Today was my first attempt at making maki. I thought about documenting the process itself, but decided there are enough online instructions that no one needed to see me flail about trying to make maki.
I think they came out pretty well. It took about an hour to put both our lunches together, most of which was the time it took to cook the rice. I am saving up my pennies for a rice cooker, let me tell you.
After some internet research, it turns out what I thought was a cucumber was zucchini. I of course found this out after packing the lunches and sending Chris off with his. Oops. I'm still learning this whole vegetable thing.
In this lunch:
- Slightly messed up California rolls (rice, nori, avacado, imitation crab, zucchini)
- Banana
- Carrot slices
- Edamame
Both of us got the same lunch today, Chris's is just a little bigger. The blue container with a dog on it contains soy sauce, which I left out of mine. I didn't have any pickled ginger or wasabi, oh well.
As you can see we now have offical bento boxes. The tupperware still works best for certain foods / shapes, but the two-tier bento makes separating foods much easier and travels a little better. Chris's even came with an insulated bag with a handle to carry it in.
Re: rice cooker
I have been cooking rice using a faux-haybox technique. I picked up a styrofoam cooler from the trash — one of those Omaha Steaks deals, although any will do. I use a 1:1 ratio of water to dry rice, so I boil 1 cup of water per cup of rice. Once the water is boiling, I add the dry rice and let it get to a boil again. Then I remove the pot from the heat and put it in the cooler. I found that putting the pot on a potholder inside the cooler eliminates the tendency of the pot to melt and stick to the foam. After 10 minutes (up to several hours if you forget about it) the rice is fully cooked, never burned, and still hot. This works for couscous and other grains as well as things like ramen noodles.
Gosh … I’m halfway to an Instructable. [Mental note put camera by rice.]