how to prepare shrimp for sushi
March 6, 2010
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - fundamentals Tags: shrimp, sushi
4 comments
As I wrote in a previous post, I made sushi on Valentine’s day. I usually just use salmon and tuna for sushi, but since we were watching District 9, we decided to have shrimp (because they looks like “prawns” 
) as well.
Shrimp is probably easier to get than a good block of salmon and tuna sashimi, and it is also very easy to prepare it for sushi. I’m sure a lot of people cook shrimp at home, and the only difference between regular shrimp and shrimp for sushi is that shrimp for sushi is straight and flattened. I’m not even sure if you can call this a “recipe”, but I thought it’d be nice to know a little trick like this.
How to prepare shrimp for sushi
- raw shrimp with shell (not cleaned or cooked)
- salt
– toothpicks
– skewers
*If you’re interested in making sushi rice from scratch, check out “How to make sushi rice.”
1. First you have to de-vein the shrimp. I usually use a toothpick instead of a knife. Stick a toothpick on about 1/4 inch from the back of shrimp between the first and second shell from the tail, and pull it outward.
You probably don't get vein out here, but this is to cut the vein on the tail end to make it easier to pull the rest of it on the step 2.
2. Stick a toothpick on 1/4 inch from the back of shrimp, and slowly pull it outward.
Stick a toothpick around the middle of shrimp's back.
You can just do this without doing Step 1, and you'll be able to take the most vein out, but after doing Step 1 it feels like it's easier to remove more vein without getting cut off.
I love pulling veins out of shrimp. It's so satisfying.
3. Wash the shrimp after removing the vein.
4. Stick a skewer straight into the shrimp. Don’t stick it through the tail. I cut a regular skewer in half and use it because you’ll use fewer skewers and it’s easier to fit in a pot that way. (If you’re using metal skewers, make sure you use a pot deep enough for the whole shrimp to submerge in water.)
5. Put shrimp into boiling salted water, and cook it for a couple of minutes.
You don't have to cook them for too long. Shrimp cooks pretty quick.
6. Drain the shrimp and let it cool off.
7. Gently hold the shrimp in your hand and pull the skewer out as you twist it. Then remove the shell. You usually don’t remove the tail for shrimp sushi, but if you want to remove it, that’s fine too. The tail is just for a decoration.
8. Cut the shrimp along the belly side. Be careful not to cut it all the way to the back. Flatten it and pat it dry.
And you have shrimp for sushi!
I’m certainly not a sushi chef, and I don’t really care how finished should sushi look. 
Look how chunky my sushi is!
If you have problem shaping the sushi, you can make it into “temari-zushi.” Which means “hand ball sushi.” You can just put shrimp/fish on a piece of plastic wrap, and put a bit of rice on top and wrap it tightly to make it into a ball. Because they’re all same shape and tightly held together, temari-zushi is great for kids.
Not the best looking sushi, but who cares, I'm the one who's eating it!
Half a pound (about two dozen medium shrimp) was under $5 at the market by our place. I live in Brooklyn, and I’m sure it’s a lot cheaper if you buy them at a real fish market. So even with the cost of rice, 20~24 pieces of sushi shrimp for somewhere around $ 6~7. Not too bad for a small party, huh?
How to prepare shrimp for sushi on my flickr
For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.
If you have any questions about any of my how-to’s, please feel free to leave a comment or email me!
how to make sushi rice
March 6, 2010
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - fundamentals Tags: sushi
3 comments
When I posted about our “sushi night” on my blog before, I mentioned about “Sushi-noko” which was like powdered vinegar to make sushi rice. This time I decided to make sushi rice from scratch with ingredients you can easily get at a regular supermarket. Actually, it’s really not hard to make sushi rice, but the recipe requires you to work really fast. I don’t usually like cooking food that is “time-sensitive” due to my laziness, but freshly cooked sushi rice does taste better than the one made with vinegar powder.
Vinegar mix for 3 cups of sushi rice *( ) for 2 cup of sushi
- White vinegar 3 1/2 tbs (2 1/2 tbs)
- Sugar 2tbs (1tbs and 1ts)
- Salt 1 heaping ts (1ts)
*I use a regular mixing bowl, but a shallow bowl is ideal for making sushi rice because it’s easier to get the air between the rice and mix.
1. Mix the ingredients in a bowl and set it aside.
Don't worry if sugar doesn't fully dissolve right away. Most of it will dissolve while you cook rice.
2. Cook rice with a little less water (about a half of a cup less) than you usually use. In other words, cook rice “hard.” <- This is very important!
When the rice is done, take a deep breath. Because you have to move really fast from here. Step 3 – 4 have to be done in about a minute.
3. Put freshly cooked rice in a wet bowl, pour about 2/3 of the mixture of Step 2 on the rice, and start mixing rice immediately with a wet spatula with slicing motion, folding the rice over from the bottom, so the vinegar won’t stay at the bottom.
