Roasted Asparagus with Garlic and Lemon

A simple easy to do side dish for busy people.

PREP TIME 5 Min

COOK TIME 10 Min
READY IN 15 Min

SERVINGS & SCALING
Original recipe yield: Serves 2, as a side dish

INGREDIENTS
1 packet of asparagus, rough ends trimmed (approximately 300 gms)
Olive oil, as needed
Italian herbs (optional)
4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
Lemon juice (1/2 lemon)
Pepper, to taste
Sea salt, to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat olive oil in a frying pan. Throw in garlic. After a couple of minutes, before the garlic browns, throw in a dash of italian herbs and the asparagus. Roast over pan for less than 5 minutes - use a wooden stirrer to test if the asparagus is still crunchy, not wilting (if so, it's overcooked!). Throw in salt and pepper to taste.
2. Drizzle lemon juice over the asparagus. Serve hot!

TIPS
Note: Use thicker asparagus shoots if they are available to you. It's easier to prevent them from overcooking.

Be careful not to get the garlic burnt. This dish is supposed to be subtle, to replicate what it's like baking the asparagus in an oven. However, with such thin asparagus shoots, it's best to cook them over a pan to prevent them from overcooking.

Healthy Mushroom & Chicken Risotto

I am not a big fan of rice dishes, but was tempted earlier today to try a new recipe. A few days back, I had a bit of craving for that wild mushroom soup (not the creamy milky version you so often get in restaurants) and thought it would be good to try making a mushroom sauce based risotto. I had something similar a couple of years back in a restaurant in Holland Village, and wanted to recreate that taste long forgotten.

PREP TIME 15 mins
COOK IN 1 hour (I used brown short grain rice which I believe takes longer to cook, it should cook in half an hour if you use the normal arborio rice for risottos)

SERVINGS & SCALING
Original recipe yield: Serves 2 as a main course

INGREDIENTS

300 gms of fresh mixed mushrooms (packet comprising of portebello, white and brown swiss mushrooms)

200 gms of chicken breast, sliced

Dry white wine, 1 glass or 1/2 glass, as preferred

Vegetable or fish stock, 1 cube or 1/2 cube, as preferred

1 cup brown short grain rice (rightfully, you should use arborio rice)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

Mixed italian herbs (a dash)

Thyme (optional)

Tarragon (optional)

Spring onions / chives (optional)

Parmesan, 1/2 cup shredded

Olive oil, as needed

40 gm butter (optional)

Sea salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat some olive oil over a deep saucepan. Throw in the chopped garlic and onions. Throw in a dash of italian herbs. When the onions turn translucent, throw the uncooked rice in and mix well. Stir for around a couple of minutes until the rice grains appear glassy.
2. Add the wine into the mixture over medium heat and stir, until the wine is more or less absorbed and the flavours develop in the rice grains.
3. On the side, make a stock mixture (of maybe 5-6 cups of water with broken chicken/vegetable stock) and stir 1/2 cup bit by bit into the saucepan with the rice. Once the liquid is more or less absorbed, stir in another 1/2 cup. Repeat this process until the rice grains are cooked al dente (firm yet tender to the bite).
4. On the side, separately marinate the chicken slices with sea salt, pepper and a dash of tarragon (or italian herbs). Fry in olive oil in a saucepan till browned and set aside.
5. Next, fry the mushrooms in a little bit of olive oil and butter (optional). Once the rice grains (cooked separately) are more or less cooked, throw the mushrooms mixture (with butter sauce/oil) into the risotto mixture. Continue cooking on medium low heat and keep on stirring.
6. Once done, stir in the shredded parmesan. Garnish with thyme/chopped spring onions and top with the stir fried chicken. Your risotto is ready for consumption!

