1 pack of Harusame (100g dried vermicelli)

1/2 lb carrot and celery kinpira

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp Japanese soy sauce

1/2 lb thin sliced pork

3-5 mushrooms

boil Harusame

when it is cooked, wash and cut long as 1 inch

heat the skillet and put sesame oil into it

stir pork

add boiled harusame

add mushrooms, carrot and celery kinpira

add fish sauce and Japanese soy sauce

serve it on the plate

I hope you enjoy!

click please

1 large carrot

1/2 bunch celery

2 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp Japanese soy sauce

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp sesame seeds

cut carrot very thin strips

cut celery same as carrot

heat the skillet and put sesame oil into it

stir carrot and celery

add Japanese soy sauce, sugar and sesame seeds

serve it on the plate

I hope you enjoy it!

click please

Last week I saw this recipe of Granola Carrot Bread on the blog of Cookie Madness and I knew I had to try it.

It’s kind of dry a little bit but the taste is great and healthy.  This is something I’ll do again.  It was easy to do.

I absolutely love a moist carrot cake with my cappucino! This one proves to be absolutely decadent!

There are two ways in which I do this, the thing to remember its completely a taste preference!

What you will need is the following:

Step 1:

2 Cups sugar
1 Cup sunflower Oil
3 Eggs
1 Can pineapple crushed (420g)
2 Cups grated carrots
2 Cups sultanas
1 Teaspoon vanilla essence
2 Cups roast pecan nuts (optional)

Step 2:

3 Cups flour
2 Teaspoons baking powder
1 Teaspoon salt
1 Teaspoon cinnamon
1 Teaspoon baking Soda

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180 Celsius.

Add all of the step 1 ingredients to a large bowl and mix until well blended and set aside.

Now sift all on the step 2 ingredients onto a plate or piece of baking paper twice and add to the mixture in the bowl in 3 lots and combine.

Take a cake tin and spray well with spray and cook or grease with some soft butter.

Bake for 1 hour in the middle to ower section of your oven.

Remove and let the cake cool for about 20 minutes before turning out.

Then for the icing, I love a lemon cream cheese icing for this with crushed roasted & salted pecans.

Cream Cheese Icing:

1 Tub plain smoothe cream cheese

2 Lemons (finely grate the rind)

250g Icing Sugar

80g Margarine

Method:

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the lemon juice and grated lemon rind, then gradually stir in the icing sugar.

Then ice the carrot cake using the roughly broken pecan nuts for decoration and serve!

Enjoy!!

I found this recipe on The Kitchen Mouse.  At the fruit store, I already saw daikon but didn’t know what to do with that.  When I saw this simple recipe, I knew I had to try it.  In the recipe, I needed 5 inches of Daikon.  And the one I bought was near 10 inches and only 89 cents for this whole piece.  That’s not expensive.

Rutku-burkānu salāti (Daikon-Carrot Salad)

Daikon tastes like radishes but is not strong like some radishes.  I didn’t use cucumber in the salad cause I forgot to buy it.

So now I have to find a recipe for the remaining daikon I have in the fridge. 

Beans & Carrot Parupu Usili!!!

Ingredients:

250 gms Beans chopped

2 No. Carrots chopped

1 cup Toor dal

1 cup Channa dal

4-5 Red chillies

1 tsp Urad dal

1tsp Mustard seeds

1 pinch Turmeric pwdr

1 pinch Asafoetida

Curry leaves

Oil for seasoning

Salt to taste.

Method:

1. Soak the Toor dal and Channa dal along with the red chillies for an hour.

2. Drain the water,add salt  and grind them into a course paste( just like the masala vada batter).

3. Grease the idli plates with oil and pour the dal paste onto them.

4. Steam cook the dal in the pressure cooker for 7-10 mins. (Without whistle just like idlies :p )

5. Remove the cooked dal from the idly plates and allow them to cool for a while.

6. In the mean time add urad dal, mustard seeds, asafoetida and curry leaves to the oil in a hot pan.

7. Once the mustard seeds splutter and urad dal changes color add the chopped beans and carrot.

8. Add salt,turmeric pwdr and sprinkle some water and let the beans and carrot cook.

9. Now check if the cooked dal is cold and put them in a dry mixer discontinuously for 2-3 times.

10. The dal should be crumbled i.e  in a  state between fine powder and big lumps.

11. Once the beans and carrot are cooked add the crumbled dal and cook in a medium flame for 3-5 mins.

12. Adjust the salt according to ur taste and also add oil if needed so that the mixture doesn’t stick to the pan.

13. Parupu Usili is ready to be served.

TitBits

* Parupu usili can be done with variety of vegetables but the beans and vazhaipu parupu usili being the authentic ones.

