Recipe: Spinach Beef Rolls

This is easy to make and could be an appetizer or main dish.  This can serve 2-3 people.

Ingredients:
10 pieces flank steak, trimmed
1/2 lb spinach, loosely cut
bunch of parsley, loosely cut
2 tablespoon paprika
2 tablespoon pepper
Oil for cooking
Toothpicks

Preparation:
1. Place steak on a cutting board or work surface, pound until they are 1/2 inch thin.
2. Sprinkle paprika and pepper, arrange a bunch of spinach and parsley on the end of the steak slice.
3. Roll up the steak tightly. Use toothpick to hold the roll.  Repeat the process.
4. Heat oil in pan. Add the beef rolls and cook for 3 minutes or until the steak is cooked. Make sure to roll the steak so that you can cook all the sides.

You can serve it with some couscous or just by itself with some steak sauce.

Recipe: Monjayaki

It has been awhile since I have shared a recipe here and its long overdue. So I'm going to start sharing them with you.

I got this idea from a Japanese friend and decided to give it a shot. Monjayaki is similar to Okonomiyaki or Japanese pancake. The difference between the two is Monjayaki is liquid and best eaten while it is still on the grill. The ingredients are finely chopped and mixed into a liquid batter before frying. I used a griddle to make this.

Ingredients:

1 cup shredded cabbage
1 cup diced beef (you can use other meat or even seafood)
1 cup tofu, cubed to 1/2 inch
1 cup shredded carrots

Batter
1 cup water
1/2 cup Worcestershire Sauce
3/4 cup Flour

Directions
- Mix the flour, water and Worchestershire sauce together in bowl until all the flour has dissolved.
- Place the cabbage on top of the sauce. Do not mix. Place the other ingredients on top.
- Turn on the griddle and drizzle the griddle with oil and let it get nice and hot
- Add just the cabbage and the other ingredients. Stir fry the ingredients until they are cooked.
- Form the ingredients into a doughnut shape. Make sure the walls are nice and solid without any holes.
- Pour the liquid batter into the center of the doughnut and let it cook for a few moments
- When the liquid is boiling, mix the ingredients into. Once it has been well mix, spread the monjayaki out thin and let it get nice and crispy on the bottom.

Monjayaki

Here is a video on how to make Monjayaki

Healthy Food & Green Festival

Healthy Food and Green Festival is the second of the three-part festival known as JapanTown. Its basically a festival celebrating all things Japanese from its culture to its cuisine. I attended the first one last July 17 known as Cool Japan Festival and was mostly about Japanese cuisine such as Yakisoba, Takoyaki and Grilled Tonton Pork.

Healthy Food and Green Festival will showcase healthy lifestyle using all Japanese. There will be cooking demonstrations as well as sampling of various Japanese eats such as organic ramen salad, misoyaki and Japanese ice cream.

Healthy Food and Green Festival is this Sunday, August 22 from 11 am - 6 pm. Cooking demonstrations will be from 11am - 3:45pm. The Festival is at Madison Avenue between 43rd and 45th.  More information can be found on JapanTown website