Foodarrific» One-dish Meals

Cajun chicken wings

Chili Queen — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:19:04 +0000

Last weekend, our friend called to say he would be coming over to drop off his golf shot gps we’d asked to borrow, and I asked him to bring his whole family over since I was making chicken wings. Everybody loves chicken wings, no doubt about that.

Here are my Cajun chicken wings with roast potatoes and carrots. I use a store-bought Cajun rub to marinate the chicken wings for a couple of hours before roasting. There are 3 sections to the wing and for me, nothing goes to waste. I even chomp up the wing tip.

Chicken Margherita sans cooking

Chili Queen — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 20:16:37 +0000

For the second day in a row now, I’ve been having TV dinners for lunch. Not sure if they still call them TV dinners because these new and improved boxed meals definitely look and taste much more gourmet than I remember them to be when I was going to college.

This is the Chicken Margherita from Healthy Choices which claims to be a healthy, well-balanced meal made from fresh ingredients. It comes in a solid dish with the meal on the top steamer dish which drains all the juices into the dish at the bottom where the sauce/dressing is.

When you’re done microwaving your meal, you simply lift the steamer layer up and pour its contents into the dish below, stir and mix well with the sauce, and you’re ready to eat!

Sure beats cutting and cooking all this from scratch and just think of the washing up it saves you. Taste pretty good too. The chicken is soft (not hard and frozen as you might imagine TV dinners to be). No, I’m not getting paid to say this.

The instructions vary slightly depending on what meal you’re cooking. It was pretty challenging to read the small print. I had to squint and now I need the best eye wrinkle cream!

Steamed yam cake

Chili Queen — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:27:53 +0000

Once in a while, my aunt would whip up our favorite steamed yam cake for us if we beg hard enough. I haven’t got a clue how it’s made. I really should learn the recipe from her one of these days since my kids love it so much and the ones sold outside are somewhat watered down and not as yammy.

This picture of this steamed yam cake was taken before she sprinkled the chopped spring onions on top. So it looks rather bland with only chopped peanuts and fried shallots. But trust me, once you drizzle on the accompanying chilly and brown sauces, it tastes like heaven!

Steamed yam cake is a great one-dish meal usually served at lunch. It’s usually eaten slightly warm or at room temperature. I’ve never tried to subject it to the coolness of refrigerator filters but I doubt it would taste good cold.

recipe: kon low loh shee fun, or dry rat’s tail noodle

chili queen — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:48:31 +0000

Guess what I had for lunch (and dinner) last weekend? I can’t believe it myself because it’s been ages since I’ve even thought to cook my favorite loh shee fun, or rat’s tail noodles.

The name sounds horrifying, I know. I’m not only a Chili Queen, I’m also a Drama Queen ! I translated and spiced up this name for special effects and if all goes well, I might even copyright the name and make a movie about it, heh!

Loh shee fun is not really rat’s tails, of course, they just look like rat’s tails . You can either eat it in a soup, just like any other kind of noodle. But I prefer it dry as in sans soup. Very simple to whip this up at home. You ready?

I cooked 1kg of loh shee fun and 1kg of kuay teow, or flat rice noodles to feed my troops, but you can use any amount depending on the number of people you’re feeding. Place the noodles in a colander and run it through your Grohe faucet to rinse if you like. Then bring a pot of water to boil and use it for blanching the rat’s tail noodle and choy sum, or mustard green.

I’m not going to list actual measurements for the sauce since that depends on how much noodle you’re cooking. Just adjust the sauce ingredients to your own taste. For the sauce, you need:

dark, thick soy sauce
oil
sesame oil
oyster sauce
soy sauce (in place of salt) and white pepper to taste

Have all of these ingredients in a large bowl. I also stir-fried some minced pork with some oil and chopped garlic which I added into the bowl. Lastly, add the blanched loh shee fun, or rat’s tail noodle, to this and mix well.

Garnish with chopped spring onions and cilantro (I didn’t have any handy). Serve piping hot with shredded fresh chillies. I prefer bird’s eye chillies for that added oomph! Simple, ya, just a one-dish meal and so so delish. And less of a choking hazard for younger kids than the regular mile-long noodles.

chicken and abalone porridge

chili queen — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:38:54 +0000

Every other weekend, we’ve been walking past this new food court at The Curve where they’re serving a rather plain-looking porridge with yau char kwai (Chinese crullers). It looks appetizing and I couldn’t wait to cook my own porridge at home. I prefer my porridge a little more fancy and nutritious.

