Thai Basil Pork – Delishar

Ingredients

  • 250g minced pork
  • 1-2 small shallot, minced (I omitted, because I did not have any on hand)
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 chili padi, chopped
  • 1 cup of french beans, head and tail removed and cut slanted
  • Handful of fresh basil, about 1 cup
  • 1 tbsp EVOO/veg oil

Sauce

  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp brown sugar
  • 1/2 tbsp kecap manis
  • 2 tbsp water
  • Dash of pepper

Mix Sauce and put aside.

Heat pan to medium high heat and add 1 tbsp oil.
Stir fry garlic, chili padi, and shallot until fragrant. (You would probably be sneezing at this point)

Add pork and french beans together. You can add the french beans after the pork is browned if you like it to be more raw.

 

 

At this point, add your sauce

When the sauce has been absorbed by the meat and beans, add 2 tbsp of water and let it simmer for 1-2 minutes.

Turn off fire and toss in your fresh basil. 

 

 

It should look wilted like this.

Serve with steam rice, fried egg, and a wedge of lime.

Make it kid friendly by omitting the chili padi. 

Bon appetit!

 

 

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Zucchini Layered Lasagna – Delishar

Ingredients

  • 250g minced beef
  • 1 large zucchini, sliced thinly, I used a mandoline to get about 1/8 inch thickness
  • 1 small yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 carrot, shredded 
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 1 tsp dried oregano leaves
  • 1/2 tsp dried parsley
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 can diced tomatoes (I like Hunt’s)
  • 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley 
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cup shredded mozzarella & cheddar cheese mixed, divided
  • 1/8 cup of Parmesan cheese
  • 1 tbsp EVOO
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Cut of the ends of the zucchini, I cut it into half so that it fits my casserole better. 

Use a mandoline or slice it into thin slices. 

Lay it out on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.

Let it rest for 5-10 minutes, while you get the other ingredients ready. 

Salting the zucchini draws out the moisture so that you lasagna will not be overly wet.

 

I forgotten to take pictures while making the meat sauce. So here is the end product.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heat oil, sauteed garlic, onion until onion turns translucent.

Brown meat. Add in the spices (oregano, basil, dried parsley, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/4 tsp pepper)

Add the celery and carrot and stir fry for a minute. 

Pour in diced tomatoes, and stir in tomato paste.

When the sauce starts to boil, lower heat, cover, and let it simmer for 10 mins. Do not add water! Stir every now and then.

 

Preheat oven at 180*C.
Now blot off the water on the zucchini with a paper towel. 

Use a grill or a pan, spray a tiny bit of oil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grill both sides. About 2 mins on each side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lay it out to cool for layering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the cheese… Mix the cottage cheese, 1 cup of mozza & cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, chopped parsley, salt, and pepper in a bowl.

Time to layer!

Meat sauce first.

 

 

Zucchini next

Meat again.

 

Cheese mixture.

Zucchini

 

Continue layering until done

 

When done with layering, sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of cheese on top.

 

Tent with foil, make sure it doesn’t touch the cheese. Bake for 30 mins.

 

After 30 mins, remove foil. It should look like this.
Bake uncovered for another 20 minutes.

 

Done!
Let it sit for 10-15 minutes before cutting into it.

Garnish with fresh basil.

I use low fat cottage cheese because it is lower in calories compared to ricotta. Both are equally tasty. 🙂 For a vegetarian option, replace minced beef with mushrooms.

 

 

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Tandoori Chicken Pita with Cucumber Mint Yogurt Dressing – Delishar

Pita bread is a middle eastern flat bread. You can buy them from Cold Storage. If you cannot find them in store, using a wrap would be equally nice. If you have a choice, pick the healthier wholemeal selection. 

Ingredient (Serves 2)

  • 2 wholemeal pita bread
  • 2 chicken breast, skin removed
  • 1/2 a tomato, sliced
  • 1 small cucumber (I prefer the Japanese cucumber), half of it diced into small cubes, another half into thin slices*
  • 4 leaves of butterhead lettuce
  • 1/4 cup parsley
  • 1/4 cup of mint leaves, chopped*
  • 1 cup plain or greek yogurt (greek is nicer!), divided*
  • 2 cloves garlic, grated
  • 1/2 tsp grated ginger
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 tsp garam masala
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
  • Salt and pepper*

If you do not have all these spices at hand, I’m sure you will be able to find pre-mixed Tandoori spice. I know there is a vendor at my hawkers that mix the spices for you. You just need to tell him what you are making. 

