Spam Musubi with Shiso

Shiso is one of my favorite herbs, right up there with basil. Here on FOODjimoto.com, I've added shiso to pesto in my Umeboshi and Shiso Pesto post, and to my mother's recipe for Stuffed Chicken Rolls with Shiso & Umeboshi.

This time, I've added shiso leaves to Spam Musubi.

For several years I've tried to grow shiso with no success until this year. I bought several packages of seeds from the Kitazawa Seed Co. I've included the links to the Kitazawa Seed Co.'s pages for the different varieties--take a look if you'd like to know more about shiso.

This is the green variety, above, called Ao Shiso. I couldn't grow it before, but this year I soaked the seeds in water for two days, drained the water and let the seeds sit until they cracked and a root formed. Then I planted them and they sprouted nicely! This variety is the one I've most seen in sushi bars.

The red variety, or Aka Shiso, is the variety used to color umeboshi (Japanese pickled plum) and also found in some tsukemono (pickled vegetables).

This variety is called Hojiso. The leaves are green in front and red in back. I haven't seen this one before and thought I'd try it. It grows fast, like basil.

This is Ayako. She is a relative visiting from Osaka, Japan. Ayako tried spam musubi for the first time at the Higashi Obon.

You may remember Ayako from the Chocolate Cupcakes--Magnolia Bakery's Recipe post that had some photos of Rick & Jessica's honeymoon trip to Japan, and their visit with Ayako's family in Osaka.

We decided to make some spam musubi the next day, since Ayako liked it so much!

Basic instructions on making spam musubi can be found on our Spam Musubi post.

To add the shiso leaves, simply place them on top of the rice before adding the spam. If you're really a fan of shiso like me, you may want to add them on top of the spam too.

Ayako made hers without shiso--turns out she is not a fan.

She took them to Auntie Tsuyuki's 98th birthday party.

It was fun making spam musubi with you, Ayako!

Itadakimasu!

When we picked up Ayako at the airport, she saw our sign, came up and introduced herself and greeted us with a big smile.

Ayako's father went to college in the US and lived here for several years. One of the things he wanted Ayako to try was a Tommy's burger, one his favorites.

She also tried a double-double from In-N-Out. Afterall, if you come to Southern California, you have to have an 

In-N-Out burger, right?

We had a good time at the Higashi Obon with Bill and Nancy.

Ayako and Nancy even danced the bon odori.

Ayako leaves for Japan soon.

It was nice meeting you, Ayako. We had a lot of fun! Hope to see you again!

No printable recipe.

Spicy Tuna with Crispy Rice

My family loves spicy tuna rolls and I'm sure they'll be excited to try these!

I first saw a photo of Spicy Tuna with Crispy Rice on Pinterest--but it took me awhile to find Ravenous Couple's original pin. Their photo is amazing and inspired me to make this sushi. Please click on the link and see for yourself--and take a look at their other amazing dishes and photos while you're there.

  I used Ravenous Couple's photo and recipe as a tutorial of sorts--trying to get a beautiful photo of my own sushi.

  My husband came home for lunch just as I was finishing up my photos and quickly ate eleven pieces. He usually doesn't like spicy OR fried food, but he loved these! He raved about the yaki onigiri (crispy rice) and how good it was--crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle.

Spicy Tuna with Crispy Rice

makes about 20 pieces

adapted from Ravenous Couple

Ingredients:

1/4 lb. sushi grade tuna

1 tablespoon mayonnaise (kewpie brand preferred)

1 tablespoon Sriracha (use more or less according to taste)

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon thinly chopped chives or green onions

2 cups rice, cooked and seasoned for sushi

1 tablespoon shiro goma (white sesame seeds)

1 tablespoon kuro goma (black sesame seeds)
about 1 tablespoon shoyu or teriyaki sauce

optional: shiso (perilla) leaves & diced jalapeño

I bought this butsugiri (cut into pieces) wild, USA tuna at Marukai and cut it into smaller chunks. It's a quarter-pound and easily made 15 pieces of sushi with enough left over for 5 more. I don't buy tuna sashimi much anymore, so this is a rare treat.

