Fish Trip Cafe

Light up Japan recipe –No.10

One of the main reasons why I like spring is cherry blossoms.

Cherry blossoms have special meanings in Japanese culture, these are seen as a metaphor for life. A noble, beautiful blooming followed by the inevitable fall.

At this time of the year in Japan, we have a lot of ‘cherry blossom viewing party’. Drinking, eating and singing under the cherry blossom trees, appreciate and celebrate the beauty of cherry blossoms.

Japanese people are still having a very sad and hard time, but I believe that cherry blossoms lift their spirits.

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— Cherry Blossom and Green Olive Rice (Serves 2) —

8-10 salt-preserved cherry blossoms

8-10 green olives

300g rice (Japanese short grain white rice, or sushi rice)

420ml water

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— for salt-preserved cherry blossoms—

100g double-flowered cherry blossoms

50g sea salt

50g sea salt for preserve

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— Salt-preserved cherry blossoms —

Cut the flowers (with the short stems), wash them gently in cold water and drain.

Toss the blossoms with the salt, place the salted flowers in a plate, cover with cling film and place a weight on the top of it to force out excess water, then leave it for 2 days.

Drain the water, and pat dry the flowers with kitchen papers.

Place the flowers in a small bowl, sprinkle them with the vinegar, cover with cling film and place a weight on the top of it again, and leave it for 2 more days.

Drain the vinegar, pat dry the flower with kitchen papers, toss the flowers with the sea salt (for preserve) and store them in a small, clean jar.

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— Cherry Blossoms and Green Olive Rice —

Place 8-10 salt-preserved cherry blossoms in a bowl with 420ml water, leave the flowers for 10 minutes.

Take out the cherry blossoms from the water, wring water out of the flowers (keep the water in a bowl for cooking rice*).

Rinse the rice in a clod water, changing the water several times until the water runs almost clear.

Drain the washed rice in a sieve and place in a saucepan.

Pour the water in a bowl* in the pan and cover with tight-fitting rid.

Bring to the boil over high heat and let cook for 2 minute. Reduce the heat to the lowest and simmer (always cover the pan with a rid) 15 minute. Remove from the heat, still covered, and leave the pan for another 10 minutes.

Finely cut the cherry blossoms and green olives.

Mix the cooked rice, cherry blossoms and green olives together.

This is a super simple sushi dish. All the ingredients are easy to find at a supermarket and just cut them into small pieces and mix with sushi rice.

Smoke salmon and cheddar cheese go very well with sushi rice, actually these ingredients are often used for ‘Western-style sushi’ in Japan.

It doesn’t take time and effort to make.

Simple is the best!

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— Sushi Salad (serves 4) —

80g cucumber

80g smoke salmon

80g cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons capper

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— for sushi rice —

400g rice (Japanese short-grained white rice, or sushi rice)

5 tablespoons rice vinegar

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

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— for wasabi sauce —

1 teaspoon wasabi paste

1 teaspoon soya sauce

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

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To make sushi rice, please see the previous post.

Cut the cucumber, the smoke salmon and cheddar cheese into small peaces and mix with the sushi rice.

To make wasabi sauce, mix the wasabi paste, the soya sauce  and the mayonnaise in a small bowl.

Sprinkle the cappers on the sushi rice.

Serves with the wasabi sauce or a dash of soya sauce.

Sushi is the most famous and popular Japanese dish in the West.

But it’s not popular to cook sushi at home.

Maybe because,

1. Don’t know how to cook sushi rice.

2. A bit scary to deal with raw fish.

3. Can’t be bothered to roll up rice.

OK, here is the solution; Box Sushi. Ta-dah!

You can make this pretty sushi without special technics.

It just needs a box, a chocolate box or a biscuit box or any kind of box. And then place ingredients in the box, press them and cut like mini cakes.

This is a great home party dish.

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— Box Sushi (box size approx. 7 inch x 4.5 inch, hight 1.5 inch, serves 4) —

200g smoked salmon slices

1 avocado, thinly sliced

some cappers

*****

– for sushi rice –

400g rice (Japanese short-grained white rice, or sushi rice)

5 tablespoons rice vinegar

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

*****

– for soya sauce cream sauce –

3 teaspoons soya sauce

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

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To make sushi rice, rinse the rice in a clod water, changing the water several times until the water runs almost clear.

