Food galore in Kyoto n Osaka

I had intended to make a second post of the food I ate in Kyoto much earlier but was not feeling too well after my trip back. Guess too much food and cold air make me sick.......haha.....guess I have only myself to blame for eating so much. And then I am back home, I was caught up with the unpacking and cleaning up and before I know I am busy with Christmas shopping and eating again.....so this late post. Anyway, here are the food pics.

Most of the time, I try to take pic of the food I ate but on some occasions, it's actually quite difficult with the crowd in the restaurant and frankly speaking I am quite embarrassed to whip out my camera and snap away. So I actually took the pics with my camera phone instead (more discrete compared to camera), so that might explain why the resolution for some pics are not fantastic. In any case, if the pics can talk, they will tell you how wonderful they taste......haha.....hope my pics do the food justice.

This is what I had in an italian restaurant which we found "underground". It's a shop located in the basement away from the busy street. If not for the advertisement, we would not have found this place. They are also the very few restaurants that has an English menu which we could use to order our food. We were really happy to finally be able to order food without just pointing at pics and when the food arrived, we were not disappointed either. The spaghetti was wonderful, salad was crisp and dessert was not too sweet. Overall, it was a very enjoyable dinner.


I also managed to have okonomiyaki on 2 separate occasions and it was althogether an interesting and fun encounter cooking your own food right in front of you. Needless to say, I enjoyed the cooking as much as the food itself. :p Here are some of the okonomiyaki pictures.




And of course not forgetting the japanese food........udon and ramen.



Well....think that's all the food I can stomach for now. Enjoy the pictures! :)

Day 1 in Osaka

Wow! Finally touch down in Osaka Kansai airport after a six hour flight. Really cold the moment I stepped off from the plane. It's close to 11 degrees although the temperatures are expected to drop to 6 degrees in the night and in the early morning. As it is only 835am in the morning, there is hardly a very long queue at the customs and it took us less than half an hour to clear through the customs and get our luggage.

We locked up our luggage in a coin operated locker and then we are off to Rinku Town (a shopping mall with all the branded goods at factory outlet prices) which is a 15 mins train ride from Kansai airport. We took the JR train which is very fast and clean. The rail cuts across a wide expanse of sea and its just amazing fast and comfortable. We notice that before we board the train, the seats inside the train will be automatically "reversed" so that every passenger will be facing the front of the train and this will be done again once the train reaches the terminal station at the end of the journey.




This is Rinku Town. Very nice place and the best thing is it's not crowded being so early in the morning.


I was more of window shopping then doing any serious shopping here though and after wondering around the mall for about 2 hours, I decided to call it a day and make my way back to Kansai airport for my lunch. I was really hungry when I sat down and ordered my lunch and I really can't wait to eat them. Me and my colleague ordered a set each. I had sashimi set which is really very fresh and yummy.


My colleague had the sushi udon set.


Really enjoyed the lunch and I am really looking forward to the next few days ahead....:P

Marble Cake

A easy-to-bake cake for tea break during weekend.....:p

Ingredients
150g plain flour
150g butter
150g sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1 -2 tblsp cocoa powder (dissolved in hot water to form a smooth solution)
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
Diluted condensed milk

Method
1. Sieve plain flour and baking powder together.
2. Cream butter and sugar till creamy.
3. Add in eggs and vanilla essence gradually one at a time. Continue creaming.
4. Fold in flour and add milk when necessary.
5. Divide mixture into half. Add half to cocoa mixture and mix well.
6. Pour mixture alternately into a baking tin.
7. Run a fork through the baking tin to make the marble design.
8. Bake at 150 degree for half an hour.

Tempura Crab cakes

Saw this recipe from a food magazine some time ago and have not gotten down to cooking it. The crab meat I bought has also been sitting on my shelf for a while already. So finally decided to cook it today.

I have to say the picture looks better than it tastes. Maybe I have only myself to blame cos I actually make some changes to the ingredients. Instead of cornflour, I used tapioca flour since that's what my mum have on her pantry shelf. Not only that, recipe calls for beating the egg whites till white peaks appear (which I take it to mean stiff like in cake making). But I was lazy to take out my mixer as I reckon using my hands to beat the whites should be alright.

