Okonomiyaki Recipe

Okonomiyaki

Due to my recent venture into a Japanese grocery in Midtown Manhattan, I was inspired to make my own okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancake). This dish is savory, and not sweet as the usual American breakfast pancakes are. I based this recipe on this one, but made a few modifications of my own because

1. I was lacking some ingredients like red pickled ginger, tempura flakes, seaweed powder and bonito flakes
2. I'm vegetarian (most of the time)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup stock or water
• 1 egg (per batch, this makes about 4 batches)
• Dole classic coleslaw mix
• Canned corn (about 2 tbsp per batch)
• 4-6 tbsp chopped green onion (I didn't have this but I would use it if I did)
• 1/2-3/4 cup tenkasu (tempura flakes)  2 tbsp crushed French's fried onions (per batch)
• A dash of powdered ginger
• 12-18 strips of thinly sliced pork or beef
• vegetable oil
• For toppings:
• ao-nori (dried seaweed powder)
• okonomiyaki sauce (buy at Japanese grocery, for example Sunrise Mart)
• mayonnaise (kewpie brand, buy at Japanese grocery)
• katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) *optional
• beni-shoga (pickled red ginger) *optional
  

Preparation:

1. Put flour in a large bowl. Pour water/stock and mix to make batter. Rest the batter for about an hour in the refrigerator. 
2. To make one sheet of okonimiyaki, take out about 1/2 cup of the batter in another bowl. 
3. Mix about 1/4 bag of the coleslaw mix, about 1 Tbsp of chopped green onion, 2 tbsp corn, a dash of powdered ginger (depending on how ginger-y you want it) and about 2 tbsp of tempura flakes crushed fried onions in the batter. 
4. Add an egg in the batter and stir. (*Tip: The batter needs to be mixed in for a bit with the coleslaw and egg so the consistency is less like putty)
5. Heat an electric pan or skillet and oil lightly. Pour the batter in the pan and make a round shape. Cook for about 5 minutes. (*Tip: Check the cooking side at 2 1/2 mins to make sure it hasn't burned, flip if you think it's brown enough)
6. Meanwhile, fry a couple slices of meat on the side and place the meat on top of the okonomiyaki. 
7. Flip the okonomiyaki and cook for about 5 minutes or until cooked through.
8. Flip the okonomiyaki again and spread okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise on top. Sprinkle aonori over the sauce. Sprinkle katsuobushi and beni-shoga if you would like.

I experimented a bit with sprinkling Worcestershire sauce on each side as I cooked one of the pancakes. I also used more oil with one, and less oil with one. Your cooking time will be less if you use more oil/heat and the pancake will be crispier. If you're not into crispy okonomiyaki (which isn't the standard), then use low to medium heat, and less oil. Either way, it tastes GREAT! Bon appetit! :)

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Posted in: recipes,vegetarian

I'm VEGETARIAN??!!

Vegetable Green Curry

Aside from my being lazy, one of the main reasons I haven't posted on this blog lately is that I seem to put a curse on any diet I write about in this blog. I start writing about it then immediately stop dieting. So I wanted to wait 'til I had stuck with one diet for awhile before posting about it.

I've been vegetarian for almost 2 months now. The most surprising thing about this isn't that I tried it (judging from the variety of diets I've been on I was sure to try this one at some point), it's that I actually DON'T MIND IT! This is crazy coming from someone who, in the back of her mind always thought vegetarians are weird. How can anyone live without meat? Turns out it's not as bad as I thought it was.

I haven't lost that much weight. I've lost about 2 lbs since I started, but you'll understand how amazing this weight loss is if you know how much I've been eating for the past two months. I started a new blog Not Bored NY, which basically has me going around New York checking out sights and stores and sampling as much food as I can. I've eaten dinner twice so many times I've lost count. Basically I eat whenever I feel like it, and my weight hasn't gone up at all. It's like I'm not even making an effort and I'm maintaining.

