~ Japanese Nuts

Only K would be so generous to treat people to nice (but expensive) stuff!
Japanese nuts, 80g/pack @ $6 each! Any takers?

Sesame-paste-coated (sweet) ones:

Mustard-mayonnaise-coated (spicy) ones:

Fish-roe-paste-coated (spicy) ones:

I like all, I'm such a pig!

Oh ya, being a pharmacy student (and identifying yourself in some pharmacy as one) has its own perks, hehe:

~ Mushroom and Sausage Soba

Adapted from:

Eating Pleasure

Description:
Unusual but tantalising fusion of the Eastern fungus and the Western bangers over soba~

Ingredients (1 serving):
1/2 tbsp minced ginger
5 Shiitake mushrooms
1 sausage, sliced
2 tsp oil
2 lettuce leaves, shredded
1 tbsp chopped parsley
100 ml water
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp corn starch, dissolved in 1 tbsp water
60 g soba, cooked

Directions:
1) Heat oil and ginger till fragrant, 2 - 3 min.
2) Sauteed mushrooms and sausage slices for 3 - 5 min till slightly browned.
3) Add in lettuce, 1/2 tbsp parsley, water and oyster sauce. Simmer for 5 min.
4) Stir in corn starch solution, and simmer till desired consistency before adding the remaining parsley.
5) Serve hot over soba.

Remarks:

K: "thrice-deli-cious" (which means "delicious deLicIoUs DELICIOUS~")

Not exactly a creative term, but still a positive comment for my attempt at a very quick dish!

~ Chocolate Avocado Milkshake

Taken from:

-

Description:
Creamy concoction of avocado and milk~

Ingredients (1 serving):
1 ripe avocado
1 C milk
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions:
1) Blend all together. Serve with ice/blended with ice.

Remarks:

The avocado can really be uber squishy and oily, do handle it with care! If not you may have to do an extra step in cleaning up the place and losing some of this exotic fruit!

Since the blender is spoilt (long long time ago), I mixed this up manually. What I did was to roughly chop the avocado, and mash it up with the rest of the ingredients using a potato masher in a tall canister! Sounds fun?

~ Baked Teriyaki Salmon

Modified from:

Allrecipes

Description:
Broiled salmon coated with sticky savoury homemade teriyaki sauce~

Ingredients (4 x 6 cm x 6 cm pieces):
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp water
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/3 C soy sauce
2 tbsp distilled white vinegar
1 tbsp of minced garlic
1 tbsp of minced ginger
1 tsp of ground black pepper

Directions:

1) Bring all ingredients to boil till thickened, cool before using.
2) Marinate the salmon chunks in the sauce, wrap in foil and leave in the refrigerator for 30 min.
3) Bake covered in a preheated oven at 200 deg for 10 min, bast salmon with more sauce, and broil uncovered for another 10 min till slightly charred. Serve hot.

Remarks:
Slightly charred with the sweet aroma of caramelised sugar and baked fish (Mum said it was fishy), this dish will be a treat.. if it wasn't so salty. But it looked really appetising hmm-hmm:

Yeah! K bought soft nougat for me (actually, paid for MY purchase). Well, it was not as nice as the one I had before though, as it was really sweet with minimal almonds at an exorbitant price:

~ Cold Soba

Modified from:

Pinoycook

Description:
Chilled Japanese buckwheat noodles~

Ingredients (serves 3):
180 g soba noodles.
3 tbsp distilled white vinegar
6 tbsp soy sauce
6 tbsp honey
3 tsp sesame oil
Toasted sesame seeds
Sliced onions

Directions:

1) Cook soba noodles in boiling water for 5 min, plunge into cold water for 2-3 min and drain.
2) Combine vinegar, soy sauce, honey and sesame oil together, and pour onto the soba noodles.
3) Refrigerate soba with the sauce for 30 min.
4) To serve, generously top with sesame seeds and sliced onions and/or other cooked ingredients.

Remarks:

Delectable! I've spiced the soba up with some egg tamago, Shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, julienned carrots and shredded lettuce, and coupled the dish with baked teriyaki salmon.

Being the kiasu and greedy me, I'd made too much extra ingredients again. So this is my second plate of soba with all the remaining ingredients:

~ Orange Muffins with Surprise Centres

Modified from:
Allrecipes

Description:
Orange-flavoured jewels with jam or chocolate surprise centres~

Ingredients (24 mini muffins):
220g flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

50 g brown sugar

1 egg

60 ml orange juice

120 ml milk

80 ml oil

Zest of 1 orange

Jam or chocolate chunks

Directions:
1) Sift flour, baking powder and soda together and set aside.

