Dear Japanese Food Lovers,
Hello from Aiko at isfor WA, Oxford!
Last night we celebrated my daughter’s birthday with a special family dinner. At her request, the main dish was temaki-zushi — hand-rolled sushi where everyone makes their own rolls at the table. You simply place sushi rice and your favourite fillings on a sheet of nori, then roll it up yourself. It’s fun, relaxed and perfect for celebrations.
For the fillings, we had salmon, yellowtail, smoked salmon and ikura (salmon roe). I also prepared lightly seared tuna (aburi maguro) with the garlic dashi-soy sauce and a miso soup with ofu and wakame. Ofu is a traditional wheat-based ingredient often used in soups; it soaks up the broth beautifully and becomes soft and flavourful.
To make the garlic dashi-soy sauce and the seared tuna, I started by making garlic chips in a frying pan. I then soaked the crispy garlic in dashi soy sauce while the flavour infused. Using the remaining garlic-scented olive oil, I seared all sides of the tuna block until just lightly browned. As it was sashimi-grade tuna, keeping the centre slightly rare made it especially delicious. We served it with the garlic-infused dashi soy sauce — absolutely irresistible!
Do give it a try at home. You might find yourself hooked!
And just so you know, at isfor WA, we also teach you how to make your own dashi soy sauce.
Happy Cooking!
Aiko
isfor WA
