It's actually not that difficult to cook a simple meal for 1 or even for 2 pax. Sometimes it takes even less than 30 mins to cook a meal, including preparation time. Have taken some pics of my lunches here in Zurich and to share with you some very simple recipes. If Ah Kin can do it, so can you hehe :) Cos Ah Kin has never taken any formal cooking lessons before (er...maybe except for the home econ class which I remembered one of the lessons which taught us how to fry kangkongs?).
My favourite for lunch is porridge. Something light yet it's good for the tummy, especially those with gastric problems. Porridge is easy on the stomach as it's easier to digest. The chinese physician also encourage one to eat more porridge especially since we have such oily, spicy and rich diets. So some of the pics here may not appeal to all cos some look kinda blend ;p
Here's sharing with you some of the simple, yet healthy dishes which I've tried for your reference. If you notice, Ah Kin doesn't give much details on the amount or quantity, cos everything is by 'agaration' and constant tasting to fine-tune to your taste buds :) Plus Ah Kin's portion is always 'XS' so you have to top it up to your quantity.
Have fun trying :)
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The Golden Opportunity
Plain porridge with fried egg and fried ikan bilis with onions
Plain porridge with fried egg and fried ikan bilis with onions
Ingredients (Serves 1):- rice
- ikan bilis or dried flat fish
- onions (can include garlic and chili if you like)
- egg
- light soya sauce
- dark soya sauce
- sugar
- pepper
- oil
Steps:
Porridge
1. Wash rice. Add about about 1 to 1.5 bowls of water (to add more if you prefer a watery porridge) to the rice and bring it to boil.
2. When the water starts to boil, reduce to the heat, leave the lid slightly ajar to allow steam to escape. Cook for another 20-30 mins depending on the texture of porridge you like. Add water if you find the porridge too dry.
Fried Ikan Bilis
1. Wash and dry the ikan bilis and leave it aside.
2. Wash and peel the onions, and cut them into slices.
3. Heat wok. When heated, add about 2-3 tablespoons of oil, or more if you like your ikan bilis to be crispy.
4. When the oil is heated (small bubbles will appear around your frying stick if you dip it in the oil), fry the onions (can add in the garlic a few mins later) till fragrant. Remember to lower the heat as you fry to prevent them from getting burnt.
5. Add in ikan bilis and fry till you see some ikan bilis starting to 'jump' in your frying pan. Add light soya sauce and continue frying. You can add in the chili if you like it to be spicy. Add the dark soya sauce and fry for a while before you add the sugar. Once you see the sugar 'disappear', turn off heat and continue to stir to get the sugar well-mixed and caramelized so that your ikan bilis will be a little crispy. Be careful not to over-cook your sugar as they will become bitter if you fry for too long.
Fried Egg
1. Leave your egg in the open for at least an hour or more if you store your eggs in the fridge. Cold eggs tend to stick to your frying pan.
2. Lightly beat the egg with light soya sauce and a little pepper. If you like, you can add in spring onions or onions, luncheon meat, tomatoes or even some curry powder to give it a different taste.
3. Heat wok. Add about 2-3 tablespoons of oil It sounds sinful but I realised that fried eggs taste best with more oil. You can use olive oil for a healthier choice.
4. Once the oil is heated, lower the heat and add in your egg. This will prevent your egg from becoming burnt. Let it cook slowly. Turn the egg to fry the other side when your egg is able to slide easily in the wok.
There you have it. A complete meal with proteins from the egg, iron and calcium from the ikan bilis and vitamins from the onions :)
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The Pork and Peas
Cantonese Style Porridge with lean meat and peas
Ingredients (Serves 1):- rice
- lean meat (sliced and marinated)
- peas
- 冬菜 (a saltish dried veg, light brown in colour packed in a small packet which you can get it from the wet market, NTUC or even Cold Storage)
- white silverfish
- light soya sauce or salt
Preparation:
Marinate the meat with soya sauce and pepper. Add cornflour and mix so that it seals in the marination. Allow it to stay in room temperature for about 20-30 mins for the meat to fully absorb the marination before putting in the fridge (same principle as cleansing the face - the pores will shrink if you wash it with cold water) - something I've learnt from dear Aggie, whom I've sought advice from in cooking :) Marination time required at least 2 hrs.
