Well, to continue where I have left off, I will be sharing a very nutritious soup recipe made from burdock root.  You may have seen burdock root at the grocer’s but never know it can actually be cooked into such a delicious soup.

But appearances are deceptive and beneath it, the goodness of burdock can be plentiful.  See this article if you are keen to find out more information about Burdock.

Ingredients (Serves about 4-5 adults)

• 1 Burdock root (about 30 cm long), peeled, washed and cut into small pieces
• 200 g boneless pork loin, cut into small pieces
• 2 tablespoons wolfberries
• 8 dried honey red dates
• 6-8 cloves of garlic with skin intact
• 3 litres of water

Instructions:

Step 1:  First bring the water in the stockpot to a boil.

Step 2:  Place the pork loin pieces in a separate bowl.  When the water has boiled, scoop some water over to scald the pork loin.  This is an important step as scalding will remove the remaining traces of blood on the pork.  You will notice a layer of “scum” floating on the surface and will be glad that you have skimmed it off before putting these pork in the actual soup!  Yikes. 

Step 3:  Drain the pork pieces before transferring it back into the stockpot.  Put in the rest of the ingredients.  Aren’t the colors beautiful?

Step 4:  Bring the water to a boil again at high heat.  When it has boiled, lower to small heat and allow the soup to simmer for 2.5 hours.

Step 5:  After 2.5 hours, the soup should have turned a really nice flavorful reddish orange color and the water level should have dropped to about 2/3 of its original level.

Step 6: Add salt (about 1 teaspoon) and a dash of pepper to taste.  Mix well.  Turn off the heat.

Step 7:  Serve soup hot and ladle them straight into the lunch jar if you intend to bring them out to keep them as warm as possible.

How does this look?

For those who have not eaten burdock before, I would say it taste somewhat like potato, but less starchy.  In fact, the first time my mom cooked it, she tricked me into thinking that it was potato and I didn’t suspect a thing.  Haha.  So much so for my ignorance then!

This soup recipe can also be an all-in-one meal if you are not fussy.  Just bring some cooked rice to go along with it for a simple, yet satisfying lunch.

It makes quite a well-balanced dish for children as well as there is chicken, potato and carrot, an all-in-one solution if mummy feels lazy!

Ingredients (Serves 4 adults):

• 200 g boneless chicken fillet, cut into bite-size pieces
• 2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 small carrot, peeled and diced
• 1 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped
• Half a cup of water
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• Cooking oil
• Dash of ground pepper

For chicken marinade, you will need:

• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• Dash of ground pepper

Instructions:

Step 1:   Mix ingredients for chicken marinade in a mixing bowl.  Put in the diced chicken fillet and mix well.  Allow it to marinate for 1 – 2 hours.  This is how it should look.

You can leave it to marinate overnight too.  Remember to cover it with plastic wrap and keep it in the chiller.

Step 2:  Heat up a wok or pan with cooking oil.  Fry the potato and carrot cubes till they are cooked.  Remove and set aside.

Step 3:  Remove the excess cooking oil, leaving about 2 tablespoons in the wok for the next step.

Step 4:  Put in chopped garlic and when it starts to brown, add in the marinated chicken fillet cubes.  Stir-fry till cooked.

Step 5:  Transfer back the potato and carrot cubes, add in water and light soy sauce and stir-fry for another minute.

Step 6:  Turn down the heat a little and let the stew simmer for 1-2 minutes.  Add in a dash of pepper, mix the combo well for the last time and serve.

Just a few steps and you are done, isn’t it easy?

Of course, not forgetting to set aside some for my lunch box too.

This is a no-frills recipe, and is very easy to follow.  If you like the aromatic blend of garlic and olive oil, you would probably enjoy the taste.  If you are cooking for your kids, you may want to add some sausages and ham to go along with the spaghetti in case they think it looks quite plain.

Instructions (Serves 3 adults):

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons garlic, chopped finely
• 300 g spaghetti
• 3 tablespoons fresh or dried english parsley flakes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• Juice from half a lemon
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1:  Boil water in a stockpot enough to cook the spaghetti.  When water boils, add a pinch of salt and drizzle a teaspoon of olive oil.

