Return of the Ewoks: Star Wars Themed Sushi

Sushiwoks: Adorable & Delicious 

One of the great joys I have in life is celebrating with friends. Beyond the typical birthdays and holidays, I make it a point to find and/or create as many reasons to cook, chat and laugh together as possible. Luckily, with friends like mine, that’s not too hard. The reason behind this particular occasion? The continuation of our three part Star Wars marathon. Three movies (the classics), three hosting teams, three batches of awesome thematic food.

The first two hosts raised the bar high with colored white chocolate dipped pretzel rod lightsabers and Princess Leia cupcakes, so I had to think of something good. It didn't take too long, though, as the third Star Wars film stars some of my favorite fictional creatures, the Ewoks. Since I’d already had it in mind to make sushi, the answer was clear – Sushiwoks.

The Dark Side of the Rice

Come party day, the first thing on my to-do list was prep the rice. I was fortunate enough to have received some beautiful black rice from a neighbor just a few weeks before, and while I’d never tried that kind before, it proved be a fantastic addition to the party. Not only does it cook and taste much like brown rice, but it also made sure not all the Sushiwoks were albino.

The anatomy of a Sushiwok

Once the rice was done, it was time to form the Sushiwoks. Since I didn’t have a mold available, I went the traditional route and free formed them in the palm of my very clean hand. As Sushiwoks are essentially rice balls (onigiri) with faces, they are fairly simple to create and you can fill them with whatever you like.

 

The diet of the Salmon Tribe consists of fresh cucumber and avocado,
but they catch and smoke salmon for their capes.

The Nori Tribe feasts upon carrot, basil, avocado and the elusive Krab,
and uses seaweed for all their garments.

Members of the Basil Tribe enjoy shrimp, cucumber and tempura yam
and look to the local basil forest to service their clothing needs.

For my Sushiwoks, I went for some key classics like avocado, cucumber, carrot, tempura veggies and basil (thanks to my wonderful boyfriend Ben for manning the tempura station). Since I didn’t want to risk anyone getting sick at this joyous event, I avoided raw meat altogether and instead went with faux crab, smoked salmon and tempura shrimp, all incredibly delicious.

 

Sushiwoks in their natural habitat

Altogether we had almost two dozen Sushiwoks join us for the conclusion of our Star Wars marathon, and that wasn’t all. Indeed, for dessert we had the Sushiwoks’ distant cousins the Kiwoks grace us with their presence, too.

Pre-Kiwoks

The concept for the Kiwoks actually preceded that of the Sushiwoks when I was coming up with thematic food ideas for the final Star Wars party. I went ahead and made both kinds though, as Kiwok production is very easy. Simply take kiwis, clothe them in capes of fruit leather and add sunflower seed eyes. Voila. KIWOK!

 

The elders of the Kiwok tribe brandish Pocky sticks
to fend off dangerous intruders.

Needless to say, the final installment of our Star Wars party was a hit. Continuing the Ewok motif, we had peripheral themed snacks of fish crackers, pretzel rods and Bugles along with baby Ewoks in the form of brightly colored gummy bears. My friends even went so far as to continue the Star Wars fun by bringing Milky Way candy bars, Dark (Side) Hershey Kisses and Dark (Side) Chocolate Mint Milanos. (I guess they really do have cookies!)

Thank you so much to all my friends and fellow nerds who helped make the Star Wars marathon a success. If you want to see more creative and nerdy endeavors, check out my official art site here: http://lydmc.deviantart.com/ Here’s to our next excuse to celebrate!

Until next time!

6/2/14 UPDATE: Happy One Year Anniversary to the LydMc Blog! Since the Sushiwoks were the ones who started it all, check out the anniversary blog in their honor, introducing their plushy cousins, the Puffywoks! Yub nub!

9/30/14 UPDATE: Good news! The Sushiwoks have been featured in an infographic! Check out the LydMc blog post, Sushiwoks are Infotastic, to see the infographic, get a link to the original, and hear how I was mistaken for Canadian!