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I've used this rice recently as it's been easy to find at my local supermarket. Nishiki brand seems to be fairly prolific.

Can you cook rice without an appliance cooker? Of course! Can I tell you how to do so and have it come out perfectly? No :)

Zojirushi really makes damn good rice cookers. Personally I recently picked up this model for a little over $100 on Amazon. They also have a less expensive model but I don't have experience with that.

In any event, the rice comes out perfect every time. Perfect. Rinse the rice in 4-5 baths of water, set the final water level, press a button and away it goes. No scorching on the bottom - everything nice and uniform. It's stupid easy and IMO absolutely worth it. Incidentally, each cup of uncooked rice I would say is good for 2-3 rolls... so for me personally, the 3 cup (can do as little as 0.5) rice cooker is perfect either for myself or making a bunch of rolls for entertaining.

Beyond that, once it's cooked... just spread it out gently in a non-reactive bowl, add a little sushi vinegar (store bought is fine - I use a couple table spoons per cup of uncooked rice), fold it together, and you're set.

Simplifying the rice-making process to a button push has me making sushi way more often. Another thing that I feel like makes doing sushi vastly easier and better is doing so with poly food prep gloves. With the rice being so sticky it's just way easier, in my experience, than constantly dipping your hands in water.

Here is a decent knife for cheap Keeps a great edge and is everything you need for maki and anything else really.

I have learned a few things that really stuck with me over my sushi career.

Everyone does the same thing. The rice is all the same, the cucumber is the same. All of the ingredients are the same. However, it's your attention to detail and small variances in skill that determine the quality of your end product. For example; the rice gets washed of starch always, but what are you looking for? What makes the rice you make have that fluffy nice texture? Are you just washing until the water runs clean or are you checking the saturation of the grains of rice? What level of saturation makes for the best end product?

Sushi requires you to always be moving. Each movement matters, there is no down time. I guess this is more for restaurant work than at home but is crucial to understanding the art. You want to do the most work with the least amount of effort.

Food is subjective. If it's good to you, then it's good food. Find those small details that you like that make your product the way you like it. Make weird stuff, try and taste everything.

Always buy the best products. Always use English cucumbers. Always always use kewpie mayo for your sauces. Always have a sharp knife. Always mix a little kewpie into your sirimi instead of using the sticks.

Just keep making sushi and have fun!

I agree with Nessie about cooking the rice. The last time I made homemade sushi, I made vegetable Maki was for some vegan friends. I used Jicama for my rice by pulsing it three times it in my food processor. It's a watery root vegetable which I needed to wrap the "rice'' in a towel so it wouldn't make my nori soggy! All in all, it was a hit!

With that said, decide what kind of sushi you want to make. When I made the Maki, I used strips of red pepper and cucumber for crunch. Your best bets are vegetables such as avocado for a smooth, buttery taste. Have fun experimenting!

Next, try to find untoasted Nori sheets like the Emerald Cove brand or Navitas Naturals at your grocery or health food store; raw seaweed carries fiber, as well as vitamins C and B12.

Buy imitation crab meat if you can't find the real kind, bake or grill flaky fish like salmon or tilapia (you can also make a sashimi roll if you like it raw). Grocery stores selling their own sushi will either have raw ginger and roe separate (its free with a pack or if you just swipe some) or inside the packs.

You can pick up a bamboo mat for fool-proof hand rolling or just use a regular cutting board and roll as tight as you can. Next, slice your sushi with a kitchen knife and enjoy immediately or store in the fridge in a plastic container for a day or so.

I don't have a rice cooker, but I have a pressure cooker. Still, I've tried it once in there and wasn't impressed. I prefer the old-fashioned stove top way. Sure, you have to time it, but it's great and works really well for me.

My tried and true recipe is straight out of Sushi for Dummies. I use short grain rice (I've only ever used Lundberg Sushi Rice, but any one will do), and rinse it until I am sick of rinsing. This recipe calls for a "splash of saki" and something pickled(?) to add flavor. Since I had neither of those, my tip is to take a bit of condensed stock/base (my favorite is Better Than Bouillion), and mix it up in the water. Which flavor you choose is up to you, but I prefer the vegetable base. I have a lobster base that I've been eager to try, but even with the veggie base, it always comes out delicious enough to eat on it's own, but not overpowering or outshining anything I make with it.

