Recipe: Sushi

My mom rarely cooked in the past.

And this, is one of the few kinds of that she prepared when I was young. We have this sushi maker that made it so easy to make sushis. Now, Daiso sells various types of sushi makers, and Daiso is pretty much everywhere now, which makes sushi making really easy now!

There's a secret ingredient in the sushi we make at home. Well, I say it's secret because... No one I know actually heard of it till I mention it to them. And the so called secret ingredient is Sakura denbu. Its sweet yet salty at the same time, and all of us love it. The pink from this ingredient actually comes from food colouring. This is so that it resembles Sakura Cherry Blossoms (hence the name too!). You can buy it (which I do), or you can make it on your own. Just Bento has a recipe for it with photos and it looks really easy to make! 

That being said, here's the recipe! (Recipe makes about 8 rolls)

INGREDIENTS

Sushi Rice
3 cups Japanese short grain rice
3 3/4 cups water

Sushi rice seasoning
1/3 cup rice vinegar
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Sushi ingredients
Crabsticks
Cucumber, sliced thinly
Seaweed
Sakura denbu (fish floss)
Kanpyo (preserved vegetables)
1 Egg, beaten and lightly seasoned with 1/2 tsp soy sauce

METHOD

1. Cook the 3 cups of rice with 3 3/4 cups of water.
2. Fry the egg in the wok into a thin omelette, then slice it when cooled.
2. Heat the sushi rice seasoning over the fire till the sugar and salt has dissolved.
3. Once rice is cooked, stir in the sushi rice seasoning (does not have to be cooled; I usually do this step after the rice is cooked) and mix well.
4. Make the sushi roll using the traditional bamboo mat, or using a sushi maker. Daiso sells it at $2. It makes sushi a lot easier to make.
5. If using a sushi maker, just line the seaweed in the maker, then put in a layer of rice.
6. Put the other sushi ingredients (crabstick, cucumber, egg, kanpyo), then sprinkle the sakura denbu on the ingredients.
7. Cover with rice and wrap the sushi up.
8. Slice it according to the size you want, or eat it as a roll.

Recipe: Fried Bee Hoon

Whenever I cook this dish, I think of my grandma. 

For as long as I can remember, my grandma has been cooking almost every meal. The only time she doesn't cook is when we go out for dinner. 

Once, I arranged for my friends to come over for a BBQ and borrowed her kitchen to cook this dish because her kitchen was equipped with huge woks and pans. 

I regretted borrowing her kitchen. 

While grandma didn't know how to drive, she sure knew what backseat drivers, or in this case, backseat chefs, do. She stood by me in the kitchen, telling me my bee hoon would not taste nice because there was not enough oil and that she was sure it wouldn't taste nice without the oil. Countless times, she asked if she could take over. 

I was sooooo frustrated. 

I mean, I wasn't stepping into the kitchen as often as I do now, but I was pretty sure I knew how to cook beehoon, using water instead of oil. 

And so, I ignored her and kept telling her to go out of the kitchen. I knew what I was doing. 

At the end, she ate my beehoon and said she didn't actually think it would taste nice, but it was actually alright in taste. I had to resist the urge to tell her that fried beehoon can be cooked in a healthy yet tasty way too. *She never told me, but I know that she still felt that hers tasted better though, I just know it. She was politically correct that way.* I'll have you know that my friends enjoyed it, grandma! 

And so, in tribute to my grandmother, a woman who loved cooking, here's my own rendition of the fried beehoon - the healthy version.

INGREDIENTS

1 package 400 g rice vermicelli

2 tbsp. chicken stock

3 eggs, beaten and seasoned with pepper and ½ tbsp. soy sauce

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 carrots, julienned

10 pieces shiitake mushrooms, sliced

½ cabbage, sliced 

200 g diced meat, marinated with 2 tbsp. sesame oil, 2 tbsp. soy sauce, 1 tbsp. rice wine, 1 tsp. sugar

2-3 tbsp. Oyster sauce

2 tbsp. Soy sauce

Pepper to taste

Spring onions, for garnishing 

METHOD

1. Soak rice vermicelli in water for 20-30 minutes. In the water, add 2 tbsp. chicken stock. Drain, but keep the stock.

2. Heat wok with some oil, then fry egg till both sides are cooked. When cooled, cut omelette into thin slices and set aside.

3. Heat wok with 1 tbsp. oil (I use sesame oil) and fry the garlic. When fragrant, add carrots (~1 min). Season with pepper and some stock.

4. Then, add the mushrooms, frying for a while (~2 min) before adding cabbage. Simmer ingredients for about 5 minutes. 

5. Add in the marinated meat and mix well in wok.

6. Add in the vermicelli, and mix well to combine. 

7. Pour in 2-3 cups of the stock, then season with 2-3 tbsp. oyster sauce, 2 tbsp. soy sauce, and pepper to taste. Adjust taste accordingly, by adding more soy sauce if not salty enough.

8. Allow the vermicelli to absorb stock and cook till stock has been absorbed, mixing now and then to ensure that stock is evenly absorbed.

9. Mix in the cut egg strips and serve, garnished with spring onions. 

Enjoy!

Something I learnt from this - there is no hard and fast rule with this dish.