* You can also crumble the cooked dal with your fingers or a laddle instead of using a dry mixer.

* Using the mixer is simple and you will get the dal evenly crumbled.

Parupu Usili tastes great with white rice and vendakkai mor kozhambu

Thanks  a ton!

Enjoy the authentic iyer aathu parupu usili!!

October 9, 2009

I really don’t like vegetables in juice. So I suspected that I might like this but it was better than expected. But the way that I would improve it is to remove the carrots. So I stand by my assertion that vegetables and fruit should be segregated in juice.

Last week, in one of the posts about pheasant, I mentioned pulling a few leeks for a soup I planned to cook the following day.  The timing was perfect because now that the warm start to November is over it’s finally started to feel a bit chilly around here.  We’ve switched to hot soups for lunch and George (our whippet) is not very keen to venture outside unless he’s wearing his coat.

I’d also noticed that my Autumn King carrots haven’t been doing too well, so I took the decisive step of digging them up in order to salvage whatever I could for a nice winter-warming soup.  Carrot and leek goes well together, and it’s easy to make.  Hopefully, it’ll help to shift my daughter’s cold, which has been lingering for weeks. 

The problem with the carrots was that I’d sewn them in completely the wrong location.  They were behind a wall that faces north and I hadn’t realised that once autumn was underway there wouldn’t be enough light getting to them.  They were also in a bed with poor drainage and I’ve now learnt that it’s best to spend time at the beginning of the year creating a plan and then sticking to it, rather than planting in an ad-hoc fashion when space becomes available.  There were also signs of black rot setting in, so lifting the whole row seemed the best thing to do.

But it didn’t matter that the crop was baby-sized.  Taking time to clean them up was worth it.  For the soup, the chopped leeks were gently softened in butter, followed by folding in the chopped carrots along with a generous quantity of ground coriander.  After this it was simply a matter of adding a good vegetable stock, blending in a food processor when cooked through, and adjusting with more stock afterwards to get the desired consistency.  Nice and tasty.

If you are a novice in the kitchen and know enough cooking to boil water this recipe is for you. We are just going to assemble a few processed goodies and some vegetables and rice to make a wonderful meal.

Time Taken : About 40 Minutes

Serves: 2 Persons

Ingredients:
1 packet Chinese Manchurian Knorr make a meal
1 cube Maggi Chicken concentrate OR 1 cube Maggi Vegetable concentrate
2 Cups of Soya Chunks
1 small onion
1 small carrot
1/2 a  small  cabbage
1 small capsicum OR 2 Big green Chilies
2 spring onions
Some red OR green chili sauce
Some vinegar and green  chili  sauce
1 cup rice
salt
ghee

Method:

Wash the rice in cold water. Soak the rice for 20 minutes in cold water.Throw away the water used to soak the water.  Take 2 cups of water in a pan add the soaked  rice,  a pinch of  salt and a little ghee and cover the pan with a lid and boil the rice on Simmer setting of your gas burner till the rice is tender.( Do not stir the rice while it is cooking.The rice will be cooked by the time all the water is used up. )

Grate all the vegetables and mince the spring onions. Put the spring onions aside.Take a wok add a little ghee and sauté the vegetables for 5 minutes. Add 3 cups of water to the vegetables. Add the chinese Knorr Manchurian make a meal mixture and bring to boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Set aside.
In a little water boil the chicken cube or the vegetable cube ( as per your taste) and set aside.
Boil 4 cups of water in a pan add 1/4 tea-spoon salt and add 2 cups of Soya chunks and boil for 10 minutes. Use a strainer to get rid of the water used to boil the Soya chunks and to wash them in cold fresh water. Squeeze out the excess water.Put some ghee in a wok and fry the Soya chunks till they are a little brown. Add the boiled chicken or vegetable concentrate to the wok and bring to boil till the chunks absorb the concentrate a little and add the mixture of Soya chunks and concentrate to the Manchurian sauce.Garnish with the minced spring onions.

Your meal is ready. Use the chili  sauce as per your taste.