TIPS
1. I wanted my risotto to be steeped in the wild mushroom sauce. I used a blender to blend half of the mushrooms very finely. For the other half I had I chopped them roughly, for texture in the risotto. This can be adjusted depending on your reference.
2. Though most risotto recipes call for cream and cheese, I left the parmesan out this time, on request from the husband. I used butter though when I fried the mushrooms, as all cooks know, it gives an instant great flavour to any dish. If you are health conscious, use either butter to fry the mushrooms or top your risotto with parmesan, but not both. Either one is enough to give your risotto a great taste. Still the flavours were fully developed and this is a recipe I will return to again.
3. Keep on stirring - it's very important not to overcook or undercook the rice grains. However, it is not wise to pour too much water into the saucepan at any one time in your bid to cook the rice grains. The technique is to pour in half a cup at a time, and to keep on stirring until most of the liquid water is absorbed, and then re-adding in the next half a cup of water. You have to be there when it's cooking. Making risotto is a laborious process, but well worth it if that's what you are craving at the moment! You need lots of patience.
4. Because I used brown rice (short grain) but not the usual arborio rice, I took around an hour, longer than anticipated. For some reason, it took a really long time to cook. Most risotto recipes wherein the arborio rice is used have a cooking time of 35 minutes.

Healthy Wholemeal Wraps

Chicken Tomato Pesto Pasta

Italian food gourmet style at home - my husband is a fan of pesto pastas, I had set out to make pesto pasta for him one evening. Unfortunately when I went to Cold Storage, the fresh basil leaves (to make the pesto sauce) was retailing at 4 dollars plus. Instead I got a premade pesto powder (McCormicks). There is also premade pesto sauce (more liquified in a glass bottle) which I wanted to get but didn't see that day, hence I got the pesto powder instead, since it was cheaper (and more convenient!) than getting the fresh basil leaves and other ingredients to make the pesto sauce separately. The result was a delicious nicely flavoured pasta - try it at home - you will not be disappointed. Such simple ingredients and yet such a scrumptious plate of pesto pasta. As we are not great photographers, the pictures don't do the dish any justice!

PREP TIME 15 Min
COOK TIME 10 Min
READY IN 25 Min

SERVINGS & SCALING
Original recipe yield: Serves 2 as a main course.

INGREDIENTS
2 chicken breasts, deskinned and deboned
Pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste
Penne pasta, 1/2 packet
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 tomatoes, finely chopped, drained of excess juice and pulp
Mayonnaise, 1 dollop (full tablespoon)
McCormicks pesto sauce mix, 1/2 packet
Hazelnut oil (can be replaced with olive oil)

DIRECTIONS

1.Rub the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Boil the chicken breasts in water (just enough to create a thicker stock). Once the chicken breasts are cooked, retain the flavoured boiled water. Set aside 1/3 cup. Cool the chicken breasts and shred.
2. Cook the penne pasta in boiling water until al dente. Drain and set aside.
3. In a heated wok, add in two tablespoons of hazelnut oil. Throw in the onion sand stir fry until the onions become translucent. Throw in the tomatoes. Saute for a while. Add in the pesto powder (or sauce if you bought the sauce version) and the 1/3 cup of chicken stock you saved earlier. Mix well. Add in one dollop of mayonnaise - this replaces sour cream in some pesto pasta recipes - you notice the sauce becomes slightly thicker.
4. Throw in the pasta and mix well. Have some pepper on top before serving. Viola it's done!

TIPS
Note:

(a) The hazelnut oil (gourmet organic and bought from a specialty store - Crescendos) gave the pesto pasta a very rich intense flavour. I am aware most households may not have this - you can still create a delicious recipe using olive oil (without the subtle nutty flavour and aroma of course).

(b) For those who are privy to the magic of mirin and have a bottle at home, you can add in a tbsp when you are marinating your chicken breasts. It gives the stock a delicious flavour. I recommend though if you use mirin, you can forgo the salt in your chicken breasts.

(c) If you do not want that slightly creamy texture or for the diet conscious, you can skip the mayonnaise.

Healthy Grilled Fish with Baked Vegetables

Grilled fish fillet with baked vegetables - choice for the diet-conscious and easy to prepare.

PREP TIME 10 Min (excluding marination time)
COOK TIME 15 Min
READY IN 25 Min

SERVINGS & SCALING
Original recipe yield: Serves 2 as a main course.

