Lasagna - Home Made is The Perfect Choice!

The best Lasagna is often prepared with passion investing a decent amount of time. It's easy to distinguish a good lasagna from a bad one. If properly done, this dish can be somewhat time intensive and probably not the best choice if you decide to prepare this dish in late afternoon. In my family, Lasagna is a traditional dish that we loved to eat along with a good glass of cabernet wine on weekends.

How to make a lasagna: 

In a large saute pan, over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon oil and saute meat, onion, and garlic until meat is browned, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon. Drain pan of fat and add stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, then mix in cottage cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan, parsley, salt, pepper, and seasoning salt.

Spread a little of the meat sauce in the bottom of the prepared pan. Lay half the noodles in the bottom of the baking dish, overlapping by 1/2-inch. Spread half the egg and cottage cheese mixture evenly on top. Sprinkle half the mozzarella and Cheddar evenly over the cottage cheese mixture. Pour half the meat sauce on top. Repeat layering in same order. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan on top. Bake in center of oven 30 to 35 minutes until sauce is bubbling around the edges. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Ingredients1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for pan
1 pound ground beef or turkey
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (14.5-ounce) can stewed tomatoes, chopped
1 (8-ounce) jar tomato sauce
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1 (8-ounce) box no-boil lasagna noodles
2 large eggs
2 cups cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 teaspoons freshly chopped parsley leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
1 (8-ounce) bag shredded

There are many ways on how to make a good lasagna, you can choose what best works for you and apply your own method. I had the great opportunity to assist my mom in the kitchen while preparing a good lasagna for my friends and family.

Okonomiyaki Osaka - How to make a perfect Okonomiyaki

Osaka style Okonomiyaki is found throughout Japan and famous among first time visitors especially around Kansai area. The dish is affordable and I love to visit the Okonomiyaki restaurant as and when I step foot in Kansai. The staff is usually very skillful and service oriented that makes our stay each and every time pleasant. I happen to visit the Okonomiyaki restaurant last week, summer heat and lots of guests patronizing the restaurant. Some Okonomiyaki restaurants are grill-it-yourself establishments, where the server produces a bowl of raw ingredients that the customer mixes and grills at tables fitted with Teppan, or special hotplates. They may also have a diner-style counter where the cook prepares the dish in front of the customers.

When served with a layer of fried noodles (either yakisoba or udon), the resulting dish is called modan-yaki (モダン焼き), the name of which may be derived from the English word "modern" or as a contraction of mori dakusan(盛りだくさん?), meaning "a lot" or "piled high" signifying the volume of food from having both noodles and okonomiyaki.

Negiyaki (ねぎ焼き?) is a thinner variation of okonomiyaki made with a great deal of scallions, comparable to Korean pajeon and Chinese green onion pancakes.

Essential Ingredients of Okonomiyaki:

about 1/2 a large cabbage
2 cups flour (I use self-raising, my mother says plain flour)
2 2/3 cups water
4 eggs
2 tsp dashi powder (can be replaced by chicken stock powder)
Okonomi Sauce or Tonkatsu Sauce

Other ingredients than can be used:

About 6-8 short-cut bacon rashers (Thinly sliced pork is better but it's a little difficult to get in Australian supermarkets)
1 Tbsp beni-shouga (pickled ginger) chopped finely
1 large negi (shallots/scallions/spring onions) sliced thinly,
Japanese Mayonnaise
10g Katsuo-bushi
Ao-nori
Oil

Finely slice cabbage. (After slicing, bruising it by squeezing in your hands also helps soften it)

Mix flour, water, eggs in a large mixing bowl. Mix in dashi, pickled ginger and some negi. Add cabbage and combine well.

Heat a little oil in a frypan. Spoon Cabbage into the frypan, to make a circle about 22cm(9in) across and 1.5cm(3/4in) thick. Make sure there's enough batter to hold it together. Neaten the edges by using a spatula to push in the edges and any cabbage or batter that's sticking out.

Place thinly sliced pork on top (or bacon).

Cook over med-low heat about 5 min. Flip, then cook another 3-5 min. When cooked through, turn onto a plate, meat side UP. Spread sauce generously on top. Decorate with Mayonnaise, Katsuobushi and Ao-nori. Done!

How was Okonomiyaki invented ?

Okonomiyaki was invented in Japan prior to World War II and evolved and became popular during and after the war. The earliest origins of a basic crepe-like pancake date back to the Edo period (1683-1868) period where these were a special desert served at Buddhist ceremonies called Funoyaki. This then evolved during the Meiji period (1868-1912) into a sweeter dish called Sukesoyaki. During the 20's and 30's the dish continued to evolve with more emphasis put on the sauces added and the name Yoshokuyaki began to be used. The name Okonomiyaki started in the late 30's in Osaka. 

In Hiroshima at this time a similar crepe-like food was popular - it was topped with onions, folded over, and served to children as a snack item. Okonomiyaki, in it's different variations, started to become more popular during the war when rice became scarce and residents had to be creative in using other more readily available ingredients. The simple wheat pancake fit the bill and during and after the war, people started to add more ingredients such as eggs, pork, and cabbage. A restaurant from Osaka claims to have been the first to add Mayonnaise in 1946.