Pretty pretty spices! 

Add the dry spices, salt, pepper, grated ginger, garlic, lemon juice, and 1/2 cup of yogurt in a bowl.

Prepare the chicken like this, with deep slits on the surface of the breast

Marinate it for at least 2 hours, or better, overnight.

Make the sauce and put it in the fridge for use later. 

Mix the other 1/2 cup of yogurt with the mint leaves, diced cucumber, salt, and pepper. *marked in ingredient list.

Preheat oven to 180*C, when oven is ready pop the chicken into the oven for 30-35 minutes. Flipping once. If you like your meat a little charred, put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes.

While waiting, prepare your fresh vegetables.

Cut pita bread into half and grill / toast it. 

When they are done, set aside. Remember not to stack them up, as the pita may still be releasing steam. Stacking them may cause them to turn soft/soggy. 


When your chicken is done, let it sit for a couple of minutes before slicing into it. 

Assemble and serve. Alternatively, let your family/guests play with the food by assembling themselves. 

Bon appetit! 

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PAM The Healthier Cooking Alternative! – Delishar

Besides using heart healthy EVOO. I often use a cooking spray for cooking and baking. 

PAM is great for all kinds of cooking. A 1 sec spray = only 9 calories! 

I use it for stir-fry, which very often need a lot of oil. 

I also use it for baking. Instead of buttering the pan, I use this which cuts my calorie and fat intake. 

Look at the comparison! Isn’t it amazing? 

It’s slightly pricey ($10.25 from Cold Storage), but definitely worth it! And it lasted me for about 3 months considering I cook almost every day. 

I think the company should be paying me for this post! LOL

But good things, must share… Agree?

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Yakisoba – Delishar | Singapore Cooking, Recipe, and Lifestyle Blog

Ingredients (Serves 1)

  • 1 cup cabbage, thinly slice / shredded (I like more vege in mine)
  • 1/4 cup carrot, shredded
  • 1/4 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
  • 5 shrimp, shell and vein removed
  • 1 packet of soba noodles
  • 1 tsp mirin*
  • 1 tsp rice vinegar*
  • 1 1/2 tsp light soy sauce*
  • 1 tsp kecap manis* (optional, you can use dark soy)
  • 1/2 tsp brown sugar*

Or you can use store bought yakisoba sauce.

Prepare the ingredients. 
Marinate the shrimp in salt and pepper.
Add all the ingredient marked * for the sauce.

Heat pan on med high, spray on a little oil, pan fry the shrimp.
I like to cook them just a little shy of being done as it will continue cooking when I add it to the noodles later on. Set aside for later use.

Clean up the pan with a paper towel. There is no need to add any oil.
Pour noodle out from package, and use the spatula to press the noodle down for 1-2 minutes.

Flip and repeat on the other side. The noodle should brown a little.

Push the noodle to the side and add all your vegetables.

Instead of using oil to stir-fry the vege.
I used water so that we can reduce the calorie and fat intake for this dish!
Add 1-2 tbsp of water to the vege and stir-fry it, until vege becomes soft and water evaporated.

Add the shrimp that was set aside. Toss them together.

Add the sauce and mix well.

You can serve it plain like that.

I dressed it up with some fat-free mayo, and Japanese toppings. But feel free to use Japanese mayo if you have some! 🙂

I had the shrimp version for lunch today, the picture above was made using chicken. You can use any kind of meat or vegetable actually. It is an easy and awesome dish to finish up any left over food you have in your fridge. 

Bon appetit!

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Garlic Mash with Homemade Gravy – Delishar

I know I should have taken a picture of just the mash potato and gravy… but I forgotten. Oh well, maybe next time.

