Quick and Easy Banana Pancakes

Making pancakes is one of the best ways to utilize ripe bananas, don't you agree?

Banana pancakes - 

Ingredients (about 6 pieces)?

Dry:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Wet:

• 1 large or 1.5 regular size ripe banana (about 3/4 cup mashed)
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup milk

Others:

• Some avocado oil or unsalted butter
• Some honey or maple syrup
• Some fresh fruits (optional)

How?

Have a big bowl ready and sift in all the ingredients listed under the "dry" section.

Have an even bigger bowl ready, peel and mash the ripe banana there. We will need about 3/4 cup mashed banana in the end. 

Break one egg to a separate bowl and beat it, then pour into the ripe banana bowl. Also pour in 3/4 cup of milk. Whisk the whole thing till evenly blended.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in two batches. Make sure it's evenly blended before dumping in the second batch. Mix till blended again.

Have a non-stick pan ready. Wipe some avocado oil or add two tablespoons of unsalted butter. Switch to medium heat and wait till warm or the butter melts.

Pour in equal amount of batter every time, and try not to let the batter touch one another. I used a ladle for even measurement. Slowly heat up the batter, it'll start to puff up a little bit and the color will turn golden brown on the bottom.

Then carefully flip the pancakes and continue to sear the other side. You can add more avocado oil or butter if needed. The whole thing will take about 1.5 or 2 minutes for each side.

Repeat till you finish all the batter. This recipe yields about 6 medium sized pancakes for me.

To serve the pancakes, have some fresh fruits on top, here I used banana slices and blueberries. Also drizzle some honey or maple syrup. I personally prefer maple syrup, somehow the aroma works better with avocado oil.

For sure the pancakes will smell and taste better if using butter, but I was opting for a less common option here. 

On a side note, for lactose-intolerant people, you can easily find lactose-free milk for the pancake batter, and just use avocado oil for the cooking part. That way you get to enjoy such brunch/snack meal without much worries.

Snake Beans Pork Belly and Dried Anchovy Rice 長豆三層肉小魚乾悶飯

It's more of a "semi" rice cooker recipe because instead of adding all the raw ingredients to the rice cooker, we are actually going to stir-fry some stuff first in a wok then transfer to the rice cooker to finish cooking.

So What's the point of that extra stir-fry or searing work? It'll boost up the aroma, giving it more kick to the final dish. A few more kitchenware to wash, but the end result is totally worth it.

Snake beans pork belly and dried anchovy rice 長豆三層肉小魚乾悶飯 - 

Ingredients (about 5 to 6 portions)?

• 370 grams pork belly
• 2 cups dried anchovies
• 20 snake beans
• 1 stalk scallion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons dried shrimp 蝦米
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons aged Shaoxing wine
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 rice measuring cups basmati rice
• Some water
• 1 to 2 red chilies (optional)

How?

Rinse then soak the dried shrimps in room temperature water. Once plump, drain and pat really dry with paper towel. Finely chop the dried shrimps. Destem and chop the scallion. Peel and chop the garlic cloves.

Slice the pork belly to smaller pieces, about 1mm thickness. Make sure to slice the meat in the right direction, so that each piece gets a bit of fatty part. Use 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of aged Shaoxing wine to marinate the pork for about 10 minutes.

Trim the tips of the snake beans, peel down fibrous string in the center if any. Once prepped, cut the beans to shorter sections. 

Use rice measuring cup for the raw rice grains, need 3 cups total. Rinse and wash the rice like you normally would then drain and set aside.

Have a wok or big pan ready, drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil and switch to medium heat. Add in dried shrimps along with garlic and scallion. Stir-fry till aromatic but careful not burning the garlic bits.

Add in pork belly, stir-fry and let the meat cook till some fats have been rendered.

Add in dried anchovies. Mix and cook for about a minute. Add in snake beans and cook for another minute.

Transfer washed and drained rice over. Also add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce. Give it a quick stir-fry. The fat rendered earlier should now fully coated each and every grain.

Scoop this rice mixture to the rice cooker, the inner pot usually. Add some more water. How I measure it is that I usually just pour the water till it merely reaches the edge of the ingredient inside. 

