Simple One-Dish/Plate Meals

Being a working mother, weekend is the only window of the week that allows me to cook for my family,  eventhough I do get to bake on some week nights.

Most of our weekend meals at home consist of 1 meat, 1 green and  a soup to go with rice. But occasionally, I will cook a one-dish item like those below for my family of four:

 

Thai Basil Chicken with Egg on Rice

Recipe adapted from Norecipes

 

Soboro Don (Japanese Chicken and Egg Bowl)

Recipe from Justonecookbook

 

Seafood Paella

Recipe from Honestvanilla

Hand-made Mee-Hoon Kueh

Recipe from Nasilemaklover

Shanghai Noodles with XO Meat Sauce

Recipe from Noobcook

 

 

 

I am so looking forward to the weekend to cook for my loved ones!

 



Home-made Yogurt Naan with Curry Chicken

This is our Saturday's night dinner - Home-made Yogurt Naan (Indian flatbread) with curry chicken.

 

The addition of greek yogurt made these naans so soft and light that they disappeared from the serving tray within 10 minutes. And making these naans is a breeze too, as evident from the short ingredient list and simple steps listed below.

 

 



 

 

Home-made Yogurt Naan

Adapted from Inquiringchef with some adjustments

(Yield 6 Naans)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 small tub greek plain yogurt (200ml), may increase to 250ml

 

Method:

1. Mix together flour, baking powder and salt.
2. Stir in yogurt and knead on floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
3. Form the dough into a ball. Let the dough rest in a lightly oiled bowl for 2 hours (the dough will not rise after 2 hours). Cover with cling film to prevent drying.
4. Divide dough into 6 parts. Press each piece into a flat, round disk then use the rolling pin to flatten them into 30-cm long oval-shaped flatbread.
5. Heat the oiled frying pan over medium-high heat. Place one naan at a time to the hot pan. Cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2 minutes on each side.

 

Serve them warm with curry chicken or for a true-blue Indian meal, have them with butter chicken or chicken tikka masala.

Oven-Baked Crispy Chicken Wings

This is a very simple yet fantastic recipe to share.

These chicken wings are so crispy that you will mistaken them as coming out from the deep-fryer! Yet, they are oven-baked, not deep-fried with oil. Healthier and delicious! They will appear on my dinning table very regularly from now onwards.

The recipe is adapted from Seasaltwithfood, with slight variations to the marinating ingredients and adjustment of oven temperature/baking time to suit my oven setting.

Ingredients

• 12 Chicken Wings, tips removed
• ½ Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• ¼ tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp of Smoked Paprika Chili Powder
• 1 tbsp of Canola Oil

 

Marinate


• 2 Stalks Lemongrass, crushed and sliced
• 1 Tsp Smoked Paprika Chili Powder
• 1 Tbsp Chili Sauce
• 2 Tbsp Freshly Squeezed Kaffir Lime Juice
• 1 Tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp Canola Oil

 

Method

1. Marinate the wings with the marinating sauce for about 4 hours, or overnight.
2. An hour before baking, line a large baking pan with foil. Place a wire rack on top of the prepared pan. Combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda together in a shallow dish.
3. Remove the wings from the marinate and place them individually into the flour mixture to coat them evenly with flour.
4. Arrange coated chicken wings in a single layer on top of the wire rack. Allow the chicken wings to dry out on the kitchen counter for an hour before baking.
5. Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Drizzle a little oil on top of the chicken wings and bake for about 12 minutes on each side (until they appear golden and crispy).
6. Serve the crispy wings warm with a squeeze of fresh lime juice over them, and chili sauce for dipping, if desired.

Soft Pretzels with Home-made Caramel Sauce

My family likes Aunt Annie's Pretzels very much but they are not cheap. Hence, I started making pretzels at home since I started baking. So we get to enjoy the soft and chewy snacks in the comfort of our home for a fraction of the price. Bringing a smile to our faces :)

 

 

 

 

I whipped up a quick home-made caramel sauce to go with the pretzels by melting approximately 3 tablespoons of brown sugar with the left over butter that I did not use up after brushing the pretzels.

 

Below is the Pretzel recipe which is adapted from the kingarthurflour site. The steps I am sharing below is for hand-kneading. If you intent to knead using the food processor or bread machine, you can refer to KingArthur site for the detailed steps.

