Beef casserole

I have wanted to do a beef soup or cassarole for a very long time, but it's only after coming here, where my local supermarket does a pack of stewing beef. It's the cheapest beef I can find, and it's probably the leftover bits that the butcher cuts off (it sure looks that way) rather than cubed stewing beef which is specially cut that way. Other than how it looks, there is an upside. There is a lot of fat, so the beef, once it cooks down, is actually really tender and just falls apart. The fat can be quite easily skimmed off.

What I would add to this casserole? Vegs like carrots, celery and potatoes, but being a single eater, I didn't want to put in that much food. But it would make this casserole more of a stew than the watery soup that my recipe produces.

This is a very simple fuss-free recipe, so I don't even bother doing things like flouring and browning the meat but if you had the time, you should of course do it.

Ingredients

300g stewing beef, cubed

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp wine (either chinese or red wine)

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp dark soya

1 tbsp light soya

Herbs (whatever you like, rosemary, sage, oregano, parsley, etc)

Black pepper to taste

1 to 2 cups of water (sufficient to cover the meat)

Method

1) Marinate the beef. This is not really essential, because the beef will be in the oven for a very long time.

2) Put the meat in a covered casserole, or a dutch oven if you have one. Preheat the oven to 200 deg C and pop in the pot when ready. After 20 to 30 mins, once it has come to a rolling boil, turn down the heat to 100 deg C. Let it simmer gently for 1 hour. Turn off the heat. It is ready to serve, but what I do (to save electricity) is to turn off my oven and let it continue cooking in the residual heat, where it will happily do so for up to 4 hours, and it is still warm enough (not boiling hot) to serve for dinner.

3) Serve with rice, garlic bread, or mashed potatoes - whatever you like!

Cheat's chicken rice

I have been doing a lot of microwaved meals, mostly because it's quick and easy and least amount of fuss, and it's difficult cooking for 1 person. I discovered this chicken rice equivalent quite by accident. You will see why I say 'equivalent' later. Don't expect really premium quality bak zhum gai type of chicken, this is really more about taste than texture, because there's only so much the microwave can do! Whenever I cook this and my flat mate steps into the apt, she never fails to say "Wow, smells wonderful!" and she's a vegetarian!

Ingredients

3 chicken thighs

1 tbsp sesame seed oil

1 tbsp light soya sauce

1 tsp chopped garlic

1 tsp chopped ginger

1/2 tsp sugar

Black pepper to taste

1 tbsp water

Vegs (e.g. broccoli, cabbage) optional - if adding veg, you need to add more water

1 portion of rice, cooked

Method

1) Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients for at least 1/2 hour.

2) Put everything in a microwave casserole. Microwave at 30% for 20 mins, then turn up to 70% for 3-5 mins. The lower the heat, the more moist your chicken will be but it wil naturally take longer. Each microwave's voltage differs, so you really have to check whether the chicken is cooked, and adjust accordingly. To do this, pierce a fork into the thickest part of the thigh, usually next to the bone, and see if the juices run clear. You can also do it at 10 mins for 50% power if that's quicker. It's all about experimenting with your own microwave to get the best result that works for your microwave.

3) At this point, you're asking, so where is the rice? What happens is that the chicken juices will flow out. You add the rice to this (warmed up if necessary) and it will absorb the juices and it really tastes like chicken rice!!!! See why I said 'chicken rice equivalent'? Because if yo know how chicken rice is really cooked, you know that the rice is usually fried in chicken oil then cooked in chicken stock!

Autumn chicken soup

I have always loved soups, but no where is this more appropriate than during my first autumn in Oz. Somehow its just very nice and earthy to drink warm soup during a cool evening - the feeling of being home once again as the warming nourishing soup fills my tummy. This isn't my usual clear soup, it has a lot more packed into it in terms of seasoning - makes up for the loneliness and emptiness and lack of ingredients!

Ingredients

1 tbsp light soya

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp garlic

1 tbsp ginger

2 cups water

3 pieces of chicken thigh, deskinned

Method

1) Marinate the chicken with the above. I don't have rice wine, so I used oyster and fish sauce to add a different type of flavour, but boy do I miss my chinese rice wine!

2) Transfer to oven cassarole covered dish and bake. It can either be a slow bake at low heat or a quick one at high heat - the outcome is very different! For this one, I used 200 deg C until it boiled, then turned off the heat and left it in the hot oven for the next 1 hr. It was still boiling when it came out of the oven!

Beef and bean stew

Inspired by Brazalian Fejioda, this is certainly a lot healthier than the real version. There are many possible variations including changing the beef marinade, type of beans used and vegetables used.

