Turkey, Spinach & Zucchini Quiche

If you're not hungry after work and have an hour to spare, try and make a quiche for dinner.

You can basically put anything as part of your fillings, be it ham, spinach & fetta cheese, mushrooms, capsicum....in my fridge, I had turkey slices, a bag of spinach and half a zucchini leftover from the night before...so I used these ingredients for my fillings tonight.

One thing that's different about this recipe is that instead of using the traditional milk/cream/half & half, I used a 99% fat free buttermilk that was already sitting in my fridge. I didn't know if it would work but experimenting with food is a typical foodie behaviour and so I gave it a try. The quiche turned out perfectly and was extremely tasty. My hubby ate 3 pieces of it and I had to tell him to stop stuffing himself!


Turkey, Spinach & Zucchini Quiche

6 pieces of Turkey slices, diced
1 handful of spinach leaves, sliced
1 zucchini, diced (I used 1/2 as I only had this much left after the other night)
3 stalks of parsley, chopped finely
2 eggs
250ml buttercream
1 tsp salt
dash of black pepper
1 handful of low fat shredded chedder
1 piece of shortcrust pastry

- Preheat oven to 180C
- Lay out a piece of shortcrust pastry and let it thaw
- If you are not using silicone, lightly grease your pie pan (I used a 25cm pie pan)
- Once the pastry has thawed, mould the pastry into the pan, smoothing the edges and the rim carefully. Use a fork to poke holes on the pastry. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs. Add in buttercream, salt & pepper. Combine well.
- Add in turkey, spinach, zucchini and parsley into the buttercream & egg mixture. Combine well.
- Add cheese into the mixture, leaving some to sprinkle on top of the quiche later when the filling is in the pan. Stir in.
- Pour the filling into the pie pan.
- Sprinkle the top with more cheese.
- Bake this in the oven for 45-50mins. When baked, take the quiche out of the oven and let it rest for 10 mins before serving.
- Serve this with salad.

Prawn & Chives Fried Rice / Watercress, Carrot & Pork Soup

Watercress, Carrot & Pork soup is a typical Cantonese style soup. What typifies a Cantonese style soup is that the soup is a clear broth that is prepared by simmering meat and other ingredients (vegetable and sometimes herbal ingredients) for several hours. You may eat the ingredients with your soup or dish them out and serve them with a little soy sauce to eat with rice and other prepared dishes.


Watercress, Carrot & Pork Soup

1 bunch Watercress, washed thoroughly
1 large carrot, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 piece of pork fillet
2 dried dates
salt to taste

- Add 3/4 water to a pot and bring this to the boil
- Add in pork fillet, carrots and dates
- Add in watercress
- Turn the heat down to medium and let the soup bubble away for 1 hour
- After 1 hour, turn the heat down to allow the soup to simmer for another hour
- Add salt to taste

I used pork fillet in the soup but some people prefer to use pork bones or chicken bones. If you are using pork bones, bring the water the the boil and add in pork bones first and let this boil away until all the bone marrow and scum float up to the top of the water. You will need to skim this away otherwise it will leave specks of grey in your soup so it won't look as clear. I used pork fillet because it's very lean so there is no need to skim off any fatty residue from your soup. Another tip worth noting is that you should boil your water first before you add in the watercress - if you don't, your soup will be bitter - that's what my mum told me.

You should be able to find ingredients such as watercress and dried dates in your local Chinese grocery stores. The dried dates, carrots & pork add sweetness to the soup and when the soup is boiled, the taste and smell of watercress is very apparent. Soup is very good for you. Drinking soup apparently gives you nice skin and who doesn't want that?

I also made Prawn & Chives Fried Rice to go with our soup tonight. Hubby says I should clear out everything that's in our fridge/pantry before I'm allowed to buy anymore groceries. He thinks I go overboard when it comes to food shopping. I guess he's right! So for this coming week, I will attempt to come up with dinner ideas from food that we already have at home so I'll need to be creative.