 

Ingredients

For the Dough:

• 2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp salt (I used only 1/2 tsp)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• 1 cup warm water (Start with adding 3/4 cup first. Add more bit by bit while you knead to get a soft and un-sticky dough)

For the Soda-Bath:

• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 tablespoons baking soda

For the finishing:

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

 

Baking Steps

1. Place all of the dough ingredients into a bowl, and stir until combined. Knead the dough by hand  for about 5-10 minutes, until it's soft and smooth. Flour the dough and place it in a bag, and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
2. While the dough is resting, prepare the soda bath solution by mixing the baking soda with the boiling water. Stir until the soda dissolved. Set the mixture aside to cool to lukewarm.
3. Preheat oven to 220 degree C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and divide it into eight equal pieces.
5. Allow the pieces to rest, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
6. Roll each piece of dough into a long, thin rope (about 28" to 30" long), and twist each rope into a pretzel.
7. Next is the soda-bath - Pour the baking soda solution into a wide shallow container, place the pretzel into the baking soda solution, spooning the water over their tops; leave them in the water for 2 minutes before placing them on the baking sheet. Repeat the bathing process until all the pretzels are "bathed". This baking soda "bath" is necessary to give the pretzels a nice, golden-brown color.
8. Allow the pretzels to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
9. Bake the pretzels for 8 to 9 minutes, or until golden brown.
10. Remove the pretzels from the oven, and brush them thoroughly with the melted butter over several layers to give these pretzels their ethereal taste. Eat the pretzels warm with caramel sauce.

This is for Yeastspotting.

Matcha Chiffon Cupcake

These little green monsters are so yummy and soft like cloud. They earned 2 thumb-ups from my daughters and hubby.

 

Matcha Chiffon Cupcakes

 

Yield: 10 cupcakes

 

Ingredients:

 

Group A:

• 50g cake flour
• 2 tsp matcha (green tea) powder

 

Group B:

• 3 egg yolks
• 1 whole egg
• 45g canola oil

 

Group C:

• 3 egg whites
• 45g Castor sugar
• a pinch of salt

 

Baking Steps:

1. Pre-heat oven at 150 degree C.
2. Sieve Group A together twice, set aside.
3. Beat Group B with a hand whisk. Add them into Group A and mix well.
4. Whisk the egg whites with a electric hand mixer at medium speed till frothy, add sugar and salt over 3 additions, continue beating at high speed till stiff peak.
5. Fold the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture over 3 additions and mix to combine well with a spatula.
6. Spoon the mixture into individual paper cups till 3/4 full.
7. Bake for 18 minutes till done.

Garlic Bread Says "Cheese"

Wake up to bright and sunny weekend with this yummylicious Cheesy Garlic Bread.

Last weekend, we went to Resort World Sentosa Singapore for a "staycation" i.e. short holiday without leaving the country. I made this quick Cheesy Garlic Bread for our breakfast before  departing to the resort.

 

Cheesy Garlic Bread

Ingredients

• 1/2 Loaf of French Bread (I used 2 round French Petites brought from local bakery)
• 3 tbsp salted butter
• 3-4 cloves Garlic, chopped finely
• 3/4 cup Shredded Mozzarella/Cheddar cheese
• 1 tsp mixed dried herb (salt-free)

Method

1. Pre-heat oven oven to 175ºC.
2. Place butter in a small oven-proof bowl. Melt the butter in the oven at 150ºC. Once melted, add in the minced garlic and dried herd. Stir to combine. Continue heating it in the oven for another 5 minutes.
3. Slice the bread into half length-wise and brush the soft open top with generous amount of the butter mixture. Sprinkle with cheese and more herb.
4. Toast in the oven for 10-12 min or till top is golden and cheese has melted.

Serve while it is hot and crispy.

Adapted from USmasala

Banana Crumb Muffins

Breakfast for today was these airy and tasty Banana Crumb Muffins that I baked last night.

Having baked banana bread/cake in loaf tin for countless times, I decided to try on this recipe from  The Galleygourmet last night as it uses oats to make the crumby toppings, which my girls like.

 

Banana Crumb Muffins

(The ingredients supposed to yield 12 standard muffins but I only got 9)

 

For the Crumb Topping:

• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp (14g) cold unsalted butter, cut into little cubes

 

For the Muffins:

• 1 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 large bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar (I used 1/2 cup soft brown sugar)
• 1 extra large egg
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted (I used about 70g)
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp white vinegar

Baking Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF (I set my oven to 180ºC). Line the muffin pan with muffin cups. To prepare the topping, place the dry ingredients in a bowl and cut in the butter to form a crumby mixture. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl stir together the mashed bananas, sugar, egg, butter, vanilla, and vinegar.
3. Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and stir until combined. (Do not over mix else the muffin will not be airy but hard).
4. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter.
5. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan then remove to a wire rack to cool.