Day 295: Boka Dushi

Most of the time when I make something for this blog I am on a recipe site the night before pulling our my hair as I am lacking in culinary inspiration. I know that sounds a little bit cheesy and elitist but it is not often that I know more than 24 hours in advance what I am going to cook. On one rather desperate night I turned over my bookmark folder to the boyfriend and was shocked to find that he chose a chicken recipe!

Apparently these chicken skewers are a lot like those which you can find in The Netherlands. The recipe finds an equal amount of inspiration from both Indonesian and the Dutch Antilles and has a rather delicious sounding name which means “sweet mouth”.

Ingredients (makes 6):

• 1/4 cup ketjap manis
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 tsps ginger, grated
• 1 tsp sambal oelek
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 1/2 lbs chicken breast, deskinned and cut into strips
• Dutch-Style Peanut Sauce

Mix the ketjap manis, lime juice, cumin, ginger, and sambal oelek in a sandwich bag and then add the chicken. Leave this in the fridge to marinate for as long as you want (I left it in all day).

Pre-heat a dual-press grill that has been pre-coated with low-calorie cooking spray. Add the chicken (after discarding the marinade) and grill for 6 minutes. Serve with the pre-made peanut sauce.

Adapted from here

Verdict: Make this… make this now. I say this to the thirteen of you who read my blog (holler!) that you need to find a way to make this for dinner. Below I have included some substituted ideas so that you can make this whenever you want.

Substitution Ideas:

• 1/4 cup ketjap manis = 2 tbsps soy sauce plus 2 tbsps black treacle
• sambal oelek = any chilli paste that also contains garlic

Calorie Count: 212 per serving

Day 242: Beef Rendang

I think it’s time to do another curry. The last time that I made one was a while back (too long ago to be honest) so we really needed to do one. The reason that I focused my attention was on getting a recipe for this particular Malaysian dish was not just because it marks another new country on my list (although I love how this has worked out) but because I caught an episode of Saturday Kitchen.

In this they showed a clip of Nigel Slater (I think) and he was waxing lyrical about how great the dish of beef rendang was… so I had to get a recipe for it. However, I was unable to find a lemongrass stalk to use for it so I had to use lemongrass paste (thank you Bart).

Ingredients (serves 3)

• 1/4 cup shallots, chopped
• 1/6 cup ginger
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp chili garlic paste (I used sambal oelek)
• 2/3 tsps turmeric
• 2/3 tsps salt
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 cloves
• 1  red chilli, chopped
• 300ml light coconut milk
• 1/3 cup desiccated coconut
• 1/2 tsp lime zest, grated
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tsp  sugar
• 2 tsp lemongrass paste
• 500g stewing steak, trimmed and diced
• 350ml chicken stock
• 2 cups cooked basmati rice

Stick the shallots, ginger, garlic, chilli, garlic-chilli paste, turmeric, salt, cloves and cinnamon in a small food processor with 1/8 cup of coconut milk and blend until it makes a paste. Heat a thick-bottomed saucepan over a medium flame and add the paste. Cook this for a minute and then add the rest of the coconut milk (reserving 1 1/2 tbsp of it for later) as well as the sugar, lime zest, lime juice, lemongrass, stock and meat. Bring this to the boil and then reduce to the lowest possible flame, cover and leave on a simmer for an hour. Stir it every now and then.

A few minutes before the end of the hour add the desiccated coconut and the remainder of the coconut milk to the small food processor and quickly blitz. Stir this into the curry and then simmer for a further 10 minutes (even longer if you want it nice and thick) and serve over hot rice.

Adapted from here

Verdict: This is definately the best curry that I have made so far and that was mainly due to the homemade curry paste and the liberal helpings of coconut. It was also nice to have a beef curry for the first time, yes boyfriend I am thanking you for making me have to think outside of the box again so you like what I cook.

