DIY sushi dinner

Bit of cold smoked salmon in the fridge, I see cucumber and carrots too…hmm…let’s check out that pantry of ours..

Aha! Yes! We have seaweed!! Sushi for dinner it is.

I’ve made sushi a couple of times at home and always took ages to prepare the different fillings and roll them up. So, I decided to do something different this time, save me some time and it can involve the family a little and have some fun.

After preparing all the ingredients, I called the family for dinner. My way of “There you go, make your own dinner!”

Dinner turned out to be quite an entertaining one, with everyone squeezing oodles of creativity and wasabi onto their little sushi.

Koko being koko, showing off his originality.

Mummy, loving to copy anything that looks nice, cute or fun, namely, what koko makes...

Daddy, boring and down-to-earth, just wanting to fill his stomach, not bothering to make his sushi look pretty.

All in all, it was an enjoyable night, "playing" with our food.

Scrumptiously smelly

Scrumptiously smelly..

Not long ago I flew a wedge of blue cheese all the way back from my overseas trip only for the one and only brother I have. Thing is, living in a tropical country, cheese goes bad probably triple its normal speed.

I don’t normally cook with exact recipes, tossing in a bit of this and that every time I cook, plus, with the resources I have, can only make do with what I’ve got in the pantry and fridge.ed, what better excuse to make pesto wrapped eggplant to go with my roast?. So, I’ve been trying my best to use some of it every time I cook.

I was craving to roast a chicken since I got back and since we had eggplant and a whole bag of basil that needed to be used, what better excuse to make pesto wrapped eggplant to go with my roast?

I don’t normally cook with exact recipes, tossing in a bit of this and that every time I cook, plus, with the resources I have, can only make do with what I’ve got in the pantry and fridge.

So, here’s a vague recollection of how I made the pesto:

PESTO

About 2 handfuls of basil (my hands are not very big)

1 stalk cilantro (I only used because that was all I had)

About 1 tsp mashed salted fish (yes, you did not read wrong!...since anchovies are harder to get here, so I decided to do a little taste trial with this)

½ handful of nuts (I used walnuts because can’t bite things that are too hard)

Bit of olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Chop all the ingredients and crumble a little blue cheese into the mix.

I tried using our tiny food processor but it didn't really work out as I expected, so, the good old chopping board it was...

I grilled the eggplants to soften them first, then rolled it with the pesto filling and secured it with a toothpick. I also made a little mock ratatouille for the sauce.

I know it’s not exactly the prettiest looking dish, but it did taste quite nice.

And yes, keep reminding me that I need to get a better quality camera.

So that was the roast, and just a few nights ago I made this apple salad as an accompaniment to our homemade burger.

APPLE, BLUE CHEESE SALAD

¾ apple, sliced into thin wedges

Blue cheese, depending on how much you want

½ handful of walnut pieces

Homemade balsamic vinaigrette

Some lettuce

1 small lemon, cut into wedges

Mix it all together and voila!!

The first bite my dad took and you should have seen his worried, disgusted face going “don’t eat the dressing anymore…the oil’s rancid”. But in my head I was thinking “meh! He discovered the blue cheese!...and he doesn’t like it….”.

Took a bit of convincing my parents that it was the blue cheese not the vinaigrette, I even had to pick out the blue cheese and made them smell it.

Their repulsed faces said it all -- no more blue cheese in salads it is!

Did you think I’d give up that easily??..No way! ...only makes me more determined to find a dish that they’d love and watch them wolf down that smelly yummy-ness.

Funnily enough, though I must say, blue cheese isn’t exactly the yummiest in a warmer climate. But enough said, try out the salad, I still think it’s quite nice.

Interesting facts about oil

I was watching this food myth programme just the other day and realised...hmm....haven't updated this post for a vvveeerrrrryyyyy long time now...so thought I'd do something about it...hehe...

I can't believe I actually made notes while watching a TV programme....I KNOW, right??!!..how much nerdier can I get...haha..anyway, ...so these are the interesting things I've learnt...

FUN FACTS ABOUT OIL

• Did you know that different oils have different smoking points and these would determine how high a temperature they can go up to before they start smoking.

So, oils with higher smoking points (such as canola, rice bran, coconut oil...) would be better for deep frying

• Did you know that refined oils (oils that are treated to 'purify' them) have a higher smoking point.

Eg. soybean oil that has been refined has a smoking point of 268 °C compared to the unrefined smoking point of 160°C *

• Olive oil tend to be less refined and therefore has a lower smoking point, thus it is dangerous to use it for prolong high heating as it may become a fire hazard. (They actually did an experiment and the oil really lit up!!)

Virgin and extra virgin olive oil simply means that the oil was extracted without the use of heat; and extra virgin has less acidity compared to the virgin.

Also, don't be fooled that pure or light olive oil have less calories because light or pure simply means that they are treated and processed and therefore mean that they are more refined

And so, this means pure or light olive oil can be use for higher heating cooking processes (eg. deep frying)

• Olive oil should be eaten as fresh as possible.

So, even though some imported brands of olive oil may be better quality, however, it'll probably be a better idea to get local brands as these would be fresher. And another plus since they'd also be cheaper.

Check on the label for the pressed date of the olive oil and it's best to consume within the year that it was pressed.

• Ever thought about changing your everyday oil to olive oil because you heard that olive oil was a "healthier"oil

Well, studies have shown that canola oil was found to lower heart risk more than olive oil.

So, probably a better idea to switch to canola instead, PLUS it's cheaper!!

• Always store oil in a cool, dark place as they are sensitive to heat and light and exposure to these would make it rancid

Rancid oil has an unpleasant aroma and acrid taste and it's nutrient value would also be reduced

*Wolke, Robert L. (May 16, 2007). "Where There's Smoke, There's a Fryer". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 5, 2011.