Three Bean (or more), Tomato & Spinach Stew

This is a recipe adapted from April 2012 BBC Good Food (India). I cook it very often because it is so deliciously healthy (packed with tonnes of antioxidants and fibre!) and simple to prepare. It's also perfect for PJ's slow carb diet. 

To make this dish, I rely on my stash of canned tomatoes (Italian) and canned beans. I always have a few of these in my cupboard. The beauty of this dish is that you can use any kinds of canned beans that you fancy - cannellini, red kidney, black-eyed, pinto, broad beans, mixed beans, even chick peas.  I personally favour cannellini beans and red kidney beans. 

You can always use dried beans (soaked overnight), but I find it so much more convenient to use canned beans. Canned tomatoes are also very reliable in producing a flavoursome stew.

Serves: 2-3 (as a complete meal)
Cooking time: 25 mins

ingredients
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tbsp ground coriander
400g canned tomatoes
1 cup water
10 black olives, deseeded and halved
2 x 400g canned beans, rinsed and drained (net weight of drained beans would be between 400-510g)
100g green beans, chopped
100g spinach, roughly chopped
1 tsp salt
Fresh ground black pepper to taste

method
Cook the onion and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat, until softened. Add the cumin and coriander. Cook for 1 min, stirring constantly.

Tip in the tomatoes and water. Simmer for 10 minutes, until thickened.

Add all the beans and cook for 5 minutes, then add the spinach and cook for 5 minutes more. Season with salt and black pepper before serving.

notes
Add the garlic only towards the end of the onion softening. Garlic tends to burn quite easily.
+
If you prefer a stronger flavour, replace the ground coriander with ground cumin, making it a total of 1 tbsp of ground cumin.
+
You can replace the fresh vegetables according to your taste e.g., green beans with french beans, spinach with cabbage (will need to stew longer) etc.

Chicken in Shrimp Sauce

Some time ago, I wanted to cook chap chye (Chinese mixed vegetable stew) but couldn't find both fermented bean curd or soy bean paste (tau cheo) at the local stores. Instead, I found Lee Kum Kee's Fine Shrimp Sauce (made from fermented shrimp and salt) and thought, "What the heck." The chap chye turned out a wee bit too salty but PJ commented the shrimp sauce went very well with the black fungus. That got me thinking about pairing the two, along with chicken and Chinese mushrooms and voila! I have a chicken in shrimp sauce dish which earned me a 9.5/10 from PJ tonight. :) 

Serves: 2 hungry people
Cooking time: 20 minutes

ingredients 
2 tbsp sesame oil
5 slices peeled ginger
7 medium sized chicken drumsticks (750-800g), with skin
5 garlic cloves, peeled and bruised
6 Chinese mushrooms
1 handful of dried black fungus
320ml of soaking liquid
1 tsp of shrimp sauce (I used Lee Kum Kee Fine Shrimp Sauce)
Dash of light soy sauce (optional)

method
Soak Chinese mushrooms and black fungus in a bowl of hot water. When softened, remove them from the bowl and retain the soaking liquid. Squeeze out the water from mushrooms and slice them into half. Cut black fungus into smaller pieces.

Heat oil in wok or large pan. Stir fry the ginger till fragrant.

Add drumsticks and stir fry for a few minutes, until the exterior is no longer pink.

Add garlic, mushrooms, black fungus, soaking liquid and shrimp sauce. Stir well. Cover with lid and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Flip the chicken pieces occasionally with a kitchen tongs so that they can absorb the sauce.

(optional) If the sauce is not salty enough, you may wish to drizzle a bit of light soy sauce (I used about 1 tsp) to enhance the flavour.

Lamb with Chickpeas and Lentils (Ghosh vari daar)

Since relocating to Mumbai in May, we hadn't invited any friends over for a meal because 1) we only had 4 chairs at our tiny IKEA dining table; 2) there were only 4 plates, 2 cups, 4 forks and 4 spoons; and 3) I wasn't confident cooking for guests. But due to a recent kind donation of utensils and crockery from a returned Singaporean and a "shameless" self-invitation from a friend (it went like this: "We've been seeing all your food pictures and wonder when you're going to cook for us!") , we finally invited a couple of friends over last night. And this was what I cooked:  

Everyone enjoyed the mutton dish 'cos the meat was so just tender and the gravy flavourful.

This fantastic recipe is from Cooking with My Indian Mother-in-Law  and I've modified it slightly to reduce the heat and to make it slow carb diet friendly. 

Serves: 4
Cooking time: At least 1.5 hours

ingredients
225g/1 cup of channa dal (split chickpeas), well rinsed (I used dried whole chickpeas, soaked overnight) 
2 tbsp moong dal, well rinsed (any type of lentils will be fine actually)
500g mutton (or lamb shoulder or leg, if you can), cubed with bone retained, trimmed of fat and rinsed to remove stray splinters of bone
1.5 tsp salt
3 fat cloves garlic
3cm ginger
2 green chilies
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp peanut/cooking oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2.5cm cinnamon stick
3 cardamoms
3 cloves
10 black peppercorns
4 tbsp crushed canned plum tomatoes and juice (I replaced with 1 chopped fresh tomato and 3 tbsp of tomato puree)
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tbsp finely chopped coriander stems
2 medium potatoes, peeled and halved (Omitted because of PJ's slow-carb diet)
Juice of half a lemon (optional)
1/2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves (optional)

method 
Put both types of dal in a small pan with 4 cups/1 litre of water and bring to the boil. Skim off any scum, then partially cover the pan and simmer until the pulses are soft. This should take about 30 minutes - you may need to add more boiling water from time to time. (If you are using whole chickpeas, cook it for 30 minutes first before adding lentils; then cook for another 30 minutes i.e., total 1 hr).