Ingredients (Serves 3-4)

  • 4 russet potatoes (Although Yukon taste better imo), peeled and quartered 
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled and end removed
  • Approx 1/2 cup low fat milk
  • 1-2 tbsp butter/margarine
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1.5 tsp butter/margarine* 
  • 1.5 tsp plain flour*
  • 1 cup chicken stock*

* for gravy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Boil enough water in your pot, when water starts boiling, add a little salt, and place your potatoes and garlic in. Make sure water is enough to cover the potatoes. Cover and cook for 15-18 minutes. Until you can easily pierce through the potatoes with a fork.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is what you need to make your gravy. A basic roux. A roux is a thickening agent for soups and sauces. I use it to make gravy, cream sauce, cheese sauce.. etc.

Here I’m making a little more so I can divide it, and freeze it for use later.

Melt the butter or margarine on med-low heat. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Add equal amount of flour (by weight) and stir well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continue cooking and stirring until your desired colour. As the roux cook, it will become smoother and thinner. 

For the gravy I’m going for a blond colour.

Slowly whisk in your one cup of chicken stock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And remove from heat when you get the gravy consistency.

Set aside for use later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now back to the potatoes. 

Drain the water

Add in margarine/butter, 3-4 tbsp of milk, salt and pepper to taste.

Mash it up!

Add more milk tbsp at a time if you like it to be smoother and creamier.

I like to shape my mash and create a well in the middle to serve my gravy.

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Slow Roasted BBQ Ribs – Delishar

I’ve got a weakness for ribs. Fall-off-the-bone baby back ribs lathered with smoky BBQ sauce. Particularly, Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce. Unfortunately it’s not sold in SG, so whenever we travel back to USA. I’ll stock up huge bottles of it. If I have to get BBQ sauce in SG, it’ll be Hunt’s and no others. 

Everytime the husband brings me to a diner or ribs joint in the states. I’m half ecstatic and half priming myself for disappointment. As much as the BBQ ribs there are nicely charred and has an intense smoky flavour. It’s often dry, tough, and does not fall off the bone / melt in your mouth tender. 

Slow Cooked BBQ Ribs 6

However, these bad boys right here were slow roasted in a tightly sealed casserole. That kept the ribs moist and sealed in all the flavours of the meat and dry rub while it cooks very slowly. They are absolutely delicious and I lose all self control when I have it on the dinner table. The meat just pulls off the bone, and melts in your mouth. There is no need for a knife to eat this. It is best enjoyed with your hands. Just hold, pull, and I promise you that it’ll come right off. Just thinking about it while I write this post gets my mouth watering uncontrollably! Serve it with Mash Potatoes with Gravy or Cauliflower Mash for a lighter side. Here, I served mine with Potato Salad, and Grilled Romaine drizzled with Honey Balsamic Glaze. (Recipe will be shared later.)

This is one recipe that I highly recommend. I urge you to try it at least once in your life. It requires very basic ingredients and very minimal effort as the oven does most of the job for you. I’ll stop raving about how good it was and show you how it’s done.

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These are the seasoning salt and spices I used to dry rub the ribs. I both both bottles from NTUC Finest. 

Preheat your oven while you prep your ribs.

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Clean ribs and use a butter knife to slide under membrane on the bone side. Lift to detach membrane.

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Then use your hands to tear it out. It should come out pretty easily.

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Trim of excess fats if you wish to. You can cut the ribs into half or roast it as a whole rack.

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Season both sides of the ribs generously with seasoning salt, and pepper.

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Then wrap up the baking try tightly with foil. This protects the ribs from drying out when slow roasting it. Then slow roast for 2 hours or until for tender. Crank oven to 180C. Remove pan from oven, remove foil, drain liquid, and brush on 1/2 the BBQ sauce on the ribs. Return back to oven and bake for 15 minutes. Then brush on the rest of BBQ sauce and serve.

Slow Cooked BBQ Ribs

Delishar

  • 1 slab of baby back ribs about 800g
  • 1/2 cup of bbq sauce Hunt’s and/or sweet baby ray, divided
  • Seasoning salt or just salt and pepper
  • Preheat your oven to 150*C

  • Prepare your ribs by removing the tough membrane on the bottom side of the ribs.

  • Use a butter knife to go under the membrane, and lift it up.

  • Then using your hand, pull back the membrane and it should tear out pretty easily.

  • Remove excess fatty bits from the ribs.

  • Season both sides with salt and pepper.

