At the moment I am so in to one pot meals especially during the week. Because of other stuff happening in life, I have less time to cook. But I still like a delicious family meal at the end of the day. So one pot meals are the answer for me. Pasta is one the best one pot meals because it lends itself to so many flavours and ingredients. This is one of my favourite easy, quick and yummy mid-week pasta dishes that my entire family enjoys (fussy kid included) and I don’t spend hours slaving or prepping over. Continue Reading "Easy pasta with pesto spinach and pancetta"
If you like your food packed with flavour, this Thai style grilled chicken dish is for you. By adding aromatic Thai spices, a simple grilled chicken dish is taken to a new level. It’s healthy, delicious and makes an easy mid-week family meal.
One of my healthy eating food goals for this year is to eat more vegetarian meals each week. We are usually fairly healthy only eating fresh food cooked from scratch but realised that we could cut down on eating meat. One of my favourite go to dishes is this Indian style vegetarian chili called Rajma (it’s vegan too) made with red kidney beans. Bags of flavour and warmth, this dish is traditionally served with just rice – it really needs nothing else. But if you feel like it you can make a side dish of some spiced veggies. I’ve grown up on this dish and it was always a favourite. I’ve even got my fussy eater to eat it so it not only makes a an easy and delicious mid-week family meal but also a very healthy one as kidney beans are so good for you as are many of the spices (like turmeric and cumin) in this dish.
I love serving finger foods at parties because they are so practical and easy for everyone to eat from the little people to the grown-ups. But they are labour intensive as you have to make at least 2-3 bites of everything per person. So I often mix up the menu with food that I can cook in large quantities in one pot and one of my favourite one pot party dishes is risotto. It’s easy to make and then you can serve mini portions in lots of ways – my favourite way is to dish the risotto in to mini espresso cups. Today I’m sharing a delicious corn risotto that I serve to big kids and little ones at parties.
The blackened corn in this risotto comes from my childhood. Some foods evoke such vivid childhood memories that they literally transport you back to that time and place. One of those foods for me is blackened corn. The only way we ever ate corn in India was to roast it on a gas hob flame, rub it with butter and spices and eat. The smoky, charred flavour is so delicious and goes so well in a risotto. I like to sprinkle a bit of pancetta on top but this is optional – you can easily keep the dish vegetarian by using veg stock and omitting the pancetta.
BLACKENED CORN RISOTTO IN A CUP Makes: 15 mini servings
1 tbs olive oil 2 generous knobs of butter 350g Arborio rice 1 onion chopped finely 2 cloves garlic chopped finely 150ml white wine 1.3l chicken or veg stock 2 corn on the cobs parmesan cheese small pancetta cubes cooked till crisp (optional) small handful roughly chopped parsley salt & pepper to taste
I start with blackening my corn on the cob. Turn on the gas hob to a medium flame and hold the corn over the flame using tongs or similar. Keep turning the corn around so it blackens evenly and of course be careful! The corn will make a few popping sounds but that’s fine. Cut the corn kernels off the cob and keep aside.
Next make your risotto. You can use your favourite basic risotto recipe or follow the recipe here. Heat the olive oil and a knob of butter, once melted add your onions and garlic. Cook on a low heat till the onions soften but don’t colour. Add the arborio rice and stir well so that all the rice is coated in the butter. Pour in the wine and continue stirring till the wine evaporates.
Now add your hot stock (keep it hot on a low heat) one ladle at a time. Keep stirring until the stock is absorbed by the rice and then add the next ladleful. Once your rice is nearly done and you have around 2-3 ladlefuls of stock left to add, throw in your corn and stir well. Continue cooking with the remaining stock till the rice is al dente (soft and creamy with a slight bite).
Finally add another knob of butter and a generous amount of grated parmesan, taste and season accordingly – you may or may not need salt depending on how salty your stock is.
