STEAMED JAPANESE RICE

WEIGH THE RICE. Place your rice cooker insert on a scale and tare it to zero. Add your desired amount of rice. (In the video, 400g is used.)

WASH THE RICE. Cover with water, swirl gently, and press down with your open palm several times to rub the grains against one another. This motion helps to "polish" the grains and dislodge any dust and starch clinging to the grains. Drain and repeat. Do this 3-4 times until the water is relatively clear.

SOAK THE RICE. After the final wash, use a strainer to drain the rice well. Let the rice drain in the strainer for about 10 minutes to remove as much water as possible. Return the insert to the scale, tare the scale, and add the rice to the insert. The weight will have increased from water absorption. This is normal. Use a calculator to multiply the starting weight of the rice by 1.35. Add that weight to the original starting weight, and that is your target weight for both the rice and cooking water. Just add fresh water until you reach the total target weight. For example, to cook 400 grams of rice you need 540 grams of water, or 940 grams total weight. Let it soak for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

COOK THE RICE. Place the pot in your rice cooker and set to the manufacturer's recommended mode. If you have a basic model, you are in luck: likely you only have an on/off switch, so you just need to turn it on. My model has more functions and settings, but I always use the Quick Mode (30 minute cook time).

FLUFF THE RICE (Shari-kiri). When the timer goes off, open the lid immediately. Use a wet paddle (shamoji) to cut through the rice and gently fold it over. Rotating the insert as you do this helps ensure you don't miss a spot. This releases excess moisture and prevents the rice from clumping into a solid block. You can hold the rice in the cooker to keep it warm at this point, or serve immediately.