Chicken Katsu Don カツ丼

This is the simple Chicken Katsu Don that I prepared for yesterday dinner using homemade dashi stock. A katsudon (カツ丼) is a popular Japanese food, a bowl of rice topped with a deep-fried pork cutlet (or replaced with chicken), egg, and condiments.

Recipe was adapted from Pig Pig's corner with minor changes.

Chicken Katsu Don
(printable recipe)
Ingredients
2 chicken legs – deboned
1/2tsp salt
1tsp light soy sauce
Pepper
Sesame oil

plain flour - enough for coating chicken
1 egg - lightly beaten
breadcrumbs - enough for coating chicken
oil for deep frying

Sauce
1 large onion - sliced
1 stalk spring onions - sliced, save some for garnish
1 cup dashi (I use homemade dashi)
3 tbsp Kikkoman soy sauce
3 tbsp Mirin
2 tbsp Sake
2 eggs, very lightly stir

Cooked Japanese rice
Fresh Shiitake mushrooms -optional
Pumpkin-optional

1. Marinate chicken with salt, soy sauce, pepper and sesame oil. Leave for about 30mins.
2. One by one, dip chicken in plain flour, next coat chicken in beaten eggs, then transfer to breadcrumbs and coat thoroughly.
3. Deep fry breaded chicken until golden brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels.
4. Heat up a bit of oil in another pan, add onions and fry until soft and translucent.
5. Add in dashi, seasoning with soy sauce, mirin and sake, bring to boil.
6. Add in spring onions, mushroom and pumpkin, cook till soft.
7. Add beaten eggs, turn off the heat and cover the pan, leave the eggs to cook in the residual heat for about few minutes.
8. Pour egg mixture on top of rice, cut chicken into strips, place chicken strips on top of egg mixture.
9. Garnish with some spring onion, Enjoy!

Happy Cooking !!

Homemade Dashi,Japanese soup stock, (出汁, だし)

I'm going to make Chicken Katsu Don for dinner this evening, my kids especially Lucas love Japanese food. I like to make Dashi (Japanese soup stock) from scratch since it is easy to be prepared at home.

kombu(kelp)

Katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)

This recipe was made reference to 3 hungry tummies and on a Bento frenzy, with minor changes.

Homemade Dashi (Japanese soup stock)
(printable recipe)

20g of Dashi kombu (kelp), wipe with a wet cloth, do not wash
10 gm Katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
400ml water

Method
1. Soak kombu in clean water for 30mins, the kombu will double up in size.
2. Bring water and soaked kombu to an almost boil (Do not boil kombu in the water because it will give a bitter or awkward taste).
3. Once the water has almost come to a boil, turn off the heat, remove kombu.
4. Add dried bonito flakes into the stock and allow steep for 10mins.
5. Strain broth and it is ready for use.

Happy Cooking !!

Sambal Petai Udang ( Petai with chili & shrimps)

Whenever I see fresh and cheap petai (local veggie, very popular in Malaysia) selling in the wet market, I'm sure grap some to cook my favourite sambal petai, to serve my favourite Nasi Lemak!

Petai is like durian, you'll either love it or hate it !!

Sambal Petai Udang ( Petai with chili & shrimps)
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
200g Petai beans
150g shrimps (medium), retain tail
50g ikan bilis (anchovy), washed and cleaned
2 big onions, sliced
1tbsp tamarind paste, add 3tbsp water, remove seeds, to become tamarind water
2tbsp chilli paste (I use homemade chilli paste)

Pound to paste1” galangal (blue ginger)
3 cloves garlic
4 shallots
½ big onion

Seasonings½ tsp salt or taste
1 and ½ tbsp sugar

1. Blanch petai in boiling water for 1min, drained and set aside
2. Stir fried prawn with some hot oil till change colour, set aside.
3. Deep fried ikan bilis till golden brown, set aside.
4. Heat some oil in a wok, add in pounded paste, stir fried till fragrant.
5. Add in chilli paste and onion slices, stir fried for a while.
6. Add in petai, fried ikan bilis and cooked shrimps, add in tamarind water (add more water if too dry), mix well.
7. Add in seasoning and dish out, serve with nasi lemak or steamed rice.

**my note-if you not using homemade chili paste like me which I have cooked it for long hour, then you need to increase the timing when stir fry the chili paste.

I salivate while posting this picture, YUM YUM!

Happy Cooking !!

