Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there … and the single mothers pulling double duty.

I spent the day trying out a new toy — a piece of equipment that on TikTok looked worth giving a try.

What is it you ask?

It’s a sushi maker that supposedly eliminates the need for a bamboo mat and hand rolling.

I, of course, gave it a good hot soapy wash while the rice was cooking. Then set about preparing veggie fillings for the roll — red pepper, carrots, zucchini and — taking a walk on the wild side added a tinsie tiny bit of a no-no gut food … avocado.

Instructions were to "Use the base in the outer frame and place the seaweed paper in the round shaped mold".

"Add half level of cooked sushi rice into the seaweed paper and then use the spatula to press the rice firmly. Use the push bar at the back of the lid to make a groove in the center of the rice."

Took me a second to figure out how much rice was a half level — the instructions meant half the height of the maker. Then it took some doing to get a groove in the center — probably because I added too much rice but, eventually, I got an tunnel in middle of the rice.

"Place ingredients."

"Add more rice until it covers the fillings."

"Press that layer down then fold nori over".

"Put lid on sushi rice and then hold for 5-10 seconds so that sushi rice is tightly pressed and forms the round shape. For a more defined shape you can use rubber bands to hold the lid in place for 2 minutes."

Tired of standing, deciding I didn’t want to hold/press or look for rubber bands, I improvised and went ghetto with a cast iron skillet serving as a hold/press device.

"Remove the lid and then use a sushi knife to slice through the slots."

Don’t have a sushi knife per se, so cuts from a sharp but regular kitchen knife tore up the ends.

"The round shaped sushi is ready for servings", said the instructions BUT didn’t say how to get the rounds out of the mold.

I suppose I could have jiggled them out with my fingertips, but chose to flip the mold over, pop the rounds out with a knife.

Pretty much looks the same as when I handroll — some came out appropriately tight, some came out loose, like those two to the right.

At any rate, those rounds didn’t last long, as I gobbled ‘em up straight away while setting about making more until the prepared ingredients were used up.

Pacing myself as I went along, I only ate the ones that didn’t come out pretty.

Looks like I’ll be eating sushi for the next two/three days for breakfast, lunch AND dinner.

Google tell me that inasmuch as the fillings are all veggies, the rounds will last two/three days in the refrigerator.

All in all, not much difference between using a mat and hand rolling vs. a mold. Taste is great no matter which, rounds still sometimes came out a little iffy with the mole — same as when I hand roll. I suppose, however, if one has no strength in their hands, like my buddy Apache, this device would be helpful.

It also might be good to pack in my luggage for hotel stays where there's no cooking in the rooms, as I can always pack cooked sushi rice, pick up veggies at whatever market is near the hotel.

Deciding to mix it up a little, I threw together ingredients for tempura made with a brown rice flour batter.

Eatin’ gluten-free good in the neighborhood.