まぐろ の おむすび - Tuna Omusubi!

ごめなさい ございます, Sorry for the long absence.
But here we are as promised, we're back! It was two winters ago back when we used to get Hollywood UTB Television (Japanese programing with Engirish subtitles) that we first got the idea for this post. It was on the NHK Dramedy 地獄の沙汰もヨメ次第(Jigoku no sata mo yome shidai) aka Wives Make the World Go Round that we were first introduced to Omusubi more commonly known as the rice ball. In the show, Makoto Tachibana  played by Makiko Esumi owns a Omusubi-Ya with the hopes of bringing Japanese Omusubi to New York. Her only obstacle is her hard core traditionalist mother in law named Chiyoko Morifuku played by Yoko Nogiwa who lives in Kimono and takes Japanese traditions seriously. Her extensive omusubi making on the show turned us on to this traditional Japanese stable.

Sure, anyone living close to Little Tokyo or any other Nihon Machi can go purchase Onigiri. But if this is not the case and you'd like to try your hand at making it at home as we have, then you can follow along the way we did ours.
To make Omusubi you'll need the following things:

1. 4 cups Short Grained Rice
2. 1/3 cup Rice Vinegar
3. Salt
4. 1pkg Nori
5. 3 cans of Tuna
6. Patience!

If you have ever made Mexican Tamales, you know you are in for a time consuming labor of love. And if Chiyoko Morifuku had anything to say about it she'd tell you that you really do this with spirit. That or she'd hit you over the head with her shamisen. So let's cook with gusto and do our best! がんばって ください!

So as you might have guessed, we are going to need some rice. Short grained sushi rice is optimum. I prefer to use Matsuri Premium Rice for my Japanese Cooking.
Prepare rice as you would normally do. One part rice per part water and remember to put a dash of salt. Generally, I use two cups of rice to make six Omusubi. Depending on how large or small you make them, quantities may vary.

As with any other Japanese rice, add a cap full per cup of rice of Rice Vinegar and stir in. Shake your pot from side to side t absorb additional moisture.

Before you do anything else, fan your rice! You will be working with your hands and the last thing you want to do is burn your self with hot scalding rice in your hands.

Any good sized Japanese fan you have lying around from Obon will do!
Had I known this the first time I made Omusubi I would have not had to write this all so important reminder. And if this is your first time making Omusubi then you have already avoided your first crucial mistake. You see this is why I write this blog so you can learn how to and not to do in Japanese traditional or Japanese inspired cooking.

With your rice all squared away you will be ready for the next step.

In making Omusubi it is generally recommended to use small rice bowls in your preparation.

If you are a Shintoist like me you'll understand the importance of salt.
Salt is used for both purification and to keep the rice from sticking to your hands.

So have a bowl of salt handy because you will be needing it!

If you have already rubbed salt in your hands then you can proceed to the next step.

Take out your rice bowl and half way fill it with rice.
If the rice is still steaming, use your fan to cool it down.

My bowls are slightly over the size of my hands. You may want to use smaller bowls. I do not recommend using anything larger than this sized bowl or else you will make gargantuan rice balls that only a Sumo Wrestler could appreciate.

Next take a spoonful of canned tuna or cooked salmon meat.
Place it neatly in the center.

I recommend using tuna that has been preserved in water.
However you can use other available methods.

It's personal preference I would say.

With your rice spoon, place a small scoop of rice over the tuna covering it completely.


Sure this may seen obvious but in case you've never seen omusubi much less made it yourself I'd like to leave the detail so you don't write me and say I've got scalding rice in my hands...now what?

So now if your rice bowl looks like this, then you are ready to shape it into a rice ball.

Now if you have ever made home made meatballs before, then this will seem very familiar.

As previously aforementioned, you'll want to make sure your hands have been rubbed with salt.

You'll next turn your rice bowl upside down and into your hand.

From here, you will shape the rice by turning and squeezing the rice into a firmly packed, neatly shaped round rice ball to the best of your ability. The sticky rice combined with the salt will fuse the rice together when compressed. Make sure you shape your rice into a neat ball.

Remember, in Japanese Cooking presentation is very important!

Once your rice ball is ready you will be ready to add your precut Nori.

Lay the nori out flat and place the rice ball at one side.

Gently roll the riceball so that the nori carefully wraps around in the middle.

Take your time.

Once you have successfully rolled your first Omusubi, repeat the process. You will want to eat them within 24 hours. Keep covered so the rice will not harden.

You may spend two to three hours doing this but in the end you will end up with a traditional Japanese staple that you can impress your friends with.

We first debut'd ours at the Shinkendo Honbu Dojo in Little Tokyo. We deliberately did not tell Mrs. Obata Sensei who made this until we heard the first Oiishii from one of the resident Nikkei namely Mrs. Obata herself who was really impressed to see a non-Nihon-jin like me make Omusubi. This turned out to be a big hit for us and can be for you too!

Enjoy!



(Seen here is the batch we made for the Koyasan Buddhist Temple)

魚料理 Sake to Ebi Tsukune

Konnichi-wa! Your “Gaijin-Gourmet” has returned with another fun recipe from Japan. Ok, I didn’t actually go to Japan since my last post but thanks to the internet and books, I can share with you my recent cooking experiences with both traditional and Japanese inspired culinary cooking. So let me share with you a seafood dish I learned from an NHK cooking show that we tried this last weekend called Salmon & Prawn Tsukune.

