Emperor's Forbidden Omuraisu

     Omuraisu has become a trendy item in recent years.  Omuraisu was created in the 1900's as a western style entree in Japanese restaurants.  Basically, omuraisu is a thin omelette wrapped around rice with ketchup.  Ketchup is the original and traditional sauce for omuraisu.  Many say that it is not omuraisu, unless it is painted with ketchup!

     The rice filling can be simple plain steamed rice, fried rice or any style of rice.  Many Japanese restaurants offer a fancy rice filling for omuraisu, but the entree is usually referred to on the menu as House Omuraisu.  A list of ingredients describes the House Omuraisu on the menu.

     Since every chef knows that trendy food sells better when it has a trendy name, calling a fancy omuraisu by the name House Omuraisu is behind the times.  A creative thematic omuraisu with a unique rice filling should be given a fitting name.  

     There are several asian black rice varieties.  All rice varieties have subtle differences in their flavor profile.  Indonesian black rice has a good earthy rustic rice flavor and the grains of rice are somewhat long.  Indonesian black rice has a small proportion of red or brown rice grains in the mixture and that is the nature of this rice plant variety.   

     Thai black jasmine rice is a very special breed of rice.  Food historians say that black jasmine rice was an Indonesian black rice variety that reached hybrid perfection in Manipur, India.  Black jasmine was brought to Manipur by traders, but the exact details of where the traders obtained this rice variety are sketchy.  The perfected black jasmine variety from Manipur was introduced to Thailand and China.  Emperors of ancient China laid claim to black jasmine rice and black jasmine rice was then forbidden to be eaten by the general public.  

     In recent years, companies have marketed black jasmine rice as Emperor's Rice, Forbidden Rice or Emperor's Forbidden Rice.  Thailand produces a large proportion of the world's black jasmine rice.  Rice from Thailand is always of high quality.  Thai rice farmers take pride in growing jasmine rice varieties in a way that achieves the peak aromatic quality of the rice.  Jasmine rice is an aromatic rice and black jasmine rice really has a nice aroma.  

     In modern times, black jasmine rice is not often used in Chinese cuisine or Manipur Indian cuisine, but it is featured in Thai cuisine.  Thai black rice pudding is made with black jasmine rice and not Indonesian black rice.  I have written many black jasmine rice recipes and the photographs clearly show that black jasmine rice looks different than Indonesian black rice.  Black jasmine rice grains are uniform in shape and size.  The color is shiny and solid black.  Black jasmine rice grains are much shorter than Indonesian black rice varieties.

     Since the rice filling for this omuraisu was made with Thai black jasmine rice, giving this entree an appropriate trendy catchy name was a good choice.  Calling this entree by the name House Omuraisu would lose something in the translation.  The name Emperor's Forbidden Omuraisu creates interest and adds mystique!  

     Black Jasmine Rice:

     Boil 2 cups of water in a sauce pot over high heat.

     Add 3/4 cup of black jasmine rice.

     Return the liquid to a boil.

     Reduce the temperature to low heat.

     Cover the pot with a lid.

     Simmer and steam the rice, till it becomes tender.

     Keep the black jasmine rice warm on a stove top.       

     Emperor's Forbidden Rice Filling:

     This recipe makes enough filling for two small omuraisu or one large omuraisu!

     Heat a saute pan over medium/medium low heat.

     Add 2 1/2 tablespoons of coconut oil.

     Add 1 clove of minced garlic.

     Add 2 tablespoons of chopped celery.

     Add 1/4 cup of chopped onion.

     Add 1/4 cup of chopped yellow bell pepper.

     Add 1/4 cup of chopped red bell pepper.

     Add 1/2 tablespoon of finely chopped seeded green serrano pepper.

     Saute till the vegetables start to become tender.

     Add 1 teaspoon of ginger paste.

     Add 1 tablespoon of minced green onion.

     Add the reserved cooked black jasmine rice.

     Briefly saute the rice mixture.

     Add 1 cup of vegetable broth.

     Add 1 pinch of Chinese five spice powder.

     Add sea salt and white pepper.

     Add 1/4 teaspoon of ground galangal powder.

     Add 1 teaspoon of lime juice.

     Add 1/2 cup of coconut milk.

     Add 1/2 tablespoon of palm sugar.

     Stir the ingredients.

     Reduce the temperature to low heat.

     Simmer and reduce, till the consistency of the rice filling becomes thick and dense.  

     Keep the rice filling warm on a stove top.

     Emperor's Forbidden Omuraisu:

     The eggs for omuraisu should be gently cooked with no browning at all.  The omelette should be thin, but not so thin that it easily tears.  Think of the omelette as being Vietnamese rice paper for a rice paper roll.

     Heat a wide non-stick saute pan over medium low/low heat.

     Add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.

