easy one pot beef stew

I was looking for a recipe for braised beef and came across one. But it says it will take 2 hours in the oven, or 4-6 hours in a slow cooker. It was already 4:30pm and I only had an hour to make dinner. So I put everything in the pot and made it over the stove. It turned out really yummy and it only took 45-50 minutes! If I ever make the 2-hour oven braised beef, I will post it on the blog. For today, here's what I did (the picture doesn't look too appetizing... need to work on photo taking skill. haha)

Ingredients: 

Beef - 2 cups (cut in 1-inch chunks)
Water- 1/2 cup
Stock - 1/2 cup + more to add later one (if you have about 2 cups, it should be enough)
Red wine - 1/4 cup (optional)
Soy sauce - 4 TBS
Apple cider vinegar - 4 TBS
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Brown sugar - 1/2 TBS

Carrots - 3 medium (chopped into 1 inch)
Onion - 1 small (chopped)
Potatoes - 3 small (chopped)

Prep:

1. Cut all veggies & beef into chunks
2. Cook rice

Cook:

1. Put all the ingredients (veggies first then place beef on top) in a 5-qrt or bigger pot. Cover and bring it to boil on med high. Reduce heat to low. 
2. Check and stir occasionally. Add stock if it's getting dry. Simmer on low for 40-45 minutes.
3. Adjust taste if needed.

Serve:

1. Serve with rice.

super easy chicken stew

No time to cook? No problem! Just spend 15 minutes for preparation and turn the slow cooker on. That's it. Super easy. No need for slow cooker or stew mix. It's a great dish for busy moms. :)

Ingredients: 

Chicken breast or thighs - 1 lb

Carrots - 4 medium
Sweet onion - 1 medium
Potatoes - 3 medium
Mushrooms - 6 medium

Chicken stock - 3 cups
Salt & pepper - 2 tsp each
Basil or Italian seasoning - 2 tsp
Paprika [optional] - 1 tsp 

[Chicken marinade]
Soy sauce - 2 TBS
Pepper - 1 tsp
Sugar - 2 tsp

[Tomato sauce mix]
Corn starch - 1 TBS
Water - 1/3 cup
Tomato ketchup - 3 TBS

Rice or bread 

Prep: 

1. Cut chicken into big bite pieces (2 inch chunks). Marinade for 5 minutes.
2. Cut all veggies into big chunk pieces. 
3. Cook rice if you want rice.

Cook:

1. In a slow cooker, put veggies and top with chicken. 
2. Add chicken stock, salt, pepper, italian seasoning and paprika. Mix slightly. 
3. Cook at low for 6-8 hours (depending on how much time you have) or high for 4-5 hours. 
4. 1 hour before done (or 30 min for high), mix 'tomato sauce mix' ingredients together and pour into it. Mix slightly. Let it cook for 30 min - 1 hour. Adjust taste.

Serve: 

1. Serve with salad and bread/rice. 

sauce katsu don

Usually, katsu don is katsu (deep-fried breaded pork cutlet) + egg + onion + rice. This sauce katsu don has sweet & tangy sauce to it. Right after deep frying the pork, you dip it in the special sauce and you have both yummy taste and texture. (This recipe works best with thin pork slices.)

Ingredients:

Thin cut pork - 1/2 pound (0.5cm thick) **see TIPS

Flour - 1/2 cup
Eggs - 1 (or more, beaten)
Panko (Japanese bread crumbs) - 1 cup or as much as needed

[Sauce]
Onion - 1/2 medium (chopped)
Tonkatsu sauce - 1/2 cup
Mirin - 1 TBS
Cooking wine (optional) - 1 TBS
Brown sugar - 1 TBS
Water - 2 TBS
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Pepper - 1/4 tsp

Vegetable oil for frying

Cabbage - 1/4 med (thinly sliced)
Rice

Prep:

1. Cook rice
2. Thinly slice cabbage. Wash, rinse and keep in the fridge until later. 
3. Thinly slice pork. Season with salt & pepper. 
4. Chop/mince onion. 

