Sabado fried chicken nights + cooking tip

You know those lazy Saturdays where you just want to curl in the sofa and watch one thing after another in your tv or in our case from our pc monitor? (uhm, while waiting for the laundry- realistically speaking). I have this simple recipe to top these times with smothering calories! lol.

I made these chickens during one of our Saturday nights movie and alcohol marathon which turned out to be just a movie and chicken marathon.

All you need are

Chicken wings or any part you like

Oil for frying

For coating:

I used 1:1/4 ratio of flour and cornstarch

Iodized salt

Freshly ground black pepper

White pepper

Garlic powder

Dashi

100 ml water. Amount varies on how thick you want your batter. I don’t want it to be runny so I used around this much.

Super simple. I didn’t even marinate the chicken. Just put all coating ingredients in a bowl and dip your chicken with it before frying. Here’s a frying tip though. We found it best to use a pressure cooker to cook fried chicken! Just put enough oil to cover the bottom of the pressure cooker or if you have lots of oil about 1 cm from the bottom, bring it to heat, and when its ready put your chicken and cover, set in low fire for 1-2 minutes, then turn off the fire. The pressure is high inside, it will make your chicken soft to the bones without burning the skin and coating. Open only when safety valve -the thing that pops up and down (that small thing that indicates if pressure is still high so don’t force open or you’ll regret it..I guess you know what im talking about) is released. Do this again for the next side. But if you do this using a lot of oil to deep fry your chicken you only need to do this once.

Time for ... cool change..

At least a bit. I changed the template and crop a photo of a japanese maple leaf (momiji) to fit in the banner. I took this photo last year when my EOS baby was a shiny new toy. We've come a long way surviving Japan life for another autumn season. Indeed its fall and the cool wind is seeking the warmth of my faithful sweater. Change clearly is inevitable and the more I think about it, the older I feel. Yet I have to suck it up, brave a smile and greet each morning..we've got a long way to go.

July 6, Kitchen experiment

I remember we were on the course of Heroes marathon when I made these. We wanted something to munch while we were bumming around. Now that Heroes had just aired its season premier, I have to wait in vain for my download to finish. So I guess blogging is a good way to fill the unbearable waiting hours.

Bruschetta

I tried making a different one to see which one is the best. All were baked in the oven 200 C until cheese bubbled.

Combo 1. baguette French bread slice, freshly sliced tomato, olive oil (brushed on top of the bread), mozzarella cheese, dried parsley

Combo 2. baguette French bread slice, freshly sliced tomato, pizza sauce+olive oil (brushed on top of the bread), mozzarella cheese, dried parsley

Combo 3. baguette French bread slice, halved cherry tomato, olive oil (brushed on top of the bread), mozzarella cheese, dried parsley

Combo 4. baguette French bread slice, cherry tomato, pizza sauce+olive oil (brushed on top of the bread), mozzarella cheese, dried parsley

Combo 5. baguette French bread slice, olive oil (brushed on top of the bread), mozzarella cheese, dried parsley

Combo 6-10: repeat all, minus the parsley. Use dried basil instead.

Top pick for Romar: combo 2. although its more pizza-ish than bruschetta

Top pick for Raqx: Combo 1 or 5.

Note: Sliced tomatoes are way better than cherry tomatoes. Parsley enhance the flavor more than basil.

Baked white fish

I needed something that will go well with bruschetta. With limited foodstuff in my fridge I made this.

All you need are:

White fish meat

Olive oil

Dried parsley

Mayonnaise

Cheese (any cheese as long as it melts. Combination of cheeses are also good)

Black and white pepper

Simply lay all fish meat in the dish and top with mayonnaise. Salt is optional because cheese are already very rich in flavor. Put the rest of the ingredients and bake in 200 C until the top turn golden brown.

Stuffed chops, oriental style

I called it oriental because the “usual” stuffing would be mashed potato, but I used rice, and rolls usually are chicken breast yet I used pork. It may seem nakakasawa or nakakaumay but tiny bites, tapas (Spanish) style did the trick.

For this I simply reuse some of the ingredients that were already laid at my kitchen counter plus some addition.

