Wanting to try Japanese cuisine for the first time at Wasabi; the restaurant from the Palms (originally) that opened a branch in Mahboula on the sea costal road, we were in for a refreshment of our tastebuds!
"Wasabia japonica(originally written 和佐比) is a semi-aquatic member of the cabbage family. Known as Japanese horseradish, its root is used as a spice and has an extremely strong flavor. Its hotness is more akin to that of a hot mustard than chili pepper, producing vapors that burn the nasal passages rather than the tongue." (www.Wikipedia.com) (I hope the description has not created a 'rather' scare to wasabi!)
Wasabi is prepared by grating the fresh rhizome against a rough surface, sometimes by using a sharkskin grater that gives grated Wasabi a smooth, soft and aromatic finish!!! For those who have had a taste of shark meat, may not think likewise!! ( I know I am not suppossed to scare you again!)
Japanese food include staples of miso, rice as well as many seafood dishes like the popular sashimi and sushi. To enjoy wasabi, is to spread a little on the fish and then dip the fish side of the sushi into soy sauce so that the sauce does not touch the Wasabi, but many may prefer to mix the Wasabi paste with soy sauce, added with bits of ginger, called "Wasabi-joyu," and use this as a dipping sauce for the raw fish, or mix the Wasabi directly into a bowl of noodles.
The height of japanese innovation: The Wasabi Ice Cream, recent but increasingly popular!!
Its just not the taste that tingles but wasabi is a antedote for food poisoning, which is a useful property when served with fresh raw fish. Research in Japan suggests that wasabi may also have anti-carcinogenic properties. It can certainly clear your sinuses!!
Back in the 10th century wasabi's medicinal properties were first documented in a Japanese medical encyclopaedia of alternative medicine. Japanese believe that Wasabi not only is antibacterial and antipyretic, but if consumed in small quantities daily, it can increase the our longitivity.
So next time you visit any Japanese restaurant (Popular in Kuwait : Wasabi & Sakura), ask for an extra share of your Wasabi!! And once you finish enjoying your meal, dont forget to say "Oishikatta desu " (I enjoyed the meal. It was good!)
4 comments:
Mmmm... If you don't know me enough, I LOVE Sushi!! Not Japanese food, but sushi in general.. the sushi maki, the rolls with the seaweed, you can either have the seaweed outside and the rice inside, or the other way around. With soya sauce and just a little bit of wasabi and ginger mixed with it. In montreal, I used to always go to open buffet sushi places, there was this one place $25 open buffet and if you order something and don't finish it, you have to pay, so everyone was forced to EAT UP!
I tried Wasabi here, it wasn't actually that great, Sakura is the best and I heard Maki was pretty good too. I have a 50% discount card for Sakura if you ever wanna go ;)
You never told me, did you enjoy it?
Thank you for your comments!! I know i wil have many fans of 'Maki' (restaurant on the Gulf street) but I am stil to try it.
As of my experience, it was superb and definately different as I was eating wasabi for the first time, initially I would eat maki or any sea weed rolls only with soya sauce as I thought that the topping were non vegetarian :-P Ignorance is not bliss.. i realized much later!!!
And would sure love to come to check out sakura! BTW we have a express branch of Sakura in Mahboula, bang next to Wasabi restaurant!
Hey, I tried the assorted Sashimi at a place called Tsuki in NJ...
Raw fish ... Salmon was too good - didn't even think it was raw - forget it being fish..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sashimi
great! we are still to try sashimi..and as for me, some veg, seaweed sashimi ;-) ..
salmon is the best choice when it comes to the raw and uncooked,
also, avoid uncooked sushi and sashimi on roadsides stalls, it may not be very hygienic..
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