Carrot Onigiri

I sometimes get lazy, but want to fool myself into thinking what I'm eating is fancy, simply to make myself feel better. So I make simple yet fancy feeling foods.

Like this Carrot Onigiri!

Simple Carrot Onigiri

Ingredients:
Cooked sushi Rice, seasoned with Mirin
Shisho Rice flavoring sprinkles (optional)
Nori, cut into strips
1 Carrot, steamed and mashed

Directions:
I used a triangle press, but if you don't have one, you can use your hands to form the shapes. Take a small handful of rice with wet hands, and place in the press, pushing down. (Or flatten it down with your hands) Add a spoonful of the carrot.
Place another handful on top, and press it down again.
Add a strip of nori on the bottom, and sprinkle with shisho sprinkles or sesame seeds.
Nom!

I ate it with some Spicy Vegannaise! Just mix a spoonful of vegannaise with some sriracha sauce to taste, and use it as a dipping sauce!

Happy to Be Back Sushi

So I've been gone. Again.

I broke my computer. Again.

But Now I'm back! And I made some sushi!

Super Unhealthy Sushi

Ingredients:
Sushi Rice, prepared
Eggplant, cut into sticks
Tofu, cut into sticks
Carrots, grated into matchsticks (I have a julienne grater)
Scallions, bottom cut off
Sesame Seeds
Rice Chex
GF flour mixed with soy milk to form a pancake like batter
Oil, for Deep Frying
Nori
Vegannaise
Sriracha sauce

Directions:
Heat the oil on the stove.
Take your Rice Chex, and crush to form tempura like flakes with a rolling pin.
Coat the tofu and eggplant in your Flour and milk mixture, and then quickly toss with the rice chex flakes.
Deep fry the tofu and eggplant until golden and crunchy.
Spread the rice onto the sushi, and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Top with a scallion, carrot strips, and some tofu and eggplant.
Roll the roll and slice into pieces.
Mix together some vegannaise and sriracha sauce to form a spicy mayo dip.
Enjoy!

More Sushi... I'm An Addict

I'm addicted to my own sushi.

I know it's probably not the most modest to say that you have an addiction to your own food, but I have to be honest, I make pretty delicious sushi, and I love eating it almost more than anything else I make (With one exception!)

So You might get stuck with various sushi rolls of mine, as I experiment with new flavors. Todays?

Mango Pepper Avocado Roll

Ingredients:
Cooked Sushi Rice
An Avocado
A Mango
Some yellow and green Pepper slices
Black Sesame seeds
 A Sheet of nori

Directions:
Spread the sushi rice over the nori... you know the drill.
Cut up some of the mango into slices, some of the avocado into slices, and the pepper slices. Sprinkle on some black sesame seeds.
Roll er up, and slice.
Using a vegetable peeler, peel a slice of mango, and a slice of avocado to go on top of each roll.
Enjoy your fanciness! 

I think this roll would also work out well with some carrot in the center if you need a bit more crunch to it, and possibly some bamboo shoots, or even different slices of pepper. If you put in a green, red, and yellow pepper slices, you'd have a veritable rainbow of peppery goodness! I just happened to have only a yellow pepper and a green pepper, so here we are. My mango was also pre-cut, so i had to slice it thin with a knife, but it would have looked nicer peeled thinner!

Simple Sushi

It's no secret to those that know me that I enjoy eating fancy. I will add garnishes to my foods when I'm sitting alone at home by myself. I always wipe around the edges of my dishes so that there's no spatters before I eat.

It's a little bit of a sickness.

But one of the things I love to eat that makes me feel fanciest of all is Sushi.

When I started trying to make sushi rolls, I was hopelessly terrible. They were loose and fell apart, they had too much rice, or too little rice, they didn't roll right, the fillings fell out... It was very sad. But this was about 6 years ago, and since then I've practiced... not constantly, but at least once a month I'll make a sushi roll, so I like to think I've gotten better.

But the most important thing I've learned is one key thing: Always use the right rice.

Do not use Uncle Bens, minute rice, or anything like that. You need a nice, short grain, sticky rice. (I use Calrose Rice, and you can get that, and rice labled "sushi rice" at most grocery stores) If you have the wrong rice you're doomed for pointlessness.

You can also use Brown rice, for health reasons, but trust me when I say that it won't seal up as well, because it's not sticky.

