Stir Fry Kale

One of my quick side dish. I am trying to get more vegetables in our family meals. It is difficult with children that despise anything green (or orange or purple...)

I love working with Kale. I just recently discovered this vegetable while having a casual conversation with my sister. I did a quick search and found this vegetable to be very nutritious. The good thing,  it is so easy to cook Kale. It can be used in soups, pasta sauce, and even stir fry. It does not taste bad or smell weird. Just plain simple and a pretty good texture too. 

I did this quick stir fry on one of the weekday dinner meals.

Ingredients:

- whole bunch of Kale (around 5AUD each bunch)

- 2 cloves of garlic

- Seasoning of Soy Sauce, Chinese Wine, Pepper

Method:

- Wash the Kale

- I only use the leaves as the stalk is so hard!

- Chopped all garlic and make the seasoning and set aside

- Heat up oil in pan

- Stir fry garlic until fragrant

- Toss Kale in and wait till it settles (the leaves can consume alot of space before it is cooked)

- Pour in seasoning sauce

- Once Kale turns bright green, it is happy and done. Do a few stirs and it is ready to be served.

This just half of the leaves. I do need a bigger pan to fry this. It was as high as a mountain.

Cover it and let it cook a while. The leaves will soften and there will be enough space.

Look at that vibrant green colour. I just love it.

Done.

My Chicken Nugget Recipe

Ever since youtube and media has released so many creepy stories about chicken nuggets, I have avoided any nuggets bought outside. Even the frozen ones. My only solution is to make my own chicken nugget.

Honestly, the ingredients are simple. The steps and the preparation is the messy part. But seeing the exact goodies that goes into my chicken nuggets, it is worth while.

Ingredients:

-2kg chicken breast (i like to make this in bulk and freeze)

- one large zuchinni

- one large carrot

- one large onion

- 3 cloves of garlic

- Salt & pepper to season

- Breadcrumbs (i made alot of breadcrumbs due to lack of bread popularity in my household)

- 4 eggs ( this is the amount i needed to make all my chicken nuggets)

- flour (add this as you go)

- Chia seeds (optional)

Method:

-Make sure you have all the largest pan, plates ready with the ingredients

- I required 2 baking trays ( one to spread my breadcrumbs and chia seeds mixture, another one for the flour)

- I had one bowl of eggs whisked

- I used at least 3 large plates to store the nuggets temporary

- First step, minced the chicken meat. I turbo this in my Thermomix for a few seconds. I remove the meat aside

- Second step, minced the veggies, onions and garlic. I turbo this as well in the Thermomix for few second. I added the seasoning at this stage. I only added around 1 tbsp for 2kg of meat. I realized I do not need a lot of salt for this as my breadcrumbs were already pre seasoned with salt when i made them.

- Third step, mix the chicken and veggie mixture. I like the veggies really minced up as the kids will be picking on them if the are not small enough. Again, i used the Thermomix to do a quick mix on Speed 5.

Now, the preparation. I believe this is the long and messy part.

Take a scoop of minced mixture and roll into a ball. I had to oil my hands as it was very sticky. I rolled them all up and place them on plates before the next step.

Once all the mixture is done, I started coating them in the flour and flattening them into a nugget shape. I finished all the flouring too before moving to the egg part (the tricky part).

At this stage i would have all my containers lined up on my kitchen bench. Start with dipping the floured nuggets in the egg mixture and then putting them in the breadcrumbs mixture. I try to do a batch of 5 egg dips until i have no space in my breadcrumbs mixture tray.

Make sure the nuggets are well coated in the breadcrumbs. Once they are well coated i transferred them to the containers.

I made around 25 semi large sized chicken nuggets with this amount of ingredients. I think if you rolled them up smaller you will get more. My were looking more like a chicken steak. I got lazy. :)

Just bake the nuggets straight from the freezer. No need to thaw them. I sprayed some olive oil on them to give them a nice golden brown colour.

This is just some of the nuggets we had for dinner. They tasted good. the kids enjoyed it and I had extras for lunch the next day. this fed the entire family of 4 plus 2 lunch boxes. My little one himself had 4 nuggets. They were massive size!

