Tastebudding Ideas

Sweet egg omelete (tamago yaki)

2008-11-14T16:50:00.000-08:00

Going with the recent Japanese theme, here is a recipe for tamago yaki, or rolled egg omlette. Most have probably seen and tasted these sweet egg slices on top of sushi rice or in sushi rolls.

You can use these egg slices in sushi, fried rice, sandwiches, salads, anything!

Ingredients

(makes about 8-10 1cm thick slices)

1/2 cup eggbeaters

2tbs unsweetened almond breeze milk (or soy/cow milk)

2 ts soysauce

1 tbs splenda (i like it sweeter)

1 ts dashi (fish stock) powder

pinch of salt

optional : handful of shredded dry seaweed

optional: 1 ts of japanese flavoured seasoning sprinkles (furikake)

Method:

1. Stir all ingredients in a bowl

plus

2. Heat a small flying pan on medium and spray with cooking spray

3. Pour about 1/2 the mixture into the pan, swirl to coat

4. Lightly scramble and continue swirling so coat the pan again

5. When bottom is slightly brown and top is still fluid, fold 2 sides of the egg omelete in.

6. Roll the egg omelete as you would a burrito

7. Pour the rest of the egg mixture into the pan, again lightly scramble and swirl

8. Before the top sets, wrap the new egg layer around the old one, again making a burrito shape

9. transfer to a sushi mat lined with saran wrap

10. Press omlete into a rectangular prism shape

11. Leave something heavy on it and let it set while it cools

12. Cut into slices

Notes:

-if you don't sushi mat, be innovative and just wrap w/ plastic wrap, parchment paper etc., and press on it with something heavy

-I like things salty and sweet so please season to your own tastes

- don't worry if your omelete doesn't look good in the pan, it will come together when you press it on the sushi mat

Approximate Nutritionals

for whole recipe:

Calories: 125kcal

Fat: 1g

Sweet chinese-style pineapple bun (aka Melon Pan in Japanese)

2008-11-12T10:37:00.000-08:00

So the pineapple bun...It's the "essence" of Hong Kong "Tea cafes" and the star of the Japanese bakery. It doesn't actually have pineapples...or melons...it's basicaly a sweet bun with a cookie like topping. There is a criss-cross pattern on top, therefore resembling a pineapple (or melon)...

A typical small pineapple bun from the Chinese bakery will cost you....$1 and around 350 calories, hardly a bargain. Here is my low cost and low caloric version:

Chinese Pineapple bun/Japanese Melon pan

(makes 4 servings)

Bun:

4 wonderbread hamburger buns (or any plain bun with 110 calories or lower)

*Note: I chose the wonderbread buns because I think they are the best substitutes for the lowest calories. They are decently sized, sweet, and have a fluffly texture similar to ones from the Chinese bakery. By the way, even plain buns from the Chinese bakery tend to contain much more fat and sugar.

Topping:

2 tbs Becel with RSF low calorie margarine (or other light margarine 37.5kcal/tbs)
1 tbs powdered sugarfree vanilla coffeemate (try other flavours 30kcal/tbs)
2 tbs splenda
1/3 cup Aunt Jemima complete buttermilk pancake mix

*Note: nutritionals for the pancake mix varies by region. The one I have (Vancouver) has 130kcal per 1/3 cup. You can also use pastry flour or other pancake/baking mix with less than 400kcal per cup

Method:
1. Cut margarine into flour, until it resembles coarse meal
2. Blend the rest of the topping ingredients together by hand with a spoon
3. Mix until ingredients have formed a ball of dough and sides of the mixing bowl are clean
4. Do not overmix! You dont' want the gluten in the flour to develop
5. If dough is too dry, add some water or milk, a little bit at a time (I didn't add any)
6. Divide dough into 4, about slightly smaller than a ping-pong ball

7. Flatten your dough and spread it out on the tops of your hamburger buns
8. Use the back of a knife to cut a criss-cross pattern
9. Toast in the oven until topping is cooked and browned
*Note: I used the broil option on my toaster oven as the bun is already cooked and didn't want to burn it while the topping cooks. Also, next time I may want to make a softer dough by adding a tiny bit of water. This way I might be able to stretch the dough to make 5 servings.

Approximate Nutritionals (per bun with topping):
Calories: 175 kcal

Fat: 4g

Pineapple bun with fatfree/sugarfree chestnut cream filling (filling recipe to come later). Nutritional information did not include chestnut filling.

Sesame teriyaki chicken

2008-11-05T23:18:00.001-08:00

What I made for dinner tonight:

This is one of my favourite dishes.

Sweet teriyaki chicken with onions with a Japanese flavour.

Ingredients:

1 cup sliced onions
1 cup boneless skinless chicken breast cut into chunks
1/2 tbs dashi powder (Japanese fish stock) 2 tbs soy sauce 2 tbs cooking rice wine
1.5 tbs splenda (regular sugar can be used, but nutritionals will vary)
1 tsp each minced ginger and garlic
salt to taste

1 tsp white or black sesame seeds (optional)
3/4 cup clear konnyaku (shirataki) noodles (optional) *
1 tsp agar powder to thicken sauce (optional) *
cooking spray

Method:

1. Coat non-stick pan with cooking spray
2. Put in ginger, garlic, and onion slices, fry about 3-5min until onion is soft and slightly brown. Continously stir to avoid burning onions

3. Dissolve agar powder and dashi powder in 3/4 cup water and add to pan, adding more water as needed. Cover and cook until onions are translucent and soft (5min)
4. Add chicken, soy sauce, wine, splenda, and salt.
5. Add shirataki noodles. I put the noodles on one side because I wanted to serve the chicken and noodles seperately. You can also mix the noodles in with the rest of the ingredients.

6. Reduce heat to medium and cover to cook for about 7min.
7. Remove cover to reduce sauce (about 5min)
8. Stir in sesame seeds.
9. Plate and sprinkle some more sesame seeds on top to garnish.

Serves 3

Approx calories per serving: 135kcal

Approx fat per serving: 2g

*Notes:

I used agar powder to thicken up the sauce instead of cornstarch as agar i

s calorie free

Konnyaku noodles are transparent chewy noodles which is also calorie free. It's great as a noodle/rice substitute. Here is a picture of the noodles in the package below:

My dinner rice bowl!

I layered 1/3 cup of cooked white rice with a big spoonful of konnyaku noodles and topped it with 1/3 recipe of the sesame teriyaki chicken.

I added a couple bunches of boiled baby bokchoy and a slice of pickled radish (takuan).

I also ate it with a bit of korean kimchee which by the way is only 35kcal per cup.

My wonderfully delicious dinner came under 300kcal!

Sola's debut!

2008-11-05T23:09:00.001-08:00

Shoftly after my childhood times in the kitchen, I become interested to creating dishes that both my tastebuds and my body will be happy about. Hence the exciting adventures in recipe modification and creation to make my favourite foods low calorie, low sugar, and low fat. Over the years of work (play) in my humble kitchen, I've established a repetoire of recipes, kitchen tools, and cultural cooking knowledge. I've always wanted to share this journey with the world, but alas, being a student got in the way. Now, having left all-nighters and cram study-sessions behind, I am ready to debut my tastebudding ideas!

Because I'm from Vancouver, naturally I'm interested in multicultural cuisine. Here you will find sweet and savory dishes as well as dishes with international inspiration. Please do not post pictures or recipes without permission or a reference to my blog. Please enjoy!