Pizza

Posted by Vivian in Italian

0 comments

The "recipe" for the above is really simple - one Fisherprice linka-doo with a watering can cover stuffed right in the centre. Voila, and we have a "pizza" ready to be served. The kids and I came up with this "recipe" long time ago in the bathtub while I was washing them up. Matty even added that the little holes of the watering can cover are pepperonis. Though the "pizza" is unlikely to score any points in the taste department, we definitely deserve a distinction for creativity.

Anyway, back to some real pizzas!!

2 weekends ago while making some plastic pizzas in the bathtub, Matty asked if I could make him a real pizza. The last time I attempted putting pizzas on the kids' plate was almost a year ago and it wasn't well-received by Elaina. I stopped whipping it up again. After slogging hard in the kitchen to cook up a meal, the last thing I want is a child who pushes the food around the plate. It was with a lot of courage that I promised Matty we will have pizzas for the following weekend.

Pizza is a really versatile dish and almost anything can be used as a topping. Even the base can be either freshly home-made, frozen crust from the supermarket, pita bread or simply sandwich bread.

My dad once told me that if the base is freshly made, I should bake it slightly first before adding the toppings. This way it will prevent the toppings from burning (since it will take longer for the base to cook as opposed to the toppings). This will have to be a mental note for now. I wasn't prepared to knead the dough without the help of a bread making machine or mixer. Time is precious in my case.

A question sparked late last week while I was picking up the frozen crusts. The instructions on the packaging said to spread the tomato paste first and then cheese. Other toppings to follow. In the past, I have always had the cheese last. So which should be the way? I did a search on the internet (my guru for everything!) and came upon this site that talked about nothing but pizzas. Apparently, this is the right order:

1. Tomato paste
2. Cheese - to hold the toppings down and to keep the base moist
3. Other toppings
4. Cheese - to cover the toppings and keep them moist

I took the advice. I had mozzarella cheese as the first layer of cheese and lastly I topped the pizzas with cheddar cheese. Of course, common sense told me that after the first layer of cheese, toppings like ham and pepperoni went next since they are flat and other toppings which included the mushrooms, onions and pineapples came after that, intricately balanced on the ham and pepperoni.

This was the final product that made it to our dining table (and fortunately Elaina had no issues this time round) ...

Macaroni in Thick Soup

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Noodles, Pasta

0 comments

Matty came down with a slight flu last Thursday and I decided that I shall cook something soupy for him over the weekend.

On top of wanting to go easy with the boy's digestive system, after 2 full weeks of meal planning and meal preparation I really want to go easy on myself as well. "Keeping it simple" was the operative word. But to prevent someone going on hunger strike because the food wasn't exciting enough for his palate, I jazzed up the boring macaroni in chicken soup and came up with this (which didn't turn out to be quite as simple in the end!)....

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken thigh (with bone-in) 
• 2l of water 
• 5 dried Chinese mushroom (soaked overnight and cut into thin strips) 
• Half a stick of carrot (cut into thin strips) 
• 50 gm Xiao Bai Cai (cut into thin strips) 
• 200 gm dried elbow pasta (pre-cooked) 
• 5 tablespoons of corn flour 
• 200 ml of water 
• 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce 
• 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce 
• 2 teaspoon of sesame oil 
• 2 eggs (beaten) 

Preparation:

• Bring 2l of water to boil and add in chicken. 
• About 10 minutes into cooking, add in dried mushroom 
• Continue to let the soup simmer for another 10 minutes or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked. 
• Season soup with a bit of salt. 
• Remove chicken and mushroom from the soup 
• Strain the soup and set aside. 
• Shred chicken using finger tips and discard the bones. 
• Bring soup to boil again and add in green vegetable and carrot. 
• Mix in chicken and mushroom when the vegetables are almost done. 
• Combine corn flour with 200 ml of water and mix thoroughly. Add in oyster sauce, light soy sauce and sesame oil, and stir well. 
• Turn down the heat to slightly lower than medium and stir in corn flour mixture to soup. 
• Once the soup has thicken, turn off heat and pour in beaten egg. Give a stir or 2 to break the egg up. 
• Serve soup over precooked elbow pasta 

Number of Servings: 4

Chicken and Pasta Casserole

Posted by Vivian in Italian, Pasta

0 comments

Attempted this the 2nd time today and definitely think that it tastes much better.  Not sure if it is because I adjusted the amount of sour cream down, or because I had used the Campbell's premium cream of wild mushroom as opposed to the normal cream of mushroom, or maybe because I was less pressed for time and could do a better job.  But I have to say that a rush job (including cooking) usually delivers result less than satisfying.

