Beef Stew (lite version)

Stews are my favourite kind of dish as one dish encompasses everything- meat, carbo, veggies. Its not only healthy, tasty (even without adding much seasoning) but also comforting especially on a cold rainy night.

2 days ago, the weather was perfect for stew. So I took out my beef from the freezer to prepare for dinner tonight. I usually start preparing at about 2 pm. So that by 7 pm, the beef will be tender and the gravy will be awesome.

This recipe is what I consider, a "lite version" as I did not add tomato paste to this and the gravy is not thick. I usually like eating this with rice. For the tomato paste version, I like eating it with either pasta or bread. So, its really your preference. If you want your gravy to be thick, then you just add cornstarch to it.

Ingredients:
- Beef Chuck
- Carrots
- Celery
- Potatoes
- Onions
- Dried Herbs (Rosemary, Thyme)
- Garlic Powder
- Beef stock (Used the cube mix in hot water to dissolve first)
- Water
- Red Wine (Its optional but I prefer with red wine)

Steps:
1) In a large pot, add vegetable oil and cook the beef over medium heat until brown.

2) Remove it from the pot. Then, throw in the onions and scrape the sides from the browning of the beef to add to the onions. Fry until its fragrant and the onions are translucent.

3) Put in the carrots and potatoes in. I prefer to put my celery till the very last part as I like it a little crunchier. Up to you. You can throw in together with your carrots and potatoes if you like.

4) Then throw in your beef together and mix it around.

5) Pour the beef stock, water and red wine in to cover up all your ingredients.

6) Then add in the dried herbs and seasoning with salt and pepper.

7) Let it boil before turning down the fire to let it simmer. I left it to simmer for about 3-4 hours. Test to see if the beef is soft before turning it off. I would throw in the celery at this point.

8) Remember to always taste your food to see if you are happy with the flavours. If not, just add something to it to balance it up. 

9) Finally, I topped this up with my plate of rice with lots of soupy gravy.

Enjoy!

Guilt-free Crispy Ikan Bilis (anchovies)

My children simply loves anything crunchy and crispy- from crispy fish skin, chicken skin to fried ikan bilis. I have recently read a recipe online in noobcook blog and there was this crispy baked ikan bilis recipe which I had to try because I do not like to cook dishes with lots of oil. My helper usually fries the ikan bilis with lots of oil which I feel so sinful eating and seeing the oil go to waste like that.

So this recipe is simple, guilt-free and ends up with the same crunchy, crispy result. So why not?

Ingredients
- dried anchovies (the ones that are cut in halves already with the bones)

Steps
1) Wash the anchovies for two rounds to remove most of the salt content
2) Pat dry them and lay them out on the baking tray
3) Air dry it for about an hour
4) Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
5) Place the baking try with ikan bilis inside for 10 mins

6) Take out the tray and use a spatula to just toss it around so that the ikan bilis get evenly browned on all sides
7) Turn up the oven to 200 degrees Celsius for just 5 more mins and it should be done! How brown you want it is simply up to you..

After that, I let it cool down for 10 mins before placing it into a zip lock bag which I eventually placed it in the airtight container.

Great compliment for your lunch or dinner!You can also pound this up into powder to make a soup base stock for your porridge or noodles as well. Very nutritious!

Enjoy!

Mee Goreng

This is a very comforting dish that my helper has made it to be. Though it is not very healthy, I enjoy having the various kinds of ingredients all coming together to make this dish so tasty!

Basically, this is yellow noodles cooked with sambal belachan. I have the steps to make sambal belachan in this blog.

So you basically fry this with minced garlic, onions, bean sprouts, prawns, squid, fishcake, noodles, spring onions (the top green ones) and sambal belachan. Then you can fry an egg as a side and sliced cucumber and tomatoes as well.

It is very easy. Great dish for breakfast or lunch!

Roasted Chicken with Vegetables

This dish is similar to a one pot meal as you simply put the ingredients together in roasting pan and throw it in the oven to do the cooking. So its easy and enjoyable for the whole family to dig in.

Ingredients (for 4)

- 1 whole chicken

- 2 sticks of butter

- 3 carrots

- one box of button mushrooms, cut in half

- 4-5 potatoes, cut in half

- dried rosemary

- dried thyme

- salt and pepper for seasoning

- chicken stock

- corn

- Optional: Zucchini, sliced

Steps

1) Preheat the oven to 240 degrees celcius

2) Wash the chicken thoroughly, especially inside the cavity area

3) Sprinkle salt and pepper generously on the chicken. Massage it. Add dried rosemary and thyme as well.

4) Rub one stick of butter all over the chicken, evenly coating it.

5) Cut up the vegetables. Roughly chopped. For the potatoes, you can also put in the oven together with the rest of the veggies. But I prefer my potatoes mashed. So I cooked them in boiling water and mash them with butter as a side. So, you see which you prefer. To oven cook it or mash it.

6) Put the chicken and cut up vegetables in the roasting pan. Distribute remaining butter evenly on top of the vegetables. When placing the chicken, place it on top of the vegetables.