Cook:

1. [Katsu] Take seasoned thin sliced. Coat it with flour, dip in egg and lightly press on panko (Japanese bread crumbs). Repeat for all. 
2. [Sauce] In a small saucepan, fry chopped onion in 1/2 TBS of olive oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Add in rest of the ingredients under sauce. Let it simmer for 15-20 min, until it thickens. 
3. In a stainless steel pot, heat 1/2 to 1 inch of vegetable oil. Test the oil by sprinkle some bread crumbs in and when it bubbles up, it's ready. It doesn't 'deep fry' the whole thing at once, so deep fry one side for 2-3 minutes then turn to the other side and deep fry for another 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. 
4. Take the cooked katsu onto paper toweled plate. 

 Serve:

1. Right before you eat, put rice in the bowl, top with sliced cabbage. 
2. Take the deep fried pork cutlets and dip it in the sauce. Top the cabbage (4-5 slices/bowl). Pour more sauce on top. 

 TIPS

• Pork can be thin slice. If it's very thin, then pile 2-3 slices together as one. 
• You can also use other meat - chicken, beef or ham (or bacon?)

seafood soup pasta

Weather is getting cold, which means soup season is here! This dish looks complicating, but it only takes 30 minutes to cook. No sugar is added, yet it has very sweet flavor from all the ingredients. My 2 and half year old loved it and so did my hubby. Hope your family will like it, too. Happy cooking! (The recipe is for four large servings)

Ingredients: 

Spaghetti -1 box (or however much you need)

Onion - 1 small (chopped)
Garlic - 2 cloves (minced)
Bacon - 3 slices (chopped)
Carrots - 2 medium (cubed)
Mushroom - 4 medium (sliced) 

Chicken stock - 5 cups **see TIPS
Tomatoes (can) - 1 can (chopped)

Shrimp (no tail) - 1 cup 
Salmon - 1 fillet
Tilapia (or white) fish - 1 fillet

[Seasonings]
Salt & Pepper - 1 tsp each
Tomato ketchup - 2 TBS
Milk - 1/3 cup
Oregano (dried) -  2 tsp
Basil (dried) - 2 tsp

Prep:

1. Chop/slice onion, carrots, mushroom, garlic and bacon. Size should be anywhere from 1/2 inch to 1 inch. 
2. Cut salmon and tilapia into 2 inch chunks. Rub lightly with salt and pepper.
3. Take off the tails off shrimp (optional). 
4. Cook spaghetti as instructed on the box. Rinse with cold water and mix with 1 TBS of olive oil. 

Cook:

1. In at least 5 quart pot, heat 1/2 TBS of olive oil. When it's hot, add onion and fry for 3 minutes, or until transparent. Add in 1 TBS of minced garlic. Add in bacon. Fry for another 3 minute. Add in carrots and fry for extra 3 minutes.
2. Add in chicken stock and canned tomatoes. Bring it to boil. Take out the white stuff on top of the pot.
3. Add in shrimp, salmon and tilapia. Let it simmer under medium heat for 10 minutes. 
4. Add in seasonings and stir lightly (don't mix too hard or you'll break the fish into small pieces). Cover and let it simmer for 10 more minutes. Check the taste and adjust according to your taste.

Serve:

1. In a bowl, add desired amount of cooked spaghetti. Pour in the soup & yummy seafood. 
2. Garlic bread or Grilled cheese sandwich goes well this dish, too!

TIPS

• For chicken stock, use the carton or can version, which has lighter taste than the Chinese stock cubes. If you don't like the flavor of chicken stock, you can use water instead.  

wild rice soup - version 2

Few months ago I posted a recipe for wild rice soup. This is another version, stuffed with more ingredients. I also added less flour so it's not as thick as last time. We like this version better -- probably because of the 'umami' from mushrooms. (The soup looks like the previous one, so I didn't take the picture. Sorry!)

