Hummus with a twist

Great for dips to have with carrot/celery sticks or crackers/corn chips

INGREDIENTS

1 Cup Sweet Potato mash ( bake in the oven and scrape out, or steam and mash)

1/2 Can Chickpeas (or just use dried, soak overnight and then cook until soft)

1/2 Cup Cashew Nuts

1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese

1/2 Cup Finely Chopped Fresh herbs or parsley

The juice of 1/2 a lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Using a food processor (or my trusty thermomix), process separately the cashews and parmesan cheese, set aside, the texture should still be a little chunky.

2. Into the empty food processor add the chickpeas and purée until smooth ( you may need a little olive oil to help it along)

3. Add the sweet potato mash to the chickpea purée and continue to process.

4. Remove the mix and place into a large bowl.

5. Add the cashews and parmesan you did earlier along with 1/2 cup chopped herbs of choice and mix with a spoon.

6. Add the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

Slow cooker frittata

This is such an easy and versatile recipe. 

I make this in my Breville 5L flavour maker slowcooker - and it works for me. 

Time and portions may need adjusting if using a different method. 

I also didn't measure any of my ingredients as it was a really 'chop, throw and leave' sorta recipe, so just adjust amount to whatever veggies you use. 

Ingredients

3 white mushrooms, sliced

Sundried tomato strips

Few handfuls of baby kale (you can use whatever greens, like broccoli if you like) - I throw my veggies in raw as I like my veggies crunchy, but you can always blanch/fry them a little before adding

1 carrot, cut/shredded however you like

1 small tub light cottage cheese (you can use feta or omit this if you don't have any in your fridge)

Shredded cheese, to sprinkle on top

7-8 large free-range eggs

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Grease your slowcooker (or line with baking paper like I did - easy to lift out once cooked, and I'm lazy to clean)

2. Throw in your desired veggies and ingredients 

3. Scramble eggs in a mixing bowl, adding salt and pepper to taste. Pour mixture in to just cover the ingredients

4. Sprinkle with some shredded cheese on top

5. I cooked this in my 5L Breville Flavour Maker Slowcooker on low for approximately 2hrs? I didn't really keep an eye on the time as I was busy during the day making other food in between caring for the active toddler. But it was thereabouts I think. I probably jacked it up on high for the last bit as hubby was hungry so timing won't be accurate :p

This was a simple, healthy and delicious meal that my 17month old toddler really loves. I make this quite often with whatever veggies are available in the fridge. Hope you enjoy it too!

Chive / Vegetable pockets (韭/菜盒子)

I've recently been making lots of random (and new) foods which I've been craving during pregnancy. I'm so lucky hubby isn't a picky eater and just eats whatever I cook. He's been so supportive lately so I thought to spoil him and make him something he wanted to eat for a change. Upon asking, he immediately said '盒子'. 

I had to ask him to repeat it a few times

as Ive never heard of this before - let alone eaten it. 

I didn't grow up eating Northern Chinese or Taiwanese style cuisines (mum specialises in more South East Asian) so after some painful googling and translating, I decided to come up with something that'll suit our family. 

This recipe makes roughly 10. Which would probably suit a serving of 2 people (if it were my sister and I eating). However, this turned out to be such a success, that this recipe is a one man recipe for my dear husband. 

These chive pockets are traditionally made with shrimp and garlic chives in them too. But as I don't eat either of these, I substitute it to my own preferences. Hubby likes his garlic chives so he has his ones made with those. Very versatile recipe and you can each have your own favourite veggies wrapped individually if you like. 

Double recipe if you're eating with someone like my husband...

Ingredients

Dough

300g plain Flour

15g vegetable oil

150g boiling water

50g water

pinch of salt

Filling

200g chives (I use coriander and cabbage for my portion)

1 bunch mung bean thread (冬粉 dong fen), pre-soaked 

4 eggs, scrambled into tiny bits

Seasoning mix 

2 tbs sesame oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tbs soy sauce

1/4 tsp white pepper

TM Method for dough

Add Flour, salt, oil and boiled water in TM and mix 20sec/sp3

Add 50g water and mix for further 10sec/sp3

Knead 2-3 minutes

Non-TM Method for Dough

In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, salt, vegetable oil and hot water. Mix quickly with boiling water. Then add cold water and mix until forms dough. Knead it and when it comes together nicely, set aside in covered to rest while you prepare the fillings (20-40minutes). I let my Thermomix do all my mixing and kneading. 

