ChryZ

Thanks! Hm, the rice variety? I can't remember the brand. It's japanese short grain rice. I've bought it at a local japanese supermarket. It came in a white 10kg bag, I moved it to some other kind of container and discarded the bag. Here is a bigger pic, you might be able to spot more details. To be honest the teriyaki sauce was from kikkoman. I've used home-made (soy,sake,mirin,sugar) before, but gone back to store-bought for convenience.

So I cooked: Sake Teriyaki Donburi Rice bowl with teriyaki salmon, swiss chard with miso/sesame dressing and hot korean chili paste braised veggies. Not a classic donburi combo, this arrangement is something that I came up with. It sports some nice flavours that work very well together. I've already posted this at the cooking/dinner! thread, but I'm also keen to hear what you guys are thinking about it.

Thanks! No tomatoes in my curry though. Those red bits are steamed carrot cubes. My only variance from your recipe is the addition of potato chunks.

My first take on the dish. I've added potato. I used one whole cup of chicken stock, but it was gone in a second. I've chickened (!) out on more stock, next time I won't! Too little sauce, grrr ... must try harder. Anyway, great dish! Thanks hzrt8w.

Nice! Crab is a bit hard to get here, but your recipe might actually help me to improve my 된장찌개. It's always nice to have a point of reference so I google'd and naver'd for keywords like 게 된장 찌개. How should the crab version look like? Any of those pics getting close to it?

Looking forward to those!

I got some nice feedback at the cooking/dinner thread, so it's nothing but fair to share: Dak Gochujang Bokum & Mandu (chicken in hot chili sauce panfried with potstickers) main ingredients: 1 X whole chicken breasts (2 halves) 1 X ginger (thumb-sized) 3 X garlic cloves (mushed) 3 X ice lettuce leaf (optional) 3 X green onions (sliced) 1 CUPS chicken stock 2 TBSP soy sauce 1 TBSP sugar 2 TBSP gochujang 2 TBSP chili flakes 2 TBSP roasted sesame 1 TBSP seasame oil (from roasted sesame) sidedish ingredients: 5 X mandu (store bought) 1/2 CUP water 2 TBSP soy sauce 1 TBSP rice wine vinegar 1 TSP chopped green onion slice the chicken and marinate with the sugar for at least 30 min add gochujang, soy sauce, chili flakes and seasame oil, then prep garlic, ginger and the chicken stock heat pan and simmer chicken stock, grate ginger and garlic into it add marinated chicken and let it bubble away on medium heat evaporate nearly all the liquid, almost no need to stir in the meantime grab some mandus from the freezer place in small pan and crank up the heat to high, the frozen mandus will defrost a little add some water to the heated pan, the liquid should start to steam right away cover the pan and steam them, this will take only a few moments when all the liquid evaporated, deglaze the pan with another small sip of water, it will help to give the mandus some color and it will loose 'em up, no need to cover this time serve the chicken on a bed of ice lettuce topped with some roasted sesame ... and the potsticker with some soysauce+vinegar for dipping It's especially tasty to fiddle some chicken into a lettuce leaf and to eat it as a mini wrapper. Enjoy. Feedback, constructive criticism or any other comments are all most welcome.

Thanks. Yeah, it's coleslaw, not raw though. It was made of: 1 half white cabbage 2 TBSP veg oil 2 TBSP rice wine vinegar 1 TSP soy sauce 1/2 TSP honey or sugar and salt and pepper Best done a couple of hours in advance.

My second take on this dish. The first one was okay (no pic), but this time I was really happy with it: Needless to say, that this dish is delicous! Thanks to hzrt8w for this great recipe! I hope, I don't get shout at for also bedding it on coleslaw *ducks and runs for cover*

The idea of adding all those veggies actually came from a picture that was taken by a blogger at a restaurant in Beijing. As a standalone dish it's a bit more wholesome. For a bigger dinner with other vegetable side or main dishes I also like to keep this dish more simple.

