Fried rice

I came to this late, but I really enjoy a fried rice. I do like making an omelette and cutting it into ribbons for the fried rice.
Here is a basic recipe that I'm following, although I'll be adding a few more ingredients.
A bit like Dad's mince, crude and simple, but easy and fast. 

I have been using the 90 second microwave rice as I've been having issues with cooking rice of late. It is also a nice portion size, 2 portions so eat one and freeze the other for later. With cooking rice the batch size is usually larger.

Fried Rice

Its  a good cobble together what you have and throw it in. I've just got a Rotisserie chicken and have leftovers. I was looking for ideas on what to do with it and saw it being used for Fried Rice. I thought that's a great use. I usually get at least 2 meals out of  cooking it, so that is handy, and it uses frozen veges easily if you don't have anything fresh.
As I only have some chicken I'll use the dark meat for the fried rice and add some bacon, then I'll use the left over breast for sushi.

Freezer and some stocks

I'm now buying a kg of streaky bacon at a time and splitting it up into 4 slices (then cutting those in 2) and putting them in freezer bags. Each bag lasts me 2 days for breakfast with the air fryer or for adding to other recipes. I'm loving the convenience of the freezer, some of the things really work well, and the bacon is one, the sausage rolls another, the tortilla mix too. Really handy to grab and use. Even if at last minute you can use the microwave to thaw.
I bought fruit and froze it, but don't use it, so that fills up the freezer. I'll have to plan to use, but I wont replenish.
The dumplings, won tons and sui mae are great, as are the Spring rolls. Also the frozen pizza balls.
The naan bread I froze I wasn't too blown away with, I'm still trying to find some of them. I may have to make some more, just to use up the big container of yogurt I bought, and make some curry's too.

Won ton soup

Its cooling down in Autumn now and I'll be looking for some warming soups. I like the idea of making a batch of won tons and freezing them for soups during the week.
I need to get won ton pastry and chicken stock, and maybe some chicken, also bok choy is nice with it too, and I have the mung beans, so I should start to learn how to make this dish as I would order a pork won ton soup regularly from KC's in Courtenay place.

Here is a real basic example of the soup, no frills.

 

I like Marion's videos and her cooking , here is her take on it:

First attempt

I made the won tons and have frozen some for later. 

I cooked the won tons in a separate pot so flour would not mess up ther broth. Oxo cubes 1 1/2 low salt chicken in 1 1/2 cups of water with Garlic, ginger paste & pepper at beginning and one star anise added later. I only made enough broth for one bowl. Also I only simmered the broth for about 10 minutes.

 I used dried ribbon noodles ans some pork chunks. 

A little bland, both the broth and the won ton fillings. Both needed a bit of zing. I did get some Pam's Chicken stock  so for next one I will use that and compare. 

It definitely filled me up and was a hearty meal. 

The next pork joint I do for Manu I will carve a few pork slices off. Actually, the pork tasted meaty, but different to what I'd get at the restaurant. Maybe it should be stewed in the broth more. 

I didn't add any salt or soy afterwards either, maybe that would lift the flavour? 

I had about 8 won tons and the pork.

So, next time:

More flavour in the broth. Try by using chicken stock rather than cubes.Start broth early and simmer to get flavours in it. 

123

Moule et frittes & instant pot recipe

 From Belgique apparently.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moules-frites
When Mary & I tried to do the Camino from Mont St Michael we came across the Galettes and Moule & Frittes when we were exploring Riennes & Nantes areas.
Mary's was not a fan of Mussels but I like seafood and am not fussed about fish. So I was trying it out a bit.
The mussels were tiny, so you almost expended more effort getting them out of shell and into mouth  than the calorific value of the mussel.  Not so with NZ green lipped mussels that are a decent size! Or so I thought. I decided to do a white wine recipe, sadly Chef John was the best I've found to date, no frittes.

