Ingredient: salt

Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki
Print Recipe
This easy-to-make savory pancake is a crowd favorite. Aside from a few key ingredients, the choice of what to throw in is very much up to you! This recipe is not vegan but is meat-free. The layering of umami-rich ingredients throughout this recipe pretty much means you're not going to miss the meat. You can always dial it up with your favorite proteins including pork belly if you like.
Servings Prep Time
4 pancakes 1 hour
Cook Time
30 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 pancakes 1 hour
Cook Time
30 minutes
Okonomiyaki
Print Recipe
This easy-to-make savory pancake is a crowd favorite. Aside from a few key ingredients, the choice of what to throw in is very much up to you! This recipe is not vegan but is meat-free. The layering of umami-rich ingredients throughout this recipe pretty much means you're not going to miss the meat. You can always dial it up with your favorite proteins including pork belly if you like.
Servings Prep Time
4 pancakes 1 hour
Cook Time
30 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 pancakes 1 hour
Cook Time
30 minutes
Ingredients
Batter
Filling
Toppings
Dashi
Servings: pancakes
Instructions
Dashi
  1. In a medium pot, bring konbu to a slow boil (about 10-15 minutes). Remove konbu, add katsuobushi and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and let katsuobushi steep for about 10-15 minutes. The katsuobushi will also sink to the bottom in the process. Strain the stock and it’s ready for use. Any unused stock may be refrigerated for up to a week or frozen for up to a month.
Batter + Filling
  1. Whisk dry ingredients together until blended. Add eggs and dashi and stir until just mixed.
  2. Add in cabbage, beni shoga, mushrooms and tenkasu.
Cooking + Serving
  1. Heat pan up and add 2 tablespoons of oil. Put in a rounded cup of batter mix and using the edge of a spatula, gently spread the mound out to form a pancake. Avoid using the back of the spatula to press down. You want the cake to be somewhat loose and not too dense. Lower the heat to medium low, cover the pan and cook for about 5 minutes. Flip the pancake, cover the pan and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove the lid, turn the heat up to medium to medium high and cook uncovered for 2 minutes on each side to crisp up each side. The pancake should be golden brown when done.
  2. To serve, generously drizzle okonomiyaki sauce and Japanese mayonnaise. Top with sliced green onion, katsuobushi and aonori (green seaweed flakes) if desired.

Tea Eggs (茶叶蛋）Recipe

In this recipe, cracked hard boiled eggs steep in a spiced, smoky, tea-based liquid. The marbled veins that wrap around the egg give it a distinct marbled look. This recipe is courtesy of Ling Peng.

Tea eggs marbled with tea-infused flavor

The preparation method is simple but does require a long steeping period. For ease, the dry spices can be substituted with store-bought 5-spice powder.

Ingredients to make tea eggs

For the story to go with these tea eggs, click here: Tea Eggs and School Days

Tea Eggs (茶叶蛋)
Print Recipe
In this recipe, cracked hard boiled eggs steep in a spiced, smoky, tea-based liquid. The marbled veins that wrap around the egg give it a distinct marbled look.
Servings Prep Time
6 eggs 6 hours
Cook Time Passive Time
1 hour 5 hours
Servings Prep Time
6 eggs 6 hours
Cook Time Passive Time
1 hour 5 hours
Tea Eggs (茶叶蛋)
Print Recipe
In this recipe, cracked hard boiled eggs steep in a spiced, smoky, tea-based liquid. The marbled veins that wrap around the egg give it a distinct marbled look.
Servings Prep Time
6 eggs 6 hours
Cook Time Passive Time
1 hour 5 hours
Servings Prep Time
6 eggs 6 hours
Cook Time Passive Time
1 hour 5 hours
Ingredients
  • 6 each eggs hard boiled
Steeping Liquid
Servings: eggs
Instructions
Hard Boiled Eggs
  1. Put eggs in a pot and add water, enough to cover the eggs by about 2 inches. When water comes to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 12 minutes. When cooked, drain the hot water and add cold water to quickly cool the eggs. Use the back of a spoon to gently crack the shell of the eggs. The more cracks you make, the more intricate the "marbling" in the final product. (Do not peel the shell.)
Steeping Liquid
  1. Combine all of the ingredients in a small pot and bring to a boil; then simmer for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat. Immediately add the hard boiled cracked eggs to the liquid. Make sure the steeping liquid covers the eggs.
  2. Allow eggs to steep in tea liquid for at least 5 hours, and ideally overnight (in the refrigerator). Then lift the eggs from the steeping liquid and peel. The eggs can be eaten cold or warm.

