BLESSING FRIDAY MORNING WITH SAKURA EBI FRIED RICE AND VERSATILE BLOGGER AWARD

Sakura Ebi ???Have you heard or tried this.? “Sakura Ebi” or Cherry Blossom Shrimp are tiny (maximum 5 cm) crustaceans caught in the Suruga Bay of Shizuoka. I first encounter this in Tokyo, Japan way back in 2006 and ever since then used these tiny shrimp for my udon or soba noodles. Tasty and delicious.

Sakura-ebi may be eaten raw, or doused briefly in boiling water (kama-age). Suboshi sakura-ebi is dried directly in the sun, and niboshi sakura-ebi is boiled in a huge pot and then dried either in the sun or in a drying device. The flavor of the sun-dried shrimp intensifies the more it is chewed; and the shrimp that are boiled before drying have a light crunchy texture.

Since sakura-ebi are eaten shell and all, it is a plentiful source of calcium and enriches the flavor of foods like sakura-ebi no kakiage (tempura made with sliced onion), and is often eaten with hot udon or soba noodles. Sakura-ebi are a standard ingredient of okonomiyaki (vegetables and meat or seafood mixed with batter and fried on a griddle).

In this fried rice recipe, I pan fried the sakura ebi with onion first and further incorporated it with fried rice. Try this !!! really awesome. You can get sakura ebi in supermarket such as expatriate supermarket selling Japanese Product. Jusco is one of place.

On this blessing Friday  morning, I would like to take the opportunity to thank Kak Jee from Dapur Kak Jee for Versatile Blogger Award given to me. Thanks Kjee I'm honored and happy with the award given. I knew Kjee through her articles in Utusan Malaysia, she was a journalist and has an informative blog  that share up todate news and recipe. Click her http://www.dapurkakjee.com/ 

to know more about Kjee

 Ingredients:

• 3 eggs, beaten
• 6-8 cloves of garlic, chopped but not fine
• 1/2 large yellow or white onion, diced
• 1 cup of dried Sakura Ebi
• 2 red chilies thinly slice
• 6-8 cups of rice cooked (short grain) which is about 3 cups uncooked
• canola oil or other light oil with high smoke point
• 1/2 cup chopped scallions for garnish
• Salt
• white pepper (black pepper is okay as well, but the rice will look dirty)

Sakura Ebi

1. Beat eggs and made thin omelete. Thinly slice omelete and set aside
2. Heat up the large wok with a generous amount of oil and sauté the garlic at high heat for a few minutes.  The garlic should release a nutty flavor and become soft.  Remove immediately once the garlic has become fragrant.   
3. Begin sautéing the onion in the pan until almost translucent.  This recipe calls for white or yellow onion simply for aesthetic purposes.  The only rich color in this dish is going to come from the shrimp and the green onion.  The rest of the dish should be fairly colorless so that the red and green pop out.  Add the shrimp to the onion and let it sauté at high heat until the fragrances of the shrimp opens up and the shrimp become lightly fried and crunchy.  This will take only a minute or so. Remove shrimp and onion from pan.
4. Add rice into the pan and fry for a few minutes.  You will need to break up the rice carefully.Add the salt, pepper, garlic, eggs, onion, and shrimp back into the pan and toss with rice. Once it looks well combined and is seasoned to your liking, serve with scallions. 

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Nasi Goreng Sakura Ebi!!, jangan salah faham ini bukan masakan yang menggunakan bunga sakura. Sakura Ebi adalah sejenis udang halus yang ditangkap di Suruga Bay di Shizuoka di Jepun. Lebih kurang udang geragau di Malaysia. Biasanya dimasak secara segar atau dikeringkan macam udang kering. Dalam resipi nasi goreng ini saya menggunakan yang dikeringkan. Sakura Ebi ini saya goreng secara berasingan dahulu baru di masukkan dalam nasi goreng.

Sedap Sakura Ebi ini bukan sahaja sesuai untuk nasi goreng tetapi boleh juga dimasukkan dalam sebarang sayur yang digoreng. Boleh didapati dipasaraya yang menjual bahan-bahan untuk pegawai dagang, biasanya pasaraya yang menjual bahan-bahan dari Jepun.

Dikesempatan pagi Jumaat ini saya ingin mengucapkan berbanyak terima kasih kepada Kak Jee dari Dapur Kak Jee kerana sudi menganugerahkan Versatile Blogger Award kepada saya. Thanks Kjee, saya menghargainya. Saya mengenali Kak Jee melalui tulisan-tulisanya dalam akhbar dan baru-baru ini banyak update berita terkini boleh didapati melalui blog Kjee. Click sini untuk mengenali Kjee dengan lebih dekat.

http://www.dapurkakjee.com/

Next Post - Almond Chocolate Cookies

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