Basil Meatball Pasta

The basil we sow about few months ago is growing big now!

I had a pack of beef mince in the freezer, so I decided to make meatballs using the basil leaves.

I chopped up the leaves finely and added to the meatballs along with onions.  Although I like meatballs with half pork half beef, this time it’s 100% beef.  It was still good, the delicious sizzling smell hit my nose as soon as I started grilling the meatballs.

Fresh basil is so great for tomato based sauce.

I added about 15 leaves to the mince, but I could add more, actually. I was bit stingy!

<Basil Meatballs>

• 300g beef mince
• 15 (or more) basil leaves
• 1 onion (large)
• 1/2 celery stalk
• 1 tbs tomato paste
• 450g chopped tomato (tin)
• 3 garlic cloves

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1. Chop up the onion and celery finely.  Place half of the onion into a mixing bowl with beef mince.
2. Chop up basil leaves.  Add to the bowl.  Season with salt and pepper, and mix well.
3. Slice garlic thinly.  Heat 1 table spoon of olive oil in a sauce pan, and fry garlic until fragrant.  Add the rest of the onion and the celery to the pan, and saute for about 3 minutes.
4. Add tomato paste, and fry for few minutes, then add chopped tomatoes.  Simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, heat 1 table spoon of olive oil in a frying pan.  Shape the mince mixture into little balls, and place onto the frying pan.  Grill over medium-high heat until the bottom is coloured, then flip it around.  Turn down the heat and cook further 3 minutes.
6. Pour the tomato sauce into the frying pan over the meatballs.  Simmer for few minutes.
7. Enjoy with pasta or bread!  

Melty Milky Pudding

I’ve been having a craving for the Japanese pudding I used to eat back home.  The soft, melty, milky pudding!  There’re so many delicious puddings in Japan, but my favourite one was “tamago-to-gyunyu nameraka pudding” from Meito.  I don’t know if they still sell it.  The milkiness and the sweetness was just perfect to me.  It melts in your tongue.  Ummm… I miss it (><)

The pudding you get here in Perth is little too sweet.  And, not milky!  So I decided to make one myself..

… and, it turned out GREAT.

The key is not to overcook when you steam the pudding.  Remove from the steamer while the centre is still soft, and the inside will be just cooked by the heat.

I add a layer of caramel sauce at the bottom, and a layer of whipped cream on the top of the pudding.  Yum!

<Melty Milky Pudding>  makes 6 cups

• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tbs sugar (40g)
• 150ml milk
• 200ml cream
• few drops vanilla extract

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1. Mix the eggs and yolks in a mixing bowl.  Try not to whisk too much and don’t let any air go into the egg mixture.
2. Place the milk, cream and sugar in a pan, and gently warm up over medium heat.  Pour it into the egg mixture, stirring as you pour.  Add vanilla extract to the bowl.
3. Divide the mixture into 6 heat resistant cups.
4. Place the cups in a deep pan, and pour water so it comes up to half way up the cups.  Turn on the heat.
5. When the water starts to boil, place aluminium foil on top of the cups to cover.  Turn down the heat to low, and place a lid.  Steam for about 10 minutes.
6. Turn off the heat, and leave the cups for another 5 minutes.w

Once the pudding is cool, top with whipped cream and/or decorate with fresh fruits. 🙂

Croissant

Croissant, croissant…  Many people love this buttery flaky bread, and it is one of the most popular bread across the world. Me, other hand, ummm not so much. I don’t hate it, it’s just that if I had to choose between croissant and hard crusty sourdough bread I would choose the sourdough.

Although it’s not in the list of my favourite bread, I do enjoy eating it occasionally.   Croissant reminds me of some memories.  A warm cozy log cottages in the middle of the forrest where I stayed during the school trip almost 15 years ago.  And, the memory of the stay in the hospital after giving birth to Hiro.

B&B (bed & breakfast accommodation) is still quite rare to find in Japan, so it was like a new experience to me when I stayed there overnight with my classmates and teachers. The location was so beautiful – in the middle of a big forrest, nothing else around.  I remember friends and I were excited to see a wild flying squirrel at night.  And, the owner couple was so friendly and welcoming.