Calorie Count: 449 per serving

Day 218: Singapore Noodles

Happy Valentine’s Day people! To celebrate this I may have bled quite a bit when making this. I cut the tip of my left index finger whist chopping up the peppers for this recipe so I am going to be writing the rest when my cut has healed a bit… since it’s really hard to type without bending that finger.

When I think about the food that I have blogged about there are three topics that tend to come up a lot: my favourite chefs, takeaways and chinese food. Of course my forces of habit strike again with today’s recipe for Singapore noodles by Ching-He Huang. I gush about her and her recipes because she was of such a huge inspiration to me and got me into cooking. Whilst the recipe for beef in oyster sauce that I previously blogged about is one of hers it was this one that I made first, the reason being that this was my nan’s favourite dish when we ordered takeaway (although she always asked for it less spicy).

In order to make this I made a few changes to bring it below the 500 calorie per serving mark. I reduced the overall portion size by about 20% and replaced regular smoked bacon with smoked turkey bacon. Due to availability I split the amount of noodles between egg and rice, replaced beansprouts with extra carrots and shiitake mushrooms with regular white ones. There was also the use of cooked pork in the place of cooked chicken for the sheer reason that we had a pork chop left over from Sunday lunch.

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 2 tbsp groundnut oil
• 1 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 5 white mushrooms, sliced
• 2 tbsp ground turmeric
• 240g prawns, defrosted
• 150 g smoked turkey bacon, diced
• 1 red pepper, seeds removed and sliced
• 2 carrots, julienned
• 150 g cooked pork, diced
• 125g dried vermicelli noodles, soaked in hot water for 10 minute
• 90g dried egg noodles,
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• 3 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 dash of sesame oil
• 3 spring onions, sliced lengthways

Heat the oil in a wok and stir-fry the ginger, chilli, mushrooms and turmeric for a few seconds. Then add the prawns and the bacon and fry them for about a minute. To this pour in the red pepper, carrot and the cooked pork and stir fry for a further minute.

Tip the noodles into the wok, stir fry for 2 minutes and then stir in the chilli flakes, soy sauce, oyster sauce and vinegar. Add the beaten egg and stir gently until the egg is cooked through. Add the dash of sesame oil stir the serve with the spring onions sprinkled on top.

Adapted from Chinese Food Made Easy

Verdict: The best thing about Singapore noodles is the afterburn. The large amounts of turmeric doesn’t just give it a rather pleasing colour without the use of additives (although it is one of the dishes great appeals) but it also gives the dish an earthy taste which allows the piquancy of the chilli to be felt a lot later than usual. The time that it takes to make this is slightly less than what it would from the local takeaway and since it tastes about the same (if not slightly better) and is a lot healthier I declare this a success.

Calorie Count: 450 per serving

Day 199: Tandoori Tofu

TOFU!

A short recipe for your guys today since there really is not much more to say about this apart from it’s tofu… but grilled… fantastic.

The original recipe suggests garnishing this with some chopped coriander leaf or some spring onions. The only reason that I chose not to do this is that I served this recipe with a variation of my previous recipe of noodles with oyster mushrooms and ginger… just without the mushrooms.

Ingredients (serves 3):

• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/8 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 1/2 tbsps extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tbsp lime juice
• 400g extra-firm tofu, drained
• 1/3 cup nonfat plain yogurt

Preheat your grill to medium-high.

Pour the oil in a pan and heat. Add the garlic, lime juice, salt, paprika, coriander, turmeric and cumin and cook for 1 minute whilst stirring.

Cut the tofu into 6 equal slices and brush it with the seasoned oil (make sure there is some left behind for later). Now heat these under the grill for 5 minutes per side.

Whilst these heat mix the remaining oil with the yogurt to make a sauce. Serve the grilled tofu with the sauce

Adapted from here

Verdict: Right, I’ll be honest here… I am not entirely sure how to properly use the grill in our oven. Therefore (as you can see) I was unable to get those delightful little black grill marks demonstrated in the original recipe. Sadly.

