Day 91 : Chicken With Vegetables

CHICKEN WITH VEGETABLES

This evening, Justine is going to help me prepare dinner. 

We are making a chicken dish and not forgetting our vegetables at the same time. This is a very simple dish to prepare. Honestly, no prior cooking skills required. This is soh my kinda dish. :D

1. The Ingredients

chicken fillet (bite size), cauliflower, bell peppers, shitake mushrooms, carrot, baby corn.

tempeh, onions, garlic and ginger

We're gonna stir-fry the tempeh as a side dish.

2. Saute & Toss In

Saute the onions, garlic and ginger 

in sesame seed oil until fragrant.

Toss in the chicken and cili padi 

(bird's eye chilly).

Toss in the rest of the vegetables 

except the red bell peppers.

Add water to half-cover the ingredients.

Add organic dark sauce, shoyu, pepper 

and half a cube of mushroom stock 

(no preservatives).

When the everything is about ready, 

add some arrowroot powder 

(pre-mixed with water in a small bowl) 

and pour in. The soup will thicken.

Toss in the bell peppers.

Dish out and serve immediately. :D

Before that, remember to grab a 

handful of coriander leaves 

to garnish and snap a photo. :D

3. Side Dish

As the chicken dish is simmering, prepare the tempeh.

Stir-fry in sesame seed oil.

Add organic dark sauce and sesalt. 

Add water.

Justine did both the stir-frying, while I handled

the tossing in of the ingredients.

Bryan made some effort to decorate his plate 

for photography purposes. As always. :D

This is my plate. :D

I sprinkled some sunflower seeds over the brown rice 
and a pinch of black sesame seeds for contrast. 
Then, I plonked a generous helping of sambal 

we prepared the night before (Sambal-Stuffed Fish)
on the heap of rice. See what I mean when I say, 

You must always, always have extra sambal. :D 

I enjoyed my dinner eating with my fingers. :D

Today, I had my one shake of The Green Drink 

in the morning, fried bee hoon for lunch 

and the above for dinner.

To Sum Up

1 shake & 2 meals

Juice (Finally). Fruit. Water. Milk Tea

Time of Posting : 1:37pm (Saturday)

Day 90 ... Grilled Stuffed-Sambal Mabong With Tumeric

GRILLED STUFFED-SAMBAL 

MABONG WITH TUMERIC

This evening, Bryan and I are going to prepare one of our family's favourite dish in the whole wide world. Sambal-stuffed fish. :D

We blogged about a similar recipe on Day 73. So, this time, we thought we'd add tumeric powder on the fish and a spice or two into the sambal. Just to explore and to uh, how do you say it - bring it to the next level? Grin. :D 

There are 2 pieces of mabong fish left in the freezer and I had brought it out to thaw in the afternoon. We are preparing brown rice, daikon soup, THE SAMBAL FISH and a side salad.

1. The Rice (Pressure Cooker)

Brown rice, organic azuki red beans (pre-soaked overnight), 

kombu seaweed and organic hulled millet. 

This is what it looks like when ready. 

Macrobiotic style.

 2. The Daikon Soup

We had some soup base left from lunch the day before. Made wholly from shitake mushroom. I'm adding daikon and goji seeds. Plus, some cili padi in whole (3 pc bird's eye chilly) for a HOT kick. When the soup is about ready, I'd be adding wakame seaweed.

This is the soup served during dinner. Oh my, it was heavenly. Chilly hot and sweet at the same time. We really enjoyed the daikon soup. You could taste the natural sweetness of the daikon. :D

3. The Fish 

Sambal Ingredients

large red chillies (deseeded), cili padi (whole), 

onions, garlic, ginger, lime juice 

 Chop coarsely to blend.
Bryan's specialty - the blending machine.
Can't touch this ... na na na na ...

After blending, the sambal should like this. Squeeze lime juice through a strainer into it. Add seasalt and brown sugar. It should taste hot, sweet and sour at the same time, all at once. :D

Time to tumis (fry) the sambal. Heat cooking oil. Add jintan manis (sweet cumin seeds) and jintan putih (cumin seeds). This is the "something new" that Bryan wants to try out different from sambal fish on Day 73. 