One of the thing I remember in the memory is the croissant.  It was one of the menu in the breakfast.  When I woke up, the cottage was filled with the delicious smell, and everyone rushed to the dining room, and there were freshly baked croissants on the table!  In those days no one (at least anybody I knew)  had bread machine at home, and it was my first time eating fresh baked bread.  The croissant was still hot, just came out from the oven.

The memory of the stay in the hospital and croissant have nothing big, just that D and I ordered some croissant for breakfast several times and that’s it.  Now, the weather is cold, and having freshly baked bread in the morning is just perfect.  Especially in a quiet place away from the city noises – just like that cottage.

Onsen Tamago

Onsen-tamago is like poached egg, but the egg is slowly cooked in hot water of about 65 – 75 ℃ until the egg white and yolk just set.  The name “onsen” means hot spring in Japanese, and as the name indicates, onsen-tamago is traditionally cooked in the hot spring.

Onsen-tamago is a typical breakfast menu in Japan.  When you stay at ryokan with hot spring, they usually serve this in the morning with rice, miso soup and other foods.  It’s eaten with sweet sauce made of dashi, soy sauce and mirin.  The egg white is not hard but cooked, and the yolk is paste-like.  You can also buy it from supermarkets and convenience stores.  It’s sold shell attached (looks just like a boiled egg), and comes with a sachet of sauce.

Why I’m writing about onsen-tamago is just because I have a craving for this. 🙂  I used the recipe for onsen-tamago (without onsen) from http://onsentamago.hoge2.info

1. Boil 1 L of water in a pot.
2. Once it comes to boil, turn off the heat.  Add 200ml of cold water and then eggs (eggs should be completely immersed in the water).   Place a lid, and wait for 15 minutes.

Ummm… it looks more like soft boiled egg :p  I think I left the egg in the water too long.  The yolk was just perfect to my liking though.

Just like poached egg, you can add it into salad, pasta, curry, udon, donburi … etc.

White Chicken Soup with Cheesy Bagel Toast

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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Quick Beef Bowl

Beef donburi, gyu-don, is one of Japanese popular donburi dish.  I’m sure you sometimes order this  at Japanese restaurants (if you like beef).

Normally, gyu-don is simmered beef and onion dish in sweet soy sauce flavoured dashi broth. This recipe, however, doesn’t require dashi broth and simmering process. It’s more like a stir-fried dish (with plenty of sauce/broth/juice from the beef and onions).  It’s a quick meal, and taste great 🙂

<Quick Beef Bowl>  serves 4~8

• 500g beef, thinly sliced
• 2 onions (medium size)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tbs sesame oil
• 2 tbs sugar
• 1 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 2 tbs mirin
• 2 tbs soy sauce

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1. Slice the onions and garlic thinly.
2. Heat the sesame oil in a sauce pan.  Add garlic and onion, and stir-fry until the onions are almost transparent.
3. Add beef, and cook for 2~3 minutes.  Add sugar, sake, mirin and soy sauce.
4. Turn down the heat to low, and cook further 5 minutes.

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Enjoy with steamed rice and some vegetables!

White Nests for Easter Eggs

Easter is just around the corner!  … Well, there is nothing particular to do for me on this holiday, but I do get influenced by all the marketings from the shops – Easter eggs, chocolate, bunnies…

This “white nest” is nothing special, but everyone does love them, especially with white chocolate.  Does anyone hate white chocolate?  Maybe?  Personally I love white chocolate.  It’s sweeter than milk chocolate, and looks so cute when used in cooking.  D loves white chocolate (he doesn’t like milk/dark chocolate) and has been eating this nest everyday since I made!

<White Nests for Easter Eggs> makes around 15

• 200g white chocolate
• 50g Kellogg rice bubbles
• 30g desiccated coconut

1. Melt chocolate in a bowl, over a pan of hot water.  Be careful that the bottom of the bowl holding the chocolate does not touch the hot water.
2. Stir in rice bubbles and coconuts, and mix through.
3. Using two spoons, drop the mixture on baking sheet – shaping into circle and make a dent in the centre.  Repeat with remaining.
4. When it’s set, place an Easter egg on each nest.