INGREDIENTS
2 huge fish fillets (dory or sutchi or any other similar tasting fish)
1/2 cup of orange juice OR pineapple juice
1 medium sized onion, sliced into rings
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 green pepper, cut into medium sized pieces
1 tsp turmeric powder
dash of pepper
dash of paprika / chilli flakes (optional)
a pinch of salt (approximately 1 tsp)
a wee bit of olive oil
italian mixed herbs, 2 tbsp

DIRECTIONS

1. Pour the juice into bowl/deep plate where you intend to marinate the fish. Rub each side of each fillet with the oil, then salt, pepper, turmeric powder and herbs. Coat each fillet with the juice. Throw in the carrots, green pepper and onion rings. Coat the vegetables well with the marinate (juice and everything else in the mixture). Leave the fish and vegetables to marinate for at least 30 mins.
2. Preheat your oven at 220 degree Celsius for approximately five minutes beforehand. On the baking tray which is covered with aluminium foil, arrange the green pepper / carrots on the bottom so that they create a support for the fish fillets. This prevents the fish from becoming too soggy due to the excess liquid marinate. Arrange the onion rings over the fish fillets. Pour the marinate over the onions, fish and vegetables on the baking tray. Bake for approximately 12-15 mins and check with a fork to see if fish is cooked.

TIPS
Note:

(a) Many grilled fish recipes suggest using orange juice as a marinate, and for lime juice to be squeezed over once the fish fillets are cooked. I had no limes and orange juice left, and used pineapple juice instead (with a slight tangy taste in place of lime) - it worked out fine!

(b) I don't like my fish fillets to look pasty white, hence I used turmeric for some colouring. You can leave that out if the colouring is not an issue with you.

(c) goes well with the aglio olio

Spaghetti Aglio Olio Prawn

I always loved the spaghetti aglio olio from Borders cafe - it's a simple dish really, but i enjoy the taste, more so with the fresh huge prawns the pasta dish usually comes with. Borders cafe is pretty generous with their portions, and I am a sucker for portions. On a lazy Sunday afternoon, I tried to re-create the same dish with whatever ingredients I already have in the refrigerator.

PREP TIME 10 Min
COOK TIME 10 Min
READY IN 20 Min

SERVINGS & SCALING
Original recipe yield: Serves 2 as a main course.

INGREDIENTS
Spaghetti, 1/2 packet
1 tbsp salt (or less to taste)
chilli flakes / paprika, to taste
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Prawns, deshelled and deveined, a handful
2 tbsp basil leaves, chopped (fresh preferred) / OR the same amount of mixed Italian herbs
Red cooking wine, 1 tbsp (optional)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook the spaghetti in boiling water (and with a dash of salt and olive oil) until al dente. Drain and set aside. Run cool water through the spaghetti to prevent over-cooking (this helps if there is a time lapse to serving after cooking the spaghetti and if the other ingredients are not ready).
2. Dribble the olive oil into the frying pan. Once oil is heated, throw the garlic in and saute for a couple of minutes (before it gets too brown). Next throw in the herbs / basil leaves and the paprika / chilli flakes. Stir frying the herbs / spices ensures that the flavours are infused with the oil. Saute for a bit.
3. Throw in the prawns and saute. Now at this juncture, if you are not into using too much oil, yet you find the stir fried mixture too dry, and you happen to have some leftover wine (in my case I had red cooking wine), you can sprinkle a little bit over the mixture and toss well. This helps to prevent the herbs / garlic / chilli from sticking too much to the pan.
4. Add in the spaghetti and toss well. Add salt to taste. Mix well.
5. Serve with a slight sprinkle of basil / herbs and chilli flakes on the top. Tastes better and prevents the dish from looking too dull.

