The new year celebrations have come and gone. Many of us have returned to work and the Christmas break seemed so long ago. The gyms are packed full of people attempting to keep to their new year resolutions of losing weight, getting fit etc etc. January is probably the month where carb intake is the lowest due to enthusiastic weight watchers who stuffed one too many roasted spuds and christmas pudding. Don’t quote me, i’m making stuff up, because I am one of those who tries very, very hard to go the non-carb or low-carb way.
Safe to say, I haven’t been very successful. When I’m after a quick and easy one dish meal, I tend to turn to rice or noodles. Hey I can’t help it – I’m asian!
So I try to be as healthy as possible, loading the dish with more vegetables and protein. This cabbage and chicken pilaf is a quick and easy one-pan meal. If you’re really not in the mood for cleaning up either, you can eat directly from the pan too – no one’s judging!
A pilaf is a rice dish (usually, but not always of Indian influence) cooked with vegetables and broth. It’s versatile, so you can chuck in protein like chicken or other meats or seafood. A way to describe it is like an Indian paella? Just with different flavours and spices and much less labour intensive and time consuming.
Simple ingredients, cooked in 30 minutes or less! Great mid-week meal.
CABBAGE & CHICKEN PILAF
3 fillets of skinless and boneless chicken thighs, sliced
1/2 a head of white cabbage, coursely shredded
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup of frozen peas
1 1/2 cups of long grain white rice (you can use basmati rice too)
2 cups of unsalted chicken stock
2 tsp of curry powder
1 tsp of ground ginger
1 tsp of ground cumin
salt & pepper to taste
light soy sauce to taste (optional)
In a 30cm fry pan or cast iron braiser, heat a splash of vegetable oil. Brown chicken pieces until just lightly browned.
Add in ground ginger, cumin, curry powder, garlic and rice. Stir to mix ingredients well and ensure rice is well coated with spices. Add in cabbage, mix well and cook for about 5 minutes.
Add in chicken stock and frozen peas. Mix through and cover pan. Cook for about 15 minutes or until rice is tender. Season to taste. Sprinkle with crispy fried shallots before serving (optional).
Bean curd puffs, also known as tofu puffs or ‘tau pok’ to many southeast asians are one of my favourite variants of the humble bean curd. The healthier version of the bean curd or tofu is dense and has very high water content. The puff version is deep fried, hollow-ish and dry which is very much like a sponge and when cooked in sauce or soup, it soaks up all the wonderful flavours and is totally delicious. I love them in soups, in laksa, sliced and stir fried or in this case – stuffed!
Stuffed bean curd puffs is considered ‘street food’ and is quite commonly found in Singapore or Malaysia food centres. The puff is split in half, lightly toasted and then filled with healthy goodies like julienned cucumber, bean shoots and slices of boiled egg and served with a creamy satay (peanut) sauce. The freshness of the cucumber and bean shoots, the crisp outer tofu shell and the nutty yumminess of the satay sauce is simply a divine combination.
It’s so easy to prepare, very cost-effective and rather healthy as a meal in itself – unless you’re like me where I am over-generous with the satay sauce and I totally drench the little puffs. Oh yum. Many people enjoy this dish as a starter, but it’s surprisingly satisfying as a main. A great summer dish.
Stuffed Bean Curd Puffs
Recipe for 4 as a starter or 2 as main
1 packet tofu puffs (about 14 – 16 pieces)
100 g beans shoots, blanched
1/2 cucumber, julienned
2 large hard boiled eggs, sliced
2 tbsp roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Slice the tofu puffs almost all the way through, lightly toast or grill on both sides. Stuff the toasted puffs with equal amount of cucumber and bean shoots, then top with sliced egg and chopped peanuts. Serve immediately with a side of satay sauce.
I used ready made satay sauce this time, but if you fancy making some yourself, here’s a quick and easy recipe from a previous post.
