Smoked Salmon Goats Cheese Rice Paper Roll

It was 10:30pm. I had 2 gym sessions that day (boxing and thejunglebody). I started feeling peckish and was raiding our fridge.

A packet of smoked salmon, some sprouts and goats cheese. A lightbulb came in my head. While paper-roll is not exactly "paleo"- i have some in my pantry from our housewarming "paper roll party", it is low in sugar.

I placed 2 pieces of smoked salmon, some pea sprouts and a dollop of goats cheese, rolled it up and viola.... supper!


I think they look cute in a cocktail party or a dish to bring to a bbq this summer as well.

I wish I can come up with more healthy snack options. Some of my current other snack options are
- nuts
- apple with almond nut butter
- greek yogurt with my homemade nut muesli
- a few slices of cheddar cheese
- handful of popcorn

What are some of your snack options?

Smoked Salmon Goats Cheese Rice Paper Roll (Makes 3)
6 pieces of smoked salmon
1/2 cup of sprouts
2 tablespoon of goats cheese
3 paper roll

Wet paper roll. Place smoked salmon, sprouts and goats cheese in the centre. Roll, fold sides in and roll again. Wet ends to seal.

Oven Baked Curry Seafood

Is it weird to cook curry in the oven? I didn't have the time to stay near the stove and have stored my magic thermal cooker away for the move. I decided to make the curry sauce and pour it over some seafood, and stuck it into the oven for some good own slow cooking (no, I don't own a slow cooker either!).

I was surprised by how tasty it is. I didn't use store bought curry paste, choosing to use some of the spices I have in my cupboard (amazing how many variations of spices one discover in the pantry while I was packing up). I think this has an Indian touch to it, with the tanginess of the tomato, but in all honestly I have no idea.

As long as I have food on the table right? :p

Oven Baked Curry Seafood (Serves 4)
3 salmon fillets
200 grams prawns-shelled

1 onion chopped
1 tsp of garlic
1 small knob of ginger grated
2 tsp of mustard seeds
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 tsp of turmeric
2 tablespoon of fish curry powder
1 tsp of coriander powder
1 can of diced tomatoes
1/2 cup of water.
1/4 cup of coconut milk

Saute onion, garlic and ginger. Toaste mustard seeds first with some oil. Then sauté all the rest of the spices for around 3-5 minutes. Stir in tomato and water. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add coconut milk. Season.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180C. Place fish and prawns in oven safe dish. Pour curry over seafood. Bake for 20 minutes or so.

Lemongrass Ginger Over Baked Salmon Fillets and Prawns

My mother in law came to visit a few weeks ago and commented my frequent use of our oven used to cook meals. Growing up, I recall that our oven was used to bake but not to cook. In fact, our oven was so under utilised that it fused, and my parents decided to remove it for good.

I love how I can stick my food into this hot space, and have meals ready while I do other things. The programming function of my oven is really well used in my home. I like coming home, knowing that our food is cooking in the oven, ready for our meal after a hot shower.

I know I could have cook this dish in a steamer, or on a pan. Now, we are nearly ready to move, hence I have been slowly packing things away-meaning, I do not have a steamer, wok or anything huge in my kitchen at the moment. A baking tray, some baking paper- that I can handle. I chose to wrap it in baking paper to create a steam effect. Stuck it into the oven, head to the gym and dinner is done. In order not to overcook the prawns, I added it when I came back.

The flavours of soy, lemongrass and ginger is really hard to beat. A healthy easy meal- served with some stir fry veges.

Lemongrass Ginger Over Baked Salmon Fillets and Prawns (Serves 4)
3 Salmon fillets
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 red chill chopped
1 knob of ginger grated
1 tsp of minced garlic
2 stalks of lemongrass chopped finely
1/2 lemon juiced
1 lemon zested
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Marinate salmon and prawns with all the above for 10-15 minutes. Reserve prawns.

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with baking paper (with double the length of paper), place salmon and marinate onto the paper, fold over to create a parcel. Bake for 20-25 minutes. when it is done, stick the prawns in and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Remove from oven when done. The seafood will continue to cook so it's ok to be a little under. Serve with veges.

Garlic Prawns, Smoked Salmon and Avocado Salad

I am such a fan of 10-15 mins preparation meals. The best way to do it seems to be making meal plans and making sure I have quick ingredients on hand. Prawns and Salmon are such lovely protein, and easy to prepare. At times, we would purchase shelled prawns, or just shell them immediately when we come home. Frying prawns in some oil, garlic, chill, and combine it with smoked salmon and salad. A meal done. It's so simple, that I was actually thinking it doesn't need a recipe! I make a quick dressing by whisking lemon juice, olive oil and sesame seeds. Monday's meals... easy peasy right?

