[2-In-1 Dishes] Recipes Using IKEA 365+ Pot plus Stabil Steamer

Preparing meals in the kitchen can be one of the most "headache" household chores for modern working mothers/ladies. The thoughts of having to clean up the greasy kitchen top, cooking utensils, floor and etc always make it a "OFF MODE" no matter how enthusiastic or simple the meal(s) can be.

For me, even though I might love to experiment different dishes or bakes in the kitchen, still I would always go for simple and easy to prepare recipes with either steamed or oven baked method if I am not using my reliable Happy Call Pan.

IKEA always has a wide range of kitchen products such as cookwares, ovenwares, utensils, food storage and etc. And recently I have just got a set of this 365+ Pot,  boiling insert as well as steamer insert to replace my old soup pot in order to help me reduce the time in preparing quick and healthier meals within 30 minutes to an hour.

For more information and prices of the above-mentioned, please refer to the review HERE.

HUAI SHAN, LOTU ROOTS AND SWEETCORN CHICKEN SOUP

As you can see from the photo above, I have use the IKEA 365+ pot to boil soup and stack up the Stabil steamer insert half way through in order to steam the egg dish while I could continue to boil the soup at the same time. And by the end of 30 - 35 minutes,  we able to enjoy simple and yet delicious homecook food without any hassle or greasy kitchen floor. (less washing to be done too)

(Serves: 2-3             | Preparation: 10 minutes            | Cooking: 30 minutes)

Ingredients:
2 Chicken Drumsticks, skin removed
150g Huai Shan, skin removed
150g Lotus Root, skin removed, sliced
1 Sweet Corn, Cut into section, halved
100g Pumpkin(optional), skin removed cut into thick wedges
6 Big Red Dates
Some Fresh Gingko Nuts, Optional

Method:-

1. Fill the IKEA 365+ pot with water to about 1.5 litre mark and bring it to boil.  At the meantime blanched chicken in another saucepan for about 2 - 3 minutes, remove and rinse well. Set aside.

2. When the water comes to boil in the soup pot, add in all ingredients except pumpkin(add only at the last 10 - 15 minutes of cooking time), put the lid(don't worry it would not overflow due to the steam vent ventilation) on and let it boil on medium heat for about 3 minutes, lower the heat and simmer the soup mixture for 30 minutes and season to taste with salt before serving.

OR

3. Simmer the soup for about 15 minutes, remove the lid, drop in the pumpkin and stack up the STABIL Steamer insert on top, place the prepared steamed egg mixture and steamed on medium low heat for 13 - 15 minutes till done.

STEAMED EGG WITH MINCED MEAT

There are quiet a few ways which you can prepared this steamed egg dish using different ingredients which you prefer. Example:- you can do a seafood steamed egg using fish fillet or flower crab(recipe), firm tofu(recipe), ginseng(recipe), salted and century egg plus many other combinations.  For this recipe, I am preparing my mum's version of  "Steamed Egg with Minced Meat and Century Egg" which she always prepared for us.

(Make: 5" x 5" Square          | Preparation: 5 minutes |           Cooking: 13 - 15 minutes)

Ingredients:
2 (55g) Egg
1 Century Egg, cut into small cubes
1.5 Tablespoon Marinated Minced Meat, optional
100ml Drinking Water
1/2 Tablespoon Of Wolfberries
Some Chopped Spring Onion, Chilli and Shallot Oil

Method:-

1. If you are using minced meat, spread the mixture evenly at the base of the steaming bowl/plate.

2. Lightly whisk/beat the eggs in a bowl, add in 100ml of drinking water and continue to beat till combined.

3. Using a strainer, strain the egg mixture into the prepared steaming bowl. Scatter wolfberries on top, using heatproof cling wrap cover the top of the bowl leaving a small gap at one of the corner to prevent water droplets during steaming.

4. Place the bowl on the steamer rack, cover the lid and steam on medium low heat together with the soup(below) for about 13 - 15(with meat) minutes.

5. Remove the steamed egg together with the steamer and garnish egg dish with some extra chopped spring onion, shallot oil and chilli. Serve together with soup and steamed rice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Note:-

~ If you are not using marinated minced meat, add about 1/2 teaspoon of chicken stock powder into your egg mixture at step 2 to season your dish.

