Spiced Teriyaki Chicken and Oyster Mushrooms on Udon Noodles

I really do enjoy a good teriyaki. Especially if the meat was cooked in high heat (with the wok hei taste). I had some left over teriyaki sauce, and decided to do a super quick stir fry with whatever veges that we had. Blanched some udon noodles, place the chicken on top of it and totally slurp it up.

I have been noticing more varieties of mushrooms recently. Finally I say!!! They are still slightly pricey but affordable. One packet of oyster mushrooms set us back AU$3.99-certainly a treat thing!!

Did you notice the little carriage box behind? That was a wedding favour! How pretty-filled with kisses as well. ;) 

Spiced Teriyaki Chicken and Oyster Mushrooms on Udon Noodles (serves 4)
500 grams chicken thighs diced
2 carrot sliced
1 red onion sliced
100 grams oyster mushrooms washed 
another a cup of button mushrooms sliced
around 8-10 stalks of spring onions roughly sliced
1/2 cup of teriyaki sauce
2 tsp of chili flakes
2 eggs -whisk

Cook onions till soft. Brown chicken and veges. Add sauce and chili flakes. Quickly fry for 2-3 minutes. Add eggs and cook till they are set. Serve on noodles or rice.

Serving this to my friends at Presto Pasta. This week Ruth the founder of Presto Pasta is hosting!

Smoked Salmon and Asparagus Frittata

As the weather gets warmer, I return to having light meals for lunches. I love this recipe because it is so light and easy to make. Best of all, healthy and rather guilt free! One more slice for me please!

Now that Spring is here, I'm seeing more varieties of vegetables again! woohoo...

and as you are reading this, AR is bringing me out on a picnic date! YES! and he is making sushi!! (with my help of course!!! Long weekend..I love long weekends!! Short post today. ;)

Smoked Salmon and Asparagus Frittata (For 2 with tea time left overs..lol)-recipe adapted from Australian Good Food Magazine
2 tsp olive oil
1 red onion sliced
2 potatoes peeled and sliced
1 bunch of asparagus trimmed
100 grams smoked salmon slices
60 grams fetta cheese (I used normal but u can use goats cheese feta)
5 eggs
1/4 cup of soy milk (or skim milk)
Cherry tomatoes to serve

Cook onion in pan till caramelised. Par boil potatoes in saucepan with salted water. Blanch asparagus.

Preheat Oven 180C
Place sliced potatoes onto baking dish. Top with layers of onions, smoked salmon, asparagus and fetta.

Whisk eggs, milk till combined. Pour eggs mixture over dish. Bake for 45 mins till it turns golden brown! Serve with cherry tomatoes or a green salad.

Moroccan Style Lamb and Chickpea Stew

 So Spring is upon us.. but I still have a few hearty stews to post! LOL With my working hours recently, I have been cooking 3 or 4 meals during the weekend and freezing them away. Stews are great because I could use my "magic" or thermal pot cooker to stew it for hours. I added some chickpeas to bulk up the meal. This resulted in 3 meals for two of us and even have left overs for an additional lunch for AR.

I made some couscous to go with it- Simply follow packet instructions and add in some cut dried figs, cranberries, toasted almonds and cashews and toss through with some chili and cumin spices.



Moroccan Style Lamb and Chickpea Stew 
400 grams of heart smart lamb diced
1 can of chick peas-rinsed and rinsed to reduce salt content
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 carrot diced
1 capsicum diced
mushrooms
2 tomatoes diced
2 tablespoon of Moroccan spiced mix
1 tsp of chili powder
1 cup of beef stock
1 red onion chopped

Sauté onion in deep sauce pan.  Add in lamb and cook till brown. Add diced tomatoes and chickpeas + stock. Add in all spices. Add all veges Simmer for around 1-2 hours. Serve with couscous or bread.

