TAKOYAKI

Got a chance to make it few days ago after I bought the grill. My first experience with takoyaki was when I visited Singapore. There were a food court stall sold takoyaki at Takashimaya Food Court, and for me, until now, the best takoyaki ever is the one sold at Takashimaya which is unfortunately Singapore becomes a very very far country to visit now :(. Therefore, I tried to make my homemade takoyaki since I can't find takoyaki shops in my neighborhood yet.

The difficulties I found are when the time for the takoyaki to be turned over. Tho when I saw the demonstration in youtube I told myself, "ah it's piece of cake!" *too arrogant huh!?*.

However, after the second round making this takoyaki, I'm getting smoother and my takoyaki are nice round looking :).

I'm really happy with my takoyaki, but my hubby dislike it because I put octopus in it. Yea, he is a big enemy of octopus, squid, clams....you name it. He said, "It just like I'm eating a rubber!". Dang.....I am octopus and squid fan :(. Oh well, there must be a sacrifice rite ;).

Got the recipe from Bento.com and this recipe is really recommended! :)



Takoyaki

Ingredients:
200g chopped boiled octopus
Cooking oil for brushing
Benishoga (pickled ginger), bonito flakes and chopped scallions (to taste)

For Batter:
450cc water
1 piece konbu (kelp), 10cm square
15g powdered katsuo-bushi (shaved dried bonito)
200g flour
2 eggs

For Sauce:
Mayonnaise (I prefer Kewpie brand)
Bulldog Tenkatsu Sauce

Directions:
For Batter:
Clean the konbu by wiping it lightly with a cloth. Cut it into 2 cm length.
In a saucepan, combine the water and konbu, and cook uncovered over low heat. Just before the water starts to boil, remove the konbu from the pot. The liquid should be a light yellowish or greenish color. Add shaved katsuobushi (bonito flakes) to the water as it starts to boil. After the liquid has been boiling a minute or two, turn off the heat.
Quickly remove the shaved katsuobushi from the liquid with a filter or strainer or cloth. Try to remove the katsuobushi while it's still floating on the surface, before it has a chance to sink.
Allow the liquid to cool, then add the liquid, flour and eggs to a bowl and mix.

For Takoyaki:
Make a small test batch of 4 or 5 takoyaki at first, to check the consistency of the batter. Add more flour or water as needed.

1. Oil the takoyaki pan.
2. Pour in the batter.
3. Add pieces of chopped octopus to each cup.
4. Add pickled ginger, chopped scallion and bonito flakes, to taste.
5. Cook the takoyaki pieces until they achieve the desired degree of firmness, turning them over frequently.
6. Remove from the pan and serve with bulldog sauce, mayonnaise and sprinkle it with bonito flakes.

Or, you can see this steps of how to make takoyaki.

MOCHI ICE CREAM

My hubby loves mochi ice cream *kona coffee mochi ice cream to be precisely :)*. And all these times we liked to buy it at 99 ranch or any other asian market that sold this mochi ice cream.

And, since we have an ice cream maker, my hubby asked me, "why don't you make mochi ice cream for me?". His question gave me this idea.....homemade mochi ice cream!
So, I googled the original recipe of how to make mochi ice cream. And I found this recipe that I like to recommend it to all of you. Because, the ingredients and the methods are not too hard. Also, the mochi wrapper is really soft and it just like the one sold in the asian market!

Unfortunately, we have raspberry cheesecake ice cream only so the kona coffee mochi ice cream in line now ;).

For the way of cooking, I used on stove cooking instead of microwave, and its worked!! :). Please go to the original recipe if you want to use microwave.



Mochi Ice Cream

Ingredients:
50 gr glutinous rice flour (or sweet rice powder or mochiko)
100 gr sugar
100 ml water
200 gr raspberry cheesecake ice cream, or any flavor as your desire (Belzy - make sure the ice cream is half frozen)
Cornstarch as needed

Methods:
Place the glutinous rice flour, sugar in a saucepan. Pour gradually the water until it is mixed well.

Bring it simmer over medium heat. Keep stirring the flour mixture until the mixture turns into shiny and smooth sticky dough.

Spread generously cornstarch onto a cutting board (use plenty so the dough does not stick to the board).