STEAMED EGG CAKE

(Ji Dan Gao - 鸡蛋糕)

Steamed Egg Cake can be consider as one of the easiest and yet tricky traditional steamed cake which requires a few simple ingredients such as Eggs, Flour, Sugar and carbonated Beverage like Cream Soda or 7-Up that act as a leavening agent for the cake.

(Makes: 14 cupcake size      | Preparation: 15 minutes     | Cooking Time: 25 minutes)

Ingredients:
3 (55g) Eggs
160g Caster Sugar
170g Cake Flour Or All Purpose Plain Flour
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
60ml 7-Up or Cream Soda
1/2 - 3/4 Teaspoon of Pandan Paste, optional

Method:-

1. Please refer to my previous Steamed Egg Cake post for the step-by-step preparation method HERE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tips:-
~ Adding extra pandan leaves in the boiling water will enhance the aroma and flavour of the steamed cake.

~ By adding 1/2 - 3/4 Teaspoon of Pandan Paste to the cake batter will help to enhance the colour as well as get ride of the strong "egg" smell/taste from the steamed egg cake, leaving in jade green in colour with fragrant pandan(also known as screwpine) aroma.

Lastly I hope you would find this post useful if you do own a stock pot with steamer rack so that at least you can have an idea on how to prepare more than 1 dish at the same time to maximum the usage of time and the cookware. Till then, cya on the next post.

Bibimbap ( 비빔밥)

Bibimbap(비빔밥) which means "mixed rice" is a healthy and hearty everyday dish that consists of steamed rice, vegetables and meat. And before the rice is placed in the bowl, the bottom of the bowl is coated with sesame oil making the layer of the rice forms a crispy crust at the bottom(a bit similar to our Asian Claypot Rice) while the dish is often serve with a dollop of gochujang.

BIBIMBAP

(비빔밥)

There are a few common of vegetables used in Bibimbap such as julienne cucumber or zucchini, mushrooms, soy bean sprouts, carrots, spinach and etc. And if for health reason or personal preference, beef can often be substituted with chicken or seafood too.

(Serves: 2          | Preparation: 15 minutes          | Cooking: 15 - 20 minutes)

Ingredients:
2 Serving Portions of Cooked White Rice
4 Medium Fresh Shiitake Mushrooms, cut into thin slices
60g Bean Sprout
1 Small Carrot, julienne
1 Small Zucchini, julienne
100g Spinach, blanched
Some Cabbage Kimchi, optional
2 Eggs
3 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped

Drizzling Sauce:
1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
1/2 Tablespoon Sesame Seeds
Pinch of Salt

To Serve:
Gochujang/Bibimbap Paste
1 Teaspoon Toasted Sesame Seeds
Extra Sesame Oil

Method:-

1. Fill a medium saucepan or pot with water and bring to boil. Blanch the spinach for about 1 minute, drain, rinse with cold water and squeeze out any excess liquid.

2. Roughly cut spinach into section and add in half of the drizzling sauce and mix well. Set aside.

3. Repeat the same produce as above with the bean sprouts.

4. Add 1 teaspoon of sesame oil in a small frying pan/saucepan, saute the zucchini with some chopped garlic till zucchini soften. Remove and set aside.

5. Repeat the step with carrot and mushrooms, keeping them separate.

6. Using individual heatproof casserole dish, grease inside lightly with some sesame oil, add 1 portion of the rice and place over high heat for 3 minutes to sear the rice.

7. At the meantime, prepare the pan and fry the sunny-side up egg.

8. To serve, remove casserole from heat, place egg in the center and arrange the prepared vegetables alternatively around the egg. Sprinkle with extra sesame seeds and sesame oil, serve immediately with some gochujang paste on the side.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOTE:-

~ If you have time, prepared all the side vegetables ahead in the morning and keep them in the fridge so that you would be able to get the dish ready in 10 minutes during lunch or dinner.

Often a raw/fried egg together with sliced meat (usually beef) are the two commonly additions to Bibimbap but for my version, I have adapted most of the common ingredients except meat which I have left out for this recipe. To start the meal, just give the mixture a few stirs to combine the ingredients and enjoy.

Rainbow Omelette using Happy Call Pan

Thinking of what to cook for this week or even tonight? What about this quick and easy "Rainbow Omelette" which consists of Eggs, Tomato, Enoki Mushroom, Carrot and Onion. Eggs are one of the nutritional ingredient which has 11 different vitamins and minerals, high quality protein, healthy fats (including omega-3) and important antioxidants. Other than their nutritional value, eggs are tasty, convenient and versatile to be use in creating a balance and healthy dish for the family.

