This is one of Ben’s favorite snacks, especially in the summer. My mom used to make it whenever I and my brother and sister were hungry and she did not have enough time to make a full meal. Somen is very thin wheat noodle, and it’s sold usually in a large packet with 8-10 bundles each tied with paper strip. This dish is super easy to make and only takes about 10 minutes. And it is so tasty! If you have some left over rice and a can of tuna, you can serve it with some rice balls as well. (I will post a recipe for that soon.)

Mom’s Summertime Somen Noodle

Ingredients

2 sticks somen noodle (Japanese or Korean thin wheat noodle, labeled as “Somen” or “Thin noodle”)

Dressing: 2 TB Soy Sauce, 3TB seasoned rice vinegar (such as Marukan), 3/4 TB toasted sesame oil (such as Kame or Baeksul brand) - mix together. If you have plain rice vinegar, sprinkle one pinch of sugar when you mix the dressing with the noodle.

1 clove garlic, minced/ 2 stems green onion (green part only), chopped/ black pepper

How to Make

1) Boil the noodle according to the package. Drain and wash with cold water.

2) Pour the dressing and top with garlic and green onion. Mix thoroughly with chopsticks. Sprinkle a bit of black pepper.

3) Enjoy!

Tip: here is how I cook my Somen noodles.

Boil the noodle with a pinch of Kosher salt -> put the noodle in when the water starts rolling -> when it boils again, pour some cold water -> boil again ->pour cold water -> boil again and then drain/ wash.

The 10th Fargo Film Festival opened today and it will continue until the 6th. (Check out http://www.fargotheatre.org/) I have lived in the Fargo-Moorhead area for almost 3 years now, and I want to share some of my favorite things in this place with whoever is visiting town for this wonderful event. (I hope this will be useful for any future visitors, too.)

1) Enjoy more culture - Fargo has so much culture especially for its size - classical music, jazz, theater, musicals, visual arts, and so on. There are wonderful organizations such as the FM Symphony Orchestra, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre, and Theatre B to name a few. Three colleges (Concordia, Minnesota State University-Moorhead, and North Dakota State University) all have their own arts calendars, packed with orchestra concerts, band concerts, chamber music concerts and theater productions. Pop and rock events go on at the Fargodome and the Civic Center. High school productions are also very high quality and vital to the community. There are also several dance schools.

General Event Calendar can be found at the Culture Pulse Page: http://fmarea.culturepulse.org/ This is a page where anybody can upload information on any cultural event, but it is not entirely thorough.

FM Symphony: Master Works Series, Family Concerts, and Chamber Music Series http://www.fmsymphony.org/

FM Community Theatre: boasting 12 productions a year, this theater works with local talents and schools. http://www.fmct.org/

MSUM’s Cheryl Nelson Lossett Performing Arts Series: Performances ranging from Ladysmith Black Mombazo to the Guthrie Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet. http://www.mnstate.edu/perform/

Concordia Performing Arts Series: Another great performing series at a great price. http://www.cord.edu/Offices/Cultural/performingarts.php

FM Opera: Celebrating its 41st season this year with La Traviata, La Boheme and Amahl and the Night Visitors. http://www.fmopera.org/

Here is my personal invitation for this week: a fascinating presentation of abstract aesthetics in artwork and chamber music is scheduled for Thursday evening, March 4, at 7:30pm on the Gaede Stage at MSUM. Featuring the 8th Street Quartet of the FM Symphony and two guest musicians from the St. James-St. Benedict Universities.

2) Browse Downtown - Walking along Broadway is a joy. There are so many beautiful galleries and precious shops. Here are some of my favorite spots on Broadway (and a few off-Broadway as well) starting from 6th Ave N. down to Main Ave.

Beyond Running: a cozy and serious running store that’s a big part of the Fargo Marathon. They have a regular Tuesday running club and other activities such as marathon training and yoga classes. Nice shop to browse through, too.

FunkyJunque - this is a really beautiful shop. It’s like a picture from Mark Bailey’s “Simple Home” came alive. This store has charming accent cushions (felt cushion adorned with leather, saying things like “brrrrr”), a surprisingly good collection of blouses and sleep-shirts, cute gift tags and white colored plates, and other home-furniture items.

Zandbros Variety - a bookstore/gift shop, featuring an interesting collection of books (good cookbook collection, too), funny cards, cool jewelry items, bath stuff, plates, and a few clothes and bags. It’s a great store for getting gifts, girls and boys alike.

