Ponzu chicken with various Japanese style side dishes

Ponzu is a mix of soy sauce and Yuzu juice that you can buy ready made; if you like citrus tastes it’s delicious! My Japanese teacher friend had suggested to me to also make grated daikon with Ponzu which I never made myself before. That was a nice refreshing addition! To make it you need a proper Japanese style grater that’s like a plate with teeth and it creates a mush rather than pieces.

Today was actually a bit stressful as I had to have lunch ready by a certain time - but I had put the chicken and the roasted squash into my meal plan which both require a bit of time and dedication. At 30 minutes left, I conscripted my child for help. He had to look after the squash that was already in the oven, lay the table, prepare the miso soup bowls, and fry the green beans while I was still busy frying the chicken pieces. The work we put in was well worth it, we all loved the meal, especially the juicy chicken.

We had:
🥢 Ponzu chicken with spring onions
🥢 Roasted kabocha squash with soy sauce
🥢 Green Beans with garlic, ginger and sake
🥢 Grated daikon with a splash of Ponzu
🥢 Japanese rice (with roasted sesame seeds)
🥢 Miso soup

Recipes used:
https://www.copymethat.com/r/R3nqAgfyc/ponzu-chicken/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/japanese-roasted-kabocha-squash/
https://www.copymethat.com/r/78kyyjwjqb/green-beans-with-garlic-ginger-and-sake/

#Mastonom #HomeCooking #Cooking #MainMeal #MyDinner #JapaneseFood #FusionKitchen #Food #Flexitarian #30PlantsAWeek #SylkewebFood #SylkewebFood202602 #Sylkeweb202602

Spicy cauliflower stir-fry with added tofu

I don’t understand all the ins and outs of Chinese cooking (such a big country with many regional cuisines) but I do know that I like Pixian Doubanjiang, a fermented broad bean, soy bean and chilli seasoning that adds a lot of umami and spiciness. It’s not as sweet as Gochujang (the Korean kind of equivalent) but just as spicy.

This recipe from Omnivores Cookbook makes use of it and after adding some tofu slices to the cauliflower it worked perfectly as a main dish on a meatless Monday:
https://omnivorescookbook.com/recipes/spicy-cauliflower-stir-fry

#Mastonom #HomeCooking #Cooking #MainMeal #MyDinner #ChineseFood #FusionKitchen #Food #MeatlessMonday #VegetarianFood #VeganFood #30PlantsAWeek #SylkewebFood #SylkewebFood202602 #Sylkeweb202602

Today I went over to the Eastern side of Hanover, an area I don’t get to very often. Together with a friend I visited a photography exhibition in the humongous Hannover Medical School (MHH) and we saw many images that we found interesting.

I was also curious about a nearby Chinese restaurant that resides in a glass pyramid and about the huge ‘new’ TV tower in the same neighbourhood. The restaurant didn’t really convince us but the high tower was every bit as imposing as it looks from home which is over 9 kilometres away. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t playing nice.

I’ve also added a colourful photo I took by accident as I like it.

(I posted this by accident first on my cooking account, so please don’t hold it against me if you get to see this twice. 🥴)

#Hanover #Hannover #Roderbruch #MHH #Telemoritz
#SylkewebOutside #SylkewebOutside202601 #Sylkeweb202602

We have this tiny old cinema (Apollo Kino) in Hanover that has existed since 1908. They show a bespoke choice of movies and doing just that saved it in the 70s (the guy responsible at the time later set up the big Cinemaxx chain). It was here where I watched the Rocky Horror Picture Show in the 80s.

I was there on Wednesday and thought I’ve seen it in worse condition so I took a photo from the inside and then also from the entrance/exit that got closed with a big metal door as we were there for the last show of the day.

#Hannover #Kino #SylkewebOutside #SylkewebOutside202601 #Sylkeweb202602

Japanese style food Friday with Shio Koji chicken

In the depth of my fridge I found half a pack of still fine Shio Koji. This is a mix of water, salt and Aspergillus oryzae, a safe to eat fungus (or mould). If you ever come across this in an Asian supermarket (rare in Germany) buy it and try it out with chicken fillets as it does magic with them. Follow the instructions and don’t marinate overnight as that is too long (as I have found out previously) and you’ll need an oven thermometer to not overcook the chicken. It takes a while but in that time you can make the rest of your meal, especially if you pick simple sides.