Tips: If you have an extra person and a hand fan, have the person fan the rice. I had my boyfriend as a "fan-boy." A fan-person isn't a part of this recipe, but fanning does help dry the rice a lot.
4. If the rice is not soggy, add the rest of the mixture little by little. If the rice starts to get soggy, stop adding the vinegar.
If you aren’t using the sushi rice right away, cover it with wet paper towel or wet cheese cloth until you use it.
Now you have sushi rice for sushi!
Simple but very important tips when you make sushi rice are…
* Cook rice with less water.
* Pour vinegar mixture in freshly cooked rice. (The water in vinegar will evaporate when mixed with hot rice, leaving the vinegary flavor on the rice without getting all soggy.)
* Mix the rice with a spatula with slicing motion. FAST.
I’m no definitely not a sushi chef, and whenever I make sushi, they all have different sizes and shapes. I think that’s the fun part of making sushi on your own. The only thing you want to remember is that make sure to wet your hands before you make each sushi, just like when you make rice balls. Otherwise most of the rice will just get stuck on your hands. Also, try using a little bit of rice first. The rice should be smaller than fish.
Gently hold the rice in your hand.
Put fish (shrimp in this case) on the top of the rice, and gently press it down with two fingers. Actually I think I used a little too much rice here.
If you’re interested in making shrimp sushi, check out “How to prepare shrimp for sushi.”
How to make sushi rice on my flickr
For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.
If you have any questions about any of my how-to’s, please feel free to leave a comment or email me!
Momofuku’s Bossam
December 16, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - fundamentals Tags: bossam, hungry nation, Momofuku
4 comments
Christmas is coming! So I decided to do a post about what I did for Thanksgiving before it’s way too late.
Since I couldn’t get in touch with my cat sitter this Thanksgiving I stayed at home while my boyfriend was back home in Boston. One night I couldn’t sleep so I was watching non-stop NY at around 4 in the morning. (I don’t have cable) And a program called Hungry Nation came on. One of the segments on Hungry Nation is called “Working class foodies.” It’s about two siblings cooking affordable yummy food. On that particular episode, they were making “Working class Momofuku – Bossam.”
It made me droll, and I had to make it. (sorry for the poor picture quality. I shot them.)
I burned it a little bit, but it was still so moist inside!
Click to continue reading "Momofuku’s Bossam"
how to freeze carrot flowers
June 16, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - fundamentals Tags: carrot, flower, vegetable
5 comments
I had to get to work really early today, so no bento blog. >_< But instead, I’m going to show you how to make bento making less hectic in a busy morning.
I’ve done “how to make vegetable flowers” before, but it’s a time consuming process, especially in the morning. I used to buy baby carrots, because I didn’t have to cut it into a small circle which is a good size for flowers in bento, and they last longer than regular carrots. But baby carrots can be expensive, and I didn’t like the taste of baby carrots. (It tasted… “processed”?) Then I thought I should just buy regular carrots, and prepare it when I have time.
Click to continue reading "how to freeze carrot flowers"
how to make sweet n’ sour pickled radish
May 31, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - fundamentals Tags: daikon, pickled radish
1 comment so far
My boyfriend and I were supposed to go to Boston for his niece’s 2nd birthday party this weekend, but we had to cancel it because his sister had another baby girl! We are so excited for his sister and her family. 
Since we weren’t going to Boston, we were able to attend the birthday party of one of my old friends from my art school. The party was at McCarren park in Brooklyn. The weather was nice, and it was very nice to see my old friends. Understandably, there were a lot of people besides us at the park, but we didn’t expect to see zombies. Yes, there were dozens of zombies at the park. Apparently there was a zombie crawl (not a walk, but crawl) in Williamsburg. I guess zombies are hip this summer.
We came home late from the park, and didn’t have the time to do a full how-to today. So I decided to show how I store leftover veggies. Sometimes, I use radish for my kyaraben. The candle on the cake for Portal bento, a cigarette for Mechazawa in Cromartie High bento, mushrooms for the Totoro parade bento, etc… Radish is a good ingredient for solid white things in kyaraben, like the snowflake I’ve made before. I usually just eat leftover radish raw, but if there’s a lot leftover I make sweet pickled radish.
[Basic measurement for this recipe for sweet n' sour radish pickle]
Rice vinegar – 4 TBS
Sugar – 1 and 1/2 TBS
Salt – a pinch
Lemon juice (if you have any) – 1/2 TS
You can just double, triple, quadruple the measurements according to how much radish you have.
Click to continue reading "how to make sweet n’ sour pickled radish"
how to make custard cream by stove top
April 5, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - fundamentals Tags: custard cream
6 comments
I did how to make custard cream with a microwave before, but for those who don’t have a microwave, here’s a recipe for how to make custard cream by stove top!
