Stir-fried Chicken

Stir-fried Chicken

Nowadays, kids can be really picky with food.  Gone were the days where kids ate anything they were given or not have anything at all (other hungry siblings would gladly eat up extra portions).  There was a stage where Big One got so picky that he refused to eat what I had already cooked, insisting on going to a particular food store for a particular dish.  After some ranting from an angry Mummy, and some crying from a stubborn kid, Big One reluctantly ate his meal at home.

This went on for quite some time and I got so tired of forcing Big One, it was like forcing him to eat poison that I personally cooked.  Enough was enough!  I embarked on a new plan - getting Big One to cook his own meals!  I figured out that

1. Big One would know what exactly goes into cooking a meal
2. Big One would also learn some life skills

This was one of the first dishes that Big One helped to cook.  From not knowing how to keep garlic pieces in the wok, he can now help to stir-fry stuff while I wash up some dishes without tossing the food everywhere.  If a little kid can cook this, anyone can too!

Ingredients:

Onion, cut into wedges

Red pepper, cut into pieces

Chicken thigh, deboned and cut into pieces

Tomato sauce

Light Soya sauce

Dark soya sauce

Black pepper

Oil

Cornstarch + water

1. Season chicken pieces with tomato sauce, light soya sauce, dark soya sauce, black pepper for at least 30mins.
2. Heat up wok and add some oil.  When oil is hot, add in onions and fry until fragrant.
3. Add in chicken and stir-fry until almost cooked, then add red pepper to the wok.
4. Mix cornstarch with a little water and add to the wok while stirring its contents.  This helps to thicken the gravy.
5. Once the gravy is thickened (thick enough to coat the chicken pieces just so slightly), its ready to serve!

Chicken Chop with Cashew Rice

I love a good chicken chop with a simple salad, but sometimes I need to have some rice.  Instead of the usual plain rice, I added in some butter and some cashew nuts to the rice cooker and cooked it exactly the same way.  I was feeling a little fancy too, so some fresh mushrooms for the chicken chop and some sliced onions (for a little kick) and green pepper for the salad.  Yummy!!

Healthy Sandwich

Healthy Sandwich

Healthy homemade meals don't have to be time consuming.  All you need is a few simple ingredients, a tiny bit of cooking and you are done!  For this sandwich,  I used 2 slices of my homemade Chocolate Walnut Bread, fried an egg, sliced some tomatoes and avocado and washed a few leaves of lettuce.  It takes just a few minutes to assemble and you have a very healthy meal :)

Baked Pita Chips

We usually make our own pizza dough but once in a while, we use store-bought pita bread as the base.  So after all that pizza making, what do you do with the leftover pita bread?  Cut them into wedges, spread them out on a tray, bake them at 200 degrees Celsius in the oven for a while, and you get healthy baked pita chips!

Pita Chips

Chicken Chop

Chicken Chop

I love food that can be cooked in the oven!  You just dump them in the oven, and all the work that you need to do is to flip it over a few times while it cooks.  While waiting, you can cosy up with a good book or watch some television.  No slaving in the kitchen :p

Ingredients:
chicken thigh, deboned, skin on
garlic, minced
plum sauce
light soya sauce
black pepper

1. Season the chicken thigh with garlic, plum sauce, light soya sauce and black pepper for at least 1 hour.
2. Place chicken thigh in pre-heated oven (160 degrees Celsius) and let cook for about 45 minutes.  Flip the chicken thighs every 15 minutes or so.
3. Add some vegetables to complete the meal!

Fried Cauliflower

Vegetables are the quickest and simplest things to cook!  Other then chopping them up into appropriate sizes, my favourite way of cooking them is with garlic.  As a rule of thumb, get a nice mix of colours both for presentation as well as a good mix of vitamins and minerals!

Ingredients:
Cailiflower, cut into small florets
Snow peas, cut on the diagonal
Red pepper, cut into small pieces
Garlic, minced
Light soya sauce
Cooking Oil

1. Heat up frying pan and add some oil to the pan.
2. When oil is hot, add in garlic and fry until fragrant on low-medium heat, taking care not to burn the garlic. (Note: burnt garlic tastes bitter... urggh)
3. Add in all the other vegetables and season with some light soya sauce.
4. Add a little water, mix well in the pan and cover with lid for a few minutes until cauliflower is cooked.  Serve warm with rice.

