This recipe is honestly a work in progress. It was my first time spatchcocking a chicken! I think next time I make this, instead of using a compound herb butter, I’m going to dry out the chicken and just use fresh herb salt and olive oil… Will keep you posted 🙂

Ingredients: 

• Sea salt 
• Parsley 
• Garlic 
• Lemon zest
• Golden Potatoes 
• Lemons
• Whole chicken (spatchcocked) 

Cilantro Sauce:

• Cilantro 
• Parsley
• Greek Yogurt 
• Garlic 
• Lemon juice
• Salt 

Herb butter: 

• Cold butter (1 stick) 
• Finely chopped parsley 
• Finely chopped garlic (5 cloves) 
• Lemon zest
• Lemon juice (1 lemon) 
• Salt 
• Pepper 
• Herb de provence
• Oregano 
• Onion Salt (TJ) 

1. Preheat oven to 425 F
2. Spatchcock the chicken (look up youtube videos, it’s pretty straightforward as long as you have kitchen scissors) 
3. Make herb butter by combining all the ingredients with a fork
4. Try to get the herb butter under the skin of the chicken and rub the butter all over the chicken. 
5. Cook chicken uncovered for 45min-1hr depending on size
6. While the chicken cooks, combine cilantro sauce ingredients in a blender, adjust to taste
7. Once the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160, it’s done. Rest for at least 10 min before serving.

A classic Japanese comfort meal that’s super easy to make. Pictured is a side of blanched okra with bonito flakes and ponzu, as well as some amitsuke cabbage and miso soup!

Ingredients: 

• Boneless skinless chicken thighs (10 oz) 
• 3-4 large eggs 
• ½ onion sliced 
• 1 tbsp sake 
• Salt 
• Parsley 

Sauce ingredients: 

• ½ cup dashi stock 
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp mirin 
• 2 tsp sugar 

1. Combine sauce ingredients 
2. Cut chicken into cubes, pour 1 tbsp sake over and lightly salt. Let sit for 5-10 min
3. Lightly mix the eggs, DO NOT OVER MIX, should look marbled
4. In a cold pan, add sliced onions and pour over sauce. Cook on medium heat until it starts simmering
5. Once simmering, add chicken and cook until chicken isn’t pink 
6. Add 2/3rds of the egg mixture (avoid edges of the pan) 
7. Once it looks pretty cooked, add the rest of the egg mixture (more yolk the better for color) and cover for 1-2 min 
8. Serve over white rice and garnish with parsley or green onion! 

Say goodbye to those curry cubes (although ngl they are the best lol) and make Japanese beef curry from scratch!!! Recipe inspo from Kimono Mom 🙂

Ingredients (4 servings) 

• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 inch ginger 
• 300g meat of your choice
• 300g potato 
• 1 carrot
• 20g butter
• 4 tbsp flour 
• 3 tbsp curry powder
• 200ml (1 cup) vegetable juice or vegetable broth + ¼ grated apple
• 600ml (3 cup) water
• 1 bouillon cube (beef preferable) 
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tbsp instant coffee
• 1 tbsp sugar 
• 1 tbsp worcester sauce (japanese)

1. Slice onion
2. Peel carrot and cut into bite size pieces and peel potatoes and cut into big pieces and soak in water
3. Chop ginger and garlic finely
4. Cook down onions, ginger, garlic, fry until onion is golden brown, add a little salt 
5. Add butter mix well and add 3 tbsp of flour and mix on low heat until smooth 
6. Add 3 tbsp of curry powder and mix till smooth 
7. Add vegetable juice and mix then add 3 cup water and mix 
8. Add bouillon cube and 2 tbsp of ketchup and 1 tbsp of worcester sauce and 1 tbsp of sugar and 1 tbsp instant coffee – 20-30min let this simmer with lid off
9. Brown the meat (add flour prior) then add the carrots and potatoes – fry for a bit then add it into the curry mixture get all the scrapings in – let this cook on low heat for a good while 

This is a easy chicken dish that goes with a lot of side dishes. I like to serve this in a bowl with rice, kimchi and a boiled egg.

