Thai Larb Salad

Hello 2014! Truth be told, the year 2013 passed really quickly for me. I have not worked since mid June 2013, and it is as if time stopped when Asher arrived.

However, I felt that much has changed in our lives. Yes, having a baby means we rarely head out in the evenings. That is a positive thing as we took time to wind down, relax and get things organised for the next day. Yes, there are sacrifices that we made. We are much more conscious about expenditure and we eat out less. We try not to plan too many things through the day as that seem to make Asher more cranky.

Personally though, having a baby tested me big time. I love to be in control. Guess what, having a baby means I have to think this differently. Yes, things do not always get done- that's ok. It will get done another day. Asher needs me to get on the floor to play with him as soon as I can. I have to remind myself, a baby isn't a baby for long. He is going to grow and one day, I'm going to miss having this time with him. After all, it is a huge luxury to be home with him for the first year of his life.

Organisation. I have two nappy bags. A bigger one with everything in it- spare clothes for me, a small rattle/book toy, spare nappies, change of clothes for him, wet wipes, lip balm, tissues..etc. It's truly a mummy's bag. More often though, I travel with a smaller sling bag with the bigger bag in the car. That is also a change mat which makes my life so much easier when he decides to "go" in the car and there isn't a change room anywhere in sight.

Flexibility and time management. Asher is the most awake and alert in the morning and right after his nap. I try to time and plan any activity around that period of time. We have a routine, but we do not run on a tight schedule. Oh, and always leave 5-10 minutes earlier than what I think we need.

Relationship. This is an interesting one. As I'm home more often, hubby gets less stressed about needing to share his load of housework. Clothes are actually folded (more often), floors are clean. I try to do more while it is not always possible, so that when he is home, he gets more time with Asher. However, I certainly appreciate hubby even more when he hangs the clothes out before I wake up, and do the occasional vacuum! Not only that, we learn to speak to each other in a calmer manner. We argue less as the focus is us as a family-perhaps less as an individual. That is the biggest change. We think the big picture more. I love him more because I see all the smaller things he did before and all the sacrifices he has to made. Most of all, how much he adores Asher and us as a family.

 I thought I might start the new year with a fresh new recipe. It is thai inspired and packed full of flavours. It's also one of my "quick no fuss" meals to have handy for the week. Hubby recently started a herb garden so I'm looking forward to having fresh basil in our cooking very soon.

Thai Larb Salad (serves 4)
500 grams pork mince
1 tsp garlic
2 chili padi chopped
2-3 sprigs of spring onion chopped
1 red onion chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 capsicum chopped
3-4 button mushrooms chopped
1 tablespoon of soy
1 tablespoon of mirin
2-3 tablespoon of fish sauce
white pepper
2 tablespoon of pine nuts or cashew nuts

4 bunches of basil leaves

Cos lettuce to serve with.

Saute red onion, chill and garlic till done. Brown mince. Add all the vegetables with a splash of water if the mixture gets too dry. Add in all sauces and cool well. You can either toast pine nuts and add to it or add it in the pan straight up. Just before serving, add 2 bunches of basil leaves to the pan and toss through. The heat should wilt the leaves gently.

Serve on a bed of cos lettuce and more basil leaves.

Indian Style Chicken Quinoa Salad

You have probably caught on the news that quinoa is a wonder food. Well, all ingredients are pretty wonderful to me, but quinoa has a special quality to it. It is a high protein seed.

The nutritious factor of this ingredients make its very appealing. Not to mention the nutty taste to it as well. Tigerfish from Tecacape use it regularly and so does a few other bloggers.

Now that I have got used to having complex carbs around 3 days a week, hubby and I love how good it feels in our bodies. It's amazing how much our digestive system adapts and I feel likes bloated and sluggish. This doesn't mean we don't enjoy food- which is what some of our friends seem to have misunderstood. It means I have to be more creative than ever without sacrificing taste. We still love our food and sweets!

I paired our chicken salad up with some indian spiced quinoa- I love the aroma of mustard seeds popping in oil with some cumin and garam masala spice. With some grilled chicken and spinach, it means a very tasty and fulfilling meal.

Indian Style Chicken Quinoa Salad 

2 chicken breasts- quartered

1 tablespoon of oil
1 tablespoon of mustard seed
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 tsp of chili powder
1 tsp of garam masala
1 tsp of garlic 
1 cup of quinoa
2 cups of stock of water

4-5 cups of spinach or mixed salad leaves
chopped chili for garnish

Grilled chicken till done. Sliced
In a pot, heat oil and add mustard seeds. Once it starts to brown, add all other spices and fry it for around 2 mins. Add garlic and quinoa. Add water or stock. Simmer for 5-10 mins till quinoa is done. Toss it with chicken and mixed salad leaves. Garnish with chili if desired.