Steamed Miso Cod fish & Thank you to Bo's bowl

This is the way usually how I cook the cod fish, with Japanese miso paste, personally I feel they are a perfect combination.

Steamed Miso Cod Fish
(printable recipe)

500g Cod fish
2tbsp Japanese Miso paste
2tbsp water
6 red dates, halved
½” ginger, shredded
A dash of Pepper
A few drops of sesame oil
Spring onions, shredded (soak in water, to get nice curl)

1. Place cod fish, red dates and ginger shredded in a steaming plate, mix miso and water, add miso water, pepper and sesame oil.
2. Steam over high heat for about 10mins (start to steam it when water is boiled)
3. Garnish with spring onions, serve hot with steam rice.

Happy Cooking !!

** And I would like to take this opportunity to Thanks Bo's bowl to included me along with three other fellow bloggers in his giveaway. Do feel free to visit his blog and join his latest giveaway.
Bo, from the bottom of my heart, thank you very much. Glad to know you via blogging.

Homemade mini Chapati (Indian flatbread)

I just realized that Chapati is so easy to make, I learnt from an Indian girl who working in the mini market that usually I make my daily marketing. Just surprised that she prepared her Chapati in a healthy way, not adding any ghee oil but just vegetable oil.

Usually kids like mini thing, so I prepared into mini size, also easy for them to eat.


Homemade mini Chapati (Indian flatbread)*makes 15pcs
(printable recipe)
1cup whole wheat flour or Atta flour
1cup all purpose flour
170ml lukewarm water
1/2tsp salt
1tbsp vegetable oil

1. Knead all above ingredients to a soft ball for about 5mins, set aside for 30mins.
2. Equally divided into 15 small balls (40g each). Use a rolling pin to roll into thin circular bread.
3. Pan fry (without oil) over low flame in a non-stick frying pan till both sides cooked (you can see small bubbles on both sides).
4. Serve with curry.

**serve this mini Chapati with Mamak chicken curry, simply delicious..

Happy Cooking !!

Cherry banana smoothie

This morning I saw very fresh and big cherry selling in the pasar (wet market), can't resist to buy some eventhough the price is expensive. Thought to take some cherry to make some pie or tart, but since I just almost recovered from flu, i was runny nose the whole yesterday. I immediate prepare this smoothie today when I saw in a TV cooking show yesterday, i need all vitamins from these fresh fruits to boost my body energy....

-I learnt this from " Chef at home" , very nice, smooth and full of flavours!

Simple recipe to share:-

150g fresh cherries
4 bananas
700ml orange juices
140g natural flavour yogurt

1. Blend all above ingredients and enjoy !!


* I even made some frozen smoothie..

Enjoy your day !!

Classic chocolate cake

This is a chocolate cake well received by my family, very rich in chocolate, not too sweet and less oily, and I especially like the thin top crust. Personally I feel this cake taste even better when keep it overnight.

This recipe was adapted from a TV baking show- Rachel Allen, bake. She only use a wooden spatula to beat the cake mixture, I tried and it seem not that difficult to beat this way, so if you do not have a mixer, you also can bake this cake.

Original recipe required dark chocolate, but I replaced with semi-sweet chocolate since I have one. If you want to use dark chocolate, then increase sugar to 150g.

Classic chocolate cake
**for a 8” round cake tin
(printable recipe)

125g semi-sweet chocolate
3 tbsp milk
150g butter, softened
100g caster sugar
3 eggs
200g plain flour
1 tbsp good quality cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method
1. Line the base of cake tin with greaseproof paper.
2. Melt semi-sweet chocolate and milk over simmering water, set aside
3. Beat the butter until soft then add the sugar and continue beat till mixture is light and fluffy.
4. Add egg one at a time, mix well.
5. Add in melted chocolate, combine well.
6. Sift in the flour, baking powder and soda, and fold in gently to mix
7. Add in cocoa powder, slowly combine well. Pour cake mixture into cake tin.
8. Bake at pre-heated oven at 180c for 40mins or until a skewer come out clean.

Happy Baking !!

Steamed BBQ pork, scallop and cabbages

When my daughter and I watching this dish cooking in a TV cooking show recently, this dish made us salivate, my daughter asked me to cook this dish immediately after the show. Actually this dish usually served during Chinese New Year or wedding dinner due to the expensive ingredients and very time consuming.