Ingredients: 

Chicken breast - 1
Chicken stock - 4 cups
Water - 2 cups
Quick cooking long grain and wild rice with seasoning packet - 1 (6 ounce)
Mixed vegetables - 1 cup (or more if you like)
Onion - 1/2 med (chopped)
White Mushroom - 5 large (chopped)

Seasoning for chicken (Taco or carne asada seasoning) - 1 TBS

Butter - 1/2 cup (1 stick)
Salt & Pepper - 1/2 tsp each (or more, depending on your taste)
Flour - 2-3 TBS taken out from 1/2 cup
Milk - 2 cups

Prep:

1. Cook chicken breast for 10-15 minutes in boiling water. Shred it and mix with taco seasoning or carne asada seasoning.
2. Cut onion and mushroom into cubes.
3. Take the seasoning packet from the quick cooking rice box. 
4. Combine flour, salt & pepper. 

Cook:

1. In a 5-quart pot, heat chicken stock, water and chicken until boil. 
2. Turn off the heat once it's boiled. Add in long grain and wild rice (not the seasoning packet). Cover and set it aside. Make sure the heat is off. 
3. In another pot, heat 1 TBS of olive oil. Fry onion and mushroom for 5 minutes. Add to the chicken stock mixture. 
4. Add 1/2 stick of butter on the pot used for mushroom/onion. Once it's melted, add in the seasoning from the rice box. Mix until bubbly. Add in flour mixture all at once. Mix constantly to form a ball. Slowly, add in milk. Keep stirring using whisk so the milk will incorporate well with the flour mixture.
5. Add the milk mixture and mixed vegetable to chicken stock/water/chicken mixture. 
6. Heat for 20 minutes over medium-low heat. Don't let it boil - simmer.

Serve:

1. Serve with butter-garlic-toast: Heat 1 TBS of butter onto frying pan. Fry bread for 2 minutes on one side, turn with more butter. Sprinkle garlic powder on top. Fry until edges are nice and brown. Serve while it's hot.

old-fashioned beef stew/soup

My husband's parents are awesome cooks, so are his extended family members. This recipe is a slightly tweaked version from his aunt who cooks really well. You can tell that she's a good cook when you see her children love to cook, too. Is cooking hereditary? When I got married, she wrote in a cookbook (her gift to us), "A full stomach is a good start to a marriage. Have a great marriage filled with many exciting meals!" 
This soup turned out really good and hearty - perfect for negative 16F degrees weather. :) It looks simple, but it's full of flavors!

Ingredients: 

Boneless beef round steak - 1 lb (1 inch cube)

[Beef marinade] 
Soy sauce - 1 TBS
Garlic salt - 1/2 tsp
Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp

Chicken or Beef stock - 2 cups
Water - 1 cup
Worcestershire sauce - 1 tsp
Bay leaves - 2 med or 3 small (med = 1 inch)
Garlic - 3 cloves (minced)
Paparika - 1/2 tsp
Black pepper - 1/4 tsp

Carrots - 3 med or 4 small
Potatoes - 4 med or 5 small
Onions - 1 big
Tomatoes - 2 big

[For stew]
Cornstarch - 1 TBS
Water - 2 TBS

Prep: 

1. Cut beef into 1 inch chunks. In a bowl or Ziplock bag, add beef marinade. Massage the meat with your hands for 3-4 minutes. Set it aside for at least 20 minutes. 
2. Cut the veggies in 1 inch chunks (you can cut onion smaller if you wish). Set them aside. 
3. Mince garlic.

Cook:

1. In a large pot (at least 5 quart), add 1-2 TBS of olive oil. Fry minced garlic and add marinaded beef and brown them on both sides. 
2. Add in 2 cups of beef or chicken broth and 1/2 cup of water. Bring to boil. Turn the heat to low and simmer for an hour. Stir occasionally. **see TIPS
3. Add veggies and 1/2 cup of water. Cover and simmer for 30-45 minutes until vegetables are tender.
4. [If you want stew] Combine 2 TBS of water and 1 TBS of cornstarch slurry. Simmer soup until thickened. 
5. Season with salt. 

Serve:

1. It goes really well with rice. You can even add pasta inside to make it into a soup pasta. Yum! 

TIPS

• If you don't like strong herby taste, discard bay leaves after simmering the soup for the first hour (before you add veggies). 

corn potato bacon soup

One good thing about living in cold Minnesota is... soups taste so much better! It's not only tasty, but it keeps us warm. So here's a new recipe for the soup. It wasn't heavy, so you can keep going for more servings (but it hits you afterwards since you'll be filled up with potatoes). 

