Lion's Head Pork Meatballs

In my quest to make more delicious and nutritious one-pot meals for dinner, I had a go at making some Chinese lion's head meatballs. These are large pork meatballs stewed in vegetables, and are so named because the shape of the meatball is supposed to resemble a lion's head and the vegetable is supposed to resemble the lion's mane. I'm not sure if I've eaten these meatballs before, but I was keen to make it at home for my family. I looked at several recipes online before settling on this one to modify and simplify. I omitted the tofu, used only one type of minced pork and did not bother with the noodles. I formed smaller meatballs too, to make them easier to handle for little hands. The hubby and kids enjoyed the meatballs, so this recipe is a keeper.

Lion's Head Pork Meatballs

Ingredients

Meatballs
500g minced pork
1/4 cup (~120g) drained canned water chestnuts, finely diced
1 tablespoon minced peeled ginger
2 scallions/green onion, chopped
1 egg
3 teaspoons minced garlic (approximately 3 cloves), minced and divided (2 for meatball, 1 for broth)
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
3 tablespoons soy sauce, divided (2 for meatball, 1 in broth)
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch, divided (1 for meatball, 1 in broth)
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, divided
1 1/2 cups homemade chicken stock or low-sodium broth
500g Chinese cabbage, cut into 2-inch strips

Method

1. In a large bowl, combine minced pork, diced water chestnuts, minced ginger, chopped scallions, egg, 2 teaspoons minced garlic, Shaoxing wine, white pepper, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, sesame oil and 1 tablespoon cornstarch, and gently mix until well combined, being careful not to over-mix. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2. Using wet hands, form small handfuls of the meatball mixture into balls. Flatten the meatballs a bit.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat in a frying pan, and pan-fry the meatballs in batches until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Flip meatballs and brown other side, about 3 minutes. Transfer meatballs to a large paper towel-lined plate.

4. In a bowl combine chicken broth, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, and 1 teaspoon minced garlic. Mix well and set aside.

5. In the same pan, heat 1 teaspoon oil over medium heat, and add the thick stem parts of the Chinese cabbage. Cook for a few minutes. Arrange meatballs in the pot in a single layer, pour the chicken broth mixture in, and bring to a simmer. Cover and reduce heat to medium low. Cook until meatballs are cooked through (about 10 minutes for large meatballs, 5 minutes for smaller ones).

6. Add the leafy parts of the Chinese cabbage into the pan, cover and simmer for 5 minutes longer.

Serve with rice.

Super-simple slow-cooked oven-braised lamb shanks

I'm not much of a red meat eater. In fact, I used to detest lamb because of its strong gamey smell, and I didn't eat much lamb while growing up (lamb doesn't feature strongly in Malaysian cuisine, and it didn't help that my mum also doesn't like to eat red meat). Hubby and son loves lamb, so I make the effort to cook lamb at least once a week, especially as it's the only good haem source of iron my son can eat (he developed a slight allergy to beef a couple of years ago). In the 13 years of eating with hubby and cooking for him, I have grown to like cooking and eating lamb. It certainly is great encouragement when hubby says I cook lamb better than his mum!

Last Sunday I dabbled for the first time with the slow-cooking method, using lamb shanks which I'd never cooked before. Slow-cooking is definitely a good choice for time-poor home cooks, and I'm surprised it's taken me this long to try it! What I love most about this recipe - aside from its deliciousness - is that I could just put the ingredients into a casserole dish, place it in the oven, walk away and return 3 hours later to a beautifully cooked dish that tastes utterly divine. I looked at several recipes for braised lamb shanks, and in the end decided to just keep the braising liquid simple using the holy trinity of cooking (aka mirepoix, soffrito) plus a generous amount of garlic and mushrooms with a splash of cooking wine. It smelled really good while the shanks were cooking, and the flavours were amazing! And all for such little effort!

Slow-cooked Oven-braised Lamb Shanks

Super-tender lamb:

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 lamb shanks (about 450g or 1 pound each)
1 medium onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
3 stalks celery, sliced
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
200g whole mushrooms
150mL chicken stock
50mL mirin (white/red wine would also do great)

Method

Note: Using a stove-safe and oven-safe casserole pot with a lid or a Dutch oven would be brilliant for this recipe. Also good for a slow-cooker.

1. Preheat oven to 160degC.
2. Using half the oil in a hot pan, sear the lamb shanks on all sides over high heat. Transfer shanks to a casserole dish.

Browning the shanks for some tasty Maillard reaction goodness:

3. Turn down the heat to medium, and use the remaining oil to sauté the mirepoix (onion, garlic, carrot and celery) for a few minutes, taking care not to brown the vegetables.
4. Add the mushrooms and continue sautéing for a couple more minutes, then add the mirin and stock and bring to a simmer. Turn off heat and join contents with the lamb shanks.

Shanks ready for the oven:

5. Cover and bake in the oven for 3 hours.

Place in oven, and leave for 3 hours!

It is not necessary to turn the shanks, especially if completely submerged in the cooking liquid, but I turned these over about halfway through the cooking process:

6. Serve shanks as you like. Would be great with mashed sweet potatoes, rice, couscous etc with some steamed asparagus or green beans.

