Omu Raisu

Omuraisu or rice omelette is a typical dish of "youshoku". These are western dishes which are changed to suit the japanese taste. Omuraisu was first served 1902 in a restaurant in Ginza and is still very popular, especially for bentos. It's a kind of omelette filling with chicken rice and topped with ketchup or tomato sauce, but in my recipe I changed the filling a bit, because I prefere another taste. In my opinion, that's a very easy dish, but still very yummy =^_^=

Ingredients for 1 portion:

1 cup of cold cooked rice

1/2 diced onion

1/2 chopped carrot

2 beaten eggs ( I used only one)

1 Tbsp flour

1 Tsp cinnamon

400 gr tomato sauce (or ketchup)

salt

Method:

1) First prepare the rice by mixing it with the onions, the carrot and 200 gr of the tomato sauce (or ketchup) . Then use a non-stick pan and sauté everything until the carrots are tender. (Maybe you have to add a bit water to the pan so that the rice won't burn, but of course you can also use oil if you like.) Add the cinnamon, salt it and put aside.

2) Stir the beaten eggs with the flour and make an omelette in a non-stick pan.

3) While the centre is still a bit runny, pour the rice over the middle of the omelette and wrap it over the rice (the bag doesn't need to be closed). In this step you can watch a video to understand it better. Click here.

4) Serve it with the yellow side up and the rest of the tomato sauce or ketchup.

Vietnamese Pho Bo

Pho Bo - the traditional beef noodle soup made with flat rice noodles.

In Vietnam, most of the people don't cook it themselves anymore because a long time ago, the beef had to cook in the water for 24 hours. Therefore the people eat their pho at one of the numerous "Pho shops" at the sidewalks now.

In my version, the beef will only cook for ca. 2 hours, so it won't take too much time.

Ingredients for 4 persons:

500 gr beef shank

5 cm long piece of Ginger

2,5 l water

1 Tsp salt

1 Tsp pepper

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 Tsp clove

1 Tbsp coriander

3 Tbsp fish sauce (nuoc mam)

400 gr cooked rice noodles (pho)

3 chopped scallions

1 onion, cut into slices

fresh coriander, chilli sauce (optional)

1/2 chopped Chinese cabbage

Method:

1) Add the ginger and the salt to the water and boil it up. Reduce the heat and let the meat cook in the water for 90 mins. But pay attention! If there is foam in the pot you have to remove that with a spoon.

Then add the other spices and let it cook for an other 30 mins. After that take the meat and let it cool down a bit.

2) Then you can cut the beef across the grain into thin slices.

3) Put some rice noodles and cabbage into each bowl and put the beef slices on the top. Decorate with some onions, scallions or coriander if you would like.

4) At last pour the boiling broth over the whole stuff. If you like it spicier or saltier you can add chilli or fish sauce.

Japanese Pizza (Okonomiyaki)

"Okonomi" is japanese and means "whatever you want", because you can put everything you like in your "pancake". "yaki" means "grilled, because an Okonomiyaki is traditionally made on a Teppan, but you can use a normal non-stick pan as well.
In Japan, there are lots of versions of Okonomiyaki. Here I've tried the Kansai Style.
But Hiroshima Style, Monjayaki and Hirayachi (in Okinawa) also seems to be very popular ^^




Ingredients for 1 portion:


100 gr plain flour
1/3 Tbsp baking powder
100 ml Dashi soup or water
1/4 cabbage
1 beaten egg (optional)
1/3 sheet Nori
1 Tbsp chopped scallions
1/2 diced onion
1 Tbsp chopped bamboo shoots
salt & pepper

other things you like for example meat etc.



Sauce:

2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce ( or 6 Tbsp soy sauce; if you only use "shoyu" you have to use a bit starch as well to thicken the sauce)


Topping (optional):

mayonnaise
benishoga (pickled ginger)
katsuobushi (tuna flakes)
aonori (seaweed flakes)
scallions
etc.






Method:

1) Mix the baking powder with the dashi soup or the water and add it to the flour. Stir well.

2) Chop the cabbage finely. Add it with the other vegetable and the egg to the batter. Cut the nori into stripes and mix everything well. Salt and pepper the batter.

