Sweet and Sour "Chicken"

I have been craving Sweet and Sour anything. Actually, no. Not ANYTHING. Being a semi-vegetarian (with my only exception being sushi), it's hard to find sweet and sour anythings besides tofu. I love tofu and all, but sometimes, I'd like something harder for my teeth actually be of use... and soy protein. And so... I saw a recipe online using Boca's chik'n nuggets and I found a pretty good recipe for a sweet and sour sauce and I merged them together...

Sweet and Sour [Faux] Chicken
About 3 Servings

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 package (~10 oz.) of veggie chicken nuggets (or any other veggie meat)
• About 2 cups of assorted vegetables (broccoli, red bell pepper, carrots, water chestnuts...)
• 8 oz. of [fresh or canned] diced pineapple

Sweet and Sour Sauce

• 1/3 cup of white or rice vinegar
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons corn starch mixed with 4 teaspoons water
  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bake the nuggets as directed on the package. Stir-fry your vegetables for a couple of minutes, then add the pineapple (drained, if you bought canned ones), and continue to cook until done. Add the fully baked nuggets to the vegetables. If you plan on eating it with rice, you can start cooking it now, as well.
   
2. In a small sauce pan, mix together the vinegar, sugar, ketchup and soy sauce and bring to a boil. Stir in the corn starch mixture in order to thicken the sauce and cook for another minute.
   
3. Pour the sauce onto the cooked vegetable (and pineapple) and nugget mixture and stir around to coat.
   

PERSONAL NOTES/COMMENTS:

• Since I'm a college student, I brought a 16 oz. bag of frozen, assorted vegetables as well as a can of pineapples. It took me approximately 20 minutes to cook. I stir fried my vegetables with about a tablespoon of canola oil and baked my nuggets instead of sticking them into the microwave. Ah yes - I used the Morningstar brand of nuggets (10 1/2 oz.) instead because they were on sale AND I had a coupon for them.
  
• I used a little more than 1/3 cup of vinegar, probably close to 1/2 cup of vinegar, in the sauce and I adjusted the rest of the ingredients by tasting it periodically. It ended up being the perfect amount for my veggies.
  
• On the original recipe for the sauce, it's noted that using rice vinegar makes the sauce taste better. I can say that I loved the end product. Perfect tang and sweetness. ^_^
  

My first attempt with it still in the wok. And yes, there is a reason why I'm not a professional photographer of any sort. Plus, the quality of my camera isn't all that good... But it does the job. ^_^

Sparkled Ginger Cookies (Vegan)

I took Japanese the first half of the semester and one day, my sensei brought baked cookies to class - these, in fact. I liked them a lot so I asked for the recipe and she sent it to me. I love them 'cause they're soft and moist - not to mention I love ginger. :) According to her, this recipe's adapted from "Vegan with a Vengeance" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

Sparkled Ginger Cookies (Vegan)
Makes about 2 dozen Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 4 tablespoons turbinado or demerrara sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup soymilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease 2 cookie sheets and place the turbinado sugar in a small bowl.
• Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. In a separate large mixing bowl, mix together the oil, molasses, soymilk, sugar, and vanilla. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and combine well.
• Roll into 1-inch balls and flatten into 1 1/2 inch-diameter disks. Press the cookie tops into the turbinado sugar and place one inch apart sugar side up onto the prepared cookie sheet.
• Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 3 - 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

NOTES AND COMMENTS

• I reduced the amount of sugar to between 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup. The molasses should sweeten the cookie well enough.
  
• I sprinkled the sugar on top instead of pressing it down.
• There's no need to grease the cookie sheet - the canola oil contained in the 'dough' is quite enough. :)
• I actually prepared the dry ingredients in a large bowl, stirred it around to incorporate everything with a whisk, then added the wet ingredients one by one into that. I then mixed it by hand and it worked just as well.
  
• Even though this is a vegan recipe (since my sensei's vegan), I'm not. I also didn't have soymilk, or rice milk (what my teacher used), on hand so I used skim milk instead. At least it's organic?
• A 10-minute baking time makes the cookie slightly soft, whereas a 12-minute baking time makes it crunchy. [taken from my teacher's memo] I like it soft, so I only baked it for roughly 10 minutes.

Okonomiyaki Recipe

This is another one of my favorites. It's a quick meal that fills you up just right and isn't time consuming. It's actually pretty common in Japan, especially amongst students, and I saw it in the 2006 Japanese drama, Hanazakari no Kimitachi e, and I decided I must try it. I don't quite remember where I adapted it from, but either way, it's good. :) You can also very easily make it vegetarian, since it's also known as "Japanese Pizza" - you can put whatever you want in it.

Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き)
About 4 Servings

INGREDIENTS:
Batter

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 3/4 cup water
• 4 eggs
• About 5 cabbage leaves, chopped
• 4 to 8 ounces of chopped whatever you'd like (mushrooms, zucchini, etc.)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup tempura flakes (tenkatsu) [optional]
  
• Topping(s): mayonnaise, okonomi sauce, seaweed
  

Vegetarian Okonomi Sauce

• 1 cup vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup vegetarian oyster sauce
  

DIRECTIONS:

• Mix flour with water in a medium bowl along with the eggs.
• Stir in the cabbage and other ingredients of your choice.
• Heat oil in a non-stick pan and pour in the batter (~6 inches across, 1/2 inch thick).
  
• Cook on both sides over medium heat until golden brown (~5 minutes).
• Transfer to a serving plate and add sauce, mayonnaise, and seaweed.
• Repeat until all the batter is used up.
  

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

• I usually cut the recipe in half since when I make this, I make two: one for lunch and one for dinner; I feel that okonomiyaki would taste much better fresh, instead of in the fridge overnight, then microwaved. I usually put in zucchini and/or mushrooms, but I've also added in veggie "beef" balls that reminded me of fish (I've no idea how that works).
  
• The batter is somewhat thin, but it still thinly covers the ingredients.
• When chopping the cabbage, try to avoid the white stem - they take longer to cook and the batter might be burned. Remembering to cook on medium heat helps.
  
• The hardest part is to flip over the okonomiyaki without flinging the uncooked (and, therefore, unattached) toppings about. The most time-consuming is chopping everything. All in all, it's easy and simple once you get the hang of it.
  
• Store-bought okonomi sauce has fish extract in it, hence the neat little recipe I found online that I added to this. The mayonnaise is the Japanese kind in that squishy bottle (Kewpie) with the red cap.
  

My first attempt at this. That's miso soup in the upper left corner.
I'm surprised I still have these photos on my computer.

Ja Jang Myeon Recipe

I've actually made this around five times now, but just in case I lose the recipe, I'll have it online. I used the recipes from here and here, but modified them to fit my wants and needs (vegetarian and onion/garlic-free, while trying to make it as authentic as possible). I saw it in Coffee Prince and I just had to try it (Yoon Eun Hye made it look so delicious!). Now, I make it at least once a month and I never get tired of it.

Ja Jang Myeon (짜장면)
About 4 Servings

INGREDIENTS:

• About 1 cup each of diced zucchini, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, and fried tofu
  
• 1 to 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 7 tablespoons of black bean paste
• 2 to 3 tablespoons of cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of water
• 3 cups of water
• Noodles
• Oil

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat small skillet over medium heat with 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and add the black bean paste. Stir-fry for a minute and set aside.
• In large pot, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and saute the diced ingredients (carrots, potatoes, and tofu first for about 2 minutes, then add the zucchini and mushrooms and stir-fry for another 2 minutes).
• Add 3 cups of water or until all the ingredients are submerged. Close the lid and boil for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Add the fried black bean paste and stir. Now add in the sugar.
• Mix 2 to 3 tablespoons of cornstarch with the 2 tablespoons of water and add it to the boiling soup. Stir immediately. It will turn sticky.
• Cook the noodles and place the sauce on top. Serve hot.
  

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

• The fried black bean paste resembles tar but it's fine once incorporated into the 'soup.' Remember to immediately run water into the sauce pan so it will save some cleaning time.
• I boiled the ingredients for a little over 15 minutes and the vegetables came out not too hard, not too soft.
• When stir-frying the potatoes, don't over do it or the starch will come out and it'll make the end product even thicker.
• I put in about 3 teaspoons worth of sugar.
• There's actually a specific noodle that's specifically for Ja Jang Myeon, but I didn't have it on hand so I used buckwheat noodles instead. It tastes just fine. :) You can also eat it over rice, but then it's no longer Ja Jang Myeon - it's now Ja Jang Bap.
• The sauce looks like black goop with unidentifyable lumps. Don't mind the looks. It tastes delicious.
• Even though you place the sauce on the noodles, you mix everything up before you eat it. Refer to the Korean Drama, The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince.
  

CULTURE NOTES:

• Ja Jang Myeon is seen as a comfort food in Korea, especially for those without significant others. [Wiki]
  
• China also has their own version (Zha Jiang Mian/炸醬麵) but I haven't tried to make it yet. There several differences and the main one is that the Korean version adds sugar. There are others but since I haven't made it, I can't really say.
  

A picture of my first attempt, before the mixing. :)