Ingredients: 

• 1 lb Chicken breast or thighs 
• Cilantro 

Marinade: 

• 3 tbsp Soy sauce
• Grated ginger 
• Grated garlic 
• 1.5 tbsp Mirin 
• 1.5 tbsp Cooking sake 
• 1 tbsp MSG 
• 1 tsp sugar 
• Salt 
• White pepper 

1. Cut chicken into chunks and combine marinade ingredients together and pour over chicken in a zip lock bag. Store in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
2. Cook the chicken on medium heat in a non stick pan
3. Serve with rice and side dishes and top with cilantro 

I originally made this recipe in a cast iron as you can see in the photo but through trial and error, I noticed that cooking them in the oven on parchment paper was the most fuss free way to go. I like to serve these meatballs with a lemon kale salad and a diced tomato, olive, onion, feta salad. I also like to eat this with a side of hummus. For a more filling meal, you could serve this with rice or pasta.

Meatball Ingredients: 

• 1 lb ground chicken (or Turkey) 
• 1 cup ricotta 
• 1 cup spinach (finely chopped)
• ½ cup bread crumbs (panko) 
• ¼ cup grated parm 
• 1 egg
• 2-3 cloves garlic (finely chopped) 
• Basil (finely chopped) 
• 1 tsp oregano
• Onion salt 
• Salt + Pepper 

Tzatziki Sauce: 

• Greek yogurt 
• Finely chopped parsley 
• Grated garlic
• Grated cucumber
• Salt 
• Lemon zest + lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 400F 
2. Mix meatball ingredients till combined then shape into balls 
3. Place onto baking tray lined with parchment paper and a little olive oil on the bottom  
4. OPTIONAL: add tomatoes, onions (any roast-able vegetable) to the pan as well (season with olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, onion salt prior to baking) 
5. Roast meatballs for 15min then broil at 450F for 5min

This is basically my take on a chicken soup that has a Japanese flavor profile.

Ingredients: 

• 1lb chicken thighs (skin on bone in OR skin off boneless – if no skin, you do not need to brown the chicken) 
• Green onion (2-3 stalks cut into 1 ½ in pieces) 
• Garlic (2 – 3 cloves depending on size) 
• Ginger (2 in worth – julienned) 
• Dashi soup base or powder
• Tuscan kale (2 handfuls) 
• Carrots 
• Daikon
• MSG
• Chilli Oil
• Trader Joes Yuzu Hot Sauce 
• Fried Shallots
• Rice 

1. Brown chicken thigh skin in pan (start with a cold pan – renders the fat better) 
2. Add chicken in pot with aromatics (julienned ginger, garlic, green onion) also add sliced carrots and daikon 
3. Fill pot with water (2in above chicken) and add ¼ cup of dashi soup base + 2 tsp of MSG
4. Simmer chicken on low heat
5. Once the liquid starts lightly boiling, check the chickens internal temperature – if it’s over 175F its ready to be taken out and shredded
6. Add tuscan kale to the broth (cook 2 min)
7. Add more dashi or soy sauce to the broth to taste 
8. Serve with rice and top with fried shallots, chilli oil, yuzu hot sauce from Trader Joes (so good) and fresh lime juice if you want.

Thank you to my childhood besties mother, Lisa, for this recipe. It’s so nostalgic to me and reminds me of when I would sleepover at their place and her mom would make this for us. It’s such a comforting meal.