There are so many of custard cream recipes out there, and regular recipes for custard cream usually tells you to add certain ingredients at a certain time, and have milk at room temperature or something like that, but this recipe doesn’t. I’m very sure hardcore bakers probably won’t approve of this recipe, but guess what, it still makes delicious custard! Just like the other custard cream recipe I posted, this one uses the whole egg. I hate wasting egg whites, and I like sweets that aren’t too sweet. You get milder custard cream by using the whole egg. And since it’s not too sweet or too rich, you can put a lot of it too.
[How to make custard cream in an (kinda) old fashioned way]
- 300 cc of milk
- 1 whole egg (beaten)
- 2 TBS of sugar
- 2 TBS of flour
- a little bit of vanilla essence
Click to continue reading "how to make custard cream by stove top"
how to make custard cream with a microwave
April 2, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - fundamentals Tags: custard cream, microwave
11 comments
This is a custard cream recipe I used for Totoro cream puffs!
I’ll be doing a how-to on Totoro cream puffs soon, so I thought I’d put a recipe and how-to for the custard today. Have this made (and in the fridge) before you start making cream puffs!
[How to make custard cream with a microwave]
- 1 whole egg OR *2 egg yolks
- 3 tbs of sugar
- 1 tbs of flour
- 1 tbs of corn starch
- 200 ml of milk
- 1 tbs of heavy whipping cream (heavy cream) OR 1tbs of unsalted butter (I used whipping cream)
- vanilla essence
*A whole egg makes lighter custard cream, egg yolks will make heavier custard cream.
Click to continue reading "how to make custard cream with a microwave"
how to make steamed pork bun dough with yeast
March 26, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - fundamentals Tags: boo ghost, kodama, moogle, steamed pork bun
12 comments
It may take a while to make this, but the bun is so very moist and delicious it’s worth it. Since this recipe makes about 20 buns, I recommend you make tons of buns on weekend and freeze them.
If you want to make buns fast, check out “how to make steamed pork bun dough without yeast.”
You can, of course, use this dough to make Kodama, Moogle, and Boo Ghost.
[How to make steamed pork bun dough with yeast] by my boyfriend’s mom!
*makes 20-21 small buns
- 3 cups all purpose flour (sifted)
- 1 tsp dry yeast
- 1 TBS canola oil
- 1 TBS sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1-1/3 cups lukewarm water
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
*This dough was made by my boyfriend.
[pork bun filling]
- 1/2 lbs of ground pork
- About 1 cup of chopped leeks or scallion (you can put more if you want)
- 4~5 shiitake, chopped (if you have any. make sure you remove the stems)
- half a can of bamboo shoot, chopped (if you have any)
[seasoning sauce for filling]
- 3 TBS of soy sauce
- 2 TBS of sake
- 1 TBS of sugar
- 1/4 TS of salt
- 2 TBS of sesame oil (or vegetable oil)
Click to continue reading "how to make steamed pork bun dough with yeast"
how to make tuna soboro
March 12, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - fundamentals Tags: soboro, tuna
6 comments
Shreela has asked me what the tuna soboro looks like when I did “How to make soboro”, so I decided to cook it tonight! I also wanted to do an experiment with Japanese and American mayonnaise in tuna soboro, because I almost always use Japanese mayonnaise when I cook. So I went out and got a jar of kraft “real mayonnaise”! I think having a bigger fridge is definitely encouraging me to do food experiments more.
[How to make tuna soboro]
- 2 cans of tuna
- 3 tbs of soy sauce
- 2 tbs of sugar
- 1 tbs of mayonnaise
I didn’t need 4 cans worth of tuna soboro, so I used a can of tuna for each mayonnaise.
Click to continue reading "how to make tuna soboro"
how to make soboro
March 1, 2009
Posted by AnnaTheRed in how-to (all), how-to - fundamentals Tags: how-to (all), soboro
5 comments
You may know this by now, but my boyfriend eats pretty much anything I put in his bento. But still, I usually try to put rice, veggie and meat or fish (protein) in his bento. I also try to save some time by cooking food that I can make a lot of and can be kept for a long time, and that’s why I use a lot of meatballs and hamburg. Soboro is a simple yet convenient meat recipe I often use. I didn’t really think soboro was anything special, but my boyfriend thought it was a very simple and useful food. As matter of a fact, I used soboro for “real rice cake” last night! It totally saved me.
Traditional soboro is made with ground chicken, but I usually use ground beef because I get left over ground beef when I make meatballs and hamburg. You can also make it with ground pork or even a can of tuna!
[How to make soboro]
- 1/2 lb of ground beef or pork or chicken, or *2 cans of tuna
- 2 tbs of soy sauce or *3 tbs if you’re using tuna
- 1 tbs of sugar or *2 tbs if you’re using tuna
- 1 tbs of cooking sake or white wine or *1 tbs of mayonnaise if you’re using tuna
Cooking sake, soy sauce and sugar