LET DOUGH REST WHILE YOU PREPARE THE FILLINGS***

Dice the chives/veggies finely (0.5cm) into a separate bowl. Scramble and fry eggs. Then add to the chives mix. Cut the soaked mung bean threads finely (0.5cm) and add to mix. Add seasoning mix and combine well (If you have a TM, do all of these separately).

On a floured surface (or silpat mat), gently knead the dough adding more flour if needed so it doesn't stick. Divide into 10 equal portions, rolling each into a round shaped ball. Flour the balls and rolling pin so it won't stick while you roll them flat. Roll and wrap each piece individually to avoid drying out the dough. 

Spoon the filling mixture onto one half of the dough, leaving about 1cm away from the edges to allow for the dough to seal. Fold the other half over to close into a semi circle shape using your thumbs and fingers to press and seal. Try to avoid sealing in air in the pockets. I also use the a small bowl to close off/seal and trim uneven edges. 

In a well greased flat frying pan, fry both sides on low heat until golden on both sides. 

Serve and eat immediately. Enjoy them as is or with your favourite dipping sauce (Hubby likes it with a chilli, garlic, coriander, soysauce, vinegar combo). 

Vegetable (dumpling) pockets (菜盒子)

This is a revised version of my 'Chive / Vegetable pockets (韭/菜盒子)' recipe .

This recipe is suited to my palate as the other was really catered to dear hubby's.

This portion is also more suited to cater for our family too :)

As you can see, the filling is quite versatile and can be adapted to suit your preferences. Here is something I like. 

Ingredients

Dough

600g plain flour

300g boiling water

100g water

30g olive oil 

1/4 tsp salt

Fillings

600g of preferred finely chopped veggies (coriander, cabbage, enoki etc)

3-4 bunches mung bean threads, soaked

5 spiced tofu, (6 pieces)

6-8 scrambled fried eggs (depending on preference and size of eggs)

Salt and white pepper to taste

4 tbs sesame oil 

1 tbs soy sauce, or to taste

Method

1. Place the flour in a large mixing bowl and combine with the boiled hot water. Mix quickly using chopsticks. Add the cold water and mix well and form into a dough. Gently knead then wrap the dough and let it rest covered for 20-40 minutes while you prepare the filling

TM Method for dough

Add Flour, salt, oil and boiled water in TM and mix 20sec/sp3

Add 100g water and mix for further 10sec/sp3

Knead 2-3 minutes

2. Wash/prepare and chop your ingredients to a fine consistency. Combine all the fillings together in a separate bowl.

3. Gently knead the dough out on to a floured surface (or using a silpat mat) adding more flour to the outer layer of the dough to avoid sticking. Divide the dough into 20 pieces. Flatten them with your palms into round shapes so they will roll into flat circular sheets. 

4. Spoon fillings to the top half of the dough (leaving a 1cm gap from the edges) and then seal it by folding the bottom part to the top. Press down with your fingers to seal tightly. You can use a small bowl to help you tightly seal them shut (as well as giving them a neat round appearance by removing messy edges). Make sure you don't have any air sealed in the pockets

5. In a greased flat frying pan, fry the dumpling pockets on low heat. Fry well on both sides ensuring both sides are cooked, golden and fragrant. 

Serve and eat while still hot with your favourite dipping sauce.

Slow cooked Red bean soup with Glutinous rice balls

Red bean soup is a popular dessert in many Asian countries. It is also common to have it with glutinous rice balls during big Chinese festivities and get together as it symbolises unity. 

Let's be honest though. I've never really liked Asian desserts. Nor have I ever gone out of my way to order (let alone make) this ever. 

Strangely, for the first time in both my pregnancies, I experienced a craving. Perhaps it was the rainy weather, or the fact I read about it on the Internet being a great postpartum food during confinement (high in Iron)... Either way, I wanted some right then. 

Luckily we live quite close to Meetfresh (a place which sells various Asian desserts - I've never had the redbean there as I rarely visit this place. The only thing I've tried and ordered is the mango ice - yum). So off hubby goes in the rain to bring back a bowl of redbean soup. 

