1. Asian Cooking Hacks
With Steven Savage

2. So What’s This About?
Many of us are fans of Asian food – from our upbringing to our location to our geekery.
But Asian cooking can also teach us useful “Hacks” – ways to improve food, eat better, and use ingredients – that aren’t as common in America.
This is about dishes and ingredients you can not just enjoy but learn from. The major focus is Japanese Cooking, though there’s a lot of commonality in Asian cuisine.
Sorry, no samples.

3. Who am I?
I’m a Scrum Master, Project/Program Manager, Writer, and lifetime Geek who loves to cook.
You can find out more about me at
I speak at cons all over the SF Bay Are!

4. So What’s A Hack?
A Quick Guide

5. There Are Four Kinds Of Hacks
Form – A way to deliver food that has advantages.
Ingredients – Ingredients you can use to make a dish.
Substitutes – Ingredients to specifically replace others.
Additions – Things you can add to ingredients with specific advantages.

6. Japanese Curry
A New Old Classic

7. Japanese Curry
This Classic dish is already a hack – Indian curry adapted to the British Navy, adapted by the Japanese Navy as a fast, delicious way to make food and serve nutritious meals.
Japanese Curry is a thick curry sauce that can be used with rice and is often used to serve meat, vegetables, and various foods together.
It also has no set recipe – so learning to make some exposes you to a number of great ideas!

8. Japanese Curry Hacks
Form – Japanese Curry as a meal is a great hack – a grain, some veggies and/or meat, and a bunch of sauce. It’s a way to make a meal out of anything.
Ingredients – Studying Japanese curry and making it lets you hack the recipes in many ways.
Substitutes – Making Japanese curry has no set form, so you’ll learn substitutions.
Hack Element – Throw Japanese curry on anything to get a meal.

9. My Hacks
First I make Japanese Curry in large batches so I can make a meal quickly.
Secondly, I often make the curry using pureed beans and squash to make it nutritious as well as thick. This version is also faster as “traditional” methods involve a roux.
Third, I throw it on whatever I want to make a complete meal.

10. Chazuke
Simple Idea

11. Chazuke (Japan)
Chazuke is a Japanese quick dish for comfort, for illness, for speed, or to signal to guests “you’ve stayed a long time.”
It’s green tea dumped on rice, often with seaweed, flavorings, dried meat, pickles, etc.
It’s something you can make with whatever’s lying around.

12. Chazuke Hacks
Form – Chazuke can lead you to finding formulas for quick meals.
Ingredients – Chazuke is a reminder that you can use tea as broth.
Substitutes – Again, you can use tea as broth.
Additions – People have found many ways to improve Chazuke, so reading up on it gives you ideas.

13. My Hacks
I make chazuke with a simple formula – 1 cup grain, 1 cup vegan protein (beans), 1 cup steamed or other green vegetables – with 1 to 1 ½ cup tea.
Sometimes I just do protein and greens.
I also have experimented with many other teas for broth – which opens up whole new avenues.
With the right ingredients, you can make this in your hotel room.

14. Additional Hacks for Chazuke
Green Tea – Fine, made better with some soy sauce and/or pickled ginger and maybe seaweed.
Barley Tea – Add soy sauce and it’s incredibly delicious.
Lemon Tea – Add soy sauce and some garlic and it actually tastes like chicken.
Breakfast – Imagine eating oatmeal or rice made with tea for that caffeine boost!

15. Okonomiyaki
Form And Opportunity

16. Okonomiyaki – A Hack Again
Okonomiyaki is sort of a crepe or a pancake from Japan. A flour pancake with cabbage inside it, often meat or other ingredients as well.
Typically served with bulgogi sauce and mayo.
It is a hack itself – a way to make a quick meal out of simple ingredients – which of course turned delicious.

17. Okonomiyaki Hacks
Form – Okonomiyaki itself is a great form for food – it’s really a cabbage salad baked into a pancake.
Substitution – Okonomiyaki invites experiment and substitution.

18. My Hacks
I use chickpea flour instead of regular flour for Okonomiyaki – this adds vegan protein. 3-4 cups of cabbage tossed with ¾ cup of the flour and 1 Tbsp of baking powder, then a bit of water does it.
To avoid frying, I actually bake Okonomiyaki. Put it on baking paper at 420 degrees for minutes on each side (though it may be more cakelike).
If you bake you can make a ton of these ahead.
I also make small ones that freeze and reheat easier.

19. “Bowl Meals”
Near Universal

20. “Bowl Meals” are common in Asian Cooking
Bibimap, rice bowls, gyodon, etc.
These are actually easy to make, so studying others can teach you all sorts of great hacks.
This is a classic “form hack” – a reminder of how you can assemble a meal quickly.
Some of these can be made with nothing more than a microwave or a coffee maker.

21. My Hacks
I have a formula much like Chazuke – either 1 cup each of rice, a protein, and vegetables, or 1 ½ cup of greens and 1 ½ cup of protein.
Simple sauces – or Japanese Curry - can enhance these. I often use a basic brown sauce.
Simple spicy additions like seaweed, soy sauce, kimchi, or pickled ginger can make this a meal.
I even dice spinach fine and mix it into rice.

22. Hack Elements And Ingredients
More Stuff To Enhance Your Meals!

23. Asian Cooking Has Many Useful Ingredients
One reason to practice traditional and common cooking is to learn about these ingredients.
Many of them come up in pop culture – which you’re probably aware of.
It is well worth exploring and diving into details.

24. Pickled Food
From Kimchi in Korea to Japanese Tsukemono, Asian cuisine introduces us to many pickling possibilities and are a great hack element and ingredient.
Add pickled ingredients to a meal bowl – just a little kimchi may be all the spice you need.
Use pickles in Chazuke to add flavor.
Bake them into Okonomiyaki for a burst of flavor.
Stir them into other vegetables for an instant salad!

25. Doenjang and Gochujang
These staple Korean ingredients have amazing flavors. Doenjang is fermented soybean paste, Gochujang is fermented pepper paste.
Mixed with some sesame oil, they form a classic spread or sauce.
Added to broth or tea they can add flavor to any meal.
Watered down a bit they can be tossed into ingredients or added to salad.
They have a rich, powerful taste that is worth exploring.

26. Soy Sauce
Soy Sauce is a common condiment – but shouldn’t be underestimated.
Soy Sauce is a fast way to add savory (umani) flavor to a meal, carries easily, and also adds some saltiness.
A little soy sauce added to anything can enhance the flavor.

27. Chickpea Flour
Chickpea Flour is a decent flour and egg substitute – protein-rich, acts as a binder, cooks with a nutty flavor (but raw it tastes awful).
Try it as a flour substitute.
You can even microwave it with water to make a kind of custard.

28. Really, sorry there’s no samples.
Thanks For Joining Me!
Really, sorry there’s no samples.

29. What’s Next?
You have a convenient handout with a load of recipies and suggestions – use them!
I recommend practicing a specific Asian cooking for a few meals – Japanese, Korean, etc.
Learn ingredients and forms – then ask how you can repurpose them!
Keep expanding your repertoire.
WRITE YOUR RECIPES DOWN AND SHARE THEM!

30. To Contact Me!
My contact information is on the handout.
I have a newsletter.
You can find me at
I speak at cons all over so you’ll probably run into me.