One of my favourite daikon radish dishes is this – Singapore style soon kueh (turnip dumplings). The original dumpling has a savoury filling made from what is known as a chinese turnip or jicama. However using the daikon was stemmed from the fact that I lived in the UK where turnips are mostly swedes which were not suitable and there were no jicamas in sight. The daikon is versatile and its texture is similar and makes for a good substitute.
I bought a ginormous daikon recently and was intending to cook it in a soup but a bout of peckishness and craving made me change my mind and I rolled up my sleeves for some kneading and moulding action.
I’ve made this dumpling before with a different recipe for the pastry and I wanted to try out a different recipe that is known as the ‘crystal’ version. This meant that the skin of the dumpling is translucent when cooked rather than the opague version that I made before.
I’m pretty sure this isn’t the best recipe, because I found the pastry to be a little too tough and chewy. A good crystal dumpling is nice and translucent with a soft skin that has a slight chew. Having said that, the dumplings were still yummy and the hubs and I shared a large plateful for dinner, with loads to spare for breakfast. It’s probably a strange idea for many of you that we have the same kind of food for dinner and breakfast. Probably like having cereal for dinner – which by the way is becoming quite norm for young people in Australia! (Source: some morning show in Australia, can’t remember which one)
The truth is that in Singapore, these dumplings are usually eaten more as a snack (morning or afternoon) and sometimes as breakfast. I don’t follow rules very well and decided I wanted them for dinner. The hubs just eats whatever I cook and so breakfast food for dinner it is! Yay!
In comparison to the two pastries (crystal and opague), the crystal version is a lot easier to work with as it starts off sticky but ends up clean and easy to mould. The other one was much softer and fiddlier (is there such a word?) but it was also softer and less chewy after it’s been cooked.
Might give a different crystal pastry recipe a try next time. For the opague version and filling recipe, go to my soon kueh post.
CRYSTAL DUMPLINGS (Pastry recipe)
Makes about 20-24
375 g Wheat Starch
180 g Tapioca flour
450 ml Boiling water
3 tbsp Vegetable oil
Oil for greasing
Put wheat starch and tapioca flour into a mixing bowl, pour in boiling water and mix quickly with ladle or big spoon. Cover and leave aside for 15 minutes.
Add in oil and knead into a pliable dough. Roll out in a cylinder about 1.5 inches in diameter. Cut with a sharp knife into 3/4 inch slices. Dab a little oil on both sides of the slice and roll out gently into thin round shapes. Cover the rest of the dough with a damp cloth while working to prevent them from drying out
Place 2 teaspoons of filling in the centre of each slice of dough and fold in half. Seal the edges by pressing together.
Steam dumplings for 15-20 minutes and brush with oil after removing from steamer. Serve with crisp fried shallots, sweet caramel soy sauce (kecap manis) and chilli sauce.
Atrocious. I have been away for too long! Went away last week to Sydney with the hubs. He was there for work, while I played tourist. It’s great to be funemployed for a while. I’m still enjoying the break. Usually by this time, I’ll be itching to go back to work, but not right now! Loving spring in Melbourne, loving the time I have to potter around. I’m sure I’ll get bored of this soon enough.
I also planted my first crop of herbs in two galvanised buckets. They started of as seedlings and are flourishing under my care *ahem* It’s quite a surprise really, because I’m not known for my green thumbs. Let’s hope they continue to grow and be consumed throughout the summer months!
I can see more parsley and dill recipes coming this way. For now, I do have a fabulous chimichurri recipe to share. I couldn’t use all of my homegrown parsley as they were still busy growing…so I supplemented with a store bought bunch. I have a chimichurri recipe that I used while in the UK but I think this one’s the one I’ll be using from now. It’s simple, fresh and delicious.
Chimichurri is basically a green sauce originating from Argentina. It is made mostly from parsley and is totally delicious as a marinade or served with grilled meat. I had a couple of grilled thick, juicy steaks recently and served them with this. The combination of herbs, garlic and vinegar lifted the already juicy and delicious grilled steaks and brought them to a whole new level of yum. The Argentinians sure knew what they were doing.