Simply press the start button and let the rice cooker do its job. Once ready, take out the inner pot. 

Fluff the rice then scoop to serving bowls. I also add some chopped red chilies on top, just love that spicy kick with savory grains combo.

The dark soy sauce is more so for the look, making the final dish darker. Its actual taste is not as salty as regular soy sauce. 

So don't worry if you don't have dark soy sauce on hand, but do up the amount of total regular soy sauce used to 4 tablespoons. Also expect a lighter color result in the end.

Other Chinese rice cooker recipes:

• Chinese sausage and shrimp rice
• Aromatic magao chicken soup prepared with Tatung steam rice cooker

Oven-Baked Chicken with Green Olives and Cherry Tomatoes

Is it baking or roasting? Trust me, I've Googled it so many times, and yet every time when I made similar dishes, I still have to look it up again and deciding whether should I call it baked or roasted.

Doesn't matter which word I used though, I think when it comes to chicken, we can still kind of get the idea and have a general expectation of the dish. So this time "oven-baked" it is.

Oven-baked chicken with green olives and cherry tomatoes - 

Ingredients?

• 4 skin-on deboned chicken legs (breast ok too)
• 12~15 green olives
• 200 grams cherry tomatoes
• 5 medium small potatoes
• 1 yellow lemon
• 1 bundle flat leaf parsley
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

How?

Before cooking the meat, use your finger and feel through the chicken making sure there're no bone fragments anywhere. Also trim-off excess fat if any.

Save some whole flat leaf parsley and then chop the remaining leaves, we will need about 1/3 cup for actual cooking. Save the stems for later. Mix chopped parsley with zest of one lemon, 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Mix till blended.

Rub the chicken with half of the parsley mixture all over then arrange on baking dish, or a baking sheet lined with foil. By the way, I actually laid down parsley stems on the bottom. Figured if I'm not really eating the tougher stems, might as well use them for something instead of goes to waste.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit/200 degrees Celsius.

It's up to you if you would like to peel the potatoes or not, it also depends on the variety you're using too. I peeled mine, also halved and quartered some bigger ones. Peel and slice the garlic cloves.

As for the cherry tomatoes, I halved a few and left some as a whole. That way I get to enjoy both the fully baked halved tomatoes and whole tomatoes that might burst in my mouth in the end. Kind of fun.

Arrange the potatoes and cherry tomatoes around the chicken. Also arrange green olives and garlics slices throughout. Pour the remaining parsley mixture on top, and pour 1/2 cup of dry white wine to the baking dish.

Into the oven for one hour. If there's enough juice, about half way through the baking time, baste of chicken with some juice in the baking dish.

Once done baking, turn-off the oven and let the meat rest inside for 10 more minutes. Remove from heat and rest for another 10 minutes. When ready to serve, garnish with some of the whole parsley leaves that we saved earlier.

I know chicken should be the main ingredient here, but somehow the potatoes really took over my attention. They were fluffy and juicy, fully soaked in all the juice from other elements.

It's up to you if you'd eat the olives too. I simply put them there for extra flavor, but since the kind I used came with pits, I tend to ignore them. The extra delicious potatoes are not helping me to sway my attention to the olives too. 

Other oven-baking recipes:

• Oven-baked mahi tikka 
• Prep ahead oven baked tandoori chicken
• Oven-baked gochujang salmon fillets

Soupy Version Simmered Salmon and Daikon in Miso Broth, A Nod to The Anime Demon Slayer

Have you ever watched the Japanese anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba? This salmon recipe is a nod to a classic Japanese dish shown in the series, where one of the character Giyu Tomioka was enjoying his favorite dish 鮭大根. 

鮭大根 literally means salmon and daikon. It's basically a comforting miso flavored stew with salmon and daikon. I made mine here extra soupy, so you get the option to enjoy it like a hearty soup on its own too. More sips of that miso-flavored Japanese stock yumminess. 

Soupy version simmered salmon and daikon in miso broth - 

Ingredients?