  • Put it in a baking pan and cover tightly with foil.

  • Pop it in the oven for 2 hours or until fork tender. (Check with fork)

  • Longer if the slab is meaty.

  • When 2 hours is up, remove baking pan from oven.

  • Crank up oven to 180C.

  • Unwrap the foil, drain liquid, and brush on 1/2 of the BBQ sauce on both side of the ribs.

  • Return back in the oven for 15 minutes.

  • Brush on remaining BBQ sauce and serve.


Slow Cooked BBQ Ribs 1

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Pita pizza 3 ways: Tom yum, BBQ and Classic Tomato – Delishar

A close friend of mine once ask, when I cook with ingredients that are not ‘everyday ingredients’, and what do I do with the left overs in the package?

That’s when meal planning comes to play. I plan my menu weekly, so I only need to go to the supermarket once a week, and have a list of what to buy for that week. It allows me to minimize wastage of fresh produce when I plan my meals.

This meal is one of those that helps me clear ‘leftovers’. Remember I used 2 pitas for my Chicken Tandoori Pita? Well, I have 3 left to make this.

Ingredient

  • 3 pita bread
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella & cheddar cheese mix (I like to buy mine from cold storage for only $2.99)
  • 1 chicken breast, skinless & diced
  • 1/4 yellow onion, diced
  • 1/4 tomato, seeded and diced
  • 1 tbsp of diced green pepper
  • 1/2 a small carrot, finely shredded
  • 4 basil leaves, julienne 
  • 1/2 tsp lemongrass, finely chopped*
  • 1/2 juice of a lime*
  • 1 small clove of garlic, minced*
  • 1/2 tsp grated ginger*
  • 2 tsp tomato paste, divided*
  • 1/2 chili padi, finely chopped and seeded*
  • 1/2 tsp fish sauce*
  • Dash of white pepper*
  • 2 tsp BBQ sauce
  • 1 tsp sweet thai chili sauce
  • Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 180*C.
Prepare your ingredients.
Season the diced chicken with salt and pepper.

Prepare your tom yum sauce mix. 
Add the ingredients marked * together, using 1 tsp of tomato paste to hold them all together. 

Pan fry the chicken to give it a little colour.

Use medium high heat to brown the chicken. I like to take them off the heat just shy of being completely cooked as it will be cooking again in the oven, and I didn’t want them to be dry.

Separate them into 3 portions.

Add 1 tsp of sweet chili in one, and 1 tsp of bbq sauce in the other. Coat well.

Now is the best time to get the kids involved! 

Using the back of a spoon, spread the sauces on each pita bread respectively.

Tom yum toppings: Sweet chili chicken, onions, carrot, and green pepper
BBQ: BBQ chicken, onion, basil, and tomato
Classic tomato: Seasoned chicken, tomato, green pepper, and onion

I had some leftovers of the toppings… which I used to make omelette the next morning!  

Topped with cheese and it is good to go in the oven for 15-20 minutes, depending on how brown you like your cheese to be.

Garnish the tom yum pita pizza with chopped parsley and it’s yummy time!

You can make the tom yum paste kid friendly by omitting the chili padi and use season chicken instead. I hope you like this recipe as much as we did!

Bon appetit!!

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Rainbow Tie-Dye Swiss Roll with Strawberry Buttercream – Delishar

This is my first time making a roll cake and i’m pretty darn excited that it turned out well and crack free!! 
As pretty as the roll cake looks, it is pretty labour intensive! 
I made this with my LGBT friends in mind. This is especially dedicated to them, because they are such positive, happy, and awesome people! 🙂

Ingredients (Makes a mini 8 inch roll)

  • 5 egg yolks
  • 5 egg whites
  • 2/3 cups cake flour
  • 2/3 cups sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 6 food colouring
  • 3 tbsp melted butter
  • 6 ziplock bags
  • 6 plastic cups
  • 55g salted butter
  • 3/4 – 1 cup icing sugar
  • 1/3 cup strawberry puree/reduced sugar jam (I use jam)

 

Preheat oven to 180*C
Time to get messy! Line your 8×12 pan with wax paper. 
Sift the flour, salt, and baking soda together.

