Category: Chinese

Sushi Hand Roll

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Sushi, sushi, Sushi Hand roll!

Oh my god I love a Sushi Hand roll!  I’m not even playin’.  I honestly don’t remember the very first time it was really introduced in my life, but I do know for certain that it wasn’t something I grew up with.  I didn’t try Sushi until I was a grown man.  I’d even go a step further and say that I might have even been a grown drunk man.  This was late night food for me when I had the munchies.  At least that’s how I remember it.  In my mid twenties I picked up some work that was paying a lot of money; a lot of money for me anyway.  Plus I was single, and I was traveling to different jobs all the time, so I got to meet a ton of new faces that helped me pay out my ass with a ton of fresh experiences.  One of my favorites was a club in Denver called, “The Church”!

The Church was an old Cathedral, Roman Catholic style building that was turned into the hottest club in town.  Oh yeah, not to mention Sushi.  Crazy Right?  I’m telling you, nothing was a bigger surprise to me than to find a small Sushi bar in the very back of a 3 level floor, wall to wall, shoulder to shoulder college fest of drunken dancers.  However, in the condition I was in at 1:00 in the morning, NOTHING could’ve made me happier either.

If you don’t know by now, there are all forms of Sushi Rolls, and these days, every bar out there pretty much makes up their own rolls.  Sure there are many traditional’s with the same basic ingredients, but there always seems to be a little tweak here and there in the way they’re prepared.  I never have the same roll made exactly the same at different restaurants.  But one thing I have found, is that any true not in it for the hype Sushi lover, will order Sushi Hand Rolls.  So breaking it down simply, I’ve chosen the Spicy Tuna Hand Roll to demonstrate how easy this can be for you to do on your own at home.

Sushi Ingredients

1 Ahi Tuna Steak
1 cup Sushi Rice
1 Green Onion (chopped scallions)
1/4 Sliced Cucumber
1/4 cup Mayo
1 tsp Sriracha (rooster sauce)
6 Half Sheets of Nori (seaweed)

Spicy Mayo Mix is just combining the Mayonnaise and Sriracha rooster sauce.

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All good Sushi boils down to proper preparation of the rice.  It is said that most chefs wash rice for months and sometimes years before they are ever trained to cut and roll sushi.  The rice must be properly rinsed and washed, soaked, then brought to a boil, reduced to a simmer for twenty minutes, cooled, then mixed with salt, sugar and rice vinegar.  The mixture and recipe for perfect Sushi rice can be found all over the web if you want a professional opinion from a Sushi Chef.  Just know that if you decide to skip this step, or even purchase the wrong rice, the flavor of your rolls will MOST DEFINITELY suffer.

Sushi Hand Roll Instructions

1) Lay down the Nori smooth side down, texture side up, length wise left to right.
2) Wet your hands with water and grab 1/3 cup of Sushi rice.
3) Place the rice in the center of the left hand side of the Nori and press diagonally from the top corner until the rice is 3/8″ thick.
4) Make a Diagonal indention in the rice by pressing your index finger in the center of the rice, then garnish with cucumber.
5) Then spread one heaping tbs of spicy tuna over the cucumber leaving the bulk towards the top left corner.
6) Using two hands, pull the Nori to the edge of the table with the right hand, then use your left hand to catch the rice side.
7) With your right hand, roll the rice side first starting with the bottom corner of the Nori, rolling over the rice in a funnel like fashion.  Make sure that the bottom of the roll goes to a point as you turn the roll in your left hand, leaving the top exposed like an ice cream cone.  Continue all the way around until you reach the last corner from the end of the Nori.  Stop there and place one or two pieces of rice on the corner and close the remaining Nori to the roll by sticking the rice corner to the cone.
8) Top off the Spicy Tuna with Scallions and Tempura crumbs if you’ve got them.  Enjoy your Sushi Hand Roll and be sure to check out my Yakitori Chicken!

Quick and Easy Menudo

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How I found this Menudo

Menudo I’m told, is traditionally prepared on Sunday morning’s for breakfast.  I haven’t researched it, I’m just going by the word of a friend of mine that’s inspired some of my authentic Mexican recipes.  It might not be a Sunday morning delicacy for most but apparently it is at his house.  Regardless,  this is a dish I’ve grown to love.