I love seafood and always have since I was a kid. I picked this recipe based on the ease to make and the obtainability to find all the necessary ingredients. I don’t read kanji but I do shop in Japanese markets in Little Tokyo (I like to think of it as my training for shopping in Japan). With this in mind I imagine if you are in Japan and can’t read the kanji labels finding what you need should for this meal will be as easy as pointing at the items you will need.

You can find salmon pretty much anywhere here or in Japan. So scoring a pair of salmon fillets for should be no problem. For the second item in this seafood doubleheader, the recipe calls for prawns. Prawns you say? Not to panic. Let me explain. I live in Los Angeles, so most markets mainly sell shrimp instead of prawns. What’s the difference you might ask? Not much to tell you the truth. Prawns are generally larger than their shrimp cousins. So in other words, you can do this exactly as the original recipe called for using prawns or improvise like me with the more easily obtainable large shrimp available in most American seafood sections at your local markets. Successfully acquiring a pound of each fish we can now move on to what else you’ll need.

1lb Salmon Fillet
1lb Shrimp or Prawns
½ Onion (White onion is good!)
1tsp Sake
3fl oz Mirin
3fl oz Japanese Soy Sauce
4tsp Lemon Juice
4 square inches of Konbu
Salt & Pepper
Thinly Sliced Ginger

This photo is of the konbu kelp we purchased at Nijiya Market in Little Tokyo.
If you are in Japan and can not read Kanji reference this photo!

Preparation!
The first thing you want to do is open all the windows because the place is going to smell fishy! Ok, (if you don’t live in a little box like me) maybe not. But seriously you’ll want to start with the shrimp. Do not buy precooked shrimp. Use shelled shrimp. Like with any meal involving shrimp, you will want to de-shell and de-vein your shrimp before you do anything else. This can prove to be time consuming but necessary to de-vein shrimp.

Your stomach will thank you later.

Once you have your shrimp ready you can bring out your salmon fillets.

Make sure you have all bones and any skin removed before proceeding.

You will then want to slice your fish into tiny bits and mince them.
You do this for both shrimp and salmon.

After you do this place the two fish in a bowl together.

Next you’ll want to take that half onion and chop it into just under a qtr inch bits. If you are familiar with Mexican Civiche’ it’s the same process.

If you happen to have one of those “Slap Chop” slicers then you are in business!

Once diced into tiny bits, throw your onions into the bowl containing the fish.

Add Salt & Pepper (sparingly according to taste) and the sake then mix it all together. Once mixed, cover it and place it back in the refrigerator to stay cool while you move onto the part.


Now in many Japanese recipes they tell you to start with your sauce or Dashi stock first. Of course when working with fish you might want to do that second. It’s really up to you but for practical reasons I always prep my fish or meats first especially on a hot day. Need I say more?

For our mixture well now break out that Mirin. If you are still not sure what Mirin is it’s basically sweet cooking sake. You can find this in any Japanese market or in most major American markets that have an Asian Foods section. If you live in a place where they don’t carry mirin but do carry regular sake then don’t despair. Add a pinch of sugar and stir into sake and there’s your mirin!

Now that we’ve covered mirin, let’s pour your mirin into a pan and bring it to a boil. Once you’ve hit the boiling point turn down your heat and simmer for two minutes. Next, add lemon juice and that konbu kelp. If you can’t find Konbu nearby you can always order it on line from any of the Japanese market sites I have listed here on the side. You’ll only need to buy one package and trust me, you won’t use it that much but it’s good to have for when you need it. Once you have the konbu and lemon juice mixed in with the mirin, add the soy sauce and place it back in the refrigerator to cool.


While that’s cooling bring your fish bowl out and prepare to get busy! If you have ever eaten Scandinavian food you may be familiar with Fiskballar – fish balls. This isn’t the same thing but the concept is the same. Take your fish mixture and shape them into balls. NHK recommends 5cm. If you live where we don’t use metric think about the size of an Italian meatball and you are in business! With our experience we found this to be easier said than done. The fish didn’t hold their shape so easily but with patience you can make this work. Just don’t make them any larger than this or they won’t retain their shape when you deep fry them. Once your fish is shaped into balls you are ready to go.

Final Steps.

Use a good sized pan for your mixture and pan fry the fish balls until they are nicely browned.
Once they are browned you are ready to serve.
Garnish them with thinly sliced ginger or shredded ginger and serve with a dash of Ponzu Sauce

You can find some great ideas and recipes on NHK World’s website. They do a great job showing you on their Japanese Kitchen show how to cook delicious Japanese meals. However, their website’s instructions could prove to be confusing.
As I have explained before, I don’t come up with these recipes. But what I do on here is share with you how I made these dishes and hopefully show you how you can too.

We certainly loved how OIISHII the Tsukune came out and it’s a definite “Gohan mo Ichido” for us. I hope it will be one for you too.
Enjoy!
*L*

Jagaimo no Tosa-Fumi

If you love potatoes - this one is for you!

Kyoto Style Omelette

This may not seem like a big deal but believe it or not this is actually popular not to mention very OIISHII!!

This is best made with four eggs, sushi rice, rice vinegar, salt, ketchup and best served with Sapporo Beer from Japan.

This can be served any time of day and it's yummy too!

Tamago no Ramen

Now if you have ever been laid off before or simply did not know what to make on a budget here's something for you!

Salmon Salad