By the time I started whisking the egg whites, I realized manual hand whisking does not really get the job done. But damage is already done and so I have no choice but to add it to the other ingredients hoping it will still turn out fine.

I guess if I had beaten the egg whites stiff, the crabcakes will probably be puffy instead of being round flat cakes......well.....anyway, luckily folks at home like it pretty much although I think I will try this recipe with other ingredients like prawns, imitation crabsticks, onions instead of crab meat. Basically, I can't really "taste" or "feel" the crab meat inside....

Still I think its a good recipe except it calls for some hard work.......don't be lazy to use your mixer.... *lol*

Tempura Crab Cakes
Ingredients
makes about 10 -12
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup cornflour
170g can crab meat, drained and set aside
3/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup chopped coriander
Spring onions, chopped
2 red chilli, seeded and chopped
2 egg whites
oil for deep frying

Chilli Lemon Mayonnaise
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tblsp chopped coriander
1 chilli, seeded and chopped
juice of 1/2 lemon
lemon rind

Method
1. Sift flour into a mixing bowl. Add in water to a smooth blend.
2. Lightly mix in crab meat, coriander, chilli and spring onions.
3. Beat egg whites till soft peaks form. Fold into crab meat mixture.
4. Heat oil in a large wok/saucepan/deepfryer.
5. Add 1 tablespoon of crab mixture to the oil. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes until golden and cooked through. Drain on kitchen towels. Continue with remaining mixture.
6. Combine all the ingredients for the chilli mayonnaise in a small bowl. Serve as dipping sauce with tempura crab cakes garnished with lemon slice and coriander.

Bento 23 November 07

My second bento for this month! Onigiris with furikake is the "main course" for this bento. Side dish includes blanched cauliflower, carrots, cherry tomatoes and the star of this bento - chicken egg roll!! Saw the recipe from a bento cook book I purchased some time ago and was keen to give it a try cos it looks fantastic inside any bento lunch box. :p

Ingredients are generally easy to prepare but the tricky part is the rolling of the minced chicken and scrambled eggs around the long beans and carrot sticks. I actually did not manage to do it on my first attempt and I have to do it again the second round before I was successful. Even then, I think it was not as well done and I would have to do a better job again the next round.

Chicken Egg rolls (makes 1 roll about 7 -8 pieces)
Ingredients
50g minced chicken
2 tblsp beaten egg
2 tblsp breadcrumbs
1/4 onion, diced finely
A pinch of salt

2 eggs, beaten
Long beans, cut into small long sections
Carrots, cut into sticks

Method
1. Mixed minced chicken, 2 tblsp egg, breadcrumbs, onions and salt together in a bowl. Set aside for use later.
2. Scramble the eggs in a pan till they are firm but not dry. Remove from heat.
3. Place a piece of aluminium foil over sushi mat. Oil it slightly.
4. Spread the minced chicken mixture over the aluminium foil followed by scrambled eggs.
5. Place the long beans and carrot sticks in the middle.
6. Roll the chicken egg roll the same way as sushi.
7. Steam the roll for about 7 -8 mins. Cut into 7 -8 pieces before packing into bento box.

Mini Donuts

Donuts craze has come to Singapore and it is not uncommon to see long queues forming at donut outlets at any time of the day or any day of the week. Rather than queuing up to an hour for donuts at these chains, I decided to make my own this weekend. After all, I like to cook and bake and it is an opportunity to have fun along the way.



I have already decided to make other varieties besides the normal glazed donuts (those with icing sugar on them). So I went to the store to buy the ingredients for the donuts topping and before I know, I have chopped peanuts, sliced almonds, strawberry shavings, baking chocolate, coloured rice, frosting, icing sugar..........I am quite sure I will definitely eat more than one since it's very likely I would try all the different variety to have a feel of how each of them taste. So to make sure that I don't "over" eat, I decided to make small mini donuts. This way, I can have more than one at one go without having to feel too guilty. :p



The donuts were pretty easy to make, from the kneading, the shaping using the donut cutter, the proofing and the frying part. The hard or the tedious part is actually the "decoration" of the mini donuts. Being mini, they are actually quite a handful to handle especially frosting and adding the toppings on them. Maybe I have clumsy fingers which explains why I find this decorating part difficult. *lol* But the biggest surprise of the day is that my dad is also very enthusiatic about the donut making! Wow, I have to say I am very surprised cos my dad seldom give me a second look when I am baking or cooking at home. So I was quite surprised when he offer to fry the donuts and volunteer to help decorating them.......and guess what? Both of us have lots of fun doing it.



