There are two method for this dish. One is deep frying the eggplant and the other is shallow frying. I definitely prefer shallow frying, but you need fairly good mount of oil even for the shallow frying. This dish taste better when cooled to room temperature or even chilled. I generally don’t like too much …
When you buy a bunch of celery, what do you do with the leaves and thin stalks? You are not throwing them away, are you? I sometimes use them for soup and stir-fry, but this is my favourite way to use them up. Try it once and you will never waste the celery leaves again. …
When spring vegetables are in season, even in a supermarket, I sometimes come across fresh green peas in the pod. It’s time to cook this dish which is one of my Top 3 favourite rice dishes. It’s another very simple seasonal dish. But you only can cook it in Spring when fresh green peas are …
In Japan, there are some seasonal dishes which are almost iconic. This dish is one of them.‘Furofuki Daikon’ is a classic winter dish. Very simple to cook but it takes time to simmer daikon absolutely tender. It is traditionally served with sweet miso sauce. You can use white miso, dark colour miso or whatever type …
Takikomigohan is a rice dish, cooked with seasoned dashi stock with vegetables, mushrooms, chicken or other ingredients. ‘Kinoko (Mushrooms)’ Takikomigohan is one of my favourite. In Autumn in Japan, so many different types of mushrooms are available. The famous ‘Matsutake’ is too expensive for many of us these days, but there are plenty of cheap …
When cabbages are in season, I often make coleslaw with different dressings or sauces. I tried to create an Asian flavour slaw. When you follow this recipe, you might think the amount of the cabbages is too much for 4 servings but it will decrease in volume and the flavour will become stronger. I use …
I love Korean food. Since a Korean grocery store opened in a nearby suburb, I have been trying Korean ingredients for my cooking. And now I am in love with Korean noodles made from sweet potato starch. The unique rubbery texture of the sweet potato noodles is similar to Shirataki OR Itokonnyaku. Try this yummy …
‘Tsukudani’ is a dish of commonly small fish, shellfish or seaweed cooked in Mirin, Sugar and Soy Sauce to preserve the ingredients. Its name originates from Tsukuda-jima, an island in Tokyo where it was first made in the Edo period. Seaweed ‘Tsukudani’ can be made with Kombu (Kelp) or Wakame. But Nori ‘Tsukudani’ is probably …
This is a popular basic Almond Bread recipe. My friend Shelley makes better Almond Bread. She adds extra ingredients such as Cardamom, Glazed Cherries and other mystery ingredients. Shelley wouldn’t share her secret recipe and I have to stick to this one. Well… I am actually happy with this recipe. Makes 20 Pieces *Depends on …
‘Sumiso (Su-Miso)’ is Vinegared Miso Dressing. This dressing is so good with boiled Octopus or Squid, and also fresh Konnyaku. Of course it is great for salad! My mother used to make iceberg lettuce salad with ‘Sumiso’. I use Wombok, ‘Hakusai’ in Japanese, for the dish instead. A popular dish for Japanese style dinner ‘Ichijū …
I love rice. Especially I love Brown Rice mixed with other grains including Wild Rice, Barley and Quinoa. It takes a long time to cook. So I recommend you to cook more than you need and freeze the leftovers. This dish is one of our heavily repeated dinner menus. My daughter made it first and …
I don’t fry potato wedges or chips. I always bake them in the oven but you need oil for the crunchy texture. This ‘Fetta Topping’ is a delicious addition to them because the sourness of the Fetta cuts through the oiliness of the wedges balances the flavour quite well. Adding spices to the Potato and …
