Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

4.18.2012

Tutorial: Shrimp Tempura roll!

Hello!
wanted to share one of my favorite dishes with you today! Shrimp Tempura roll :D It has been a long time since I posted a food tutorial so I hope you like this as much as I do! So yummy and fun to make~  ^_^


What you'll need:

For sushi:
med to jumbo Raw shrimp
Cucumber
Short grain rice/sushi rice
sushi vinegar
Flying fish egg/tobiko
kewpie mayo (Japanese mayonnaise)
seaweed sheets/sushi seaweed paper

For tempura:

1/3 cup of flour
1/4 cup of corn starch
1/2 cup of cold water

1 egg yolk
tea spoon of baking powder

pinch of salt

vegetable oil

 and of course VERY sharp knife to cut through the sushi rolls lol :)


Starting off: Shrimp!

Take off the shells then devein the shrimps, tip: (go here for how to devein) then make a small slices in the inner curve of the shrimp so that you can spread the shrimp straight by pinching down the shrimp like in the bottom picture. 


Frying: Make batter

Prepare the batter, mix in all the ingredients listed for the tempura above in a large bowl. TIP: colder the water the crunchier the the tempura will be :)
Now Add about a cup of vegetable oil in a medium pan, make sure the oil are hot to check if the oil are hot enough drop few drops of the batter in the oil if the oil bubbles around the batter like in the photo below then its ready to be fried. Gently lay the shrimp in the oil, take out the shrimp once the batter are are golden and the tails are red then lay them down on a paper towel or on a newspaper. TIP: If you never made tempura before you should watch this video
  

Prepare: SUSHI!

To make sushi rice, mix in sushi vinegar to your steamed rice. slice up some cucumbers in a thin slices, well in this part you really can add whatever items you please such as avocado, cream cheese etc :)




Now make sure to have sushi bamboo roller to make sushi rolls~ flat out the sushi rice on to the seaweed paper just leave about 1" space at the end so that it is easier to roll the ends together and by doing this the rolls will keep its shape while cutting the rolls, lay all the ingredients on the center of the seaweed like in the picture, (need 2 tempura shrimps per roll) now roll in from the end where the rice is on~
  

Now cut the roll with your SHARP knife into 10 pcs~ and its DONE! :D


 ENJOY!

XOXO

eki

1.26.2012

Weekly iPhone photo diary: 4 year Anniversary weekend!



Just a really short photo diary post from this past weekend~ 

1.21.12 was Zach & eki's 4 years Anniversary!♥
He planned a nice day for our annivers but unfortunately he come down with a flu so did get to anything  but to go out to eat... but it was relaxing and nice weekend! :)

we been talking about going to eat this one place called Piccolo mainly because they have unique menus and use ingredients that are from local famers and organic products.

here is what they say:
More than any other restaurant in Minnesota, Piccolo's cuisine is focused on quality over quantity, putting what is seasonal and creative ahead of what is safe and familiar. We believe in changing our menu frequently, buying locally and seasonally whenever possible, and putting a significant amount of time and devotion into each beautifully presented plate. Call it small plates, "fractional dining", or simply a tasting menu à la carte. The menu is designed to allow guests a chance to create a different dining experience with each visit, pairing risk with reward. You could say that choice is the defining characteristic of Piccolo, allowing people to dine according to their desires and appetite.
  
I was very pleased with their food, they were really tasty, looked pleasant overall I was happy but the portions are tiny very french-esque style hehe :)

please excuse the low resolution photos,, I got lazy at taking the photos with my dslr even though I brought with,, bad blogger here.. sorry!! :(

Foie gras torchon with smoked cipollini onions, escargot, jalapeño peppers and chervil 

Berkshire pork shortribs with chestnuts, porcini mushrooms, apple butter and parsley root purée

Charcoal grilled octopus "shawarma" with yogurt, pickled green tomatoes, white asparagus and garlic purée

Braised lamb neck with morcilla, puffed rice, cauliflower and compressed celery
Roasted pumpkin and golden beets with fresh ricotta cheese and blood orange


ALSO
I Love watching Bizzare Foods with Andrew Zimmern was surprise to see their season 7 premier featured here where I live the Twin city! I guess not that surprised since he lives here also lol but was really surprised to see the restaurant Piccolo we went for our 4 year Anniversary featured in this episode! Apparently its one of Andrew's favorite place to eat~ I wish I could find a link to the full episode so that you can see it too but I could only find a CM for this episode~


the look of the night~ wanted simple MU look with a little bit of BAM! with some false lashes~ lol
after dinner tried to make some chocolate covered strawberries for the first time!
but didn't turn out too well I heated the chocolate too long and didn't temper the chocolates well so it turned out sorta grainy... D; next time I will perfect it lol

Zach gave me this 13" macbook air for Anniversary! Actually gave it to me on new years as early present~ :D
made chicken noodle soup for sick Zach used the recipe from Food network  made a slight modification, used wonton skin instead of egg noodle lol it was really yummy!


well that was my weekend! Hope you all have a wonderful week!