Now the fun bit – dish out in to little cupcake holders, espresso cups, small glasses or anything similar you have. The corn risotto not only tastes delicious but also looks great in little mini cups. Sprinkle the tops with the crispy pancetta (if using) and a handful of parsley. Dunk a teaspoon in each and serve.
With the party season nearly here, over the coming weeks I’m going to share some of my favourite ‘go to’ easy party food recipes. Some of the recipes will be for kids while others will be more for adults but even the kids recipes will work just as well for adults and the other way around. Also all these recipes are great for any kind of party – festive parties, birthday parties, informal get togethers – anything at all.
To start my party food series, there is nothing yummier than mini fish and chips. This is something I’ve often served at Anya’s parties and every kids adores it. I always make extra as the adults can’t seem to resist picking either. I’m not a big fan of battered fish, preferring breadcrumbed fish, so that’s what I go for. Also, the advantage of breaded fish is that it can be fried in advance and gently heated in the oven just before serving so you’re not left slaving over a hot stove after your guests have arrived.
Party food needs to look as good as it tastes. Of course it’s fun to make cute food sometimes – like animal shapes – but there are lots of ways to make your food look really fun and I hope to share a few of those ideas too along with my party food recipes. The most important thing of all is that the food is fresh and wholesome and is something that people will genuinely enjoy eating, not just looking at.
MINI FISH & CHIPS Serves: 10 kids (as part of a bigger menu)
400 gms firm white fish fillets (haddock or lemon sole are my preferred ones) breadcrumbs 3 eggs 2 tbs plain flour salt & pepper oil for shallow frying chips (oven chips or your own home made ones)
Cut your fish in to thin, long strips, like goujons but thinner – around 10cm/4in long pieces and 2cm/1in wide. This kind of size makes them really easy to pick up and eat with fingers. A great tip for cutting fish so that it doesn’t break is don’t cut it horizontally, but cut it lengthwise. Put your flour on a plate, beat the eggs and place in a very shallow bowl and place the breadcrumbs in another shallow bowl. Season the breadcrumbs with salt and pepper to your taste and then start breading – coat fish strips with flour, then dip in egg making sure they’re completely coated, next dip in breadcrumbs, again making sure the fish is well covered. Repeat till you’ve coated all the fish strips.
Pour oil in to a large frying pan (the oil should come up to about 1.5cms) and heat. When it’s quite hot place your breaded fish strips in the oil and shallow fry till golden brown. Drain on some kitchen towel and your mini breaded fish is ready. As mentioned, these can be made a few hours in advance and heated in the oven just before serving. Make some fries or chips to serve with the fish.
I serve the fish & chips with ketchup and mayo for the kids and tartar sauce and lemon for the adults. One of the ways I love serving this fish and chips is as pictured here – individual portions in mini paper party bags. This is an easy party food recipe for kids and adults that goes down a treat for any kind of gathering.
Do you get stuck in a food rut? Making the same old tried and tested recipes week in and week out? As much as you may love those foods, it gets boring to eat the same food every week. I have recently found myself being caught in this trap and decided it was time to try one new recipe a week. Nothing too complicated as time is always short during weekdays and also any new recipe has to be family friendly too. So when I came across this Taiwanese minced pork recipe that sounded interesting, I decided to give it a go. It turned out to be yummy with bags of flavour and has already become a regular in our mid-week menu. And it also freezes really well so I usually make two meals worth which is what I’ve given you quantities for below.
TAIWANESE MINCED PORK AND RICE Serves: 8
900 gms minced pork 1-1½ tbs sunflower or vegetable oil 2 garlic cloves minced 2 star anise 2 bay leaves (dried is fine) 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper 3 teaspoons sugar 1 tsp Chinese five spice powder 4-5 tbs cooking wine 2 tbs dark soy sauce 4-5 tbs regular soy sauce 600ml chicken stock (shop bought is fine) 80gms fried shallots and a bit extra for garnishing* 3 spring onions finely sliced One fried egg per person
*For the fried shallots, the easiest option is to get them ready fried from an Asian supermarket. If not then finely slice and deep fry the shallots till they are crispy.
