A deviation from China and from Sushi.

Last night we were having Sushi at a friends house. 

Making basic sushi is quite easy.  Making the works of art that most good sushi chefs make take skill and mastery.  We make BASIC sushi.  It tastes awesome and it's a great deviation from food we typically eat.

Last night as we were enjoying our sushi and talking I suggested Dessert Sushi would be really tasty and fun to make.  We all started throwing out ideas and 30 minutes later I was preparing the sushi Rice slightly differently than normal and my friends were at the store buying sweet stuff to put in it.

Coincidentally.  As I was looking around for this sort of thing I came across a very ASIAN recipe for Dessert Sushi.  It's Here.  If you Google "Dessert Sushi" and just look at the picture results it will get the creative juices flowing.  My goal was to keep it as close to real sushi as possible.  I will tell you that I WILL be trying one variation I saw, which was to use Fruit Leathers or Fruit Rollups as the "Nori" instead of Soy Wraps. 


Here are the items you will need for "Dessert Sushi"

Soy Wraps - Click here for example.  
Japanese Rice - Click Here for Example
Sushi Rolling Mat. Click here for example.
Pre-Made Brownies
Strawberries
Mango
Kiwi
Banana
Mini Marshmallows Colorful ones.

Peanut Butter Frosting
(Check Link Below for ingredients.)
Chocolate Ganache
(Check Link Below for ingredients.)
Cream Cheese Frosting
(Check Link Below for ingredients.)

For the Rice
Brown Sugar
Water
Cinnamon

First thing you should do is get your rice started.
Here's a video that will help you do it perfectly.  (DON'T Use the Rice Vinegar.  Replace the Vinegar Salt and Sugar with the above ingredients "For the Rice".  Water=Vinegar.  Salt=Cinnamon, Sugar=Brown Sugar.  Or you can use regular sugar.  Up to you.
 
As your rice is cooking prep your food.

The brownies can be cut into long thin strips.  If you get a typical pan from a grocery store it's almost perfectly the right length.

Cut your bananas into 4's.
Mango's can be cut into thin strips.

Peanut Butter, Chocolate Ganache and Cream Cheese Frosting will be drizzle garnishes so you can put them into sandwich size Ziploc bags. 

This next part is the part that will take some practice.  I recommend you go to YouTube and watch some videos on how to roll sushi.  If you've ever made California Rolls then you will know how to do this.

Basically what I did was lay out the soy wrap on the bamboo mat and spread about a tangerine size lump of rice on it.  Spread it around to the edges without smearing the rice.  Leave about a 1 inch strip along the top of the soy paper.    See the picture to the right.  At this point you can get creative.  Basically the only thing you don't want to do is have so many filling that you can't close it.  Also, when you cut the "sushi" it will fall apart if you have so many fillings that they don't stick together.  Try to lay a thin strip of Brownie, Strawberries and another item  or two and roll it up.   Experiment a little.  It's really fun.  Also, think about tastes that are good together.  Not all sweet things are tasty when put together.

Once you have rolled your sushi put it on a plate in the fridge.  As you roll them all add them to the plate in the fridge.  I would let them sit for an hour so they can firm up.

While they are sitting . . .

Make some frostings/ganache.  The recipes below are full recipes.  Consider cutting the recipes down and just making a small amount of each.  1/4 the recipe is probably plenty.  

Make your Chocolate Ganache.  Directions Here.
Make some Cream Cheese Frosting.  Directions Here.
Make some Peanut Butter Frosting.  Directions Here.

Once the "Sushi" has cooled pull them from the fridge and Slice them in 6 pieces.  (If you want them all to be clean cut trim the ends just slightly.)

At this point just choose your garnish, PB, Chocolate, Cream Cheese and drizzle it over the top.

Some of the stuff for making the "sushi" complete came to me after we tried these so I haven't had a chance to take any good pictures of the completed product yet.  If you try this out and have a good picture or two send them in.  I will do my best to make these again and take some good pictures.

Chinese PotStickers

If you want to cook Chinese then you have to know how to make Chinese Dumplings or PotStickers. In Chinese they are called JiaoZi and they are fantastic.

Items you will need.

2 Packages of JiaoZi Skin - (We find them at cub near the veggies section where TOFU is.) (They are round and come in a package that is about 2 inches tall.)
1 lb of Ground Pork
1 Bunch of Cilantro
1 Bunch of Green Onions
1/2 Medium Sized Onion
3 Cloves of Garlic
1 Bag of Celery or 1 head of cabbage.
Black Pepper
White Pepper
Cayenne Pepper
Sesame Oil
Salt
Ginger Powder


Every vegetable you have needs to be minced. Just start chopping and don't stop for about an hour. It's the worst part of making JiaoZi. Finely mince everything.

