13Oct / 2021

Recipe: Ichigo Daifuku (Strawberry Mochi)

Sometimes I make recipes out of necessity and sometimes I like trying recipes that maybe home cooks normally wouldn’t. Sometimes, while recipes are do-able…it’s best to just leave it up to the professionals right? Would I put this recipe in that category? Yes and no. While I think I found a really good recipe and think I have done a pretty dang good job at making it…it is a bit tedious. To me it was worth it, the people I shared it with seemed to enjoy it very much and I finally found a great recipe that keeps the mochi super soft! Ahh…love it when science experiments…work!

I owe my success all to this recipe. I mean he does it better than me but still…!

First step, did you know you need to “dry” out your koshian? Empty your entire can of koshian into your pan over medium heat and just start moving it around. How did I know it was done? Honestly when it lost all its sheen and became very paste like. See the difference between the first shot and the second shot?

I let the koshian cool down and then place it in the fridge – I’ve kept it in overnight to set-up. It helps that the paste is as thick as possible especially when you are using it to wrap the strawberries. He goes a further step to measure out the koshian paste, I found that as long as I wrap each strawberry with the paste in the same way…it works fine.

One of the most tedious things about this recipe? Having to wash and thoroughly dry each strawberry. Also!!! How do mochi shops get the same sized strawberries for their mochi?? I had so many different sizes in my one carton…it was frustrating. That is why measuring out the koshian into balls made no difference for me so I just wrapped each strawberry with paste in the same way. I left the tip uncovered to help in the wrapping of the mochi and I think it also keeps it less sweet. This mochi is humbug in the way that you can’t make this ahead of time…you basically have to make it and eat it already. The strawberry can start getting very wet and well, everything needs to be dry to wrap a good mochi.

I don’t have pictures of me wrapping the mochi, I’m sorry. But when my hands are handling hot molten lava covered in corn starch (I didn’t have potato starch) trying to wrap the strawberries…I can’t take pictures. Here one batch of the recipe in the video. I bought this plate from Daiso, a great size. I’m not great with math and I think I can get 6 big daifuku out of this batch.

I followed the video to a T with the measurements. He uses shiratamako, I only had the Blue Star Mochiko so I used that. I also don’t have a 900W microwave oven so I used the handy time table on this page to figure out how long to microwave mine! It worked perfect!!!

I would type out the recipe but really, the credit all goes to this blogger, RECIPE.

My recipe notes:

I used mochiko instead of shiratamako
I wrapped the strawberries fairly quickly out of the microwave oven because that’s when they are softest. They did maintain the softness throughout the day! My friend even reported that it stayed soft with overnight refrigeration!
I followed his measurements in grams and ML. I find that recipes work the best when I follow those measurements

Good luck if you decide to try making this recipe! It was a great success for me and maybe I’ll make it again when it’s peak strawberry season again.

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09Sep / 2021

Recipe: Ramen Fried Rice

It’s me, and I’m here to share another trending TikTok recipe. Originating from Korea, I’ve seen it made with either raw ramen noodles (uncooked but toasted) or cooked ramen noodles. I chose to use cooked ramen noodles. Was nice to try but would I eat it again…ehhh…I think I am okay. If you ever find yourself wanting to eat double carbs, go for it. It’s pretty easy and of course it’s tasty…!

Ramen Fried Rice

Ingredients:

1 package Shin Ramen, crushed
2 eggs, mixed
2 C cooked rice

Sesame Oil
Toasted Sesame Seeds

Instructions:

Place crushed ramen noodles, dry vegetable packet and seasoning mix into a heat safe bowl. Boil water and add to the bowl (less than you usually would if making it to eat regularly – maybe 1 to 1.5 C of boiling water?).

