Since we barely pass by this area, we never knew this new sushi restaurant, Sushi King. From St. Vital Centre, we decided to eat at Sushi King. I felt in love with the interior design. It's very Easter colour and modern.

When I saw the chef, I was quite surprised. I noticed it was the same guy who worked at Sushi Train on Pembina.

After posting the photos on my Facebook, a friend who used to work close to this area told me that he was the one who worked at Sushi Train. Now, he owns this Sushi King.

Most of Sushi restaurants in town have similarity in menu. Sushi King has one menu that I haven't seen before, Umecchi (above picture). Umecchi is a sushi roll with Umeboshi and Spinach.

Umeboshi is a pickled ume fruits common in Japan. Ume (Prunus mume) is a species of fruit-bearing tree in the genus Prunus, which is often called a plum but is actually more closely related to the apricot.

From my opinion, the miso soup isn't as good as other Japanese restaurants serve. It's too watery. Other foods are ok, but it's not the best I've ever had. Overall, this place has unique design with their special menu that keeps changing. I was a bit disappointed that Sushi King doesn't have takoyaki, but I was happy with their Sunomono Salad with choices of crabmeat, shrimp, octopus. I picked crabmeat for my salad.




Sunomono salad consists harusame noodles, English cucumber, choice of seafood. Harusame Noodles are thin, translucent Japanese noodles, slightly thicker than glass noodles but still almost as thin as hair.



To see more menu, you can visit Sushi King website.

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I realized some of my Indonesian readers don't know about Cuka Lahang (Canesugar Vinegar). This vinegar is used in West Java area more, especially for sate mariggi (Cianjur or Purawakarta Beef Sate).

Another vinegar that I like to use is Cuka Aren (Nypa Sap Vinegar). Unfortunately, Nypa sap vinegar is no longer popular in Indonesia. The people like the chemical white vinegar more.

In which I disagree with those people choice. I pick these two vinegars over a white vinegar. The reason is, first of all, I hate white vinegar (I come to the point that I really can't stand the taste and smell). Secondly, they are naturally fermented from plant resources, canesugar (Indonesian: tebu) and nypa-sap (Indonesian: nira aren/enau).

Living in Winnipeg, it makes me easy to find South East Asian stuffs. These two vinegars are product of the Philippines and also popular among Filipino community. So, I don't need to buy these at the special stores, just go to any Superstores in town.

For those who follow a Halal diet. These vinegars are also safe to consume since they have a halal label on the bottles.

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Gulai Kerapu Tauco is very interesting combination dish. Indonesian gulai is influenced by South Indian cuisine especially curry and by adding fermented salted soy bean sauce/paste (or tauco), it makes this dish very fusion. Tauco is a part of Peranakan ingredients in Indonesia.

In Indonesia, there are two terms that refer to Chinese descendants, Peranakan and Totok*:

1. Peranakan is a term for people of Chinese descent who were born in Indonesia and have blended into the local culture. A peranakan usually has an Indonesian name and can't speak Mandarin. However, it has been changing lately. I know ample younger generation of Peranakan go to school that is taught in three languages; Indonesian, English and Mandarin.

2. Totok refers to Chinese people who were born in China and maintain strong links to mainland China. The term now also includes Chinese Indonesians raised with strong Chinese traditions, and usually speak Mandarin.

When did these Chinese immigrants move to archipelago (Indonesia)? According an article from the Jakarta Post, between the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, a large number of Chinese immigrants moved to the archipelago from different ethnic groups in the southeastern part of China, including Hakka, Hainan, Hokkian, Cantonese, Hokchia and Teochew.

Back to our food discussion, tauco has many different varieties depend on the region. The city producers of tauco are Cirebon, Medan, Riau dan Cianjur. Medan's Tauco is salty just like the fermented soybeans that I use in Canada. While people who grew up in Central Java will say that is not the tauco that they have. Tauco in Central Java has sweeter taste due to the coconut/palm sugar added.

Interestingly, I grew up in Java cities but I used to have Medan's tauco, because my dad came from Medan. So, I accustomed to salty tauco. For those who live in Indonesia and want to try this recipe, I recommended to use Medan's tauco.

Gulai Kerapu Tauco
- Grouper Curry with Fermented Salted Soybean Sauce -
recipe by Sedap Sekejap, modified by me

Ingredients:
400 g whole grouper, cleaned and rinsed off under running water
1 turmeric leaves
2 cm (0.8 inch) long galangal, bruised
2 long green chilies, length cut
3 tbsp tauco
200 ml water (I substituted for clam juice or shrimp/fish broth)
400 ml thin coconut milk
1 asam kandis (I substituted for kokam or gorakha)
2 tbsp EV olive oil/coconut oil

Spices to be ground:
8 shallots
4 cloves garlic
4 candlenuts
5 long red cayenne pepper
salt as desired


The spices without tauco in the picture

Directions:
1. Broil grouper until both sides are brown.
2. Stir fry ground spice until fragrant.
3. Combine turmeric leaves, galangal and green chilies; stir until chilies wilted.
4. Add tauco; stir briefly. Add grouper and stir evenly.
5. Add broth and coconut milk. Cook until spices are absorbed. Add asam kandis/kokam/gorakha. Stir briefly and remove from the heat.

Notes:
- Thank you to the Jakarta Post for the article.

- The original recipe stated to deep fry the fish. I chose to broil it since it applied less oil and left a small mess in the kitchen.


If it happens you don't have to scale your fish, all I say lucky you!
When I bought a fish sometimes, the fish hasn't scaled yet. At least, I don't have to clean the innards

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Bihun or rice vermicelli often uses in Indonesian recipes. Wiffy's post, fried bee hoon has reminded me of this old time snack.

