Month: September 2019

Posted in Asian Recipes, Japanese Recipes

Japanese Style Chicken Katsu

Posted on by Myra Ortiz

So instead of buying your toddler’s favorite chicken nuggets from a fast food or your local supermarket, why not make your own version – Japanese style! It’s actually fun to make, an activity that kids can join in to help plus the ingredients and steps are quite simple too. I surely had fun making AND eating it! LOL. This recipe below can also be followed if you’d like to make Pork Tonkatsu as the steps are the same . Serve it hot and crispy with a bowl of rice, some healthy steamed vegetables on the side like broccoli or baby corn and drizzle with some Tonkatsu sauce or Japanese mayo. Home cooked easy meals level up! 🙂

can serve up to 4 persons

prep time 15 mins

cooking time 20 mins

Simple Ingredients:

  • 4 pieces Chicken Breast fillet (cut each fillet diagonally or in half)
  • half cup all purpose flour
  • 2 large eggs (beaten)
  • 1 cup Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • cooking oil (I used palm oil to deep fry)

Steps:

  1. Pat dry chicken with a kitchen paper towel. Season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides and let it sit for about 10 minutes or so.
  2. Get 3 separate bowls for the flour, beaten eggs and panko. First, coat entire chicken breast in flour. Next, dip chicken in beaten egg making sure all parts are covered (I usually use tongs to do this so it won’t stick to my hands). Lastly, press into the panko crumbs until well coated.
  3. Heat oil in a skillet about half inch. When you see small bubbles are starting to appear, this means your oil is hot enough for deep frying.
  4. Place 3 pieces of chicken at a time to ensure quick cooking and less oil absorption. Give it about 3-4 minutes on each side until golden crispy brown.

*Homemade Tonkatsu sauce: mix 1 tbsp ketchup, 3 tbsp regular soy sauce, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tsp brown sugar

season with salt & pepper on both sides

flour > egg > panko

now we’re ready to fry!

because the chicken fillet is cut diagonally it should cook faster, so each side only needs a few minutes
crispy golden brown!

Also a great idea for baon (packed food) to school for your kids or work for you and your husband 🙂

Posted in Mexican recipes

Tasty Burritos

Posted on by Myra Ortiz

It is a fact that most of my hangry (hungry + angry) episodes in life have been resolved by a Burrito — this Tex-Mex dish in a wrapped tortilla (on the go food), with rice filling (surely fills a Pinoy belly!), involves stretchy, gooey cheese (who doesn’t love cheese? who?!) and has flavorful meat, beans and eaten best with sour cream, salsa or guacamole is definitely a bundle of love.

Burrito filling can have various ingredients, in fact it can be anything you want it to be! but for my recipe, I’m sticking to the basics. Now let me warn you that it may seem basic but the flavor is nothing near your ordinary Burrito. My mum who has 100% Filipino palate and ONLY gets food satisfaction from traditional Filipino food dishes, is in fact in love with this recipe. So with that, I rest my case 🙂

makes 6 wraps

prep time 10 mins

cook time 30 mins

Ingredients:

  • 6 pcs Tortilla wrap (12 inches)
  • 1 pound ground lean beef
  • 2 cups cooked rice (best to use rice from day before)
  • 1 pack Taco seasoning mix
  • 1 can refried beans
  • 1 cup shredded colby monterey jack cheese
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 whole onion (thinly sliced)
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • half cup Jalapeños (optional)
  • for the sides: get ready-made: salsa or guacamole or sour cream

Let’s get cookin’!

  1. Heat pan/skillet to medium, add a tbsp of olive oil and start frying the sliced onions. Once it becomes soft and a bit translucent you can now set aside for later.
  2. In the same pan (with all that onion flavor), add 2 tbsp olive oil and the lean ground beef, break them up whilst cooking and when it starts to brown, add in the taco seasoning (leave just about 1 tsp for the rice later) and then add the brown sugar. Season generously with salt and pepper then mix everything well. I recommend to thoroughly cook the meat until super well done. Then set aside.
  3. In a pan, cook refried beans for about 3-5 minutes, mixing it well while heating through. Set aside.
  4. In that same pan (with all the beans left to add flavor), cook rice and make sure to break it down to pieces, add in the taco seasoning leftover about 1 tsp, add your cooked onions. Season with a little salt. Mix and set aside.
Get your tortilla wraps ready coz’ it’s Time to assemble! 🙂

Spread refried beans onto one side of the tortilla > add just enough amount of spiced rice > throw in some ground beef > go crazy with the cheese > add in jalapeños for some heat (optional) > wrap your burrito making sure the sides are folded then roll up!

Heat your pan to medium and toast burritos to perfection. Cut burritos in half, prepare your salsa and sour cream on the side and ENJOY!

Posted in Pasta Recipes

Bacon Pesto Penne Pasta

Posted on by Myra Ortiz

5 Ingredients Challenge! 🙂

This has got to be the easiest and quickest pasta recipe I’ve done with the countless pasta dishes I’ve made in my lifetime. Giving in to the cooking shows I’ve been watching recently in using only 5 ingredients, I have got to vouch for this dish I made today for my husband’s baon (packed food) to work.

Can I just please say, it is BURSTING with flavor! Pasta recipes do not necessarily have to have a long list of ingredients to achieve that winner flavor. In fact, some of the Michelin star restaurants that features ‘must-try’ Pasta recipes literally has pasta + cream based sauce in it. It has nothing else. Period.

serves 1-2 persons

prep time 5-8 mins

cook time 12-15 mins

you only need 5 ingredients! (seriously)

  1. 4-5 strips Bacon cut into small pieces (best to use SMOKED bacon vs honey cured bacon)
  2. 200-250 grams Penne pasta
  3. 3-4 cloves garlic (finely minced)
  4. grated Parmesan cheese (1/3 cup)
  5. Pesto ready-mix (I used McCormick Pesto Pasta Sauce Mix – you’ll only need about 1 tbsp of this; no need to use the entire pack)

Delicious Pasta in no time! 🙂

  1. Bring water to a boil in a pot and add about half tbsp salt. Whilst waiting for water to boil, start heating up a pan in a separate stove on medium heat (saving time here!) and put in bacon to fry. No oil needed. The oil from the bacon fat will give your pasta all that yummy flavor!
  2. Time to place pasta in the boiling water for about 5 mins~ Mix every now and then to avoid pasta to stick together. Drain and set aside.
  3. Back to your bacon – as bacon cooks, add in garlic. You can actually throw in about half slice of butter if you already have that available to add creaminess to your pasta (this is optional). When garlic starts to toast/brown a bit, throw in all your pasta in the pan. Roughly mix.
  4. Add pesto. Add parmesan cheese. Add 2-3 tbsp water for moisture. Mix everything well and you’re DONE.
  5. Eat, enjoy and be proud of yourself! 🙂