A while ago, I posted a recipe for “mochi cheese balls”, which uses only Parmesan cheese. I adapted the previous recipe by adding Muenster cheese, which give the cheese balls more color and a softer texture due to the melted Muenster cheese. Moreover, bacon bites were added, so you can imagine the taste of these cheese balls. This is a very easy and simple recipe, whenever you want to enjoy a tasty snack or complement a meal, just place these frozen cheese balls in a pre-heated oven for about 25 ~ 30 minutes at 275F and you are ready to receive compliments.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup tapioca flour
1 ½ cup glutinous rice flour
4 eggs
1 cup water
½ cup vegetable oil
1 ½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cup chopped Muenster cheese
½ cup Parmesan cheese
¾ cup homemade bacon bits

Method:

In a small pan add water, oil and salt, bring to boil and carefully add to the tapioca and glutinous rice flour. Mix gently until you can manage with your hands (be careful it is very hot). Alternatively add the eggs, the Muenster cheese and the Parmesan cheese until a dough is formed. Add the bacon bits (check the recipe here) and mix until the bacon is well incorporated to the dough. Make small balls (you can freeze at this point if you desire), bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 275F. Serve warm. Makes approximately 50 to 60 cheese balls.

Did you know that Muenster cheese was originally made by Benedictine monks in France? In US, this cheese in mainly used melted since it melts easily over low heat. Therefore used in grilled sandwich and hamburger.

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I hope you all had a great weekend…today I want to share a very easy way to prepare scallops, if you like them. I say that because my husband does not eat scallops, therefore when I make this, it is just for myself…and I really hope that one day he starts to like scallops as he did with the roasted cinnamon almonds 
Again, this is a very simple recipe. I used white miso for its mild flavor. You will be amazed of the gentle and yet flavorful combination of miso with scallop.

Ingredients:

1 lb of large scallops

Marinate Sauce

2 tablespoon white miso
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon cooking wine
½ teaspoon chili oil (you can omit this)
1 teaspoon olive oil

Method:

Mix all the ingredients listed in the marinate sauce. Pat dry the scallops and cover each one of them with the sauce. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

When ready to cook, wipe of the excess of sauce from the scallops, and place them in a hot fry pan with some olive oil. Fry them both side until golden brown.

Serve on a bed of salad. In this particular picture I used baby spinach leaves and strawberries drizzled with champagne vinegar and olive oil.

Did you know that miso is a product of fermenting rice, barley and soybean? White miso is mainly from rice and barley and small amount of soybean.

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This is a very simple recipe for making udon noddles, most of the time I cook udon noddles in soup, but this time decided to make a stir fry with it. I love the slightly chewy texture of udon. So yummie! By the time that I mixed all the ingredients together I had lots of noddles, which was great…could pack for lunch next day.

Ingredients:

¾~1 lb chicken breast (or pork) cut in thin strips
3~4 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce
½ tablespoon cooking wine
½ tablespoon corn starch
Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

2~4 green onion chopped
1 can baby corn drained
2 carrots shredded
1 small onion thinly cut
¼ cabbage finely cut
1 pack of mushrooms
5 dry shitake mushrooms, softened in hot water

2 individual packages of frozen udon noddles
1 tablespoon olive oil
1~1½ tablespoon soy sauce

Method:

Mix all the 6 ingredients in the list and stir fry in the olive oil until the chicken is browned. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In the same pan stir fry the onions and place in the same bowl where you set the chicken strips. Sautee the shitake mushrooms and then add the cabbage, carrots, baby corn and the mushrooms. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In the meantime, boil water and cook the udon noddle according to the package instruction, drain and set aside.

Remove all the cabbage and place again together with the chicken strips. In the same pan, add olive oil and the drained udon noddles, stir gently and add the soy sauce.

Once the udon color is equally browned with soy sauce add all the other ingredients that were prepared, mix gently in low heat.

Remove and serve hot.