Still, it tasted nice and the consistency of the grilled tofu was great. One problem with it was that I think it was a tad bland towards the middle. It would probably have tasted better if the tofu had been cut into 8-10 pieces instead.

Calorie Count: 173 per serving

Day 185: Coconut Lentil Soup

After a little bit of an explore I discovered that I am in possession of a blender. How did I not know that my Magic Bullet had such an attachment? Well I have never had a reason to use it… also it was in the back of the cupboard behind what seems to be a lifetime supply of kitchen towel.

This discovery did not spur on this recipe being chosen for today (in fact it was due to left over coconut milk from the meatball korma) but it sure did make one of the stages a whole lot easier…

Ingredients (serves 3):

• 200 ml red lentils (pre-rinsed and drained if indicated by the packet)
• 3/4 inch fresh ginger, minced
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 400ml stock (I used chicken, but vegetable would do)
• 400g canned chopped tomatoes
• 200ml light coconut milk

Add the oil to a large saucepan and then heat up. To this add the onion, ginger and garlic which you sauté until softened. Add the tumeric, chicken stock, tomatoes and lentils. Bring this to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes (add half a litre of boiling water 10 minutes in). Keep stirring this as it is liable to stick to the bottom of the pan.

After the 20 minutes add the soup to a blender and blitz (or use a handheld in the pan). Then add the coconut milk and heat through.

Adapted from here

Verdict: This was an incredibly thick soup. There are two improvement to be made… but that depends on what you want to do with it. You can add some more vegetables and then double the amount of light coconut milk to make it a thinner and more delicious soup (although, to be fair, this tasted really nice). The second idea (and one I may later make use of) is to use this as a curry sauce with some chicken, steamed rice, some toasted almonds and maybe a few sugarsnaps thrown in for good measure.

Calorie Count: 293 per serving

Day 169: Chicken Tikka Masala

Although the paella is the first recipe that I ever made from a magazine it was Angela Nilsen’s attempt to lower the fat and salt content of this takeaway stalwart that truly caught my eye. When I set out to do this blog I had more or less accepted that curry (Indian-style curry that is) would be off the menu until I finally reached a weight that I was happy with. The fact that with a serving of rice this recipe just dips below the 400 calorie mark per serving… well I had to make it.

The actual recipe calls for the chicken to be cut into rather large chunks since that is how we all know and love this curry. However, in the light of the boyfriend not exactly being a big fan of chicken I decided to half the size to make sure that the only flavour he got was of the seasoning and not of the moist, succulent chicken breast. Mmm mmm mmm. The other major difference between this and the magazine recipe is the omission of fenugreek since I was an absolute idiot and picked up two bottles of garam masala at Morrison’s rather than one garam masala and one fenugreek. D’oh! Also you are meant to heat the coriander seeds before grinding them into a powder… so I was a bit lazy and did it straight from the jar.

Ingredients (serves 4):

Marinade:

• 600g chicken breast, cut into 4cm chunks (I did them into 1-2cm chunkettes)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2cm piece of ginger, minced/grated
• 2 tbsp natural yogurt
• 1 tbsp coriander leaf, finely chopped
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp hot chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander seeds

Sauce:

• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2cm piece of ginger, minced/grated
• 2 onions, halved then thinly sliced
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/4 tsp hot chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander seeds
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 tbsp natural yogurt

First make the marinade. Mix the garlic and ginger with the yogurt, lime juice, coriander leaf, chilli powder, garam masala, paprika, cumin, ground coriander seeds and turmeric. Now stir the chicken into the yogurt mixture and make sure it is well coated. Stick this in the fridge and allow to marinate for as long as you can. I left it in there for over 24 hours but as long as it’s over 30 minutes it’ll be fine.