Thai Pork Larb Salad

It's coming up to the long weekend and I am glad. Nothing like an extra few days to rest up and recharge. At the same time, it's also a time to reflect and thank our wonderful Lord for sacrificing for us.

This is another low carb recipe that I love. Mince is so easy to use and reasonably priced that it's hard to resist. I'm embracing lemongrass, ginger and garlic in this one. I wish I have some mint on hand and basil because I am sure it will add more flavours in the salad. I added some cashew for the added crunch factor.

I usually have my doubts on Asian salads. I mean, growing up, we rarely have salads. The first salad I had was Mum teaching me how to make egg mayo sandwiches-if that is even considered as a salad (the egg bit I mean). But then, we rarely had thai food either.

My neighbour gave us some limes and I am going crazy about them. It's not often that we have limes because they are quite pricey at the markets. I tend to use lemons instead. However, I have to admit that limes still win in terms of adding the zing to this dish!

Thai Pork Larb Salad (serves 4)
400 grams lean pork mince
2 stalks of lemongrass white bit chopped
2 tsp of garlic
2 red chill chopped
4 cm knob ginger grated
few mushrooms-shitake if you have, I used button chopped
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
1 tsp of sugar if you like, but I did not add any

Fresh salad leaves
avocado
4 limes-for each meal.
handful of cashew nuts

Heat pan till hot. Saute garlic lemon grass, chill and ginger. Brown pork mince. Add in mushrooms. Stir through fish sauce. Taste. Season if needed. Top on salad leaves with lime and cashew nuts.

Miso Salmon with Brown Rice Chickpea Salad

The title of the post almost sounds like it is from an organic cafe restaurant isn't it? In all honesty, I am surprised that I have taken so well in reducing and even at one point, cutting back all carbs (including fruits). The results so far, I can assure you, is worth it! Like what hubby once said "happy wife=happy life"

Coming back to this dish, I realised that my favourite way of prepping salmon is just to pan fried it. It's simple, non complicated and retain great flavours. This time round, I had some miso paste on hand and used it to make a dressing.

This is also the first time that I cook brown rice at home. Again, hubby and I actually was surprised that we liked the nutty taste of it! My mother in law usually mix brown and white rice together when she cooks and now I know why!

Miso Salmon with Brown Rice Chickpea Salad (serves 4)
3-4 pieces of Salmon

1 cup of brown rice
1 can of chickpea
1/2 pun net of cherry tomatoes halved
1 shredded carrot
150 grams of snow pea sprouts

Dressing
2 tsp of miso paste
1 tablespoon of mirin
2 tablespoon of water
1 red chill chopped
squeeze of lemon juice

Pan fry salmon till done. Meanwhile, cook brown rice with water (around 3 cm above rice).

Make dressing by heating miso paste,water and miring and chill in a saucepan. Taste and season. Squeeze lemon juice.

Assemble salad by tossing brown rice, chickpeas, all salad leaves together. Place on plates. Place salmon on top of salad, drizzle dressing over it.

Pork and Pear Pecan Salad

I did promise you heaps of salads this summer didn't I? I do not think I have EVER ate so much salads before. But with our change of schedule and focus on our health and future, it just seems so right to do. Not only that, I am starting to enjoy the 5-10 minutes on the stove grilling a meat and then assembling veges together.

I am slowly learning how to vary these salads though. Not just grilled chicken on veges. Turns out that pork pairs very well with pear just as well with apple. The sweetness of pear, and texture of pork- yum yum.

Best of all, did I mention it takes like 15 minutes altogether?

Pork and Pear Pecan Salad (serves 4)
4 pieces of pork loin chops
1 tablespoon of olive oil
sprinkle of chill and turmeric
1 pear sliced
5-6 cups of salad leaves
cherry tomatoes or 2 large tomatoes sliced
1 avocado chopped
handful of pecan nuts
2 green chili pad chopped
2 tablespoon of soy sauce

Marinate pork with oil, and spices. Grill both sides once for around 3-5 minutes. Cool and sliced. wash all salad, assemble, and place slices of pork on it. Mix soy with chill. Then sprinkle on pork slices.