Tadah! Meal done.


Do you have such recipes at home?

Garlic Prawns, Smoked Salmon and Avocado Salad (seves 4)
300 grams peeled prawns
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 chili padi

 250 grams smoked salmon
1 avocado chopped
1 lebanese cucumber chopped
 1 cup of cherry tomatoes
4 cups of salad leaves

 Dressing 2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon of lemon juice 1 tsp sesame seeds Cook prawns quickly with oil, garlic and chill. Cool slightly. Combine it with other ingredients. Toss dressing through! EAT! ;)


 

Fish and Prawn Cakes

A blink of an eye and I have been in Australia for 12++ years. Pretty much an adolescent in terms of developmental growth. Yes, I have grown to adore the place that I met and fell in love, established a home and married. It's a little scary to know that one day, I will spend more time in this country than my hometown.

During this period of time, I continued to stay in contact with my closest and dearest friends. I recall that we had chats on ICQ (I presume it no longer exists!!), and hand write letters and cards to each other. I brought along an autograph book with all the profiles of my friends and read them whenever I felt homesick. It graduated to text messages and of course emails. And now, it's whatsapp and skype/facetime.

Technology keeps us close. I never felt they are too far away. One of my best buddies and I often chat on email on what kind of quick lunches she can prepare and the outcome of one of those emails was these fish and prawn cakes.

I grew bored of grilled fish and thought of blending snapper with some prawns. The result was a bouncy tasty fish cake! I was so pleased with it. I seasoned it with spring onions, chopped chili and salt and pepper. Egg and some almond meal was used to bind it together. Nothing fancy but it reminded me of home.

Fish and Prawn Cakes (makes 12)
400 grams of white snapper
300 grams of shelled tiger prawns
1/4 cup of almond meal
3 springs of spring onion chopped
2 red chili padi chopped
1 egg
salt and pepper

Blitz all together. Shape into patties. Heat oil on pan and fry both sides till brown.

Spicy Chorizo Tomato with Fresh Mussels

What do you cook for a friend who you haven't been in contact for some time? Top it off with limited cooking time knocking off work before she arrives? I chose fresh seafood- spotting some mussels at our local seafood store.

I have often associated mussels with university life. The late-night-1am-I-want-a-feed-and-where-else-is-open-in-Perth? sort of food. Chili mussels with greasy oily garlic bread and pizzas at a
"Open till late" doggy place was what we ate mostly.

It really wasn't that doggy, it's still operating after that many number of years. Possibly survived by the number of night owl students who enjoy the hit of chili in the dead of the night.

Cleaning mussels wasn't too big a drama as well. Soaking it with fresh water for 20 minutes or so, then I pulled the beard off closer to the end of the shell rather than the opening. I scrubbed each shell with a little dish scrub buds and it was clean and shiny in a breeze. Keeping it fresh was another story, we placed a damped dish cloth over the bowl, emptying the water (Probably from the mussels) at the end of each day. Even so, I discarded any that have been opened in the process. From buying to cooking them- that was 4 days. I probably wouldn't leave it as long next time.

I learned that mussels isn't doggy. It can be classy too. Pairing with some spicy chorizo, fresh tomatoes, plenty of chopped celery and carrots, the sauce was delicious! I wish I had some bread to dipped into this rather than just pasta.

I had a smile when she asked for second helpings.

Spicy Chorizo Tomato with Fresh Mussels (Serves 6)
1 spanish chorizo sliced
1 tablespoon of garlic
1 onion diced
2 cans of diced tomatoes
4 fresh tomatoes
1 chili padi
1/2 bunch of celery diced
2 carrots peeled and diced
1 kg of cleaned mussels
300 grams of cooked pasta

Saute chorizo till cooked. Add garlic and onions and cooked till soft. When ready, pour in the cans of tomatoes and fresh tomatoes. Give it a good stir. Add 1/2 cup of water if needed. Toss in all the veges and seasoned. Simmer for around 15 minutes till vegetables are well cooked. Then, add in the fresh mussels. Cover the pot. Cook for a further 5-10 minutes till mussels are opened and cooked. Toss through pasta and serve

Indian Fish Curry

Whenever I think of having fish, it's either steamed, pan fried or in a curry form. Looking back, I always feel more comfortable having curry fish (or steamed fish) than other versions. Attempting it at home however, is another story.

