Summer Sushi

With the weather being in the high 80s-90s F (30sC), I just want something cool and easy to eat. My solution to this was makeshift sushi. This takes us back to the “good old days” about a year ago when I tried the similar shrimp and garlic roll, but with less ingredients and no sushi mat.

Of course, this doesn’t mean I’m a sushi chef. Far from it. But it’s definitely a fun party food. You can make it with very inexpensive and cheap ingredients. I used shrimp, egg, and cucumber here. You can use canned tuna, imitation crab, anything you want. It’s fun to make when people choose their own ingredients, and, if you have enough mats,  they can even roll it themselves.

Ingredients:

1 cup of sushi rice
3 sheets of nori/seaweed sheets
0.25 cucumber
1 egg
6 cooked de-veined shrimp shrimp.
(any other fillings you might like)
sesame seeds or roe for garnish

1. Cook the sushi rice and season with rice vinegar. If you don’t have rice vinegar, mix together ~1/8 cup of vinegar with half a teaspoon of sugar and mix until the sugar dissolves. Mix with cooked rice to flavor. Wait for rice to cool to room temperature.

2. Scoop some rice and spread flat on nori, which should be on top of your bamboo mat. Leave about a centimeter on top and bottom ends of the nori.

3. Place one of each filling ingredient on the inside and roll up the nori one time. Make sure to roll it up and squeeze tightly before continuing to roll. After each roll, squeeze the sushi mat tightly to make sure the fillings stay in place.

4. Take a sharp knife and cut into bite-sized pieces (or just eat it as the whole roll? haha)

Like I mentioned before, ingredients can be substituted for what you like. I tried experimenting and came out with different rolls that were just perfect and cool enough for some really hot weather.

To have the rice on the outside and the nori on the inside, simply place the rice directly on the sushi mat and then put the nori on top. If you want to try this, I’d suggest wrapping your mat in plastic wrap so you don’t have a nightmare cleaning the mat after.

Accidental Jajang Myun x Pad Thai Hybrid

When I say an accident, I mean it.

I had a salad the other day, and I felt like making something other than the dressing I used in the Apple and Breaded Chicken Salad, so I thought I’d come up with the “brilliant” idea of making a miso-based dressing. Honestly, it wasn’t too bad…I guess. Separately, the dressing and the salad probably would have tasted better. So it might not be unsurprising that I had a lot of this murky dark dressing leftover.

As I was doing the dishes, I was trying to figure out what to do with all this leftover dressing. I didn’t have enough vegetables leftover for a salad, and I just couldn’t figure out what the taste and texture reminded me of.  And then it hit me! I had jajang myun for the first time a few weeks ago, and I figured by adjusting the flavor a little would give me the same type of taste (if not the color). I then added glops of peanut butter to thicken the mixture and poured it all on top of a bed of rice noodles before topping it with some cooked slices of pork shoulder butt, shallots, and nori.