Today I had to use that large head of cabbage before it spoils. So I decided to make coleslaw. However, I could only use half of that cabbage – it was just too big!
And, today I had a special guest come help me. The Boy helped me make the slaw. 😃
The Recipe
1 cup mayonnaise (I didn’t have enough of the Best/Hellman’s mayo so combined it with some Japanese mayo to make up for the shortage)
3 tbsp cider vinegar
1 and 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
A sprinkling of coarse sea salt
Cabbage
2 shredded carrots
Two large handfuls of cranberries
Transfer to containers to sit in the fridge for at least two hours (it’s very hot here so it takes longer for things to cool, even in the fridge 😒).
I’ve been wanting to make Jamie Oliver’s fish pie for the longest time. And last week I watched on his youtube channel his wife making the fish pie for the family. So I bought frozen salmon and cod and prawns and mussels, thinking I’d make my own version of fish seafood pie. This is his recipe.
This is my version. I made a basic white sauce, the roux with milk and seasoned with nutmeg and bay leaves and salt etc. And in my dish, I added prawns but forgot all about the mussels. I added also mini mozzarella balls. I also forgot to season the mashed potatoes with salt so that turned out bland. I topped the potatoes with breadcrumbs and grated cheddar. But overall I must say it is not bad. It’s a change from chicken and beef for us!
Because I was too greedy and dished it immediately, the sauce was runny but creamy. After a while when it’s cooler everything set nicely. And for this kind of creamy dish, the Asian in us needed hot sauces to wash the dish down!
Yesterday for brunch I made this for the kids. And then today, we tried a new chicken wings place and the chicken tenders I had for them was not so different than the ones I made for them! But it costs a whole lot more. It really is more worth it and satisfying to cook at home.
The chicken tenders were so easy to do. First, I coated them with seasoned flour (plain flour, salt and mixed dried herbs), eggs and then coated them again in the flour instead of breadcrumbs. Then I Happy Called them. Yes, using Happy Call has become a verb in my vernacular. 😀 Anyway, I used my seasoned olive oil to really Happy Call the chicken tenders.
For the sauce, I used St Dalfour Peach jam mixed with water, five spice powder and cloves and boiled till it becomes a saucy consistency. However, I’m such a spicy person that I ate the peach sauce with my extra hot Peri-Peri sauce. Yumz.
The coated chicken fillets ready for the Happy CallHappy Call till crispyPeach Sauce
I just had this two minutes ago. Yummy. And cheap. If you think about it, one packet of ground beef costs about $5 plus a packet of burger buns (four inside) costs about $2. Cheese is what? A few cents. Let’s say everything is about $8 and you can make about 5 patties; why, that’s about $2 per burger! And, you get a super thick burger meat for that instead of that paper thin burger meat they try to pass off at fast food outlets.
I’ve watched Diners Drive-Ins and Dives plenty of times and one thing I noticed is that the diners in America only season their meat with salt and pepper. Nothing more. It’s the other extra stuff that makes a burger good.
So this is what I made for our family dinner:
Season with salt and pepper and form thick patties. Use this kind of spatula to flip your burgers. Any thicker and chances are you will break the patty. This is patty no. 5. So if you make smaller patties, you can make more burgers!Oil a griller pan (I used olive oil) and cook the patties. Don't overcook. Once the bottom of one side has browned, flip over and continue cooking till required doneness.Once you are almost ready to take the patty out, slap on a good quality cheese. Or any cheese for that matter. I used smoked cheese.While the patty is still cooking away, slather some mayo and any condiment onto bread. I used this chilli chutney. It turned out to be deliciously sweet. A great ingredient for meat.Eat it while it's hot! Of course you can add whatever toppings like lettuce, tomatoes, onions, etc etc but for today, I just wanted a simple juicy cheeseburger. And juicy it was!
Chicken on Coke. Haha. Hmm.. Anyway, I learnt of cooking chicken this way from a friend who is a wonderful cook. I learnt it last year and only today am using this technique. It seems like only yesterday when the whole lot came over and we decided to do a cookout at my place.
Back to the chicken. I marinated in for several hours. The marinade? Smoked paprika (lots of it please), dried mint (a bit), onion powder, garlic powder, safflower (the cheaper version of saffron), salt, zaatar (Arabic thyme), spice mixture (cardamom, cumin, fennel, cinnamon toasted and blended) and brown sugar. I rubbed it into the chicken and added just a wee bit of olive oil onto the chicken and then let it sit, covered, in the fridge till dinner time.
Then, I roasted it together with some vegetables. Potatoes, Japanese sweet potato, carrots and cauliflower. This roasting of cauliflower is new to me. I’ve been watching several cooking episodes where they feature roasted cauliflower so I decided to try.
The result? I overcooked the dish a bit so the vegetables were soft but still delicious because they had flavour. Oh yes, I seasoned the vegetables first with salt, black pepper, olive oil and the spice mixture. The chicken was wonderful because of the intense marinade. But I realise by cooking the chicken in this manner, the drumstick area didn’t crisp up. Hmmm, I will need to go back to my friend on how she resolved that. But the chicken was juicy and tender and so so flavourful.
The leftover chicken breasts (as usual, nobody wanted the breasts though they were very juicy) were made into sandwiches to be eaten for tomorrow’s breakfast. I coated the shredded chicken with some more of the pan juices and stuffed it into the panini sandwich from Gardenia.
Rub the dry mixture all over the chicken and marinade. Overnight is best.Wash a can of Coke well. Take half of the drink out and then place it in th centre of a lined baking tray.The fun part is propping the chicken onto the can. After you have managed to do that, arrange vegetables all around the chicken.Bake on the lowest tray and laugh at your family members reaction. 'Your chicken is standing up!' said one. 'I was wondering how the chicken could stand up. How is it standing up?' Ha ha ha.Once cooked, remove chicken from the can and then arrange on a plate. Drizzle the wonderful juices from the pan over the chicken.Save the chicken breast or use whatever leftovers to make a sandwich.
The Occasional Cook 