     Add 2 or 3 whisked eggs.  (2 eggs for small omuraisu and 3 eggs for large)

     Tilt the pan, so the eggs create a uniform thin layer that is about 1/4" thick.

     When the eggs start to become firm on the bottom half, flip the omelette or place the omelette in a 325º oven to cook the top half.

     Cook the eggs, till they become fully cooked with no browning.

     Slice the omelette onto a cutting board.

     Mound a portion of the emperor's forbidden rice filling in a line across the omelette.

     Roll the omelette with the filling to create a cylinder shape.

     Use a large spatula to place the Emperor's Forbidden Omuraisu on a plate. 

     Use a plastic squeeze bottle to paint the omuraisu with organic ketchup.  (Ketchup is required and organic ketchup is the best!)

     Garnish with cilantro sprigs or Italian parsley sprigs.

     This is a tasty omuraisu that can be served for any meal!  Yum!  ...  Shawna 

Hawaiian Ham Pipeline

Once a surfer always a surfer!  The Banzai Pipeline!

     Every once in a while I create a new name for a sandwich style, because the old traditional name does not really apply.  Since this sandwich has a Hawaiian theme, the name hoagy, sub or zeppelin just does not ring a bell.  

     What is there in Hawaii that has a long tubular cylinder shape that is packed with power and sounds like rolling thunder?  The Banzai Pipeline of Ohahu's north shore is it!  Surfers usually refer to this world famous surfing destination as the pipeline or the pipe.  The pipeline produces some of the most perfect massive tubular curling pipeline shaped surf that there is.  Many refer to the pipeline as the greatest surf of all.  Old school surfers and Hawaiians speak of the pipeline with reverence and respect, because this surf is so powerful.  A great board ride on the pipeline is what dreams are made of! 

     Now readers know why this sandwich is called a pipeline instead of a sub.  It is kind of cool how this sandwich does resemble a big curling tubular wave that is starting to break.  The curved shape of the French baguette caps off the effect.  I made the French bread from scratch for this sandwich.  I chose not to steam the bread during the first part of baking.  Steam during the first two minutes of baking a baguette creates a tough crunchy crust.  On a big sandwich, a tough crunchy crust is not very appealing, so the bread was baked natural style.

     Beer bread is an option for a Hawaiian style baguette.  Only a few modifications need to be made to convert a baguette recipe to beer bread.  

     Good ham has to be selected for any Hawaiian style sandwich that features ham.  Spicy capicola has the flavor that islanders like! 

     Beer Bread Option:  

     The bread in the pictures above was made with this beer bread option.  Beer bread has a nice beer and yeast aroma.

     Standard beer bread requires no yeast, but it does require baking powder.  Baguette style beer bread requires both yeast and baking powder.  The alcohol in the beer will inhibit quick yeast growth, so a boost of baking powder helps to create gas.  Keep in mind that baking powder controls yeast like salt does, so only a small amount can be added.

     In the French Baguette Recipe cut the water to 8 ounces and add 8 ounces of lager beer to have a total of 16 ounces of liquid.

     Add 2 teaspoons of baking powder to the flour, after the flour is added to the yeast activated liquid.

     French Baguette Dough:    

     High gluten flour is best for this recipe.  Bread flour is good too.  All purpose flour should not be used.  

     No fat, like oil or butter is used in a baguette recipe.

     Some ovens have a steam shot feature built in.  Most ovens do not.  When the sheet pan of baguettes are place in the oven, ice cubes can be tossed on the pan to create steam.  Ice cubes can also be tossed directly on the bottom of a gas oven.  Tossing ice cubes into an electric oven is hazardous! 

     A humid steamy oven is required during the first few minutes of baking to create the crisp crunchy crust that baguettes are famous for.  

     For a large sandwich like today's pipeline, a crunchy tough crust is not desirable, so no steam is required.  Without steaming. the crust will still have just the right amount of crunchy texture.

     In France, official baguettes are never longer than 14" in length.  Everybody knows that baguettes are offered in a variety of lengths.  The width should be proportionate to the length of a baguette.  Large baguettes should never be more than about 4" to 5" wide.

     This recipe is written for a metal gear driven dough mixer with a dough hook attachment!     

     Add 2 tablespoon of fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon of dry yeast to 16 ounces of tepid luke warm water in a dough mixer bowl. 

     Place the mixer bowl in a luke warm place like on top of a warm oven.

     When the yeast activates, add 2 teaspoons of sugar to proof the yeast. 

     Add about 4 cups of flour.

     Add 1/2 teaspoons of sea salt, so the salt lands on the flour.

     Place the mixer bowl on the mixer and attach the dough hook.

     Mix at low speed, till a very loose wet dough is forms.

     Start adding a little bit of flour at a time, till the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. 

