Sticky Rice

Remember this? It had been sitting in my closet for a few months waiting for the appropriate crowd to help me make it. The quorum (Andrew and his girlfriend Megan, Keizo and myself) was reached in Andrew's apartment a few weeks ago.

Step 1: Open the box. Marvel at how a few silver packets, a tiny plastic shovel and tray plus a bit of water is going form freakishly convincing sushi in a few minutes.

Step 2: Pour ごはん (rice) packet into largest compartment.

Add a few drops of water and mix with shovel until rice-like globs form (very sticky rice!)

Step 3: Empty たまご (egg) packet into appropriate trough and repeat same steps as for the rice, smoothing the top part down.

Step 4 & 5: Repeat with まぐろ (tuna) packet. Next up is the いくら (salmon roe) which is slightly more complicated (and perhaps the most convincing of the bunch!) Add いくら packet to smallest compartment and mix with water. Fill adjacent compartment with water and use dropper to transfer red gelatin to water trough. Oh the marvels of chemistry!

Step 6: Assemble the sushi! Aroma of grape Kool-Aid aside, the ikura roll below really resembles the real thing, don't you think?

All of our work resulted in six tiny sushi, their diminutive size indicated by the invasion of my finger in the photo below. We each tried a small bite, and came to the not very surprising conclusion that they looked way better than they tasted. Their texture also left a whole lot to be desired.

It was a very fun experiment though, and even knowing how awful they taste, I really want to try another one of the kits. There's one that makes ramen!