Boiling the porridge is really simple. Just wash the rice and then add about double the amount of water (or chicken stock for a more flavorful result) in a pot over medium heat. When the water comes to a boil, I add in my sliced chicken, carrot chunks and baby abalone we bought from Japan. Keep it on the boil until the rice softens and opens up.

The thing about making porridge is it requires patience and endless peeking into the pot to ensure you achieve your preferred consistency. I prefer a thicker porridge. Some people prefer a more watery porridge in which case you simply add more water. See, no need to go to Porridge School and wait for the graduation announcements to see if you passed the course .

Lastly cut up the yau char kwai, or Chinese crullers, into 1-2″ lengths. I typically serve them on a common plate so each person can take however much they want and top it over their own bowl of porridge. With just a few ingredients, the porridge turns out really flavorful. Try it!

fried kuay teow, or flat rice noodle

chili queen — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:47:37 +0000

On weekends, when everyone is home, I try to cook something that everyone likes. One of our favorite hawker food is fried kuay teow, or fried flat rice noodle, which is pretty easy to whip up at home. I fried this and couldn’t wait to gobble it up.

All you need are these fresh ingredients which you can adjust according to number of people you’re feeding:

kuay teow, or flat rice noodle (I use 1 kg for two meals for 5 people)
fresh medium or large shrimps, shelled and deveined
nga choy, or bean sprouts
gow choy, or chives, cut into 2″ lengths (discard the heads)
cooking oil
thick dark soy sauce
light soy sauce
chili paste
eggs
salt to taste

I first heat up my wok with a generous drizzle of cooking oil. I usually fry one portion (for one person) at a time. You need to keep your wok on high heat and you need to work fast. So don’t get distracted now .

First I throw in a handful of shrimps followed by a couple handfuls of noodles, or kuay teow, and drizzle over some dark soy sauce (just enough to give it some color) and add a splash of water. I’m frying, frying, keep that hand moving, woo-oo!

Then I throw in a handful of bean sprouts, chives and a spoonful (or however many) of chili paste and I keep right on frying as I crack an egg and drizzle some light soy sauce into the mix.

And we’re done. So simple. We like our fried kuay teow pretty basic without clams, Chinese sausages or fish paste slices but you can go ahead and add those if you like.

Homemade hawker-style fried kuay teow is just as tasty and much cleaner and healthier. If you’re eat this a lot outside, don’t forget to some colon cleanse reviews as the hawker fried kuay teow is usually fried with lard .

fresh California rolls

chili queen — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:25:00 +0000

There are so many things I love about the California roll (or handroll, as they’re sometimes called) I don’t quite know where to begin. For one thing, it uses healthy ingredients like fresh raw carrots and cucumbers, and nori, or toasted dried seaweed which is a great source of iron, calcium, vitamin A and B, iodine and fiber.

For another, it’s so easy to make I can literally lay out the ingredients on the table and whoever walks into the kitchen can easily wrap one up and chomp on it right away.

Well, since we won’t be going on any Vegas vacations this year, I thought we’d stay home and make these. DH bought the large crispy toasted nori sheets from a trip to Japan. I’m making two variations here – one with smoked salmon, and the other with crab sticks – just to make my kids happy that they have a choice .

The ingredients I use:

large nori, or toasted seaweed sheets
cooked white rice (the thing to use is sticky rice but I use regular rice, tastewise I don’t think it makes much of a difference)
crab sticks
smoked salmon slices
cucumbers, long and thinly sliced into sticks
carrots, long and thinly sliced into sticks
Japanese mayonnaise
wasabi, or Japanese green mustard

First I place a nori sheet on a flat surface or plate. At that spot on the lower half of the nori sheet where I’m going to place a tablespoon of rice, I squeeze just a little wasabi, or green mustard. Wasabi is deadly spicy and has a pungent sting to it, so you may want to use very little, or none at all if you’re serving it to kids.

Then I layer on a slice of smoked salmon or a crab stick, and 2 or 3 cucumber and carrot sticks. The best part is squeezing a squiggly line of Japanese mayonnaise all the way over the top of the filling.

Now it’s time to wrap the whole thing into a cone. The mayo at the top layer will ‘glue’ the wrap nicely together, and you can add a little more at the end to make the cone hold its shape better.