Fried Cauliflower

Steamed Egg with Minced Pork

Steamed egg with minced pork

This is a dish that screams: "Home-cooked comfort food!!!"  Simple, unpretentious, nutritious food that reminds me of Mummy dearest.

Ingredients:
Eggs, beaten
Minced pork
Light soya sauce
white pepper

1. Mix eggs and minced pork together in a shallow plate.  Mix in some light soya sauce and pepper to taste and spread it out evenly.
2. Steam for about 5-10 minutes or until meat is fully cooked.  Best eaten warm with rice or porridge.

Now, isn't this super simple??

Rice Cooker Fried Rice

When the kids came, it was always a mad rush to do anything.  There were laundry to be done, floors to be cleaned, dishes to be washed, on top of having to keep an eye on the kids to make sure they were not hurting themselves or each other.  Gone were the days where I could leisurely cook in the kitchen, so I improvised and came up with food that could be pre-prepared (in some way or another).  This rice cooker fried rice is one such improvisation.

Ingredients:

oil

garlic, chopped

onions, chopped

carrots, diced

celery, chopped

cabbage, chopped

chicken/pork, cut in small pieces

eggs, beaten

light soya sauce

dark soya sauce

pepper

rice

1. Start cooking rice as per your rice cooker's instructions and proceed to chop/prepare all other ingredients
2. Heat up some oil in a frying pan, add beaten eggs seasoned with light soya sauce and pepper.  Cook until mostly cooked (about 80% cooked) with some parts still runny.  Remove from pan and set aside
3. Using the same pan, add garlic and onions and fry until fragrant.  Then add in the meat (seasoned with dark soya sauce and pepper).  Then add in the carrots, celery, cabbage and the eggs fried in (2).  Mix well and season with light soya sauce and pepper.  Remove from heat and set aside
4. Check the rice cooker, you would want to see the water inside bubbling vigorously.  Pour in all the contents of the frying pan, give it a good mix, close the lid and leave the rice cooker to complete its cooking cycle.

Fry ingredients in a pan

Rice cooker fried rice

Turmeric Chicken Drumlets

Want something easy to cook yet unique enough for the guests to talk about over dinner?  Try these exotic Tumeric Chicken Drumlets!

Tumeric Chicken Drumlets

Ingredients:
Chicken drumlets
Turmeric powder, a dash or two
Light soya sauce
Black pepper

1. Marinate chicken drumlets with turmeric powder (not too much or it'll end up bitter!), light soya sauce and some black pepper for at least 30 minutes.  I like to marinate the chicken for a few hours or even overnight.
2. Bake them in the oven at 160°C for about 45 minutes (or until cooked), turning them every 15 minutes or so.
3. Serve immediately!  Now wasn't that easy? ;)

Pumpkin Rice

Pumpkin Rice

One-dish meals are busy Mums' (or any other busy person's) best friends.  Pumpkin rice is one such meal.  I love this dish for a number of reasons:

1. It's healthy and nutritious
2. It is easy to prepare
3. It can be cooked ahead of time and kept warm till it's time to eat
4. Ingredients can be easily substituted with anything you have in the fridge

Without further ado, let's proceed to the recipe:

Ingredients:

Uncooked rice, washed and placed in water as per rice cooker's instructions

Lean pork, cut into strips

Pumpkin, washed and cut into cubes leaving skin on

Dried mushroom, soaked and rehydrated, stem removed and sliced

Garlic, chopped

Onion, diced

Cooking oil

Dark soy sauce

Black pepper

White pepper

1. Start cooking rice in a rice cooker
2. Wash and/or prepare all other ingredients
3. Season the pork with some dark soy sauce and black pepper
4. Heat up frying pan and add a little cooking oil.  Add garlic and onions and fry until fragrant.
5. Squeeze water out of prepared mushrooms and add to the frying pan.
6. Add seasoned pork, then pumpkin to the frying pan.  Add a little water and cook for a few minutes.
7. Add dark soy sauce to the pan with a little water and mix.  Turn off the fire.
8. Once the water in the rice cooker has started to boil, add all of the frying pan's contents into the rice cooker and give it a good mix.
9. Now, wait for the rice cooker to inform you when it's done.
10. Serve with a little white pepper.