But, without further ado, today's random roll!

Carrot and BBQ tofu Roll
(Makes 1 roll)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup dry sushi rice
3/4 cup water
1 tsp seasoned rice vinegar
1 sheet of nori
black sesame seeds (optional)

1 carrot, peeled into strips
a few slices of tofu, enough to cover the length of a sheet of Nori.
1 tbsp Asian BBQ Sauce (I use San-J Brand. This also tastes great with Teriyaki sauce)

Directions:
Put your rice and your water in a rice cooker. Cook. When it is done, transfer the rice to a bowl. (If there are any stuck on bits at the bottom of the rice cooker, do NOT transfer those! Just the loose rice)
Using a rice paddle or wooden spoon, add in the rice vinegar, and stir around, flipping the rice over and over to both cool the rice, and mix in the seasonings.
Spread the rice over your nori in a thin, even layer. (I use the paddle, but if you want to use your fingers remember to keep your hands wet, so they don't stick.
Sprinkle the rice with some black sesame seeds if you want to.
In a microwave safe bowl, mix the tofu and Sauce so the tofu is covered. Stick in the microwave for 30-45 seconds.
While that's microwaving, lay down a few strips of carrot on one end of the nori. Add the tofu once it's done, and then roll it up! If you aren't sure how to roll sushi, Here is a good illustrated step by step.
Cut into 5 pieces with a sharp knife. Keep in mind that after every cut, you should run a wet cloth along the edge of the knife so it doesn't stick to the rice!
Then, enjoy with some tamari, or more BBQ sauce as a dip if you are big into BBQ. Or just eat without sauce, the choice is yours!

A little Simple Tiffin Lunch for your Wednesday

It's been a while since I posted a tiffin lunch, one of those 3 tiered lunches I make for Matthew.

I haven't been 100% lately, been dealing with a few life issues, and all last week Matthew was off from work, so we weren't home a lot, hence the lack of updating. I've been a terrible blogger!

In other news, I've become the editor of an academic journal for my department's graduate Journal, Word in the World. We're taking submissions for the next issue, so if you are a graduate student and have a paper, poem, story, or painting dealing with anything Theological, feel free to e-mail it to me! (If it is a painting or photo, or photo of a work of art, make it as high resolution as possible!) Click here to do so!

Back from plugging my new job, here's the food!

Deconstructed Sushi and Salad Tiffin

Layer 1

Spinach Salad

Ingredients

Enough Spinach to almost fill the tiffin

A small handful of peels from a carrot

A small handful of Dried Cranberries

Directions

Layer the salad with spinach on the bottom, carrot, and then craisins. 

Layer 2

Cranberry Cherry Salad Dressing

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp dijon mustard

1 tbsp cranberry cocktail

1 tbsp black cherry juice

(I had a bottle of cranberry cherry juice, so I used 2 tbsp of that)

some snow peas for bottom of container

Directions

In a small container with a screw on lid, put all of the dressing ingredients. Shake vigorously until all the ingredients are combined. 

Layer 3

Deconstructed Sort of Sushi

Ingredients

1 cup Rice Mix

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1/2 small onion, diced

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp tamari

the peels from a small carrot

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 sheet nori, shredded

1/4 cup tofu, diced into tiny dices

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp tamari

Sprinkles of sesame seeds or rice seasoning

Directions

Mix together the Rice mix and 1 tbsp rice vinegar, set aside.

Pour the other vinegar into a bowl, and add the carrot peels. Set aside.

In 2 small bowls, mix up the separate sesame oils and tamari. Add the tofu to one bowl, and the onion to another. Mix them well. 

In a small non-stick frying pan, fry up the tofu mixture.

Once cooked, mix together with the rice and shredded nori. Press into bottom of container.

Cook up the onions in the same frying pan. 

Drain the carrot peels, layer the carrots with the onions on top of the sushi, and top with the sesame seeds or rice seasoning. 

That's it! Tadaa!

Thursday Quick Lunch- Cheddar Fusion Roll

I created this for the Daiya recipe contest, so I won't post the recipe here at the moment, but it took less than 10 minutes, and I got to use up last night's leftover brown rice, so woot.

A Vegan Cheddar Fusion Roll. 

Before Rolling

The Finished Product!

Nom Nom!