January 11, 2009

Sushi and bento lunches

I somehow managed to make sushi....good sushi at that. It won't replace my desire to hit up a Japanese sushi bar, but this skill will allow me to enjoy sushi more often. Of course I'm too paranoid to use actual fish even though I love it. I decided to go for simple in case I did something really wacky and it came out bad. I used cooked crab meat and cucumber inside. Very delicious. And since I didn't use any raw fish, I was able to make a lot so that we can have some for tomorrow's lunches. While sushi is best fresh, I think it'll still be rather good tomorrow. 

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    •  DH didn't care too much for the cucumber. I don't think he realizes that he's had cucumber in his sushi before. But being the nice wife that I am, I left it out of his rolls. Knowing DH he'll share a few of his rolls with someone tomorrow. The white cup contains soy sauce. The green container contains just a small bit of wasabi. Gotta love the commissary - the only thing I didn't buy there that is necessary is the nori, which I already had.
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    I like the cucumber, so I used more of it in mine. I didn't have another container like I used for DHs, so I had to layer my rolls with parchment paper. I added a few extra cucumber sticks to my box. Later I went back and added carrot sticks and a string cheese. I realized that I was probably going to share half of my sushi with my coworker and I needed more to fill me. DH did get a small bento container with peanut butter, carrot sticks, and celery sticks. 

    I made 3 cups (uncooked) calrose rice. Mixed it with 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar, 3 heaping tablespoons of sugar, and 1 tablespoon salt. Most of the rice was used to make the sushi pictured above. I made another dozen rolls too that we ate this afternoon. Mmmmmm. The rest I used to mold. Ichiban Kan has some great rice molds. This is the one I own. After I mold the rice, I dip it into some furikake (rice seasoning). I bought mine at the commissary, but I'm sure Ichiban Kan has them online along with some Asian markets. I couldn't find a single Asian store that carried the stuff back home, but it's out there. We use it on top of steamed rice all the time. Even my father who hates the thought of seaweed loves this stuff. As you can tell from my picture, we're almost out. 
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    And here's the only bento pictures I remembered to take last week. We both had chicken pot pie filling that didn't fit into my pie mixed with extra potatoes. DH had string cheese, crackers, yogurt, and a banana. Some of that is eaten as a snack for him. I had just a string cheese and a banana. I don't need as much as him - he runs and works out. I sit on my butt at work. At least I'm honest.
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