Soft Shell Crab

Finally we can find soft shell crab in Sydney's market. I was really excited when I saw them selling it at Paddy's and Chinatown's supermarkets and could not resist the temptation to grab a box which cost me 18.50AUD with 6 decent size crab in it.
I came home looking forward to stir up a good meal on it when i realised that I have not tried cooking this before and have got no idea how it is done and my mum is on vacation therefore I could not pick up the phone and ring her for recipe. Anyways, I went online and search for soft shell crab on goggle and went through a list of recipe which involved stews, stir fry, deep fried and etc....
And honestly I was looking for a deep fried one, especially when I miss how my mum usually does hers. And for deep frying, most recipes required us to use a kitchen towel to dry it first before coating. Somehow I missed this part and regretted for not following instruction cos the oil were all jumping out.
After getting the basic idea of which flour to use. I decided to explore a bit on it and create something new.

Here's Paprika Coriander Soft Shell Crab



Ingredients (serve 2)
2 soft shell crab
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup self raising flour
1 tbsp paprika powder (for mild taste - if spicy is preferred add 1/2tbsp chilli powder)
1/2 tbsp cracked black pepper
a handful of chopped fresh coriander
salt

Method
Clean crab well by rinsing under running water and dry it with a kitchen towel.
Mix flour, spice, salt and pepper and coriander well in a big bowl.
Heat oil up till hot.
Cut crab into 1/4 and coat which flour and deep fry.

Homemade Sushi

Lately we have been watching an old Japanese drama called "shota no sushi", is basically about a young adult who wants to be the best Japanese sushi chef in Japan...it can be downloaded on bit torrent. The series reveal quite a few traditional methods used in Japanese culinary skills...pretty interesting. However for all Japanese food buddies, please don't watch it with an empty stomach.

Anyways,the series got me so motivated that I decided to make my own sushi again and it was the first time my partner thinks it taste like the ones we can get from supermarket or cafe...in other words, I have make a huge improvement since my last few attempts which were a couple of years back.

Homemade Sushi



Ingredients
2 cups of short grains cooked with 2 cups of water
roasted nori sheets
piece of pan fried chicken breast, sliced
deshelled cooked minced prawns
sushi mix / sushi rice vinegar
carrots, sliced
lettuce
wasabi
Korean spicy chilli paste
Teriyaki sauce
a bamboo sushi roller

Method
Cook rice in rice cooker
Cool rice in a wooden sushi tub and add sushi vinegar / mix, about 4Tbsp for solution. Not sure about the powder mixture, refer to package. If you do not have a wooden sushi tub, dont worry...just transferred rice to another big bowl and mix in sushi vinegar and cool it down.
Used a bamboo sushi roller, place nori on it and layer rice and fillings and roll it up.

For fillings, here's what i used:
Teriyaki chicken, lettuce and carrots.
Spicy chilli paste chicken, lettuce and carrots.
Cooked minced prawns mix in wasabi.

For more variations..try:
Smoked salmon minced mixed with avocado
Teriyaki beef sliced
Just Vegetables such as cooked tofu, carrot, radish and etc.

Dieting meal

Metabolism rate is a problem for aging woman like me. I used to be able to eat New Zealand ice-cream "hokey pokey" everyday without worrying about weight gain.

So lately, I have been trying to eat healthier even though I still have the habit of munching and buying excessive snacks and lollies, plus procrastinating for a session in the gym...argh. Also going on a diet is pretty difficult, especially looking at the small portion, tasteless dishes like salad and more veg or spending money on yuckie weight control products or agents like jenny craig.

However I realised that long preparation with a bit of effort on presentation can actually kill the appetite.
Has anyone experience it before?(especially after a long session in the kitchen or it is just the weird me)

Here's a simple dish and yet preparation time is a little bit tedious for a simple dish like this.

Asparagus Salmon



Ingredients (Serve 2)
1 bunch of Asparagus
1 egg
a few slices of Smoked salmon
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp Lite mayo
salt and black pepper

Method
Boil water with a pinch of salt
Clean asparagus - use a peeler and peel the outer layer of the stem if not try to buy young asparagus to prevent this process as older asparagus taste a bit tougher without peeling the outer layer.
Once clean, throw in asparagus into boiling water.
When cooked, remove and set aside.
Then throw in egg till it turn into a hard boiled egg.
Layer smoked salmon on asparagus and then half a hard boiled egg.
Crack a bit of salt and pepper on it
Mix Dijon mustard and mayo well and serve it at the side of the dish.