Now, I know the point of most diets isn't just to maintain, but this is already amazing in itself because I have NEVER found a way to maintain without having to count calories or workout like crazy. This is why I've never stayed at my target weight, because there will always be weeks when I just need to let go and eat whenever I want. I've found a simple rule that will allow me to maintain: no meat. Dieting doesn't have to take over my life for me to maintain anymore.

To actually get to my target weight I GUESS I'm just gonna have to workout once or twice a week and NOT eat dinner twice. Since October is coming, it's a good time to start eating sensibly. :)

Here's my first recipe post as a vegetarian. I used the Vegetable Green Curry recipe from epicurious.com, although I replaced the red peppers with frozen spinach because I hate bell peppers. I also added French's fried onions as a topping. This recipe is great over brown rice.

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Posted in: recipes,vegetarian

Creamy Chili Short Ribs

olive oil
salt and pepper
1 cup of cooked cut up short ribs (or any other leftover meat)
2 cups cauliflower and broccoli
heavy cream
oil chili (found in Asian stores)

Saute the cauliflower and broccoli in olive oil (if not yet cooked). Add salt and pepper to taste (if needed).  Add the short ribs and chili and saute until heated. Add some heavy cream and saute, saute, saute. Give it a taste and add more salt if needed.

I've found that making a meal out of leftovers is more enjoyable for me than cooking regular meals. I never really look up recipes for them online, and always end up improvising. I guess it brings out my creative side, which really doesn't come out that often.

I usually saute a bunch of vegetables for the week when I'm on South Beach. Last week it was broccoli and cauliflower (I usually add onions but I ran out). So I had some veggies. Last night I tried a slow-cooker short rib recipe without using flour. Unfortunately since I'm still getting used to our new slow-cooker, I thought it lacked salt (it was extremely tender, at least!). So tonight I figured I'd have the veggies and the short-rib, but I wasn't too excited at the prospect since neither of them had any sauce, and who gets excited over veggies anyway? I though of sauteing them with chili first, because that's my go-to spice (that and sesame oil) for when I'm cooking originally bland leftovers. I looked in my fridge and saw some leftover heavy cream from when I made green bean casserole last week, and thought, 'Why not?'. So I added in some cream at the end, and boy did that make a difference. I can imagine shrimp, beef or chicken would work with this as well. This is one of the most delicious leftover meals I've ever made. For any people who don't really care about dieting but are just reading my blog to support me (:P) this would go well with rice or noodles (My hubby actually had it with some ramen and removed the veggies lol).

This is the short rib recipe for those interested: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooked-German-Short-Ribs/Detail.aspx I didn't use flour of course.

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Posted in: leftover fun,low-carb recipes,recipes

Low-Carb Italian Meatloaf

2 lbs ground turkey
1/2 cup pesto (I used the bottled kind)
1/2 cup of crushed almonds
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
2/3 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1 egg
salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Have ready a shallow 11-by-7-inch baking dish (if you don't have this, use whatever you have and just form the meatloaf so that it fits). In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Mix gently and thoroughly with your hands. Form the mixture into a rough loaf in the baking dish.
2. Bake until the loaf is firm, the top is richly brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 160 degrees F (it was about an hour when I did it, but you'd have to keep checking the first time). Let the loaf stand in the pan for 5-10 minutes before slicing.

I recently had a very bad craving for meatloaf, and found a basic recipe for Italian Meatloaf in a cookbook my soon-to-be-mother-in-law gave me (Simple Suppers by Williams-Sonoma). Unfortunately I am on South Beach Phase 1. Also, I had a lot of ground turkey, and no ground beef and pork (which was called for in the original recipe). So I thought of using the ground turkey obviously, and thought about what could replace breadcrumbs. I put in the parmesan to add a dry ingredient that might help hold the entire thing, but it didn't seem enough. So I put in some crushed almonds as well. It worked out perfectly and was absolutely delicious. I ended up eating this for an entire weekend, which never happens because I hate eating the same thing for consecutive meals. Don't be concerned if the mixture seems a little too wet, as long as it can be formed. It will dry up a bit after it's cooked.

Enjoy!

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Posted in: low-carb,low-carb recipes,meat recipes,recipes,south beach,turkey recipes