When you think sushi, you think raw fish topped with Asian fusion ingredients. Sushi chefs have been experimenting with different ingredients for years to upgrade the sushi variety and make it more attractive to diners around the world.
In Saudi Arabia, raw is not an attraction to local diners. They are constantly on the hunt for crispy and spicy rolls. Ocean Basket, the seafood restaurant in Jeddah offers a number of creative recipes for those adventurous diners who are looking for an innovative taste.
The South African restaurant invited Chef Pepe all the way from Greece to upgrade their menu with a Mediterranean twist. This franchised restaurant has over 201 restaurants in 16 countries around the globe, all of them share the same menu and will be sharing the same MediterrAsian sushi dishes.
We met with Chef Pepe for a quick tasting of the new menu and were pleasantly surprised with the explosion of flavors it offers. The fusion of two familiar tastes — classic Mediterranean and classic Asian — to make their own MediterrAsian dishes was a unique experience.
Chef Pepe has over 15 years of experience and has bagged the title of Sushi World Cup Champion, World’s Most Creative Chef 2014. He is a member of World Sushi Skill and All Japan Sushi Association, and is a certified westerner to get Kuro Obi, he also assisted Kazato San with sushi for the Japanese embassy in Copenhagen.
“I was looking to come up with something different yet attractive. The trick was to create a sushi menu that matches different tastes all around the world,” he said.
The sushi dishes below are now available at all Ocean Basket outlets around the world:
• Tamara Gunkan: A boat-shaped sushi with rice, wrapped in zucchini, topped with tarama and fried calamari.
• Kypro Prawn Roll: A futomaki with rice, fresh prawn, lettuce and soy oregano sauce.
• Lemon Salmon Roll: A California roll-style sushi with rice, fresh salmon and zesty lemon mayo.
• Crunchy Athena Roll: A California roll-style sushi with rice, prawn and pickled red onion.
• Salmon Tomato Roll: A California roll-style sushi with rice, fresh salmon, basil leaves, onion and tomato.
• Wasabi Prawn: A boat-shaped sushi with rice, fresh prawn and wasabi mayo.
• Calamari Gunkan: A boat-shaped sushi with rice wrapped in zucchini, topped with tzatziki and fried calamari.
“I have initially created 25 recipes, but after close observation and constant tasting and reviewing, only the above mentioned were chosen as the top and best combined tastes of the Mediterranean and Asian cuisines,” said Chef Pepe.
Below are some of the recipes that Chef Pepe created for Ocean Basket:
Calamari Gunkan (Three pieces)
5 g calamari deep fried
5 g sliced zucchini/ baby marrow
2 g tzatziki
2 g spring onion
15 g rice
Method:
Shape a rice ball.
Wrap zucchini silver around it.
Spoon tzatziki on rice.
Top with fried calamari head.
Garnish with chopped spring onion.
Hot tip:
• The calamari should be deep fried per order.
• Calamari should be crispy.
• Control the amount of tzatziki you add. The tzatziki shouldn’t take over the flavor.
• If the zucchini slices become too dry to work with, to help soften them, you can place them in the carrot vinegar mix for a short time (no more than 1 hour).
Crunchy Athena Roll (8 pieces)
35 g prawn mix
10 g red onion pickles
15 g avocado
120 g rice
1 nori sheet
Top with tempura flakes
Prawn mix
100 g steamed prawn
10 g mayonnaise
Lemon zest from 1 lemon
Juice from ½ lemon
Red onion pickles (Sushi Zu)
1 liter rice vinegar
1 kg sugar
Method:
Make California roll with prawn mix, avocado and pickled red onion. Top with tempura flakes.
Hot tip:
• Prepare the crunchy tempura flakes.
• Be careful not to zest the bitter lemon part of the skin (the white part). Only zest the yellow part.
• Thinly slice the red onion before pickling.
At newly opened Jeddah restaurant, sushi gets a Mediterranean twist
At newly opened Jeddah restaurant, sushi gets a Mediterranean twist
Chef serves up a taste of Spain at Ithra Cultural Days in Saudi Arabia
DHAHRAN: Among the attractions of the Ithra Cultural Days: Spain at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), visitors can try a tantalizing selection of Spanish foods — none more renowned than its famous paella.
Arab News spoke with chef Jose Zafra at the event, which runs until Jan. 31, who flew in from Spain to offer a taste of his homeland to the people of Saudi Arabia.
A “master rice cook, paella researcher and promoter,” according to his business card, his logo is even designed around the recognizable cooking pan and the phrase “Pasion por la paella,” or “Passion for paella.”
“That's why the pan is round because people get around and eat all together — to share culture and passion and life,” Zafra told Arab News as foodies lined up behind him, eager to try a plateful.
“It’s not just a food. It’s a link, a connection. Paella is the symbol of unity and sharing. And people now are going to try it — authentic Spanish paella in Saudi Arabia.”
The word “paella” comes from the Latin “patella,” meaning pan.
In Spanish, it refers both to the rice dish itself and the pan in which it is cooked.
Paella was introduced to Spain during Moorish rule. It originated in Valencia, on the country’s eastern coast, as a rural peasant dish that was cooked by farm workers over open fires using local ingredients. Over time, the dish’s popularity spread and other versions evolved, for example featuring seafood and meat.
It is different to Saudi Arabia’s kabsa, a communal dish which similarly uses rice and meat. Kabsa is cooked in a deep pot to ensure the rice stays soft and aromatic from the meaty broth, whereas paella uses a wide, shallow pan to fully absorb flavors evenly, often creating a prized crispy layer at the bottom.
Visitors to Ithra’s Culture Days can enjoy the flavors of Spain made with a sprinkling of local love — true to the origins of the dish.
Find the scoops of Spanish joy near the food truck area and try chicken paella, seafood paella —or both! You will see the signs offering a plate, at SR35 ($9) for chicken and SR40 for seafood, or let your nose lead you there.
Zafra concluded: “The chicken is from here, the seafood is from here — and the passion, well, that is from Spain.”
