Hi, I’m Connie!
Welcome to Umami Days, a blog that advocates innovative home cooking for pleasurable everyday dining. No trendy diets, no food fads and definitely no ludicrous recipe names like crustless quiche, noodleless pho or chocolate lasagna.
Home Cooked
Naporitan (Japanese ketchup spaghetti)
A yoshoku, or Western-style dish, ketchup spaghetti, or Napolitan, was invented in 1945 by Shigetada Irie, head chef of Hotel …
Thai basil chicken (pad krapow gai)
A spicy, salty and subtly sweet chicken stir fry with garlic, chilies, shallot, fish sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, palm …
Moo shu shrimp
If you love shrimps, or prefer seafood to meat, try this variant of the classic moo shu pork. With a much shorter cooking …
Shiitake and green bean stir fry with teriyaki sauce
A dish I first cooked in 2014 when my older daughter, Sam, was a vegetarian and I was trying to learn to cook meatless meals …
Grilled chicken salad with fruits and nuts
Cubes of marinated chicken grilled to perfection, sweet seedless grapes, chunks of fresh pineapple and toasted pecans are …
Green bean salad
Steamed haricot verts (French green beans) are tossed with toasted Brazil nuts, and salad dressing made with honey, lemon …
A Cook’s Diary
Sambal is Indonesian chili paste with countless variants
Chili, or a combination chilies, is the ingredient for sambal, the Indonesian chili paste or sauce which is either cooked or …
Sate / satay is not peanut sauce
Sate / satay is skewered meat. Not only chicken but just about any meat including organ meats. It’s Indonesian / Malaysian …
How to extract tamarind juice
Around the world, tamarind is consumed as food in various ways. The fruit is made into candy or jam. The pressed juice can be …
A punch called sangria
A drink that was all the rage in the U. S. in the 1960s, it’s tempting to label sangria as a retro punch but it’s much older …
How to clean fresh whole squid (calamari)
If you like squid (or if you’re just a fan of crispy calamari), knowing how to clean fresh whole squids is an indispensable …
How to clean, peel and devein shrimps and prawns
How shrimps and prawns should be deveined and prepped depends on how they are intended to be cooked. There is a simple way …