Steps:
1. Wash rice. Add about 2-2.5 bowls of water to the rice and bring it to boil.
2. When the water starts to boil, reduce heat and leave the lid slightly ajar to allow the steam to escape whilst continuing to cook for about 15 mins.
3. Add in the lean meat, white silverfish and 冬菜. Cook it slowly for another 30 mins or longer depending on your preference on the porridge texture. If you like Cantonese porridge, where you cook until you can't see the rice grains, you have to set aside at least 2 hours of cooking the porridge and to stir as and when in low heat. If you find that the porridge is too dry, you could always add water.
4. Finally, add in the peas, add some light soya sauce or salt to taste.
I prefer the 冬菜 from Tianjin as it tastes better and I suppose they have included garlic in it as well. This will give your porridge some the salty taste together with the silverfish and the sweetness of the meat will blend in pretty nicely. If you intend to fry your meat, then you can add sesame seed oil to marinate it.
If you want more variety like making meat balls, you may add on or more of the following ingredients:
- 冬菜 (for saltiness)
- onions (for sweetness & the crunch)
- water chestnuts (for sweetness & the crunch)
- mushrooms (for a stronger punch)
- carrots (for sweetness and the crunch)
- kiwi (natural meat tenderizer and to give it a tangy taste)
In fact there are many things you can add, depending on your creativity :)
For a more complicated marination which I've learnt from TV, you can include stuff like shaoxing wine (to get rid of the porky taste), egg white (for smoothness), sugar, oyster sauce and a little 5 spices powder (五香粉) depending on the quantity of meat you have. Avoid adding too much of the powder as it would make the meat taste bitter.
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Fingers-Lickin Good
Fried lady's finger with pork, and fish finger with lettuce
Fried lady's finger with pork, and fish finger with lettuce
Ingredients (Serves 1):
- rice
- lady's fingers (sliced)
- lean meat (sliced and marinated)
- garlic (chopped)
- light soya sauce
- fish sauce
- sugar
- oil
- fish finger
- lettuce
Preparation:
- Marination of lean meat (refer to earlier methods to marinate meat).
Steps:
Porridge (refer to earlier recipe on cooking plain porridge)
Lettuce - wash and slice the lettuce according to the amount you want.
Lady's Fingers
1. Heat wok. When heated, add about 1/2 tablespoon of oil.
2. Fry garlic till fragrant. Add in lean meat to fry till the meat turned light brown.
3. Add in the lady's fingers and fry. Add light soya sauce, fish sauce and finally a little sugar. (You may like to add in cut chillies or those chilli paste which taste good. If it's too spicy, you can add some sugar to lighten the spiciness. Try adding some cherry tomatoes or ikan bilis, they taste good with lady's fingers too.
Fish Finger
You may choose to microwave it according to the instructions given on the package or oven-bake it. So far, I find that frying it is the best way to make it crispy.
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The CCCAs
Porridge with baby corns, carrots, canned chye sim and asparagus
Porridge with baby corns, carrots, canned chye sim and asparagus
Ingredients (Serves 1):
- rice
- baby corns (cut)
- carrots (cut)
- asparagus (cut)
- canned chye sim
Steps:
Porridge (refer to earlier recipe on cooking plain porridge)
Add in carrots first (if you prefer your carrot to be soft). After a a while, followed by baby corns, canned chye sim (add in together with some of its sauce to make the porridge tasty) and finally the asparagus.
A colourful and vitamin-rich porridge suitable for vegetarians :)
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Lunch-on-reis
(rei = German term for rice)
Porridge with chye sim and 冬菜 and fried luncheon meat and egg
(rei = German term for rice)
Porridge with chye sim and 冬菜 and fried luncheon meat and egg
Ingredients (Serves 1):- rice
- luncheon meat (sliced)
- egg
- silverfish (wash and add together with egg and light soya sauce)
- 冬菜
- green leafy veg (cut into small pieces)
- light soya sauce
- oil
For the steps, you could refer to the earlier recipes on cooking porridge and fried egg. Just remember to add the green leafy veg only when ready to serve so you don't overcook your veggy. You can add in the 冬菜 anytime you prefer but best to cook it longer so that your porridge will absorb its taste.