Meanwhile, put the meat in a small pan with 500ml/2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp of salt. Bring to the boil, skim off any scum and cook rapidly for 10 mins. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes until tender.

Crush the garlic, ginger, 1 green chili, cumin seeds and 1 tsp of salt to a paste. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onion, cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves and peppercorns. Cook over moderate heat until the edges of the onion begin to turn brown. Add the garlic-ginger paste and cook for a minute or so, then add the tomatoes, the remaining chili (left whole), turmeric, coriander stems and the potatoes (optional). Stir well and simmer until the oil pools around the masala mixture.

Add the cooked meat and its cooking liquid to the masala and continue to cook over medium heat. Puree the dal and its cooking water using a hand-held blender, or beat with a whisk - it should be fairly think and soupy. Add it to the masala. Simmer gently until the potatoes are tender (if you're not using potatoes, just simmer for another 15-20 minutes).

(optional step) When you're ready to serve, stir in the lemon juice and chopped coriander and check the seasoning, adding more salt if necessary (not really!).

notes
If you prefer more heat, use 4 green chilies - 2 in the paste, and 2 whole with the tomato mixture.

Tom Yum Soup with Prawns & Chicken Meatballs

Ever since a colleague introduced me to Noob Cook, I've been eagerly combing the website to identify suitable Asian recipes that I can cook here in India. Her Tom Kha Talay  is something completely doable and I had meant to cook it today, only to be too lazy to source for good fish fillets. Instead, I decided to tweak the recipe somewhat and popped over to the nearby cold storage (NOT the Cold Storage in Singapore. Cold storage here are shops which sell fresh chicken meat, pork, mutton, eggs and sometimes other frozen meats/seafood etc.) and got some fresh chicken meat to make meatballs. The chicken meatballs turned out pretty fragrant and sweet, and unlike most times, I actually noted down the ingredients that went in (it was pretty much a "I think this should work so let's try lat" first-time effort). So here's the recipe for my tom yum soup with prawns and chicken meatballs. Definitely a slow carb diet friendly meal. 

Serves: 2
Cooking time: 15 minutes

ingredients 

for chicken meatballs
200g chicken breast fillet, chopped into smaller pieces
200g chicken thigh (skinless, boneless), chopped into smaller pieces
4 fat garlic cloves, peeled
2 small shallots, peeled
1 tbsp fresh mint leaves
2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves & stem (around 3-4 small stalks)
1 level tsp salt

the rest
700ml water
40-50g tom yum paste
1 stalk  fresh basil
1 lime
2 kaffir lime leaves (optional)
1 chilli padi
150g french beans, tips removed, cut to 1.5inches pieces
100g fresh button mushrooms, quartered (stems removed if preferred. For me, I removed the stems but throw them into the soup for the flavour and extra crunch)
11-12 medium sized prawns, shelled & deveined (tails left)
Fish sauce
Chilli flakes
Mint leaves
Tobasco sauce (optional/if needed)

method
Mince the 400g of chicken meat together (pulse on and off in a food processor). Scoop out the chicken meat into a mixing bowl. Next, add the garlic, shallots, mint leaves, coriander and salt into the food processor. Blend until ingredients are finely chopped. Scrape the mixture into the chicken mince and stir well to blend. With slightly wet hands, scoop out a generous tablespoon worth of the mixture and gently roll it into balls. Set the meatballs aside on a plate. Mixture should yield around 9-10 servings.

To make the soup base, bring water to boil in a deep saucepan. Add tom yum paste, basil, juice of lime, kaffir lime leaves and chill padi. Let mixture simmer for a while.

Carefully add the chicken meatballs into the soup. After around 7 minutes, the meatballs will float to the surface (a sign that they are cooked). Add mushrooms and french beans and cook for 2 minutes. Add prawns and cook for another minute.

Season with fish sauce, chilli flakes and tobasco sauce (if you need more spice and sourness). Garnish with mint leaves and serve immediately.

Jamie Oliver's Roasted Chicken Breast in Tinfoil Tray

This is the first recipe I'm trying from my first Jamie Oliver's book - Cook with Jamie - My Guide to Making You a Better Cook, and I'm SOLD. PJ loves the flavours, whilst I marvel at the simplicity of the recipe - both in terms of the number of ingredients used, and the ease of making this dish.

Here is the recipe I modified slightly, due to unavailability of certain ingredients. 

