The Glutton's Sins: Okonomiyaki

Original post HERE: 25 May 2011
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Another of my first attempts; this time, making the Okonomiyaki [お好み焼き]. It is a Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked". Okonomiyaki is sometimes compared to an omelette or a pancake and may be referred to as "a Japanese pancake" or even "Osaka soul food". Oh yeah, my dear Roseate June and I are both absolute suckers for Japanese food.

Ingredients and Preparation: The most important is the flour mix for the batter. Some supermarkets bring in Okonomiyaki flour or a premixed blend so you can pry your eyes wide open to read the labels at the Japanese food columns. If you are lucky, you might find them in "Daiso", I got mine there. Or if you ran out of luck, I heard that you can use regular white flour, some dashi or bonito stock and grated mountain yam. Unfortunately, mountain yam is pretty hard to obtain but because of its glutinous and gooey texture when grated, it gives the batter a very good consistency and the cooked product a authentic flavor.

I couldn't get any mountain yam of course, so I'll stick to my Okonomiyaki flour and dashi. Adding in eggs and a pinch of salt to flavor, I mixed the batter to a nice thick mixture. If your mixture is like regular pancake mix, it is too thick. Add in more water. And remember to use a large bowl, because after that, you would put in the other main element of the okonomiyaki; shredded cabbage and garlic leek. I think leek would work fine too, if not green onions. The magical thing about the Okonomiyaki as its name suggests, is that you can add whatever you would like, practically. But stick to vegetables for now. Meat and stuff like that should be added later as it requires more thorough cooking. I was thinking of trying sliced shitake mushrooms the next time, it should gave a very awesome flavor.

As for the meat topping, the typical additions go from sliced pork, bacon, seafood, shrimps, octopus, vegetables, squid, kimchi, mochi, cheese or topping it with another sunny side up. Having said so, I've seen people adding "lup cheong" [chinese sausage], sliced bratwursts, ground meat and other uncommon stuff. Maybe you can add pepperoni or salami even to make it more like a pizza. Hmmm... which gives me an idea of diced tomatoes.

Lastly, for the sauce, you will need okonomiyaki sauce which is similar to Worcestershire sauce but thicker and sweeter. [Try Otafuku or Bulldog brands] And the all time favorite; Kewpie Mayonnaise!

The Cooking: Unless you have teppan [a flat iron griddle], heat up a well oiled skillet over medium heat. Pour the batter [mixture of flour, dashi, eggs, cabbage, leek and what not] to form a large pancake. But not that big. A 6 inch [15cm] diameter okonomiyaki should be ample to fill a regular tummy nicely. Let it cook for, say 3 mins then lay the bacon, sausages or meat *blah blah blah* all over the top. Now scoop a little of the remaining batter and smear lightly or spread thinnly over the topping. This action will secure the toppings in place when it's cooked. After another 2 -3 minutes, when the pancake should have been cooking on that same side for approximately 5-6 minutes, it's time to flip the whole thing over and use whatever necessary time your special ingredients require. If there's nothing special that's hard to cook, another 4-5 minutes will suffice. And its time to serve on a plate.

The key to its taste are the 2 sauces. Slather the pancake generously with okonomiyaki sauce, and drizzle the kewpie mayonnaise all over. Don't be stingy on the sauces. It's optional, but you may sprinkle seaweed flakes and bonito flakes for the final touch!

Add/do whatever you like, have fun and enjoy your okonomiyaki!

Bon Appetit~ ... ... I mean.. itadkimasu~

The Glutton's Sins: Omu Rice with Chicken Nuggets

Original post HERE: 
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Omurice, sometimes spelled "omu-rice" [ オムライス, Omu-raisu], is a contemporary Japanese dish consisting of an omelette made with fried rice and this is my first attempt to cook up this dish, completed with a decent satisfaction. The dish typically consists of fried rice [rice pan-fried with ketchup and chicken) wrapped in a thin sheet of fried egg and is commonly served in western style diners in Japan. As usual, the glutton in Roseate June and me made us crave badly for it.

Ingredients used: As Roseate June was never a fan of green peas and carrots, I replaced them with finely chopped cabbage, onions, button mushrooms and gave them a quick sauté to soften them up. Next went in the chicken dices and rice, then stir fried them up with a harmony of tomato ketchup and other seasoning. Lots of ketchup is the key to the taste, however too much will make it taste sweet and nothing else; there's where the other seasoning [I used a bit of soy sauce, oyster sauce and rice wine.] comes into play. Lastly, beat the eggs loosely and fry them in a pan over low heat to avoid over-cooking, then fill up the centre with a generous portion of the rice and wrap it up. Flip the whole omurice onto a plate and top with ketchup.

*Notice I did a bad job with the ketchup topping as my ketchup bottle was empty and I had to use those satchets from fast food joints.

Chicken Nuggets: Once again, not from McDonald's or those frozen products. I mashed up some chicken fillet meat and mixed it together with tofu, a small pinch of salt and pepper and the ""secret weapon", Kewpie Mayonnaise. Formed them into small balls and pan fried them while flattening them a little to make it look like a nugget. Cook evenly on both sides for a couple of minutes and there're done. Roseate June loves these, absolutely.

