Japanese Cheesecake Recipe

Love cheesecake, but hate feeling the guilt of eating heavy, regular cheesecake? Then this is the recipe for you!

Light, fluffy melt-in-your-mouth cake with all the goodness of cheesecake, but without the heaviness

> Origin: Japanese
> Cost: Moderate - Expensive (depending on your budget)
> Ease: Moderate to Difficult

 I've always loved Japanese cheesecake. Although I love western-style cheesecake a lot, I often find that they are too heavy and leave me feeling bloated and guilty. Japanese cheesecake really is a LOT lighter. It's texture is somewhat like a spongecake-- very light, fluffy, and the best part is... it still tastes like regular cheesecake! It's great when you just want a snack and you can cut yourself a slice and munch on it :) ! However, like all cheesecakes, Japanese cheesecakes are pretty delicate and because this isn't as heavy as a regular cheesecake, there needs to be a lot of moisture when baking. I've tried this recipe twice. The first time, I was using a springform pan and immerse it in water... without wrapping it in tin foil. BAD IDEA. The bottom came out very soggy and some of the batter leaked, though it still tasted great. The second time, I filled a pan full of water and placed it on a rack beneath the cheesecake while it baked, but the result was too dry and the top of the cheesecake cracked. Basic cake making skills would definitely be an asset :) 

Now this recipe... was modified from another site and pasted into a Word document for easy printing... I don't have the site bookmarked or written down, so if you recognize the recipe from somewhere, just leave the site in the comments so I can give them credit for a great recipe! :)

Japanese Pickled Cucumber (キュウリ浅漬け) Recipe

Kyuuri Asazuke :) An easy way to unknowingly finish a whole concombre. 

Crisp cucumbers traditionally pickled to for a light and delicious taste

> Origin: Japanese
> Cost: Cheap
> Ease: Very Easy

 If you're craving a healthy and easy snack, kyuuri asazuke are the way to go! All you need to do is make preparation and let it sit overnight (or longer) to have delicious results. This recipe can be used with any type of cut of cucumber. You could slice them thickly, or cut them into rectangles, but my favourite is cutting them into thin slices. It gives me the illusion that I have more and it also calls for a shorter 'marinating' time because the pickling liquid can easily seep into the thin cucumber. I love this snack a lot, and since cucumbers aren't expensive, it's a perfect snack for a student who wants to eat healthy but wants fast food :) ! 

Steamed Black Bean Spare Ribs (蒸豉汁排骨) Recipe

Steamed spare ribs in black bean sauce... dim sum time anyone? ;)

The aroma of black bean marinated spare ribs, healthily steamed and served dim sum style :) 

> Origin: Chinese
> Cost: Inexpensive
> Ease: Very Easy

 This is one of my favourite Chinese dishes. Whenever my family and I go to dim sum, my parents know to always order this for me because they know I love it. My mother used to make this for dinner all the time when I lived at home. When she bought a new steamer, she gave me our old one (there's a giant hole in the top from where my sister put it on the stove), and I decided I'd make this for myself too! It's very very simple, you can even marinate the spare ribs beforehand and freeze them so that they're ready-to-steam! This version is exactly like the version you get at dim sum restaurants when you can yum cha, so definitely try it out if you're a fan (like me)!