And that’s basically it. It’s not hard, just takes a bit of practice to get the cone all nice and neat. I’m not picky so I just let the kids get creative. Sometimes they roll it up like a cigar. So try it and have fun with it .

fried angel hair pasta

chili queen — Sun, 31 May 2009 08:12:02 +0000

I have half a pack of angel hair pasta left over from yesterday’s lunch. We’ve eaten every other type of pasta so I thought it was time we tried angel hair. But the kids don’t quite care for it so I have to find a way to finish it up somehow.

Now if you notice, angel hair pasta looks a lot like the thin Chinese egg noodle, and I’m guessing it won’t taste far different. So I decided to do a Fusion stirfry… just for the heck of it.

Here’s what I used:

0.5 packet of angel hair pasta
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
a handful of choy sum (mustard green), cut into 2-inch lengths
1 stick of celery, thickly sliced
a few pieces of mock char siew (vegetarian barbecue pork), sliced
3-4 tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce
spring onion and Chinese parsley, finely chopped
sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste

The preparation of the angel hair pasta is the same as if you were actually using it for a regular pasta. Just boil till al dente.

Into my wok on high heat, I drizzle some oil and lightly saute the garlic. Then I quickly add the mock char siew followed by vegetarian oyster sauce, choy sum and celery. Add some water and allow to simmer for a few minutes to let the vegetables cook through.

Then add the angel hair pasta and stir well with the rest of the ingredients. Add a good drizzle of sesame oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chopped spring onion and Chinese parsley. Serve hot with a small plate of fresh bird’s eye chilly in soy sauce.

Heaven! I’m really proud of this creation of mine. You really must try it. You’ll truly be surprised how good this Fusion angel hair pasta tastes, wierd though it may sound . Best of all, it’s meatless, healthy and trust me, you can banish all thoughts of weight loss products when you’re eating this.

four foods on Friday 75

chili queen — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:43:52 +0000

Today’s the fifth day of my 30-day vegetarian diet. Woo-hoo, 25 more days to go and I’m doing great so far – no meat, no seafood, no eggs. I’m constantly hungry but I guess that means I just have to graze more often, moo-oo .

#1. blueyes’ question. What’s your favorite seafood recipe?

It would be clam chowder but I’ve never tried cooking it so I don’t have a recipe for it.

#2. Italian Ice. Like it, love it or leave it?

No idea what it is but I found out it’s pretty much like gourmet ice cream so I think I should like it.

#3. What’s your favorite crunchy food? (anything – pickles, chips, fruit, etc.)

All of the above.

#4. Have you ever eaten so much of something that you felt or got sick?

Lately the kids have been dragging me to Carls Jr every weekend. I swear I don’t want to see another burger for the next few months. I can only take so much of a good thing .

Four Foods on Friday is fun to play. Wanna join us? Just hop over to valmg’s blog at Fun, Crafts and Recipes and grab the details.

dry non-fried instant noodle

chili queen — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 07:58:45 +0000

I always have a stash of instant noodles in my pantry for ‘emergencies’ like when I need something quick to eat before I head out to Chinese wedding dinners which typically start like 2 hours late !

Instant noodles are convenient and they’re sold at the Asian grocer. But I find the flavoring overly salty sometimes, so what I usually do is not use all of the flavoring provided, or pour away some of the soup and add more water to dilute it.

I came across these non-fried instant noodles the other day. I’ve never noticed them at the store before but apparently they’re healthier than the ones that are fried and therefore contain more saturated fat.

Anyhow this is the jumbo pack I bought which comes without the packets of flavoring inside. Control freak that I am, I’m going, great, now I get to call the shots on what goes in !

Right, so this is what I made – a nutritious kon low, or dry instant noodle. For the seasoning, I put these into a bowl:

2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons of light soy sauce
a good drizzle of cooking oil
a good drizzle of sesame oil

In a pot of water, I blanch a few stems of choy sum, or mustard greens. When done, put it into my bowl with the seasoning.

Using that same pot of water, I boil two different types of fishballs (the small round ones and the larger fried ones) and seafood tofu and throw those into my bowl as well. The seafood tofu is actually pretty tasty and come in small rectangular pieces.

I bring a fresh pot of water to boil and leave the noodles in for 3-4 minutes to cook. The instant noodles come in thin rectangular blocks (see first photo). Two blocks is enough for a meal for one person.

Scoop the cooked noodle into the bowl and mix well with the seasoning and other ingredients. Top generously with chopped spring onions, cilantro and fried shallots, and we’re ready to dig in. Oh, and don’t forget the fresh chopped bird’s eye chilly or jalapeno.