I bought this Kewpie brand mayonnaise--I've always wanted to try it. If you don't have it on hand, use Best Foods. Sriracha hot chili sauce--everyone has that, right?

Mix the sashimi with 1 tablespoon each, mayonnaise and Sriracha, plus 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil, cover, and refrigerate. I used only half the amount of tuna recommended in the recipe with the full amount of sauce and was worried it would be too hot--but apparently it wasn't. After eating all the sushi, Gary calmly said, "My mouth is burning." Calmly, not frantically--so I'm assuming it was a good kind of hot.

I just realized my readers may need a primer on making sushi rice. It's simple to use the instant sushi seasoning as I did in my Homestyle Sushi Bar post, but this time I used the vinegar, sugar and salt mixture. You can find a good sushi rice primer on La Fuji Mama's Sushi Rice, the Secret Behind Delicious Sushi post if you haven't made sushi rice.

After the rice has cooled, make the onigiri using a plastic mold you can find at an Asian market. I was taught the proper way to make onigiri is to compact the rice loosely, but this time, since the onigiri will be fried, pack the rice in a little more firmly so it won't fall apart while frying.

After making the onigiri, I brushed a small amount of Red Shell's teriyaki sauce, which I always have on hand since my neighbor is Hiro Watanabe, owner of Red Shell Foods. You can use plain shoyu too. Then, I dipped the onigiri in the goma (sesame seeds).

The three on the left, I rolled in the sesame seeds, and the others I put the sesame seeds on my fingers and pressed them onto the onigiri. I liked that better.

Then I took the onigiri outside to fry them with a butane stove I use for shabu shabu. I like to fry foods outside, that way the whole house doesn't smell like oil. One day, I will have to break down and buy the enclosed fryer that the Ravenous Couple used in their post. Fry the onigiri and drain well.

Note: Be sure to use a splatter screen--the oil will pop!

Top the yaki onigiri with spicy tuna chunks, top with chopped chives, green onions, or chopped/sliced jalapeños. Garnish with shiso leaves.

Itadakimasu!



***

This is my daughter's birthday week.

Happy Birthday to a wonderful daughter who keeps us all close even though she lives far away. It's fun looking at all these photos and with each one comes a flood of memories.

You may remember her from other posts, she actually started out planning on posting regularly here on FOODjimoto.com, but became too busy with motherhood and work. You may remember her Chicken and Dumpling Soup.

It's Karen & Mitchell's wedding anniversary soon, too.

Wedding photos by Lauren Miyake Photography.

 One of the fun things they did at their wedding was, instead of a guest book, they had guests sign a Someday Chair, a rocking chair. 'Someday we'll be sitting in this rocking chair on our front porch.'

 Use a spray varnish to seal the signatures, so they won't rub off.

A clever adding of Santa Monica on the chair seat! A Someday Chair is a great do-it-yourself item for a wedding reception.

I loved these candles in a mason jar, too.

I thought these wedding ideas would be good to share since summer wedding are coming and there a lot of do-it-yourselfers out there.

Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary, Karen!

I love you.


***

Spicy Tuna with Crispy Rice

adapted from Ravenous Couple

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. sushi grade tuna

1 tablespoon mayonnaise (kewpie brand preferred)

1 tablespoon Sriracha (use more or less according to taste)

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon thinly chopped chives or green onions

2 cups rice, cooked and seasoned for sushi

1 tablespoon shiro goma (white sesame seeds)

1 tablespoon kuro goma (black sesame seeds)

optional: shiso (perilla) leaves & diced jalapeño

sushi su: 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, stir until dissolved

1. Wash and cook rice. When rice is done and has steamed for 15 minutes, season with sushi powder or su while hot. Start with half the amount of su, sprinkle on hot rice and cut and fold rice with shamoji or paddle. Fan rice while adding vinegar mixture. Season rice to taste. When cooled, set aside covered with damp towel.

2. Cut up tuna and mix with mayonnaise, Sriracha and sesame oil. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

3. Form rice into nigiri using a rectangular mold or by hand. Press rice firmly into mold. Season with a small amount of shoyu or teriyaki sauce and press sesame seeds onto rice or roll in thinly spread sesame seeds on a plate.

