A delicate castella cake ^^

Thanks, mel! I can't believe I made this.. and successfully too, at my first attempt! ^^

I had not planned on making castella cake ever, after reading the difficult steps and many failed- attempts stories. But after mel's text and encouragement to try it, because it tasted really good ^^.. and a re-look into the recipe that she used and also nami's of justonecookbook ^^.. as well as a "technical" discussion with her over whatsapp ^^, I decided to give it a go..

And lo and behold! A beautifully risen, soft and fluffily moist castella cake ~ a perfect cake.. almost, hehe! ^^

Castella cake (inspired by mel@melspantrykitchen, adapted from rotinrice and justonecookbook)

~ makes a small loaf

2 egg whites

70g sugar (MUST REDUCE to 35-40g next time!!!)

2 egg yolks

1.5 tbsp honey +1 tbsp water

60g bread flour (BREAD or HIGH PROTEIN flour only!), sift 2-3 times!

Glaze

1 tbsp + 1 tbsp water, dissolved

1. Using an electric mixer, whisk egg whites till foamy. Add sugar and beat till stiff and shiny, about 4 MINUTES.

2. Mix in egg yolks till combined.

3. Add honey+water and beat till well combined for 1 MINUTE.

4. Fold in flour gently into the batter using the mixer whisk or by hand using a WHISK.

5. GREASE (MUST! MUST! MUST!!!) baking tin, and line with paper (see here and here). This is important, so that cake doesn't cave in or shrink too much at the sides.

6. Gently pour cake mixture into lined baking tin. Remove bubbles by making a zig zag motion using a skewer, through the batter. Make sure to smooth the surface of the batter before putting it in the oven.

7. Bake in a preheated oven of 155-160C for about 40-45 minutes, or till golden brown, or till throughly baked.

8. Remove cake from baking tin and brush top with honey+water glaze. And immediately wrap it with plastic cling wrap. Place and leave cake overnight in the refrigerator.

9. Slice off and tidy up the sides before serving. Enjoy! ^^  

This cake turned out almost faultless ~ perfect texture, perfect rise, perfect moistness, perfect looks, perfect scent.. and perfect taste too.. if only it wasn't so sweet! I'm sure the sweetness level is pretty acceptable for most people, and if you're having it with green tea or unsugared tea or coffee. Maybe it's just us ~ too much of a sugar rush for us piggies! Even the king of sweet, baby pig commented that it's perfect but too sweet! ^^

i love instagram ^^

Anyway, this was still a very, very enjoyable treat ^^. Perfect with coffee! ^^

p.s. a pix of castella cake from Ginso, bought during our osaka trip last year. my first taste of "real" castella cake and it was just ok for us.. hence never attempted to make it since..that and the fact i still felt jinxed at making something resembling a chiffon cake, haha! ^^||

Japanese hamburger steak ^^

I've been meaning to make hambagu steak since I caught the recipe at nami's@justonecookbook ^^.. but never got round to it because I don't keep red wine at home ^^|| My fatty hubby's a beer guzzler!

Since nami's featured in this month's issue of food&travel magazine, I knew I had to try at least one of the recipes she shared, red wine or not!

And so I finally made the very deliciously moist and luscious japanese hamburger steak for dinner today ^^! with beef broth (thanks to google!) instead of red wine ^^

As usual, I think the combination of beef and pork is brilliant! The patties turned out really fabulously moist and tender.. just the way I like it ^^. And nami's sauce (no tonkatsu, use worcestershire sauce instead!) is perfect with the hambagu! For detailed step-by-step, beautiful pictures and recipe, check out nami's blog.

You may notice my hambagu steaks are kinda pale and could've done with a few more minutes of browning, but being the terrible cook that I am, I couldn't tell that at the time of cooking ^^||! Besides having burnt more food than you can imagine, I wasn't leaving this to chance! But I assure you, they are cooked! ^^

And they are delish.. especially served with rice ^^! 2 thumbs up from my piggies! And me! ^^ Thanks, nami!

Awesome onigiri balls

I love, love, love rice!!! (^^) 

Especially fluffy, sticky short grain rice ie. japanese or korean (read angry post here) rice! I love, love, love them! ^^ just in case you don't already know ^^!  

I don't normally keep sticky rice at home unless I'm specifically planning to make sushi or something because I love them too much! And too much rice = carbohydrates = sugar = is very bad for me! ^^|| As it is, I already eat way too much rice, even the long grain variety! 