It was the time whenever my destination was Jakarta Kota aka Beos, an old area of Jakarta with heavy inhibited by Chinese descendant, I bought this fried bihun.

As I resided in Bogor, I had to take a mass transit (train) to go to there. Once I arrived at the Jakarta Kota station and got off of the train, I saw many food sellers, including the noodle ladies.

The sellers offered three kinds of nooddle; mie (egg noodles), bihun (rice vermicelli), and kwetiau (rice noodle). The fried noodles were not complete without choices of fritter and sambal kacang (peanut sambal). The fritter choices were risol (spring roll filled with rice vermicelli), fried tempe, tahu isi (breaded stuffed tofu) and bala-bala or known also as bakwan (vegetable fritters).

The proper way to eat them is place the noodles, cut any fitters into bite size and pour the spicy peanut sambal over.

I knew they are not the most healthiest food on the planet. But heyy, I was a student at that time with a tight budget :). Those food were delicious and cheap.

Today, when I posted the pic on my facebook. One of friends commented that there are no longer fried bihun sellers at the Jakarta Kota station. :(

Bihun Goreng, Sambal Kacang and Bala-Bala
- Fried Bihun, Peanut Sambal and Vegetable Fritters -

Ingredients:

Bihun Goreng (Fried Bihun)
250 g dry rice vermicelli, soak in cold water until soften and drain
100 g cabbage, roughly sliced
2 tbsp ground ebi* (can be substituted for fish sauce)
kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)
mushroom soy sauce (regular soy sauce will be fine)
salt as needed

spices to be ground:
3 garlic
3 shallots
white peppercorn
oil for stir-frying

Sambal Kacang (Peanut Sambal)
3 tbsp roasted/fried peanuts
3 roasted/fried red cayenne pepper
3 roasted/fried bird eye chilies
sugar
salt
canesugar vinegar (Indonesian: cuka lahang)
a small amount of water

Bala-bala (Vegetable Fritters)
adapted from Dapur Bunda, modified by me
125 g rice flour
25 g tapioca starch
1 egg
100 ml cold water (4 degrees Celsius)
100 g cabbage, finely sliced
100 g julienned carrots
50 g bean sprouts
1 green onion, sliced
oil for deep-frying

Spices to be ground:
2 candlenuts
2 garlic
1 shallot
1 1/2 tsp white peppercorn
1 tsp seasalt

Note: *Ebi is an Indonesian term for dried shrimp

Directions:
Bihun Goreng (Fried Bihun):
1. Combine kecap manis, soy sauce and rice vermicelli.
2. In a wok, add oil. Stir fry ground spices for a minute.
2 Add cabbage and ebi.
3. Add bihun mixture and salt if you need. Mix. Remove heat and set aside.
4. Serve with fritters and sambal kacang.


Sambal Kacanng (Peanut Sambal):
In a blender, process peanuts, cayenne pepper, chilies, salt, sugar, water and vinegar until smooth.

Bala-Bala / Bakwan (Vegetable Fritters): 
1.  In a bowl, stir in flour, egg and water until smooth
2.  Add ground spices, and stir well.
3.  Combine vegetables and stir well.
4.  In a pan/wok, heat up oil at medium-hot.  Using a tablespoon, do a spoonfull of batter, add into hot oil and fried until dry and cooked.
5.  Remove from hot oil and drain with brown paper bag to absorb more oil.

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I'm always excited about Farmers' Market which it used to be part of my job. The St. Norbert Farmers' Market is the biggest farmers' market in Manitoba. This year is the second year I visited St. Norbert Farmers' Market. On Saturday, June 5, I went down on the first day of St Norbert FM opened for the season.

When I woke up in the morning, all I hope was finding lemon basil plants at the Sage Garden Herbs vendor. I was ready with my reuse shopping bag and camera backpack.

I arrived at the market around 10AM and saw some media people. I was wondering what occasion was. But, I didn't expect there would be the Manitoba Premiere, Greg Selinger at the market. Around 11 PM, he gave a speech and mentioned about a grant injection to the St Norbert Farmers' Market Co-op, a $32,300 grant from the provincial government. This money will be used for a study that will explore ways to help the co-op become more financially sustainable.

My Candid Shots of Media Crew and the Manitoba Premier, Greg Selinger when he received a buckt of Fresh Vegetables from the market

The Sage Garden Herbs is one of my favourite vendors and selling many variety organic tropical plants. Last year, I recalled this vendor brought guava, papaya, banana, some different basils and many more to the market.


Clockwise: lemon basil (Indonesian: kemangi), galangal (Indonesian: lengkuas/laos), rosemary, and coffee arabica


Another vendor that I like is Wenkai Farm, sold fresh produces, including the oriental one such as bok choy. I took two pictures of Wenkai's radishes since they were so attractive and red.



I can't remember one vendor's name that sold Mizuna. Honestly, I never tried Mizuna, so I gave myself a try. From wikipedia, I found that Mizuna is also called Xiu Cai, Kyona, Japanese Mustard, Potherb Mustard, Japanese Greens, California Peppergrass, Spider Mustard, etc., is a Japanese name used primarily for cultivated varieties of Brassica rapa nipposinica but also for Brassica juncea var. japonica.



Yes, I'm crazy about Saskatoon berry. This saskatoon berry nectar is a new product from Graham's Groves. The sweetness and acidity are perfect for me; I don't like too sweet or sour things, except sourness from real citrus.


The market situation


Prairie Grass

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