Southern-Fried Tofu and Sushi

The Book of Yum blog is one of my favorite food blogs. Yum host Sea has not only one of the loveliest and cleanest layouts, but her recipes are highly detailed and exotic. A blog for all of the senses.

I decided to try her Southern Fried Tofu recipe and while my attempt did not turn out to be as visually appealing, the kids were filching pieces of sauteed tofu almost as fast as I cooked them. I will have to work on my tofu-pressing technique as my lower layer dissolved into a mass of distinctly untriangular pieces, but they did fry up okay and were certainly not left on the platter after dinner.

We paired this excellent recipe with some homemade sushi and grated daikon radish accompaniment. Here are the recipes for our sushi, which again, The Book of Yum can instruct you to make much more photogenically. Definitely a blog to check out if you swoon at the sight of a perfectly formed vegetable and are culinarily adventurous.

Shrimp and Cucumber Sushi

1-1/2 cups sushi rice
2 cups water
rice vinegar
wheat-free soy sauce or tamari
1 inch piece ginger root, peeled and grated
sesame oil
4 sheets nori, cut in half
2 small pickling cucumbers or other firm cucumber, peeled and cut into fine matchsticks
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into fine matchsticks
1/2 lb. shrimp, peeled, cooked and cut into matchsticks
1 large daikon
3 scallions, sliced thin

Rinse starch off the sushi rice until water runs clear. Then cook in rice cooker with 2 cups water until done. You can also cook on the stove until tender. Turn out rice into a pot to cool. When cooled, moisten with a few tablespoons of rice vinegar. The rice should stick together, but not be gummy.

Lay nori on sushi mat or moistened cutting board. Add about 1-1/2 Tbsp. rice, some shrimp, carrot and cucumber and then roll up. Moisten edges to seal.

Grate daikon and squeeze out extra moisture. Season with sesame oil, grated ginger, soy, scallions and rice vinegar. Serve as an accompaniment to the sushi.