Chicken Hearts

Posted February 1st, 2017 in Food | No Comments »

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While I was in Japan I used to eat many parts of chicken including hearts, liver, and gizzards, especially at yakiniku and yakitori restaurants.  I love chicken hearts and gizzards as they have texture when biting.  Chicken hearts used to come with chicken livers when I shopped at a butcher near my house back in Japan.  Although I don’t hate livers, I used to pick only hearts to eat as they are chewy, and my family used to complain about it.

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When cooking livers and hearts we normally cook them with only ginger, soy sauce and mirin.  Ginger helps to remove any distinct smell that meat may have (though hearts don’t really have any gutsy smell), and the sauces give teriyaki-style sweet and salty flavour to the dish.  It really goes well with steamed rice!

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And here in Perth, I found chicken hearts and chicken gizzards at local Woolworths.  I had to buy those. (and they’re super cheap)

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How to cook… you will need:

  • Chicken Heart … 500g
  • Grated Ginger … 1 teaspoon
  • Soy Sauce … 1/8cup
  • mirin … 1/8cup

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  1. Place a frying pan over high heat and spray oil.  Cook hearts (out from the package) for 3 minutes.
  2. Add ginger, soy sauce and mirin to the pan.  Cook over medium heat until the sauce reduces and get caramelised.  Turn off the heat.
  3. Serve with steamed rice!

Chicken Teriyaki Mayo Donburi

Posted August 24th, 2015 in Food | No Comments »

chicken-teriyaki-mayo-don

 

This has been one of my regular dinner menu at home.  My family loves it, and it’s always a pleasure to see empty bowls after meal.

I’ve written few teriyaki recipes here, including spicy chilli version, salmon teriyaki, teriyaki spam onigiri, and teriyaki squid, but I realised I haven’t written the basic recipe for chicken teriyaki!  It’s so easy to make – and serving as donburi means less clean-up as everything is placed in a bowl 😉

After eating this, mayonnaise will be your best buddy whenever eating teriyaki chicken!

 

chicken-teri-mayo-don

 

<Chicken Teriyaki Mayo Donburi> serves 3~4

  • 4fillets (about 500g) Chicken thigh (recommend skin-on)
  • 3tablespoons Mirin
  • 1tablespoon Sugar (I used raw sugar)
  • 1tablespoon Sake
  • 3tablespoons Soy sauce
  • 2 Egg, boiled
  • 1cup Bean shoot (←optional)
  • 1cup blanched Spinach to garnish
  • steamed rice & Japanese mayonnaise to serve

 

  1. Heat a frying pan, and spray oil.  Grill chicken over high heat to colour both sides.
  2. Wipe any excess oil from the pan using kitchen paper.  Add bean shoots to the pan, and stir-fry.
  3. Meanwhile, place mirin, sugar, sake, and soy sauce in a small pan, and bring to gentle boil.  Simmer until it thickens slightly.
  4. Serve rice in donburi bowls.
  5. Place bean shoots over rice, using a tong.
  6. Place chicken into the sauce, and then place over the rice.  Drizzle extra sauce if required.
  7. Garnish with halved boiled egg and spinach.  Sprinkle sesame seeds.
  8. Enjoy with Japanese mayonnaise!

Spicy Chilli Teriyaki Chicken

Posted May 28th, 2015 in Food | No Comments »

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Since I met my husband, I became a chilli eater.  I like spicy food now and love eating KFC chicken with chili sauce & rice.  It sounds weird, but it’s Indonesian style I think! When it comes to chilli, my husband loves anything including chili sauce, wasabi, chilli powder and Jalapeño.

He started eating chicken karaage with Japanese mayonnaise & Sriracha chili sauce ever since he had one at Mr Samurai restaurant on Barrac street in Perth.  (the restaurant closed few years ago)  I’m not really into this chili sauce and am just happy with Japanese mayonnaise, but this chili sauce is a must when he eats karaage.

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One day I was cooking teriyaki chicken and thought of  adding something extra. Something different for a change.  I added Sriracha.

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I actually liked it.  Ordinal teriyaki sauce with some kick in it.  It went well with Japanese mayonnaise too.

chli teriyaki chicken

Here is the recipe.

Chilli Teriyaki Chicken
Recipe (serves 2)

  • Chicken Thigh Fillet … 2 (appx 350g)  with skin
  • Sugar … 1 tablespoon
  • Sake (cooking wine) … 1 tablespoon
  • Soy Sauce … 1.5 tablespoon
  • Mirin (sweet wine) … 1/2 tablespoon
  • Sriracha Chilli Sauce … 1 teaspoon

 

  1. Mix all ingredients except chicken.
  2. Heat 1/2 tablespoon oil in a frying pan, and grill chicken thigh over high heat – skin side first.  When golden coloured, turn the chicken over and cook on low heat.  Add the sauce, and simmer until the sauce thickens.
  3. Serve with steamed rice and Japanese mayonnaise.

 


Teriyaki Chicken Tsukune

Posted September 16th, 2012 in Food | No Comments »

Tsukune is a Japanese chicken meatball most often cooked yakitori style (but can be fried or baked) and sometimes covered in a sweet soy sauce.  I often make them grilled in a frying pan as it’s the easiest method.  From grilling till covering the sauce can be done in one pan, so not many washing afterwards :p

I love the smell of caramelised sauce.  You must have steamed rice with it!  You can alter the 1/3 of chicken with mashed tofu for a healthier option.

I added chopped spinach, but spinach is not a common ingredient to tsukune. I just did it to boost my iron intake :p  Chopped water chestnuts or bamboo shoots give crunchy texture.  Adding finely chopped carrot, spring onion, or/and shiitake makes tsukune more nutritious.