After baking in the oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes. Love Love them.

You can also add any type of vegetables in the chicken nugget. I only used what i could get hold on at that time.

Scrambled Eggs and Sweet Corn

Another quick and healthy side dish.

Just another way of using up some of the stuff in the fridge. I have got eggs and fresh corns.

Ingredients
3 eggs (550gms each)
Milk
2 medium size corn
Salt and Pepper
Olive oil

Method
1. Boil water and pre cook the corn for around 10 minutes
2. I use a knife to slide the sides of the corn to get the kernels out. Of course when the corn has cooled down. Be careful as the corn can be slippery and the knife my slipped when cutting this way
3. Scramble 3 eggs together with a dash of milk. Season with a dash of salt and pepper
4. Heat up non stick pan with olive oil
5. Quickly give the corn a stir and then pour in the scrambled eggs.
6. Done.

This is just another scramble egg version of my simple side dish. It is perfect for days where you need quick meals.

Stri Fry Beef and Tomatoes

Simple everyday dinners.

Ingredients:

100gms of minced beef

1 onion chopped

2 medium sized carrots- minced

3-4 fresh tomatoes- chopped

3 cloves of garlic- minced 

Thick soy sauce

Olive oil

Seasoning - season the beef for around 10-15 minutes

Chinese rice wine - the rice wine takes the beef smell away so it is good.

Cornstarch

Soy Sauce

Salt & Pepper

Method

1. Heat up wok with 2 tbsp of olive oil

2. Throw minced garlic when oil is hot

3. Once fragrant, throw in the minced beef

4. When it is turning pink, throw in the chopped onions

5. I added in a swirl of thick soy sauce for the dark colour and also some sweetness

6. Cover to cook and you will get some juice in the dish from the beef. I added some additional water as the kids like to have sauce in their dish.

7. Once nearly cook, add in the carrots. Give it a couple of stirs then the tomatoes.

8. Done. This makes enough for our dinner and also enough to pack for lunch the next day.

Chia Bread

Adapted from : http://www.recipecommunity.com.au/recipes/wholemealwhitechia-mix-loaf/90806

I baked this on Saturday. Fresh loaf for breakfast.

Ingredients

Bread Loaf

250 g wholemeal flour., I use Atta
250 g white bakers flour., I use Wallaby
10 g dry yeast., I use Lowans
1 tsp sea salt.
1 tsp raw sugar.
30 g Olive Oil.
300 g Warm water.
2 tablespoon chia seeds
6 tablespoon Warm water., up to 8tblspns

Preparation

Bread Loaf

Mix Chia Seeds and 6-8 tablespoons of water to form a gel. Set aside

Add into Bowl in this order
Warm Water (not too hot)
Yeast
Salt
Sugar
Flours
Oil
Mix on 6 for 10 seconds
Add in Chia Gel
Mix on 6 for 10 seconds
Turn to Closed position and Knead for 2 minutes
Empty into a lightly sprayed bowl and put glad wrap over the top Place into a warm place until dough has risen to the top.
Empty onto a lightly floured board/mat and knock down, and shape into a loaf and place into loaf tin. I bought mine from a place in WA called All about bread. Most good kitchen places sell these good quality loaf tins. I use mine at Christmas time for Icecream pudding as well Its a very versatile pan !
I lightly spray my loaf tin with oil.
Then place into a warm place and allow to rise again, at least 3/4 of the way but preferrably to the top
The double rising is one of the ways of ensuring a good loaf
Brush top of loaf with water lightly
Place a container of water in the bottom of the oven. This gives a nice crispy crust
Bake in a preheated oven of 180-190 degrees depending on the temperament of your oven ! allow around 30 minutes. Check after 20mins
At around 30 mins take the loaf out and give it a tap on the bottom and it should sound hollow

Quick Weekday Vegetable Soup

The man in the household loves soup of any kinds. When i have time i will do the slow boiled soups but when it is mid week and dinner needs to be on the table within an hour, a quick anchovy based soup always works. 