TIPS
Note:

(a) Use larger, juicier prawns if you are a prawn lover. Duh! In my case (because I am lazy and I am sure many of you working women out there are as well), I usually have a packet of frozen cooked (or uncooked) deveined and deshelled shrimps in the fridge for my convenience. When cooking dishes like the tom yum beehoon in my previous post etc (see: http://cooking.tanejas.com/2009/07/tom-yum-bee-hoon-bi-hun-rice-vermicelli.html), fried rice or any pasta dish, I can conveniently dethaw these prawns to use. Taste wise, it ain't too bad still pretty juicy and (tastes) fresh. It really cuts short the preparation time!

(b) I didn't have basil so I used italian herbs (mixed) which has some amount of basil, rosemary, thyme and other italian herbs for that matter. Still tastes good.

Homemade Chicken Burgers - Healthy Grilled version

If you have been following my last post, you will have probably anticipated that this would come soon. Since the homemade beef burgers were so yummy, I couldn't resist trying out making these chicken burgers no more than 1 day after assembling our homemade beef burgers which were a hit with my husband and I. Feeling guilty from the consumption of a huge, thick & juicy patty of red meat just the day before, I decided to scale this down a notch and have it grilled, instead of pan frying, like I did for the beef paties. Minimum oil was also used, which meant our bread was toasted plain in our oven. We expected something really plain tasting, but the result surpassed our expectations. It was wholesome, filling and really satisfying, coupled with the fact that this meal comes with far less guilt than our home made beef burgers for two reasons: 1. white meat is healthier than red meat, duh; and 2. this is a grilled not a pan fried version, so less oil was used on the whole.

PREP TIME 10 Min
COOK TIME 15 Min
READY IN 25 Min

SERVINGS & SCALING
Original recipe yield: Serves 2 as a main course. You can serve it with salad on the side - in our case we served it with coleslaw on the side.

INGREDIENTS

For Chicken Patties:
-Minced chicken (arond 330 gm)
- handful of coriander leaves, fresh and chopped
-1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 egg, beaten (*could have been 1/2 egg see below)
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup (*could have been 1 tbsp see below), 1 tbsp Linghams chilli sauce
- a dash of ground pepper
- 1 tbsp chilli powder or paprika
- 1 tbsp chilli flakes
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard (optional, I intended to put this in, but omitted it in my cooking)

To assemble later:
- Hamburger buns (2-3), cut in half
- Lettuce
- Tomato
-Dijon mustard and tomato sauce, 1 tbsp of each and mixed in a small saucer at the side
- Cheese (optional)

DIRECTIONS
1. With your hands, mix all the ingredients listed for the chicken in a bowl. Mix well.
2. Divide the mixture into 2 patties. Form each patty into a burger shape, compress with your hands. You can leave it in the freezer for around 10 mins plus. It will help the patties stay together. I notice that the chicken patties were more liquefied than the beef patties made previously, and it was hard for the chicken patties to stay together, hence it's almost a must to put the chicken patties in the freezer before cooking. See the asterisks * above that are bracketed, on hindsight, less egg / tomato sauce should be put in to ensure that the mixture is drier.
3. Preheat your oven at approximately 200 degree celsius for around 10 mins. Place the chicken patties into the oven and cook for 10 plus minutes.
4. Toast the hamburger buns on the side without any oil.
5. Assemble the hamburger buns - you can use your creativity at this stage. For ours, we added some sauce (mixture of dijon and tomato sauce) at the bottom of the bun, just a wee bit, place the patty on top, then a slice of a tomato, then half a slice of cheese on the hot patty to melt the cheese, then a lettuce leaf, and finally the top of the hamburger bun.
6. Viola! The hamburger is done.

TIPS
Note: Beef is a tastier meat on the whole than chicken, and I find that adding more chilli flakes helps a lot in this case. You have your own homemade healthy version, somewhat skin to Macdonalds McSpicy, but without the guilt!

When your patties cant appear to stay together, it may be worthwhile considering cooking the patties in the oven instead of pan frying them. You will manage to salvage your patties whilst making a healthier meal.

Note to self: It's really tempting to do burgers up as well for the next weekend, but my husband and I resolved to have homemade burgers as a treat on a monthly basis, not more. Let's see if we can hold ourselves up to that!

