The Family Table: Constructive deconstruction

Everyone in our house loves sushi. They also love to eat.
It makes going out for sushi dinner an expensive proposition for a household of five.
My workaround to meet everyone’s sushi craving (while not dropping $200 on a single dinner) is deconstructed rolls in the form of sushi bowls.
Like a lot of my meal plans, these bowls allow everyone to customize their dinner by topping off the base (homemade sushi rice) with whatever toppings they want. Think of it the same way you would think of tacos – some people want beef and cheese only; others fill it up with greens, onions, sour cream and salsa.
And much like tacos, almost all of the preparation can be done in advance – or if you’re really in a pinch, can be purchased already prepared from the grocery store.
What really makes these bowls feel like a deconstructed sushi roll is the seasoning on the rice: rice vinegar (buy the unseasoned!), sugar and water. The mix of the three is heated together until the sugar and salt have dissolved, and then stirred into freshly cooked rice so that it absorbs the seasoning. I try to do this at least an hour in advance so that the rice has time to cool completely, and have also done it the day before and refrigerated the rice. I pull refrigerated rice out about an hour before dinner so that it’s closer to room temperature.
The bowls are kind of like a “choose your own adventure” book – everyone gets exactly what they want. If I find there are leftover topping ingredients, I repurpose them into wraps or use them on the salads that I take for lunch later in the week.
There’s no losing on this delicious, quick dinner.
Simple ‘Sushi’ rice
Ingredients
2 cups rice, cooked to package directions
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Spicy Drizzle
Ingredients
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon fish sauce
Sriracha to taste
Toppings:
Chopped cucumber, avocado, edamame beans, seaweed salad, shredded carrots, baby spinach, thinly sliced scallions, sliced nori, soy-glazed mushrooms, cooked shrimp, crab, baked tofu or any other protein you’d like. (Thinly sliced beef cooked with some teriyaki marinade is also delicious!) Set out soy sauce for drizzling.
The method is simple: Cook the rice according to package directions. When it’s nearly done, heat the vinegar, sugar and salt in the microwave until the sugar is dissolved. When the rice is done, thoroughly stir it into the rice and let the rice cool.
To make the drizzle, whisk the three items together and adjust seasonings to taste. If you don’t want to make the spicy drizzle, most grocery stores sell the spicy mayo in the international section.
- While you can use short grain sushi rice, I have used long grain white or brown rice and even quinoa, all seasoned the same way. The key to imparting the most flavor, I’ve found, is mixing in the vinegar/sugar/salt mix as soon as the rice is done and while it is still hot.