Lena K - this store has lots of pretty tops by designers such as Vince and Rebecca Taylor, designer jeans, flowing and sexy dresses, and several Juicy Couture items. Price is on the high side, but there are always some really nice sale items. If you find your size, it’s your lucky day! I also like their small jewelry collection.

O’Day Cache - this jam-packed store recently expanded to accommodate a lot of furniture from China, including some very cool antique tables and beds. It’s a good store to go to if you need a gift but can’t come up with a good idea. This store also sells Vosges chocolate, which I love, at a reasonable price. *Majority of the items on sale come from China, so many of them are not the best quality. But still pretty and fun.

Shannalee - another store with great and fun gift items. Clothes are a little bit over-priced and not my favorite style, but this store carries really cute T-shirts saying “I (love) Fargo.” * This store, Lena K, and O’Day Cache are totally girlie stores. If I were a guy, I would feel a bit out of place walking into these stores.

Boucle - a boutique-type yarn store that is just beautiful to browse through. I don’t knit, but I went to get some things for my sister in law who does. * Since I don’t knit, I have no idea if this shop is a high-end shop or over-priced, etc.

Ecce Gallery - relatively new gallery that also houses a yoga studio. They feature local artists as well as commercial items by Alessi and Jonathan Adler. I like the way this gallery feels, and I love the fact that there are things that I can actually BUY!

Plains Arts Museum - this small but beautiful arts museum is located a few blocks west of Broadway on 1st Ave N. The 1st floor has a small Yamaha grand piano, and quite a few concerts happen here. Museum gift shop is also nice.

Fargo Public Library - a few blocks off from the Broadway, east on the 1st Ave N. This newly completed library has a wonderful bright and fun feeling to it, and is a very friendly place for anybody who likes libraries and books. There is also a Dunn Bros. cafe inside the library that has free Wi-Fi!

Vlana Vlee - another shop that opened recently. It’s a glitzy+girly shop with amazing quantity of “stuff” -all kinds of stuff ranging from baby-shower gifts to a chunky dinner table. It’s a fun store to browse.

Antique on Broadway - this is a huge store filled with antiques (and some items that just look old).  Fun place to look around. I recently popped in because a very long train was passing by, and I could not stand in the freezing air any more! I ended up browsing for about 30 minutes, and bought really cute copper water wagon figurine that now complements one of my mantel-top picture frames as well as a salt and pepper shaker, all for $6.

Off-Broadway, please come visit the Roberts Street Chapel on the corner of 4th Ave and Roberts Street. Marjorie Schlossman’s artwork will brighten up even your gloomiest day!

P.S. The West Acres Mall Area is not that special (it’s just like any other mall in small and medium sized cities in the States), but there is a special shop called “Stabo” inside the West Acres shopping center. I fell in love with Porsgrund (Norwegian bone china company) in this store, and they also carry other European gift-items including key-chains by Troika. (They are the best!)

3) EAT! - Please see my posts about Fargo’s restaurants.

http://jihyechang.com/wisdom/2009/04/10/my-favorite-restaurants-in-fargo-moorhead-area/

http://jihyechang.com/wisdom/2009/06/28/fargos-newest-excitements/

4) Have fun - I am not a person who goes clubbing or drinks much, but I know that the HoDo has a good night scene. Also there is a multiplex on 25th Street south of Main Ave. called “The Hub” - that place gets packed during the weekends. Also downtown has many bars and jazz-concert clubs. For families, there is the Red River Zoo (have not visited but people seem to like it).

In the middle of July, Broadway goes crazy with the Street Fair - endless carts selling hand-made jewelries, artworks, small furniture items, clothes, foods, etc. I did not get to see it in my first summer, but I enjoyed it immensely last year. If you are in town during the summer, it’s a must-see!

Moorhead has an interesting place called the “Hjemkomst Heritage Center.” It looks like the white sails of a big ship, and I thought it was an actual Viking museum.  Instead, it’s  a memorial that permanently stores the Hjemkomst Viking Ship built by Moorhead resident Robert Asp and his family. They sailed to Norway on this ship in 1984. There is also a replica of Hopperstad Stave Church in Vik, Norway outside the center. This church is used often as a wedding chapel. During the summertime, the center hosts a Scandinavian festival and a Viking festival, and there are yearly exhibitions and special events.

Oh, and there is a Curling Club (!!!!!!) by the Fargo North High School, and people do snow-mobiling, ice-fishing and hockey during the winter time. There is even a street-side hockey rink on the 12th Ave N. I still remember the first time I saw several kids playing a game in -20F weather. It was like watching a scene from “The Saddest Movie in the World.” It was so cool.