Serves: 1 (just double or triple accordingly to number of pax) 

Cooking time: 25-35 mins 

ingredients

1 chicken breast (around 150-200g), with skin (make a few 2cm incisions over the meat for the flavours to seep through) 

8-10 cherry tomatoes, halved 

1 small head of broccoli, broken into florets (the original recipe calls for 8 trimmed sticks of asparagus) 

1 sprigs of fresh rosemary 

Salt 

Fresh ground black pepper 

Olive oil 

Hua Tiao Chiew or Shaoxing wine (the original recipe calls for white wine)

Balsamic Vinegar 

method

Optional step: Rub some salt and freshly ground black pepper over chicken and let it sit in the fridge for 1-2 hours before cooking. 

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. 

Put chicken breast, broccoli, tomatoes and leaves from 1 sprig of rosemary plus a whole sprig of rosemary into a bowl. Toss everything together with a pinch of salt, freshly ground black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. 

Put the broccoli and tomatoes into a tinfoil tray (or a baking dish) and place the chicken and rosemary sprig on top. Sprinkle a bit more salt and black pepper for further seasoning. Add some wine and cook in the middle of the oven for 25 to 35 minutes (I did mine in 27 minutes, let it rest for 5 minutes on a plate and the meat was quite tender). 

Serve drizzled with balsamic vinegar (skip if you are on slow carb diet). 

tips: 
Bring chicken to room temperature before popping it into oven. This ensures the meat will cook faster and more evenly. I usually let my chicken sit on the counter for around 30 minutes.

Oven Roasted Mushrooms with Garlic and Chilli

Do you have one of those days where you are feeling crummy but you still need to cook because 1) you have some beautiful fresh produce that you'll really like to use up or 2) you're sick of eating take-outs or 3) you have a hungry (slow carb diet) husband to feed or 4) all of the above? 

Yesterday was one of those days for me (crummy + option 4) and I thought I'll rely on my new best friend in the kitchen - the oven - to help me prepare a simple dinner of roast chicken and mushrooms (along with instant miso soup and pak choy). 

And because I was feeling crummy, I did not take pictures of my food, as I normally would. It was only when PJ and I were almost done with the mushrooms, did he say that the mushrooms were really delicious and I should have taken a picture. 

So here is the afterthought:  

I am normally quite critical of my own cooking - but I have to shamelessly proclaim this pot as really yummy and the stock tasted like spaghetti alle vongole in bianco (without the spaghetti and clams)! That's because mushrooms are really rich in umami (just as clams are) and combined with olive oil, garlic and chilli flakes... yum!

Serves: 2-4 as a side dish
Cooking time: 30 minutes

ingredients
400g fresh mushrooms (I used a mix of white button and baby portobello), sliced
1 scant tsp salt
3-4 fat garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 scant tsp red chilli flakes
Generous drizzle of olive oil (around 2-3 tbsp)

method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Put the mushrooms in an oven proof casserole with lid. Sprinkle the salt, minced garlic, pepper and chilli flakes over the mushrooms. Drizzle the olive oil over and stir to mix well. Put the lid on, place the casserole in the preheated oven and let it do its magic for 30 minutes.

Serve as a side dish to roast chicken or pour it over spaghetti al dente for a vegetarian vongole! :)

Asian Chicken Burger

This chicken burger recipe from Hamlyn's 200 one pot meals does not call for any bread bun - perfect for PJ's diet! The patties turned out quite delicately flavoured, almost under flavoured, so I've upped the amount of herbs in my adapted recipe below.   

By the way, the preparation time given in the book was 20 minutes. But I reckoned it took me at least one hour! If all the ingredients were already washed, pre chopped, trimmed of fats etc., then yes, maybe you could do it in under 20 minutes (or if you are Jamie Oliver). Which brings me to my point - I can't advise on the preparation time for each recipe, because it really depends on the quality of your produce (e.g., I have to rinse every leaf under filtered water in Mumbai) and your own speed and skills in the kitchen. Preparation times given in cook books are often gross estimates; so, good luck if you're blindly following them! :)  

Serves: 2 hungry people (yields 4 generous patties)

Cooking time: 25 minutes

ingredients

4 garlic cloves, crushed

1 lemon grass stalk, roughly chopped

2 inch fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

Large handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped

2 red chilli, deseeded
1 tsp salt 

500g boneless, skinless chicken thigh, cut into large chunks

2 tbsp oil

1 bunch spring onions, sliced into 1-inch pieces 

200g pak choy, roughly shredded 

1 tbsp fish sauce

50g toasted cashew nuts, roughly chopped

method
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. 

Blend the garlic, lemon grass, ginger, coriander, chilli and salt in a food processor to make a thick paste. Add the chicken and blend until well mixed. Tip out on to the work surface and divide the mixture into 4 portions. Roll each into a ball and flatten into a burger shape. 

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the burgers on both sides to sear (around 30 secs each side). Transfer the burgers onto a baking sheet or roasting pan and cook, uncovered, for 25 minutes until the burgers are cooked through. 

Meanwhile, reheat the frying pan and stir fry the spring onions and pak choy for 1 minute. Add fish sauce towards the end and quickly stir through. 

Transfer cooked  burgers and vegetables to serving plates and scatter toasted cashew nuts over the greens. 

notes
For lamb burgers, use lean minced lamb instead of the chicken. Cooking time will remain the same.

Baked Mushroom and Tomato Rice

A really simple and healthy one-pot dish. 

