Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Easy Peasy Dinner: San Choy Bau

I am joining Emma again this week with an Easy Peasy Dinner Winner.

Chris (hubby) has always made this for us. I was scared it was too complicated to make as the ingredient list is so long. But last week, I gave it a go, and it really is so ridiculously easy (and yummy too) It was so quick, I had dinner on the table 30 minutes early.

San Choy Bau

• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 long red chili, seeds removed, finely chopped (or use less if you have children who don't like food too spicy)
• 500g pork mince
• 2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine vinegar or dry sherry
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 3 finely chopped spring onions
• 1 lettuce or cos lettuce leaves (a note on choosing your lettuce: get one that is quite light in weight, I find the heavier ones difficult as the leaves are too tightly packed together. With the lighter ones, it is usually easier to separate the lettuce leaves with out damaging them)

Chop the middle stem out of your lettuce, as far down as you can, and put it in a clean bucket. Fill the bucket up with water until it covers the lettuce completely, let all the lettuce crevices soak up the water.

Weigh the lettuce down (I use a heavy porcelain bowl) This makes sure the whole lettuce is covered with water. The earlier you do this, the easier the lettuce leaves will come out intact.

I leave my lettuce like this for at least 30 minutes, if not longer. Then while the lettuce is still in the water, peel off, very carefully, the first few outer layers of lettuce leaves until you get down a few layers and they come off looking like little boats or cups. Try to get 6-10 good leaves, with no rips. My favourite ones are the tiny ones in the middle, as they are so sweet. Put you lettuce boats on a tea towel to drip dry, and very gently pat them as dry as you can.

Heat the sesame oil in a wok or large fry-pan over medium heat. Add onion, ginger, garlic and chili and cook stirring, for 1 minute or until slightly softened and fragrant.

Add the mince, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, cooking it for 2-3 minutes until browned.

Add the rice wine vinegar and cook for 1-2 minutes, them add soy sauce and oyster sauce, stirring well to combine. You can keep cooking and keep it warm for quite a while, as it is really quite saucy.

Toss the spring onions through, and transfer to a serving bowl.

Put in the middle of the table, and everyone can fill their lettuce boats/cups with some pork mixture, and eat. It can get a bit messy - but that is part of the fun.

This recipe does not feed us as a family of 4 any longer, as Abbey now loves it (after not liking if for 2 years!) and Zoe eats some too. We serve this with some sesame prawn toast (available in the freezer section at most supermarkets)

Enjoy!

Cat.

Recipe from: Delicious! magazine, July 2008, page 78.

Salmon Fish Cakes: Easy Peasy Dinner Winner

I am joining Emma again this week, with an Easy Peasy Dinner Winner.

This recipe is super easy, and very tasty (if you like/eat salmon) Abbey likes them as she calls these "pink fish cakes". Pink is her favourite colour.

Salmon Fish Cakes

• 450g potatoes, approximately - this is the weight before you peel them
• 400g tin red salmon (you can use pink salmon, but the flavour is not as strong)
• 1/2 an onion, chopped (I use red ones) or some spring onions, chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato sauce or a glug of sweet chili sauce
• Salt and pepper
• Bread crumbs for coating
• Oil for cooking

Peel and chop the potatoes into chunks. Cook them in boiling water, then mash (with a little butter if you like) I use the same saucepan I cooked them in to save on washing up.

Drain the salmon, remove as many bones as you like - I remove the large bones, but leave in the small ones as they are a good source of calcium.

Flake the drained salmon into the mashed potato. Add onion, your sauce of choice, season with salt and pepper. Optional: I used to add an egg to the mixture, but no longer do this.

Mix well. Roll into balls, flatten them into patties (very important) and coat them all with breadcrumbs. The Japanese Panco bread crumbs work really well (thanks to Corrie from Retromummy for this tip in an email when we were discussing our salmon fish cakes in an email after the Freaky Chocolate Brownie Slice Incident)

These can fall apart when you cook them, but if you make them early in the day, and store them in the fridge (the longer the better) they tend to hold their shape better - as long as you already flattened them into patties earlier on.

Cook in a little oil until golden on both sides.

Serve with salad/veggies/oven chips/fried rice. Any leftovers taste yummy the next day too, heated up in the microwave.

This recipe halves really easy too, if you only have a 200g tin of salmon.

Enjoy! Cat

Cheats lamb pasties

If you want to make quick, easy lamb pasties - this is the recipe for you!