Took me about 3 hours, from preparation, waiting for the donuts to raise, frying and decorating them. The eating takes a shorter time......hahaha.....generally, old folks at home like the traditional glaze donuts, say it's less sweet while young kids like the donuts with chocolate toppings and strawberry shavings.....definitely will make these donuts again!

Black Pepper Chicken Bento 161107

Hooray! Finally got down to cooking and packing my first bento after "hanging" up my pots and pans for weeks. Hahaha. Since I have not been cooking for ages, I thought I had better stick with a simple bento. Black pepper chicken stir fried with green pepper is a breeze to prepare with ready mix black pepper sauce. I am a big fan of those ready to use sauces as they are such a great help in coming out with nice and decent looking meals without having to spend too much time preparing the ingredients from scratch. However, I am always conscious not to use too much or too often because of the high salt content in most of these sauces. In any case, this is a good sauce and the green pepper really enhance the taste of the black pepper. I will definitely do more of this..........:)

Black Pepper Chicken Stir Fry with Green Pepper
Ingredients
1 pc chicken breast (you can use other chicken parts) cut into cubes
Half a green pepper cut into cubes
1 tblsp black pepper sauce (I use NTUC brand)
1 tblsp water
Cooking oil

Method
1. Heat oil in non-stick pan.
2. Stir fry green pepper and chicken until chicken is almost cooked.
3. Add black pepper sauce and water and continue to stir fry till sauce starts to boil.
4. Remove from heat and serve hot over a plate of white rice.

Ham Pasta Salad

I have not been cooking for the past few weeks. Finally decided to cook something simple for tomorrow so that I don't have to get out of office in the wet weather just to get lunch. It has been raining almost everyday and it can be quite a hassle to go out into the wet. As I don't have much ingredients at home, the simplest thing I can think of is to cook pasta. I have always been a fan of pasta salad and so here it is.

Ham Pasta Salad
Ingredients
Pasta of your choice (I use spiral pasta)
Ham, cut into cubes (I use Gourmet brand Chix n Ham roll)
Green pepper, cut into cubes
Cherry or honey tomatoes
2 tblsp mayonnaise
1 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tblsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp mustard

Method
1. Boil pasta till al dente.
2. Drain and run under tap water. Set aside for use later.
3. In a big bowl, mix mayo, olive oil, vinegar, mustard together.
4. Add ham, pepper and cherry/honey tomatoes to cooked pasta.
5. Toast them together with the sauce in step 3.
6. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving or eating.

Sushi for Lunch

My niece wanted to eat "sushi with the egg on top" and requested that I made them for her this weekend. As I have a craving for sushi myself, decided to make a few other varieties for lunch today. I made tamago nigiri sushi (sushi with egg on top), inari sushi (rice in a tofu puff pouch) and jumbo sushi roll. I used "sweetened" tofu puff purchased from Cold Storage (Misuzu brand - in the frozen food section). It is pre-cooked and sealed in 2 individual packet of 8 inari pouches. I just need to defroze them and it definitely saves me a lot of time compared to if I had to cook them from scratch. And they have a sweetness to it which goes well with the vinegar rice and toppings you added. In case you are wondering why my tamago sushi looks weird, they do not have seaweed around them cos my niece don't like seaweed and so they are bare of weed.....*LOL* Making the tamago is a bit tricky though. Control of the heat is crucial to ensure your eggs don't burnt and yet not too wet for you to fold it up. Lunch in a box has a very good illustration on how to make the egg omelet(www.lunchinabox.net).