And I love! love! love onigiri! Fatty hubby and piggies too ^^! So when I read nami of justonecookbook's onigiri post, I knew I had to buy japanese rice and make yummy onigiri ^^! She made it look so easy! All these years of consuming expensive (!!) onigiri from Isetan supermarket, I've never ever thought of making it at home.. always imagining it to be difficult (?!)..Well, nami's busted my mental block! It's even easier than making sushi! (^^)

This is my version of onigiri with salted salmon marinated with spicy cod roe (there was a japan fair going on at isetan over the weekend, and I got my perfectly salted salmon.. oh, joy! ^^). Pop over to nami's blog for the perfect step by step, and recipe ^^. Making onigiri is really a breeze!  (^^)

Er.. ok, maybe shaping them into triangles, may take more practise for some (me ^^||). So I took the easy way out and made some into rounds/balls ^^. Don't worry about the not-the-usual/traditional shape onigiri balls.. they taste just as yummy-licious as the triangle shaped ones! (^^) Just squish them a little into oblong/ovals after wrapping them up with roasted seaweed.. and you're good to go!

These onigiri with salted salmon are really AWESOME, believe me!!! We so love! love! love it! Thanks a million, nami! (^^)

p.s amateur (lifetime probationary) cook at work.. not so perfect rice balls and pics.. but it's still really tasty ^^ 

Honey chicken?

Oooh.. I love the honey pork belly posted by sook of heart mind and seoul today! The recipe actually originated from nami of just one cookbook posted sometime in june, which I obviously missed as I had yet to discover her blog then.

Looking at sook's post, I'm suddenly reminded of how much I love stuffing my mouth with a FULLY LOADED lettuce wrap! So korean! So hearty and robust! Also so satisfying and FULL-filling! Yes, I can be quite the pig *oink!oink!* (^^) 

But when I saw nami's post, I was blown away by HER honey pork belly! She styled it so deliciously beautiful.. so delicate and tender.. and almost too pretty to be eaten ^^! Don't worry, I really have no issues eating beautiful food! (^^)

Anyways, I'm inspired to cook this dish because it "looks" simply do-able! Only 4 ingredients for sauce ~ honey, oyster sauce, soy sauce and minced garlic. All of which I have, yay! Alas! I've no pork belly and too lazy to go out to buy.. So I ended up defrosting a deboned chicken thigh and some breast meat. 

And since I have no lettuce too.. I couldn't do the "pig" thing.. So I had the yummy honey chicken with finely shred cabbage. Nom! Nom! Nom! So, so, so-ooo GOOD! 

I actually cannot believe that this delicious dish, doesn't require marinating! It's so easy and simple to cook too! And no frying either! So my kind of (lazy!) cooking! I like?? I love!!! Fatty hubby too! (^^) Thanks, sook! Thanks, nami!

p.s sorry about the pictures! no style, no composition.. i know.. sorry ^^|| hope my poor pictures doesn't put anyone off trying this super-yummy and easy dish! head over to nami's and sook's blog for beautiful pictures and recipe ^^ 

"leftovers" sushi

What do you do with leftovers?

You make sushi, of course!

This is what I made with the leftovers from my bibimbap dinner last night.. not the best tasting sushi because I didn't use short grain rice. But it was not too bad (^ ^).

Well, can't be helped.. I have only a mix of long grain brown and white rice. I try not to keep short grain japanese / korean rice at home because they are just too delicious - out-of-the-world DELICIOUS!!! I can even eat it PLAIN! And that's bad.. because rice is nothing but carbs! If only I was blessed with "I-can-eat-anything-and-not-put-on-weight" genes! (^ ^||)

Anyways, since I had some julienned cucumbers and carrots, and minced meat left, that went into my sushi. Now, I don't think it's usual to use meat in sushi.. fish and seafood, yes.. meat, I think not (^^||)! But since I have to finish it.. we're good!

Now that I think about it, I could have made bibimbap sushi or onigiri too! That should be nice (^^)

I wish I'm more creative when it comes to important stuff, but my little mind just works best when it comes to cutting corners, baking or cooking! (^^||)

Korean-japanese fusion sushi, anyone???

Not my karaage-day!

The day has come.. I made karaage today!

Do not be deceived by the looks.. it looks like karaage, but it tastes nothing like the karaage you get from japanese restaurants or food markets.. (><)

I'm not sure what I did wrong, but my karaage sure doesn't taste like it should. I followed the recipe from just hungry (check recipe here), except I used mirin instead of sake. It turned out nicely crisp on the outside, and succulent and juicy inside.. but the taste is not quite it.. I'm thinking if mirin could have changed the taste that much. Or could it be my use of the really "old" ginger that's been sitting in the fridge for 2 months??? I don't know (><||).

Sadly, I have to say that this is an unsuccessful attempt at making karaage.. However, this has been a slightly more successful attempt at deep-frying (^^). Guess all is not lost. Chicken's nice, though not as tasty as it should be. Fatty hubby's says it's still a good attempt. And the leftovers will be going into my japanese curry dinner tomorrow.. using ready-made paste, of course (^^)

Nice crispy, juicy fried chicken.. but not quite karaage. ^^

Best ultimate 48 hours in Osaka

No way!