What you will need:

• 500g minced lamb (you can use beef, chicken, pork or even turkey if you like, but lamb just works with these)
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2-3 small potatoes, peeled and diced quite small. Cook in the microwave for a few minutes until almost fully cooked, or boil them
• 1 red onion, diced
• mixed herbs
• 810g tin crushed tomatoes
• Salt and pepper
• 4 puff pastry sheets (or shortcrust if you want)
• Optional: other vegetables, such as corn, grated carrot or zucchini

Take pastry out of the freezer to thaw.

Heat oil in a large fry pan. Add mixed herbs, cook until they soften a little.

Add the onion, cook for a few minutes.

Add the mince lamb, no need to break it up too much, let it cook in largish chunks.

Add the tomatoes and potatoes (and any other vegetables), stir well, and cook for 10-20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Take off the heat, and let it cool down a bit - if it is too hot, it can make the pastry melt. Or cook all the above steps a few hours before you need it.

You can either make 4 large pasties, or 16 small ones (chop each sheet of pastry in quarters for small ones. The small ones are easier for kids to manage)

Spoon the mixture into the middle of your pastry.

Fold up two corners of pastry to meet in the middle, as shown in the photo below.

Fold the other two corners up, and press all seams together. Prick with a fork a few times. Baste each one with milk or egg if you want the to pastry to really brown (I can never be bothered as I am usually in a hurry)

Cook in a moderate oven (180C) 40-ish minutes.

They are really hot straight out of the oven - I put the kids on their plates at least 10 minutes before dinner starts, with the pasties cut open to let out the heat.

Visit Emma for many more easy peasy dinner recipes.

If you like cooking with minced meats like me, Pip from Meet me at Mikes recently posted this amazing meatloaf recipe. I put all the ingredients in the food processor, and leave the coffee out of the sauce. This recipe has become a favourite around our house now, with both Chris and Abbey requesting it for dinner all the time - fine by me, as it is easy and yummy. Tastes great in sandwiches too, with a little home made tomato relish. Yum!

Happy cooking.

Cat.

Easy Peasy Dinner: Chicken and Apple Balls

This is my version of Annabel Karmel's Chicken and Apple Balls from her book New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner. I borrowed this book from the library when Abbey was a baby, and photocopied a few recipes I liked.
These chicken and apple balls are so yummy, all the big kids in our house love them too :)

Chicken and Apple Balls
600g chicken mince
1 onion (I use red/Spanish)
1 large granny smith apple, peeled and grated, then squeeze out juice with your hands (I drink the juice)
Small handful fresh parsley
1 tablespoon fresh thyme or sage, or a pinch of mixed dried herb
1 chicken stock cube, crumbled
50g fresh breadcrumbs or 1/2 cup packet breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper 

 Put all ingredients in your food processor (I have mixed it all by hand, and this worked fine too)  

 

Mix well.

 

Roll into approximately 22 small balls. 

 

Little Miss 4 had fun helping with this bit. 

 

Optional: coat balls with flour before cooking. I don't do this step any more. Shallow fry them in vegetable oil for 5-10 minutes, turning often. They really do cook quickly. I have cooked them in the oven also, but they did not taste as good. 

 

Yum! Serve with oven chips and/or mashed potato, and/or steamed vegetables. Enjoy. Visit Emma for many more Easy Peasy Dinner ideas.

Cheers, Cat.

Mars Bar Slice

I have been enjoying Emma's Easy Peasy Dinner winners every Tuesday, so I thought it was about time that I shared a recipe.

This easy slice is great for parties, a quick snack or your evening pudding. Tastes OK for breakfast too....so I have been told.

Mars Bar Slice

3 mars bars

50g butter (the recipe I was given called for 3oz, but I found this too much)

3 cups of rice bubbles (works OK with coco pops too, if you want a crazy chocolate fix)

1. Melt the mars bars and butter over a low heat until well combined.

2. Pour over the rice bubbles, mix well.

3. Spoon into a small lamington tin lined with baking paper (I use a 22cm square porcelain dish)

4. Let it cool to set. You can set it in the fridge, but I find it too messy to chop into squares if it has been in the fridge.

Optional: Ice it with 200g melted chocolate for even more of a chocolate hit.

Yum. Thanks to my friend Kate for sharing this recipe with me a few months ago. Since then, I have made it quite a few times as we all love it, and it is so easy to make.

Visit Emma for more great ideas.

Have a great night. Cat