Poached Eggs on Halloumi Cheese Salad

There is something about Nigella that just calls out to me. Her way of talking about food, writing about food and just how she enjoys it. I spotted this recipe on her app and was excited about it straight away. We are having warm summer nights and salads just seem to be enough for dinner these days.

Oozing egg yolks on squeaky cheese is such a lovely combination. Why didn't I think of it before? No dressing needed, just a squeeze of lemon juice.

Poached Eggs on Halloumi Cheese Salad(Serves 3)
4 free range eggs room temperature
250 grams halloumi cheese sliced

4-5 cups of salad greens
1 lebanese cucumber
1 capsicum
cherry tomatoes
mint leaves if you like

squeeze of lemon

Using a cold pan, pan fry halloumi cheese. In a shallow pan, add water and bring it to boil. Add a tablespoon of vinegar swirl it gently. Pop an egg in a bowl first, then gently pour it into the boiling swirling water. I like to spoon some of the egg white to cover the egg yolk.

Mean while, assemble salad, put cheese on top. Pop poached egg on top of salads. Repeat to poached eggs. Squeeze of lemon to finish the dish.

Curried Egg Celery Salad

One of the first dish that my mother taught me was egg sandwiches. She taught me how to peel eggs, mashed them and mixed them up with creamy mayo seasoned with salt and pepper.

When I was in university, a uni mate looked at me in amazement when I asked her what was curried egg. You see, she was having some and I asked what it was. I had a taste and was hooked. Who would have thought that mixing some curry powder to a simple egg mayo would change the dish?

I could never find or could anyone tell me where does curried egg come from? Is it an Aussie thing? Nevertheless, it is a good light meal for a quick dinner. I paired it with some crunchy celery for that added texture.

Curried Egg Celery Salad
4 eggs hardboiled
2 tablespoon of low fat mayo
1 tsp of curry powder
salt and pepper
few stalks of celery (from the heart of celery) chopped

Mashed eggs and mix it with mayo, curry powder, seasoning and celery. Serve with some salad leaves, cherry tomatoes and avocado for a light meal or in between fluffy bread. I had some stuffed capsicum with tuna and couscous.

Thai Inspired Chicken Cashew Salad

Did you have a great new year celebration? We had a quiet one and as I am typing, we are painting our kitchen! Oh the joys of public holidays.

I thought I will start the new year by having a salad dish. Hey, after all the indulging, the best we could do is to enjoy our salads!

The real reason of course, is that summer in Perth is finally hitting us. Meals are getting quicker in the kitchen as we want lighter dishes. While I know my granny will probably give me the evil eye for not having the traditional meal for dinner, I find that salads can be very interesting and dynamic.

Take this Thai inspired chicken salad for instance. It has some rice vermicelli, which means it still provide us with some carbs, but not the usual larger amount of course. Chicken for protein and a generous amount of salad, rocket, and herbs. The dressing is made by whisking fish sauce, chill padi, lemon juice and just a tiny bit of sugar. I jazzed it up further by adding some toasted cashew nuts. It's so quick and easy and no fuss!

Hubby also love the lack of washing up (1 salad bowl and 2 plates!).

I am sure there I have more salads to share with you.

Thai Inspired Chicken Cashew Salad (Serves 4)
2 chicken breast cut horizontally to create 4 pieces)

250 grams of mixed salad leaves
1 small bunch of basil
1 small bunch of mint
1 capsicum sliced
1 lebanese cucumber sliced

50 grams of rice vermicelli soaked in boiling water, drained and snipped in shorter lengths
handful of toasted cashews.

Dressing
2 chili padi chopped finely
1/4 cup of fish sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 lemon juice

Marinate chicken with some lemon juice and salt/pepper for 10 minutes. Heat grill pan up and grill chicken till done on both sides. Cool slightly and slice thinly.

Mean while, whisk all dressings together.

Assemble salad by placing salad leaves, capsicum and cucumber and herbs together. Toss rice vermicelli through. Place chicken on top and sprinkle cashew nuts all over. Toss through dressing and serve.

Coconut Quinoa Basil Chicken Salad

Quinoa must be the new wonder food. It's appearing world wide, in various restaurants and food blogs. I tasted it first at the Greenhouse in Perth City. It was sooo awesome. Seriously filling and I love its nutty taste. Packed fill with protein, I knew this would be fantastic to have in my meals.

Personally, I love the red quinoa better- it just seem to have more of a nutty flavour. I cooked it with some coconut milk and water. Tossed it with salad leaves, basil and mint. Topped with grilled chicken and tadah, a perfect spring salad for dinner.