If you haven’t had chimichurri before, you HAVE to try this.
Enough for 2 – 4 steaks
- 1 cup firmly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley, trimmed of thick stems
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- 2 Tbsps fresh oregano leaves (can sub 2 teaspoons dried oregano)
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 Finely chop the parsley, fresh oregano, and garlic (or process in a food processor several pulses). Place in a small bowl.
2 Stir in the olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Adjust seasonings.
Serve immediately or refrigerate. If chilled, return to room temperature before serving. Can keep for a day or two.
Some people are able to run their lives like well-oiled machines – stable, unchanging. Some people rock it with crazy happenings everyday and live by the motto of “go get ‘em or else”…For me, I feel like I’m just unsettled – not simple, not rocking it either. Probably due to the fact that we moved to a whole different continent about 4 months ago. Although it’s back to where we call home, the feeling like we haven’t quite completed our journey is still hovering around.
Hubby and I are super blessed to have found an apartment to rent really quickly, we found jobs speedily too and we’re back into life as we once knew. Well…not quite. I’ve resigned from my brand new job – yes after just 2.5 months of action. It just wasn’t what I expected. It just wasn’t something I could see myself doing for the next few years. I had to leave. I’ve never ever done this in my life – probation period definitely holds new meaning for me now! So yeah, it’s back to square one.
Plus I just read an update from an acquaintance’s blog of their thoughts from a recent miscarriage. Made me super sad, which explains why I’m so melancholic at the mo. Sorry!!!
However, having said all that, I know I should be thankful – for all of God’s amazing blessings in my life. Especially for my hubby who is ever so gracious and supportive – I could quit a thousand jobs and he’ll still be okay with it. Thank you hunny! You’re the best! It’s now written for the world to see, so you can’t take it back !!! I love you!
I am also thankful that simple, pleasurable things do exist. Like this baked swordfish dish I made a while back, and the fact that tomorrow will be the first day of spring. Yippee!
EASY BAKED SWORDFISH WITH HERBS
Adapted from cuisine.com.au
- 4 medium sized swordfish steaks (about half an inch thick)
- Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 ripe tomatoes, halved, juice and seeds removed, and chopped
- 3 tbsp chopped parsley
- 1 tsp thyme leaves
- 1 tsp rosemary leaves, finely chopped
- 1/2 clove garlic, finely chopped
- Splash of white wine
- Juice of half a lemon
- Extra virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 180C.
Season fish with salt and pepper and place in an ovenproof dish. Combine the tomatoes, herbs and garlic in a bowl, then sprinkle over the fish. Add the white wine, lemon juice and a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until just cooked through.
“Recorded from 1803 with uncertain origin, but possibly a euphemism for Holy Mary, with Mackerel being a nickname for Catholics because they ate the fish on Fridays. Another suggested explanation is the practice of selling mackerel on Sundays in the seventeenth century (because its quality deteriorates rapidly), so it was known as a holy fish.”
Just a titbit of information to start this post off. Holy fish, I’m on a roll! (All puns intended)
I’ve recently fallen in love with my local waitrose’s fish deli. Fresh fish is not readily available in central London’s supermarkets, but here at Waitrose there’s quite a decent selection.And that was where I first locked shiny eyes with a whole mackerel. Slim, beautiful, glossy body with a slightly grumpy face. I love that there are no (or hardly any) scales and it’s easy to clean and cook.
I’m not very well versed in the language of fish and I hardly cook whole fish. Namely because I do not get them easily here, and my beloved other half balks at the thought of fish bones and ‘fishy-smelling’ fish. I think I snagged myself an Atlantic mackerel this time and I took the opportunity while the hubs was out of town for business to grill it up for my dinner for one. Holy mackerel – it was delicious!!