Ingredients: 

Potatoes - 3 cups (cubed)
Carrots - 3-4 medium or 1 cup (cubed)
Onion - 1 med (chopped)
Corn - 3 cobs or 1 can (liquid drained)
Celery - 2-3 stalks (cubed)
Bacon - 5 slices (cut in small pieces) **see TIPS

Chicken Stock - 5 cups **see Prep

Green diced chilies - 1 small can
Milk - 2 cups
Brown gravy mix - 1/4 cup or
Mexican blend shredded cheese - 1 cup (or more, depending on how cheesy you want)

Salt, pepper and paprika - to taste 

Prep:

1. Chop and cube all ingredients. Set it aside. 
2. [Corn] If you are using fresh corn, boil the corn for 3 minutes. Take it out, let it cool, and shave off the kernels. 
3. [Chicken stock] If you have leftover rotisserie chicken bones, boil them in 4 quart water for 30-40 minutes on medium high. Drain the soup and discard the bones. 

Cook:

1. In a pot (5 quart of bigger), fry bacon until somewhat crunchy - about 3-4 minutes. 
2. Add onion, carrots and celery to bacon. Fry for another 3-4 minutes.
3. Add in chicken stock. Let it bring to boil (don't cover). Turn down to medium heat and add in potatoes and corn. Add in green diced chilies as well. Let it simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are soft. 
4. Meanwhile, heat milk in microwave safe bowl or cup. Add in gravy mix and mix well with the milk.
5. When the potatoes are soft, add in milk/gravy. Bring to boil. 
6. Turn down the heat to low, add in cheese. Simmer for 10 more minutes. Taste to see if you need to add salt and pepper. You can add paprika for some kick as well. If it's too salty, you can add more chicken broth, water or milk. 

All mixed in!

Serve:

1. Serve with warm bread sticks or toasts (with lots of butter on!). Nice salad on the side will go well, too.
2. We also had it with shrimp/fish tacos (recipes coming up soon), which was a nice addition. 

 TIPS:

• If you don't want to use bacon, or want to use other meat like chicken or ham, add 2 TBS of butter or olive oil to the pot. 

japchae (korean-style stir fried noodles)

We have a Korean cousin who can cook really good food. We live so far away from them now and we miss them (and their Korean food) so much. So we tried to recreate it. I love getting recipes from www.maangchi.com! 

Ingredients:

Korean starch noodle "dangmyun" - 2 bunches
Beef - 1/3 lbs
Spinach - 1 bunch
Carrots - 1 med (sliced)
Onion - 1 med (sliced)
Shiitake mushroom - 1/2 cup (soaked and sliced)
White mushroom - 2 cups (sliced)
Garlic - 3 cloves (minced)
Green onion - 6 stalks

Eggs - 2 (beaten) 

[seasoning to prepare]
Soy sauce
Sesame oil
Sugar
Pepper
Sesame seeds

Korean noodle

Prep: 

1. Soak shiitake mushroom in warm water. Squeeze water and slice thinly.
2. Slice white mushrooms, carrots (matchstick-shaped pieces 5 cm long), green onions (7 cm long pieces), and onion into thin slices. 
3. Wash spinach.
4. Slice beef and marinade with 1 tsp of soy sauce and dash of salt and pepper. 