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Sweet Cool Thing
Porridge with sweet potatoes, lean meat and barley
Porridge with sweet potatoes, lean meat and barley
This is good for a hot summer day :) The barley makes the porridge cooling whilst the sweet potatoes and meat will make it sweet & of course, nutritious. A lovely combi :)If you like to have more texture to your porridge, you can also add red beans or green beans to it.
Ingredients (Serves 1):
- rice
- lean meat (sliced and marinated)
- sweet potatoes (cut into cubes or chunks)
- barley (Note: not those big china barley)
- light soya sauce to taste
Preparation:
Refer to earlier recipe on the marination of meat.
Steps:
1. To follow the earlier recipe on cooking rice. This time, add the barley (washed) together with the rice and bring it to boil.
2. After boiling, lower heat and add in sweet potatoes and continuing cooking for another 30 mins or longer depending on your preference. You may wish to add in the lean meat together with the sweet potatoes or 15 mins before serving.
3. Add light soya sauce to taste.
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Bittersweet Tenderness
Ingredients (Serves 1):- rice
- egg
- onions (chopped)
- sweet potatoes (cut into cubes or chunks)
- light soya sauce
- chicken (from previous night's 'Eight Treasures' 八珍 soup) you may add in any meat you prefer
Steps:
1. Refer to earlier recipe on cooking rice. This time, add the sweet potatoes (and meat) when the rice starts to boil. Lower heat and continue cooking.
2. Refer to earlier recipe on frying egg. For onions, you could fry it first before you add in the egg (make sure you have enough oil) or you could add it into and egg and fry it together. Try not to add in oil whilst you're cooking halfway as this would make a dish greasy instead especially when the oil is not fully heated.
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Ah Kin's Style Noodle Soup
Rice noodles with baby kai lan and lean meat
Ingredients (Serves 1):
- rice noodles
- lean meat (sliced and marinated)
- baby kai lan
- onions
- dried white silverfish
- 冬菜
- dried scallop (optional)
- light soya sauce & salt to taste
- pepper to taste
Steps:
1. Wash rice noodles. Boil a pot of water and bring it to a boil.
2. When the water starts to boil, put the rice noodles in and cook it till it turns white in colour (not to overcook it thou otherwise it will get too soft). The timing depends on the type of rice noodles you buy. For those pad thai type, have to drain it quickly as it cooks easily.
3. Drain the water and wash with cold water to prevent it from cooking d noddles further.
4. For the soup base, you can add dried white silverfish, dried scallops (optional), 冬菜 and meat. Bring it to a boil and lower heat to continue cooking it for about 15-20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, heat oil and fry the onions when the oil is hot. Lower the heat as you fry the onions to prevent it from getting burnt. When it gets brownish, pour it into your soup base.
6. Add in the noodles and baby kai lan and cook for another 3-5 minutes depending on how soft you prefer your rice noodles to be. Add a little pepper before serving.
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Oh So Corny
Rice noodles with corn and chicken
Ingredients (Serves 1):
- rice noodles (may wish to change to rice vermicelli or dong fen if u prefer)
- chicken meat (sliced)
- corn
- 冬菜
- light soya sauce or salt to taste
Steps:
1. Wash rice noodles. Boil a pot of water and bring it to a boil.
2. When the water starts to boil, put the rice noodles in and cook it till it turns white in colour.
3. Drain the water and wash with cold water to prevent it from cooking d noddles further.
4. For the soup base, add 冬菜, chicken meat and corn. Bring it to a boil and lower heat to continue cooking it for about 15-20 minutes.
5. Add in the noodles and cook for another 3-5 minutes depending on how soft you prefer your rice noodles to be. Add a little pepper before serving.
This is a lighter soup base as compared to the previous noodle soup as there's no fried onions and the sweetness is derived from the corn and meat. Of course, if you have the time and prefer a stronger aroma, you can always add in the fried onions or even add in those ready made soup base that comes in a form of cubes or canned soup base.
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