Who doesn’t love a delicious garlic prawns recipe? While I love garlic prawns on their own, I wanted to turn the dish into a one pot meal and so I decided to combine it with rice and veggies. The result was this garlic, prawn, rice and broccoli dish that is all kinds of yummy and so easy to make for a quick mid-week one pot meal.
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.
Continue Reading "Warming Indian style vegetarian chili (rajma)"
It’s no secret that chicken soup is so good for you. So when the weather turns cooler I crave a dose of good, comforting, warming, homemade chicken soup. Nothing hits the spot quite like this simple dish. While I love a good old fashioned clear broth, my go to chicken soup is this Vietnamese one. Not only is it a full meal in a bowl but the subtle flavour of lemongrass adds such a delicious dimension to the soup. Add to that the coriander and dash of lime and you may have the best chicken soup ever. Once you try this Vietnamese chicken and rice soup recipe, you will be hooked. It’s easy enough to make for a mid-week meal which everybody will love, even the fussiest of kids (maybe minus the coriander!)
VIETNAMESE CHICKEN SOUP RECIPE
Serves: 4
For the broth:
1 small chicken
I medium onion peeled and quartered
2-3 cloves garlic peeled and crushed
2 inch piece of ginger sliced roughly
1 dried red chili (optional)
2 stalks lemon grass cut lengthwise and lightly bruised
2 tbs fish sauce
To finish the soup:
2 stalks lemongrass cut in to 3 pieces each and lightly bruised
110gms thai jasmine rice (or any rice you like)
1 tbs fish sauce
3-4 pak choi (optional)
small handful coriander roughly chopped
1 lime cut in to wedges
Start by putting all the broth ingredients in to a large pot – as large as you have! Add 2.5 litres of water and bring to the boil. Let it boil for a couple of minutes. Turn the heat down to a low simmer, cover and leave to cook for 2 hours.
When cooked, skim the fat off the broth, remove the chicken and shred it. Strain the broth and set aside. I usually do up to this stage in advance like in the morning so I find the fat much easier to remove once the broth is cooled.
When you’re ready to eat, heat the broth and bring it to a boil. Turn down to a simmer, stir in the remaining lemongrass, fish sauce and the rice. Let it cook uncovered on a low heat till the rice is cooked – around 20-25 (but it really depends on your ratio of rice to broth). Once the rice is done, add as much of the shredded chicken in as you want (I usually keep some back for chicken sandwiches the next day!). Add your pak choi or other veg if using and once the veg has wilted a bit and the chicken is heated, it’s ready.
Spoon generously in to big bowls, top with lots of chopped coriander (may be not for the kids) and a good squeeze of lime and enjoy!
The subtle flavours of this Vietnamese chicken and rice soup are not only so comforting but they are also so refreshing. If food could give you a great, big hug, this would be the dish that does it for me. Whenever I mention that this soup is tonight’s dinner, everybody in my house is jumping up and down. And not just them – I’ve made it for friends too and they’ve all become addicted and taken the recipe. If I sound a bit crazy getting over excited about a bowl of soup, all I can say is that once you try it you’ll know exactly why!
P.S. If you like your Vietnamese food, you might enjoy this delicious Vietnamese grilled chicken dish too.
*Recipe adapted from Ghillee Basan’s Vietnamese Food & Cooking
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.
*I’ve linked up to honest mum’s tasty tuesdays.
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.
P.S. If you want some more inspiration for tasty and easy mid-week family meals, take a look at my soba noodles recipe and my cheesy quesadillas.
*I’ve linked up to Honest Mum’s tasty Tuesday’s.
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