Prawn, Chives & Ginger Fried Rice
(serves 2)

1 cup brown rice, cooked
8 frozen tiger prawns, thawed then cut
1 bunch of Chinese chives, chopped
2 tsp grounded fresh ginger
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp soy sauce
white pepper to taste

- In a frying pan, add in the ground ginger. Stir-fry until fragrant.
- Add in cooked brown rice. Coat well with fried ginger.
- Add in chopped chives. Mix well with rice.
- Add in prawns
- Stir-fry until all of the ingredients are cooked and mixed well together
- Add in lightly beaten egg. Mix this in thoroughly and should coat the rice. You don't want large lumps of egg in your fried rice.
- Add in soy sauce. Stir.
- Sprinkle white pepper to taste. Stir.
- Serve immediately

Chinese chives are flatter, longer and has a stronger smell than chives you may normally find in your local supermarket. The chives and ginger make the dish very very fragrant. It's worth trying this version over the typical fried rice you may find in Chinese takeaway stores. It's very tasty and extremely easy to make.

Cooking Salmon - 2 Ways

I went grocery shopping yesterday and bought a pack of salmon fillets from Coles. A pack of salmon comes with 2 equal sizes of the fish and since I'm home alone again, it served its purpose over 2 dinners. So economical.

Yesterday's dinner was Pesto Salmon on Wasabi Soba, accompanied by steamed broccolini. Tonight's dinner was Green Curry Salmon with Tofu and Mushrooms. Both very quick and easy to make. Dinner for 1 can be just as enjoyable. All the more reason for cooking up something tasty and enjoying dinner whilst watching your favourite TV show.

Pesto Salmon on Wasabi Soba & Steamed Broccolini

1 piece of salmon fillet
1 tsp pesto
1 handful of organic soba
1 tbsp Hakubaku Wasabi Noodle Sauce
1 bunch broccolini
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

- Rub pesto over salmon; refrigerate for 10 mins;
- Meanwhile, bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add in broccolini and cook for 2 mins. When ready, transfer the broccolini to a sieve. When dry, place on plate.
- You can use the same water that was used for the broccolini to cook the soba. Cook for 4 mins or until the noodles are just tender. Drain & rinse over with warm water.
- Toss the noodles with the Wasabi Noodle Sauce. Place on plate.
- Add olive oil to a heated pan. Cook the salmon, 2 mins on each side or until cooked to your liking.
- Serve salmon on the Wasabi soba and drizzle Dijon mustard on top.


Green Curry Salmon with Tofu and Mushrooms


1 piece of salmon fillet, cut into cubes
6 button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 pack of firm tofu, sliced
1 tbsp green curry paste
1/4 cup buttermilk
Coriander, to garnish

- In a saucepan over medium heat, add in the green curry paste. Cook until the flavour comes through.
- Add in buttermilk and a splash of water. Bring this to the boil then add in salmon cubes and mushrooms. Let this simmer for 2 mins.
- Add in tofu. Cook for another 2 mins.
- The dish should have enough flavour in it so you shouldn't need to add in any salt or pepper. However, if you wish, you could add in a few drops of fish sauce (but I don't think that's necessary)
- Garnish with corinander.

My One Pot Wonder - Chicken, Bok Choy & Mushroom Fragrant Rice

I had a severe attack of Monday-itis. Yes this is a day where you wished you could've just stayed home, sleep in and not have to do anything at all. I was still feeling it at 5:30pm! When I bumped into a friend of mine while I was leaving the office, she noticed right away that I was affected by good ole "Monday-itis". It certainly didn't help when, at 4:30pm, I had this guy standing next to me talking to his colleague who's sitting on my right in an ever so boring monotone voice for half an hour!! It could not have happened at the worst time - 4:30pm - when you're already sleepy and you are trying to keep yourself busy and entertained for another hour before you could leave work. That voice..that monotone voice…nearly made me fall asleep on my keyboard and hit the zzzzzzz key.

I was bored and tired. I needed some form of entertainment so I started thinking about what I could cook for dinner tonight. Being a little tired doesn't help when you are trying to be creative. So, stuff it, I just want to cook up a nice dinner, something that didn't involve alot of cooking or washing up. That's where my rice cooker came in and did its job tonight.

