Field Trip: Highlights from Cooking Day!

Yesterday, we had a fun time.  We finished reading about Japan.  The kids worked on their beckoning cats - - how wonderful they look - - now they just need to add the details, which they will with markers.  Gotta love Model Magic! 

The rice for the sushi came out great and we were able to make those as well.  You can see from the pictures below how we did.  There is a great You-Tube tutorial from Kikkoman about how to make sushi rolls and California rolls (rice is on the outside).  The sushi rolls we made included cucumber and carrots. I will be making them for Geography Day on Sunday and will probably include some of the daikon, a Japanese radish, too.  I will need to use it up some way!

Our Ingredients - - Sushi Rice, Carrots, Cukes, and Nori

Spreading the rice - - water helps keep the rice from sticking
to your hands.

All the ingredients are assembled!

Our assembled rolls

Here are our cut sushi rolls complete with soy sauce, some sushi ginger, and wasabi for dipping.  While I cannot say this will make a regular appearance on our menu, it was fun to make and worth trying.  I don't think the kids cared all that much for the seaweed taste, but the sweetened rice was pretty good with the ginger, carrots and cucumber.  I will have to try some other combinations.  We also refrigerated them so that we could eat them with our dinner.  Not sure if they should be eaten immediately, or if that would affect the flavor.

We also made Yakitori, which is chicken on a skewer and then broiled or grilled.   The recipe is from Recipe and Craft Guide to Japan by Juliet Haines Mofford.  This is a series of books for several countries.  Extremely helpful for us!

Yakitori

2 boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/3 cup Japanese soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1-1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon finely grated ginger 
1 garlic clove, finely grated
1 teaspoon grated daikon (white radish)
2 bunches of scallion, with tops and roots removed
1/4 cup of sesame oil

1.  Mix soy sauce through daikon to make marinade.  Add chicken and allow to marinate overnight.  (We used a ziplock baggie for this.)

2. Thread chicken onto skewer, alternating with scallion.

3.  Boil marinade and allow to cool.  Mix in sesame oil and brush onto chicken.  Broil or grill skewers.  Pour on remaining sauce.

This was a good recipe.  You can substitute chicken thighs for the chicken breast if you prefer.  I used a microplane to finely grate the ginger, garlic and daikon.  You do not need a lot of daikon.  I suggest using the leftovers for sushi rolls.

Because the Yakitori really wasn't enough to go around, I also made this beef dish that came out pretty good.  It is called Guydon, or Simmered Beef.  It is a rice bowl dish, which is more soup-like.  It kind of reminded me of Mongolian Beef in taste, though the sauce was thinner.  This was pretty well enjoyed all around.  While we were at the Asian store picking up the daikon, we found some really inexpensive disposable chopsticks.  They came in a pack of 50!   The kids had fun trying to eat with them. 

All in all, dinner was a success, and we plan to share the chicken Yakitori and the sushi rolls with our friends on Geography Day!

Happy Eating & God Bless,

Jennifer