RAINBOW OMELETTE

(using Happy Call Pan)

My little boy loves egg and in order to create more egg dishes and add in extra ingredients to make it more nutritious, I often cook this "rainbow omelette" with similar ingredients to make it a tasty and colourful dish. For us, we simply loves this dish which is vibrant in colours as well as the layers of texture and from the soft and silky egg to chewy enoki mushrooms.

This dish is done perfectly in less than 10 minutes using my beloved Happy Call Pan which cooks my daily dishes in a hassle free and efficient way. And I specially delicate this dish to Joyce, my best friend as she is a "super" fan of Egg and Mushrooms!

(Serves: 4 | Preparation: 5 minutes | Cooking: 5 minutes)

Ingredients:
3 Eggs, 55g each
1 Small Carrot, shredded
1 - 2 Tomato, seed removed and diced
1 Small Brown Onion, thinly sliced
2 Stalks Spring Onion, thinly sliced 1 Packet of Enoki Mushroom, trim off the root portion
1 Red Chilli(optional), thinly sliced

Method:-

1. Add 1 teaspoon of cooking oil in the Happy Call Pan(HCP), saute onion for about 1 minutes till sightly soften.

2. Toss in diced tomato and shredded carrot, cover the pan and cook for another 1 minute.

3. Meantime, whisk eggs together with enkoi mushrooms and 3/4 of the chopped spring onion till well mixed.

4. Open the HCP cover, evenly pour the egg mixture onto the onion mixture, swirl the pan so that all the egg mixture goes round the pan.

5. Cover, and cook for about 2 minutes on low heat till the omelette set, flip the pan over and cook for another 1 - 2 minutes till done.

6. Flip the pan over again. Using spatula divide the omeltte into portion and garnish with remaining spring onion, sliced chilli and serve immediately.

With fresh ingredients and simple recipes I am sure everyone is able to whip up any quick and healthy dish for yourself or your family. And in order to support the project on using fresh ingredients or get to know more about this event, remember to support the "Food Revolution Day" which would be held on 19th May 2012 at The Lawn.

{Photo Friday} Our Bento Dinner

Making Bento is one of our weekly or at least twice a month mother and kid bonding activities whereby my boy and I will agreed on a theme to work together to assemble his bento.  Up till date I have featured about 30 quick and easy kid's bento in Cuisine Paradise and here I would like to share with you two sets of our Bento Dinner which we have made recently.

A bowl of simple steamed rice topped with some Winnie the Pooh shaped roasted pumpkin adds some extra flavour to the plain rice.

A little bit of here and there make up a nicely presented kid's portion of our dinner. Instead of piling all the side dishes on the plate itself, I have divided them into small portion using colourful container to make the food look more appetising.

Here is another simple Bento Dinner which consists of Chicken Nuggets and Popcorn Chickens plus Hard-boiled Egg and some fish floss and baked whitebait on steamed rice. Till then have a great weekend everyone! Cheers!

{Lunchbox} Easter Chicky Bento

Happy Easter Sunday! I hope you would like this Easter Bento post that I have prepared you. Since our family would be attending Sunday church service plus a house warming event, I won't have enough time to prepare something special for my boy on Easter, therefore I decided to make this Easter Chicky Bento for him yesterday.

For this bento I have used 3 cleaned empty egg shells to act as food containers instead of the usual bento paper/silicon case. And with these shells, I have created some Easter theme such as "3D Pumpkin Rice Chick", "Hard-boiled Egg Chick" and "Artificial Egg".

CHICKY EASTER BENTO

And other than those "cheeky" which are the highlight of this bento, I also add in some of my boy's favourite side-dishes such as Nuggets, Pumpkin Sliced and Cherry Tomato to complete the meal. Although my boy loves everything on this bento but his favourite choice is that "3D Pumpkin Rice Chick" which he finds it too cute to be eaten. What about you? Which do you prefer?