Step 2:  Put in the spaghetti and cook for about 7 to 8 minutes till al dente.  You can taste a strand of spaghetti to check on it.  If you prefer them softer, leave it for another minute or so.

Step 3:  Remove the cooked spaghetti and place them in a colander to drain of excess water.

Step 4:  Heat up the rest of the olive oil in a pan.  When oil is hot, add the chopped garlic.  Stir fry till garlic is fragrant.

Step 5:  Transfer the cooked spaghetti back into the pan.  Toss spaghetti with garlic till well blended.

Step 6:  Add lemon juice, salt, parsley flakes and ground black pepper.  Mix well.  Serve.

This is my simple and satisfying lunch.

Another all-in-one lunch box idea for the lazy you (and me).  I hope you like it!

This is a very simple tofu dish you can try.

Ingredients (Serves 4 adults):

• 100 – 120 g of minced pork
• 250 -300 g soft/ silken tofu, cut into cubes
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1 small carrot, diced into small cubes
• 1 stalk scallion (spring onion), washed and chopped
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup corn starch mixture (2 tablespoons corn starch mixed with 1/3 cup water)
• 3 teaspoons light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• Ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon hua tiao chiew (chinese cooking wine)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1:  Marinate minced meat with 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce and a dash of pepper.  Mix well and leave it aside for about 30 minutes.

Step 2:  Heat up the cooking oil in the fry pan or wok.  Add minced garlic when oil is hot.

Step 3:  When garlic starts to brown, add in the minced meat.  Stir fry till it is cooked.  Add in the diced carrots and scallions.  Stir fry for another 30 seconds.

Step 4:  Add oyster sauce, 2 teaspoons of light soy sauce, hua tiao chiew and a dash of pepper.  Stir fry again to mix well.

Step 5:  Add in water and cover the fry pan with a lid.  Allow the stew to cook for 1-2 minutes.

Step 6:  Remove the lid and add in the silken tofu cubes.  Ladle some sauce mixture over the tofu cubes and cover the fry pan again for another minute to cook the tofu.

Step 7:  Finally, add the corn starch mixture slowly into the stew, stirring it carefully to keep the soft tofu cubes intact.

Does this look really easy?

I only took about 10 minutes to prepare the ingredients and 10 minutes to cook this dish.  In fact, if you are rushing for time in the morning before going to work, you can prepare the ingredients in advance.  Marinate the minced meat, chop the scallions and carrots the night before.  The next day, just take them out and cook!

Aren’t the colors beautiful?

For an even easier variation of this recipe, you can replace the carrots and scallions with half a cup of frozen peas/carrot/corn mix.

This dish is best served piping hot, so if you are bringing it to work, ladle them into a thermos food jar immediately to keep it warm.

For me, this tofu combo makes a simple all-in-one meal as well as it has meat, vegetables and tofu.  All I need is just a bowl of steamed rice to go along with it.  YUM…

Enjoy!

We introduced black pepper to this recipe as it adds a new taste to the dish.  If you have kids who cannot take the spiciness, just cut down on the pepper part.  With the rest of the seasoning, it is still delicious!

Ingredients (Serves 3 adults):

• 2 packets of (200 g) udon
• 4 imitation crab sticks, cut half and peeled into thin strips
• 2 small fish cake, cut into thin strips (optional, if it is not available)
• 1 small bok choy, washed and cut into smaller pieces
• 3 dried or fresh shitake mushroom, trimmed of caps and cut into strips
• 1 packet (100 g) enoki mushrooms, trimmed of ends, cut into half and peeled into individual strips
• 1 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Water, about half cup

Seasoning:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoon black pepper (adjust according to your preference)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1:  Boil some water in a stockpot.  Cook the udon noodles.  Drain and set aside.

Step 2:  Heat up a wok or pan with olive oil.  Add minced garlic when oil is hot.

Step 3:  When garlic starts to brown, add in the ingredients (imitation crab stick, fish cake, mushrooms and bok choy) and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.  Add half a cup of water and allow the ingredients to simmer for another minute.

If you notice, this whole wok are just the cooked ingredients.  See the mushroom and red imitation crab stick strips?  We like our udon with lots of ingredients!

Step 4:  Add the udon noodles into the cooked ingredients.  Blend well.

Step 5:  Add the list of seasoning next, one by one.  Stir-fry the udon noodles till all the ingredients are mixed evenly.

