We Make the Top 10 Wiki Ezvid Best Box Graters

The Asian Slice box grater as made the list of the top 10 best box graters. Coming in at #7.

We are proud to be a part of this list. The writers at wiki.ezvid.com/best-box-graters have spent 21 hours of research putting together this list. It features box graters from several top brands all selling on amazon.

There is one issue though that I would like to address.

The review that Wiki Ezvid has provided says that our grater is “awkward to use over a plate”

I am committed to making the absolute best grater and would love it if you could provide some feedback for me.

How can I make the grater not be awkward to use over a plate?

Is the rubber sealing on the bottom not strong enough?

Please respond in the comments with your feedback. I would really appreciate it.

Best Oyster Shucking Knife and Guide to Shucking

What's Covered in this Article

Best Oyster Shucking Knife and Guide to Shucking

We have been eating lots of oysters lately. My family loves them. I am a sea food fan but I really am kind of lazy when it comes to eating. My favorite foods are usually those that I can shovel on to a spoon and eat all of it. Or, like kimbap, I can just grab with some chopsticks and eat. That rules out most sea food, at least in Korea. Most of the sea food here is prepared and served fresh and with all the bones in.

So when it comes to oysters, I like to just eat them raw straight out of the shell. But that means that someone has to open those shells. So I decided to research that process and find out exactly how it is done. Here I have documented everything I’ve learned about shucking oysters. I explain the best oyster shucking method and the best knife to use.

Wanna Go Ahead and Buy the Best Knife:

3. The Wusthof 4281 Oyster Knife

Click to See Price

About the Oyster

First of all lets take a look at the oyster. If you look at it closely there is a kind of flat side and a more round side. The round side is the bottom. That is where the oyster is and the oyster liquor are hanging out. The oyster is connected to the top and bottom shell.

We live close by the ocean here and get fresh oyster pretty easily. But you want to make sure that an oyster is fresh. There are a few ways of doing this:

Use your nose – you know how bad dead fish smell and you can quickly smell a dead oyster the same way. But a good oyster will have that sea water smell to it, it is a much more fresh smell
Observe the shell – if the shell has been broken then the oyster is probably dead so make sure that the shell is fully intact
Tap it – if you tap the oyster shell it should close itself a little tighter also if it sounds hollow when you tap it then throw it away
Take a look at the oyster – after you open the oyster and it looks all dried then its bad. toss it.

Shucking the shuck

When I first heard the word shuck, I was a little confused but according to the online dictionary shuck in noun form is the shell of an oyster or clam and shuck the verb means to remove the shuck from. I love how in English we can make nouns into verbs very easily. So remember that shuck can be the shell of either an oyster or a clam and to shuck is the process of shucking the shuck from the oyster or clam. 🙂

How to Open an Oyster (Shucking an Oyster)

To prepare you will need to first wash the oyster shells a bit. This is good to get the dirt and excess shell cleaned off. This is especially important if you want to eat or serve the oysters in the shell.

There are a few different processes to actually opening the shell and some people really take their shucking technique serious but I am going to show you the easiest method I know of.

Another good word with oysters is oyster liquor. This is that salt watery liquid that the oyster is living in that is inside the shell. It can be used or discarded.

The tools you will need for this activity are:

A pair or sturdy hands
Shucking Knife (I review a few of these below)
Epica Cut Resistant Gloves with CE Level 5 Protection (Amazon Link)– These and only these gloves will work, just kidding, but really you need any cut resistant gloves to be safe
A thick towel that you don’t mind getting a little muddy

Before step 1 – put on your cut resistant gloves.

Step 1 – fold over your towel once to create a nice padded surface (hot dog fold). Lay your oyster shell down with the curvy side down.

Step 2 – find the back of the oyster where there should be a little lip where the bottom shell sticks out slightly and the top shell curves in to form a little hinge. This part of the shell is a little more narrow than the other flatter side.

