Last Friday when I went to Sushi Zushi, that was my first time eating udon noodles in two years!!! I had a heavy meat dish for lunch so I settled for something light and super healthy for dinner.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups water
• One 4-inch strip of dried kelp/kombu, soak in water for 10-20 minutes
• 4 TBS soy sauce
• 1 TBS mirin
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 0.5 cup beach mushrooms, separated
• 0.5 cup enoki mushrooms, separated
• Shrimp
• 1-2 green onions, sliced diagonally
• 1 raw egg
• 8 oz. udon noodles

Instructions:

1. To make the dashi (broth), heat pan with 4 cups of water, the dried kelp/kombu, soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and salt
2. Once the dashi boils, kept it on low-medium heat and let it cook
3. In another pot, boil enough water to blanch the spinach and mushrooms then set aside
4. In the same pot, cook the udon noodles until al dente, depending on the thickness of the noodles, time varies
5. When the noodles are ready, rinse under cold water and set aside
6. In the same pot, boil the shrimp and set aside
7. In a bowl, place the noodles at the bottom, then add the vegetables, place the shrimp over the noodles, and sprinkle the green onions over everything
8. Turn on the heat to high for the dashi
9. Once it boils again, pour the hot soup into your bowl, without the kelp/kombu, and immediately break the raw egg into the hot broth with the noodles and everything else

Note: consuming raw or undercooked animal foods may increase your risk of contracting a food borne illness.

I’ve been longing to eat this for a long time but this time I made it with chicken wings. I also substituted parsley for cilantro. I can’t decide which one tastes better, flat leaf parsley or cilantro. The chicken wings definitely cooked much faster than the chicken legs. Mmmmm, so delicious.

[100% organic]

Recipe here.

I had this for lunch the following day.

I had some leftover corn meal from the ugly creamy polenta dish last time and I found another recipe that involved polenta and shrimp. I already loved the taste of it when it was still cooking.

I love it. It’s so delicious and it’s not too heavy either with all the cheese, corn meal, and milk. I’m going to make this more often now, it’s not too complicated either, another favorite!

[100% organic & wild Gulf shrimp]

Ingredients:

• 2 cups skim milk
• 0.75 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup corn meal
• 0.25 tsp salt
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 2 TB butter
• 0.25 cup chopped curly leaf parsley
• 1 TB lemon juice
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 lb shrimp, peeled and chopped into pieces

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF
2. Combine milk and broth in saucepan and heat to boiling
3. Add cornmeal to saucepan in steady stream, whisking constantly
4. Add salt
5. Stir until polenta thickens. This can take anywhere from 5-15 minutes, depending on your corn meal
6. Reduce heat and add cheese and butter, stirring until combined and melted
7. Stir in parsley, lemon juice, eggs and shrimp
8. Spoon into greased casserole dish
9. Bake for 25 minutes

*Adapted from Framed.

I have a new favorite sushi restaurant in Austin! It is Sushi Zushi on 5th Street, near MoPac. Bharat and I were going to go to 219 West but the wait was 45 minutes so Bharat mentioned sushi and I thought about the place that I always drive past after coming home from work.

I will always like Sushi Sake, near the Arboretum, but Sushi Zushi is *SO* much closer to me than Sushi Sake. Sushi Zushi has a very comprehensive menu. I’ve never seen so many sushi rolls on one menu. It’s going to take many times before I try everything on the menu, minus the food with cream cheese in them.

We shared a soft-shelled crab tempura for our appetizer. I ordered a bowl of hot udon tempura with 3 shrimp, a sushi sampler (nigiri and maki-zushi tuna, salmon, yellowtail, octopus, and shrimp, and a spicy salmon roll), and mochi ice-cream (red bean, green tea, and mango).

Dinner was spectacular.

