American Dog

Posted September 27th, 2013 in Food | 4 Comments »

American Dog – …. I’m not talking about a dog here, it’s actually a name of delicious snack.  I think why people call it “Dog” is because it is quite similar to the style of “hotdog”.  It’s got sausage, it’s got bread (kind of), and is a handy snack to fill up empty stomach between the meal.

Here is the American Dog ↓↓↓

Yummmmm

It’s a children’s favourite!  You can find them at the counter in convenience stores in Japan along with niku-man (steamed pork buns) , karaage (fried chicken), and chips.  It often comes with tomato sauce and/or mustard, just like hotdog.

American Dog is a savoury donut , and there is sausage inside!  Sausages are coated in batter then get deep-fried in oil.  Usually American Dog is big (containing 1 whole Frankfurt sausage) and a chopstick or wooden stick is used as a handle, but I use dry pasta for edible handle and I make them smaller so kids can easily munch on.

<Recipe>  makes about 8 mini American Dog

  • 2 long Frankfurt sausages
  • some Plain Flour to dust the sausages
  • 100g Plain Flour
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • 30g Caster Sugar
  • 1 Egg (at room temperature)
  • 20g Unsalted Butter
  • 50cc Milk
  • 1 or 2 Dried spaghetti

  1. Melt butter in microwave.  Leave to cool.
  2. Cut the sausage into 4 pieces each, so there’re 8 pieces.  Dust the sausages with plain flour in a plastic bag or a bowl.  Shake off excess flour.
  3. In a mixing bowl, place melted butter, sugar, egg and milk, and mix well. Shift in the flour + baking powder, and mix with spatula.  
  4. Break the spaghetti and stick to the sausages.  
  5. Heat oil in a deep sauce pan to 160℃.  Using 2 spoons, coat the sausages with batter then drop into oil.  Turn the donut around until it becomes golden colour.  Remove from oil to the rack. Repeat with remaining.
  6. Enjoy with tomato sauce, or any sauce you like 🙂

Kinpira Udon

Posted September 23rd, 2013 in Food | No Comments »

“Kinpira” … braised burdock roots & carrots

I love udon noodle.  I love it in hot broth, with cold dipping sauce, or stir-fried.  I love the chewiness that other noodles don’t have. Udon is a great item to finish steamboat dish as well ; after enjoying the steamboat, add some udon noodle to the broth and enjoy it as end of the meal.

Today I combined “kinpira” and udon noodle.  It’s kind of a not-so-soupy version of nikomi-udon. First, I cooked burdock roots and carrot as I normally make “kinpira”.  Combined with broth, then udon noodle.  Easy.  This nice, hearty dish is great to have in this time of the year.  The key point is to soak the udon noodle in the broth so it absorbs the flavour.

I use frozen udon noodle as they are much chewier than dried udon noodle.

<Recipe>  makes 2 serves

  • 1 cup frozen shredded Burdock Roots (available from Asian grocery shop)
  • 1 Carrot
  • 50g Chicken Thigh
  • 1 tbs Sesame Oil
  • 1 ~ 2 tbs Soy Sauce
  • 2 tbs Mirin
  • 1 tbs sake
  • 1 tsp Dashi stock powder + 3 cups hot water
  • 2 portion Udon Noodle
  • 1 tbs dried Wakame seaweed
  • 1 Egg
  • 2 tbs chopped spring onions

  1. Cut carrot into stick shape.  Cut chicken into small pieces.
  2. Heat sesame oil in a deep sauce pan.  Stir-fry chicken, carrot and burdock roots for few minutes.
  3. Add mirin & soy sauce.  Cook for another few minutes while stirring.
  4. Turn up the heat.  Add sake, then pour the dashi stock.  Bring to the boil, then simmer for 5 minutes. Taste the soup, and add more soy sauce/sake if needed.  Remember, the wakame will add more flavour to the soup later.
  5. Add frozen udon noodle into the soup.  If you are using dried noodle, cook the noodle first then drain well before adding to the soup.  Simmer for another 5 minutes.
  6. Beat egg in a small bowl.  Turn up the heat, and pour the egg to the soup while stirring.  Turn off the heat.  Add wakame to the soup, and place a lid on the sauce pan.  Leave it for 5mins or more.
  7. When serving, arrange the udon on a dish then top with chopped spring onion (sesame seeds if preferred).