Sushi Rolling

Blog four in bento land; I hope I can keep this up.  Today the newly purchased Panasonic 3.3 dup Automatic Rice Cooker arrived {$24.00 on Amazon} and it is currently bubbling away with tomorrow's rice.  There's no zealot like a convert.   The Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue arrived also and I opened the rice cooker first.  This may be getting out of hand.

Below are the last two bento boxes a la gary. 

This is a shrimp, scallop, and mushroom donburi.  Donburi is basically rice with toppings.  The scallop was sliced and broiled with soy sauce.  The shrimp were cooked 2-3 minutes in water, soy sauce, and mirin.  The mushrooms boiled in water and then with soy, sugar, and mirin.  That all goes over about 1/2 cup rice in the large compartment.  The small compartment is cauliflower and snow peas, salted cucumber and radish with sesame seeds, and mixed fruit.

This is chicken marinated in soy sauce, sugar, and mirin; then grilled, sliced and combined with the asparagus in the glaze left after cooking the chicken.   Cauliflower, broccoli, carrot, and cherry tomatoes finish the small compartment.  The large compartment is the balance of the vegetable sushi from Monday and furit {pineapple, cherry, pear, and banana}.

Here is the basic sushi rolling technique.  There was a picture pre-roll in blog three.  Anyway put the rolling mat on the counter and put the Sushi Nori {toasted sea vegetable} on the mat.  Spread the sushi rice thinly on the nori leaving about 1" clear at the top and maybe 1/2" or less on the sides.  I spread the rice by hand.  Using a salted bowl of cold water to rinse my hand and keep the rice from sticking to it.  Then spread any spreadable stuff like cream cheese or wasabi, lay across the nori from the bottom to about 1/3 to 1/2 way the vegetables, seafood, or whatever.  And roll like a big fat cigar [or your smoking preference}.  If the nori does not seal over at the end wet you finger with the salted water and wet the nori and it will stick.  Let the whole thing sit for 15-30 minutes and the nori  will absorb some moisture from the rice and hold together.  Then slice with a cold wet knife.  I'm doing this the night before so I wrap the sushi in plastic wrap, put that in a tuperware type box, and put it in the refrigerator where it keeps well for at least a couple of days. 

Cheers, Gary