March 2004
This month, following our successful Japanese Food and Secret of Dim Sum Evening,
we're featuring the recipes and highlighting some of
the suppliers where
you can source the ingredients. Many thanks to Annette Sprague of the Perfect
Palate and Derek Tang of Kweilin
You can download a copy of the recipes for easy printing. You will need a copy of Acrobat Reader to view
JAPANESE RECIPES
MISO SOUP
Serves 4
1 litre Dashi (Bonito Fish Stock - recipe below)
25g Red or Yellow Miso Paste
8 button mushrooms, thinly sliced
60g firm tofu, cut into 1 cm cubes
2 spring onions, finely sliced
Flat leaf parsley
Bring stock to boil. Add some stock to miso paste to thin and then add to stock. Simmer for 2 minutes. Place tofu, mushrooms and spring onions to bowls and cover with stock. Garnish with parsley leaf and serve.
Dashi
(makes 1 litre)
10cm piece of konbu (dried kelp)
4 ½ cups water
1 cup / 5g Katsuobushi (bonito fish flakes)
CHICKEN TERIYAKI
Serves 4
4 chicken breasts, thinly sliced
skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes
Marinade
250 ml soy sauce
100 ml sake
100 ml mirin sweet rice wine
1/2 cup sugar
Place marinade ingredients in sauce pan and boil for 5 minutes. Cool. Toss
with chicken and marinate at least 2 hrs or overnight. Thread skewers through
chicken and grill on high heat, basting with marinade when turning. NOTE: Can
also use marinade on whole piece of salmon.
SOBA NOODLES WITH SESAME GINGER DRESSING
100g Soba (buckwheat) noodles
3/4 cup water
4 tablespoons sugar
8 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon ginger, finely grated
green onion, thinly sliced
1 small cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
Cook noodles for 3 minutes in boiling water. Drain and rinse under cold water until cooled. Mix remaining ingredients in bowl, except onion and cucumber. Place noodles in bowls and pour dressing over each. Top with onions and cucumbers.
SUSHI
Sushi Rice
Makes 6 cups of sushi rice.
3 cups Japanese style rice (short grain)
3 1/4 cups water
60g Kelp
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
After washing the rice well, cook it by pan or rice cooker.
Prepare sushi vinegar by mixing rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small pan.
Put the pan on low heat and cook until the sugar dissolves. Cool the vinegar
mixture.
Using a spatula, spread the cooked hot rice into a large plate or baking tray.
Sprinkle the vinegar mixture over the rice and using the spatula, fold the
rice very quickly. (Be careful not to smash the rice.)
To cool and remove the moisture of the rice well, use a fan as you mix sushi rice. This will make the sushi rice shiny. Cover with clean cloth until completely cooled and ready for use.
Hand Vinegar
240ml water
60ml rice vinegar
Mix ingredients in bowl. Use on hands when molding rice to avoid grains sticking.
Prawn Nigiri
Makes 4 pieces
4 Prawns (with shells, heads removed)
4 skewers
120g cooked sushi rice
Wasabi
(Use Wasabi in tubes, not powder)
Place skewer down length of prawn’s back; poach, cool, shell, remove
vein and butterfly prawn. Shape about 30g of rice between fingers and top with
small amount of Wasabi. Lightly press butterflied prawn on top.
Salmon Nigiri
Makes 4 pieces
Salmon, sliced thinly and about 5 cm in length
120g cooked sushi rice
Wasabi
Roe
Shape about 30g of rice between fingers and top with small amount of Wasabi.
Lightly press salmon on top. Top with roe.
Spicy Tuna Rolls
Makes 4 rolls (cut into about 7 pieces each)
4 cups sushi rice
4 sheets of nori (dried seaweed)
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
225 gr fresh raw tuna
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon togarashi (Japanese hot pepper)
Chop tuna and mix with mayonnaise and togarashi.
Put a nori sheet
on top of a bamboo mat.
Spread the sushi rice on top of the nori sheet.
Sprinkle sesame seed
on top of the sushi rice.
Place the tuna mixture lengthwise on the
rice.
Roll up the bamboo mat, pressing forward to shape the sushi into
a cylinder.
Press the bamboo mat firmly and remove it from the sushi.
Cut the rolled
sushi into bite-sized pieces
California Crab Rolls
Makes 4 rolls (cut into about 7 pieces each)
4 sheets dried seaweed (nori)
4 cups sushi rice
1 avocado
225 gr crab
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1/2 tsp salt
2 teaspoons sesame seeds (white or black)
Peel an avocado and cut it into strips or mash it.
Put crab in a bowl and mix with salt, sesame seeds and mayonnaise.
Put a sheet of dried seaweed on top of a bamboo rolling mat.
Place 1 cup of rice over 2/3 of seaweed, pressing rice to edges closest to
you.
Place avocado and crab lengthwise on the seaweed.
Roll the bamboo mat forward, pressing the ingredients inside the cylinder-shaped
sushi.
Press firmly the bamboo mat with hands, then remove the rolled sushi.
Cut the sushi roll into bite-sized pieces.
DIM SUM RECIPES
SIU MAI (Pork and Shrimp Dumplings)
To Make 45 pieces
Filling
320g lean pork320g shrimps
Seasonings
2 tablespoons sugar2 tablespoons light soy sauce2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspooon sesame oil
Dash of pepper
Skin or Wrapper (Wanton skins can be used instead)
60g flour
4 eggs
Dash of Lye water (optional)
Rinse the shrimp and dry it with a cloth. Place in large bowl. Add
in the salt and stir for 2 minutes
Chop pork into small pieces. Add to the shrimp mixture. Add in the
soy sauce and sugar and stir for 3 minutes before adding the sesame
oil and pepper.
Sieve the flour. Add eggs and stir until a soft dough is formed.
Make into a long roll.
Cut the roll into small pieces. Press each piece into thin wrapper
about 4 cm diameter. This is the Siu Mai skin.
Hold the skin in the left hand with the tips of your fingers. Spread
some filling on with a chopstick. Roll the Siu Mai into a cylindrical
shape with the filling exposed at the top.
Press down the top of the filling with a knife or spatula to make
it look tidy. Put the Siu Mai in an oiled bamboo steamer and steam
for about 5 minutes.
HA KOW (Shrimp Dumplings with Bamboo Shoots)
320g wheat starch (available from Chinese supermarkets - it looks
just like cornflour)
Small piece of lard
20g potato starch400 ml boiling
water
Filling
480g fresh shrimps
80g skinned bamboo shoots
Dash of sesame oil, pinch
of salt and pepper
15g each of sugar and lard
Cut the shrimp and bamboo into small pieces, add seasoning and
mix together by hand until well combined.
Blend wheat and potato starches together, add boiling water.
Stir quickly then place in a bowl and cover. Leave for 5 minutes.
Take out of the bowl, add a little lard. Knead weel by hand into
a roll 2 cms in diameter. Cut into small pieces of dough 2 cm
long.
Press the small pieces into thin dough skins with a large flat
cleaver or palate knife. Put a small amount of the shrimp and
bamboo mixture
and crimp the top to seal. Put into a steamer and steam for 5
minutes before serving.
SUPPLIERS
Hing Sing Chinese Supermarket, 310 Leith Walk, Edinburgh
Pat's Chung Ying Chinese Supermarket, 199 Leith Walk, Edinburgh EH6
8NX
Eddie's Seafood, 7 Roseneath Street, Edinburgh