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.

Croque Monsieur Ume’s Style

It was raining this morning!!  Finally I can actually see and feel that the weather is moving towards autumn and winter.  Outside is bit windy, and cloudy now.  I love it!

In the weather like today, I feel like something warm for breakfast.  This dish is what I made in the home economic class when I was in elementary school in Japan.  The name of the dish was “Croque Monsieur”, so I still call it so.  The original Croque Monsieur is actually a simple hot ham and Gruyere cheese sandwich, fried in butter.  This one, on the other hand, uses spam instead of ham, and the sandwich is dipped in egg mixture before being grilled.

It’s kind of French toast of spam and cheese sandwich.  Melted cheese and crispy bread – this can be a great snack for afternoon too. 🙂

<Croque Monsieur>  makes 1

• 2 slices of stale bread (toast slices)
• spam (as much as you want to put)
• 1 slice of cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 tbs milk
• 1 tbs butter

1. Place spam and cheese on a slice of bread, and sandwich with another slice.
2. Beat the egg, and mix with milk.  Transfer the egg mixture into a shallow plate which is wide enough to put the bread in.
3. Place the sandwich into the egg mixture to soak for about 30 seconds, then flip it around.
4. Melt the butter in a frying pan, and grill the sandwich, both side, until golden.

Cold Chicken Salad

I love eating salad all year round.  They are healthy, nutritious, and refreshing!  When I’m busy, a simple cut-and-mix salad is a real time saver.  As the weather is still not cooled down yet, I made this cold chicken salad with lots of cucumbers and carrots.  It refreshed my body – as I’ve been eating lots of carb and sweets lately (toast, hot cross buns, scones… the food that are easy to snack on), I really needed something healthy.

Noodle (e.g. somen noodle, rice vermicelli) can be added and make it a cold noodle salad.  The leftover of the salad can be also used to make fresh spring rolls – simply roll the mixed salad in rice paper, and serve with Hoisin sauce.

<Cold Chicken Salad>  serves 2~4

• 150g chicken breast
• 1 continental cucumber
• 1/2 carrot
• 2~3 leaves lettuce
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbs unsalted peanuts
• 5~6 mint leaves
• 2 tbs sweet chilli sauce
• 1 tbs lemon juice or white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• few drops fish sauce

1. Steam or poach the chicken.  Shred the meat.
2. Heat a frying pan over medium heat.  Slightly bash the garlic cloves with side of knife and crush a little (no need to peel the skin).  Place the garlic and the peanuts on the frying pan, and toast until the peanuts are coloured.  Set aside.
3. Halve the cucumber, and remove the seeds.  Slice thinly in angle, then cut lengthwise to make thin matchsticks shape.  Slice the carrot into the same size as cucumber.
4. Finely chop up mint leaves.
5. Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, and toss gently.  Serve immediately.

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New McDonald’s Brekkie

Since watching tv ad of McDonald’s 2 new breakfast bagel, I’d been wanting to try them out.  They are only available until 10:30AM, and usually we are busy looking after Hiro around the time, so I didn’t really have chance to go out and grab one.

NYC Benedict Bagel is with bacon, egg, cheese and Hollandaise sauce, and Boston Deli Bagel is with bacon, egg, tomato, cheese and seasoned avocado.  I tried Boston Deli, and D tried NYC Benedict.

The bagel is pretty soft and fluffy.  It was $5.15 each and I thought it was bit expensive…  Even a Mega Muffin in Japan costs only 290 yen.  But, I did enjoy it.:)  Very full.

Sugar Pie Cookies

I don’t know if I can say this is a recipe, but it’s so easy to make using left over frozen pie sheets, and I thought I’d post it here.  What you need are frozen pie sheets and sugar.  That’s it.

Although it’s effortless to make, they taste delicious and one whole tray of cookies were gone within 1 hour (by D).