AFAIR this thread inspired me to cook Kung Pao Chicken. I would like to share my version: main ingredients 3 X chicken breasts 1 X red bell pepper 1/3 X cucumber 3 X celery 5 X green onion 1 X red onion 1/2 CUP unsalted/unroasted cashew nuts (preferable fresh peanuts, but they are not available at the moment, so I had to substitute) chicken marinate ingredients 1 TBSP peanut oil 1 TBSP corn starch 1 TBSP rice wine 1 TBSP light soy sauce sauce ingredients 3 TBSP hoisin sauce 4 TBSP light soy sauce 3 TBSP rice wine 2 TBSP rice wine vinegar 3 TBSP fish or oyster sauce 2 TBSP sugar or honey 2 TBSP chicken stock 1 TBSP peanut oil 2 TS sesame oil 1 X ginger 2 X garlic clover 6 X dried chili peppers 1 TBSP wild sichuan pepper cubed the chicken and combined it with the marinate ingredients, 30 min of marinating is enough, all the other prep work can be done in the meantime cubed the veggies with my trusty veg knife, saved some green onions' green for topping the sauce next, first I roasted the dried chili pepper and the sichuan pepper, they shouldn't get black, they are done when it's starting to smell aromatic grabbed a mortar and ground the roasted stuff for even more flavour and combined all the other sauce ingredients blended until smooth after those prep steps, it was time to cook, first I roasted the cashew nuts a little, then the chicken ... the chicken must be cooked completely, when done move to a "parking" bowl hint: the wok or in my case the pan-frying should happen at oil-smoking heat, peanut oil is highly recommandable for this kind of cooking parked the cooked chicken and moved on to the veggies, again high heat stir-frying, do not overcook the veggie, it should be somewhat crunchy cleared the pan/wok and poured in the sauce at high heat, stired for a second while boiling, lowered the heat and simmered it to a syrup-like thickness moved the other stuff back into the pan in order to glaze all the goodness stirred it well, ready to serve served with green onion topping and a drizzle of sesame oil Enjoy.

I'm not sure. I know more about Japanese cuisine than my family, friends or co-workers. Most people around me are totally clueless, but I can't blame them. Learning about Japanese cuisine requires some effort and the lack of resources is not helping either. There are some very good Japanese restaurants available in a radius of 80km from where I live, but they are still rare. You've seen my humble attempts and the reason why I've share them here wasn't completely selfless. I actually hoped for constructive criticism or validation. Anyway, I still got a lot to learn, to try, to cook, to share and I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks to all of you.*blush* Don't be scared. Making the dough is pretty painless, but you have to be careful when you roll it out. At the first roll out the dough is still flexible, but it will pick up flour and its water content will transpire a bit. So the second roll out and especially the third will be a bit more tricky, but still very manageable ... no worries

So I made "Jamaican Beef Patties" from scratch. ingredients pastry 400 G flour (~1lbs) 1/2 CUP water 1/2 CUP melted butter 1/2 CUP melted shortening 1 TS salt 1 TBSP baking powder 1 TBSP curry powder medium hot 1 TBSP tumeric ingredients filling 400 G ground beef (~1lbs) 3 X minced red onion 3 TBSP spice mix (see below for composition) 4 X minced garlic clove 1 X beer 1 TS salt 1 TS pepper 1 TS nutmeg 1 TBSP pimento (aka all spice) 1 TBSP brown sugar 1 TBSP tomato paste ingredients sidedish 400 G grean beans 3-4 TBSP olive oil 1 TS salt 1 TS pepper spice mix 2 parts onion powder 2 parts garlic powder 2 parts dried oregano leaves 2 parts dried sweet basil 1 parts dried thyme leaves 1 parts black pepper 1 parts white pepper 1 parts cayenne pepper 1 parts ground celery seed 5 parts sweet paprika I love this spice mix. It's a very good base and easily tweakable. The parts can be everything from a teaspoon to a ton. I like to buy the spices in 100 gram packages, mix them and then keep the mix in an airproof jar. Always handy for dry rubs, marinates, etc. first the dough, mix the dry pastery ingredients, then add the melted butter and shortening stir well until all the fat is crumbled ... into crumbles add some water and start to knead it until you got a nice slightly sticky ball of firm dough wrap it in plastic wrap and store it in the fridge for 60min time to fix the filling, mince the red onions and the garlic minced onions and beef first browning the meat can take a few minutes when the meat is done, deglaze the pan with some beer then add the rest of the filling ingredients, season to taste with salt and pepper let simmer, almost all of the liquid should vaporise the filling is done, when just slightly moist while the filling is cooling off a little, it's time to roll out the dough not too thick, 2-3 mm at most take a small bowl and punch as many holes as possible into it (I bake very little, so apparently I suck at this) remove the left-over dough and spoon the filling into the patties, close and fork-seal 'em place the patties on a non-sticking-papered baking tray (I bake very little, so I was paranoid about trusting the non-sticking-paper) pre-heated oven, then bake the patties for 20-30min at 180C (~350F) in the meantime simmer the green beans in lightly salted water they are done, when there is still a little crunch, discard water, season with olive oil and S&P jamaican beef patties with green beans, enjoyjoy Comments and feedback are most welcome,

Thanks. I like to keep the liquid on a sauce-like level, I'm not too fond of overly soggy rice. Oh, I can eat raw egg. I'm just careful, maybe too careful ... but my experience with food poisoning messed me up a little. I know about tanindon, but I haven't tried it yet. Isn't tanindon usually prepared with beef?

Yesterday it was oyakodon time. I would like to share the way I prep'd it. ingredients 1 X half chicken breast (mutant size) 2 X egg 3 X medium sized onion 150ml X dashi (~2/3 CUP, 1 TS instant dashi for 150ml water in my case) 1 TBSP mirin 1 TBSP sugar 3 TBSP soy sauce 1 TBSP cress (substitute for mitsuba) 1 CUP cooked japanese short grain rice first step is to chop the oninos, two into fine slices and one into rough slices, save the rough slices for later and make nest of the fine slices in a small pan, medium heat, the oninos should roast very slowly while the onions are browning, it's time to cube the chicken, I forgot to take a pic of it, but place the cubed chicken onto the nest of sliced onions in the heated pan, this is quite important because the weight of the chicken will push down the onions, while increasing the contact surface between onions and pan resulting in even more caramalization the meantime can be used to prep the eggs and the broth, just crack the eggs and mix whites and yolks, for the broth mix dashi, sugar, mirin and soy sauce add the broth mix and roughly sliced onions, the broth must cover the chicken, DO NOT STIR let simmer until the broth reduced by at least a half, DO NOT STIR there should be still liquid when adding the egg mix, DO NOT STIR (poking is okay) let the egg mix set unitl the desired doneness kicks in, DO NOT STIR (poking is okay) (I'm paranoid about salmonella, so it's "well done" for me) when the oyako is almost done, then it's time to prep the don, just make a bed of rice in a bowl (size of the pan if possible) slide the content of the pan onto the rice, in one piece if possible, topped with cress The best part of eating it is when you reach the layer between chicken/pan-facing-onions and rice, the remaing broth is dressing the rice sligthly and the caramelized onions are showing up, sorry no pics of that, I was really hungry and wolfed down the whole bowl in a blink of an eye ; Feedback or comments?

I like to season my patty meat with a self-made cajun spice mix. Blackened, topped with sharp goat cheese, red onions, balsamic vinegared tomato, on a bed of coleslaw and served in a slightly toasted bun.

Yeah, it's also great with tofu. The version above was also actually the first time, that I've used leek instead of green onions. Leek and pork are a great combo, so I always wanted to try it in this dish. Someone mentioned to me, that the meat shouldn't be fried before adding it to the stew. Is that true?

Thank you ChryZ for sharing your "passion" with okonomiyaki. It must have cost you dear, buying all of these Japanese ingredients in Europe. Did anyone tell you how to make okonomiyaki or is everything self-taught? I wonder if you dislike beni shoga (red pickled ginger) or you simply can't get it where you live. One more question: Is the mayo a Kewpie? ← I've bought the japanese ingredients at a local japanese supermarket and the prices are actually quite reasonable. Self-taught, I've read and tried a couple of recipes. I've tried many fillings and toppings. The version above is the result of quite a few okonomiyaki sessions and so far my favourite. I like beni shoga and it's available, but it's not essential to me ... so I tend to forget it ; Yes, the mayo is indeed キユーピーマヨネーズ / Kewpie Mayonnaise.

My version of okonomiyaki: Ingredients 1 X cabbage (sliced) 1 X half chicken breast (sliced) 1 X egg 2 X green onion (chopped) 1 CUP flour 1 CUP carrot (julienned dressed with some lemon juice) 1 CUP water 1/2 CUP tinned tuna 1/2 CUP kimchi 2-4 TBSP mayonnaise 4 TBSP kikkoman teriyaki sauce 3 TBSP soy sauce 1 TBSP thai fish sauce 3 TBSP mirin 4-8 TBSP okonomisauce 2-4 TBSP katsuobushi 1-2 TBSP aonori first the batter, mix egg+flour+soysauce+fishsauce+mirin, add water while mixing until the viscosity is maple-syrup-like let the batter rest for 15-30 min and pan-fry the teriyaki chicken in the meantime right before the cooking, dress the shredded cabbage with batter, use the batter like a salad dressing, the cabbage shouldn't drown, make sure that the batter is somewhat sticking to the cabbage, it shouldn't drip down to the buttom of the bowl, if it's too runny then add some flour to the remaining batter until the viscosity is correct heat pan(s) or hot-plate on low to medium, coat with very little oil, spread some cabbage and top as you like filling #1: tuna, kimchi, chili flakes and green onion filling #2: teriyaki chicken, green onions and the julienned carrot then another layer of batter'd cabbage flip from time to time, slightly browning them almost done when done, serve topped with okonomisauce, mayo, aonori and katsuobushi I've cut them in half for two kinds of filling on one plate and two servings. Comments are most welcome.

Yokatta! I was a bit worried, well I did cut a corner with the frozen spinach and the pic of the final dish turned out too dark. I prefer fresh spinach, but I had the frozen stuff in the freezer for ages ... and a stew is always good for "recycling". Hehe, talking of home cooking. Regarding the anchovies, I'm not sure how strong the flavour of niboshi is. Anchovies are pretty strong and the stock for this dish should be pretty strong itself to stand a chance against the heavy flavour of the bean paste ... the whole dish is pretty pungent, but in a good and tasty way.

I cooked Dwenjang Jjigae and took some pics in the process. Dwenjang Jjigae is a tasty korean bean paste stew with meat and vegetables. Being from Europe and having no korean roots, I'm not claiming authenticity. I've read 3-5 recipes off the net and created my own version of the dish. Comments, suggestions and feedback are most welcome. Ingredients: 4 TBSP dwenjang paste (bean paste) 2 TBSP gochujang paste (chili paste) 1 TBSP honey 1 CUP dried shitake mushrooms 300 G frozen spinach (10.5 oz) 300 G minced meat (pork/beef) (10.5 oz) 6 X dried anchovies 3 X red chili 1 X zucchini 2 X white onion 1 X leek 5 X garlic clover chop up the veggies: brown the minced onion/meat: remove the meat from the pot, now for the stock, fill the pot with 1 liter (4-5 cups) water, add garlic, anchovies and shitake mushrooms, let boil for a couple of minutes remove the spend anchovies and add the dwenjang/gochujang paste give it a good stir and add the chopped veggies when the veggies are done, then add the spinach ... it's almost done, season to taste with honey, sake, salt and pepper let simmer for a few more minutes, but don't over-cook the spinach serve with a drizzle sesame oil, roasted sesame and some of the leeks' green

How crucial is filé powder for Gumbo? Is it filé powder and okra ... or just one of them? I tried really hard, but it seems impossible to get filé powder where I live

On workout days rye bread sandwiches with chicken/turkey as second breakfast and mid-afternoon snack, for noon something homemade-then-frozen-then-microwaved stuff like jambalaya, chicken vindaloo, japanese curry, chili con carne, etc. On non-workout days, cottage cheese, whey shake, raw veggies and fruits as snacks and a big tuna or chicken salad for lunch.

ludja, thanks for your kind comment. Mina-san, regarding the frying oil: so far I only used plain vegetable oil. I definitely like to try sesame oil, but I'm not sure which kind. So far I only used those fragrant sesame oils, for salads or as topping of dishes/soups and I was under the impression, that one shouldn't cook them too hard. Are there certain sesame oils geared toward frying? Cold pressed or toasted prior to pressing?