2) Whisk egg with sugar till fluffy, and mix in orange juice, milk, oil and zest.

3) Fold in flour mixture gently, till well-combined.

4) Fill muffin pans till 1/3 full, top with jam or chocolate chunks, followed by filling with another 1/3 of the pans with batter.

5) Bake in preheated oven at 200 deg for 12-15 min, till brown.

Remarks:

A real disappointment - too bland (not enough sugar) and once again, I've lost much of my baked muffins to the muffin papers:

~ Japanese Sweet Potato (Soup) Agar

This is called 借花献佛~! I'd used Mum's sweet potato soup and made it into agar cubes:

Spot the fibres of sweet potato sticking out of and also the generous chunks in each cube:

They are yummy! But I wonder why the sweet potatoes were green...

~ Tofu Lime Cheesecake

Modified from:

Gastronome

Description:
Lower-fat version of cheesecake!

Ingredients (4.5" cake):
50 g sugar cracker crumbs
25 g butter, cold
1/2 C icing sugar

1 egg
150 g cream cheese, softenen

300 g pressed tofu
Zest of 5 limes
1 tbsp lime juice
1/4 tsp vanilla essence

1/4 C fruit spread
4 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp cornstarch

Directions:

1) Cut butter into crumbs, and press into the base of a 4.5" springform pan. Place into freezer.
2) Cream egg and icing sugar together, followed by cream cheese and tofu.
3) Stir in lime juice and vanilla essence.
4) Pour mixture into the crumb base, and bake in preheated oven at 150 deg for 75 min till the cake is set. Cool and put in the fridge overnight.
5) To make the sauce, dissolve fruit spread and cornstarch in water in a sauce pan. Cook till desired consistency. Cool, and spread the sauce over the cheesecake to serve.

Remarks:

I've forgotten to add in the cornstarch =( But it turned out fine, since I'd baked it slightly longer. Since I didn't blend the tofu well enough with my whisking machine and that it was pre-packed pressed tofu, I could still taste some small bits of tofu here and there in the cheesecake (i.e. the cake wasn't as smooth as I liked it to be). However, this cheesecake is definitely kinder to the waist compared to conventional ones without sacrificing taste!

~ Creamy Tomato Prawn Pasta

Modified from:

Exclusively Food

Description:
Sensational tomato pasta~

Ingredients (2 servings):
1 tbsp oil
9 large shrimps, peeled with tails on and soaked in sugar solution

4 crabsticks, cut into chunks
1 onion, diced

3 gloves garlic, crushed
1 C sliced spring onions

550 g tomatoes, seeded and diced

1/3 C hua diao wine
Salt and pepper

1 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 C milk
250 g pasta
Grated cheese

Directions:

1) Cook pasta in salted water till al dente, and set aside.
2) Heat half of the oil, and cook prawns (drained) and crabsticks. Set aside.
3) Fry the onions, garlic and half of the spring onions in the remaining oil for 2 min without browning.
4 Add tomatoes, wine, salt, pepper, and chilli flakes, and simmer till the tomatoes are soft. Mash the tomatoes with the back of a spoon.
5) Stir in milk and the remaining spring onions. Simmer for 2 min.
6) Add the prawns and simmer till heated up.
7) Toss pasta in the sauce and serve with grated cheese.

Remarks:

If there was cream, there would be heaven!

~ Nutella

I love nutella!!

~ Caribbean Shrimp Salad

Modified from:

Allrecipes

Description:
Spicy marinated shrimps with glass vermicelli~

Ingredients (2 servings):
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp minced fresh ginger root
6 small limes, juiced
2 cloves garlic, roasted and minced
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp white sugar
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 yellow pepper, diced
9 large cooked shrimps, peeled with tails on
4 crabsticks
100 g glass vermicelli, cooked and chilled


Directions:

1) Cook crabsticks in water till they become strands, and mix with glass vermicelli. Retain 3 tbs of liquid.
2) Combine oil, ginger root, limes, garlic, soysauce, sugar, red pepper flakes, cilantro and the crabstick liquid together. 
3) Stir in yellow pepper, shrimps and crabsticks.
4) Toss with the crabstick and vermicelli, and chill in the refrigerator for 1-4hours.

Remarks:

I'd prepared this salad the day before and kept it overnight so that it can be served for today's lunch! K found it a tad bit spicy, but still reasonably good! 

The dressing seemed too much for the whole dish. Do omit the additional 3 tbsp of liquid added in step 2 for a drier version (reduce limes too unless you like your salad really tangy).

