Chicken Katsu (Japanese Fried Chicken)

We recently got new smartphones and we were playing around with it. I downloaded the allrecipes dinner spinner app and showed it to Gary. He immediately started playing around with it and was amazed! He bookmarked a few recipes to try, and this was the first that he wanted to make since it seemed simple enough.

It was indeed simple, and tasty…but I’m a sucker for anything fried! The only thing we would change about this would be the tonkatsu sauce that we made. We found one on All Recipes as well (mentioned in the comments of this recipe, but it ended being totally inedible. Since we were fine with it plain, we omitted the sauce. We halved this recipe to feed the two of us.

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Chicken Katsu
adapted from: allrecipes.com

ingredients:

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/2 inch thickness
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1 cup oil for frying, or as needed

directions:

Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper.

Place the flour, egg and panko crumbs each into separate shallow dishes. Coat the chicken breasts in flour, shaking off any excess. Dip them into the egg, and then press into the panko crumbs until well coated on both sides.

Heat 1/4 inch of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place chicken in the hot oil, and cook for 3 or 4 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Mine were a bit thicker, so I cooked a little longer, about 5 minutes per side.

Transfer to a paper towel lined plate to soak up the oil. Slice and serve over jasmine rice and top with tonkatsu sauce (optional).

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Chicken Teriyaki

What happens when I ask Gary what he put in a dish?

Gary: “I dunno…some of this, some of that. I did it like that.”
Me: “Like what?”
Gary: “Like that. I don’t know how to explain it”
Me: “Argh! How am I supposed to blog about it like that??”

Anywho…I think I finally got it out of him. This should be more or less the recipe he used. He got it from his Personal Cooking game for the DS. He made this a few times before it actually came out right, but at least he tried, and finally made something edible. I think he used the original recipe as a loose guideline and adapted it to his taste from there.

Chicken Teriyaki
Inspired from: Personal Trainer Cooking by Nintendo DS

Ingredients:
2 boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch strips
1-2 tbsp cooking oil

Marinade:
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp. mirin
1 Tbsp. rice wine

Sauce:
1 1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. mirin
1 Tbsp. rice wine

Directions:
1. Cut up the chicken into 1" wide strips. Place in bowl. Add in the marinade ingredients. Mix well and let sit and marinate for 15-20 minutes.

2. Coat a wok or stir fry pan with oil. Remove chicken from marinade and place in the wok. Discard marinade. Stir for 2-3 minutes. Add in sauce ingredients. Continue to mix. Cover and cook until most of the sauce has evaporated.

So, Gary left the spatula in the wok while he covered it. He said it helps the liquid evaporate faster. It seems kind of unorthodox to me…but whatever works.

Dorayaki Cake (Japanese Pancake)

Adapted from: Nintendo DS – Personal Trainer Cooking, Ezine Articles
Made by: Cathy & Gary

So, Gary got the DS Personal Training game. He looked through and found a recipe he wanted to make. We've eaten the Japanese pancakes fresh from the Japanese supermarket, as well as packaged from the Chinese grocery stores. Fresh is always better.

So Gary went and bought the beans, he made it as instructed…it turned out fine. The next step was to make the pancakes. I ended up making it because, of course he initially thought he needed a CUP of BAKING POWDER! Give him a stovetop, and he’s fine, but baking is not his forte, so he handed it over to me.

I started out with the original recipe from the DS, and from reading it, I knew it was already a disaster in the making. First of all, there was too much flour to liquid ratio. The batter ended up thick and did not pour well out of the ladle. It was a mess! I was really annoyed and yelled at him the whole time I was mixing it. The pancakes turned out thick, hard, overcooked on the outside, and undercooked on the inside. Into the garbage it went.

So, of course, we couldn't let the beans go to waste. We left it in the fridge to try again the next day.

I googled the recipe for the cake. I found several, but went with one that used about the same ingredients as the DS version, but with much more accurate measurements. The result? Edible pancakes!

Ingredients:
Bean Paste:
2/3 cup azuki beans
2/3 cup white sugar

Pancakes:
3 eggs
2/3 cup of white sugar
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 cup of water
1 cup of all purpose flour – sifted

Directions:
Preparing the bean paste:
1. Wash the azuki beans and soak overnight.

