This is the best picture I could manage the night I made these. The chicken strips reflect way too much light. I guess I should have been patient enough to brown them under the broiler. After the success of the tofu version of these I made, I couldn’t wait long enough. I came accross both of these recipes via pinterest and they immediately went to the top of my do make list. You can find the chicken strip recipe here on Budget Bytes. And the quinoa cups here on Iowa Girl Eats. Both of these recipes you don’t actually have to follow as they are flexible. Just look for inspiration and go with what you feel like.

Changes to the chicken strips:

• added coconut milk powder to the coating mix instead of coating them in coconut milk
• baked them at 170C for 25 minutes instead of frying

Changes to the quinoa cups

• used steamed broccoli and shredded gouda (cheap supermarket stuff) as the addins
• used a bit less quinoa so only used two eggs, no egg whites

 Where to find shredded coconut: in the cake baking section of your supermarket (very small bag for about 130 yen).

Where to find coconut milk powder: in the Asian food section of your supermarket near the Thai curry mix or an import shop. The spice maker S&B now makes small (about 30g) bags as addins for curry and they are located in the curry section.

Where to find quinoa: sometimes you can find small bags in import shops, health food stores, online at Rakuten, Amazon, etc. - it is called キヌア kinua in Japanese.

Where to find Thai Sweet Chili Sauce: the below pic is the only brand I’ve ever seen. It used to have English on it as well but the last bottle I bought doesn’t. It is in the Asian food section of supermarkets and should be readily available as it is used for spring roll dipping sauce.

Coconut Kabocha Pie

1/4 cup kabocha squash, cook and puree (you can peel or not peel it)

milk to thin out the kabocha until it is like a really thick soup

1/2 teaspoon salt

27 grams coconut milk powder (1 1/2 packets of the stuff below)

2 well beaten eggs

1 cup sweetened condensed milk (sold for strawberries in Japan)

Whisk everything together until smooth.  Bake in your favorite pie crust for ten minutes at 220C and then turn the oven down to 160C and bake for 40-60 minutes more.  Cool before serving.

Coconut Milk Powder

This is the only package of coconut milk powder (or any coconut product for that matter) in Japan that I have seen without English on it. This one was in the curry section while canned coconut milk was in the Asian food section. It’s made by S&B, the company that makes those red cans of curry powder.

Sweetened Condensed Milk

This is called rennyuu (れんにゅう　練乳) in Japanese and is mainly sold for strawberries. I have seen it in many different locations in supermarkets, sometimes right by the strawberries. Probably best to ask as it will probably be on the top shelf in a seemingly random place. Image source.