COOK IT UP A RECIPE WEB SITE

Lunch in a small restaurant in Crete (Greece), Summer 2009

My preferred method of cooking is to take what I’ve learned from a combination of kitchen-osmosis and reading an endless flow of cookbooks, magazines, blogs and apply to something that I’ve never created before, just to see how it turns out. Most times, this turns out rather well for me. Every so often, however, a dish won’t go quite how I planned. In some ways, these are the dishes I enjoy the most, as making them work tests my creativity and the depth of what I’ve learned. This Veggie Beef Soup is one of those ventures.

Start with 1lb of beef in red wine.

I started with 1lb of beef brisket. (Note that I originally asked for chuck roast, as I wanted the beef in this soup to have the tender, falling apart consistency of a pot roast. My first challenge in this soup was the result of listening to my butcher, rather than trusting my instincts.) I removed as much of the exterior fat as possible, cut it into cubes, and put it in the bottom of a 4 quart pot with some red wine, salt, pepper, and 2 cloves of garlic that I smooshed with the flat side of my blade. While the outside of the beef cubes browned a bit, I worked on chopping my veggies.

Slice your carrots into thin discs.

Slice one LARGE (seriously – this was a behemoth vegetable) carrot into thin disks, cube 2 medium red potatoes, and chop one bundle of scallions (both the white and green parts). Set the veggies aside.

Beef Stock and Mushroom Broth

Add one quart of beef stock and one quart of mushroom broth to the beef. Stir, scraping up and brown bits on from the bottom of your pot, cover, and let it simmer for another 10 minutes.

Add your veggies to the pot and recover.

Take one 10 oz bag of frozen corn and rinse it in a strainer until it’s no longer cold to the touch. (While I’d prefer to use fresh, the ears at my supermarket didn’t look so great, so I opted for frozen.) Add the corn to your soup.

Cover and let simmer for 2 hours on a medium heat, stirring about every half hour. Add another 1/4 cup of red wine about half way through.

My goal for this soup was to encourage the beef to fall apart in that delicious, stringy way that pot roast does without making a pot roast. However, as brisket is a beef that is generally cooked longer than pot roast, I needed to encourage it along. After two hours of simmering, use tongs to remove your chunks of beef from your soup. Add 1/3 of a pound of ditalini to the soup and recover.

Pull your beef apart to achieve the desired stringy texture.

To fake the right texture using brisket, use two forks to pull it apart the same way you might pull slow cooked pork. Once you’ve shredded your beef into small, bite sized chunks, return the beef to the pot and recover. (Note: While I haven’t yet tested this recipe using a roast, if you are using a roast, it should (in theory,) by this point be able to fall apart while you stir.)

At this point, I encourage you to experiment with the texture of your soup. If you enjoy thicker, heartier soups, then let your creation simmer for another 5 minutes or until the ditalini is cooked. (It should take about 10 minutes total.) Note that the ditalini will continue to soak up liquid leaving you with a thick stew. If you prefer your broth thinner and more in line with the traditional definition of soup, add another quart of beef BROTH (not stock – you don’t need that strong of a flavor at this point,) and let simmer til the ditalini is cooked. Enjoy!!

The final product: a hearty beef and veggie soup!

Preferred vegetables (All cut to 1″ size and finger thickness)

Shelled peas 1/2 cup

White pumpkin 1 cup

Yellow pumpkin 2/3 cup

Potatoes 1 cup

Carrot 1 cup

Yam 1 cup

Chow chow 1 cup

Beans 1 cup

Drum stick 10 pieces

Sour curds 1-11/2  cups

Green chillies 6-7

Grated Coconut 3/4 cup

Cumin seeds

1 tsp

Raw rice 3 tsp (Soak for 30 min)

coconut oil  4 tbsp

Curry leaves 5 sprigs

Boil the vegetables in a cup of water till cooked and add salt to it.

Grind into a paste the ingredients: coconut, chillies, cumin seeds, rice  and mix them into the curds.

Add the paste to the boiled vegetable and bring to boil. Remove from flame and temper with hot coconut oil. Add the curry leaves to the hot oil.

Cooking tip: In case the curd is not sour enough add some sour cream the paste.

To avoid excess cooking of  vegetables, boil the hard vegetables (except pumpkin) for just one whistle or less and  then add the pumpkins and cook for a short time.

A new friend of mine is on a fast which includes lots of fresh juices. So in honor of him I asked my dad to pull out The Champion. My parents bought The Champion (world’s finest) juicer with money given to them at their wedding . . . over 30 years ago. Carrot juice to the wintery soul and to your health. nod.