Tuna Potato Cakes

We have been trying to incorporate more fish in our diet recently. I used to buy tins of tuna when they are on sale, as I like them in our sandwiches or pasta bake. Given that the weather was abit cold for the past few months, we neglected those tins that have been sitting in the pantry! So for dinner one evening, I took 2 tins out and made is tuna potato cakes. Tins of tuna is probably one of the cheapest way to add fish in diet without breaking the bank. Seafood is sooo expensive in Aus-and I wonder why since we are surrounded by water.

Mashed some potatoes, squeeze of lemon and added in the tins of tuna. I chopped some spring onions and fold them through- simply love the crunch of those spring onions not to mention texture!

I did add abit too much milk when mashing the potatoes. That was saved by adding in around 1/2 cup of flour. This also gave the cakes a firmer patty which resulted in a nicer flip in the pan (and u guys know my flipping woes...)

Tuna Potato Cakes (made enough for 2 meals for 2 people!)
3 tins of tuna (I used 1 tin in spring water and the other two are lemon pepper)
4 potatoes cooked in boiling water
around 2 tablespoons of  margarine or butter
1/2 to 1 cup of milk (I used soy)
around 1/2 up of plain flour
chopped spring onions-around 2-3 stalks of it
some pepper

Mash potato with milk and margarine. Fold in tuna, flour and spring onions. Season. Shape into patties and pan fry them around 3-4 minutes on each side. Serve with green salad.

Lemon Tart

I usually shy away from making pastry because I perceived them to be difficult, tricky, time consuming and unpredictable. The last thing I want is to make a tart and for pastry to fall off, or a base that is hard enough to break a person's tooth. Ah... the power of my imagination.

It turns out that to make a sweet shortcrust pastry isn't that hard. A few blitz in the food processing, resting in the fridge and tadah, ready to be rolled into the pastry tin. I used Donna Hay-because that is my "if this is new, look at Donnay Hay Classics" mantra. I think the pastry turned out slightly crisp but I would have preferred it to be slightly more crumbly. I might give Women's Weekly a go next time as their ratios of butter and flour seems slightly different to me (more butter I think).

I do like the filling! Nothing like a good citrus refreshing kick. The original recipe does not call for lemon zest, but since I have this lemon that I have squeezed, why waste the zest? I reduced the sugar slightly and even used a new product by Philadelphia- a low fat cream!!

My colleagues polished most of the tart off and I took 2 slices for AR. I did bring some fruits to go along with the tart, and cream of course. Since I was bringing it for office morning tea, I didn't cut a slice before packing it...and now I think the photo of it looks too plain! Definitely did not justify now lovely this tart was.

Lemon Tart

Short Crust Pastry
2 cups plain flour
3 tablespoons caster sugar
150 cold butter chopped
2-3 tablespoons iced water

Process flour, sugar and butter in food processor till it resembles breadcrumbs. While motor is running, add iced water till dough is formed. Turn dough out. Knead lightly. Wrap in pastry wrap and refrigerate for 30 mins.

Once dough is ready. Roll out between 2 sheets of baking paper, till around 2-3mm thick. Line the tart tin. Blind bake it (by placing baking paper, filling it with rice or baking beads) in preheated 180C oven for 10 mins. Remove beads and bake for another 10 mins till golden. Spoon filling in and bake again.


Lemon Tart Filling
3/4 cup of lemon juice (I used 1 and 1/2 lemons) and zest of it
1/2 cup of caster sugar (Was 3/4)
3/4 of pouring cream- I used Philadelphia low fat cream
3 eggs lightly beaten

Place lemon juice and sugar in heatproof bowl over simmering water. Stir till sugar dissolved. Add cream and eggs. Stir continously for 5 mins or so. Pour into tart shell through strainner. Bake tart for further 20-25 (mine took 25 mins) till filling is set. Cool and serve with cream or ice-cream.

Chili Baked Beans with Sausages

The classic baked beans. It's like the "must have" in every pantry. This is similar to my baked beans in meat balls dish but different in other ways. I added heaps more chili to this and some chopped onions as well. Lean Italian sausages were used to lower the fat content. Hubby had this with rice but I could almost lick my bowl clean without any carbs (i guess baked beans are so full of protein?).

