Sushi Night!

So this post has been long overdue. Infact many have been. But I have been traveling a whole lot and was unable to get myself to complete these. So now I am home and completely jet lagged and unable to sleep so I thought I would catch up on some writing.
Sushi night at Janu and Christian's place in Salt Lake City. I heard these were quite famous and involved copious amounts of Sushi and wine. Needless to say I was very excited. Christian, Janu and I were joined by their friends Kian, Krista and Cyrus. Kian is the sushi expert and it was definitely a blast to watch him roll the sushi. All in all it is not very hard to roll sushi at home, however many ingredients are needed to make Sushi night work.

Im not sure if I captured the recipe precisely as this was my first time rolling sushi at home. But Sushi rolling, followed by several rounds of Saboteur (an excellent strategy card game), followed by a very special Persian Tea ceremony with seemingly endless glasses of wine did make for an excellent night.

Im going to attempt to list all the ingredients:
1. Sushi grade rice
2. Rice vinegar
3. Salt
4. Sugar
5 Wasabi- hot
6. Siriacha
7. Eel Sauce
8. Pickled ginger
9. Japanese mayonaisse
10. Assorted vegetables such as sprouts, cucumber, peppers, mango, spring onions, carrots, avacado
11. Dried seaweed sheets
12. Seseame seeds
13. Fresh Sushi grade fish- salmon, tuna, eel. (Kian bought fresh sushi fish from the aquarium)
14. Soya Sauce

Equipment:
15. Bamboo Sushi Mat
16. Paddle for rice
17. Rice cooker
18. A clean cutting board

The prep:
Above is the slice of fresh sushi grade tuna and spicy tuna- made with siriacha sauce and mayonnaise mixed with the raw tuna. Delicious!

To make the Sushi rice:
This is the part I missed on but found a nice recipe online to follow:
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-sushi-rice
Keep in mind- Sushi fish should be fresh and sushi rice should be sticky and not the other way around. Kian has prepped the rice for us and he is about to roll the sushi rolls. Can't wait!

To roll a Sushi Roll:
1. Lay the bamboo mat flat on a cutting board. Place a sheet of seaweed on the bamboo mat. Place a generous scoop of sushi prepped rice on the seaweed.
 
2. Press the rice down on 2/3 of the sea weed and spread the rice as evenly possible on that area.

3. Now place the ingredients in single rows evenly on half the rice. Including the slivers of fresh fish.

4. Start by rolling with the bamboo mat and press into a circular tubular form. Make sure that it is a tight fold and all the ingredients are held together.

5. As the roll is about to be complete use apply some water along the edge of the seaweed and close the roll completely.

6. Cut into 1.5" slices and serve on a platter. Sprinkle sesame seeds, squeeze some eel sauce and serve with soya sauce, wasabi and ginger.

Some more expert sushi rolling. I think this is called the outside roll. I was very impressed with Kian's skill to roll these professional rolls. It involved plastic wrap.

Followed by some crazy Persian wedding dance! Vigorously performed by Cyrus and Kian.

Watch the video right here.

For other Sushi recipes check out Foodista:

Tuna Sushi Roll on FoodistaTuna Sushi Roll

Super Caroline's Bacon Turtle Burger Fun!

So here is a good one. Super Caroline, my friend from grad school (the smartest cookie around) is a human computer interface genius who happens to be a great cook, runner, bikes 9 miles to work and makes beautiful art kinda woman. She and I became friends when I had my first official meltdown in grad school. I forgot to hit save (or so I thought I forgot) on a 5000 word Art History final the night before it was due. Of course Super Caroline retrieved my paper and I owed her a home cooked Indian meal. We have been friends since and have had many an adventure fooding around Chicago.

So featured below is her dinner tonight. It looks like so much fun to make but definitely not for the calorie counters (though Super Caroline will probably run it off - oh did I mention she sometimes runs 10 miles to work on LSD - Lakeshore Drive silly).

I love this turtle burger for all the fun that can be had with food.  The photographs and descriptions are courtsey Super Caroline with some minor additions/editions by me. Also I think this would be a perfect "I am uptil 4 a.m. and I am craving bacony something" kind of food.