4. Fry nigiri until crisp, drain well on paper towels.

5. Top with spicy tuna mixture and garnish with chopped chives, green onions, or jalapeños. Garnish with shiso leaves optional.

Takikomi Brown Rice

When I was growing up, we didn't have takikomi rice. We had maze gohan. I have since learned that takikomi rice is rice cooked with the vegetables and flavorings, and maze gohan is rice with the vegetables and flavorings added after the rice has cooked.

This Takikomi Brown Rice is surprisingly easy to make!

 I found this package of dried vegetables while perusing the shelves at Marukai the other day.

 Although I don't read Japanese, the little information on the back of the package was what made me decide to try this. It's got dried burdock--gobo--dried carrot and dried radish, all of which I'd use in making takikomi gohan.

 My first thought was that I should have asked someone in the store to translate the instructions for me--so this is going to be my best guess as to how to use this package of dried vegetables.

I know that if I put the dried vegetables as-is into my rice cooker, they would soak up all the water, so I added 1 cup of water to rehydrate them.

I added 2 tablespoons of hijiki, thinking that it would add nice color to the dish.

 You can see the vegetables are plumping-up nicely.

As it turns out, the vegetables need more water than just one cup. I ended up adding 1 1/2 more cups water because the rice was still hard after cooking was done in the rice cooker.

Add 2 1/2 cups water to the vegetables and hijiki while you're getting the rest of the ingredients.

Takikomi Brown Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups brown rice, rinsed and drained

1 package dried vegetables, soaked in 2 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons dried hijiki

4 shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 teaspoon dashi--bonito or kombu 

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 tablespoon shoyu

2 tablespoons mirin

3 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt, optional

1/2 cup julienne cut cooked green beans, peas, edamame or other green vegetable

 Add all ingredients to the rice cooker pot, along with 3 cups water. Be sure to add any additional water left from the soaked, dried vegetables.

Stir gently to evenly distribute the curry powder, close the lid and cook!

When the rice is done, let it steam for 15 minutes, then add the green beans and mix well.

If you're using frozen peas or green beans, thaw them in the microwave or under warm water a little first, and mix well.

Taste and adjust seasoning.

Itadakimasu!

***

Remember my friend Sue?

She has been a guest cook a few times here on FOODjimoto.com.

She made German Chocolate Cake, Grandma Kimbro's 2 Layer Cheesecake and The Best Caramel Corn.

 Sue's grandchildren visited a few weeks ago and I was asked to come and take some photos of their family. What a treat!

Remember the Sour Cream Apple Muffins I made for the baby shower at Sue's?

Meet Avery.

 He is such a DOLL!

Payton is now a big sister!

I just LOVE that lip!

 Baby teeth! I love baby teeth too.

 Bobby and Jen were in town for Rick & Jessica's wedding and for a nice visit home. They live on the East Coast.

It doesn't seem that long ago that Bobby & Bryan were playing soccer with my son Rick. Now they're both grown and Bob's got a family of his own.

Thank you, Sue, for asking me to come and take some photos of your beautiful family!

It was a lot of fun.

***

Takikomi Brown Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups brown rice, rinsed and drained

1 package dried vegetables, soaked in 2 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons dried hijiki

4 shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 teaspoon dashi--bonito or kombu 

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 tablespoon shoyu

2 tablespoons mirin

3 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt, optional

1/2 cup julienne cut cooked green beans, peas, edamame or other green vegetable

1. Soak dried vegetable package and hijiki in 2 1/2 cups water and set aside.

2. Slice mushrooms.

3. Put 2 cups brown rice, 3 cups water, sliced mushrooms, 1 tablespoon shoyu, 2 tablespoons mirin, 1 teaspoon dashi, 1 tablespoon curry powder, dried vegetables and hijiki plus any leftover water from soaking, into rice cooker pot. Stir gently to mix evenly and cook. Let steam for 15 minutes when rice cooker is finished cooking.

4. Stir in cooked green beans or peas.

5. Taste and adjust seasoning.