What better way to cook a meal than to dump everything in a pot and let it cook itself? So that's what I let my rice cooker do for me tonight. When you hear that "click" sound coming from the rice cooker. it's telling you that "Yes, your food is ready & I'm keeping it warm for you".

I'm calling this my one pot wonder - my Chicken, Bok Choy & Mushroom Fragrant Rice. It looks a little like risotto...Chinese style :)

Here how it was made.


Chicken, Bok Choy & Mushroom Fragrant Rice
(serves 2)

1 cup jasmine rice
375ml chicken stock
200g chicken (breast or thigh), chopped into bite sized pieces
6 mushrooms, sliced
1 bunch of bok choy, chopped into small pieces
1 tsp minced ginger
1 handful basil leaves, chopped roughly
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese wine
Salt & Pepper to taste

- Marinade the chicken pieces with oyster sauce, light soy, dark soy and Chinese wine for half an hour
- Rinse the jasmine rice in the rice cooker
- Fill the rice cooker with chicken stock
- Add in the marinated chicken pieces, ginger, mushrooms and bok choy in the rice cooker
- Cook until the rice cooker signals that that rice is ready
- Add salt and pepper to taste
- Add in the roughly chopped basil leaves. Stir into the rice and cover the lid for 5 mins so that the basil infuses throughout the rice.
- Serve immediately.

Spinach and Mushroom Crepes

I didn't go to work on Friday because my stomach was playing up and I had to go see the doctor that morning. When I stepped into the doctor's office at 9am that morning, I learnt that there were already 8 people waiting in line to see her and there would be a 2 hour wait! Oh man...I was tossing up between (1) giving up on seeing her & just go to work, or (2) to go home & hang around for 2 hours before paying her a visit again. I chose the second option - it's a quiet period at work anyway and I've been meaning to see her for the past week now (ever since my stomach played up just over a week ago) - I guess it was an easy decision to make.

I'm ok. She says I have a mild gastric condition and had to take this tablet for 2 weeks. My doc also said that I didn't need to cut any food out from my diet...maybe just alcohol and coffee...but I haven't had these 2 things in ages so all is ok. I'm happy. I can still eat what I want.

After seeing doc and taken the stomach tablet, I was itching to go out and do something :P I'm not one to stay at home - maybe ok for a few hours but I can't stay home for more than a few hours without feeling extremely bored. So what did I do? I went shopping! :P I've been thinking about buying another pair of Lee jeans ever since I tried on a pair and bought one a few days ago. Yes, I bought a pair of Lee jeans a few days ago and I don't know about you, but I find it hard to find jeans that fit well...so if I find a pair that suits me, I get totally obsessed about them and will want to buy ANOTHER pair of exactly the same jeans to add to my collection. Sound crazy but I know some of you girls out there know what I'm talking about. You would not believe this but when I was at the shop, the EXACT same shop, I found out they were on further discount!! So, get this...5 days ago, these jeans were selling at $70...now $50!! What a bargain! I snapped them up immediately and grabbed the last pair of size 7s. Yay!! last pair...I felt really lucky. I also managed to run a few overdue errands that day too. What a fruitful day :) It's good to do all of that knowing that everyone else is at work..hehehehe. By the time I finished what I needed to do, 2.5 hours had gone by and it was already 5:30pm. OH man...I was tired by the time I got home.

Boy, am I glad I made a hearty vegetable soup at lunchtime. This meant my hubby and I could have this as part of dinner and all I needed to make was something light to go with the soup. I bought some mushrooms today at the supermarket, and since we had buttermilk and avocado in the fridge, I decided to make us Spinach and Mushroom Crepes for dinner.


Here's the recipe.

Spinach and Mushroom Crepes
(makes 4 crepes)

Crepes
1/2 cup plain flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp butter, melted
1/8 tsp salt

Filling
1 bunch of spinach leaves, chopped
6 mushrooms, sliced
1 avocado, mashed
1 handful of Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

1 handful parsley, chopped
extra Parmesan cheese for sprinkling
black pepper

- Toss spinach in a pot, add water and cook for several minutes until leaves are wilted. Set aside.
- Add olive oil, garlic and mushrooms to the pot. Cook until the mushrooms are tender.
- Add the cooked spinach back to the pot.
- Add in the mashed avocado, Parmesan cheese and buttermilk. Stir well to combine all of the ingredients together. Turn the heat down so the ingredients are simmering in the pot. Season with salt and pepper.
- Turn the heat off when done and cover with lid.
- In a saucepan on medium heat, spoon in 1/4 cup crepe batter; swirl the batter around the pan to make thin crepes. Cook until brown on one side then flip over to the other side.
- Fill half a crepe with the spinach/mushroom/avocado mixture. Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese in the crepe before folding the other side over. Add a little more sauce over the finished crepe and top it with chopped parsley and black pepper.