Cook: **see TIPS

1. Bring big pot of water to boil. Add bunch of spinach and blanch for 1 minute. Take it out and wash it in cold water couple of times and cut into 5 cm length. Add in 1/2 TBS of soy sauce and 1 tsp of sesame oil to spinach. Keep the boiling water.
2. In the same pot of hot water, boil 2 bunches of noodles in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and put in a large bowl.
3. Using scissors, cut the noodles into shorter strands and add 1 TBS of soy sauce and 1 TBS of sesame oil. Mix and set it aside.
4. On a frying pan or wok, put a 2 tsp of olive oil. Fry carrot strips and stir it consistently for couple of minutes (until somewhat soft). Take it out on a big serving dish.
5. Add another 2 tsp of olive oil and fry sliced onion and fry until translucent (about 3-4 minutes). Take it out in the serving dish with carrots. 
6. In the same wok, fry sliced white mushrooms and fry for 2 minutes. Put it together with carrots and onions.
7. Fry green onion next. Add in 1 tsp of olive oil if the pan is dry. Fry for 1 minute. Take it out.
8. On the same wok or frying pan, add 2 tsp of olive oil. Fry together with shiitake mushrooms. Cook until meat is done. Add in 3 cloves of minced garlic, 1/2 TBS soy sauce, and 1/2 TBS sugar. Cook for another minute and add them in the large bowl with other veggies.
9. Add 2 tbs of soy sauce, 3 tbs of sugar, 2 tbs of sesame oil, and 1 ts of ground pepper to the large bowl. Mix all ingredients, then sprinkle 1 tbs of toasted sesame seeds on the top.

Serve:

1. Cook thin slices of egg (with 1 tsp salt) on frying pan and cut into thin slices for garnish on top.
2. Serve with rice and Kimchi, or as a side dish. (I didn't know it was a side dish! we had it as a main dish. haha)
3. We also made Korean green onion pancake along this dish. It turned out great!

TIPS

•  Don't let the long instruction stop you from making this dish! Basically, you fry everything separately and mix everything at the end. Just pay attention to the bold seasonings.

holiday leftovers: prime rib tomato soup

In our family, we don't have turkey for Thanksgiving or Christmas. We have prime rib instead! We like bone-in so we can use the bones as stock for soup. It's hearty and the best part is, you get to finish your leftovers! So give prime rib a chance for your next holiday dinner. :)

Ingredients:

Prime Rib bones with some meat  on - 4 big bones (cut in half)

Water - 4 quart
Roma Tomatoes - 3 small or 2 med (wedges)
Potatoes - 3 med (wedges)
Carrots - 3 small or 2 med (wedges)
Onion - 1 med (cubed)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Prep:

1. Cut the prime rib bones in half (or in threes if you prefer smaller pieces). If you don't have knife strong enough to cut the bones, just put the whole bones in (don't destroy your knife!)
2. Wash and cut all veggies. Set aside. 

Cook:

1. Heat 4 quart water in 5 quart (or bigger) pot. Bring to boil.
2. Add in prime rib bones & meat and onion. Cover and boil for 10 minutes under high heat. You might need to open the lid half way through.
3. Turn down the heat to medium heat. Add in carrots. Let it cook for 10 more minutes. 
4. Turn down the heat to medium low, add in carrots and tomatoes. Simmer for at least 30 minutes. I cooked it for about an hour on low heat.
5. Taste the soup. Add salt & pepper if you like.

Serve:

1. Serve with warm bread sticks or side of rice will be nice, too. 

tomato, pork and egg over rice

I couldn't come up with a better title for this post. Any suggestions for a better name? This dish is very simple to make and require only few ingredients. Don't overcook the eggs - runny yolk + tomato gravy makes this dish perfect!

Ingredients:

Thin slice pork - 2 cups
Onion - 1 small (sliced)
Mushroom - 1/2 cup (sliced)

Chicken stock - 1 cup (cube stock or chicken broth)
Tomato ketchup - 1/2 cup
White or Brown Sugar - 2 tsp 
Black pepper - 1 tsp

Eggs - 4
Green onion - 2 stalks (chopped)

Rice - Japanese/short-grain rice

Missing mushroom - sorry!

Prep:

1. Slice onion and mushroom. 
2. Prepare chicken stock if you are using the cubes. 
3. Chop green onion. Set it aside. 
4. Cook rice

Any Asian supermarket sells thin slice pork

Cook: 

1. In a frying pan, heat 1 TBS of olive oil. Fry onion for couple of minutes. 
2. Add thin slice pork and fry for another two minutes. 
3. Add in mushroom and fry for a minute. 
4. Add in chicken stock, ketchup, sugar, and black pepper. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. 
5. Right before serving, crack four eggs in the pan. Cover and cook for one and half minute.

