Simple Fried Rice

I cooked with prawns and garnished with fried onions and pork floss

This is probably my most successful fried rice of all the few attempts I have made.

(Serves 2-3. Everything is a guesstimate!)

1 cup rice (cooked the day before in rice cooker)

1/2 cup of mixed frozen veggies of peas, corn and carrots

1 tbsp soya sauce

1 tsp chicken stock powder

salt to taste

1 tbsp water

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup minced beef / chicken / pork or prawns cut into small pieces

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

garnishes like spring onions, coriander, pork floss, fried onions (optional)

Into a fry pan, add 1/2 tbsp cooking oil. When oil is heated, add egg and spread across the pan. When the omelette is set, turn it over to cook the other side. Remove omelette onto a plate and allow to cool.

Add 1 tbsp cooking oil in the same fry pan. When the oil is heated, add garlic and stir fry for a few secs until the garlic is fragrant. Add minced meat (except for prawns if you have) into the pan until they are browned. Immediately add day-old rice (great for using up leftovers), frozen veggies, water, stock powder. Stir fry for 2-3 mins until the veggies are cooked. If you are using prawns, make a 'well' in the centre of the rice and veggies in the pan and add the prawns. They need not be cooked for too long, just so long as they turn red/orange.

Add soy sauce and enough salt to taste. (If you like it dark, add 1 tsp of dark soya sauce). Plate up the fried rice and garnish it with sliced omelette and other garnishes that you may like. Cut red chillies in soya sauce or preserved green chillies will go well with it :)

I did not use frozen mixed veggies in this attempt. I used frozen peas and I cut up 1/2 carrot into small diced pieces. I remembered I had some corn in the fridge so I thought I will add them as well.

Fried rice is such a versatile dish that you can add any meat/veggies that you like. There are a few flavours you can produce with different seasonings - sweet chilli sauce, chilli sauce, bbq sauce, oyster sauce, plum sauce, satay sauce, curry powder.

Lebanese Bread & Pizzas

"Made from unbleached flour, this circular-shaped flatbread is typically used to wrap hot kebabs but also makes the ideal cheat's base for homemade pizza." Donna Hay Magazine Jun/Jul 2009

Before I read the above, I have already been using lebanese bread as my cheat pizza base at home. I love thin crust pizzas and this is a good, almost-near substitute for it. I will only pay at most A$2 for a pack of 5 wholemeal ones. When they are really cheap (sometimes at Cocos at Market Square), you may find them for close to A$1 for that same pack of 5.

Buy them when they are cheap and either:

1. freeze them with a paper towel in between each piece; or
2. make up 5 pizzas (or however many bread you buy), bake/cook them. Allow them to cool before freezing the entire pizza or pack into single portions (depending how much you eat each meal) in freezer bags and freeze them. You can take them out when you want an instant meal. Pizzas can be heated up from frozen(preferably in the oven as microwaving them will make the base soggy) and you will be able to have a meal in minutes!

We made our own pizzas last Tuesday night (this is probably cheaper and healthier than cheap Dominos pizzas on Tuesdays). I decided to make 2 different toppings on 1 pizza (lebanese bread). The left (in photo) was tomato paste, ham (from the deli) and cheese (I omitted the pineapple) and the right was (homemade) basil pesto, (leftover from the night before) chicken shreds, cherry tomatoes (from my garden), (leftover from some time ago) fetta cheese. For such pizzas, it only took 10 mins in my oven at about 180C.

Use any leftover meats, etc, that you have. Be creative! If you like thin crust pizza, using lebanese bread to make your own pizza would be a winner!

Wraps

This is one of the healthiest and simpliest lunch I love - tortilla wrap with whatever I feel like having :) This is one of the best way to use up any leftover meats you have with lettuce, tomatoes, spreads, dips, mayonnaise, can of tuna, etc.

(See pictures below to know how to wrap a tortilla)

For today's lunch (photo above), I had home-grown lettuce (from my garden), cherry tomato halves (from my in-law's garden), shredded light tasty cheese and shredded chicken (from my chicken soup). I have used my leftover dips to spread on the wrap, or you can also use sweet chilli philly cheese or maynnaise or sometimes I also use my homemade basil pesto, basically whatever I feel like putting! Most other times, I put in slices of meat that I buy from the deli section of the supermarkets (another tip: buy some of the meats when they are on special. Repack them into packets of 2 or 3 slices depending on your normal serving. When you need a serve for yourself, simply defrost that one pack of 1 serve of meat!).

I also like to use wholemeal or multi grain tortilla wraps because they are healthier. There are quite some options in the supermarkets. I usually pick the one that is on sale. Once you open the packet of wraps, you may store the rest of them in the original packaging but seal it up and leave it in your pantry. BUT if it is not in winter, I will suggest that you freeze the rest. I once had mine infested with mould when I left it in the pantry last Spring. Simply place a piece of paper towel in between each wrap (so that you won't tear them when you try to rip them when they are frozen). Place them in the original wrapper or a bag big enough to place them out flat. When you need them, remove the number of pieces that you need. Leave it in room temperature to defrost. In less than 1 hour's time, you will be able to use it.

Place your filling in the middle but towards the right side of the wrap

Fold up the left side and then the top and bottom sides to form your wrap

Easy Roast Chicken in a Bag

Trust me, this is gonna be the easiest and juiciest roast chicken you will ever make. I have since passed this recipe to 2 other girlfriends and they love the taste and the ease of cooking!

Recipe found here.

Use leftovers for wraps, sandwiches, pasta, couscous, fried rice, rice porridge.

Basic Chicken Soup/Stock

(Donna Hay Jun/Jul 2009)

This is the recipe for basic chicken soup. You can use this basic recipe to come up with other soups.

Stock
1.5kg whole chicken
1 brown onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
4 bay leaves
1 tsp black peppercorns
2.5L water or enough to cover

2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 cup small pasta
salt and papper
chopped flat-leaf parsley to serve

Place chicken, onion, garlic, celery, carrot, bay leaves, peppercorns and water in a large saucepan over high heat. Bring to the boil, cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through*. Occasionally skim foam from the surface*. Remove chicken from stock and allow to cool slightly. Remove skin and discard. Shred chicken meat from the bones and set aside. Stain the stock, discarding veggies.

Return stock to the pan with celery, carrot, pasta, shredded chicken and salt and pepper. Cook over high heat for 10-15 mins or until veggies are tender. Top with parsley to serve. Serves 6.

*Skimming the foam from the surface removes impurities so it will have a cleaner, sweeter flavour and look clear instead of cloudy.
To check if chicken is cooked through, remove chicken from pot and insert a small knife in between the leg and breast. If juices run clear, then chicken is ready.

Tips
1. Freezer the strained chicken stock for up to 6 months and use in soups. Make sure you cool the stock completely before you place in the freezer.
2. Measure out the stock to exact quantities for freezing so all you need to do is defrost and use. Freeze any leftover amount in ice-cube trays and use to thicken sauces and flavour stir-fries.
3. Freeze the stock with shredded chicken meat up to 2 months. Just defrost, heat up and add veggies for an instant comforting dinner.
4. For an Asian flavour, add white peppercorns instead of black, a knob of peeled ginger and washed coriander root, parsely stalks and omit the bay leaves when making the stock.


This may seem a bit tedious with quite a few ingredients but the result is worth it! Real stock cooked from scratch is so different to those store-bought ones.