It's the sort of dish that appear in our high school's canteen frequently. Probably with mince meat than sausages but certainly reminded me of those good times in our school canteen!

I am sooo glad other bloggers feel the same way as I do with baked beans. Check out Noob Cook's version here and Babe in KL's version here.

Chili Baked Beans with Sausages (around 5 portions)
1 packet of lean sausages. I used Woolworths Extra Lean Italian Sausages diced
1 red onion chopped finely
1 tablespoon of garlic minced
3 red chilies chopped
 2 cans of heinz baked beans salt reduced
1/2 cup of water
 around 2 tablespoon of tomato paste

Fry onion and garlic. Cook up the diced sausages till browned. Add in the baked beans, water and tomato paste. Simmer for around 10 minutes. Served with some veges and rice.

Chicken Sweet Corn Noodle Soup

There are some classic recipes that re-occur on our dinning table every season. Chicken Sweet Corn Soup is my comfort food. It was the first dish I learned off my mum (who learned it off her friend) and one that I love to cook just to smell the sweetness of it all.

I added some soba noodles to make it a complete meal. What I shouldn't have done is to cook the soba noodles in the dish itself. Rather, I should have cook the noodles in a separate pot and rinse the starch away before placing them into bowls. By not doing that, I found that the soup is more starchy than before.

The other thing I changed was to add a squeeze of lemon to the soup, and some spring onions. I wasn't expecting hubby to taste the lemon but that was the first thing he picked up (probably because he drank so many versions of my chicken sweet corn soup that he can tell the difference!)

Chicken Sweet Corn Noodle Soup (enough for 6 medium size portions) 
1 chicken breast (or 200 grams of chicken tenders) diced
1 can of cream corn
1 ltre cups of Chicken stock
250 grams of frozen corn
garlic
2 eggs-lightly beaten
squeeze of lemon
2 little bunches of soba noodles cooked in separate pot, rinsed starch off with cold water and divide them into bowls.


Marinade
1 tablespoon of light soy
season with pepper and dash of salt
1-2 tablespoons of brandy (or a good dash of it!)
1 teaspoon of corn flour
sesame oil

1) Marinade bite size chicken pieces for at least an hr.
2) Heat oil in pot. Lightly fry garlic. Turn up the heat and add chicken. Cook till brown. Lower heat.
3) Add cream corn. Stir. Add stock. Bring it to boil. Squeeze lemon into mixture.
4) Add corn kennels.
5) Stir. Simmer for 30 mins.
6) Switch off stove. Add beaten egg.
7) Ladle onto the noodles. Sprinkle spring onions on it.

Ladling my noodle soup for the folks at Presto Pasta! Abby from Eat the Right Stuff is hosting this week. Be sure to check her blog out for the round up on Friday. Thanks to Ruth for starting up this awesome event.

Onion and Mince Pie

My goodness! This is certainly been a winter meals week hasn't it been? I was flipping through Jamie Oliver's Minstry of Food book and the delish looking mince pie caught my attention this time. It was easy to do too, so I decided to try making a classic English pie for dinner one evening.

I think I didn't put enough flour in because the gravy isn't as thick as what I thought it should be. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a hearty pie with the crisp crust and tasty mince. What surprised me was that Jamie Oliver used marmite in this dish! woohoo, so grandma is not the only one who do that for her stews. Wait a mind, maybe Jamie Oliver took the idea from Grandma? Or maybe Grandma was influenced by the British way of cooking in her days as working as a nanny in British households (the days when Singapore was governed by British)?

English Onion and Mince Pie 

2 red onions chopped 
500 grams beef or lamb mince
1 bunch of rosemary coarsely chopped
1 carrot diced
1 cup of beef stock
1 small bunch of celery chopped
1 tablespoon of flour
1 tablespoon of marmite
seasoning. 

1 piece of puff pastry defrosted

Pre heat oven 180C.

Cook onion till translucent. Add mince and break it up as it cooks. Add all ingredients (just not flour). Simmer for 5-10 mins. Stir in marmite. Do a taste test and adjust taste accordingly. Stir in flour till mixture thickens. Cool slightly.


