Abura Age & Inari Sushi

This is one of my favorite sushi treats and is very approachable for non-seafood or non-Japanese-food people. This is also a good party appetizer as it is easy to eat with fingers!

The special ingredient for inari sushi is the wraper which is called abura age (fried tofu sheet). It is formed similar to a pita pocket in that you can open it like a pocket once you cut it open. Abura age looks like this:

It is sold with quite a bit of oil on the outside, so stick them in hot boiling water for 30 seconds and then drain. They will puff up and lose some of the oil. At this point, you can use them for anything; cut into strips for soup, salads, or in fried rice.

For using as pockets with filling and inari sushi, you will need to season them by simmering in a sauce.

Abura Age Pockets for Inari Sushi
1. Cut each blanched (see above note) abura-age square in half, and use your fingers to open the inside to reveal a pocket

2. Combine in a saucepan and bring to a simmer:
3 C water
2 TB mirin
1/3 C sugar

3. Submerge the pockets in the liquid in the saucepan and cook for 5 minutes

4. Add 6 TB low sodium soy sauce and stir to evenly distribute the coloring on the tofu sheets. Let cook a minute or two more, reducing the sauce a little bit.

5. Remove abura age from sauce and press out the extra liquid. The abura age are now ready to use. You can also use the remaining sauce for simmering vegetables for another recipe.


To make inari sushi: fill prepared abura age pockets with sushi rice, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve. Yum!

Alternatively, you can mix vegetables in to the sushi rice and fill the tofu pockets with this mixture (see photos).
Or you can use the tofu for wrapping just about anything else!

Sushi Rice using "Sweet Brown" short grain rice

Surprisingly, the same method used for regular white rice can be used on short grain brown rice. This is quite tasty as is, used in inarisushi, sushi or stir fried the next day. This quantity will serve 3-4 people as a main dish or 2 people with leftovers.

This can be made ahead and will sit out on the counter for several hours. Once it is refrigerated the sushi texture is lost, so keep it out on the counter, covered with a towel until you are ready to use.

Pour water into a wooden salad bowl and wooden spoon and let soak for 30 minutes or more (this helps keep the rice from sticking). Set aside.

Soak 1.5 C short grain brown rice in 2.25 C water for 20 minutes or more. Then add the following, put the lid on and turn on rice cooker:
2 TB sake
small square of kombu kelp

Meanwhile, combine the rice "dressing" in a small cup and set aside:
3 TB komezu (rice vinegar- don't buy "seasoned" as it has salt and other things added)
1 TB sugar
1 tea salt

Once rice is done cooking, let sit, covered for 5 minutes. Pour soaking water out of wooden bowl and wipe dry.

Pour the hot rice into the wooden bowl. Pour the vinegar dressing over the rice, then stir in broad strokes to combine (don't overmix or mush the rice grains).

Now fan the rice to cool it down which will help it maintain a shiny, pearly appearance.

Glazed Japanese Sweet Potato (DaigakuImo)

I'm not sure how these got the name "college potatoes" (daigaku + imo) but they are tasty. I am trying out recipes from this new Japanese Shojin Ryori book and enjoyed this one! These would be really good at a party served with Asahi beer or sake and they are easy to eat with chopsticks or toothpicks. The only problem is they don't keep well overnight (the potatoes discolor in the fridge), so plan to make them the same day.

Buy "Japanese sweet potatoes" in the store, which are also called satsumaimo. They look like purple yams/sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are big in Japan: there are food carts with roasted satsumaimo with honey, and guys that walk around pulling wood fired ovens filled with sweet potatoes.

Wash and cut 2 Japanese sweet potatoes rangiri-style (into irregular chunks), making most pieces about the same size.

Combine in a large saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium high heat to dissolve the granules:
1/4 C sugar
1/4 C canola oil
2 TB water
1 tea soy sauce
1 tea komezu (rice vinegar)
1/2 tea salt

Dump the cut sweet potatoes into the pan in one layer across the bottom. Simmer gently for 3 minutes.

Stir, cover and cook for another 3 minutes until the potatoes are tender.