Three hours later:

Warming Chicken and Vegetable Stew

Whenever it's cold, wet and wintry outside, the kitchen beckons me to cook something warm and comforting for my family. It's times like this when you'd sometimes find me throwing together some vegetables and meat to make a one-pot wonder of a stew. Sometimes it amazes me just how effective it is to make a delicious base just by using three simple ingredients: onions, celery and garlic (the so-called holy trinity of the western cuisine world). I use potatoes to add some body to the stew, and a little curry powder for a spicy undertone. I have tried both bone-in chicken pieces and boneless thighs on separate occasions, and both turned out well. The bone-in chicken pieces will impart a richer and more flavourful stew, but it takes more time to cook; the boneless version offers convenience and brevity in cooking time but little compromise on taste. Using 1/3rd of a can of cream of chicken will add a creamy texture, but be sure to use a good quality brand with no MSG or artificial ingredients otherwise the stew will take on that 'canned food' taste and texture.

As with most of my cooking, I always eye-ball quantities, but the quantities given below should be a good enough guesstimate. A pot of stew is quite forgiving and flexible, and doesn't require precise amounts nor all of the ingredients (hence why I labelled mushrooms as 'optional'). Most of the effort is in the chopping, and then you let everything bubble happily away on the stove with the occasional stir. My family loves it, and I love how easy it is to make it!

I always find it challenging to present a photogenic shot of saucy dishes. Here's how the pot's contents looked like when I finished cooking the stew with boneless thighs and mushrooms:

Warming Chicken and Vegetable Stew

Ingredients

1kg bone-in chicken pieces or 500g boneless thighs (optionally cut into bitesize pieces)
1 medium onion (~150g), chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
200g mushrooms, sliced (optional)
1 cup stock (water is sufficient if using bone-in chicken pieces)
1-2 teaspoons curry powder
1 large potato (~400g), cubed
1/3 of a 400g can Cream of Chicken (~150g)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Dried parsley, to taste

Method

1. Sauté the onion, garlic, celery and mushrooms in a large pot on medium heat until soft (about 5-10 minutes).
2. Add the stock and curry powder and bring to a simmer.
3. Add the potatoes (and chicken, if using bone-in pieces), and simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. If using boneless chicken, add the pieces after the potatoes are almost cooked in step 3, and simmer until chicken is cooked (about 5 to 15 minutes depending on size of the chicken pieces)
5. Stir through the Cream of Chicken, and cook for a further few minutes.
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and sprinkle the parsley into the pot and stir through.
7. Serve with rice, and supplement with more vegetables (stir-fry, casserole, salad) if desired.

I'm a vege freak so I always cook extra stir-fried vegetables. Here's the chicken stew plated on some rice and with stir-fried veg in my son's plate. I just realised he's had that BABYBJÖRN plate for almost 3 years!

Brined Pork Tenderloin Roast with Lightly Caramelised Apples and Onions

I have been experimenting with brining meat over the past few months, and found that poultry and pork benefit the most from brining. This form of marination is one of the most effective way of flavouring and adding moisture to meat, yet not many cooks use this method. Sure, it takes a little bit of advance planning (as little as an hour or two), but brining meat is worth the effort for the results you get. Without going into too much scientific details (for which this book is great for), basically brining hydrates the meat before cooking via osmosis, and if done right, it will produce delicious moist meat. I use half about 1/8 cup salt for 1 litre of water (which is half the amount recommended by most), and some people like to add sugar, herbs and other ingredients in the brine, but I keep thing simple by just using salt. Generally I brine meat for roasting, like a whole chicken (for 6-10hours), a leg of lamb (for 3-4 hours), chicken pieces (for 2 hours) and pork tenderloin (for 2 hours), and I never brine the meat for more than the appropriate brining period because oversalty meat is not tasty at all. It is always better to under-brine than over-brine, and re-adjust next time if needed.

In my most recent brining attempt in the kitchen, I brined pork tenderloin. This cut is low-fat, so it really benefits from some brining to incorporate moisture into the meat to counteract the drying effects of roasting. This wasn't my first time making this recipe, but I'd foolishly neglected to take notes the first time, so I had to do my research all over again when I wanted to do roast pork with apples again. This time I took notes of the two recipes I used to adapt my own recipe (neither recipe used brined meat, but I believe brining the pork is an improvement), AND I took photos so that I can put it on my online journal for future reference. I love having my recipe collection online as it means easy access from anywhere in the world - a valuable resource for someone who moves around so much. This is only a simple recipe with few ingredients, but we all enjoyed dinner that night.

Just a couple of notes here about the method. Ideally I would use an ovenproof skillet to maximise the flavours in the sauce and minimise the washing up, but my oven is too small for my skillet. There were still plenty of yummy bits on the skillet for making the sauce, though probably not as much as if it was also used for the roasting. I lined the oven tray with foil to roast the pork and apple-onion mixture, and then used the foil to make a foil tent for the roasted pork while it's resting. The tray was still clean after I removed the food and foil, so I got away with not having to scrub an extra dish!