OooOooHhhh .... The aroma now is just divine. I wish You were in my kitchen now. The fragrant is unbelievable. Add in the blended ingredients. Fry a bit and simmer a bit more. And observe. You will somehow know when it is ready and to turn off the flame ... Trust your instincts. :D It is impossible to go wrong from here.

 Meanwhile, slice the Fish to create a pocket on both sides.
Okay, this I can do ... but I chose not to
because I didn't want to dirty my hands. 
I was holding the camera. A good excuse.

 Sprinkle some tumeric powder on the Fish.

I did the sprinkling though - with a teaspoon. Little bit enough, instructs Bryan. Enough, enough, I say enough!


Oh okay ... Got carried away for a bit there.

A light coating will do. We were over-ambitious once and rubbed too much tumeric on a fish that was meant for grilling and it turned out powdery. Major Disaster. :( That would have been better for (deep) frying ... which we normally like to avoid.

Stuff the Fish till it's all FaT and BLoaTeD with the sambal.

This is the only commandment our family 

would observe for this recipe. :D

 The extra sambal. 
Always, always have sambal in abundance.
It's good for your ... your ... piece of mind later.

 We have to oil the baking tray as we ran out of aluminium foil

for easy washing later.

 Pop into the mini-oven and set the temperature 

at about 180 degrees celcius.

Should be about done in 30 - 40 minutes.

 Ta-DaHHH!!! My Oh My ...

 We couldn't wait for dinner. :D
Would You hurry up with all the decoration already???

While the Fish is in the oven, Bryan prepares a simple salad.

Romaine lettuce, carrots and tomatoes. 

Squeeze lime juice, drizzle Organic Flaxseed Oil 

and Japanese Salad Dressing over. Toss to mix.

 Here's Dinner. :D

Justine snapped photos of the 3 plates. 

Plate 1 with the whole fish, 

Plate 2 with the tail and 

Plate 3 with the head portion. :D

 Plate 2 : Bryan's. 

Justine gave her fish head portion to her Dad too. 

When it comes to sambal fish, we all agree that

two heads are surely better than one.  :D

 Here's my plate. :D

We ate our dinner with our fingers. 

Finger lickin' lip smackin' tummy fillin' fantabulous. :D

That's the only way to really enjoy your food,

eating with your fingers, I mean.

I had my shake of The Green Drink for breakfast, 

rice with vegetables (take away) and the above for dinner.

To Sum Up

1 shake & 2 meals

Still No Juice. :( Fruit. BioFruity. Water. Milk Tea.

Time of Posting : 9:06 am (Friday)

Day 89 ... Pressure Cooker Yogurt Curry Chicken

PRESSURE COOKER CREAMY CURRY CHICKEN

This evening, we used the pressure cooker to prepare a quick no-fuss dinner. It's basically, toss everything in, close the lid, and turn the flame on. Very easy to do. :D Justine wanted curry chicken, so curry chicken it is then.

By the way, we are using kampung chicken (grass fed free range chicken) so using the pressure cooker is ideal for tougher meats.

1. The Ingredients

onions, garlic, ginger, chicken, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots,

a small tub of yogurt and curry paste (Brand A1).

2. Toss In

Saute garlic, ginger and onions.

Add all the ingredients in.

Pour half a carton of milk (in place of coconut milk).

Add seasalt and shoyu.

Close lid. Turn on flame.

When the pot starts to hiss, turn down flame,

wait for a few minutes before turning fire off completely.

The curry will be ready in about 20 minutes or so.

Very simple to do, don't You think?

3. Garnish & Serve

Imagine a small sprig of coriander leaves 

on the curry dish. 

We ran out of that. :D

Bryan's Plate.

Justine's Plate.

My Plate.

The curry is absolutely creamy, yogurt-y and delicious. 

The chicken is tender and the potatoes 

literally melt at the first bite. 

The lime juice enhances the tangy taste. :D

We had the curry chicken with brown rice. 

Oh Yummy!
 

Today, I had my one shake of The Green Drink 

in the morning, egg noodle soup for lunch 

and the above for dinner.

