Simple Teriyaki Chicken

This is a simple, yet tasty recipe for the whole family. Each time I cooked this, my children simply asks for more servings. You will regret it if you do not cook this dish for your family. It is so easy!

Ingredients
- light soya sauce (4 TB)
- mirin (4 TB)
- Sake (2 TB)
- Sugar (1 TB)
- Boneless chicken thigh or chicken leg (do not remove the skin)
- For garnish, spring onions, shredded seaweed (get from supermarket Jap section), white sesame seeds

* You can now easily get mirin from supermarkets under the Japanese section. As for Sake, I did not buy as it is an ingredient which I seldom use in my cooking. So I replaced that with Chinese xo wine which I have. I am guessing any cooking wine also can.

Steps
1) Mix the first 4 ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
2) Marinate the chicken with salt and black pepper for at least 30 mins
3) use a flat pan, no need oil, place the chicken in the pan with the skin face down, pan fried for about 3 mins till abit golden in colour( medium heat )
4) Add the mixed teriyaki sauce to the pan and allow the chicken to simmer till the sauce is dry (low heat)
5) Keep turning the chicken so that both sides will absorb the sauce
6) Remove from pan once the chicken is cooked and nicely browned.
7) Finally top up with spring onions, shredded seaweed and white sesame seeds

Best served with rice!

Enjoy!

Light Japanese Soufflé Cheesecake

Baking has always been my weakness as it involves accuracy and many steps, not to forget the horrible washing after all the mixing bowls used. Nevertheless, with all the time I have in the day as well as to hone my baking skills, I knew I should do it! Anyway, its a great way to save money when a family member celebrates their birthday as cakes can be really expensive!

Anyway, decided to cook this after eating a really nice chiffon orange cake baked by my aunt-in-law. However, changed it to cheesecake because my children simply loves cheese!!

This is a great recipe as its light and fluffy!

Enjoy!

Ingredients (for 9 x 9 x 2 inch square tray):

160 ml milk
80 g butter, at (tropical) room temperature, cut into small pieces
280 g full-fat cream cheese block, at (tropical) room temperature, cut into small pieces
100 g cake flour, sifted
30 g cornstarch, sifted (if you have corn flour instead, use twice the amount (60g)
1/4 tsp salt
140g egg yolks
 4 tsp lemon juice

 350 g egg whites
 150 g caster sugar


The eggs should amount to about 8-10 eggs depending on size.

Steps:

1) Spray the baking tray with oil/butter, then place baking paper on it.
2) Wrap the sides of tray with aluminium foil
3) Heat milk till warm. Then, place the milk in a mixing bowl, together with the small pieces of butter and cream cheese. Mix it evenly.
4) Add the egg yolks and lemon juice into the mixture of cream cheese.
5) Sieve the mixture twice or more to make it very smooth
6) Place the sifted flour (both cake and corn flour) as well as salt into the cream cheese mixture.
7) Mix it really well and even.
8)Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
9) Mix the egg whites with a mixer till it creates soft peaks. While mixing, add in the sugar gradually.
10) Fold gently in the egg whites to the yolk mixture in 3 rounds. Get rid of big air bubbles.
11) Pour batter into the tray slowly to avoid creating bubbles
12) Put hot water on a big rectangle tray, then place the square tray in to act as a water bath during baking to keep the cake moist.
13) Place the tray into the oven and bake it at 170 degrees C for about 50-60 mins.
14) Test it with a skewer to see if its ready.
15) Remove cake from oven and cool it on a rack

Enjoy!

Beef with egg and rice - Japanese & Korean Inspired

This is one of the dishes I enjoy preparing for my family as it is not only easy for the cook, it also makes the family happy. A win-win situation! How ideal!

It is also a versatile dish as it works for other meats like pork and chicken.

Ingredients
- beef (I bought the shabu shabu type in the frozen section. I like it because it is sliced thinly for me already and it has a bit of fats. You can also get pork/chicken)
- Korean/ Japanese sauces for marinade
- Onions
- Eggs
- Rice
- Lettuce (saves on cooking as you can serve this raw. Woo hoo!!)