Finally, our completed wok of stir-fried black pepper udon.  Don’t you think the udon look a little like squid tentacles?  LOL.

Time to eat!

I set a portion aside for Hubby’s lunchbox too.  For this type of meal, I usually use a microwave-safe bento box so that Hubby can heat it up again during lunch.

This udon recipe is really easy to cook and makes a great lunchbox idea for kids and adults.  It is convenient to pack too as it is an all-in-one dish like fried rice.

By the way, don’t you think all-in-one meal ideas are like a godsend on the days we feel really lazy or under the weather?  I am often guilty of this, so I bet I will be sharing more all-in-one meals to come.  Haha.

But always going to the restaurants to get my fix is not going to be good for our pockets in the long run, so I am learning how to prepare them from my home.

For example, this meal below which serves four would cost us about US$40 – US$50 at a mid-range restaurant, but when we cook it ourselves, we can probably save two-thirds of what we would have spent.

For convenience, I have used pre-mix tempura flour that you can also get easily at supermarkets.  Other ingredients like furukake (Japanese rice seasoning) and bottled tempura sauce can also be bought readily.

Ingredients (Serves 4 adults):

• Cooking oil (for deep-frying of tempura)
• 4 cups of cooked Japanese short-grained rice
• 4 large shitake mushrooms, trimmed of caps and cut into halves
• 2-3 ladies’ fingers (okra), tail trimmed and cut slanted
• 1 small carrot, peeled and sliced
• 15-20 tiger prawns, de-shelled and de-veined
• 100 g tempura flour pre-mix
• Cold water (1 cup should be more than enough)
• 8 tablespoons tempura sauce
• 4 tablespoons furukake seasoning

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1:  Place the tempura flour pre-mix in a mixing bowl.  Add cold water (it must be cold!) a little at a time, and mix batter lightly till a moderately thin consistency is achieved.

Step 2:  Heat up enough cooking oil for deep-frying in a saucepan or wok.

Step 3:  Pat dry the prawns and vegetables with a kitchen paper towel before frying.

Step 4:  Test whether the oil is hot enough by dripping a drop of tempura batter.  If the batter comes up to the surface immediately, the oil is ready for frying.

Step 5:  Dip the vegetables, one by one in the batter and put them gently in the hot oil.  It is best to use a pair of long chopsticks or tongs to flip them to protect yourself from oil splatters.  The tempura should float on the surface when frying, coated with a layer of batter.  If the batter does not stick well, add a bit more tempura flour to make the batter thicker.  After the vegetables are done, continue with the prawns.

Step 6:  When the coated layer turns golden brown, remove the tempura and place them on a kitchen paper towel or rack to absorb excess oil.  This picture below shows part of what I have made.  How does it look?

Step 7:  To make tempura don, scoop a cup of pre-cooked Japanese steamed rice into a bowl.  Drizzle two tablespoons of tempura sauce on the rice.  Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of furukake seasoning in the centre.  Place the tempura on the bowl and serve while the tempura is hot and crispy.  Repeat for another bowl.

I kept a lunch box portion for Hubby, where I separated the rice and the tempura into two boxes. I also added a coleslaw side created from the left-over wasabi mayonnaise I made the day before.  Wasabi flavoured coleslaw taste awesome by the way!

The challenge about this lunch box is the tempura will go soft if it is not eaten hot.  But as long as you or the person you make the lunchbox for don’t mind, making this tempura rice lunchbox is a nice change to the menu.  And it is not too difficult at all.

I am glad I tried it!  How about you?

Well, I travelled to Korea last year and I fell in love with some of the dishes I had there.  In order to satisfy my cravings, I am trying to re-create some of these myself.

I found a simple recipe for Korean bibimbap and improvised it a little for home-cooking.  Bibimbap is a traditional Korean mixed rice dish where different ingredients are topped on steamed rice, and mixed well with gochujang (red pepper paste) before eating.  It is not only delicious, but it is also healthy and easy to cook from your own kitchen as well.

