Japanese Chili Pork Ramen

You’ll rarely see me post pasta recipes because honestly, it’s just not my thing. I do however, have a thing for ramen noodles, even though it has been years since I have had some. Traditional Japanese ramen is a huge bowl of broth, ramen noodles, and different vegetables and meats depending on the recipe; each region in Japan has their version. You’ll notice there is no broth in my version. This is just personal preference as I have never particularly cared for the broth and have always felt that it just made it messier to eat.

For this recipe you will need:

Ramen noodles	Minced pork
Sambal Oelek or another chili sauce	Green onions
Fresh cilantro	Minced garlic
Roasted sesame seeds	Salt and pepper
Baby spinach

 

First of all you cook your pork until nearly browned.

Then add minced garlic.

Roasted sesame seeds and salt and pepper.

Once the meet is cooked thoroughly you put in a few tablespoons of Sambal Oelek. If you don’t have any feel free to use another type of chili sauce or you could even puree red chillies and use that instead.

 

Next, green onions and spinach go into the pan.

I usually use frozen baby spinach, since I can never finish the fresh kind before it goes bad.

And also some fresh cilantro, right at the end.

Give it a good stir and you’re ready to serve it. If you like your green onions very well cooked leave it on the heat a while longer, personally I like when they still have a bite to them as it makes for a good textural contrast with the meat and noodles.

While all of that is going on you can start your noodles. Try to get actual Japanese ramen noodles and not just the no name stuff in the styrofoam containers.

Since I don’t care for the broth I used just enough water to cook the noodles and two of the flavour packets that came with them. If you like the broth, use more water and all the flavour packets.

To serve just take some noodles and broth, if you’re using it, put them in a large bowl and add a generous amount of the pork mixture on top.

I really enjoyed this. It had been so long since I had eaten ramen so it really hit the spot. And I finally bought a pair of chopsticks to eat it properly. The Husband can’t eat with them so he thinks I have some kind of amazing talent to be able to do it. Poor boy, so gastronomically sheltered. I’ve tried to expand his horizons, but alas, no dice. This made lots of leftovers and overall it is a really cheap meal that can easily be stretched out. The biggest expense is the ground pork but the noodles are a buck or two per package and you could add more noodles and keep the same amount of meat. This meal is both tasty and budget friendly.

del.icio.us Tags: Japanse food,Ramen

Okonomiyaki- Japanese Savoury Pancake

This my friends, is Okonomiyaki, a Japanese pancake that usually comes filled with cabbage, green onions, pork or seafood. This is super quick to make at home and while it might require a trip to an Asian supermarket you can make this without the harder to find ingredients and it will still be delicious.

You will need:

Roughly 2 cups of flour	Roughly 2 cups of water
Japanese or regular chili powder	Bonito (dried fish flakes)
1 or 2 eggs	Nordic shrimp
A head of Chinese cabbage	Green onions
Sliced pork cutlets	1/2 of Panko
Tonkatsu sauce or BBQ sauce	Japanese or regular mayo
Furikake or seaweed flakes

 

To start off you mix 2 cups of flour with 1 cup of water or dashi stock (Japanese stock). I actually used chicken stock but plain water is fine.

As you can see it’s not the smoothest dough at this point. Since you’ll be adding a lot of wet ingredients it is better to leave it on the dry side at this point.

Next you add in your shrimp.

The panko. This is actually a substitute for tenkasu which are little fried bits of tempura batter since I couldn't find them.

One head of Chinese cabbage, chopped.

Japanese chili pepper.

For four portions I used 4 thin pork cutlets cut into strips.

At this point you mix everything together. You will need to add more water to get everything to stick; the batter should glue everything together and shouldn’t be too runny. I actually ended up adding a bit too much water and had to add a little more flour.

I cooked this in a crepe pan. If you don’t have one try to use a low sided pan. Cook it on medium and put a lid on it. This helps the inside cook since you want to make sure that your pork is thoroughly cooked.

After 8-10 minutes remove the lid and check the bottom to see if it is browned.

I use the “cover the pan with a plate and flip method”. I’m always scared I will drop something but it generally works. At this point cut two slits in the pancake and do not cover it so it won’t get soggy. In another 10 minutes it should be done.

The toppings: bonito flakes, furikake, tonkatsu sauce and Japanese mayo. If you can’t find these products just use some BBQ sauce, regular mayo and crumble some seaweed on top.

Layers of toppings.

This is one of my favourite Japanese meals. The toppings really make the meal and it is really filling with the shrimp, pork and cabbage. This would make fun party food with an electric griddle. You could have everyone cook their own pancake and customize them. This recipe make enough to feed an army so you will have plenty of leftovers.

del.icio.us Tags: Japanese Food

Pulled Pork Gorditas

I love Tex-Mex food. Oh how I wish there was decent Mexican food around these parts. Every single Mexican food restaurant that I have been to in Montreal is either bland or very bland, unfortunately. Since I had a craving for Mexican food I decided to make Gorditas. I actually made this recipe a few weeks ago so I am sitting here trying to remember what I put in them. Strangely enough gordita means “little fatty” in Spanish. This is also a term of endearment for chubby women (no, I am not kidding. We’re not very politically correct in Spanish). I cannot imagine a scenario in which a man will call his wife “little fatty” in English and not end up sleeping on the couch for a week. The recipe for the tortillas is here.

The tortilla part was easy to make. You mix masa, flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

The recipe calls for adding some cotija cheese to the tortillas. Since Italian cheese is what passes off as exotic at my local cheese counter I ended up using feta instead.

I also added some corn kernels. I took some frozen corn and nuked it in the microwave until it was thawed and tossed it into the bowl.

I added enough water to bring everything together so that the dough was stiff but not crumbly.

Traditionally you fry gorditas but I decided to bake them instead. I scooped out the tortillas with an ice cream scoop and patted them down with moistened hands. I put them in the oven at 350 Celsius which the standard temperature that I use when I am baking something which is usually fried.

To top my gorditas I made pulled pork and once it was shredded I mixed it with browned onions that I had cooking on the stove as I took care of the tortillas.

To make a sauce I added in tomato puree, cumin, coriander, chili powder, salt and pepper as well as some Mexican spice mix which I had in the pantry.

I had no idea how long to cook the tortillas so I left them in the oven until they were firm and golden.

To assemble the gorditas I topped them with tomatillo salsa (from a bottle, but it comes from Mexico, Old El Paso’s travesty of a salsa has not yet darkened my doorstep), fresh cilantro, guacamole and some feta cheese. The tortillas were nice and tasty with the sweet corn kernels providing a nice counterpoint to the saltiness of the feta cheese. Tomatillo salsa and guacamole are always winners in my book and they make everything better. This meal was most definitely a repeat. It didn’t take long to make and made quite a bit of leftovers. The only downside was that this is not the kind of thing that I could take to work for lunch, however it made a few excellent meals to have during the week.

Technorati Tags: Mexican,Tex-Mex,Tortillas,Pork