Bento Challenge Week Eight: Sushi

I tell ya, sushi week couldn’t have come at a better time! Usually I make my bentos the night before work, so by the time I open them up, they’ve been sitting in the fridge all night and usually for a few hours in my bag under an ice pack as well. Not very conducive to good quality sushi.

But this week I’m on spring break! Woo! So even though I didn’t have to go anywhere, I made myself a bento and ate it on the couch while listening to podcasts. It was also nice because I had the free time to do something a little more elaborate than usual. In the top picture, you can see my mise en place for the box, right before taking the sushi rice out of the rice cooker.

In the bowls:

* Sushi vinegar

* Cucumber

* Purple turnip (I’m not sure what kind it is; we got it from our farm share. It’s huge and oblong and sports a beautiful purple starburst pattern in cross section.)

* Smoked lemon pepper trout (from the grocery store)

* Fried okra (I thought about putting these in the sushi rolls like tempura shrimp or something, but finally decided just to use them as a side dish. I just cut them into coins, dredged them in paprika, salt, and flour, and fried them in canola oil.)

* Sauteed asparagus

* Teriyaki sauce (from the grocery store)

* Mazekomi Wakame seasoning

* Sauteed dandelion greens (left over from last night’s dinner)

* Spicy sauce (from the grocery store)

* Furikake

* Panko

* Fake wasabi (I have real wasabi powder too, but I kinda prefer the flavor of the fake stuff)

* Shichimi togarashi

I also bought a prefab seaweed salad from the grocery store to add a bit of green to the meal. The rolls I wound up making were:

* Turnip and dandelion greens

* Turnip and trout

* Asparagus, panko, and cucumber

* Asparagus and trout

Plus various assorted condiments and toppings.

Pretty freaking tasty, if I do say so myself! I did three with the nori inside the rice and one with the nori outside of the rice, which made for a nice textural contrast. Best lunch I’ve made for myself in ages! Now I just have to get all the dishes done before my wife gets home from work.