Green Tea (Matcha) Ice Cream

Finding a good scoop of green tea ice cream in Perth is pretty difficult. I think I did have one before from a Japanese shop but it tasted sweeter than what I would like. Having spotted this version from Nami, I could not resist trying it.

The result is delicious! There is a good amount of green tea powder and more importantly, the right creaminess to it. It's so good that I couldn't stop licking my spoon as I scoop it into the container. The best thing is that it is really easy to make- and with no eggs too!!


As I write this, I noticed that Sonia from Nasi Lemak made hers too and it looks just as fantastic!

Green Tea (Matcha) Ice Cream Adapted from Nami's Just one Cookbook
1 cup of cream
1 cup of milk
1/4 cup of sugar
3 tablespoon of green tea powder
pinch of salt

Freeze ice cream bowl.

In a saucepan, bring milk, cream, sugar, salt and green tea powder to a simmer. Keep whisking till it starts to have bubbles. Remove from heat. Cool completely. Fridge it till cold.

Churn in ice cream maker for 25-30 mins till creamy. Spoon in container and freeze till firm!

Picnic Fun- Smoked Salmon and Garlic Teriyaki Chicken Sushi

So AR realized that I have been really tense recently. Work was getting waay into me. He suggested that we head to rural Western Australia, around 45 minutes drive from the city for a picnic. He even offered to make sushi and prepare dip and carrot sticks for the trip! He knows that sushi is my comfort food. I can have it any time of the day! How impressed I was!!

Except that it took him 30 minutes to cut the vegetables up.

And I got impatient.


So I got my hands into rolling the sushi, thinking that he will be done soon and will take over.

But I ended up rolling them all!!!

He was sweet though. And even packed a magazine for me to read during the picnic. Did you notice that he even packed soya sauce? He took the WHOLE bottle! =)

And all the lovely vegetables that he cut up for me to munch on (he also cut the veges for the sushi).

And the wonderful waterfall that we saw. 

I am very blessed with a caring and loving hubby (just not when he spent 30 minutes cutting vegetables!!!! ;P)

Sushi (I think we made more than 60 small size sushi-around 5 rolls. It was our lunch the next day too!)
3 cups of sushi rice (cooked using the instructions on the packet)
around 1 tablespoon of sugar
2-3 tablespoon of rice vinegar
150 grams of smoked salmon 
1 cucumber, 1 carrot and 1 avocado sliced longitudinally.
2-3 crab sticks defrosted
wasabi!
you can use mayo but I am on a health kick so no mayo for us.
5 pieces of sushi grade seaweed 

Garlic teriyaki chicken- cooked 100 grams of chopped chicken thigh with garlic and teriyaki sauce.

Season rice with sugar and rice vinegar. Taste to check seasoning. 

Place seaweed on sushi mat. Place around 2-3 tablespoon of rice on it. Flatten it using wet hands. It should fill around 3/4 of the seaweed. Swipe wasabi longitudinally. Place veges and smoked salmon/chicken on it. Roll sushi up. Making sure to tighten the roll as you go along. Cut sushi using a sharp knife. Serve with wasabi and soy sauce.

Spiced Teriyaki Chicken and Oyster Mushrooms on Udon Noodles

I really do enjoy a good teriyaki. Especially if the meat was cooked in high heat (with the wok hei taste). I had some left over teriyaki sauce, and decided to do a super quick stir fry with whatever veges that we had. Blanched some udon noodles, place the chicken on top of it and totally slurp it up.

I have been noticing more varieties of mushrooms recently. Finally I say!!! They are still slightly pricey but affordable. One packet of oyster mushrooms set us back AU$3.99-certainly a treat thing!!

Did you notice the little carriage box behind? That was a wedding favour! How pretty-filled with kisses as well. ;) 

Spiced Teriyaki Chicken and Oyster Mushrooms on Udon Noodles (serves 4)
500 grams chicken thighs diced
2 carrot sliced
1 red onion sliced
100 grams oyster mushrooms washed 
another a cup of button mushrooms sliced
around 8-10 stalks of spring onions roughly sliced
1/2 cup of teriyaki sauce
2 tsp of chili flakes
2 eggs -whisk

Cook onions till soft. Brown chicken and veges. Add sauce and chili flakes. Quickly fry for 2-3 minutes. Add eggs and cook till they are set. Serve on noodles or rice.