(Serves: 1 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 15 minutes)

Ingredients:
60g Cooked Pumpkin, mashed
4 Tablespoons Cooked Rice
1 Hard-boiled Egg, shelled
2 Chicken Nuggets
2 Cherry Tomato
6 Pieces of 1" Wide Pumpkin
1 Slice Sandwich Cheese
1 Slice Smoked Sandwich Cheese(orange colour)
Some Easter Chocolate Candy
3 Clean Egg Shells
Some Decoration Food Picks, optional
Assorted Food Cutters(shown above), optional

Method:-

1. Collect 3 empty egg shells which has being thoroughly clean with salt water, rinse and air dry. (you can prepare the egg shells a day before)

2. Deep-fried or oven baked nuggets and pumpkin slices till cooked. Set aside.

3. To make the cheesy tomato, first cut both slices of cheese into half, stack up each colour alternately on top of each other. Use a flower/round shape food cutter stamped out the design on the prepared cheese. (you would need 2 of it)

4. Cut the 2 cherry tomato into halve each, place one slice of the stamped cheese in the middle and secured the tomato with your desire food pick. (refer to the photo shown below)

5. Arrange the 3 egg shells, nuggets, pumpkin and cherry tomato in the lunchbox before making the 3 "chicks".

6. To make the mashed pumpkin, cut some pumpkin cubes into a microwave safe bowl, cook it over high heat for about 1 - 1.5 minutes or till soften. Mashed it with a folk and set aside.

7. To prepare the "hard-boiled egg chick", use a sharp knife, start cutting "V" shape patterns continuously around 1/4 or middle of the egg white. When done, slowly twist the top portion of the egg white apart from the bottom revealing the yolk. (refer to the photo above) Set aside.

8. For the "artificial egg", stuffed it full with about 1.5 - 2 Tablespoons of cooked rice till the rim. Use a small round food cutter, stamped out round shape from a piece of the fried pumpkin and insert it the middle of the stuffed rice to resemble egg yolk.

9. Lastly for the "3D pumpkin rice chick", mix the remaining cooked rice with the prepared mashed pumpkin till well mixed.

10. Stuff almost 3/4 of the egg shell with the pumpkin rice mixture, and shaped the remaining pumpkin rice using clear-wrap or wet hand to form a oval shape rice ball. Place the shaped rice into the stuffed egg shell and set aside. (refer to the pumpkin rice chick shown below)

11. For the final touch-up, use craft puncher and nori sheet(seaweed sheet)  to punch out the facial feature of the chick. Assemble the tiny nori features using a tweezer and add it the heart shaped food pick on the prepared "chicks". You can cut out small triangle shapes from the pumpkin to act as the beak of the chick.

12. Since this is for Easter, I have also added in some Easter Chocolates to fill up the spaces in between as bonus treat.

Have a blessed Easter Sunday everyone!!!!!

{Photo Friday} Easter Cupcake Baked In Egg Shells

(photo credited to Celes from Celestial Delish)

Hi everyone, hope you have a wonder Good Friday! Today's post is slightly different as it consists of Photos, Guest Post(from Celestial Delish), and team recipe. Since Easter is this coming Sunday, Celes from Celestial Delish ask whether I am keen to do a Easter Cupcake Project together with her. And my answer is definitely "YES" when she brief me on the plan. So without hesitate, we start sourcing the necessary ingredients and as well as testing some of the egg dying process before the actual baking.

And guess what! After almost about 6 hours in the kitchen starting off with draining the eggs from the shells, washing and drying the shells, preparing colours to dye the eggs, getting the egg batter and filling ready. Finally you can see what we have achieve at the end of the day from the photos shown in this post.

EASTER CUPCAKE PROJECT

(photo credited to Celes from Celestial Delish)

Other than the "Egg Shell Cupcakes" above, with the remaining batter we also baked another two muffin size cupcakes with some decoration using Easter egg shaped chocolate candy and shaved chocolate to resemble eggs in nest effect.

Recipe adapted from Celestial Delish HERE which inspired by Cupcake Project.

(Make: 18 Large Egg Cupcakes | Preparation: 1.5 Hour | Baking: 20 minutes)

Dyed Eggs Ingredients:
18 Large White Egg, 60g each (Only three egg will be used in the cake whereas the remaining are for their shells.)
1/2 Cup Water(for every egg color used)
1 Tablespoon Vinegar(for color used)
Food coloring (as many colors as you prefer)

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 Cup(128g) All-Purpose Plain Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
Pinch of Salt
2 Large Eggs (from above)
1 Cup(200g) Sugar
1/2 Cup(113g) Unsalted Butter, room temperature
Zest of 1 Lemon
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup Sour Cream

Cream Cheese "Yolk" Ingredients:

1 Large Egg (from above)
8 ounces(227g) Cream Cheese, room temperature
1/3 Cup(67g) Sugar
Gold and Yellow Food Coloring

Method:-

1. You can refer the steps on making the above Easter Cupcakes over at Celes's post HERE.

Celes is also a very capable in baking different kinds of muffins, cookies and etc. And on top of baking she can also cook very well, you can find a collection of recipes from her site too. Till hope everyone has a Blessed Easter weekend!!!

