Sorry for the lateness of this recipe, but I've been uber busy. University's started again, after all, which means my free time has been seriously reduced to near-zero levels. :(

Anywho, this is such an easy recipe and with practice can be done in 30 minutes or less. Plus, spam is cheap and tasty. ;) The original recipe that I changed a bit for convenience can be found here. I've changed the amounts and some of the ingredients for my own preferences; for example, I tend to like less saltiness in my foods, and since I'm making this for a bento, I cut down the rice to 1 cup. However, I did not cut down the ingredients for the spam, so if you find there's too much sauce, simply use more spam. I like to make a little extra anyway because then I can put the extra, marinated spam back into the fridge and use it for a side dish or a main dish for another day. :)

Spam Sushi

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Short-grained (sushi) rice
• Spam
• Cucumber, skinned and cut into thin circles
• 1/4 cup Japanese rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 cup soy sace
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup mirin

1. Wash and cook the 3 cups of rice. I simply wash it and then throw it into a rice cooker. Make sure you add enough water so it won't dry out the rice, you want it nice and sticky! The rice should be handled hot, but not hot enough to burn, so while it reaches this temperature, combine the sugar and salt into the rice vinegar until it dissolves. Then, season the rice with the rice-sugar-salt mixture and stir gently.

2. Add the soy sauce, sugar and mirin in a small saucepan. Bring the sauce to boil, stirring gently, and then add the spam. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

3. Cut the nori in half. Put a half of it down and pile some rice on top. Shape the rice into a rectangle with your hands (to keep the rice from sticking to you, you can use a bit of oil on your hands, or a bit of ice water with salt mixed in). My rice was no more than an inch thick and about the same dimensions as the spam. I then put a slice of spam on top of the rice, and two circles of cucumber on top of the spam. Finally, I wrapped the nori around the sushi and snipped off any extra.</div>

If you use this recipe, change it, or have any suggestions, please leave me a comment. I'd love to know what your experience with it was. :)

I love miso soup. This is a recipe for a "light yellow miso soup," which uses light yellow paste, but you can use any miso paste you have. Miso paste is available at asian food markets, or try Asian Food Grocer.

Light Yellow Miso Soup

4 cups water

2 chicken stock cubes or 2 teaspoons dashi

2/3rd to 1 block silken tofu, cut into small cubes (depending on how much you want)

2 stalks of green onion, chopped

1 bag shiitake mushrooms

6 teaspoons light yellow miso paste

Soy sauce (optional)

1. Boil the water with the chicken stock cubes or dashi.


2. Add tofu and as many shiitake mushrooms as you want and simmer gently for 4 minutes, making sure the shiitake mushrooms are full and soft.


3. Add the light yellow miso paste. You can decrease or increase the amount depending on your taste. Dissolve it completely


4. If you want, add a touch of soy sauce to taste, mixing it into the soup.


5. Turn off the heat, add the green onions, and serve immediately.

It can be refrigerated and kept for a few days, also, and it's great to put in a leak-proof container and add to a bento. If you change the recipe, please share by leaving a comment! :)

This is a recipe for a quick way of making an Indian-style curry. It doesn't require anything to be chopped or diced -- unless you want to add to it -- and therefore makes it perfect for quick meals or bentos. While this Quick Curry recipe is vegetarian, there are easy ways to make it meaty if you want to. :)




Quick Vegetarian Curry

1 can vegetarian chili with beans*

water

powdered garlic (to taste)

cayanne pepper (to taste)

tikka masala (to taste)

1 onion, sliced (option)

* If you really want meat in your curry, just use a beef chili with beans, or add cooked meat into the pot, during step 2.

1. Add a little Canola oil and add the onions. They should be pulled apart, so they're rings instead of whole slices. Cook the onions until opaque.


2. Add the chili and add water to make the chili to the consistency you would like.


3. Add the garlic, cayanne pepper, and tikka masala, and mix it into the chili. Cook on medium-high or high (depending on your stove) until simmering and chili is hot throughout.