Also people have told me that there are so many beautiful lakes within a 2 or 3 hours of Fargo-Moorhead.  I must experience it this summer.

Well, I think I will now go check out the Fargo Film Festival schedule and see which ones I enjoy the most.

Seoul is bursting with many artsy coffee boutiques. Hand-drip coffee is still the most favored method for drip coffee, and more and more small batch coffee roastery and cafes armed with Clover machine and top line espresso machines (La Marzocco and Dalla Corte are favored) are popping up everywhere. There are some really fantastic cafes and roasters, but many of them are just following the “trend” to make money. I feel as though about half of them will not exist the next time I visit Korea.

Anyways. Buam-dong is the “Seo-rae-maul” of the Gangbook (northern part of the Han River). There are so many little coffee shops and restaurants in this quiet area near Bookak mountain. Club espresso began the trend a few years back, but that coffee shop has lost its touch. Instead I found a newer gem called “Dropp” - a cafe near the Buam-dong office with minimal decoration and sophisticated atmosphere that serves small batch roasted organic coffee.

Young baristas working here seem to be very well trained, and I really loved their espresso macchiato. Silky smooth, sweet, and well balanced. Their drip coffee is also superb.

To go here: Take the subway line #3 (orange line). Get off at the “Gyungbok-gung” station. Go out exit # 3. Walk about 10 meter, and then wait for a bus. Take bus 7022, 7018, 0212,1020 and take off in front of the Buam dong office. The Dropp is on the right side of the three way fork, and it’s near the “Bom” photography shop.

Last year I stumbled upon the “Belle” espresso by a micro-roastery in California while browsing the internet. There was a “coffee guru” guy (Kenneth Davids) and his website called “coffeereview.com” and the Belle espresso beans from the Klatch Coffee in CA got the highest ever score (94 points) by him. Davids described the bean as ”

So I ordered just to see how good it was and it turned out to be the best choice for my Ascaso machine. Ever since I bought that machine in 2006, I have used many different kinds of beans - Intelligentsia’s Black Cat, Barrington Coffee Roasting company’s Gold espresso, Peet’s, Gimme! Coffee’s Leftist, Counter Culture’s Toscano and Rustico, Batdorf & Goodman’s, etc. So far the Toscano from Counter Culture was my favorite, but this one provided a bit more depth and body than the Toscano. (Also the price and the shipping method used to be nicer.) It really tastes like chocolate and brandy, with really sweet smell of caramel.

The package used to look like the picture on the right side - now they have changed the packaging and their website outlook. Sure, the bag looks more modernized, and the website has a lot of useful information and cool facts about the company. The sad thing is that the price changed (upward), too. The Belle used to cost $12.95 for 1lb (about 450g), but now 12oz (350g) costs $11.95, which is similar to the Counter Culture Coffee’s pricing. Klatch still ships via USPS, and it’s much better than the usual UPS ground shipping.

Next beans to try are - Stumptown Hair Bender and Terroir.

I made this noodle for a party and many people wanted the recipe. It’s my variation on the Szechuanese Tan Tan Men and spicy cold noodle. You can vary the topping and the amount of seasoning according to your taste!

1) Cook the noodle:Thin Spaghetti noodle, cooked al dente and drained/ washed with    cold water.

2) Prepare Topping: Cooked chicken, cooked tofu, peas, asparagus, red bell peppers,  etc. (whatever you want!) Plus liberal dose of toasted white sesame seeds

3) Make the dressing - this is the basic proportion. You can alter the saltiness, spiciness, and the amount as you go. This can easily be doubled.

2 TB soy sauce - Kikkoman is good all purpose soy sauce. Also Sam-pyo soy sauce from Korean grocery stores is good

1 TB Creamy peanut butter

1 TB Peanut oil and 0.5 TB canola oil (or 1.5 TB canola oil, if you don’t have the peanut oil)

1 TB Chili sesame oil (less if you don’t want it too hot) - get Korean Chili sesame oil from CJ Baeksul or Haioreum brand/ or Japanese chili sesame oil from S&B

0.5 TB Asian toasted sesame oil - get any Japanese or Korean brand, not the unrefined sesame oil

2 TB Unseasoned rice vinegar - get any Japanese or Korean rice vinegar. Mitsukan is good and easy to find.

1 ts Sugar (or more)

2 TB thinly sliced green onion and 2 cloves garlic, minced+2 pinches of ginger powder or 0.5 ts of minced ginger

Mix all the sauce ingredients and taste/ adjust seasonings to your taste

4) Mix the noodle with 2/3 of the dressing and put the topping. Drizzle the dressing over and serve! (You may garnish the topping with crushed peanuts or more green onion slices.)