Start by heating the oil over a medium heat. Add the garlic and quickly stir for about a minute making sure it doesn’t burn. Add in the minced pork and turn the heat to high. Cook the pork, stirring and breaking up any large bits until all the meat is browned.
Now add the sugar, pepper, five spice, star anise and bay leaves to the minced pork and give it a very good mix. Next add the cooking wine and bring to a boil. Let the wine bubble for a couple of minutes and then add both the soy sauces and the chicken stock. Bring back to the boil, reduce the heat to a low simmer and cover and leave to cook for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes add in the shallots and stir everything really well. Then cover and leave to cook for another hour – stirring occasionally. Once the sauce has thickened and the pork has become really soft, it’s done.
When you’re ready to eat, fry the eggs – one per person. Pile up a bowl with rice and top with the pork. The pork is very flavourful so a little goes a long way. Place the fried egg on top and I like to add some steamed green beans to the dish as this then makes a complete meal – but you can add any veg you have in the fridge. Serve the dish with the chopped spring onions and fried shallots for everyone to use as a garnish.
This Taiwanese minced pork dish doesn’t only freeze really well but you can also make the pork several hours in advance and just heat when you’re ready to eat so it makes a great prepare in advance dish for when you have friends over too. And once all piled up in a bowl it tastes delicious and looks so pretty too.
I got the idea for this dish while googling recipes with minced pork. There were two recipes that stood out for me and so I kind of created my own version using these two recipes as a guide: 1 and 2.
Eating fresh and healthy food as a family doesn’t have to mean boring. We love oriental style meals in this house as they always offers lots of flavour and often without too much effort. Home cooked oriental food is always better and so much healthier than a take-away. One of my favourites is this Vietnamese street food inspired dish of grilled chicken with rice and pickled veggies. The Vietnamese version almost always uses pork and noodles but I use chicken for a healthier option and I think rice works better than noodles in this dish so rice it is. I also use different herbs and spices than the traditional so you could say this is my take on a Vietnamese classic.
Once you try this dish, I promise you will never look back. How can ingredients like the ones pictured above be anything but flavourful? The grilled chicken in the dish is just delicious and all the other flavours come together to make for an absolutely beautiful bowl of food. What’s more this dish is versatile and can be adapted for different tastes within a family – if you want to go low carb, leave out the rice and have it on a bed of salad or if you’re eating really healthy use brown rice. Also the toppings are all optional so everybody can choose what they want on their dish. The dish takes a little effort to prep but you can strip it down for a quicker meal or go the whole hog when you have a bit more time. Like the pickled veg for instance – you can serve it with just freshly sliced veg instead of pickling when time is short.
VIETNAMESE GRILLED CHICKEN AND RICE RECIPE
Serves: 4
For the marinade: 700gms boneless & skinless chicken thighs 2-3 shallots very finely chopped 3 garlic cloves minced (add more or less depending on taste) 2 stalks fresh lemon grass lightly bruised and very finely chopped 50gms granulated sugar 2 tbs fish sauce 1.5 tbs dark soy sauce (the dark soy is important as it’s a lot thicker than usual soy) 1.5 tbs sesame oil generous amount of freshly ground pepper
Toppings: 2-3 tbs toasted sesame seeds handful of chopped coriander 3-4 thinly sliced spring onions (topped with 2 tbs hot olive oil and a pinch of salt and sugar) 1-2 sliced red chilies (optional)
Pickled veg: 2 x 3 inch piece of cucumber cut in to matchsticks 2 x 3 inch piece of carrot cut in to matchsticks 250ml warm water 40ml white vinegar (add more if you like a sharper taste) 1 tbs sugar ½ tsp salt
200-250gms basmati rice cooked as per packet instructions
Start by marinating the chicken thighs. Just trim any big pieces excess fat but leave a little on as you don’t want the chicken to dry out when it’s cooked. Cut in to large-ish bite size pieces. Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl and add the chicken to this. Give it a very good mix and leave to marinate for at least 1.5-2 hours or longer.