 Moule et frittes

As a kiwi, mussels and chips seems weird, but it works.
I used air fryer with chopped up Agria potatoes , thinly sliced, no oil with some Hellman's mayonnaise. That worked fine.
The mussels were from Pak'n'Save and they were pretty small. Very disappointing. I think I'll try Countdown & New World for Mussel comparison.
For the wine I found a 7.80$ bottle of Pinot Gris. I find Chardonnay and Savignon Blank at the cheap end very acidy. As I'd be using some for the cooking and some for the trinking, I quite like Gris.
Parsley I got from Mt Vic by the loop. Fresh.
I didn't have spring onions, they are $1.50 a bunch at the harbour market and 2.45$ a Pak'n'Save so I used some brown onions and a bit of garlic.
I think I was a bit heavy handed with the wine, so sauce was quite diluted, and I added a bit of cream. Unfortunately sauce was too diluted, next time, less wine and more concentrated. Maybe simmer to thicken, I can be a bit impatient.
I'd just made fresh Ciabatta so I toasted  a couple of slices for dipping in the sauce. Too watery.
So I'll need to do the recipe again. Hopefully it will improve.
Still a yummy and fun meal to have, opening the shells, getting the mussels, having chips and dipping fresh bread. Not amazing but hard to bugger up too much.
Definitely worth another go.
A slightly unsettled tummy that night. 2 mussels were only partially open, maybe I should have left them.
As weather is cooling it is maybe time to think of Seafood Chowder. A yummy warm meal. I'll have to plan for some bread making and cream to go with it. 

Instant pot recipe

I tried this out but I think after the saute I had it on for 2 hours , so after a couple of minute I pulled the plug out and released the steam, a serious amount of it before the pressure valve dropped.

I'm new to the instant pot controls so am wary.

Butter, onino & garlic saute'd about a cup and a half of pinot gris wine and then in pressure cooker.

I'd rinced the mussels in clean water but there were barnicles on them.
I didn't want to saute off the wine, but in fact, after the steaming/venting no taste of wine at all, so next time I'd just do in a normal pot.
The chips I did in the air fryer with lard after I'd soaked them in cold water to get the starch off them.  I had them avec mayonnaise and they were nice.

 Chips were good. Mussels well cooked, I still hd to take the beards off of the, but no wine subtlety to it. The parsly and spring onions on after were nice. Just the sauce dissapointing.
Conclusion on instant pot method ? Dissapointing, it steamed off the wine, part of the best bit of it!

Crab Rangoon & firecracker shrimps

I have seen this on a few vids and thought I'd give it a crack.
Its Cheese and Surimi filling (with onions) wontons and there are a few variations on the theme.

 Crab rangoon with surimi

I had Philadelphia cheese and I was at shops and decided to get some surimi to try this recipe out.
The above vid is good as its baked rather than deep fried.

I had half the block of Phili cheese and about 100-125g of surimi and 1/4 chopped onion (run out of spring onions) and made them into shapes above. I got 17 out of the mix.

I used air fryer for 5 of them. I had bought some sirachi sauce (Thai chilli) and thought I'd try that out. It's a hot sauce and too hot for these won tons as they have a delicate taste. So not the ideal outcome.

I froze the rest so will have to try them with a sweet chili sauce next time.  Or the mayo and sriracha sauce in vid below, that way you can adjust to your own spiciness in the sauce.
Easy to make and freeze and ingredients are not hard to come by.
Not crab though!!!!!

Not that impressed by them, just tasted creamy, not much crab flavour and it didn't go too well with sweet chili sauce either. The Mayo/sriracha  mix was OK but didn't really complement the cheese. Also cheese leaked from pastries in Air Fryer, even if you were heating from frozen.
I've some left as well as some cheesy dumplings (that leak too). I might try steaming them and seeing if that method works better. Also a bit of research on dipping sauce to complement the cheese.
Easy to make, but taste hasn't wowed me. If I try again I'll put some prawns in and a lot more surimi to try and get more of a seafood taste rather than just cheese.

Firecracker shrimps

This looks fun to do. I think I'll have to give these a try with the air fryer.
I like the sauce, mayo and sriracha sauce mixed together

in the one below she freezes them for later

for Vietnamese its rocket shrimp. one below has rice paper.