<Sugar Pie Cookies>  makes about 30 tiny cookies

• 2 pie sheets (half-thawed)
• 4~ tbs sugar

1. Line a pie sheet on a clean kitchen surface.  Sprinkle sugar to the every corner.
2. Line another sheet on top.  Sprinkle sugar to the every corner.
3. Gently roll the pie sheet towards the top, while sprinkling extra sugar on the way, until it is completely rolled up.
4. Cut into 1 cm thickness.  Coat with more extra sugar, and bake in the oven at 180° for 30 minutes or until golden.

I used granulated sugar, but you can use raw or dark sugar too to enjoy different taste.  Let it cool on the tray until completely cooled down, and keep in an airtight container.

Korean Ice Cream

I know I say this too much, but can I say it again?  …..  It’s soooooo HOT!!! (><)

People say that pregnant women feel hotter than normal people do.  I’m originally weak against hot & humid climate, so I’ve been staying in air-coned room all day.  It was rather depressing to see the glaring sunshine and feel the hot air at 7:30 AM.  …  Yeah, this might be the pregnancy thing –

The other day I got some Korean ice-cream from Hi Mart, one of Korean grocery chains.  They were selling some individual packs of ice-cream for “any three packs for $5.00” (my memory may be wrong – it may be $6.00?).  Cheap!  There’re 6~7 kinds of ice-cream in the showcase, and all of them looked so familiar – very similar to Japanese ice-cream!

This vanilla ice-cream sandwich with crunchy chocolate bits : This is my favorite!  It’s like Morinaga Choco-Monaka-Jumbo ice-cream , but more chocolate inside.  The texture of crispy chocolate and soft wafers are the best match.

I used to eat this Morinaga Choco-Monaka-Jumbo ice-cream quite often during summer in Japan.

Taiyaki-shaped (taiyaki = a Japanese fish-shaped cake) coated with thin crisp wafers.  The inside contains vanilla ice-cream and azuki bean paste.  We have few Taiyaki-shaped ice-cream sold in Japan, and I guess this is the Korean version of it.  I thought the amount of azuki bean paste was too little compared to the amount of vanilla ice-cream.

The original Taiyaki-shaped ice-cream in Japan is Imuraya brand.  They have black (dark sugar) and pink (strawberry) versions.

This is cookie n cream sandwich ice-cream.  The ice-cream was quite sweet, and the thin layer of sponge cake was soft and fluffy.  I preferred the above two to this one, as it is too sweet to me, and there was no texture in the ice-cream.

I want to find more delicious ice-cream!

Orange Mousse

I made this orange mousse on the BBQ (post is here), and everyone loved it.  I had made cheese cake as dessert already, but in the morning I thought I would make one more dessert.

This mousse is such easy to make, and you can actually use bottled orange juice you have in your fridge – if you don’t have any fresh oranges.  That’s what I used, and it tasted as good.

<Orange Mousse> makes about 2L

• 200ml water
• 100g granulated sugar
• 13g gelatine (powder) + 2tbs water
• 240ml orange juice (100%)
• 30ml lemon juice
• 30ml cointreau (optional)
• 340ml fresh cream

1. Soak gelatine in 2 tbs water.  Whip the cream to the soft peak.
2. Place water and sugar in a sauce pan, and simmer over medium-low heat, while stirring with a silicon spatula, till the sugar dissolves.  Turn off the heat, and add the gelatine.  Stir well to blend.
3. Transfer the gelatine mixture into a mixing bowl.  Add orange juice, lemon juice and cointreau, and mix.
4. Place the bowl over iced water.  Stir until the mixture become slightly thicken (but not until the gelatine sets).
5. Mix the whipped cream to the mixture.  Blend well.
6. Pour the mixture into a mould, and keep in the fridge until it sets.

It’s a perfect dessert in summer.  Enjoy with orange coulis, whipped cream, or fresh fruits!

Japanese Seasoned Steamed Rice (Takikomi Gohan)

This is what we call Takikomi Gohan, meaning that the rice is cooked in dashi broth and soy sauce along with other ingredients such as mushroom, chicken and root vegetables.  The variety is endless, and you can add any ingredients you like – seafood, beans, sweet potato, shellfish, etc.

The very standard ingredients for takikomi gohan are chicken thigh, carrot, shiiitake mushroom, konnyaku and abura-age (fried bean-curd).  I like adding roots vegetables such as burdock roots for the texture.