Ingredients: 

• Savoy cabbage (can do regular cabbage or napa cabbage)  
• 1 lb ground beef OR ½  lb beef + ½ lb pork 
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup panko
• 2 tbsp milk
• Salt + white pepper
• ½ tbsp Nutmeg
• 1 tsp MSG 
• 3 bay leaves
• Minced garlic and ginger
• ½ onion finely chopped
• Kayanoya vegetable stock packs (3 packs)
• Toothpicks
• 1-2 Carrot + Daikon (cut with a flower shape vegetable cutter – optional) 

1. Cut out the core of the cabbage as best you can and then place cabbage in a big pot of boiling water 
2. Boil for 2-3 minutes then begin peeling the cabbage leaves one by one using tongs and place each leaf into a bowl of ice water
3. Leave leaves out to dry
4. Mix meat, egg, milk, panko, onions, garlic + ginger, salt + pepper, nutmeg, and MSG till well combined
5. Roll up meat into cabbage (using a small piece and a large piece helps, and make sure to cut out the core like a triangle). Secure the cabbage rolls with a toothpick. 
6. OPTIONAL: Cut up carrot and daikon into small pieces (I used a flower shape cookie cutter because it looked super cute) 
7. Place the cabbage rolls into a donabe or dutch oven tightly. Add cut up carrots and daikon all around the cabbage rolls and cover completely with water with the dashi packs tucked in. 
8. Bring to boil and then cook on medium low heat for 30 minutes
9. Serve with rice and garnish with parsley 

I made this for the first time the other night and it was beyond delicious. I served it with @kalejunkies – crispy parmesan potatoes and grilled tomatoes and onion. Hot take, skirt steak might be my new favorite cut of beef…

Ingredients: 

• Skirt steak
• Soy sauce 
• Oregano 
• Salt + Pepper 
• Olive oil 
• 1 Lime

Chimichurri sauce: 

• Finely chopped parsley 
• 1-2 cloves grated garlic
• Olive oil 
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar 
• Salt 
• Adobo flakes
• Paprika 
• Oregano 

1. Tenderize the steak by stabbing it with a fork a bunch of times, then cover in marinade (soy sauce, olive oil, oregano, salt + pepper – measure by eye depending on how big the steak is) and let it sit for about 20-30 min (make sure steak is as close to room temp as possible) 
2. In the meantime, chop up the parsley and make the sauce
3. Heat up cast iron skillet on medium high heat for 10-15 min until really hot, then add oil to the pan and cook the steak for 2-3 min on each side depending on thickness 
4. Let the steak rest for 10 min and top with lime juice and chimichurri sauce!

This dish is so yummy and filling. You can feed a lot of people at once and it makes excellent leftovers!

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups Jasmine or white rice 
• 1lb Chicken thighs 
• 4 stalks green onion
• Ginger 
• 7 cloves garlic 
• Red chili 
• 1 cup chicken stock 
• Vegetable oil 
• MSG 
• Sesame oil 
• Salt
• White pepper 
• Dashi soup base 
• Cilantro

Optional: cucumber salad and cilantro 

1. Marinate chicken w sesame oil, salt and white pepper (if u have if not black pepper is fine)
2. Julienne about 2 inches worth of ginger and finely chop the rest
3. Finely chop 4 cloves of garlic and lightly smash the other 3 but keep it whole 
4. Cut 2 stalks of green onion in to 2 inch pieces and finely chop the other 2 stalks 
5. Slice the red chilli into thin pieces 
6. Render chicken fat by cooking skin side down starting from a cold pan on medium heat. Cook until chicken skin is brown and flip and cook the other side for 1 minute.
7. Into rice maker: Washed rice with a mix of chicken stock and water with a splash of dashi and a pinch of MSG 
8. Place chicken on top of the rice with aromatics (2 inch pieces green onion, julienned ginger, smashed garlic)
9. Cook the rice as instructed 
10. While the chicken and rice cook, make the sauce: heat up ½ cup of vegetable oil in a pot. Once the oil is bubbling or smoking, pour the oil over finely chopped ginger, scallion, garlic and red chilis. 
11. OPTIONAL – Make the cucumber salad: Cut up cucumber into chunks, dress with salt, fish sauce, and sesame oil 
12. Once the rice is done cooking, the dish is ready to be served. Serve with cucumber salad and garnish with cilantro.