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!

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!

Well, for these bread rolls, you probably have to make them the day before as it will take a few hours to complete.  But it is a very fun activity that you can involve your kids as well.  Allow them to design the bread rolls the way they like them to be and I sure they will look forward having their own masterpiece in their lunch box the next day!

Even me, the “old” kid, had so much fun.  My mum and I moulded the dough into different shapes just to see how it would turn out after baking.  I even created one “uniquely shaped” bread roll (see it below) specially for Hubby.

Ingredients (for sweet bread dough):

Part A

• 480 g bread flour
• 120 g plain flour
• 110 g sugar
• 10 g fine salt
• 20 g milk powder (can be substituted with bread flour)
• 4 teaspoons instant yeast

Part B

• 1 egg
• 300 ml cold water

Part C

• 60 g butter

Ingredients (filling for sweet bread roll)

• About 400 g of luncheon meat, cut into smaller pieces

Instructions:

Step 1:  Mix Part A ingredients in a mixing bowl till they are well blended.

Step 2:  Add Part B ingredients and knead to form a dough.

Step 3:  Add Part C butter and continue to knead until the dough looks smooth and elastic.  Cover dough with a clear film.  Let it prove for 50-60 minutes or until it doubles its size.

To check if the dough is ready, test by pressing a finger on it lightly.  If the dough does not sink but shows a clear finger print mark, you can proceed to the next stage of separating them into individual portions.

Step 4:  Divide the dough into 60 g portions.  Shape them into balls and leave them to rest for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, you can prepare the luncheon meat filling.

Step 5:  Now the fun begins!  You can make the bread roll according to your liking.  The easiest way is to wrap the luncheon meat in the dough completely, or you can elongate the dough and coil them around the luncheon meat.

See what I did for the first tray?  I made a round one, an oval one, a “pillow” shaped one, and one that resembled a croissant.

Step 6:  Brush the surface of each bread roll with a little egg wash (egg yolk+water) and bake at 190 deg Celcius for 12 minutes.

Does my first tray of sweet bread rolls with luncheon meat look good?

I can’t describe to you in the picture, but the smell of freshly baked bread is just heavenly!

Besides luncheon meat, you can also vary the fillings for the bread roll.  Think of tuna?  Ham?  Raisins?  It’s up to your family’s preference!

For lunch box meals, just pack these sweet bread rolls in a normal bento box with a salad or some fruits at the side.  It’s a lighter meal, and an interesting alternative to noodles or rice.

Well, we made about 17 sweet bread rolls in total for this batch.  And this is the “masterpiece” I mentioned above that I gave to Hubby.  Can you make out what it resembles?  (Clue:  We usually call it a pile of …)

We both had a good laugh and he really ate it for breakfast next morning.  LOL.

Hope you like this recipe and have fun making your own home-made bread roll!

This baked fish fillet recipe is suitable for any type of white fish, although I would prefer boneless ones like these sutchi fillet that I have used.  Dory fish fillet is a great choice as well.

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1:  Marinate fish fillet with salt and ground white pepper.  Set it aside for half an hour before cooking.

Step 2:  Place fish fillet in an oven-proof dish lined with aluminium foil.

Step 3:  Drizzle lemon juice and olive oil over fish fillet.

Step 4:  Spread minced garlic on the surface.  Sprinkle mixed herbs and black pepper evenly over fish fillet.

Step 5:  Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius or 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 6:  Bake the fish for about 15 minutes or until the minced garlic turns brown.  Check if the fish is cooked with a fork.  If it flakes easily, it is ready.

Note:  Do pay attention while the fish is being baked as the baking time may differ slightly for your oven.  The thickness of the fish will also determine how long it takes to be cooked.

This recipe is simple, healthy, tasty and easy to make.  Boneless fish fillets are a good choice if you are preparing for your kid’s lunch box too.

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!

Lunch boxes, to me, do mean three things…

1)  Lunch boxes are meals of love, especially if they are prepared by someone whom you love too

When I was in my first year of school, my mum will prepare peanut butter sandwiches for me daily.  She was worried that I may not know how to get the food from the canteen as I was still very young and new to the school.  Sometimes I even protested bringing my lunch box when I saw my friends having the choice to buy what they like to eat everyday.  Of course as I got older, I had more freedom but it was also then that I understand that it is because she was greatly concerned about me going hungry.  Isn’t that a form of love?

Sometimes, I do see male colleagues bringing their own food for lunch.  We will jokingly tease each other “So, eating a meal filled with love today?”  Well, it is true in a certain way.  Their wives have taken the effort to prepare these meals, cooking and packing the food nicely in the lunchbox.  Isn’t that a display of affections too?

2)  Lunch boxes are often healthier than food you buy outside

You have a say in what goes into your lunch box as compared to what you get when you dine outside.  If you do not like MSG (monosodium glutamate) in your food, you can substitute it with natural flavouring.  If you do not like too much oil, you can control the amount you put while cooking.  It’s up to you to create variety in your lunch box.  Beats eating the same food outside everyday right?

3)  Lunch boxes = you spend less during lunch = more $$ at the end of the month

Not everyone thinks this way though.  Most people see lunch as a time where they can socialize and mingle with their co-workers, so they feel that spending on a $10 lunch is worth the money as compared to bringing a lunch box which may only cost them a third.  Sometimes bringing a lunch box might also give others the wrong idea that you are being anti-social.

Well, you don’t have to do it everyday, probably two days out of five days is sufficient to save you some money that can go to the groceries or bills.  A penny saved goes a long way, especially in times like this, where a global recession is looming in the skies.  If the whole family brings their own lunch boxes to work, the potential savings could actually look quite substantial!

So are you a lunch box lover or hater?  There are people who think it is lame to bring lunch boxes and they will never want to be seen with it.  But you will be amazed that there are people who can’t do without their lunch boxes as well!

Where do you stand?

A big welcome to my new blog, www.easylunchboxrecipes.com!

It’s a new milestone for me as this is my second baby.

Well, I’m sure you have some idea about what I’ll be writing on this blog, just by the name of it right?

Yup, this is the place where I am going to share lunch box recipes of different cuisines around the world.

Sounds yummy to you?

I’ll also make sure every recipe is easy to follow and quick to cook, and most importantly, suitable to be packed into lunch boxes.  Or dinner boxes if you work the night shift ya?

Alright, let’s get cracking, time for some cooking!