<Chicken Tsukune>  serves 4

  • Chicken Mince 400g
  • Onion 1, medium
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 tsp chopped Spinach (optional)
  • Soy Sauce 2 tbs
  • Mirin 2 tbs
  1. Chop onion finely.  Place chicken mince, onion, egg and spinach in a bowl, and mix well using fingers.
  2. Shape into balls.
  3. Heat a frying pan.  Spray oil, and place chicken balls.  Grill until the bottom of tsukune is nicely brown colour.  Flip over.  Grill few minutes.
  4. Pour soy sauce and mirin over.  Turn down the heat, and cook until the sauce is caramelised and thicken.  Turn off the heat.
  5. Serve with steamed rice.

 


Ginger Chicken

Posted June 30th, 2012 in Food | No Comments »

Ginger chicken – I used chicken thigh and marinated in teriyaki-style ginger sauce before grilling.

What you need to be careful when grilling marinated meat is that it burns easily.  And especially for chicken, you don’t want the meat burnt and black but the inside remains uncooked.  I heat up the frying-pan then turn down just before cooking the chicken.  Cook over low heat – because the pan was hot, the bottom of the meat should have nice-looking colour.  Then flip it over.  Cook over low heat again for few minutes, then add little amount of water.  By adding water, the chicken will be surely cooked through.  The full recipe is below ↓

The meat is soft and juicy!  This dish isn’t a saucy one, but because it’s been marinated the flavour is inside the meat.

The bed of cabbage laying beneath the chicken is also cooked in the teriyaki-style sauce, so you pick a piece of chicken with little amount of flavour-soaked cabbage, then enjoy all together.

Here is the recipe;

<Ginger Chicken>

  • Chicken Thigh 2 fillets
  • Cabbage Leaves 2 leaves
  • Soy Sauce 1 tbs
  • Sake (cooking wine) 1 tbs
  • Crushed Ginger 1 tsp
  • sesame seeds to sprinkle (optional)
  1. Place chicken fillets in a container or a plastic bag. Add soy sauce, sake and ginger to it, and rub gently.  Leave in the fridge for 2 hours or so (or you can leave it overnight – it’s ok)
  2. Drain chicken (keep the marinade).
  3. Heat up a frying pan over high heat.  Add oil, then turn down to low.  Place chicken and grill until the bottom is coloured.
  4. Flip it over.  Cook over low heat for 3 – 4 minutes.  Add 1 table spoon of water, then cook until the water is gone.
  5. Remove the chicken and place on a chopping board.  (keep the frying pan)
  6. Slice up the cabbage leaves.  Place the cabbage & remained marinade sauce into the frying pan, and cook until the cabbage is soft.
  7. Slice the chicken.
  8. Spread the cabbage on a plate, then arrange the chicken on top.  Pour the sauce (from the pan) over.  Serve with steamed rice.

Tori-Kawa (Chicken Skin)

Posted December 1st, 2011 in Food | 2 Comments »

Stir-fried chicken skin with sweet ans salty sauce.  If you like tori-kawa (chicken skin), it’s a great dish at very cheap cost 🙂

Some people like soft texture of skin, but I like it crispy.  So I grilled the skin until golden before adding the seasoning sauce.  It goes with steamed rice, and also can be great accompaniment to alcohol drinks.

<Recipe> serves 3~4

  • 2 cups chicken skin
  • 2 cups beanshoots
  • few leaves cabbage
  • 3 tbs soy sauce
  • 2 tbs sugar
  • 1 tbs mirin

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  1. Cut chicken skin into pieces.  Cut cabbage.
  2. Place chicken skin in a frying pan with no oil, and turn on the heat. When the skin starts to sizzle, turn the heat down and grill until golden and crispy.  Wipe away the excess fat with kitchen paper.  It makes the dish light and healthy.
  3. Add beanshoots and cabbage.  Stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add sugar, soy sauce and mirin.  Cook until the liquid is almost gone and the skin is caramelised.

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Chicken Katsu

Posted October 19th, 2011 in Food | 1 Comment »

Katsu is a Japanese dish of deep-fried food with breadcrumb.  It’s usually pork when you say “katsu”, but it also can be chicken, fish and prawn.  (pork = ton-katsu, prawn = ebi-katsu)  There is a popular dish called kushi-katsu too, which is skewered, breadcrumbed, deep-fried foods.  Kushi-katsu can be made with variety of foods.  Nowadays I can find very unique ones in Japan such as fresh fruits and ice-cream.

The standard katsu (ton-katsu) usually uses thick meat, and is served sliced with shredded cabbage.  In Nagoya in Japan is famous for miso katsu as it’s Nagoya’s speciality food.  If you have chance going there, try one of those!

I used chicken to make katsu this time, and I sliced the meat pretty thin.  I did it so that it cooks faster and makes it crispier.

This accompanied sauce is not miso based.  Few different sauces are blended.  You can buy ton-katsu sauce at Asian grocery shops too.

<Chicken Katsu>  serves 2

  • 1 fillet chicken thigh *(you may use chicken breast if you prefer)
  • plain flour, egg, breadcrumb to coat
  • 1 cup cabbage, shredded

sauce

  • 1 tbs tomato sauce
  • 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbs grated onion
  • 1 tsp iri-goma (coarsley ground roasted white sesame seeds) ← optional

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  1. Slice chicken fillet into two thin pieces.  Duct with flour, then dip in egg wash, and coat evenly with breadcrumb.
  2. Deep-fry the chicken until golden.  Set aside.
  3. Mix all the ingredients from “sauce”.
  4. Shred cabbage.
  5. Slice katsu, and arrange on a plate.  Serve with cabbage and sauce.

