Sushi! Or not! It's all up to you.

Ok, lots of people like sushi. Lots of people don't like sushi. Lots of people don't like Yetis either, but I don't hold that against them. This is a recipe that basically uses stuff that I talked about earlier, but in other variations and with sushi rice instead of jasmine. If you don't want to make maki (rolls) that's fine, I've got some alternatives down below.

Also, watch out for the snowdogs on this one, as they love tuna and fish.

Raw or seared tuna maki sushi! Or not!

You need to have prepared ahead of time about 2 cups of sushi rice, which is often about 1 cup before cooking, including seasoning with rice wine vinegar and anything else you want. The rice should be cool. I usually put some lemon or lime rind in with the rice when it cooks for a nice citrus flavor.
2 shallots, small dice
bean sprouts, very fresh, washed, and patted dry
red pepper flakes (optional)
sushi-grade ahi tuna, probably about 1/4 pound or so
seasoning mixture, described below. About 2 tablespoons or so of this mix, depending on how much tuna you have.
about 2-3 sheets of nori (seaweed sheets for sushi, available in many supermarkets) for maki, or you could have this sashimi or nigiri style
Optional: wasabi, pickled ginger as garnish / condiments

For the marinade for a seared tuna version of this see my November 9, 2007 entry. The leftovers work really well in this roll. If you are making this fresh however, read the following.

To use raw tuna (assuming your tuna is of excellent quality and impeccably fresh) you'll want to mix up ahead of time a seasoning mixture. I prefer a tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons of rice wine vinegar, a tiny pinch of salt, preferably sea salt, and teaspoon of tamari. Or, if you like it spicy, replace the salt and tamari with a few dashes of Tabasco or other hot sauce of your liking. You can also replace the vinegar with lemon or lime juice and a small pinch of sugar. You'll want to set this mixture aside for use when you are ready to assemble your sushi.

DO NOT MARINADE THE TUNA more than 10 minutes or they will over-cure in the acid in the seasoning. You'll just want to briefly dip the fish in the seasoning before making your sushi.
For maki, cut quarter-inch square, but long (like a square cylinder) slices of the raw tuna.
For nigiri, cut nice thumb-sized, 1/8 inch thick sections of tuna.
For sashimi, cut the widest, but still 1/8 inch thick sections of tuna.

Maki: open up your nori, shiny side up. Spread enough rice on the nori to enclose the tuna and other fillings. Season your raw tuna in your pre-made mixture. Place a single thickness (depending on the length of your tuna you may need to trim to fit or use multiple square cylinders) of seasoned tuna along the rice, with a small sprinkling of shallots, some bean sprouts parallel to the tuna, and some red pepper flakes if you want. Roll. Repeat. Cut. Put on a plate with optional condiments. Enjoy.

Nigiri: Don't use nori. Form some thumb-sized cylinders of rice. You can place a small dab of wasabi on the rice and then place the seasoned tuna strip on top, or just place the tuna on top. Repeat until all tuna or rice is used up. Put on a plate with optional condiments. Enjoy.

Sashimi: season the tuna, and then place on a plate. Have some rice with it. Put on a plate with optional condiments. Enjoy.

This serves about 1 Yeti that likes sushi, or 2-4 as an appetizer, or 2 humans that are hungry, or so. It depends on how many pieces you make and how much the individuals like sushi. Watch out for the snowdogs though. They like fish.

General Sun Tzu's Chicken or NotChicken. He flanked Tso with the help of Sun Pin.

I made some General's Tofu, or if it was chicken, jeung bau gei kau the other day. It wasn't chicken as my Yeti wife does not eat the fowl nor the flesh, except for fishes and other sea-sonal things. I did some research, or rather searches on Google which substitutes for research for the lazy, into what is typically called General Tso (or other spelling variants such as Zuo) chicken dishes, and I didn't like what I saw. My favorite version of this Americanized Hunan dish had exhibited citrus floral scents, had that unami element that is often missing, and was not sickly sweet with too much sugar. It was also fairly spicy and flecked with lightly toasted sesame seeds. I tried to reproduce that and it was fairly successful.

Purists may think that this is just a version of orange chicken, but that traditionally has preserved orange peel, is based on a chili sauce, and is not sweet. This was one of the few experiments that I tried when the Yeti wife was home instead of trying it out by myself first and then reproducing a more successful version later.

Technique:
First prep the sauce ingredients but do not cook or add to the wok. Then prep and cook the chicken or tofu. I recommend using 12-16 ounces of protein for the amount of sauce this makes. Reserve the chicken or tofu, prepare the sauce, and toss the cooked protein in the finished sauce. I love to serve this with crisp, steamed vegetables tossed with lemon juice and a pinch of salt such as broccoli, asparagus, green beans, or sliced root vegetables.

General Tzu's flanking manuver sauce
Mix thoroughly in a bowl:
1 tablespoon hoisin
juice of 2 large oranges or about 1/4 cup of good orange juice
1 large or 2 small garlic cloves, crushed or minced
1 tablespoon soy sauce or, preferably, tamari
1 teaspoon fresh chopped ginger or ginger powder
1 teaspoon water
1/4 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
(optional if want additional heat) a few dashes of vinegar-based hot sauce, such as Tabasco or Durkee

have handy, but not mixed together:
about 4-6 dried pepper pods or fresh Thai chilies
1 heaping teaspoon of sesame seeds
2 teaspoons of canola oil or peanut oil
1 green onion or scallion, diced pretty thin (optional)
1 teaspoon of corn starch slurried in about 1/4 cup of cold water

Get everything else ready as once the sauce is cooked the dish is basically finished:
Cook some rice. I recommend my sushi rice or jasmine rice (earlier posting). Prep and have your veggies cooked and ready.
Cook your chicken or tofu as you like. I like to cut the protein into small pieces and then lightly bread the pieces and shallow-fry until golden brown.
Set the cooked protein off to the side until sauce is ready.

Add the canola oil and pepper pods to your wok over medium high heat. Allow the pods to flavor the oil. This takes only a few minutes. If you want spicier General Tzu, leave the peppers in at this point. If you want milder Tzu, take the peppers out or don't use them at all. Add the sesame seeds, but be careful as they will start to pop and dance and may exit the wok at a good velocity. As soon as you hear the first few pops, add your hoisin mixture and stir through. Bring this mixture to a boil and slowly add a few dribbles of the corn starch slurry until just before your desired thickness. Stop adding the slurry early (you may need to add a touch of plain water if you get a bit thicker than desired) as adding the protein back in usually causes the sauce to thicken a little more.

Toss your chicken or tofu into the sauce, stir through, and serve over rice. See, wasn't that easy? And it's better than those sugar-and-vinegar sauces you'd normally see Tso eating. Sun Tzu and Sun Pin pity poor Tso T'sung-T'ang's complexity-free and not as good chickeny concoction!

Serves about 2 Yetis, or 4 people with the veggies included, or 2 people with nice and well-microwaved leftovers for lunch the next day.