Chicken Katsu Don

This is one of my favourite Japanese food. It's very easy to make too. Usually, this dish is served in a Japanese bowl. Which i'm trying to buy but i couldn't find it at the nearest malls. One of my friends told me to buy it at Papaya Supermarket. This supermarket sells lots of Japanese foods ingredients, sushi and even cooking utensils. Well, i'll try to go there another time i guess.

But for this first attempt of cooking Chicken Katsu Don, guess i'll have to use my regular bowl. I got the recipe from here. Very simple!

Now will you excuse me...i got to go and buy those Japanese bowl ASAP!

Broccoli Nuggets

I wonder how many of you who loved broccoli? For some people (and not to mention how many kids will say something like..."ewwww"), this recipe may sounds scary. But to me, broccoli is one of my fave's. It's a SUPER healthy vegetable and it taste good too. Believe it or not, this broccoli nuggets is delicious.

Ok, enough about broccoli campaign. Now, because i create this recipe about 2 month ago....not much to remember. I'll try to create this another time and write down the recipes. Sorry ^^

I always cooked without measuring and put whatever spices & ingredients that i tought it'll fit in. But that's just how i enjoy my cooking time :)

Thailand Cooking Course

A while ago, i joined 1 day Thailand Cooking Course at one of the best culinary academy in town. Well, at least that's what i think because there's not much culinary academy here.

The cooking course start at 2pm, but i arrive early. I use this opportunity to ask about the programs, tuition fee, etc2. They even let me to look around in each class. One of the class is making chocolate and the tutor chef even offer me some of the chocolates. Cool!

At 2.15pm the course begin. I forgot the Chef's name, but he's a chef from Shangrilla Hotel. There was about 4 other girls who also joined this cooking course.

Today we'll be making 4 recipes: Tom Yam Goong, Pad Thai (Thailand's Fried Noodle), Chicken in Pandan Leaves and also Thailand's Crabmeat & Beef Bacon/Chicken Roll. I forgot to bring my digital camera, so i can't take pictures at that time.

What makes me a bit disappointed is the fact that it's more like a cooking demo than a cooking course. We only watch the chef cooking while asking some questions sometime. Not exactly what i imagined. I thought i will have my own table with all the ingredients and we'll cook together. But i still enjoyed it and getting to know new friends.

After about 2 hours in heat (there's no air conditioner in the kitchen) the whole course is over. I take some time to ask some questions to the chef about his job. He told me that if i wanted to become a chef i have to deals with heat like this everyday. Being a chef means LOTS of working hours, even in holiday. Hmm....that doesn't sounds good. But that's the facts i need to hear.

Anyway, i got home with some of the cooked results and take some pictures of it. I must say that the Tom Yam Goong wasn't so good. I've tasted better at Kuningan Restaurant. I 'll try to make this spicy soup later and try to find a better recipe.

The Pad Thai was OK, but not my favourite also. But the Chicken in Pandan Leaves and Thailand's Crabmeat & Beef Bacon/Chicken Roll was great! They're simple and easy to make. I'll try to make it another time and post the recipe.

Test Recipe: Braised Daikon

As i promised, i'll post one of my test recipe few weeks ago. I got this recipe from Periplus Mini Cookbooks Series: Japanese Favourites.

Actually, i got this beautiful white carrot-like vegetables accidentally while i was looking for vegetables for salad recipe. In my country, they called it lobak. Here's some explanation about daikon (from the recipe book):

"Daikon is a large white radish widely used in Japanese cooking. It may be eaten raw or cooked and is often pickled or grated. Used mainly in soups and stir-fries, it is sold in supermarket."

So bought some and when i got home...i realized i have no idea what should i do with this daikon. I eat it raw...it's crisps, juicy, and there's slightly bitter aftertaste. So i search trough my recipe books and i found this simple recipe. I have no other clue, so i'll just go with this recipe.

INGRDIENTS:
500 g (1 lb) daikon
1 teaspoon dashi powder dissolved in 1 liter (4 cups) water or 1 liter (4 cups) Dashi Stock (i don't have dashi powder, so i used instant 1/2 cubed instant chicken stock)
2 teaspoons sugar ( i make it 3 because i like it sweet)
2 tablespoon Japanese soy sauce (don't use the thick soy sauce, because the flavour will be too salty)
4 tablespoon sake
3 tablespoons mirin
black sesame seeds (goma shio)

01 Remove skin and thick outer layer and slice the daikon into eight thick pieces. Cut a thin strip on an angle from the top and bottom edge of each piece. Cut a shallow cross into the top on one side.

02 Place the daikon slices in a saucepan with dashi mixture or Dashi Stock, sugar, soy sauce and sake. Bring to the boil, removing any impurities from the surface with a spoon. Boil for 10 minutes then reduce heat and simmer covered for 2.5 hours or until daikon is tender and lightly browned.

03 Gently stir in the mirin. Set aside for 10 minutes before serving in small plate with little of the cooking liquid. Springkle some black sesame seeds and serve.

Well, it tasted OK. i can't say that this is my fave, because i found that the bitter aftertaste is still there. But i love how beautiful this dish can become. Do you agree?

Another time, i'll try to add the sake and maybe make it 3 hours to cooked. If you have any suggestion on how to cooked this daikon right, i'd be very happy to know it.

Busy Days

After 2 weeks bed rest (i got rubella last month), there's a lot of work to be done. I have to contact my personal clients & my boss to tell them that their project has been postponed due to my illness. I'm glad they understand. 2 weeks is not a short time right? So, right after i'm recovered...there's a huge pile of work to be done. But hey... i love being busy :)

After i finish most of the projects, my boss give me bonu$ as an appreciation of my hard works....i'm so happy for this!

