Chinese mushroom and ginger chicken

My grandmother has cooked this for me since I was a tot and it's one of my favourite family recipes of all time. The great thing is it not only tastes great but it's so simple to make!

My ultimate comfort food. :)

Chinese mushroom and ginger chicken


Serves 2 meals


Ingredients:
2 chicken drumsticks (or thighs), deskinned
4 large dried Chinese mushrooms (any type will do)
1 tablespoon young ginger, sliced into thin strips
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
Pepper to taste

Preparation:
Soak mushrooms until soft (I use hot water so they soften very quickly), squeeze out excess water and slice into thin strips. Place chicken into a metal bowl (or any bowl that is suitable for steaming). Arrange mushroom and ginger strips on top of the chicken and drizzle with sesame oil and soy sauce. Add a dash of pepper for a nice bite. Steam* for 20-30 minutes or until chicken is cooked and tender.

*I place a small steaming rack in a large pot, add hot water and bring the water to boil. Then, when water is boiling, place the bowl atop the rack and cover the pot. Be sure to keep an eye on the water level as they evaporate pretty quickly. When the water level goes too low, just add some more hot water to the pot.

Mushroom Pizza

Ain't that a pretty picture? I just love overloading on mushrooms.

Mushroom Pizza


Serves 2 meals


Ingredients:
6 medium mushrooms, thickly sliced
1 piece Lebanese bread
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 medium tomato, sliced into wedges
Herbs and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 120 degrees. Spread tomato paste on Lebanese bread evenly. Arrange mushrooms and tomato. Season with herbs and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes or until mushrooms are cooked.

Mushroom and cauliflower soup

Remember the mushroom soup recipe I posted up previously? Here's an even better version with cauliflower! I do realize that I'm flooding Sugarless with cauliflower. It's just that I'm in love with cauli now and I'm a student eating on a tight budget so I always buy what's on special. Caulies are in at the moment.

Mushroom and Cauliflower Soup


Ingredients:

180ml low fat/semi-skim milk

1/2 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

300g fresh mushrooms, sliced/chopped

1/2 head cauliflower, roughly chopped

65ml (1/4 cup) fat-reduced cream

salt, pepper and herbs, to taste

Preparation:

Bring milk, cauliflower, onions, salt, pepper and herbs to boil in a pan. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often. Add mushrooms and cook for a further 15 minutes. Stir in cream. Transfer 1/2 of the soup into a blender and puree until desired consistency. Repeat for remaining soup. 

Big chicken

The idea of turkey for me when I was younger was Christmas and Christmas Eve feasts where we'd have a whole roasted turkey filled with potato stuffing, ready to be carved and then fed to the hungry mob, yours truly included. There would always be cranberry sauce and a roast leg of lamb. Lets not forget the creamy warm potato salad and garlic bread. Oh Christmas.

But it's the middle of April and Christmas is still eight months away (yes, I counted). Doesn't mean that I can't have turkey now! It was on sale and I thought why not?


Simple Roast Turkey


Serves MANY meals


Ingredients:
1 good-sized turkey drumstick
4 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
Herbs and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Clean and remove all visible fat from drumstick. Season with Worcestershire Sauce, herbs and pepper. Roast uncovered for approximately 30 minutes. Check to make sure that the turkey does not dry out. Cover, reduce temperature to 150 degrees and continue to roast for another 20 minutes or until completely cooked and flesh falls off the bone. Serve.

Tuna Pasta

I first had tuna pasta three years ago when I stayed in an Italian lady's house. Before that, I have never heard of fish cooked with pasta before, except the occasional smoked salmon in creamy sauce. But boy, the lady was a whiz in the kitchen and got me instantly hooked on this dish. It's so simple that I wanted to cry and beat myself up for not making it more often.

Tuna pasta in tomato sauce


Serves 1 meal


Ingredients:
150g cooked pasta
1 small can tuna (approx. 95g per can)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 small onion, chopped
3 bulbs garlic, chopped
1 tomato, roughly sliced
3 medium mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon olive oil

Preparation:
Heat oil in saucepan. Brown onion and garlic. Cook mushrooms. Add tomato and tomato paste. Add tuna. If sauce becomes too dry, add some water. Stir and remove from heat. Serve with pasta.

A not-so-Shepherd's Pie

Carbohydrate counting is a major pain in the ass sometimes. Okay, a lot of times. You just cannot afford to overeat, else you'll get a soaring blood glucose reading two hours later, which makes you disappointed and depressed and wishing for a double chocolate ice-cream,which you can't have, and this makes you even more depressed. Happens to me anyway. It's one of those days where you get lots of the why me?'s. Life just isn't fair sometimes when you think about it.

Good thing my friend brought me to church today and I felt loved and tended. So I'm all good now. Good enough to share a recipe with a butt ugly photograph. :)

Cauliflower Shepherd's Pie


Serves 3 meals


Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower, roughly chopped into small pieces
300g lean minced beef
2 small onions, diced
2 cups celery, chopped finely
1 cup leek, chopped finely
1 medium carrot, diced
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, roughly sliced
3 tablespoons tomato paste (no added sugar)
3/4 cup grated cheese (preferably Mozarella)
2 teaspoons Worchestershire Sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
Pepper and herbs to taste

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 150 degrees. Marinate minced beef with Worchestershire Sauce, pepper and herbs for at least 20 minutes. In a deep pan, heat oil and brown onions. Add leek and celery, stir. Add marinated beef and stir until meat is almost completely cooked. Reduce heat. Add tomatoes, mushrooms and carrot. Continue to cook until mushrooms turn soft. Add tomato paste, pepper and herbs, stir. Add a bit of water if sauce becomes too thick. Simmer covered for 10 minutes. Pour beef sauce into baking tray and completely cover with cauliflower. Sprinkle cheese over top layer and bake for 30 minutes or until cauliflower is cooked.

I hope you'll enjoy this as much as I did. I wolfed it down pretty quick with a big bowl of plain lettuce. Hearty and filling, YUM!