Posts in what i ate

Easy Tom Yum Fried Rice

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Tom Yum Fried Rice with Vegetables and Shrimp

Tom Yum Fried Rice with Vegetables and Shrimp

Even the most eager of home cooks come to a point in their week when they get a bit lazy, and because I’m a night eater (ooh that should be my Super Villain name!) my laziness always comes in the form of not entirely having fresh ingredients at the end of the week, and not wanting to rush to the shops to buy last minute ingredients in the final 5 minutes before they close.

Enter this Easy Tom Yum Fried Rice, made entirely out of ingredients that I keep stocked at home! You’ll notice that my frozen prawns and veg is cooked straight from the freezer – no thawing time! And it works, too, because the prawns are small and the veg is bite-sized. If you have larger pieces of meat that are frozen, they may require a little bit of thawing, unless they were cut before freezing, in which case, substitute away!

But the whole point of this recipe is that it’s more of a guideline: feel free to mix and match ingredients that you might keep on hand, and create effortless deliciousness!

Tom Yum Fried Rice with Vegetables and Shrimp

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Test Kitchen: Shaved Brussels Sprouts With Walnuts, Lemon and Parmesan

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Y’all know that I absolutely LOVE testing and posting up recipes on the blog, but I’m sure it’s not as obvious that each recipe that I put up goes through hours of research, testing, a myriad of different versions, and agonising decisions regarding how it should look.

I usually start with either a craving or ingredients that I have in my kitchen, and then do tons of research to try and find interesting things to create with it. Sometimes I try out a pre-written recipe to start off with, or sometimes I start throwing things together and go from there.

Well, once in a while, a recipe just doesn’t go quite right, or just plum doesn’t work out the way you want it to!

Recently, I had bought a whole bunch of brussels sprouts on special at the green grocers, but had some left over after using them as part of a roast. So what now?

I found this nice looking idea on Gourmet Traveller – a simple salad of shaved brussels sprouts, with toasted walnuts to add depth, parmesan to add flavour, and just lemon juice to dress it. Some versions of this recipe online also had olive oil to add moisture.

So of I went, to shred those tiny cabbage-looking sprouts. I do love a good slaw, in many variations, so I was similarly excited about this particular salad. After all, in my research, there were many who described it as a more delicate cabbage-y flavour.

Well, no matter what I did, this salad was dry, and had a somewhat astringent after-quality to it. Even adding olive oil didn’t do much in terms of lubrication. The brussels sprouts themselves had a light, peppery quality to it, similar to rocket, and that went quite well with the toasted walnuts and parmesan. But I couldn’t quite get around the texture issue. Adding more lemon juice made it super sour and seemed to accentuate the dry texture, and adding more parmesan just made it worse.

In all, it was a promising recipe, but didn’t quite work out.

How about you? Have you had any disappointing recipes that you couldn’t quite figure out?

What I ate: Crab Salad Roll

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You know that time of the week where you have spare cooked crab meat in your fridge? No? You don’t? You ate it all?

Well I usually do too, but I was convinced for long enough that I should try something new with the crab (rather than simply give my usual answer, “EAT IT”) that I came up with this speedy and crab salad roll recipe!

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What I ate: Cheat’s Chilli Crab Pasta

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A cheat's way to enjoy Singapore Chilli Crab without all of the work!

Whenever I mention that I’m from Singapore, the first thing I get asked is, “Do you make Singapore Chilli Crab?” Well, the answer is that I don’t yet, but in the meantime, I totally have a cheat’s method of enjoying all the shiok-ness of Singapore chilli crab without all of that work!

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What I ate: 2 Ingredient Mango Froyo

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This simple two ingredient recipe makes a thick and creamy frozen yoghurt, in no time at all. Here it's served in an ice cream bowl, with fresh mango on the side.

Summer, the season of sweet ripe fruits and plenty of inspiration! So what do you do when you buy mangoes in bulk and they’re ripening at a faster pace than you can eat them? Make delicious desserts of course!

There is definitely a place for elaborate ice creams and cold, icy sweet treats when the mercury is rising and sweat is beading on your forehead, but I find that it’s so easy to fall into the trap of depending on a large amount of frozen treats to cool off.

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What I ate: Prosciutto and Dried Fig Canapes

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After making my Peach and Crispy Prosciutto canapés for a party, I learnt a few lessons:

1. Prosciutto is my favourite cured meat for that sweet/salty combo
2. Don’t buy so much prosciutto!

I had wayyyyyy too much prosciutto left over because I over estimated how much to buy, and now I’ve gotta use them up. The answer? This version of Devils on Horseback.

Devils on Horseback is usually made with prunes and bacon, and this fig and prosciutto idea first came to me from Nigella.

I used:

  • Prosciutto (I have prosciutto up to my ears)
  • Dried Figs (I got mine from the Aldi Christmas Specials)
  • Roquefort (I had some leftover from the peach canapés)
  • Habenero Honey from Honeycomb Valley
  • Baby Mint Leaves, to garnish

The rest of it is just a matter of assembly. Simply cut a dried fig into half – or quarters – add a touch of blue cheese, or any cheese you prefer, and roll up in prosciutto. I only needed half a slice of prosciutto for mine, but it would really depend on what you prefer. And how thick your prosciutto is sliced, and so forth. Then when it’s all on a platter, I just drizzled the lovely Habenero Honey that I got from Honeycomb Valley and garnished with baby mint leaves from my garden.

If you want to make it ahead of time, this dish is great to hold as little parcels. Simply arrange them on a platter and keep them in the fridge. When you’re ready to serve, leave them at room temperature for about 10 minutes – the prosciutto will thank you for it – and drizzle over the honey and scatter those mint leaves!

Simple, and delicious, if I do say so myself.

What I ate: Fish en papillote

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I’ve been interning at some food jobs lately – chase that dream! – and I’ve been taking home HEAPS of leftovers. Some of these leftovers are in the form of raw ingredients, and you know how I love repurposing ingredients. On this particular day, I scored a box of vegetables, and with spring upon us, I thought it would be a great idea to showcase the freshness of these vegetables – let’s STEAM THE SUCKAS!

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What I Ate: Twice Cooked Pork Belly Braise

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Tender, slow roasted pork belly is braised in a soy based sauce, and served on rice, garnished with coriander.

Here’s the thing with two-person households. You read a recipe that you like, often written for four or six, and then you make it, only to find that even though the both of you are stuffed, there’s still plenty of leftover to go around. Sure, you can halve the recipe, but sometimes that really affects cooking times, and I find it easier just to try and do something interesting with the leftovers!

So if you’ve tried my Slow Roasted Pork Belly recipe and you have leftovers – like I did – here’s something that you can try with them!

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What I ate: Berry and yoghurt parfait

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The lazy, rainy weekend is over, and Monday morning rolls around. I begrudgingly get out of bed and make all the appropriate noises and mumbles about wanting to get back in. Then my tummy rumbles and tells me that I might as well get up because it’s hungry. And when it’s hungry, it’s turns me into the hulk.

So what to do for breakfast?

Well I made ricotta pancakes over the weekend, and as always, I made more compote than I needed. Well together with just a few more ingredients from my fridge and pantry. I’ve got a light breakfast that gets me through the morning and quells my hungry tummy.

I used:

  • Greek yoghurt
  • Blueberry compote
  • Honey nut crunch

I love how a sweet cereal, but I know that it’s full of sugar. So I try to use it just as a topping, to keep my sweet tooth satisfied, while keeping