Eight gloved hands pull gobs of sticky
rice from a container on the center of the table.
“It should be about the size of a
baseball,” Grace Chiang says, “But don’t pack it!”
She uses her loosely formed rice ball
to pick up a piece of nori and slams in on a saran-wrapped bamboo mat, spreading
the rice in a uniform layer. She makes sure grains are pressed just off the edge
of the rectangle of nori so they will stick and form a cohesive seam when
rolled.
Last
week, over 25 students squeezed around the island in the Arcus Center’s sleek
kitchen to make sushi. Mina Chaing and Grace Yang, sisters-in-law and owners of
Hunan Gardens, demonstrated the steps of the process from slicing the cucumbers
to sprinkling toasted sesame seeds over the finished roll. Each participant assembled
their own, customizing with spicy tuna, crab, or a heap of avocado.
Students
proudly garnished their creations with ginger and wasabi (or what we think of
as wasabi. In fact, most of the wasabi eaten outside of Japan is actually a mixture
of horseradish, mustard and food coloring, which is, of course, cheaper to
produce).
“There
were so many people from different backgrounds [in the class],” senior Hang
Nguyen said as she tucked in with chopsticks. “And I liked that we made a not
American dish.”
Hunan
Gardens, locations on West Main and Texas Corners, features Chinese, Thai and
Taiwanese cuisine. The Chaing family, originally from Taiwan, moved to
Kalamazoo from New York City in 1991 and started the restaurant in 1992.
Last
year, Dining Services started purchasing sushi from the restaurant for the
Richardson Room café. Grace Yang, and Jim and Mina Chiang
donated their time and ingredients for Monday night’s class.
The class was organized by staff at
Dining Services (full disclosure: myself included) as the first of a potential
series to be hosted in the Center’s space this quarter. In addition to bringing
more local restaurant owners and chefs to campus, we hope to support student
instructors as well.
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