Simple Salad

Simple Salad

There are times where I just want something simple, something easy to throw together.  This salad couldn't be any easier.  Grab a head of butterhead lettuce, pluck out the stalk, and wash the leaves together with some yellow cherry tomatoes.  Toss them into a bowl and drizzle a little salad dressing of your choice.  What can be easier than that?

Garlic Bread

What's better than baking your own bread?  It's making your own garlic bread!  When I was a kid, we used garlic spread from the bottle and that was the only way I knew how to make garlic bread.  Actually, it's really simple..... all you need is: bread, butter and garlic!

Mince up some garlic and give it a good mix with some butter.  Spread this mixture on some bread and toast it.  That's it!

Garlic Bread

Ladies' Fingers

Ladies' fingers

I remember when I was young, my Mum used to cook ladies' fingers with chili.... YUMMY!  When I cook ladies' fingers, the only other ingredient I need is garlic.  Firstly, my kitchen/pantry is not as well stocked as my Mum's and I do not have all the spices needed for the fragrant chili concoction.  Secondly, my cooking skills are not as good as my Mum's.  So here's a really quick and easy ladies' fingers dish when you are in a hurry:

Ingredients:
ladies' fingers, washed and cut into slices on the diagonal
garlic, minced
cooking oil
light soya sauce

1. Heat a little oil in frying pan or wok
2. Fry minced garlic until fragrant (not burnt!)
3. Add ladies' fingers and stir-fry for a few minutes (add a little water to speed up the cooking)
4. Season with light soya sauce and serve hot!

Salmon Spaghetti

While Mummies look after little ones, they have to be sure that they are eating well too, especially if they are still breastfeeding.  Here's a dish that's quick, simple yet nutritious too!

Ingredients:
Spaghetti, cooked as per instructions
Salmon, cut into big chunks
Garlic, minced
Tomatoes, cut
Red pepper, chopped
Celery, chopped
Oil
Milk
Salt
Black pepper

1. After cooking spaghetti as per instructions on the packet, drain and keep some of the water.  Portion spaghetti into serving plates.
2. Heat up some oil in a frying pan.  When oil is hot, add garlic and fry until fragrant, then add salmon chunks to the frying pan, spacing them out so that they can cook evenly.  After a few minutes, turn the salmon chunks over to cook the other side.
3. Add tomatoes, red pepper, celery and some milk to the frying pan.  Season with salt and pepper and fry for a few minutes.  Add a little of the water retained from (1) if it is too dry.
4. Place some of the fried ingredients from (3) on top of spaghetti to serve.  best eaten when hot!

Salmon Spaghetti

Homemade Kaya

For those unfamiliar with "kaya", it is a spread made from eggs, sugar and coconut milk, also known as coconut egg jam.  In Singapore, this is often spread on bread or toast together with butter.  Kaya in the bottled form is easily available in supermarkets and, depending on the brand, ranges from green to brown in colour.

When I was younger, my Mum would make homemade kaya once in a while.  According to her, my grandmother's recipe was: 1 bunch of pandan leaves, 1 bowl of eggs, 1 bowl of sugar, and 1 bowl of fresh coconut milk.  These simple ingredients will then be mixed together in the upper tier of a double boiler.  The ONE skill you need to make perfect homemade kaya -- PATIENCE.  While the kaya cooks in the double boiler, you have to keep stirring it so that it doesn't curdle and you get the perfect texture.

I wanted to make my own kaya, but I didn't have the time to make it the traditional way.  In steps my best internet friend -- Google... I decided to make kaya using my bread machine!  I made a watered-down version:

Bread Machine Kaya

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup raw sugar

1 cup eggs (approximately 4 medium sized eggs)

1. Mix coconut milk and sugar in bread machine pan.  Add eggs to the pan through a sift.
2. Start the "Jam" function on the bread machine.
3. At the end of the "Jam" cycle, the mixture will appear lumpy.  Pour the mixture into a blender and blend until smooth.  Pour into glass jars and keep refrigerated.

This is my lazy version where I used packet coconut milk instead of fresh and also skipped the pandan leaves.