Dip your wooden spoon in water then spread the mochi dough onto the floured cutting board as flat as possible. Sprinkle the top of the dough with corn starch then flip it over. Pull and stretch the edges and make the dough thinner as your desire, or 2 to 3 millimetres thin (Belzy - I don't like thin wrapper on my mochi ice cream). Let it cool a bit before cutting.

Meanwhile, scoope the ice cream with cookies scooper and shape it into a little ball shape. Place it on a plate, then freeze it while waiting you do your mochi wrapper.

Back to the mochi dough, cut the dough into round shape using round cookies mold.

Place an ice cream ball onto the center of the mochi sheet. Fold and joint the edges, then shape it with your hand into nice round mochi.

Put it in the freezer for 30 minutes or until the mochi is settled, but don't too long if you won't your mochi as hard as stone. Enjoy!

CHAWAN MUSI

Yumm...yumm.....who is dislike chawan musi? I think most people like it, and my hubby is included into those people who dislike chawan musi :(. But, I love it! The first time I tried chawan musi was when I lived in Singapore. I liked to go to Sakura with my dear friend Debby *ahhh I miss her alot!*.

Also, this recipe was given by her on my last day in Singapore. The recipe is quite simple but the taste is rich of flavor!

Chawan Musi

Yield: 4 portions

Ingredients:
3 eggs, beaten and drained
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce Kikkoman brand (Belzy - I guess the brand of the soy sauce is very crucial, it will affect the taste)
500 cc chicken broth
200 gr chicken fillet, boiled and diced
12 pieces shrimp, peeled, leave the tail on
3 pieces shiitake mushroom, soaked and sliced
24 pieces soy bean (optional)

Directions:
Combine eggs, salt, sugar, kikkoman soy sauce and chicken broth, mixed well.
Prepare 4 hotproof bowl. Put in soy beans, chicken diced, shrimp and shiitake into each bowl. Pour in the egg mixture until 3/4 size of bowl.
Steam the egg mixture into a preheated steamer (preheat for 15mins). Steam it until cooked well and the surface of the egg shiny. Serve immediately.

SPICY BEEF MISO RAMEN

My neglected blog....I'm here!! :). This time I wanna share my experience also experiment on making spicy beef miso ramen from scratch. Yep, scratch for everything, the ramen and the broth for the soup.

In this very hot weather, I don't think it's wise enough to make hot soup, but the urge of making ramen was so huge til it vanquished these hot-sweaty-day! Fyi, I made this ramen few days ago, because current weather is quite cold (to me).

I saw this simple ramen recipe from Astrid's blog, and I wanted to submit it for Cooking Mama #1 : Ramen, so I decided to make it.

I made the ramen with 3 kind of flours (bread flour, cake flour and whole wheat flour) with ratio 2:1:1. For the soup, I made broth of bonito flakes, konbu (dried seaweed) and beef ribs, and it tasted very good! The flavor of the soup remains me of those japanese ramen! I think the bonito flakes and konbu which are gave a different flavor. Beside, I read an article about ramen few months ago that the secret of good ramen is in the soup.

At the end, eating this flavorful hot soup on hot-sweaty-day are forgiven....:)



Spicy Beef Miso Ramen

Ingredients:
3 cups homemade ramen *recipe below*
2 pieces of carrot, julienned
1/2 cup corn kernel (Belzy -- I used frozen corn)
1 piece of uzumaki (japanese fish cake, white-pink in color), sliced
Roasted seaweed

For Miso Soup:
1000cc water + 500 cc water
3 sheets of konbu (dried seaweed)
1 cup bonito flakes
250 gr iga sapi
150 gr sukiyaki)
1-1/2 tsp cayenne powder
1-1/2 tbsp white miso paste
Fish sauce or salt, to taste

Directions:
1. In serving bowl, place blanched ramen, carrot and corn. Set aside.
2. In pressure cooker, boil ribs, konbu and bonito flakes with 1000cc water for 20 to 30 minutes. Or, you can boil them in a regular saucepan, and boil them until the ribs are tender.
3. Drained the ribs, konbu and bonito flakes from the broth. Place the broth in the saucepan, add 500cc water, boil over high heat. Stir in white miso paste, cayenne powder. Season with fish sauce or salt, to taste. Stir well.
4. When the soup starts to boiling, add in sukiyaki, boil until the meat is well done (if you like it medium done, you can skip this step and put the raw sukiyaki on the serving bowl, then pour in hot soup).
5. Take the ready serving bowl, pour in the hot soup. Garnish with sliced uzumaki and sprinkle it with roasted seaweed. Serve immediately.