Healthy Beef Sausage Rolls

Whoever invented puff pastry is a star. I love how puff pastry adds a whole new element to a dish. I defrosted around 250g of minced beef in the fridge and could have easily made a stir-fry with it for a fast and easy meal. However, another way of using a small amount of minced beef is to mix it up with your desired ingredients, wrap them up in puff pastry, then stick them in the oven for a deliciously baked roll or pie. When they're done, they smell sensational and there's nothing more deliciously tempting than something that comes directly from the oven and onto your plate. You'll want to dig in as soon as these are done.


Healthy Beef Sausage Rolls
(makes 4)

250g minced beef (premium quality; less fat)
1 carrot, grated
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp McCormick Season-All (all round seasoning for meat & vegetable)
black pepper (as little or as much as you like, depending on your taste)
1 egg, lightly beaten (for mince mixture)
1 egg, lightly beaten (to enclose and brush pastry)
2 pieces of low-fat puff pastry, thawed

- Combine mince, carrot, onion, parsley, egg and seasoning in a bowl. Use hands to combine.
- Cut a piece of puff pastry in half, then spoon the mince mixture onto the middle of the pastry half. Roll up and brush the last 2cm of the pastry with egg. Conceal and place on baking tray. Repeat for the remaining pastry.
- Brush the tops of the rolls with egg then pick the pastry top gently using a fork.
- Bake for 25-30mins or until golden.
- Serve with tomato sauce...BBQ sauce...sweet chilli sauce...mustard..whichever you prefer.

Oh, I put a thin slice of mozzarella on top of our sausage rolls just before taking them out of the oven coz I wanted a bit of cheese on ours to make it more interesting but that's just me. You don't have to do that. They're nice without the cheese on top too.

Pasta Boscaiola

I had to whip this up pretty quickly the other night. You see, I got home early but because I've been having stomach cramps in the last few days, I couldn't be bothered doing much when I got home. My husband was at the gym after work and he likes to 'dilly-dally' (e.g. taking his time changing, walking back to the office, packing up his things etc). You may ask why he doesn't just take all his stuff down to the gym with him so he could come home straight after the gym, right? Yes, I've been on his case about this but he says he doesn't want to leave his stuff at the gym so he feels compelled to leave them all in his office. After a long wait, my husband finally gets home at 7:30pm and he wanted dinner. I didn't mind cooking coz I didn't want him to mess up my kitchen and tonight, after feeling crook the entire day, I needed to conjure up a quick meal. With leftover bacon and mushrooms in the fridge, I decided to make him my Pasta Boscaiola.

This pasta is great. It's very tasty and although it's a creamy sauce, the ingredients making up the sauce are not fattening at all. If you want to make a creamy pasta sauce but don't want to pack on the calories, I would encourage you to try using evaporated milk.


Pasta Boscaiola
(serves 2)

200g fettuccine pasta
4 pieces of fat-free bacon, chopped
6 swiss mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp garlic, chopped
1 can Carnation Light & Creamy Evaporated Milk
250ml vegetable stock
3 teaspoons cornflour
handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Parmesan cheese

- Cook pasta until al dente
- While the pasta is cooking, start making the sauce
- Mix cornflour with water, set aside
- Heat up a saucepan and cook garlic with bacon until ready; add mushrooms until they are tender
- Pour in vegetable stock and when this is heated up, add in the evaporated milk & bring it to the boil
- Turn the heat down and let it simmer; then pour in the cornflour mixture. Stirring until the mixture becomes a creamy texture
- Toss the pasta in the creamy sauce until the pasta is well covered
- Serve immediately with parsley, pepper and a handful of parmesan cheese (if desired)

Salmon Fettucine in a Light Lemon Sauce

*Sigh* The weather...Sydney has been raining since Thursday night! From the looks of things, it will continue to rain this whole week. Rain periods, showers, thunderstorms. What has happened to our summer? Where is the sunshine? Rain periods during summer reminds me of what the weather is like in HK during their summer time but luckily not as humid.