When cooking takikomi gohan, you will get dark-colored rice left in the bottom of the rice cooker.  This part is called “okoge” meaning “burned rice”, and is considered to be the best part to eat!

<Takikomi Gohan> serves 5~8

• 3 cups rice (short or medium grain)
• 100g chicken
• 1 tsp dashi powder
• 3~4 shiitake mushrooms (5~6 if using frozen shiitake mushrooms)
• 100g burdock roots, shredded (frozen)
• 1 carrot
• 2 sticks of chikuwa fish cake (optional)
• 3 tbs soy sauce
• 3 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 3 cm ginger

Japanese Style Slow-cooked Pork

Suddenly I had a craving for Japanese style char siu (yakibuta). It’s quite different from those Chinese style char siu – Japanese one tastes more like ham.  I like eating yakibuta with Japanese mayonnaise, and that’s what I had in my mind when I was making this dish.  It turned out, not exactly what I expected it to be, but it tasted great anyway and is a perfect meat dish to be served with simple steamed rice.

I served this slow-cooked pork dish with carrot rice – which is a simple steamed rice with grated carrot.  The rice doesn’t taste like carrot, but it boosts the nutrition.

To make this dish, you need an oven.  What you do is just marinate the pork in the sauce and cook in the oven – very easy.  You can use any part of pork for this dish: this time I used pork thigh.

<Japanese Style Slow-Cooked Pork>

• 300g pork meat
• 40ml soy sauce
• 20ml sake (cooking wine)
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 40g sugar
• 3cm spring onion
• 1 tbs white sesame seeds

1. Marinate the pork in the sauce (mixture of all the ingredients) overnight.
2. Pre-heat oven to 200°.
3. Place aluminium-foil on an oven tray, bending the edge high so that all the marinade sauce can go inside.  Place the pork and marinade sauce in the foil, and close the top.  You can also use 2 pieces of aluminium-foil : one to keep the pork and marinade sauce, and another to cover up the pork and sauce.
4. Cook the pork in the oven for 45 minutes.
5. Leave the pork for at least 10 minutes before slicing.
6. Serve with steamed rice and your choice of vegetables (or salad).

Salmon Teriyaki

My another salmon teriyaki recipe here.

A typical, yet delicious Japanese salmon dish : salmon with teriyaki-style sauce.  In Japan I normally use a fish-grill to grill salmon, but I don’t have it here in Perth so I cook it in the oven.  No need to worry about washing fish-smelling pan afterward and I could chill while the salmon is being cooked in the oven!

The word “teriyaki” means the method of cooking – which the food is brushed with sauce while being grilled.  I call this dish “salmon teriyaki” although there is no such cooking method involved.  It’s just easier for people (non-Japanese) to remember the name.  I can also call it “Salmon with Soy and Ginger Sauce”.  It’s actually more like it.

<Salmon with Soy and Ginger Sauce> serves 2

• 2 salmon fillets (around 350g)
• 3cm ginger
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 2 tbs mirin
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1 cm ginger

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°.
2. Halve the salmon fillets.
3. Slice the 3cm ginger into matchstick shape.
4. Spray alumifoil with oil, and line the salmon.  Sprinkle with salt, and top with the ginger.  Bake in the oven for 20~ 30 minutes until golden.
5. For the sauce: Place soy sauce, mirin, sugar and ginger (sliced into matchstick shape) in a small sauce pan, and bring to the gentle boil to dissolve the sugar, stirling well.
6. Serve with steamed rice.

Kinpira Gobo

Kinpira gobo, sweet soy glazed burdock root, is one of my favorite Japanese home-style food.  Kinpira is a  Japanese cooking style of “sauté and simmer”. It is commonly used to cook roots vegetables such as burdock roots, carrots, lotus roots and bamboo shoots.

The common ingredients for kinpira gobo are shredded burdock roots, carrots, and meat (usually thinly sliced pork or beef).  The seasonings are typical 4 Japanese ingredients.  If you have these 4 ingredients in your kitchen pantry, you can make kinpira at any time.

