Gaji namul

Taken from Maangchi http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/gaji-namul

Tamarind prawn

Been cooking a lot of prawn recipes recently because we bought a kilo few weeks as a treat. Prawns usually go on sale after Christmas because it's a must eat food for Christmas lunches in Aust.

This recipe is adapted from Rasa Malaysia
http://rasamalaysia.com/tamarind-prawn-assam-prawn/ and really easy! Prawns are my new favourite protein to cook!

Ingredients

300g prawns, shelled

1 tbsp tamarind paste

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp corn starch

½ tbsp soya sauce

1 tsp garlic, minced

Method

1) Marinade in the sauces and sugar for 15 minutes.

2) Heat up HCP. Fry the garlic till aromatic but not brown.

3) Add prawns and fry till slightly charred.

4) Garnish with optional chilli.

Oyakodon おやこどん

I used JOC's recipe http://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/oyakodon/ and it worked a treat, altho its a bit too sweet for my liking. I adapted the recipe, eg doubled the portions and added some corn starch (I'm chinese, I can't help it!) so I would have leftovers. So easy to make! I'll do this again.

Ingredients (serves 4)

6 chicken thigh fillets (approx 700g)

6 tbsp mirin

2 tbsp sake

5 tbsp soya sauce

2 tbsp sugar

2 cups dashi

4 eggs

1 white onion, sliced

1 tbsp corn starch 

4 stalks spring onions, sliced into 2 inch slices (I omitted this as I don't like spring onions)

Dash pepper

4 portions of rice

Method

1) Slice the chicken thighs into bite sized chunks. Try to cut them into slivers rather than cubes so that it would cook faster.

2) Marinade with pepper, 1 tbsp of soya and corn starch. Mix well and set aside to marinade, at least for ½ hour.

3) In a shallow and wide pot (I used a paella pan), pour in the mirin and sake and bring to a boil to evaporate the alcohol. At this point, beat the eggs and set aside. I started cooking the rice in the microwave too.

4) Add the remaining soya, dashi and sugar. Bring to a boil, and add in the onions. Arrange them in a single layer. Place the chicken on top in a single layer. Cover and bring to a boil.

5) Skim off the scum and oil. Cover and let it cook for 10 minutes at medium flame, agitating the pot periodically.

6) Open the lid, sprinkle on the spring onions and drizzle on the egg. Turn off the flame and cover for 2 minutes or slightly longer if your like the eggs harder. I like my eggs soupy.

7) Ladle on top of rice.

Dorayaki どらやき

Got this from cooking with dog: http://youtu.be/11rMEA0_L8c and basically doubled the recipe. There were some replacements: I didn't have cake flour or bicarb, but this didn't seem to adversely affect the recipe. Since I didn't have anko, I replaced it with a can of blueberries. I didn't use raw sugar either, just regular sugar and thank goodness I didn't add the honey, too sweet already!

Ingredients (1 scoop makes 10 pancakes)

100ml water

260g flour

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch salt

4 eggs

160g sugar (reduce this next time)

½ tsp vanilla essence
1 can of blueberries or substitute with anko or other filling.

Method

1) Use balloon whisk to whisk the eggs. Add the sugar and salt and whisk till combined.

2) Sift the baking powder and flour together. Using the whisk, fold in a little bit at a time till combined and no lumps of flour. Do not over beat.

3) Cover with cling film and leave to rest.

4) Adjust consistency 1 tbsp of water at a time till it flows but not too watery.

5) Heat up a non stick pan. Pour on some oil and using a paper towel, oil the pan and wipe off the excess so that each pancake is evenly browned.

6) Ladle on the batter from a height and without swirling the pan, let it form natural rounds.

7) When the top is ¾ dry, gentle ease around the edges and underneath, then flip. The second side should take about half a minute.

8) Spoon on the filling and top with a second pancake.

Feedback on the recipe: Heat control and how much to ladle on are essential. I had 2 badly burnt pancakes initially till I got it right. Too hot and outside burns without cooking the inside, I suspect the sugar doesn't help. Too low a fire and pancake gets tough rather than cakey. Also, I might make it less watery in future (no additional water) so the the pancake doesn't spread as much and is thicker like a flapjack. Overall a good recipe for more cake-like flapjacks.

Garlic chilli prawn

HCP is my saviour. This is a supremely easy stir fry dish yet the returns are great. Most important is to use fresh prawns, nothing else will do.

Ingredients 

300g fresh prawns, shelled and deveined

1 tsp chopped garlic

1 tsp chopped ginger

1 tbsp chopped onion

3 chillis, sliced and deseeded if wanted

1 tsp fish sauce

1 tbsp chinese wine

1 tbsp corn starch

Method

1) Prepare and marinade prawns with sauces and corn starch. Set aside for at least half an hour.

2) Heat up the HCP. Fry the aromatics including chillis till soft. I don't usually use oil but I do grease the pan very lightly then wipe it off with a kitchen towel.

3) Add prawns and close the lid. Wait about 2 mins, then flip pan. After another 2 minutes, turn back and check if cooked. If not cooked, snap close lid and cook a 20 to 30 more couple more seconds till cooked.

4) Serve immediately.

Gaeran mari

My first attempt using this recipe:

http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/egg-side-dishes

This is deceptively difficult. The main factors are: 

1) amount of oil. Too much and it browns

2) heat: too little and it doesn't cook; too much and it browns

3) pouring egg: too much and the layer is too thick or takes too long to cook. Too little and it can burn or tears when handling 

I used 6 eggs because the recipe calls for 4 large eggs. This is the easiest basic version. Once I master this, then I can put fillings like vegs or nori, because all these complicate the cooking times.