Today was certainly one of those days you'll want to stay indoors and veg. What goes well when you're vegging around at home is to indulge in a big bowl of hot pasta. I didn't want anything too heavy since I'm already not moving much except for picking up the remote control and moving my fingers every so often, so I didn't want my pasta to be drowned in any creamy sauces. For a refreshing summer taste, I used lemon juice in my pasta instead. Half cooked salmon adds creaminess to the dish. I also added a roma tomato, some fresh organic asparagus, swiss mushrooms and a small handful of dill in this pasta.

It's delicious and easy to prepare. It satisfied my pasta craving and was so comforting eating this whilst sitting on the couch. As I was sitting there with my bowl of pasta, I looked out the window and didn't care what the weather outside was like anymore. If only my apartment had a balcony, I would happily sit outside watching the rain whilst slowly enjoying this comforting pasta dish.



Salmon Fettuccine in a Light Lemon Sauce
(serves 1) - hubby is still away

150g salmon fillet, no skin
2 stalks of asparagus
3 Swiss mushrooms
1 roma tomato
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 small handful of chopped dill
juice of 1/2 lemon
fettuccine for 1 person
salt and pepper to taste
grated Parmesan

- Cook the fettuccine in a pot of boiling water until al dente
- Cut the salmon into 2cm cubes
- Cut the asparagus to 1 inch long; de-seed the tomato, cut into bit sizes; slice the mushroom
- In a pan, heat the olive oil then combine together the salmon, lemon, salt and pepper. Cook salmon until it turns pink. Remove from pan. Don't overcook it and even if it's still a little rare inside, remove the salmon from the pan. Don't worry if you think the salmon is not cooked properly because the heat will slowly infiltrate and cook the inside of the salmon. This way, the fish will remain buttery and not dry
- Use the pan again and cook the asparagus. When it's almost done, add in the tomatoes and mushrooms
- Add the salmon, asparagus, mushrooms and tomatoes into the pasta
- Add in dill and lemon juice. Toss well
- Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese

Turkey Cous Cous Salad

There's nothing easier to cook than couscous. There's simply nothing to it. All you need to do is to add an equal part stock/water to the same amount of couscous, then cover it with a tea towel for a few minutes. You can basically add anything to it. I've made couscous salads many times before and have mixed in tuna or sardines or bacon or chicken...with your choice of vegetables such as cherry tomatoes, pumpkin, cucumber, raisins, spinach...your choice of nuts such as chopped pistachios, pine nuts...then dress it with a mixture of yoghut, mustard and lemon juice, or red wine vinegar, or lime juice....ok, ok, you get the gist. Just whatever you want. You'll end up making a very healthy and low fat meal out of it.

Today, my couscous salad was made with turkey pieces, cherry tomatoes, plump raisins, rocket and roasted pine nuts. It was simple, filling and healthy. Adding raisins to the salad added a nice sweet taste to the salad.


Turkey Cous Cous Salad
(dinner for 1) - hubby is away.....

1/2 cup couscous
1/2 chicken stock
handful of cooked turkey, chopped
handful of cherry tomatoes, diced
handful of rocket leaves, cut into small pieces
handful of raisins
small handful of pine nuts
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
black pepper

- Roast the pine nuts in a saucepan until lightly toasted. Set aside.
- Heat up the chicken stock. Bring to boil and remove from the heat.
- Place couscous in a bowl, add in hot chicken stock. Cover with tea towel for a few minutes.
- In the meantime, soak raisins in hot water until they are plump and juicy.
- When the couscous is ready, fluff it up and toss in a bowl along with the rest of the ingredients.
- Drizzle with red wine vinegar and season with pepper. Combine well.