Ingredients:

• 200 gm spiral pasta (pre-cooked) 
• 300 ml can cream of mushroom 
• 200 ml sour cream 
• 6 chicken fillet 
• 250 gm broccoli (cut into small pieces) 
• 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs 
• 1 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese 

Preparation: 

• Roast chicken fillet at 200 degree Celsius for 20 minutes. 
• Roughly cut chicken into smaller pieces. 
• Mix cream soup with 100 ml of water to thin consistency. 
• Combine pasta, broccoli, cream soup, sour cream and chicken. 
• Transfer mixture into an oven-proof dish and top with breadcrumbs and cheddar cheese. 
• Bake at 180 degree Celsius for 25 minutes or until cheese has melted and top is golden brown. 

Number of Servings: 4

Wonton

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Pork

0 comments

This is an extremely overdue post due to the lack of time and energy. The past week was simply crazy with the mother-in-law on a 2-week vacation and me having to play the role of a stay-at-home-mum on certain days and a working-mum on other days. Draining when I need to live 2 days in 1. One more week to go before life goes back to normal.

In a short span of 7 days, I have attempted making wontons twice. The beauty of this dish is that I can freeze the wontons after wrapping and simply throw them in boiling water minutes before serving, without even the need to thaw them. Simple enough for the maid to manage and I don't have to worry that the kids will be having the same menu for lunch (the maid lacks creativity when it comes to meal planning!).

Ingredients:

• 30 wonton wrappers 
• 1 knob of fresh ginger (crushed) 
• 200 gm minced pork 
• 1/2 egg (beaten) 
• 1 tablespoon shaoxing wine 
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil 
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce 
• Pepper 
• 50ml cold chicken stock 

Preparation:

• Soak crushed ginger in chicken stock for 5 minutes and discard ginger thereafter.
• Mix together minced pork, egg, sesame oil, light soy sauce and a dash of white pepper. 
• Add chicken stock in stages while mixing. 
• Place 1 teaspoon of filing in centre of wonton wrapper. Fold wonton skin diagonally and seal two sides together with a bit of water. Repeat steps for all wonton wrappers. 
• Cook wontons in boiling water. Cooked wontons will rise to surface of water. 

Number of Servings: 30 wontons

Shrimp Paste Chicken (虾酱鸡)

Posted by Vivian in Chicken

0 comments

Crispy and savoury. Enough said! No lengthy write-up required on why this dish deserves a spot in this blog.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg mid-joint chicken wings (washed and drained dry) 
• 1 egg white 
• 4 tablespoons plain flour 
• 5 tablespoons corn flour 
• 2 tablespoons shrimp paste 
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil 
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper 
• 1 tablespoon hua tiao wine 
• 1 tablespoon sugar 
• 1 tablespoon honey

Preparation:

• Mix shrimp paste, sesame oil, pepper, wine, sugar, honey and 1 tablespoon of corn flour together. 
• Add in chicken wings to marinate for 1 to 2 hours. 
• Stir in egg white and mix till well combine. 
• Combine 4 tablespoons of plain flour and 4 tablespoons of corn flour. Mix well. 
• Coat every wing evenly with flour mixture. 
• Using medium heat, fry chicken wings until golden brown. 

Number of Servings: 4

Orange Glazed Chicken

Posted by Vivian in Chicken

0 comments

This recipe originated from a book titled "Just 5 Things".  The very interesting part about this book is that all the dishes only require 5 ingredients.  The recipes are extremely easy to follow as a result.

The original recipe serves the chicken with couscous but I had it replaced with pasta because I still haven't quite acquired the taste (or rather texture) of couscous.

Ingredients:

• 4 portions of chicken breast or thigh (de-boned) 
• 2 oranges 
• 2 tablespoons of honey 

Preparation:

• Squeeze juice from orange and strain to remove pulp. 
• Add honey to orange juice and mix well. 
• Marinade chicken with mixture for at least 1 hour. 
• Grill chicken on both sides until well-done. 

(Chicken can be baked with oven. Brush chicken with olive oil before baking.)

Number of Servings: 4