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!

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

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

Simple Chicken Spaghetti

Chicken Spaghetti

When I have some time, I like to style my food a little, play with my food.  Visually aesthetic food make s for very good eye candy and it also sets the stage for a fantastic meal ahead.  Most importantly, it also shows that the cook cares, that it wasn't just a mish mash of ingredients thrown together.

Here's the recipe for this simple dish:

Ingredients:
dried spaghetti
garlic, minced
onion, chopped
celery, chopped (reserve a few celery leaves for garnishing)
tomatoes, chopped
salt
black pepper
chicken thigh with skin on, deboned

1. Cook spaghetti as per instructions on packaging.  Drain spaghetti, reserving some of the cooking water.
2. Heat up frying pan.  Season chicken thigh with salt and pepper then place skin side down into the pan.  Let it cook for a few minutes until the skin is crispy and golden brown.  Flip over and cook till the chicken is cooked through.
3. Remove chicken from pan and set aside, keeping the oil (from the chicken) in the pan
4. Add garlic and onion to the chicken oil in the pan and fry till fragrant.  Then, add the tomatoes and celery and a ladle or two of the spaghetti cooking water reserved in (1).  Cook for about 5 minutes, and season with salt and pepper.
5. Add spaghetti to the pan and stir until well mixed
6. Presentation time!!  Serve spaghetti in a plate, arrange the pan-fried chicken on top and garnish with celery leaves.  Viola!!

Of course, all this styling is reserved for special days.  When in a hurry, which is most of the time, you could use chicken pieces instead and just mix everything together :)

Healthy Seafood Soup

There's something warm and fuzzy about drinking a warm bowl of soup when it's cold and rainy, or when you are feeling under the weather.  All it takes is some boiling over the stove and you can practically dump in anything that you like.  For today, I have Seafood Soup!

Healthy Seafood Soup

Ingredients:
Garlic, a few cloves
Chicken bones
Carrots, cut into 1-inch long wedges
Tomato, cut into wedges
Fish, sliced (I used Mackerel here)
Prawns, shelled and cleaned
Lettuce, a bunch of leaves washed
Light soya sauce
White pepper

1. For the soup, bring a pot of water to a boil and add in the garlic, chicken bones, and carrots.  Scoop out scum as necessary.  Remember to lower the fire once it gets to a furious boil at the start.  I like to boil my soup base for about 20-30 mins.
2. While boiling the soup base, prepare all other ingredients.
3. When soup base is ready, remove chicken bones and garlic.
4. Turn the fire up and add in tomato, fish and prawns and boil until fish and prawn are just cooked.
5. Throw in lettuce and give a quick stir.  Add light soya sauce and a dash of white pepper to taste.  The healthy seafood soup is now ready to be served!

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?

Slow Juicer

Slow juicer

A what juicer, you say??  Exactly what I was thinking when I first heard about the slow juicer...  all my life, I have been making smoothies/juices using a blender.  But, apparently the slow juicer is supposed to retain more nutrients in your juices as it doesn't make use of a high speed blade, which in turn creates heat.  Going through a vegetables and fruit juice phase, we bit the bullet and got ourselves a slow juicer (these are not cheap!).

And to test it out, here's a simple combination of carrots, apples and celery:

Apples, carrots, celery

The end product was a thicker, more condensed version as compared to the blender version (needed water to enable the blender to work).  Yummy!!

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!

Chicken & Carrot Congee

I've been blogging about food for some time but have never thought of blogging about baby food.  That is until someone asked me to share some baby food recipes too.  Here's my very first baby food recipe.

One of the most common food for babies in this part of the world, is porridge.  I prefer cooking congee (a thicker, less watery version of porridge).  Cooking congee the traditional way on the stove is very time consuming and needs lots of attention, especially when the congee reaches a rather thick consistency.  Once you let the congee burn, even if it's just a little at the bottom of the pot, the whole pot of congee will have a burnt taste.  Not good.....

However, in our modern world, cooking congee is a breeze.  I use a rice cooker which has a "Congee" setting!  Here's how easily healthy, nutritious homemade congee can be cooked for your precious baby:

Chicken & carrot congee for baby

Ingredients:
Rice (I use mixed unpolished rice)
1 clove of garlic, whole and with skin on
1 piece of carrot, cut into thin strips
1 piece of chicken, minced
light soya sauce
white pepper

1. Wash the rice and add it to the rice cooker pot.  Add water as specified by your rice cooker instructions in order to cook congee.  Add garlic and carrot strips to the rice cooker pot and start the rice cooker on "Congee" setting.
2. Season the minced chicken with a little light soya sauce and white pepper.
3. When the "Congee" cooking cycle has completed, add the minced chicken to the rice cooker pot and give the congee a quick stir.  Start the "Congee" again.  Once the 2nd "Congee" cooking cycle has completed, add a little light soya sauce to the congee.
4. Remove the clove of garlic and serve warm.  Be very careful to cool it sufficiently so as not to burn baby while feeding.

**NOTE**

I like to run the "Congee" setting twice in order to get a thicker, more mushed up congee as my little one doesn't have any back teeth yet.

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

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.