Roast Pork Tenderloin with Lightly Caramelised Apples and Onions

Ingredients

1 pork tenderloin (about 350-400g), brined for two hours in a simple solution of 1/8 cup of table salt dissolved in 1L of water
2 tablespoons oil
1 medium onion, sliced into half-rings
1 apple, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (I used Jazz apple but any good cooking apple variety will do)
1/2 cup (125mL) meat stock (preferably beef, but I only had chicken stock on hand)
1/4 cup apple juice (I used apple cider the first time)
Fresh dill, chopped to yield about 1 tablespoon, or adjust to taste (other herbs like parsley or thyme can also be used)

Method

1. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil and fry the sliced onions on medium heat until tender and cooked, stirring often for about 10 minutes. Add the apple slices and sauté for about 5 minutes. Transfer to an oven tray.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Heat the remaining oil in the skillet to medium-high heat. Add the pork and sear until all sides are brown, turning occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Place pork on top of the apple-onion mixture in the oven tray.
3. Place the oven tray in the oven and roast for 15-20 minutes.

4. Transfer pork to a plate and tent with foil and allow to rest for about 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile return the apple-onion mixture to the skillet, add the stock and juice and stir mixture over high heat for a few minutes until slightly reduced. Add the chopped herbs.

6. Slice the pork on a diagonal, and serve with the apple-onion mixture along with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables for a balanced meal.

Super-simple Orange Honey Roast Chicken

I am reluctant and a little embarrassed posting this recipe up because of its simplicity, containing no more than 4 ingredients (5, if you include the oil for oiling the baking pan). However, one of the most important things I've learnt since becoming a mother is not to shun a simple recipe, especially if it is a good one. And I'm sure there are many of you out there who would appreciate simple but delicious way of making food that keeps everyone happy. Most of the work in this recipe comes from juicing the orange and chopping the garlic, which really is no effort at all. The citrus acid is great for tenderising the chicken and orange flavour goes very nicely with poultry (the French knew that when they introduced the old classic Duck a l'Orange to the rest of the world). The honey adds a subtle sweetness that also helps caramelise the chicken to a beautiful golden brown during the roasting process. Add some roast vegetables to cook with the chicken, and you have an easy and healthy meal. Hubby and the toddler loves it whenever I cook this, which is great because it takes almost no effort at all!

Super-simple Orange Honey Roast Chicken

Ingredients

1kg chicken pieces (about 4 drumsticks and 4 thighs)

Marinade
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons honey
Some oil for oiling the baking pan

Method

1. Combine the marinade in a large unreactive container (I use a glass bowl). Place the chicken in the bowl and mix the marinade well with the chicken.

2. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour (overnight is best, but I usually manage with only a few hours because some days I plan what's for dinner after visiting the supermarket in the morning).

3. Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan-forced) / 220°C (conventional) .

4. Transfer the chicken pieces to a large, lightly oiled baking pan, and roast the chicken in the oven for about 45 minutes.

Voila, a yummy chicken dish for your enjoyment!

Cheesy Bacon & Spinach Muffins

Today, my almost-3-year-old boy made lunch, and a big mess as well. He's no stranger to making muffins or helping out in the kitchen, but it is my first time asking the toddler to help cook without hubby to give me a hand. We used my Cheesy Muffin recipe, and added chopped red onion, bacon, ham and spinach to make the muffin more substantial for a lunch meal. We put the muffin mixture together in the living room on the coffee table, which is just the right height for Zak. He was keen to put all the ingredients together, and especially enthusiastic when it came to mixing the wet and dry ingredients together, as evident by the splotches of batter scattered across the coffee table and the living room floor. We both had fun, and quite enjoyed the delicious finished product fresh and hot out of the oven.

(My kid also made some amusing expressions.)

Cheesy Bacon & Spinach Muffins

(This recipe makes more than the usual 12 due to the additional ingredients - we made 16 muffins in all (it does help to have extra muffin cups in addition to the 12-muffin tray), but I think the remainder batter would have made a tasty free-form scone/bun on a small oven tray or loaf tin.)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil (I used grapeseed)
3 bacon rashers (~50g), finely chopped
1/2 red onion (~75g), chopped
4 thin slices of ham (~50g), chopped
150g frozen chopped spinach, prepped according to packet instructions
2 cups (250g) plain flour
2.5 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup (~75g) coarsely grated cheese
1 1/3 cups (275mL) milk
1/4 cup (50mL) grapeseed oil
2 eggs

Before cooking, we had to get the ingredients first from the supermarket:

Method

1. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat, and cook the onion, bacon and ham for a few minutes, stirring often, until the bacon is lightly crisp and the onion is slightly caramelised. Add the chopped spinach to the pan and cook briefly (less than a minute). Remove from heat and allow to cool while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.

2. Preheat oven to 180°C (for fan-forced ovens. Use 200°C for conventional ovens).
2. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl, then stir in cheese.

Checking out what mummy had previously prepared and pre-measured:

4. Combine the wet ingredients (milk, oil and eggs) in a bowl and whisk lightly.

A look of concentration as he makes sure the oil lands inside the bowl:

5. Add the wet mixture and the bacon mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients and combine well.

Shortly after this shot, the boy started mixing a little too enthusiastically, and that was where the photo-taking stopped, at least until the muffins were ready:

6. Spoon mixture into a 12-muffin tray (and additional muffin cups, if needed) to only 2/3 full.
7. Bake for 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean. Stand for 5 minutes in pan before turning onto a wire rack to cool.
8. Best enjoyed fresh and warm out of the oven, and freezes well.

