Finding Time to Cook

Friends always ask me when do I have time to cook / bake / roast... as I am normally out of the house by 9am & back after 10pm.

There are 3 reasons why & when I cook.

1. I am inspired!! .. after watching Rachel Ray, Martha Stewart, Queer Eye... No matter what time it is, if I have the ingredients on hand, I will cook up a storm.... sometimes into the wee hours, trying hard not to wake up the neighbours.
2. When someone really wants to eat my cooking!! .. I find pleasure in cooking for others.. Its a 'labour of love' (even if it means hours of washing up). In my school days, we would offer our house for parties, as long as everyone chips in the food bill. I once baked some muffins for the trainers at my gym. One guy was appreciative and commented that usually there's not much healthy food to eat where the gym's located. That prompted me make to a series of simple meals for them over a few weeks... spaghetti, salads, sandwiches... It's nice to see people enjoying food. During the recent CNY reunion dinner, I cooked, cleaned, washed from 8am to 3 am the next day - felt like a marathon, but it was great. Not complaining... already planning next year's dinner menu :)
3. Waste not, want not!! .. As usual, when there is a celebration or festive occassion, we tend to over stock our ingredients. Better more food, than not enough, right? So what do we with the 'extras'? With a little creativity, we will not waste food. We can still get nutritious, tasty meals out of the extras. For example, we over estimated & cooked too much rice. We had rice coming out of both refrigerators at home! So, I took some and added boiled water & some cubed pumpkin and a little salt. Boil until the rice grains breaks slightly & the pumpkin is soft. Great with yesterday's dinner, reheated. When re-heated the veggies tend to be a little soft & the sauce thickens, even dries up & taste is more intense... but that goes well with the pumpkin 'porridge' ;)

There's always time to cook. It just requires :

• a little PLANNING : Stock up regularly used dry ingredients but keep track of its expiry period. That's why I usually don't pour out the ingredients into nicely labelled containers (as recommended by many chefs). It's straight from the pack - because the cooking, shelf life, nutrition details are all there. It saves time. But if I have to, I will snip of the important details from the pack & paste it on the container.
• a little ORGANISING : If I am going to bake tonite, I will call ahead & ask my mom to take out the butter & eggs, so that they are at room temperature by the time I reach home. If I want to make sandwiches or salad for lunch at work, I will slice up the ingredients the nite before. When I return from the market, I'll wash, dry & store the salad leaves in small, tight containers (enough for 1 meal). This will keep fresh for many days & in the morning you can just pop one of it into your lunch bag and assemble the sandwich at work.
• a little CREATIVITY : Create your recipe based on what you have in the kitchen. Be inspired by what you have to work with! Experiment, but keeping in mind the main cooking/baking principles. Dont' be a perfectionist. Cooking should not be a chore, ie. following exactly by the book (except for certain recipes, especially cakes).
• a little COMPROMISE : Use as little utensils & cutlery as possible. Less washing, more time to enjoy the meal. Substitute some ingredients; use canned, pre-cooked (eg. boil a whole pack of chick peas and freeze in small packs, freeze extra soup or stock in small containers), quick-cooking (eg. 2-min pasta instead of regular pasta, instant oats instead of cooking oats).

Eating out, as everyone agrees, has lots of oil (cheap oil, oil that has been re-used over & over - each time this happens the bad cholestrol level rises... you get the idea) and artificial flavouring & colouring. Yes, this makes it look, smell & taste delicious, but only because our tongue is desensitized, constantly being bombarded with chemicals! White sugar does that to you. Wonder why you keep having to add more sugar to make your drink taste good? Try this - go off sugary drinks for a few weeks. Then take a sip of packet drink. Yuck, its too sweet!!

I know, sometimes, it's not possible to cook everyday. If 'ta pau' (take-away) is the order of the day, at least try to combine it with some homemade salad or quick stir fry (in EVOO - Rachel Ray's short form for extra virgin olive oil - the good oil).

For more tips & ideas, http://www.rwood.com/Articles/Finding_Time_to_Cook.htm

Fool-proof cake - as easy a 1-2-3-4 !

Afraid of baking? Cake always sinking in the middle? This recipe from Rachel Ray's website is suppose to be FOOL-PROOF, a no brainer... Do try & let me know, ya?

1-2-3-4 Cake

You only need these --

1 cup margarine or butter
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
4 eggs
1 cup any clear soda
Additional butter and flour, for greasing the cake pan

http://www.rachaelray.com/heirloom.php?heirloom_id=55

One-pot Lunch - Chinese Drunken Chicken (I did it my way...)

Looking through my piles of recipes for a chicken dish, I realised that all the recipes require tons of added oil, spices, sauces, marinades, etc... which got me thinking - "How then do we get to taste the real chicken?" Many people complain that the chickens nowadays have no taste. So they drench it with sauce, coat it, fry it,... I say STOP!!

Too much and your taste buds will be over-powered. So you need even more, to feel the taste. (Think, added calories, preservatives, cavities). That's probably why, some people automatically pour chillie sauce or soy sauce onto anything they eat. They say it tastes better. I say, "They may just as well eat just the sauce!