• 480 grams salmon fillet
• 1 daikon
• 1 string scallion
• 2 ginger slices 
• 4 to 6 tablespoons Japanese tsuyu
• 4 to 6 tablespoons yellow miso 
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Stock:

• 2 medium pieces kombu 
• 20 grams katsuobushi bonito flakes
• 4 cups water

How?

We are going to use homemade stock but it's not obligatory. Stock powder works too, whichever way works for you, we are not trying to exhaust the person cooking in the kitchen here.

So have two medium pieces of kombu ready. Mine was like a whole long dried kelp so I had to use a scissor and cut into smaller rectangular pieces before using it. Add the kombu to a pot filled with 4 cups of room temperature water. Switch to medium heat and wait till almost bubbling. Keep it that way and continue to gently drawing out the essence from the kombu for 10 more minutes.

After that let's turn the heat off. Add in 20 grams of katsuobushi and soak for 5 minutes. Then we filter the stock to the actual pot that'll be doing the simmering work.

As for other ingredients, peel then trim-off both the top and end tips of daikon. Slice the main section to thick semicircle chunks.

Peel-off the salmon skin if any then slice the flesh to medium chunks too. Scrape the ginger then cut into 1mm thickness slices. Destem the scallion and slice diagonally. You can store the prepped scallion in the fridge first, we will only need it for garnish in the end.

So we already have the pot filled with stock, let's add in daikon and switch to medium heat. Bring to a light bubbling stage and continue to cook for 15 more minutes.

Sift in miso, the yellow-looking kind, not the dark brown variety. Use 4 to 6 tablespoons depending on how heavy the taste you prefer and the type of miso used. So it might be better to start with 4 tablespoons and add more if needed.

Also add 4 to 6 tablespoons of Japanese tsuyu. Same as miso, start with 4 tablespoons and use more if needed, especially there're like double-condensed, triple-condensed, and even quaduple-condensed version. Better start little here too. 

Don't forget to add 2 tablespoons of mirin and 1 teaspoon of sugar. The sugar will help smoothen out the saltiness, kind of like a balancing element here.

Transfer salmon over along with ginger slices.

Put on the lid or cover the surface with fitted parchment paper.Use medium heat with just a bit of bubbling going on, continue to simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, or till daikon can be easily poked through with a chopstick.

Remove the lid. Give it a taste and do some final adjustment if needed. Once all checked, garnish with the scallion we prepped earlier and serve. 

Some people like to enjoy this dish on its own, that's why I prefer to make it extra soupy, so you get more stock to enjoy instead of just a dish with a little bit of juice. 

Besides that, I love to serve it alongside steamed rice. When eating the soup and rice together, somehow it just speaks "comfort" in my mind. Especially heart-warming in chilly weather!

Other miso recipes:

• Beef and king oyster mushrooms stir-fry with miso tomato sauce
• Misoyaki onigiri 味噌焼きおにぎり
• Japanese katsuo tataki salad with miso and ponzu dressing

A Little Comfort in Chilly Weather - Korean Spicy Beef and Radish Soup

Making the soup itself is not hard at all. In fact, the most strenuous part lies on the soybean sprouts picking. If you're lucky, you can find the pre-trimmed soybean sprouts at the market. Even with a bit higher price, I highly recommend you to just get it for your eyesight and labor's sake.

I couldn't find any pre-trimmed soybean sprouts though, so I have to pick out the roots one by one. My eyes were sore and my fingertips were hurt, but was able to prepare a total of 180 grams of soybean sprouts while enjoying one episode of Korean drama.

Korean spicy beef and radish soup - 

Ingredients?

• 400 grams tender beef chunks
• 1 medium radish
• 1 pack/150 grams brown beech mushroom
• 1 pack/180 grams soybean sprouts
• 1 stalk scallion
• 3 medium pieces kombu
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 to 4 tablespoons Korean red chili powder
• 1 jalapeño pepper (optional)
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• Some soy sauce
• Some salt
• 10 cups hot water

How?

Slice the beef to medium to large size chunks. There is no need to drench the beef in hot water first, we will just sear the raw meat straight in oil later on.

