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.

Greek Fish Soup (Psaro Soupa)

This dish was inspired by the homemade fish soup I savoured at Stalactites, a greek restaurant in Melbourne.

PREP TIME Rather long, unless you have the convenience of a hand held blender to finely chop the vegetables
COOK IN 45 mins

SERVINGS & SCALING
Original recipe yield: Serves 4, with bread on the side.

INGREDIENTS

1/3 kg (approximately) of firm fish
1/3 cup olive oil
2 onions sliced (very finely)
2 potatoes sliced (into cubes)
2 carrots sliced (into very small cubes)
1 cup celery chopped
1 clove garlic minced
2 cups tomatoes (1/2 can peeled tomatoes) (chopped tomatoes)
1 wineglass dry white wine (and one for the cook ;))
6 cups water or fish stock
1 bay leaf (optional)
Peppercorns (to taste)
Sea salt (to taste)
1/2 lemon (juice of) (important)
3 tablespoons chopped parsley

1/2 cup rice (semi-cooked, should be no more than equivalent of the total amount of celery and carrots when cooked, since you don't want the rice to overwhelm the soup dish)

DIRECTIONS

1. Put uncooked rice (1/2 cup) for 4 people in water and boil. When rice is slightly al dente, drain and set aside. Do not overcook.
2. Thinly slice fish (I used toman (local fish) or any firm flesh fish like snapper will do) & marinate the fish slices with salt and pepper.
3. Separately, in a pan, heat olive oil, fry onion, potatoes, carrots, celery, garlic. Sprinkle water and let it simmer for 5 mins, add tomatoes, wine, water (6 cups with 1 cube stock), bay leave (if you have this) and peppercorns, bring to boil and continue simmering at low heat for around 30 mins. Add drained rice, salt, lemon juice, parsley and fish at the very last step. Bring to boil, lower heat and continue cooking until fish is tender, for about fifteen minutes.
4. Taste the soup - add more lemon juice if more zestiness is desired.

TIPS
1. I used a Bosch handheld blender to pulse through the vegetables coarsely - this saved a lot of time on preparation even though the vegetables were not evenly chopped (not quite possible with a simple handheld blender). Generally, the soup should have the appearance of a summer vegetable soup, but with fish slices and a zesty punch to it.

2. For a less heavy meal option, leave out the rice and simply have the soup on its own.

Spicy Garden Vegetable Pasta with Grilled sausage

PREP TIME 15 Min
COOK TIME 15-20 Min
READY IN 30 Min

SERVINGS & SCALING
Original recipe yield: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS
250 gm Pasta - Spagetti or Linguine (can be substituted with fusilli)
1 Onion Chopped
1/2 cup Garlic Chopped
3 Peppers - Green Yellow and Red, sliced
2 Tomatoes - finely chopped (can be substituted with cherry or sundried)
1 Carrot - sliced
2 cups mushrooms - sliced (optional)
1/2 cup wine - i used red for this one (if it's not worth drinking, it's not worth using in your cooking)
Mixed Italian Herbs, Red Chili Powder or Chili Flakes, Course Black Pepper
3 tblspoon olive oil (extra virgin)

DIRECTIONS
1. Cook pasta al dente (follow usual instructions on the pasta pack)
2. Saute the onions, garlic (2-4mins) in the olive oil - add the rest of
the ingredi. Tomatoes, mushrooms, etc
3. Add in the spices, and wine , cook for about 5-10 mins covered ( until the tomatoes have disintegrated)
4. Throw in the pasta - mix well and serve

For the sausage - Grill as desired.

Greek Fish Soup

Healthy Wholemeal Wraps

Mushroom Fried Rice

Vegetarian version of the Chinese Fried Rice

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

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

INGREDIENTS
Sliced fresh button mushrooms, 1 packet
300gms of mixed vegetables (finely cubed corn, peas and carrots)
3 eggs beaten (use 3 egg whites and only 1 yolk for healthier version)
Cooked rice (from 1/2 cup of uncooked basmati rice or any other white rice), left overnight in the fridge
1/3 ginger, finely chopped
1 medium onion, diced
Pepper
Salt
Soya sauce
Cooking oil
Belachan or other chilli sauce to taste (if desired - optional)
Spring onions to taste (if desired - optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Boil water in a pot. Throw the mixed vegetables in once the water boils. Once cooked, drain the water and leave aside.