Smoked Salmon Avocado Salad with Poached Egg

Tonight was another salad night. In the next few days I will be making 2 other types of salads to keep up with this week's salad theme. As I'd mentioned before, I've promised myself to eat light this week after stuffing my face over the weekend.

This salad is made up of a bed of rocket leaves, topped with diced cucumber and a few handfuls of cherry tomatoes, smoked salmon pieces, sliced avocado and a sprinkle of goats cheese. I decided to poach an egg for added protein. A sweet mirin dressing was used as it goes well with the peppery taste of the rocket leaves.


Smoked Salmon Avocado Salad with Poached Egg
(serves 2)

1 avocado, sliced
2 Lebanese cucumbers, diced
8 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
100g rocket leaves
150g smoked salmon, hand shredded
goats cheese

Poached Egg
2 eggs
1 tbsp white vinegar

Dressing
3 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp olive oil

- In a saucepan, boil water (around 3/4 full); add in the white vinegar and stir. Add the eggs by placing it closer to the water. Poach for 3-4 mins.
- Arrange the rocket, cucumber, tomatoes, avocado, salmon and goats cheese on a plate. Top with poached egg.
- Make the dressing in a small bowl and drizzle over the salad.

Yoghurt Chicken with Pumpkin & Chickpea Salad

My hubby and I went to Adelaide this Australia Day long weekend for our friends' wedding. It also gave us the chance to have a post-wedding dinner with family friends who could not make it to our wedding in Sydney. When we travel afar, we'll be eating non-stop all the way through (that seems to be our style!) - starting with a BIG dinner on Friday night, followed by lunch & our friends' wedding reception dinner on Saturday, lunch again with friends on Sunday & closely followed by a BBQ, then a big breakfast with relatives before we caught our plane back to Sydney. As you can imagine, we've gobbled a whole lot of food in our ever bulging bellies! For some reason though, I managed to lose a little bit of weight when I weighed myself as soon as I got home. I have no idea why - maybe water retention before I left for Adelaide - or maybe I was just lucky I didn't gain 5kgs!

To compensate for our overeating this long weekend, I have decided to eat light this week. No objections from hubs since he thinks he really is getting a bulging belly. Not much coz he's so lean but I think guys with a little bit of fat around the waist is cute! hahaha...that's just me though. So, as I was saying, we have to eat light this week.

Tonight's dinner was my little invention - Yoghurt Chicken with Pumpkin & Chickpea Salad. It was a joyous success as hubs gave it a big thumbs up! "This is fantastic", he says. It's a filling and low GI salad. The yoghurt chicken went nicely with the salad. The pumpkin added sweetness, chickpeas added a little saltiness, whilst the tomatoes and cucumber were both refreshing. I served the salad with my double mustard and lemon dressing. There you have it.


Yoghurt Chicken with Pumpkin & Chickpea Salad
(serves 2-3)

250gm chicken breast
1/2 small butternut pumpkin, diced
1 can (240g) chickpeas, drained
2 tomatoes, diced
2 cucumbers, diced
few stalks of parsley, chopped finely
salt &/pepper for seasoning

Marinade for Chicken
1 small tub (125ml) of plain yoghurt
1 tsp Chinese 5 spice
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Salad Dressing
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp English mustard
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

- Preheat oven to 160C
- Slice up the chicken then marinade and refrigerate it for 30 mins
- Dice pumpkin and place on a baking dish, season with salt and pepper. Roast the diced pumpkin in the oven for 25-30mins or until they are ready
- When the pumpkin is roasting and chicken is marinating, drain the chickpeas, dice up tomatoes and cucumber, and make dressing
- Make the dressing in a small bowl, combining the 2 mustards, lemon and extra virgin olive oil together. Set aside.
- Pan-fry the chicken pieces until the chicken browns on both sides; then place the chicken pieces in the oven for 8 mins
- Meanwhile, combine the pumpkin, chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber and half the chopped up parsley in a serving dish
- Top with the marinaded chicken from the oven
- Drizzle with dressing. Sprinkle the rest of the parsley into the dish.

