Tag Archive for:  sushi

Seafood Sushi class

This was a private class for an elegant arty couple from NY, USA and their main dish choice was Sushi roll with seafood, plus egg roll & seaweed salad as sides. Such a nice combination of choices for a hot summer night in Tokyo!

In Japanese cooking, we use a variety of seaweed including black Nori, wrapping sushi rolls, or Wakame, often used in Miso soup. For this salad, I bought a pack of mixed seaweed including red Aka-Tosaka, etc. In general, fresh seaweeds are only seasonal but salted or dried ones are available all year round. All you need to do is rinse them in cold water before use.
These sea veggies from the ocean are full of precious minerals and good fiber. No strong smell, easy to handle, and easy to stock at home.  Musubi Seafood Sushi class1
My guest lady preferred to use as little salt as possible (in fact, soy sauce and Miso are both quite salty!) so we adjusted some parts of our recipes. This is the beauty of cooking your dinner!

Musubi Seafood Sushi class4 Musubi Seafood Sushi class2

It was their first time to see a whole piece of smoked Bonito and even grate it with your own hands! Cheers!!
They made a few beautiful Sushi rolls and loved our Maguro and salmon, and of course freshly grated Wasabi. Fresh Wasabi is not always available at my nearby supermarket (sometimes too dry to grate..) but we were lucky that day I found a nice piece before the class. But if not, Wasabi in tubes are not bad at all and they are more commonly used in our daily life.

Musubi Seafood Sushi class3The nice tangy fragrance of fresh Wasabi does not keep long in the fridge. If you have some leftovers, wrap them in saran wrap and freeze until your next Sushi or Sashimi occasion.
Many thanks for coming!

Seafood Sushi class for US MBAs

Fresh seafood & vegetables +  short grain rice +rice vinegar, salt & sugar
= SUSHI!
I make them for my kid’s gatherings. Today it was a request from my guest MBA students from Pennsylvania USA.

Pounding sesame seeds here for one of our popular dishes, spinach with sesame sauce. Tossed sesame smells really great, with its rich aroma filling the whole kitchen and made us all so hungry!

Voila! The sushi roll plate is completed!
I hope this will be one of the happy moments in Tokyo for young students to remember…
Many thanks for coming!
Akiko

Sushi-making & Sake-tasting for Nike

In early December we welcomed a group of 20+ people from Nike!

This was the 2nd time organized a gathering for this global company in Tokyo. We were very happy to hear that participants liked their team-building lunch back in August, so they decided to contact us again for an evening function.

We planned a Sushi roll & Temari Sushi cooking class. All ingredients for fillings and toppings were prepared in advance, but the guests had to make their Sushi seasoning and mix it with steamed rice, then start rolling & shaping their Sushi for dinner.

Although this cooking class was held after a long day at their global meeting, everybody did great work and everything went so smoothly that all results were beautiful and delicious!

After enjoying our tasty Sushi and other food including chicken Karrage, spinach with sesame sauce, fresh colorful veggies with Miso-Mayo dip, pork slices, sweet egg rolls, etc., it was time for the Sake tasting quiz! There are lots of types and brands of Sake in Japan. It was hard for us to choose just a few kinds, but we hope it turned out a good opportunity for our guests to try something different.

We would be very happy if we could be of a little help to discover some new charms of Japanese gastronomy!

Yuki & Akiko

 

Temari Sushi class for friends’ reunion

The main dish was Temari Sushi. ‘Temari’ is a palm-sized ball for children, often decorated with fine colorful embroideries. As you can easily guess, Temari Sushi is shaped like this small ball. It is a bite-size Sushi with a variety of toppings.

In this class, we used boiled prawns, thinly sliced cucumbers, fresh sashimi-quality maguro(tuna) & salmon, Takuan(pickled Daikon radish), and Shiso leaves, etc.

There were also Mentaiko(salted chilly cod roe) and salted cherry blossoms as a few ‘challenge’ items but my guests tried everything and their plates are all empty after lunch hours. Yes, I love seeing empty plates after the class!!