Now it is time to make sauce. Heat some sprays of low-calorie oil in a large saucepan and then put on a medium heat. Add the onion slices and cook for 10 minutes until they begin to soften and turn brown (keep them moving so that they don’t burn) Stir in the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for a further 2 minutes. Add all of the spices and cook for a minute. You may need to start scraping at the bottom of the pan to make sure none of the spices burn. Stir in the tomato purée and 150ml of water and cook for a minute.

Now comes the annoying part of the sauce… transfer the entire thing to a blender/food processor and completely blitz the living tar out of your sauce so that it is nice and smooth. Return this to the pan and add a further 150ml of water then set aside. It’s a good idea to use this extra water to clean out the blender so that no sauce goes to waste. Set this aside and warm up the grill (or for me the George Foreman).

Arrange the chicken pieces on several wooden skewers (soak the skewers first so that they don’t ignite) and grill for about 12-15. When these are done reheat the sauce until warmed through and then stir in the yoghurt. Serve with the chicken still on skewers and accompany it with rice.

Adapted from BBC Good Food Magazine – October 2010 issue

Verdict: The chicken itself was absolutely gorgeous and think that this would make for a delicious addition to a wrap alongside some crisp lettuce and other such shenanigans. It was described by one of my merry tasters as “absolutely divine”. Can’t really argue with such high praise.

The curry as a whole was delicious. I topped mine off with some roughly chopped coriander leaf and that really made the dish. The sauce was a bit thin so I would recommend leaving it on a simmer for 5-10 minutes with regular stirring to make sure you have a nice thick masala sauce for the curry. Bottom line is that this tasted very much stuff you would get from a take away and as such was a fantastic success.

Calorie Count: 396 per serving (this includes a portion of rice as, to be honest, why have curry without rice)

Day 87: Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

Today’s Exercise: 32 minutes on Wii Fit, 9000 steps

People who know me semi-well will know that there are certain celebrity chefs that I love. I have previously mentioned on this blog that one of my favourites was Ching-He Huang with her cheery disposition and delicious Chinese recipes, my other favourite is Nigella Lawson. The issue with Ms. Lawson is that the vast majority of her recipes are high in calories, fat, sugar and salt but all taste bloody amazing. Therefore to even try one of her recipes you need to try to make substitutions in order to make them more acceptable. Some recipes, like her chocolate fudge cake, are beyond help and are best reserved for birthdays and Christmas. Others, however, can be played around which is exactly what I did here.

This soup makes fantastic use of leftovers. The chicken and the stock were remnants of dinner on Sunday when we made her praised chicken. Everything else, minus the vegetables and limes, were found in the kitchen cupboards. If you regularly cook at home then the set-up costs for this meal are minimal since these are things that you are bound to have the vast majority of these lying about somewhere, but I can see that this could be borderline expensive if you need to get everything on the list.

Ingredients (serves 3):

• 1 litre chicken stock
• 150g udon noodles (the recipe called for vermicelli but this is best I could do)
• 200ml light coconut milk
• 1 inch long piece of ginger, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2-3 pinches of chilli flakes
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp tamarind paste (if unavailable use an extra 2tbsp of lime juice)
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 150g cooked chicken, shredded
• 200g napa cabbage
• 50g kale
• handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Heat the stock up in a pan (while this happens it’s a good idea to cook the noodles as per the packet instructions).

As the stock heats add the coconut milk, ginger, fish sauce, chilli flakes, turmeric, tamarind, sugar, lime juice and chicken. Bring this to the boil.

When you are certain that the chicken is hot add the vegetables and cook for 4-5 minutes so that they are tender. Then add the noodles, leave on the heat for another 4 minutes so that they heat through and then serve with a scattering of chopped coriander.

Adapted from here

Verdict: I loved the way that the turmeric made everything turn a really vivid yellow colour (especially the chicken which in the end resembled omelette). The soup itself was very filling and delicious. Personally, it could have done with a touch more spice, but I have a slightly higher tolerance than normal. I didn’t even notice that this was light coconut milk since the creaminess that it lent to the dish.

Calorie Count: 412 per serving