Unfortunately, my craving was not satisfied and I was most disappointed in what seemed to be a bowl of herbal jelly syrup, a few pieces of taro and I could count the amount of red beans in the bowl on my fingers. What a rip off. 

I wasn't happy - even if baby Isaac was... So I went to my pantry, found a pack of adzuki red beans, measured out a cup and washed them, leaving them to soak overnight. 

The next morning, the weather hasn't improved and the craving was still there. So I drained the beans, added it to my Slow cooker along with about 1.25-1.5L water and cooked it on Auto. 

After brekky, hubby and I took Isaac to the pools for a swim. When we returned, I started getting cracking on the red beans while my wonderful husband tended to the babies needs. 

Below is pretty much the steps/recipes for my Red Bean Soup & Glutinous Rice Balls:

Ingredients

Red Bean soup:

1 cup dried Adzuki/Red beans

1.25-1.5L water

Sugar to taste (I used a few knobs of rock sugar)

Glutinous Rice Balls:

Glutinous rice flour

Water 

Ratio I used was approximately 2:1 (1/2 cup glutinous rice flour and half that amount of water)

Optional: food colouring/flavouring or desired filling

Method (using Slow cooker)

1. Wash and soak the beans overnight. 

2. Drain the beans and add the beans to the slow cooker along with the water. Cook on Auto for 4-5hrs. The sugar I add towards the end and tasting to suit my palate. I also give it time for the sugar to break down and melt as the rock sugar is pretty chunky...

Voila. That simple! You can serve it straight up! Or if you can be bothered, add another quick step by rolling in some glutinous rice balls for some chew:

3. Boil some water in a pot on the stove. 4. In a separate bowl, measure out desired amount of glutinous rice flour (as it was just my hubby, sister and me, I only used about 1/2 a cup) and then mix it with half the amount in water. If it is too wet, add more flour, if its too dry, add more water. The Mixture should not crumb apart or stick to your hands, but form a nice dough.

5. Optional: you can separate the mixture and add colouring to the dough. Popular choices are usually a red colouring or pandan essence. You can also choose to add fillings to the balls (eg. Peanut paste, sesame paste or red bean paste) which I was also planning to do - but at this point, the baby woke from his nap and was in the kitchen, opening the drawers, you get the picture. Suffice to say, we had plain, non-coloured (but deliciously chewy) glutinous rice balls. 

6. Roll into a log and cut them into even sizes (or if you're lazy like me, rip them with your fingers) and roll them into desired size smooth balls between your palms. Drop them into the boiling water. Once the balls float, they are ready. Scoop them up and serve with your red bean soup (or a nice sweet ginger syrup). Eat immediately for best results!

Glutinous Rice Balls are freezable too - just place the balls on a plate lightly dusted with glutinous rice flour after you've rolled them into shape. Then freeze them on the plate before transferring into a ziplock bag and throwing in the freezer again. This ensures they don't stick to each other. When you need to use it, just dump it straight into whatever 'soup' to cook. I never bother with this though since they're so easy and quick to make anyway.

Peanut/Sesame sauce noodles with roasted veggies and salad

So the other night, I was feeling lazy and thought I'd make a quick curry for dinner with a simple salad on the side. 

After washing, peeling and cutting the veggies, I threw in the potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes (and broccoli towards the end) in my Tefal Actifry (to 'roast/deep fry' - only 1 tbsp oil and some salt required!). But by the time I cooked my frozen udon noodles, I no longer felt like curry... Ah the moods of a pregnant woman... For some strange reason, I felt like something nutty. Looking at what I already had cooked, I thought to just make a simple sauce to replace a curry one and stir through the noodles. I don't quite remember what I did as I was just running with what I was craving for, but this is what I remember doing.  

I dry pan roasted some peanuts (no oil needed) and then blitzed it up with the Magic Bullet - leaving some parts in bigger/whole sized (hubby and I like crunch and texture). 

Then in a separate bowl, I spooned some peanut butter, sesame paste, sugar, soy sauce, and boiled water. I'm even sure if I added salt. Regardless, just combine until you have a nice consistency and season to your taste. I also added some blitzed roasted peanuts to the mix before stirring it into my noodles. 

