2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (145 grams) blanched whole almonds, toasted and chopped coarsely
Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
Toast almonds for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely. Set aside.
Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small bowl lightly beat the eggs and extracts together. Set aside.
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer) combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Beat until blended (about 30 seconds). Gradually add the egg mixture and beat until a dough forms, adding almonds about halfway through. With floured hands divide dough in half. On a lightly floured surface roll each half of dough into a log about 10 inches (25 cm) long and 2 inches (5 cm) wide. Transfer logs to the prepared baking sheet, spacing the logs about 3 inches (7.5 cm) apart, and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until firm to the touch (logs will spread during baking). Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.
Transfer logs to a cutting board and, using a serrated knife, cut log into slices 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick on the diagonal. Arrange evenly on baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes, turn slices over, and bake another 10 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool. Store in an airtight container.
Note: Can substitute hazelnuts or walnuts for the almonds. If desired, add 1 tablespoon (5 grams) of orange or lemon zest to the egg mixture.
You can put a chocolate glaze on the biscotti. Melt 3 ounces (85 grams) of semi-sweet or white chocolate and 1 teaspoon (5 grams) vegetable shortening in a small metal bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir until melted and smooth. When melted, place chocolate into a parchment triangle or small plastic bag with one edge cut. Pipe onto the biscotti in a decorative pattern. Alternatively, you can dip or spread with a small metal spatula one side of the biscotti with chocolate and let dry on a clean baking sheet.
Base
1 cup flour
3/4 cup dashi (or water, see below)*
1 egg
1/8-1/4 of a cabbage
Toppings - any of the below
Chicken
Roast pork or beef
Squid, Octopus, other seafood
Corn
Mushrooms
Onion
Garnishing - any of the below
Katsuo-bushi (dried bonito flakes)
Sakura-ebi (dried shrimps)
Beni-shoga (red ginger)
Ao-nori (green seaweed)
Sauces
Okonomiyaki sauce (which is 3 tbsp ketchup, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce)
Mayonnaise
Method
So firstly grab that cabbage and chop it up finely. Better to have too much than too little because it shrinks a little as it cooks, and it’s mega cheap anyway. Get out as much of the white stem parts as you can.
Now break an egg into a large bowl and pour in the dashi/water, and the flour.
Then beat with a whisk until smooth.
Now add some of the finely chopped cabbage and mix as best you can. It should end up looking like this.
Heat up your skillet, electric frypan, grill, whatever you’re going to use to cook this baby. Preferably use something that’s got teflon on it
Now prepare your toppings. I’m using Chinese BBQ pork slices, a little bell pepper, some onion, mushrooms, parsely and spring onion. Just chop it all up good.
Throw it all in the frypan with some oil (sesame is good) to keep it all well-lubed. Cook until either heated through or in the case of raw meat or veges, for a few minutes until it’s getting close to being cooked.
Arrange the nearly cooked toppings in a round…
Then throw the cabbage/dough mixture on top, also in a round!
Turn up the heat a little to medium and let that bad boy cook through for 5 minutes or so. Then flip it. In the picture below, I had to cut the round in half to flip it, which doesn’t matter because we’ll be cutting it into pieces later anyway. You could always make two okonomiyaki instead!
Let it cook for another 5-10 minutes. You can break away a bit of the dough bit when it doesn’t look raw any more and see if the cabbage and dough is cooked through.
Flip it out onto a plate and cover liberally with Okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise!
8 ounces shrimp, cooked, small
4 tomato, ripe, diced
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
1 loaf Italian bread
Method
Preheat oven broil. Rinse shrimp and let drain in colander. In a mixing bowl, combine tomoatoes, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic powder, black pepper, basil and lemon juice. Mix well.
Slice bread 1/4 inch thick, brush with olive oil and toast under broiler until lightly brown. Remove from oven. Spoon shrimp mixture on top of toasted bread and serve immediately.
2 tomatoes, cubed
1 teaspoon dried basil
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
seasoning salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
Method
In a medium bowl, mix tomatoes, dried basil, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, garlic, seasoning salt and ground black pepper. Cover and chill in the refrigerator 8 hours, or overnight, before serving.
2 whole chicken breasts, split
coarse salt
freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 onion, peeled
1 sprig parsely
1 egg, beaten
bread crumbs
oil for frying
Bechamel sauce:
5 tbsps butter
6 tbsps flour
3/4 cup milk
salt
freshly ground pepper
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
Method
Remove the small rib bones from the chicken, leaving the large breast bone intact.
Cook the breasts in water to cover with the salt, pepper, thyme, bay leaf, onion, and parsley. Add also the bones that have been removed. Cook about 15 minutes - do not overcook.
Remove the chicken and continue cooking the broth another 30 minutes. Reserve 3/4 cup of the broth for the bechamel sauce. cool, then chill the chicken.
To make the bechamel sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour, and cook a minute or so. Stir in the reserved broth, the milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cook until the sauce is thickened and smooth. cool, stirring occasionally.