Sounds like it is just a cheap metal material. It's best to have one good knife and use it a lot to learn how it cuts and how the weight is. I would suggest using your cheap yanagiba as a junk knife and go buy a nicer knife and just really learn its feel.

How much are you willing to spend?
Yanagiba 32 bucks
I own this as one of my side knives. It's cheap but the metal is quite strong and holds a edge well. The handle is on the small side and its a little light but it's a great intro knife.

Wash the rice 3 times, you don't have to wash it until it's crystal clear just get most of the starch out. Make sure you drain all the water out before it goes into the pan with the added water. Then bring to just barely a rolling boil and drop the heat to low and cover. Cook for 20min, the second the timer goes off move your pan off the burner and let sit for 10min covered. I don't use a rag I just use the lid and the lid stays closed from the moment you put it on to the end of your ten min timer. I like to put foil or plastic over a sheet pan and spread my rice out on that. Using a rice paddle and cutting motions mix in about 3tbsp of seasoned rice vinegar. It's kinda hard to get used to at first but you need a fan or a stiff plastic lid and start fanning the rice with one hand while cutting and mixing the rice with the other. Continue this until the rice is basically about the same temp as your skin. I also recommend covering the rice with a damp paper towel while you're making sushi so it doesn't dry out. Hope this helps.
This is the Sushi rice that I use, it's a pretty good deal. 20$ for 15lbs.

Great over all knife.

I work as a sushi chef and I've used plenty of knives that range from the high-end to low-end. Honestly this knife has the best bang for its buck out of all of the knives I've used.

Pros:
-Cheap
-It actually has a concave back side
-Reliable.
-Same company that produces Shun cutlery.

Cons:
-There's a secondary bevel on the cutting edge.
-The reason that there's a secondary bevel is because it's made from a lower end softer steel. Sharpness vs. edge retention. You lose out on the knife's full potential sharpness but you gain an edge retention.

All in all. I love using this knife. It's such a banger. Highly recommended!

It may not be in your price range, but I also echo others' sentiments about getting the rice right, and the easiest way to do that is with one of these. Granted, this is a Cadillac, but it's amazing. Even if you don't go with a Zojirushi, a cheaper rice cooker can take a lot of the guesswork out of cooking the rice. I put the rice in, put the water in, and around 35 minutes later, perfect rice. It really is that simple.

both are just condiments, so quality won't vary much. where do you get that kikkoman is frowned on - just because it's and Asian product marketed to Westerners?

anyway, I just buy what's typically sold at most Asian stores, like S&B Wasabi paste by the tube,

http://www.amazon.com/Wasabi-Plastic-Tube-Family-Size/dp/B0002YGSAU

I use soy sauce in place of salt for my regular western cooking, so I prefer mostly dark varieties like,

http://www.amazon.com/Lee-Kum-Premium-Dark-Sauce/dp/B0001EJ4CU

And with ginger - again I use whatever is cheap (sugar free - keeps longer) at the Asian store like;

http://www.amazon.com/Ginger-12-oz-Jar-Nishimoto/dp/B001OQXIM6

the point is you may be much better off visiting an area Asian market then buying online as the prices and fresh turnover may be better locally. it's all a matter of taste so experiment, don't just take people's word for it.

I definitely think at this age and his lack of cooking interest,

The sushi bazooka will make it easy and fun to get started, and as he gets older and more passionate about the culinary prowess involved in sushi, then further expand upon it.

Making sushi shouldn’t be hard, it’s something that is simple to learn/hard to master

sushi bazooka

I hope this helps :-)

Edit* also, even if your vegetarian you can make strictly veggie rolls using carrots cucumbers and avocados.

Thanks for the recommendations. I did a 1 to 1.5 rice/water ratio, so I guess a bit much. I did rinse it out well first and let it soak for like 15 minutes like some online sushi rice tutorials recommend. This is the knife I'm using. Yay or nay? Is there a knife sharpener you'd recommend?

