Recently I have been attending customised Japanese cuisine workshops. So when my husband went to Shanghai few weeks back, I requested him to buy some bento boxes for me from JD.com. Although they were smaller than the ones I used during my workshops, the quality was good. Therefore, it was worth to get them.
Many of us like to buy such kitchen wares or baking wares, thinking we will use them one day. Well, some became white elephants, while others were used past their usefulness. In order for my husband to see that I will use what I bought, I decided to make a bento set lunch. I made Chashu with tamagoyaki bento set lunch. The chashu was really tender and juicy. I overcooked my tamago and it tasted a bit dry. Overall, I must say it was a good attempt on my first bento set.
Recipe for Chashu, adapted from Just One Cookbook.
(Makes for 6 persons)
Ingredients:
1kg Pork belly block (I cut into half)
3 tsp Salt
1½ tbsp Cooking oil
2 inch Ginger, sliced
Seasonings
570g Kombu Dashi (original use water)
1 cup Cooking sake
1 cup Soy sauce
9 tbsp Sugar
Method:
1. Peel and slice ginger.
2. Sprinkle and rub the salt on the pork belly.
3. Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over high heat and brown the fat side first, then flip over to brown the other side. It’ll take about 15 mins.
4. While browning, put all the ingredients for seasonings in a heavy-bottom pot, including sliced ginger.
5. Place the pork belly in the pot and bring it to a boil.
6. Place an otoshibuta (drop lid) on top of the meat. If you don’t have one, make one out of aluminum foil (and here’s how). To learn more about what Otoshibuta does, click here. (I used a loose cake pan base as the cover.)
7. Lower the heat to medium low and simmer, occasionally turning, for about one hour.
8. Remove the otoshibuta and take out the meat and cut into thin slices.
9. Reheat your skillet and place some sauces into it. Place the cut meat into the skillet and let it coat with the sauces, turning it. Total time to simmer is about 2 mins.
10. Remove them and set aside.
11. Reserve the thicken sauces for the rice later.
To make tamagoyaki, click here. I used the recipe from my workshop and made spring onion tamago. I also use dashi for my tamago.
To make sushi rice, click here.
To assemble, scoop the rice to the left corner of the bento box. Then arrange chashu and tamagoyaki on the sides and the right side of the bento box. Add sliced cucumber or any other fresh vegetables of your preference. Serve and enjoy.
My Christmas menu usually have appetizers, main course, desserts and beverages. I made Yuzu Egg and Mushroom Mayonnaise as my appetizer for Christmas dinner with my family.
Recipe for Yuzu Egg & Mushroom Mayonnaise Cups.
(Makes 24 pcs)
Ingredients:
12 pieces Wanton skin, cut diagonally
30g Liv salted butter, soften for brushing
3 Eggs, hard boiled
6 pcs Brown button mushrooms, chopped
1 clove Garlic chopped
1 tbsp Olive oil
2 tsp Yuzu Curd
2 tsp Mayonnaise
Salt
Freshly grind black pepper
Method:
1. Brush the wanton skin with butter.
2. Carefully put the pointed sides together to form a mini cup. Place in a mini muffin tray individually.
3. Bake in a preheated oven of 120C for 6-8mins. Watch the oven well as it gets burnt very fast.
4.Remove from the oven and let it cool completely.
5. In a small saucepan, heat the olive oil, and add in the garlic. Then stir in the mushroom and cook well.
6. Drain the liquid from the mushroom.
7. Mash the hard boil eggs. Add in the mushroom. Add in the yuzu curd, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Mix well.
8. Scoop the mayo into the wanton skin cup generously.
9. Serve immediately.
As it was coming to the end of a wonderful 2013, I decided to organise a New Year's Eve Potluck Breakfast for my colleagues in the same office floor. I thought it was a good way to end the year with a simple gathering and food. Food usually brings people together.
So after all of them have decided what to bring, I decided to do a Baked French Toast. I've seen this recipe for quite a while and was really interested to do it. When better to do it then this time? I watched the video, read the reviews and modified the recipe. It turned out to be really good. And I was glad my colleagues like them too! I love it myself, the top was crispy and crusty while the bottom was soft like beancurd. The taste was really great. Try it!
Recipe for Baked French Toast, adapted from Allrecipe.com.
(Makes a 9x13" baking dish, although I split into two pans)
Ingredients:
1 loaf Baguette, cut diagonally in 1 inch slices
7 Eggs
1 1/2 cups Milk
2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon
60g Unsalted Liv butter (approximately 4 tbsp)
1/2 cups Brown sugar
2 tbsp Light corn syrup
Method:
1. Arrange the slices of bread in the bottom of the baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour over bread slices, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
3. The next morning, preheat fan oven to 160C. Bake the bread in the oven for 20 mins.
4. While the bread is almost done (before the 20mins), in a small saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup; heat until bubbling.