Steps
1) Marinade the beef for at least 3 hours with the Korean/ Japanese Sauce. I used this last night when I cooked this dish.. But other times, I usually use the Japanese marinades. For me, I use whatever I have in my fridge and is in need of clearance.

2) Slice up one large yellow onion. Last night, I used shallots as I didn't have yellow onions at home. So once again, its still fine. Don't beat yourself up just because you lack an ingredient. Cooking is meant to be fun and creative. If you lack something, just be flexible and think of another substitute. The shallots work beautifully too!

3) Add butter into the pan and then add your onions. Caramelise first by tossing it around. I add a splash for Jap sauce on it too. It's to quicken the process of cooking the onions and making it tastier.

4) Add the sliced beef in it. This would not take too long. You would not want to overcook the beef and dry it out. I pour all the marinades in as well so that there will be gravy for my rice.

5) Fry the egg with butter on another pan separately. Sunny-side up!

6) Finely chopped the lettuce

7) Lastly, assemble everything together

8) Add your rice, sunny side up egg, lettuce on one side with the beef on top of it to cook the lettuce a little. Then top the rice up with some Japanese seasonings which I bought and gravy from the beef.

 (By the way, I used normal rice instead. Save cost and trouble from going out to buy specially for Japanese rice. To my hubby and children, it wont make a difference. Still tasty and enjoyable!)

Enjoy!

Una-Tama (Grilled Unagi Eel and Egg)

I have always been a big fan of Japanese food. There is so much variety that somehow, I will not get sick of eating. The only thing holding me back from eating it everyday is of course, the COST! Its so expensive to eat in Japanese restaurants. The usual one I would go to is within walking distance from my house which has a lunch promotion for only $10 which includes a main dish, a side, and a dessert.
Even the non-promotional items are cheaper than regular restaurants. So that's where I go to for my Japanese food cravings.

Anyway, I bought unagi (grilled eel) from Giant hypermart as it was on offer.

So because of that, I decided to try a dish which is sold in Japanese restaurants in Singapore. If you have difficulty in finding grilled eel, you can substitute it with salmon (cut into cubes).

Ingredients
- Grilled Eel (small pieces)
- Yellow Onion
- Eggs
- Unagi/Teriyaki Sweet Sauce - Available in supermarkets in the Japanese section
- Seaweed and Spring Onions for garnish

Steps
1) Add oil to the pan. I used my happy call pan for the grill effect. But of course, any frying pan will do. Throw in the onions.

2) Toss it and add a bit of the unagi sauce to the onions to sweeten and caramelised it up.

3) Then throw in the eel and toss it. Add more sauce if you like it.

4) Finally, throw in the beaten eggs to let it cover all the eel and onions. I do not like my eggs to be overcooked but slightly mushy. It's nicer.

5) Remove from pan neatly and garnish with spring onions and seaweed (I used my ready cut up seaweed from a packet)

This dish is great with rice! You can actually place this on top of the rice. You can also make miso soup to go with this meal.

Enjoy!

Pan-fried Squid with Miso Sauce

In my opinion, having a box of miso paste is a must-have in the fridge. Miso paste is very versatile. As and when I feel like cooking noodles soup, I add miso paste to the soup and it instantly taste nice. You can also use this paste for marination, like how I am going to show you in this post. Or even use this paste to cook Kang Kong Vegetables if you do not want the usual sambal belachan version since you have young children at home. So, do keep a tub in your fridge. It is quite lasting!

Basically, the Shiro (White) Miso is a milder type as compared to the Aka (Red) Miso. The Aka one is stronger in taste. So its your preference.

Apart from miso, I also have Japanese sauces in my fridge which I love. I use it when I fry salmon, marinate beef or pork slices if I feel like cooking Japanese. Below is actually a Yakitori sauce, but it works well. Basically I am going for the teriyaki, sweet sauce type of taste.

Here's a miso soup with noodles recipe for you if you are interested- Egg Noodles with Chicken Miso Soup

Anyway, below is a recipe that is so simple yet tasty. I am sure everyone can cook this at home.