Then there's my oldest sister wedding day this month. You know how a wedding can become an issue for the whole family. I'll ask her permission to post some of her wedding photo in this blog. Congrats sis! Hope you'll be having a baby soon!

Now i still got some projects to be done, but not as hectic as last month. The wedding is over and my sister is having her honeymoon right now.

I know i haven't posted anything for a long time and i feel sad because it's like i've abandoned this blog. But actually, i'm still here and got lots of food picture to post. I try some different recipes lately, but i haven't got time to posted it here.

I'll be back!

Salmon With Creamy Sauce & Garlic Mash

Today i'm in the mood for SALMON! Yum! My fave fish.

Well actually, this week i'm craving for Japanese food. But when i go to the poultry and meat alley in the supermarket, i think it would be just great if i try to cook this delicious fish. I also buy some chicken for Chicken Katsudon recipe, but i think i'll hold that for tomorrow because i think fish is great to cook while it's still fresh.

Ok then, this time i'll try my best to write down the recipe. Not an expert at explaining things though, but i'll try. Please let me know if i miss something.

INGREDIENTS:
1 salmon fillet (about 200 g)
2 tablespoons oil
5 clove garlic, crushed and chopped
75 ml light cream2 tablespoons lime/lemon juice
1 tablespoons grated parmesan
60 g baby green beans, top and tailed
1 medium potato, peeled and cut into 4-8 pieces
a pinch of oregano and thyme
salt and pepper

01 Mix half the crushed and chopped garlic with lime juice, salt and pepper. Spread on the fish and marinate for at least 30 minutes. Put the marinated fish in the refrigerator for better result.

02 Meanwhile, cook the potato in a saucepan of lightly salted boiling water for 12-15 minutes, or until tender. You can also put the green beans and cook for 2-4 minutes or until tender but still crisp, drain.

03 Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the salmon to the frying pan and cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side for medium rare, or until cooked to your liking (i love the well-done type). Set aside.

04 Add the remaining garlic to the pan (set aside a small amount garlic to taste the potato), stir-fry until fragrant and then add small amount of water, then stir in the remaining lime/lemon juice, 3/4 part of cream, oregano, thyme, and half part of cheese. Simmer for about 5 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly, then season with salt and pepper to taste.

05 Just before the salmon is ready, drain the potato. Add the remaining garlic, 1/4 part of cream, 1/2 part of cheese. Mash until smooth with a potato masher.

06 To serve, put the garlic mash on serving plates. Put the pan-fried salmon on top of it and then pour the cream sauce. Serve the green beans on the side.

This recipe is for 1 serving size, coz i only bought 1 salmon fillet. I ask my oldest sister to give it a try. She love it :) I'm glad my first salmon recipe turn out great. My mom is not a big fan of fish, so she only tried it a bit.

Btw, sorry for the long recipe post. It's a super busy weeks! One of my client ask me to finish his company profile within the next 2 days. He just send me the content YESTERDAY! My boss have an urgent task and my other client also push the deadline until the end of this month. Isn't hat wonderful? My holiday started today, but i think i can't rest until i finished all of this.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday peepz. I don't have any plan for christmas yet, but i hope ya'll have a wonderful christmas eve. Cheers!

Vegetarian Food

Today i found an interesting blog about opened a restaurant.

The restaurant called Kinta Restaurant. It's located at Portland, Oregon. I'm always excited when i found this kind of blog. The good thing is they also have a food blog called Asian Vegan, u can find lots of food picture there. (thanks to jenz, i found this link form her site)

I don't know about u, but i'm a vegetable lover. I'm not a vegetarian because i still love meat :) Once or twice i've tried a vegetarian food, and in some ways i kind of liked it hehe. I'm still try to search a good vegetarian restaurant here.

Since i have a special interest about food, i always do some small research about food nutrition, etc2. That kind of makes me more aware about eating healthy food.

I think every type of food or ingredients have a good purpose for our body, IF we eat it in balance and moderate amount. For example, u eat a hamburger with french fries or onion rings today. Then u balanced it by eating enough fibre like salad (with moderate amount of dressing of course) or a wholegrain cereal with fresh fruits as desserts.

Always eat oily, greasy and full-of-fat food in moderate amount. It's not like you can have a big fat greasy steaks with heavy based cream sauce after u eat a large bowl of salad. Get the point?

My suggestion - eats vegetable, fruits and drink a lot of water everyday worked like a charm ^^

Sweet Corn Soup

I create this sweet corn soup last week. I got lots of vegetables on my fridge, i think it's the best time to use them all. I used fresh sweet corn instead of the canned ones.

Making soup is so simple. As usual i don't go the measuring part, but here's the step-by-step :

01 Heat about 4-5 tablespoon oil in a large pot over medium heat and add the chopped garlic. let cook until it's fragrant, stirring occasionally.

02 Add some chopped fresh tomatoes & smoked beef, stir it again for about 3 minutes. Add some water, but not too much (or you can use chicken stock).

03 Add the sweet corn, carrots & some seasoning (salt, pepper & sugar). Let it cook for about 10-15 minutes or until the carrots is soft enough.

04 Add the pre-cooked shell pasta & leeks, stirring occasionally.

05 Meanwhile, lightly whisk 1 egg and then pour it into the boiled soup. Stir it quickly. Turn off the stove and then serve it. Yummy!