I then mixed in some rocket and baby spinach with the noodles topping with the 'roasted veggies'. I had some mushroom in the frying pan with Lurpak butter too so added that in too. Topped with more peanut bits :)... Mmmm... It went something like that anyway. I kinda made it up on the spot and it was delicious :D!! 

Tis really a quick, healthy and simple meal that ticks all the boxes! Ill definitely be making this one again soon... 

Vegetarian Taro/Yam Cake (五香芋頭糕)

I've recently been craving for the creamy textures of taro. Being so heavily pregnant, I'm also getting to the point where I'm not enjoying standing in the kitchen preparing and cooking meals for my family. In fact, with my last pregnancy, I wasn't even cooking by this stage - we just ate out, had 'instant foods' or freeloaded off our parents. 

However, with an active and hungry toddler, I had no choice but to cater. 

So now, most of the things I make these days are toddler friendly foods. This is another winner with my 16 month toddler. He seems to prefer this over the radish/turnip cake (which I also love). 

Sorry I'm not specific with the taro measurement. I just bought one that was already cut in half from the Asian groceries and don't know how heavy it was...

Ingredients

600-900g taro, peeled and cubed

180g rice flour

3 cups water

2-3 vegetarian 'lap chong (臘腸)' sausages

5 dried shiitake mushrooms

A few seasoned mushroom stems/stalks (my mum makes these for me :p so flavourful!)

Seasoning

2 tsp vegetable/mushroom stock powder

1 tsp Chinese five spice powder

1 tsp Himalayan salt

1 tsp sugar

Pinch of pepper (white)

A dash of Sesame oil

Method

1. Clean and Soak the dried mushrooms in water until soft. This can be done ahead in time. Cut the mushrooms and mushroom flavoured stems into small pieces along with the vegetarian Chinese sausages

2. In a separate bowl, combine the seasoning with 1 cup of water. Add the rice flour and mix well. 

3. Bring 2 cups (a little more if you used lots of taro) of water to a boil. Reduce to low-medium heat and add in the diced taro. Bring to boil again. Don't let the mixture dry out, make sure there's a little water left with taro. This should take approximately 10 minutes or more. Remove from heat. 

4. Add the sausages, mushrooms and rice flour mixture. Combine gently. Mix  the seasoning and flour batter in and stir. If you want more taro chunks, don't over stir. 

5. Pour the batter into a greased tray and steam on high for an hour-ish. Remember to check you always have enough water for steaming (and refilling if you run low)!! The taro cake is ready when the middle is cooked through (insert chopsticks and if it comes out clean, it's cooked). 

Serve straight away. Can also be reheated like the turnip/radish cake by frying both sides until golden. 

My 16month toddler can finish this by himself :)...

Braised Shiitake Mushrooms with greens

Traditionally a Chinese New Years/festive season dish, but also one of my favourites. As it doesn't take too long to make this simpler version, its one I enjoy making often :). I hope you like it too:

Ingredients

8-12 dried shiitake mushrooms

1 piece of rock sugar (thumb sized)

Few drops of sesame oil

Lettuce and/or Broccoli 

Grated (thumb sized) ginger

Seasoning mix 

1 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp corn/potato starch 

2 tbsp veg oyster sauce

2 tbsp water

Method

1. Rinse and clean the mushrooms and then soak it in a bowl until soft. I normally prepare this a few hours beforehand. 

2. In a pot, add the rehydrated mushrooms along with the soaking water, grated ginger, few drops of water and rock sugar. Cook on medium-high heat and bring it to a boil. Then lower the heat and let it simmer until the water is almost gone

3. Mix the seasoning sauce ingredients and add it to the pot. Combine well and let it come to a boil. Season to your taste. 

4. I like to serve this on top of blanched lettuce and with blanched broccoli on the side.

5. Optional: if you like/have, you can also add other mushrooms (abalone, oyster etc) to the pot when cooking too. I also like the flavour of 髮菜 (hair vegetable? -very popular to add during New Years as it sounds like 'Fortune') when added to this dish, although I very rarely/never have this in my cupboard due to environmental reasons (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_choy)

This is a dish served with rice and other accompaniments. Enjoy :)!