Saturday, May 1, 2010

Busy Bee

Wow.. I guess you thought I jumped ship... but I have been a busy little bee, let me tell you.

My friend Mat had a birthday this month, and as I was a terrible friend and missed his party, I knew I had to come up with an amazing birthday gift to make up for it. Now, Mat is the man who really introduced me to the world of sushi. So I decided to try my hand at some candy sushi!






Here's how I did it....




I decided to go with the Jello Jigglers recipe to make my sashimi (that's the actual raw fish.. not all sushi is raw) The package directions called for 2 1/2 cups boiling water and 2 pkg. of jello. But I only needed to make 1 pkg, so I cut the water in half. So 1 1/4 c. of boiling water and 1 pkg. of tropical fruit jello.. and into the fridge to cool.


Then it was time to prepare the rice crispy filling. I used 1/2 stick of butter, 1 7 oz. jar of Jet- Puffed Marshmallow fluff, and about 5 cups of crisped rice. melt the butter (I used the microwave), add the marshmallow fluff, and microwave for about 30 seconds. Mix in your crisped rice, and while the mixture is still warm, spread in a thin layer on a piece of waxed paper. (This step is easier if you butter your hands first) Then, the types of sushi you make are only limited by your tastes and imagination.

The first roll I made was Swedish Fish with orange sugar crystals (the sugar looked like fish roe) I layered the fish on the rice crispy sheet, and rolled using the wax paper to keep it all together. then I opened the wax paper roll, cut the roll away from the rest of the crisped rice, and sprinkled with the orange sugar, and re-rolled in the piece of wax paper. This I placed in the fridge to set.

The second roll was a variation on the first, Gummy Worms with Fruit Roll-Up nori on the outside. Again layering the worms on the crisp rice sheet, rolling with the wax paper, and then covering the roll with a whole piece of fruit roll-up. Then into the fridge to set.

The last roll was my favorite.. Tootsie Roll with chocolate jimmies (looked like black sesame seeds) I used the large snack size Tootsie Roll, rolled it was with the others, and then rolled it through the jimmies.

I then used the rice crispy sheet that was left to form the two "rice pillows" for my Jello sashimi. I used a large serving spoon to scoop out two oval-ish pieces of Jello, laid on the rice pillows, and tied with a strand of Twizzlers pull and peel.

I laid all this out in a wonderful little tupperware container that I bought that looked like a bento box. My son came up with the idea for the wasabi, a tablespoon of marshmallow fluff, mixed with 3 drops of green food coloring. For pickled ginger I cut a orange Friut Roll-Up into strips, and used the rest of the Twizzler Pull and Peel to make a nice nest of udon noodles with Nerds.

Yummy!


I wrapped it all up in a beautiful piece of sheer pink material I bought (it was one of those "end of the bolt" pieces they sell in the bargin bin. I doubled the fabric for two layers, cut into a square, like a traditional furoshiki (the cloth used to wrap a Japanese bento box), and tied accordingly. I finished the whole look witha lovely pair of wooden and enamel chopsticks.


Voila!

It was a HUGE hit, and he forgave me for missing the wonderful party.
Now I need to perfect my skilld.. I did realize when cutting the rolls that it is better to cut the rolls and THEN wrap in the Fruit Roll-up... much easier to cut and holds it's round shape better. Also, the rice crispies need to be a little stickier.
For the next sushi lover's birthday, I think I will try a more sofisticated recipe, using sweet coconut rice and chocolate and fresh fruit. I'll let you know how it goes!