Serves: 2 hungry people 

Cooking Time: 

ingredients

200g basmati rice, rinsed and drained 

1 tbsp olive oil 

1 large onion, chopped 

2 tsp fresh rosemary or 1 tsp dried rosemary 

250g button mushrooms, quartered 

2 red peppers, diced 

400g tomatoes, chopped 

425ml vegetable stock 

Dash of black pepper 

Chopped parsley (optional) 

method

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. 

Heat oil in a casserole dish and fry the chopped onion until soft. Stir in the rosemary and mushrooms and fry briefly. Add the rice, coat it in the oil then add the peppers, tomatoes, vegetable stock and some pepper. Bring to the boil, stir, cover tightly and then bake for 20-25 minutes. 

Serve hot with freshly ground black pepper and chopped parsley. 

Thai Basil Chicken in Cabbage Leaves

PJ and I have had different versions of Thai Basil Chicken. The one that he had tried in Northern Thailand was whitish and quite dry; whilst the ones I've had in Bangkok and Singapore (and even here in Mumbai) are darker (maybe from dark soy sauce or kicap manis) and with some gravy. This recipe is the former - to which PJ says is spot on in terms of how it looks. Recipe adapted from thaitable.com.

Serves: 2 as a complete meal with cabbage leaves or 4 as part of a meal
Cooking time:

ingredients
2 tbsp cooking oil
3 fat cloves of garlic, minced
3-5 chilli padis (bird eye's chillies), minced
400g chicken thigh, ground
2 tbsp of fish sauce
2 large handfuls of holy basil leaves (stems removed)
Pinch of white pepper

method
Heat oil in a wide frying pan until very hot and fry the garlic and chillies. When the garlic begins to brown, add the chicken. Stir constantly.

Keep stirring until the juice from the chicken is gone. It will take a couple of minutes. Add fish sauce, followed by the holy basil. Quickly stir it over a few times to mix the leaves with the meat and then remove from the heat.

Season it with some white pepper and serve hot in cabbage leaves or over Thai jasmine rice (if you're not on a slow carb diet).

Sticky Ginger & Soy Chicken Wings

This is a dish which I've cooked at least 4-5 times in my short 4 months in Mumbai because 1) chicken is so fresh here; 2) it is comfort Chinese food; and 3) it is so simple to prepare. The recipe is from step-by-step Asian. 

Serves: 2
Cooking time: 12-15 mins (but allow plenty of time for marination)

ingredients
6 chicken wings
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2.5cm/1-inch fresh garlic, grated
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp chilli sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
lime wedges to serve

method
Tuck the pointed tip of each wing under the thicker end to make a neat triangle. Arrange the wings in a single layer in a dish.

Mix together the garlic, ginger, soy sauce, lime, honey, chilli sauce and sesame oil. Spoon the mixture over the chicken and turn to coat evenly. Cover and marinate for serveral hours or overnight.

Preheat the broiler to hot. Cook the wings on a foil lined broiler pan for 11-12 minutes on one side, and turn them over and broil for another 2 minutes. Juices should have no trace of pink when pierced. Serve hot with lime wedges.

note
The picture taken above was my first attempt and you can see that there are no burnt bits on the skin. Well, this first batch turned out to be under cooked, despite the recommended cooking time. PJ suggested that because I was basting it frequently and constantly opening the oven door, thereby releasing a lot of heat, the recommended cooking time in the recipe wasn't accurate. Hence, in my subsequent batches, I gave up basting altogether and let the wings cook straight for 11-12 minutes, before opening the oven door to flip them and cook for another 2 minutes to brown the underside. Wings cook this way will have charred bits of skin and hence look quite different from the picture up there. :)

Whole Lentils with Herbs and Spices

Dal - a soupy mixture of lentils in herbs and spices - is probably my favourite dish in Indian cuisine. This recipe adapted from Cooking with my Indian mother-in-law is a flavourful and much healthier version (i.e., less oily) than some of the dal you will find in Indian restaurants. 

Serves: 4 with rice, or 2 as part of a complete meal
Cooking time: 45 mins

ingredients
225g (slightly more than 1 cup) of brown lentils (alternatively, use 175g of yellow lentils w/o skin and 50g red split lentils)
1-2 green chillies
1 fat clove garlic
4 cm ginger, peeled
1 tsp salt
2 tomatoes, skinned and halved
1 tbsp canola or peanut oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 teaspoon dhana jiru (blend of ground coriander seeds and cumin seeds)
Pinch of turmeric
1/2 tbsp finely chopped coriander (cilantro) stems
1/2 tbsp roughly chopped coriander (cilantro leaves)

method
Wash the lentils in several changes of water until the water is clear. Drain and put them in a put with 2 litres or 8 cups of water. Bring to the boil without the lid. Skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Reduce the heat and simmer the dal for 35 minutes or until it is soft.

While the lentils are cooking, make the tomato mixture. Top and tail 1-2 (depending on how much spiciness you can take) of the green chillies. Put chillies, garlic, ginger, salt and tomatoes into a food processor and blend the mixture until well blended and finely chopped up.

Heat the oil in a soup pot, add the mustard seeds and onion and fry until pale golden. Add the butter. When melted, add the dhana jiru and turmeric. Cook the spices for a few seconds, then add the tomato mixture and the coriander stems. Increase the heat and simmer the masala until the oil pools around the sides of the pot. Set aside.