Top: Caterpillar Rolls , Bottom L: Nigiri Sushi and Bottom R : Spiral Roll

I have not been able to post earlier about the fabulous sushi Daring Cooks made this month. I love sushi and really had my fill making vegetarian sushi. I couldn’t say enough of ” This is so much better than store bought and I made so much so cheap” I found this month’s Daring Cook challenge the best so far. The instructions are quite precise so no chatter in this post.  I was supposed to post on the 14th, ah well here I am …………

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.

Sushi (寿司 or 鮨 or 鮓) is much appreciated for its delicate taste and exquisite appearance. Sushi actually means vinegared rice, which is the essential ingredient in every sushi recipe. Sushi is simple and cheap to make at home, needs no special equipment and is an excellent way to use left overs.

Although sushi in various forms has been around for fourteen centuries, the modern version was invented in Japan in the 1800’s where a ‘hand-formed’ sliced fresh fish and vinegared rice ball was eaten as a snack food. Nowadays, sushi is made with various seafood, meats and vegetables, raw and cooked.

PART 1 : SUSHI RICE (makes about 7 cups of cooked sushi rice)

Preparation time: 1¾ hours consisting of :-
Rinsing and draining rice: 35 minutes
Soaking rice: 30 minutes (includes 5 minutes making the vinegar dressing)
Cooking and steaming time: 25 minutes
Finishing the rice: 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

• 2½ cups uncooked short grain rice
• 2½ cups water
• For superior results use equal volumes of rice and water

Sushi Rice

Optional Ingredients

• 3 inch (75mm or 15 grams) square dashi konbu (or kombu) (dried kelp seaweed) wipe with a damp cloth to remove white powder & cut a few slits in the sides of the kelp to help release its flavors  (I used Shimaya Instant Dashi Konbu powder …..I used only 1 tsp. in the water given……that’s what I got)
• 2½ teaspoons (12.5 mls) of sake (Japanese rice wine)

Sushi vinegar dressing

• 5 Tablespoons (75 mls) rice vinegar
• 5 Teaspoons (25 mls or 21 grams) sugar
• 1¼ Teaspoons (6.25 mls or 4.5 grams) salt

DIRECTIONS:
Rinsing and draining the rice

1. Swirl rice gently in a bowl of water, drain, repeat 3-4 times until water is nearly clear. Don’t crush the rice in your hands or against the side of the bowl since dry rice is very brittle.
2. Gently place rice into a strainer and drain well for 30 minutes.

Soaking the rice

1. Gently place the rice into a heavy medium pot with a tight fitting lid (if you have a loose fitting lid use a piece of aluminum foil to make the seal tight).
2. Add 2½ cups of water and the dashi konbu. (I used 1 tsp. instant powder)
3. Set the rice aside to soak for 30 minutes, during this time prepare the sushi rice dressing.

Preparing the Rice Vinegar Dressing

1. Combine the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small bowl.
2. Heat on low setting.
3. Stir until the mixture goes clear and the sugar and salt have dissolved.
4. Set aside at room temperature until the rice is cooked.

Cooking the rice

1. After 30 minutes of soaking add sake (if using) to the rice.
2. Bring rinsed and soaked rice to the boil.
3. Reduce heat to the lowest setting and simmer, covered, until all the water is absorbed, 12-15 minutes. Do not remove the lid during this process. Turn off heat.
4. Let stand with the lid on, 10-15 minutes. Do not peek inside the pot or remove the lid. During this time the rice is steaming which completes the cooking process.

Finishing the rice

• Turning out the rice

1. Moisten lightly a flat thin wooden spatula or spoon and a large shallow flat-bottomed non-metallic (plastic, glass or wood) bowl. Do not use metallic objects since the vinegar will react with it and produce sour and bitter sushi rice.
2. Remove the dashi konbu (kelp) from the cooked rice.
3. Use the spatula to loosen gently the rice and invert the rice pot over the bowl, gently causing the cooked rice to fall into the bowl in one central heap. Do this gently so as not to cause the rice grains to become damaged.

• Dressing the rice with vinegar

1. Slowly pour the cooled sushi vinegar over the spatula onto the hot rice.
2. Using the spatula gently spread the rice into a thin, even layer using a 45° cutting action to break up any lumps and to separate the rice. Don’t stir or mash rice.
3. After the rice is spread out, start turning it over gently, in small portions, using a cutting action, allowing steam to escape, for about a minute.

