Tonight hailed The Return Of The Sushi Bowl, after a seemingly long (but probably not that long) hiatus.
Our pretty non-standard but standard-to-us-right-now toppings: cabbage (mixed with wasabi and mayo for easier wasabi distribution), sesame carrots, avocado, and prawns in spicy mayo. I forgot both seaweed and furikake in my fussing with the rice (see below).
Twist tonight was that I tried to make crispy rice for the base, inspired by a Nobu recipe via COTM Recipe Tin Eats. BUT, I’m not deep or shallow frying rice, and I don’t start dinner with enough lead time for pressing and chilling rice either, so… I went the soccarat / nurungji / tahdig / route and pressed the seasoned rice into a nonstick pan, used a plate to slide it off, flipped it over, and crisped up the other side too. It was a bit messy, but very successful in that it resulted in lots of crunchy bits. (As an aside, there is no pretty term I have encountered in any Indian cuisine for rice stuck to a pot… we call it: BURNT rice… or WHAT did you DO to the RICE!!! 
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Mom had tomato and avocado salad with soy-sesame dressing, bread and butter, assorted cheese (Talleggio, Edam, and Jewish string cheese), and then just to see what she’d think of it, I made her a couple of bites of a vegetarian sushi bowl (so excluding the shrimp, but with a touch of the sriracha mayo I made for it). She almost gave it back to me after a bite, then thought for a minute and decided she’s rather have the rest and eschew some of the bread. So, next week, mom is probably in on the sushi bowl, which is exciting!
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Last night was a continuation of our offal-at-home series, with goat trotters a la mom. I forgot to post the previous episode of said series, brain cooked in green chutney and ghee a la our neighbors growing up (well, for like 25 years) who ate this for breakfast every Sunday (and also fed it to my sister who would disappear next door in that exact window from the time she could be baby-napped by them – she was a bit younger than their kids and they all adored her and she them). Sis makes a delicious rendition, though with a fraction of the ghee they considered acceptable!
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Finally, I forgot to post our biryani(s) a few days ago. We ordered mutton (goat) biryani in from a place my sister has been wanting to try, and made mom vegetarian (soya nugget) biryani at home. Tbh, hers was better than ours 
— the spicing of the meat masala was off: less spicy, not saucy enough for the quantity of rice, no fried onions (seriously WTH), and half a potato in a 2/3-person portion 
. Another day, another (biryani) lesson. We have a few places left to try before I can go back to my gold standard.
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