Japanese Sushi Lunch

Long weekend with Hari Raya Haji falling on Friday. It has been a while since I last make sushi. So far, I have been rolled sushi (maki) with the nori outside. Decided to try the reverse method which is nori on the inside and rice on the outside. Did some research on how to do it and finally settled on California Maki. Seems pretty easy from the video I saw on the web.

After getting all my ingredients ready, I started on my 1st california roll. It was terible...I didn't realize I was supposed to use half a sheet of nori. Instead I use the entire piece. I ended up with a "jumbo" size California roll....plus my rice could not cover the nori completely and I literally had to cut off the excess nori that was "hanging" from my maki roll....:(

2nd attempt was much better after I stick to half a sheet of nori only. My rice was able to cover the nori completely and I was able to roll the ingredients tightly inside the maki roll. After topping with the fish roe, I was very happy and satisfied with the end product. It looked quite close to the california maki I buy from those sushi joint....not too bad, right? hahaha...

I also make some sushi pockets and topped it with tuna mayo and fish roe. That is much simpler compared to california maki.
Finally, after boiling the endamame, I can sit down to a filling and fulfilling lunch. Cheers!

Tempura Crab cakes

Saw this recipe from a food magazine some time ago and have not gotten down to cooking it. The crab meat I bought has also been sitting on my shelf for a while already. So finally decided to cook it today.

I have to say the picture looks better than it tastes. Maybe I have only myself to blame cos I actually make some changes to the ingredients. Instead of cornflour, I used tapioca flour since that's what my mum have on her pantry shelf. Not only that, recipe calls for beating the egg whites till white peaks appear (which I take it to mean stiff like in cake making). But I was lazy to take out my mixer as I reckon using my hands to beat the whites should be alright.

By the time I started whisking the egg whites, I realized manual hand whisking does not really get the job done. But damage is already done and so I have no choice but to add it to the other ingredients hoping it will still turn out fine.

I guess if I had beaten the egg whites stiff, the crabcakes will probably be puffy instead of being round flat cakes......well.....anyway, luckily folks at home like it pretty much although I think I will try this recipe with other ingredients like prawns, imitation crabsticks, onions instead of crab meat. Basically, I can't really "taste" or "feel" the crab meat inside....

Still I think its a good recipe except it calls for some hard work.......don't be lazy to use your mixer.... *lol*

Tempura Crab Cakes
Ingredients
makes about 10 -12
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup cornflour
170g can crab meat, drained and set aside
3/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup chopped coriander
Spring onions, chopped
2 red chilli, seeded and chopped
2 egg whites
oil for deep frying

Chilli Lemon Mayonnaise
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tblsp chopped coriander
1 chilli, seeded and chopped
juice of 1/2 lemon
lemon rind

Method
1. Sift flour into a mixing bowl. Add in water to a smooth blend.
2. Lightly mix in crab meat, coriander, chilli and spring onions.
3. Beat egg whites till soft peaks form. Fold into crab meat mixture.
4. Heat oil in a large wok/saucepan/deepfryer.
5. Add 1 tablespoon of crab mixture to the oil. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes until golden and cooked through. Drain on kitchen towels. Continue with remaining mixture.
6. Combine all the ingredients for the chilli mayonnaise in a small bowl. Serve as dipping sauce with tempura crab cakes garnished with lemon slice and coriander.

Sushi for Lunch

My niece wanted to eat "sushi with the egg on top" and requested that I made them for her this weekend. As I have a craving for sushi myself, decided to make a few other varieties for lunch today. I made tamago nigiri sushi (sushi with egg on top), inari sushi (rice in a tofu puff pouch) and jumbo sushi roll. I used "sweetened" tofu puff purchased from Cold Storage (Misuzu brand - in the frozen food section). It is pre-cooked and sealed in 2 individual packet of 8 inari pouches. I just need to defroze them and it definitely saves me a lot of time compared to if I had to cook them from scratch. And they have a sweetness to it which goes well with the vinegar rice and toppings you added. In case you are wondering why my tamago sushi looks weird, they do not have seaweed around them cos my niece don't like seaweed and so they are bare of weed.....*LOL* Making the tamago is a bit tricky though. Control of the heat is crucial to ensure your eggs don't burnt and yet not too wet for you to fold it up. Lunch in a box has a very good illustration on how to make the egg omelet(www.lunchinabox.net).

Inari Sushi


Ingredients
Cooked sushi rice
8 Inari tofu pocket
Canned tuna flakes (drained and mixed with mayonnaise)
3-4 imitation crabsticks (boiled and shredded then mixed with mayonnaise)
Slices of cucumber

Method:
1. Fill the tofu pouches with sufficient cooked sushi rice (about 2/3 full). Use a metal spoon to press the rice down slightly so that they do not drop off so easily when you bite into them.
2. Top with tuna mayo or crabstick mayo.
3. Add slices of cucumber on the side of the tofu pouches.

