Meals – Page 4 – Freddy's Harajuku

Cheesy Scallion Hotteok

Hotteok is a Korean pancake, usually filled with brown sugar and walnuts, and pan-fried on both sides until golden brown. The yeast-leavened dough used to make it almost borders on a batter, because of how wet, loose, and kind of sticky it is. The reason why that consistency is optimal, however, is that when fried,…

Roasted eggplant with spicy lamb marmalade

This recipe is my homage to both an Italian ragout and stewed lamb. I love stewing lamb with lots of chilies and tomatoes, just because it is such has enough gamey-ness to hold up to a lot of flavors. Lamb curries are some of my favorite curries for that reason, but even stewed lamb chops…

Fidough Lop Cheong Bao

My childhood favorite dim sum order were lop cheong bao, which were a long string of bao dough that was wrapped around Chinese sausage, and steamed. Chinese sausage on its own is oily, sweet, and salty. It is highly seasoned, very flavorful, and works beautifully against the relatively neutral-flavored, but really light and fluffy bao…

Charsiu Milk Buns

Charsiu is comfort. Back when I was a child, I was an EXTREMELY picky eater. All the caps were needed there to emphasize how I basically wouldn’t eat seafood, certain kinds of fruits(pineapples, mangoes, and blueberries) and vegetables(bitter melon understandably, lettuce, gourds of any kind, and squash), and randomly coconut flakes(but I would still eat…

Black Sesame Hotcakes

I have been on a real hotcake kick lately. Hotcakes are pancakes, but fatter and thicker. They are very popular in Japan, and are often ordered at cafes! When I was in Kyoto, I was able to get some at the hotel we were staying at, and they were super fluffy and tender. So I…

“Chicken and Dumplings”: a plated dish

This dish is a revisited version of a recipe I made a few years ago, but as a more composed plated dish. The dish itself was what I made for a collaboration dinner at Mader Lao in Oklahoma, with my friends Gabriel and Dara(from season 12 of Masterchef!). I offered to do the entree, which…

Pierogi Bread Rolls

So these rolls were going to be something I would do for Thanksgiving, but then when my sister and I planned out our menu, we realized we have 4 different carbs, and we had to nix these rolls. That being said, the idea was such a good one that I still wanted to make these!…

Chawanmushi with buttered vegetables

Growing up in Torrance, we would go to Japanese restaurants all the time. Whenever they would serve us chawanmushi, it would be my favorite part of the meal. Served in these little tea cups was this soft, delicate egg custard that broke apart when you put a spoon to it, giving way to silky steamed…

Creamed Corn Tortellini

I would be lying if I said I grew up on creamed corn. The main corn thing I ate as a kid was corn potage, which was a creamy corn soup with bits of egg floating in it. Actually, I’m not even sure if it was supposed to have those egg drop ribbons floating through…

Almond Butter Hummus with Cauliflower and Rainbow Carrots

This hummus recipe came about because I was trying to make hummus, but I ran out of tahini, and happened to have a jar of almond butter lying around. Fortunately, the almond butter worked in a pinch, and I ended up with a hummus that was exceptionally high in protein and nutrients(thank you, almond butter)….

Charred Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Apple

When I was watching the most recent season of Top Chef, specifically Last Chance Kitchen, I saw chef Sara Bradley making this amazing cabbage dish, made from curing the cabbage with salt and sugar, and then “charring the sh*t out of it”. The end result was cabbage that was tender and soft on the inside,…

Loco Moco with Mushroom-Miso Gravy

This recipe was inspired by two different instances where I had really good loco moco. One was when I was in Hawaii, specifically at Moena Cafe in Oahu, and the other from Ryla restaurant in Redondo Beach! Moena Cafe had a short rib loco moco with this rich, deep demi glas gravy that made me…

Japanese Onion Soup

I came up with this because I needed to use up a lot of breadcrumbs, and one of the first things I thought about was doing a take on a French onion soup. Mostly because a few years ago on Masterchef season 10, my plating bestie Bri made one for a bread challenge, that while…

Pumpkin Toast with Koji Mascarpone

This is one of those rare instances where all of the ingredients for this recipe happened to be all there in my refrigerator already. I had leftover pumpkin from making a cake with it, I had bread from a failed milk bread sandwich attempt, and I had both heavy cream and koji as my usual…

Miso Eggplant Onigiri

Miso eggplant is one of those flavor combinations that I really wanted to dislike, but actually loved from the get-go. For context, growing up, my mom would always serve bitter melon with miso paste, which caused me to develop a bit of a gag reflex towards vegetables served with miso for a long, long time….

Classic Pan Con Tomate

I love pan con tomate. I had it for the first time in Jaleo in Washington, D.C., and it was such a simple concept – crusty, airy bread, rubbed with raw garlic, garnished with juicy, crushed tomatoes, olive oil, and sea salt. So straightforward in the components, and honestly very refreshing and light! The perfect…

Edamame-Garlic Confit Gazpacho with Socca, Sumac, and Nasturtiums

So as a part of my post-Asia diet, I swore off of foods with added sugars in them. Which is a lot of things, considering the fact that I primarily am a pastry person. In an attempt to eat better, I wanted to make something that was sugar-free, vegan, gluten-free, and still high in protein….

Butter Bear Pancakes with Kuromitsu

I was inspired to make these pancakes because of an Instagram post(and because I had to use up some eggs and some roasted white chocolate-sesame crunch before I left for my trip to Taiwan/Japan). The idea of these large, fluffy whole-pan pancakes, similar to the ones you can make in a rice cooker, just sounded…

Shio(koji)zake Salmon and Onsen Egg Rice Bowl

I was obsessed with eating shiozake salmon during my time in Japan. Every morning, my breakfast consisted of shiozake salmon, an onsen egg, rice, and a bowl of miso soup. This recipe is an homage to that, minus the miso(which is going into a different recipe). For those unfamiliar with the term, shiozake literally translates…

Gochujang Salsa Macha Rice Noodles

This recipe came about because I wanted to take the salsa macha noodles I made a while ago, but turn them 100% gluten-free and vegan. When I was fasting prior to my Hawaii trip, I had a lot of cravings. and these punchy, spicy, chewy noodles were one of them. Salsa macha is like the…