I made another lot of sushi on the weekend, and managed to take one or two pictures, although completely failed to collect any evidence of my first attempts at tempura which actually turned out pretty good. I’m terrified of hot vats of bubbling oil, and i’d already had a tsingtao or two, but they turned out crispy and delish! I cooked up batches of eggplant, zucchini, asparagus, butternut squash, and shiitake mushrooms. I think the secret of my success was in the preparation. Chilling the flours, soda water and vegetables well in advance gives the light and delicate batter that’s essential for a good tempura. Not a bad first attempt!
For the sushi I made a bit of everything. A variety of nigiri, including my favourite, tamago nigiri. I also made red pepper nigiri, by roasting red peppers and peeling the blackened skins off before assembling slices of the pepper onto the prepared nigiri rice bases. A bit of wasabi applied to each topping helped adhere the topping to the base.
We had veggos and vegans in the mix so I procured some marinated tofu pouches which taste really yummy lined with toasted sesame seeds and filled with rice. I also made some tofu hosomaki and futomaki, using some strips of marinated and fried tofu. The inside out roll was a particular hit, half rolled in toasted sesame seeds and filled with a variety of fillings. Fillings included crab sticks, cucumber, asparagus, tamago (japanese egg omelette), carrot, and butternut squash.
a pinch of salt 