Destem and peel the radish, also slice to big chunks. Destem and section the scallion. Peel and slice the garlic cloves. Destem the mushroom and separate to individual pieces. Lastly and the most time-consuming, pick out the soybean sprout roots. You don't really have to but the texture is much better without the roots.

Have a big pot ready and drizzle in 2 tablespoons of sesame oil, use Korean sesame oil if available. Switch to medium high heat and wait till warmed. Add in beef chunks and sear till some sides darkened.

Add in radish chunks, scallion, and garlic slices. Stir-fry till aromatic.

Add in chili powder, use 2 tablespoons if you can't really handle the heat, but do increase the amount to 4 tablespoons or even more for that extra flavor kick. Give the whole thing a quick stir-fry then add in 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Give it a quick mix.

Pour in 10 cups of hot water. Also add in 3 pieces of kombu. I simply use a scissor and cut my long string of kombu to three shorter sections instead.

Bring the whole thing to a boil then adjust the heat to keep it at a medium bubbling stage. Cook till radish can be poked through easily with a fork or a chopstick, and the beef is tender to the bite. Mine took about 45 minutes.

Add in soybean sprouts and mushroom, cook till both softened, about 10 more minutes.

Add 1 tablespoon of fish sauce and let it cook for one more minute. Now it's time to taste and adjust with any additional seasonings if needed. I actually added 1 more tablespoon of soy sauce and 1 more teaspoon of salt to the pot.

Pick out the kombu when the soup is ready and set. Scoop to serving bowls and top with chopped/ringed jalapeño pepper if desired. Note that jalapeños can be quite spicy, so use with caution please. 

Besides enjoying this recipe as a soup, you can definitely cook up some rice or noodles and eat together with it. Especially for the rice, and not just steamy hot rice, I mean leftover cold rice is even better.

Simply scoop very hot soup right on top of cold rice, then you'll end up with just the right temperature as a whole and "al dente" rice in the end.

You don't really have to stick with soybean sprouts, especially if you find other type of bean sprouts that was already trimmed, just get it. A little variation on the ingredients won't hurt, but loading up too much kitchen prep work on yourself will. 

Other Korean recipes:

• Korean soy marinated eggs
• Spicy Korean cucumber salad
• Korean braised potatoes (gamja jorim)
• SPAM and gochujang kimchi stew

Komatsuna Katsuobushi Onigiri (Rice Balls With Japanese mustard spinach and Bonito Flakes)

What do you usually snack on when feeling a wee bit hungry? Perhaps potato chips or few cookies, or even a small piece of cake? Well, I do munch on these delicious things once a while too, but recently I've also switched my attention to onigiri Japanese rice balls.

It's healthier I think, at least compared to fried chips or sweet stuff. Also with the right ingredients, onigiri can give you just enough energy and nutrition without loading up too much calories.

Komatsuna katsuobushi onigiri (Rice balls with Japanese mustard spinach and bonito flakes) - 

Ingredients (about 4)?

• 4 portions steamed white rice
• 4 stalks or 120 grams komatsuna Japanese mustard spinach
• 1 cup or 100 grams katsuobushi bonito flakes
• 1 tablespoons toasted white sesame seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Some sesame oil

How?

Cook the rice first, once done, fluff the grains and let cool till ok to handle by hand.

Have a big bowl ready and wipe the inside with some sesame oil. Just a thin layer to prevent sticking later on.

Komatsuna, or the Japanese mustard spinach, destem them. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil then add in the Japanese mustard spinach. It'll only take 30 seconds to a minute. 

Once ready, drain and let cool a bit, then  squeeze really hard to get rid of any moisture from the leafy greens. 

After that, chop the Japanese mustard spinach and add to the oiled bowl. Also add 4 portions of cooked rice along with 1 loosely packed cup of katsuobushi, 1 tablespoon of toasted white sesame seeds, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Lightly mix these ingredients till evenly blended.

Portion out the rice mixture to four equal parts, then form each one into individual onigiri rice ball.

You can either scoop the rice to the center of a sheet of cling foil, then grab the four ends of the foil and squeeze the ingredients into a ball, that's what I did actually.