Homemade Ramen
Yield: 4 portions

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups bread flour
3/4 cup cake flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
4 tbsps water
4 eggs
1 tsp salt

Directions:
1. By hands:
In a big bowl, mix the dry ingredients, make a well in the center, and beat the eggs and water inside. Then slowly combine the ingredients together. Once the ingredients are combined, remove it to a clean counter or bowl, and knead it until the dough a little stiffer than bread dough. In case your dough is too sticky, add some flour and knead it in. If it doesn't stick at all, add some water a few drops at a time.

By standing mixer:
In a mixer bowl, mix the dry ingredients, make a well in the center, and add in the eggs and water inside. Then attached hook attachment, then use speed 2 to mix the ingredients until the dough a little stiffer than bread dough. In case your dough is too sticky, add some flour and knead it in. If it doesn't stick at all, add some water a few drops at a time.

2. Wrap tight the dough with cloth, let it rest for 30 minutes.

3. After 30 minutes, divide dough into 4 portions. Sprinkle some flour generously over the dough, then start to rolling and stretching. You have to roll it super thin (about 1mm), because the dough will be alot swollen when you boil it. If it starts sticking, get some more dry flour onto there. If it starts springing back to its original shape, let it rest for a minute or two.

4. Fold those sheet dough into three, then cut it as your desire (if you like wider noodle, then you cut it a little wide, but if you like thinner noodle, cut it super thin). Repeat the steps until you have no more dough left.

5. Boil water over high heat, dump salt, a pinch or two in it (or you can use olive oil). Let it boiling before you start blanching the noodle.

6. Sprinkle the noodle over the boiling water. DO NOT dump the noodle, they will stick together. Use chopsticks and blanch the noodle until cooked.

7. Ready to use.

TUNA MAKI SUSHI

Another kind of sushi that I made :). This one is more easy than california roll sushi, but it tasted good tho. I just simply fallin' in love with sushi now :).

Tuna Maki Sushi

Ingredients:

250 gr sushi rice

1 piece of english cucumber - remove seeds and cut into strip (10 cm long and 1/2 cm thick)

1 can tuna
1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp sugar

5 sheets of nori, halved -full sheets are halved width-wise by folding and then carefully pulling the sheet apart

50 gr masago (flying fish roe)

A bowl of tezu (Belzy - combine water with 1 tsp rice vinegar for moistening your finger tips)

Wasabi and Japanese mayonnaise (optional)

Directions:

Lay nori on the rolling bamboo, put sushi rice on top of it and spread it evenly (leave the edge empty).

In a small bowl, mix tuna with lemon juice and sugar. Then, spread the tuna mixture in the middle of sushi rice. Place english cucumber, masago and wasabi (if desire). Roll it with the rolling bamboo until the end. Don't forget to squeeze it a bit (don't too hard, it will make the filling out from the edges of sushi).

Cut it into slices before serving. Enjoy!

CALIFORNIA ROLL SUSHI

Lately, I craved sushi alot and it made my hubby fed up company me to buy the sushi. So, he suggested me to make sushi by myself, and, few days ago we went to Uwajimaya to buy sushi ingredients.

