Another holiday activity with my boys, this time we assembled a meal in the bento box to share together. I've shared the Okonomiyaki recipe in my last post. I made few extras at that time then I froze them (without the topping) and took them out whenever I needed.
So this time, I share another yummy recipe :
Chicken Karaage
Ingredients:
450 gr boneless and skinless chicken breasts/chicken thighs (cut into small pieces)
3 cm fresh ginger (peeled and pounded with a mortar and pestle to extract 1 tablespoons of ginger juice)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons sake
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)
Corn starch to coat the chicken
Oil for deep frying
Method:
1. Use paper towels to pat dry the chicken pieces and transfer to a bowl.
2. Add in sake, ginger juice, soy sauce, sesame oil (optional) and marinate for 30 minutes.
3. Transfer the chicken pieces out of the marinate and coat them evenly with corn starch. Shake off excess.
4. Deep-fry in oil for two times.
5. Heat up a wok/pot of cooking oil until it is hot enough for frying.
6. Drop the chicken pieces into the oil and quickly deep fry them until they float. 7. Transfer them out onto a plate and wait for a couple of minutes.
8. Put the chicken back into the oil and deep-fry until golden brown and crunchy.
9. Dish out to a plate or bowl lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil. 10. Ready to serve
This bento box consists of :
1. White steamed rice with sprinkles of black sesame seed
2. Chicken karaage
3. Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake) with katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) and Japanese mayonaise (Kewpie) on top.
4. Pickled red ginger
5. Watermelon cuts
I used these foodpicks in this post :
I've heard about Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancake) for quite some time and am really curious to have a taste. Today, I had a chance to make it.
There are so many versions of Okonomiyaki, so I tried to adapt several recipes and adjusted it with the ingredients I had at home. It is quite yummy, I supposed :)
Here I share my recipe :
Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancake)
serves : 4
Ingredients :
8 cups cabbage (about a whole large cabbage), finely diced
1 cup squid (optional), chopped into small piece
Oil
100 gr pork minced
1 small onion, chopped
Okonomiyaki Batter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup dashi (Japanese stock)
4 eggs
1/4 cup pickled red ginger, sliced
Toppings
Okonomi sauce
Japanese mayonnaise (Kewpie mayo)
Katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
Green onions, finely chopped
Pickled red ginger (Kizami Beni Shoga) for garnish
Instructions:
1. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder.
2. Whisk dashi stock and flour mixture together in a bowl until smooth and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, remove the core of the cabbage and finely dice the cabbage (finer the better).
4. In the bowl, add eggs, Tenkasu, and Pickled Ginger, and mix well. Then add squid and mix again.
5. Stir in the cabbage.
6. In a non-stick frying pan heat oil on medium to medium high heat. Scoop one ladle of batter and place on the pan.
7. Do not flatten the mixture because it will easily break when you turn it over.
8. Place 2 tbs pork minced on top of Okonomiyaki and cook covered for 5 minutes.
9. When the bottom side is nicely browned, turn it over and cook covered for another 5 minutes.
10. Turn over one more time and cook uncovered for 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
11. Apply Okonomi Sauce and Japanese mayonnaise, and sprinkle katsuobushi. 12. You can also put green onions and pickled red ginger on top for garnish.
13. Enjoy!
During school holidays, the boys are always hungry. This afternoon, I tried to whip up some ingredients in the pantry and made these white chocolate, pistachios and oat cookies.
The original recipe is from Better Home and Garden. It is called white chocolate, walnut and oat biscuits. But I swapped the walnut with pistachios and it tasted delicious!
Here I share the recipe :
White Chocolate, Pistachios and Oat Cookies
Adapted from Better Home and Garden
Ingredients :
- 1/3 cup rolled oats
- 50ml hot milk
- 225g butter, chopped
- ¾ cup caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 1¼ cups plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 100g pistachios, finely chopped
- 175g white cooking chocolate, finely chopped
Method :
1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Line 3 oven trays with baking paper.
2. Put oats and milk in a small bowl and stir to combine. Set aside for 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium, using paddle attachment, until pale and fluffy, then beat in egg.
4. Add flour, baking powder, pistachios, chocolate and oat mixture. Stir until combined.
5. Roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls.
6. Arrange on prepared trays, 4cm apart.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Cool on trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Serve.
The boys are still in their school holiday, and I can't wait to start bentoing again. To get my mojo back, I prepared this lunch for my hubby at work today.
His lunch consists of :
1. White steamed rice with fried onion on top
2. Pork and tofu cooked in sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
3. Halves hard boiled egg
4. Chicken and vegetable curry with chili oil on top
5. Kiwi fruit
This lunch was packed in Easy Lunchbox, you may find it here :
Happy New Year! This is my first post in 2016 and I'm so excited to share you this recipe. I made the Prawn, Mango, and Avocado Salad for our Christmas gathering, and it became a hit. The flavour combination of prawn and mango was so incredibly delicious!
Here I share you the recipe :
Prawn, Mango, and Avocado Salad
Ingredients :
400g cooked tiger prawns
2 mangoes, cut into 2cm cubes
2 avocados, cut into 2cm cubes
1 organic baby cos lettuce, leaves separated
1 lemon
1 garlic, finely chopped
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup finely chopped coriander leaves
1 long red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
Salt and black pepper to taste
Method :
1. Peel and devein the prawns. Place in a bowl with mango, avocado and baby cos lettuce leaves.
2. Grate the zest of half a lemon, then juice the rest of the lemon.
3. Place the lemon zest and juice in a small bottle with lid, together with the coriander, chilli, garlic, salt, and olive oil.
4. Shake the bottle until the ingredients mixed well.
5. Pour over prawn mixture and toss to combine.
6. Sprinkle black pepper on top.
7. Enjoy!