Pork chops sliced thinly (thin porkchops are everywhere in japan)

Cooked rice

Mayonnaise

Parsley and basil

Olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Put mayonnaise in the rice, amount varies on the thickness you want to achieve. I put about 2 spoonfull just to make the rice stick together. Put the rest of ingredients and stuff it in porkchop. Secure with a toothpick. Brush the roll with olive oil and bake for 190 C until the porkchop is cooked and gives a golden color. Cut into round portions.

TOP 3..

things that caught my attention this weekend.


Since my last visit to a Kawachi, a store that sells mostly dry goods, from food to cosmetics to toiletries to bento stuff… I knew there are some goodies begging for me to take home. And I just can’t help but imagine having all these things on our walk back to our house. To cut the chase and imaginings I asked my hubby what he’ll get me for Christmas! And I think he knew where I was heading…so when we got home I browsed and found these online. I can’t wait!

After the cuteness encounter, we went to kathy’s house for her despedida. We were greeted with lush green scenery with mount Tsukuba and perfect blue sky as backdrop. Right on 8th floor, I knew there was something good inside. Food was great, conversations were interesting and the cherry to the cake was Wii.
I never really liked gaming because I had this past where I would ditch everything else to play pc games (Sims City, Battle Realms) the whole day. Thing is, carpal tunnel syndrome plus my eye problem and minimal burning of calories weren't actually ideal for me nor for anybody. So i guess a Wii would fit in lazy winter weekends and good for bonding too!

Last that caught my attention doesn’t need a funding campaign. I always have this trouble of setting the language of blogspot from Japanese back to English. No matter how I save the settings it just keeps getting back at a kanji galore page. This morning is beyond any of those days because I leisurely scroll on other languages apart from English and I found FILIPINO! So I set it up to this.

I know it will probably be changed back to jap again…but I can always find comfort in scrolling and choosing the language knowing that it can, in its tiny ways, lead me back home.

i wanna..

change my outline AGAIN. i dunno why i feel distracted with the swirls and paint blots i cant seem to find the words to write anything. *me so blah* even though i already mapped everything in my head, my fingers refused to type along! lol. weird. so i want a change of layout. ill stick to blogspot anyways even if wordpress has really nice templates. aesthetics matters a lot to me *shrug*. guess ill have to blog a little sensible later! lol. have to run and make lunch and be early at work. its friday hooorraaayyy!!!

Hisashiburi!

Long time no see!! whew! never knew I set this blog aside for a very long time! I really need to update my links..

Anyways, you probably know how tough it is to write when there is so much to write about! so let me write back to my darling blog with a tickle.

The joys and pains of freelance english tutoring in Japan. The student is instructed to listen to a song and write down the lyrics.

The student's rendition of Everything I Own by Bread



This post does not mean to offend or whatsoever. :P

Side dish recipes from our kitchen

Pesto and bacon roll

This one is really fast and easy except that maybe I should put milk and create custard first before baking. Anyways I’ll do that next time. What are trial and errors for?

I used:

Bread slices, sides removed

Bacon strips

Ready made pesto

1 egg

I simply flatten the bread slices using a bottle. My kitchen lacks rolling pin :P

Spread thin amount of pesto, laid the bacon strips and roll. I obviously secured it with a toothpick and roll it in a beaten egg. Then baked it 200 degrees or until it turned golden brown. Best to eat this when its still hot.

Onion marmalade

I got this idea from 101 Cheap Eats by GoodFood magazine. It’s a book of compiled recipes that I bought from Page One in Hong Kong. Although it clearly listed the ingredients, I still made something that suits our palate at that time; the later meant only one thing—no more Chinese food or anything that resembles it.

This is a tipid recipe and you will need:

Apple juice (amount depends on the sweetness you want to achieve)

Tomato ketchup (I used Heinz)

Onion cut thinly

Soy sauce (amount depends on the color you want to achieve)

Parsley chopped

Salt and pepper

Cook the onions in a pan with olive oil until softened and lightly browned. Add the tomato ketchup and balance the sour taste with apple juice. Adjust the color by adding soy sauce. Sprinkle parsley, salt and pepper. Top with sesame seeds if desired.

Have this as a topping to any kind of baked, grilled or shallow fried meat. It even went well with mojo potatoes. It was also a good filling for onigiri. It’s very versatile you might want to eat it by itself as a main dish!