Black Rice Pudding (“Bee Koe Moy”)

Give me a bowl of sweet black rice pudding topped with luxurious coconut milk and I go inside my happy place. This magical bowl is my definition of comfort food.

Black rice pudding topped with coconut milk

The true magic of black rice is unlocked with slow heat … and patience.  It takes time to cook through the grains to where they split open and release their starch. The result is this beautiful purple-black transformation that’s all at once nutty, smoky and comfortingly starchy.

Black rice, sometimes called black glutinous rice (or “pulut hitam” in the Malay language), is commonly sweetened and made into a dessert in Southeast Asia. This porridge-like dessert, called bee koe moy in my local dialect, is a staple in the nyonya-baba cuisine on the island of Penang where my family is from.

It’s pretty much an all-occasion food, perfect for the afternoon pick-me-up, after-dinner sweet, or even breakfast. The best thing is, it’s so simple to make. You just need slow heat and patience.

The sweet perfume of the pudding comes from pandan leaves. Pandan (or screwpine) leaves are long, slender and pointed leaves widely used in Southeast Asian cooking. The sweet-smelling leaves (sort of a cross between jasmine and vanilla) are widely used in many dessert recipes; just think of it as the “Asian vanilla.”

Whole pandan leaves

I often get asked why add salt to the coconut milk for what is obviously a sweet dish. The practice of adding salt to coconut milk is a long tradition, something I learned from my mother, and I suspect, something she learned from hers. The idea is to contrast the sweetness of the black rice pudding, and indirectly, tease out the sweetness of the pudding. You could compare it to today’s popular salted caramel flavor where the dichotomy of sweet and salty play off each other to new delicious heights. I should confess I’m partial to more coconut milk rather than less, as you can see in the picture.

Enjoy this satisfying treat hot, chilled or at room temperature.  What better way to warm up in the winter months than a hot bowl of this sweet, creamy and dreamy goodness?

Black rice pudding ingredients (clockwise): sugar, black rice and knotted pandan leaves

Black Rice Pudding ("Bee Koe Moy")
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
6-8 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
1 hour 15 minutes 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings Prep Time
6-8 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
1 hour 15 minutes 1 hour 15 minutes
Black Rice Pudding ("Bee Koe Moy")
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
6-8 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
1 hour 15 minutes 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings Prep Time
6-8 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
1 hour 15 minutes 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Rinse black rice in water three times and drain. Put rice in a pot and add water and knotted pandan leaves.
  2. Bring to a boil, cover the pot with a lid, and lower the heat to a slow simmer. Let simmer for about an hour, or until the pot has the consistency of porridge (or oatmeal). If you like it a little thinner, simply add more water.
  3. When you have the desired consistency, lift the pandan leaves out. Add the sugar, stir and turn the heat off.
  4. In a separate bowl, add the salt to the coconut milk and mix throroughly.
  5. To serve, spoon rice pudding in a small bowl, then drizzle about 2 tablespoons coconut milk over the bowl.
Recipe Notes

This recipe is easily adaptable to the crock pot. Put rice, water and pandan leaves in a crock pot and cook on “low” for about 5 hours. Then sweeten with sugar and follow the rest of the instructions above.