3) Heat a non-stick pan with a lid slightly and pour the batter over the pan and form a pancake.
Close the pan with the lid and let it cook for ca 5 mins. Then flip the okonomiyaki and let it cook for an other 5 mins. Flip it again and after 5 mins it will be ready.

4) Put it on a plate and cut it into 4 pieces.

5) Make the sauce by mixing all the ingredients together and spread it over the cake. If you would like, you can also spread a bit mayonnaise on the top. Put the aonori, the benishoga etc. on the Okonomiyaki to decorate it.

Oven Spring Roll Squares

I know, my "Spring Rolls" don't look like original Spring Rolls. I had to make them flatter as usual otherwise I would have had problems with turning them over, because they are baked in the oven. The texture is a bit different, but in my opinion it's okay and if you dip it with sweet-sour-sauce the taste is very similar to genuine Spring Rolls :-)

Ingredients:

ca. 10-15 sheets of Spring Roll pastry for chinese style or Rice paper for vietnamese style (Banh Tranh)

500 gr lean pork

300 gr carrots

100 gr vermicelli

2 big onions

25 gr dried Shiitake mushrooms

25 gr dried Mu-err mushrooms

5 tbsp fish sauce

2 tpsp soy sauce

pepper

a bit flour mixing with water (chinese)

a pan with warm water (vietnamese)

Method:

1) (For chinese style, let the Spring Roll pastry thaw out in room temperature for ca. 1 hour.) Soak the dried mushrooms and the vermicelly in warm water for 1 hour.

2) Then remove the stalks of the Shiitake and cut the mushrooms and the vermicelly with scissors and the onion into small pieces. Put everything into the mixer and blend it, but it shouldn't be a paste, only chopped.

3) Grate the carrots into thin stripes.

4) Cut the meat into cubes and chop it in the blender as well.

5) Then put everything together in a bowl, add the fish sauce, the soy sauce and a bit pepper and mix it well.

6) Now wrap it:

Chinese style:

Take1 sheet and wrap it to a square with some filling. To close it, use a bit of the flour-water mixture.

Vietnamese style:

Take 1 sheet rice paper and soak it in the warm - water - pan for a few seconds until it is soft.

Then wrap it with some filling carefully, because the paper can easily break.

Put the squares on a baking sheet covered with baking paper.

7) Bake it in the oven at 200°C for ca. 20 mins. Then turn them over and bake them another 20 mins until they turn brown. Serve them while they are warm and crispy.

Carrot - Glutinous rice - cake with Mung Bean filling

Here is the next recipe that I really adore because it tastes nearly like traditional "Xoi gac" which has the same color and the same sweetness xD. Although I didn't use any sugar ^^.

So, please enjoy it.

Ingredients:

1 kg glutinous rice

750 ml carrot juice ( if it contains honey it will even tastes better ^^)

200 gr yellow peeled Mung Beans

salt & pepper

water

Method:

1) Soak the Mung Beans in water over night.

2) Wash the glutinous rice twice and soak it in water for about 1-2 hours.

3) Then pour the water from the rice away and add ca. 2-3 Teaspoons of salt and the carrot juice to the rice. Mix it well and put it into the rice cooker. If you haven't got one you can probably use a normal non- stick pot as well, but the result will be a bit different, because the rice easily burns on the ground. Cook evereything for ca. 30 mins ( in the pot for 45 mins).

4) While the rice is cooking you can prepare the Mung bean paste by pouring the water away and steaming it for 15-20 mins. Then add salt, pepper and only a little bit water and squish the stuff to a paste.

5) If the rice is ready, let it cool down. After that you can line a big bowl with plastic wrap. Take some rice and coat the inside of the bowl with that. Consider that your hands should be wet, because it's very sticky.) Then cover everything with a layer of the Mung Bean paste and at last a rice layer again. Press down firmly.

6) Finally, turn out the cake carefully and remove the plastic wrap. Cut the cake with a wet knife and serve it.