Did you know that in Japan udon noddles is served cold in summer and hot in the winter?

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I know that this post title sounds weird…but it is not as bad as it sounds. This kind of tofu is made by boiling the soy milk and collecting the film that is formed in the surface of the pot. It is known ad bean curd sheet which can be found in various format such as individual sheets, folded against itself (this is the one that I got) or in a form of stick. You can find it fresh (this is what I got) or in a dry form. In many vegetarian dishes different kind of this bean curd are placing together in order to mimic meat texture.

I leaned this very simple recipe with my mom, it is tasty and loaded of protein.

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh fu bao
½ ~ 1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely cut in thin strips
½ tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon soy sauce
½ cup water
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Pat the bean curd dry with paper towel and place in a hot fry pan with the olive oil.

Let the bean curd brown both side. In the meantime, in a medium size pan add the ginger, water, soy sauce, sugar, salt and pepper.

Let it boil and add the browned fu bao. Once the fu bao start to boiled in the sauce, lower the temperature to simmer until most of the liquid has been evaporated.

Remove from the heat and serve warm, it is delicious and most importantly very healthy.

Soy milk contains the same amount of protein as cow’s milk. It is very popular among people with lactose intolerance or milk allergy. Moreover, soy protein have the ability to replace animal protein, therefore widely used in vegetarian dishes.

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I love black forest cake…and this time I decided to make the cake using chocolate chiffon cake instead of this chocolate cake recipe. Chiffon cake is a lighter cake, it is moist and soft since vegetable oil is used in the batter. It is great combined with whipped cream and lots and lots of cherries. In spite of the recipe being very simple, the cake looks very festive as a result it is a perfect dessert for the Holidays.

Ingredients:

Chocolate Chiffon Cake
¾ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup chocolate powder
1/3 cup sugar, divided into half
½ teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 eggs
4 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Whipped Cream Frosting
1 8oz whipping cream
4 tablespoons of ultra fine sugar or confectionary sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 small jar of cherries, drain and chopped. Reserve the syrup

Grated semi sweet chocolate, approximately 1/3 cup

Preparation:

Chocolate Chiffon Cake
Preheat oven to 350F. Sift flour, chocolate powder, baking powder and salt into a small bowl. Separate the eggs carefully. Add the cream of tart to the egg whites and mix using a clean and dry beater until stiff, add half sugar and continue to beat until flip upside down it does not fall.

Add the oil to the egg yolk and beat until the color is a pale yellow, add the other half sugar and continue to beat. Add the water and the vanilla extract, beat until well mixed. Add the dry ingredients and beat for more approximately 2 minutes.

Gently fold in the egg whites to the batter using a spatula, make sure that you mix very gently. Pour the batter to a 9 in pan and bake for 20 minutes.

Remove the cake from the oven and turn upside down, until cool.

Remove from the pan and set aside.

Whipped Cream Frosting
Place the whipping cream and the vanilla extract into a big bowl and have it in a ice/water bath.

Whip the whipping cream starting with a low speed, until start to thicken, then increase the speed to a medium~high speed, slowly add the sugar and continue to whisk until stiff peaks forms.

Gently fold in the cherries.

Assembly
Cut the cake in the middle, but using toothpick and reference.

Separate the layers and sprinkle the bottom layer with small amount of the cherry syrup.

Place a layer of chopped cherries and cover with whipped cream.

Gently layer the top layer of the cake and cover with the remaining whipped cream.

Sprinkle the side of the cake with the grated chocolate and decorate the top of the cake with whole cherries.

Place the cake in the refrigerator until time to serve.

Did you know that an insurance salesman called Harry Baker from Hollywood is the one that came up with the original recipe of chiffon cake in 1927? Moreover, the recipe only went public in 1948, after Baker sold the recipe to General Mills and was release in Better Homes and Gardens Magazine.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
And thank you so much for visiting Simple Recipes…

This is a very easy and simple recipe for chicken. Chicken breast cutlets are perfect for weeknight dinner because they cook very quickly. Back in Brazil we used to make “chicken a milanesa” which uses bread crumb, in this recipe, I substituted the bread crumb for panko, which is a Asian version of bread crumb. This chicken is so simple to make and yet very tasty. I love the crispy and crunchy crust and I usually serve with a side of green salad.