As the ramen “cooks” in the bowl. Add eggs to pan/wok to make soft scrambled eggs, add cooked rice (preferably cold leftover rice) and cook together, incorporating mixture. Add ramen mixture into pan and mix together well. The ramen mixture would have absorbed the water by now so it is no longer soupy. Fry together until fragrant and a bit toasted. Serve fried rice with a nice drizzle of sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds.

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07Sep / 2021

Recipe: Yogurt Marinated Chicken

Okay, that title does not sound too appetizing. I apologize but I was scrolling through the “app-that-shall-not-be-named” and came across this recipe. I’ve been looking for a good tasting and fairly low fat protein recipe and this one seems to fit the bill, a good mix of spices with the yogurt makes for a nice chicken dish and no worries to people who cannot handle spicy, this recipe is not at all spicy! I found that I can enjoy this dish warm or cold – throw it on your salad!

I probably add too much tomato paste but once I open that can of paste, what am I supposed to do with the rest? I used the whole can – too bad.

Yogurt Marinated Chicken

Ingredients:

7 chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 5.3 oz. plain nonfat greek yogurt (I used Chobani, one of those individual servings)

2 T olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, minced or grated

Juice of 1-2 lemons (can be one if your lemon is nice and juicy)

2 t paprika

2 t cumin

1 t salt

1 t white pepper

1 6 oz. can of tomato paste

1 medium-large onion, chopped

2 bell peppers, chopped (I used yellow and orange)

Instructions:

Combine all the ingredients and marinate for 3-4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place chicken mixture onto two baking dishes, try to keep mixture as flat as possible to cook through evenly in the oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes until fully cooked (I used the full 30 minutes).

You can also grill on high for 10-20 minutes until fully cooked.

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09Aug / 2021

Recipe: Italian Pasta Salad

Yup, you guessed it. Another recipe from TikTok. I made a few adjustments to my version and it came out winnahs. Firstly, the mozzarella salad is so flavorful on its own. If I thought of it earlier, I would use the seasoned oil in the mozzarella salad to make the dressing. A-ha! That can be for next time. Also, the balsamic vinaigrette is a dressing I found because that’s the ingredients I had and it worked so perfectly. Please try and let me know if you enjoy!

Italian Pasta Salad

Pasta Salad Ingredients
1 lb. rotini pasta, cooked according to package instructions
1 cucumber, quartered, cut into 1/2 inch sticks
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered (just make it bite size)
1/2 – 1 C large pepperoni slices, cut into strips
1 – 1.5 C marinated mozzarella salad (I used Formaggio brand from Sam’s Club), sliced in half

Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing Ingredients
2 T honey
1 T dijon mustard
1/2 t fine sea salt
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
1 large clove garlic, minced or grated (I grated mine)
1/4 balsamic vinegar
3/4 C extra virgin olive oil

Mix together honey, dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic in a small bowl. Slowly stream the oil into the bowl while whisking to fully incorporate with the other ingredients. Mix dressing with pasta salad ingredients in a bowl and enjoy!

Lazy prep. I just cut up all the ingredients and threw them on top of the draining pasta. Less dishes to do, lol.

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04Aug / 2021

Recipe: Mediterranean Chicken Meatballs

Time to make the meatballs (get the reference even thought I made no sense making the reference?)

Been wanting to make meatballs with ground chicken breast and finally found the opportunity from, you guessed it, TikTok. Not much to say, it just looked really nice and flavorful. I’ve been craving Mediterranean food lately so this is going to hit the spot. I really like it but you might find it a bit dry. I did buy some tzatziki dip in case it gets too dry for me. Now, I need to address my gyro and baklava craving – that is for another post…and not homemade.