Fried Tofu: That little yellow cube you see on the left is actually a piece of fried tofu. It's a "proto-type" impromptu product that I made using the left over tofu. Used paper towels to repeatedly soak up the moisture in the tofu cube, then dabbed with some corn flour and pan-fried on each side. The taste and texture was quite close, just a bit too much corn flour, which is really hard to control. I'll improve on that next time.

The Glutton's Sins: Wendy's

Originally posted: 15 Sep 2010
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Liat Towers: Wendy's

It is more like a revival in Singapore. If my memory didn't fail me, there was a Wendy's over a decade ago at the old Marina Square. I think it should be at somewhere the Carl's Junior is at at present. Was it something else? It was more like a diner back then, opened 24 hours a day, unlike the fast food chain it became now. Just like how Kentucky Fried Chicken used to serve its chicken on porcelain plates and you would tuck in with stainless steel knives and forks. When another branch opened at Tampines Century Square, the crowd was insane. I guess those who would like to reminisce the good old fashioned times charged over there to relive it.

1/4 lb Single Hamburger Combo with Fries and Drink

I thought the whole combo tasted normal, nothing really exclusive. June complained that the beefy smell/taste is too overwhelming. Honestly I'll rather pay $2 for a double cheeseburger at McDonald's. The additional Strawberry milkshake was thick and good though. Topped with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry, it's way better than McDonald's

5/10 - It is just ok, nothing fantastic. I wouldn't go crazy over it nor join the massive horde of people queuing up at the Wendy's at Tampines Century Square when it just opened. I'll drop by for the milkshake or baked potato when there are lesser crowds.

Salsa and Cheese Baked Potato

June and me are always nuts over baked potatoes. We liked the salsa and cheese of course. The potato itself was disappointing, the texture of the potato "meat" wasn't perfect and the skin stuck to it too much. Perhaps because it's not cooked the traditional way of wrapping in foil, then dumping it into a charcoal grill.

6.5/10 - We'll much prefer the original baked potato, but since its not always easy to get one [or Aston's], it'll do fine as a substitute.

The Glutton's Sins: NYDC

Originally posted: 15 Nov 2010
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Tampines One, Level 2: NYDC
From Top to Bottom: Three Amigos Baked Rice, Mushroom Munchies, Beef Lasagne

I realized that June and me have actually tonnes of food pictures but I had absolutely no time to do a proper review, nor blog, nor upload the pictures... Till recently I have got more free time on hand again to enjoy life. So... here I go again.

Beef Lasagna
At almost every place I've tried, their lasagna's tasted like crap or way below standard; Includes Café Cartel [Total crap], Pizza Hut [High Quality Swine Feed], Pasta Mania [I only finished it because I was totally starving] and Milano's [which is actually quite nice, but you can't Milano's anymore]

This at NYDC however, was one of the best Lasagna's I've had since ages. Almost moved to tears. Layers of pasta blankets over minced beef and rich tomato sauce. Oven baked with a generous layer of mozzarella cheese. Even comes with 2 pieces of garlic toast.; Crispy of the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. Perfect to soak up the tomato sauce and mop the dish clean. Yum Yum.

8.5/10 - Can't find much to penalize actually, just deducted some points as threshold for other expensive Italian fine dining places.

Three Amigos Baked Rice
Baked Rice, with their signature meatballs, ham and sausage, Oven baked with a thick layer of cheese. Great for meat-lovers.

6/10 - Maybe its me, but the standard dropped quite a bit. Hopefully its better next time.

Mushroom Munchies
Button Mushrooms [Not those small canned yellow button mushrooms] topped with cheese and ham, grilled to perfection. It's still so juicy and flavorful! Just great. Oh, we were hungry again so we already helped ourselves to one each before taking the picture.

7/10 - Tastes wonderful. Unfortunately, each serving only comes with 5 of them, making the portion pathetic and too pricey.

Spudniks
Skin on potatoes, topped with something like chicken mayo salad and ham as fillings then melted with mozzarella cheese in the oven.

7/10 - Great snack. Just go easy on it. It's quite filling and might fill you up before the main course arrives.

The Glutton's Sins: Fish & Co.

Originally posted: 13 Sep 2010

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It has been a long while since we last visited FIsh & Co. and apparently they have done a make-over to their menu. Their signature fish and chips which usually is only available in the original and the new york version now comes in many varieties, but their fish is still alway crispy on the outside and SOoooo tender on the inside. I would say less of their chips though.

If you liked the New York version, which comes with some cheese sandwiched inside the premium white fish meat, you would love the other new versions they came up with. Pardon me as I've forgotten some of the names of the other varieties, I'll take note when I revisit, but they really have an interesting twist to the flavor. Take the Japanese Fish & chips that Roseate June ordered for example; it has cheese sandwiched in within and contains some flavor similar to bonito or dashi stock. Finished with a dash of black sesame seeds on the fish as though it was a bento.

The Swiss Fish & chip was my choice. Like the way I like it, it has Gruyere cheese sandwiched in between so it has the gooey, stringy texture plus some herbs, which I believe its the common blend of herbs I always use in in my bolognese sauce & pasta dishes.

Lastly, there's always the super giant glass of ice blended drink: Mermaid Freeze, mango and something like grenadine? Anyway, super sized, super value, super quenching, super brain freeze, super shiok. We were never able to finish it, and by the time we really feel so cold we really want to go outdoors to get some warmth. Wonder if we could order a take away for that?? Hmm...