• Fanning & Tossing the rice

1. Continue turning over the rice, but now start fanning (using a piece of stiff cardboard) the rice vigorously as you do so. Don’t flip the rice into the air but continue to gently slice, lift and turn the rice occasionally, for 10 minutes. Cooling the rice using a fan gives good flavor, texture and a high-gloss sheen to the rice. The vinegar dressing will be absorbed by the hot rice. Using a small electric fan on the lowest speed setting is highly recommended.
2. Stop fanning when there’s no more visible steam, and all the vinegar dressing has been adsorbed and the rice is shiny. Your sushi rice is ready to be used.

• Keeping the rice moist

1. Cover with a damp, lint free cloth to prevent the rice from drying out while preparing your sushi meal. Do not store sushi rice in the refrigerator leave on the counter covered at room temperature. Sushi rice is best used when it is at room temperature.

* Tip: To make sushi rice: for each cup of rice use 1 cup of water, 2 Tbs rice vinegar, 2 tsp sugar, ½ tsp salt and 1 tsp sake. For superior results use equal volumes of rice and water when cooking the sushi rice since the weight of rice can vary. Weight of 2½ cups of uncooked rice is about 525 grams or 18½ ounces.

* Tip: While the rice is draining, soaking and cooking prepare your rice vinegar dressing, sushi fillings and toppings.

* Tip: Photo series on How to Cook Rice with a Pot
http://www.sushiencyclopedia.com/how_to_make_sushi/how_to_cook_rice_with…

* Tip: Photo series on How to Make Sushi Rice with Tools You Already Own
http://www.sushiencyclopedia.com/how_to_make_sushi/how_to_make_sushi_ric…

NOTES:
Sushi Rice – choose a short or medium grain rice. Do not use Arborio, long-grain, or parboiled white rice. Medium-grained calrose is a suitable rice. Rice expands (about 3 times) when cooked so make sure your pot is large enough. Washing the rice removes the rice flour that coats the rice and gives a fresh flavor and scent to the cooked rice. Look for rice that is labeled ’sushi’ rice. Cooked sushi rice can be placed in plastic bags and frozen for 3 months, microwave when needed. Cooked sushi rice should be sticky, shiny and the individual grains of rice can been see. Price: AUS $4/KG.

Dashi konbu – or ( dashi kombu) – dried kelp, it looks like broad, leathery, wrinkly greenish ribbon often coated with a white powder. The darker green the leaves, the better the quality of kelp. Dashi konbu adds a refreshing light ocean taste to sushi rice. Price: AUS $1.50 for ten 3”(75mm) squares.

Rice Vinegar – this gives prepared sushi rice its unique clean, crisp taste. Do not use bottled “sushi vinegar” as it is too harsh and has a bitter after-taste. Look carefully at the label of the rice vinegar it should have NO SALT and NO SUGAR in the product. Apple cider vinegar is a good substitute if rice vinegar is not available. You can use mild white wine vinegar or mild red wine vinegar if you cannot find rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar. DO NOT USE NORMAL WHITE VINEGAR it is too harsh. Price: AUS $4 /500ml bottle.

Sake – Japanese rice wine. Do not use cooking sake or Chinese cooking rice wine, look for a reasonably priced drinkable sake. Refrigerate opened sake & use within two months. You can use vodka or a mild tasting gin if sake is not available. Price: AUS $10/500ml bottle.

Sugar – you can use mild honey or any other vegan substitute to give the equivalent sweetness.

PART 2 : Dragon Rolls (also called Caterpillar Rolls)

Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus 1¾ hours to make the sushi rice
Cooking time: about 5 minutes (grilling the eel)

Yield: 2 inside-out (uramaki) sushi rolls

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 sheet 7”x8” (17.5cmx20cm) of toasted nori (dried seaweed sheets), cut into halves
• 1/2 Japanese cucumber
• 2 cups of prepared sushi rice
• 3 slabs tofu (sliced, seasoned with salt & paprika and baked at 400 F for 20 minutes) 
• 1 Avocado
• 1 Red onion thinly sliced and broiled for 7-8 minutes
• Vinegared Water – ½ cup of water combined with a dash of rice vinegar
• Various small amounts of sauces to use as the flames of the dragon (or legs of a caterpillar)

Optional

• A mix of crumbled toasted nori, toasted sesame seeds and sugar and salt

Japanese Cucumber and salt paprika seasoned baked tofu

Oiled & Broiled thinly sliced red onions

DIRECTIONS:
1.Cut cucumber into strips ¼ inch (6mm) x 7” (175mm) long, then salt, rinse & dry the strips.
2.Grill (broil) the red onions for about 2-5 minutes until bubbling. Bake sliced seasoned tofu. Apply or spray some oil before baking.