To Sum Up

1 shake & 2 meals

No juice. Fruit. Water. Coffee.

Time of Posting : 1:21 pm (Thursday)

Day 88 ... Sweet & Sour Fish

SWEET & SOUR FISH

(WOLF-HERRING)

This evening, I managed to persuade Bryan to prepare a sweet and sour dish. I had taken two pieces of fish to thaw. 

Initially, I thought we could try out a MARMITE sauce on the fish, but Bryan said no, it wouldn't go. 

Crab okay, even chicken. 

But fish? Nahhh ...

1. The Fish

season with seasalt, pepper and five spice powder

Sprinkle organic arrowroot powder over.

I forget why we have to coat the fish with that. 

It's either to : 

(a) keep the fish dry; OR

(b) seal the flavour in; OR

(c) make it crispy

Pan fry the fish in hot oil.
Whooops! A lil too brown. O dear.
Never mind, the sauce will cover it up. :D

2. The Vegetables

onions, carrots, tomatoes, cauliflower, enoki mushroom, green chillies.

3. The Sauce

Sauce Mixture : water, tomato ketchup, brown rice vinegar, 
shoyu, brown sugar and seasalt.

Saute garlic, ginger and onions 

in sesame seed oil until fragrant.

Pour in the sauce mixture.

Add the vegetables and 

rambutan-stuffed-pineapples.

We found a can of rambutan-stuffed-pineapples 

that someone gave us during Chines New Year 

and thought we might as well use that. :D

Add arrowroot powder (mixed with water).

Organic thickening agent.

Simmer for a bit and turn off flame.

Pour the sauce over the fried fish.

This is my plate. :D 

We had the fish with brown rice. The fish was succulent, and the sauce was just right. It took a bit of, put a little bit more of this, and a little bit more of that, but in the end, the combination turned out just right. Sweet and Sour. :D

I had one shake of The Green Drink in the morning, 

fried rice vermicelli for lunch and the above for dinner.

To Sum Up

1 shake & 2 meals

No juice. Fruit. BioFruity. Water. Coffee.

Time of Posting : 3:59pm (Wednesday)

Day 87 ... Garlic-Ginger Rotini Pasta

 GARLIC-GINGER ROTINI PASTA 

WITH CHEESE

This evening, I am going to prepare a pasta dish. 

A quick one. And a very simple one. Bryan is on his way home. Which means, I should just do something I'm comfortable with. No intense frying of fish or meat, blending of several ingredients or mixing of more than two sauces or herbs. Those are Bryan's specialty.

My cooking will have to be kindergarten easy, to avoid any disaster from brewing or exploding. I've just checked my kitchen cabinet and found a packet of rotini pasta which I don't remember buying. Checked the expiry date - 19.10.10. Took that out and that's how I came to the decision to make pasta tonight. :D

 1. Boil the Pasta

in salted water until just tender.

Drain and set aside.

2. Side Salad 

While waiting for the pasta, 

blanch some vegetables in a separate pot 

of boiling water. 

Add carrots, broccoli and baby corn.

Plunge into ice-cold water to retain its crispiness.

Transfer to individual plates. Add red bell peppers. 

Squeeze lemon juice, add a dollop of mayonnaise

and a shake of black pepper. 

A little bit difficult for me to take a photo 
of the blanching and the plunging. :(

 3. Saute the Ingredients

chopped garlic, ginger and cili padi
in olive oil until fragrant.

Add in the pasta. 

Add a handful of finely chopped parsley.

Seasalt and black pepper.

Toss to mix well.

Done! :D

Simple, don't You think?

 This is my ah, healthy plate of pasta. 

I am drizzling a bit of flaxseed oil over. 

Love the nutty smell of flaxseed oil. :D

Bryan and Justine are having their pasta with cheese.  

The plate right on top of the page is Justine's. 

This plate here is Bryan's. :D

I had my one shake of The Green Drink in the morning, 

egg sandwiches for lunch and pasta for dinner.

To Sum Up

1 shake & 2 meals

Juice. Fruit. BioFruity. Water. Coffee.

Time of Posting : 3:12pm (Tuesday)