Enjoy~~

Last year I participated in an amazing fund-raising event called “Gourmet Soup Kitchen.” It was for the homeless shelter in Fargo, and was organized by Linda Coates and other wonderful people of this area. I was one of the chefs who donated 3 gallons of soup, and I made the “Nuro-men” which is Taiwanese national beef noodle soup. My soup was the first to run out (partly because I did not make the full 3 gallons..) and a lot of people asked for a recipe. It is really easy to make but you do need a specific spice packet that’s shown in the picture. If you can’t find it, you may substitute it with some star anise, ginger and cinnamon.

Ingredients:

1 pack (about 1.5 lb), beef Boneless short-rib

0.5 lb, flank steak (This is for more richly flavored soup stock. You can replace it with more short-rib.)

4 garlic cloves

1-2 TB Canola oil

1 rock sugar clumps, about 1 inch diameter (or a few small pieces of rock sugar)

2 TB rice wine (Mi-Chiu is good. You can also use sake or dry sherry. Do NOT use Mirin, which is the sweetened rice wine!)

1 soup packet labeled as “Spice for Spiced Food” from Taiwan - this you can find in Asian grocery stores. This soup packet contains cinnamon, cloves, star anise.

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 lime, sliced and 1 tomato cut in half

Chopped green onion and cilantro for garnishing

Dried Asian Noodle - not egg noodle or thin noodles. I used Korean Udon noodle (Choripdong brand). Japanese udon noodles would work, too.

Taiwanese chili sauce for extra spice (optional) - get the “Ichiban hot chili and garlic paste”

How to Make:

1) Cut the meat in 2-3 inch cubes. Pat with kitchen towel and get rid of any blood.

2) Slice the garlic.

3) In a large Dutch oven or Le Creuset pot, put the cooking oil and heat up the pot.

4) Put the meat and garlic slices. Stir until the meat is a bit browned and garlic is fragrant.

5) Stir in the rice wine and mix well

6) pour enough water to cover the meat and 1 inch more/ put the soy sauce, rock sugar and tomato.

7) Lower the heat and simmer for about 1-1.5 hours until the meat is really tender.

Put the sliced lime and put into the soup and simmer for 30 minutes more. Taste the soup and put more soy sauce and sugar according to your taste.

9) Cook the noodle and drain according to the package.

10) Put the noodle in a deep bowl and pour over the soup. Garnish with green onion and cilantro and serve hot. Enjoy!

I have been drinking only espresso macchiato and lattes for the last 3.5 years with my own espresso machine and grinder. (My husband drinks dripped coffee, and I sometimes drink a bit of what he brews.) However on a hot summer day like today, iced coffee seems to be so much more appealing, and I decided to follow the method that’s introduced at the Counter Culture Coffee’s website. (Counter Culture Coffee makes one of my favorite espresso beans, Espresso Toscano.) And the result? The BEST iced coffee I have ever tasted! It’s also much lighter tasting than iced Americano, which is made with espresso shots and ice/water. Also it gets the most aroma from the beans, and it tastes much more fresh than a lot of iced coffee that you get from the commercial places.

You can find the original instruction here:

http://www.counterculturecoffee.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=574&Itemid=

I used a coffee stand that my dear friend Robert Scott - a dentist, flutist, and a beautiful wood-worker - made for me last Christmas. It’s supposed to be a Costa Rican chorreador stand, but I think it works much better for this recipe. You can make your own following the direction here: http://www.runnerduck.com/coffee_maker.htm You can buy one at www.chorreador.com as well. (Of course the one that I bought in San Jose was much cheaper, but I am thrilled that you can finally order one in the states.)

Here is how I did:

1) Hang the coffee basket and filter on the chorreador stand (or find a similar way to suspend a basket above the glass that you’ll use for the finished coffee).

2) Boil enough water to fill a tall glass - you won’t use all of it, because the glass will have ice in it.

3) Put 3-4 tbs. of freshly ground coffee in the filter.  Today I used Coffee Klatch’s Ipanema Dulce.

4) Fill a tall glass to the top with ice cubes, and put it under the coffee basket.