3.Halve, pit and peel the avocado. Cut the avocado halves into thin even 1/8 inch (3 mm) slices. Fan out the cut avocado into a 7 inch (175 mm) overlapping pattern.
4.Cover bamboo mat with plastic wrap. Place a sheet of nori shiny side down, lengthwise, on the edge the mat.
5.Moisten lightly your hands in the bowl of vinegared water.
6.Place one cup of rice on the nori and gently rake your fingertips across grains to spread rice evenly. Do not mash or squash the rice onto the nori, the rice should appear loosely packed and be evenly distributed over the entire sheet, you should be able to see the nori sheet in a few places.
7.Flip the rice-covered nori over (so the bare nori is now on top) and place on the edge of the mat closest to you.
8.Slice tofu again in slices. Arrange sliced baked tofu across the length of the nori, not quite centred on it but a little closer to you. Place half the cucumber sticks & grilled onions next to the tofu.
9.Lift the edge of the mat closest to you with both hands, keeping your fingertips over the fillings, and roll the mat and its contents until the edge of the mat touches straight down on the nori, enclosing the fillings completely. Lift up the edge of the mat you’re holding, and continue rolling the inside-out roll away from you until it’s sealed. Tug at the mat to tighten the seal. If the rice doesn’t quite close the roll add more rice in the gap and re-roll using the mat to completely cover the inside-out roll. Place the roll on a damp, clean smooth surface.
10.Spread about 1 tablespoon of the optional sesame mix along the entire top of the rice-covered roll. Using the plastic covered mat gently press the fish roe so it adheres to the rice.
11.Slide a knife under one fan of avocado and transfer it onto the top of an inside-out roll. Gently spread out the avocado layer to cover the entire roll. Lay the plastic wrapped mat over the avocado-covered roll. Squeeze very gently to shape the roll.
12. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap over the roll. Slice the roll into 6-8 equal, bite-sized pieces, wiping your knife with a damp towel before each slice. Discard the plastic wrap. Repeat the above to make one more roll.
13.Arrange the cut pieces on a serving plate with the sauces so the finished dish appears as a dragon breathing fire and flames (or a caterpillar with many legs).

* Tip: The most common mistake is having too much filling the golden rule is less is more when it comes to making sushi it is easier to roll an under-filled roll than an over-filled roll.

* Tip: Dampen your knife with a moist lint-free towel before every cut – this prevents the sushi rice from sticking to your knife.

* Tip: Excellent videos on making Dragon Rolls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQZGRohVNFQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo55iBN9FQs&feature=related

Caterpillar roll

Caterpillar rolls with pickled ginger and wasabi

NOTES:
Bamboo mat (makisu) – A 10 inch (25cm) square mat made of thin slates of bamboo tied together with string.
Substitutes: a thin magazine cut to size wrapped in plastic wrap or a few layers of parchment paper cut to size about 10 inch (25cm) square.

Nori – Sheets of seaweed (laver) processed into thin sheets about 7 inches x 8 inches (17.5cm x 20cm) in size. Always re-toast the nori sheet over a gas stove on low flame for 5 to 10 seconds, or place nori on a clean oven rack and bake it in a preheated 350F-degree (180C) oven for 30 seconds. Nori should be sealed tightly in a plastic bag and used within a few months. It can be stored in the freezer. Nori will deteriorate if left out of its sealed package so use quickly.
Substitutes: Thin cooked egg omelette cut to same size as a nori sheet (7 inches by 8 inches or 17.5cm x 20cm). Also soya bean wrappers, rice paper, tofu wrappers, dosas, crepes or an overlapping layer of thinly sliced cooked vegetables.

Japanese Cucumber – Japanese cucumbers are thin-skinned, seedless and contain much less water than normal cucumber.
Substitutes: English or hothouse cucumbers which have been peeled, de-seeded and salted as above. If not available try matchsticks of your favorite crisp vegetable.

Avocado –
Substitutes: If not available use slices of roasted capsicum (bell pepper), slices of roasted tomatoes, lightly cooked whole snap (snow) peas, slices of Japanese daikon radish or other cooked thinly sliced vegetables, or slices of ’sushi’ grade fish such as tuna, yellow tail and red snapper; smoked salmon, pastrami, salami, various colour’s of fish roe, or various colour’s of sesame seeds.

PART 3 : Spiral Sushi Roll
This is easiest ‘decorative’ sushi roll.

