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I originally made this recipe in a cast iron as you can see in the photo but through trial and error, I noticed that cooking them in the oven on parchment paper was the most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.