This time I used frozen shredded Japanese burdock roots.  There are also frozen shredded burdock roots from China at grocery shops and are much cheaper, but Japanese one tastes much better.  Even after thawed, the each burdock root still remains its crunchy texture.  It’s bit hard to get fresh burdock roots in Perth, so I always buy a frozen packet from Asian grocery shop and keep in the freezer.

<Kinpira Gobo>

• 100g burdock roots, shredded
• 1 carrot
• 50g pork meat (any part), sliced
• 1 tbs sesame oil
• 2 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 2 tbs mirin
• 3 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs roasted white sesame seeds

How to Eat Chicken Wings

Chicken Wings are great food to accompany rice, noodle and beer.  In Japan, Nagoya city in Aichi prefecture is famous for its chicken wings (tebasaki).  If you are planning to travel to Japan and going to Nagoya, you must try tebasaki there!

Tebasaki in Nagoya is deep-fried then brushed with some special sauce –  this sauce is the key.  The sweet, tasty sauce goes with beer and other alcohol so well.

I’m sure you also eat chicken wings by roasting, deep-frying or grilling at home (if you like them), but do you find it difficult to eat wings without making a mess?  I am actually a very messy eater, especially when eating wings.  It leaves my fingers, face and table messy, and also I can’t get all the meat between the bones.  How can you eat wings without making a mess?  I’ve got an answer from a website of famous tebasaki restaurant in Nagoya.

Furaibou is one of the popular tebasaki restaurant, and it has shops across Japan and LA in US.  On the website they show 4 ways to eat tebasaki without any hassle.

Method 1:

Hold both ends with fingers, and break the joint.  You will see bones coming out, and then tear the meat with one hand while holding the bones with another hand.  Now bones and meat are separated.  Enjoy the meat.

Method 2:

Remove the joint from both ends, and tear the meat along with two bones.  Enjoy the two strips.  Suck the bones if you like.

Method 3:

Remove the joint from the edge.  Grip the bone with finger, and twist to pull out.  Repeat with another bone.  Enjoy the meat.

Method 4:

Remove the joint from the edge.  Bite the wing and strip off the meat from the bones.

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Grilled Salmon with Tangy Soy

I got a big piece of salmon fillet from a friend the other day.  Salmon is one of my favorite fish – .. well I love all fish though, but salmon is great to eat anytime, on breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I normally eat salmon with rice, such as sushi and porridge, but I love my grandma’s simmered salmon.  She uses only the part near the bones (salmon ara アラ).  The part contains the delicious oil and condensed flavor of salmon.  I’ve never seen a shop selling this in Perth. (people think it’s not edible part, I think)

I grilled the salmon last night and served with steamed rice and tangy soy sauce.  This is a meal you can create in a flash!

<Grilled Salmon with Tangy Soy> serves 2

• 2 fillets salmon
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 bunch coriander
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/8 lemon

Subway at Home

Since I can’t (don’t want to) get rolls from Subway while pregnant, I’m making my own Sub salad rolls at home.  It’s actually started few months ago, and D and I eat them very often (like 5 times a week) now.  Especially it’s very hot these days and what I feel like eating is refreshing cold salad anyway.

So, our fridge is stacked with vegetables.  Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, avocado, red onions, olives, Jalapeno, cheeses, pickles, and sauces….  Each vegetables are chopped/cut and prepared in separate containers so that we can make a roll anytime.  He loves lots of honey mustard on his roll…

I love American mustard and grain mustard.  Sweet chilli also gives a nice flavor!

It’s kind a good idea, as we can eat many kinds of vegetables everyday.  And D seems that he lost some weights!  He didn’t eat any vegetables when I met him 7 years ago.  What a change!

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Mitarashi Dango

Dango is one of my favorite Japanese sweets!  I love the chewy texture.  Sanshoku-dango (three-color-dango) and mitarashi-dango are must item for me for 3PM tea time, and always get one or two while I’m in Japan.