Preparation time: 15 minutes, plus 1¾ hours to make the sushi rice

Yield: One Roll, cut into 8 pieces

INGREDIENTS:

• 2½ cups prepared sushi rice
• 2 sheets of toasted nori, each sized 7”x8” (17.5cmx20cm)
• Six assorted fillings, each filling should be the size of a pencil (see note below)

DIRECTIONS:
1.Join 2 sheets of nori by moistening the adjacent edges and overlapping them about ½ inch (12mm).
2.Place this double sheet shiny side down on a rolling mat, part of the nori will extend beyond the mat.
3.Using moist fingers place 2½ cups of rice on the nori and gently rake your fingertips across grains to spread rice evenly, leaving ¼ inch (6mm) nori showing on the both ends of the sheet. Do not mash or squash the rice onto the nori, the rice should appear loosely packed and be evenly distributed over the entire sheet, you should be able to see the nori sheet in a few places.
4.Using your fingers form six grooves (in the same direction that you will be rolling the mat) at even intervals across the bed of rice. Make the first groove about 2 inches (50 mm) from the edge of the nori sheet. Form the grooves by pushing the rice away, do not mash or squash the rice, leave a loose one grain layer of rice in the bottom of the grooves. Level the areas between the grooves where you have pushed the rice.
5.Place your fillings in the grooves. Fill the grooves a little higher than the surrounding rice bed.
6.Then roll the sushi up from the edge closest to you, this will form a spiral pattern of nori, rice and fillings inside the roll.
7.Slice into 8 pieces with a very sharp wet knife, wiping the blade with a damp cloth after each cut.
8.Place the pieces on a platter and garnish.

NOTE:
Make each groove about a finger-width wide they will hold about 1-2 tablespoons of filling. Use fillings that compliment each other and are highly colored. Use parboiled vegetables cut into strips, seafood, left over eel, smoked fish or chicken, whole cooked beans, edible flowers etc….

I used baked seasoned tofu, roasted red bell pepper, carrots, salted and drained Japanese cucumbers, omelette and grilled onions. Grilled vegetables in sushi is absolutely fabulous. Take my word and try it.

Spiral Roll

Spiral Roll

PART 4 : Nigiri Sushi
Nigiri sushi is the type of sushi most often made in sushi bars. In Japanese, nigiri means “squeeze”.

Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus 1¾ hours to make the sushi rice

Yield: 14-16 pieces of sushi

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups prepared sushi rice
• 8 pairs of assorted toppings, 200 gms/7 ozs total of fish, meat or vegetables (see note below)
• 1 tablespoon Wasabi (paste, reconstituted powder) or any other paste to adhere topping to rice

Optional

• Garnishes such as Ginger (pickled), chilli strips, vegetables flowers etc
• Thin strips of nori or vegetables (for tying topping on)

DIRECTIONS:
1.When handling sushi rice, make certain your hands are very clean. To keep the rice from sticking to our hands moisten your hands with vinegared water.
2.Form nigiri sushi by scooping up a small amount (about 2 tablespoons) of rice with your forefinger and second finger of your right hand and placing it in your cupped left palm.
3.Use the fingers and thumb of your right hand to form it into a long, narrow mound (about 2 inches x 1 inch wide or 50mm x 25mm) in your cupped palm.
4.Press enough to make the rice hold firmly together. Place the nigiri on a damp cutting board flat side down. Don’t let sushi touch or they’ll stick to each other. At this point, you can cover the sushi with plastic wrap, and they’ll keep at room temperature (not the refrigerator) for several hours.
5.Smear a thin line of wasabi on top of the rice and place the topping piece on it. You may need to press the topping down lightly with your fingers and adjust the shape of the rice accordingly to form an attractive piece of nigiri sushi. If your topping is very loose like fish roe you can place a strip of nori (higher than the rice) around the nigiri and form ‘battleship’ sushi. The cavity that the nori forms holds the topping so it does not fall off.
6.Garnish as desired and use strips of nori (or vegetable) to tie the topping to the nigiri if needed.
7.It is customary to make nigiri sushi in pairs, so make two of each variety.