Homemade Beef Burgers

My husband loves ordering gourmet burgers, be it at the likes of Spruce, Brewerkz, Botak Jones, Blooies etc, but it never occurred to me to make my own burgers at home. Last weekend, whilst browsing through The Sunday Times, I was pleasantly surprised to see some recipes for homemade beef and chicken burgers. I had the cooking itch once again and decided to follow through, of course with some improvisations along the way. I added certain ingredients which I thought would make the beef patties taste much better with some minor research done on the internet. I am not much of a burger person, but my husband is and he absolutely loved what I cooked that day. To repeat the words of The Sunday Times, "Do try this at home!" It was absolutely satiating...

PREP TIME 10 Min
COOK TIME 15 Min
READY IN 25 Min

SERVINGS & SCALING
Original recipe yield: Serves 2 as a main course. You can serve it with salad on the side - in our case we served it with russian recipe on the side. It's one of the recipes on this cookblog.

INGREDIENTS

For Beef Patties:
-1 packet of minced beef (arond 330 gm)
- handful of coriander leaves, fresh and chopped
-1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup, 1 tbsp Linghams chilli sauce
- a dash of mixed italian herbs
- a dash of ground pepper
-3 tbsp of rolled oats (optional)
- 1 tbsp chilli powder or paprika
- 1 tbsp chilli flakes (optional, if you wish for a slightly spicier taste)

To assemble later:
- Hamburger buns (2-3), cut in half
- Lettuce
- Tomato
-Dijon mustard and tomato sauce, 1 tbsp of each and mixed in a small saucer at the side
- Cheese (optional)

DIRECTIONS
1. With your hands, mix all the ingredients listed for the beef patties in a bowl. Mix well.
2. Divide the mixture into 2 or 3 patties, in our case, as we preferred the beef patties to be thick, we divided the mixture into just 2 patties. Form each patty into a burger shape, compress with your hands. You can leave it in the freezer / fridge for around 10 mins plus if you have some time in between but this is not strictly necessary. It will help the patties stay together.
3. In a wok, heat some cooking oil and fry on low heat for 3-5 minutes on each side. Pierce your fork through the patties to ensure that they are cooked (not sticky) and browned. Be careful not to burn these. Slightly charred is all you need!
4. The hamburger buns can be toasted either in a toaster or over the stove. We sprinkled a slight dab of olive oil (just a couple of drops on the white of each side of the bun) and place the buns on our dry pan on low heat, toasting them for around 3 minutes.
5. Assemble the hamburger buns - you can use your creativity at this stage. If you like pickles, add pickles by all means. For ours, we added some sauce (mixture of dijon and tomato sauce) at the bottom of the bun, just a wee bit, place the patty on top, then a slice of a tomato, then half a slice of cheese, then a letture leaf, and finally the top of the hamburger bun.
6. Viola! The hamburger is done.

TIPS
Note: I heard worcestershire sauce can give a delicious flavour to barbequed meats. Add a dash of this to the beef patties mixture if you have this at home. I didn't, but my bun still tasted delicious.

I find that Lingham's chilli sauce has a very distinctive taste, but you can substitute with any other brand of chilli sauce instead, the herbs and spices added to the beef patties will help to make up for the flavour.

The mixture of Dijon mustard and tomato sauce is not necessary if you don't mind your burgers dry. The beef patties turned out pretty tasty.

If you prefer melted cheese, just add your cheese over the beef patties when they are cooked but are still on the hot pan for about a minute, just before you take the patties out of the pan.

For a healthier version, the patties can be grilled over a griller or baked in your oven instead of frying them over a pan.

Note to self: The burgers were so delicious we wolfed them down at one shot. Considering the total costs of this meal (i.e. minced meat etc., but noting we could use the remaining sauces and had some existing sauces), the meal caused us less than 8 dollars! And a gourmet burger could easily cost you at least 15 bucks these days in a western food restaurant. Fast food joints don't count, the beef patties certainly arent as wholesome as these!

Kind of eager to try doing up chicken burgers next week!