I spotted this recipe by Betty Saw some time ago from her "Rasa Malaysia" Cookbook. Woah, that cookbook is filled of goodies.

Again, I chose a recipe that I know ingredients can be source here at our markets. I didn't use as much coconut as stated in the recipe. On hindset, I should have ground the ingredients but chopped them finely instead.

I love the tangy, rich taste of this. I used barramundi fillet but am thinking of using snapper next time-a fish which is firmer.

This year, it's my aim to master the art of making curries. While I am not quite there yet, this recipe makes me feel proud that I have stepped out of my comfort zone-and resisted using package sauces! woohoO!

Indian Fish Curry (serves 4)
400 grams Barramundi fillet sliced
100 grams of squid sliced
1 tsp salt
6 tbsp of curry powder mixed with 100 ml water
1 tsp mustard seeds
a few slices of tamarind soaked in few tsp of water. strain pulp
250 ml coconut milk
3 brinjals sliced diagnonally
1/2 can of tomatoes or 3 tomatoes quarted

Ingredients to be grounded (or chopped finely)
4-5 chili padi or 25 dried chillies soaked
around 6 shallots chopped
4 stalks of lemongrass


Rub fish with 1 tsp of salt. Set aside.

Heat some oil in wok or pan. Fry grounded or finely chopped ingredients. Then add curry powder paste and mustard seeds. Fry till fragrant. If mixture appears dry, add some tamarind liquid.

Add curry leaves. Fry for 3-5 more minutes before adding the rest of the tamarind liquid and coconut milk.

When it starts to boil, add the brinjals. Simmer for around 10 minutes. Then add fish, salt and tomatoes. Cook till fish is done. Serve with rice.

Tuna Corn and Potato Muffins

I made these little savoury muffins to go with soup one night. It's such a easy quick one that I thought you might find it useful as well. I didn't add any flour to it, so it's really just potatoes and eggs that are holding it together.


It's really adorable holding these little muffins in your hand and dipping it into soup! I am sure it will be a good picnic dish as well or lunch box for school or work.

I took these photos when the muffins were not cooled yet. But once it is, you can peel away the wrapper and eat it as it is. I used chilli tuna (yes, I do like chili in everything!) but I'm thinking some basil leaves will accentuate the flavour as well. Another quick fix, is to use some cheese in it and make it cheesy tuna and corn potato muffins!!! Ah, more to experiment.

Tuna Corn and Potato Muffins (makes around 10)
3 potatoes cooked in hot salted water
2 tins of tuna of your choice
1/3 cup of corn

Season with salt and pepper

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup of soy milk


Preheat oven 180 C. Line muffin tray with muffin cups.
Mash potato with olive oil and soy milk (or normal milk). Then fold in tuna and corn. Season. Spoon mixture into muffin cups. Bake for 25 minutes.

Braised Pan Fried Snapper with Spicy Bean Paste

Ever since I experimented with Soy Bean Paste, I am in love with it. Chinese cooking is not the same without it anymore. Usually I would say that my must haves in the kitchens are oyster and soy sauce but I'm beginning to feel that this is one of the musts have in a chinese kitchen as well.

I would never recommend it to have it regularly of course- as the amount of salt in there would be quite scary to know. But the occasional use of it in dishes, I presume should be fine.

I nearly hesitated posting this dish as I didn't like the look of the fish head! However, this is my first attempt in braising a fish- usually I would steam a whole fish and pan fried fillets instead. Hubby encouraged me to post it anyway, since I was stepping out of my comfort zone in the kitchen.

The photos are not very well taken- I'm really sorry. I need to find a way to make a whole fish sexy! How do photographers do that???

Nevertheless, it was one way of introducing more fish in our diet. Always a good thing isn't it?

Braised Pan Fried Snapper with Spicy Bean Paste  
300 grams of baby snapper cleaned

1 onion sliced
1 knob of ginger sliced
2 chilli chopped
1 tsp of garlic
2 tablespoon of soy bean paste
1/2 cup of water

Lightly salt the snapper. Oil pan and pan fried till cooked with a nice crisp (but not deep fried). When the fish is nearly done. I push it aside, and start frying garlic, ginger and onions till soft. Added the chili, soy bean paste and water. Simmer. I spoon it on the fish and let the fish absorb the flavours for around 4 minutes. Serve warm with rice.