I did toss some fish sauce through it, but really, with the coconut milk infused quinoa, there isn't a need. It taste even better the next day for lunch.

Coconut Quinoa Basil Chicken Salad
1 cup of red quinoa
1 cup of water
1 cup of coconut milk

2 chicken breast- cut in half, season with olive oil and salt.
3 cups of salad leaves
1 bunch of mint
1 bunch of basil
1 red capsicum diced

2 tablespoon of fish sauce, 1/2 tsp of sugar and 1/4 cup of lemon juice
few red chilli chopped

Cook quinoa with water and coconut.

Grill chicken breast. Set aside. Toss everything with veges, chills and sauce. Serve!

Easy Beef and Brocollini Soba Noodle Salad

I know it will come a time, where I have to graduate from making soups to salads. After all, the weather is warming up lovely and salads are such a nice fresh way to enjoy summer no?

I spotted this recipe from Taste. Looking at it for inspiration, I made our own noodle dressing- with sesame seed dressing + sweet chill + sesame seeds. It provided a nutty sweetness to the beef salad. This is also my first time using Brocollini. A thin long version of broccoli. It's almost like a cross between broccoli and kai lan!

so i'm slowly getting into groove into creating more salads. Summer here we come!

Easy Beef and Brocollini Soba Noodle Salad
250 packet of soba noodles
1 bunch of brocollini trimmed
100 grams of baby spinach leaves
1 carrot shredded
1 cup of cashew nuts toasted
300 grams of beef sizzled

Dressing
3 tablespoon of roasted sesame dressing (can be found at local oriental stores)
2 tablespoon of sweet chill
3 tablespoons of mirin
1 tablespoon of sesame seeds

Cook noodles till nearly done and throw in brocollini. Cook for 3 mins. Drain and rinse with cold water. Mean while sizzle steak and cut in small pieces. Toss noodles, all salad veges and beef in a big bowl.

Whisk dressing together. Pour dressing over it and mix it up. Crunch it up with cashews. Serve

Roasted Pumpkin Isreali Couscous Salad

It's only recent that I noticed larger pearl size couscous on the shelves of specialities delis. I have always been a fan of couscous as they are a great side dish-pairing it with a hearty stew or having it as a salad by itself. As a rule of thumb, I like to have a taste of the ingredient before attempting to try it at home. Especially when there was no written instruction on how to prepare it on the packet!!

Often, we have the luxury of tasting it in restaurants and cafe- which often leads me to experiment similar concepts in the humble home kitchen. This helps me to understand how the ingredient should be prepared, and also whether or not we will like it. No point wasting AU$7 on a packet if we are not happy with it. Hubby often joked that he gets a bang in his buck- not just for the meal in a restaurant but it is often my creativity zone when it comes to thinking of what to cook for meals.

Unfortunately, Isreali Couscous is still not very common in eateries yet. No chance to try this interesting ingredient. Hrmph.

Surprise surprise. In a recent picnic with our new french friends, they brought...... a isreali couscous salad!!! Oh how happy I was. Having a chat with her, she told me that all we needed to do was to cook Isreali couscous in a pot of boiling water as we would do with pasta. Easy done!

I love the texture of this pearl couscous and am amazed by how versatile it is. So in a recently bbq gathering, I brought a roasted pumpkin Isreali Couscous salad. I was greeted by the same reaction by our friends "What's this?", "are they little bubble tea bubbles?", "pasta?"

But they agreed that it is a light, fulfilling and healthy dish!

Roasted Pumpkin Isreali Couscous Salad (Made enough to serve 10)
250 grams of Isreali Couscous
around 1 ltre of water
pinch of salt

1kg of butternut pumpkin peeled and chopped
drizzle of honey
4 tomatoes chopped
1 cucumber chopped

3-4 extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon squeezed
1/4 tsp of honey
salt/pepper

Roast pumpkin with drizzle of honey for around 20 minutes.

Meanwhile boil water with some salt. Cook isreali couscous for around 15 minutes or when it is done. Drained and set aside.

Prepare all vegetables. Make dressing by combining olive oil with lemon, honey, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust accordingly. Toss couscous with all veges.