Inari Sushi


Ingredients
Cooked sushi rice
8 Inari tofu pocket
Canned tuna flakes (drained and mixed with mayonnaise)
3-4 imitation crabsticks (boiled and shredded then mixed with mayonnaise)
Slices of cucumber

Method:
1. Fill the tofu pouches with sufficient cooked sushi rice (about 2/3 full). Use a metal spoon to press the rice down slightly so that they do not drop off so easily when you bite into them.
2. Top with tuna mayo or crabstick mayo.
3. Add slices of cucumber on the side of the tofu pouches.

Jumbo Sushi Roll


Ingredients
Cooked sushi rice
Seaweed
Tuna mayo
Boiled imitation crabstick (sliced each crabstick into 4 long sticks)
Tamago (sliced into long sticks)

Method
1. Place seaweed (shiny side down) on bamboo sushi mat.
2. Spread sushi rice on the seaweed leaving about 1cm at the front and 2 cm at the end of the seaweed uncovered.
3. Arrange crabstick, tamago and tuna near the edge of the seaweed.
4. Place your thumb under the bamboo mat while holding the ingredients in with your second and third finger, start to roll the sushi tightly.
5. Unroll the mat and cut the roll into 8 pieces. Wet the knife between each cut.

Tamago Eggs
(makes 2 tamago egg rolls)
Ingredients
4 eggs
3 tbsp of dashi stock
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp soy sauce

Method
1. In a bowl, crack the eggs and mix all the seasoning into the bowl. Stir gently.
2. Grease a rectangle omelet pan with oil (I used kitchen paper folded into a small square and dipped it into oil for greasing the pan).
3. Heat up the pan under medium flame. When it gets hot, pour half a ladleful of the egg mixture in, tilting the pan to ensure the egg mixture spread from corner to corner.
4. When the egg is set (slightly wet on the surface), fold the egg towards you to make a 3-fold egg omelet.
5. Rub the surface of the pan with the oiled kitchen paper. Slide the omelet to the far end of the rectangle pan and oil the other end as well.
6. Pour another ladle of the egg mixture, lifting the egg roll made in step 4 to ensure the egg mixture gets underneath the egg roll. Roll the egg omelet towards you when it is set. Repeat until all the egg mixture is used up.
7. Take out from pan and slice into thick slices

Cranberry & Chocolate Chip Muffins

I was browsing through my stack of cookbooks and recipe books when I stumble across my old Home Economics textbook which I used way back in my secondary school days. As I flip through the book, i came across a muffin recipe which I used to like when it was taught during one of my lessons. Memories of the muffins we used to bake came back and I decide to "revive" the recipe. *LOL* The original recipe calls for raisins. I added cranberry in one batch and chocolate chips in another and they taste just as good. Folks at home like it cos it is just the right consistency, not too moist or dry and most importantly it is not too sweet.

Cranberry/Chocolate Chip Muffins
(makes about 10-11 muffins)

Ingredients
200g plain flour
150g caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
150g butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
100g sweetened dried cranberry/100g chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk to mix

Method
1. Sift flour and baking powder.
2. Cream butter and sugar using an electric mixer till light and fluffy.
3. Add in beaten egg gradually and continue to cream.
4. Fold in the flour n cranberry (or chocolate chips if baking the chocolate chip muffins) using a metal spoon.
5. Add sufficient milk to form a soft dropping consistency.
6. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full with the batter and bake on 200C oven for 15mins.
7. Cool baked muffins on trays and stored them in air tight containers.

Tofu Chicken Rice Burger

<
I was browsing through the various food blogs the other day and came across the Prawn Cutlet Rice Burger recipe on wokkingmum's blog (http:wokkingmum.blogspot.com). I have always been a fan of MOS rice burger (Kakiage Rice Burger my favourite) and wokkingmum really convince me that it is actually "do-able" in your own kitchen. :p

I make some changes to the recipe though.....I make a tofu chicken patty instead and I used short-grain rice as they tend to be more sticky than normal white rice so it is actually much easier to do up the round rice patties. I also brushed the rice patties with soy sauce on both sides before I pan fried them in the saucepan. The rice patties turned out slightly crunchy and the soy sauce give the rice patties a more flavourful taste as well.

