The first rice cooker recipe!
+ what recipes & other things do you want to see?
Hello and welcome to the first official weekly newsletter!! I'm incredibly grateful to everyone who subscribed and sent supportive messages after the launch.
Substack is so much of a different vibe than other social platforms that I’m already feeling a sense of… freedom? I can talk like how I talk (or in this case, text) without pushing SEO like a robot and no more stressing about view counts, engagement and strange people who make the most dumbest comments.
When someone clicks on my link and goes through the effort of subscribing to this newsletter, it feels way more meaningful than a simple ‘follow.’ These updates go straight to your inbox, and best of all—there’s no algorithm to chase or compete against. It’s just a direct connection between us, and honestly, it’s so refreshing.
I mentioned this in my previous post but I’m a yapper, I just have sooo much I want to share. But I’m going to try to keep these weekly posts as straight to the point as possible, starting with..
This weeks new recipes:
Oyakodon (Japanese chicken and egg rice bowl): I’ve made this meal at least once a week since the year has started and pretty sure I can make it with my eyes closed now 😂. I kinda combined a few techniques from my mom, grandma and grandpa for the most perfect textured oyakodon. It takes max 15 minutes to make (if you already have your rice cooked). Also stay tuned for a Japanese tableware giveaway just for subscribers here on substack!! 👀
Rice Cooker Teriyaki Chicken Rice: The first instalment for my new Rice Cooker Recipe series on the blog! I’ve been wanting to share rice cooker recipes since my break so I have heaps hoarded in my notion. I know they’ve gained a lot of popularity lately but for good reason, they really are life savers 🤣. This was one of the first dishes my mom taught me to make when I started to introduce poultry back into my diet. No need to worry about over or undercooking the chicken and the entire meal is made in one pan, hands free after that too.
Soft Boiled Egg & Cheese Curry Bread (Tamago Kare Pan): A crazy good twist on classic Japanese curry bread. I love making these on weekends to share with friends and family— they go crazy for this! If you’ve never tried fried curry bread before, it’s basically a savory donut. Soft and chewy dough with Japanese curry, and this version takes it up a notch with a whole soft boiled egg and cheese inside.
3-Ingredient Yogurt Souffle Cake: This cake is super moist and light, and has the most interesting texture. It kind of just fizzles away in your mouth. You can hear it in this video 😌.
Air Fryer Chicken Katsu: Eric (my partner/roomie) jokingly wanted to start a food page so we set one up for him and thinking of sharing healthier/high protein recipes, focusing on Asian food, desserts and snacks. I think generally Japanese food (and other East Asian Cuisine) is healthy, but obviously all the things people love is usually fried, higher in fat and with little protein. There is NOTHING(!!) wrong with enjoying these foods but we also think its fun to try and make ‘healthier’ versions of these foods to have on a more regular basis. Plus, I think most people hate deep frying at home because of the smell and mess so air frying/baking just makes things easier. If you want to see what he’ll be cookin’ up, his handle is @katsu_papi 😂. The video recipe for this chicken katsu will be up Sunday!
I also wrote up a quick guide on how to wash rice, the Japanese way. I’ll be updating the post with clearer photos and a video for visual people!! Also, random but does anyone else observe how people wash rice? 😂 All of my friends (Chinese, Korean & Vietnamese) wash rice a bit differently and I don’t think there is a right or wrong way to do it but I do notice a bit of textural difference. The type and brand will also depend but generally, if you over wash the rice the grains split and you end up with mushy-ish rice. Also, I hear time and time again to wash your rice until it runs clear but you lose flavour when doing that so a bit of cloudiness is ok!! More on that in the post :)
Wrapping things up with these weeks favourites!
Balkan Yogurt! I recently discovered this yogurt and wow, why does no one talk about it?! It almost has the flavour of cream cheese and mascarpone mixed together. And when strained it has the exact texture of cream cheese. I’ve been making a ‘tiramisu’ cups with it with biscoff, coffee, honey, strained balkan yogurt and cocoa powder and it’s so good.
This MIZUKIRI YOGURT STRAINER!!! I use it to strain the balkan yogurt and to make the souffle cake above and let me tell you, this strainer can PUSH 😂. In the past I used a cheesecloth but you can only get so much liquid out. I’ve tried other strainers too and the mesh either broke or the clip on the side cracked off. I’ve been using this one for over 4 months and it strains yogurt into a cream cheese consistency in less than an hour.
Kofta! We moved to a area with a lot of Persian food and randomly ran into a Persian Festival. I tried Kofta for the first time and now I’m hooked. Theres this small Persian spot near us that we’ve gone to a few times and their portions are crazy huge lol but love the flavours in this dish.
Thats it for this week! Would love to hear what you’re cookin’ up this week or what kind of recipes you want to see from us!