Make sure when you go there, ask to be seated in Ryan’s section. He was a very good waiter. You can mention my name if he asks who referred you :]

One criticism, since I’m Chinese and probably few of the real Asian customers, I thought the wasabi was very weak. I had to put ALL of my serving and part of Bharat’s serving to make it to my liking.

Mussels with White Wine
[100% organic & wild]

Recipe here.

Broiled Skewered Rosemary Shrimp

[100% organic & wild Gulf shrimp]

Shrimp Choy Sum Fried Rice

[Shrimp is wild]

This year is the first time I’m spending Thanksgiving in Austin and by myself! My brother is in boarding school in Boston and my parents live in Hong Kong. For the previous 4 Thanksgivings, I went to Los Angeles once, Boston twice, and Toronto once.

I don’t “celebrate” Thanksgiving and I don’t eat/like turkey. I don’t like how it’s so dry tasting and it has tryptophan in it so it puts you to sleep. I was searching around for recipes and this is what I’m going to have on the night of Thursday November 26:

• Cheesy Potato Soup with Crispy Prosciutto
• Pomegranate Glazed Cornish Game Hen
• Rosemary Grilled Shrimp

I can still “celebrate” Thursday as a special night for myself. I need some vegetable dish but I think I’ll just roast some zucchini.

Out of the five toppings that I bought yesterday, I had a spinach and prosciutto pizza and then an Andouille and rapini pizza for brunch.

Spinach & Prosciutto

[100% organic]

Andouille & Rapini

[100% organic]

For my pizza dough recipe, click here.

I made the dough before I left for work this morning so it was sitting in my not-on oven. This is what I had for dinner:

[100% organic, environmentally responsible aquaculture farmed shrimp]

For my pizza dough recipe, click here.

I had leftover chicken breast, tuna, and random vegetables. So I made kebabs. Here are them raw:

[100% organic, wild Yellowfin Tuna]

Ingredients:

• Red bell pepper
• Red onion
• Yellow zucchini squash
• Green zucchini
• Chicken breast
• Yellowfin/ahi tuna

I never really liked lobster because it looks like a giant shrimp and for $8, I can only eat 1 lobster tail but for $8, I can eat 32 shrimp. Quantity isn’t just the only reason. In restaurants in Hong Kong, they always cook it with spaghetti and cheese or in a simple garlic sauce. That’s so un-Chinese – the spaghetti and cheese way. I’ll eat it once in a while (once every 5 years) but really, are there better and more yummier ways to eat lobster? And I always thought lobsters were really boring…

[100% organic, lobster wild from Canada]

Ingredients:

• Two 7 oz. lobster tails
• 0.5 cup butter
• 1 TB cornstarch
• 0.6 cup dry white wine
• 0.6 cup chicken broth
• 2 TB flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 TB soy sauce
• 1 TB lemon juice
• 0.5 tsp sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Chives, for decoration

Instructions:

1. Cut lobster tails in half length wise
2. Season with salt and pepper
3. Melt butter and add the corn starch, stirring continuously
4. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer while stirring for 10 minutes
5. Add lobster tails and cook each side for 2-3 minutes until the tails turn red
6. Serve with a pool of the sauce

I bought an indoor grill pan today so I’m really excited to make grilled dishes! I have so many things to make, including kebabs!

I was going to add mango into my salsa but Whole Foods was out, so it’s just avocado.

[100% organic & wild]

Ingredients:

• Mahi-Mahi fillet
• 1 TB olive oil, for brushing over the fish
• 2-3 ripe avocado, diced into cubes
• 2 tomatoes, chopped into cubes
• 2 TB olive oil, for salsa
• 1 TB lemon juice
• 0.5 cup flat Italian parsley leaves, chopped
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• Salt & ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat grill to high heat
2. Brush the fillets with olive oil and let sit for 10 minutes
3. Make the salsa by first chopping up the tomatoes, parsley, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper in a food processor
4. Then mix with avocado and olive oil, set aside
5. Grill fish for 3-4 minutes on each side
6. To serve, pour salsa over fillet