Sushi Salad -- Another Lunchbox

I really enjoyed having the tofu and mushrooms in my lunch last week, and decided that I wanted it in my lunch again this week. I was trying to figure out what sort of something I could make to go with it, and I thought that Sushi sounded good with tofu and mushrooms, but Sushi is a bit of a project to make, and expensive to buy. The wheels turned though, and I thought why not incorporate all my favorite things about sushi into a rice salad. It is awesome. I brought a spoonful to the boy to try and he ate it and said "OH MY GOD THAT'S GOOD!! Did you make enough for me??" This recipe, in fact, makes enough for about two lunch sized servings of Sushi salad, which works out perfect for me since I work two 10 hour days a week. I eyeballed a lot of this, of course, but paid close attention to what I was doing so that I could record the recipe if it came out well. Another advantage to this salad compared to sushi is that you can use brown rice since it doesn't need to stick! The veggies could be easily changed out to other sushi-type veggies, so if cucumber and avocado aren't your thing, give something else a try!

This week's lunch box features, from top right clockwise, assorted fruit, two vanilla joe-joe's,
browned tofu and shiitake mushrooms in an Asian style marinade, and Sushi Salad

Sushi Salad
1/2 cup short grain brown rice
1 cup water
1 tsp dark sesame oil

1 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp sesame seeds
1 sheet nori, cut or torn into small pieces
1/2 avocado, diced
1/2 cup cucumber, diced
5 baby carrots, grated

1. In a medium sized pot over high heat, heat the sesame oil and add the brown rice. Stir and keep stirring for about 2-3 minutes until the rice begins to toast (will smell nice and toasty!). Add the 1 cup of water and stir. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until water is absorbed and rice is tender.

2. Add the vinegar, sugar, salt, soy sauce, ginger and sesame seeds to the rice and stir well to mix.

3. Fold in the vegetables and nori. Taste and adjust seasoning to taste.