Tiny Kitchen: Sushi

Cooked by Karissa Chen -


Several years ago, I stumbled upon a Youtube video of someone making tiny candy foods and was immediately obsessed. I realized that the Youtuber was using some candy kits that they make in Japan and knew immediately that I had to have them for myself. So when, a few years later, I went to Japan, on my list of things I *had* to buy were those damn kits. I came back with like, twenty boxes, and gave away a few to my friends' kids, and then hoarded a bunch for myself for some rainy day.

WELL IT APPEARS THAT RAINY DAY HAS COME AT LAST.

Yesterday I decided to break out one of these kits and spent a long time making tiny sushi. It was delightful. It involved a lot of water and mixing of powders and watching jellies set. The best part? Using a small dropper to make tiny "salmon roe."

Here is a video that I spent too long editing!



Did I spend a ton of time on making these sushi? Yes. Did I spend more time on this than ACTUAL cooking yesterday? Maybbbeeeee.

I am winning at quarantine life.


After it was all done, I wasn't sure I actually wanted to eat the candy I had made. Sure, I admired the way they looked, but they didn't seem like they would be that delicious. The powders smelled artificially sweet, all bubble gum and fake strawberries, and I was pretty sure that they would taste like Hello Kitty had exploded in my mouth.

But I mean, if I didn't eat them, what was I going to do? Just throw them away? In this time of global crisis, that seems downright wasteful!

So I ate them. And I am here to give you my honest review.

Let me tell you, the "rice" actually tasted sort of... rice-ish? Like very sticky, soft, mushy, slightly chewy rice. It was actually not that sweet and almost... pleasant. The "tamago" and "tuna" parts were pretty sweet with hard to discern fruit flavoring and had the consistency of those clear fruit jellies you get at high tea (am I the only person who enjoys high tea?). So not gummy at all and a total disappointment in the texture department. The "roe" didn't burst like I hoped it would. It wasn't crunchy or tapioca-like either. I can't really describe what it was like. It was just spherical and sweet and you could bite on it because it was sort of soft but not totally soft. I am not explaining this well at all, but the truth is I've already forgotten what that weird texture was like. The candy "seaweed" wrapper was good though, kinda like a Starburst.

Also it came with sweet "soy sauce" that didn't have a flavor besides "sweet." Basically everything tasted like bubble gum or really really really sweet artificial "fruit", some fruit that doesn't exist, like whatever the flavor Juicy Fruit gum is.

My verdict: 10/10 for fun, but like a 3/10 for deliciousness. I'll stick to eating my Albanese sour gummy bears that everyone knows I am obsessed with when I want a sugar high.

But have no fear, there will be more of these posts! I still have like, eight more boxes of these kits, which include bentos and hamburgers and flans, and I have nothing else useful to do with my life because a global crisis makes it really hard to work on a novel, did you know that?

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