Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Osenbei!


Rob Geraghty posted  the above pic of senbei (rice crackers) being cooked by a street vendor in Japan. I wasn't aware this was such a simple process and now I HAVE to try it. So I found 2 recipes from Carmen's Kitchen and Ivy's Feast.

One of my personal cooking challenges is to make EVERYTHING from scratch. Not all the time because I don't have all day to spend in the kitchen but often enough to become good at them. To take it a step further I like to try processing the foundation ingredients as well,

I still have a long list of things to make;
  • Tortilla chips (like Doritos). I have made wheat crackers, tortilla chips are just deep fried tortillas but the tortillas never last long enough here and I really
  • Sausages of any sort including salami & blood pudding. I have the skins, I just need the mincer attachment.
  • Matured cheeses. I have made panir, cottage & basic haloumi, but am yet to do anything which requires rennet and ageing.
  • Rice noodles & paper (method 1, method 2)
  • Tamales
  • Chinese steamed dumplings. I've made plenty of boiled English dumplings but the Chinese steamed dumplings are very light.
  • Pemmican  Which I can probably make with the jerky I have stored but there's not enough fat on the beast in the freezer. Maybe I'll buy it.
  • Fufu. I've eaten plantain fufu in Guayaquil but never made it myself.
  • Churros & doughnuts. As I said - I rarely deep fry anything.
  • Masa which the Sierran Indians in Ecuador used to make their tortillas. I currently buy masa lista which costs me $14 for a 3kg bag.
  • Flavourings inc. Soy sauce (you'll wish you hadn't read this link), Tobasco, vinegar, mustard, horseradish, curry blends etc... 
Hopefully this year I will be able to tick many of these of these off my list.