Monday's Meal: Pacific Rim Sushi & Yakitori Lounge

Benny Leung talks about the restaurant and its offerings while sushi chef Mark makes some of its specialties.

Recipes for sushi and yakitori are as follows:

Sushi

Prepare a 3-4 serving of white rice. Set aside. Select one of each of your favorite vegetables.

To assemble rolls:

Place the sushi mat with the slats running crosswise directly in front of you on a clean work space. Lay a sheet of nori shiny-side down and lined up with the closest edge of the mat. Lightly moisten fingers with water, and evenly press about 1/4 of the rice onto the nori, with 1 1/2-inches uncovered at the far edge. Line up the fillings about 1-inch from the closest near edge, evenly across the rice. Leave 1-inch of rice uncovered at the far edge.

Beginning with the near edge of the mat, tightly roll up the nori, rice, and fillings into a cylinder. Firmly tug on the rounded mat over the roll as you pull on the far edge of the mat to tighten the roll. Open the mat, dab unsealed edge of nori with a bit of water and roll the sushi forward to seal. Transfer the sushi to a plate and cover with damp paper towels. Repeat with remaining rice and fillings.

Cut each sushi roll, crosswise, into 8 pieces with a sharp wet knife.

Serve with bowl of soy sauce for dipping.

Yakitori Sauce

½ cup soy sauce

¼ cup sugar

½ cup mirin (sweet Japanese cooking wine)

¼ cup sake

1 whole garlic crushed

2 slices fresh ginger

2 table spoons water

1 table spoon cornstarch

Cooked meat or fish of your choice

Method

Heat all the mixed ingredients in med heat for about 5 minutes, then let it cool down. Dip the skewer of meat or fish into the yakitori sauce, then put back on grill for 30 seconds (fish) 2.5 min (beef) each side, season with salt and pepper