Congee at Home

Congee… its silky warmth has the power to unfurl the most knotted of feelings. In its most basic form, congee is a simple white porridge of rice and water. It’s soft, mushy and almost soup-like texture makes it easy to digest, making it a customary food for the infirmed in Asia. I remember being served thin congee with just a drizzle of soy sauce – for flavor – when I was sick as a kid.

congee-plated

The appeal of congee lies in its flexibility. With rice porridge as its base, the choice of ingredients and toppings transform this very humble meal into crave-able street food, or even elevated nosh at a swanky congee bar.

Now that it’s autumn, the allure of steaming hot congee is almost irresistible. No matter how you choose to serve it, you can always count on the deep, fulfilling comfort of congee. Please enjoy this congee recipe from my kitchen to yours.

congee-ingredients

Congee at Home
Print Recipe
This recipe is just one of many ways to make congee. You can customize the ingredients, adjust the amount of liquid, and even make it vegetarian.
Servings Prep Time
6-8 servings 1 hour
Cook Time
1 hour
Servings Prep Time
6-8 servings 1 hour
Cook Time
1 hour
Congee at Home
Print Recipe
This recipe is just one of many ways to make congee. You can customize the ingredients, adjust the amount of liquid, and even make it vegetarian.
Servings Prep Time
6-8 servings 1 hour
Cook Time
1 hour
Servings Prep Time
6-8 servings 1 hour
Cook Time
1 hour
Ingredients
Servings: servings
Instructions
  1. Porridge:
  2. Cut bulbous part of green onions into 1-inch segments, and save the rest for the topping. To make ginger slivers, thinly slice ginger root, and make long thin cuts across the slices.
  3. Put ginger, green onion and 6 cups of water into a pot and bring to a boil. Add chicken breasts and turn the heat down to a slow simmer.
  4. Rinse the rice 3 times to remove any excess starch and drain. When the chicken is cooked, lift it out of the pot and transfer to a bowl to let it cool down. Add the rice and chicken stock.
  5. With the pot partially covered, simmer until the rice grains break and turn starchy. The longer you allow the mixture to simmer, the starchier it becomes and the consistency will continue to thicken. You can control the starchiness and thickness of the congee by regulating the simmering time.
  6. You can also make the congee more flavorful by replacing water with chicken stock. You can also increase or cut back on the amount of liquid depending on how you like your congee consistency.
  7. When the congee is almost ready, add salt to taste and stir in the sesame oil.
  8. Toppings:
  9. Radish-garlic topping: Rinse the Chinese dried radish (see picture) a few times and drain. The radish is potently salty, so if you want to remove even more salt, soak it for a couple of hours and then rinse and drain. Mince the radish. Peel the garlic cloves and then mince. Mix the minced garlic and radish and set aside. Heat cooking oil in a pan, and slowly brown the garlic/radish mixture. Set aside when ready. The ratio of radish to garlic is fully customizable. If you don’t care for garlic, feel free to leave it out. I usually make the radish-garlic mixture in bulk and store it in a jar (under a thin layer of oil) in the refrigerator for future use. It’s good for up to a month.
  10. Green onion topping: Thinly slice the green part of the green onion – on the bias, if desired. Set aside.
  11. Roasted salted peanuts: I usually use store-bought peanuts, but if you wish you can roast your own.
  12. Chicken: When the cooked chicken is cool enough to handle, break up and shred the meat with your hands. I like to add a little salt and a little white pepper to season the meat, but that’s optional.
  13. To serve:
  14. Ladle the congee in a bowl. Add the toppings and serve. Alternately, you can serve the toppings separately and allow the diner to make it their way.
Recipe Notes

Other toppings/ingredients:

This is why congee rules - it’s so flexible and customizable, there are very few things that would not work. Here are some of the more traditional ingredients typically used for the porridge: thousand-year-old egg, dried scallops and clams and minced pork. Other possibilities for toppings include: chopped kimchi, bacon bits, crispy sliced shallots and even fermented tofu.