I tried the ones above, cutting the pastry in half. It tasted too much of the pastry- need to cut the pastry (spring roll large pastry sheets) into quarters, then the ration of prawn to pastry may be more balanced. Tasted hard and crunchy, not too mush prawn flavour.
The mayonnaise sriracha sauce mix was good, creamy with a bit of after burn.

 

I tried with the rice paper but that didn't work too well.
I then tried with 1/4 sheet of pastry and that worked great.  Very happy with the result. The ratio of pastry to shrimp works for 1/4 sheet and the sauce is definitely great. I will start using it instead of sour cream.

Rice Paper and things to do with it

I see the clearish spring rolls at Yum Cha and it doesn't really appeal.
I keep on seeing them at the Asian market & decided to buy some.
In the videos below the idea of Sushi looks very appealing, I've just bought some pickled ginger and need to make some. I've marinated and cooked some chicken, so tomorrow may be the day.
The 2 vids below give some ideas on what to do with them:

 Sushi

The sushi was a great success, I liked it so much i think I had it 3 evenings in a row.
I had marinated the chicken in Soy sauce and honey and cooked that up but I think I now have a use for Rotisserie chickens from the supermarket.
I always have coleslaw,chicken and bread for the first meal, then wonder what to do with the leftovers.
Mary would make a curry, but I think I will try a fried rice with Chicken and also a Sushi with chicken.
The other ingredient for the sushi is the rice. Since some of my fails with rice I've been using the 90 second microwave packs for between $1.50 to $2.00. Really quick to make and use, so handy.
 With Wasabi, pickled ginger and the rice paper the meal is put together as quick as making a sandwich. So a very quick meal.

Fruit Spring Rolls in Air Fryer

I've been making apple turnovers in the Air Fryer with my Granny Smith apples and the rice paper. I'm happy with these, they can dry out and crack and leak, but simple enough to do.
Crunchy on the outside and sweet and tasty inside.
Definitely an easy snack, and gluten free I think so I can offer Zoe some.
I have some Kiwi fruit, so I may try them one evening.
I'll have to try the air fryer spring rolls as well.

Prawn Firecrackers

I tried the prawn firecrackers with spring roll pastry, using half the pastry (cut on the diagonal). They tasted too bready and the prawn taste was masked too much.
So I tried using the Rice paper, but found it cracked when I used scissors to cut it on the diagonal. Then I tried wetting them before cutting, that was not too elegant either. Also wet rice paper was a bit slippery on the wet prawns and the resultant air fryer cooking of them was not too great either. The outside got cooked but it was sort of crispy inside but in a hard way, not a nice way.
I've now used a 1/4 of a spring roll sheet on the prawns and that works much better, a far stronger taste of the prawns in ratio with the pastry.

Dumplings & meat spring rolls

I'll have to hold back some mix the next time I make dumplings and use the rice paper to test it out, as well as spring rolls for freezing and using with air fryer too.

Cheesecake

I've had a hankering for a bit of cheesecake for a while and thought I'd like to try it.

This is a link to a no-bake simple recipe :
https://www.crazyforcrust.com/the-best-no-bake-cheesecake-recipe/
The Graham Cracker's had me a bit confused as I wasn't sure it if it was very sweet or slightly savory. I met a lady dog walking and she uses Arnott's  "Nice" biscuits (I was also thinking about Digestives) so I thought I'd give that a try.  She also mentioned condensed milk and that decided me, I would make it today.

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust (substitute Arnott's  "Nice" biscuits)

• 3 cups graham cracker crumbs — about 18 sheets
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 11 tablespoons unsalted or salted butter — melted
• 1/4 teaspoon salt — only if using unsalted butter

 I halved these measures, no sugar, half a packet of Nice biscuits (250g pack, so 125g) and a 15mm slice off a block of butter

Filling:

• 2 8-ounce blocks cream cheese — room temperature (do not use low-fat)
• 14 ounces 1 can sweetened condensed milk — (regular, not low fat)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• Berries or pie filling for topping

 I did one tub (250g) cream cheese and 1/2 can condensed milk. I also used the lemon skin for zest in the mix.

