Yaki Onigiri

We had a quiet Sunday night, snuggled in on the couch with a friend to watch Game of Thrones, only to discover that our PVR hates us and had decided not to record the show. It was all good though, we watched tv, hung out on Pinterest, checked out the Ikea PS collection for 2012 and fell in love with a few things. Best part of all was the dinner. We had homemade Yaki Onigiri, sesame green beans and sesame corn on the cob.

I'd never made Yaki Onigiri before and somehow thought it would be complicated. It isn't, and it's delicious! Japanese sushi rice, cooked, plain or seasoned and the formed into balls, squares, triangles and pan fried until the outsides are crispy and the insides stay creamy.

Yaki Onigiri 

Makes 6-8 onigiri
1 cup uncooked sushi rice
1 1/4 cup water
oil
 
Optional fixings:  shibazuke (japanese pickles), soy sauce, furikake rice seasoning. sesame seeds, finely chopped toasted nori, sea salt
Serve with: soy sauce and optional: shibazuke (japanese pickles), sea asparagus

Rice cooker instructions:
Put rice and water in a rice cooker, turn it on. Once it's cooked, remove lid and let sit without stirring for 5 minutes to let it cool.
Stovetop instructions: 
Put water and rice in a heavy bottomed pot, bring to boil, turn to medium low and let simmer for 15-20 minutes until all the water is absorbed. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes.

Once your rice is cooked and slightly cooled, you can start forming the onigiri. I find that if you let the rice cool too much, or stir it, it tends to fall apart when you shape the balls.
Have a bowl of water ready so that you can really wet your hands, that way the rice won't stick.

To make a plain onigiri.
Take a little handful of rice in your wet hands, about 3 tbsp. Form it into a triangle or oval. If you're lucky enough to have an onigiri shaper, or a cookie cutter that would work - use that, I didn't. Once you have it formed, put it on a plate until you're ready to cook them all.
To make a shibazuke stuffed onigiri:
Take a little handful of rice in your wet hands, about 3 tbsp. Form it into a triangle or oval and push a few shibakuke, into the middle and form the rice to hide the pickles .  Once you have it formed, put it on a plate until you're ready to cook them all.
To make a seasoned onigiri:
Mix a few tbsp of furikake in to the cooked rice. If you don't have furikake you can mix the rice with sesame seeds, nori and salt. Form it into a triangle or oval. Once you have it formed, put it on a plate until you're ready to cook them all.

Grill the onigiri in a lightly oiled medium-low pan until all the sides form a golden crispy crust. Brush all sides with soy sauce and re-fry quickly. Serve with soy and enjoy!

Zaru Soba at home

We've had a long week. Hannah has been really, really sick with gastroenteritis. We had two trips to emergency with a listless, dehydrated little girl. After five days, she's nowhere near all better, but very slowly on the mend.

I needed a little break today and went out and ran some errands and stopped by Fujiya, a Japanese grocery store and picked up some treats. I wanted a tasty and light dinner and Zaru Soba is one of Matt's favourite foods. This might not be the most authentic way to make it, but it's really delicious, light and refreshing for warm days. These ingredients are all available at most regular grocery stores if you don't have a Japanese grocery nearby.

 Zaru Soba

 serves 2-3 people

200 gms of soba noodles (1/2 a standard package)

4 green onions, finely chopped

1/2 cup finely grated daikon radish

wasabi, about 1 tsp prepared (I use the powdered wasabi and add water)

a corner of a sheet of nori, cut into little strips with scissors (optional)

toasted sesame seeds (optional)
 

Dipping Sauce

1 cup dashi stock (you can make your own, I use this recipe or use premade) 

1/3 cup soy sauce

3 tbsp mirin

1 tsp sugar

Cook noodles in boiling water, they can turn mushy fast, so try to catch them while they are still a little al dente. Drain the noodles and run under cold water, rinsing completely. Throw them back in the pot with cold water and a handful of ice cubes.

Mix the sauce ingredients together and split it up between a few bowls (how many people are eating). Put the grated daikon and green onion in to bowls.

Drain the noodles, plate them, sprinkle with nori and it's dinner time!

Each person can mix a little wasabi, daikon, green onion and sesame seeds in with their dipping sauce and then with chopsticks take some noodles and swish the noodles through the dipping sauce and eat! nom nom nom.

We had ours with some steamed green beans tossed with a tiny bit of olive oil, herb salt and sesame seeds and some shibazuke (japanese pickles) on the side.

cookies!

When we were on Saturna we picked up some cookies from the island bakery. I really like the peanut butter cookies, they are made with spelt and aren't too sweet. Matt's brother on the other hand, thought they would be better with more peanut butter and sugar. I'm telling you this just to give you a head's up that I don't love super sweet cookies. There are a few recipes kicking around pinterest for cookies using banana as a base. I followed their lead and added coconut, cinnamon, sesame seeds, raisins and honey - delicious!

Healthy Banana Coconut Cookies

3 ripe bananas

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1 cups old-fashioned oats

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup raisins

3 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp honey

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mash bananas in a large bowl, and add all the other ingredients. Scoop with a 1 tbsp ice cream/ cookie scoop or drop tbsp fulls on to a ungreased cookie sheet. teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12 minutes.

Enjoy!

We're back from a five day vacation on Saturna Island. We had one day on our own, one day with Matt's sister's family and then 3 days with Matt's entire family. 4 kids, 4 significant others, 4 grandkids. It was a special time to spend together and nice to share Saturna with his family.

I brought a few jars of the pickles that I had made earlier in the week. These are so easy, very delicious and as they are made to be eaten quickly - they require no complicated canning steps. 

We ate them with a picnic plate with grilled halloumi, cucumber, spinach and arugula, cilantro yogurt sauce, smoked beef tenderloin and smoked kippers with green onion and lime.

Also tasty with a grilled cheese according to Hannah, or straight out of the jar according to Matt.

Pickled Vegetables

Recipe from Use Real Butter

1 long english cucumber, seeded and julienned
1 medium size daikon, peeled and julienned
8 carrots, peeled and julienned
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
2 tbsps + 2 tsps sugar
1 cup water

Make sure the vegetables are fairly dry (pat them dry) so they don’t dilute the pickling liquid with excess water. Combine the vinegar, salt, sugar, and water together until the sugar dissolves. Place the vegetables in a jar large enough to fit them all and pour the pickling liquid into the jar so that all of the vegetables are submerged. Store them sealed in the jar in the refrigerator for 5 days for best flavor.

 

I love you Bill Murray.

Life is busy these days. I miss taking photos of tasty food and sharing it with you.

I'll be back soon. Once work, life and health all settle back to smoother sailing.

Scenes from the weekend.

I'm so happy to see the end of March, April is bringing much needed quiet, calm and sunshine. We had a wonderful long weekend with family.

There is so much in life that is busy, that can be frustrating and exhausting. I'm working hard to enjoy the moments and to realize that family, friends and health should never be taken for granted. Everything can and will change in moment.

Here's a few pictures from our happy weekend.