Step 3 – fold over part of the towel so it is covering the front side of the shell (not the hinge part) and hold it in place with one hand.

Step 4 – tilt the oyster back with the opposite hand so that the hinge is facing upward. Insert the tip of the oyster knife into the oyster hinge and wiggle it in while applying a little pressure. Be careful not to jam it in too far.

Step 5 – once the knife is in about a quarter of an inch and kind of stiff then turn the knife away from you (twisting your knuckles down) and you should pop it open. This might make a little pop noise and you will be able to feel it.

Step 6 – take your shucking knife back out and insert it horizontally scraping the bottom of the top shell to cut the oyster muscle. Then remove the top shell.

Step 7 – there may be a little mud or left over shell crumbs on the side of the bottom oyster, wipe those off gently

Step 8 – with your shucking knife again run the blade under the bottom of the oyster to cut it from the bottom shell

Step 9 – now depending on which recipe you want to use, you can take the oyster out or leave it in with the oyster liquor (oyster fluid)

The Best Oyster Shucking Knife

Now that you know the process you are probably wondering which oyster shucker to buy. The oyster shucking knife is not like other knives in that it is not sharp. According to the process that we just discussed to actually open the oyster shell, the only time it is used to cut is the very weak and floppy oyster muscle that is attached to the shell. So when looking for an oyster knife remember that the sharpness is not a factor.

But what is a factor…

An oyster knife should be pointy, thin, wide, and sturdy. The other parts of the knife depend on your preference. A good oyster shucker should be thin and wide because you want that flat leverage when you pry open the oyster hinge. If it is too thick then you won’t be able to wedge it into the hinge. [what was the knife i used in the pictures above?]

The best on Amazon:

1. The Victorinox 2 3/4 Inch Hook tip

This knife is sturdy and has a great grip. The red color handle is comfortable and feels strong. The price is reasonable and amazon customers seem to really love it. Victorinox has a few good products that I like.

Pros of this knife

The good thing about this knife is that is has a really good tip. From the shucking process we discussed earlier, you can see that the tip is very important. Also the small overall size and good grip make this an easy and portable option.

Cons of this knife

Might not be quite strong enough for bulk usage. I would recommend this knife for personal use on normal sized oysters. But if you want to tackle bulk with large oysters then you might want to find a stronger oyster knife.

2. The Oyster Knife by HiCoup

This is a really pretty knife. The quality is good and it feels nice. This is a good knife if you are looking for a groomsman gift.

Pros of this shucker

The best thing about this knife is the quality and the look. It is very strong and sturdy. The wooden handle design and curve are very comfortable. When I think of a good knife for shucking, I think of this one. The price is also reasonable.

Cons of this shucking knife

The only bad thing about this knife is that it is a little thick compared to the other ones. If you are opening small oysters then the blade might not fit into the hinge.

3. The Wusthof 4281 Oyster Knife

This guy is a beast. It is German made with a fat and short blade. It is very strong and good for all types of oyster shells. The best oyster shucker out there.

Pros of this one

This is a great overall oyster knife. The handle is strong and sturdy, the blade is short and wide. It is easy to get into large and small sized oysters with this knife.

Cons of this knife

The price. In my opinion it is over priced. But if you want a quality oyster knife that you don’t have to worry about breaking and having to return, then it could be worth it for you.

A Few Oyster Recipes

So now that you have your tools and your technique all done, what do you do? Eat the oysters ofcoarse. Oysters are delicious. They have a great fresh ocean taste. I don’t really like the really sea-foody-fishy foods that some fish have, but that’s not the case with oysters. Here are a few delicious sauces to try together with your oysters:

1 Cucumber Mignonette Sauce:

1 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 shallot finely chopped
1-inch piece fresh ginger peeled and chopped
1/2 cucumber, peeled and finely chopped
2 pinches of ground black pepper
1 chili pepper finely chopped

Combine ingredients together in a bowl, mix slightly and refrigerate for one hour.