I am so excited to make those sushi, and since I know I am a beginner in sushi-making so I choosed a simple kind of sushi. California Roll is my first sushi this time. It wasn't hard to make sushi but the only thing that I missed is the sushi rice-making. I always think sushi rice-making was only cooked rice mixed with vinegar, but....not that simple!! There are few steps on the sushi rice-making. Its quite troublesome if you only make small amount of sushi *better just buy it at Japanese resto if you buy few rolls only*

The taste is not bad at all, and I made almost 10 huge rolls sushi *really satisfied ate those sushi this time*. My hubby has the same comments with me, he likes it tho, he ate 4 rolls :) *so you know the rests are eaten by ME :)*

California Roll Sushi

Ingredients:

500 gr sushi rice

1 english cucumber - remove seeds and cut into strip - 10 cm long and 1/2 cm thick (do not peel the skin off)

200 gr immitation crab stick - cut into halve

1 avocado - peel and cut into wedges

8 sheets of Nori

50 gr Tobiko (flying fish roe) - (you may use masago too)

Tezu - prepare in a small bowl of water mixed with a small amount of unsweetened rice vinegar for moistening your fingertips only.

Wasabi and Japanese mayonnaise (optional)

Directions:

Lay nori on a bamboo mat and place it on a flat plate (or any flat surface tools). Spread sushi rice on the nori, give some space on the tip of the nori (approx. 5 cm). Your nori should cover the entire rice sheet side to side and towards you. Arrange cucumber, avocado and immitation crab meat in the center of your nori sheet.

Roll the side nearest you to form a center cone of ingredients surrounded by nori. Pull out the wrap at the end of your roll and overlap the ingredients roll over the last band of rice. By pulling and lightly squeezing your mat, form your roll circular-wise.

Gently set your roll to the side and spread tobiko on it. Cut it into 8 pieces. Serve it with soy sauce and wasabi.

CHICKEN KATSU with TONKATSU SAUCE

Suddenly, I missed the old day when I ate chicken katsu at Hoka Hoka Bento when I was in Jakarta. To me, Hoka Hoka Bento has their own fragrant (their rice is really good) and taste which are made me drooling everytime I remember them.

So, for today's dinner I made chicken katsu with tonkatsu sauce (chicken katsu at Hokben didn't come with tonkatsu sauce), also I served it with cabbage salad with homemade thousand island :)......mmmmm soooo yummyyyyy.....

Today's dinner brought memories of Jakarta especially my mom....(lately, I really miss her :( ). Oh well, I'd better enjoy my katsu first........wanna join?

Chicken Katsu with Tonkatsu Sauce

Ingredients:

Chicken:

4 pieces chicken breast halves, flattened

1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1-1/2 cups panko bread crumbs (any bread crumbs are ok)

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

3 cups vegetable oil, for deep frying

Sauce: (or you can buy ready stock tonkatsu sauce at Asian market)
3/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup tomato sauce (ketchup)
3 tbsps soy sauce

1 tbsp pineapple juice (optional)

1/2 tsp pepper

Cabbage Salad with thousand island:

1/2 cup cabbage, shredded

3 tbsps mayonnaise

1/2 tbsp chilli sauce

1/2 tsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp lime juice

Directions:

For the sauce:

Stir together the Worchestershire sauce, tomato sauce, soy sauce, pineapple juice, and pepper. Set aside.

For the chicken:
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Season flattened chicken with salt & pepper.

Prepare flour, egg and panko bread crumbs onto separate plates.

Dip flattened chicken pieces first into flour, then egg, and lastly bread crumbs.
Fry breaded chicken breasts in preheated oil until golden brown and no longer pink in center.

Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to absorb excess oil, then slice chicken into thin strips and top with a drizzle of sauce.

Serve remaining sauce on the side for dipping.

For the cabbage salad with thousand island:

Stir together mayonnaise, chilli sauce, lime juice and sugar.

Place 2 or 3 pinches of shredded cabbage and pour the thousand island on the top.

GYOZA

Our snack for today is Gyoza. This is my first time make gyoza, after all these times I only bought it at Japanese Restaurant. To me, gyoza is same as kuo tie, the way they cooked are same. It wasn't hard at all. Normally, gyoza made from pork but I made it from chicken (yeaaa.....chicken menus of the week ;)).

Now, hurry go to Asian market and buy gyoza wrapper and let's make it! :)

Gyoza

Ingredients:

1/3 cup chopped cabbage (boiled)
2 stalks of scallion, chopped

1/2 pound ground chicken
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsps soysauce
1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp grated fresh ginger

1 pack of gyoza wrappers
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg white

1 tbsp tapioca starch

Instructions:

In large bowl combine scallions, cabbage, ginger, garlic and pork.