Or you can lightly wet or grease both palms, and shape the ingredients with your bare hands. Ball shape or triangle shape, you decide. You can even wrap the rice ball with a sheet of nori if desired.

One last tip, when cooking the rice for onigiri, I personally think it's better to use a bit less than usual amount of water for the grains. That way you'll get a bouncier rice in the end. And that slightly "al dente" bite works really good for rice balls.

Other onigiri recipes:

• Sancho pork onigiri
• Misoyaki onigiri 味噌焼きおにぎり
• Egg scallion and shio kombu onigiri 蔥蛋塩昆布日式飯糰
• Tuna and sesame oil rice balls
• Hijiki and inari age onigiri 羊栖菜豆皮飯糰

Pasta all'Ortolana (Healthy Pasta with Lots of Vegetables)

It's a pasta recipe with lots of vegetables, as healthy as it is, but do you know that another key element lies on Parmigiano Reggiano rinds?

That's right, the tough and sometimes being leftout cheese rinds. So next time when you have some leftover cheese rinds, especially the good aged Parmigiano Reggiano rinds, please do treat them with some respect. The Parmigiano Reggiano rinds can still contribute by adding extra savory depth to the dishes you make, especially in a braise, a stew, or even soup recipes.

Pasta all'Ortolana - 

Ingredients (about 5 portions)?

• 1 pack/500 grams short pasta 
• 1 eggplant
• 300 grams cherry tomatoes
• 1 medium zucchini
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 bundle/30 grams basil
• 1 big bulb shallot (about 1/3 cup peeled and sliced)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 small chunk aged Parmigiano Reggiano
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon red chili flakes (optional)
• 1 cup pasta water
• Some salt
• Some extra virgin olive oil

How?

Peel and slice the shallot, we will need about 1/3 cup once peeled and sliced. Peel and slice the garlic cloves.

Destem and cube the eggplant. Destem, remove the pith and seeds, and cube the yellow bell pepper. Destem and cube the zucchini. Save some fresh basil leaves for garnish in the end and chop the rest. Halve the cherry tomatoes.

Prepare a big pot of water and bring to a boil. Sprinkle few pinches of salt and add in the pasta. I used calamarata pasta this time, but any type of short pasta works such as penne or casarecce.

Cook till the pasta turns almost al dente. Scoop some pasta water out and save for later. Drain the remaining liquid.

While cooking the pasta, prepare a big pot and drizzle about 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Switch to medium heat and wait till the temperature gets hot. Add in cubed eggplant, yellow bell pepper, and zucchini. Give it a quick sear, stir once a while too.

Season with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of dried oregano. Also add 1 teaspoon of red chili flakes if desired. Give it a quick mix. Doesn't need to cook for long. Scoop everything out and set aside for now.

Still using the same pot, drizzle 2 more tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and keep at a medium heat. Once warm enough, add in halved cherry tomatoes along with shallot slices and garlic slices. Cook till cherry tomatoes softened. Mix in 1 tablespoon of tomato paste, mix till blended and cook for another 30 seconds or so.

Add in chopped basil along with about 1 cup of pasta water and 1 square of the aged Parmigiano Reggiano cheese rind. Let the whole thing cook for about 5 minutes.

Time to transfer seared vegetables back to the pot. Also season with more salt during this step too, about 1 teaspoon. Mix and cook for couple more minutes. 

Remove the cheese rind and add in drained pasta. Toss to blend, cook for another minute.

Taste and add more seasonings if needed. Once checked, drizzle some more extra virgin olive oil all around and toss towards the end.

Plate and grate some aged Parmigiano Reggiano over. Garnish with whole basil leaves saved in the beginning.

Besides utilizing cheese rinds in stew-like dishes, I know that some people also fry the rinds. The end result is puffed up and crispy bites to munch on. That I haven't tried. Seems like a fun thing to do but probably going to make some mess in the kitchen though.

Knowing the risk of oil splashing everywhere, I'm still up for the challenge. Just let me move everything out of the way from the frying pot first.

Other healthy pasta recipes:

• Gnocchi in broccoli and and spinach sauce
• Zucchini and squash pasta with parsley and mint sauce