No Recipes – Techniques, inspiration and cooking tips from my Japanese kitchen

How to Scramble an Egg

Scrambled egg is often the first dish we learn how to make, yet for many it’s one of the hardest dishes to master. While everyone has a different ideal of what scrambled eggs should be like, I can’t help but smile when I’m served a plate of tender golden yellow curds that somehow manage to [...]

continue →

Hamburg Steak (Hambāgu)

33 comments

Chicken teriyaki aside, Hamburg Steak or Hambāgu (ハンバーグ) as the Japanese like to call it, is probably the most popular entrée to stick in a bento lunch in Japan. Although it’s unclear exactly when this dish was introduced to Japan, it presumably comes from the American Salisbury steak, which is named after its inventor Dr. [...]

continue →

Chipotle Chicken Chili

14 comments

As a kid, when I heard the word “chili” it brought up images of brown chunky mush that looked (and smelled) like something you would feed a furry four legged companion. Between the gas inducing kidney bean “chili” that came out of the kitchen at home and the cans of Hormel that friends would warm [...]

continue →

Grapefruit Guacamole

26 comments

Most store-bought guacamoles are preservative laden travesties made with more sour cream than avocado. That’s because avocado’s aren’t cheap, and they tend to discolor and spoil rather quickly. Luckily, guacamole is probably one of the simplest things you could possibly make in your kitchen!

continue →

20 Second Chocolate Cake

3 comments

Valentine’s Day is coming up and for those of you celebrating alone this year, here’s my gift to you. It’s a self-saucing chocolate cake that’s tender and moist on the inside and enrobed in a rich chocolate sauce. It takes under a minute to prepare and cooks in less than 20 seconds; it also happens [...]

continue →