Mix well with a fork and season with salt. Add egg white and tapioca starch to bind mixture together.

Place a spoonful of meat mixture on top of a wonton wrapper. Wet edge of wrapper with fingertips, make pleats on one side, fold over and seal closed. Continue with remaining meat.

In large skillet heat oil. Brown dumplings in oil on one side. When bottoms are brown and crispy, add ¼ cup water. Cover pan and steam over medium heat for 8 - 10 minutes, until dumplings are cooked through. Serve with dipping sauce (See dipping sauce recipe below).

Gyoza Dipping Sauce:

2 tbsp sesame seed oil

1 tbsp brown sugar (or raw sugar)

1/2 cup teriyaki sauce

2 tsp fresh minced ginger

1 tbsp finely chopped scallions

50 cc water

Instructions:

In a small pot stir teriyaki sauce, water and brown sugar over med-low heat until sugar melts. Stir in ginger and sesame oil and bring to a simmer. Take off heat. Pour into a sauce bowl and sprinkle with scallions. Serve with gyoza.

TURKEY SUSHI ROLL

For our breakfast this morning, I made sushi rolls. SUSHI ROLL??? Don't worry, this is a bit different from the normal sushi. I used bread instead of rice. No need to cook such a troublesome food for your breakfast. The easy and fast way is the best for those who need to be hurry every morning. And also, it's good to bring it as lunch for your little one :).

Do you wanna try it??

Sushi Roll

Ingredients:
10 pieces of wheat bread, skinned
10 pieces of BBQ Turkey
10 sheets of nori seaweed
4 eggs, boiled
20 pieces of shrimps, peeled, fried with butter and chopped.
2 avocados, diced
3 tbsp mayonnaise

2 tbsp butter/margarine

Side Dishes:
Wasabi paste

Ginger pickles

Directions:
Egg shrimp mayonnaise: mashed boiled eggs with a fork, add mayonnaise and shrimp, mixed well.
Place a sheet of bread and layered with bbq turkey. Roll it until thinly rolled.

Position the nori seaweed sheets on the surface you intend on eating from, and place the sushi bread on the seaweed.

Place one spoonful egg shrimp mayonnaise and one spoonful avocado in the centre and roll to form sushi.

Cut it into pieces, and serve it with ginger pickles and wasabi paste

KUSHIKATSU (FRIED SATAY)

How would I cook all those fishes?? Everyday eat fish, made me lose idea how to cook it. I was thinking to cook Japanese food this time :) *secret: this is my very first time cook Japanese food :)*.

After browsed from the internet and found some Japanese Foods' recipes, only one recipe caught my eyes. Kushikatsu is Japanese Satay (kinda), but usually satay is grilled, and this one is fried. Because I never eat fried satay, so I found this food was interesting.

The only thing is the original recipe used chicken, but I substituted to fish, and as additional I marinated the fish for few hours before fried it, where the original recipe didn't tell to do so.

The taste is really good. Do you wanna try? ;)

Oupsss, almost forget to tell you that the recipe below is after modificated by me :). I got the original recipe from Resep Mami.

Kushikatsu

Ingredients:

400 gram fish fillet

1 piece of egg

200 gram all-purpose flour

125 cc water

1/4 tsp baking powder

150 gram wheat bread crumb (you can use any bread crumb)

Marinate (mix all the ingredients):
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp worchestershire sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce

Sauce:
50 cc worchestershire sauce
2 tbsp water
1-1/2 tbsp light soy sauce kikkoman
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1/2 tsp sugar


Directions:
Marinate the fish for 3 hours.
Mix egg, water, 1/2 recipe of flour and baking powder until thoroughly mixed. Set aside.
Cut fish fillet into square form, then put the meat into the skewer. Set aside.
Pour the meat on the rest of the flour until thoroughly covered, then soak it into egg batter, then pour it with wheat bread crumbs until thoroughly covered.
Deep fried kushikatsu with medium heat (see tips below), fried until golden color.


Sauce:
Mix all ingredients, mixed well, then boil it.


Tips:
* For deep frying, better use medium heat. The meat will absorbed too much oil if use low heat, and if use high heat, it might cooked the outside only.