On Wednesday evening, I attended a talk by a very fancy-sounding professor who discussed the importance of sleep for mental and physical well-being. Ever since, I’ve been sort of anxious about sleeping and actually sleeping less well… which is new, since I basically never make it through a movie without dozing off a little.
But, anyways. I made and ate some stuff!
For my vegetarian and weekday version of chirashi, I made do with pantry staples and ingredients available at our little corner store, because, being an adult is cutting corners.
For the base, I made some simple sushi rice with short-grain brown rice.
- 3 cups short-grain brown rice
- 5 cups water
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 2 or 3 tablespoons of sugar
- about 1 tablespoon of salt
We cook our rice in the pressure cooker, but whatever works. while it’s going, dissolve the sugar and salt in the vinegar (You might need to heat up the vinegar a little to help it along, but be careful if you do this, since it smells very strongly.) Immediately when the rice is done, drizzle the vinegar mixture into the hot rice and mix around.
Let the rice cool to about room temperature, and then top. I did:
- cucumber strips and shredded carrot and radish (To dehydrate slightly, cut, then sprinkle with salt and let sit for a few minutes. Then, squeeze out the water. To quick-pickle after this, submerge in leftover sushi vinegar for a few minutes.)
- egg strips (make a thin omelette and then cut into strips)
- diced avocado
- toasted sesame seeds
- strips of nori
I realize that this is essentially Rice With Stuff On It, but, that might be my favorite category of food, honestly.