Dango is made from rice flour, but there are actually few kinds of rice flour in Japan, called dangoko, joshinko and shiratamako.  It’s bit confusing and many people don’t know if there are any differences between them.  They are all made from rice.  Differences are the process of making each flour and also a kind of rice.  Dangoko is made from a combination of mochi rice and uruchi rice. Joshinko is made from uruchi rice.  Shiratamako is made from white mochi rice.  Dango made from dangoko are chewer than those made from joshinko or shiratamako.  Shiratamako gives soft texture and chewiness to dango and it doesn’t go hard when it’s cold.  Joshinko is mainly used to make most kinds of Japanese sweets (eg: mitarashi-dango, kashiwa-mochi etc)

I happened to have joshinko at home, and made mitarashi-dango using a recipe from my grandma!

<Mitarashi Dango> makes about 15

• 70g joshin-ko or rice flour
• 35g corn flour
• 10g sugar
• 170cc water

1. To make dango, blend all dry ingredients in a bowl. Add water and mix until smooth.
2. Place the mixture in a sauce pan, and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thicken and the color is almost transparent.  Remove from the heat, and cool.
3. Meanwhile, prepare a steamer.  Start boiling water, and line baking sheet on the bottom of the steamer tray.
4. When the mixture is cool enough to handle, shape into small balls by hands.  You can use corn flour if the mixture keeps sticking to your hands.
5. Arrange the dango on the baking sheet, and steam for 20 minutes.
6. To make sauce: place water, sugar and soy sauce in a small sauce pan, and simmer until the sugar dissolves.
7. Mix corn flour with 1 tbs water.  Gradually add the cornflour mixture into the sugar water, stirling constantly, to thicken the sauce.
8. Pour the sauce over dango and serve.  If you like better flavour, grill dango slightly and caramelize the sauce over the heat.

Cherry Pancake

Here is the recipe of cherry pancake I made on Christmas day.  You can prepare the mixture ahead and keep in the fridge until needed.  Try adding different fruits instead of cherries for a variety!

<Cherry Pancake>  makes about 6 

• 1 handful of cherries, pitted
• 1 egg
• 25g sugar
• 150ml milk
• 30g butter, melted
• few drops of vanilla extract
• 150g plain flour
• 5g baking powder

Christmas Holiday

Christmas cookie tree.

In the morning of Christmas we woke up with sweet delicious pancake.  I added cherries to the pancake, but D didn’t want any cherries.

After breakfast we sat on a sofa and watched tv for awhile…  It was too hot to go outside!

D started to act weird…  and I knew he was preparing to give me a Christmas present!  We didn’t talk about present until today, and we didn’t even mention about giving a present to each other, but I prepared one and I knew he prepared something for me secretly too.  So, I went outside to get his present ready…

We were trying to act normal, but I couldn’t help laughing.  He gave me a 2011 diary that I wanted!  And, a watch!

A baby bonsai I gave him…  I only prepared one for him 🙁

The wind was still warm in the evening.  It was really tiring day…  I wouldn’t be able to survive without air-con.  After dinner (inari sushi and chicken karaage), we drove to a park near Swan River for walking.  It was 9 PM and quite windy, but the heat was finally off.  It was very hot Christmas…

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Cookies for a Christmas Tree

Baking cookies is one of the fun activities you can do for Christmas!  You can create them in any shapes, and decorate with your favorite color.

Poke a hole on the cookie dough before baking so that they can be hung on your Christmas tree. 🙂    Make sure the hole is big enough as the hole will go smaller after baking.

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<Cookies> makes about 30~40 of 5cm Christmas trees

• 160g butter, unsalted
• 120g sugar
• 1 egg
• 320g plain flour
• a drop of vanilla extract

<Icing>  makes enough for 60 cookies

• 1 tsp vanilla yogurt
• 4~6 icing sugar (adjust the consistency: hard, but soft enough to pipe out)
• coloring 

1. Cream butter in a bowl using a whist or hand mixer until whitish color.  Add sugar, and mix until the butter is fluffy.
2. Add
3. …
4. Mix until the dough comes together.  Wrap in plastic, and rest in the fridge for more than 30 minutes.
5. Roll out the dough into 5mm thick.  Cut the dough into decorative shapes, using cookie cutters.  Arrange cookies on lined oven tray, and bake at 180℃ for about 10 minutes, or until the bottom of the cookies are golden. 
6. Once the cookies are cooled down, mix the ingredients for icing and put it in a small piping bag, or plastic bag.  Make a tiny hole on the tip, and decorate your cookies.
7. Leave until the icing is set.  