Ingredients:

- a handful of dried anchovies

- dried kelp (optional)

- 1 medium size onion

- Few slices of ginger

- 1-2L of water or whatever suits your family size

- Vegetables of choice (i used carrots, wombok and tomatoes)

Method:

- Boil the water in a pot and soaked the anchovies while the water is boiling

- Once boil, throw in the anchovies and onion and kelp and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes.

- Remove the anchovies with a sieve cause it will taste bitter if left for too long

- throw in vegetables and continue to boil. Throw in the ginger too for a nice heat.

- Add in salt to taste. I had some anchovies stocked made in the thermie a while ago, so i added them in as well.

I love soups like this. Simple, fresh and tasty.

 making the anchovies broth

You can used any type of vegetables. Spinach, cabbage, whatever that is left in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Lemon Curt Tart

Pastry method adapted from:
http://www.joyofbaking.com/SweetPastryCrust.html


We are having some guest over and i just thought of my homemade lemon curd in the fridge, getting very near to be thrown in the bin.

I decided to make a sweet shortcrust pastry from my old time favourite site. Joy of baking is the site i always go to when i started baking. It has clear instructions and video which really helped alot.

These are the ingredients:

Sweet Pastry Crust:

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten



 

I used the Thermomix to cream the butter and sugar. Speed 5 is all i needed.  I then add the dry ingredients and pulse it till it resembles crumbs.

 

 

 Transfer to a bowl and started bringing it together into a ball.

 Wrapped it in cling wrap as per recipe and in the fridge it went. For a good hour or so as I was busy with other chores.

 The pastry is nice and hard when i got to it. It is very difficult to roll this one as it cracks easily. I followed the video on how to get the pastry to the tin.

It was not hard at all. Hard part is fitting it in the freezer for 15 minutes.

 

I poke alot of holes in the pastry and then got it in the oven to bake.

 

 

the finished product. the curd is great. pastry was abit hard to cut through but all good.





Sweet Bun with Thermomix

Adapted from: http://www.recipecommunity.com.au/recipes/chinese-sweet-bunsbread/23618

* edit on 28th October after tweaking the recipe with success. It is not too sweet this time. I will try with different types of flour next time.

Ingredients:

350g Bakers Flour or Bread Flour
150g Wholemeal Bread Flour
1.5 tsp Yeast
50 g castor sugar
1 tsp salt
270 g Luke Warm Water
50 g Butter - Cubed & Room Temperature
2 mini box of raisins

This made 10 buns, i made them fairly large this time. Calorie for each bun is 249cal (quite alot of a small bun, must be the butter and sugar)

Dough

1. Add Flour, Sugar, Yeast, Salt into TM Bowl. Mix slowly on speed 3. Take MC off and slowly pour in water through the hole.

2. Once all water added, mix for 10 seconds on speed 6

3. Add butter and knead for 2 min or until all butter is kneaded into dough.

4. Roll into a ball and allow to prove in an oiled bowl. Once doubled in size (around 2 hours in my semi cold Melbourne weather), punch down and repeat proving process but only for 15 minutes.

5. Shape and put in cold oven for 15 min 180C

Taste so nice when it is just fresh out of the oven.

It was a cold Sunday for us, so I had to hug my bowl of dough for the yeast to do its magic. I believe it can prove much longer but i cannot be holding a bowl for more than 2 hours. Overall, this is easy to make and serves as a perfect snack and breakfast for kids.

Healthy M & Ms cookie with Quinoa Flour

Adapted from :
http://www.semihealthyblog.com/2012/01/semi-healthy-m-cookies.html

*updated 9 November 2013 - This is my version after 3 tweakings and bakings.

