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.

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!

Stri Fry Beans with Black Bean Garlic Sauce

Simple weekday stir fries.

A packet of long beans

A tablespoon of black bean and garlic paste

Chopped up 3 cloves of garlic.

I cooked the beans in hot water first so it will cook faster when i stir fry the other stuff.

Once beans turned green,take them out.

Throw some garlic into a pan, stir fry till it is fragrant then add the paste then the beans. Quick and yummy.

Lasagna

Lasagna - Eggplants and spinach with minced pork

 I made the bechemel sauce from Thermomix. Took only 7 minutes. how crazy is that and it was smooth nice. I left it to stand too long so you can see the top starting to curd. the sauce was not enough, i need to make 2 batch of this next time. see recipe here

 

 The vegetables were massive. 1 large eggplant, 1 zucchini, 1 carrot and handful of spinach. Plus one onion and few cloves of garlic. All minced and mashed up like baby food in the Thermomix.

 I started browning the minced pork. Added some veggie stock and when they are almost pink i pour in the veggies. There were way too much veggies i think. I definitely overdose on this sauce. Then came in the mushrooms and the pasta sauce, tomato paste, bay leaves dried oregano and seasoning all over.
The sauce tasted so veggie. Might have trouble with Jovan eating it.

 After it is cooked for around 10 minutes, time to get ready to layer the lasagna. I bought store made lasagna sheets.

I covered the bottom with the sheets, then top up with bechemel sauce, meat sauce then bechemel sauce then grated cheese then lasagna sheets. it when on and on for 3 layers.

 in the oven it goes.

 after baking for 45 minutes. the top part was not cook as there is not enough sauce to cover it. So next time definitely need to cover with meat sauce on top. Alot of cheese went into this dish.<

Another version with fresh sheets. See how different the sheets turned out. The packed ones got burnt easily as there were not enough sauce covering the top. The fresh ones cooked nicely and have a yummy crunch. I cooked this version with fresh Latino Sheets and also their Fresh Pasta Sauce. Sauce can easily be made in the Thermomix but i just wanted to try out the Latino brand.
The fresh sheets really mark a difference and is highly recommended.
The sauce, i will make it on my own next time but it definitely taste healthier than the bottled ones.
I made this lasagna with 8 fresh sheets, 6 sheets for the big tray and 2 for the smaller ones.
Vegetables used this time, minced Kale + Carrot + Zucchini. Added more fresh tomatoes, seasoning and just taste as it goes. Mushrooms when into this lasagna as well.
Verdict: much yummier than the previous one I made. Will continue to fine tune for a not so fatty version.:)

Kale Soup

Pureed vegetables of Kale and celery and fry some chips for the kiddos.

 

Roasted Zucchini and Mushroom

The roasted zuchinni and mushrooms are the winners. This recipe is so good. The vinegar gives it a nice zang and the vegies still stay crunchy and moist. a good meal for the family. Packed with proteins and fibre.
http://carriesexperimentalkitchen.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/balsamic-roasted-zucchini-mushrooms.html

Balsamic Roasted Zucchini & Mushrooms
2 Zucchini, washed and sliced into 1/4" thick slices
8-10 Large Mushrooms, rinsed and quartered
2 Cloves Garlic, chopped
2 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar
Kosher Salt, to taste
Fresh Ground Black Pepper, to taste

Add the zucchini, mushrooms and garlic to a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and pour over the vegetables. Mix well then place on a baking sheet. Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes, turning halfway. Serves 4. 

Chicken and Carrot Stew

Chicken Potato and Carrot Stew. My mom used to make this all the time and i hated it but it does pack all the necessary balance diet needs in a single dish. Now i understand why this is such a frequent menu in the house last time. It is easy to make and i added in chinese mushroom too. Recipe below



http://www.thehungryexcavator.com/2012/11/soya-chicken-and-potato-stew-recipe.html

Ingredients:

3 tbsp cooking oil

5 cloves of garlic (sliced)

800g chicken drumsticks (chopped to bite-sized pieces) *
3 medium or 2 large potatoes (chopped to approx 2cm cubes)

2 medium carrots (chopped roughly)

3 tbsp light soy

400ml water

1 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce

3/4 tsp salt (or to taste)

1/2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp sesame oil