Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Maki & Stuff for Lunch

Okay, I made tomorrow's lunch: Spamburger Maki with sides of brocolli, pickled baby corn, edamame, kiwi and butterscotch pudding for dessert. I am sure about everything except the kiwi but since it was only 25 cents I figure I can afford to waste it if it isn't a hit.
In case you're wondering what the ingredients are: one nori leaf (roasted seaweed), spread half of it with neufchatel cheese, then Calrose rice on top of that (the bowl of water is for keeping your hands moist enough to handle the rice), then raw spinach, light Spam, carrots and ketchup. I know it sounds like it wouldn't taste good but it does. And Raquel likes it so that's what really matters. The reason I only spread the filling on half of the nori leaf is because of who this is for. I must make the maki slices small enough for a four-year-old to eat with ease. The plain half of the nori leaf acts as reinforcement when the maki is rolled--everything is kept inside neatly.Every sushi instruction video I've seen says you need a bamboo sheet/placemat and plastic wrap to roll the maki tightly but I've never used these things. I just roll delicately but firmly and then squeeze the roll if it feels at all loose.Cutting is the hard part for me. I don't have any good sharp knives. So I do the best I can with the heaviest knife I have and rely on the weight of the knife to pierce the nori and gently "saw" back and forth all the way through.And here is the result:I did this with brown rice last time because it is healthier but since this meal has to travel I figured I'd use sticky white rice. I topped these off with a bonito flake seasoning mixture that tastes so good with sticky rice.
Thanks for reading!

4 comments:

Iris said...

That's her lunch??? Woah!! It's so fancy and beautiful.
Lucky girl :D
Did she help put it together?
I'd like to know if anyone comments on it :)

Sarah Jane said...

This won't be her lunch everyday--it is time consuming! I'll let you know if anyone says anything.
After I spent so much time on this yesterday I researched how to "speed bento" your kid's lunch. I then cooked and froze single portions of rice, pasta and veggies. I'm set up now for the next month!

Iris said...

OH man! You are so cool! I hope I can learn from you, if our little guy is into this kinda food. I say that because his dad is very, very finicky and only sticks to the basic foods. Where as I am looking at these images and drooling because of all of the pretty colors :)

Sarah Jane said...

You don't think Spam is basic? The only "weird" ingredient here is probably the nori.
And when I picked her up from school, the assistant teacher complimented the lunch and so did my sis in law. Raquel is the SLOWEST eater in the entire class, so her and I sat there for so long that other classes started flooding in for their lunch and I was very glad to see that many kids brought their lunch from home. I didn't want to be the only mom doing this.