Gyoza Sauce

Posted on by aurorameyer

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We go through quite a bit of this sauce. We use it on everything from homemade potstickers (we’re still tweaking that recipe) to sushi to seared tuna and as a dipping sauce for just about everything. We used to buy several bottles of this stuff at a time when they went on sale, but we finally found the best recipe to make it ourselves. Considering how often we use it, this is definitely saving us some money!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
few squirts of sriracha (Rooster or homemade) sauce
1 pinch sugar
bit of minced fresh ginger

Directions:
Mix the ingredients together. We started in a mixing bowl and then transferred to an empty soy sauce bottle. Refrigerate.

My Opinion:
I can’t live without this stuff.

Seared Tuna

Posted on by aurorameyer

I love ahi tuna. I love it grilled, raw and just about every way in between. I finally perfected seared tuna. The key is to marinate the tuna and then pat the outside to nearly dry with a paper towel before searing.

Ingredients:
1/2 tbs sesame oil
1 tbs soy sauce
1tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder or smashed and chopped fine
1 tsp ginger powder or smashed and chopped fine (or you can skip everything from the sesame oil through the garlic powder and just use gyoza sauce, that’s what we do)
tuna steak
1 tbs sesame oil (or peanut or vegetable)
1tps Sriracha sauce
1 tbs toasted sesame seeds per tuna steak

Directions:
Combine the first five ingredients by whisking them together in a small bowl. Pour 1/2 to 2/3 over the tuna steaks and let marinate at least an hour. Reserve remainder for dipping sauce. Heat pan over medium high heat. Add oil and Sriracha sauce.  Sear steaks each side (including ends!) until pink about 1-2 minutes per side. If you prefer your tuna less raw in the middle cook each side a bit longer. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. (You’re really kind of coating it with the sesame seeds.)

My opinion:
I love this dish. I crave it regularly. It’s super simple to prepare and as long as you remember to cut with the grain, looks good on a plate. (I often forget.) The spice can be tempered to your taste by adding more or less Sriracha.

Easy Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

Posted on by aurorameyer

This is simple flavorful and super easy to make.

Ingredients:
Flank Steak, sliced against the grain
1 cup broccoli
1 medium onion, sliced
2 red peppers, sliced
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 garlic cloves, minced
splash lemon juice (to taste)
splash rice wine vinegar (to taste)
1 tbs vodka (optional)
1 tbs Sriracha sauce (optional)
1 tbs peanut oil
white rice

Directions:
Mix the soy sauce, garlic, lemon juice, rice wine vinegar, Sriracha sauce and vodka in a small dish. Wisk together to combine. Pour about half over the sliced flank steak. Let marinate at least an hour.
Heat oil over medium-high heat. Sautee the onion. Add the flank steak and marinade. Cook until desired doneness. Add the broccoli and red pepper. Sautee about 3 minutes. Pour the remaining marinade over the dish and stir to combine. Let cook down another 2 to 3 minutes. Serve over rice.

My opinion:
The vodka makes the meat super tender and the Sriracha sauce adds a bit of heat. This is a staple in our house, especially when we aren’t feeling very creative. If you change the marinade, add honey for example, the entire flavor profile changes, so it is like a whole new dish!

Summer Shrimp kababs

Posted on by aurorameyer

With the recent spring heat wave, we’ve wanted to use the grill as much as possible. We made these shrimp, pineapple and pepper kabab that tasted just like summer!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup balsamic, red wine or rice wine vinegar
About 1-2 tbs honey
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
16 large jumbo shrimp
2/3 of a pineapple, chunked (canned is fine too)
1-2 red peppers cut into about 1 inch pieces
skewers (we use Bamboo ones)

Directions:
Marinate the shrimp in the soy, honey, vinegar, garlic mixture for at least an hour. Soak the skewers in water for about a half hour (to keep them from burning on the grill). Alternate red pepper, shrimp, pineapple on the skewer. Cook for about 8 minutes on the grill. Serve with brown rice or barley.

My Opinion:
Because I wasn’t sure how they were going to turn out, I just used large shrimp. In the future, I will definitely use jumbo shrimp. I’ll also make the marinade a bit spicier by adding some chili flakes or Sriracha sauce.

Homemade Sushi

Posted on by aurorameyer


homemade sushi by Aurora Meyer on aurorameyer.com

Homemade Sushi

I crave this dish at least weekly.
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Ingredients
  

  • Rice Ingredients:
  • sushi rice
  • 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar or to taste
  • 2 Tbsps sugar or to taste
  • Spicy Tuna Ingredients:
  • sashimi grade tuna
  • sesame oil
  • soy sauce
  • garlic powder or smashed and chopped fine
  • ginger powder or smashed and chopped fine or you can skip everything from the sesame oil through the garlic powder and just use gyoza sauce, that’s what we do
  • sriracha sauce
  • These are all to taste.
  • Additional Ingredients:
  • Nori

Instructions
 

  • Rice Directions:
  • Cook rice according to package directions. Most stores now carry sushi rice in the rice section. We’ve actually never had trouble finding it, but if you do have trouble just look for short-grained white rice. As soon as all the water has absorbed, put the rice in a glass or plastic bowl (no metal! It will give a reaction and the rice will taste funny!). While the rice is still hot, stir in the rice vinegar and the sugar. Mix well. refrigerate until cooled through but not cold. In our refrigerator, that’s about 20 minutes.
  • Spicy Tuna Directions:
  • Cut the tuna into squares small enough to fit in your food. Add sriracha sauce (remember the more you add the spicier it will be), gyoza sauce and tuna into your food processor. (I do not recommend a blender for this!) Blend until you get the consistency you want. I like ours to be a little chunky.
  • This next part is where you get to decide what and how you want to roll this. There are tons of great resources by just Googling “how to make sushi” that will give you instructions.
  • We obviously like our rolls a little bigger than traditionally served with a good deal of rice. The basics are: put the nori rough side up on either a bamboo mat or on a few pieces of folded tin foil, spread the rice on the nori, add the tuna mixtures and roll. Don’t be sad if it falls apart, it still tastes good!

Notes

My Opinion:
Obviously, I forgot to take pictures until we’d eaten a few off the plate. This recipe makes about three full sheets of tuna and rice-filled nori for us. More than enough for dinner for the two of us. What I like best about making sushi this way is that I control the spice level (we like it spicier than most restaurants make it) and can add whatever I want to it. Mostly meaning, no mayonnaise (yuck!). If we have leftover smoked salmon, that goes in. If we have leftover cucumbers, that goes in too. Even with the cooling time, this dish doesn’t take all that long to make. Yum!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!