Cooking notes
Having joined cooking classes, there's still a bit of a gap between perfectly reproducing the recipes at home.
Mostly using this as a quick jotting down of notes.
1) Ikameshi: This turned out well in spite of wrongly oversoaking the glutinous rice. If japanese mochikome isn't available, chinese glutinous rice works just as well. I like the texture adding pearl barley gave to it; will continue this variant. Will also attempt to use piping bags next time or convenient friends.
2) Buta kakuni: Trying now. Lacking a pressure cooker, am now attemtping this via slow cooker instead...which ought to drag out the cooking time even more ^^; oops. Since had excess onions and ginger, threw it into the braising sauce in lieu of sugar. Hope it turns out well!
3) Tsukune: ok but not great. This is not entirely surprising since only lean mince was used. But I've gone off teriyaki flavours recently, so I don't think I'll be making this often anyway
4) Salmon onigiri: Bad choice to retry because...I don't like salmon. Surprisingly the one we made in the cooking class actually was very good and not overly fishy which is why I was hopeful i'll be willing to eat it. Nope. Probably not as fresh as the cooking class; the fishiness defeated me. Will attempt with some other fish/meat.
5) Soy butter squid tentacles: EXCELLENT. did this twice, must remember to be a bit restrained with the butter though, second time used too much butter and ended up with the squid practically swimming again. ^^;;
6) Soba: As per my own practice, boil to my own timing. Limp soba is for other people. Tempura however is not in my future. Still, that kakiage is amazing....coat anything with sakura ebi and fry it in tempura batter....mmmmyeah.
7) Black tea jelly with apple: in progress. Assumed the jam I had was something else, need to get some jam.
8) Not from ABC, but Martha Stewart: One pot pasta is really every bit amazing. Adding a bit of cream cheese (need to clear before expiry) and a bit of butter and I have a ham and cheese pasta! :p Must remember the chopped tomatoes though. The cherry tomatoes don't add enough tang.
9) Crab + daikon + mitsuba salad = I don't like daikon. Morphed into crab cucumber and generous sprinkling of sesame seeds. Did a broccoli version; definitely must have mayo always added to take away the slightly raw taste of broccoli, especially since i like to just blanch it for crunch. This is a keeper.
10) Nikujaga: Not bad. Still prefer the chinese version of abc soup. ^^;;
11) Pao de quejiao: Perilously hovering at the stage of becoming more trouble than its worth. I made a convert out of a friend, and after that I was never quite able to recreate it. Have tried many variations with cheaper and expensive ingredients... Conclusion: Must use best shiratamako and a really good cheese, something strong like cheddar. The rest are edible, but it doesn't quite reach the holy grail status.
12) Ramen & Udon making: wahahahah no way. The commercial versions are still better and easier. I do have a full time job, not even including the extracurricular projects and my nonexistent exercising.
Mostly using this as a quick jotting down of notes.
1) Ikameshi: This turned out well in spite of wrongly oversoaking the glutinous rice. If japanese mochikome isn't available, chinese glutinous rice works just as well. I like the texture adding pearl barley gave to it; will continue this variant. Will also attempt to use piping bags next time or convenient friends.
2) Buta kakuni: Trying now. Lacking a pressure cooker, am now attemtping this via slow cooker instead...which ought to drag out the cooking time even more ^^; oops. Since had excess onions and ginger, threw it into the braising sauce in lieu of sugar. Hope it turns out well!
3) Tsukune: ok but not great. This is not entirely surprising since only lean mince was used. But I've gone off teriyaki flavours recently, so I don't think I'll be making this often anyway
4) Salmon onigiri: Bad choice to retry because...I don't like salmon. Surprisingly the one we made in the cooking class actually was very good and not overly fishy which is why I was hopeful i'll be willing to eat it. Nope. Probably not as fresh as the cooking class; the fishiness defeated me. Will attempt with some other fish/meat.
5) Soy butter squid tentacles: EXCELLENT. did this twice, must remember to be a bit restrained with the butter though, second time used too much butter and ended up with the squid practically swimming again. ^^;;
6) Soba: As per my own practice, boil to my own timing. Limp soba is for other people. Tempura however is not in my future. Still, that kakiage is amazing....coat anything with sakura ebi and fry it in tempura batter....mmmmyeah.
7) Black tea jelly with apple: in progress. Assumed the jam I had was something else, need to get some jam.
8) Not from ABC, but Martha Stewart: One pot pasta is really every bit amazing. Adding a bit of cream cheese (need to clear before expiry) and a bit of butter and I have a ham and cheese pasta! :p Must remember the chopped tomatoes though. The cherry tomatoes don't add enough tang.
9) Crab + daikon + mitsuba salad = I don't like daikon. Morphed into crab cucumber and generous sprinkling of sesame seeds. Did a broccoli version; definitely must have mayo always added to take away the slightly raw taste of broccoli, especially since i like to just blanch it for crunch. This is a keeper.
10) Nikujaga: Not bad. Still prefer the chinese version of abc soup. ^^;;
11) Pao de quejiao: Perilously hovering at the stage of becoming more trouble than its worth. I made a convert out of a friend, and after that I was never quite able to recreate it. Have tried many variations with cheaper and expensive ingredients... Conclusion: Must use best shiratamako and a really good cheese, something strong like cheddar. The rest are edible, but it doesn't quite reach the holy grail status.
12) Ramen & Udon making: wahahahah no way. The commercial versions are still better and easier. I do have a full time job, not even including the extracurricular projects and my nonexistent exercising.