When the lentils are cooked, take a whisk and beat the mixture to make it as smooth as possible. Add it to the cooked masala in the soup pot and bring the mixture to boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Depending on your preference, you may wish to add more water to achieve the consistency of a thin soup.

Add pepper and more salt if necessary, and serve hot with coriander leaves scattered over.

tips
To skin tomatoes, pierce the bottom of each tomato with a "X" using a small kitchen knife. Put the tomatoes in a deep bowl and pour freshly boiled water over them (enough to cover them completely). Leave for around 5 minutes, remove the tomatoes from the bowl and you will be able to peel off the skin easily starting from the "X".
+
Whole lentils with skin will give your dal more bite. If you prefer something softer and more mushy, use lentils without the skin.

Chicken in Parchment Paper

I attended a cooking class at Palate Sensations in Singapore and this dish of "Oven baked snapper in 'catoccio' with onions, tomatoes and potatoes" was part of the menu. Simply put, it is fish cooked in parchment paper. Since fresh fish is not readily available during the monsoon season in India (plus, I have no freaking idea how to buy fish or identify the different types of fish yet), I decided to try cooking chicken breasts in this manner. 

Serves: 1
Cooking time: 20 minutes

ingredients
1 chicken breast fillet, about 150-200g
1/2 small red capsicum, sliced
1/2 yellow red capsicum, sliced
2 small portobello mushrooms, sliced
Olive oil
1 tsp of crushed garlic
1 tsp of fresh thyme leaves
Salt and pepper
Dash of white wine or chinese cooking wine (hua diao jiu)

method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees for 10-15 mins.

Make some deep gashes in the chicken meat with a small kitchen knife. In a mixing bowl, coat the chicken generously with olive oil, crushed garlic, thyme, salt and freshly ground black pepper and let it sit for at least 15 minutes.

In the center of a large piece of parchment paper, lay the mushrooms in one layer (roughly over the surface area of one fillet), followed by the capsicum slices. Season with some salt and pepper. Finally, put the fillet on top of the vegetables and splash wine over the meat. 

This is the fun part - wrap your chicken into a parcel! Any way is fine, so long as the package is sealed and you leave some room for expansion. 

Pop the parcel into the oven and let it cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove the parcel from the oven when the time is up and let it rest for at least 5 minutes before you open up the parcel for serving.  

tip 
As it is very easy to overcook chicken breast, a good alternative would be to use chicken drumsticks instead. 

Vegan Broccoli and Cannellini Bean Soup

This soup is thickened with cannellini beans instead of the usual cream or flour. The original recipe calls for rosemary, but as I only had thyme in my kitchen today, I decided to heck it and the taste turned out nicely! But I think it has the potential to be awesome. So I'll try it with rosemary the next round. :)

Serves: 2 

Cooking time: 20 minutes 

ingredients

4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 cups of broccoli florets, roughly blitzed in food processor
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1 can of cannellini beans, pureed in food processor
4 cups of unsalted vegetable broth
2 tsp fresh thyme
Freshly ground black pepper
Dash of sesame oil

method

Heat the oil in a soup pot and saute the garlic and onion for about 4-5 minutes. Add the blitzed broccoli florets and fry for another 2-3 minutes; then add the salt, pepper, paprika and pureed beans and stir well. 

Slowly pour in the stock, using a whisk to help you blend the mixture well. Add the thyme (or rosemary) and let your soup simmer for another 12-15 minutes. 

Using a in-pan soup blender, roughly blitz the soup to get a slightly grainy texture. Alternatively, blend it in 

batches in a food processor.

Serve with fresh ground black pepper and a drizzle of sesame oil.

Lamb with Peas and Mint in a Lettuce Wrap

This dish is usually paired with rice or bread, but I decided to serve it on iceberg lettuce leaves ala Korean ssambap style to suit PJ's slow carb diet. You can also try this with other types of lettuce or even cabbage. I personally prefer lettuce because the sweetness of the leaves complement the slight spiciness of the lamb. 

This recipe is adapted from Om books' Complete Indian Cooking. 

Serves: 2 (if eaten as a complete meal)
Cooking time: 20 mins

ingredients 
1 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 tsp roughly chopped and crushed garlic
1/2 tsp grated fresh root ginger
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp salt
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
275g lean leg of lamb, minced (ground)
1 large carrot, diced
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 fresh green chilli, chopped

method 

In a deep heavy frying pan, heat the oil and fry the chopped onion over a medium heat for 5 mins until golden.

Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, mix the garlic, ginger, chilli powder, ground coriander and salt. Stir well.
Add the sliced tomatoes and the spice mixture to the onions in the frying pan and fry for 2-3 minutes. stirring occasionally. Add the minced lamb to the mixture and stir-fry for about 7-10 minutes to brown the meat.

Break up any lumps of meat which may form in the pan. Add the carrot, peas, mint, coriander and green chilli and mix together well. Cook, stirring for 2-3 minutes until the carrot and peas are cooked, then serve immediately with lettuce leaves. 

tip

Mince your own meat as far as possible. In this way, you can be assured that the meat is fresh and clean (and it's exactly the parts that you want and need). Simply chop up the meat into chunky pieces, and pulse it on low in a food processor for under 15 seconds. 

