My very first Susyi.........

I thought I'd learn how to make sushi and shashimi, last weekend, since my daughter and I take a fancy to eating them. It is quite taxing to the pocket if we frequently eat out, which come to think of it, makes me feel bewildered as to why food that do not require any cooking is more expansive than those that are cooked. Makes not much sense really.

So off I went on a quest to learning how to prepare sushi and shashimi. A starter pack sold at the MPH gave me the gear one start as the book and the Video CD was quite helpful.

Making susyi per se is not difficult. It's obtaining the ingredients, especially FRESH fish and seafood, that made me chyme the NIKE (or was it ADIDAS) logo, "Impossible is Nothing" from one supermarket to the next. Finding fresh fish in KL is like looking for justice in our legal system.

I finally got hold on fresh Salmon and Dori fish at the Cold Storage, The Curve. I was even lucky enough to have gotten hold of fresh prawns. I knew it was fresh because some were still wringgling and jerking in the basin. For a few split second, I was having second thoughts about eating prawns, seeing them alive and kicking, making me feel barbaric. Then the desire for the taste of prawns on my tongue overwhelms the feeling of guilt. Poor prawns, but hey, it wasn't my fault they are amongst creatures that makes the bottom part of the food chain.

I even found the traditional basin for mixing the susyi rice with the vinegar (to create Japanese ambiance...it's an amateur chef thingy) in Sogo. Odd enough, the vessel was categorized as "fruit basin". A word of caution though, even though Sogo is a Japanese based company, don't waste your time looking for ingredients for Japanese cooking. You can find belacan, but not wasabe there.

The "fruit basin" was given justice yesterday by my using it for it's actual purpose, mixing the susyi rice.

Below......the maki, susyi and shashimi. I don't know about presentation though, as I feel that whatever goes into the mouth comes out looking the same anyway, so I didn't really concentrate on the presentation, but the taste is, well, quite good really. The ready-made sauce is not that brilliant. I am planning to make my own later.

My daughter complained that the rice portion overwhelms the fish that sits on it. Ah...for every successful chef, there is a daughter nagging and complaining, which is in a way, constructive. Then again, she is as skinny as me, so relatively, everything is big to her.

A close up to demonstrate the freshness of the fish. Notice how the glistening fish seem to lure you into wanting them to be in your mouth?

The art to susyi, maki and shashimi lies heavily in the presentation and definitely the freshness of the seafood. It's bad enough knowing what you are going to put into your system is not cooked, therefore, the presentation may make up for the wild imagination of puking your asshole through your mouth immediately after you swallow the first bite.

So I guess I will have to work on presentation the next time around.

Well, at least I have one satisfied customer who knew better than to complain about presentation. Just like men, the word, "otherwise you are not getting any" is easily used as extortion weapon for kids too.

And finally, meet the chef from hell, no, not from Hell's Kitchen, (the kitchen is fine)..just from hell....