Merry Christmas to you all !! (^0^)-☆

あ

Yakiniku

I need red meat!! Great source of protein and iron.  Craving for chunks of meat sometimes happen to me, especially on Friday/Saturday evenings when I smell BBQ from neighbors houses.

I went to out to a restaurant the other day and ordered steak.  I told waitstaff to make sure the meat is cooked well-done.  But, when I cut the steak the meat inside was slightly pink.  It may be just because of the lighting at the restaurant (the lights were red-ish color which made everything look red).  I wasn’t sure if I should eat it – it maybe ok, but it maybe not.  In the end I asked waitstaff to cook the meat more.  I should have ordered chicken or pork instead of beef, so that I know the meat is fully cooked at least.  From the experience, I only eat steak at home now.

Last night I made yakiniku at home.  It’s one of the easiest meal because what I need to do is prepare meat (and some vegetables, rice and soup to accompany).  This time I marinated the beef with grated pear to give additional fruity taste.  It also softened the meat.

Cook meat in front of you while watching tv, and enjoy the freshly cooked meat with sauce and rice!  Yum.

In Japan, beef and port for yakiniku is normally sliced into about 5mm thick.  You can buy a bulk of meat and slice by yourself too.  It is more economical.  After slicing the meat, marinate in the home-made sauce, and keep in the fridge until you  start your feast.  Don’t forget to cook rice too!

<Yakiniku>  for 2 people

• 500g beef
• 40ml soy sauce
• 10ml sake (cooking wine)
• 40g pear, grated
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp minced ginger

• cabbage, capsicum, pumpkin, onion etc 
• steamed rice / soup
• sauce (ponzu, yuzu juice with salt, or try making this sauce ↓↓)

Cajun Chicken Citrus Salad

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

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!

Tomato Chicken Rice with Omelet (Omu-Rice)

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

Pupusa – Thick Corn Tortilla

Pupusa –  a traditional Salvadoran dish made of maize flour dough, seemed to be really easy to make.  I watched my friends preparing the dish few times now.  There seem to be many varieties in the fillings, but I want to write down the recipe of this El Salvador food that she makes for her husband everyday.

Her ingredients are very simple – zucchini, onion, garlic and Mozzarella cheese.  You just need to chop up all, season with salt and coat with dough which is made of maize flour and water.

You can buy the maize flour at oriental grocery shops.  Just mix with water until it comes together.

<Pupusa with zucchini>

• maize flour (masa harina flour)
• 1/2 zucchini
• 1/2 onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup Mozzarella cheese

1. Chop up (or grate) zucchini and onion.  Mince the garlic.  
2. Place them in a mixing bowl.  Add salt and squeeze out the excess liquid.
3. Add the Mozzarella cheese, and mix through.
4. In another mixing bowl, mix the maize flour and water to achieve the dough-like consistency (not too firm, not too soft) – about 1 cup flour + 2~3 tbs water.  

Serve immediately!  Hot and crispy pupusa is the best.  Tomato salsa is the typical condiment to pupusa, but you can enjoy it with pesto or chutney – whatever you feel like. 🙂

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Tsumire Soup with Ponzu

Tsumire – fish meat balls – is a great item for soup or steamboat.  I got frozen tsumire from an Asian grocery shop recently.  This Kibun brand tsumire doesn’t contain any flavorings or preservatives, and the ground fish bones are also mixed into the fish balls to boost the calcium level. 🙂

I made a quick soup with this tsumire for my breakfast this morning.  Very simple – simmer the ingredients in dashi stock, and eat with ponzu. 

<Tsumire Soup> serves 2

• 150g tsumire (fish meat balls)
• 1/2 cup frozen shiitake mushroom (or 2~4 fresh shiitake mushroom)
• 1 bunch spinach
• 2 cups dashi 
• few teaspoons of ponzu (adjust to your taste)