Yup! 48 hours is just not enough to do Osaka! I thought that there's not much to do in osaka.. how wrong I was! I enjoyed osaka so much that I want to go back again right now!

octopus on the loose in dotonbori

blow fish galore in  dotonbori

So much to see and eat, so little time! If you are planning to visit osaka, you need to dedicate at least 3 full days, if not more, to properly soak in the sights and eats. 2 days is just not enough, remember that!

It really is KUIDAORE in osaka! Eat till you drop! So much to eat, just not enough stomach space for it! And fatty hubby and I really stuffed ourselves silly as we wanted to eat as much of everything as we can (^^)

on dotonbori looking at ebisubashi-suji

on dotonbori looking at shinsaibashi-suji

We were lucky to choose a swanky boutique hotel in the very vibrant and exciting Dotonbori area, the Hotel Vista Grande. It's location is absolutely perfect! Right smack in the thick of action, that means on Dotonbori in Namba (Dotonbori) and Shinsaibashi. And only 10 minutes from Nankai Namba (covered walkways on Ebisu-bashi) and to Kuromon market (we timed this). We couldn't have picked a better hotel! Totally recommended, seriously.

Our late and dramatic arrival at 1am due to plane delay, forced us to spend a bomb of 18,000 Yen/RM720, on taxi from the airport. Luckily, we managed to share the cost with another couple headed for the same hotel. On hindsight, I'm glad we brought more money than we intended to spend, or we'd be forced to sleep at the airport.. or maybe we should have? 9000 yen is a lot of money! That's 10 bowls of ramen!

best ramen at Ichiran

Anyways, we headed to Ichiran for ramen after checking-in. It's really just round the corner and I must say it's the best ramen in osaka! The ramen and soup was PERFECT! Look out for a bright red square cloth-like signboard facing the dotonbori river. It's just 2 doors away from the brightly lit corner takoyaki shop! The takoyaki there is fantastic too! 8 pieces of takoyaki topped with shoyu and mayo at 500 yen. Even though it's the only one we had, I still say it's the best (^^). Sorry, no pictures.. we ate up all before I remembered to take any (^^||).

cute guy making takoyaki

Day 1 ~ Sumiyoshi-taisha. To get there, we went on the Nankai Namba train, and paid 200 Yen. From Sumiyoshi taisha station, it's just a 2-minute walk to the temple. You'll see some nice shinto shrines there. We were lucky to witness a wedding being held there that day. Also check out the flower shop in the train station and the Sumiyoshi park next to the station. I love it here!

peaceful and tranquil sumiyoshi park

Then it was back to namba for a late lunch at Jiyuken. We had their famous curry rice with raw egg. I didn't like it that much, but fatty hubby did. I did however, enjoyed the beef katsu with curry and white rice. The set of curry rice with beef katsu cost 1350 yen.

the famous curry rice

Next we headed for Kuromon Market. At 3pm, I expected most shops to be on the verge of closing, but they were still going strong (?!). I had a great time there. Lots to look-see and EAT! We stuffed ourselves with sugar-free soy bean drink, azuki dorayaki, doughnut, japanese cheesecake and sweet sweet strawberries (^^). But best of all, we found an out-of-this-world tuna toro sashimi in the market! It was so so sublime that I forgot to take a picture of it! We went back for more the next day but found the shop closed. So be warned, most shops in kuromon are closed on Sundays.

best-ever sugar-less soy bean drink - thick 'n creamy

azuki dorayaki

After all the food, we went back to the hotel and took a 3 hour nap, and woke up to feast on kushikatsu at Daruma on Dotonbori. It's right opposite Kinryu ramen and Shitenno ramen, you can't miss it. At peak hour, you'll see a line outside the shop. I love these fried stuff on skewers, which you dip into the sauce (no double dipping here!). Each kushikatsu order comes with a complimentary serving of cabbage. Yums! A skewer is around 120 yen.

outstanding kushikatsu!

Despite a full tummy, fatty hubby insisted we check out Kinryu (you can't miss the dragon signboard!). This really is the poor man's ramen. At 600 yen, it is the cheapest ramen in town. And you can stuff yourself silly with complimentary all-you-can-eat kimchi, garlic, chives and white rice! Ramen was ok, but the soup was too salty for me. Maybe it's salty, so that you can have it with rice later (?)

a "full"-filling meal

Day 2 ~ Kuromon market again. Found most shops closed. Bought sushi rice with karaage (fried chicken) for breakfast.. Fatty hubby's wild about karaage now.

karaage and rice - just the way we like it 

Then we headed towards the underground Namba Walk, which is adjacent to nankai namba station. There's quite a lot of shops selling "aunty" clothes there.. well, plenty for the young too (^^).