I hope you and your family enjoy this chicken dish as much as we do 
By the way, you can prepare these chicken cutlets in advance and freeze. On the day that you want to cook, just remove from the freezer and let them thaw slightly and proceed as fresh made ones.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
2-3 tablespoon fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
Approximately ½ cup all-purpose flour
Approximately 1 cup panko
2-3 tablespoon olive oil

Method:

Cut the chicken breast into about ¼ inch thick by cutting the breast with your knife parallel to the cutting board.

Place the chicken cutlets into a bowl and add salt, pepper and parsley.

Beat the egg with the water and place in a deep dish.

In two other deep dishes place the flour in one and the panko in the other one.
So you end up with 3 deep dishes, each one containing egg, flour and panko.

Take a piece of chicken cutlet and coat both side with flour, pat to remove excess of flour. Dip into the egg and then coat with panko. St the coated chicken cutlet on a clean plate.

When the chicken cutlets are all coated with panko, place the olive oil in a fry pan and cook until both sides are golden brown in a medium/high heat.

Serve hot.

Did you know that panko is made with bread crumbs using bread without crust? It is very popular in Japanese cuisine.

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After many and many attempts, to bake the perfect Asian bread, I think I found the perfect recipe which I am very pleased with the final product. This is a very simple recipe based on Alex Goh, “Magic Bread”.

This white bread, which can be adapted for whole wheat bread or sweet bread is very easy to make. The texture of this bread is so soft, almost moist and you can leave on your counter top (properly stored) for days without loosing the texture.

To knead the dough you can use a bread machine or manually. I can assure you that you will love this bread. Since I first made this bread, I’ve been making to all my co-workers and friends, and trust me, they love it…I’ll through the weeks post the various version of it. I know…I know that white bread is not healthy, but I had to start to learn from the very basic, so in the meantime, enjoy this perfect white sandwich bread.

Oh! I used the Pullman loaf pan to achieve the square form…which is great for sandwich.

Ingredients:

Semi cooked dough
½ cup bread flour
50 ml boiling water

Main dough
1½ cup bread flour
½ cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon dry milk
½ teaspoon sea salt
¾ teaspoon dry yeast
175 ml water

1 tablespoon butter

Method:

Mix the ½ cup of bread flour with the boiling water. Mix well to form a “semi cooked dough”. Refrigerate the dough for approximately 12 hours, although I made this bread with the semi cooked dough only refrigerated for 1~2 hours and it came good as well.

If you are using a bread machine to knead the dough, follow the instructions of the machine. In my Zojirushi, I placed the water at the bottom of the bucket, then the dry ingredients, except the butter.

Mix well, until the main dough is formed, add the “semi cooked dough” that was stored in the refrigerator, knead until well blended and then add the butter, knead to form an elastic dough.

In the bread machine, I let the dough cycle run twice, making sure that the dough is well kneaded.

Let the dough proof until it sizes double.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces, roll and mold it round. Let it rest for approximately 10 minutes.

Roll each ball into a long strip and roll into a Swiss roll, let it rest for approximately 5~10 minutes and repeat it by flatting the Swiss roll and again into a long strip and again into a Swiss roll . Place the 4 Swiss rolls into the sandwich loaf pan and cover with a damp towel. Let it rise until 90% of the height of the pan. Place the pan cover and in the meantime preheat the oven at 350F.

Bake for 20~25 minutes at 350F.

After the baking time, remove the loaf from the pan and let it cool on a wire rack. Slice the loaf once it is fully cool.

Did you know that sandwich loaf is also called pullman loaf? In France is known as pain de mie.

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