2 Tabasco Cocktail Sauce

1/2 cup chili sauce
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Juice from one lemon squeezed
4 drops Tabasco
tiny splash of Worcestershire Sauce
2 minced garlic cloves

Just combine all these ingredients in one bowl mix and cover. It is best to let it sit for at least an hour, preferably in the fridge.

3 Our Quick Chogochujang Recipe

We make this by combining soysauce with a little vinegar and gochujang (red pepper paste). This is a type of chogojujang sauce. I really like this one the best. But to be honest I don’t eat this with every oyster. I usually like to do every other oyster or even every third oyster. I like to get the oyster taste flavor and then a little bit of this hot sauce. Warning this sauce might be spicy for you so be sure to test just a little first.

Conclusion

The world of wonderful oysters is now at your fingertips. We have covered a little about oyster anatomy, how to open oysters, the tools you will need to get the job done, as well as a few ways to prepare them. So now what should you do? Well first I recommend buying one of those oyster shucking knives on amazon. If you already have then tell me in the comments which one you bought or what you think is the best one.

Then try these recipes and let me know how they add to the oyster flavor for you. Have a wonderful time eating your oysters. I know I had a great time learning and writing about them and eating them.

Amazon Link Disclaimer – I make a commission from Amazon if you buy something after clicking on the links on this page

Can You Freeze Cooked Rice…?

Can You Freeze Cooked Rice?

Yes, You can freeze cooked rice. We do it all the time at our house. My wife found this out from her sister I believe. But anyway we have been doing it for a long time.

It is really easy. First you need to cook your rice. We always add some black rice and a few beans to make it a little more exciting. Then, when you have eaten all you will eat, simply put the rest of it in a zip-loc bag.

Freezing Rice Process

Then put your bag in the freezer. We usually set it out for a bit until it is not so hot anymore. This is more for making sure that our freezer doesn’t have to do too much work.

I am not sure how long you can keep rice in the freezer but we have kept it for a few days up to a week. We eat rice every day so this is not a big deal for us, but if you want to know longer term… according to stiltasty.com:

COOKED RICE

How long does rice last once it is cooked? The shelf life for cooked rice — all varieties, including white, wild, jasmine, basmati, Arborio, brown — is as follows:

• Refrigerator: 4 to 6 days

• Freezer: 6 months (best quality only — foods kept constantly frozen at 0° F will keep safe indefinitely)

So that is a pretty long time.

Thawing Rice Process

Now that your rice is nice and frozen, what about when you are ready to eat it again? Well that’s simple. Simply take your ziploc bag out of the freezer and throw the whole thing in the microwave. I usually open it up a bit just to get some air flowing.

This is a lot easier than taking the frozen rice out and putting it in a bowl. I don’t do defrost on the microwave, just normal high setting. I am usually doing 1/2 quart sized bags that are about 3/4 the way full. And this takes about 4 minutes to thaw on high.

If you are worried about microwaving ziploc bags then you can take your rice out and put it in a bowl, but I have never done that so let me know if that turns out alright. Plus, quora says it’s fine.

Enjoy your rice!

More Resources:

TheKitchn – Freezing Cooked Brown Rice

BudgetBytes – How to Freeze Rice

FoodieWithFamily – How and Why to Freeze Cooked Rice

A Chicken Caldereta Recipe

Chicken Caldereta is wonderful. It is a Filipino dish. The word Caldereta itself actually means “stew” in Spanish. This is kind of a chicken stew dish. I thought a chicken caldereta recipe would be a good change up from the other dishes I have been writing about.

I love stew. I remember when I was a kid sometimes when people would ask me my favorite food I would say stew or soup. At first I did it just to be different because it seemed like everyone else was saying pizza or hamburgers, but the truth was I really did like soup.

I also love chicken. It seems to creep up into the menu at our house pretty much every week.