Vegan Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup

Ever since PJ decided to restart his "Slow Carb" diet, I've been cracking my brain on what to cook for him. Apart from kicking out all carbs from his diet (rice, grains, flour, noodles, glucose, fructose, potatoes etc.), there can't be any dairy products in his diet too (save for butter). Hence, when I came across this vegan roasted tomato basil soup recipe from chow.com, I thought, awesome! It's dairy free, and calls for ingredients that are easily available (not to mention, very cheap) in India. Tomatoes and basil. :)    

Here's the recipe which I modified slightly:

Serves: 2
Cooking time: 1 hr 30 mins

ingredients
500g plum tomatoes (or any sort that is readily available for you)
3 tbsp olive oil
 3/4 tbsp salt
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
3/4 tsp chilli powder or chilli flakes
200ml tomato puree
1 cup water
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, shredded roughly
1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

method 

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Usually 10-15 mins is okay.

Slice tomatoes lengthwise (from stem part). Arrange them on a large baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 tbsp of olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Toss the tomatoes with your hands until they are even coated. Arrange them on the sheet with the cut side up. Place in preheated oven and roast for 50 mins. Remove pan from oven when done and set aside.

Warm the rest of the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until soft & golden. Add garlic and chilli and fry for another minute. Pour in the tomatoes, their juices and add the puree, water, basil and thyme. Bring to boil and then simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Allow soup to cool slightly before blending in batches in a food processor. Blend until desired texture (I blend it until the tomato skin is all blended finely) and pour back into a saucepan to heat it up again before serving.

Pour the soup into serving bowls and top with fresh ground black pepper.  

Really Really Easy Pan Fried Salsa Chicken

This is a really, really easy recipe adapted from Good Food (which reprinted it from Hamlyn All Colour 200 Twenty-Minute Meals). It's really, really easy because there's barely any cooking. You will just need to season your chicken well, heat the pan right, and the chicken will sit there and cook on its own, so long as you flip it around after 4-5 minutes. Makes cooking a breeze and feeds my slow carb diet husband well. :)  

Serves: 2 hungry people 

Cooking time: 30 mins 

ingredients

4 chicken breast fillets (about 150g each), boneless, skinless 

3 tbsp olive oil 

Fresh ground pepper (as much or as little as you want) and salt (around 1 level tsp would be nice) to season

Dash of paprika to season 

for the salsa
1 onion, finely chopped
15 cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 small cucumbers, diced
A handful of fresh basil, finely shredded
1/2 tsp of fresh thyme
Juice of 1 lime

method

Coat the fillets with oil and season generously with pepper, salt and paprika.

Heat a frying pan until very hot (to the point where the chicken will sizzle when it hits the pan), add the chicken and cook for about 4-5 minutes (I find 4 minutes just nice) on each side. In order not to overcrowd the pan (which will result in a sudden drop of temperature in the pan, you can either pan fry each fillet individually, or stagger the time you place each fillet in e.g., 2nd fillet enters the pan when you flip the 1st fillet at the 5th minute, 3rd fillet enters when you flip the 2nd fillet, so on and so forth.

Meanwhile, to make the salsa, mix together the salsa ingredients. Season well with salt and pepper.

Serve the chicken hot with the salsa spooned over and around.

notes/tips: 

The original recipe calls for 1 red chilli (deseeded and finely chopped) and a handful of fresh coriander leaves (chopped). As I did not have these on hand, I chose to replace them with fresh basil and thyme, which worked beautifully to enhance the flavours of the tomatoes and cucumbers.
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Also, it's very tempting to "disturb" the chicken (flip it around, peek at the bottom) whilst it's frying in the pan. Resist it! Have faith that they will cook beautifully and not burn if you let them sit in the pan, ~4 minutes on each side.
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Since chicken breast meat is generally tougher and the fillet is not of even thickness throughout, I like to pound my chicken to kind of even out the thickness and break down the tissue. Try it!

Pan Fried Chicken Drumsticks with Garlic and Parsley

Now that my husband has decided to restart his slow-carb diet, I need to rethink how I cook and what I cook. What it essentially means is no carbs, no dairy (except butter), and no sugar (but we've come to a compromise/cheat method that I can use a bit of sugar or honey in my cooking where absolutely necessary). This yummy pan fried chicken dish adapted from yumsugar.com, paired it with some vegetables to make a complete meal is one that fits his diet to a tee - no cheating, too!

Serves: 2
Cooking time: 30-40 mins

ingredients
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
6 chicken drumsticks
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp lemon juice

for the green peas mash

200g frozen green peas
1/2 tbsp butter
1 tsp fresh thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp lemon juice

for the cabbage with sesame seeds

3 tbsp white sesame seeds, toasted / dry roasted
1/4 of a cabbage, shredded
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp of fish sauce

method

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a frying pan over a medium flame. Add the oil, butter and crushed garlic. When the butter is foaming, drop in the drumsticks, and fry until lightly browned all over.

Cover the frying pan and leave the drumsticks to fry gently for around 20 minutes, turning regularly. Add the garlic, parsley and lemon juice and stir to coat the drumsticks evenly. Remove the chicken pieces from the pan and leave the flavours to infuse for a few minutes before serving.