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Miso Yakitori

Posted June 2nd, 2011 in Food | No Comments »

Yakitori, grilled skewered-chicken dish, is usually seasoned with either salt (shio) or soy sauce-based sauce (tare), but here is another option.  Brush the chicken with sweet miso paste while grilling –  it gives the shine and great sweet miso taste to the chicken 🙂

<Miso Yakitori> serves 4

  • 4 fillets chicken thigh
  • spring onion stalks / cucumber
  • 3 tbs red miso paste
  • 1.5 tbs sake (cooking wine)
  • 1.5 tbs mirin (sweet cooking wine)
  • 1.5 tbs sugar

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  1. Soak the skewers in water for 30 minutes.
  2. Cut the chicken into cubes.  Chop onion and cucumber into 2cm.
  3. Skewer the chicken and spring onion/cucumber alternatively.
  4. Mix the miso, sake, mirin and sugar.
  5. Heat a grill pan and spray oil.  Place the chicken skewers and grill one side, then flip it around.
  6. Start brushing the miso mixture to the chicken.  (miso gets burned easily)  Brush one side, then flip it around, brush another side, … continue until the chicken is cooked.
  7. Serve with steamed rice ♪ or a glass or beer.



White Chicken Soup 2

Posted May 16th, 2011 in Food | No Comments »

It sure has been great Autumn days Lately. Some people don’t like cold weather and have winter-blue, but I love the quiet atmosphere and cold air outside.

On days like this, a plate of hearty soup shows up on my dining table at least once a week. I made white chicken soup again, but this time I made the soup little thick. Adding rice flour to the soup is a quick and healthy way to thicken the soup, compared with making butter roux. Today I had 2 bowls for lunch, and my body is warm and nourished 🙂

  • 2 fillets chicken thigh
  • 3 celery stalks
  • 2 baby carrots
  • 2 spring onion stalks
  • 1 potato
  • 1/2 broccoli (florets)
  • 2 cups chicken stocks
  • 2 cups milk
  • 3 tbs rice flour

  1. Cut vegetables and chicken thigh into cubes. For broccoli florets, cut into small pieces.
  2. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a deep sauce pan, and add cerely, carrots and onions. Sauté for a minutes, then add chicken. Sprinkle salt & pepper to the chicken, and cook for 3~4 minutes over low/medium heat.
  3. Add chicken stock, potatoes and broccoli. Bring to the boil, and simmer for 5 minutes.
  4. Mix rice flour into milk, and blend well. Add to the soup, and cook until the soup is thickened. Season to taste.

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White Chicken Soup with Cheesy Bagel Toast

Posted April 25th, 2011 in Food | No Comments »

It’s been a little warm again the last few days, but yesterday was raining and the air was nicely cool.  This Easter holiday has been a nice and quiet one for me, as all in-laws are overseas and D and I don’t have any plan.  It’s good, I like days like this 🙂

I made some white soup with chicken and leftover vegetables.  I love eating soup all year around.  It’s hearty, and you can eat many kinds of vegetables at once.

<White Chicken Soup>

  • 300g chicken breast
  • 1 onion (large)
  • 1/2 zucchini
  • 2 potatoes
  • 1/2 cup frozen mixed vegetables
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 1 cup milk

* You can add/replace with any kinds of vegetables!

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  1. Slice chicken into bite pieces.  Dice onion, zucchini and potatoes.
  2. Heat 1 tbs of oil in a deep pan, and cook chicken and onion until the onion is almost transparent.  Add zucchini, and pour chicken stock to the pan.  Add potatoes and bring to the gentle boil.  Turn down the heat and simmer for few minutes.
  3. Add the mixed vegetables and milk to the pan.  Season.  Simmer further few minutes.

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Cajun Chicken Citrus Salad

Posted December 20th, 2010 in Food | No Comments »

It’s hot ~ …..  I’m very weak against the heat.   I can just eat watermelon everyday for 3 meals! … if I’m not carrying this cauliflower-sized bub in my belly.  

Now, salad is a perfect dish to cool my body down and it also gives me great nutrition.  This is one of my favorite salad – grilled spicy cajun chicken with citrus and creamy avocado. 

You can also add pitted olives, cucumber, sun-dried tomatoes, capsicum etc etc for extra texture and color.

 

<Cajun Chicken Citrus Salad> serves 2

  • 200g chicken breast, skinned
  • 1 tbs cajun spice
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 1/2 orange
  • 1/8 red onion
  • 2 handful of green leaves
  • 1 tbs olive oil + 1 ~2 pinch of salt
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  1. Slice chicken.  In a mixing bowl, marinate chicken with 1 tbs olive oil and cajun spice for 5 minutes.  (adjust the amount of cajun spice to your liking)
  2. Meanwhile, slice onion very thinly.  Segment the orange (take out the flesh from the skin).  Reserve the juice.  Wash lettuce and drain. 
  3. Place the lettuce, onion and orange segments in a clean mixing bowl.
  4. Heat a frying pan over high heat, and grill chicken until cooked.  Transfer the chicken to the mixing bowl, and pour orange juice and 1 tbs olive oil.  Sprinkle salt, and toss gently.
  5. Immediately arrange on the serving plate.  Top with sliced avocado.
  6. Serve immediately!
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* You can use your favorite salad dressing instead.  
* Prawn or squid can be replaced with chicken 
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Tomato Chicken Rice with Omelet (Omu-Rice)

Posted December 18th, 2010 in Food | No Comments »

Besides the traditional Japanese food, there’re Western style food created by Japanese chefs in Japan.  This cuisine is called “yo-shoku” (Japanese Style Western Food) and I had more chances to eat these yo-shoku dishes than traditional Japanese food when I was little.

This dish “omu-rice” (omelet rice) is one of the popular yo-shoku dish in Japan, especially among kids.  The rice is stir-fried with frozen mix vegetables and chicken pieces, usually flavored with tomato based sauce.  Normally the rice is wrapped with omelet completely (like you wrap something with plastic wrap), but placing omelet over the rice is much easier when making multiple omu-rice, and it tastes just as good as the wrapped one.