We put the heads of prawns in our Miso soup and I think my guests liked it as well. Believe me, it makes your soup amazingly delicious!

It was a reunion vacation trip of old friends from Maryland and Florida, US. I enjoyed being a part of their happy moments in Tokyo.
Many thanks for coming!
Akiko

Tempura, Sushi and Gyoza class WOW

This was probably one of the most challenging classes this year but we made it!
Thankfully we had 5 very skilled participants from BC Canada and Michigan US at this class.
The main dish choices are Tempura of prawns, Maitake mushroom (my favorite!), and vegetables, plus Sushi roll with Maguro(tuna), salmon, and greens. For side dishes, we prepared a small portion of Gyoza with pork and shrimp & spinach with our flavorful sesame sauce.

We started grating smoked bonito for Dashi soup stock, then prepared Sushi rice with seasonings, chopped veggies and wrapped Gyoza, and finally deep-fried Tempura and rolled Sushi!

And I was astonished that one of my guest ladies was going to be a speaker at a medical conference held in Tokyo that same evening! Indeed some people are super talented.
I have also learned one new thing in this class. My guest told me that avocado in Sushi rolls are first created by a Japanese chef in British Columbia, although we often call it ‘California’ style. I must visit ‘Tojo’s’ in Vancouver one day.
Many thanks for coming!
Akiko

Seafood but No Sushi Class

The main dish request for this class was “something seafood, but not Sushi” as the couple has already learned how to make Sushi before. So we did our popular seafood main dish Nanban style marinade of fried salmon & swordfish.

For side dish choices, my guest picked a menu using Kaki, the seasonal fruit of autumn and one of few indigenous kinds for the land of Japan. Plus sweet & savory Miso sauce with grilled eggplant.

My guest couple told me they were living in a motor house and I was as curious as always, so they showed me some photos, and it was way beyond my imagination, truly gigantic! Their kitchen in the motor house is much bigger than mine in the Tokyo apartment, with all kinds of nice equipment.

I am sure they can cook anything in their beautiful kitchen. Hope they have tried out our Japanese home cooking recipe back home.
Many thanks for coming!
Akiko

Seafood lovers from Down Under

The main dish request was Chicken Karaage, one of our best sellers & very popular home cooked food all over Japan!
We also cooked chicken meat balls with our autumn/winter vegetable, lotus root, seasoned with Miso.
When I cook these chicken menus for my family, I usually pile them up on a simple big plate and tell my kids ‘Help yourself!’ But for my guests from Australia, I chose a little bamboo basket to serve our chickens to add a touch of Japanese taste and welcoming feeling.
In our rice, we added some Black Rice. This type of rice is popular among Japanese ladies lately as it is rich in fiber, vitamin B, minerals etc. In short, good for your health & beauty!
As we enjoyed our lunch, we talked about various social & cultural topics of Japan as well as Australia. Very relaxing moment with yummy food after a few hard working hours at kitchen!
I hope my guest ladies form Australia enjoyed their time at my place as much as I did.
Many thanks for coming!
Akiko

Vegetarian & Chicken Ramen for a family reunion

It was a request from a daughter who is now working in Germany to cook vegetarian Ramen & Gyoza, with her loving parents visiting from Australia. My pleasure to host a family reunion in Tokyo!
For Mum and Dad, we cooked some simmered chicken for Ramen and included pork in the Gyoza filling.
For vegetarian Ramen, the topping was fried Tofu, cilantro, diced tomato, stir-fried eggplant & mushrooms, etc. Of course, soy sauce and Mirin flavored egg, too.

There were a lot of preparations to do but my guest family made it and our lunch tasted wonderful!
Before coming to my place, they were traveling the route of a Japanese poet, Matsuo Basho’s tour up north to Matsushima and it was very interesting to hear about their experiences, including a beautiful Haiku poem father created during his stay in Matsushima!
Many thanks for coming!
Akiko