Easy Yakitori

Yakitori is one of my favorite snacks which I also sometimes eat with rice as a heavier meal for lunch or dinner. Making yakitori is easy enough, but this recipe makes it even easier! You'll just need the following:
Ingredients

• Your choice of the meat - boneless and skinless chicken breast/thigh, chicken skin (you can use the one you've pulled off the chicken breast/thigh), pork belly, bacon
• Vegetables like leek, green bell pepper, asparagus, shiitake or button mushrooms **
• Wooden skewers (shorter ones are better; yakitori is not usually served on very long skewers)
• Ready-made Kikkoman Teriyaki sauce*
• Powdered ginger (for marinating) **
• Half a lemon **
• Container for marinating
• Grill (coal or gas grill is best for a smokier taste)

*I used ready-made teriyaki sauce because based on my research on yakitori recipes, the components of teriyaki sauce is very similar to yakitori marinade
** optional

Directions

1. You first cut your meat into bite-sized pcs, about an inch wide. For chicken skin, you can just put the skewer through it right away, as if the skewer were a needle and the chicken skin, cloth.
2. If you're using vegetables, you can cut them into bite-sized pcs as well and alternate it with the meat, much like in the photo (chicken and leek). For asparagus, it tastes bests when you wrap it with bacon and then put it on the skewers.
3. Put the meat skewers in a container, dash some ginger powder on 'em, and pour some Teriyaki sauce on it. About a teaspoon per skewer would do the trick; make sure not to drown the skewers but have the meat damp enough to soak in the flavor.
4. Squeeze half a lemon over the skewers.
5. Close container and leave to marinate for 30minutes to an hour or two. Don't leave them too long or they might get too salty.
6. Prepare the grill
7. When the grill is hot (enough that a drop of the marinade would sizzle), place the skewers on it.
8. Grill until the meat is cooked, turning it and basting it with left over marinade/teriyaki sauce to make sure it would meat would not dry out.
9. Serve with a tablespoon of teriyaki sauce drizzled on the meat skewers.
10. Eat as is or with rice. Enjoy! :)

Spicy Tuna Sashimi Salad

My friends and I always order this when we're at Japanese restaurants, so earlier today, I figured I'll try and make it myself... and I can proudly say that it tastes just as good! :D

This is a great appetizer or side dish. Here's how to make it:

Ingredients
Fresh tuna (sashimi grade) cut into small cubes
Japanese mayonaisse (Kewpie brand is good)
Togarashi (japanese chili powder)
Fresh cabbage leaves
Crushed crunchy tempura flakes*

Directions
Mix mayonaisse and togarishi together first. (Base amount on how spicy you want your dressing to be, and also never use too much mayonaisse that it will overpower the sashimi already.)
Mix the dressing with the sashimi and some of the crunchy tempura
Serve on a bed of fresh cabbage leaves, garnish with more crunchy tempura
Best served chilled!
Enjoy! :D

*To make crunchy tempura flakes, refer to this video.

Beef Teriyaki

Instructions (for 4)
0.5kg Sirloin/Tenderloin cut thinly and in strips
Teriyaki sauce
2 tbsp Garlic powder
2 tbsp Ginger powder
Dash of Ground pepper
Sesame seeds (for garnish)
A griddle

Directions

1. Marinate beef in teriyaki sauce (just enough to cover beef, but don't let beef swim in the sauce), garlic powder, ginger powder, ground pepper for 1-2 hours
2. Heat griddle
3. When griddle is very hot, place the beef (it should sizzle a bit) until cooked. Place rest of marinade on the beef and lower heat. Wait for about 3-5 minutes and transfer to a plate.
4. Sprinkle with some sesame seeds, serve with hot rice.

Gyoza

Ingredients (makes about 25+)
250g ground pork
4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 small red onion minced
1/2 tbsp ginger powder
2 tbsp spring onion or chives, chopped into small pieces
1/4 cabbage cut into small pieces
gyoza wrappers
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soysauce
1 tbsp sesame oil

Directions

1. Mix all the ingredients together very well with spoons or your hands
2. Using a spoon, get a bit of the mixture and place in the middle of a gyoza wrapper
3. Using your fingertips, wet the edges of the gyoza wrapper a bit and fold it in half, with the mixture in the middle. Seal the wrapper by making small pleats at the edges or the tip of a fork.
4. Repeat until all the mixture is used up.
5. Place the gyoza dumplings in a large NON STICK frying pan (don't crowd the pan too much; leave some space between the dumplings) on medium high heat.
6. After about 2 minutes, pour some hot water in the pan; just enough to cover half of the dumplings.
7. Put heat on high and cover the pan with a lid until water evaporates
8. Put a bit of oil on the dumplings before it sticks too much on the pan
9. When one side of the gyoza becomes brown, transfer to a plate, brown side up.
10. Serve with gyoza dipping sauce or plain soysauce + a bit of hot water
11. Enjoy!!!

