Cook, Eat, Drink

I’m the kind of sushi eater who really enjoys the soy and wasabi almost as much as I do the actual piece of sushi.  I lovingly spread wasabi over each piece individually and then do this crazy chop stick maneuver where I flip the piece so that it goes into the soy sauce wasabi side first.  I give it a nice soak and then pop it in my mouth.  If done correctly, I will taste the soy first, followed by the wallop of a good coating of wasabi and then the cool rice and fish.  I love that heat that wasabi delivers.  It doesn’t get my mouth hot, like a jalapeno or buffalo wing sauce.  It gets my nose and head hot.  It can literally clear out a stuffed nose.  I think of it as a clean heat.

While going through recipes a couple of weeks ago looking for something to do with salmon, I found a recipe for wasabi soy salmon.  The recipe called for wasabi powder.  Intrigued, I scanned the Asian section of my supermarket to see if I could find this.  Indeed I did and let me tell you, this has opened up a whole slew of things that are good with wasabi!  I guess I never really thought about where wasabi came from.  I certainly didn’t know that it was a powder that you added water to to form a paste.  Or that a really simple marinade for pretty much anything is soy sauce, minced garlic and a bit of wasabi powder.

Last week we grilled swordfish after using the special marinade above.  Then we made a wasabi cream using some plain yogurt mixed with the powder and water.   We were both saying that we could use this as a dip for vegetables or chips, or as a topping on grilled vegetables or chicken.

If you are a fan of wasabi, do yourself a favor and go to your grocery store and lay out $2.99 for a small can of this powder.  You won’t be sorry!

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