Chomp:

Spiced Mince and Chickpeas with Fruity Couscous

Once every couple of weeks, on a day when I am not so pressed for time, I like to cook a big pot of one-pot dish with enough left over for an easy meal for another busy day. My criteria for a nutritious one-pot meal is quite simple: there should be a nice variety of vegetables of at least the white, red, orange and green colours, and sufficient protein for everyone. I aim for at least 200g of vegetables and 100g of meat or other protein sources per adult per meal. The little one is only about a quarter of my size, so obviously he doesn't need that much - in fact he would eat only about a quarter of the numbers above plus some carbs (e.g. rice, pasta, potatoes etc) to fill up his tum. Minced meat is great for one-pot dishes, and it's also an easy way to get some haem iron into the boy without having to fuss about the fact that red meat is tougher to chew than chicken and fish.

Spiced Mince and Chickpeas with Fruity Couscous on the 2.5 year old's plate:

One day I had bought minced pork intended for a one-pot meal, but I really didn't feel like doing another spag bol. A look in the pantry showed that I had a can each of chickpeas and tomatoes, so it was off to google to find some yummy recipes. The search result turned up mostly Moroccan-style dishes, and this particular blogger shared a mince-and-chickpeas recipe that used apples. Middle eastern cuisine often feature fruits in their spicy dishes, but I'm used to seeing stone fruit like peach and apricot. Apple seems like an unusual fruit ingredient for a seemingly Moroccan dish, but since apples go very well with pork, it worked in perfectly with the minced pork I had bought. My recipe is quite different to the one I found, tweaked to the spices and ingredients I had in my pantry, and I included a lot more vegetables in it. This recipe was pretty easy to do, but it does require a bit of prep time with chopping, slicing and dicing the vegetables. I see it as an investment because the leftovers saves me the time from prepping and cooking a meal on another time-poor day.

Spiced Mince and Chickpeas with Fruity Couscous

Ingredients

Olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 medium carrots, diced
1 medium green capsicum, diced
200g white mushrooms, sliced
500g minced pork
2 teaspoons of mixed ground spices (I used paprika, cayenne, curry powder and nutmeg)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1x400g can of chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup of chicken stock
2 medium apples, peeled and diced
1x400g can of chickpeas, drained
3/4 cup (~100g) frozen peas
2 tablespoons tomato sauce/ketchup
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Heat some oil in a pot and sauté the onion, garlic and carrots on medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the capsicum, mushrooms, minced pork and ground spices. If necessary, break any large meat clumps apart, and cook until the meat is cooked and the mushrooms have shrunk.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes, chicken stock and apples. Stir well, and bring to a gentle simmer. Turn down the heat to low and simmer until the apples have softened, about 10 minutes.
5. Add the drained chickpeas, peas and tomato sauce, and simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Season to taste, keeping in mind that the chicken stock and chickpeas already contain a fair amount of sodium.
7. Lovely when served with fruity couscous. [Prepare couscous according to packet instructions, substituting the water with fruit juice of your choice (preferably one that complements apples - like mango, orange and pear). Stir a handful of raisins/sultanas through the couscous.]

Our Cooking Project #8: Toddler making Improbable Quiche

I can't believe it's been ten months since we last did a cooking project! Hubby and I actually started this "cooking project" almost two years ago as a couple thing, but last year we included our then 21-month-old boy in on the project with Choco-Banana Muffins (we made the move to Hong Kong shortly after that, and I guess the cooking project took a back seat since). Two weekends ago my son cooked dinner using my Improbable Quiche. For safety reason, he obviously needed a lot of help, especially with chopping up the ingredients and cooking at the hot stove, but he was involved in every step from picking up the ingredients at the supermarket to eating the finished product. He had a ball making the quiche, and especially loved getting to hold a knife for the first time and cooking at the stove. We basically followed the recipe very closely, except for the chopped spinach, which was added to up the vege content for an easy one-dish meal. It was tough fitting all three of us in our tiny Hong Kong kitchen, but we got the job done and thoroughly enjoyed the fruits of our labour!

Improbable Quiche

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil
1 small brown onion, chopped
3 rashers of bacon (~75g), roughly chopped
4 slices of ham (~40g), roughly chopped
A bundle (~100g) baby spinach, washed and chopped
1 small red capsicum, diced
5 eggs, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups of milk
1/2 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup (80g) grated cheese
1/2 cup frozen corn
1-2 tablespoons herbs (I used basil, rosemary, oregano, parsley, thyme and sage)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180degC and grease a 24cm diameter ovenproof dish

Chop, chop, chop:

2. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat, and cook the onion, bacon, ham and capsicum for a few minutes, stirring often, until the bacon is lightly crisp, the onion is slightly caramelised and the capsicum is cooked. Add the chopped spinach to the pan and cook briefly (less than a minute) until wilted. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes

Pour the milk into a bowl:

3. Whisk the eggs, milk, flour and baking powder in a large mixing bowl until well combined.

Add the eggs to the mixing bowl:

4. Stir in the bacon mixture, grated cheese, frozen corn and herbs into the mixing bowl. Season with pepper (and salt, if desired, but keep in mind that bacon and ham are salty already).