2. Transfer the beans to a saucepan. Add enough water to cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Once the water comes to a boil, pour the water out, then replace with fresh water. Place over high heat again and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down a little and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn the heat down low and simmer for 45 minutes, cooking off the water until it barely covers the beans.

3. Add 2/3 cup sugar, stir well, then simmer until almost all the water has completely evaporated. Continue to simmer and mix the beans thoroughly over medium heat. Once the mixture takes on a glossy sheen, turn off the heat.

Preparing the pancakes:
1. Whisk together the eggs and sugar.

2. Dissolve the baking soda into the water. Add the water into the egg mixture.

3. Gradually sift the flour into the egg mixture while continuing to whisk.

4. Heat a skillet or a hot plate and put a little bit of oil into it. I used my indoor griddle, so I sprayed a little nonstick spray.

5. Scoop about half a ladle of batter into the skillet to form a small pancake (about 3" in diameter).

6. Turn the pancake over in the pan when bubbles begin to form and appear of the surface of the cake. Repeat this process to make about 16 pancakes.

7. Let the pancakes cool. Scoop about a tablespoon of the bean paste onto the flat side of the pancake, then sandwich with another pancake.

This recipe makes about 8 dorayaki cakes. You will need a double batch to use up all the bean paste. You can also make these bigger than the size indicated. We definitely spoiled our dinner by eating more than one of these.

Eel and California Sushi Rolls

Sushi rolls are so good, but I can't justify the price I pay in Manhattan to enjoy them.

My father works at a Japanese restaurant in the kitchen. He watched and learned to make sushi and taught it to us. Now, my family has been making it for some time now, but I usually just watched and ate :). This time, it was our turn to try to make it. I think it came out pretty well for our first time.

Sushi refers to the rice and not the fish. There is a lot of prep work involved in making it, but it's so worth it.

I don't have exact quantities of some ingredients because I bought ingredients in bulk and didn't count how many I used. This will be scaled down from the amount I made. If you don't have eel, you can make just california rolls or whatever rolls you like.

Ingredients:
2 cups sushi rice (uncooked)
2 1/2 cups water
2 tbsp sushi seasoning
1 cucumber cut into strips lengthwise
1 package frozen prepared eel, defrosted
10 (approx.) frozen imitation crab meat, defrosted
2 avocados sliced
5 sheets (approx.) packaged seaweed (nori), square sheets cut in half
sesame seeds (optional)

Prep materials:
bowl of cold water (to prevent sticking to the hands)
bamboo sushi mat
saran wrap
sharp knife
rice cooker
cutting board (preferably plastic, the rice will stick to wood)

Directions:
1. Wash the rice until water runs clear. Add 2 1/2 cups of cold water (or as directed by the packaging) to the pot and cook in rice cooker. Once done, scoop rice into a large mixing bowl. Mix with sushi seasoning while hot. Cover with damp paper towel and let cool for 10-15 min. Wrap the bamboo mat with saran wrap.
2. Prepare: cucumbers, eel, crab meat, nori, and avocados. Cut a cucumber in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and discard. Cut the cucumber into thin strips. Defrost the eel and crab meat in the microwave. Slice the eel into strips. Shred the crab meat by hand into pieces. Cut an avocado in half, remove pit and skin. Slice avocados into approx. 1/2 inch wide strips. Placed all ingredients into separate bowls/plates. Cut the nori sheets in half (they are about 8 inch squares when purchased).
3. Dip you hands in the cold water and shake off the excess. Place nori on the bamboo mat. Place about a palm sized oval wad of rice and spread on 1 side of the nori. Flip over and place desired ingredients on the side without rice. Leave about an 3/4 to an inch of space on each side. Using the bamboo mat, roll sushi up and use the rice to seal up. Use the bamboo mat to shape the sushi on top. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Dip the knife into the water and cut sushi roll into 6 equal pieces starting from the middle. Repeat until all ingredients are used up.

Tada! Sushi! We ate a few that didn't look too great while we were making it. Once you make it, you will want to make some more. It's much more satisfying to make it yourself.

Once you get the hang of it, you can make any roll you want. ie: Boston rolls (lettuce, cooked shrimp, mayo)