Serving this to my friends at Presto Pasta. This week Ruth the founder of Presto Pasta is hosting!

Chicken Oyakodon

So sometimes, I get into the habit of experimenting with dishes in the kitchen that we have tried in various places. You would have think that there will be a stopping point, but noooo, I don't think there ever will be. So much to learn, so much to see.

Chicken Oyakodon is pretty much chicken and egg in a bowl of rice. I learned that the Japanese added flavour to the egg mixture by using dashi stock. Of course, there are the usual things like Mirin and Soya Sauce but it is really the dashi that makes this work.

I was also surprised to know that this isn't a very difficult dish. I guess I shouldn't be because the Jap are known for making simple great. And this is what it is- a simple rice bowl that tastes great.

Chicken Oyakodon  

500 grams chicken thigh fillets
around 1 cup of water boiled with dashi powder, mirin and soya added to it.
1 onion chopped- I used red onion
1/4 cup of mirin
2-3 tablespoon of soya sauce
5 eggs


Cook onion till soft. Remove and set aside. Saute chicken till done. Add onions, and stock mixture. Add beaten eggs to the mixture. Cook till it sets lightly and turn off heat. Serve with rice and veges.

Japanese Teriyaki Chicken with Ramen

Friday lunch is sushi lunch. Well, Friday is paperwork day for me, so nothing is more comforting than a packet of 8 pieces of salmon and tuna sushi. Call me boring but when you are buried in a pile of paperwork, having something that you know it is healthy, and delicious just ease the pain of writing notes and reports.

While paying for my sushi one Friday, it hit me.... right that corner of that sushi shop is a heated little place when they put out bento boxes. Teriyaki chicken rice, teriyaki chicken with noodles..etc.  That is when I realized that it can't be that hard to replicate that at home right?

Armed with Teriyaki sauce (The good stuff from Oriental supermarkets from Japan, not the kind titled "Woolworths brand".  Anyhow, marinating the chicken with the sauce turned out to be a sticky delight. And the noodles? Generous serving of shredded cabbage and carrots stir fry with ramen is simple but delish.

We can't forget a serving of a fried egg can we? Egg yolk oozing to our noodles-mixing it and then taking a bite means the simple pleasures in life are best enjoyed....at home.


 oh oh and before I forget...

Petrina gave me this awesome Sugar Doll Award in Jan! And it's already mid way through Feb! Thanks babe! Amazing friendship that was formed from the Malaysia Bridal Forum. Petrina has this amazing collection of shoes that I stood in awe looking at her cabinet when I visited her and her hubby!

10 things about myself:

1)  We have shelves of motivational books and I read every single one of them. Self reflection and growth is vital to moving forward in life and relationships. There is no such thing as "the same" as not doing anything (as in personal development) to me means going backwards not forward in life.

2) I believe in  being strength focused instead of focusing on the weaknesses.

3) But the irony thing is that I can be critical of myself and close ones (esp the hubby).

4)  A weakness for french chocolates... (need I say more?)

5) I love home furnishing. I invest heavily on home and food magazines and like cutting them out to make a file of "my dream home".

6) Did I mention I like good quality linen? I think I got this from my mum whom I used to consider "boring" as she was excited shopping about sheets! Too late, now I think it is fun!. (I can see mum going "I told u so")

7)  I am my grandmother's girl. I adore her and would do anything for her.

8)  Grapes and mangoes are my favorite summer fruits!

9) One of my dream is to be able to look after my family full time while experimenting in the home kitchen.

10) I like variety in food. I can have rice one day, cafe food the other and vegetarian next. 

Japanese Teriyaki Chicken with Ramen (serves 4)

250 grams ramen noodles (cooked in boiling water)
half cabbage shredded
2 carrots peeled and shredded
1 red onion sliced
garlic
 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
2-3 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce
2-3 tablespoons of soya 
2-3 tsp of white pepper.
sesame oil 

2 chicken breasts sliced horizontally.
marinate in garlic and teriyaki sauce and mirin for around 20 mins.