5. Then remove the pan from the oven, pour over bread and continue baking for another 20mins.
6. Remove from oven and let it cool slightly before serving.
Happy 2014 everyone!
This post is sponsored by Liv butter. Try Liv today!
Planning for a mini celebration is not easy. You always have to decide if you want to buy from store or made everything from scratch. If you're going to make everything from scratch, then it will mean early preparation of everything. However, some food cannot be prepared in advance. It needs to be prepared only when guests arrived. So when you don't have an extra hand, avoid making such foods, cos you really want to spend time with your guests instead of slogging in the kitchen right?
I invited my family members over to my place for a simple birthday celebration for my "Little Twins Stars". After thinking for a long time, I decided to make some finger food. A little special from the usual dinner I have with my family. This will be the one-bite food which I think they will like. Using the same pastry base, I made them into Egg mayonnaise, prawns and mushrooms with sour cream mint. It was a delight to know that they loved the finger foods! Even the helpers like them and finished them all! So for future events, finger foods will be here to stay. Good that I can always make the pastry way before the event!
Recipe for Egg Mousse Tarts, extracted from Irresistible Pastry by Alex Goh.
Makes approx. 50 cookie size tart base
Ingredients:
Pastry
200g Plain flour
100g Liv Salted Butter, cold
60g Water
2 tsps Parsley, finely chopped (I used dried Parsley)
Method:
1. Mix the butter with the flour until crumbly.
2. Add in parsley and water.
3. Mix to form a dough. Shape it into ball and press it flat. Wrap with plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (I left mine overnight).
4. Roll out the pastry between two sheets of plastic wrap to about 3mm thickness.
5. Cut it with a cookie cutter (your preference of any shape).
6. Place the cut-outs onto a greased pan.
7. Prick the pastry with fork and bake at 190C for 20mins or until golden. (I baked mine at 170C fan oven for at least 22 mins, turning the tray in between)
8. Leave it to cool completely before serving. (I kept mine in airtight container until ready to use.)
Egg Mousse
3 Hard boiled eggs
25g Mayonnaise
Pizza topper (use any dried herbs of your preference)
Black pepper
Salt
Method:
1. Mash the eggs finely and mix it with mayonnaise, pizza topper, black pepper and salt until well blended.
2. Scoop them into the pastry base and serve.
For Prawns and Mushrooms, cook them separately. Place them individually on the pastry base. Then topped with mint sour cream.
Mint Sour Cream
50g Sour cream
2 tsp Mint Sauce
Black pepper
Mix well and place on top of prawns and mushrooms. 
Lava eggs, or originally known as ajitsuke tamago, are eggs with a liquid of soft yolks. I've seen and read about many bloggers making it with success. So I decided to try it yesterday and share them with my family members. I've always like these eggs when I have my noodles in Japanese restaurants. I wondered how they made the eggs to be so wonderfully soft with a almost liquid egg yolk. Now I know.
Fortunately for the clear instructions provided by Evan, I was able to replicate the eggs successfully! My family members like them too!
Recipe for Lava Eggs, adapted from Bossacafez.
Ingredients:
5 Room temperature eggs (weighs 53g with shell)
For the marinade:
1/3 cup Light Soya sauce
1 cup Water
1 slice Ginger
1 tbsp Light brown sugar
Method:
- In a pot of water, bring to a simmer.
- With a spoon, add in the eggs one a time. Make sure that all the eggs are completely covered.
- Let the eggs boil for 5mins 45secs.
- While the eggs are boiling, prepare a bowl of ice cold water.
- For the marinade, mix all of them together in another bowl.
- Then turn off the heat and and remove them quickly.
- Put the eggs in a bowl of ice cold water to stop the cooking.
- Leave them in the cold water for about 6 mins.
- Remove the eggs, peel off the shell. Be careful in peeling as the eggs are very soft.
- Place them in the bowl of the sauce, or transfer them to a ziploc bag (a sandwich ziploc bag fits fine.)
- Let them sit in the marinade for at least 3 hours. You may leave it at room temperature.
Note:
- For this size of eggs, if you want it more liquid remove them after 5mins 30secs. For more cooked yolks, leave it in the boiling water for 6mins.
- According to Evan, do not soak the eggs in the marinade for too long as the whites will turn rubbery.