Instructions

1. Place graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a large bowl and stir using a fork. The mixture will resemble wet sand. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-10” spring form pan. Chill at least 10 minutes before filling.
2. Beat cream cheese until smooth using a hand or a stand mixer. Add sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, and lemon juice and mix until smooth and no lumps remain. Pour into prepared crust. Chill at least 4 hours before serving so the mixture can set.
3. Top with berries or your favorite pie filling. Store in refrigerator for up to 3 days. Cheesecake can be made 1 day in advance, but don’t top it until ready to serve. It can also be frozen.
   
   

   Results

   This is a simple recipe. I've fallen in love with it already and I'm still waiting to try one!

   Licking out the dregs of the condensed milk cann brought back memories of doing it as a kid with my mum's cooking (I think the condensed milk went into her chocolate cake, a heavy simple cake with raisins that she'd bake on massive trays, 2 at a time,  that us 4 boys would scoff through in a couple of days, still haven't found an equivalent recipe) and the cleaning of the bowl of the filling was delicious too. 

   After I read that it needed to be chilled for 4 hours my heart sank. Still, I'm looking forward to trying them out. 

   I'm using the small metal baking trays that I use for Tortillas and there was enough mix for 4 (although some could do with some extra filling) so I will leave them in the freezer and get one out today and leave the others frozen. 

   
   

   Alternative

   halve the ingredients

    link

   For the crust

   3 tablespoons sugar

   2 cups graham cracker crumbs

   119g unsalted butter, melted

   
   

   For the filling

   2 pkts cream cheese, room temperature

   1 can sweetened condensed milk

   1/4 cup or icing sugar to dust

   1 cup raspberry sauce

   200g frozen raspberries.

   Thawed fresh raspberries, for garnish (optional)

   
   
   

Seafood Chowder

A really good seafood chowder warms you up beautifully on a cold day.
One of my favorite soups. You have to plan for it as seafood is not usually in the house, or cream.
I went to Countdown and saw they had some seafood packets that were on special with fish, squid rings, mussels and prawns, so decided to cook some up.

There were a few American recipes with condensed milk, cream cheese and other weird stuff and I finally found this Aussie one, seafood is a bit tinned but the recipe is more appealing to my palate. And NO sweetcorn! Hurray.

thursday 28th may 2020

I just found this one so I'll give it a try. It has carrots, onions, potatoes and seafood and looks great.

A bit of white wine & cream. Countdown had a special on for seafood mix so I got that. 6.27$  instead of $9.09 for 600g. (Also a special on italian cured meats 85g for 4.95 instead of $9. now having an appreciation of effort to cure meats I thought it was a bargain)

Very unpretentious and quick to prepare.
The things I'd change was adding a bit of white wine (as I'd some in the cupboard) and adding the cream last, so I can keep some back for another day. I'm nervous about cream in the soups.

Seafood mix was about $6.50  (was about $9.50) and the cream $2.50. I had onions, stock carrots and potato already. I'd just bought a kg of bacon and frozen a lot of it so I had some ready to go.
It will make about 3 good size servings. As it wont have the cream in it I will be able to freeze it if I don't finish it off in the next few days.
Flat leaf parsley from Mt Vic footpath  by the slide, so that is another free herb.
No bay leaves, I can't say i can taste the difference with or without them.
With toasted ciabatta bread, a lovely warm lunch on a cold day.

19th March 2020

 I've been feeling a goo for this for a while now, so I thought, since i was doing aCorona virus shop I might as well go to town and make some chowder.
A couple of Kiwi ones, the first doesn't have spuds in it, but otherwise it looks pretty good, the second is a bit light on the liquid, so I've used liquid from first and potato from 2nd:

 Overall warm and hearty. I'll save the cream until I serve it as I will be putting the rest in the fridge for hte next few days.I did forget to put flour in at the beginning oops, but did use some of my homemade bacon.