insta-sushi

Mabuta is a 16-year-old student from Japan living with my dad these days, and on the weekend he made dinner, a sort of "make-your-own" norimaki sushi.

Mabuta's sushi method differs from the way my mother made it in that guests are expected to assemble their own sushi rolls into handrolls. He also opted for more convenient ready-made ingredients, cutting down on prep time.



Mabuta.


And it was GOOD, yum. Very messy since some of us (okay, ME) tended to try cramming much more into our rolls than could reasonably fit, but lots of fun!



Egg, which will be cut into strips.


Fillings included: cucumber, artificial crab, egg, avocado, mayo (I don't like mayo in my sushi so left this out), smoked salmon. My mom used to use shiitake mushrooms (involved soaking in a shoyu mixture), pink fish powder stuff (can't remember the name but would recognize the package), eel, gourd strips (also involved soaking), some other stuff. I know how to make it but it takes a lot of time. I like dipping my norimaki in a mixture of shoyu and wasabi.

Ok, I'm hungry.



Sushi rice cooling in trays just before dinner.


Now that my tendinitis has improved enough for me to do some chopping, I'm starting to cook fun things again. Right now I'm trying out recipes in my copy of Hiroko Shimbo's The Japanese Kitchen, a gift from Parki a while back.

I made Tori to Kashunattsu no miso Itame last night (chicken, cashews and miso in a wok) with brown rice and was pretty happy with the results. Had the leftovers for lunch today. Tonight I'm doing a much simpler Buto no Shogayaki (ginger-flavored pan-fried pork, miso soup and rice).

I love walking to St. Lawrence Market in the late afternoon to buy fresh ingredients and cook with them right away. Today I brought home a huge bunch of basil as well. I don't NEED basil, but it only cost $2 and I love the smell! So I put the bunch in a flower vase and set it in the living room. Jeff's going to think I'm nuts when he comes home, I'm sure. :-)

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