Chicken Caldereta is also often spelled Kaldereta or in the native language kalderetang manok. This dish is usually made with lamb meat or beef. The broth is mostly tomato based. Besides meat, the next prominent ingredients are potatoes and carrots (like a true stew).

Chicken Caldereta Recipe (adapted from sampateek.com)

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean chicken breast, cut into chunks

1 Tbsp. peanut butter

1 medium onion, sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium tomatoes, sliced

1 medium carrot, cubed

1 medium potato, cubed

1 medium green bell pepper, cut into strips

½ cup tomato sauce

1 cup of water

3 hot peppers

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

½ cup cheddar cheese, grated using the Asian Slice Cheese Grater 🙂

Cooking Method:

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute garlic and onions until onion becomes translucent.
Add the chicken, carrot, potato, tomato sauce, peanut butter, and water. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Add bell pepper and hot peppers, and half of the cheese. Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
Transfer in a serving dish and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Serve

Black Friday Deal

Black Friday at the Asian Slice

Our famous Box Grater is on sale!

Here’s your code: TAS25OFF

(the reason its 25OFF is because I was going to do 25% off but decided 29% would be better… your welcome:)

How to claim

FIRST click this link to head over to the cheese grater page on amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Kitchen-Shredder-Parmesan-Vegetables/dp/B013SBG2TU

NEXT click to purchase and continue till you get to the checkout page.

FINALLY enter the code above into the promotion code box:

AND hit “Apply” then the total will update

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Chef’s Guide to Knives

I just saw this infographic over at visual.ly and thought it was pretty cool.
Not a lot of people are talking about knife techniques. I just launched a new ceramic knife so check out the graphic below and go buy the ceramic knife to peel, slice, or julienne some veggies.

Hone Your Chops Chef’s Guide to Knives

by ShannonLattin.

From Visually.

Authentic Pani Puri Recipe

What is Pani Puri?

What's Covered in this Article

What is Pani Puri?
The Basic Process
Pani Puri Recipe Ingredients
Method
Useful tips

Pani puri is a delicious Indian street snack. They are delightful, little, round, and hollow crispy puris. The puris are stuffed with a mashed potato mixture and then filled with spiced pani.

This pani puri recipe is my favorite snack and I enjoy making them at home with my family. Mastering the art of making perfect puri takes time. We prepare the puris in batches and store them in an airtight container to be used as and when required.

Pani is the Hindi term for water. Panipuri is also referred to as gol gappa, fuchka and gup chup in various parts of India.

Masala is the Hindi word for spice. Pani Puri Masala is simply adding the correct mixture of spices to the recipe. These spices are difficult to make and would require a whole new article but this one on amazon is pretty good.

The Basic Process

Puri is prepared from dough made of semolina and all-purpose flour. The dough is then rolled into small size puris which when deep fried in oil puff up into round hollow crispy puris. The potato stuffing is a mixture of coarsely mashed boiled potatoes mixed with dry spices, chopped coriander leaves, and onions.

Boiled chickpeas and sprouts are also sometimes added to the pani puri recipe stuffing mixture. Ground herbs and powdered spices are mixed with water to prepare pani.