In some restaurants chefs make omu-rice this way – make soft omelet over high heat, and place on top of prepared rice.  Then, they insert a knife to the omelet and the omelet opens and cover the rice.  I love when the egg is soft and fluffy!  (I’m sure you’ve tasted one of these if you had been to an omu-rice restaurant)

<Omu-Rice> serves 4

  • 200g chicken thigh, diced
  • 1 onion, medium, chopped
  • 50cc white wine
  • 1/2 cup frozen mixed vegetables
  • 400g cooked rice, cold
  • 3 tbs tomato sauce
  • 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
  • 5 eggs
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 2 tbs milk
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  1. Heat 1 tbs of oil in a frying pan over high heat.  Grill chicken thigh pieces.  
  2. Turn down the heat, and add onion.  Saute until the onion is almost transparent.
  3. Turn up the heat again, and pour white wine.  Simmer to reduce the liquid.
  4. Add cold rice. Using a wooden spatula, break the rice as you stir-fry.  Add frozen vegetables, then mix through.
  5. Once the rice is all broken down and heated through, add tomato sauce and Worcestershire sauce.  Mix through, and season with salt and pepper.  Turn off the heat.  Set aside.
  6. Break eggs into a medium bowl, and mix with milk and salt.
  7. Heat 1 tbs in another frying pan (clean).  Once the oil is hot but not smoking, pour the egg mixture and stir with spatula or chopsticks to make soft scrambled eggs. 
To serve:
Divide the tomato rice into 4 serving plates, and top with scrambled eggs.
Enjoy with extra tomato sauce ♪

Oyako Donburi

Posted November 23rd, 2010 in Food | 4 Comments »

Today’s recipe is oyako-donburi. (^0^)  This dish has been one of my favorite food since I was a baby!  I just love the sweet sauce and soft egg….

I don’t use shop-bought dashi powder anymore to make dashi stock.  It may contain MSG and other things, and I thought it tastes better when I make my own dashi.  I just need bonito flakes and it’s so easy to make.  You can also use dashi-konbu (seaweed) or dried shiitake mushroom to make dashi, but I like the bonito-based dashi the best.

As you may know, “oyako” literally means “parent and child”.  Oyako-donburi is a dish which a parent and a child are in a same bowl.  So, chicken + egg is oyako, and salmon and salmon caviar can be oyako too.

Normally, chicken thigh is used for oyako-donburi in Japan.  You can use chicken breast if you can’t eat chicken thigh or prefer lighter taste.  (although I recommend using chicken thigh)

First, we make dashi stock.  Although the recipe for oyako-donburi below is for 1 portion, it’s easier to make dashi stock in bigger portion.  You can keep the reft over of dashi stock in the fridge for 1 week, and it can be used to make udon or soba later.  If you are making oyako-donburi for 4~5 people, the amount of dashi stock may be just about right.

dashi

  • 3 cups (750ml) water
  • 5g bonito flakes
  1. Place water and bonito flakes in the sauce pan, and bring to the gentle simmer.  Turn off the heat, and leave for 5 minutes.
  2. Strain the bonito flakes and keep the liquid.  You can discard the bonito flakes, or cook with soy sauce and mirin and eat with rice later!
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<Oyako-Donburi> serves 1
  • 50g chicken thigh (or breast)
  • 40g onion (1 x tiny onion)
  • 2 eggs
  • 100ml dashi stock
  • 10ml soy sauce
  • 5ml mirin
  • 5ml sake (cooking wine)
  • 5g sugar
  • 150g steamed rice
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  1. Cut chicken into pieces.  Slice onion.
  2. Place dashi stock, soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar, chicken pieces and onion in a small sauce pan or frying pan.  Bring to the gentle boil, and simmer for 5 minutes.
  3. Lightly beat eggs in a bowl – just one or two whisking is enough.  Turn up the heat of the simmering chicken, and pour the eggs slowly into the pan.  Turn down the heat and place a lid.  When the eggs are cooked half-way through but still remains raw part, turn off the heat and leave for 15 seconds.
  4. Pour the egg sauce over steamed rice, and enjoy!
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Chicken Karaage

Posted November 5th, 2010 in Food | No Comments »

I’m eating fried food too often these days….

Sometimes I feel like eating “meat”, and last night was the day!  I had some Japanese mayonnaise left in the fridge, so I made karaage with buffalo wings.  Meat with bone and skin on is much tastier and I often find cheaper.

You can put all ingredients in a plastig bag and marinate, which leaves your hands and chopping board clean.  Toss the ingredients around inside the bag so that all the flavour goes to the meat evenly.

I served it with steamed rice, Japanese mayonnaise, and lots n lots of lettuce (or shredded cabbage)!

<Chicken Karaage (buffalo wings)>

  • 500g buffalo wings
  • 2 tbs soy sauce
  • 2 tbs sake
  • 1 tsp garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp ginger, minced
  • 2 tbs corn flour to coat
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  1. Place wings in a plastic bag, and add the sauces, garlic and ginger.  Marinate for 5 minutes.
  2. Add corn flour to the plastic bag, and coat the meat evenly.  The flour becomes paste-like.
  3. Heat oil in a deep pan to 160~170℃.  Fry the wings until golden.

* You can, of course, use chicken meat without skin/bones.  Also try octopus, squid, fish and seafood!


