SPICY TUNA ON “CRISPY” RICE:

Ingredients:

For the spicy tuna:

6 ounces minced sushi-grade tuna (for those of you that live in Los Angeles, I prefer to buy my sushi-grade fish at Marukai Market in Little Tokyo or Mitsuwa in West LA)

1 tablespoon masago (smelt roe)

A dash of sesame oil

1 teaspoon Sriracha (more or less depending on how spicy you like it. If you can’t handle a lot of heat, try adding 1/4 teaspoon at a time)

2 scallions finely chopped

1 tablespoon Japanese mayonnaise (I usually use Kewpie)

For the crispy rice:

1 Cup Vegetable Oil

2 cups cooked sushi rice

DIRECTIONS:

Dice up the fish and combine all ingredients in bowl. Refrigerate until needed.

For the rice, I buy premade sushi rice from the Japanese store. I can’t be bothered making it myself.

Click here for directions on making your own sushi rice.

Compress each rice ball into some plastic wrap and push hard until it’s a solid, compact square (or whichever shape you prefer).

Sprinkle with sesame seeds before compressing if desired.

Heat up the oil in a sauce pan and once it’s boiling hot, fry up about 4-6 squares at a time. About 5 minutes on each side.

Let cool on a paper towels until ready to use.

It's helpful if you live/work near a Japanese supermarket.

Make sure your tuna says "sushi or sashimi grade" on the outside! Unless you're into Russian Roulette.

Japanese snacks and beer to start. Yuzu potato chips and Mexican spice crunchy ramen!

Do it yourself sushi bar!

I think the key, next time, would be to use super hot oil, not butter which seems to soak into the rice and cause it to fall apart in the pan. Bastards.

I SUCK at making crispy rice.

Much Better...I tried it again by compressing each square tightly and then frying in a cup of vegetable oil.

Much Better…I tried it again by compressing each square tightly and then frying in a cup of vegetable oil.

ROSEMARY CAULIFLOWER & ROMANESCA SOUP:

Ingredients:

Cauliflower, 2 heads
Romanesca, 1 head
Rosemary, 2 large sprigs
Onion, diced
Potato, diced
Chicken or Veggie Stock, 2 32 oz boxes
Low Fat Milk, 1/2 cup
Salt
Pepper

Makes about 8-10 Servings

This soup is crazy easy to make. Just chop everything up, dump it in the pot with the chicken broth and heat on medium for about 20-30 minutes. Leave your Rosemary intact and then remove from soup when done cooking.

When you’re done cooking, go to town with your hand blender to puree or transfer to a blender (which is really annoying…so, go treat yourself to a hand blender).

Potatoes are perfect soup thickeners without having to use any flour.

The green alien orb is called Romanesca Broccoli but it tastes like cauliflower and is much better looking.

SO good.

SO good.