I really enjoy piling up ingredients like this in a bowl before I mush it all up, if you’re a reader of my blog, I think you’ve seen me do this before. All the ingredients together before I moosh moosh moosh…

All mooshed and hand formed for the oven! Yeah, get all kind sizes. Get all different sizes of mouths too okay? Hahaha

Mediterranean Chicken Meatballs

Ingredients

1 pound ground chicken
½ cup panko
1 large egg
½ cup feta crumbled
¼ cup red onions finely diced
¼ cup sun dried tomatoes finely diced
¼ tsp dried dill
¼ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp *optional fresh mint* for garnish

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F degrees.
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix with your hands until ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
Roll the seasoned meat into 15 small golfball sized meatballs and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. I recommend doing 5 rows of 3.
Bake the meatballs at 400F degrees for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through.
Let rest for 2 minutes before sprinkling with optional mint for garnish.

Recipe Source: Grilled Cheese Social

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14Jul / 2021

Recipe: Spicy Won Tons

Yes, another TikTok recipe. Well, I saw it on TikTok and had to jump onto this person’s Instagram to get the recipe. Ugh…sending me on a wild goose chase. Been wanting to experiment making chili oil kine wontons at home and I found the perfect excuse. When he said this was a Din Tai Fung copycat recipe, I was pretty much sold. I went out and bought the ingredients the very next morning. It was so worth it and while I was planning to wrap a bunch to freeze and enjoy in moderation, somehow we ate it all in one night. That’s a good sign right?

The filling ready to be mixed until gooey and stuffed into wonton wrappers. I barely make wontons from scratch and this convinced me I should do it more often. And do you know, this is the first time I have outright used MSG (ajinomoto)? Seriously. Always had this stigma against MSG due to its bad reputation out there. And it is not just in my mind, when a restaurant uses choke MSG, I am very very thirsty for hours after the meal. Thank god they sell pork all ground up, I had to chop up the shrimp by hand and well, I’m just going to go with I like my shrimp chunky and it’s going in my mouth and not yours okay (not at all defensive right)?

Had a few helpers in the wrapping department, not perfectly shaped nor at all like the recipe asked but it’s okay. I don’t mind eating envelope looking wontons. It doesn’t affect the taste!

Sorry, had to include one last picture of the wontons. Boiled them up and tossed them in the homemade chili vinegar dipping sauce…topped it with fresh cilantro leaves and I was in foodie heaven. I’m already planning for the next batch…wontons are a lot of work to make but boy are they delicious. What is it with pupu sized foods that taste so good yeah?

Spicy Wontons

Ingredients

Wonton Wrappers

50 wonton wrappers (12 oz. package)

Filling

1 lb. ground pork
3/4 lb. shrimp
1/4 cup green onion(white portion)
3 tbsp cilantro stems
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp msg
1/4 cup shaoxing wine
3 cloves grated garlic
1/4 inch grated ginger
1 egg
2 tsp cornstarch

Sauce

1 clove grated garlic
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp black vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp msg
2 to 3 tbsp chili oil
1 tsp sesame oil

Instructions

Deshell and roughly mince shrimp. You want the mince to be slightly larger than the ground pork.
Combine all of the filling ingredients and stir making sure to only move in one direction. This helps with myosin development which keeps the meat together.
Take your wonton wrapper and place about a tsp of filling in the center of the wrapper. Use water to bind two ends of the wrapper to create a triangle. Then take two ends of the triangle and bind them together using water.
Boil wontons for 4 to 5 minutes or until they start to float.
Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix with boiled wontons.
Garnish with the green portion of green onion and cilantro.

Recipe: Derek K Chen

Notes:

I ended up with more filling than won ton wrappers, I think I could have made another 7-10 wontons with the leftover fillings.

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09Jun / 2021

Recipe: Santa Fe Wraps

Be prepared, I may be bombing you folks with healthy recipes for a bit. Trying a new kick and hoping it continues to help me in this journey! Well, not when I go out…that’s when I reward myself. This is a judgement free zone okay? Anyway, here’s a super easy recipe I made the other day in my new air fryer. Did I share about that yet? I’ll try to do a post on it later. Super easy Santa Fe Wraps (yes from TikTok) that kids LOVED. Can’t go wrong there.