{Guest Post} Quiche Lorraine by My Cookinghut

Today I am excited and happy to be able to invite Leemei from My Cookinghut to share with us one of her recipe on how to make a French classic, Quiche lorraine which is a rich open pie with a filling of custard baked with bacon and Gruyère cheese.

Leemei is a freelance recipe contributor, food stylist and photographer which is based in London. I love her wide collection of recipes which includes Italian, Middle Eastern, French and etc. And recently her new cookbook – Lemongrass and Ginger Cookbook: Vibrant Asian Recipes which contains a big handful of delicious Asian recipes is scheduled to be published in Spring, April 2012. Although it is still a few months away, but this fabulous cookbook is available for pre-order now and you could could refer more details HERE.

QUICHE LORRAINE

I was thrilled when Ellena asked me to be her guest blogger. Ellena is the author of a great food blog named Cuisine Paradise, which is one of the Top 10 Best Food Blog in Singapore. There is a vast collection of tested and tried recipes on Ellena’s blog. Bedies, there are some great restaurant reviews too!

I have been following Ellena’s blog for quite a while and I absolutely love what she has been sharing on her blog. Thank you very much, Ellena, for giving me this great opportunity to appear as a guest on your blog!

Today, I have decided to make a French classic, Quiche lorraine – a delicately wobbling, full-flavoured beauty that is really easy that everyone can make at home. Quiche lorraine is a rich open pie with a filling of custard baked with bacon. Gruyère cheese is commonly added too.

The bottom crust is a crisp savoury pastry. A good quality of pastry is important. You could make it yourself or get the best short crust pastry you could get at the supermarket. Most of the time at home, I will make it from scratch. Unless I am extremely busy, I will then grab a ready made one.

Quiche lorraine is best served at room temperature. I love to make it a day in advance and let the flavours develop for full impact to be enjoyed the next day.

[Soft Break]So, what do I normally eat with quiche lorraine? Personally, I like to serve it with a simple leafy salad - drizzled with extra virgin olive oil ,seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper. It could be just be as simple as that to serve it as lunch or dinner!

Have I tempted you enough? Make it yourself, ideally including homemade pastry, and with fresh eggs and cream.

RECIPE FOR QUICHE LORRAINE

Shortcrust pastry:

225g plain flour
100g unsalted butter, diced
1 egg yolk
a pinch of salt

Filling:
300g diced bacon
230ml double cream
20ml milk
3 eggs
100g gruyere cheese
a pinch of grated nutmeg
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:-

1. To make the pastry, put the flour and salt into a bowl, add the butter and rub with your fingertips until the mixture becomes like a breadcrumb consistency. Add the egg yolk and about 2-3 tbsp of water, mix until the dough just starts to come together. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film and put in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.

2. Roll out the pastry into a square on a lightly floured surface and line a 25cm fluted tin or a 35cm rectangular tart tin. Trim the edge and pinch up the pastry edge to make an even border raised slightly above the tin rim. Put in the fridge for 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C. Then, line the pastry shell with a piece of greaseproof paper and baking beads. Blind bake the pastry for 10 minutes, remove the paper and beads and bake for another 5 minutes or until the pastry is just cooked but still very pale, then remove from the oven. Reduce the oven to 180°C.

4. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and blanch the diced bacon for 1-2 minutes. Drain well and soak up excess moisture with kitchen paper. Discard extra fat of the bacon if necessary.

5. Mix together the cream, milk and eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Add a pinch of grated nutmeg. Stir until combine. Scatter the bacon into the pastry shell, then pour in the egg mixture. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the filling is set. Leave the quiche in the tin for until cool to handle. Serve at room temperature.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lastly I would like to thank Leemei for taking her time to prepare this wonderful guest post for Cuisine Paradise and you could find out more about her recipes and travel experience from here website, My Cooking Hut @ http://www.mycookinghut.com/