* Tips: A great video on making nigiri sushi
http://www.howcast.com/videos/270-How-To-Make-Sushi
A great web page on slicing fish for nigiri
http://www.sushilinks.com/sushi-recipes/how-to-buy-fish/index.html

Nigiri Sushi topped with vegetables

NOTES:
Seafood nigiri must use sushi grade (sashimi grade) fish. Try tuna, red sea bream (red snapper), yellowtail or salmon. Cooked shrimp, cooked crab, cooked meat can also be used! You can use any vegetable you wish try asparagus, pumpkin, carrot, avocado, cucumber, shiitake mushroom, tofu, thin sliced egg omelette, etc… Thinly slice or julienne vegetables, parboiling if necessary tie on with a thin (1/4” or 6mm) strip of nori or vegetable strip wrapped around the whole sushi if needed..

*MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE YOU MUST READ THIS* – If you are using raw fish or raw meat it must be ’sushi’ grade (sashimi grade) ask your fishmonger or butcher for advice and if in doubt don’t use. Find your local Japanese market and ask them where the best sushi (sashimi) fish is. Maybe you can buy sushi grade fish at your local sushi bar. Purchase flash-frozen sashimi grade fish which is guaranteed to be free of all parasites. Only salt-water fish and shellfish should be consumed raw. Crab and prawn (shrimp) should always be cooked. Sashimi grade fish should have a clean cool smell if it smells fishy it is a sign that the fish is old and cannot be used. If you are pregnant or have a weakened immune system only use cooked ingredients. There is no need to use raw fish or raw meat in sushi.

Resources
Written instructions on making various forms of sushi can be found here http://homepage3.nifty.com/maryy/eng/sushi_roll.htm
http://www.sushiencyclopedia.com/index.html

Expenditure:

Sushi Rice………………………….$6.49 for 5 lb……………….HuaXing Asia Store ……….plenty left

Sake……………………………….$2.32 for 300 ml…………….HuaXing Asia Store………..plenty left

Instant seaweed powder……………$2.59 for 64 g……………….HuaXing Asia Store……….plenty left

Japanese Cucumber………………..$0.5 for 2 ………………….HuaXing Asia Store………..gone

Tofu……………………………….$2.49 for 2.65 lb……………HuaXing Asia Store………..plenty left

Sesame,nori mix……………………$2.49………………………HuaXing Asia Store………..half left

Wasabi powder…………………….$1.69………………………HuaXing Asia Store………..half left

Pickled Ginger……………………..$2.99 for 12 oz…………….HuaXing Asia Store…………half left

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Total………………………………$21.56

Now you know why sushi is so expensive. Anyway this much money will make many many servings till you really get your fill of sushi like me. And yes, this was not all, I bumped into another car on my way out of the store and so this sushi turned out really really expensive.

Daring Cooks Blogroll

I also have a puree version of this recipe here for younger babies. Beaba Babycook fans, I know you’re out there!! I’m working on a page listing all of the Babycook recipes so check back soon. Thanks for visiting! If you have a Beaba Babycook recipe you’d like to share, please let me know by emailing me at vanillapumpkin at ymail dot com. Thanks so much!

Ingredients

• One carrot, washed, peeled, sliced
• 1/4 cup of parsnip (about a quarter of a parsnip) , washed, peeled, sliced into bite sized pieces
• 1/2 tbs parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Place sliced carrot and parsnip in steaming basket of Beaba Babycook, or steam them in a steamer, or place them in the microwave in a bowl of water or chicken broth for about 10 minutes. If you’re using your Babycook, fill the water reservoir.
2. Remove veggies, sprinkle with parmesan cheese, and serve!

I don’t find carrots to be really exciting especially cooked and these were pretty tasty. Chad was just INSANE for them. The recipe is from Alice Waters’ Simple Food [which I LOVE, esp. for the veg recipes because I am a big ignoramus and it *is* all pretty simple]:

Peel the carrots and cut them into slices or sticks.
Put them in a heavy pot or pan and add water to come about halway up the carrots (don’t pile them higher than an inch or so) [next time, I would use less water than what I thought was half].
Add a good pinch of salt and a couple of teaspoons of butter per serving [I used about 4 pats for a pound of carrots. I also added a handful of brown sugar. Someone suggested honey instead and we will try that next.].
Bring the water to a boil, turn down the heat so the water is simmering, and cover the pan.
Cook until the carrots are tender.
Take off the lid and let the liquid boil down until it has made a buttery sauce that coats the carrots.
Remove the carrots from the pan immediately as the sauce will continue to reduce in the hot pan.
If it reduces too much, it will separate; add a bit of water to bring it back together.
Oil can be used instead of butter, but it won’t make as thick a glaze.
Right at the end of the cooking, stir in a spoonful of chopped cilantro, parsley, or basil [I did not do this due to inclusion of brown sugar].