2 Cups of shredded chicken breast. Here’s what I do. I buy rotisserie chicken from Costco. Immediately shred all the chicken breast, shove it into a ziploc bag and throw it in the freezer. The chicken comes in handy for all kind recipes, my infamous pasta salad, chicken noodle soup and now this recipe! I don’t know if the chicken I had was 2 cups, I’m going to say it was more but it’s okay. Oh and then I just grind on the thighs/dark meat for dinner cause I am Asian and we have good taste.

1 can of black beans and 1 can of whole kernel corn, both drained. I used low sodium black beans. Do they have low sodium corn? I don’t know, I would use it if had.

One packet of taco seasoning, the one you use to fry up taco meat!

One bag of shredded Mexican cheese, I used a low fat one because this recipe already has plenty flavor so we just need this for the melty factor.

Roll it up and bake! I used an air fryer so I sprayed it with like a cooking spray (similar to Pam) and cook it seam down at 400°F for about 3 minutes, then flip them, spray and cook for another 3 minutes.

Santa Fe Wraps

Ingredients:
2 C of cooked chicken breast, shredded
1 can of low sodium black beans, drained
1 can of whole kernel corn, drained
1 8 oz. package of shredded Mexican cheese
1 oz. taco seasoning packet
1 package of flour tortillas (burrito size, comes in 10 per pack)

Cooking Spray (like Pam)

Instructions:
Mix all the ingredients together except the tortillas. Spoon mixture (about 3/4 C – 1 C) into tortilla and roll into a burrito.

Place burritos in air fryer in a single layer, seam side down. Spray with cooking spray. Bake for 3 minutes at 400°F. Flip burritos, spray cooking spray and bake for additional 3 minutes. Enjoy!

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02Jun / 2021

Recipe: Strawberry Roll Cake

Has my baking obsession gone down? Actually, it has. I didn’t bake a single thing or roll a single boba last weekend. My inspiration tapped out. But let’s not forget where the inspiration started, it was with a strawberry roll cake. Isn’t it funny? This type of cake is nothing I would have ever cared for maybe even a year back but for some odd reason, I really wanted to eat this. So, I made it following a Japanese recipe because once again, less sweet. Join me on this journey!

Gotta make my own strawberry jam for the cake! Hello!

Whipping up the egg whites to make stiff peaks! Meringue!

Sift the dry ingredients and gently fold them into the batter…

Once again, I didn’t have the same size pans as the videos. Why is there so many different sized pans all over?? I used the typical baking sheets we have here.

Had a debate with my friend over putting down the jam first or the cream first. The videos I saw put the jam on first. Also, the cream I whipped up for this is too light to support jam being spread on top of it.

Oh yes, homemade whipped cream on top. My pretty…

Yikes, you see the crack don’t you? Why you looking down there for. Haha j/k! Some videos, these guys cut off the ends before assembling the cake. Hello, why are we wasting cake. I’m sure they eat the ends but I am okay with sacrificing beauty to eat this, ugly edges and all.

Not exactly a round roll…more oval. Haha it’s okay, it was my first time and maybe I added too much cream. I am still quite proud of this and it tasted great!

Don’t want to make your own? I don’t blame you. Here’s what I blame for starting my craze, I found this at Don Quijote Kaheka in their new fancy Japanese freezer section. This cake is SO good. So soft, not too sweet and perfect amount of strawberry taste. Highly recommend.

