Bye Bye Bento

I first acquired this “bento box” from a lovely Japanese woman who farewelled me with it from her shop, filled with left-over vegetarian lasagna. Naturally, I instantly fell in love. I’d never seen anything like it before and soon enough, a piece of tin became (and I’m being truly honest here), my most prized possession. Often, I would think if I were to choose one thing to keep with me for the rest of my life, it would be my bento box. I day-dreamed about taking to Europe then India. Filling it with love. I don’t even know why I let myself think it was mine. I felt so attached to the thing. I feel so attached to it. It has sort of become a symbol of freedom and happiness in my life. Because every lunch-time, I can get away from the depressing teacher’s room and go outside with my lunchbox.

Today my worst fear came true.

She asked for it back.

So I am forced to say bye bye, bento.

 

Brown Rice Sushi For Lucy

For me actually but that title rhymes. And my friend Lucy requested this.

I’m no sushi expert. Believe it or not, living in Japan doesn’t automatically make you one. Though I will say, here, sushi means raw fish on a little thingy of rice with a layer of wasabi in between only. Not this. This is maki sushi, I believe.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups uncooked short-grain brown rice
2 cups water
1 tbsp rice vinegar
pinch sea salt
nori (seaweed) sheets
your favorite fillings cut in strips (I used raw salmon, orange capsicum, lettuce and avocado)
a rolling mat

Rinse and drain rice, place into a saucepan and pour in water.

Let soak for as long as possible but if you don’t have the time, 30min is fine.

Cook rice over medium heat until done? Sorry not sure how else to put it..follow packet instructions? Or taste some to check.. you may need to top up the water once or twice (about 35 min).

Let rice cool until warm then mix in the vinegar and salt. Rice should be slightly sticky now.

To roll the sushi, lay a sheet of nori, rough side up, on your rolling mat. With wet fingers (I find its also useful to have a damp towel nearby), firmly pat a thick, even layer of brown rice over the nori, leaving  top edge about 1/2-inch deep uncovered with rice.

Assemble your fillings in a line along the bottom edge of the sheet.

Now we’re ready to roll (both literally and figuratively) so fold the bottom edge of the sheet up, enclosing the vegetables, and roll roll roll your mat? If you didn’t F up, you should have a thick cylinder thing by now.

Here I gently wrap the mat around the roll and squeeze it not-so-gently one more time – for good luck’s sake.

This recipe should make 3 rolls. Cut each roll into 6 pieces for serving.

To make a California roll, that’s the one with the rice on the outside, do what I did and watch this video.

Or look at someone else’s blog who has step by step pictures and accurate cooking instructions. Sigh, I can’t even today.

Date ball recipe here. Tiny cherry tomatoes from my neighbor’s backyard. Gifted, not stolen. Maybe.

holy moly guacamole

Today’s lunch: homemade-ish wholewheat tortilla chips, guacamole and cherries

Tortilla chips:
Preheat oven to 200C
take two all-natural wholewheat tortillas and cut them into 8 slices (like a pizza) with a sharp knife. lather with 1 tsp olive oil, a squeeze of lime and your fave spice (I used Japanese 7 spice but you can use, cumin, garlic salt or anything you want!)
Bake for about 10 min or so, turning them over once or twice
Note: be careful, they tend to burn quickly!

Guac guac guac:
smash together:
1 avocado and your desired quantity of lime juice
then fold in 4 diced cherry tomatoes.