Ingredients
800g stewing beef, cubed
1/2 cup flour
1 can of cannelloni beans, drained
2 carrots, cubed
2 leeks, sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 rashes streaky bacon, chopped

Marinade for beef
1 tsp mustard
1 tbsp Worcester sauce
herbs (I used rosemary, sage and parsley, you can also add a bay leaf to the stew)
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp sherry

Method
1) Brown the beef cubes. Set aside.
2) Pour away the excess oil, and brown the bacon. Add the onions and leeks and sweat them until soft.
3) Add the carrots, beef and beans. Top up with enough water to just cover the beef.
4) Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer for a hour, or less if you're using a pressure cooker. I had a pressure cooker failure
5) Serve immediately with crusty bread, or let the stew flavours develop overnight.

Steamed milk egg pudding

Tried this recipe from Cotter Kathy154. Works quite well but I didn't have a chinese rice bowl so used 2 coffee cups, which eventually became 3 in order to accommodate all the liquid. The pudding wasn't very sweet, not as sweet as we get in HK and because of the egg yolk, it was a lot more creamy than the usual egg white "dan lai" that I'm used to, but nice too.

Ingredients

2 eggs

160ml*2 milk (ie 160ml of milk for each egg). You can use skimmed or full cream, full cream would make it creamier although I used skimmed and it was still very creamy.

1 tsp sugar (didn't make it very sweet, might add another tsp next time for every 2 eggs)

Method

1) Beat the eggs and add to the milk and sugar. Whisk well.

2) Strain the mixture into the cup. Use a teaspoon and skim off the bubbles. This is important to ensure that the surface is smooth and not 'pock-marked'.

3) Get ready a pot with boiling water, and a steamer.

4) Steam for 13 to 15 minutes at low heat until set. Test for done-ness, if it's still not set, steam for a bit longer.

Fried Vietnamese rice noodles

I found these miracle rice noodles, which is like bee hoon except its flat noodles. What's so miraculous about it is that you don't need to boil the noodles. All that's needed is to either soak the noodles in boiling water for 2 mins, or in normal water for 8 minutes. Just like bee hoon, but the difference is that it doesn't turn to mush so easily.

I initially wanted to do this as a vegetarian dish, but my family isn't very vegetarian. So in went a few frozen prawns, although you can just as easily add some char siew or minced pork.



Ingredients
1 packet of Vietnamese flat rice noodles
1 packet of baby asparagus (about 200g)
1 packet of bean sprous (about 100g)
1 carrot, sliced thinly like little matchsticks
1 cup of frozen prawns
2 eggs
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic, minced
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp Maggi chicken stock
a sprinkle of sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp chinese cooking wine
1 tsp sesame seed oil
1 tbsp rice flour
1/4 cup water

Method
1) Soak the noodles as stated on the packet.
2) This recipe requires slightly more oil that normal to fry the noodles, so don't be overly alarmed. Fry the onions and when browned, stir fry the carrots and asparagus.
3) Fry the eggs and scramble them. Add the marinade, including the water and rice flour.
4) Add the frozen prawns and half the water and and cover.
5) Once cooked (approximately 3 to 5 minutes), add the noodles and carefully toss with 2 spatulas. Try not to break up the noodles if possible. Add the remaining water. Try not to over-mix the noodles but the noodles should still be al dente and moist enough.
6) Add the sprouts, incorporate well and serve immediately. Sprouts don't need much cooking even 10 seconds is enough. It will continue to cook in the heat.

Sausage cassarole

Inspired by bread and butter pudding. The easiest and probably not the healthiest thing to make but its sure fast and instant on a week day night. And highly satisfying too! Ingredients 1 can of Campbells soup (the only canned soup I'll ever drink) 6 slices of bread 1 can of sausages, drained 1/4 cup milk A lot of butter 4 slices of cheese (alternatively, use 1 cup of shredded cheese) Method 1) Mix the canned soup concentrate with the milk. You might want to add more liquid depending on how thin the liquid is. Too thick and its too salty. Too thin and its too runny. 2) This is mostly an assembly piece. Lay half the bread at the bottom. Dot on some butter. Pour on enough soup to cover the bread. 3) Slice the sausages lenghtwise and lay them on top of the break. Top up with more soup and dot with more butter. 4) Cover with the top layer with remaining bread. 5) Finish off with the remaining bread and finally the cheese. Dot on with more butter if you like. Pour over the remaining soup. 6) Leave to stand for 10 minutes for the soup to absorb into the bread. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200 deg C. 7) Bake at 200 deg C for 20-25 minutes, until the cheese has melted and is bubbling. Serve immediately with a side of salad. Note: Its extremely sloppy and hard to wash up, so you might want to line the baking dish or just use a buttered casserole dish.

Banana leaf cream corn or banana jelly

I remember helping my mom to make this whenever my granny had her church group over for song and praise in the evenings. It is a very easy to make dessert, and goes down very well with the crowd.