7) Finally, I use about 3 cups of chicken stock and pour it into my large roasting pan so that the moisture can help cook the vegetables and make my chicken meat moist.

8) Then, put the roasting pan into the preheated oven. Once you put in. I turn it down to 200 degrees celcius. Put on the timer for about 30 mins for me to check on it. It should take about 30-45 mins depending on how big is your chicken and how crispy and dark colour you want your chicken to be.

This is the final outcome!

My children all helped in the cutting of vegetables and marinating of chicken. So it was a sense of accomplishment for them to see their effort on the table!

Here's my dinner plate. Added mashed potatoes topped with sour cream and spring onions (chives).

Everyone enjoyed it so much that there was no leftovers at all!

Grilled Shrimps with Pasta Salad

I have been a sucker for salads since about 3 months ago. I discovered the joy of eating them with my own homemade vinaigrette, rather than those bottled ones which can taste strange.

Below is the recipe for my grilled shrimps with pasta salad which I made to go with my steak. Simple and healthy!

Ingredients for 2:
- cherry tomatoes (sliced in halves or wholes. Your preference)
- cucumber (diced)
- fusilli pasta
- canned corn or you can use frozen/fresh corn
- shrimps (or we usually call it prawns here. I used tiger prawns. Bought it frozen and cheap from Foodie Market Place in Tiong Bahru)
- olive oil (3 TB)
- dijon mustard (1/2 TB)
- salt (1 tsp)
- 1/2 lemon/apple cider (1TB)

Steps
1) Cook the fusilli in boiling water with salt and put it aside to cool down. After sieving the water out, quickly wash it with running cold water so as to stop it from overcooking the pasta.

2) Mix the cucumber, cherry tomatoes and corn in a mixing bowl

3) In a small bowl, put olive oil, dijon mustard, salt and either lemon or apple cider to make it acidic and sour. Mix it well and dissolve the mustard

4) Set aside the dressing

5) I grilled my shrimps with my homemade garlic butter with herbs. I will teach you how to do it another time. If you dont have, you can just fry with minced garlic, put in some herbs or just season with salt.

6) Finally, assemble everything. Pour the dressing on top of the salad and mix it evenly. Then top it with the grilled shrimps.

This dish is great on its own for lunch or even as a side!

Enjoy!

Glutinous Rice (糯米饭) -Easy Method

I have always loved and cooked dishes numerous times as long as they are easy to prepare and tasty to eat! Cooking glutinous rice is one of those dishes. It is basically like a one-pot meal where you simple throw everything in, go and do your stuff and just come back when its about time to eat!

Here's the ingredients you need:
- dried shrimps (soaked in water. Reserve the water)
- dried mushrooms (soaked in water, then sliced. Reserve the water)
- finely sliced shallots (about 3-4)
- 2 cans of braised peanuts
- glutinous rice (soaked)

Steps:
1) Pour a little oil into the hot frying pan
2) Add the shallots and stir fry till its translucent or when you can smell the fragrance
3) Add the dried shrimps. Stir fry till its fragrant
4) Add the dried sliced mushrooms
5) Pour in the glutinous rice and braised peanuts, together with the gravy from the can. Keep tossing and stirring
6) Then add a little soya sauce, dark soya sauce. No need sugar as the gravy from the peanuts is sweet already.
7) Then after frying it up, you transfer into the rice cooker. The traditional method is to steam it, but I prefer the simple method where I don't have to worry about the water drying up in my wok.
8) Cover the rice with water from the dried mushrooms and shrimps. Use the same amount of water you use to cook normal rice.

9) It should take about 30-40 mins to cook.
10) Finally you can garnish with fried shallots and spring onions.

Variation:
- you can add slice pork belly or chinese sausage in as well. Throw it after you fry your shallots.

My whole family all love this simple and tasty meal!

Enjoy!

Sourdough sandwich with maple glazed pork belly

Recently I have been fulfilling my dream in making my own bread, without getting a bread machine. I insisted on not buying one as a bread machine is huge and it takes up so much space.

Since my last post on baking plain white bread, I decided to do the lazy way by just making sourdough from the premix. And what's best about this is that, it does not require any kneading. So its so simple and effortless!

I got this from Cold Storage Supermarket.

Just follow the simple instructions in the box and voila! There's even instant yeast provided in the box. So all you need is just warm water.

I was very happy with the results as its nicely crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Great for sandwiches!

I cut it up and placed them in the fridge for the next day's breakfast.

The next morning, I took out slices of pork belly in my fridge which was leftovers from steamboat last night. So it was perfect.

I just grilled this and brushed over some maple syrup on it at the very last few mins before it is done.

Finally, I put on top of my sourdough and let it melt together with my shredded cheddar cheese by popping the bread into the oven together with the maple-glazed pork belly and cheddar cheese on top to let the cheese melt and to just heat up the sourdough.

After the cheese is melted, remove them from the oven and put some iceberg lettuce in it!

Very simple!

You have the sour-ness from the bread, sweetness from the maple syrup in the pork belly, the saltiness from the cheddar cheese and the crunchiness from the iceberg lettuce!

Perfect meal for breakfast or lunch!