Mix, mix, mix:

5. Pour mixture into your greased dish, and bake for 45 minutes or until set in the centre.
6. Allow to stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Et voila - the Improbable Quiche (or half of it anyway, at the dinner table):

A visit to a London city farm, and Chicken Cacciatore recipe

Earlier this week, I took the 2-year-old to a nearby city farm. Rather than tackling the underground tube with a stroller (the access to the tube system from street level is usually stairs), I walked the 2km distance there and back, which gave me a good chance to see the streets of London and admire the beautiful (old) architecture that I enccountered along the way. Zak loved chasing the uncaged chickens around the farm yard, and he kept edging up to the large geese that were as big as him! He gawked at the sheep, but barely gave a glance at the pigs. I wonder at when he will - in that little brain of his - associate those flappy clucky chickens with the chicken dishes I put on the dinner table. That boy loves eating chicken drumsticks, and nothing pleases me more than seeing him enthusiastically eat his dinner (Lord knows what we sometimes go through at the dining table trying to get him to eat).

Zak getting acquainted with chickens at a London city farm:

I cooked this Chicken Cacciatore a couple of weeks ago back home in Hong Kong, and I need to write it down before it gets left forgotten behind a backlog pile of photos of our trip to London and Italy. This is a pretty quick and easy recipe to execute, which is great for weekday dinners. The olives add a fantastic flavour punch, and it's a versatile dish that goes well with pasta, rice, couscous, bread, polenta, potato – any plain carbs to soak up the yummy sauce. I used this recipe from taste.com.au, but with a few modifications (but of course! I hardly follow recipes to the tee). I skipped flouring the drumsticks, added lots of mushrooms and used dried parsley. The first thing Rob said when stepping through the door after work was “Mmm, smells yummy”, and he was full of praises when eating it too. Zak ate his dinner, which was good enough for me!

Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients

1kg (about 8) chicken drumsticks
Olive oil
1 brown onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
200g mushrooms
400g can whole peeled tomatoes
250ml (1 cup) chicken stock
140g (3/4 cup) pitted kalamata olives
dried parsley
salt and pepper, to taste

Method

1. Heat some oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add half the drumsticks and cook, turning occasionally, for 4-6 minutes or until well browned. Transfer to a plate. Heat another 2 tsp of olive oil in the frypan and repeat with the remaining drumsticks.
2. Heat some oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes or until it softens slightly. Add the garlic and mushrooms, and cook, stirring, for another 2 minutes.
3. Add the browned drumsticks to the pot. Stir in the undrained tomatoes and stock, using the spoon to break up the tomatoes. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
4. Stir in the olives and dried parsley, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook, uncovered, for a further 5 minutes.
5. Serve with your choice of carbs (e.g. rice, pasta, couscous) and vegetables for a complete meal.

Pork Shepherd's Pie Recipe

My 2 year old son loves eating fish and chicken drumsticks, but he won't be trying out beef steak anytime soon. Red meat is just too tough-textured for his little mouth, and this is another mince meal made for the boy's benefit. I actually cooked this meal a couple of months ago, and the photos and notes have been waiting for me to do a write-up. This Pork Shepherd's Pie was pretty easy to do because I basically used the bolognese recipe and omitted the tomatoes for the mince. The hardest part was peeling and chopping the vegetables, which wasn't actually that difficult but it took a long time. The extra effort paid off because the amount was enough for two meals for our little family, and I saved half the mince filling for another busy day when I need only to peel, cook and mash potatoes for the topping and then pop into the oven for a quick meal. With carbs, protein and vegetables, this is a true complete meal in one dish.

The oyster sauce might seem like a strange condiment to add, but I wanted to add an extra depth of flavour to the meat filling without having to buy yet another condiment (Worcestershire, barbecue and A1 sauces are popular choices in most shepherd's pie recipes), and it worked! You can't taste the oyster sauce but I'm sure it helped to flavour the dish.

Pork Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients

Olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 large carrots, diced
4 celery stalks, diced
1 medium capsicum, diced
1 medium head of broccoli, cut up into smaller pieces
7 or 8 mushrooms, sliced
500g minced pork
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons tomato sauce/ketchup
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup frozen corn
Dried Italian herb mix (basil, rosemary, thyme) and dried parsley, to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
800g potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup (125mL) milk

Method

1. Heat some oil in a pot and sauté the onion, garlic, carrots and celery on medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the capsicum, broccoli, mushrooms and minced pork. If necessary, break any large meat clumps apart, and cook until the meat is cooked.
4. Add the tomato paste, tomato sauce, oyster sauce and water and stir well. At this point, the mixture may seem dry, but keep in mind that the vegetables will release moisture during the cooking process. Add more water if necessary.
5. Add the frozen corn and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and simmer on low heat for 10-15 minutes until vegetables are tender. Season well with salt, pepper and loads of herbs.
6. Meanwhile, make the potato mash. Boil potatoes for 10 minutes until tender. Drain, add butter and milk and mash until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. Preheat the oven to 200degC. Spoon the meat mixture into a baking dish. Top with mashed potato and use a fork to spread over the meat mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the potato topping is brown.
8. Serve while hot.

