This lamb stew came about because I got a bone-less leg of lamb, and was kind of struggling to figure out what to do with it. You see, if the meat came with the bone, I could make a gorgeous lamb stock, or even a meat pie. And the bone itself would be able to…
Tag: chili
Roasted Chicken Thighs with Chorizo Chickpeas
This dish is the perfect thing to eat on a cold, rainy dish. I made these chorizo-stewed chickpeas because I wanted this hearty, comforting stew. What I love from a textural contrast standpoint is that there are smoky chorizo bits and nutty, creamy chickpeas, swimming in a slightly spicy broth. That when paired with a…
Grilled Pork Loin with Apple Nuoc Cham
This dish came about after I realized I still had 2 whole heads of romaine lettuce, and I was sick of eating a chopped salad. When it comes to lettuce, I had some semi-traumatic experiences as a child since my mom would serve us boiled lettuce. What you don’t think about when it comes to…
Sourdough Bolognese Pizza
While I was experimenting with sourdough pizza crust, I happened to also have meal-prepped a giant vat of bolognese(meat sauce), just to have throughout the week for potential dinners. Originally, this was going to be a bolognese pasta post, but I forgot to photograph that, and decided instead, let’s use the bolognese on the pizza…
Haricot Vert and Feta Pita
I had purchased green beans(or haricot vert) on a whim and was trying to figure out a way to use the last few up in a fun and creative way. That was literally how this recipe came about. When I think about haricot vert, I distinctly enjoy their snappy texture, when blanched and shocked properly,…
Quahog Clam Onigiri
A long, long time ago, I was watching a Japan travel video, where someone purchased these red clam onigiri(rice balls), stored in the clam shells, and enjoyed them on a coastal train ride. Now, I would have totally linked the video, but it was years ago and I honestly could not find it anywhere. But…
Gyutan (Beef Tongue) Doria
Doria is a Japanese rice gratin, consisting of steamed rice with a white sauce or cheese poured over it and the entire thing is then broiled until golden-brown. I truthfully never had doria until this year, and that is a HUGE shock to me, given that I’ve been to Japan over 5 times, lived there…
Beef Moussaka
This recipe came about because I had a bunch of leftover potatoes, and I happened to purchase some graffiti eggplant the other day. Graffiti eggplant is just an eggplant that has a striped white and purple skin. Besides that, it literally tastes the same, and is just another eggplant, aka perfect to cook in a…
Momotaro Tomato and Bacon Pasta
I love Momotaro tomatoes. They are this pinkish-red Japanese tomato that has a mild sweetness to them. While eating them fresh is usually the way to go, I wanted to try cooking them, and I definitely was not disappointed in the end product: I made a tomato sauce with some of the Momotaro tomatoes, and…
Chili Crisp Chicken Lollipops with Japanese Pickles and Kale-slaw
For a hot minute, I have been trying to make wings using my air fryer. I love ordering wings whenever we get takeout from our local pizzeria – compared to almost every other cut of chicken besides the thigh, wings have a ton of flavor. They are annoying to eat, and you probably will have…
Crab and Chili Crisp Bagels
These bagels were a complete and utter brain child. I heard about Montreal style bagels – bagels that are boiled with a little bit of honey and have a soft, chewy crust – and wanted to make my own! However, a bagel on its own, while tasty, can be a little one-note, and I wanted…
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…
Modern Pan Con Tomate
Originally was going to serve this recipe with homemade ricotta and whey, specifically using the whey in the crystal bread, but I opted out of doing that, mostly because even the classic pan con tomate doesn’t use ricotta cheese, so this recipe should not either. There are times when cooks, myself included, can get a…
Salsa Macha Noodles
I was craving some chili oil-noodle business, and I was watching the Chef Show on Netflix, where they were making salsa macha, and that was literally how this recipe came about. For those unfamiliar with it, salsa macha(not to be confused with matcha green tea), is a salsa made with dried chilies, sesame seeds and/or…
Koji-fried chicken with chili honey
Over the past year, koji became one of my favorite ingredients. For those unfamiliar with it, koji is a type of bacteria or fungus that grows on rice or grains. It is used as a culture in Japanese cooking to ferment soybeans into miso paste. Because it is a fungus, koji contains natural umami in…
Yuzu tofu matzoh balls with chili-fennel broth
I feel like whenever the holidays roll around, there are always weird recipes or dishes that come up. This recipe would be one of those. I purchased yuzu flavored tofu from the local Japanese grocery store on a whim, thinking it would be fun to bake a dessert with. Little did I read, it was…
Chinese beef ragout with miso orecchiette
One of the first kinds of pasta I learned how to make from scratch is orecchiette. I love making them because it does not require a pasta roller, which not everyone has. You simply just make a log of dough, then cut it, and press it with your thumbs to form an indent. Super easy-peasy….
Tangzhong noodles with miso-sesame dressing and Thai chilies
After I made boba from scratch, I had a bizarre epiphany – if I were to cook flour with water into a gelatinous paste, and use that to make noodles, would they come out super chewy? When you are making boba, you do that process with water and tapioca flour to gelatinize the starch, resulting…
Mapo tofu gnocchi
So this is a dish I made a while back for the Plant Your Vote challenge in the 2020 election. The concept was to post a plant-based dish, and this mapo tofu gnocchi dish is 100% vegan. I wanted to post it now, since Chinese New Years is coming up, and I wanted to switch…
Vegan tofu gnocchi with shiitakes and chili oil
I came up with these gnocchi when I had the epiphany that tofu, being so similar to cheese, is whippable. Because it is whippable, you can use the tofu just like a ricotta or mascarpone, and in the case of the former, ricotta gnocchi is a thing, so surely tofu gnocchi could work, right? And…
Freddy's Harajuku 