Stir fry

Recipe by no one in particular

Ingredients:

Orange pepper 1

Leek 1

Chicken breast about 230g

Baby Corn 2 packs

How to make:

1. Cut everything up into small pieces.

2. Put oil in a frying pan and heat it up. When the oil shimmers, add the meat.

3. Once the meat has changed colors, add the vegetables. (You can cook the meat and veggies separate too. I don't have space though)

4. Add whatever stir fry sauce you like at the end (I use just plain old soy sauce) Serve on rice.

Really, you can make stir fry with about anything-broccoli, onions, moyashi (bean sprouts), sugar peas, green peas, or whatever else you have! I like making mine with chicken rather than beef, since I've found that beef gets a bit tough.

Beef and Tofu

Recipe from Basic Cooking （きほんの料理）page 56

Translation:

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Momen tofu 1 block

Beef 100g (small, thin slices)

Leek 1

Shungiku （春菊）1/2 bundle

Soup:

Water (or dashi) 100mL

Sugar 2 tbsp

Soy sauce 3 tbsp

Cooking sake 2 tbsp

How to make:

1. Cut everything up into bite-size pieces.

2. Add the soup ingredients to a saucepan. When it comes to a boil, add the beef and leek. When it starts bubbling again, add the tofu and turn down the heat to low. Simmer for 6-7 minutes.

3. Add the shungiku last and let it cook for another minute or so. Done!

This recipe was really simple to make! I really like tofu, so I'm happy to find more recipes that use it. The only bad thing is that tofu doesn't reheat that well; it makes everything all watery if I take it for lunch the next day. Still tasty though!

Baked Ziti

Recipe link - Allrecipes

I used some fresh, homemade (!) mozzarella cheese for this. I omitted the tomatoes from the original recipe, but I should have added more sauce to make up for it. It turned out a little on the dry side. I could probably stand to cut the recipe in half, since it made way more than would fit into this baking dish. Good thing I had a spare! It tastes pretty good, so I don't mind having the leftovers.

Chinese stir fry

Recipe link-Cookpad

Translation:

Ingredients:

Beef 200g (cut into small pieces, yakiniku meat is good)

Bamboo shoot 1

Piman (green pepper) 1

Red pepper, yellow pepper 1/2 pepper each (I used a whole one each)

Chopped garlic 3 cloves (the kind in a tube is OK)

Meat marinade:

Soy sauce 1 tbsp

Cooking sake 1 tbsp

Sugar 1/2 tbsp

Starch 1 tbsp

Stir fry sauce:

Tobanjan (spicy red bean paste) (豆板醤) 1 tsp

Oyster sauce 1 tbs

Soy sauce 1/2 tbsp

Chinese flavoring (中華味) 2 shakes

Cooking sake 1 tbsp

How to make:

1. Mix the marinade and pour it over the meat, mixing it in. Set aside. Chop up the rest of ingredients.

2. Put 3 tbsp of oil into a frying pan. Cook the meat. When it's about half done, take it out and set aside. Put 1 tbsp of oil into the pan and add the garlic.

3. When you start smelling the garlic, add the vegetables. Stir fry them for a bit, then add the meat back in and stir fry it a little more. Add the sauce right at the end. Done!

I really like this recipe a lot! It's kind of spicy, so you could tone down the red paste stuff. Definitely will make it again!

Cooking class from October 16

Stuff we made:

Niku jaga (not pictured, it's a soup with meat, potatoes, onions, and carrots)

Onigiri (rice balls) with various fillings

Dashiyakitamago

Dango (also not pictured)

Things I learned:

Flipping eggs with chopsticks is hard.

I can't make rice go into a triangle shape.

I had a lot of fun! A friend of mine does cooking lessons like this every month. Definitely want to go again next month!

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Sticks

Recipe link - Cookpad

Translation

Ingredients:

Sasami (boneless chicken breasts) 6 (about 330-350g or so will be fine)

Starch 2 tbsp

Salt and pepper

Sauce:

Soy sauce 3 tbsp

Sugar 1 tbsp

Honey 1 tbsp

Cooking sake t tbsp

Mirin 1 tbsp

Chicken stock powder 1/2 tsp

Seven spice blend (七味）5 shakes (I'm not sure what's in the blend)

Sesame seeds 1 tbsp

How to make:

1. Cut the chicken into strips. Coat with starch, salt, and pepper.

2. Heat up some oil in a frying pan to 180 degrees. Fry the chicken. Once it's done, drain off the oil.

3. In a separate pan, mix the sauce ingredients. Heat it until it just starts to bubble.

4. Coat the chicken with the sauce. Done!

I rarely fry things. I'm actually a bit scared of the oil! But, I managed to fry the chicken without getting popped. The sauce turned out really good, but the chicken a bit on the dry side. I guess I did fairly well for my first time making fried chicken. I think I'll dry cutting the chicken into nuggets next time; that might help with the dryness.

Pork Kimchi

Recipe from "Fun Recipes for 1" (ひとり分の楽しいレシピ) pg 12

Ingredients (I made double, but here's the stuff for 1)

Pork 100g (thin slices)

Kimchi 100g

Nira grass 1/2 bundle

Bean sprouts (moyashi) 1/3 bag

Carrot 1/4

Leek 10cm (about 1/2)

Cooking sake 1 tbsp

Salt, pepper

Soy sauce (small amount)

White sesame seeds 1 tsp (I left these out)

Salad oil 2 tsp (I used olive oil, just enough to coat the pan)

How to make:

1. Cut the carrot, nira, and leek into small pieces.

2. Cook the pork in an oiled frying pan. Once the pork is cooked, add the leek and carrot.

3. Once the carrot and leek have cooked a bit, add the kimchi. Cook it for a minute and add the bean sprouts and nira.

4. Add the sake, salt, pepper, and soy sauce. Mix together. Serve and add the sesame seeds. Done!

I really like this recipe; I make it all the time. It's really quick and easy. I usually add more carrot, since I like carrots. You definitely need a big frying pan for this. Mine's almost too small for a double recipe.