Japanese cuisine has long been almost everyday for many. Some people cannot imagine a day without at least one meal in the style of the Land of the Rising Sun. However, even if you are not a fan of this cooking, but at the same time love spicy and spicy, you have probably come across Japanese seasonings and know what wasabi is.
Our seasoning ideas
As in many exotic terms, there are many misconceptions. For some reason, the question "what is wasabi" is customary to answer: Japanese green horseradish. Maybe this is how our sense of humor affects, maybe people are sincerely mistaken. In any case, the authentic plant from which this very sharp seasoning is made, from the point of view of botany, belongs to the cabbage family. At the same time, it is used in the homeland as widely as our mustard, and has a really poisonous green color. A distinctive property of the plant is that it grows exclusively in Japan.
Where does the real wasabi come from? Cultivation Attempts
At the source location, the main disadvantage of the seasoning is. In climatic preferences, the plant is very whimsical: the temperature should not fall below + 10 and exceed +17 degrees Celsius. At the same time, the land is supposed to be extremely wet, but not because of regular precipitation (as an option - watering), but thanks to the mountain springs. Result: the resulting spice is so expensive that it can be widely used in its natural form only at home.
Knowing what wasabi is and how much this plant is inaccessible, Japanese cooking lovers made repeated attempts to grow it in a greenhouse. Carefully observing the temperature regime and lovingly caring for the plants, they achieve very good results - and at the same time the seasoning is much cheaper. However, gardeners, of course, cannot provide spring water supply from the mountains. This is probably why gourmets who know exactly what wasabi say that the cultivated plant does not fully correspond to the taste of the original.
What do restaurants offer?
What comes with sushi and rolls in Japanese restaurants, eateries and cafes in Russia is a faint resemblance to this seasoning. It is made from a composition that includes wasabi powder (a wasabi daikon goes on it) and a poisonous green dye. In cases where a mild flavor is required, mustard is added, oddly enough, to the mixture. The seasoning obtained in this way is very close to wasabi, but for a person who has not tried it in the original.
What can you do yourself?
Understanding what wasabi is, it is easy to conclude that this seasoning can be done at home. This solution is especially pleasant for those who have already adapted to prepare sushi in their kitchen and found them to be tastier than those served in a nearby Japanese restaurant. All the more pleasant, the wasabi recipe is by no means complicated, and the only possible difficulty is to buy its powder. And high quality! It is desirable that in addition to the crushed root of the mentioned plant, cornmeal and dry mustard, it does not include too many additional ingredients.
The dishes intended for the preparation of the sauce should be small and, preferably, transparent - this will turn out to follow the density of the stirred mass. Pour the wasabi powder into the container a little bit - a large amount will not work right away anyway. Water (pure, without gas, preferably boiled) is added dropwise, and the mixture is constantly mixed. Usually the ratio of powder: water is 2: 3, but if the wasabi is wet, less fluid is needed. When the seasoning texture resembles soft plastic clay, there is already enough water. Overdo it - the seasoning will be too liquid, you will have to add the powder, the wasabi will remain "for later", and it is delicious just freshly prepared.