Mackerel is definitely not a delicate fish and is what the hubs would consider a ‘fishy-smelling’ fish. To me, it was heavenly. I simply grilled it stuffed with orange slices and parsley, drizzled with orange juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. The sugars from the orange juice caramelised the fish beautifully and gave it a citrus-kick. As I tucked into the meal, I was brought back to my vacation in Portugal where i could easily eat grilled sardines with rice every day. Oh my. Those were wonderful times. And then the hubby got home and said ‘Wow, the house needs some airing.’ Oops – while I enjoyed my grilled fish, I had forgotten to open the window to air the place out and we had ‘eau de mackerel’ wafting all around.
Fishy fishy…yummy, yummy!
Grilled mackerel with orange and parsley
1 x fresh whole mackerel gutted and cleaned
1 small handful of flat leaf parsley (stalks included)
2 orange slices
Juice of 1/4 of an orange
sea salt & black pepper
Get oven grill going on high. Score the fish on both sides. Place fish on baking tray lined with parchment. Stuff the cavity of the fish with parsley and orange slices. Squeeze orange juice over both sides of the fish, drizzle with oil and season generously with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Grill the fish for about 10 minutes on each side. Check that it is cooked through. The flesh should be white (you should see it clearly from the scored slits).
Serve with a drizzle of lemon juice (optional) and a side of plain or egg fried rice.
Oh, and remember to keep a window open!
One of my favourite root vegetable is the daikon radish. It looks like a giant white carrot, has a very mild flavour and is thus super versatile. It is a good substitute for the jicama which isn’t as easily available in the UK. Not only is it easy to cook with, the daikon radish is also full of Vitamin C and best of all, has very low calorie count per gram. (18 calories per 85gm)
Great for pickling, the daikon radish is a common sight as sweet or spicy pickles in Japanese and Korean cuisine. The Chinese use it in steamed savoury Chinese-style rice cakes, in steamed dumplings, cooked in soup or as a spring roll filler. It can also be eaten raw – shredded in a salad. I’m sure there are many other recipes out there using this humble, little (ok, not so little) root vegetable.
A particular dish that I really enjoy is braised daikon radish with minced pork. Eaten with steamed white rice, drizzled with the braising soy sauce is like putting on warmed furry slippers on a cold winter’s day – totally comforting…mmm…
Here’s my take on this comfort dish.
BRAISED PORK MINCE WITH DAIKON RADISH
1 medium daikon radish, halved and cut into ½ inch slices
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely diced
1 small thumbsize ginger, finely sliced
400g minced pork
1 tsp dark soy sauce
2 tsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp preserved soy beans
1 tbsp chilli oil (optional)
1/3 cup water
- Heat up some vegetable oil in a hot wok. Add garlic and ginger and stir fry quickly for a few seconds, till fragrant. Add in minced pork and stir fry the meat to loosen it. Cook till slightly coloured / brown.
- Add all the seasoning and stir to mix it through.
- Add sliced daikon radish, mix well to coat the radish with the sauce.
- Add water and simmer covered for about 20 minutes on medium – high heat or until the daikon radish is softened but not mushy.
I saw a gözleme blog post on Almost Bourdain recently and was very inspired to try out the recipe. I think I’ve only ever tried this savoury turkish crepe at a food fair ages ago or maybe it was in a turkish restaurant…I can’t really remember. Similar to the more popular Borek, which is normally baked or fried, the gozleme is a traditional light snack or meal in Turkish families. Just the thought of a combination of freshly made pastry filled with savoury vegetables, cheese and/or meat, and browned on a griddle…was enough to get me preparing for another yeasty roll-out.
Common gozleme fillings include spinach and feta, spinach and mince or spiced potatoes. For my version, I decided to use spinach, spiced mince and ricotta.
I followed Almost Bourdain’s simple to follow pastry instructions and while waiting for the dough to rise, I cooked up some pork mince using spices like cinnamon, cumin and chilli.
Once the dough was ready, I cut them up into equal portions, rolled them out on a floured surface and filled it with the cooked mince, added a few generous dots of the creamy ricotta and a handful of fresh spinach leaves – which were wilted within the pastry while the parcels were cooking.
Each parcel was grilled on a lightly oiled pan over medium heat for 2-3 minutes each side or until it’s nicely browned.
