Number of steps:  5 steps
Time taken: 30 min to marinate the chicken (if you choose to)
                      5 min to prepare
                      15 - 20 min in the oven
Approx. 200 kcal per serving

About This Dish:
As you probably know by now, I love fried food. Especially fried chicken! However, now that I'm trying to eat healthy and cut out empty calories from oil and such, "fake" fried food are my best friends. Check out the Fake Katsu Recipe. Doesn't it just feel great knowing that what you made tastes as good as fried food, but is much MUCH healthier? This recipe, like the Fake Katsu Recipe uses absolutely no oil. Additionally, I've used very lean chicken. The crunchiness of the sesame seeds and the marinate prior gave this chicken a fantastic taste which reminded me of a dish back in Japan; Kara-age (Fried chicken with coating)! 

What You Need:
(For 4 servings)

• 1lb chicken (I used boneless, skinless chicken breast from Costco. Any chicken meat will work though!)

Marinate:

• 2 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Japanese sake
• 1 - 2 tsp grated ginger
• 1 - 2 tsp grated garlic

Coating:

• 1 large egg
• 5 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp potato starch (If you don't have starch, you can use 2 tbsp flour too)

Number of steps:  9 steps
Time taken: 15 - 20 min

About This Dish:
Omurice is essentially a soft and fluffy omelette topped on chicken rice which is usually ketchup flavoured. Some people wrap the chicken rice into the omelette and some top the omelette carefully on top of the bed of rice. This dish is popular as a homemade dish and as a lunch/dinner dish in western restaurants. You could add some more ketchup on top of the dish or pour beef stew on top (a.k.a. Hayashi rice, which I will post in the future). I cannot tell you how great the rice tasted. It tasted as though I had been cooking it for hours or in my crockpot! 

What You Need:
(For 2 dishes)

• 2 cups of rice (Of course, I used Japanese rice. Usually rice previously in the fridge works best)
• Mixed vegetables (I used half an onion and some carrots)
  
• 50g of chicken (around 2oz)
• 1-1.5 tbsp of butter
• 2 tsp soup stock powder/cube
• 100ml water (0.4 cups)
• 2 tbsp ketchup (Adjust as needed, I ended up putting a little more than this)
• 1 tsp sugar
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• Oil
• 4 eggs (2 eggs per person shall do!)
• Optional: Couple tsp of milk

Note: If you want to wrap your chicken rice with the egg, simply put the bed 
of rice on top of the egg at step 7. Place on the edge so you can roll the egg up like an omelette!

Number of steps:  5 steps
Time taken: 10 min to prepare, 25 min in the oven

About This Dish:
I love pork or chicken katsu but we all know that it can be unhealthy since it's deep deep fried. So since I love the crunchiness of the bread crumbs that is the result of deep frying, is there a way to replicate that? The answer is Yes! I found a bunch of recipes out there which made chicken/pork katsu WITHOUT deep frying. 

We will pop it in the oven instead. Absolutely no oil used in this recipe! You can also use this recipe for chicken or pork katsu. If you are using thicker meat, adjust the time in the oven appropriately.

What You Need:
(4 chicken katsu fillets)

• 4 thin chicken fillets
• Bread crumbs/Panko
• All purpose flour
• 1 egg (Use as much as needed)
• Salt & pepper

Number of steps:  5 simple steps
Time taken: 3 min to prepare ,marinate for 2 hours or overnight, and 40 min in the oven
Approx. 300 kcal per 6oz (large) drumstick

About This Dish:
I recently bought chicken drumsticks at Trader Joes for $2.50! It came with 5 large drumsticks totaling to 1.88lb. So what did I do with them? I made Japanese style tandoori chicken drumsticks! I can't emphasize enough how EASY this was. It took me 3 minutes to mix the ingredients, I left it to marinate overnight, and then I put it in the oven for 40 minutes while I did some yoga. It came out absolutely DELICIOUS. My boyfriend and I finished ALL drumsticks for lunch. Since I marinated it overnight, I could taste the amazing seasoning even in the center of the drumstick.

What You Need:
(For 5 or 6 large drumsticks, mine were 6oz each)

• 5 or 6 large chicken drumsticks
• 300g (or around 1 cup) of plain yogurt 
• 1/2 tbsp of salt
• 1/2 tbsp of pepper
• 3 tbsp of curry powder
• 1 tbsp of soy sauce
• 3 or 4 tbsp of Japanese sake
• 1 tsp of grated garlic
• 1 tbsp of chili powder or chili 

Number of steps:  10 simple steps
Time taken: 20-30 min 
Approx. 100kcal per patty

About This Dish:
Tofu hamburgs are healthy, filling and are easy to make! Most of all, you can saran wrap each one and store them in the freezer and eat it for lunch and dinner whenever you want. Drizzle some homemade teriyaki sauce on top of these patties and serve with rice and veggies. 

What You Need:
(Makes 7 patties)

• 1/2 lb Ground chicken 
• 1 tofu (I bought the medium firm tofu at Trader Joes)
• 1/2 onion
• 1/2 - 1 tbsp of grated or chopped ginger 
• Salt and pepper to taste
• (optional) Garlic, 1 egg in the mix to hold all the ingredients better (if you want)

Teriyaki sauce

• 2.5 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Japanese sake
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 - 2 tbsp mirin

Number of steps:  6
Time taken: Approx. 15 - 20 min
Approx. 30 calories per potsticker (~7-10 potstickers should be 1 serving)

About This Dish:
Originally from China, gyozas are super easy to make and you can get as creative as you want in regards to the ingredients you put in. In Japan, we pan fry potstickers! The majority of Japanese people LOVE gyozas since it goes so well with beer. Of course, kids like it too. It goes so well with white rice! You'll find so many restaurants which specialize in making great gyozas in Japan, but it's a popular meal to make at home too. I've used ground chicken and shrimp to get this amazing chewiness and juiciness :D

What You Need:
(Makes around 30 gyozas)

• 1/4 pound of ground chicken 
• 20 little shrimps (I use the frozen ones)
• Handful of chives (I got mine at Shaws)
• A lot of shredded cabbage (Feel free to put in as much veggies as you want!)
• 1 piece of ginger (I used chopped ginger)
• 1 clove of garlic (I used minced garlic)
• 1 tbsp of soy sauce
• 1 tbsp of sake
• 1 tbsp of sesame oil
• Gyoza wrappers (I buy them at the asian store or Wholefoods)

Number of steps: 10  (...but very easy!)
Time taken: 30 min
Aprrox. 150kcal per large patty.

About This Dish:
Craving Japanese style beef hamburgs? I crave those, but I love these tofu hamburgs even more given the fact that they are super super super healthy, and easy to make! You can make a bunch and freeze them up too. How convenient can it be?

What You Need:
(for 8 large tofu hamburgs)

• 1 firm tofu (They sell it most grocery store now!)
• 300g Ground turkey (1/2 - 2/3 of a pound, you can also use ground chicken) 
• 1 cup Japanese panko (bread crumbs, they also sell these at the asian section of most grocery stores)
• 1/2 large onion
• 1 egg
• Salt, pepper

Sauce

• About 10 cm of Japanese radish 
• 2 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1.5 tbsp Japanese sake (or any wine)

Note: Wrap them up with plastic wrap and freeze them! You can reheat on the pan or on the microwave. Very helpful on those busy days.