     You will be able to see when the dough is starting to become elastic.  

     Add flour, while hand mixing, till the dough can pull away from the sides of the bowl and form a soft dough ball on the dough hook.

     Turn off the mixer.

     Cover the dough in the mixer bowl with a dry towel. 

     Allow the dough to rise more than double,.

     Turn the mixer on low speed to beat the dough down. 

     

     Benching:

     Place the dough on a floured counter top.

     Knead the dough for 30 seconds.

     Shaping:

     Cut the dough in half for 2 small baguettes or leave it as is for a large baguette.  Just make sure that the baguette fits on the sheet pan! 

     Roll the the dough back and forth, till it becomes a wide cylinder shape.

     Use the fingers on both hands to press and tuck the dough into itself, so a seam that runs the length of the baguette appears.  (This step adds texture and eliminate large gas bubbles.)

     Pinch the seam shut.

     Roll the baguette shape back and forth, till the surface becomes smooth and so the cylinder shape is about 3" to 4" wide.  

     Place the shaped baguette on a large sheet pan that is lined with parchment paper.  The seam side of the baguette must face down!

     Use a knife to score a few diagonal slashes on the dough, so the dough releases steam when it is baked. 

     Proofing:

     Allow the shaped baguette dough to rise at room temperature, but no more than three fourths of double in size. 

     Baking:

     No steam is needed during the first few minutes of baking when making a sandwich style baguette!

     Bake in a 425º oven.  Place the sheet pan directly on the baking stone if there is one in the oven. 

     Bake till the baguette becomes golden brown and the crust becomes a little bit crisp.  

     

     Cooling and Staling:  

     Place the sheet pan on a roasting rack, so air can circulate underneath. 

     Allow the baguette to stale for 30 minutes, so the pith does not gather when the bread is sliced.      

     

     Note:  Atmospheric conditions like heat and humidity affect how dough behaves.  Fine tuning a baguette recipe to your own climate can be achieved after making a few batches.  Dough cannot always be worked a a casual pace, so keep a goal of working efficiently and quickly.  Baguette dough is more consistent when it is not worked at too slow of a pace. 

     Zesty Lime Mayonnaise:

     Better to have more than enough spread, than not enough!  This recipe makes a little bit extra.

     Place 1/3 cup of mayonnaise in a small mixing bowl.

     Add 1 pinch of wasabi powder.

     Add 1/2 teaspoon of dijon mustard.

     Add 1 pinch of Chinese chile powder.

     Add 1 pinch of ginger powder.

     Add 1/2 tablespoon of lime juice.

     Mix the ingredients together.

     Chill till it is needed.

     Teriyaki Sauce:

     Heat 1/2 cup of water over low heat.

     Add 3 tablespoons of sugar.

     Add 3 tablespoons of thin soy sauce.

     Add 2 pinches of ginger powder.

     Add 1 pinch of onion powder.

     Add 1 pinch of Chinese five spice powder.

     Simmer and reduce the sauce, till it becomes a thin syrup consistency.  (This only takes a few minutes.)

     Keep the sauce warm on a stove top.

     Grilled Pineapple Slices and Bermuda Onion:

     Cut the skin and end off of a section of pineapple.  A few thin slices are all that is needed.

     Cut the pineapple section from top to bottom into quarters.

     Cut the core off of each quarter.

     Cut enough 3/8" thick slices, so there is enough for a layer on the pipeline sandwich.

     Lightly brush the pineapple slices with vegetable oil.

     Grill the pineapple slices on a cast iron ribbed griddle or a char grill, till grill markes appear on both sides.

     Place the grilled pineapple slices on a pan and set them aside.

     Cut enough 1/4" thick slices of bermuda onion for a layer on the sandwich.

     Repeat the pineapple grilling steps for the grilled bermuda onion slices. 

     Hawaiian Ham Pipeline:

     Cut a 10" to 12" length of the French baguette bread.

     Split the bread in half lengthwise.

     Spread a thin layer of zesty lime mayonnaise on the bread.

     Place a layer of upland cress on the bottom half of the sandwich bread.

     Place a few thin slices of provolone cheese on the upland cress.

     Place a generous portion of delicatessen sliced Italian spicy hot capicola ham on the provolone cheese.  (About 8 ounces is plenty.)

     Place a layer of the grilled bermuda onion slices on the capicola.

     Place a layer of the grilled pineapple slices on the onions.

     Drizzle some of the teriyaki sauce over the pineapple.

     Set the top half of the sandwich in place and use fancy bamboo sandwich skewers to hold the sandwich together.

     Place the Hawaiian Ham Pipeline on a plate.

     Garnish with items of your choice and curly leaf parsley sprigs! 

