Veronica

Sticky Soy Sauce Chicken Wings 红烧鸡翅

Chicken wings irregardless of how it’s cooked is yummilicious and definitely a huge hit! Personally, I love chicken wings, be it fried, roasted, or stewed. This recipe bears resemblance to my recipe of soy sauce chicken drumsticks. As for this recipe, the gravy is cooked until thick and sticky. As such, the chicken wings are well-coated with an appetizing, savory flavor full of umami, and you’ll find yourself licking its gravy off your fingers!

This is a rather easy recipe that can be made quickly without compromising the taste. I love such a simple recipe at any time so that I can use my time preparing other dishes for a meal!

Watch my YouTube video below on how to make this dish or download the written recipe in pdf format.

RECIPE for Soy Sauce Chicken Wings Download

Soy Sauce Chicken Drumsticks

There are countless dishes that primarily use soy sauce to satisfy the palate of discerning food lovers. I have a handful of such dishes that I will share in my next few posts. Soy sauce is so essential in my cooking that I use it pretty much every day if not every meal.

This is such an effortless dish yet so satisfying even to the picky little ones. My toddler approves these juicy drumsticks by asking for more each time I made it. Drizzle the gravy on the rice, and in no time, the rice will be all gone. It is one of those times that my toddler will be excited about meals and the very few times he will eat his rice.

If I need an entrée that I can whip up quickly, then this is it. It’s often tempting to go easy to prepare meals while keeping an eye on the little one. But this recipe is plainly straightforward with easy-to-get ingredients – a yellow onion, a pack of 6 chicken drumsticks, and a few condiments.

Watch the Youtube video on the full step-by-step guide or download the recipe in pdf format.

RECIPE for Soy Sauce Chicken Drumsticks Download

Chinese Cabbage Rolls

A generous fillings of chopped pork, shrimps and mushrooms, these cabbage rolls have a light umami flavor and pleasantly delightful. I have used Chinese cabbage as a wrapper for its tenderness and velvety texture. Chinese cabbage is also known by different names such as napa or long cabbage. It is widely used in Asian cooking to make soups, kimchi or stir fry.

The recipe is pretty much straightforward but it takes a little extra effort and time to make it. It is one of those dishes that when you try it, it ingrained in your mind and becomes a dish to crave for. This dish is a reminiscent of dim sum which to me means a heavenly and satisfying meal. Trust me, it is worth the effort and time.

For this recipe, I won’t recommend store-bought ground pork or even be tempted to mince the pork and shrimps using a food processor. Instead, employ the old school way of using a knife to finely chop the pork, shrimps and mushrooms. This takes time but…THIS changes the ball game and makes a world of difference. The texture is so much smoother and each bite is heavenly.

Watch the YouTube video to make this wonderful dish.

Alternatively, please click on the button below for the full recipe in pdf format. Hope you enjoy this dish as much as I do.

CABBAGE ROLLS.pdf

Gyudon

A quick, hassle-free meal of thinly sliced beef infused in a sweet soy-based gravy served over rice ready in just 30 minutes. Yes, it is easy, it is fool proof, it is delicious and, most importantly, it is easy to clean up!

Honestly, I have only tasted gyudon multiple times in a Japanese fast-food chain, Yoshinoya, when I was living in Japan. I am sure many other restaurants served gyudon but the moment I thought about gyudon, Yoshinoya is my to-go restaurant. It is decent good food at an affordable price.

TEMPURA : KAKIAGE

Tempura is well-loved by many and widely recognized in different parts of the world. It is delicious on its own yet suitable to be served in a variety of ways, be it with noodles or rice. Tempura can be made from a huge selection of vegetables, seafood or even meat. Although it is deep-fried, tempura is light and crispy. Those who aren’t fond of eating their veggies will most likely loved it as tempura.

Once mastered, tempura is relatively easy to make. I used to make tempura batter in several ways such as using a mixture of all purpose flour, egg and cold water or plainly using store bought tempura flour. But, after I tried to make tempura batter with mayonnaise, I never turn back to use the former method. Using mayonnaise to make tempura batter is the easiest method and yield the best result, at least in my opinion! I learnt to use mayonnaise to make tempura batter from one of the bloggers, Chopstick Chronicles. From my experience, the ratio of flour to mayonnaise doesn’t need to be exact – whether it is a little less or a little more, it turns out good every time!

Kakiage is one of the tempura I usually made since I constantly have its ingredients in my kitchen. And probably, it’s the same for you too! However, kakiage is not the easiest tempura to make…it is easier to make other kinds of tempura than kakiage but what I love about kakiage is its natural sweetness that derives from using a mixture of vegetables. I only use carrots and yellow onion to make kakiage although other ingredients such as mushroom, shiso leaves or burdock roots can be added to enhance the flavor. But a mixture of carrots and onions are just as good!

Several other pointers to take note in order to make a successful kakiage:-

Cold Water – Use only cold (chilled) water for a light and crispy tempura.
Do not overmix the batter – The flour doesn’t need to be thoroughly mixed so to prevent too much gluten from forming. So, it is perfectly fine for the batter to be lumpy! That’s how my batter looks like!
Flow/ consistency of batter – If batter is too thin, it will not coat the vegetables well enough and may cause the mixture of carrots and onions to separate when frying. It may also end up being too soft or soggy. But if batter is too thick, the vegetables will be heavily coated and too much batter cause tempura to taste ‘heavy’. Remember, kakiage should be light and crispy with a thin coating of batter on the vegetables.
Heat temperature – The oil should just turns hot when frying. When a pair of chopsticks is inserted to the oil, it will produce a nice sizzling sound. A low temperature will cause the vegetables to separate whereas a high temperature will cause the kakiage to brown too quickly. Adjust the temperature accordingly throughout frying. Kakiage should be pale golden color. Check periodically to ensure that it doesn’t turn brown.
Flat ladle – Use a flat ladle with holes to drain excess batter. But if you follow my recipe exactly, a flat ladle (without holes) works too since the portion I made for the batter is just enough to coat the portion of vegetables that I used.

Watch the youtube video below on how to make kakiage:-

For a copy of the written recipe, please download the recipe in pdf file as follows:-

KAKIAGE RECIPEDownload

Simple Fried Rice

Generally speaking, fried rice is simple to make but made differently in every parts of Asia. The culture, preference and, of course, local ingredients greatly play a role in how each place make their own variation. As for this post, I am showing how I make Japanese-style fried rice, which is also the fried rice that my husband loved the most. The ingredients are simple and only take less than 15 minutes to prepare and make!

Check out the youtube video below in making this recipe:-

For a written recipe (in pdf format), please click the link below:-

SIMPLE FRIED RICEDownload