CONCEPT : Let's go back to the basics. This is inspired by watching Martha Stewart cook. She often just sprinkles a pinch of salt & pepper to bring out the natural flavour of her the ingredients in her dishes. So for lunch today, I took a quarter chicken (breast & wing part). Trimmed the fat, removed all skin from the neck area, leaving only some skin near the wings. I rubbed some salt & pepper into the chicken and left it while I prepare the ingredients - a few slices of ginger, 6 kei chee (gooseberres) and washed a bunch of baby spinach (don't cut it, leave it long - it's only about 6-8"). I like to add some canned mushroom (I used scallop mushrooms, this time) and some Chinese cooking wine (Shao Hsing Hua Tiao Chiew).

SLOW COOKING : I placed the chicken, skin-side down, in the pot and added a quarter cup of boiled water, kei chee, mushrooms and a tablespoon of cooking wine. Placed the pot on an electric cooker (steamboat pot/ ricecooker / slow cooker) and closed the lid. Slowly cook (simmer) it until the chicken breast (thickest part) is cooked and it will be tender. By cooking slowly with just a little water and a closed lid, it will be more of a steaming process and the chicken will retain much of its flavour!

ADD CARBS : We've got protein from the chicken, sweetness from kei chee, subtle flavour from ginger & wine - so to balance it off, drop a bunch of baby spinach whole into the pot. Cover it and 'steam' it for a few minutes and your DONE! All in ONE POT!

ADD-ON #1 : No patience to wait for the SLOW-COOKING? (watched pot, never boils, they say!).... WELL, ME TOO - So, while waiting, I cut some purple brinjal (eggplant) lengthwise and scored it to better absorb the olive oil. Arrange it in one layer on a 'seasoned' non-stick pan, drizzle some olive oil on each piece and heat the pan on a slow fire. Turn over when one side is slightly grilled. It's done, once the pieces become soft. Be careful not to burn it!

ADD-ON #2 : I had some pineapple paste leftover (from making pineapple tarts) and some milk, so what can I do with them? First thought - pancake?? But that takes time .... (lazy Sunday, lah!) so I created my own "Pineapple Baked Sandwich" !

Make the batter : In to a large bowl, sift 1 cup plain flour with 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda (or just use 1 cup self-raising flour) + 1 cup wholemeal flour (for added fibre and texture) + 1 pinch of salt + 1 pinch of cinnamon powder (if you have). Pour bit by bit, 1 small packet of low fat milk into the centre and slowly stir from the inside out, to get a smooth paste or else it will be lumpy! Break 1 egg into the mixture and stir. Add 25g of butter (melted) and stir. Finally add 10 coarsely pounded/chopped almonds (or any nuts you like).

Prepare baking pan : I used to line pans with tracing paper but I learned an easier way (when I ran out of tracing paper, one day!). Take a paper napkin to wipe the leftover melted butter and use it to grease the baking pan (a 5"x 8" pan). Sprinkle some flour onto the pan and tap it on its sides to spread a thin layer all around. You can pour the excess flour into the batter.




Baking it : Pour half of the batter and bake for 10 mins (180 degrees). Take it out and spread a layer of pineapple paste. Then, pour the balance of the batter and continue to bake another 15-20 mins or until you can smell it! Insert a toothpick into the centre and it it comes out clean, it's done! Take it out and leave for 10 mins to cool and keep its shape. Then use a butter knife to loosen the sides. Place a wire rack over it and invert. Leave to cool completely.

Notes:
Seasoned Pan : After spoiling so many non-stick pans, I finally managed to 'season' a small frying pan which I use solely for omelettes and pan frying. It's been some time ago, so I've forgotten how I managed to 'season' the pan but generally, we should oil a new 'non-stick' pan and leave a layer of oil (don't wash it off!) for sometime. NOW, I remember!! - After cooking an egg omelette in a lot of oil, I covered the pan and forgot about it for a few days! When I poured away the oil, there was a nice smooth layer surrounding the pan. So I heated it and managed to fry another omelette, this time with considerably less oil. So, after that I washed the pan but with only a little diluted detergent, so that it is still slightly oiled. I always cover it when not used.
Pineapple paste: You can buy ready made pineapple paste from the Baking specialty store (or supermarket) or make your own - it's easy but time consuming (stirring)! Grate 3 ripe pineapples, add 2 sticks of cinnamon (kayu manis) and stir in a pot over a slow fire. When almost dry, stir in 2 tablespoons of honey (I like the Cameron Highland Wild Honey) and some golden syrup (if you have) and 1 tablespoon (or according to taste) of brown sugar. Makes two rice bowls. It can be frozen in small containers, for later use.

Sift or whisk? : Sifting flour can be extremely messy!! I tried many type of sieves and finally found one convenient to use. Now, according to Martha Stewart, we can use a whisk instead! Why do we need to sift the flour ?? For making cakes, it is necessary, so that the cake will be light. Sifting dry ingredients together also helps to evenly mix the ingredients. BTW, a whisk can also be used in place of an electric beater to cream butter & sugar together for butter cakes.

25gm of butter : Don't you hate it when the recipe say's XX gm and you have to lug out the weighing scale just to measure one ingredient? Well, some sticks of butter have markings on the back of its wrapper in 50gm sections. That'll help!

Melted butter : How do you melt butter or chocolate ? Traditional way would be to stir it over another pan of hot water - messy! I just put the butter (or choc) in a small metal bowl and put it on top of any heat source - eg. on top of the oven, inside the oven (only a few minutes - must take care) or JUST found this out today ! -> place the little bowl on the cover of the SLOW-COOKING chicken in the pot. This will heat up the metal bowl and the butter within.