I don't wanna appear as a whining baby here,
But the weather is seriously getting off the charts,
104 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday!? What?
The number can only gets higher moving towards the inland area,
Maybe 110?
The heat is definitely penetrating my skin and frying up my brain (Pzzz"")
So why don't we save up the steak and hot pot recipe till the weather turns more tolerable,
Instead, let's talk about juice or granita (even better!).
Ingredients (for 2 to 3 people)?
1 pink lady apple (about 1 1/3 cups)
1 medium sized carrot (about 1 cup)
1 cup of ice cubes
1 cup of milk
1 1/2 tablespoons of amber honey
How?
You don't really need to peel the carrot but I did, feel cleaner that way,
So chop the carrot and apple into smaller cubes,
Toss them into the blender along with ice cubes, milk, and honey,
Blend till fully incorporated.
The original recipe yields a pretty dense juice without filtering,
I personally like it that way,
If you want a more "regular" juice, here's what you need to do:
Use 2 cups of milk instead of one,
You might need to add one more tablespoon of honey to bump up the sweetness of the juice,
After blending, take a drainer and drain out all the larger bits,
Then you'll end up with nice and smooth carrot/apple juice, with a hint of honey!
What about granita?
Using the original recipe, follow the steps here to make the granita,
I bet it's a good way to get your kids eating more veggies!
Cindy's Rating: 8
This is a semi-Japanese inspired hambagu recipe,
Yes, I mean hambagu, not hamburger, not meat patties, just "hambagu," period.
Maybe the main difference is that over here, we have these burger patties with buns,
But in Japan, only the meaty goodness are allowed to stay,
No buns.
If eating as an entree, maybe salads on the side,
On top of that, hambagu is usually served with either rice or different types or spaghetti.
Enough with my babbling, let's start with the recipe!
Ingredients?
Hambagu:
1 lb ground pork
2 medium sized tomatoes
1.4 medium sized onion
2/3 cup of shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup of panko
Olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Sauce:
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
2 tablespoons of Japanese mayonaise
1 tablespoon of mirin
1/4 teaspoon of smoked paprika
How?
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line the foil on a baking sheet, it'll save you some cleaning time afterwards.
Finely chop the onion and give the tomatoes a few chops.
Drizzle some olive oil in the pan,
Turn to high heat, toss in chopped onions and sprinkle some salt,
Cook till the aroma comes out, shouldn't take too long since the onions are finely chopped,
Transfer that to a big container.
Put the ground pork inside that container along with panko and mozzarella,
Add more salt and black pepper in,
Combine all the ingredients till fully incorporated.
Now form the mixture into small patties,
Here's how I do it,
I take about a palm-ful of the meat mixture,
Toss them back and forth between my palms,
That's how I get the air out so the patties won't fall apart easily.
Put the patties on the baking sheet,
Evenly place the tomato wedges near the hambagu.
Have another smaller container,
Mix all the sauce ingredients there and pour over the burger patties,
Now into the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, that's it!
(See how juicy it is?!)
Side note:
I'm falling in love with oven baked tomatoes,
In fact, that's why I wanted to use some for this recipe,
The tomatoes get sweeter after baking,
And the juice just burst into your mouth when you bite into it,
Ugh, awesomeness.
Cindy's Rating: 7
