Grilled Salmon Balls

Looking for an easy, healthy snack?  Make these salmon balls with no hassle!

This is another recipe that makes a healthy snack in a flash.  It is grilled, not deep-fried, and all the ingredients are cooked prior to being shaped into balls so it won’t take too long to grill.  You just need to grill both sides to give delicious color and crunchy texture.

If you have left-over mashed potato, this is the snack you can make on next day

<Salmon Balls>

• 1 tin (around 450g) salmon
• 1 cup mashed potatoes
• 1 tbs chopped herb (I used basil, but coriander will be a great one too)
• 1 egg
• 2~3 tbs bread crumbles

1. Drain the salmon.
2. Mix everything in a mixing bowl.  Season.
3. Shape into balls.  Flatten the centre.
4. Heat a non-stick fry pan, and lightly spray with oil.  Grill the salmon balls until coloured and crispy.

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Prawn and Edamame Triangles

Golden triangles filled with juicy prawn and edamame!  The texture of crispy skin and soft edamame are so great…

I just wanted to use up the leftover spring roll sheets, and it turned out to be a great midday snack.  It’ll also go well with beer, I believe.  You can also use gyoza skin or wonton skin, instead of spring roll sheet.

The shelled edamame (called “muki-edamame”) can be found at some Asian grocery shops.

<Prawn and Edamame triangles>

• 4 spring roll sheets
• 180g prawn
• 1/4 cup edamame, shelled
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp minced ginger
• plain flour + water
• oil to fry

1. Thaw the prawn and edamame, if they are frozen.
2. Chop up the prawn finely.
3. Mix the prawn, edamame, ginger and soy sauce in a mixing bowl.  Season with salt and white pepper.
4. Cut the spring roll sheets into four squares each.  You should have 16 small square sheets.
5. Spoon the prawn mixture on the sheets.  Wet the 2 side edges with flour water, and firmly press to close the edges.
6. Heat the oil to 180 ℃.  Deep-fry the triangles until golden.

Serve with a dipping sauce (soy sauce + chilli oil) or as it is.

Green Beans in Sesame Dressing (Ingen Goma Ae)

One of my favorite side dish.  The aroma of roasted sesame seeds are so tempting.  

If you have a suribachi (a Japanese grinding-bowl) it’s best to grind the sesame seeds.  I used normal mortar and pestle.  Or, you can simply use a blender to do the job

Mix with other sauce together.  The oil from the sesame seeds has the distinctive nutty smell.

When you blanch the beans, make sure you don’t overcook them.  Leave the crunchy texture to the beans and you can enjoy the juicy crisp beans in sesame dressing.

<Ingen Goma Ae> serves 4 as an entree

• 200g green beans
• 30g white sesame seeds
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1 tsp miso paste
• 1/2 tsp sake (cooking wine)

You can also use other vegetables such as spinach, asparagus and broccoli.

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Daikon and Carrot Pickles (Namasu)

This dish is one of the Japanese new year food, but it is so easy to make and can be eaten as side dish and a bento item as well.  A great hashiyasume (“chopstick rester”).

With very simple ingredients, you can make this marinade in less than 5 minutes.  Namasu can be made with any ingredients –  uncooked (“nama”) vegetables and/or seafood.  I also like cucumber namasu, but this daikon and carrot namasu is the very standard namasu eaten in Japan.

<Daikon and Carrot Namasu>  makes a bowlful

• 1/3 daikon radish (around 300g)
• 1/2 carrot
• 1 tsp lemon rind, very thinly sliced
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbs vinegar
• 2 tbs sugar
• 1 tsp roasted white sesame seeds

Tofu Croquette

Coated with breadcrumbs, deep-fried until golden brown….  Croquette can be a snack item as well as a main menu.  You can arrange it with the ingredients and sauces for a variety.  Adding tofu to the croquette and making the potato % into half potato and half tofu can reduce the calorie, carb, and add extra nutrition.

Enjoy while they are hot!  You can freeze the batch before deep-frying : place in a gip-lock bag and close the bag tightly. If freezing, you’d better shape the croquette flat so that they will be cooked thoroughly when deep-frying the frozen ones.