Grilled Beef Sesame Japanese Salad

Are you the type of person who likes making decisions or perhaps prefer to ponder your choices for a while? For me, it depends on the situation and type of problem. Take food for instance, I plan my meals on a weekly basis a and around work schedules. The usual weekly conversation hubby and I have goes something like this:

me: "any meal requests for the week?"
hubby: silence
me: "I need suggestions!
hubby: "erm... beef?"
Me: "ok, how about a beef salad?"
hubby: "ok...." (and probably feeling relieved that I'm not pressuring him to give me more answers)

When it comes to general house issues though..it's the reverse.

hubby: "sooo, what light switches would you like..how about electrical points, do we need 5 in the study?"
me: silence
hubby: "I need you to have a look..."
me: "I didn't know there are actually TYPES of light switches? and yes, 5 is too many in the study..."
hubby: "ok, we go with the white switch and remove 2 electrical points and put in a surge protector board."
me: "ok" (relieved as I have no idea what he was talking about but it makes sense...)

That's why I guess God make sure that I am there to feed hubby, and hubby is there to make sure I have enough electrical points in the house to use...

Speaking of confusion, I'm not sure if the weather knows what it wants lately either. We have been going through a series of winter, summer and autumn weather in one week. It is freezing one day, and super hot the other. It's getting harder to plan meals. Take this salad, I made this while it was below 20C. And then made a soup when it was 35C!

Hubby likes his beef medium rare. I like mine towards medium. We compromised as the rump steak has a side that is thinner than the rest (Which makes it cooked quicker). I sprinkled some peanuts and made a sauce based on sesame dressing from the shops.

Grilled Beef Sesame Japanese Salad (Serve 2)
250 grams rump teak (tenderized or with sea salt sprinkled and left on for 10 mins or so. Rinse and pat dry. This will make the meat tender).
1 tsp olive oil
cracked pepper

3 cups of salad leaves
1 carrot shredded
1 avocado diced and sprinkled with lemon juice

Dressing
3 tablespoon of sesame dressing
2 tablespoon of mirin
1 tsp of soy
1 tsp of sesame seeds

granulated peanuts to serve.

Heat grill pan till very hot. Spread olive oil on beef and some cracked pepper. Sizzle steak on both sides for 3 mins each. Rest steak. Sliced thinly.

Dressing-whisk everything.

Assemble salad but placing carrots on top of salad leaves. Beef. peanuts and dressing on the side.

Viet Style- Roasted Peanut Noodle Salad

We had friends over a couple of months ago and they taught us how to make Viet Paper rolls. We had a ball! Our friend taught me how to make the dipping sauce and I thought how good is it to make it as a dressing for a noodle salad?

I had some chicken patties on hand and chose to pan fry and toss it through the salad. The winner of this though, is the dressing and the crunchy nuts and vegetables. Good for a summer day or picnic.

Viet Style- Roasted Peanut Noodle Salad (Serves 3-4)
1/2 packet of rice vermicelli noodle, blanched, drained and set aside.
1 cup of peanuts roasted
1/2 lettuce shredded
around 1 cup of shredded basil leaves
1 bunch of chives chopped
1 carrot shredded
1 cup of bean sprouts washed and blanched quickly with hot water
1 fresh chili chopped
fried shallots

Optional- 2 chicken patties pan fried and sliced.I think mince or even some crumbed fish might add texture and interest to this salad.

Sauce
100 ml of coconut milk
1/2 cup of hoi sin sauce
2 tsp of fish sauce
1 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of garlic

To make the sauce- saute garlic. Add hoisin sauce and coconut milk. Stir to combine and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add fish sauce and sugar. Taste and adjust accordingly.

Toss noodles with vegetables and meat. Toss sauce through noodles and vegetables. Sprinkle nuts on it and some shallots. Serve!

A quick addition to the round up to Presto Pasta founded by Ruth-Once Upon a Feast. This week's host is Heather from Girlichef. 

TzatzikiPotato Salad

I have always wondered how to make an alternative creamy potato salad. One of the dips I enjoy having is the Tzatziki dip. I love the refreshing yogurt dip with thinly julienne cucumber. As a trial, I added some garlic and macademia nuts, both which matched the flavours of the potato salad well.

It is probably a salad that I wouldn't make too often, but it is a slight twist from the normal creamy potato salad.

Tzatziki Potato Salad 

1 cup of greek yogurt 
 1/2 cucumber julienne with liquid squeezed.
1/2 tsp of minced garlic
1/4 cup of lemon juice or less
salt to taste
1/4 cup of natural macademia nuts
2 potatoes peeled and cooked in boiling water- cooled.

Mix yogurt, cucumber, garlic, lemon juice, nuts and seasoning. Taste. Adjust. Fold dressing through potatoes.