Ingredients (i double them to bake in bulk)
1 cup (226 gms) crisco -i used butter instead
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup sugar
4 TBS milk 
2 TBS vanilla
2 TBS chia seeds + 6 TBS warm water = chia gel (let sit for 5 minutes to get thick)
Dry ingredients:
3 cup whole wheat flour - i used oat flour
1/2 cup flaxseed flour - i used quinoa flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup dark chocolate m&ms or smarties
1/2 cup of toasted sunflower seeds. You can add more nuts/seeds of any kind. I will increase to 1 cup next time. I was baking for a boy that may not tolerate nuts so i just used up my sunflower seeds

How To:

1. Cream together sugars and butter. Add milk, vanilla and chia gel. (make sure all ingredients are room temperature)
2. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients (not m&ms) together. I made my flour on the Thermomix Speed 9 for 9seconds or until fine.
3. Slowly add dry ingredients and carefully stir. Add seeds/nuts
4. Either scoop cookies onto greased baking sheet if you are baking immediately, i put 3 M&Ms or smarties on each cookie. You can opt for just 2. I put the separately like this cause i don't like it to get crushed in the batter.
5. Bake 10-15 minutes at 325 degrees F. 

How I love creating healthy version of cookies, cakes and anything sinful. My son eats snacks that are mostly made from scratch at home. If i do not have time, i will get him store bought treats. But nothing beats having fresh cookies in the lunch box.

I found this recipe where it does not use any egg or flour. Not that i am against it but i love using chia seeds. And this is another method of replacing eggs in baking. - chia gel!

i modified the recipe as it calls for flaxseed meal and wholemeal. I used oat flour and quinoa flour. The distinct smell of quinoa is just lovely. I used the thermomix to mill them into flour.

 

This is my chia gel after sitting in 3 TBS of water for 10 mintues. 

 

 

Unlike the recipe where it mix the M & Ms in the batter, i individually place them as i do not want them squashed

 

 

The recipe was abit sweet. Or i might have put too many M & M on each cookie. But it taste really nice and light. And so good for the kids. I also need to bake it longer as it was too soft. It took me around 15 minutes of baking time. I think it is due to the type of flour i have used in this recipe.

Verdict, the kids love it and i will definitely make more of them soon

 

Oops upside down pic of my smarties cookies. I have adapted this recipe to the right taste/texture.

Shanghai Dumplings With Pork. Chives and Kale

Both my boys enjoyed the chinese dumplings. They love it so much that they can have a meal just full of dumplings. I think dumplings are one of the very balanced meals. It has all the protein, veggies and carbo from the skin. I try to make this at home as i can put more vegetables but it is a very labour intensive task.

I found some time to get myself ready for some dumplings making. As i am quite crazy about kale recently, i added them as well.

The measurement is really base on taste. No strict rule to it.

These are the ingredients for my dumplings:

-500gms of mined pork

- bunch of kale leaves (only the leaves)

- 2 bunch of chives.

- Garlic- 2-3 cloves

-ginger - i thumb size

-dried chinese mushrooms

- gyoza dumpling wrapper

- Soy sauce

- sesame oil

- Chinese rice wine

- pepper & salt

Method

- minced everything, as small as you can manage

- mixed in everything in a bowl and add in all the seasoning to taste.

You can always mix and match whatever filling you like.

This is the amount of Kale in my dumplings. haha

After mincing everything, a big bowl of filling ready for wrapping

It took me 2.5 hours to wrap over a hundred dumplings. I used the tripple pleat method as it looks very pretty but google has alot of other easy method to wrap

I flour the dumplings and store them in the freezer.

To cook, just simply boil a big pot of water and throw the dumplings in frozen. Once the dumplings are cook, they will submerged to the top. it will be around 7-10 minutes.

We usually have dumplings with a Quick Vegetable Soup. I will post a recipe of this quick soup next.

We tried this dumpling yesterday and the skin i used it not very nice as it was very tough and thick. I will be using this wrapper that my friend recommends next time. Putting the picture here so I will remember the right brand to buy next time.

Buttermilk Baked Chicken

Adapted from http://www.carnationmilk.ca/recipe-details.aspx?rid=1457

This recipe is super yummy. I tried this yesterday and it is a winner. I found this recipe as i had a can of evaporated milk left in the pantry and what a brilliant way to make buttermilk out of it. 