Your mileage may vary - but I spent a TON of time looking for / drooling over awesome $150+ Shun knives. Considering how frequently I need it I went with this Joyce Chen knife. It's not sexy but it works, has a nice feel, and kept its edge for a while. That said - like any knife you WILL need to have a plan for sharpening it over time.

I'm by no means an expert, I've probably only made sushi about five times, but I started less than a year ago. However, based on my limited knowledge, I would highly recommend the book that helped me get started, Sushi: Taste and Technique.

The book helped me learn how to make rice, different types of rolls, nigiri, etc. It has many pleasant illustrative photographs of prepared sushi (and ingredients, recipe steps, etc.), and can serve as a mini "coffee table book." It also has a guide to many different types of fish and other toppings, which has been interesting to look through, but not as useful for me, since the store I go to only has a few types .

I've recently bought Washoku: Recipies from the Japanese Home Kitchen to supplement my sushi knowledge with other elements of Japanese cuisine (though the book covers sushi also). I haven't used it much yet, however, and although it also has very nice photographs, it has a far lower photograph-to-page ratio than the aforementioned book.

Assuming your rice game is strong and you're using high quality artificial crab, a few other things to experiment with:

• sesame oil
  
• lemon juice
  
• green onion
  
• masago
  
• mascarpone
  
• sriracha
  
• shichimi togarashi
  
• real crab meat (the stuff that comes in a can works just fine)
  
  My guess is you're missing the sesame oil. Usually I just make a mixture of real crab (either lump meat from a can or frozen stuff- because i'm lazy) and Kewpie mayo with a little bit of sea salt, masago, and sesame oil. Usually comes out great. Make sure your ingredients are not overly wet, the soggy feel can ruin your perception of the roll regardless of how good it might taste (and the fishy water tastes a bit gross).
  
  It's easy to make several small batches with slight variations of ingredients, so make a bunch!
  
  tldr: try adding a small amount of sesame oil. make sure your ingredients aren't wet.

That's a great budget! My favorite chef's knife (not a sushi knife, but it gets the job done & versatile) is the 8" Global Chef's Knife (http://www.amazon.com/Global-G-2-inch-Chefs-Knife/dp/B00005OL44). Hands down, one of the best knives I've ever used in my life. Rated highly by pros too!

Get a good chef's knife and you are even better off.

It doesn't have the length but for the home sushi chef it will be perfectly fine.

I bought this set and it has served me well. The two mats are nice because I like to make both styles with rice on inside or outside so I cover one with plastic wrap and leave the other uncovered.

Another bit of unsolicited advice but I have been impressed with how my rice turns out when I follow the instructions in Sushi for Dummies. It is a nice starter book.

I don't have easy access to an asian market but I have found that between Wal-mart and the Meijer's store the next town over, I can get most of what I need. It took a while but my local wal-mart started selling sushi rice.

edit: a word

Alright, so for rice cookers I was looking at this. Cheap and has some pretty good reviews. Do you think I should get the 10 cup version or spend a little few bucks extra on the 20 cup? I was also going to get this "Japanese Rice Washing Bowl"

For a bamboo mat how does this look?

For knives, I have a few thin ceramic blades. Do you think will those work well enough?

EDIT: I saw this knife on one of those weekly threads. I think I may spend some money and buy it.

I've personally had very good luck with this one:
http://www.amazon.com/As-Seen-On-TV-SC-1/dp/B0081TTY90/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421864632&sr=8-1&keywords=sushi+knife

Thank you! So then the reason more traditional japanese sushi knives are single bevel is because they can get them much sharper than the double theoretically if you really know what you are doing?
Also, is this the same knife you linked me but $80 on amazon?
https://www.amazon.com/Tojiro-DP-Sujihiki-Slicer-10-5/dp/B000UAQOTQ


As far as a whetstone I see there are some highly reviewed ones on amazon for $30. Is that what I should get? And where the heck do I buy a wooden knife cover? They are also $30 usually?

my favorite budget rice cooker is the aroma

This is the knife I bought My husband managed to shave his arm with it straight out of the box.

This is what I use.

Non-mobile (normal) link

I really can't recommend this knife more.

Edit to edit: figured out how to links.