5) Slowly pour the hot water over the filter.  Watch the coffee level in the glass so it doesn’t overflow.  You’ll wind up using less water than you would if you were making hot coffee with the same amount of grounds, to compensate for the dilution that happens when the hot water hits the ice cubes.

Enjoy!

Yes, that’s right! A Korean grocery store, not an Asian grocery store - here in Fargo!

I love eating all kinds of food, but I am a Korean at heart (naturally) and I crave Korean foods periodically. It’s been wonderful living in Fargo, but the grocery situation has not been too hot. I have had to order so many times from H-Mart online, which is highly over-priced, whenever I needed Korean pepper paste (Gochu-jang), Korean style noodles, etc.  But now with the help of this wonderful little store, I won’t need to order anything from H-Mart for a long time.

This store is called “Everyday Mart”, and is located on the 10th St., between 7th and 8th Ave N. There used to be a sign that said “Maeil Mart” (in Korean) for a long time without anything inside the store. I saw an “Open” sign lit when I was driving a few weeks ago, and today I decided to check it out. It is operated by two very nice Korean ladies, and they have walls of nicely arranged sauces, oils, soups, seaweeds, pastes, rice, noodles, flours, ready-made soups and other prepared foods, ramen noodles, etc. Also they have a freeze/ refrigerator section with various kinds of Korean style dumplings, fish cake, kimchi, and some seafood things. There’s even a wall of various teas from Korea. They also stock a few Japanese things and other Asian ingredients such as Sriracha sauce and fish sauce.

Things are about $1-4 cheaper (depending on what you are buying) than H-Mart online or the Asian American grocery store on Main.) I am going to be a happy cook in the kitchen!

P.S. They keep only napa-cabage that’s needed for making kimchi or Korean soup in the vegetable section. This is a store for sauces, seasonings, basic grains for cooking Korean style food, not a store for fresh produces.

707 10th St
Fargo, ND 58102-4319
(701) 232-2266

The owners of Leela and Thai Orchid opened a noodle bar called “Drunken Noodle,” on NP avenue (the old Green Market location) recently. Drunken Noodle is a name of a Thai noodle dish. I read about this dish in “Bon Appetit” magazine a few years ago - that it is a very spicy noodle that makes you drink a lot of water afterward, hence the name. Drunken Noodle serves not too spicy drunken noodle along with several noodle dishes and pasta dishes. This restaurant used to be the Green Market. It is spacious and simply decorated. All the dishes are under $7, and food is served super fast. Pad Thai is too sweet for my taste, and the drunken noodle dish has too much jalapeno taste in it (and a bit too salty). But Bah Mee Gaeng (Coconut soup with noodle) is very tasty, although sometimes the chef puts too much fish sauce. I hear that this restaurant is open until 3am on Fridays and Saturdays. Someday I will go there at 2am, eat the Bah Mee Gaeng super spicy, and then head to Fargo Coffee Co. for some espresso..!

Update (Sep. 21, 2009) - I went to the Drunken Noodle at 12:30am on September 19, Saturday, and it was packed..! Amazing. I wonder if it’d be the same when it’s -30F outside.

Another new restaurant is Kobe’s. I visited that place three times with my husband and friends, and my husband decided that he never wants to go back. It is a nice place for family gatherings or experiencing “hibachi” (the fire show and everything), but not for sushi - especially the rolls. They are big but not a lot of fish slices are used (the proportion between rice and fish seems off in general). Sushi rice seems to be poor quality (somewhat gummy and sticky), and all the sauces they use for rolls and appetizers are too sweet (and mayonnaise-based.) Nigiri is a bit better than their rolls, but still not great. Service is friendly and fast/ prices are not bad.

Update (October 2009) - I convinced my husband once more to visit Kobe’s with some of our friends. It was rather a disappointment, and I don’t want to go back there, either. Rolls are covered with too much sauce and rice is still gummy, grilled dishes are too sweet (especially their teriyaki sauce - too gluey and has unpleasant taste). Kobe’s website states that the chef at Kobe’s consider the rolls are “all about sauces.” Well, there you go. I think I will pass on those sauces and eat something else. Salmon Passion was pretty good, but that was the only thing that we liked among about 6 dishes we ordered that night. Kobe’s  is doing really well, though. I think it hit the right note with a lot of people, just not with me or my husband.