Once everything is finely minced put it in a bowl with the Ground Pork.

Add some seasoning.

Add about(Please Note:  I never measure so I'm simply guessing at these numbers.  I would add half of what I recommend below and then taste the mix and add more as desired.  To taste simply touch the mix with your finger and taste it with your tongue.  Don't eat it!)

1 tbsp of Sesame Oil
1/4 tsp of White Pepper
1/4 tsp of Black Pepper
1/4 tsp of Cayenne
1/4 tsp of Salt
A dash of Ginger Powder.


Once you have everything in the bowl start stirring in a clockwise direction with a pair of chopsticks. Don't stir in any other direction than clockwise. You will confuse the fibers of the meat and it won't stick together. (No Joke.)

After you have stirred until your arm feels like it's gonna fall off you are done. At this point you should really taste the mix before you start rolling the jiaozi. Touch the meat mixture with your finger very lightly and then touch your tongue. You should feel a burst of flavors on your tongue. It should be just a little salty. If you taste nothing add more seasoning to taste.

Once you are satisfied with the taste of the insides set it aside for a minute.

If you are making these for friends make sure your friends are present to help make them. If they don't work they don't eat. (No Exceptions.)

It's best to line up in a three person assembly line down the countertop.

Person 1 - mans the meat and places small amounts in the center of the JiaoZi Skin.
Person 2 - Dips their finger in water and traces the outside edge of the jiaozi skin.
Person 3 - Folds the JiaoZi skin over and "Closes" it. See Pictures.

Once you are done "wrapping" all the JiaoZi you can start cooking them.

There are two ways to cook jiaozi. One way is to fry them in a pan in oil or salted butter. (My Favorite) Another way is to boil them in a pot of water on the stove. (My Favorite)

To Fry the jiaozi. . .

Heat a pan with some butter at a nice medium heat.
Lay the jiaozi in the pan so they are close together. Fill the pan up but don't stack any or let any overlap more than just a tiny bit. Let the Jiaozi cook until they are crispy on teh bottom. At this point I usually poor about 1/4 cup of water in the pan. Less is ok, more is not. Cover the Jiaozi and let them steam for a couple minutes. Lift off the lid and let the water evaporate so it's just butter in the pan again. Flip the jiaozi over and let them crisp up. When crisped to your liking remove and devour.

To Boil the Jiaozi. . .
Heat a rather large pot of water to boiling. When it comes to a rolling boil drop about 20 JiaoZi in. The pot will stop boiling. Your job is to keep it from boiling without turning down the heat. In order to do that Have a big cup of water handy. As you see the water start to boil add about 1 cup of water. It should stop boiling and settle down. Wait a couple minutes until it tries to rear it's ugly boiling head again and SMACK it down with another Cup of water. As it starts to boil the third time tell it, "That's enough" and take the jiaozi out. They are ready. (Tip: if you let it boil the jiaozi will puff up from the inside and they won't be as yummy. If you keep it from boiling, cause that's your only job, then they will look like they are vacuum packed to the meat inside and they will taste extra yummy.)

The only thing left to do is make a little sauce to dip them in.

The best thing is Rice Wine vinegar but we often use White Vinegar or Apple Cider. Any are ok.

Poor about 4 TBSP of Vinegar to each 1 of Dark Soy sauce.
Add sesame oil and a dash of salt to taste.

Dip your fried or boiled jiaozi in the sauce and try not to eat more than 30.
Seriously they go down easy but they'll get you later if you eat too many.

Enjoy!!!

Home-Style Eggplant

This is a variation on the "Home-Style" Lotus root so in order to make this one you will need to know how to make that one or have the recipe ready.

Basically this is prepared the exact same way that you prepare "Home-Style" Lotus Root except that you are using eggplant.  I would recommend if you are making one or the other for a meal you might as well make both.  It will give a little variety.

Selena prefers eggplant and I prefer the crunch of the lotus root.

There are a couple things you should be certain of if you are making the eggplant or lotus root jiaozi.

1.  It's key that you have your deep fryer hot.  (365-375)

2.  If you don't hava good batter Tempura is a great one to use.  You can buy some at your local Chinese market or if you live in the booney's and don't have one you can buy some online here. 

Everything else is the same as the Lotus Root recipe which you can find here.