Drain the washed rice in a sieve and place in a saucepan.

Pour 500ml water in the pan and cover with tight-fitting rid.

Bring to the boil over high heat and let cook for 2 minutes.

Reduce the heat to the lowest and simmer (always cover the pan with a rid) 15 minutes.

Remove from the heat, still covered, and leave the pan for another 10 minutes.

Transfer the cooked rice into a large bowl.

Mix the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small bowl, and sprinkle evenly over the rice, mix the vinegar mixture and rice (do not mush when you mix the rice).

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To make soya sauce cream sauce, mix the soya sauce and mayonnaise in a small bowl.

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Line the box with a large piece of cling film (should overlap the edges)

Lay the smoked salmon slices on the bottom of the box.

Spread half sushi rice on top of the salmon, press the rice with fingers (the rice is sticky, you need to wet you hands).

Lay the thinly sliced avocado on the sushi rice and spread the remaining sushi rice on it, press the rice with fingers.

Cover the top of rice with cling film and place a hard board (cut to fit inside of the box), and put a weight (book or something) on the board and leave it 1-2 hours.

When serving, turn the box and carefully remove the sushi out onto a chopping board and cut into square blocks with a wet knife.

Garnish with the soya sauce cream sauce and cappers.

Fried rice is a popular dish of Asian cuisine. It’s a simple, no fuss one-dish meal.

This time, I tried to combine Western ingredients and fried-rice method, and it came out very well.

The sun-dried tomato and prawn bring the attractive full, depth flavour, and nice red colour to the fried-rice, and a little bit of red chilli flakes gives a slight kick.

This is a good combination of the Western and Eastern cooking.

*Tip: The best rice for fried-rice is leftover rice that’s been lying in the fridge for overnight (it will get rid of excess moisture and easier to separate rice when you fry). You can also use COLD rice, but not freshly-cooked warm rice, it will be too sticky and become like mashed-rice.

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— Sun-dried Tomato & Prawn Fried Rice (serves 2) —

200g uncooked long grain rice, or 460g cooked rice (cold)

150g boiled prawns (medium size)

5 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and sliced into pieces

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

A pinch of red chilli flakes

Salt and black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

Some basil leaves for garnish, chopped

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Cook the rice in a large pot of boiling water until cooked (follow the package directions). Drain and allow to cool.

Heat the olive oil in a frying-pan over medium-high heat, add the finely chopped garlic, boiled prawns, sliced san-dried tomato and red chilli flakes. Stir-fry 2 minutes.

Add the cooked rice into the frying-pan, stir fry everything about 3 minutes and season with salt and black pepper.

Garnish with chopped basil.

A morning after the rain.

That remind me mushroom hunting. I was often forced to go to a mushroom mountain by my dad when I was teenager (I was born in the country side of Japan). I hated mushroom hunting because I didn’t like to get my clothes dirty and I was really fed up with mushroom dishes everyday after the hunting.

But I’m sure now I can enjoy to go to the mushroom mountain and fill up a big bag with full of mushrooms and to be pleased with full-course mushroom meals.

Well, I was obsessed with mushrooms this morning, and I decided to cook a mushroom dish for lunch.

The combination of garlic, butter and soya sauce makes beautiful taste. And I really enjoyed this mushrooms dish.

But, the best mushroom dish I’ve ever had was that dish after the muddy mushroom hunting.

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— Oyster Mushrooms Fried Rice (serves 2) —

200g uncooked long grain rice

120g oyster mushrooms, tear into pieces

20 stalks chive, chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon white wine

1/2 tablespoon soya sauce

1/4 teaspoon salt

A pinch of black pepper

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Cook the rice in a large pot of boiling water until cooked (follow the package directions). Drain and allow to cool (or use leftover trice straight from a fridge).

Heat the butter in a frying-pan over medium-high heat, stir fry the oyster mushrooms and finely chopped garlic.

Pour the white wine evenly over the mushrooms and season with the salt and pepper.

Add the cooked rice into the pan, stir fry about 2 minutes and sprinkle with soy sauce, then sir fry a bit more.

Turn off the heat , add the chopped chives into the pan and mix.