Strawberry Roll Cake

Ingredients

Swiss Roll Cake:
5 egg yolk
Salt 1g
Sugar 50g
Cake flour 90g
Baking Powder 2g
Vegetable oil 50g
Milk 50g
Meringue (5 egg white + Sugar 70g)

Strawberry Jam Filling:
10 oz (300g) strawberries, cut into smaller pieces
1/4 cup (50g) sugar
1 tbsp (15ml) water

Whipped Cream:
500g Strawberry
Whipped cream (600g whipping cream + 60g sugar)

Instructions:

Prepare the strawberry jam filling. In a small saucepan put the strawberries, sugar and water. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Press the strawberries with the back of the spoon to speed up the process. Simmer until the mixture is thick, for about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely before using.
Add 5 egg yolks to a bowl, add salt and mix together. Add 50g sugar and mix with a hand mixer on medium-high until light and foamy. The mixture’s volume will increase and turn a pale yellow color, you should be able to create ribbons as you pull your beaters up.
In a separate bowl, place 5 egg whites and beat with a hand mixer on high. Add the 70g of sugar in threes (just don’t add the sugar all at once, add sugar in thirds after 2 minutes of beating). Beat until the mixture has stiff peaks, achieving meringue status (took me about 8 minutes).
Add the egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture and gently fold the mixture together.
Sift the cake flour and baking powder into the batter and fold in until you no longer see white/flour streaks.
Place vegetable oil and milk in a separate bowl. Add a bit of the cake batter into this bowl (about ½ C or so) and mix until fully incorporated. This step helps in getting the milk/oil mixture to better incorporate with the full batter.
Add oil/milk/batter mixture back to the batter mixture and gently mix until incorporated.
Add batter to a parchment lined pan (12″ x 17″) and spread evenly. Tap the pan onto a hard surface 2-3 times to knock out air bubbles.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 340°F for 30 minutes.
As cake bakes, hand mix heavy cream and sugar together until it forms a whipped cream. Set aside.
Remove cake from oven, immediately tap the pan on a hard surface 2-3 times again. This is to prevent the cake from shrinking.
Turn out the cake onto a cooling rack and remove parchment paper to let cool. You can be fancy and cut off the edges if you like, I did not.
Spread jam over the cake. Spread whipped cream over the jam layer.
Carefully roll the cake, place in the fridge for about 30 minutes to set. Slice and enjoy!

Recipe Inspiration:
Home Cooking Adventure (Strawberry Jam Recipe)
Cooking See (Basic Swiss Roll Recipe)

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26May / 2021

Recipe: Vietnamese Fried Rice (Cơm Chiên)

I have always loved Vietnamese or Thai fried rice, I find them to be so flavorful and always wondered how they make it. I don’t use MSG in foods (well not straight up MSG anyway) so when I found this recipe and saw how easy it was…I had to make it! How was it? BIG SUCCESS. I already want to make more to eat more but while I am Chinese, I think there should be a limitation on how much Chinese sausage I consume in a single month.

Jasmine rice ready to cook with soy sauce and chicken bouillon

I only have bouillon cubes and didn’t break them up good enough. It’s okay, it makes the rice look cool.

Here’s an interesting step. 6 egg yolks, oyster sauce, green onions and cooked chinese sausage (forgot to add it in the beginning) in a bowl…waiting for the rice…

LOL here is the Chinese sausage that I boiled and chopped

Here it is! All mixed in together in the bowl…this is precooked! See the first picture if you want to see it in wok action! Heat up some butter and garlic in your wok and then add this mixture in until the fried rice is nice and crispy. Add more oyster sauce as desired. Absolutely delicious. But I wonder if I find it so delectable because of the lup cheong (chinese sausage). Well the point is, it is good.

Vietnamese Fried Rice (Cơm Chiên)

3 C Jasmine Rice
3 T Soy Sauce
3 t Chicken Bouillon (I used 3 small cubes)
1/2 package lup cheong (Chinese sausage) – about 3-4 sausages
6 egg yolks
6 garlic cloves, minced
3 T Oyster Sauce
2 T Butter
1/2 C Green onion, chopped

Wash jasmine rice and place in rice cooker with appropriate water (fill to the 3 line), add soy sauce and chicken bouillon. Cook the rice.

Boil or steam lup cheong for about 2-3 minutes, remove from heat and chop up, set aside.