Best eaten fresh off the griddle with a squeeze of lemon juice. Yum, yum – now to plan for a trip to Turkey to try the real thing!
400g minced pork (or lamb or beef)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp sugar
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Mix all the ingredients except the lemon juice and olive oil together.
In a hot pan, heat up some olive oil and brown the spiced mince stirring to loosen the meat and get it all evenly cooked through and coloured. Once it’s cooked, squeeze in the lemon juice and stir through to finish.
Cool the mince before filling the dough.
Enough of Paris for now. Here’s a quick and delish dinner that I made a while back. Wraps are like my go-to option when I’ve run out of time or ideas for a quick meal. I’m thankful for ready, off-the-shelf sauces and packaged tortillas. They have been wonderful life-savers many, many times.
Hoisin sauce, is a common Chinese dipping sauce used mainly for spring rolls, peking duck pancakes and barbequed pork but its use has been extended to westernised stir-fries, roast marinades etc. The Vietnamese also like hoisin sauce in their bowl of phở. ‘Hoisin’ comes from the Cantonese word ‘seafood’ but there’s not even a sniff of seafood in the sauce. Made mostly out of sweet potato starch and soybeans, this thick syrupy sweet sauce is very versatile.
The more commonly seen store-bought hoisin wraps are usually filled with duck, spring onions, lettuce and cucumber. Very much like a poor cousin to the peking duck pancakes.
Well, I made an even poorer cousin to the duck wrap – a hoisin chicken wrap. Easily available chicken thigh fillets, marinated with hoisin sauce, soy, pepper and sesame oil (for at least 20 minutes, preferably overnight) and grilled in the oven till cooked through and has some caramelisation and colour. (About 30 minutes depending on how big your chicken fillets are)
Spread some hoisin sauce on a warmed tortilla and top with sliced up grilled chicken pieces and salad of your choice. You can basically add any ‘supplements’ to the wrap, in my case – I made a thin omelette and sliced it up. I also spread a little chinese style chilli oil on top of the hoisin sauce for that added depth of heat and flavour.
Wrap it, eat it. Yum.
Next to its famous cousin, phở (Vietnamese rice noodles soup), the rice paper roll is probably one of the other more well-known Vietnamese favourites. In general, the spring roll-like combination of rice paper, salad, noodles, shrimp or pork is rather bland which I take it to mean – uber healthy! There’s not a single drop of oil used in this recipe, and everything in it is either boiled or steamed.
All the yumminess lie in the dipping sauce – Nước chấm – which is generally a concoction of fish sauce, lime/lemon juice/vinegar, sugar and optional aromatics like garlic and chilli.
Rice paper comes in stiff round sheets which is softened in a shallow dish of hot/warm water and then placed on a clean tea towel for some rolling action. The filling ingredients are kept simple and fresh. In this shrimp roll, I used carrots, lettuce, cucumber, coriander, cooked shrimp and cooked rice noodles. When there’s too much filling, it gets tricky handling the now sticky rice paper and the strands of rice noodles or lettuce that insists on sticking out…The key is to not over-fill and leave enough space around the sides of the rice paper for folding and rolling.
It’s a great entrée to serve at dinner parties, or as canapés or snacks. The good thing is that the rolls stay fresh covered with a damp cloth for a few hours, so it’s a great dish that can be prepared ahead of time.
Ingredients for rice paper roll:
- rice paper
- julienned carrot
- coriander leaves
- shredded lettuce
- julienned cucumber
- cooked shrimps (split in half)
- handful of cooked rice noodles
Basic Nước chấm:
Makes ¾ cup
3-4 tablespoons lime/lemon juice
2 tablespoons sugar
½ cup water
2 ½ tablespoons fish sauce
1 small garlic clove, finely minced
1 or 2 birds eye chilli, finely minced
Combine all the ingredients together, taste and adjust accordingly. There should be a good balance of tartness and sweetness. Once you’re happy with the sauce, add garlic and chilli and let the sauce sit for at least 30 minutes.