Now remove the lid and stir to cover the potatoes in the glaze, allowing to cook for 5-6 minutes with the lid off which will reduce the glaze.

Pour onto a serving tray and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Let them cool before eating (I burnt the top of my mouth on one!!)

Cherry Chocolate Shake (Raw Vegan)

Bought 2 lbs of cherries at Costco today- this is a delicious way to eat cherries!

Combine in a high speed blender:
1 C cherries (pitted)
1/3 C walnuts
3 small delget dates or 1-2 medjool dates (pitted)
1/4 vanilla bean (bark & all)
1 TB raw cacao powder (Holy Cacao brand)
1 1/3 C water





Enjoy!

Mango Pineapple Shake

Combine in a high speed blender and enjoy immediately:

1 banana
1 C frozen mango (Trader joe's sells peeled, precut and frozen)
1/4 C walnuts
Optional: 1/2 C frozen pineapple (trader joe's sells precut frozen)
Optional: add 1 C baby spinach - the vitamix will blend it completely into a pretty green color
filtered water to fill 20-25 oz total

Almond Hemp Protein Shake

Hemp protein is a raw protein powder made from ground hemp seeds. They have lots of omega 3s and fiber and have a nutty taste. Hemp pairs well with nut milks or nut butters (like almond butter).

Combine in a high speed blender:
2-4 TB hemp protein powder
1 banana
2 TB almond butter
1/4 C dates (pitted)
filtered water to total 20-25 oz in the container

Vegetable Stock (Pressure Cooker)

Prep & coarsely chop veggies:
2 stalks celery
3 carrots
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1/4 C parsley
Optional: other veggie scraps

Combine the above in pressure cooker with 2-4 C water (depending on the size of your pressure cooker- following instructions for how far you can fill the pot). Add spices:
1-2 sprigs rosemary
1/4 - 1/2 tea whole peppercorns
1-3 bay leaves
Optional: other spices or herbs

Put on lid, bring to pressure and cook, pressurized over low heat, for 20-25 minutes. Then let pan come down in pressure naturally ("slow release" method). Strain and use in soups, mashed potatoes or wherever else you'd use stock.

Freezes well- just put in chunks that you will actually use.

For more directions or ideas, see this NY times article on the same topic.

Raw Vegan Strawberry Sauce

This is super easy, and is good on oatmeal or cheesecake, or any other dessert!

Combine in a food processor or blender:
1.5 C strawberries (frozen is ok)
1/3 C agave syrup

That's it!

Go Omega! Rice Cooker Steel Cut Oats (with Flax and Walnuts)

This is a great breakfast! Steel cut oats have a lower glycemic index than instant oats (the kind that you pour hot water over) and they are yummie. You won't even notice an addition of flax meal either. Prepared with flax meal and walnuts, this is a good source of omega 3 fatty acids.

This is easy to do with a cheap rice cooker overnight for a first thing breakfast. Purchase a programmable appliance timer at a home improvement store (ours has an LCD display and you can program for different days of the week, both the "on" and "off" times). Make sure it is capable of handling the right amount of current (i.e. don't get one intended for low wattage like lights or lamps). You can set the oats and the water in the cooker in the evening and plug in, switch the button to "cook" (not warm) after plugging into the appliance timer and outlet.

Combine in a rice cooker and start on "cook" and let it finish the cycle:
1 C steel cut oats
3 C filtered water
1/4 tea salt

In your bowl, combine a portion of cooked oatmeal with:
1-3 TB flax meal
1/4 C walnuts
jam, Frog Hollow fruit conserves, fruit or strawberry sauce (pictured above)

Puttanesca Sauce

Puree in blender or food processor, then set aside:
1 can (28oz) of tomatoes (Trader Joe's with basil)
1/2 C kalamata olives

Carmelize in a pan with butter, oil or bacon fat:
1/2 C chopped yellow onion
garlic, minced

Now add the pureed tomato/olive mixture as well as:
1 TB capers
1 TB chopped basil
salt
cracked black pepper

Stir over medium heat until tomatoes are sufficiently reduced to a sauce.

Serve over grilled veggies, raw zucchini pasta, grilled fish or regular pasta.