Tomato Curry with Somen Noodle

Posted July 20th, 2010 in Food | 4 Comments »

Somen Noodle + curry??  It sounds a little mismatch, but spicy tomato curry does go with simple somen noodle.  Enjoy with lots of mushroom ♪

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<Somen Tomato Curry with Chicken and Mushroom> serves 4

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  • 1 chicken breast fillet
  • 2 baby eggplants
  • 1 pack shimeji mushroom
  • 2~3 button mushrooms
  • 1/2 medium onion
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tsp minced ginger
  • 2 tbs curry powder
  • 100ml sake (cooking wine)
  • 400g tomato tin, peeled
  • 100~150ml chicken stock
  • 1 bay leaf
  • salt, sugar and pepper to taste
  • 200g somen noodle
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  1. Bring the large pot of water to the boil, and cook somen noodle.  Drain and set aside.
  2. Peel a part of the skin on baby eggplants.  Halve lengthwise, then cut each halves into 1 cm. Leave them in a bowl of cold water.
  3. Cut chicken into pieces.  Chop onion and garlic.  Slice cup mushrooms. Separate shimeji into small pieces.
  4. In a large frying pan, heat 1 tbs of olive oil and grill the chicken.  When it’s coloured, add garlic, ginger and onion and saute.
  5. Add mushrooms, and saute for few minutes.  Add curry powder, and cook for another few minutes.
  6. Drain the egg plants and add to the pan.  Pour sake, chicken stock and tomato into the pan, and bring to the gentle boil.  Reduce the heat, add a bay leaf and place the lid.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  Season to taste.
  7. Divide the somen noodle into the serving bowls, and pour the curry over.  Serve while hot.
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Crispy Chicken in Sweet and Tangy Sauce (Chicken Nanban)

Posted June 28th, 2010 in Food | 2 Comments »

The dish Chicken Nanban was originally created in Kyushu island in Japan about 50 years ago.  Since then, this item has became very popular across Japan, and now you can find the dish in family restaurants, convenience stores, fast food chains and even pizza shops.

The original Chicken Nanban was a deep-fried chicken immersed in sweet/sour sauce.  Nowadays Chichen Nanban is served with tartar sauce poured over the chicken, and it is still one of the popular menu for any age group.

This is again another easy dish to cook, and it goes with both rice and noodle.

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<Chicken Nanban with Somen Noodle> serves 4

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  • 2 chicken breast fillets (about 400g)
  • 1 egg
  • plain flour to coat
  • 4 tbs soy sauce
  • 6 tbs sugar
  • 5 tbs vinegar (preferably rice vinegar)
  • 1 tsp minced ginger
  • 200g somen noodle
  • 1 tbs sesame oil
  • 1 clove garlic, sliced
  • 1 capsicum
  • roasted white sesame seeds
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  1. Bring the large pot of water to the boil, and cook somen noodle.  Drain and set aside.
  2. Halve each chicken fillets into even size.  You should have 4 slices.  Flatten the chicken meat by using the back of the knife.
  3. Place soy sauce, sugar and vinegar in a sauce pan, and bring to the gentle boil to dissolve the sugar.  Transfer the sauce to the wide plate or pan. (or you can use wide pan to boil the sauce).  Set aside.
  4. Coat the chicken with flour, and shake off any excess flour.  Beat the egg, and place in a shallow plate.
  5. Heat oil in a deep frying pan.  Dip the chicken fillets in the egg wash, and deep-fry both sides until golden.
  6. As soon as it’s removed from the oil, shake off any excess oil and immerse in the sauce.  Leave it for 30 seconds ~ few minutes.
  7. Meanwhile, heat sesame oil and garlic slices in a frying pan.  When it’s fragrant, add somen noodle and stir-fry.  Sprinkle sesame seeds, and arrange on serving plates (divide into four potions).
  8. In the same pan, stir-fry sliced capsicum. Remove from the heat and arrange on each bed of somen noodle on the serving plates.
  9. Remove the chicken from the sauce, and slice.  Place on top of the noodle + capsicum.  Drizzle over the sauce, and sprinkle sesame seeds.  Repeat with other fillets.
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* you can use steamed vegetables instead of capsicum.
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Marinated Deep-fried Chicken (Tazta Age)

Posted June 26th, 2010 in Food | 4 Comments »

Tazta-age (tatsuta-age) is a kind of Kara-age.  Kara-age is a deep-fried chicken (usually chicken thigh) coated with katakuriko (a starch originally processed from the corm of katakuri) and plain flour after being marinated with garlic and some spices.  On the other hand, tazta-age is a deep-fried chicken (usually chicken thigh) coated with only katakuriko after being marinated with soy sauce and sweet mirin.  You can use corn starch (corn flour) instead of katakuriko.

The key to make juicy kara-age with crispy texture is the twice-deep-frying.  You deep-fry the meat in low-temperatured oil first, then deep-fry again in very hot oil to shake off any excess fat and to make it crispy.

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<Tazta Age> serves 4

  • 400g chicken thigh
  • 20g soy sauce
  • 20g raw sugar
  • 15g sake (white wine)
  • 5g ginger (grated or sliced)
  • katakuriko (corn flour) to dust
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  1. Cut chicken into pieces.  Trim chicken thigh into even thickness.
  2. Marinade in the sauce for 30 minutes.
  3. Drain the chicken.  Heat the oil in a pan to 160°.
  4. Coat the chicken with katakuriko, shake off any excess flour, and deep-fry both side until coloured.  Set aside.
  5. Heat up the oil to 180°.  Deep-fry the chicken pieces again both side until crispy.
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The best way to eat tazta-age is with Japanese mayonnaise!  You can’t stop eating steamed rice with it.
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or you can make Tazta Burger!  I remember MacDonalds’ Tazta Burger…  one of my favorite 😀
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Grilled Skewered Chicken with Spring Onion (Negima)

Posted May 4th, 2010 in Food | No Comments »

On your next bbq party, or whenever you feel like eating something on sticks, why not try this negima – Yakitori skewered with negi (spring onion).  It is a very popular way of preparing yakitori and provides a great nutrition balance. 😀  We normally use white part of spring onion for this.  White part of spring onion is sweeter than blue part and contains the flavorsome juice – umami.

You’d better soak bamboo skewers in water overnight to prevent them from burning.  And also, you can prepare the sauce the day before, as it will develop the flavor in the sauce.