XOXO
eki



P.S. I will announce the winner to the New Year Giveaway tomorrow! :)

3.17.2011

How to make spicy tuna roll~I *pic heavy*

Hello♥

Hope everyone are doing alright~ I am holding up ok, still in shock at the whole situation from the Earthquake in Japan just hoping things do not escalate to even more worse situation than what it is already.. Thinking about all the people that was hugely affected in this destruction makes me utterly sad and fills me with tears so I try not to watch the video news too much,,  I try to only read the news. My family in Japan tells me they are in an uncertain situation with the whole radiation scare but tell me that they just have to trust in the government and hope that things dont get worse. 

On a brighter news, 
with everyones support ekiLove have so far raised and donated $1120 to Japanese Red Cross society and Save the Children ^0^ Thank you so much for all the LOVE & SUPPORT I cannot have done it without all of your support! I am still donating 75% of all proceeds of ekiLove till end of this month, I am also updating the store this weekend with more stock and some new items♥

Makes me truly happy to have all of your support, thank you♥

ok back to the topic of this post:

I love cooking and so I love making sushi as well mostly cause sushi can be so expensive eating out here is midwest so I decided to make my own at home so please know that I am in no way a professional sushi chef so please look at this tutorial as home made sushi made by a sushi lover~ XD

Most important in making sushi at home:

  1. make sure you have very sharp knife so that you can cut through the fish and the rolls cleanly
  2. make sure you have makisudare, bamboo sushi rolling mat 


How to make (eki style) Spicy Tuna Roll:


First ingredients:


This amount makes about 4 huge rolls

  1/2 LB of Sashimi grade Tuna (make sure you get and ask for SASHIMI grade which means its more fresh to eat raw)

4 table spoon of Kewpi Mayo (Japanese mayonnaise)

2 table spoon of Sriracha ( Thai chili hot sauce) *you can add more less depending on how hot you want it

 Big table spoon full of Masago (flying fish egg) *optional

One Avocado *optional

Thinly sliced Cucmber *optional

 2 tea spoon full of Finely chopped scallions *optional

1 teaspoon full of Ra-yu (seasame oil) *optional

Sushi vinegar *add 2 table spoon full per cup of rice
Sushi Nori sheet * dried seaweed

4 cup of White short grain rice ( or sushi rice) for me I use Gen-Ji-Mai, I love this rice its brown rice but tastes and looks more like white rice but SO much healthier! I highly recommend this rice if you love white rice but want healthier alternative~ *average of one cup per roll

 Ok lets start!


1. First chop your tuna in to mini cubes, I like my tuna to have some texture so I chop my tuna into mini cubes. If you like yours to be more paste like, keep on chopping :D


2. Now add all the other ingredients like masago, kewpi mayo, sriracha, scallions, seasame oil. All amount listed in the ingredients :) 


3. mix mix :D


4. Now get your cooked rice make sure its some what cooled not steaming hot, mix sushi vinegar really well * tip: make your rice alittle bit on the drier side, cook with tiny bit less water than normally the consistency will be better with the sushi vinegar~♥


6. Get your sushi maki roll, I like to wrap mine with saran wrap this will keep your matt clean its alot easier to clean up after wards. Get a sheet of nori and spread about cup of rice on the nori, make sure to pat/flatten the rice down on to the nori, leave about the inch of space of nori on the one side this will make it alot easier to roll in to shape.


7. Spread masago all on top of the rice with an spoon~



8.  Now pick it up and flip it so that the rice is under. This is the way to make if you want the masago to be on the outside of the roll.  *Follow step 14. if you dont like masago on the outside of the roll.