Mix egg yolks, green onions, 2 T oyster sauce and lup cheong together in a big bowl. Add cooked rice to mixture and fold in. The rice can be made ahead and cold for this step!

In a wok, heat up butter and garlic over medium high heat. Add the rice mixture in and cook until browned and nice and crispy! Add 1 T of oyster sauce (more if you want) and top with more green onions (if you want), mix and enjoy!

Recipe from: foodwithsoy

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24May / 2021

Recipe: Homemade Strawberry Boba

Reminder, I made two different boba recipes in ONE day because I am crazy. If you missed it, here is the brown sugar boba recipe. This time, I made strawberry boba from scratch and yes, it is made from fresh strawberries. Inspiration from TikTok (duh). How was it? Well, even though I had to make fresh strawberry puree for this, you can’t really taste any strawberry in the boba…it’s mainly for the color. I made fresh strawberry milk to accompany the boba. I’m not doing this again. But here goes:

Fresh Strawberry Puree

Adding tapioca starch to start forming the dough…

The beautiful pink dough ready to be rolled!

Get enough tapioca starch or what? Almost looks like mochi balls…refrain from eating…

Strawberry Boba boiling up…no forget, they expand! These balls ain’t fitting through no boba straws…

Ready for consumption!

Strawberry Boba

Strawberry Boba Ingredients:
½ Cup Fresh Strawberries, diced
2 T Sugar
2 T Water
1-2 T Honey

Strawberry Boba Instructions:

Add strawberries, sugar and water to a microwave safe bowl/cup. Microwave for 1 minute (I microwaved about 1.5 minutes).
Strain strawberry mixture through a sieve to get rid of the pulp. Cool for 3 minutes.
Add in 3T of tapioca starch into the mixture and mix through.
Continue to microwave mixture for 1 minute (in 15 second intervals), it took me 1 min 15 sec. You are looking for a thickened and very sticky mixture. Cool for 3 minutes.
Add 1 C of Tapioca Starch and knead through.
Roll into little balls, add additional tapioca starch for dusting if needed.
Heat water in a pot and add the tapioca balls into the pot. Immediately stir the balls in the pot to prevent them from sticking to each other and to the bottom of the pan. It will take about 30 seconds for the balls to free float to the top of the surface on its own.
Boil on medium-high for 20 minutes. Turn off heat, keep lid on pot and let the tapioca balls sit for an additional 20 minutes.
Drain tapioca and place in a bowl, add 1-2 T of honey to sweeten balls and keep sitting in a syrup.

Strawberry Milk Ingredients:
16 strawberries
60g sugar
500ml milk

Strawberry Milk Instructions:

Wash strawberries, cut 8 strawberries in half and crush them in the pot (I used a potato masher), add sugar and heat on medium heat for 2-3 minutes
Remove from heat and let mixture cool down.
Dice remaining 8 strawberries.
Place the strawberry syrup, diced strawberries and milk in a bottle and mix/shake. Ready to go!

Recipe Inspiration: Strawberry Milk

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maybeitsjenny

Category Archives: Recipe

Recipe: Ichigo Daifuku (Strawberry Mochi)

Recipe: Ramen Fried Rice

Ramen Fried Rice

Recipe: Yogurt Marinated Chicken

Yogurt Marinated Chicken

Recipe: Italian Pasta Salad

Italian Pasta Salad

Recipe: Mediterranean Chicken Meatballs

Mediterranean Chicken Meatballs

Ingredients

Instructions

Recipe: Spicy Won Tons

Spicy Wontons

Recipe: Santa Fe Wraps

Santa Fe Wraps

Recipe: Strawberry Roll Cake

Strawberry Roll Cake

Ingredients

Instructions:

Recipe: Vietnamese Fried Rice (Cơm Chiên)

Vietnamese Fried Rice (Cơm Chiên)

Recipe: Homemade Strawberry Boba

Strawberry Boba