Woke up feeling ambitious today. Ambitious enough to try my hand at making sushi. Made some rice in the rice cooker, julienned an assortment of vegetables, picked up some sushi-grade tuna at the farmers’ market…and went to work.

And, that’s when I quickly remembered (despite my temporary memory loss) why I leave the art of making sushi to the professionals. Ugh, it never quite turns out like I envision. They make it look so easy, yet there is truly an art and a science to making sushi that this novice has clearly not mastered.

Yet, I didn’t want all my hard work (and $$$) to go to waste. So, plan B it was. Simply turned the prepped ingredients into a sushi bowl. That works too and is much easier to pull together.

As with other grain bowls you’ve seen on the blogosphere, you’ll need:
A grain, check.
Veggies, check.
A protein, check.
A dressing, check.
“Sprinkles,” such as nuts, seeds, herbs or sprouts, check.

I went with sushi rice (as I was planning on making sushi), but short grain brown rice or black rice would be nice as well. Added a bit of furikake seasoning (sesame seed, nori and bonito mixture, read more here) to the rice that I had on hand from another cooking adventure.

I also had this idea of making tempura crunchies by deep-frying all-purpose flour mixed with sparkling water until golden brown and crunchy (not the healthiest by any means, but does add a nice crunch to the bowl).

As for the rest, lots of julienned vegetables — watermelon radish, Persian cucumbers, carrots (sautéed quickly and then finished with a splash of sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds), avocado, thinly sliced jalapeño and cilantro leaves — dressed with a drizzle of spicy mayo (mayo + sriracha).

Am obsessed with watermelon radish. I want to put them in/on everything…

I don’t normally buy tuna (I usually stick to the smaller, oily fish) save for sushi-grade tuna when I’m cooking for company, so a bit of a splurge today. It’s local and super fresh, caught off the South Jersey coast. It’s like “butter”…

Sushi Grain Bowl

For 2 bowls:

Grain: sushi rice, short grain brown rice and/or black rice

To make the Rice:
2 cups cooked Japanese short grain/sushi rice
3 teaspoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon fine sea salt

In large bowl, spread warm rice out. Combine together vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small bowl. Whisk to combine. Pour the mixture over the still warm rice.

Protein: 1/2 pound sushi-grade tuna, cut into slices

Vegetables:
Julienned watermelon radish
Julienned Persian cucumbers
Julienned carrots (sautéed in olive oil briefly, 1-2 minutes until crisp-tender, finished with a splash of toasted sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, sea salt
Thinly sliced avocado
Thinly sliced jalapeño peppers
Cilantro leaves

Other toppings:
Furikake (you can find the recipe here) or nori cut into thin strips
Toasted sesame seeds
Spicy mayo (mayo + sriracha, thinned with a little water)
Tempura crunchies

For the tempura crunchies:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup seltzer/sparkling water
Oil for deep frying

Combine the flour and water in a bowl. Whisk to combine.

Fill a pot with oil. When the oil reaches 350-375F, pour some of the batter (be careful, the oil will bubble up a bit), with a spoon or measuring cup into the hot oil. After a few minutes, when golden brown and crispy, remove the batter from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat with the rest of the batter.