*Storage
If you can't finish all the pieces of gyoza, you can place some of the uncooked ones in a tupperware, seperating each layer of dumplings with wax paper. Place in freezer and it will last for a few days up to a week or so. :)

Philly Cheese Steak

Super tasty and easy to make! :)

Ingredients (serves 4)
24ounces beef sirloin cut into very thin strips
1 large onion or 2-3 regular sized onions, chopped
1 small can button mushrooms, mushrooms sliced
4 cloves garlic minced
1 small bottle Cheezwhiz or Cheezwhiz with Pimiento
2 American cheese slices (the one for sandwiches) and/or porvolone
Some cream cheese
Some butter
Worcestire sauce (sp?)
Salt & Pepper
4 italian bread buns (with a crisp crust like cibatta)
Bacon strips cooked crisp (optional)
Red bell pepper cut in slices (optional)

**You don't have to use so much cheese actually. The important cheese ingredient is the CheezWhiz. :)

Directions

1. Toss beef sirloin with salt and pepper and a few dashes of worcestire sauce. Set aside.
2. Saute onions, garlic, mushrooms, bell pepper in olive oil.
3. Saute the sirloin when the onions and garlic start to soften
4. When sirloin, mushrooms, bell pepper are cooked, and the onions and garlic nicely caramelized, take it out from the pan.
5. Slice buns in half and spread some butter on them.
6. Put some of the sauteed ingredients on one half of the bread + some bacon, and liberally some cheezwhiz on it. On the other half of the bread, spread some cream cheese, then put some more cheezwhiz, porvolone, and half of the American cheese slice on it. Put "cheesy" bread on top of the sirloin, mushrooms, etc.
7. Heat in oven for 5-10 minutes. *If you are bringing it to work or wherever, wrap it in wax paper first before you heat it, so the cheese/s won't be too messy.
8. ENJOY! :)
   

Tempura/Gyoza Dipping Sauce

You know that different kind of warm sauce we dip tempura or gyoza in? Not salty enough just to be soysauce, not sweet enough to be something sugary, or sour enough to be vinegar. It has a distinct taste, and it's pretty damn good. You can actually buy it in most Asian supermarkets; I find the Kikkoman brand one to be good. You just have to heat it a bit.

One day I found myself making some tempura and since I don't do this THAT often, I decided to try and make my own dipping sauce. It doesn't taste as authentic as the ones you can try in Little Tokyo, but it works pretty good too (just a little stronger) and is great with gyoza. Here's how I made it:

Mix 1 cup hot water, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, and 2 tbsp light soysauce

Chili Beef Stir-fry

Got the recipe from an Asian Recipes cookbook, but I decided to make a few changes, which made the dish even better! Haha

Ingredients:
500g Beef steak cut into strips
Carrot cut into strips
Brocolli
Some snowpeas
2 Red bellpepper
1 onion chopped
1 small can baby corn
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 tbsp Sesame seeds
1 .5-2 tbsp chili flakes (or more)
Sesame Oil
1 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro

Sauce (Mix in a bowl)
2 tbsp Soysauce
1/2 cup beef broth (or diluted beef buillion)
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp cornstarch (optional - only if you want your sauce a little thicker)
1.5 inch grated ginger
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 tsp vetsin

Directions:

1. Mix beef with a pinch of salt & pepper + sesame seeds, put aside
2. Saute garlic and onion in sesame oil
3. When garlic and onion have begun to soften, stir-fry beef for about 3 minutes. Remove and set aside
4. Add a dash more sesame oil, stir fry vegetables for about 3 minutes.
5. Pour in sauce, chili flakes, cover wok and let simmer for a few minutes
6. Return beef to wok, mix with veggies, cover wok again, and let simmer for about 2 minutes
7. Transfer to serving plate and then sprinkle cilantro over it.
8. Serve with noodles or hot rice. :)