Korean Mochi Bread

So, I've just had lunch now and I know that I've promised to share the recipes with you ;D But unfortunately I couldn't get some ingredients I needed so that there are some changes, for example in this mochi bread recipe. First I wanted to make beetroot mochi bread but now it's only ordinary mochi bread because I was running out of beetroot juice ^^. Usually, mochi bread is made with a flour premix which is sold in Korea or Taiwan. On the internet I heard of their special texture that is chewy and fluffy from inside and crispy from the outside. So I changed a bit the recipes on the internet by using yeast instead of baking soda to make them fluffier.



Ingredients for about 6 - 8 balls:

200 gr glutinous rice flour
50 gr plain flour
1 package dried yeast or 25 gr fresh yeast
1 beaten egg
warm water
salt




Method:

1) First sieve the glutinous rice flour and the plain flour together. Then mix the yeast powder with the warm water and add it with the beaten egg and a bit salt to the flour mixure.

2) Now knead it into a soft dough. It shouldn't be too dry or too wet. If you have problems with kneading the dough you can add either a little more water or more glutinous rice flour.

3) Then let the dough prove at a warm place for about 1-2 hours. The volume should double.

4) Preheat the oven on 180°C. After that, wet your hands ( that's very important otherwise the dough will stick) , form some balls carefully from the dough and don't knead them too strong. Put them on a baking sheet which is covered with baking parchment.

5) Put them into to the oven and bake them for 5 mins. Then get them out and sprinkle them with a bit water. Bake them again for 5 mins. Get them out, sprinkle with water one more time and lower the temperature to 150°C. Bake them for 10-15 mins until they turn brown. Serve them wihle they are warm.

Apple - Carrot - Potatoe fritter - Cake from the oven

Good morning !
Now I will post the first recipe here. It's German Potatoe fritter which I'll have as lunch today, but I made it in the oven, so you don't have to fry it in the pan. And besides I thought that I could try another form of potatoe fritter and that's why it looks so different. I hope you'll like it ^^

Ingredients for one spring-form:

1 kg raw potatoes
3 eggs
1 big onion
1 big apple
2 big carrots
60 gr plain flour
salt & pepper
food colouring

Method:

1) At first, peel the potaoes, the carrots, the apple and the onion. Then wash the potatoes and the carrots and dry them thoroughly. Cut the apple into pieces and rasp it with the potatoes and the carrots into fine strips. Add salt, pepper and the diced onion.

2) Now add the beaten eggs to the flour, mix it well and add it to the vegetable strips. If the stuff is still too liquid then you have to add a bit more flour.

3) Divide the dough into 2 bowls and colour them with food colouring if you want a layaered cake, but it is not really neccessary.

4) Layer everything into a baking paper covered spring form and bake it in the oven for ca. 45-60 mins at 180 °C ( 375 °F ).

5) Let it cool down and get it out from the spring form and the baking paper carefully with the help of a knife, because the cake might be a bit sticky and chewy. Serve it.

Tet is coming in just 2 days xD!!!

Hi everyone!
Here I am and I'm really looking forward to the Tet festival this year xD. For all who doesn't know what Tet is: Tet is the same thing like Chinese New year celebrating in Vietnam so it is called in another way ^^. And although my family lives in Germany we will also celebrate it, probably with a very big banquet including traditional dishes and some home creations as well. This time it' ll be my turn to cook the most of the food because unfortunately both of my parents have to go to work on Saturday. But that isn't a problem at all because I've got vacations at the moment.

So here is the list what I wanna cook for Tet:

1) Spring rolls
2) Banh Chung ( traditional Rice cake; a must have)
3) Carrot Glutinous rice cake with Mung Bean paste
4) Pink Sago-Mung bean-Sweet potatoe-Pudding with Lotus Seeds
5) Beetroot Mochi Bread
6) Steamed Sweet potatoe rice cake with orange blossom flavor
7) Beef Curry with milk
8) Bamboo-Carrot-Mushroom vegetable mix

And that' s it! I hope that is not too much for me and I will be ready on time because I' ve just got a ligament rupture a week ago so that I'm not able to walk without crutches :'-(
But fortunately it's not that painful...

Maybe you have all already noticed that I've named my blog "Healthy Delight" so of course I'm going to try to make the food as healthy as I can. And if the Tet festival is over I will probably share the recipes with you when everything has the "right" taste ;-)
Then, just wait for me!!!