Toddler-approved Applesauce Chicken Curry Recipe

Yes, I fed my 2-year-old toddler some curry. And he enjoyed it! I love curry, and I also love cooking various types of curries, but since we decided that I should stop cooking separately for Zak (which I had been doing because of his food allergies), curry ceased being a regular dish at dinner-time. It had been months since I last cooked a curry dish. I've missed it, and apparently Rob also missed eating my curries because he exclaimed "I've missed your curries, Jean" while eating this fruit-based curry I cooked last week. This is not my first time cooking a sweet fruity curry, although I remember being rather apprehensive about the idea of a sweet curry. This dish turned out great, and the 2-year-old really enjoyed it (much to my relief!). Zak pulled a face while scratching his tongue only twice (no doubt due to the spiciness), but he went on to finish everything on his plate. He had been previously exposed to spices and curry, but that was when he was much younger and his taste buds and preferences had not yet fully developed. Looks like I had nothing to worry about regarding the boy being fussy about spicy food.

Zak's plate with the Applesauce curry, steamed rice and veges. He ate about half that drumstick (plenty enough protein for a toddler) and everything else on that plate as well as half a cup of milk for dinner (and a biscuit afterwards as a reward for finishing his dinner):

I briefly mentioned before about Zak's food allergies, and in addition to nut, soy and sesame, coconut is a no-no for the 2-year-old. That meant I couldn't use coconut milk or cream, which is usually used to thicken curry and give it a slightly sweet creamy note. I happened to have an open jar of unsweetened applesauce, and it worked excellently to thicken and give a certain sweet depth to the curry. An added bonus that applesauce is also healthier than the saturated fat-laden coconut milk. In addition to the curry powder for meat, I added ground cinnamon because of how well it goes with apple. Add a handful of raisins, and you have the curry that got my toddler's approval. By the way, the addition of tomato sauce (aka ketchup) may seem strange, but I've always used it in my curry ever since I found out that it is my mum's "secret ingredient" in her glorious chicken curry.

Toddler-approved Applesauce Chicken Curry

Ingredients

2-3 tablespoons oil (I use olive)
1 small onion (~150g), finely chopped
2 teaspoons chopped ginger
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons curry powder (I used Alagappa's brand Malay-style curry powder for meat)
1/2 - 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1kg chicken pieces
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup water
3/4 cup (~170g) unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons tomato sauce (aka ketchup)
1 large potato (~300-400g), cut into pieces
a handful of raisins (or sultanas)

Method

1. In a pot over high heat, fry the onion with the oil until the onion begins to brown.
3. Turn down the heat to medium high, add the ginger and garlic and stirfry for half a minute until gorgeously fragrant.
4. Add the curry powder and cinnamon together with the chicken pieces to the pot and stirfry for a minute to lightly toast the spices and briefly brown the chicken (some of the spices will stick to the bottom of the pot, which is fine as long as it doesn't burn).
5. Add the chicken stock, water, applesauce and tomato sauce to the pot, and stir well while scraping the bottom of the pot. At this point there should be plenty of liquid to cover the chicken chunks (if not, add more stock/water).
6. Add the potato chunks and simmer on low heat (it should be barely bubbling) for a good 30 minutes, stirring only occasionally. This helps the flavours to meld and blend together, as well as to cook the chicken and potato pieces.
8. In the last 5 minutes of the cooking, add the raisins and stir well.
9. Serve with rice and veges for a healthy and balanced meal.

Cheesy Muffin Recipe

If I had to choose between muffins or cupcakes, I would choose muffins hands down. There's something about the rustic simplicity of muffins that appeals to me. They taste good without needing any brightly coloured icing and toppings, and eating a muffin (or three) feels like I'm indulging in a treat without it being too unhealthy. Most of all, I just love the fact that baking muffins is so simple, easy and quick to do. Baking helps me to relax, and baking muffins is perfect for when I need to take a little breather from my busy life but am too tired for baking anything more involved. I have baked savoury muffins before, and this cheese muffin recipe is a much simpler and quicker version of that. A friend who paid us a short visit ate a muffin fresh out of the oven, and asked me for the recipe (which is the nicest compliment I could get for my cooking). My 2-year-old boy loves eating these cheesy muffins, and I have no qualms giving them to him because they are pretty healthy and nutritious.

Cheesy muffins

Ingredients

2 cups (250g) plain flour
2.5 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon (~15g) caster sugar
1 cup (~75g) coarsely grated cheese (I used a mix of cheddar and parmesan)
1 1/4 cups (250mL) milk
1/4 cup (50mL) olive oil
2 eggs
extra grated cheese for topping

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190°C.
2. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl, then stir in sugar and cheese.
4. In a jug, combine the wet ingredients (milk, oil and eggs) and whisk lightly.
5. Add the wet mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients and combine well.
6. Spoon mixture into a 12-muffin tray to only 2/3 full, and top with extra grated cheese.
7. Bake for 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean. Stand for 5 minutes in pan before turning onto a wire rack to cool.
8. Best enjoyed fresh and warm out of the oven, and freezes well.