4 eggs.

Heat fry pan up. Saute garlic and onion till soft. Add in cabbage and carrots and fry till nearly cooked. Toss in noodles and all sauces. Cook till done. Taste test. Adjust accordingly.

Meanwhile, heat grill pan up to very hot. Grill chicken breast both side around 3 minutes till done. Set aside to cook slightly and sliced.

Fry egg on another pan. Serve warm. 

Sharing this with friends at Presto Pasta founded by Ruth Daniels. This week, it is hosted by Italian Mama Chef! (What a cool name!)

The German Version of Sukiyaki

My version of Sukiyaki is meat cooked on the table in a simple clear broth. Traveling to Germany recently to see our lovely friends, our host welcomed us with his specialty- his version of sukiyaki. Haz's father-in law is an awesome cook-and I was staring at the precise way of him cutting up the veges, clearing the kitchen and then cooking this dish up. As it was below 0degrees, you can imagine how warm this dish feels to our tummies. Seriously yummy. 

As he cooked, he told us how he traveled to Japan in his younger days to be with his then girl friend. Alas, the relationship did not work out but he came back to Germany with this dish that he cooks for his family. 

We ate from the pan at his home-made dinning table. No kidding, they sand and build their dinning table from scratched. It was such a heart warming experience-we ate with gusto and laughter. 

Coming back to Australia, I made this dish with the memory of us eating at his table with love. 

The German Version of Sukiyaki   

1 leek sliced and washed

red onion sliced 

2 carrots sliced 

2 cups of chopped mushrooms 

4-5 shitake mushrooms re-hydrated and sliced

2-3 cups of bean sprouts washed

2 portions of noodles 

slice beef thinly 

around 3-4 tablespoon of soya

2-3 tablespoon of white pepper (oh yeah!) 

2-3 tsp of sugar 

2-3 tablespoon of mirin. 

2-3 cups of water/stock

fresh eggs 

Cook leeks and onions till soft. Add mushrooms and cook till soft. Add all seasoning and water. Simmer and boil.Break noodles and cook till it becomes soft. Add beef (by this time, the water should be boiling so it will only takes 2 mins for the beef to cook). Put in bean sprouts and toss gently through. 

Break a fresh egg into each bowl. Scramble it slightly. 

Dig into the pan with your chopsticks and dish noodles on your bowl.  Eat it steaming hot!

Sending this with my love to Presto Pasta created by Ruth Daniels! This is a special week for Presto Pasta- 150 posts! WOOHOO! Hosted by Susan from The Well-Season Cook

Warm Sesame Prawn Ramen Salad

I finally realized that the best way to juggle between work and posting is to save some drafts in my folder and write it up when I have a break (or need a break). So I'm trialing that this week-hopefully I will have more chances to write up! My "to write" folder is getting quite full.

Something interested happened over the weekend. AR and I attended our first pre-marital session. We did a questionnaire about 1 month ago and then met up with our pastor to have a chat about our views about marriage. It's a real eye opener and I was surprised that AR found it helpful as well. Certainly both of us did not approach the topic of marriage without any consideration to the topics discussed but it is useful to have a 3rd party person giving us some honest opinions and thoughts as well.

For me, it is a different experience as I'm used to being on the other side of the table. I did find it refreshing because it reminded me of how it would feel being on the other side.

This week, I'm sharing a noodle salad dish with the lovely folks at Presto Pasta (will add links later when I'm at home). Spring is upon us here in Perth and it feels great to have the sunshine again. The juiciness of prawns and tangy sauce goes well with the ramen.




Warm Sesame Prawn Ramen Salad
1 cup of peeled prawn cutlets
carrots, julienne
2 stalks of spring onions
1 cup of dried shitake mushrooms, dehydrated and sliced.
1 tablespoon of soya
1/2 packet of dried ramen noodles
1 tsp of sesame seed

Sauce
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
1 tsp of honey
1 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of sesame oil
3-4 tablespoons of warm stock

1) Boil water and cook ramen. Drain and keep warm.

