15 Oct Sushi Bowls – South Dakota style
Now that I have found myself in the swing of things I am beginning to cook more. It is time consuming, but we have plenty of that and cooking is about more than simply making food to eat. In here, there is a sense of freedom, albeit small, in preparing something you chose to make.
Here is what’s involved in this delectable dish, a Yankton favorite – sushi bowls. For starters, there is no raw fish, obviously. Also, for cooking methods, we have ice to cool things off and hot water to warm them up. A minimalists dream. There is no microwave, stove top, refrigerator or anything really. Plastic utensils and Tupperware are the extent of the cooking utensils. Apparently, sometime before my arrival at Yankton an inmate melted hair pomade in a plastic mug and threw it on another inmate. Due to that, everyone loses the microwave…indefinitely. The kitchen area includes several wooden top workbenches, two ice machines, two hot water dispensers and toilet paper in lieu of paper towels.
Prep:
Pull out all of the ingredients. Rice, pickles, turkey log (it is like a summer sausage, but turkey), mackerel packets, chili garlic paste, onion powder, garlic powder, mayo and sweet & sour sauce. The mackerel are packaged in soybean oil. They have a pungent flavor/scent and it is best to open the packets, drain the oil, fill with hot water, and drain again.
Cut up the turkey log and marinate it with the chili garlic paste, onion powder and garlic powder. Next, layer the bottom of the bowl with rice. Put in half of the marinated turkey and the mackerel. Add more rice and repeat ending with 2 layers of rice and meat Top with diced pickle, sweet and sour sauce and a touch of mayo. You can also garnish it with green or black olives.
This sounds pretty basic but I was surprised by how good it actually was. I’m coming around to the mackerel but I think that is out of necessity more than preference. Again, there is no refrigerator so bring your appetite or appreciate (hope for the best with) the shelf stability of your ingredients. I think a fridge, among many other things, is one of those appliances I will appreciate every time I use it for a long time coming.