Ingredients
1) Miso Paste
2) Teriyaki/ Japanese sweet sauce
3) Squid
4) Yellow Onions
5) Dried Parsley or spring onions for garnish

Steps
1) Wash and slice the squid. Here's a step-by-step picture guide on how to wash and cut it! Very informative!

2) Then marinate it with miso paste.

3) Slice up the whole onion

4) Throw in the sliced onions into the frying pan with oil

5) While frying the onions, I squeeze in a bit of the Japanese Sauce marinate to let the onions cook faster and make the onions tastier.

6) Then I throw in the squid and toss quickly since squid cooks very fast. Be sure not to overcook it as it can become rubbery. At this juncture, you can also squeeze some Japanese sauce onto it for colour and taste.

7) Taste it and see if you are satisfied before switching off the fire.

8) Finally, garnish with dried parsley or spring onions

You can eat this with a bit of gravy or minimal gravy. It's up to you. Just make sure the taste of the gravy is to your liking before you off the fire.

ENJOY!

Sushi, the easy and cheap way

Sushi has been enjoyed with my children ever since my 4 year old daughter saw her cousin eat it. Yes, kids are rather impressionable.

Anyway, sushi making is really fun to do it together as a family and it encourages creativity as well!

It is also very easy to prepare and the best thing is that the leftovers can be PERFECT for fried rice! So, very minimal wastage!

Ingredients: (Basically, it is whatever you like to add in your sushi or where ever your creativity takes you. But here's my list)

- Sausages (1 sausage per pax is more than enough)
- eggs ( 1 egg for 2 people)
- Japanese cucumber (any cucumber works as well)
- mayonnaise
- Seaweed sheets (Nori sheets)
- cooked rice (I have used normal Chinese rice for my sushi and it works fine. But if you are more particular, then go for the Japanese or Calrose rice)
- crab sticks

Many recipes state to put vinegar inside the rice. But I found that it is not necessary if you just want to keep it simple!

Preparation:
1) Cook the rice way in advance. If you are having it for lunch, cook it in the morning to allow it time to cool down. I just cooked it normally in the rice cooker as how I would cook my usual rice. Except that I would add more rice than usual as sushi making does take up more rice. So I would add about 1/2 cup to 1 cup more than usual.

2) Cook the sausage in whatever method you want. I opt for boiling in a pot of boiling water as it is 'healthier' and easier to wash after that.

3) After that, thinly cut the sausages in strips.

4) Thinly slice the cucumber as well. If you are using Japanese cucumber which I normally use, I would retain the skin. But otherwise, remove the skin.

5) Beat the eggs and fry them in a pan of hot oil. Then remove from pan and cut it thinly as well.

6) For the crabsticks, I did not cook them. I just thaw it, remove the plastic and thinly strip it as well.

Steps:
1) Lay the nori sheet on top of the bamboo roller. Then scoop rice on the seaweed by pressing it down and spreading it. Most places make sure that there is rice on every part of the seaweed. So it is really compact and compressed. However, I didn't want to fill to full..so I opted for less rice. So there are gaps in between.

2) Place whatever ingredients you want to put in your sushi. My girl likes sausage and eggs. So here's how I put it. Place them only in the front portion of your seaweed. I also spread mayonnaise on the rice first.

3) Then you start taking the bamboo roller and push in your ingredients to roll it up

4) Each roll you do, you compress it tight

5) Then finally you complete the whole roll of seaweed

6) Then remove the bamboo roller onto the cutting board

7) Next, you take a sharp knife to cut. When cutting, please take note NOT to press your knife down. You just slice gently, allowing the knife to do its work. If not, your sushi will end up in a mess.

8) Because I did not add too much rice, the ends of the sushi are a little hollow. But I kind of like that actually as it is more crispy since there's more seaweed at the ends. So it's really up to you how much rice you want to put and squeeze on top of the seaweed

You can have other ingredients like raw salmon. Here's my son's work

 

 

Enjoy and have fun! I had leftovers for my sushi. So I used them for dinner as I cooked my children's another favourite- fried rice! Here's my fried rice recipe !