2) Quickly heat a tsp of oil and cook prawn cutlets with a pinch of salt. Add the remaining vegetables. Add soya. Do a taste test.

3) Spoon vegetables and prawns on top of ramen noodles. Combine dressing together and pour on salad if needed (or serve at the table).

Sharing this with the gang at Presto Pasta organized by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast.

Chicken Cutlet with Egg Sauce

One of my favorite cuisine to eat out is Japanese. Amazingly, besides sushi, miso soup and dishes inspired by miso paste (since I needed to use up the tub of miso paste in the fridge!), I haven't venture into experimenting Japanese type dishes at home before this one.

So one day, while flipping new recipe books and craving Japanese......

"Dingggg" -light bulb moment occurred.

Oh ok, so I sort of tweaked the recipe a bit.. err.. make that alot since it looked nothing like a Katsu Don but certainly it is a slightly healthier/different/unique/fusion version of it.

Heehee. You get the message that even I was confused to what sort of concoction I made up in the kitchen.

I used the light pan-fried version of the breaded chicken cutlets instead of deep-frying it. It still tasted crispy but without the calories that goes with it. To make this an all-in-one dish, I sauteed some beans with sambal, which made this even less Japanese! LOL

So now you know, recipe books and restaurant dining inspire me. What about you? What inspired your home cooked dishes?



Chicken Cutlet with Egg Sauce (serves 4)
5 medium size chicken cutlets skinless
2-3 cups of packaged bread crumbs (I used hot and spicy)
1 lightly beaten egg
1.5 cups of plain flour
olive oil

Egg sauce
3 eggs
2 tsp fish sauce
1tsp sugar
cracked pepper
1 shallot chopped finely
olive oil

Rice
saute vegetables

1) Use the back of your chopper/knif to tenderize the chicken cutlets. Lightly season with a little salt.

2) Heat olive oil in a non-stick pan. Dip chicken cutlets in flour, egg then breadcrumbs. When the pan becomes hot, place cutlets in pan. Cook for 5-8 minutes on each side till it becomes golden brown. Place the cutlets on a oven proof dish. I used the oven warmer to keep the cutlets warm as I fry up the remaining chicken. Slice chicken when done.

3) Dish rice up. Place some saute vegetables on it followed by sliced chicken cutlets.

3) Egg sauce- lightly beat eggs with fish sauce, sugar and cracked pepper. Heat oil and sauteed shallots till it turns soft. Add egg mixture in. Using a wooden spoon, keep stirring the egg inwards in circular motion, just like making scramble eggs. Switch off the heat when the egg looks slightly done and continue stirring. Spoon egg sauce onto the chicken cutlets.

My Best Friend's Birthday

I'm back in Singapore! Eight days in Malaysia flew by. I have lots of photos and makan places to upload so please do bear with me. I'm starting where I stopped last- before I left for Malaysia. Rest assured the photos of Malaysia food hunts will appear soon!

The last time I celebrated R's birthday with her was 8 years ago. I believe that true friendships are a rarity, and we are blessed to have each other. All 3 of us (including Peg) were looking forward to that birthday celebration.

I met up with Peggy in the afternoon first as Ruth had a lovely celebratory lunch with her family. Hungry, we went in search for some food.

Walking around Vivocity, we decided on trying to Sarawak Kolo Mee. Now, I have never been to Sarawak but I remembered my previous house mate raving about it (Jackson san, are u still reading this blog?). Curious, we ventured in.

Both of us took the S$6 bowl. A little steep for a bowl of noodles wanton noodles...

It came with a bowl of soup with 3 small wantons.

and Peggy captured a really ugly photo of me eating.....

But I couldnt be bothered taking another shot. I was too busy eating!
I do like the springiness of the noodles. The texture is certainly different from the normal wanton noodles. Worthwhile trying.

Jia Xiang Sarawak Kolo Mee
Vivocity
Basement B2-38

And then we met up with the birthday girl!

We bought our tickets to Sentosa Island!

We chilled at Bora Bora Beach Bar along Palawan Beach.

Babe taking photograph of our drinks. I had the mango margarita, Ruthie had the lime and Peggy had the tropical something.... (someone remind me?!)