Bread Machine Kaya (Coconut Egg Jam)

Stir-fried Noodles

Claypot Noodles

I like cooking with this kind of noodles.  Being dried, they can be kept for a longer period of time, and there is no need for pre-boiling before using them for fried noodles.  Stir-fried noodles can be as simple or as complicated as you want them to be.  This time, I added more ingredients:

Ingredients:
vegetable oil
red onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
sweet peas, a handful
dried mushrooms, soaked and sliced
chicken breast, sliced and seasoned with soya sauce and pepper
soya sauce
pepper
corn flour and water mixture

1) Warm up wok and add a little vegetable oil
2) Add garlic and onions when oil is warm.  Fry until fragrant.
3) Add mushrooms and chicken.  Season with some soya sauce and pepper.
4) Add water and bring to a boil, then add 1 piece (for 1 person) of the dried claypot noodles.
5) When noodles have softened, lower the fire and add in sweet peas
6) Add corn flour and water mixture while stirring to thicken the gravy.  Enjoy while hot!

Stir-fried Noodles

Steamed Fish

Steaming fish is THE easiest way to cook a nutritious meal.  Wait.... can this even be considered as cooking?  All you need to do is:

1) Place fish (I used Sea Bass here) in a plate and top with lots of ginger.
2) Season with some light and dark soya sauce and a dash of white pepper
3) Add a little water and steam till just cooked, about 5-10 minutes depending on the size and cut of your fish.  (I usually add a little water so that I have some gravy to pour over my rice)
4)  Enjoy the fish with a bowl of rice!

Steamed Fish with Rice

From the washing point of view, there's only 1 plate for the fish!

Fried Broccoli, Cauliflower & Chicken

Fried broccoli and cauliflower

Broccoli together with cauliflower has to be one of the vegetable dishes that I cook most often.  For this dish, I added in some chicken to make it a quick and easy one-dish-meal to be eaten with rice.

Ingredients:
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Carrot
Chicken breast
Garlic
Vegetarian oyster sauce (mushroom based)
Light soya sauce
Black pepper
Corn flour
Oil

1. Cut chicken breast into bite-sized cubes and season with light soya sauce, black pepper and a little corn flour.  Set aside while you prepare the other ingredients.  Marinate for longer if you have the time.
2. Mince garlic.  Wash and cut up broccoli, cauliflower and carrot
3. Heat up frying pan with a little oil.  On low heat, fry the garlic until fragrant and slightly golden brown.
4. Add in chicken to cook for a while.
5. Add in broccoli, cauliflower and carrot.
6. Add vegetarian oyster sauce and a little water, stirring to mix all ingredients in the pan.
7. Cover pan and bring up to high heat and let cook for a few minutes or until vegetables are cooked but not overly soft.
8. Uncover the pan and give it a final stir before dishing out onto a plate.

Steamed Chicken Wing

Steaming is a healthier way of cooking as compared to frying, and so much easier when it comes to cleaning up.  Here's a steamed chicken wing recipe that can be whipped up in no time with a few basic ingredients.

Steamed chicken wing

1. Season mid section and tip of chicken wings with light soya sauce, dark soya sauce, sesame oil, black pepper for at least an hour.  (To prepare ahead, season chicken wings and freeze in a ziplock bag.  Take out to thaw and cook when needed)
2. Cut some ginger
3. Arrange seasoned chicken wings in a plate, drizzle with the seasoning and top with the ginger.  Steam for 15-20 minutes or until chicken wings are cooked through

As for washing up, there will be only 1 plate to wash!  Choose a plate to be used for steaming, thaw chicken wings on it, arrange on the same plate to steam, then eat from it =)

Banana Muffins

It was at the end of a very tiring day that I baked these banana muffins.... therapeutic baking, that's what I call it.  Some time back, big one had lots of painful ulcers in his mouth, so we bought bananas to freeze and make banana milkshake to help numb the pain.  Apparently it still hurt a lot, and big one just refused to drink any  more after a few sips.  So I was left with lots of really ripe bananas.

This recipe calls for mixing the dry and wet ingredients separately, then combining them. Really quick and easy.

Ingredients A
2 cups flour
1/4 cup raw sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (can be replaced with chocolate chips)


Ingredients B
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup mashed banana

1. Mix all of ingredients A together
2. Mix all of ingredients B together
3. Mix B into A until combined
4. Pour into lined muffin tin and bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes.  Makes 12 regular sized muffins

Banana muffins