     This Hawaiian Ham Pipeline can satisfy nearly any appetite.  When going Hawaiian, go big!  Yum!  ...  Shawna  

E.T. Fresh Jerky at Crystal Springs, Nevada ~ The Great Basin Desert!

Extra Terrestrial Jerky?  Put on your aluminum foil hats!

     Every scenic highway seems to have a few tourist traps along the way.  In the old days, many tourist traps were really nothing more than a flim-flam business with the goal of fleecing money out of naive tourist pockets.  States that cared about the reputation of their tourist industry regulated the total rip-off tourist traps out of existence.

     During the last twenty years, modern tourist traps have turned into interesting destinations of their own.  The quality of merchandise and services at the new wave of tourist traps is a big improvement over the the way things once were.  People now actually look forward to checking tourist traps out, rather than avoiding them.

     The state of Nevada has many great themes for tourist traps to play on.  Gambling, legal brothels, old west outlaws, cowboys, Native Americans, silver jewelry, gemstones, gold mines and ghost towns are just a few of the themes that tourist traps use to attract business.  When in the west, tourists like to become part of the old wild west.  Stopping at a tourist trap to buy something like a ten gallon hat or a Mexican blanket as a memento of the journey provides a valuable conversation piece, when the travelers get back home.  

     Food at tourist traps has also markedly improved.  People often used to wonder whether what they ate for lunch while on the road was actually fit for human consumption.  Many tourist traps offer nice quality food that reflects upon the theme of the business.  A tourist trap that features a cowboy western theme usually offers old time cowboy western grub on the menu.

     One Nevada tourist trap theme that is very popular, officially does not exist.  Many people tour Nevada with the hope of seeing flying saucers and extraterrestrial beings near the top secret military bases.  Everybody knows that secret military bases officially do not exist, but most tourist traps sell maps of where some of the famous secret bases can be found.  Is this the world's biggest tourist trap scam of all time?  Who knows if anything really goes on at those remote bases at all.  It all could be just an enterprising means of getting potential customers to venture out into the middle of nowhere just to make a sale.  Then again, alien beings from a distant galaxy could be running the entire show! 

     Area 51 is Nevada's prime paranormal tourist destination.  Starting nearly 100 miles away from Area 51, every tourist related business takes on an extraterrestrial flying saucer theme.  Little green men do have a way of capturing attention.  Tourists like shopping for crazy fun extraterrestrial keepsakes at Nevada tourist traps.  I am a resident of Nevada and I personally cannot resist stopping at a UFO tourist trap to check out what they have for sale.  The inability to resist such a temptation could be interpreted as evidence of profit driven extraterrestrial superior being mind control of some kind.  Wearing an aluminum foil hat while driving on the Extraterrestrial Highway is not some kind of a fashion statement.  It is a necessity!

     While touring parts of the southern end of the Great Basin Desert last week, I went as far north as Crystal Springs, Nevada.  Route 318 only runs a short distance north in that area and it turns into Route 375.  Route 375 is the infamous Extraterrestrial Highway that runs through Rachel, Nevada, close to Area 51.  

     This region is UFO and alien being central!  There are plenty of stories about extraterrestrial sightings and even a few stories about how aliens have ventured into town to have a meal at a local diner restaurant.  Restaurants in this area advertise that the beef on the menu was recently abducted by aliens flying UFO's.  Tourists often wonder why they have no memory of any events that occurred during unaccounted lapses in time within the Extraterrestrial Zone.  More than likely, alien mind control or alien abduction has something to do with the lost time that is unaccounted for.  

     If there ever was a place in the universe that was perfect for beef jerky shopping, the extraterrestrial tourist zone of Nevada is it!  The E.T. Fresh Jerky store is located at the intersection of Route 318 and Route 93 in Crystal Springs.  

     Forget about driving past the E.T. Fresh Jerky store without stopping by to take a look around.  Resistance is futile!  Free samples are offered and I must admit that extraterrestrials do make some pretty darn good tasting jerky.  I was sold on the quality after a few tastes.  A discount was offered for a three item purchase, so I accepted the "out of this world" offer.  

     I chose the NASA Nuggets, Turkey Terrestrial and the Paranormal Pepperoni.  All three jerky products were high quality tasty items.  In fact, this was the best jerky that I have ever bought from alien beings during my entire life!  The little picture on the label of cattle being beamed up to a flying saucer must be some kind of a guarantee of abducted freshness!  Needless to say I was happy with my purchase at the E.T. Fresh Jerky store.

     Anyway, the point is that there is plenty of scenic splendor to experience when touring Nevada.  There are plenty of fun tourist shops on travel routes that offer interesting fun stuff.  Touring is supposed to be fun and shopping at tourist shops like the E.T. Fresh Jerky store adds to the charm.

     Highly recommended!  The pictures above can be viewed in a full size slide show mode by clicking on any photograph.  ...  Shawna