Update #2 (December 2009 and January 2010) - Wasabi restaurant opened at the back of Drunken Noodle. I like a few of their rolls (better than Kobe’s in my opinion as the balance between the rice and other ingredients is much better, and the overall taste is cleaner), but I have not ordered their nigiri or sashimi. (In fact I almost never order Nigiri sushi or sashimi in any of the small city sushi places. Most of these places use frozen fish and pre-cooked or prepared ingredients. I suppose you can choose for yourself whether to eat frozen fish in sushi or not. I have eaten a lot of sushi and sashimi in various places from Japan to New York City, and I know what I like and what’s worth my money.) Wasabi now also serves Korean style Galbi (or Calbi - short ribs marinated in sweet soy mixture and grilled) and Bulgogi. Galbi was pretty good (standard restaurant taste, so to speak), but Bulgogi was a bit too salty and the meat was not tender enough. Because of these grilled dishes, the restaurant smells a little bit more like a Korean BBQ place. They also added a few lunch box items. Bulgogi lunch box is $9 (Galbi box is $15), and it comes with soup, rice, 2 pieces of California roll, fried chicken pieces, salad, and bulgogi or galbi. Decent taste and decent price that’s worth a try. I would not say it’s a great restaurant, but it’s in downtown -and I love Fargo downtown!- and it’s nice enough. So I will probably go back there again when I have some roll-craving or seaweed salad craving..

Many people think that sushi = raw fish. But! Sushi just means “vinegared rice” in Japanese. (I am not Japanese but that’s what I learned from reading lots of Japanese cookbooks.) So anything with vinegared rice, whether with raw fish on top or not, can be called as sushi.

I made one of the non-fish sushi with fried and seasoned tofu pouch a few days ago for a party, and it was so popular. It’s served as “Inari sushi” in many Japanese restaurants, and the version I served is my mom’s version for picnic. A dear friend wanted the recipe so I tried to write down, but I make this dish without measuring so add the seasonings a bit at a time and taste-adjust! (You always need to adjust the seasonings to your taste even if you are using the measuring tools..) I am writing this post for my dear friend Neil.

Ingredients:

About 2 cups Cooked short grain rice - I like Kagayaki brand. (Most Asian markets will sell this brand) or Organic Sushi Rice from Lundberg. It’s very important to use the right kind of rice! The best way to cook short grain rice is to use a rice cooker. It costs around $50-150 (depends on the brand and the extra functions), and it’s one of the most useful things in your kitchen if you like eating Asian food. (Cuckoo brand from Korea and Zojirushi from Japan are the best.)

3 TB Sushi Vinegar or more - You can make your own sushi vinegar by mixing 4TB rice vinegar, 2 -3 TB sugar (according to your taste), and 0.5 TB salt. (Many recipes have different ratios of Vinegar-Sugar-Salt, so you may need to experiment to find what you like.)  You can also purchase Japanese ready-made sushi vinegar or seasoned vinegar from Asian markets. (Marukan or Mitsukan brand)

1/2 carrot and 1/4 yellow onion (1/2 if the onion is small), finely chopped - stir fry with a bit of salt in a wok or fry pan until the onion is translucent. My mom also added seasoned ground beef (with soy sauce, sugar, pepper, garlic, and sesame oil). You can add chopped daikon pickles, stir fried shiitake mushrooms, and cucumbers as well. Just make sure that the rice is the main ingredients, not the other stuff.

Fried and seasoned tofu pouch - you can buy it from any Asian markets. I prefer Korean version from Pulmoowon - this is smaller and less sweet/ comes with vinegar and seasoning mixture. For Japanese version, look for a round can that says “Inarizushi No Moto” -Hime brand is good.

How to Make:

1) Cook the rice - make sure you don’t put too much water. Sushi rice should be on the dry side, not on the watery side. You may put a piece of kombu seaweed or spoonful of sake for more flavor, but you don’t have to.

2) Stir-fry the chopped carrot and onion in 0.5 TB or more canola oil (or grapeseed, corn, soybean oil. Don’t use Olive oil) with a bit of salt. This should not be too dry or too oily. Set aside.

3) Take out the tofu pouches from the can and put them in a colander. Run hot water to wash out excess seasoning and then drain. Be careful not to tear them! If using the Korean kind, follow the package instruction and use the vinegar mixture inside.

4) Put the cooked rice into a large bowl, and mix with sushi vinegar. Be careful not to break the rice! Swing a fan or a plastic panel over the rice to get rid of heat and moisture.

5) Mix in the cooked carrot and onion.

6) Take the tofu pouch - be careful not to tear it - and put a spoonful of rice into the pouch. This sushi does not require wasabi and soy sauce. Perfect finger food~