For the picked veg, take a jar and combine the warm water, vinegar, sugar and salt stirring till the sugar is dissolved. Add the matchstick veg and leave to pickle. Even an hour or two will do for light pickling. I don’t like a sharp taste (I prefer a bit more sweetness) so I put very little vinegar but you can adjust quantities to your own taste. The best way to find the perfect quantities for you is to taste the pickling liquid before you put the veg in so you know exactly how sharp/sweet/salty it is.
Chop and prepare all the toppings if you haven’t done so yet. For the sesame seeds toast them lightly in a dry frying pan over a moderate heat. Move them around with a wooden spoon to make sure they toast evenly. Keep an eye on the seeds as once they start browning they can burn very easily. Once they’re lightly browned, take them off the heat and out of the frying pan immediately otherwise they will continue to cook.
That’s all the prep done! When you’re ready to eat cook the rice and place the chicken under a hot grill. You can also skewer the chicken and cook over a barbecue. It’s even more delicious but a grill works well too. Turn the chicken once – around halfway through cooking. The chicken will take around 10-15 minutes to cook and will come out all dark and beautifully caramelised. Scoop some rice in to a bowl, top with the chicken and the pickled veg. Then generously scatter some sesame seeds, coriander, spring onions and chilies (if using) and eat!
This Vietnamese grilled chicken and rice recipe is one of my favourite mid-week family dinners and it’s also a very tasty one dish meal to serve when you have a few friends over as it appeals to adults and kids. What’s more, kids love being given all the bits of the dish and building their own. Try it and you won’t regret it!
We are huge foodies in this house. We LOVE to eat! And we love to cook. If you’ve been following this blog you’ll know that we were doing a huge house renovation project which meant we haven’t had a kitchen for six months! But we do now and we’ve haven’t stopped cooking since. I am all for experiencing and eating different foods, foods from around the world but also food that is family friendly. In the past, I’ve often ended up cooking two meals in an evening – one for Anya and one for Richard and me. That just takes the joy out of cooking and it starts to feel like a chore. So I keep looking for new ideas and flavours that will feed us all and I thought I would share some of my favourties here too.
Even though Anya is a fussy eater, I’ve slowly been introducing her to new flavours and tastes and today I wanted to share my version of this delicious spiced Lebanese rice with mince lamb recipe. This recipe has lots of spices which are exactly what gives this rice dish so much flavour but these spices are in no way spicy. What’s more, this Lebanese rice is a one pot meal making it a convenient and quick mid-week meal without compromising on flavour.
Spiced Lebanese rice with minced lamb recipe:
Serves: 4 Ingredients: 500 gms minced lamb (I prefer 10% fat but up to 20% is fine) basmati rice* 1 medium onion ¾ tsp all spice ½ tsp ground cinnamon 2 black cardamom pods (or ½ tsp ground cardamom) ¼ tsp ground nutmeg ¼ tsp ground clove ¼ tsp ground cumin beef or chicken stock 1 tbs olive oil large knob of butter couple of handfuls of frozen peas handful of coriander (optional) *I measure my rice in a measuring jug so I know exactly how much liquid to add. I put in rice up to the 300ml mark and then I put in a little over double the amount of water/stock – around 700-750ml.
Start by finely chopping the onion. Then measure out your spices and keep them aside.
Next heat the olive oil in a fairly deep pan and add the chopped onions. Stir the onions until they soften and turn a very light brown. Add in the minced lamb to brown making sure that any clumps of meat are broken down. (These steps can be done a few hours in advance so I usually do this in the afternoon making the dish even quicker to put together at dinner time.)