Spinach Rocket Pesto Salmon Spaghetti

If you ask me, I prefer olive oil based pasta than creamy ones. Don't get me wrong, creamy pastas has its own place as well, but there is something very addictive about olive oil based pastas. It makes your tongue tingle and want more. The flavours seem to dance on your tongue and it lingers.

My experience in making pesto was.... mmm.. once. It was around 5 years ago, when we decided to grow our very own basil plant. It was very successful and soon we were proud owners of a basil... bush! I wish I have a photo to show you! That was when I tried making pesto. Soon after, winter sets in and the bush dwindle down to nothing. :(

Since then, I have never got back into growing our own vegetables and herbs. One day I am sure we will again!

For this version of pesto, I blended basil, spinach and rocket together with some olive oil and parmesan cheese. Instead of pinenuts, I used some pistachios that I had on hand. I love the herby nutty mixture in the end that went very well with smoked salmon.

I'm also happy with our budget for this meal.

Spinach Rocket Basil Pesto- $4
Smoked Salmon- $4 (On sale! yay!)
Pasta-$1

Total: AU$9

I'm submitting this dish to our monthly budget meals party with Cuisine Paradise. The theme this month is NOODLES! woohoo.

Spinach Rocket Pesto Salmon Spaghetti (Serves 4)
250 grams of Spinach, Rocket and Basil (around 4-5 cups)
2 tsp of grated parmesan cheese
1-2 chili padi diced
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup of shelled pistachios
100 grams of smoked salmon
500 grams pasta cooked and drained

Blend spinach, chili rocket, basil, cheese, oil and pistachios. Blitz it for 1 min.

Heat a pan up. Sauté the herb/vege mixture. Toss pasta and smoked salmon through. Serve with more cheese.

Stir Fry Prawns with Century Eggs. A $20 Budget Meal- Egg Theme

 I didn't forget! I meant to post my mixed fruit + chocolate hot cross buns today but I quickly realized that today is deadline for an entry to $20 Budget meal (= AU$15) submission.

Being on a budget isn't new to me. I don't recall a time where we are never on a budget. From being a student, to newly weds, it's part and parcel and life really. We think being on a budget is a necessity to life these days. With raising costs, it's hard not to take charge of your money and to know where each cent goes.


I usually cook for 4 and pack the remaining dinner into our lunch boxes the next day. By limiting take out lunches to once or twice a month, we managed to keep our expenditure low. It is actually not often that I have a soup and 2 dishes meal because with each component, costs increases. However, being a Cantonese, I missed my soups and would savour each time we have it. When granny was here, we would have clear soups two to three times a week. For us though, it would probably be once or twice every few months (I can see hubby's sad look here..) Another reason of course is time, but I realised that if I put all ingredients in my magic thermal cooker in the morning, all I need to do is to re heat when we come home at night.

Usually, we do not spend $15 on our meals. It's probably around AU$8-$10 depending on what dish I cook. This is the breakdown costs of our meals

Corn, Carrot and Radish Soup- $3.80

Stir Fry Long Beans and Mushrooms- $3

Chili Prawns with Century Eggs- $6.30

Total: $13.10 

I think it's worth it though because we have prawns in this meal. Century eggs is around AU$2 here.

Granny who I spoke to one weekend, excitedly told me that she saw someone cooked this prawn dish on TV and think I should try it. She said that she has to tell me soon because if not she might not remember all component of the dish. So here I go, documenting it... and hopefully it's similar to what she remembered!

Stir Fry Prawns with Century Eggs

1/2 red onion- sliced
2 chili padi (I used chili padi from our garden so it's freeeee) 
1/2 tsp of corn flour
250 grams of shelled prawns
1/2 bunch of spring onions sliced
2-3 tablespoon of maggi soya sauce
dash of white pepper
1/2 tsp of salt
1 century egg diced

Quickly stir fry onions till soft. Add chili. Fry prawns till done and sprinkle some corn flour to it. Add around 2-3 tsp of water as well. Add sauce in with some pepper. Season with salt. Toss spring onions and century eggs through. Serve with soup, veges and rice.


Thank You Ellena from Cusine Paradise in hosting this event. I can't wait to participate in next month's!

Jamie Oliver's "Asian Style Salmon Noodle Broth"

For my birthday gift last year, a few friends pool together and bought me Jamie Oliver's 30 minutes Meals Cookbook. They know, I am a fan of Jamie Oliver's no fuss, quick and easy cooking. I am also aware of previous reviews on the book states that these meals do not take 30 minutes but can take more than 1 hr to prepare.