Steamed BBQ pork, scallops and cabbages(printable recipe)

500g BBQ pork, cut thick slices
300g Chinese long cabbage (Nai Park), briefly blanch in boiling water till soften
12 dried whole scallops, soak in clean water several hours, and steam till soft
10 cloves garlic, pan fry till brown

1tbsp light soy sauce
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp Chinese wine

1. Arrange in a bowl by this sequence-scallops , BBQ pork slices, garlic and cabbages.
2. Pour in the scallop water and add seasonings.
3. Steam over high flame for 60mins.
4. Up side down dish with a serving plate, remove the sauce and cook and thickening with cornstarch /tapioca flour, pour over the sauce on the dish.
5. Serve hot with rice.

Happy Cooking !!

Chicken & Vegetables stew

Hi all, this is the Chicken & vegetable stew that I enjoyed with the yummy bagels. This is very similar to ABC soup (potato, carrot, tomato & chicken soup), but this is more flavourful.

I was adapted this recipe from Flavour Food Magazine wiht minor changes.

Chicken & Vegetables stew*makes 5 servings
(printable recipe)

8 big pieces of chicken
1 large onion, cut into thick wedges
2 ribs celery, cut into 3cm lengths
1 large carrots, peeled and cut into thick wedges
2 tomatoes, cut into thick wedges
300g pumpkin, cut into thick wedges
1 medium zucchini, cut into 2cm diagonal slices
200g fresh button, halved

1tsp dried thyme (if you have fresh thyme, add 2 sprigs)

1tsp ground cumin
1tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/4tsp ground black pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Marinate chicken with cumin, paprika, salt and black pepper for 30mins.
2. Pan fry chicken with little oil till browned, set aside.
3. In a saucepan or casserole, add 2tbsp Olive oil, add onion, celery and carrots, cook till pieces are browned around the edges.
4. Add tomatoes and thyme and cook for few minutes till tomatoes soften.
5. Return chicken to the pan and add just enough water to barely cover chicken.
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to boil, simmer for 15mins or chicken pieces are tender.
7. Add pumpkin, cook for 5mins. Add zucchini and fresh button, cook for another 5-7mins or until vegetables are tender.
8. Taste and adjust the seasonings,
9. Serve with bread, rice or paste on the side. The stew can be stored in the fridge in a covered container.

Poppy seeds Bagel

I always prefer a savoury bread rather than sweet bread, especially those with crispy crust and chewy texture, example like baguette and bagel. I have never seen bagels sell in bakery shop here, but luckily I found a good recipe and I baked some today and I can’t wait to share with you, it is too good and I love the texture very much!

Recipe was adapted from Honey Bee Sweets, but I replaced sesame seeds with poppy seeds. I have summary the recipe as per below, but please check out at her blog for more detail steps. Thanks to Bee Bee for kind sharing of this lovely recipe.

Actually I was not followed exactly to the recipe as I overlooked the step, I thought the recipe required mashed potato, so I put the whole potato with skin on in the boiling water but did not realized I need to cut into small cubes, so what I got was potato skin water but not potato water, hahaha..Luckily the bagels still turned out well.

Poppy seeds Bagel
(printable recipe)
1 large russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
500ml water

2 and 1/2tsp instant yeast
30ml vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
650g all purpose plain flour
1.5 tsp salt

Egg wash
Poppy seeds for sprinkling

Method:
1. Cook the potatoes in the boiling water, once done, remove potato from water, reserve water and let it cook till lukewarm.
2. Add yeast, oil, eggs and 250ml lukewarm potato water (from no 1, not potato but water), lightly whisk till well combine.
3. Add in flour and salt, knead the mixture till well combine and elastic, took about 10mins.
4. Placed the dough in oiled bowl and cover with cloth and set aside to proof till doubles in volume, take about 1hour.
5. Punch out the air and separate dough into 6 equal portions. Roll round and cover to rest for another 10mins.
6. Roll each piece of dough into a rope shape, flatten one end of the rope, overlapping the flat end over the round end, pinch together to seal. Repeat for the rest of the dough.
7. Bring water to boil over high flame. Place few bagels in the water and simmer for 1min for each side.
8. Transfer the bagels on a baking tray line with parchment paper.
9. Brush egg wash and sprinkle with poppy seeds.
10. Bake at pre-heated oven at 200c for 25mins.

I will enjoy this yummy bagels with chicken & vegetables stew for today's dinner (at this moment, I still not yet take my dinner), will share the chicken stew recipe in my next post, stay tuned!! Can’t wait to eat them…. yum, yum!!

Happy Cooking and Baking !!