Tofu Chicken Rice Burger

Ingredients for Chicken Tofu
25g carrot, chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
140g minced chicken
200g tofu (coarser, solid tofu to be used)
½ egg, beaten
1 tblsp breadcrumbs
1 tblsp plain flour
Salt & pepper to taste
1 tblsp vegetable oil

Method
1. Finely chop the carrot and spring onions. Can use a blender if prefer a smoother paste.
2. Add chicken, tofu, egg, breadcrumbs, flour, salt, pepper and mix/blend till well mixed.
3. Divide mixture into 4 portions and shape into round patties (I used a 7-8cm round cookie cutter to help me shape them more nicely).
4. Heat oil in saucepan and pan fry over low heat for 8 minutes until each side is browned.

Ingredients for Rice Patties

Uncooked Short-grained rice - 2 cups
Water
Soy sauce

Method
1. Cook the short-grained rice the usual manner for normal rice.
2. Once cooked, divide them into 8 equal portions.
3. Place the round cookie cutter on a wet chopping board. Scoop enough rice into the cookie cutter and press down using a metal spoon.
4. Remove cookie cutter and reshape further using wet hands.
5. Brush on soy sauce and place the rice patty on a flat frying pan over low heat until slightly crispy on both sides.
6. Place chicken tofu patty in between 2 rice patties with lettuce, sliced tomato, mayonnaise and chilli sauce. Serve hot.

Teriyaki Chicken Wings

Had a batch of chicken wings in the fridge and thought why not cook them and so this recipe is born.....:)

Ingredients
10 Chicken wings and drumsticks (depending on your preference for which chicken parts)
2 tablespoon light soy sauce
Salt n pepper
3 tablespoon teriyaki sauce (I used Masukan brand which can be found under Japanese food section in NTUC Fairprice or Cold Storage supermarkets)
1 tablespoon water
Cooking oil

Method
1. Season the chicken wings and drumsticks with soy sauce, salt and pepper for at least half an hour (they taste better if left-over night).
2. Heat up oil in a non-stick pan.
3. Using low to medium flame, pan fry the chicken wings and drumsticks on both sides till they are crispy on the outside. Remove from the pan.
4. Mix the teriyaki sauce and water and heat them up in the pan.
5. When the sauce starts to boil, add the cooked chicken wings and drumsticks. Make sure all are well coated with the teriyaki sauce.
6. Serve with plain rice.

This is really simple to cook and one of my favourite. Be sure to cook the chicken wings till they are slightly crispy as it helps to "force" out the fats under the chicken skin and make the skin more "edible".

Afternoon Tea at Blue Magnolia

I was watching a tv programme (HDB Tai tai) some time ago and the 2 "made believe" tai-tais in the programme went for afternoon tea at this little cafe located in Macpherson Road. My office is located in the same area but I have never notice this cafe till I saw it on tv. The food they featured looks really nice and I decided to make a trip down to the cafe to see and taste the food for myself.

The opportunity finally came early this week. I went down with a friend and it was pretty quiet when we get there around 430pm. Unfortunately, there is not much food items left at that time and the crepes which I saw on tv was not on sale at that time. :( Luckily, the cafe's famous Adzuki Green Tea Cake is still available. We ordered 3 other small cakes and together they made up the "Petite Four".

I ordered an infusion tea called Nightcap (a combination of peppermint & camomile tea) which comes in a nice clear teapot and is constantly kept warm by a tealight candle.
My friend had the Creamy Hazelnut Coffee instead. Among the 4 items we ordered, my favourite is the Cheesecake. The savoury Cheese Puff (next to the cheesecake) is unique but not fantastic.

The Adzuki Green Tea Cake is a letdown as I could hardly smell the green tea and I personally feel that the cake could have more of the adzuki bean inside the cake. Blueberry cake is also not very special.

My friend like the Creamy Hazelnut Coffee though. I guess I would not mind buying the cheesecake although I will give the 3 other items a miss. Although the food had not been as nice as I would have expected, I like the way the food is presented - in small little dish in a very manageable portions which allows you to try many different items without getting too stretched (the tummy i mean). Service is pretty good too. So I think I will still make another trip down for the crepes which I missed out this round. For those who are interested in visiting the cafe, here is the address.

Blue Magnolia

439 Macpherson Road.

I will make another post here after my next visit.