Whilst the chicken is cooking, boil a pot of water. Add peas to boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.

Remove peas from pot and add in the shredded cabbage. Whist the cabbage is cooking, add the butter, 

thyme, salt and lemon juice to the peas, mixed with a 1 tbsp of hot water. Mash the mixture.

Let the cabbage cook for around 7 minutes and drain the water. Add sesame oil, fish sauce, sesame seeds and toss.

Create a bed of mashed peas and cabbage and serve the drumsticks on top of the vegetables.

Finger licking good!

notes/tips: 
Use a pair of thongs to help you in the cooking of the chicken to avoid the splatter of oil. Thongs are something you definitely should have in the kitchen!
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Blot away excess moisture/water from the chicken before seasoning it. This minimises the splatter when the chicken first hits the pan.
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You can easily replace the herbs in this recipe if parsely or thyme are not available or not to your taste.

How to get rid of garlic smell on your fingers

A quick and simple way to get rid of the garlic smell on your fingers is to rub them against your stainless steel knife. Works like a charm. Every time!

Chicken with Cashew Nuts

A very typical Chinese stir-fry dish that is both hearty and nutritious. Not to mention - yummy!

Recipe is adapted from Step-By-Step Asian (Love Food)

Serves: 4-6 (as part of a meal)
Cooking Time: 10 minutes

ingredients
450g boneless, skinless chicken, cut into bite-size pieces
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp Shaoxing rice wine
1/2 tsp salt
3 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes
2 tbsp cooking oil
4 slices fresh ginger, finely sliced
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 2.5cm squares
2/3 cup cashew nuts, toasted in oven until browned  (or dry roasting in pan) 

method
Marinate the chicken in 1 tbsp of the light soy sauce, Shaoxing, sugar and salt for at least 20 minutes.

Squeeze any excess water from the mushrooms and finely slice, discarding any tough stems. Reserve the soaking water.

Heat a wok and add 1 tbsp of the oil. Add the ginger and stir-fry until fragrant. Stir in the chicken and cook for 2 minutes, until it turns brown. Before the chicken is cooked through, remove and set aside.

Clean the wok, heat the remaining oil and stir-fry the garlic until fragrant. Add the mushrooms and red bell pepper and stir-fry for another minute.

Add about 2 tbsp of the mushroom soaking water and cook for about 2 minutes, until the water has evaporated.

Return the chicken to the wok, add the remaining light soy sauce and the cashew nuts, and stir-fry for 2 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

notes/tips: 

If you don't have a wok (like me), you can use a large saucepan or deep frying pan to stir-fry in instead. 

Stir-fry Okra in Homemade Shrimp Paste (paired with spaghetti)

I wanted a home-cooked lunch for myself last week but only had okra (or lady's fingers) in my fridge. Recalling how my mum used to stir-fry them with dried shrimps and chilli, I decided to make a savoury and thick paste to stir-fry the okra and lay it on top spaghetti to make a simple meal.

Serves: 1 

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes for spaghetti; 10 mins for okra 

ingredients 

Handful of spaghetti
1 medium onion, quartered
3 garlic cloves
2 bird's eye chilli (commonly called Thai Chillies or Chilli Padi)
2 tbsp small dried shrimps
1 tbsp of cooking oil
1 tbsp of light soya sauce
10 medium-sized okra, cut into 3cm pieces

method

Bring a pot of water and some salt to boil. Throw in the spaghetti and cook as per instructions on packaging.

Whilst the spaghetti is cooking, put the onion, garlic, chilli and shrimps in a blender and blend at low speed for about 10 seconds (or until everything is finely chopped). Heat the oil in a frying pan or wok and fry the blended paste for about 3-5 minus, until slightly browned. Season with soya sauce. 

Stir in okra and stir-fry for another 5 minutes (or longer, if you prefer slightly mushy okra). Add a tablespoon of water if the mixture starts to stick to the pan. 

Serve on top of spaghetti or plain white rice or lentils if you are on the slow carb diet. 

Chicken Stir-Fry with Curry Leaves

I'm a fan of one-pot meal as it's easy to handle for noob cooks and it's sufficient for just the two of us at home. However, as my confidence in cooking developed, I grew ambitious and decided to tackle 3 dishes for dinner one day. Chicken stir-fry, french beans in a tomato curry and soup (ginger and curry leaf rasam - a popular South Indian soup). For the last 2 dishes, I closely followed recipes whilst the chicken stir-fry was really a "let's-mix-a-few-things-together-and-see-what-happens" dish. Hence, I was expecting the chicken to be just "so-so", but as it turned out, PJ enjoyed it the most out of the 3 dishes. Because there was no recipe, I'd tried to recall as much as what I did to reproduce the steps below.

