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Have you ever eaten in Japanese restaurant?
When you come in to Japanese restaurant, you may find some condiments served on table already, such as soy sauce, ginger pickles, and something green. This 'something green' is Wasabi, which is our topic today.
Wasabi has almost smooth texture, spicy and minty flavor, with a bit bitter aftertaste, I think.
Most importantly, do you kinow what is Wasabi?
Wasabi comes from Eutrema wasabi plant. This Eutrema wasabi grows well in a cold place with flowing water. What actually we eat as Wasabi is its roots (you can see it on the picture above). WHAT?!?! ROOTS?!?! Yes, it's similar to other tubers that store itsfood source in their roots. And for the leaves, it can be dried for flavoring or pickled fresh.
If you want to eat with Wasabi, please choose the one which is FRESH!
Choose the wasabi's roots which are fresh, cool, and unwrinkled.
Otherwise, you can use bottled or canned Wasabi from grocery store. Yet, it's been mixed with other seasoning, such as horseraddish and mustard.
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To prepare the Wasabi :
1. Peel the skin off
2. Grate them using the backside of regular grater or certain grater for Wasabi. This special grater for Wasabi looks like a cutting board with rough surface (picture above).
3. Hold the Wasabi root and make a round move above the grater.
4. Grate well until you get a thick green paste out of it.
5. Last but not least, place the Wasabi paste to a small plate and serve it freshly.
You can eat your Wasabi with several ways to choose :
> Mix the Wasabi paste with japanese soy sauce for a dipping sauce of sushi
> Add directly to noodle soup
> Spread the Wasabi paste on your grilled meat or vegetables
> Or, mix it with salad dressing for salad
Experimentally, Wasabi contains good substance to prevent cancer, which is Isothiocyanates. This isothiocyanates can reduce some excess hormones, so that can lower the risk of hormonal cancer (breast cancer, prostate cancer). Other nutrients contained in Wasabi are pottasium, calcium, and vitamin C. Others say that Wasabi has an antimicrobial substance, so it's suitable served with raw food.
Wow! That's all I can sahre to you today!
Thank you for paying attention, hahaha.
Reference:
Miles, Carol, Tamera Flores, and Gayle Alleman. 1999. "Wasabi : A Fiery Delicacy from Japan Served with Noodles, Sushi, Dips, Meats, and Other Favorite Foods". Food from The Field. USA : King County Agriculture Commision and Washington State University.