It was first introduced to me by a coworker in a Denver Refinery I was working in. The company that had the maintenance contract at the time employed several Mexican men that ate excellent authentic Mexican food from day to day, thanks to the preparation of their Mexican wives(go figure).  Anyway, one specific gentleman made a little extra money on the side selling burritos at work that his wife prepared every morning before he’d leave.  Those of us that usually skipped breakfast in the morning, knew that we could rely on him vending out burritos from the big blue cooler he toted in day after day.  Burrito’s filled with eggs, chorizo and chili’s, or potatoes and pork with beans.  Thursday’s were my favorite day to buy because those days she made Chili Relleno’s with beans, rice and goat cheese wrapped in a tortilla!  Mmm Mmmm, those were the goods.  So, getting back to the point, this same guy’s wife dropped off a huge grocery paper bag full of Bolillo’s (bread) and a pot full of Menudo.

He invited me to try it, but I really had no idea what I was getting into and with a name like Menudo, I had to ask what it was.  Well, a chili base soup with Tripe and Hominy didn’t sound too bad but honestly, I don’t think at the time I realized what Tripe was.  He told me to get a bowl and make sure I grabbed some bread.  So I did, and at first glance I was really skeptical.  Then at first chew I thought, rubbery not dreamy.  Then the after taste kicked in and I wanted more, end of story.  I’ve been getting it at restaurants ever since.  I believe Menudo is one of those recipes.  It’s a hit and miss and you either like it or you don’t.

I guess the moral of the story is, don’t be so quick to judge and give everything a chance at least once.  Also make your decisions based on the experience of the cook.  I have found that most of my “bad experiences” came from cooks that didn’t know how to prepare a dish even half as well as they thought they did.  And when I was willing to give the recipe a second chance with someone else cooking that absolutely without a doubt knew their recipe, I usually found the light.

MenudoMaking Menudo

Now as far as this dish goes, the easiest and fastest way I know how to whip out Menudo the very moment I’m craving it, without any preparation or the 6 plus hours of cooking time is to have it already to go on the shelf.  Now you can purchase this fine recipe in a can these days and it’s pretty comparable to a fresh batch made from scratch.  To be clear this is NOT a recipe video, just a Quick and Easy way to knock out a 6 hour soup, Menudo, in 10 minutes.

I’m a Pasta Fanatic… Aren’t You?

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If you’re not eating fresh pasta YOU ARE CRAZY!  Especially for the simple reason that it’s incredibly easy to make; not to mention the, “I can’t get enough fresh pasta” taste it leaves in your mouth after you’ve tossed the noodles in your favorite sauce.  I had someone comment on my homemade pasta video a while back.  They were so thankful for my simple little recipe.  This person even went out and bought a little hand churned Pasta maker for like $20 or $30 bucks and mentioned that they were going to start cranking’ that dough out so they could even stalk up the freezer and have it ready to go down the road.

So let’s talk about it shall we?  As you can see in this photo, I’ve got a pasta maker.  It’s been sitting in my storage unit for a while because I’ve been on the road working lately, BUT, was able to pull it out recently and grace my family with a few dishes that involved some freshly made egg noodles.  It doesn’t matter what you decide to make, whether it be Italian, Greek or some twist of your favorite Asian noodle dish, but one thing is for certain, if you’re pasta isn’t the right consistency, you are going to make a mess!  Now this isn’t a contradiction to my theory that pasta is incredibly easy to make, NO!  All I’m saying is, like anything else, you’ve just got to do it right!

You don’t have to follow my recipe by any means but I’ve laid out a basic instructional video for those of you that aren’t too familiar with making your own noodles and in fact don’t have any fancy gadgets or gizmos to “Get’R done”!  The most important thing to know are two simple steps for the final outcome.  ONE, make the dough Dense.  TWO, when the dough is rolled out for the slicing of the noodles, make absolutely sure the dough is dusted with flour and dry enough to separate; otherwise you’ll have a sticky mess.   Easy enough right?  Now watch this video and you’ll see just how easy it really is from any Poor Man’s Gourmet Kitchen!

The Full written original recipe can be found here http://poormansgourmetkitchen.com/making-fresh-pasta-from-scratch.html