Serve: 

1. In a bowl, scoop desired amount of rice. Pour tomato-pork-egg on rice. Sprinkle chopped green onion on top. 

butajiru - super miso soup

Do you feel like having only soup and rice? Then this soup got everything you need to give satisfying feeling. It's basically miso soup, but it's loaded with veggies and meat. Buta means pork ('pig') and jiru means soup, so it's translated to pork soup. :) It's also a great 'extra' dish that's easy to make.

Ingredients:

Carrots - 2 med (thinly sliced)
Potatoes - 2 small (thinly sliced)
Pork meat - 1 cup
Shiitake mushroom - 1/2 cup (thinly sliced)
Onion - 1 small (thinly sliced)
Firm Tofu - 1cup (cubed)
Daikon (raddish) - 1/2 cup (thinly sliced)
Green onion -  2 stalks (chopped)

[Pork marinade]
Salt & white pepper - 1/2 tsp each
Soy sauce - 2 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp

Miso paste - 3 TBS
Water - 3 quarts (5 cups-ish)
Dashi - 2 tsp **see TIPS

Optional addition - 
Gobo (burdock) - 1/2 cup (thinly sliced)
Enoki mushroom - 1/2 bunch (ends cut and washed)
Sweet potato - 1 med (thinly sliced)
Konnyaku (Japanese yam cake) - 1/2 cup (thinly sliced)

Prep:

1. Slice pork and marinade them. Set it aside for 20 minutes.
2. Cut all vegetables in thin slices (julienne)
3. Cube tofu.
4. Chop green onion and set it aside in airtight container.

Cook:

1. Heat water in 4 or 5-quart pot. Add dashi, mushroom and onion. Let it bring to boil.
2. Add in rest of the ingredients, except tofu and konnyaku (if you are adding it). Reduce heat to medium and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Add in Miso paste. Mix well (but not too hard or you'll have mushed potatoes) **see TIPS 
4. Add in tofu and konnyaku at the end and boil for another 5 minutes. Adjust taste. 

Serve:

1. Sprinkle green onion on the soup. Serve with rice. 
2. It also goes well with udon noodle. 

 TIPS

• Some miso paste already comes with dashi inside. In that case, you don't need to add dashi powder. 
• If you are not a big fan of dashi, you can just omit it. It still gives great taste. I will also try to attempt making my own dashi stock someday and post the recipe! [I'm lazy, so I'm not getting around to it yet]
• To avoid getting mushy butajiru,  you can dissolve miso in using ladle - put miso on ladle, get some hot water from the soup and using a spoon or chopstick, dissolve the miso in the ladle.

pizza margherita with a twist

We used to get super loaded pizzas like 'meat lover' or 'Hawaiian'. But when we were in San Jose, our friends introduced the pizza place, A Slice of New York and that's where we fell in love with pizza margherita. It's the perfect combination of tomatoes, basil and cheese. This time, we made it with a drizzle of (leftover) Cafe Rio salad dressing, which turned our really really good.

Ingredients (for 2 medium pizza):

Pizza dough - click Here
Classico Fire Roasted Pizza Sauce 
Roma tomatoes - 4
Fresh basil leaves - as much as you want (or around 6-8 leaves per pizza)
Mozzarella cheese - as much as you want

Cafe Rio Salad dressing [optional] - if you have any leftovers 

Garlic - 4 cloves (minced)
Butter - 4 TBS (melted)

Prep:

1. Prepare dough on the day or day before. If you are in hurry, you can just change the rising time to 20 minutes. 
2. Melt butter in the microwave (make sure you cover with paper towel or with microwave safe cover). Add in minced garlic. Mix well.
3. Cut tomatoes in thin slices. 

Cook:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 F. 
2. (If you are like me and not skilled to toss the pizza dough) Use a rolling pin and roll out the dough to 3mm thick for nice thin crust. **See TIPS
3. Brush the dough with melted butter and garlic.
4. Spread tomato pizza sauce. 
5. Drizzle good amount of Cafe Rio dressing [if you are using]
6. Line with tomatoes, basil, and top with cheese.
7. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven or until the edges are nice and crispy. 