Peggy and her drink...

We adjoined to sushi tei at Vivocity later. The food was average and the service was BAD. Twice they placed wrong food on our table, and they even misplaced one of our orders. They were not even polite in admitting their mistakes. shessh. As it was Ruthie's birthday + everyone was hungry, we didn't pursue it further...


My long awaited SASHIMI!!

BLISS


more sushi- pretty normal. Nothing to shout about.


Softshell crab! Crisp!
Cold cha Soba after a hooottt evening, wonderful!
Ruth introduced this dessert to me.. I LOVED IT! So much so that I had this again when I was in Sakea Sushi in Subang Malaysia (My future-mother in law liked it too).

And we shared the peach ice-cream. I prefer the fish wafer though. =)
And we ended the night with....
DURIAN CAKE!

Hope you had a blast Ruth!

*muacks*

Katsu Fish Curry

I have been waiting to share this one with you. I'm a huge fan of Jap food. The flavours are usually clean and fresh. As the weather gets cooler, I find myself cooking more curries and one pot oven dishes.

Instead of cooking the fish in the curry, I decided to serve the Japanese curry as a side. This was also my first attempt using Panko breadcrumbs and I really like the texture crumbed effect it gave to the fish.



Katsu Fish Curry (serve 2)
4 slices of white fish fillets
1 cup of panko bread crumbs
1 egg beaten
1/4 cup of olive oil

1 small sweet potato peeled and chopped
1 carrot peeled and chopped
1 cup of beans chopped
1 portion of Japanese Curry paste (I used Golden Curry S&B 'hot')
1 tsp of hot chili powder (optional)
1 cup of water (or abit more)

Pat fish dry with paper towls. Coat fish with egg then panko breadcrumbs. Heat about 1/4 cup of oil in pan. Fry fish both sides till nice and golden.

Meanwhile, cooking vegetables in a seperate pot. Add a cup of water and simmer till the vegetables are nearly cooked through. Add curry paste-stir. Add a tsp of chili powder and continue to stir. Add more water if the mixture looks too thick. Simmer for another 15 minutes or so.

Serve with rice.

Miso Udon with Teriyaki Chicken

I can't believe I'm saying this but formatting is a pain on Word document!! It's taking me 2 hours and I'm only half way through listing the table and figure numbers/titles.. Took AR another 3 hours to suss out the format of Table of contents. I want to submit my final draft tomorrow and this is taking far too long! =(

So I'm posting about comfort food again. And what is more comforting than a bowl of soup?

I'm a big fan of miso paste. I use it in salads and even as a marinate. This time round though, I'm sticking to soup. I usually use a small packet of dashi that contains bonito flakes but just before I tear the packet, I noticed the expiry date and it was wayyyy over- so I chucked it out. The soup was still tasty though, possibly because of the sauce from the Teriyaki Chicken.

I stole the Teriyaki Chicken idea from my favourite Japanese restuarant in Perth. They served the best beef teriyaki udon ever. So anyhow, I decided to quicky saute thinly sliced chicken breast strips with teriyaki sauce and that turned out wonderful. On the topic of chicken breast meat, lots of people find it tough and dry but I think that is a sign of overcooking. I found out that if I sliced it across the grain and make sure it's thin, it's usually tender and juicy. Let me know what you think or have found. =)

I'm sooo craving for a bowl of soup now.



Miso Udon with Teriyaki Chicken (serves 2)
1 chicken breast sliced thinly across the grain
2-3 tablespoons of Teriyaki Sauce
1 tsp of garlic

2 packet of Udon noodles
750ml of chicken stock
3 generous tablespoons of red miso paste*
1 cup of sliced button mushrooms

*reduce miso paste amount to 2 tablepoons if using dashi.

Marinate chicken with garlic and teriyaki sauce. Set aside while you prepare miso soup.

Boil stock. Add miso paste. Stir till it is well dissolved. Cook Udon noodles in the soup. Add mushrooms.

Sautee chicken quickly in a pan. Spoon chicken with sauce over noodles. Serve warm.

SLURP =)


I'm serving this up for Pasta Presto Night! Yum Yum!