Black and White Chicken Burger

Hi this is KK, Sushi Artist / Healthy Muffin Maker / Mum 🙂
Thank you for visiting my blog.

Easy, yet tasty, tested and loved by my daughter Yumi!

This　is　chicken　burger　covered　with　black　and　white　sesame.　The　sesame　gives　it　taste　and　crunchness, and it does look kind of “special” too, doesn’t it?

I should have made a red sauce to make the plate prettier, but taste-wise, it was full of flavor. Will try again soon!

 

Ingredients (to make 12 bite-size burgers, enough for a couple and a baby,,, Yumi ate 4!)

-300g Free range chicken mince

-4 Shiitake mushroom

-2 Tablespoon shallots, chopped

-1 Free range egg

-1 teaspoon Soy sauce

-1 teaspoon Sake (cooking rice wine)

-1 pinch salt

-1 teaspoon Sesame oil

-Black and White Roasted sesame

-Oil to cook

 

 

Method:

Step 1:  Spread roasted sesame on a large plate and mix so that the 2 different colors are blended

Step 2:  Mix all the ingredients except the roasted sesame in a large bowl and mix well, drop spoonful onto the plate with sesame and cover on both sides

Step 3: In a large frying pan, heat oil (about 1-2 Tablespoon)on low to medium heat, place the burgers and put on a heavy lid. Cook for 2-3min, flip over and cook with the lid on for another 2-3min. Serve!

 

The  length of the cooking time will depend on the thickness  of your burger, and strength of your heat. It is quite full of taste, so no sauce required. Once the mixing get started, things will be a bit messy, so be sure to have your frying pan ready on the stove.

 

Hope you enjoy it!

 

 

 

Pan fried eggplants (Vegan)

Hi this is KK, Sushi Artist / Healthy Muffin Maker / Mum 🙂

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Eggplant is one of my favorite vegetables! You can eat it in many different ways (meaning, I use it to cook Japanese food, Chinese food and Italian with it!) and you can have it hot or cold.

Pan fried eggplants was served on Day 5 of the 5 day challenge, but I cook this all the time and have it with rice or with my noodles.

 It is served in the red bowl, and you can make this vegetarian or vegan, depending on how you make the “Dashi” broth. If you only use Konbu kelp, it would be vegan, if you use Bonito flakes (fish flakes), it would be vegetarian (the flakes would not be in the dish, just used to extract flavor, but if you consider that not vegetarian, you can cook with out it)

 

So, to make the pan fried eggplants, you would need:

-3 thin Eggplants

-2 Tablespoon sesame oil

-120cc Dashi broth

– 3 Tablespoon Soy sauce

-2 Tablespoon Mirin or Raw sugar

-1 Tablespoon Cooking rice wine (Sake)
Method

Step 1: Cut the eggplants about 1.5 cm thick, stir fry with sesame oil until tender.

Step 2: Pour the rest of ingredients into the pan and let it simmer for 3-5min, serve hot or cold.

 

I sprinkled it with bonito flakes, but that’s optional too. It goes well with rice, and I enjoy the left overs even when it’s cold! Quick and easy, yet very tasty.

Rolled Chinese cabbage

Hi this is KK, Sushi Artist / Healthy Muffin Maker / Mum 🙂

Thank you for visiting my blog.

 

When I go shopping for veggies, there are somethings that I always buy, and somethings that I never  buy.

For example, I would buy things like:

-Eggplants, Zucchinis, Cabbage, Broccoli

-Tomatoes, Onions, Carrots, Potatoes

-Mushrooms, Shiitake mushrooms, Crown Daisies

These are somethings that I buy regularly and know how to cook them in different ways.

On the other hand, I rarely buy things like leeks, artichokes, silverbeet. They look quite interesting, so I hope to try them one day but I don’t pick them up.

 

Chinese cabbage is something that I buy, but have difficulty using it all up because it is so big! They take up a lot of space in the fridge, so I have to use them very quickly. When I make this menu, I can use about 8-10 leaves, and keeps you warm from the inside. You don’t have to roll them if you are in a rush, just layer the leaves and meat in the pan and cut it before you serve.

