Grilling Leftovers: Sushi Burritos

By now, you know that I throw ... basically everything into my waffle iron, particularly leftovers, when the item has degraded.  And I'm willing to put basically anything into the waffle iron.

It was only a matter of time before sushi went in, right?

Encounter #1: June 2020 

The first time, it was a sushi burrito to be exact.  Not something that holds up well.

Grilled Leftover Sushi Burrito -> Poke Bowl?

What is a girl to do when her partner has leftover sushi burrito, and ... the grill is hot?  Yeah, I didn't waffle it, as the grill plates were in, but I certainly had fun, and completely transformed it.

Leftover Sushi(burrito): Will it Waffle? Well, I don't know about waffle technically, but it sure did work well on the grill.  No reason to believe it wouldn't work in waffle iron.

I used my grilled slices on top of a poke-ish bowl, which was kinda awesome for crunch!

The Original:  Geisha's Kiss. $15.

"Yellowfin Tuna (raw) | Tamago | Piquillo Peppers | Taro Chips | Pickled Cucumbers | Green Leaf Lettuce | Sesame White Soya."

The original?  The second half of my partner's Sushirrito order (which I've reviewed several times, I'm a fan!), several hours later.

It was still good (really a well composed creation), but, it was getting soggy (the taro chips in particular!) and I don't actually like raw tuna, so, I had other ideas ...

Leftover Sushirrito: Grilling.

So yes, I cut off a slice and stuck it into the grill.   I think it was at 350*?  Whatever it had been set on previously, to be honest.

It was basically just a big piece of a sushi roll, on a grill, yes.

After a few minutes, it had stuck to the top (doh!) but looked like the concept was working.

I think it likely was done at this point, in terms of the rice being kinda sticky-crunchy, but, I listed to my common words of "if it gets stuck, just go longer!" and let it go longer.

Grilled Leftover Sushi Burrito -> Sushi Chip?

I set about making my other food, and, I admit, let it go a bit too long.

But, it really wasn't as bad as it looked - the dark was mostly seaweed wrapper, not burnt, as it looked at first.

I cut off a chunk.  Ok, it was actually kind of awesome.  The flavors were all still there.  I tasted seaweed, I tasted the peppers.  And the fish?  Nicely grilled!  Much better for me.

Super crispy, obviously.  Less time would have been more like a onigiri (e.g. a grilled rice ball), and this was definitely very crisp, but, hey, I like crispy things.  I am not sure I'd want to eat it an entire roll as basically .... "sushi chips" though.  (Hmm, maybe with wasabi aioli dipping sauce?)

So I sliced it further, and added it on top of a poke inspired bowl.  Heh.  It totally worked.

"Poke" Bowl! With Grilled Leftover Sushirrito Geisha's Kiss Burrito.

"Romaine / Kale / Daikon
Leftover Grilled Sushirrito Geisha's Kiss Burrito / Trader Joe's Breaded Fish Sticks
Spicy Poke Sauce / Wasabi Aioli
Furikake / Minced Onion / Dried Nori Strips / Wonton Chips"

Yeah, ok, I did like this!  I basically made a poke bowl with it on top.  And many other random things.

I'm a greens type of poke girl (not rice), so my base was a nice mix of romaine and curly kale.  Nice crunch, nice mix.  Glad I had it on hand.  Quickly threw in chunks of daikon for more crunch and juicy freshness, absolutely perfect.  Glad I had that in my fridge too.

I added wonton strips too for additional crunch, but really didn't need them with the crispy sushi "chips" at all, I'm just used to tossing those on.  I left out my usual wasabi peas out of laziness, but they would have been great.

There may or may not have been chunks of Trader Joe's Breaded Fish sticks tossed on as well more after the photo, for more protein - its what I had in my freezer, and honestly, I really do like them! Crispy, nice quality fish.

And I added strips of dried nori, but as the sushi roll had plenty of seaweed flavor in it from the wrapper, and I also added tons of furikake with more nori in it too, I likely didn't really need this.

I sauced it with spice poke sauce and wasabi aioli.  Great mix.  A much more than "generous" amount of furikake and minced onion rounded it off.

Overall, this was, well, a satisfying, totally random, creation.  Crispy base, appropriate poke style dressing, LOTS of crunch, and sushi flavors galore.

Encounter #2: July 2020

A few weeks later, I did it again, this time with just leftover, mediocre, grocery store sushi.

The original: Krab Crunch Roll.

The original was a "krab crunch" roll, or something like that, with crab stick, carrots, and cucumber inside (usually avocado, but I'm allergic so I had them prep it fresh and leave out), covered in crunchy bits, and drizzled with tons of sriracha aioli.

It was fine, better than I expected for sushi from a grocery store in NH, and likely helped along by the crispy coating and generous sauce.  I didn't finish it though, and the leftovers ... well, without all the sauce and crunch (gulp, I used them all on the portion I did have), it was a bit lackluster.

So, into the grill I put a slice.

The original: bits of sushi roll broken up.

I also ripped apart several slices, extracting the fillings to toss onto the poke bowl I was attempting to build, and just grilled the pieces of rice (now hard, and bo-oring).

Grilled leftover sushi roll!

I grilled them all up, not too hot and not too long this time, and got lovely grill marks.

I chopped up the rice ones a bit more once cooked, and used as a topping on my poke bowl.  It actually worked great - crispy, glutinous, little chunks.  Wonderful chew and texture.  Definitely improved my bowl.

The full slice was fine, but, I think just the rice was better suited, and keeping the other ingredients just to toss in "fresh".

I really do recommend this, if you have leftover sushi you'll just throw out otherwise ...