Dip the cold chicken pieces in the bechamel sauce, coating them completely on all sides.
Place the breasts on a plate and refrigerate until the sauce hardens, at least 1 hour.
Dip the breasts in the beaten egg, then into bread crumbs to coat. Fry immediately in hot oil, at least 1″ deep, until the chicken is golden on all sides. drain.
The trick lies in chilling the bechamel so that during frying it clings to the chicken.
1 (16 ounce) package dried penne pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 bunch cilantro
3 sprigs fresh dill weed, chopped
1 (6 ounce) can Italian-flavored tomato paste
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper to taste
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil, cook the penne pasta 10 to 12 minutes, until al dente, and drain.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat, and saute the onion, green bell pepper, and garlic until tender. Stir in the chicken, and cook until almost done. Mix in the peas, cilantro, dill, tomato paste, and enough water to make a thick sauce. Continue to cook and stir until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear, and all the ingredients are heated through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
To prepare the bechamel sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Dissolve the chicken bouillon cube in the melted butter. Stirring constantly, blend in the flour until smooth. Mix in the milk, season with pepper, and continue to cook and stir until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
In a bowl, mix the cooked pasta with 1/2 the bechamel sauce. Place 1/2 the pasta in a baking dish, layer with 1/2 the chicken mixture, and 1/2 the mozzarella cheese. Layer with the remaining pasta, remaining chicken mixture, and remaining bechamel sauce. Top with remaining mozzarella cheese.
Bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until bubbly.
1200 grams whole fish (whiteflesh)
2-4 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons curry powder
1 medium onion finely chopped
450 grams can of finely crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon thyme finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 teaspoon crushed ginger
5-6 curry leaves
3 cups water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
oil to deep fry fish
salt and pepper to taste
Method
Buy fish whole and scaled. Cut into slices (serve sizes), clean fish, remove gills, intestines etc. You may separate the fish head into halves lengthwise. Wash in cold running water, pat dry with kitchen towel paper. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle fish slices with the corn flour to ensure an even coating. Put the fish head pieces aside. Alternatively, toss the fish pieces in a large plastic bag with the corn flour. The corn flour will give the fish a crisp golden texture when fried.
Deep fry the fish slices to a crisp golden finish. Do not fry the fish head pieces. Drain the fried fish slices on kitchen paper. Retain 3 tablespoons of the vegetable oil. Put in a deep thick bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the crushed garlic, crushed ginger, finely chopped onion and thyme. Stir fry until the onions become transparent and cooked. Add the curry leaves (alternatively use kaffir lime leaves), stir in and cook for 2 minutes. Put in the finely crushed tomatoes and simmer until the tomatoes are cooked and the sauce is well blended. Add hot water to the sauce to prevent burning if necessary. Stir at intervals. When the sauce is nearly cooked, stir in 1 tablespoon of the finely chopped coriander leaves.
Add 4 tablespoons of curry powder into the tomato sauce. Stir in and simmer for a further 2-3 minutes. Progressively add 1 cup of hot water and allow to simmer to obtain a creamy curry sauce. Add the raw fish head pieces and gently stir into the curry sauce. Progressively, add 2 cups of hot water into the sauce and mix carefully. Cover and allow to simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the fish head pieces are cooked. Stir at intervals and turn over the fish head pieces once. You may adjust the sauce consistency to your preference by either adding more hot water (little at a time) to have more sauce or simmer without cover to thicken the sauce.
Taste sauce and season with salt & pepper to your preference. Carefully remove the fish head pieces and place in a warmed serving dish. Carefully put into the sauce the fried fish slices. Stir gently into the sauce and allow to simmer for a further 10-15 minutes. Make sure that the fish slices are fully immersed into the sauce.
Remove from heat and allow the fish slices to rest in the sauce for at least 30 minutes. Warm over low heat just before serving. Carefully transfer the fish slices and sauce into the serving dish with the fish head pieces. Sprinkle with the remaining chopped coriander leaves.
125 grams of crab meat or
175 grams chicken breast meat
1/2 teaspoon freshly crushed ginger
2 egg whites
3-4 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon cornflour paste
600 ml chicken or vegetable stock
225 grams canned creamed sweet corn
Salt and pepper to taste
Finely chopped spring onions
Method
Flake the crab meat. Alternatively coarsely chop the chicken meat. Mix the flaked crab meat or coarsely chopped chicken with the crushed ginger.
Whisk the egg whites until frothy in a container large enough to contain the flaked crab or chopped chicken, then add the milk and cornflour paste. Mix well together and beat until smooth. Blend in manually the crab meat or the coarsely chopped chicken.
Bring the stock to the boil, add the creamed sweet corn. Simmer the stock and creamed sweet corn for 1 minute. Stir in the crab or chicken pieces and the egg white mixture. Mix well together and allow to simmer for 2 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir gently until well blended.
Serve hot, garnished with chopped spring onions. Perfect as an entrée for all meals.