My variation is i used the chicken thighs with skin on and it has that nice golden brown crunch after baking in the oven.

I followed the rest of the steps to the dot.

Ingredients:

1 can (370ml) of evaporated milk 

1/4 cup (50ml) of white vinegar or lemon juice

1 kg of chicken breast, thigh

2 cups of all purpose flour - I did not follow any measurement, just add as the batter thins out.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Method:

Combine evaporated milk and vinegar in a large bowl. It will thicken up. Add chicken pieces and make sure the pieces are covered in the milk mixture. Cover well and marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat oven to 400ºF (200ºC). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place flour in a shallow dish. Remove chicken from milk mixture. Dip chicken pieces into flour, shaking off any excess. Place on prepared baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper.

Bake in preheated oven 50 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Turn chicken over after 30 minutes and continue baking

Left this to sit overnight.

Coating it with flour

After baking in the oven for an hour. It is so yummy. Please try it :)

Beef Stew (by Paula Deen)

Beef Stew (by Paula Deen)

Ingredients

• 2 pounds stew beef
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 1 or 2 bay leaves
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• Dash ground allspice or ground cloves
• 3 large carrots, sliced
• 3 ribs celery, chopped
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions

Brown meat in hot oil. Add water, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, bay leaves, onion, salt, sugar, pepper, paprika, and allspice. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Remove bay leaves and garlic clove. Add carrots and celery. Cover and cook 30 to 40 minutes longer. To thicken gravy, remove 2 cups hot liquid. Using a separate bowl, combine
1/4 cup water and cornstarch until smooth. Mix with a little hot liquid and return mixture to pot. Stir and cook until bubbly.
Per serving: Calories: 349; Total Fat: 20 grams; Saturated Fat: 6 grams; Protein: 31 grams; Total carbohydrates: 10 grams; Sugar: 4 grams; Fiber: 2 grams; Cholesterol: 96 milligrams; Sodium: 574 milligrams

Macaron Second Attempt.

I won't give up till i have a almost perfect macaron. It might sound a little nutty but i just need to know i can do it. After the failed first attempt, I decided to look for another recipe. I found another thermomix recipe:
http://www.thermomix-recipes.com/2011/10/macaroons-thermomix-recipe-of-french.html
As usual, i have adapted it based on my current oven, temperature and utensils.

Ingredients

- 125 g Almond Meal
- 150 g Icing Sugar (not icing mixture) - I made my own icing sugar as i did not have time to run to the shops. I wasn't sure if the Thermomix icing sugar will be suitable but it turn out fine. Will be using Thermomix made icing sugar next time. Much easier.
- 100 g Caster Sugar
- 100 g Egg Whites (from around 3 eggs)- This time i did not aged the egg whites. I did this first thing in the morning, and it rested on the kitchen bench for a good hour.
 
How to prepare the Macaroons

Grind the almonds and the icing sugar (I am sure you can use caster instead). 10 Sec. Speed 10. -I might sieve this mixture next time as it is still grainy when mixing the batter.




Clean out TM bowl and attach the butterfly attachment.  Place the egg whites and whip. 4 Min. Speed 4.
Add the caster sugar after 2 minutes.  Whip the whites until stiff peaks. - I am not sure if the egg whites were done properly. From the picture below it looks a bit runny. But i tested it by tilting it and it stayed. I might look into beating this properly next time.




Add the almond/icing sugar into the TM bowl with the egg whites.  And mix. 10 Sec. Speed Soft. Reverse.  (add the colouring if using any - Trissalicious used green gel) - I added some colour but maybe too little. It was suppose to be yellow but there is no difference in the batter at all. I did not follow the recipe to mix the batter using the Thermomix, i did it but it did not look mixed correctly. In the end, i tilt the whole mixture out which is quite messy and fold the batter manually. The batter still look grainy by it was much more manageable compared to the first time i did it. I manage to get it to flow into a smooth ribbon.