Ingredients (Serves 3 adults):

• 3 tablespoons cooking oil (for stir-frying of ingredients)
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil (for frying eggs)
• 200 g minced beef, thawed
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 small carrots, cut into 2-inch strips
• 5 fresh shitake mushrooms, trimmed of caps and sliced
• 150 g of bean sprouts, with tails trimmed
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups of steamed rice
• 3 teaspoons of Korean gochujang (red pepper paste)
• Water for blanching the bean sprouts and spinach

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1:  Marinate the minced beef with soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil.  Add a dash of salt.  Blend well and leave it aside.

Step 2:  While waiting for the beef to marinate, heat up 2 tbsp oil in a non-stick pan or wok and fry the eggs, sunny-side up.  Preferably with the egg yolk still slightly runny.

Step 3:  Heat some water in a saucepan.  When it is boiling, put in the bean sprouts.  Take them out with a strainer when they are cooked.  Add a drop of oil and a pinch of salt in the water.  Put in the spinach next. Drain both cooked vegetables of excess water and set them aside.

Step 4:  Heat up 1 tbsp of cooking oil.  Stir-fry the carrot strips until tender.  Remove from heat and place it in a a bowl.  Next, put in half of the minced garlic, let it brown and put in the shitake mushrooms.  Add a dash of salt.  Stir-fry till they are cooked.  Remove them from heat too and set aside in another bowl.

Now most of the ingredients are ready.  Look at the colours!

Step 5:  Heat up the remaining cooking oil.  Add in the rest of the minced garlic.  When it is starting to brown, put in the marinated minced beef and stir-fry till tender.

Step 6:  Fill a serving bowl with one cup of steamed rice and place one fried egg in the center.  Place equal amounts of the cooked spinach, bean sprouts, carrot, mushroom, and minced beef around the egg.  Top with a teaspoon of gochujang paste (or more if you like it spicier!)

Step 7:  Repeat Step 6 for each individual serving.  Remember to mix all the ingredients together before eating.

Doesn’t this look easy?  The crucial ingredient is the gochujang though.  But I think you should be able to find them at Asian supermarkets.  By the way, this is how it usually looks.  I got a 200 g tub which should last me quite a while.

Bibimbap makes a fulfilling lunch box meal as it can be packed easily in a food thermos container.  As I had three individual containers, I put the vegetables in one and the egg and beef in the other.  The last one is of course for the steamed rice.

See how I packed Hubby’s dinner box for that night as he had dinner later than us?  How does it look?

I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Ingredients (Serves 3 adults):

• 3 cups of cooked rice (cold)
• 3 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 cup of frozen peas, carrot and corn mix (thawed)
• 1 Chinese sausage, diced (can be substituted with ham, hot dog or luncheon meat as well)
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
• 2 eggs (slightly beaten)
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce
• Salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon tumeric powder (optional)

This dish is really easy to do and it’s always a great solution to the times when you overcook the rice!  Just keep those leftover rice in the fridge.  The next day before cooking, take it out and let it thaw while you are preparing the ingredients.

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1:  Heat up the cooking oil in a wok or frying pan.  About thirty seconds later, put in the chopped garlic.

Step 2:  When the garlic starts to turn brown, add in the cup of peas, carrot, corn and stir fry till tender.

Step 3:  Add in the diced cubes of chinese sausage and continue to stir fry until it is fragrant.

Step 4:  Pour in the beaten eggs in a a circular motion, preferably covering all the stir fried ingredients.

Step 5:  When the eggs look like they are half cooked, scoop in the cold rice.  This is to ensure that the eggs coat the rice nicely while they are still runny.  Stir fry the rice with the ingredients well, until the eggs are fully cooked and the rice does not look sticky.

Step 6:  Add the light soy sauce, fish sauce and tumeric powder and blend well.  Tumeric powder adds a beautiful tinge of yellow to the rice and it’s also good for health too, but it is optional for you.  Fish sauce can also be omitted too according to your preference.  But I would say that’s the secret to why this recipe taste so good. *wink*

Step 7:  Stir fry for a few more minutes and add in a dash of salt and pepper as a finishing touch.

If you would like some vegetables, you can throw in some bean sprouts at Step 6 as well.

This recipe cooks for three adults, so if you have two kids and a hubby to pack for, there should still be some left for your own lunch.  Hehe.

Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of the preparation and cooking phases, so for this first post, please make do with this picture above.

I will take more pictures for my next recipe, I promise!