Chicken Chorizon Paella

Any time I've ever made paella in the past, I've felt slightly lacking in authenticity due to the lack of chorizo in the recipe. Though I was not eating meat back then, and I have made paella with soy 'chorizo', the taste was obviously lacking something. I keep comparing my paella to that of the well known paella at Taberna del Alabardero, where I worked one summer in 2006. Well finally A and I took a holiday to Barcelona. I can't believe it took me so long after living in Europe to make it to the country of my second language! We had a great time and ate out and enjoyed parks and seaside views and I didn't leave without buying some chorizo to take home with me.

What's great about chorizo, and much like all of the different types of cured ham you can find in Spain, the curing process allows the meat to stay good for quite a long time, even at room temperature. So taking it home was entirely possible and safe. Paella is such an easy recipe to make. Especially since it's really a one dish recipe. You can cook everything in the same deep pan.

This large stick of chorizo 'picante' cost only 3,45e.

Start with onion and bell peppers and fry them in some olive oil. 

 Add the chicken and diced chorizo and cook for a few minutes. Add a cup of porridge rice to two cups of water, or as much rice and water as you can fit in your pan, with a 1:2 ratio. It depends a lot on how many servings you want. You can also use normal long grain rice or brown rice, but keep in mind that it takes longer to cook. Add peas and stir in salt or other flavorings. I used one cube of chicken stock and some chilli pepper. Saffron would also make this dish even more authentic. Alas, I didn't have any.

Cover and don't lift the lid for about 20 minutes, or as long as the rice package indicates. 

The result is a colorful, nutritious and filling dish that everyone will like. I enjoyed my paella out on our balcony on the picnic table :)  Now I'll have to come up with something new to make to use up the rest of the chorizo.

Sushi Ideas Revisited

I recently used up the rest of my sushi rice with the intention of feasting with friends after frisbee :) Well as it turns out there were lots of other fun things to do that night, a birthday party, a block party, etc etc, so we decided to postpone yet another feast night. Which means of course, that I have to use up the sushi rice and eat all the sushi by myself. How sad (zing!).

Since I'm also in a phase of transition into a vegan diet, I wanted to use up what I had left of the eggs (and I finally did this morning when I made migas, mmmm) and other non-vegan ingredients in my fridge. So I made some combinations of sushi fillings that were both vegan and me-gan. For more detailed instructions on making sushi, check out my original sushi post from my successful first attempt.

Some combinations:
egg omelet with cream cheese
carrot and tuna with mayo and wasabi
tofu and shitake mushroom
marinated and pan seared tofu and zucchini
bell peppers and zucchini

I liked the egg omelet and tuna the best (unfortunately they're not vegan), but I realized if I'm going to make vegan sushi, I'm going to have to do more with the marinating, or use some less conventional ingredients.

Ideas I was thinking of include:
asparagus
tempura vegetables
tempeh
bean sprouts

What else would you use?

Sushi- First Attempt

Sushi- it seemed alltogether daunting from the outset. But I have seen J & F do it a few times, so I figured I'd give it a go. It was inspired by this beautiful weather, and I was hoping to make this into a picnic lunch.

First, assemble the necessary ingredients:

Pictured I have here:

rice (soaking)

nori, seaweed sheets

bamboo rolling mat

rice wine vinegar

pickled ginger strips

black sesame seeds

wasabe paste

assorted vegetables: jullienned carrots, bok choy cabbage, avocado, cucumber

Really, the only thing you need to pay attention to is getting the rice right. But since the main thing with the rice is the rinse and soak, it really isn't that hard. I made rice with 2 cups of uncooked rice, and 2.5 cups water. This was already too much for little ole me, because it rendered enough for 4-5 rolls.

Start with your rice in a collander and bowl. Cover the rice with water and swirl a few times, get your hands in there and mix it around, don't be afraid to get those hands wet! Drain the water from the rice and repeat the process. Finally towards the end I just put the collander full of rice under the faucet and let it run. Repeat washing and rinsing until the water exiting is clear and not foggy anymore.

Then, soak the rice fully covered in water for at least a half an hour.

Cook the rice in a 1:1.2 ratio, or really not much more water than there is rice. Like other rices, you let the water boil first, add the rice, bring back to a boil for a moment and turn down the heat to low and cover. This kind of rice only takes about 20 minutes to cook. Remove from heat and set aside with the lid still on top to 'steam' further.

Rice Vinegar

1/3 cup rice vinegar

2 tbs white sugar

1 tsp salt

Heat the vinegar ingredients on the stove top just long enough for the salt and sugar to dissolve. Remove from heat and let vinegar cool.

Mix the vinegar into the rice, gently not to break too much rice, and let all cool.

Now you're ready to begin.

Start by placing the rough side of the nori face up on the bamboo mat

With wet hands, place a large mound (a little more than a handful) on top of the middle of the nori. Spread evenly over the nori (this is easier with wet hands). Start with less than you need, because adding more rice is easier than taking rice away.

Leave an inch or so without rice at the end so you can close the roll properly.

Add the other ingredients, such as fish if you have some top quality fresh fish, or in my case the vegeteables and crab sticks.

Roll tightly with the bamboo mat until closed. Cut with a sharp knife, and serve with soy sauce, ginger and wasabi. Enjoy!

To make the inside-out roll is a bit trickier. You must first cover your bamboo mat in plastic wrap, seed lightly with sesame seeds, and roll out the rice on top of that, about the same dimensions as the nori sheets. Cut one nori sheet in half, place the fillings on top of the nori sheet and roll tightly.

Chung Cake

Happy Year of the Dragon to everyone! Here in Helsinki they have a nice afternoon to celebrate bringing in the New Year in Lasipalatsi square, featuring acrobatics, musicians, artists, singers, and fireworks for entertainment. They also provide a market place where local artisans and Chinese restaurants can sell their good and delicious food. I bought a beautiful set of chopsticks while I was there and tried some sesame rice rolls filled with sweet red bean paste- yum!

They also provide a live television showing of the entertainment going on in Beijing, with the parade and other spectacular events. Despite the cold weather outside, the event that took place for the third consecutive year here had a good turnout.

As it turns out, this New Years date is commonly celebrated by all cultures with ties to the Haan Dynasty, such as Taiwan, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, and so forth....

So for that very reason, my friend N, who has been living abroad in Finland for quite some years, decided to make her very first Chung cake. And I must say, what a success! Chung cake has a nice story behind it, dating back almost 4000 years. At this time, Prince Lang Lieu was hopeful that he would be selected the next emperor, so in an effort to seal the deal, offered both square and round cakes. The square represented the earth, which was thought at the time to be a square, and the round represented the sky. He was selected as the next emperor, and the tradition continues to this day as a way to worship ones ancestors!

Chung cake is a tedious thing to make, and though I did not make it myself, I could tell that N put a lot of time and care into getting it right. There is pork meat in the authentic recipe, so it is not vegetarian unless alterations are made. The basic ingredients are rice, pork and green beans. The latter are enveloped into the rice, and the rice is then secured within bamboo leaves. The bamboo leaves shape the cake into a square, and then the cake is steamed for a very long time. The result is this beauty!

Chuc ngon mieng! Chuc mung nam moi!