Inarizushi

Whenever we go to the Sushi Shop for lunch in our building at work, Rach would often get an order of inarizushi. When it comes to sushi, I rarely eat the ones that don't have fish in them. One night, we went for all-you-can-eat sushi at Kanda, and I tried a piece of inarizushi. Yum! I liked it!

On a recent trip to the Korean market, we found canned abura-age (thin deep fried tofu). It was ready to eat right out of the can, all you needed was to make the sushi rice. So why not? They don't come cheap though...about $6 for 15 slices.




1 can of aburaage
1 Tbsp minced garlic
5 slices fresh ginger
3 Tbs mirin (sweet cooking wine) or 1 Tbsp honey thinned with water
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup water

For Sushi Rice:

1 cup sushi rice
1.5 cups of water5 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp mirin
3 Tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
toasted sesame seeds and finely crushed nori


To prepare aburaage:

1. Open can and boil the aburaage to rinse off the oily marinade.
2. Mix all ingredients to make the marinade.
3. Soak abuura-age in the marinade overnight in the fridge.

To make sushi rice:

1. Soak rice in water for 10-15 minutes.
2. Mix rice vinegar, with sugar, salt, mirin. Heat gently while mixing so salt and sugar can dissolve. Let it cool. Put aside.
3. Wash rice two or three time in running water, drain well and transfer into deep cooking pot with water. (for every cup of rice, use 1.5 cups water)
4. Bring to boil, reduce heat and cook covered for 15 min.
5. Take pot off of heat source, and pour rice over an aluminium covered baking pan to cool. At this point, the rice should be soggy. Drizzle the vinegar mixture over the rice. Do not mix, the rice is delicate. Let it sit for 15 min to cool and soak up the rest of the water. It can be used when you can grab it with your hands or when they begin to look hard and clunpy.

To assemble:

1. Carefully open the abura-age pockets and fill them with cooled sushi rice.
2. Sprinkle toaste sesame and crushed nori on top. Serve.
   

This was pretty easy to make, however, I used a bit more mirin and sugar that what was in the recipe and it ended up a bit sweeter. Other than that, it was good. I would make this again. Kev didn't have any, and he didn't seem too interested either.

Shrimp Jambalaya

Jambalaya is a Louisiana Creole dish of Spanish and French influence. The dish is a New World version of the Old World dish paella. A Cajun version, loosely related to paella, was adopted after absorption of white French Creoles into the Cajun population following their fall from power in New Orleans after the Civil War. (Source: Wikipedia)

Every time I read the word Jambalaya, I hear Newman from Seinfeld in my head. I haven't had jambalaya anything in a really long time. I was looking in my recipe book for a shrimp recipe and found this. I used to love spicy foods, but have had a bland palate lately. Maybe it comes with age.


3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups of onions, chopped
2 cups diced bell peppers, preferrably red or yellow
Salt and pepper
4 cups chicken, beef, vegetable, or shrimp stock, or water
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp cayenne or to taste
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp dried thyme
2 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes, or a can of diced tomatoes, drained.
2 cups long grain rice
2 pounds shrimp
minced fresh parsley or cilantro leaves for garnish

1. Place oil in a large skillet and turn the heat to med-high. Add onions, bell peppers, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until onions soften and begin to brwon, about 10 min. Warm stock in a small saucepan over med heat.
2. Stir garlic, cayenne, and thyme to the vegetables. Add tomatoes and turn heat to med-high. Cook for a few minutes.
3. Add rice and hot stock and bring to boil. Once boiling, lower to med heat. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, untilt he rice is tender and the liquid is just absorbed, about 20-30 minutes. Add shrimp and stir. Cook 2 or 3 minutes, then raise heat if necessary to cook off the remaining liquid. Garnish and serve.

I really like these one-pot dishes. I don't need to make the rice seperate or make a veggie sidedish. Everything just goes in. The shrimp jambalaya was good, but a tad spicy. I might consider reducing the cayenne next time. Other than that, it was a tasty meal. I think there's something about canned tomatoes that we're kind of sick of...when Kev and I started dating, we liked making this crockpot sausage dish that required canned diced tomatoes. And we made i t quite often. So now, everytime I make a recipe with canned tomatoes, it just doesn't taste as great for us. Perhaps next time, I will make this with fresh tomatoes instead.

Japanese Style Simmered Mackerel

My first attempt at making mackerel didn't turn out the way I thought it would. I had made Mackerel with Sweet Soy a few months ago and it ended up being way too salty. So i continued to look in the recipe book and found a Japanese style simmered fish recipe. So I decided to try it.

6 medium-small mackerel fillets

2 Tbsp oil

1 Tbsp minced garlic

5 slices fresh ginger

2 Tbs mirin (sweet cooking wine) or 1 Tbsp honey thinned with water

1/4 tsp cayenne

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup water

1. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to the skillet, when hot, add garlic. Stir once or twice and add fillets. Raise the heat to high and sear about a minute each side.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Turn the fish once or twice in the liquid, cover, and reduce the heat to low. Cook until done, about 6 minutes.
3. Serve on white rice and drizzle remaining sauce on top.

This turned out really well. Much better than the sweet soy sauce from the other mackerel dish I made. The sauce in this one is sweet and savory. I drizzled some of the sauce on my rice as well. It was delicious. My only complaint for this is that I didn't make enough. Kevin liked this a lot and has requested I make it again. :) I added a some chopped green onions to the sauce and a sprinkle of sesame seeds to garnish.