Pani Puri Recipe Ingredients

The Pani part

½ cup of fine semolina

3 tbsp baking soda

½ tbsp all purpose flour

Salt to taste

For potato stuffing

3 medium size boiled potatoes, peeled and roughly mashed with a fork

½ cup coriander leaves

1 tsp chaat masala powder

1 tsp roasted cumin powder

½ tsp coriander powder

½ cup finely chopped onions

Salt to taste

For pani puri water recipe

1 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves

¾ cup chopped fresh mint leaves

2 tbsp tamarind pulp

1 inch ginger, peeled

1 to 2 green chilies

2-3 cups water

1 tsp Himalayan pink salt

1 tbsp chaat masala powder

1 tsp roasted cumin powder

Salt to taste

Other ingredients

Oil for frying puri

Method

In a bowl combine the ingredients mentioned under puri. Pour enough water and gently knead the ingredients to make a semi-stiff pliable dough. Cover the dough with a damp muslin cloth and allow to rest for 15 minutes
Roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch thickness. Use a 3-inch diameter cookie cutter to shape out small size puris from the rolled dough. Cover the puris with a damp muslin cloth to rest for 5 minutes
Pour oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry single puri at a time by gently pressing the puri with a spoon till it puffs up. Store the fried puris in an air tight container
To make potato stuffing mixture, combine mashed potatoes with the dry spices and season with salt
To make pani, blend coriander leaves, mint leaves, tamarind pulp, ginger and green chilies in a blender. Transfer the prepared paste in a bowl and pour 2 cups of water. Stir in the dry spices and season with salt. Feel free to add more water if required, adjust the spices and seasoning as per taste
To enjoy panipuri, gently crack the top portion of a puri with your thumb to make a small hole for stuffing. Stuff in potatoes, dip puri in spiced water to fill it with water and enjoy pani poori immediately

Useful tips

Puris can be made in advance and stored in an air tight container.
Feel free to add tomato ketchup or hot sauce to stuffed puri based on your personal taste.
Puris stuffed and filled with spiced water are to be consumed immediately, else the puris turn soggy.

You can use store-bought or homemade tamarind pulp. To make tamarind pulp, place ¼ cup tamarind with ¼ cup water in a bowl and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Allow the mixture to stand for 5 minutes. Place a sieve on a bowl and pass the mixture through the sieve to collect tamarind pulp in the bowl.

Kimbap for Lunch Today

Today we decided to make kimbap.

I ate kimbap growing up but really started liking it recently. It is very common in Korea. We eat it at least a couple times a month. It’s pretty quick to make and very easy to buy. There are kimbap joints all over Korea and it is my preferred lunch when I eat out by myself.

The word kimbap is actually two Korean words. Kim (김) is the word for the black dried seaweed that is pressed into sheets. Bap (밥) is the word for rice. So essentially kimbap is just dried seaweed and rice. But it is much more common to put a bunch more stuff in the middle.

Kimbap, the Rice Sandwich

What's Covered in this Article

Kimbap, the Rice Sandwich
Kimbap Recipe
Ingredients:
Process

I think of it like a Korean rice sandwich. Generally in the States a sandwich will have some kind of meat in it along with two pieces of bread. But it could also have cheese, pickles, lettuce, or it can be just peanut butter and jelly.

If you go out to eat kimbap in Korea they usually have a regular kimbap and then some kinds of special kimbap. But there are also some gourmet kimbap places around. My favorite is tuna kimbap. That’s the canned tuna not the raw tuna. It usually has sesame seed leaves and mayonnaise in it.

Today we are going to make a type of regular kimbap. I will try to link to some amazon products for the recipe ingredients that you can find there. I will get a small commission if you click on the amazon links and buy something.

Kimbap Recipe

Ingredients:

Kim (dried seaweed)

Rice cooked – short grain

Eggs

Carrots

Spinach

Korean Fish Cake – I wasn’t able to find this on Amazon, but you can find it at your local Korean market

Danmuji – yellow pickled radish

Extra Ingredients:

Soy sauce

Sesame seeds

Sesame seed oil

Vegetable oil

Salt

Process

First you want to prepare all the ingredients. Cook the rice in a rice cooker or pot but put a little less water than normal to make the rice slightly harder. Once the rice is done then mix with a little sesame oil.

Fry the eggs with oil and a little salt to make omelets. Then cut them into little strips. Next fry the carrots until they are a little tender and cut them into strips. Fry the fishcake squares with a little soy sauce and salt, then cut them into strips.

Finally boil the spinach and drain. Then add a little sesame seed oil, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and mix with a bit of salt. Also you will need to cut the danmuji into little strips.

Now that you have all your ingredients ready you can start to make the kimbap.