On Sundays and holidays, the unlimited day pass for the subways and buses is only 600 yen. So we went to namba subway station (midosuji line),bought the card and headed to Osaka Castle. It was raining when we got there (><). And since we didn't have an umbrella, we ended up at the Osaka Museum of History. It's ok, but I don't recommend it because there's no explanation in English. So, it's just another mediocre look-see. We took pictures of Osaka castle from the museum. No chance to visit the castle park (><). We did however, enjoy a really nice latte at Seattle Coffee before heading back to Shinsaibashi (^^).

The shinsaibashi subway station is right under Daimaru. And so we ended up at daimaru food market for more yummies. I remember that japanese food markets used to offer lots of food samples. Not anymore. Out of the many food shops in daimaru, I only noticed 2 or 3 shops that gave out samples. A cost cutting measure, you think??? Anyways, we bought original castella or kasutera cake from Ginsu, 525 yen.. And we had the most AWESOME deep fried oyster(-katsu) from the food mart. They were huge and oh-so succulent, and left us wanting more! Take note that there is no place to sit and eat whatever you bought from the food mart. Guess the japanese must be really disciplined and too polite to eat in public, unlike us hungry, greedy and impatient pigs! Well, we couldn't wait and had the oysters right outside daimaru's entrance on shinsaibashi-suji! (^^)

tall, tall angel cakes

pretty-ness in a row 

the awesome-mest oyster katsu ever!!!

Right across daimaru, on Shinsaibashi-suji is Fuku Sushi. They sell batera sushi - sushi in a box. We stopped by and ordered a box of sushi to take away, 1000 yen. Sushi's really nice. The rice was not vinegar-y like the ones you get here. In fact, all the sushi rice we had in osaka doesn't reek of vinegar at all! And the japanese omelette, tamagoyaki, is just a touch sweet, tastes really nice and just right.. unlike the eerily-sweet ones we have over here.

The walk on shinsaibashi-suji heading towards ebisubashi-suji (namba), was really nice. Lots of young people, lots of shops and lots of energy.. very vibrant and "happening". Alas, we didn't have the much time to browse through the shops (><). Just window-shopped and cuci mata.. would have been nice to be able to spend more time at shinsaibashi-suji.

vintage hokkyusei amidst modernization

Anyways, we had a leisurely walk down shinsaibashi-suji, as we headed for a late lunch (or early dinner) at 5pm at Hokkyusei for omu rice. This is a must visit! It's located on the next road (north) from Dotonbori Hotel, also near Cross Hotel. The omelette cupping the fried rice was done so well that while the outer skin was well done, the inside was still soft and a touch-runny. PERFECTION! The fried rice, whether with chicken or pork, was awesome too. Fatty had the omu rice (pork) set that came with beef stew, deep fried shrimps, salad and an Asahi beer, 1350 yen. My simple omu rice (chicken) cost 690 yen. We had a most amazing meal at Hokkyusei! love! love! love! I noticed that there's an outlet at Takashimaya food mart too. Go there if you have no time to get to the original outlet.

delicious omu-rice

ooey-goeey creamy omelette with fragrant fried rice

Since we had the unlimited pass, we went to Umeda for more sightseeing. Lots of eateries and shops underground. We didn't bother to go out.. err, up.. rainy day. We just looked around, and bought an interesting cheesecake (680 yen) from Pablo, one of the many outlets underground. It supposedly has a gooey, creamy centre, but you can choose the firmness you want. We took the gooey one. It held up quite well all the way back home.. a little battered but still good (^^). The cream cheese was not too sweet, and nicely gooey. The pastry which I thought was biscuity, turned out to be puff-pastry. Overall, very nice - think super-gooey tong kee egg tart.

wonder if I can replicate this at home?

Back in namba.. we had our last ramen at Shitenno's on dotonbori. We tried the salt based soup instead of the shoyu one. Soup was really interesting. Can't compare with Ichiran's 'cos we had the shoyu based one there. Still this is a very good ramen and soup joint. Shio ramen for 690 yen. Wish we had the time to check out Hakata Ippudo, near Fraser Suites (><). Maybe next time..

shio-ramen

If you noticed, we did not have time to check out any udon joints, okonomiyaki, yakitori, or bbq joints. Due to the limited time that we have, we had to be really picky about the things that we really wanted to eat, instead of eating everything available.. We may be pigs, but there's really a limit as to what we can eat (^^) in such a short time! But we really KUIDAORE as much as we could!

I love OSAKA! Fatty hubby loves Osaka too! Till next time! KUIDAORE!!!

JAPAN, GANBATTE!!!