Place the mixture in a piping bag and pipe on baking paper or a silicon mat. - I hate piping. Even in my second attempt my piping looks horrible. and that is after drawing circles on the baking paper. I need to work on getting better preparation for the batter. I was struggling to get the mixture in the piping bag quickly as the batter was slowly drying up.

Dry the macarons for around 30 to 45 minutes. 


I have a total of 3 trays in assorted sizes. I bang them on the table 3-4 times really hard and loud. The little piped macaron looks quite lumpy but it started to ease into a smooth top after 15 minutes. I waited 15 minutes, and then started heating the oven up. I bake my first tray after 20 minutes.
Bake at 150C° (fan forced) for 13 minutes.


As usual, i did not get the right number of macaron as stated. I am suppose to have around 50 but i only manage 40. I think alot of the batter were wasted when i tried to pipe them and maybe the batter was not runny enough. Will need to work on this next time.
This time the macaron turned up better. It does not have fat duck feet like the previous batch. I also cooked within 15 minutes. I did turn the trays around when it hit 7 minutes just to make sure it has an even cooking.

Remove from oven, cool and fill with piping



 Much better looking. It had the nice crunch when you bite into it. Like real! :)

That's it. My attempt in macaron baking. Hope my dear boy loves them.

Cantonese Egg Tart

Adapted from Christine's Recipe: http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2009/03/cantonese-egg-tarts-recipe.html

Cantonese Egg Tarts
By Christine's Recipes
Prep time: 40 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Yield: Makes about 14-16 egg tarts (i used my muffin tray as i do not have the mold)

Ingredients of crust:

• 225 gm plain flour
• 125 gm butter
• 55 gm icing sugar
• 1 egg, whisked
• a dash vanilla extract

Ingredients of custard::

• 3 eggs
• 110 gm caster sugar
• 225 gm hot water
• 85 gm evaporated milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

 

I used the Thermomix for the dough. Did not turn out as expected but i managed to troubleshoot it in time.

I cream the butter and sugar in the bowl at Speed 5 for 6-7 second.
Added half the whisked egg and beat at Speed 1 for just a few second.

Added the other half and a dash of vanilla extract. My dash was a bit too much as i accidentally top too much in the bowl. That might explain the extra soft dough.

After that add in the sifted flour in a single go and give another mix at Speed 5 for a few second until well mixed.

Took the dough out it was way too soft. I had to put it in the freezer for 15 minutes to let it harden.

After 15 minutes, dough was still soft but more manageable. Added flour to the surface and started rolling it.

 

 I am not very good with rolling pastry, hence the inconsistency in the shape and thickness. I was also missing the proper egg tart mold that gives it a nice curvy pattern on the sides. But the normal muffin serves the purpose well too. No need to line the tray or even oil it. The tart will come out nicely after it is baked.

The custard is so easy to make. Followed Christine's recipe to the dot. I made the sugar water in advance cause i need it to completely cool before adding the egg and evaporated milk mixture.

Method (making custard):

• Add sugar into hot water, mix until completely dissolved.
• Whisk egg with evaporated milk. Pour in sugar water. Mix well.
• Sift egg mixture to get rid of any foam into a tea pot. Carefully pour egg mixture into each tart shell.

you can see how thin the dough is as it was just too soft for me to handle. The recipe say use a cookie cutter smaller than the size of the egg tart mold but i just can't find enough pastry to press the sides to the top. So i cut a bigger piece of dough and just press it lightly against the sides. It was already thinning on some sides.

Next in the oven it goes. I did follow the recipe instructions but because my pastry is not so thick i only did 10 minutes at 200C in the oven bottom rack. I then turn it down to 180C for the next 5 minutes. Once i see a slight puff in the custard, open the oven rack to continue cooking for next 12 minutes. The custard cook pretty fast so you really need to keep and eye on them

Did the toothpick test and the custard was perfect.

 

 They look so shiny and nice. Hubs and the boys tasted it and it was good for them.

I am on a diet but just need to try one. It was very nice. The custard was smooth and soft. Pastry was just nice and crispy. 

This recipe is a keeper. A tad sweet as the pastry already has some sugar. Will cut down the sugar next time.