If you’ve browned the lamb mince in advance, just heat it up first. Add the knob of butter and once melted throw in all your spices and really mix it well so that they are spread through the lamb. Add the rice and peas and give it all another very good mix. Add your hot stock, bring to the boil and let it all boil for a minute or two, turn down heat to low, cover and simmer for around 20 minutes. Keep an eye on the rice as it’s done once the water has all evaporated. But make sure all the water has gone and it’s dry – if the rice is even a little wet it will be soggy and not as enjoyable. Often the rice at the bottom of the pan will burn a bit which makes that rice go crispy – this is the best bit of the dish so don’t throw it away, eat it!
I like to garnish with chopped coriander but that’s not essential. I usually have this with a simple red onion salad. Just thinly sliced red onions, sliced cucumbers and chopped coriander mixed together with a bit of salt, pepper and a ¾ teaspoon of vinegar.
This spiced Lebanese rice with mince lamb is a yummy little dish. If you give it a go, it may just become a weekly favourite as it’s become in our home. And the best bit is that not only is it a quick mid-week family dinner to put together, but you also have everything in one pot. This quantity comfortably feeds the three of us leaving a good amount leftover and this rice dish tastes even more delicious the next day.
Since December we have been living with very limited kitchen facilities – a hob, no oven, barely any kitchen space and barely any cooking equipment. On top of that, the area where the make-shift kitchen was is freezing as it wasn’t heated. We have now begun renovations on our new home so I can’t wait till be have a brand-spanking new kitchen. But these last couple of months have been a challenge. Takeaways aren’t really our thing – I just think they taste nowhere near as good as fresh, home-cooked meals. So I’ve been trying to think of meals that are very quick to make on a hob but are still fresh and healthy. Eggs have been a lifesaver and as much as I adore them, I still want variety. And that’s where these delicious quesadillas have saved the day!
From play date food to after school snacks to a fast but fresh family dinner, quesadillas are quick, easy and so versatile. You can eat them three days running but with completely different fillings and you feel like you’re having a different meal each day. The tortilla wraps are handy to keep in the store cupboard and when you don’t have time to cook or just don’t feel like it, you can whip up a meal in minutes. The filling can be absolutely anything you have lying in the fridge already or anything you fancy. And these can be made ahead and just heated gently in the oven.
I made these the other day when I had some roast chicken around (which I had bought as without an oven, roasting a chicken is difficult!) so I went for chicken and cheese quesadillas Here’s what I used:
Flour tortillas Shredded roast chicken Grated cheese (I used emmental but have used cheddar and gruyere before) Finely sliced spring onions Handfuls of coriander Finely sliced small green chilli Salt and pepper to taste Butter or oil
To make, simply take a tortilla and fill one half of it with your filling and then fold over the other half. It’s much easier to make these by filling half a tortilla and folding over. Heat a pan over a medium heat and melt a tiny drop of butter. Use very little butter to make sure they get crisp – too much and the tortillas will go soggy. Place the filled tortilla in the pan and cook on each side for 2-3 minutes. Remove, slice in to wedges and dinner is ready! It couldn’t be simpler. (For my kids version, I only put in chicken and cheese as not all kids like coriander and onions and of course no kid likes chillies).Such an easy dinner that really takes so little effort.
Some more filling ideas: I always like to use a bit of cheese as it helps keep all the filling together but apart from that, anything goes. Ham, mushrooms, re-fried beans, mozzarella, pesto, peppers, tomatoes, tuna, left over roasts, chorizo, bacon, broccoli, sweetcorn, prawns, guacamole, spinach and so much more. I’ve spoken savoury fillings as this is meant to be a quick and easy family dinner but for a bit of an indulgence I am planning to try a sweet version soon – maybe chocolate spread or peanut butter and fruit. Sounds yum!
Ebabee Likes is a style guide for babies, kids, teens and their mamas. It’s all about inspiration, ideas and indulging yourself and your brood. It’s written by me ~ Nomita ~ a style loving girl from Mumbai who now live’s in London. Read More...
