Rice Vinegar – Let's Cook Together

Sushi Rolls

Denis Martel — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:41:56 +0000

Making sushi is easy. It just requires some practice. The good thing is that you have to eat your practice and they will taste just as good as a well shaped rolls…maybe just a bit loose. I have calculated the cost is about one-third of the cost of take-out sushi restaurant, even when you buy your fish at an expensive fish store. Just make sure your fish is sushi grade. A good fish store will tell you, they want your business back.

Ingredients:

500 ml sushi rice
625 ml water
50 ml rice vinegar for the rice and another 50 ml to be added to a bowl of water to dip your hands
Nori sheets (dried black algae sold in pack)
Strips of fish (salmon or tuna are the best), cut in about 1 cm of diameter. You can use the leftover pieces from your Nigiri Sushi
Cucumber, carrot, avocado or mango, cut in fine stripes
Wasabi

Method:

In a medium size sauce pan, wash the rice four to five times
Add water to the rice and bring to a boil for 5 minutes
Reduce the heat and let simmer for 20 additional minutes
Transfer the cooked rice to a non metallic bowl (wooden if you can) and add 50 ml of rice vinegar
Mixing for about 15 minutes to cool. If you can have help, ask someone to fan the rice while you are mixing it. This method makes the rice shinny.
Place a Nori leaf on a bamboo mat (sold in any Asian store and some groceries)
Damper your hands in the bowl of water, which the remaining vinegar was added. Make sure your hands remain damp to prevent the rice from sticking to them
Spread a handful of rice on the nori, making sure to compact the rice
With your finger, spread a bit (and I mean a bit!) of wasabi about 1 or 2 cm from the bottom edge of the rice.
Place strips of fish and vegetable/fruit sticks over the wasabi
Roll the mat away from you so the fish will be at the centre of the roll.
Clue to close the top end of the nori use a small amount of water to seal the roll
With a sharp knife, that you have immersed in the bowl of water before, cut the roll in two, then each of the two, in four so you end up with 8 rolls

Sushi Nigiri

Denis Martel — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:40:22 +0000

For Christmas a few years ago, Natasha asked my sister Louise for a sushi dinner as a Christmas gift. As they say in the bible, give a fish to a man and you feed him for a day, show him how to fish and you feed him forever! Louise gave her a sushi cookbook, the dishes and chopsticks. Natasha then turned to me and said now we (read I) can make sushi as often as we would like!

The trick with sushi is to go slowly and have all the ingredients ready. Your hands must always be kept moist to avoid having the rice to stick to them.

The cost to make your own sushi is so low that I am sure you will do like me and make some every monthâ€¦

Ingredients:

500 ml sushi rice (available in an asian supermarket or in some Loblaws)
625 ml water
50 ml rice vinegar
500 gr very fresh fish filet, such as tuna or salmon. Ask for sushi grade fish. A good fish store will tell you the truth. The one I go to even refuses to sell me tuna if it is not sushi grade.
20 ml wasabi (I prefer the one from powder instead of already mixed paste, it is tastier!)
2 sheets of Nori (black dried seaweed), cut in stripes of 1 cm wide, 8 cm long
Bowl of water with some rice vinegar in it to dip your hands

Method:

In a medium size sauce pan, wash the rice four to five times
Add water to the rice and bring to a boil for 5 minutes
Reduce the heat and let simmer for 20 additional minutes
Transfer the cooked rice to a non metallic bowl (wooden if you can) and add 50 ml of rice vinegar
Mixing for about 15 minutes to cool. If you have help, ask someone to fan the rice while you are mixing it. This method makes the rice shinny.
Slice fish in 2cm by 6 cm stripes, about 0.25 cm thick
Prepare the wasabi following the instruction on the box
When rice is cool, take a piece of fish with your right hand and rub some (a bit!) of wasabi on the fish
Place the fish on the tip of your index and major fingers, with the wasabi side down grab a ball of rice. Your hand must be moist at all times, dip them in the bowl of water and vinegar, if you do not want the rice to stick to them
Press the rice into a ball under the slice of fish to make it into a sushi shape.
Wrap around with a stripe of nori

Grilled Chicken breasts

Denis Martel — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 15:10:37 +0000

This recipe for chicken breasts is very good for those who are watching their cholesterol level, without having to cut down on the flavour of a good meal.

Ingredients:

50 ml ketchup
25 ml apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar
25 ml brown sugar
15 ml Dijon mustard
15 ml Worcestershire sauce
2 ml cumin or chili powder
4 skinless chicken breast flatten

Method:

In a big bowl, mix all of the ingredients except the chicken
Add the chicken to the sauce and let marinade for about 30 minutes or overnight in the refrigerator
Grill the chicken just until it is cooked, about 3 to 5 minutes per side. You can also cook it in a non-stick pan or very lightly oiled one