So what do you do with your crockery after you have finished your food? Not to the wash basin please! Do these lovelys some justice:

~ Mini Tuna Casserole

Taken from:

-

Description:
Hearty comfort food minis~

Ingredients (makes 3):
1/2 can of tuna chunks in water, flaked (~70g)
1/2 celery stick, diced
2 tbsp frozen mixed veggies
1/4 C cilantro, finely chopped
1 tbsp miracle whip
1 tbsp milk
Dash of pepper
60 g wholewheat spaghetti, broken into 3 parts each
1 1/2 tbsp of chopped walnuts
2 slices processed cheese, cut into 3 parts each

Directions:
1) Cook spaghetti till al dente, and blanch mixed veggies in the pasta liquid. Remove veggies and drain the liquid. Divide pasta into 3 small individual aluminium cups or ramekins.
2) Combine tuna, celery, mixed veggies, cilantro, miracle whip, milk and pepper together.
3) Spoon the tuna mixture into each cup, top with chopped walnuts and cover the cups with aluminium foil.
4) Place in a toaster and toast for 10 min or bake in an oven at 190 deg.
5) Unveil the aluminium foil and top with cheese before putting back into the toaster/oven.
6) Serve once the cheese is bubbly and slightly burnt.

Remarks:

Once again, no complaints from Mum and Bro. For me, I found it rather interesting: crunchy walnuts with cheesy topping, rich creamy tuna middle, and nutty spaghetti strands bottom. Can't really imagine the taste till you have had your share of these cute minis!

I should be going green using ramekins instead:

~ Oyako Donburi

Adapted from:

Allrecipes

Description:
Chicken and egg (mother and child) served over sticky rice in a bowl~

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil

250 g chicken breast halves, cut into chunks

1 small onion, thinly sliced

120 ml chicken broth

3 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked until soft, then sliced into strips

1 carrot, julienned

1 tbsp white sugar

2 tbsp soy sauce

Pinch of salt

1/4 C chopped green onions

3 eggs, beaten

2 bowls of cooked Japanese rice

Nori (garnish)

Bonito flakes (garnish)

Directions:
1) Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Saute chicken strips and onion until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 to 7 min. Drain off as much liquid as possible.

2) Stir in the chicken broth, and simmer for 2 min.
3) Add the mushrooms and carrot, and let simmer for a few min before stirring in the sugar, soy sauce and salt. Simmer for 3 more min.
4) Sprinkle in half of the green onions, stirring gently.
5) Pour beaten eggs over the chicken mixture, and simmer until the eggs are cooked through, about 5 -10 min.
6) Serve over Japanese sticky rice. Garnish with remaining green onions, nori and bonito flakes.

Remarks:
I've turned the child into scrambled omelet ahhhh!!! =( During step 5, simmer without stirring and serve over hot rice before the egg is fully cooked to get a nice eggy sauce. If not, you'll get a dry and scrambled version like mine.

I found this dish slightly too salty, but it was flavoursome :) And it made me feel healthy eating it, for no reason! On my next round to a Japanese restaurant, I shall try their version of oyako donburi and see how close mine resembles to the authentic one!

~ Spicy Tuna Bread Salad

Adapted from:

Allrecipes

Description:
Crispy bread cubes tossed in spicy sweet tuna and celery dressing~

Ingredients:
1 green chilli, blanched and sliced
1/2 stick of celery
1 hardboiled egg, diced
1 tbsp miracle whip
1/2 can of tuna chunks in water, flaked (~70g)
Pepper
1 slice of wholewheat bread, cubed and toasted crisp

Spring onions (garnish), diced

Directions:

1) Combine chilli, celery, egg, miracle whip and pepper together.
2) Toss with toasted bread cubes and garnish with spring onions just before serving.

Remarks:
Nope this is not a typo and your eyes are fine, this IS a salad. I got pretty bored of tuna sandwiches so I'd decided to come up with something novel.. Er to think of it now, I feel as though I have sort of "plagiarized" the idea from caesar salad ops! Anyhow, it was a fulfilling lunch - left me feeling satiated and an awfully pungent tuna breath!

For crispier bread cubes, coat them in olive oil before toasting till they are brown, and only toss them with the tuna salad just before serving to prevent sogginess.

Wow, the lightings and environment do make a big difference when taking pictures. I'd taken these pictures in school just before I licked my lunchbox clean:

My strawberry mango ice blended juice from engineering canteen didn't satisfy my mango cravings very well due to the high proportion of ice crystals: