Culinary Adventures with Camilla

One of the things the kids wanted to learn to make: sushi. So, I was grateful to one of my best friends and her mom for volunteering to come teach them. This was the recipe Jenn shared with the kids today. Sushi Meshi (Rice for Sushi) Ingredients serves 8 4 C short grain rice (sushi rice) 4 C water 6” dashi konbu Also needed: paper fans, wooden spoons, and a non-aluminum pan Awase Zu (vinegar mixture for sushi meshi) 1/3 C Japanese vinegar (or white vinegar) 5 T sugar 1 T salt Procedure Awase Zu Heat ingredients until salt and sugar are dissolved. Cool and fold into hot rice being careful not to mash the rice grains. Fan and cool immediately. Rice is now ready to make sush (makizushi, chirashi, nigari, or inari Zushi) Wash rice and soak in water 2 hours or longer. Put water and konbu (wiped with a damp cloth) in a saucepan and bring to a boil. After 3 minutes remove konbu and add drained rice. Mix well, cover, and bring to a boil. ...

I made a batch of horchata last week for SEM. You can read about that here . This week, since we were making a traditional Mexican rice, I decided to make another batch of horchata . Funny story: my co-teacher is from Spain. And when she saw that I was making horchata for class, she was perplexed. In Spain, horchata is not made with rice; it's made with a kind of nut. So, she didn't know how that was applicable to our class. For this version, I decided to skip the granulated sugar and use some maple syrup instead. I also used less water for a thicker version. The kids - and my husband - thought this was a better horchata . Ingredients 1 C uncooked rice (I used Thai jasmine rice) 1 C boiling water 2 C warm water 1 C milk (you can use any kind of milk - rice, almond, etc. - I used whole cow's milk) 1 cinnamon stick 1/4 C maple syrup 2 t pure vanilla extract 1 t ground cinnamon Also needed: food processor or blender, mesh strainer or cheesecloth ...

Today Jenn came to my Around the World with Rice class and shared a recipe with us that has been passed down through her husband’s family for generations. She shared that Mike’s mom learned from his Grandma who was married very young and moved in with her in-laws. Her mother-in-law taught her everything about cooking. Most of the kids had had Mexican rice before. When we finally sat down to eat, Jenn was tickled to hear one of the kids declare: "This is ten times better than the rice at Papa Chano's!" Sweet. We talked about a molcajete which is a stone tool, the traditional Mexican version of the mortar and pestle. It’s similar to the South American  batan  and used for grinding various foods. When Mike came by and tasted the rice, toward the end of class, he told us that he doubles the amount of cumin seed, pepper, garlic, and tomato sauce from his grandmother's recipe. But it's hers that I've shared below. Ingredients 4 T oil 2 C l...

If you've been following me for awhile, you've heard me talk about SEM. It's a once-a-week, elective class that runs in six-week sessions at my son's school. I love it and I've taught everything ocean conservation to dragon myths. Eventually, I moved to culinary adventures and taught everything from Spices Around the World to Bizarre Foods and International Cheese Board to, this term, I'm teaching Around the World with Rice with my friend Susana. This may be my last SEM as it's my youngest son's 8th grade year; or I might be convinced to do one more before he graduates. We'll see. In any case, week one is always even shorter on time than the other five week. We do introductions, talk about class procedure, go over kitchen safety, etc. Today I had planned to talk about rice - as a grass with an edible seed -; go over where rice is grown and how; and talk about different culinary traditions that use rice. So, I knew there wouldn't be much ti...