Assembly Line Lunch

Five in one blow: Sushi with brown rice, asparagus and avocado; steamed greens with soy sauce and sesame seeds; grapes; carrots. Mango gelatin on the side (not pictured).

Yes, I finally made a Japanese-style lunch with sushi in it. What took so long? Well, the nori I have on hand is not the best, but I needed something that would be good on a hot day, could be made ahead, and didn't require me to shop again. I was making lunch for the masses today, so it made sense to do the sushi and greens last night, then assemble it all in the morning. The silicone cups keep the flavors separate and also keep the nori rolls dry. For lunches, I leave the nori rolls uncut; it travels better that way, and is less likely to be distributed to everyone who asks for a piece ; )  (As a safety note, some smaller people find nori hard to bite and chew--you should definitely cut their sushi up.)

Sushi is a flexible lunch option. It can be filled with a variety of vegetables, or shrimp, or even tuna salad. You can roll it, as above. You can make chirashi sushi, which is sushi rice with the "fillings" on top. You can even make pressed sushi: Line a container with plastic wrap or parchment and layer warm rice, then fillings, then more warm rice. Press it down to fuse the layers, then cut it into shapes; it is like little sandwiches. The other great thing about sushi is that, once you have everything assembled, you can roll lots of them in a short time, so it's good for days when you are making LOTS of lunches.

Here is a great instructional video by a raw-food chef using a parsnip "rice" in the sushi. His instructions for making tight rolls are great. And parsnip "rice" really is delicious, by the way!

http://therawchef.com/therawchefblog/raw-food-recipe-sushi