Homemade Worcestershire Sauce

This is some much better than commercial brands. It's not expensive to make, but does require quite a number of ingredients, as well as some time to make. However, I guarantee that it is delicious and gives many dishes the extra taste complexity without high fructose corn syrup and other crap that commerical brands use.

Worcestershire sauce traditionally includes anchovies but I omitted it without any problems with the final flavor.

You can find tamarind concentrate in packets in Asian stores. They are normally from Thailand and are found in the spice aisle. Otherwise you can get it from Amazon as well.

Ingredients

2 cups distilled white vinegar
1⁄2 cup molasses
1⁄2 cup soy sauce
1⁄4 cup Tamarind Concentrate
2 tbsp. mustard powder
3 tbsp. sea salt
1 tsp. whole black peppercorns
1 tsp. whole cloves
1⁄2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp cardamon powder (or 5-8 pods)
6 dried chilies
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1  1" stick cinnamon
1 anchovy, chopped/ 1 Tbsp fish sauce (optional)
1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1  1⁄2" piece ginger, peeled and crushed
1⁄2 cup sugar

Method

In a saucepan, bring all the ingredients except the sugar to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 min.
In a separate pan, cook the sugar over low heat until it caramelizes and becomes syrupy. Add it to the vinegar mixture. It might clump up. Just keep stirring until the sugar dissolves. Transfer into a clean glass jar with tight fitting lid. Allow to cool before screwing the jar shut.

Refrigerate for about 3 weeks then strain the liquid into a bottle. It will last for about 8 months in the fridge.

Breaking Bad Maki Sushi Rolls

We've recently gotten into "Breaking Bad" on Netflix. Watching the show brings back memories of our time in Albuquerque - where they put green chili in EVERYTHING. So, in ode to "Breaking Bad", and to use leftovers, I made green chili and black beans and ham sushi rolls. The flavors actually go well together! You can make it vegan by omitting the ham.

Ingredients

Green Chile (I use 505 green chile sauce since I don't know how to make it yet)
Ham/Black bean stew
Nori sheets for sushi rolls

Sushi Rice (makes 8-10 rolls, depending on how much rice you use per roll)

3c Japanese short grained sushi rice
3 1/4 c water
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/3 c rice vinegar (I used distilled white vinegar as a substitute and it works well)

Method

Wash the rice in cold water until water runs clear.  Put everything in a rice cooker or pot. If using a pot, bring water to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and simmer until cooked.
When cooked, remove from heat, fluff up the rice and allow to cool.

Moisten your hands or utensil before handling the rice to prevent sticking. Place a portion of rice on a Nori sheet. Flatten the rice evenly onto the sheet. It should cover about 1/3 of the Nori. Place your filling in the middle of the rice. I used a mix of just green chile, just the stew mix and a mix of both for the rolls.

Lift the rice end up and quickly make a tight roll. As you can see from my photo I'm not an expert at rolling! Use a sharp knife, moistened with water to cut the rolls. Again, this will prevent the rice from sticking.