Beat your egg yolks on high, add vanilla extract, and gradually add 1/3 cups sugar

 

Continue beating until yolks thickens and turn to pale yellow colour.

 

In another mixing bowl, whisk your egg whites, and gradually add the other 1/3 of sugar.

 

Continue whisking for about 5 mins.

Until you get firm peaks like this.

Gently fold in your egg yolk mixture.

 

Like this.

Fold, fold, fold.

 

Until well blended

 

 

Now add half the flour mixture and fold… 
Then the next half.
And fold in melted butter.

 

Separate batter into 6 cups

 

Tint them with food colouring, add according to how intense you want your colours to appear.
Fold it in, and as much as possible try not to deflate batter too much.

Fitting your ziplock into a cup helps to hold it in place when you pour your coloured batter in.

So pretty, I’m grinning from ear to ear just looking at the colours!

 

 I couldn’t take pictures here as i had to work rather quickly. 
Cut a 1/2 cm slit on the ziplocks and pipe the colours line by line onto the baking pan.
It helps when you have empty cups around to hold the bags that you aren’t using, with the cut opening facing upwards. 
When you are done, pop it in the oven for 10-12 mins. 

 

The cake should be firm to touch. 

When the pan is cool to touch, flip the cake onto another wax paper laid on the counter top.

 

Carefully peel off the top wax paper.
Flip the cake around again, and with the help of the wax paper, roll it up tightly.

Leave to cook on a wire rack.

 

While it is cooling, we can prepare the strawberry buttercream.
Beat the butter until creamy and pale yellow.

 

Gradually add the sifted icing sugar.
Don’t forget to scrape the sides of the bowl!

The consistency should look like this. I used about 3/4 cups of powdered sugar.

 

Add in your 1/3 cup of strawberry jam.

 

Unroll the cake and spread the strawberry buttercream on the cake to about an inch of the cake all around. Roll it up with the help of the wax paper and chill for an hour.

 

 

 

Trim off the ends before serving.

If can add some pink food colouring to your buttercream if you want it to have a darker pink tinge. 

 

Have fun making this! 
Next time I will probably make the batter thicker so it forms nice straight lines, and the shape holds when I pipe it on the tray. Although, this batter gives you a nice tie-dye like effect! 

Bon appetit!

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Heart Swirl Chocolate Swiss Roll – Delishar

I made a double batch of strawberry buttercream yesterday and I wanted to use it up. So I experimented with making heart swirls today on my swiss roll.

Ingredients (Makes a regular 8 inch roll)

  • 5 egg yolks
  • 5 egg whites
  • 2/3 cups cake flour
  • 2/3 cups sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
  • 3 tbsp melted butter

Get your ingredients ready
Sift all your dry ingredients together. (Cake flour, baking soda, salt)
Preheat oven to 180*C

Line your pan 8×12 tray with wax paper

Beat your egg yolks, vanilla essence, until creamy, adding 1/3 cup of sugar gradually.

In a separate mixing bowl, beat your egg whites and gradually add your 1/3 cup sugar until you get stiff peaks like this.

 Fold in your yolk mixture, and gradually fold in your dry ingredients.
Then fold in melted butter.

Scoop out about 9 tbsp of your batter into another bowl.

This is to drop into your chocolate batter to get the heart shape swirls.

Sift in the 2 tbsp of cocoa powder into the main batter, and fold until incorporated 

Pour your chocolate mixture into prepared tray.

Spread evenly.

Using a tablespoon, drop the white batter on the chocolate batter where you want the hearts to be.

Use a chopstick to create the swirls.

From the top of the white batter, insert the chopstick to the end of the pan and pull in downwards.

Bake for 12-15 mins. 

Let cool for 5 mins

Flip the cake on another wax paper.
You can dust the wax paper with icing sugar if u want. 
It helps with the rolling/cracking/sticking of the cake.

Using the wax paper to help you, roll it up tightly, and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Here you can see that my cake peeled a little. That is because I only baked my cake for 10 minutes. I should have let it bake for a minute or 2 longer. 🙁 Oh well, maybe next time!

When your cake is cooled, apply whatever filling you want till about 1 inch all round and roll it up.
Leave it in your fridge to chill until filling is set.

Trim of the edges and enjoy!

Bon appetit!

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