Century Egg Congee (Jook)

I swear I'm a good wife! I am! :P

OK, I don't mean to boast but I walked all the way from my office down to Chinatown and that's all the way from one end of the city to the other end, just so that I could get some yau char gwai (Chinese donut - sticks of dough fried in hot oil - it has a slight salty taste and served predominantly with congee) for my hubby. See, he likes his yau char gwai with his congee and being a good lo pau (wife) that I am, I went all the way down there just so that I could get 2 sticks of it ($2.20 per stick for dough!). Things I do for him!!!

Do you like my new Marie Claire bowl??

I love century egg congee with minced beef. This is my favourite congee and something my hubby and I would always order at Superbowl Chinese Restaurant in Chinatown. For me, congee (or "jook" as us Cantonese speakers call it) is my ultimate comfort food.

So what is the meaning of "Comfort Food" anyway? How I see it, comfort food should be your ultimate pick-me-up. It signifies something that's home-made and should conjure up a warm and fuzzy feeling inside you when you eat it. It is something you'd like to eat when you're feeling down and out. It should be something that you have grown accustomed to and have liked since you were a child. It should be a type of food that will trigger a pleasant feeling inside you, should be easy to prepare and uncomplicated.

For Asians, jook is a type of food that can be consumed at any time of the day. Some people see it as a breakfast staple - I know some people in HK who can't go without having congee with chow mein, yau char gwai, and a glass of soya bean milk in the mornings. Congee may also be eaten at lunch, dinner or supper. In Asia, it is commonly fed to young infants. I know people who will eat just congee when they are on diets (coz it's low in carbs) and almost all Asians consider congee as some sort of therapeutic treatment since they will always think of eating congee when they are feeling unwell. So, what is YOUR ultimate "Comfort Food"?

Eve from GardenofEating is hosting a 2008 Comfort Food Cook-off and this is my comfort food entry. This is actually my first time in any sort of a cook-off. I may not win the Macaroni & Cheese cookbook but it sure was fun just being able to participate and share this recipe with all you bloggers/readers out there.

This century egg congee with mince beef is my favourite. I served my congee with steamed gai lan, yau char gway and a cup of soya bean milk. Ahhhh, dinner was so satisfying tonight :)

Century Egg Congee (with minced beef)
(can get 3-4 servings out of this)

1 cup uncooked long grain rice
4 cups of water, add more where required
2 century old eggs, chopped into small pieces
250g minced beef
sesame oil
ginger
spring onions
salt
white pepper

- Put the rice and water in the rice cooker*
- In the meantime, cook the minced beef lightly with sesame oil and salt to taste; transfer to a plate
- When the water is starting to boil in the rice cooker, add in the beef and century old eggs
- The rice should be cooked to a point where the rice has broken down and it becomes fluffy; keep an eye on the porridge and add more hot water into the rice cooker if needed
- Add ginger and spring onions to the congee when it's ready
- Add salt and pepper to taste
- Serve with additional spring onions and ginger if you prefer

* if you don't have a rice cooker, just use a normal pot - just make sure you keep your eye on the pot to ensure there's enough water in the pot and that the congee doesn't spill over

You may want to chop up the yau char gwai into bite sizes and put these in your congee, but I prefer to dip mine whilst eating so it is still slightly crunchy when I bite into it.

Enjoy!

Beef with Beancurd Sticks and Chinese Mushrooms

This was our dinner tonight. Another Cantonese dish which was also quite simple to prepare.

When you are using dried beancurd sticks and chinese mushrooms (shitake), make sure you soak them in hot water first and wait until they become soft before you use them in your stir-fry. If not, you'll be eating hard beancurd and chewy mushrooms even when you think they are cooked properly. Mushrooms take longer to soften so it'll be good to soak them in hot water first then put them in the fridge overnight. As for the dried beancurd sticks, you can soak them in hot water for around 15 mins before you begin your stir-fry (there's no need to soak these overnight).