Spread some rice over a sheet of dried seaweed.

Make sure to leave about an inch of space on one side.

Now, add all your ingredients in the middle.

Then roll it up. This part is a little difficult. It took me many tries to get it right. My mom is an expert but she said it is difficult to explain. Actually that has been kind of a common theme as I was growing up. Mom was always much better at showing than explaining. Also kind of a common Korean mom thing I think.

I found a video that will help you with this process.

Then you want to cut the roll into nice little pieces.

Now you are all done and can enjoy your kimbap.

Thanks for making this for me today, Mom.

Making Kimchi in Korea

Kimchi is wonderful. I ate it growing up but started liking it only recently. It is similar to a spicy food addiction. Its hard to explain but I crave it all the time. Making kimchi is not something I ever really imagined myself doing, I always saw older ladies in Korea making it.

Kimchi is a “traditional Korean fermented side dish”… which means that it is served with the main dish (rice).

Today I made some kimchi with several friends. It turned out to be quite fun. This is not really meant to be a recipe for making kimchi because I didn’t get all the ingredients from my friends who were showing us how to make it. They kept saying that each ingredient was homemade or home grown and difficult to find.

Instead of trying to track down all the ingredients, I just took pictures of the kimchi making process.

If you want to try and make this on your own, the kitchn does a good job of explaining it.

I should also mention that we are making southern Korean style lettuce kimchi. There are a ton of different types.

Making Kimchi Gallery

This was some kind of lettuce leaf. They told me what it was in Korean but I can’t remember (help anyone?)

These were lettuce heads. The main item for the kind of Kimchi we were making. These were grown right here in Korea

Here we have some good taste kickers for the Kimchi, some shredded pears (korean pears ofcoarse), a bit of shredded ginger (smells great), and also shredded garlic

This was one of the more difficult parts of the process (I didn’t do it) We had to stir all the ingredients together with some kind of rice that was boiled and prepared beforehand. Lots of stiring

Then we took the lettuce heads and applied the sauce to it. Seems easy enough but can be tough

Here’s how one of my friends started his lettuce head. Just plop a bit of kimchi sauce on it and the start to rub it down

New fresh kimchi in the container. This stuff will be prime for eating soon. I like eating fresh kimchi but waiting for it to marinate a bit is also quite tasty

Cucumber Sushi with Crab Meat

Mom has always been a great cook. I’m not sure how she got this skill. I never knew my grandparents but I have never heard anything about their cooking.

Growing up in Korea she learned a lot from the various relatives she lived with. When I asked her if she learned cooking skills from them she said “Things were so different back then. They cooked a huge amount and in big pots. I don’t think I could even do it again if I did remember”

I’m thinking that some of that wore off. Or it is just skills picked up through the process of learning as she raised three kids.

Recently Mom moved in with my wife and I. It was a big deal for us because we live in Korea. Mom hadn’t been back here to live in a long time. But it is working out great. She helps my wife and I with taking care of our kids. Also she cooks for us!

Today she made this:

Even if you are not a fan of sushi this dish looks great. It has no raw fish. You can use shredded imitation crab or even canned tuna

My wife loves to invite her friends over to our house. They all love this dish.

It looks great. It tastes great. So I am going to ask her how she made it, takes some pictures and help you make it too.

Ingredients:

a long thin cucumber
a bit of wasabi
cherry tomatoes
an onion
imitation crab meat
mayonnaise

She also used a little bit of plumb extract or a freshly squeezed lemon (not shown in the pictures because we didn’t have any today) for extra flavor.

Steps:

Chop up the onion
Mix it in a bowl with the wasabi, imitation crab meat, and mayonnaise *add lemon flavor here too
Mix this up really well with your hands
With a potato peeler, scrape some thin slices of the cucumber
Roll it around with your hand and set it up on a plate
Fill it with the onion/crab meat mixture
Slice the cherry tomatoes to top it off

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