Servings: 2-3
Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 400g boneless, skinless chicken breast, pounded and cut into small chunks 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 5-6 black peppercorns, crushed 
• Dash of ground white pepper 
• 1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder 
• 1/2 tsp cornflour (optional)
• 2 tbsp cooking oil 
• 3 stalks of curry leaves (around 25-30 leaves) 
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped 
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ground coriander 
• 1 tsp paprika 
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce 
• Dash of light soy sauce 

Method 

1. Marinade chicken chunks with salt, black peppercorns, ground white pepper, Chinese five spice powder and cornflour. Leave in fridge for about 2-3 hours or overnight.  
2. Heat oil in frying pan or wok over medium heat. Fry the curry leaves until very fragrant. Remove and set aside around 15-20 leaves. 
3. To the remaining leaves in the pan, add onions and fry for about 1-2 minutes. Add garlic and fry for another minute. Add ground coriander and paprika powder. Stir through and cook for another 1-2 minutes. 
4. Add chicken and mix till chicken is well coated. Add dark soy sauce and season further with light soy sauce, according to your preference. Stir-fry until chicken is cooked. 
5. Serve garnished with the remaining curry leaves. 

Notes/Tips

• Equal size chunks: Through watching Master Chef Australia, I've come to realise the importance of cutting your meat to equal size chunks (as far as possible). This will help to ensure all the pieces are cooked around the same time. 
• Warm chicken to room temperature on countertop: I usually let my chicken sit on the counter for around an hour before cooking (never more than 2 hours as this will encourage bacteria growth). This helps the meat to cook more evenly and quickly. More really helpful tips on cooking moist, juicy and tender chicken can be found here. 
• Cornflour is optional, especially if you are on the slow carb diet. I only add it to make the meat smoother - something which my mother taught me. 

About that chilli burn on your hands...

A while ago, I de-seeded small green chillies for the first time in my life (I never had to do it before because my mum took charge of all things in the kitchen).

De-seeding the chillies was simple. What completely caught me by surprise was the burn that haunted me for HOURS afterward.

The chilli burn I had on both hands was excruciatingly painful and for the next 1-2 hours, I tried various methods:

• Soap 
• Oil 
• Ice
• Yogurt 
• Butter 
• Water

Nothing worked at all.

It was only when my husband came home and asked me to try putting my hands in cooked rice. His logic was that the rice will soak up the chilli oil from my hands. And it did work! I had my hands coated with cooked rice and slowly but surely, the pain eased and the burn started to go away.

Ever since then, I've taken extreme care when handling small chillies. I would either wear gloves, or handle the chillies by their top end with one hand, whilst the other hand chops the chillies. I would wash my hands, the knife and cutting board with soap and water immediately after handling chillies.

No more chilli burn!  

Chicken Porridge

Porridge is a staple in my mum's kitchen. We would either have it plain, paired with various stir-fried dishes or just some salty dishes such as salted fish, omelette with preserved radish; or my mum will throw in bits of meat or fish and mushroom to make a complete one-pot meal. The one-pot wonder is also something she cooks when we are sick or nursing a weak stomach (or when we had our wisdom tooth taken out) so you can imagine how porridge screams "comfort food!" for me. As such, when my husband fell sick in Mumbai, I decided to make a one-pot wonder to provide some comfort.

Serves: 2 hungry people 

Cooking time: 1 hr 50 mins

Ingredients

• 10 cups of water
• 250g chicken bones
• 1 medium white onion, halved 
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed 
• 2-3 inch piece of carrot, quartered 
• 2 one-inch fresh ginger, peeled and crushed 
• 10 black (can mix with white) peppercorns, crushed 
• 3 fresh sage/bay/basil leaves (up to your taste) 
• 3/4 cup white rice, pounded 
• 4 chicken drumsticks
• 8-10 white button mushrooms, quartered 
• 2 tbsp fish sauce 
• Grounded white pepper to taste
• Sliced ginger to garnish
• Chopped spring onion to garnish   

Method 

1. Bring water to boil in a large pot. Add chicken bones, onion, garlic, carrot, ginger, peppercorns and leaves. Simmer gently (without breaking into a boil), uncovered, for around 1 hour. According to Keys to Good Cooking, bubbling clouds the stock with tiny particles of protein and fat; gently moving water allows the particles to cluster and either rise to the surface or fall to the bottom. The open pot cools the stock surface, dries the protein scum and begins the concentration process. 
2. Keep chicken bones, ginger and carrots in stock. Remove and discard everything else. Skim off most of the fat. 
3. Add pounded rice to stock and simmer, partially covered, for 15-20 mins until rice is cooked. 
4. Add chicken drumsticks and simmer for 12-15 mins.  
5. Add mushrooms and simmer for another 10-15 mins. 
6. Remove chicken bones from pot. 
7. Stir in fish sauce and pepper. 
8. Serve garnished with the sliced ginger and spring onion. 

Notes/Tips

• Pounding is optional but it really helps to create a smoother porridge. 
• Always pound damp/wet rice: The first time I made this dish, I made the mistake of pounding dry rice. It was an uphill task and took up so much of my time. The second time, I pounded damp rice and it was SO EASY. 
• Stir occasionally throughout the simmering process to prevent scorching at the bottom of the pot. 
• Top up with hot water when mixture becomes too dry for your liking. 
• You can marinate the chicken bones and thighs with some cooking wine (I use hua diao jiu), salt and pepper prior to cooking. I like the marinade to sit for at least 2-3 hours. 
• Basmati rice is used for this recipe because this is the main type of rice in India. Thai jasmine rice (which is what my mother uses) will be beautiful too.