Cooking with Curly Parsley and Fennel Greens

I found a new delicious way to make a great fried rice or dish using curly parsley and fennel greens. I never though I would use the fennel greens.  I was wondering about it for a long time.  I've seen some chef use it sparingly as a deco like in fennel salad.  But as it turned out, it tastes delicious in my dish. 
Be sure to wash all greens.  I soak them in salted water for a while, then, rinse them to my heart content to make sure that I rinse out as much pesticide or what not.  I do this to all produce whether they are organic or from my own garden... You heard about the incidents of rat lungworm disease in Hawaii recently?  Can't drop our guard. 

 I also used Cilantro in this dish.  Chop everything to nice bite size 1/2 inch or less.

 

Here I made 'OMELETTO' rice.   Cook the rice.  Set aside.  Stir fry parsley - about 1 min.

Add fennel and cilantro greens (stems, too).  Stir fry for 1 min.  Add cooked rice.   Add seasoning.

 Ha! the red stripes are Ketchup... unfortunately it splattered out of the bottle.  It's just for me, so I just spread the love around.

 Beat 2 eggs and make the omelette egg shell -- like Crepe.   If you would like, place the egg crepe in a bowl to form a mold.

You got the idea - then, fill the egg crepe, fold and reverse it onto a plate to serve.
Kids love the mystery rice.
I also fried some cut onions.  Set aside.  Stir fry thinly sliced chicken breast.  Stir fry with wine, then add soy sauce, sugar, then, add parsley, fennel green.  Season to your taste.

I served it with my omelette rice #2.
I also made Parsley Cilantro Hamburger.  It was so tasty!!  You know how to do this in your kitchen easy.

I definitely would make this hamburger again.  Parsley and Cilantro are inexpensive, and they turned out to be one of my favorite ingredients in my dish.

DAIKON Slicing Practice

So impressed by Japanese chef's knife skill in cutting DAIKON, I thought I would like to try it myself.  While I do not have the same straight knife to cut with, I think I did it pretty 'okay'.

 Slice the DAIKON - about 4 inches in length or the length my hand can handle, I place the knife straight against it and begin slicing it as though I am slicing off the apple peel.  I keep on rotating DAIKON carefully to not break the slicing.  Then, place it on the cutting board, julienne slice it.  I took the video of it, but not sure where it went.  But, Voila!

 I pickled them.  

Polly's Matcha MANJU Adventure with Butternut Squash Filling

Do you ever get inspired by TV drama involving food?   While I was watching this Japanese drama about a young lady who end up working as an apprentice in a Japanese pastry shop in ASAKUSA, Japan - MANGETSUDO (fictitious), I got fascinated by the tiny cute and beautiful life like pastries in the shape of flower, fruits, etc,... filled with sweet fillings.  It is amazing that even for an event, this shop's top pastry chef and assistant would make all MANJU by hand every single day - hundreds of them... well, it's a TV drama,  But you never know... they may be able to do so.  It is hard to believe such a shop would exist today, but that will be a prize find.   It is mostly made by machine today, I am guessing, but regardless, I thought I would like to try making one.  I don't normally eat MANJU because the filling is too sweet to my taste.  But if I make it myself, I thought I could control the sweetness and what to use. 
There is no recipe for this... I just made it up.  
Or follow this one: https://www.thespruce.com/manju-japanese-steamed-cake-with-sweet-red-bean-filling-2031082

Some pastry flours - I believe was one cup, a tablespoon of natural Matcha (green tea powder - not for the smoothie type fake green powder with food color), a bit of salt, a bit of sugar, a 1/2 tablespoon of baking powder, and just enough water to mix and form into a tender dough.
Filling:  Roasted butternut squash.  Strained and cooked with sugar (as much as I liked) until thick paste is formed.
Hold a small wad of the dough about a tablespoon size between palms and round it into a ball, then, squash, then, fingers with thumbs inward, start to stretch the dough in a circular motion. Form into a thin disc and enclose the filling.  In this testing the dough was not rolled out thin enough.  During my testing, about 4 mm or 3 mm is ideal.  I also made the size even smaller for a bite size.
Place the formed Mnaju on pre-cut organic parchment paper squares.
Steam for 10 min.

I used strained butternut squash, sweetened with sugar.  Cooked to evaporate moisture until thick consistency.

I can see that the dough needs to be more thin... may be 3mm would be better.

But the flavor or butternut squash is wonderful.   I now found another replacement to the normal overly sweetened red bean paste that is sold at the grocery stores.   Sure, you could make them fresh yourself, but red beans are something I don't really like to work with.  I watched it on TV that after they boil them, they smash them and strain them, then add sugar and knead them over the heat until moisture is reduced so the red bean paste are in perfect density.   But I like the butternut squash replacement.  It's my new finding.

This one is with Blueberries.   I added a couple of blueberries with butternut squash.
Yum!  the tangy taste of blueberries made the butternut squash even better.