2. Heat up the oil in the frying pan. Use around 2-3 tablespoons of oil at least. Fry the onions until translucent. Add some ginger and saute for a while. Add the beaten eggs mixture. Break up the eggs mixture and add a pinch of salt and pepper.

3. Add the mushrooms and stir fry until cooked. Sprinkle some water if you do not have enough oil and do not want to use too much oil. Next add the cooked mixed vegetables. Mix well. Add more salt and pepper to taste. If you have soya sauce, add in a little as well.

4. Mix the separated rice (before adding into the wok you should break up the clumps so the rice grains are nicely separated) into the mixture of vegetables and mushrooms. Keep on low heat and mix well. Add more salt, pepper and chilli sauce (or belachan) to taste if desired. Otherwise you can switch off the fire once the rice is well mixed and not too moist.

5. You can garnish with spring onions if you wish.

TIPS
Note: Onions help to give this vegetarian version a very good flavour. Add more onions if that's your thing. Just make sure it's finely diced!

Instead of mixing the belachan or chilli sauce, just have the belachan or chilli sauce served on the side.

Handmade Noodle (or rather Flour Cakes), more commonly known as Mee Hoon Kueh / Kway

Comfort food for the soul. Nothing beats homemade shaped mee hoon kueh over the flat squarish ones you get out of a machine outside.

PREP TIME Rather long, if you want to make a good broth
COOK IN 30 Min

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

INGREDIENTS
1 bowl of dried shitake mushrooms, washed and soaked for at least an hour
Anchovies, a handful or as much as you wish
Fish balls, around 6
Chicken fillets, 250 gms
Plain or multi purpose flour, 300 gms
Tong Cai (Preserved vegetables), a handful
Green leafy veges, chye sim or spinach, half a packet
Pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste
Ikan bilis stock, 1/2 cube (Optional)

DIRECTIONS

1.To create a really tasty stock, boil dried anchovies in boiling water. Once the water boils, simmer on low fire for at least an hour. Set aside flavourful stock for the actual cooking.
2. Set aside and slice the mushrooms that have been soaked. The water used to soak the anchovies can be added to the flavourful stock created earlier from the boiling of the anchovies. The stock made from boiling anchovies and soaking the mushrooms create a very rich soup.
3. Slice chicken and season with salt and pepper for a short while (10 - 15 mins). Boil the soup and throw the chicken inside to cook.
4. In a bowl, throw in 300gms of multi purpose flour. Add tong cai or preserved vegetables into the flour. Sprinkle some water, bit by bit. Try kneading the dough and mixing with the tong cai thoroughly. If it is too wet, add more flour. If it is too dry, sprinkle a little bit of water. Continue until you knead to get a ball of dough that is of decent consistency (not too sticky). Let the ball of dough settle for a while (say 15 mins).
5. Rub the ball of dough (presumably to be still slightly sticky with some flour so it doesn't stick too much. Put it on a dry chopping board or surface coated with some flour. Either use a rolling pin or your hands to flatten the dough. Use a knife to cut vertically into strips.
6. Using your hands, take a reasonable sizeable piece from each strip and flatten with your finger tips. Throw into the boiling soup, one by one. Stir with a ladle to prevent pieces from sticking together. You can estimate the size of each mee hoon kueh by your own preference. Take just a bit of dough if you prefer small thinner strips, more dough if you prefer thicker bigger pieces of mee hoon kueh.
7. Add vegetables and fishballs. Add stock or salt to taste, if preferred. Add some pepper to taste.

TIPS
1. You can make mee hoon kueh without preserved vegetables (tong cai), just that that ingredient makes the mee hoon kueh tastier. The mee hoon kueh served outside is usually w/o this ingredient.

2. Instead of boiling anchovies in water for a natural tasting stock, just add more ikan bilis stock (up to a cube) and salt if you do not have time to make the stock.

3. Instead of using fishballs, some people may prefer to use minced pork which is fine as well. Add the minced pork in towards the end.

4. You can also shallow fry anchovies and serve on top of the mee hoon kueh soup once it is ready.

5. You can also crack an egg over the mee hoon kueh as is the case when you are served this dish outside.