Baked Whole Fish Recipe

When it comes to cooking fish, I think one of the worst things to do would be to dredge it in thick batter and then deep-fry it beyond any recognition in terms of appearance and flavours. Overcooking fish and drowning them in heavy sauces are the other two sacrilegious acts done to fish. Unfortunately, these three fish cooking methods are favoured in Australia, and it's no wonder then that eating fish (or any seafood, for that matter) does not rate very highly on most Australian palates, which is a shame because of the abundance of beautiful fresh seafood available right on their shores! We all know the health benefits of including fish in our diet, and I try to cook fish at least two meals a week. My current favourite way of cooking fish is so simple that I am almost embarrassed that I am blogging about it. It's not really so much a recipe as a demonstration on how easy it is to cook a whole fish, and I hope to encourage more people to enjoy fish as part of their meals-at-home repertoire. I buy whole fish from the supermarket at the mall downstairs, where the fish is already scaled and gutted, and spring onion, ginger and red chili are also included (I add garlic to the mix too). There is also a tank of live fish at the supermarket, and Zak loves watching the (doomed) fishies swim around while I decide which fish to have for dinner. (By the way, one of Zak's favourite food is fish, which I hope will stay with him as he grows up.) The intention of the spring onion, ginger and chili is for steaming, but I don't have a steamer or pot big enough for a 1/2kg fish, so I bake the whole fish instead. Where would I be without an oven! This baked whole fish takes less than 30 minutes to prep and cook, which is perfect for a mid-week dinner for three (well, two adults and a little one). This particular fish is sea snapper, but I think most fish sold whole at supermarkets will work as long as it fits in your oven. Selecting a fresh fish is important, especially for this recipe, and it's easy to judge freshness with a whole fish (clear eyes, firm flesh, no overly strong fishy smell). There are plenty of ways to bake a fish, but this is how I do it, a simple no-fuss method that allows the delicate flavours of fish to stand on its own.

Baked Whole Fish

Ingredients

A whole fish, about 500g
Spring onions
Ginger, about the size of your thumb
3 cloves garlic
Red chili (optional)

Method

1) Preheat oven to 200degC. While waiting for the oven to heat up, slice up some spring onion, ginger, garlic and red chilli.

2) Prepare some aluminium foil, about 3 times the length of the whole fish. Fold a third of the foil over to create a double layer of foil where the fish will sit on. Ensure that the shiny side will not be facing out because the shiny surface will reflect the oven heat away from the packet, which is NOT desirable.

3) If necessary, wash the fish, and then cut three slits into both sides of the fish. Sprinkle a little bit of salt and rub onto its surfaces and inside the emptied gut cavity. Place the fish onto the prepared alfoil.

4) Put the sliced spring onion, ginger, garlic and chili inside the cavity as well as under and on top of the fish so that the fragrance will permeate on both sides of the fish.

5) Wrap up the fish with the free (single layer) end of the foil, leaving a bit of air pocket above the fish to prevent it from sticking to the foil while cooking. Place the fish parcel in the preheated oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes.

Serve the fish with rice and stir-fried vegetables.

After serving up Rob's and Zak's portions (keeping them as de-boned as possible), I happily sit down to eat my portion straight off the bone, savouring the best parts (in my opinion) that can only be found near or with bones which includes the succulent cheek flesh and the fatty belly. Not something to do when you have dinner guests over! Ah, the simple pleasures!

Spit-roasting at home

Roasting meat on a spit may be as primitive as cooking meat can get, but it actually isn't as simple as I thought it would be. As I briefly mentioned in my Christmas post we'd bought a table-top Delonghi oven that happened to come with a rotisserie spit feature. Although we chose this oven primarily for its size (it was the largest table-top oven we could find), I must admit that the idea of spit-roasting a chook at home was novel. Last Friday I made an attempt at spit-roasting a chicken, and it took more effort and hence a longer time than I'd expected. I'm sure it was mainly due to my uncertainty and lack of experience as a beginner, and hopefully with time I will be serving home-cooked rotisserie chicken that is as good as those that come out of high-end consumer ovens, like at the supermarket in the mall downstairs.

Skewered whole chicken on a spit before it went in the oven. I should have tied the legs to secure the bird to the spit, but didn't have any kitchen twine:

In the oven and rotating. The roasting was interrupted a couple of times, because I didn't tie the legs (it flopped about a bit too much for my liking as it rotated). I did tie the legs eventually (see photo below):

90 minutes later, and the chook was done. Notice the legs are tied here. I had to improvise with paper twine (intended for tying newspaper and magazines into bundles for recycling), which seemed to work fine:

Golden crispy chicken sitting on the board waiting for the shears:

How did this first rotisserie chicken compare to the usual roast chicken I do? Presentation-wise, it looked beautiful with golden crisp skin all the way around. Taste-wise, the meat was dryer than a chook roasted in its juices in a pan. As it stands, I think I still prefer roasting chicken the traditional way in a roasting pan, because I can also get some roast veges done at the same time. I will continue using the oven's spit-roast fuction, and hopefully will be effortlessly churning out rotisserie chicken like a pro soon!