<Serves 4>

  • 500g chicken thigh, cut into cubes
  • 2 spring onion, white part (root), cut into 2cm length
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup sake (cooking wine)
  • 6 tsp (30g) raw sugar
  • 10 cm spring onion, white part, scored  (for the sauce)
  1. Place soy sauce, sake, sugar and 10cm spring onion in a small sauce pan.  Bring to the gentle simmer.  Turn down the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the sauce slightly thicken.  Leave overnight to develop the flavor, if possible.  (leave the spring onion in the sauce)
  2. Skewer chicken and onion alternately. Tuck the tip of the skewer with meat so it won’t burn.
  3. Heat and lightly grease a BBQ grill or a large grilling pan.  Season the skewers with salt, then sear on the hot grill.  Cook for 1~2 minutes, turning several times.  Brush the meat with the sauce, then continue grilling, turning frequently.  Repeat the process (brush and grill) for about 5 minutes.
  4. Serve while hot with steamed rice, or a glass of beer.
* If available, try grilling on naked flame or with charcoal.   It gives smokey, more delicious taste 🙂

Grilled Chicken with Creamy Semi-dried Tomato

Posted February 11th, 2010 in Food | No Comments »

One of my favorite dinner dish.  Full flavor of semi-dried tomato and cream cheese in a pocket of chicken breast fillet.  The key is to season the meat well before grilling.

  • 1 chicken breast fillet
  • 100 g cream cheese
  • 4 semi-dried tomato
  • 1 cup baby spinach
  1. Chop semi-dried tomato, and combine with cream cheese.
  2. Halve the chicken breast in sideway to make two thin fillets.  Cut the centre of each fillet to make a “pocket”.
  3. Season the inside of the pocket with salt, and then spread the cream cheese mixture inside.  Arrange spinach on top and then close the hole by lightly pressing the top side of meat to the bottom.  You can use toothpick if needed.
  4. Heat 1 tbs of olive oil, and grill top side first.  When colored, flip it around and cook the other side over low heat.
  5. Once the meat is cooked through, remove from the pan and rest for a while before cutting.  Garnish with cracked black pepper.

Fresh Tofu and Chicken Salad

Posted January 14th, 2010 in Food | No Comments »

The taste of this salad really depends on the freshness of tofu you are using.  I normally buy Japanese silken tofu (or soft and smooth tofu) from Asian grocery shops such as Lion Oriental (Northbridge), Emma’s Seafood (Northbridge), Maruyu (Perth) or Yee Seng (Myaree) if eating fresh.  

I made this salad with sesame dressing (goma dare) that I used the other day at my friend’s house, with some steamed and shredded chicken breast.  I don’t know if I can call it “recipe”, but it is super easy to prepare and this fresh tofu salad is perfect for eating in summer days.

<Fresh Tofu and Chicken Salad> serves 4

  • 300 g silken tofu
  • 200 g chicken breast
  • salad
  • ssesame dressing (goma dare)
  
  1. Bring a pan of water to the boil.  Cook chicken breast.  Remove from the water and drain.  Let it cool.
  2. Shred chicken.  
  3. Tear lettuce leaves and arrange on a serving plate.  Top with shredded chicken and tofu cubes.  Drizzle sesame dressing and serve immediately.
  

Cold Udon Salad with Poached Chicken

Posted January 11th, 2010 in Food | No Comments »

The other day I arranged dinner at friend’s house.  My friend (Japanese) is renting a room in my another friend (Chinese)’s house which she (Chinese) recently purchased with her fiance.  I’ve been to the house once before and I fell in love with the design and interior.  Stylish furniture, cute kitchenware, clean and tidy environment…  Living with the friends in the house sounds really fun, we can have girls’ night everyday  🙂

It was still 5 pm so we started with a glass of wine and some otsumami.  We were going to make dinner soon but ended up talking about stuff until 9 pm.  Friend’s fiance came home and we finally moved our body from sofa to the kitchen.

Because of the wine and otsumami I wasn’t actually hungry, but everyone else was.  I brought some vegetables, so we made udon salad dish with steamed chicken and Japanese sesame dressing.  I love sesame dressing (goma dressing).  It’s nutty, rich and creamy.  You can purchase from any Asian grocery shops.  I like Mizkan brand 🙂

<Chicken Udon with Sesame Dressing> for one

  • 1 portion udon noodle
  • 50g chicken breast
  • some salad – lettuce, cucumber, tomato
  • sesame dressing (also called “goma dressing”, “goma dare”)
  1. Boil water in two sauce pans.  Cook udon noodle in one sauce pan, and chicken breast in another pan.
  2. Drain udon noodle and set aside.
  3. Remove chicken breast from water and shred the meat.  Be careful not to burn your hand!
  4. * you can chill the chicken and udon in the fridge if you want to serve it cold.
  5. Slice cucumber and tomato.  Rip lettuce with hand.
  6. On a serving plate, arrange udon noodle topped with salad and shredded chicken.  Drizzle dressing and serve immediately.

Tofu and Chicken Meatballs

Posted January 8th, 2010 in Food | 2 Comments »

Adding tofu to a meatball gives soft, fluffy texture.  If you have leftover tofu in your fridge and want to use it up, try this recipe ♪

 

<Tofu & Chicken Meatballs>

  • 400g chicken mince
  • 300 tofu
  • 1tbs miso paste
  • 1tsp grated ginger
  • 1tsp sake (cooking wine)
  • 1tsp corn flour
<extra sauce>
  • 1tbs miso
  • 1tss mirin
  • 1tsp soy sauce
  • 2tbs water 
  
  1.  Drain liquid from tofu : Place tofu on a microwave-proof plate.  Microwave for 1 minutes.  Sandwich with kitchen paper to absorb any water from tofu.
  2. Place tofu in a bowl.  Break with hand or wooden spoon briefly, and add all the ingredients.  Mix well, slightly beating the mince, until the mixture comes together.
  3. Shape the mixture into balls.  Flatten the centre.  Dust with extra corn flour.
  4. Heat 1 tbs olive oil, and grill meat balls both side, until browned and cooked through.  remove from the pan, and set aside.
  5. Mix all the ingredients from <extra sauce>.  Simmer the sauce in another pan.  Place the meat balls into the sauce and coat through, turn off the heat.
  
