Hot and Sour Soup

Hot and Sour Soup is easily my favorite Chinese style soup. When I go out to a Chinese restaurant, I always order it and it's usually the way I can instantly judge the quality of the restaurant.

It's usually cheap and easy enough to order by delivery, but hey, now and then it's fun to make yourself.

Tempura

Tempura (天ぷら or 天麩羅, tenpura) is a Japanese dish of seafood or vegetables that have been battered and deep fried.

Kogi Truck Kimchi Quesadilla

My Homemade Kimchi Quesadilla

For those of you not familiar with the Kogi Food Truck, it's really one of the "OG" LA fusion food trucks, and one that helped transform the image of food trucks from roach coaches to gourmet mobile restaurants; helping to kick off the current fad of food truck mania sweeping the nation. Kogi and it's founder - the now legendary Chef Roy Choi - have since expanded the empire into 5 trucks, a number of sit down restaurants, and a cookbook/memoir about Chef Choi.

One of.... Scratch that... My FAVORITE item on the Mexican-Korean fusion Kogi food truck menu is and has always been the Kimchi Quesadilla. This isn't just my favorite item on the Kogi food truck menu, it's probably my favorite item (so far) on ANY food truck I've ever tasted.

Fresh Bibimbap Salad!

So okay, this isn't sushi, and it isn't even Japanese... But the Korean dish of Bibimbap is one of my all time favorite meals. And let's face it, this blog is still new and I'm figuring out what direction I want to take it, so just deal.

My "Fresh Bibimbap Salad"

The last time I was in Seattle I stopped at the well known Asian market Uwajimaya to pick up a few items. So of course whenever I'm there I make sure to stop at Shilla Korean BBQ in the food court. I'm embarrassed to mention a food court, but when you see the one at Uwajimaya, you wont think twice about eating there regularly. The first time I got the Bibimbap at Shilla I forgot for a moment that it was served in a sizzling hot stone bowl, and I burned my thumb and three fingers trying to pull the bowl closer to my mouth. It didn't matter. I plunged my fingers into a glass of well iced Sprite and continued to eat with my chopsticks hand. It was so good, I forgot completely about the burned fingers.

Shilla's Dolsot Bibimbap with Kalbi

Pickled Red Onions

I absolutely love pickled red onions! They're an extremely tasty and versatile condiment. They add an acidic and slightly sweet element to any dish, while also bringing the fresh vegetable crunch you want texturally. You can use them with virtually any cuisine from New American, to South East Asian, to Middle-Eastern, to Mexican or Tex-Mex. They're just as at home on a Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwich as they are on a juicy all-beef Hamburger. I use them frequently as a topping for either fish or meat, often in sandwiches, and all the time with salads of every type.

Spicy Mayo

To make Spicy Mayo combine 1 heaping tablespoon with 1 small teaspoon of Sriracha. I also add about a 1/2 teaspoon of Sesame Oil for every 2 tablespoons of Mayo. I suggest you use a good quality Mayonnaise like Best Foods.

You can check out the video on Youtube as well at this link: Sushi John's Spicy Mayo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oal7u_aJ1M&feature=youtu.be

Cucumber Sushi

Cucumber Sushi is bound to wow your friends. It's very artistic looking and surprisingly easy to make. There is just one technique I wasn't able to photograph, since I needed both hands to cut the cucumber. It involves slicing your cucumber into very thin strips. I'll either need to do a video on this one, or have a friend take a bunch of pictures while I slice... maybe both.

Slicing a Cucumber for Maki (Cut Rolls)

This may be easy enough to do, but after my last blog about Cucumber Masago Rolls, I realized I didn't do a very good job of slicing my Cucumber.

Here is a quick and easy guide not just on how to properly slice a Cucumber for use in Cut Rolls, but how to cut it so that none of the cucumber is wasted.

You can see in the picture below, that the top row of 3 pieces of Cucumber are very close in size. These three come from the center of the cucumber. The pieces of Cucumber in the middle of the picture are made up of 5 pieces of Cucumber, 1 from the center, and 4 from the ends, however, all of them line up to be about the same size.

 

Cucumber Masago Roll

So I love Masago! It's the roe (or eggs) of the Capelin, a fish from the smelt family.... Think very tiny orange-red caviar that's affordable!

Masago

There are tons and tons of things you can make with it, so I thought I'd show you how to use it in Maki (cut rolls).

Video Production Under Way!

Big shout-out to director Mike Popek for coming by the last two weekends to help me shoot a few video tutorials! Thanks also to Albert and Angela for coming by and helping us eat all the food I made! The shoot went well. I'll have videos on making Rice, Tuna Sashimi, my take on a Spicy Tuna Roll, Spicy Mayo, Eel Sauce, Maki, Nigiri, California Rolls, and Miso Soup!

I've already started editing and my first few videos should be up on my blog as well as YouTube soon. I'm still looking for some good Sushi making music, but my friend - a local LA artist called Sukriya - has loaned me some tracks I might be able to use.

Here are some pictures from the shoots:

 

Miso Soup

     While not a type of sushi, Miso Soup is a staple of Japanese cuisine and something you're bound to be served or offered on the menu of most sushi restaurants. And when I say a "staple" of Japanese cuisine, that may be an understatement. It is common in Japan for locals to consume Miso Soup at least once EVERY DAY.  Just think about that for a moment. There are no foods in America I eat every single day. I might eat a turkey or ham sandwich four or even five days a week at work, but that's as close as I come. So I figure if you're going to eat something every day, it better be good!
    

Aside from the great flavor and healthy qualities of Miso, one of the best things about the soup is that it has got to be one of the easiest and quickest meals I know how to make. Seriously, the only thing easier to make than Miso Soup might be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The only difficulty with making an authentic Miso Soup is finding the right ingredients.

Sushi Rice!

     Sushi Rice is so integral to sushi making there would be literally no such thing as "sushi" without it! Sushi is actually defined as "a Japanese dish consisting of small balls or rolls of vinegar-flavored cold cooked rice served with a garnish of raw fish, vegetables, or egg." So, in fact, vinegar-flavored rice is the most important ingredient in sushi, with the fish being more of a "garnish."
     The one thing I would disagree about in this definition is "cold" rice. In the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Chef Jiro makes a point of serving his rice warm. My favorite sushi chain in Los Angeles, Sugarfish (Sugarfishsushi.com) also serves their rice warm. Something about the slightly warm rice and cold fish makes a perfect combination of texture and sensation.