fan, and let the fan blow over the surface
of the rice for ten minutes or so while you get other stuff done (like
chopping up all the stuff that is to go into the sushi, or tearing apart the
whole house looking for your bamboo rolling mat, which you could have sworn
was in the kitchen drawer last week, but finally having to settle for this
dumb piece of cardboard you found).

Nota bene:  Sushi rice is _only_ good fresh.  Leftover sushi rice is garbage.
Don't bother saving it.

Note from personal experience contrary to the traditional method:  Do _not_
wash the rice beforehand.  (I've read that the idea of washing is to get rid
of the chalk that used to be used in some rice.)  Since you are no longer
likely to encounter chalked rice, and since washing removes much of the loose
starch that is essential to the stickiness of sushi rice, just leave it
alone.  An inexperienced sushi chef (such as I) needs all the help that
extra-sticky rice can give.