Sushi Bake in a Pot
Deconstructed sushi bake: seasoned instant rice, spicy mayo tuna, nori on the side.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 7.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 100
- protein
- 32 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 17 min
- water
- 400 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Canoe / raft
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant white rice | 1 cup dry | short grain if you can find the instant kind |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered rice vinegar | 2 tsp | liquid vinegar works, carry 1 tbsp in a dropper bottle |
| Sugar | 1 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp | |
| Pouched tuna or salmon | 1 packet, about 2.5 oz | stands in for crab sticks, which need a fridge |
| Mayonnaise packets | 3 packets, about 3 tbsp | |
| Sriracha | 2 tsp | single-serve packets or a small squeeze bottle |
| Furikake | 1 tbsp | |
| Toasted sesame seeds | 1 tsp | |
| Roasted nori sheets | 2 sheets | snack-size sheets are pre-cut and less likely to shatter |
| Dried chives or freeze-dried scallion | 1 tsp |
Method
- Boil 400 ml of water. Stir in the rice with the sugar and salt, cover, and pull it off the heat.
- Wait ten minutes without lifting the lid. The rice keeps cooking on stored heat, which saves fuel.
- While it sits, squeeze two mayo packets and the sriracha into the tuna pouch. Knead the pouch until it is one mix.
- Fluff the rice, sprinkle the vinegar powder over it, and fold it through. It should be sticky, not soupy. Add a splash of water if it dried out.
- Press the rice flat in the pot. Spread the tuna mix over it, then the furikake, sesame seeds, and chives.
- Set the pot back on the lowest flame for one minute to warm the top. Squeeze the last mayo packet over it.
- Scoop it onto torn pieces of nori and eat by hand.
The original is a casserole: rice pressed into a pan, crab and cream cheese on top, ten minutes in a hot oven. None of that survives a pack. Crab sticks and cream cheese need refrigeration, and there is no oven. Pouched fish carries the protein instead, and the last minute over a low flame does what the bake did, which is warm the topping and marry it to the rice.
The vinegar, sugar, and salt are not optional seasoning. They are what separates sushi rice from plain rice, and they weigh almost nothing. Nori stays on the side and stays dry; the whole point is scooping hot rice onto a crisp sheet, and a sheet packed against wet rice goes limp in seconds.
Packing
Rice, sugar, salt, vinegar powder, furikake, sesame, and chives go in one bag as a single dump. Mayo and sriracha packets in a second small bag, since they leak. Nori in a rigid container or you are eating dust.
Variations
- Freeze-dried avocado rehydrated in a cup of cold water adds fat and gets you closer to the original.
- A packet of freeze-dried cream cheese powder mixed into the tuna thickens it the way the baked version does.
- Cucumber is worth carrying on night one for the crunch.
https://www.matprat.no/oppskrifter/kos/sushi-bake