Skip to main content

The Mango in the Sushi - My first bento


What's in this box:



 Savoury box:
- vegan sushi
- tamari and wasabi

 Sweet box:
- banana
- chocolate and peanut butter caramel muffins

Method and Recipes

For the sushi, you will need:
1 cup shortgrain rice
1 and 1/2 cups water
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp rice or apple cider vinegar
salt
4 nori sheets
one slice of mango
half an avocado
two slices pan roasted tofu 
sriracha

 Rinse the rice thoroughly (I often just buy pudding rice - much cheaper, great taste), then put it in a pot with the water. Bring to the boil, then cover and let cook on medium heat for 10-15 minutes. I usually check after 8 minutes, then check again until I can see the rice has absorbed all the water. Add the maple syrup, vinegar and a good pinch of salt, and mix delicately with a spatula.

 Because I am the laziest cook EVAR, I then spread the rice in a thin layer on a baking tray and leave it to cool. Not only this makes the rice cool more quickly, but as I discovered, if I quarter it and lift it delicately with a spatula, I can pretty much lay it on the nori sheet and press it down and it's DONE. I make 4 rolls with this amount of rice, two for dinner and two for the bento.

 Now, here is where you can get creative and stuff your sushi rolls however you like. The ingredients above are my favourite combo at the moment. You will need to cut them in long thin slices. I start with putting a thin line of sriracha on the rice (I used to use vegan mayo mixed with sriracha, but it is actually ok just with the sriracha), then put the other ingredients on top and roll using a sushi mat. 

 For the muffins, you can use any easy chocolate muffin recipe (like this one). Fill the muffin cases halfway, then using two teaspoons drop a small dollop of my favourite peanut butter caramel on the batter, and finally cover the filling with the rest of the batter. Bake the cupcakes as normal and you will have filled cupcakes.

 The peanut butter caramel is one of my biggest obsessions, and it is super easy to make.
You will need:
1 part peanut butter
2 parts maple syrup
a splash of vanilla.

Mix everything, microwave for a few seconds, mix again. 

Final stats:

Time: 30 minutes prep + 1 h to cool the rice
How many meals: 2
Appearance: savoury box *****, sweet box **
Taste: **** 
Staple potential: ***** 
Notes: This was one of my first bentos. I adored the sushi, but I have since stopped putting bananas with the peel in my bento. It is much better and prettier to slice the banana (it will keep). Also, now I have the moulds to make stuff of the exact shape of the bento, I am looking forward to experimenting with cakes!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome and introduction

Hello, and welcome to my food blog.  I am Ewa, a green haired Sicilian who lives and works in the U.K.   I love cooking, so I am rather surprised it has taken me this long to start a cooking blog, but better late than never I suppose. Here are a few things you may want to know about me: I am not vegan. I eat a mostly vegan diet and enjoy cooking vegan food. All the bentos here will be vegan, but I am not one. I may make mistakes! I can't eat gluten because of an illness I have (Hashimoto thyroiditis). But aside from that, I do not follow any specific diet. My bentos will mostly be gluten free, but on occasion there may be some gluten or trace gluten.  This lovely YouTube channel is what inspired me to buy my bento box and start experimenting with it. The bentos on this site are mine, though. I am not Japanese and do not have Japanese heritage, although I practise a Japanese school of Buddhism and have Japanese friends (you can find my Buddhist blog here ). I did resea
Post a Comment
Read more

The Rice of the Leftovers

This bento was made of a bunch of leftovers.  (please don't hate on the terrible pun in the title. I could not resist) What's in this box: Savoury box: - inari pockets with garlic and potato rice - carrot - tamari and wasabi Sweet box: - straweberry chia pudding - dates Method and Recipes I had leftover inari pockets from a sushi lunch I prepared with a friend. Inari is one of my favourite things in the world, although it's probably not the healthiest, seeing as it's seasoned fried beancurd. I use this brand (because it's the only one I can find) and I buy it in a Chinese supermarket for about £3.50. My trusted Thai shop in my area has betrayed me on this one. They didn't even know what inari was! The only issue with inari is that it is not gluten free because it is made with a small quantity of soy sauce and not tamari. I have done some research but I have not been able to find a gluten free one, unfortunately, but I did find a recipe to
Post a Comment
Read more

Need for Salad

This was a really successful bento, considering how little time it took me to make it. What's in this box: Savoury box: - mango and tofu salad - hummus dressing Sweet box: - banana and chocolate chips - peanut butter caramel - dates Method and Recipes: For the salad , I added a handful of mixed salad from a bag, about five sliced cherry tomatoes, a diced slice of mango and two slices of tofu that I had cooked using this method . I usually cook half a block of tofu this way (fits well in my skillet), then store what I don't use to eat during the week. The hummus dressing was just some hummus thinned with a bit of warm water and some lemon juice. This happened to be some not-too-nice hummus I had made myself following a recipe I am definitely not making again. As hummus it was rubbish but it was ok as a dressing. Any hummus you like will do. The peanut butter caramel is one of my biggest obsessions, and it is super easy to make. You will need: 1 part pea
Post a Comment
Read more