Jumbo Sushi Roll


Ingredients
Cooked sushi rice
Seaweed
Tuna mayo
Boiled imitation crabstick (sliced each crabstick into 4 long sticks)
Tamago (sliced into long sticks)

Method
1. Place seaweed (shiny side down) on bamboo sushi mat.
2. Spread sushi rice on the seaweed leaving about 1cm at the front and 2 cm at the end of the seaweed uncovered.
3. Arrange crabstick, tamago and tuna near the edge of the seaweed.
4. Place your thumb under the bamboo mat while holding the ingredients in with your second and third finger, start to roll the sushi tightly.
5. Unroll the mat and cut the roll into 8 pieces. Wet the knife between each cut.

Tamago Eggs
(makes 2 tamago egg rolls)
Ingredients
4 eggs
3 tbsp of dashi stock
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp soy sauce

Method
1. In a bowl, crack the eggs and mix all the seasoning into the bowl. Stir gently.
2. Grease a rectangle omelet pan with oil (I used kitchen paper folded into a small square and dipped it into oil for greasing the pan).
3. Heat up the pan under medium flame. When it gets hot, pour half a ladleful of the egg mixture in, tilting the pan to ensure the egg mixture spread from corner to corner.
4. When the egg is set (slightly wet on the surface), fold the egg towards you to make a 3-fold egg omelet.
5. Rub the surface of the pan with the oiled kitchen paper. Slide the omelet to the far end of the rectangle pan and oil the other end as well.
6. Pour another ladle of the egg mixture, lifting the egg roll made in step 4 to ensure the egg mixture gets underneath the egg roll. Roll the egg omelet towards you when it is set. Repeat until all the egg mixture is used up.
7. Take out from pan and slice into thick slices

Tofu Chicken Rice Burger

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I was browsing through the various food blogs the other day and came across the Prawn Cutlet Rice Burger recipe on wokkingmum's blog (http:wokkingmum.blogspot.com). I have always been a fan of MOS rice burger (Kakiage Rice Burger my favourite) and wokkingmum really convince me that it is actually "do-able" in your own kitchen. :p

I make some changes to the recipe though.....I make a tofu chicken patty instead and I used short-grain rice as they tend to be more sticky than normal white rice so it is actually much easier to do up the round rice patties. I also brushed the rice patties with soy sauce on both sides before I pan fried them in the saucepan. The rice patties turned out slightly crunchy and the soy sauce give the rice patties a more flavourful taste as well.

Tofu Chicken Rice Burger

Ingredients for Chicken Tofu
25g carrot, chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
140g minced chicken
200g tofu (coarser, solid tofu to be used)
½ egg, beaten
1 tblsp breadcrumbs
1 tblsp plain flour
Salt & pepper to taste
1 tblsp vegetable oil

Method
1. Finely chop the carrot and spring onions. Can use a blender if prefer a smoother paste.
2. Add chicken, tofu, egg, breadcrumbs, flour, salt, pepper and mix/blend till well mixed.
3. Divide mixture into 4 portions and shape into round patties (I used a 7-8cm round cookie cutter to help me shape them more nicely).
4. Heat oil in saucepan and pan fry over low heat for 8 minutes until each side is browned.

Ingredients for Rice Patties

Uncooked Short-grained rice - 2 cups
Water
Soy sauce

Method
1. Cook the short-grained rice the usual manner for normal rice.
2. Once cooked, divide them into 8 equal portions.
3. Place the round cookie cutter on a wet chopping board. Scoop enough rice into the cookie cutter and press down using a metal spoon.
4. Remove cookie cutter and reshape further using wet hands.
5. Brush on soy sauce and place the rice patty on a flat frying pan over low heat until slightly crispy on both sides.
6. Place chicken tofu patty in between 2 rice patties with lettuce, sliced tomato, mayonnaise and chilli sauce. Serve hot.

Teriyaki Chicken Wings

Had a batch of chicken wings in the fridge and thought why not cook them and so this recipe is born.....:)

Ingredients
10 Chicken wings and drumsticks (depending on your preference for which chicken parts)
2 tablespoon light soy sauce
Salt n pepper
3 tablespoon teriyaki sauce (I used Masukan brand which can be found under Japanese food section in NTUC Fairprice or Cold Storage supermarkets)
1 tablespoon water
Cooking oil

Method
1. Season the chicken wings and drumsticks with soy sauce, salt and pepper for at least half an hour (they taste better if left-over night).
2. Heat up oil in a non-stick pan.
3. Using low to medium flame, pan fry the chicken wings and drumsticks on both sides till they are crispy on the outside. Remove from the pan.
4. Mix the teriyaki sauce and water and heat them up in the pan.
5. When the sauce starts to boil, add the cooked chicken wings and drumsticks. Make sure all are well coated with the teriyaki sauce.
6. Serve with plain rice.

This is really simple to cook and one of my favourite. Be sure to cook the chicken wings till they are slightly crispy as it helps to "force" out the fats under the chicken skin and make the skin more "edible".