Silver's Kitchen Countertop

[silverberry]

A place to collect my attempts at cooking (successful or otherwise) and share recipes. And maybe also share pictures.
Also generally forcing myself to actually measure out the ingredients instead of relying on ~vibes~.

Index

1. Resources & References
2. Bulletin Board: Ideas & To-do
3. Recipes: Successes
4. Recipes: Failures (aka fix up later if possible)
5. Misc. Save 1
6. Misc. Save 2

[silverberry]

Will be updated as I need them.

That one volume measurement conversion infograph

Books

[silverberry]

- Make onigiri
- Make sushi
- Learn how to make a roux
- Make chili
- Integrate tea leaves into a recipe
- Make Chinese four-spice soup
- Use mugwort as a potherb
- Successfully make shakshuka
- Make curry from scratch
- Make a biryani
- Make sourdough
- Pirate yogurt
- Make vinegar

[silverberry]

Rice Dishes

Ochazuke / Rice Submerged in Tea (Simple)
Onigiri / Rice Balls



Condiments & Seasonings

Furikake / Rice Sprinkling Powder (Simple)

[silverberry]

Yaki Onigiri / Grilled Rice Balls
Just straight up crumbled while frying. Will use more oil next time. If that still fails, I'll see about frying it when it's freshly made or freshly taken out of the fridge.

Sushi / Vinegared Rice Rolls
Generally just unsatisfied with how it turned out. Needs more filling.

[silverberry]

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[silverberry]

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[silverberry]

I've been gifted a 'sushi-maker' tool over the holidays, and still haven't gotten around to using it. But if I'm going to make sushi, might as well go out and make onigiri too.

Onigiri & Sushi To-do:

[x] Acquire appropriate rice (Japanese short-grain rice)
Using the correct type of rice might help the rice stick together. Also, instructions I found say to soak the rice in water before cooking it. The current rice in this household doesn't particularly stick together, and only becomes unpleasant and soggy if soaked or cooked with too much water.
[x] Acquire nori sheets
[x] Create furikake seasoning
[x] Acquire rice vinegar
[x] Acquire Japanese mayonnaise
[>] Acquire wasabi paste
[x] Acquire crab sticks

Everything should be easily found in either grocery stores or a K-mart nearby, but I'll have to go out of the way for the K-mart. While it's just nearby, it's at such an inconvenient place to stop by at. Onigiri should be a fun weekend project. Then I'll just figure out how to use that sushi-maker.
It's called a 'K-mart' but they also stock Japanese ingredients along with Korean ones.

My mom will probably get mad at me for cluttering the kitchen with too much vinegar lol

Will be loosely following these:
Furikake 1, 2
Onigiri 1, 2
Sushi list

Debating if I should make gari/pickled ginger for the sushi as well.

[silverberry]

Furikake (Very Simple Vers.)
Rice Sprinkling Powder

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. white sesame seeds
• 1 sheet nori, cut into small squares
  Or crumbled. I used scissors.
• 1/2 tsp. miso powder
  Optional - I just had it on hand
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. red chili pepper flakes
  Optional, but I like spicy

Other Notable Materials & Equipment

• Clean and dry food-safe container with lid
• Food-safe silica gel packet
  Optional, but should increase shelf life
• Mortar and pestle
  Or a food processor - this was just easier to clean for me

Procedure

1. Lightly grind the sesame seeds.
   Tip: Account for size of mortar and probably don't attempt to crush all 3 tablespoons of it in one go.
2. On low heat, toast sesame seeds along with sugar, salt, and soy sauce while stirring constantly until fragrant and browned. Let cool.
   May have had the heat too high and burnt it slightly - oops? It slipped past my mind that crushed sesame seeds would toast faster than whole ones. No burnt taste though.
3. Mix with the cut nori, miso powder, and red pepper flakes.
4. Store in covered container with a silica gel packet.

Planned Uses

• Onigiri flavoring
• Sushi flavoring
• Ochazuke
• General seasoning for plain rice

So I didn't have other fancy ingredients for it like the katsuoboshi or other dried kelp and seaweed, but if I ever have those on hand (for soups, most likely), I'll go back to this recipe and make another batch.

Tastes alright by itself, but the real test is when I use this for other dishes.

[silverberry]

Ochazuke (Very Simple Vers.)
Rice Submerged in Tea


Forgot to add the green onions until a few bites in

Ingredients

• 1 teabag green tea
  Used a cheap Lipton green tea, since this isn't supposed to be a fancy meal.
• 1 cup boiling water
• Cooked, slightly stale and hardened rice
  I had around half a cup of leftover rice.
• A generous sprinkle of furikake
• Green onions, chopped

Procedure

1. Brew green tea according to preference.
   Cooled the water down from freshly boiled for a few min, then steeped for around 3 minutes.
2. Spoon rice into a bowl. Top with furikake and green onions.
3. Pour green tea into bowl.
   Half a cup of green tea for half a cup of rice.

