Unlike Chinese double-boiled soup which takes a long time to simmer, miso soup can be prepared in just 10-15 minutes and it’s so light that you can drink it anytime of the day.

Ingredients (Serves 3-4  adults):

• 3 tablespoons miso paste
• 3 cups water
• 150 g  soft tofu
• 100 g fresh enoki mushrooms
• Handful of dried kelp/ konbu (optional)

Instructions:

Step 1:  Fill stockpot with water.  Soak dried kelp in water for at least 1-2 hours to soften it.

Step 2:  Cut tofu into cubes.  Wash enoki mushrooms, remove the portion at the roots (about one inch) and separate them.  Cut enoki mushrooms into half length-wise.

Step 3:  Boil stockpot of water and kelp.  When the stock is boiling, transfer the tofu cubes and enoki mushrooms into the pot.

Step 4:  Cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add in miso paste.  Stir to dissolve it well.

Step 5:  Cook for another 2-3 minutes at lower heat.

There are different types of miso paste available in the market.  If you are vegetarian, just make sure you get one which is purely miso without any extra seafood flavouring.

Remember to transfer the soup while it is hot into a thermos food jar if you are bringing it for your lunch box.

Enjoy!

I love it so much still that every time we cook this, I can finish two portions.  LOL.

I also found out that almost every kid who tried this dish liked it very much as well.  It is not only colorful, but it’s healthy, tasty and filling.  If you have kids who are fussy eaters, try cooking this once and see if they like it.  Perhaps, they will ask you to cook it again the next day!

Ingredients (Serves 4 to 5 adults):

• 1 medium carrot, diced into 1 cm cubes
• 2 regular sized potatoes, diced into 1 cm cubes
• About 170 g luncheon meat, diced into 1 cm cubes
• 1 small red onion, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce (optional)
• Ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 5 tablespoons cooking oil
• 3 tablespoons water

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1:  Heat up 4 tablespoons cooking oil in a fry pan.  Deep fry the potato cubes, carrot cubes and luncheon meat cubes respectively.  Remove and set aside after they are cooked.

Step 2:  Heat up 1 tablespoon cooking oil.  Add the minced garlic.  When it is turning golden brown, add in the red onion slices.  Stir-fry for 1 minute till onion slices are soft and starting to brown too.

Step 3:  Put in the deep fried potato, carrot and luncheon meat cubes prepared earlier.  Add 3 tablespoons water.

Step 4:  Add the sugar, light soy sauce and dark soy sauce (optional).  Stir-fry for another minute, ensuring the ingredients are blended nicely.

Step 5:  Add a dash of ground pepper.  Stir-fry a few more times to mix well.

This is how it looks after it is completed.

It’s a well-balanced lunchbox dish as it is made up of a meat, vegetable and potato combo.  I recommend you to eat it with plain white rice.  Yummy.

It is good enough for me as a one-dish meal, but with another vegetable dish, my lunch box will be perfect.

Sometimes, home-cooked comfort food taste best, don’t you agree?

PS:  I am infatuated with luncheon meat, so there will be more luncheon meat recipes to come.  Hehe.

Ingredients (Serves 4 adults):

• One medium sized broccoli (about 300 g), cut into smaller pieces
• One small carrot, sliced
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce (or similar)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
• Water for blanching

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1:  Heat up some water in the saucepan.

Step 2:  When it is boiling, add the olive oil and salt.  Thereafter, put in the sliced carrots and broccoli.

Step 3:  When both vegetables are cooked, take them out with a strainer to drain away any excess water.  Set aside in a salad bowl.

Step 4:  Add the oyster sauce and toss the vegetables till it is well mixed.

Step 5:  If you are preparing it for your lunch box, place the broccoli immediately in your thermos food jar to keep it warm.  You can also choose to store them in a microwave-safe container and reheat them at your workplace.

This method of cooking does without the need for stir-frying with a wok, so cleaning up is also a breeze, especially if you are rushing to work.

There are other vegetables that can be cooked this way too, like brussel sprouts, kailan, xiao bai chye, etc.

Remember to include more vegetables in your diet always!

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!

When I saw this recipe from my local newspaper,  I was so inspired to give it a go as it looks quite simple.  Crepes also make good lunch box meals as they can be reheated warm before eating and they taste just as good as they were just made.

This recipe below makes five French crepes for my 28 cm pan.  If you use a 25 cm pan, you could probably make six to seven crepes.

Ingredients for crepes:

• 200g plain flour
• 20g sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 3 eggs
• 300ml milk
• 50ml water
• 10g butter, melted

Ingredients for savory filling (you can modify the amount according to your preference):

• 3 slices of picnic ham, cut into strips
• 5 fresh mushrooms (preferably baby portobello, but I could’nt get them on the day and used white button mushrooms instead), sliced
• About 80g of cheddar cheese, diced

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Place the flour, sugar, salt and eggs in a blender.  Switch on the machine and gradually pour in the milk and water, processing until the mixture has a smooth consistency.

Step 2:  Pour the batter into a container, add the melted butter and stir until incorporated.  Refrigerate one hour before using.

Step 3:  While waiting for the batter to settle down, you can cut the ingredients for the crepe filling.

Step 4:  To make the crepes, heat a crepe pan or non-stick pan over medium heat until it is very hot.  This is important as how hot the pan is determines whether the batter gets cooked fast enough the minute it goes in.

Step 5:  Pour in about 70 ml of batter (I just use a medium sized soup ladle to approximate the amount), take the pan off the heat, and swirl the batter to cover the base of the pan and little up the sides.  Return the pan to heat and cook about one minute or until the edges start to come away from the pan.

Step 6:  Gently run a silicone spatula around the edges to loosen, then free the bottom of the crepe from the pan carefully.  If your batter is done correctly, the cooked crepe should come off very easily and not stick on the pan at all.

Step 7:  When the crepe is light golden brown at the bottom, you can flip it over and cook the other side for another 30 to 45 seconds.

Step 8:  When both sides of the crepe are golden brown, remove it to a large plate and make sure the pan is hot (go back to step 4 again) before you pour in the next batch of batter.

Finish making all the crepes and stack them up.  Don’t they look delicious?

Step 9:  It’s time to put the stuffing, so firstly saute the sliced mushrooms in a little olive oil and place them in a bowl.

Step 10:  Return one crepe on the pan and when it is starting to warm, sprinkle the cooked mushrooms, ham bits and diced cheese cubes on half of the crepe.  You can vary these ingredients according to your liking.

Step 11:  When the cheese starts to melt, use the spatula to fold the other side of the crepe to form a semicircle shape.  The melted cheese will hold the sides together.

Step 12:  Repeat for all the crepes you want to stuff with savoury filling.

You can keep one or two for dessert too, where you can drizzle honey, chocolate fudge or just strawberries and cream.  It’s up to your imagination!

This crepe recipe is great for a lunch box.  It’s easy to pack and can be warmed up.  For adults, two of these can make you really full!  Yes, I tried it on my Hubby and he could not stomach anything more than two.  Haha.  You can cut the crepe into quarters for your children to bring as snacks too, I bet they will love it!