We had:
🥢 Shio Koji chicken fillets
🥢 Namasu (daikon and carrot salad)
🥢 Chanterelles from a glas, simmered in Mentsuyu (a Japanese soup base)🥢 Kimchi (from a tin)
🥢 Rice with mizegohan (a mix-in rice spice blend) and blanched kohlrabi leaves
🥢 Miso soup

The recipes I used can be found on the Just One Cookbook website:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/shio-koji-chicken/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/namasu-daikon-and-carrot-salad/

#Mastonom #HomeCooking #Cooking #MainMeal #MyDinner #JapaneseFood #FusionKitchen #Food #Flexitarian #30PlantsAWeek #SylkewebFood #SylkewebFood202602 #Sylkeweb202602

No fuss meal: potato salad with hot smoked salmon and green beans

Today’s lunch was kind of a very cut back Salade Niçoise, just the marinated potatoes, green beans, and a piece of smoked fish - and therefore it was quite a bit less work than the full French salad. Or was that because my husband cut all of the potatoes? 😅

Also since I have learnt the trick how to make raw onions palatable for me (marinating them for 15 minutes) I’m a happy bunny anyway. All of this was very yummy and serving the hot smoked salmon heated up in the oven made it even better!

https://www.copymethat.com/r/83BIh41o7/marinated-potato-salad/
https://www.copymethat.com/r/ylr7TYpxY/boiled-green-beans/

#Mastonom #HomeCooking #Cooking #MainMeal #MyDinner #EuropeanFood #FusionKitchen #Food #Flexitarian #30PlantsAWeek #SylkewebFood #SylkewebFood202602 #Sylkeweb202602

Gochujang roasted Brussels sprouts

The other day I made miso roasted Brussels sprouts, they were already good. But today’s Gochujang version definitely beat the miso one!

We had this as a main with rice, and carrots added to the sprouts. They were good but I think next time I’ll try potatoes, that should be perfect.

https://www.copymethat.com/r/w3p952wm1q/gochujang-roasted-brussels-sprouts/

#Mastonom #HomeCooking #Cooking #MainMeal #MyDinner #KoreanFood #FusionKitchen #Food #VegetarianFood #VeganFood #30PlantsAWeek #SylkewebFood #SylkewebFood202602 #Sylkeweb202602

Pancake Day with Indian style Besan Chilla

As it’s custom in our place we follow the tradition of Pancake Tuesday that we got to know when living in the UK. However ours are Indian style chickpea flour ones with grated courgette and lots of seasoning.

Somewhere between last year and now, I forgot that I need to crank the heat up for the steel pan to be really hot before I ladle in the pancake batter. It needs to be turned down just before the first portion goes in. On mere medium heat the inevitable happened, the first pancake was sticking to the pan and I was cursing… The next round with a properly heated up pan worked perfectly but by that time I was too lazy to take another photo.

Recipe used:
http://www.veganricha.com/recipe-pages/vegan-chickpea-flour-pancakes

#Mastonom #HomeCooking #Cooking #MainMeal #MyDinner #IndianFood #FusionKitchen #Food #VegetarianFood #VeganFood #30PlantsAWeek #VeganRicha #SylkewebFood #SylkewebFood202602 #Sylkeweb202602

The apparently never ending winter of 2026… Everything is white again out there.

#Winter #SylkewebOutside #SylkewebOutside202601 #Sylkeweb202602

Aloo Gobi (potato and cauliflower curry) with basmati rice

Sometimes I find duplicates in my recipe database of the same meal but with a slightly different recipe and name. Last weekend we had Aloo Gobi and while it tasted fine, the cauliflower florets had fallen apart terribly (photo 2). I’m not sure whether it was just a bad head of cauliflower or whether my husband’s cutting technique was at fault 😬 Also I was a bit stumped as I remembered eating this dish with nice, almost crispy florets not too long ago. I looked at my meal plan and realised it was two different recipes, one using the Indian name, the other one the English one. One of them has been archived now and the good one was updated to have both names in the title - and we cooked it for this weekend (photo 1). To be helpful I cut the (two massive) fresh cauliflower heads this time while my husband did everything else and all was well. (Some of the cauliflower went straight into the freezer; for cutting technique see the comments.)

https://www.copymethat.com/r/1oz9nvhqpd/cauliflower-potato-curry-aloo-gobi/

#Mastonom #HomeCooking #Cooking #MainMeal #MyDinner #IndianFood #FusionKitchen #Food #VegetarianFood #VeganFood #30PlantsAWeek #SylkewebFood #SylkewebFood202602 #Sylkeweb202602