Comments on: Food to Dip in Soy Sause and Wasabi?

Question: Food to Dip in Soy Sause and Wasabi?

chrisalbon — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:37:41 -0800

I like Soy Sauce with Wasabi, but sushi is expensive. What quick and simply meals can I have that I can eat with Soy+Wasabi?

I have really been enjoying the spicy/salty taste of soy sauce with Wasabi. However, buying sushi everyday is way, way beyond my budget.

What dirt simple/cheap meals can I make and enjoy with soy sauce and wasabi?

By: vincele

vincele — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:48:45 -0800

You could pick up some buckwheat (soba) noodles and dip. Noodles are cheap!

By: vincele

vincele — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:50:23 -0800

Also, the Japanese eat a lot of egg sushi-- learn to scramble an egg Japanese-style and plop on rice. Or mix with noodles, if you don't care about authenticity-- and who does?

By: valkyryn

valkyryn — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:53:03 -0800

Actually, sushi isn't expensive if you make it yourself. You can easily eat for $2.00/meal if you do it right. A sheet of nori is about a quarter, sushi rice is cheap, and if you're willing to go heavier on the vegetables, cream cheese, etc. than on the seafood, it doesn't have to be expensive. You're paying for labor and rent as much as anything else when you buy pre-made sushi. The food is only a fraction of the price.

Yeah, rice and beans are cheaper, but making sushi yourself is totally doable and pretty cheap. Take a look at SushiPro for a list of ingredients. They'll deliver, but your local Asian market should have equivalent products for equivalent prices.

By: TheNewWazoo

TheNewWazoo — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:58:23 -0800

Tofu.

Marinade, put on a baking sheet in the oven at 400°F. For the first 10 minutes, reduce the marinade. Flip and then brush onto the tofu every 5 minutes until the glaze has set.

By: ISeemToBeAVerb

ISeemToBeAVerb — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:07:45 -0800

Dumplings are always good. I second the previous comments about sushi being cheap if you make it yourself, a lot of the cost depends on what kind of fish you use. Things like California rolls are super cheap, as are most other basic preparations. If you do decide to make it at home just make sure that the fish is sushi-grade.

By: freshwater_pr0n

freshwater_pr0n — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:18:34 -0800

Rice balls!

By: lia

lia — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:26:42 -0800

by the way, if you're buying wasabi for use at home, you might as well make sure you're getting the real stuff—most of the wasabi paste on sale, and served at restaurants, is usually just horseradish with food coloring.

By: softlord

softlord — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:00:10 -0800

Marinating chicken thighs in low-sodium soy sauce + wasabi and baking in an oven = yummy goodness.

By: Riverine

Riverine — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:01:09 -0800

I like to marinate tilapia in tamari and sesame oil, broil it, and smear it with wasabi. Tastes like a cross between saba and unagi.

By: zardoz

zardoz — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:02:33 -0800

Real wasabi is very expensive. The wasabi you've probably eaten is really just horseradish with green food coloring, so you might as well buy that.

By: magikker

magikker — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:12:38 -0800

Gyoza !

I make mine with pork sausage (breakfast sausage) green onion, onion, garlic, ginger, salt pepper, and an egg so it holds together better. Pinch it into wanton wrappers and steam, or fry them.

Total cost is really pretty low for the amount of food. I end up with a couple days worth out of one of the roll's of pork sausage I get at the local grocery store for 2 bucks.

The actually keep fairly well though they are so good my room mates get to them before they could spoil. I really like them cold the next day.

By: marlys27

marlys27 — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:39:53 -0800

I have recently fallen in love with avocado sashimi. Just cut up an avocado and dip in soy sauce and wasabi. Delicious.

By: misozaki

misozaki — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:43:29 -0800

If you eat meat, a simple steak lightly salt and peppered before cooking goes well with soy sauce and wasabi.

If you can get a hold of fresh tuna (maguro) that you can eat as sashimi, you can cut them up into cubes along with an avocado and mix them up with some soy sauce and wasabi. Mmm. If you can't get a hold of fresh tuna, canned tuna or cooked shrimp also go well with the avocado/soy sauce/wasabi combo as well, but it's a totally different dish.

Tofu is also good cold (uncooked), with some soy sauce and wasabi, and if you can get a hold of some, dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi).

By: mrmojoflying

mrmojoflying — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:58:36 -0800

Seconding onigiri (rice balls), which my wife made for me tonight. We eat a lot of rice, so a 15lb. bag of premium sushi rice is about $20 these days. Various bottles of furikakes are about $4.50 (savory sprinkles), and you can fill them with anything you want from avocado to japanese pickles to small preparations of salmon or tuna. Nori wrappers are optional. Super simple and flexible.