Ingredients:
Very lean beef and/or buffalo meat or any gorund meat of choice (4 oz would be enough. Make meatballs with the extra).
Andouille sausage or good ole franks
Packet of bacon or more
Cheddar cheese
Garlic cheddar cheese
1 egg white
Spices (salt, peppar, bbq sauce etc)
Ginger, cilantro, chili powder can also be great additions

Start making the bacon weave. Cut some of the fat off the outside of the bacon to make it straight.
 
And this is how we weave bacon. See? all that 4-H isn't going to waste! (4- H for those like me who don't know its some American thing like Girls Scout but for sewing and weaving and making crafty things).
 
Weaving the bacon
 
Ta- da!...........
 
Mix the ground meat, spices and egg white. The egg white is used to help hold things together.
 
Make a meat patty, put it on the weave
 
Place some garlic cheddar cheese on the patty.
 
And more meat! Place another patty on the cheese.
 
And more Cheese ((I told you this was insane)
Fold the bacon weave over it.
Cut sausages in half both length wise and cross wise. If using hot dog it may not have to be split as the sausages are fatter than hot dogs - but way tastier. Make 3 cuts in the "feet" sausages and one cross wise cut in the "head" sausage (so it will look like a mouth opening). Carve out a conical tail as well.
Make holes in the bacon weave, poke sausages into the body embedding them into meat by about 1". Use extra bacon to cover the gap and bring stray ends of bacon into the weave.
Use a spatula to get it onto the pan.
 
Put toothpicks (that have been soaking in water) into the body to secure the sausages and keep the bacon ends secure.
Use an oven thermometer and get that dial up to beef - well! Took her 45 minutes at 400. Cooking time depends from oven to onve so poke the turtle and when the juices aren't red anymore it is well done!
Muaha haaaaaaaaaa!
"Mmmm. and for my next trick... using reptile meat to make a replica of a pig"- Super Caroline
  
Chef's Tip:
  • Cutting the excess edge fat off the bacon so it has a more regular shape helps a lot.
  • Do not eat all at once.. this could last you a long time. 
Warning: House can smell of bacon for a couple of days

Meghna's Favorite: Beef Strips (Kalbi style) and Fish Sauce

Yes Fish sauce! Believe it or not it makes the best dipping sauce with these spicy babies.
So where do you buy short ribs? At the Mexican grocery store. But you have to tell the butcher that you want him to cut long thin slices for the grill. Those costillas or if you are into Korean food like me they look just like Kalbi. They cook up fast on a high heat or in the oven. The thinner they are the faster they cook.

Short Ribs:
2lbs of thinly sliced ribs serves around 4 people or 2 - depends on how much you want to eat.

Marinade:
Siriacha sauce
Sambhal sauce- or hot sauce of choice
salt
corriander pwd
amchur (optional)
chilli powder

  1. Mix all the ingredients and generously apply on the short ribs
  2. Lay the short ribs on a baking dish (single layer)
  3. Cover with foil.
  4. Prick the foil and put in the over at 400 F for 45 minutes.
  5. OR place on a grill till cooked to your liking (medium or well done)






Fish Sauce - Dipping sauce
So this is interesting. Fish sauce is a Thai sauce used in the base of Thai, Vietnamese, Cambodian and Filipino cooking. It is made of fermented fish and for more information you could Google it or Wiki it. But it is available in the Asian food aisles of most well stocked grocery stores.
What does it taste like: it is very salty and it is strangely not that fishy.

Ingredients:
6-8 green chilies minced (tone it down or kick it up)
handful of cilantro
green ends of spring onions (optional)
minced garlic
juice of 5-7 limes (add more to reduce saltiness)

  1. Mix all of the above ingredients in a bowl.
  2. Squeeze the lime juice as needed (I go with more lime than less also it strengthens arms).
  3. Pour 1/2 cup of fish sauce in the mix.
  4. Use a fork to mash it.
Dip these fantastic ribs in the fish sauce.