I like rectangle pizzas

Serve:

1.  Serve with nice side of salad. 

TIPS

• I don't have pizza stone, so I used my rectangle baking sheet with silicon baking mat. I roll the dough directly on the silicon mat. I usually make rectangle shape pizzas. 

meaty loco moco

October is probably my husband's favorite month because there's Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. My husband has already decided to retire in Hawaii. Yup. So since we won't be able to make it to Kona this year, the least we could do was to eat Hawaiian food. Loco moco = Meat patty + Rice + Egg + Brown gravy. You can have it simple or you can add more toppings. This time we did meaty loco moco. We miss you, Hawaii! 

Ingredients: 

Rice - however much you want to eat (Japanese rice/short-grain rice)

Brown gravy - about 3 cups (depends how much you want to pour over your rice)
Milk - 1/3 cup

Eggs - 4 (one for each person or more if you desire)
Hamburger patties - 4 **see TIPS
SPAM - 1 can (sliced)
Bacon - 8 slices

[For those who want to add some greens]
Spinach - 3 handful/1 bunch
White mushroom - 2 cups (sliced)

[Optional toppings]
Katsu - see Katsudon recipe (chicken or pork)
Broccoli - 1 head (bite size pieces, blenched and lightly salted)
Breaded shrimp
Italian sausage or Portuguese sausage 

Prep: 

1. Make hamburger patties if you are making your own. See TIPS.
2. Cut SPAM
3. Cut mushrooms and set it aside
4. Cook rice. 

SPAM!

Cook:

1. In a frying pan, fry bacon until your desired crunchiness. Take it out on a paper-toweled plate. Drain some bacon fat, but not all. 
2. Using some bacon fat (about 1 TBS), fry SPAM until the edges get crunchy - about 2 minutes each side.
3. On the same pan, fry hamburger patties. 
4. Meanwhile, prepare brown gravy (follow the packaging). Add in milk and stir well.
5. On another frying pan or clean frying pan, heat 1/2 TBS of olive oil. Fry mushrooms for 2 minutes. Add in spinach and fry for another minutes. Lightly salt (1/2 tsp). 
6. Fry egg on frying pan, 1 minute on one side and 45 seconds on the other. You want the egg yolks to be runny.

Serve:

1. On a plate, scoop rice. Place the toppings on top of the rice. The top should be the egg.
2. Pour brown gravy on top of the rice. 

TIPS

• You can use store-bought hamburger patties, or you can try Italian sausage patties (or 50/50). 
• Easy hamburger recipe: ground beef (1/2 lbs), panko (1/4 cup), egg white (1), salt & pepper (1 tsp each), Paprika or other herbs if you wish to add.

japanese cream stew

Since my daughter doesn't like the taste of milk, I try to sneak in milk in food. White sauce is the best way to get a lot of milk in. If you have other suggestions for getting milk in the food or snack, please share the recipe with me!

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1 breast (cubed)
Carrots - 3 small (cubed)
Potatoes - 2 med (cubed)
Onion - 1 small (cubed)
Broccoli - 1/2 cup (cubed)

[White sauce]
Butter - 6 TBS
Flour - 1/3 cup
Milk - at least 2 cups (or more, depending on your desired consistency)
Salt & Pepper - to taste

Prep: 

1. Cut all veggies. Set aside.
2. Cut chicken breast into cubes. Season with 1tsp of salt and pepper. 

 Cook:

1. In a larger pot or skillet, heat 1 TBS olive oil. Fry onion for 2-3 minutes. 
2. Add in chicken. Fry for another 2-3 minutes. 
3. Add in carrots and potatoes. Fry for 3-5 minutes. Add in little bit of water if it gets dry.
4. [White sauce] In another pot, melt butter. Add in flour. Whisk consistently.
5. Slowly add milk. Whisk consistently and add milk slowly until you get the consistency of the stew.  **see TIPS
6. When you get the consistency you want, add the white sauce with chicken/veggies. Let it simmer for few minutes. Adjust the consistency with milk and taste it according to your liking.

Serve:

1. With rice or pasta. **see TIPS

TIPS

• If you don't like too much milk in the stew, substitute half with chicken stock. 
• If you keep the stew overnight in fridge, you need to add more chicken stock, water or milk when you reheat.