Rolled Chinese cabbage (served in the red bowl)

My 20 months old daughter can eat at least 1 roll, my husband would eat 4 or 5 rolls. I sometimes make mine without the meat, just putting thinly sliced carrots, shiitake mushroom and abura-age(fried bean curd) and rolling them up.

Ingredients (to make 9 rolls, which is how much I need to fill up my pot!)

-9 Chinese cabbage leaves, preferably the outer layer because it is bigger

-200-300g pork, thinly sliced (I buy this as an Asian butcher in Chatswood; can be substituted with bacon but in that case, add less salt in the soup)

-Ginger,about your thumb size, sliced

-1 teaspoon salt

-1 Tablespoon Soy sauce

 

Method

Step 1: In a large pot, boil some water with salt. Cook the chinese cabbage leaves so they become soft. (I usually use a steamer and steam my leaves, I think that way you can preserve more taste of the veggies)

Step 2: Place the leave on a cutting board and lightly “hit” the stem part of the leave so it would be easier to roll; Place 2-3 slices of meat per leaf, roll and place in the pot. Continue and line the pot with the rolls. It is better not to have too much space or else the rolls would move around as they cook. My pot can fit about 9, so check the size of your pot as you make it.

Step 3: Cover the rolls with water, add ginger, salt and soy sauce. Add small square of konbu if you have one. Cook on low heat for about 20min. Make sure you have plenty of water to cover the rolls, the soup can be enjoyed with the rolls when you serve.

 

This is a very easy “leave it on the stove” kind of a dish. The length of time you cook does not make a significant difference, just make sure there is enough liquid in the pan because it can be burnt… The ginger adds the warmth from the inside. One of my favorite winter dish!

5 Day Dinner Challenge : Day 6

Hi this is KK, Sushi Artist / Healthy Muffin Maker / Mum 🙂

Thank you for visiting my blog.

 

It may be wrong to have Day 6 in a “5 Day Dinner Challenge”, but I had a lot of left over still in my fridge, so I made myself a Vegetarian/Vegan dinner tonight! (Hide is having dinner out, so I was only cooking for Yumi and myself)

 The menu for tonight is

-Crown Daisy pasta (Vegan)

-Tofu steak with eggplants(Vegan)

-Steam vegetable with soy-cheese (Yumi’s favorite!)  (Vegan)

 

Very simple, done in less than 30min, so easy to clean, and Yumi went to bed right after 7:00pm! Isn’t she an angel? Now I can update the recipes for 5 Day Challenge!

Hope you enjoy reading,,,, and cooking it!

5 Day Dinner Challenge : Day 5

Hi this is KK, Sushi Artist / Healthy Muffin Maker / Mum 🙂

Thank you for visiting my blog.

It’s the last day of my 5 day challenge, and I have made yet another different set of meal tonight.

The menu for Day 5 was:
-2 Different “SHIRAE”, vegetable in tofu dressing ( Vegan)
-Pan fried eggplants (Vegan)
-Steamed vegetable (Vegan)
-Miso soup with Chinese cabbage
-Rice with millets

I still have plenty of veggies in my fridge, so I’ll make some more dishes, but in the mean time, I will start introducing my recipes!

5 Day Dinner Challenge : Day 4

Hi this is KK, Sushi Artist / Healthy Muffin Maker / Mum 🙂

Thank you for visiting my blog.

The 5 Day Dinner Challenge is almost coming to an end, but due to some added groceries, I think I can keep going for a bit longer.

 Today (well, this is from yesterday), I prepared some rolled sushi to take to my friends, so it was there for our dinner too!

 

The menu for 4th day was:

-Inside out rolled sushi + Purple flower sushi

-Crown daisy in black sesame dressing(Vegan)

-Celery with salmon

-Steamed veggies(Vegan)

-Rolled Chinese cabbage

 

I made this before I did the delivery, so everything was prepared when I came home at 17:00!

Yumi loved the chinese cabbage, and she ate all the eggs from sushi, but, well if she is happy, I am happy! Can’t wait to share all the recipes soon!

5 Day Dinner Challenge : Day 3

Hi this is KK, Sushi Artist / Healthy Muffin Maker / Mum 🙂

Thank you for visiting my blog.

It’s the 3rd day of my cooking challenge, and I’ve added 1 item, tofu! Yes, that was necessary to cook tonight’s dinner. Can you tell where it is used?

