DEEP FRIED EVERYTHING
Yesterday was Deep Fried Food Day. Well, at my house anyway.
The above, my friends, is Kimmy's Seaweed Bonanza Roll! It's a really simple and (relatively) healthy snack comprising of dried seaweed sheets (nori, the kind you use to make maki/temaki), ham, bread, cucumber strips and sliced mushrooms. For a vegetarian version, just take out the ham. I've written out easy instructions on how to make the Seaweed Bonanza Roll under the LJ cut. There are a few more pictures of prawn tempura, golden mushroom tempura (both of which I had to file under the 'unsuccessful' category) and a species of small fish from an area called Bario in my homestate that's extra crunchy when deep fried.
This was the tempura powder I used for my very first attempt at making prawn tempura. Everything on the packing was written in Japanese, so based on three cartoony pictures accompanying the instructions, I winged it and just used one beaten raw egg to make aforementioned powder stick to my prawns.
You can see why I deemed it unsuccessful. :P I wanted the tempura to look 'fluffy' like how Japanese restaurants do it but it ended up being coarse and crunchy. Was still very tasty though.
After reading online tips on how to stop the prawns from curling up during frying, I had slit the sides of the prawn as well as its back from head to tail. It didn't work. The only time the prawn did remain straightened out was when I pressed down on it with my ladle.
Close up! They were delish eaten with white rice. :D
I had a packet of golden mushrooms that was going to expire soon and I thought, what the hell, I might as well give it a shot with the tempura powder.
It was, uhm ... something different. The dark brown bits were nice to crunch, but overall, something definitely went wrong somewhere. :P I've yet to find a good golden mushroom tempura recipe.
This fish is mostly unknown even to the locals. It was given to my family as a gift by a family friend who got it from another friend who got it from a friend living in Bario. *lol* Don'tcha just love the benefits of social networking?
The fish barely has any bones, apart from its spine. What few tiny bones it has are so fine that by the time you're done deep frying the fish, you can eat the fish whole, fins, tail, bones and all. It's more enjoyable if you remove the spine.
Here are the instructions on making Kimmy's Seaweed Bonanza Roll!
1. Lay out one piece of dried seaweed sheet/nori.
2. On top of it, lay out one piece of bread. It can be any type of bread you like. For the above Seaweed Bonanza Roll, I used wheat bread and cut off the crust so rolling will be easier. It's up to you to leave the crust on or not.
3. On top of the bread, place your ham, cucumber strips and sliced mushroom. Don't pack too much or you won't be able to roll it!
4. Take one edge and roll it like you would when you're making maki. Here's a great pictorial guide on how to do it. (You don't need the bamboo mat shown in those pictures to make my Seaweed Bonanza Roll.)
5. To make sure the roll doesn't 'open up', brush the edge of the seaweed with some beaten raw egg to make the seaweed stick together. And if you really want to make sure the roll won't 'open up' during frying, break a toothpick in half and use the pieces for additional 'grip'. See the very first picture of this post for the toothpicks in the roll.
6. The frying time is very short. When you see the bread going brown, that's a good time to take it out of the oil. If you over-fry it, the seaweed may end up bitter.
7. Once you're done, let the rolls cool for a while and then cut them into pieces for easier eating. Best to eat them while still hot.
Enjoy! :D
If anyone tries out my Seaweed Bonanza Roll, do let me know how it went! The next time I make it, I'm gonna use meat floss instead of ham. Woohoo!
The above, my friends, is Kimmy's Seaweed Bonanza Roll! It's a really simple and (relatively) healthy snack comprising of dried seaweed sheets (nori, the kind you use to make maki/temaki), ham, bread, cucumber strips and sliced mushrooms. For a vegetarian version, just take out the ham. I've written out easy instructions on how to make the Seaweed Bonanza Roll under the LJ cut. There are a few more pictures of prawn tempura, golden mushroom tempura (both of which I had to file under the 'unsuccessful' category) and a species of small fish from an area called Bario in my homestate that's extra crunchy when deep fried.
This was the tempura powder I used for my very first attempt at making prawn tempura. Everything on the packing was written in Japanese, so based on three cartoony pictures accompanying the instructions, I winged it and just used one beaten raw egg to make aforementioned powder stick to my prawns.
You can see why I deemed it unsuccessful. :P I wanted the tempura to look 'fluffy' like how Japanese restaurants do it but it ended up being coarse and crunchy. Was still very tasty though.
After reading online tips on how to stop the prawns from curling up during frying, I had slit the sides of the prawn as well as its back from head to tail. It didn't work. The only time the prawn did remain straightened out was when I pressed down on it with my ladle.
Close up! They were delish eaten with white rice. :D
I had a packet of golden mushrooms that was going to expire soon and I thought, what the hell, I might as well give it a shot with the tempura powder.
It was, uhm ... something different. The dark brown bits were nice to crunch, but overall, something definitely went wrong somewhere. :P I've yet to find a good golden mushroom tempura recipe.
This fish is mostly unknown even to the locals. It was given to my family as a gift by a family friend who got it from another friend who got it from a friend living in Bario. *lol* Don'tcha just love the benefits of social networking?
The fish barely has any bones, apart from its spine. What few tiny bones it has are so fine that by the time you're done deep frying the fish, you can eat the fish whole, fins, tail, bones and all. It's more enjoyable if you remove the spine.
Here are the instructions on making Kimmy's Seaweed Bonanza Roll!
1. Lay out one piece of dried seaweed sheet/nori.
2. On top of it, lay out one piece of bread. It can be any type of bread you like. For the above Seaweed Bonanza Roll, I used wheat bread and cut off the crust so rolling will be easier. It's up to you to leave the crust on or not.
3. On top of the bread, place your ham, cucumber strips and sliced mushroom. Don't pack too much or you won't be able to roll it!
4. Take one edge and roll it like you would when you're making maki. Here's a great pictorial guide on how to do it. (You don't need the bamboo mat shown in those pictures to make my Seaweed Bonanza Roll.)
5. To make sure the roll doesn't 'open up', brush the edge of the seaweed with some beaten raw egg to make the seaweed stick together. And if you really want to make sure the roll won't 'open up' during frying, break a toothpick in half and use the pieces for additional 'grip'. See the very first picture of this post for the toothpicks in the roll.
6. The frying time is very short. When you see the bread going brown, that's a good time to take it out of the oil. If you over-fry it, the seaweed may end up bitter.
7. Once you're done, let the rolls cool for a while and then cut them into pieces for easier eating. Best to eat them while still hot.
Enjoy! :D
If anyone tries out my Seaweed Bonanza Roll, do let me know how it went! The next time I make it, I'm gonna use meat floss instead of ham. Woohoo!