Very good way to use up leftover rice without having to reheat it. A bit bland - ended up sprinkling some MSG granules (though soy sauce, bouillon powder, or dashi granules could probably also work) to make it more flavorful - but that doesn't necessarily make the recipe a failure. It only means that this would absolutely be great for those times you want a very quick but bland meal, like when when sick or nauseous.

Having some pickled vegetables with this would be great.

[silverberry]

Onigiri
Rice Balls


I swear the photo wasn't this dark when I was looking at it through my phone.

Ingredients

Onigiri Base:

• 2 cups Japanese short-grain rice, uncooked
  This is three times more expensive than the rice I usually buy. I almost literally cannot afford to mess up.
  
• 3 cups water
  1 cup rice to 1.5 cups water, as per package instructions. Feel free to adjust to taste.
• ~1 Tbsp. furikake
• Salt, to taste
• ~2 sheets nori
Tuna-Mayo Filling:

• 1 can tuna flakes in oil, drained (reserve and refrigerate oil)
  I tend to reuse this for aglio olio.
• ~1 Tbsp. Japanese mayonnaise
• ~1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce
Luncheon Meat Fillling:

• Leftover cooked luncheon meat
  Hard to estimate size needed. I suggest shredding or dicing the meat.

Other Notable Materials & Equipment

• Rice cooker
  Not required, but it does make cooking rice without burning it much easier.
• Disposable plastic gloves
  Not required, but makes washing hands later easier. Also helps a lot if the sticky texture is a bad sensory trigger.
• Bowl with salted water
  Dip fingers into the water while molding the onigiri to prevent the rice from sticking to the hands too much. Also adds a bit more flavor to the onigiri.

Procedure

1. Prepare the rice: Rinse the rice grains in cool water until water runs clear. Add enough water to cover rice grains and soak for 20 minutes. Drain. Add 3 cups of water to the pot and cook as usual. Separate half of cooked rice and mix with furikake and salt to taste. Let cool until easy to handle with hands.
2. Prepare the fillings: For tuna-mayo, simply mix all ingredients together. Avoid making it too runny. Shred or dice larger pieces into smaller chunks.
   Best done while the rice grains are soaking and while waiting for the rice to finish cooking.
3. Fill and shape the rice: Scoop around 1/2 cup of the cooked rice and place into hands or on a clean plate. Make a well at the center. Scoop in around 1/2 to 2/3 Tbsp. of filling. Pinch sides to center-top to cover the filling with rice. Pick up the filled rice and mold with hands to desired shape while gently compressing.
   Very fun to do, if a bit time-consuming. If making packed lunch in the morning, I suggest investing in an onigiri mold or just going for a simple shape like a sphere or cylinder. Try to resist the temptation of being too generous with the filling. Too much causes the onigiri to fall apart.
4. Cut nori sheet to desired length and width. Wrap around onigiri in any way desired.
   Not only does it help you differentiate which onigiri has which filling, it prevents the onigiri from sticking to each other when they're packed tight in a container. Plus, it gives you a surface to hold to without getting rice stuck on your hands.

.

Extremely filling, fairly easy, and a very great way to reuse leftover meat. But the rice itself is expensive enough that just storing the grains is giving me some anxiety. I absolutely do NOT want pests to get to it first before I could finish the whole 2kg I bought.

I still have two pieces of the very plain variation left over, so I might fry it next time.

[silverberry]

Failed: Yaki Onigiri
Grilled Rice Balls

Me: I have some onigiri left over.
My siblings: You have one onigiri left over.

Ingredients

• Leftover onigiri
• Oil for frying

Procedure

1. Heat oil on pan.
2. Place onigiri on hot pan. Watch in dismay as it falls apart.
3. Remove from heat even though it has not evenly toasted on all sides.
4. Look at the single sad, crumbling onigiri on the plate.

I messed this up so bad, but the bits of rice that I managed to fry to a crunchy brown were delicious. I should probably use a touch more oil than I think I should use next time.

[_Star_]

as long as its a good meal, it'll end up the same way in our stomachs kjdfghjdfh

I was mentally not prepared how destroyed it looks sOBS

[silverberry]

It's the saddest onigiri that has ever graced my eyes.

I ended up buying an onigiri mold lsjfldkfj they make really good packed lunches.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

Can't you put the rice in a sealed container to store it & keep it from pests & moisture? Or put some in the freezer?

You can also cook rice & put it in sealed plastic bags in the freezer.