Beef with Beancurd Sticks and Chinese Mushrooms

8 Chinese mushrooms (shitake), soak in water overnight
3 pieces of dried beancurd sticks, broken into 1-2 inches long by hand
600g beef fillet
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 small piece of ginger, sliced thinly
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1-2 tbsp Japanese mirin
3 stalks of coriander, chopped up finely - separate stalks from leaves

For beef marinade
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornflour
small handful of sesame seeds
pepper

- Soak mushrooms overnight
- Marinade beef with soy sauce, sugar and pepper for 30 mins or overnight
- Before cooking the beef, add in 1 tsp of cornflour on beef; mix well - this is the key to ensuring your beef is tender at the end of the cooking process (always works!)
- At the same time, soak dried beancurd sticks in hot water until it softens
- Squeeze water from mushrooms; cut the stems off the mushrooms as these can be quite hard to chew; cut the mushrooms into thick strips - keep the mushroom water (you can use this later on when you are stir-frying)
- Heat up wok, stir-fry garlic and ginger together
- Add in beef and stir-fry until 80% cooked; dish this up and place aside
- Next, stir-fry the mushrooms and the beancurd sticks; add in mushroom water
- Add in the oyster sauce, miran and coriander stalks; stir-fry until the beancurd sticks are cooked through
- Add beef back into the wok, cook for another 2 minutes
- Lastly, add in the coriander leaves
- Serve immediately

I love the taste and smell of the miran in this dish, and the mushrooms & beancurd go nicely with the beef.

Lemongrass Chicken with Chinese Bean Sprouts

Stir-fries are quick and easy. To me, a simple stir-fry is a combination of meat with vegetable and sauces to suit your taste. This was our dinner on a lazy Sunday night. It took a mere 15 mins to cook.

Give it a try!


Lemongrass Chicken with Chinese Bean Spouts

2 tbsp lemongrass marinade (I used the Lee Kum Kee brand marinade)
1 tbsp minced garlic
500gms chicken thighs, cut into bite size chunks
1 large onion, sliced
2 large handfuls of bean spouts
Fresh coriander
Salt and pepper

- Marinade the chicken thighs using the lemongrass marinade, minced garlic and pepper; refridgerate for 30 mins (or overnight if you prefer)
- Heat up the wok then stir-fry the onions until translucent
- Add in the chicken and stir-fry until cooked through
- Add the coriander stalks to the wok
- Add in the bean spouts, cook for a minute or so
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Finally add in the rest of the coriander

Serve hot with jasmine rice.

Yummy Fish Curry

I love curry and today I was determined to make my fish curry dish. Instead of taking the easy way out by using curry paste or curry powder, I decided to make my curry from scratch by using turmeric, cumin and tamarind paste. So off I went to the Chinese grocery store at World Square and bought my first packet of turmeric and my first bottle of tamarind paste. It was also my first time in using coconut milk in my cooking. You see, I have a tendency to feel a little sick (racing heart beat) if I consume too much coconut cream/milk so I have never used these condiments in my cooking. But what's a curry dish without a little bit of coconut milk right? Instead of using normal coconut milk, I used AYAM's Light Coconut Milk in this dish. It has 55% less fat than the normal coconut milk so why not try this out? It's a less fatty option and having less coconut content in it means I have less of a chance in getting sick.

Yummy Fish Curry
serves 2
2 small onions
1 large ling fish fillet (around 600gm)
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp tamarind
2 red chilli (I used chilli flakes - add according to your own taste)
1 small old ginger
1 small bunch of coriander
1 can AYAM Light Coconut Milk (270ml)
375ml fish stock
salt to taste

- Cut fish into chunks, add 1 tsp of turmeric and a little salt; coat the fish and cover with glad wrap; put this in the refrigerator until ready to stir-fry
- Slice the onions and stir fry with a pinch of salt until translucent
- Add in 1 tsp of turmeric, 1 tsp of ground cumin, chilli and ginger to the onions
- To this mixture, add in the full can of coconut milk, 1 tbsp of tamarind, and fish stock
- Bring the mixture to the boil
- When the mixture is boiling, add in the fish and the chopped up coriander stalks
- Let this cook until the fish is ready, then simmer for another 5 mins; add in the chopped up coriander leaves just before serving

I served this dish with jasmine rice and some steamed bok choy.


This curry was really easy to make, delicious and full of flavour! It only took me 30mins to whip up this dish plus rice and bok choy. What a quick and easy dinner. Try this. You won't be disappointed.