Moist, Fluffy, Tropical Waffles

Dry ingredients:
1 3/4 cup pancake mix (1 3/4 cup flour & 2.3 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt as a substitute)
 2 - 3 tbs sugar

Wet ingredients:
3 tbs butter, melted
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 sour cream or Greek yogurt
(For pancakes, add 1 tsp vanilla extract)

*Any tropical fruit (optional), diced: mango, peaches, papaya, pears, kiwis, apples etc.

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and all the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
2. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until it's all mixed.
3. Cook in a waffle maker (I use a waring pro waffle maker. At 3.5 temperature)
4. Toss fruit on top of a waffle and enjoy!

Shrimp & Peas Risotto with White Wine and Sake

 

Shrimp stock:

3/4 to 1 lb shrimp shells (shells for the stock, *meat for the risotto below)

2 cups water

2 1/4 oofu dashi packages =12.5 grams and add 1.5 cups water or simply 1.5 cups chicken broth or use consomme

1 cup leek green, chopped

4 shakes (pinches) of pepper

4 parsley sprigs

3 bay leaves

Risotto:

2 tbs butter

1.5 bacon stripes

3/4 shallot, chopped

1 cup leak white, chopped

5 mushrooms, diced

1 cup dry arborio rice

1.5/4 cup white wine (or dry sherry)

1/4 cup sake

*3/4 to 1 lb shrimp meat

1/2 - 3/4 cup green peas

1/2 tsp salt or less

A pinch of pepper

A pinch of cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp sage (optional)

1/8 nutmeg

3 tbs grated Parmesan

Some chives or parsley as garnish

1. Devein shrimp and put the shells and all other stock ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer stock for 10 minutes. Strain stock into a bowl and put it back into the saucepan over low heat.
2. Melt butter in a saute pan over medium heat and cook bacon, shallot, leak white and mushrooms for 2 minutes.
3. Add in rice and saute for 2 minutes (try not to allow vegetables or rice to brown).
4. Pour white wine and sake into the saucepan and let it evaporates.
5. Add a ladle of warm stock (about 1/2 cup) and stir until absorbed. Continue adding stock in the same way until rice is tender.
6. Add in shrimp and green peas and cook until shrimp is pink and add in the rest of all the spices (from salt to nutmeg).
7. Remove from the heat, add Parmesan and chives or parsley as garnish.

Crispy Milan Cookies

Ingredients:
150 grams egg white (5-6 eggs)
150 grams powdered sugar
150 grams flour
150 ml heavy cream
*3 tsp earl grey tea leaves to make earl grey flavored heavy cream for earl grey cookies. (optional - see below)
**3/4 tsp earl grey tea leaves to add in batter. (optional)

Chocolate filling:
90 ml heavy cream
5 ounces of 70 % chocolate + 1 ounce semisweet chocolate
***1 orange zest (optional)

1. Preheat the oven at 350 F.
2. Sift flour and put aside. 
3. Beat egg white and make meringue by adding sugar gradually until it forms stiff peaks.
4. Add flour and heavy cream. (To make plain and earl grey flavored cookies, devide batter into halves in separate bowls and add plain and earl grey heavy cream into each batter.)
5. Squeeze the dough in the icing bag to shape very thin, long shapes on a cookie pan and bake for 17 - 19 minutes (important - space them about 1.5 inches apart as they spread! Bake well until the edge of the cookies turn brown).
6. While cookies cool down, heat chocolate filling ingredients until the chocolate melts and put the chocolate filling on each cookie and sandwich it with another cookie.

To make earl grey flavored cookies:
*At the very beginning, make earl grey heavy cream by microwaving 50 ml heavy cream with tea leaves for 40 seconds or more. Remove tea after it steeps and add in more heavy cream to make 75 ml in total. In a separate bowl, put 75 ml plain heavy cream to make plain ones and chill both in the fridge. 
 **Add tea leaves into the earl grey batter after step 4.

Karaage (Fried Chicken) and Pickled Leaf Mustard and Egg Frid Rice

To marinate chicken:

• About 3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thigh (I used 2 packages of chicken thigh)
• Salt (3/4 tsp - 1 tsp) & pepper
• 4 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs mirin
• 2 tbs ginger juice
• 2.5 - 3 large garlic cloves

Before frying chicken:

• 1 egg to mix in the marinated chicken
• Potato (corn) starch for frying

1. Marinate chicken with all the ingredient and put it in fridge at least 3 - 4 hours or over night.
2. Heat oil in a pot.
3. Mix beaten egg well in the marinated chicken.  This will make chicken tender and juicy.
4. Cover the chicken with corn starch thoroughly one by one and fry in oil at 160 degrees first and take the chicken out of the oil when the batter hardens. Fry them again at 180 degrees until the outside is golden brown. This way will remove excess oil and make the outside of the chicken crispy.

Corned Beef

Glaze:
1 cup orange marmalade
1/8 cup apple juice
2 tbs ketchup
2 tbs white wine vinegar
1.5 tbs lemon juice

Beef brisket:
3 lbs corned beef brisket (used Trader Joe's seasoned corned beef)
1/2 cup potatoes
1/2 cup carrots
1 cup beer

1. Cook beef, potatoes, carrots and beer in a 4 to 6 qt slow cooker on low-heat for 8-9 hours or on high-heat 4- 5 hours.
2. Take out beef and vegetables.
3. Mix glaze ingredients together and brush over beef.
4. Bake beef for about 5- 10 minutes at 430-450 F.
5. Thinly slice beef and serve it with potatoes and carrots. (I added sauteed garlic beans.)

Brownie Cookie Ensemble

  
  
Ingredients:
330 grams flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
100 grams cocoa powder
 250 grams butter
300 grams brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs coffee

Chai glaze:
2 tbs milk + 1 bay leaf + 1.5 tsp honey in a small bowl and microwave for about 20 seconds.
Add 1.5 tsp chai tea leaves and microwave for about 15 seconds. Strain to a bowl.
Add the spice: 1/16 tsp ginger, cinnamon, a pinch of all spice, 1 tsp vanilla extract
Add and whisk sifted 1/2 powder sugar gradually and wait at least a couple of minutes till the glaze gets thicken as the heat is gone to your desirable consistency (thick not runny!).

1. Preheat oven at 350°F. 
2. Mix butter and sugar well until it whitens and add eggs, vanilla extract and coffee.
3. Sift all the dry ingredients and mix it in the wet ingredients.
4. Put half the cookie dough in the fridge for about an hour (or 20 minutes in the freezer) and take the other half of the cookie dough and put it into the icing bag.
5. Make flower shapes by squeezing the dough in the icing bag in "cork screw" shape and put raspberry jam in the center. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.
6. Take out the cookie dough from the fridge and shape it in about 1/2 inch your favorite shapes. Bake for about 7 - 8 minutes.
7. Decorate cookies with melted chocolate and almonds or any kinds of glaze you like and enjoy!

The result was very soft, kind of chewy brownie flavored cookies. Next time, I may add some corn starch to make is a little more crispy outside..we'll see!

Adjusted from "Chocolate, chocolate cookies" Vessy's day