The menu for tonight is:

-Home made fish cake with edamame

-Carrot and Celery “Kinpira”(Vegan)

-Chickpea in Miso and Mayo sauce(Vegetarian, not vegan because I used mayonnaise)

-Broccoli in sesame dressing(Vegan)

-Celery rice(Vegan)

-Tofu miso soup(Can be made vegan but I used bonito flakes today, so this is only vegetarian)

Very basic Japanese dinner, yet really easy to cook.  Full of proteins, vitamins and mineral!

Believe it or not, Yumi ate 2 bowl of rice today. It must have been yummy!

5 day Dinner Challenge : Day 2

Hi this is KK, Sushi Artist / Healthy Muffin Maker / Mum 🙂

Thank you for visiting my blog.

I had a big fund raising even on Saturday, to support the children in Japan who have been affected by the earthquake and tsunami last March. With the support from my playgroup mother friends, and many other people, we held a garage sale / bake sale in Turramurra. I have been up since 4:00 AM, baking, so by the time I got home, I didn’t

 have much strength to cook dinner. So, using some left overs from the bake sale and things in the fridge, this is what I made on Day 2 of my challenge.

I didn’t buy anything today (too tired to go shopping!) but there was some fish in the fridge so that became our main course.

MENU for Day 2

-2 types of Entree; Salmon and Avocado pie(Non-Veg), Eggplant pie(Vegetarian but not Vegan)

-Onion and Mushroom soup with egg whites(Vegetarian but not Vegan)

-Carrot Salad with Honey Lemon Dressing(Vegetarian but not Vegan)

-Sushi Salad with walnuts(Vegan)

-Steamed Fish with Thyme and Mushroom

-Cheese and Baguettes and Red Wine (^-^)

5 day Dinner Challenge: Day 1

Hi this is KK, Sushi Artist / Healthy Muffin Maker / Mum 🙂

Thank you for visiting my blog.
I often hear my friends saying “I don’t know what to cook for dinner”. I often tell them, “I don’t know when to stop cooking!”. Whenever I have a time to spare, I find myself in the kitchen, exploring new tastes and challenging how to make things easier and tastier.

 

From today, I’ve given myself a challenge to cook only with things that I have in the fridge and pantry. Although I will give myself an excuse at the beginning, “I will buy fresh fish/meat whenever I need it”.

So, for 5 days, I will share what I really cook at home, and the answer of what I used to cook these dishes will be revealed after day 5! Hopefully, if I succeed, I will share the recipes too!

 

In the meantime, please enjoy our daily dinner photos! (^-^)/

 

 

Chickpea Burger

Hi this is KK, Sushi Artist / Healthy Muffin Maker / Mum 🙂

Thank you for visiting my blog.

 

I am experimenting on how to make a Vegan burger, using all sorts of different veggies and lentils. I’ve tried kidney beans, soy beans, mung beans, potatoes, pumpkins and lotus roots. There has been success and failure (^-^;), but the one I’m introducing today is a definite success. My daughter Yumi ate 2 of it with her own hands, to the taste is Yumi-waranteed!

 By the looks of it, it really looks like a normal hamburger patties, doesn’t it? It taste similar to burgers too, but no meat, no egg, no nothing!

 

The key to success is making the patties rather small. You can compare it to my pumpkins and zucchinis behind it and imagine the relative size. This is to make it easier to flip it over on your frying pan when cooking.

 

I used caraway seeds as an accent herb, and that made it a great success, but you can use any herb of your choice. I might try basil or oregano one day, and see how it turns out!

 

Ingredients (to make 7 small patties)

-2/3 cup (100g) Organic chic peas, soaked overnight and cooked (you can use canned beans for this to make it easier)

-1/2 medium size Onion

-2 Tablespoon Organic plain flour

-1/2 teaspoon Caraway seeds, or herb of your choice

-1/2 teaspoon Soy sauce

 

Method

Step 1: Put all ingredients in a food processor and mix on high for 30 sec.

 

Step 2: Make small patties, smaller than the size of your palm and cook on frying pan with a little bit of olive oil. Cook one side for 8 min, FLIP ONCE, and cook for another 6min.

 

So easy, yet so tasty. I think it is OK to be served hot or cold, didn’t have the chance to try it cold because we ate it all for dinner! Enjoy 🙂