Welcome to Lika's Kitchen Lab.

I love to cook, and I love to play with my food. When you come to my house hungry, you will be fed. Something. Possibly a ready made snack, but that is unlikely unless I know a specific person wanted a certain specialty item, and I went and got it. Or, it could be one of my many tried and true meals that is sure to tickle your taste buds as well as appeal to your health conscious brain. Very possible, but, recently, it is more possible that you will get one of my inventions, that, can never ever be fully duplicated, because when it comes to these, it is always an experiment with ingredients I have at hand, and many substitutions or purposeful alterations have been made… So, it’s not suffice to say, that I run a Test Kitchen, MY kitchen is more like a Kitchen Lab.

Unless there is a guest to be impressed, I don’t like to buy ingredients that are especially specific, such as tempura batter or panko.

To make tempura batter:  3/4 cup of flour, 1 heaping tsp baking soda, 1 cup ice cold water, mix well.  Have a larger bowl with ice water in it, so the bowl for your batter can remain as cold as possible.  Dip your favorite veggies into it, and deep fry in Canola or peanut oil.

For Panko (a Japanese style bread crumb, usually coarser than usual):  For a finer grind, take some bread, *I just save the ends/heels of my bread loaves, and keep them in the fridge in a tight container*. Grind in a coffee grinder, lay it out on a cookie sheet, and put in a low oven, usually about 150F until dry.



For a coarser grind, use a compact food processor for your bread slices, and dry in a low oven in the “keep warm” part of the temp.  When using Panko style bread crumbs, make sure your meat or what ever you are making is patted dry, dip into an egg/water wash, dip into flour, dip into egg wash again, then into the bread crumbs.  I believe this action is called dredging, because you literally dredge it across the different mediums to make that nice crispy outside.



I use these.  A lot.  I actually like having 3 of the coffee grinders, and 2 of these types of food processors, because I end up being able to punt in a pinch when I need something now, and don’t have time to go to the store.  One grinder is strictly for coffee.  Another is for grinding fresh spices, and another for the bread or cracker crumbs I use in various things.  The processor is nice to do individual smoothies as well as to get that coarser chopping for cooking.

Anyway, last night I made Sesame Chicken, veggie tempura, and Miso soup.

My sesame chicken:  1.3# boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or breasts), fat trimmed.  1/2 of a small container of the Domino’s Poblano – Mango dipping sauce for the drummettes and wings.  1.5 TBS sesame oil.  3 TBS Kikkoman soy sauce.  4 TBS cooking sake (or a very dry white wine will also work).  3 TBS mirin (or just mix 1 TBS honey with 2 TBS water).  Mix well. Marinade for at least 20 minutes.  Add the white of 1 egg or 2 (save the yolk for making French toast tomorrow). 7-10 minutes before deep frying, add 2-4 TBS of corn starch (or powdered raw tapioca).  Deep fry until golden brown.  Let drip.  Enjoy.

Veggies for tempura:  Get creative.  Basically, everything is what ever YOU like.  My suggestions are:  green onions, cut into 1.5″ length; sweet potatoes cut in rounds or half rounds, about 1/6″ thick; asparagus, about 1.5″ long, carrots cut into 1/6″ thick & 1.5″ long; button or baby bella mushrooms quartered; string beans (green or yellow); broccoli florets; egg plant (same like sweet potatoes); zucchini, 1/4″ x 1.5″; lotus root; snow peas; kohlrabi; basically, anything…  Shrimp and minnows are good proteins to also use this same mix with, or even panko.

Dipping sauce for tempura:  2 containers of the Domino’s poblano & mango dip, 5 TBS soy sauce, 1 cup dashi (reconstituted, about 1 tsp – 1TBS dashi with 1 cup water), 3 TBS honey.  Simmer 10 minutes, cool to room temp.  Use shredded daikon (Japanese radish) and a little shredded ginger root as garnishes, if desired.

Miso soup:  4 cups water, 4 TBS dashi, kombu kelp or wakame seaweed to taste, miso paste (I like the red, but any type is fine) a large dollop or  to taste, cubed tofu (make sure you wrap in paper towel to get extra moisture out, first), and cabbage leaves, cut up.

Serve with steamed rice, and enjoy.  Bon Appetito!