Swedish-style Meatballs

One of the main reasons why I cook a lot at home - other than the fact that I love cooking - is because of my son's food allergies. It is not a simple matter of giving him food from restaurants, shops and supermarkets, especially in Asia where soy is used very extensively and staff don't understand what or why I'm asking about ingredients in the food. His allergies also mean that I can't take shortcuts and use frozen or processed food because most of the packaged food (including cereals, biscuits and even baby/toddler food) contain at least traces of soy, nuts and sesame. It's not easy dealing with food allergies, but it's a good thing that I enjoy cooking because I have to cook a lot. My cooking philosophy has always been pretty simple: cook from scratch using minimally processed ingredients, and serve food that I myself would eat. That means I generally avoid using minced meat because I want to cook meat and not fat and gristly bits that usually gets minced together with the meat. I am trying to incorporate more red meat in Zak's diet, but the relative toughness of red meat means that I have to use minced red meat a lot, so I buy the more expensive packs of minced meat that are better quality than the cheaper ones. I seriously need to expand my minced meat repertoire beyond spaghetti and lasagne because I get pretty bored cooking the same dishes, even if it is repeated only once or twice a month (there's cannelloni and dumplings, but they are time and labour intensive, not so great for mid-week meals).

Zak's dinner plate with the meatballs - he prefers the meat and sauce separate from the carb:

This is my first meatball recipe, loosely adapted from this recipe on taste.com.au. I was happy to find that cranberries make a good substitute for lingonberries because I still had some whole cranberry sauce leftover from Christmas. I wanted a tender and soft-textured meatball, so I added a little bit of vinegar and cornstarch to the meatball and allowed it to marinate for a short while (~20 minutes). I also had some cream of chicken leftover from a previous meal, so I used that instead of chicken stock and sour cream. I intended to add dried parsley to the meatball mixture, but totally forgot (that's the trouble with not writing down the recipe for reference). The meatballs turned out quite well, and the boys loved it! I made double portions to make an easy dinner for another night, and I found that the meatballs were a little sweeter, possibly from absorbing the gravy they were sitting in for two nights in the refrigerator.

Swedish-style Meatballs

Ingredients

450g minced pork
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
salt and pepper
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
4 tablespoons whole cranberry sauce (substitute for lingonberry sauce)
1 tablespoon tomato sauce/ketchup
1 tablespoon olive oil
2/3 cup cream of chicken (I used Pacific Natural Foods Organic Cream of Chicken Condensed Soup which requires dilution with equal parts water)
2/3 cup water

Method
1. Combine the minced pork, vinegar, cornstarch, salt and pepper in a large bowl and allow to marinate for about 20 minutes.
2. In the meantime, saute the onion and garlic on medium heat until cooked (2-3 minutes). Remove from heat and allow to cool.
3. Combine the cooled onion mixture, minced pork mixture, 2 tablespoons of the whole cranberry sauce and tomato sauce/ketchup in a large bowl and mix well. Form tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls.
4. Heat oil in a large fry pan on medium-high heat and cook the meatballs for a few minutes, turning occasionally until well-browned and almost cooked through. If necessary, cook in two batches to avoid over-crowding. Remove meatballs and set aside.
5. Combine the cream of chicken and water, and add to the pan. Gently heat over medium heat while stirring, then add the remaining berry sauce and combine well. Return meatballs to the pan, and simmer for a few minutes.
6. Serve with mashed potatoes and vegetables for a complete meal.

Cobb Loaf Dip

Last night at dinner, my friend said I should post up more recipes online because I cook a lot at home. I would love to, if only I have the time! Writing a blog takes up more time than most people think it does, and it requires a certain level of commitment and dedication because it's something that I do for free. Anyway, that conversation reminded me that I had promised to post up a recipe of a yummy Cobb Loaf Dip that I made for Christmas. I first encountered the cobb dip almost 10 years ago at a family gathering at Rob's aunt's place, to celebrate Australia Day and to view the fireworks (she has a grand fantastic view of the Swan River, and the perfect place to watch the annual Skyshow). When I saw the cobb dip, I remember thinking that it was a brilliantly ingenious idea to use a hollowed out cobb loaf as an edible bowl for the dip. It was delicious and very popular, and Rob's cousin said it was the easiest thing to make. It has taken me only about 10 years to make my first cobb dip, in a country where I couldn't find any cobb loaves! I had long forgotten Rob's cousin's recipe, so I had to turn to good ol' Google to help me. Two things stood out to me while researching recipes. The first was that the cobb dip must be an Aussie recipe because the search yielded results from Australian websites and forums. The second thing that stood out to me was how calorie-laden and fattening the recipes were, featuring sour cream, cream cheese AND cheese as well as powdered packet soup mix of some sort. When I play host, I do feel a certain responsibility to serve tasty but healthy food to my guests, so I decided to make a healthier version of the cobb dip for Christmas (it would have been more healthy if the supermarket hadn't run out of spinach). It was very popular, and our Japanese guests had never seen anything like it before. There were no leftovers - the best compliment I could get.

Cobb Loaf Dip

Ingredients
1 cobb loaf (or, in my situation, a square loaf)
5 rashers bacon, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
250g cream cheese, softened to room temperature
250g yoghurt

Method
1. Fry bacon and onion and garlic until cooked.
2. Combine with cream cheese and yoghurt.
--I prepared the dip filling the night before (storing it in the refrigerator) so that I could quickly assemble it the next day--
3. Remove top of loaf and scoop out middle.
4. Pour dip into loaf, place top back on and cook for 20 mins at 180degC.
5. Tear up removed bread and cook with loaf for last 10mins.