Recently, my col took up a cooking class and posted pictures of her experiment on FB. Credits to Yeo Li Li (the instructor). I am just happy to have found this long lost recipe!

Ingredients
Slices of banana OR cream corn
pkt (13g) agar agar powder
300g sugar
1500ml water
5 pcs pandan leaves
300ml thick coconut milk
Pinch of salt
100g hoon kueh powder

Method

1. Mix coconut milk with the hoon kueh powder, salt and leave aside for later use.

2. To prepare the banana leaves, cut 5.5 inch by 4 inch, or 6 inch by 4 inch rectangles. Rinse twice. Boil water with the salt. When the water has boiled put in the leaves. Turn off the heat. Remove the leaves and put immediately in cold water. Alternatively, you can ‘seal’ the leaves over a naked flame on the stove.

3. Boil agar agar, sugar, milk and pandan leaves together. When boiled, sieve in the thick coconut milk mixture and mix well. Boil till thickened.

4. If you are using the cream corn, turn off the fire and stir in the corn.

5. Cool mixture slightly and place a tablespoon or two of mixture on a piece of banana leaf. Place a piece of banana on top and wrap up the jelly. Continue the process till the mixture is used up. Let it set thoroughly in the fridge before serving.

Milk poached fish

I found this new item at the supermarket. (I know its new because the sign said so ) So far we've only got cod, so this is a welcome new addition. It brought back memories of my UK days with other favourite British favourites such as cod, sole, or plaice.

I remembered a common recipe called milk poached fish, which basically uses milk to keep the flesh moist. However, most recipes use haddock (either the smoked or the fresh variety), which we (still) don't have here. Ironically, I never tried cooking fish in the UK whilst I was there, simply because I don't know how to prepare it. Thankfully, we now have ready-prepared fillets.

I adapted from a recipe I found online for milk poached haddock, and adjusted with cooking times which I found for halibut. I used the poaching liquid for a bechamel sauce. The result? The fish was indeed easily forked through and flaked and really quite moist without being mushy.

Ingredients
300g fillet of halibut
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tsp basil (fresh or dried is fine)
1 tsp dill (fresh or fried is fine)
pinch of salt
dash of white pepper
1 cup of warm milk

For the bechamel sauce: 1 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp flour

Method
1) Place the fish in a baking dish deep enough to hold the poaching liquid. Arrange the onion and garlic in the dish, and sprinkle on the herbs, salt and pepper. Pour on the milk. It should mostly submerge the fish. If not, top up with more milk.

2) Bake in the oven for 30 to 45 mins at 160 deg C. The cooking time will depend on the thickness of the fish (my fillet was about an inch thick) but you will know its ready when the fish is easily flaked with a fork. Remove the skin, flake the fish and set aside. Don't worry about lumps at this point. Slowly add the milk, vigorously stirring throughout to avoid the sauce catching on the bottom. It will burn quite easily. Add as much milk as is necessary to produce the 'saucy' consistency you need - neither too gluey nor too runny.

3) To make the sauce, first strain the poaching liquid. You can reserve the onions and garlic if you wish to serve it up. Top up the liquid to 1 cup with more milk.

4) In a saucepot on the stove, melt the butter. Add the flour and stir until incorporated. Don't worry about lumps at this point. Slowly add the milk, vigorously stirring throughout to avoid the sauce catching on the bottom. It will burn quite easily. Add as much milk as is necessary to produce the 'saucy' consistency you need - neither too gluey nor too runny.

5) Serve immediate, drizzling the sauce on top of the fish. Remember, bechamel sauce doesn't keep well. It forms a skin when cool and needs to be reheated over a bain marie, so only make as much sauce as you require.

Sweet, sour and sticky ribs

British chefs always use black current jelly to thicken their sauces. This gives it a velvety sheen and rich flavour. This gave me the inspiration for this recipe, which has heavy influences of Nigella Lawson and Delia Smith.

Ingredients
500g of prime ribs
1 tsp mustard (English, of course)
2 tbsp soya sauce
2 tbsp blueberry or black current jam
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp garlic chilli sauce
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tbsp worchester sauce
Juice of half a lemon lemon juice

Method
1) Marinate the prime ribs with everything. I toss everything in a freezer ziploc bag and mush everything together well. You can also throw in the squeezed lemon for extra flavour. Leave it to marinate overnight.
2) On a lined baking tray (only so that it's easier to wash up), dab the ribs with kitchen towels as dry as you can and place them on the tray, fat side up.
3) Bake at 200 deg C deg C for a further 15 mins, turning halfway through the entire cooking time.
4) Strain the sauce from the bag into a saucepan. Create a sauce by the reduction method. Add more water if its too thick. After the ribs are done and removed to the place, add in the drippings (sans oil).
5) Serve the ribs after they've had 10 mins to rest and for the juices to sink back into the meat.