You can also make this with pork mince.  Add to soup, udon, steam board, miso soup etc…  enjoy your way 🙂


Quick Risotto

Posted December 21st, 2009 in Food | No Comments »

Risotto was a dish that my host family made for me on the first night I came to Perth.  It was a tomato risotto, and she cooked it in the oven.  I was amazed to find how easy it is to make risotto, just place risotto rice and chicken stock in an oven dish with other ingredients and bake in the oven.  It turned out delicious.  

The other day I felt like risotto, so I made chicken, mushroom and spinach risotto –  a very typical flavor.  

Personally I prefer not to use too much cream, (even though it tastes nice, I worry about its high calories) so I add cheese right after cooking and mix it through.  It gives richer flavor.

<Chicken, Mushroom and Spinach Risotto> for two

  •  1/2 Chicken breast
  • 4~5 mushroom
  • 1/2 cup risotto rice (arborio or carnaroli)
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • spinach leaves
  • 1 garlic, chopped
  • 1/8 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 tbs white wine
  • 1 tbs grated Parmesan cheese 
  • 50 ml cream (optional)
  • olive oil
  
  1. Slice chicken breast and mushroom.
  2. Heat olive oil in a pan, and saute onion and garlic.  Add chicken, and cook briefly both sides.  Add mushroom.  Stir in white wine.
  3. Add risotto rice and stir.  Pour 1/2 of chicken stock, and simmer over low heat, stir constantly.  Add the rest of chicken stock once all the liquid evaporates.  Stir in spinach leaves.  Simmer until rice is just cooked (al dente).  Season.  Add more water if needed.
  4. Turn off the heat and stir in grated cheese.  If you are adding cream, pour over cream and simmer, then turn off the heat.
  5. Serve with additional Parmesan and cracked black pepper.

Quick tips:  You can pre-cook risotto rice!  Cook rice with chicken stock first.  Saute onion, garlic, chicken and mushroom and stir in white wine.  Add cooked rice and pour chicken stock (water).  Simmer, then season.  Stir in cheese and cream.


Skewered and Grilled Chicken Mince (Tsukune)

Posted November 28th, 2009 in Food | No Comments »

Tsukune is a Japanese chicken meat balls most often cooked yakitori style (skewered).  Sometimes tsukune can be fried, and served without skewers.  You can also add it to steam board as well.

This can be eaten with rice or noodle, or just to accompany beer.  Add chili powder if you like it spicy!

<Chicken Tsukune> 4 skewers

  • 200 g chicken mince
  • 1 cup chopped spring onion
  • 1 tbs sesame oil
(a)
  • 1 tbs sake
  • 1.5 tbs sugar
  • 1.5 tbs soy sauce
  • 1 tbs mirin
  • 1 tsp garlic -minced
  1. Mix chopped spring onion and chicken mince in a bowl. Lightly season with a sprinkle of salt.
  2. Cover bamboo skewers with meat mixture.
  3. In another small sauce pan, bring all the ingredients from (a) and turn off the heat.
  4. Heat up sesame oil in another grilling pan. Sear skewered chicken both side.
  5. Brush the sauce from (3) on skewered chicken. Grill over low heat until it has glossy looking.

Chicken & Tomato Curry

Posted November 24th, 2009 in Food | No Comments »

Is it only Japanese culture to eat hot food in summer?  In hot days we cook steaming udon noodle soup, hot and spicy curry, and grill yakitoki (skewered chicken dish) etc.  We, of course, eat cold food too such as cold soba noodle, so-men noodle, and cold pasta dishes, but you get to see tv ad of curry a lot during summer in Japan, and it’s one of the thing that tells you “hey, summer is just around the corner”.

Therefore I like eating curry in summer.  I add lots of summer vegetables and make it as “summer curry”.  In winter, I would add some winter vegetables such as lotus roots, sweet potatoes and pumpkin. 

Try this refreshing tomato curry at home!  It’s not that heavy thanks to this red summer fruit.

<Chicken & Tomato Curry>

  • 400g chicken mince
  • 1 medium onion
  • 400g tomato tin – chopped
  • 100g Japanese curry roux
  • 1/2 tsp curry powder
  • 1/2 bunch spinach
  • 1 bay leaf
  
  1. Wash spinach well, and drain. Chop roughly. Slice onion thinly.
  2. Season chicken mince with curry powder. Heat olive oil in a sauce pan and stir-fry mince.
  3. Add sliced onion. Cook over medium heat until onion is transparent.
  4. Pour chopped tomato into the pan. Fill up 1/2 the tin with water, and add to the pan. Add bay leaf. Turn up the heat to high to bring to boil.
  5. Once it starts to boil, turn down the heat to low and add curry roux. Stir through until the roux melts.
  6. Simmer for 5~10 minutes. Stir in spinach and turn off the heat.
  7. Serve with steamed rice.
  

Thai Style Grilled Chicken

Posted November 11th, 2009 in Food | No Comments »
  
The aroma of tangy lime and sweet chili really whips the appetite!  Enjoy with steamed rice and some vegetables.
  • 2 fillets chicken breast
  • 1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
  • 1 tbs fish sauce
  • 2 tbs lime juice
  • 2 tsp soy sauce
  • chopped coriander leaves
  
  1. Slice chicken.  Combine all the sauce.
  2. Heat oil in a frying-pan, and place chicken fillets.  Grill over low to medium-low heat.  
  3. Once the bottom of the meat got nice color, turn it around and cook another side.  Meanwhile, Pour some of the sauce on the chicken and spread with wooden spoon.  Repeat with another side of meat.
  4. Grill until it’s shinny and little sticky.
  5. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
  
  
 

Spicy & Juicy Deep-fried Chicken (Kara-Age)

Posted October 26th, 2009 in Food | No Comments »

I made kara-age with chicken breast the other day, and it turned out beautiful.  Normally Japanese use chicken thigh meat for kara-age.  Not only for Kara-age, actually;  Japanese eat thigh meat very often.  Yakitoki (grilled chicken on skewers), stir-fry, steam board, yakiniku etc.. thigh meat is mainly used for all of them.  On the other hand people prefer breast meat in Australia.  My in-laws don’t even eat chicken thigh, they only eat breast meat.