By: Askr

Askr — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:59:13 -0800

Stir fry is a natural fit, since you'd probably be putting soy sauce on it anyway. Something I love to use on mine is Premier Japan Tamari Wasabi. It's got wasabi already mixed into the soy sauce. Well actually it's horseradish, like most "wasabi" but I think that if that's what you're used to, and you like it, who cares?

By: holgate

holgate — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:12:00 -0800

Just Hungry is a motherlode for the basics of Japanese home cooking, and covers classic method for onigiri as well as a simplified one. There's also a broccoli-wasabi-soy recipe.

By: misozaki

misozaki — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:14:23 -0800

Mayonnaise also goes well with soy sauce/wasabi, so for example some boiled spinach (drained and cut up) mixed with mayo/soy sauce/wasabi makes a nice side dish.

By: chrisalbon

chrisalbon — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:15:41 -0800

Onigiri seems like a great idea. Healthy, cheap, tasty, and easy.

Thanks everyone!

By: b1tr0t

b1tr0t — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 18:26:16 -0800

go heavier on the vegetables, cream cheese, etc. than on the seafood

Regardless of what your local americanized sushi shop might claim, creme cheese is not a valid sushi ingredient.

Sadly, spam is.

By: rxrfrx

rxrfrx — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 19:47:21 -0800

I see you didn't best-answer the first answer (soba), but I urge you try the cold soba/soy/wasabi combination, which is fantastic. Way better than, say, onigiri, which I don't think really needs the wasabi at all (unless you put a bunch of actual raw fish on there).

By: thread_makimaki

thread_makimaki — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 21:22:30 -0800

Howdy. The aforementioned Just Hungry is my site. I know several people have recommended onigiri, but wasabi does not necessarily always go with onigiri, nor does it always go with all kinds of sushi. The purpose of wasabi is, besides clearing your sinuses and providing that hit of flavor, is to counteract the 'fishy' or 'gamy' quality of whatever it is you're eating. So it complements some neta (the stuff that goes on top of sushi) very well, it can make other actually taste a bit unpleasant. If you go to a good sushi restaurant you can see when the chefs put on wasabi or not. (Grated ginger, grated daikon radish, even grated raw garlic serve a similar purpose to wasabi in that they counteract and complement the 'fishiness' or other strong characteristic of the neta. For instance, the standard topping on katsuo (bonito) or aji (horse mackerel) is ginger, not wasabi.) So, when applied to onigiri, wasabi may go well with certain fillings but not with others. Example: it may go well with a tuna-mayonnaise filling, but it will certainly taste pretty bad with a classic umeboshi (pickled plum) filling. And so on.

Anywho, to the subject of what you can use wasabi for besides sushi - think of it as being similar to mustard, and try it with different foods that might go well with mustard. It really complements the flavor of broccoli as in the recipe mentioned above, though you need just a litle. It can be interesting in salad dressings, in small quantities. It can also be used to perk up bland foods like tofu, soba (detailed cold soba how-to, self link) It cuts through the gaminess of duck in this marinated duck recipe (yeah another self-link). Wasabi butter (mix wasabi and butter and let it rest for a while to meld) on grilled fish or steak can be quite interesting.

By: BinaryApe

BinaryApe — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 07:09:00 -0800

A shop near me sells wasabi humous. Pale green humous looks a little unappetising but it tastes surprisingly good with veg on a sandwich. You could try mixing a bit of humous and wasabi together and see what happens.

I've never had wasabi mashed potatoes but I keep stumbling across recipes for it - lots on Google.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 23:48:12 -0800

Take very good soy sauce, mix with wasabi and perhaps a little apple vinegar, add thin sliced raw onions and spring onions in a shallow smash dish, then use it as a garnish on bits of meat and such (like for example tissue-thin-sliced frozen shabu shabu beef, cooked by swirling in boiling stock with mushrooms and stuff, like healthy fondue). Splendid.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 23:48:53 -0800

smash='small', sorry.

By: Penelope

Penelope — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:26:06 -0800

I buy extra-firm tofu, cube it, boil it for 8 minutes, drain well (like 20 minutes or so), and then dredge it in cornstarch so all sides are covered. Then I heat up sesame oil or canola oil in a saucepan on pretty high, and fry 'em up. It's the way to make agadashe tofu at home if you don't have a deep fryer. It's delicious, everyone I've ever made it for loves it.

By: bonobothegreat

bonobothegreat — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:43:16 -0800

Our neighbour made sushi with pickles and I was shocked by how good it was.

By: mrmojoflying

mrmojoflying — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:45:52 -0800

Our neighbour made sushi with pickles and I was shocked by how good it was.

The next time you go to a quality sushi restaurant, ask for oshinko, or the pickle selection. You might be pleasantly surprised.