I love cookbooks. I adore them. I"m addicted to them. I like flicking pages, visualizing how I can make a dish, brainstorming meal ideas- but I rarely use the recipes as it is. I dare say that the only recipes that I follow to the tee would be baking recipes. For most cooking recipes, unless it is something that I have absolute no idea what it looks or tastes like, there would be same changes. Usually, it's due to practical reasons- like it is more expensive to purchase limes than lemons in Perth. Sometimes, it's personal taste- I cannot justify putting 1/2 cup of sugar in a cooking dish or 3 tsp of salt in any dish for that matter (Unless it's a brine and I can rinse it off). Otherwise, I view recipes as a playground really. A guide for me to start cooking something AND to minimise kitchen disasters.

At first, this cookbook makes my head spin. You see, it's a book of meal planners. Hence it's not your typical one dish per page cookbook. Jamie (oooo..should i be on first name basis with this awesome chef now?) presents 3 recipes per menu and guides us through how to multitask in preparing all 3 dishes at once. Therefore, even if you just want to make one dish out of 3, you still have to read through the whole menu planner. Unless of course, you want to make all 3 dishes.

In our household, we rarely have 3 courses. It's one, and perhaps some fruits or ice-cream for dessert. Nothing fancy just quiet simple food. Other than the slight inconvenience of needing to read the whole planner, it's actually quite good.

I picked this noodle broth to try first. At first, I'm sceptical of its ginger/chili garlic paste. I did a taste test after blizing it in the food processor and to me, it was slightly weird. However, when paired with salmon and the soup, it matched really well!

How long did it take me to prepare one dish?

Funny you asked. In estimation, 30 minutes.

But it doesn't matter at the end of the day does it? It's good food that matters.  ;)

Asian Style Salmon Noodle Broth (serves 2-3)
2 cm piece of fresh ginger
1 clove of garlic
1 fresh red chili
1/2 small red onion
1 tablespoon of soy
1 huge lime

2 pieces of salmon fillets
180 grams of egg noodles
1 cup of snow peas
2 cups of bean sprouts
few sprigs of spring onion chopped
1 red chili sliced
chinese five spice
1 ltre of vegetable stock

Garnish
Spring onion sliced left overs
quarter of lime.



Blitz ginger, garlic, red onion and chili in food processor. Squeeze in lime. In an oven proof dish, place mixture at the bottom of dish. Place fish on top of mixture. Rub some five spice powder on it. Cook in oven preheated 180C for around 20 mins or so.

Meanwhile, boil vegetable stock. Add chili and soy sauce when it begin to boil. Taste test. Add all vegetables and finally noodles. Spoon noodle broth into bowls. Top it with salmon and spring onion. Squeeze lime juice over it. 

Art of Making Dumplings

It's funny how some childhood food sticks in your mind. I have made a similar version before but nothing beats the fun and laughter than I have when making these with my grandmother. As a child, I would often request if I could wrapped the filling into the rounded dumpling wrappers. She would reluctantly agree. And she would point out that because I didn't wrap it tightly, the filling spills out. I would argue with her and said how would she know if I was the culprit and not hers since we did them together? ;P

But now she is here, and when she gathered up the ingredients, I know the fun begins again. My turn to wrap some prawn dumplings with her. It's perfect timing because today is New Year's eve, and I know we will be having these for our steamboat (Chinese soup fondue) dinner.

We marinate the meat. Granny was very generous with the dried mushrooms. Defrosted some prawns, prepared the egg wash and here we go!

Place a teaspoon of filling into the middle of the wrapper. Place half a prawn in the middle.

Dot egg wash around the edge of the wrapper.

Seal.

Pose.

Repeat. 

While I was finishing them up, granny proceeded to make the stock and noodles for our soup.

The result of our work! Lovely juicy prawn dumplings!

Prawn Dumplings (makes around 30 dumplings)
300 grams pork mince
5-6 hydrated shitake mushrooms chopped finely
2 tablespoons of DOM liquor 
dash of white pepper 
2 tablespoon of light soya
dash of salt
1 tsp of corn flour

Around 15 prawns halved.

30 dumpling pastry.

Marinate meat with ingredients. Follow the above instructions. Boil stock. Cook prawn dumplings for around 5-6 minutes. Serve hot with chili!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!!! MAY THIS YEAR BRING YOU AND YOUR FAMILY MORE LOVE AND PROSPERITY!!!