Spoon mixture in heat proof dish. Seal with puff pastry, slitting a cross in the middle and patching it up with some reminder of the puff pastry. Bake for 30 minutes till golden brown.

ps-one tip is to place the dish onto a baking tray so that it is easy to remove from the oven.

Spicy Bacon Lentil and Tomato Soup

I am still in my soup craze mode! I love to cook up a huge pot of soup and we can have it for a few meals-which makes evenings sooo much easier. This was made with my current cheap but sooo versatile ingredient... LENTILS! hahaa.. Are u guys over my lentil recipes yet?

ps-the soup looks thick because i took the photo after dinner instead of before! oops...I added in my stock for lunch next day.

Spicy Bacon Lentil and Tomato Soup  

200 grams of mixed lentils soaked overnight
1 packet of lean bacon from weight watchers
1 ltre of beef stock
another 1 ltre of water
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 carrot diced
1 red onion diced
2 cups of chopped mushrooms.
1/2 zucchini sliced.
1 red chili chopped
1 tsp of chili flakes

Fry onions, bacon and lentils. Add in stock and water and all veges. Simmer for 2 hours. Serve with crusty bread.

Slow Cooked Caramelised Onions Lamb Shanks With Polenta

I saw my colleague eating polenta and got really curious about it. I have seen it before but never knew how to prepare it or how it taste like. So after a chat with her, i did a goggle and found out that it is made of corn!

From chatting with my colleague, I decided to pair polenta with lamb shanks. I found a recipe in the Australian Women's weekly featuring red wine and onions. I love how rich the flavours are in this dish! Next time, I would have ask the butcher to trim it as my shanks looked like huge drum sticks!!

Slow Cooked Caramelized Onions Lamb Shanks With Polenta

3 lamb shanks
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups red wine
2 cups beef stock
garlic
1 trimmed celery stalk
1 tablespoon plain flour
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon rosemary coarsely chopped


Pre heat Oven 150C

Cook lamb till all browned over. Stir in sugar, wine, stock and garlic. Bring it to boil. Place mixture in oven proof dish, bake for 4 hours, turning twice.

 Caramelized Onion

40g spread
2 medium red onions
1/4 brown sugar
1/2 cup of stock

Melt spread in saucepan, cook onion for 15 mins till brown and soft. Stir in sugar and stock till caramelized. 

Polenta 

1 cup of polenta
3 cups of water
1 tablespoon of spread
seasoning 

Bring water to boil. Add polenta and keep whisking gently. Keep stirring for 5-10 mins till mixture is soft. Remove from heat. Add in spread and seasoning. You can also add parmesan cheese.

Chocolate Banana and Oat Turn Over

I had half a piece of puff pastry left after making a pie. Looking around the kitchen, I realised that I have 1 banana left and found some toasted muesli. Combining those ingredients and some chocolate together, I spoon them into the pastry, brush some egg on them and baked it. Ta Dah! A quick and easy dessert.

Although the photo didnt turn out too great! argh..

what other quick dessert ideas do you have?

Chorizo Chicken Meat Loaf

It happens rarely but sometimes, I get ideas for a meal randomly. Does it ever happen to you?

This happened when I had 1 chorizo sausage in the fridge and some chicken mince. Not quite sure what to do with it, I decided to make a simple meat loaf combining both ingredients together. The strong flavours of chorzio certainly added flavour to the loaf!

What I would have done differently though is to pan fry the chorizo till the fat melts-this way, it reduces the amount of oilyness in the loaf without compromising the taste of it.

Chorizo Chicken Meat Loaf
1 chorzio sausage diced
400 grams chicken mince
1 carrot shredded
1 red onion chopped
1 tablespoon of garlic
cracked pepper
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
sprinkle of sea salt
1 egg
2 tablespoon of corn flour

Combine all ingredients together. Press into pre lined loaf. Marinate for around 20 mins while preheating oven. Bake in oven for 40 minutes. Serve with green salad.