9. Now add your ingredients for the inside of the roll, I like to add the mixed tuna, cucmber, avocado and more mayo :D~ you can just bout add whatever you like in here its all up to you. *Make sure that whatever you add you cut it into thin slices so that you can roll in to shape nicely :)


10. Remember that space of 1" that you didnt add rice to on the nori, from that end start rolling. While rolling make sure to squeeze firmly but dont squeeze too hard or the inside ingredients will squeeze out from the sides~ X3


11. The rolled sushi, as you can see I sorta squeezed it alittle too hard some of the tuna squeezed out but I like the ends to stick out alittle bit looks pretty when you present it on the dish lol :P


12. Now cut in the center


13. with full sheet of nori sized rolls this will create thick rolls so you can cut up into 8 pcs, if you wanted to make smaller 6 pcs roll, you can cut nori into half and add less ingredients but smaller rolls are harder to roll if you arent pro sushi chef lol XP 


14. This is the way to make roll with the nori on the outside,  after rice dont flip and just add your ingredients 





Bonus: Spicy Tuna Don *my favorite*

Just add sushi rice in a bowl, add the same tuna mixture and garnish with avocado~! Its super oishii♥




FIN♥


Hope it was easy to understand, sushi can be really fun to make but takes lots of preparation but your stomach will thank you later ^__^

 Remember:
Make sure you get sashimi grade fish for your home made sushi to avoid food poisoning! Also make sure your hands are clean before you handle the fish and sushi♥


If you have more detailed questions please feel free to ask me at my twitter @ekieki I can get back to you real quick and its easy for me to answer question when its all there :D


Take care Loves


XOXO
eki

2.14.2011

How to make easy okonomiyaki~ :)

Hi Hi again~

I always cook things that I think you would love too since its simple and delicious but I forget to take picture of the process but this time around I remembered... just barely cause the picture are crappy taken with iPhone so next food tutorial I will make sure to take nice pics<3



ok I lot of you asked what is Okonomiyaki?

お好み焼きokonomi = your choice or your favorite yaki = grill or cook
translates to your favorite cooked dish! so with okonomiyaki you can add whatever you like into this pancake so in Japan Okonomiyaki was originated from kansai southern Japan like Osaka and Hiroshima area so the okonomiyaki I made here are really simplified version of okonomiyaki :) My most favorite dishes are this and takoyaki which is another famous kansai food! ^0^

Here is eki version okonomiyaki recipe

ok what you need:
(this makes about 6 pancake size okonomiyaki)

2 cup of okonomiyaki mix*optional* or 2 cup of flour with 3 teaspoon of hondashi (fish broth)
1 1/4 cup of water
1 egg
half cabbage chopped up
5-6 stems of Nira chives or known as garlic chives *if you cant find this you can use scallion but Nira tastes better*
your choice of meats *I like shirmp, pork, bacon in my okonomiyaki so good~* :D~

Toppings:

kewpie mayonnaise *must have taste so good with this*
Okonomiyaki sauce *I like otafuku brand* or Tonkatsu sauce
okaka *bonito dried fish flakes* (optional but seafood lover would love the extra fishy flavor lol) 


Remember:
 its called okonomiyaki since you can add whatever you like in this! Adding noodles are always good too :D but the basic must have formula to okonomiyaki are always cabbages & the flour mix and the topping are what makes a okonomiyaki a Okonomiyaki ^__^

ok so first you need to get your flour ready I like to get premixed okonomiyaki mix cause its already flavored and it will taste so much more authentic but if you cant get your hands on some okonomiyaki mix you can mix flour with hondashi together and it will taste as good :)

okonomiyaki mix I bought from asianfoodgrocer.com

 chopped up cabbage I like mine fine but if you like more crunchy chop them in bigger chunks
Nira chopped up in 1" inch lengths

mix your 2 cups of flour mix, 1 1/4 cup of water and 1 egg

then add your ingredients 

mix all the ingredients together your mixture should be semi runny
if you have hot grill it will be great but if not grill them in your frying pan, make a pancake size or desired size
make sure you pat down the okonomiyaki so it cooks evenly and this will form your okonimiyaki into nice a pancake form. Cook the okonomiyaki till both sides are nicely golden and grilled :) 

 Now top your Okonomiyaki with kewpi mayo, okonomiyaki sauce and fish flakes!

FIN~♥

so easy right? Hope you like it ^__^

 Perfect side dish~ Edamame :)




well that was it okonomiyaki are really fun & easy to make, hope you find it yummy too♥
If you have additional questions dont be shy ^__^

Take care!!

XOXO
eki
  
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