The reason why Japanese prefer thigh is that it’s juicier and tastier.  When you cook same dish with thigh and breast, the one with breast has less taste and is more dry.  Although thigh meat contains higher calorie and cholesterol,  Japanese still prefer it.

So, when I cook something for in-laws I have to use breast meat.  (otherwise they can’t eat)   With this recipe, the meat stays juicy and is very tasty.  The key is to marinade just 30 mins ~ 1 hour before cooking.

<Spicy & Juicy Kara-Age>

  • 300 g (1 fillet) chicken breast
  • 1 tsp minced ginger
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 1/2 tbs soy sauce
  • 1 tbs sake (cooking wine)
  • 1/2 tsp cajun spice
  • plain flour to dust
  1. Slice chicken breast into the size you like.
  2. Place chicken meat in a bowl or plastic bag with all the other ingredients, then marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
  3. Heat oil in a pan to 165 degree (low).
  4. Coat chicken pieces with flour, and deep-fry for 3 minutes.  Turn them around, and fry another side for 3 more minutes.
  5. Remove chicken pieces from the oil.  Turn up the heat to 180 degree (high).
  6. Again, drop the chicken pieces into the hot oil.  Cook until it;s colored and crispy.
  7. Drain oil and serve with Japanese mayonnaise 🙂
The process of “twice deep-frying” gives kara-age crispy and juicy texture.  You can also use corn flour instead of plain flour.

White Stew with Chicken (Cream Stew)

Posted July 15th, 2009 in Food | No Comments »

Who doesn’t like hearty creamy soup in winter?  This is my favorite winter food in Japan: white cream stew.  The name says “cream” but there is no cream as ingredient.  We can make this dish with a ready-to-make packet which you can buy from oriental grocery shops.

You can add any vegetables, but basic ingredients are:

  • chicken pieces
  • potatoes
  • onion
  • carrot
  • cream stew packet (usually House brand or S&B brand)
The instruction is shown on the back of the packet, but it’s basically ..
  1. Slice ingredients.
  2. Place all ingredients in a pan with water.
  3. Bring to boil, and turn down the heat and simmer for 10~20 minutes.
  4. Turn off the heat.  Add “cream stew mix”, and stir until the mix roux (or powder) melts into the water.
  5. Turn on the heat again and simmer over low heat for 10~15 minuets.
You can also enjoy the following cooking as well, with simmiler ingredients.
– Japanese Style Beef Stew (mostly with beef)
– Japanese Style Curry (Seafood, Meat, Tofu, just vegetables…up to you!)
– Japanese Hayashi Rice (mostly with beef)
Just get the packet of mix, and now you have a lot of variety for nice winter meal 🙂

Grilled Chicken on Rice (Chicken Donburi)

Posted July 1st, 2009 in Food | 4 Comments »

This is not really teriyaki, but taste similar.  The chicken is actually like yakitori, just without skewers.

I just dropped a soft poached yolk on the top so that it breaks once you mix with chopsticks and it actually become a kind of “sauce” to this donburi.  Japanese chili powder (ichimi, Shichimi) goes well with this.

  • 1 fillet chicken thigh wih skin
  • 1 tbs soy sauce
  • 1 tbs sake (cooking wine)
  • 1/4 tsp grated ginger
  • 1/4 small onion
  • spring onion (white part)
  • 1 egg yolk
  1. Cut chicken into cubes.  Mix soy sauce, sake and ginger.  Marinate chicken in the sauce overnight.
  2. Slice onion, and cut spring onion into 5cm length.
  3. Heat little amount of oil in a pan, and grill spring onion.  Remove from the pan and set aside.
  4. In the same pan, grill chicken pieces over medium high heat.  When the bottom of the meat starts to get colored, turn it over and add onion in the pan.
  5. Once meat is cooked through remove from the pan.  (onions still stay in the pan)
  6. Add 1 tbs of water into the pan, and simmer for few minutes.
  7. Arrange chicken and spring onion on steamed rice.  Pour onion and sauce over.  Top with poached egg yolk.

You can arrange it as Oyako Donburi ↓↓↓

At stage 5, leave chicken in the pan and add 2 tbs of water.  Simmer.  Break 1 egg into a small bowl and beat.  Pour egg mixture into simmering water.


Marinated Pan-fried Chicken

Posted June 6th, 2009 in Food | No Comments »

Just marinate and cook.  Very easy to make, and this chicken can be used for lots of things like sushi, salad and sandwiches.

 

  • 1 fillet chicken thigh with skin
  • garlic
  • ginger
  • soy sauce
  • sake
  
  1. Crash garlic, and slice ginger.
  2. In a clean plastic bag, put everything together with sauce.  Close the bag tightly and rub the chicken with sauce over the bag.  Leave in the fridge overnight to marinate.
  3. Remove chicken from the bag.  Using a tip of knife make little cut on chicken.  
  4. Heat up frying pan over medium-high heat, and place chicken -skin side down- and grill until skin is colored and crispy.  Turn the chicken over, and grill over medium-low heat until meat is cooked.  Placing a lid helps chicken get cooked faster and juicier.
  5. Let it stand for 10~ minutes before slicing.
  
As you can see, this recipe contains soy sauce so it’ll taste like Japanese/Asian.  You can shred the meat when it’s cool and mix with carrot + cucumber jullienne, then arrange on lettuce leaf cups.  Or, slice up chicken and enjoy in Temaki Sushi.  Of course you can enjoy it with just a bowl of steamed rice and some salad 🙂