Can’t eat another Pret sandwich this week? Us either.
Sushi is a great healthy lunch, easy to make and once you have the basics down, you can go wild with ingredients, adding just about anything. It really is easier than it looks, and who doesn’t want a lunch made up of emoji faces and pandas?
Why not just buy the sushi? Because it costs a lot of cash that's why. The basic ingredients without optional garnishes, with stir fry veg comes to £7. A box this size from the shop will set you back a lot more than that. Plus you’ll keep the rolling matt and only use half the ingredients.
Emoji Bento BoxIngredientsA box to keep your sushi in, you could use any Tupperware, we used these cute snack boxes from Paperchase.Nori Seaweed sheets
Rolling mat
Sushi Rice
Rice vinegar
Stir fry vegetables
½ Avocado
2 carrots
½ a cucumber
Fresh salmon (this must be from a fish counter, the fresher the better) We paid £1.75 for a large piece
8 fresh tiger prawns (without shells and tail). You could also use Tuna steak, mackerel, sea bass and bream.
½ tsp. salt
½ tbsp. caster sugar
One sheet of greaseproof paper and cling film.
Optional extras
We added some spinach leaves to our box, as well as a tub of spiralized courgette and carrot, you can add as much or little veg as you’d like.
Sushi ginger (for garnishing)
Wasabi paste
Light soy sauce
**Method **
**The Sushi Rice **
** The Nori Rolls**
** The Rice Balls**
Now, for the fun bit! Once you’ve mastered the rice recipe, you can make just about anything. The great thing with the rice balls is, you can make any shape. Plus, you get so many sheets of the Seaweed in a pack, there’s loads to play with in terms of decoration. The sheets are easy to cut, so you can make just about anything. We cut our faces freehand, but you can buy stamps that do this for you, most come from Hong Kong however, so expect to wait about 2-3 weeks for delivery.
You can buy Panda stamps hereand here. How about a Penguin? There’s lots of different shapes to choose from.
Place everything into your box and enjoy! Lunch is so much more fun with a face…Super Kawaii!
**Liked this? You might also be interested in: **
Follow Jenny on Twitter & Instagram @jennybrownlees
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.