Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I have made a few different versions of these in the last while but these were some of my favourites!

I've consulted and made these from several recipes that are all similar, but this version uses the sauce from this one: https://joyfoodsunshine.com/asian-chicken-lettuce-wraps/

Ingredients

Sauce

• 3 tbs soy sauce
• 3 tbs hoisin sauce (or substitute with massaman curry paste)
• 1 tbs sesame oil
• 1 tbs rice vinegar
• 1 tbs peanut butter
• 1 tbs honey
• 2 tsp sweet chili sauce
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp powdered ginger

Chicken filling

• 1 lb chicken, ground or chopped small - I used thighs and pulsed them in the food processor
• 1-2 tbs peanut oil
• 1/2 - 1 onion, diced small
• 1 8oz can water chestnuts, drained and minced
• ~2 cups grated carrots (optional but very tasty)

Accessories

• 1/4 c roasted peanuts, crushed (I whizzed them in a mini food processor)
• chopped cilantro
• lettuce leaves
• cooked rice (optional)

Method

1. Whisk together the sauce ingredients until well-combined
2. Heat peanut oil in a large frying pan or wok. Once hot, add the chicken.
3. Cook until the chicken bits are starting to brown, stirring regularly - this will take some time.
4. Add onion and cook for 5 mins or until onion is becoming translucent. 
5. Add the water chestnuts and cook another 5 mins or so.
6. Add the sauce and simmer on low heat until the chicken mixture is evenly coated and everything is heated through.
7. Turn off the heat and mix in the grated carrots.
8. Assemble the lettuce wraps at the table and don't forget to top with peanuts and cilantro!

Basic Belgian Waffles

Based on https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/the-best-belgian-waffles-63071

This is my go to waffle recipe these days...

Ingredients

• 1 c white/all purpose flour
• 1 c whole wheat flour
• 4 tsp (or 1 tbs and 1 tsp) baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbs sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/2 c vegetable oil
• 2 c milk (or a mixture of milk and yogourt or yogourt whey)
• 1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Method

1. Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl (if you're on the ball, do this part the night before!)
2. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks (in their own bowl)
3. Mix the wet ingredients (egg yolks, oil, milk, vanilla) in a small bowl
4. Add wet ingredients to the flour mixture and mix well.
5. Fold in egg whites.
6. Cook in waffle iron to desired crispiness - note that this recipe cooks a little faster than some denser ones, so don't let them burn!

Variations

A new variant: hazelnut waffles!

Add 1 cup ground hazelnuts and multiply the wet ingredients by 1.5. Yum yum!

Bean and Rice Bowls - Pot in Pot, Instant Pot style

If you don't have an instant pot, you could easily adapt this to make it on a normal stove top, especially if you just use canned beans. But it's a pretty fun way to use the instant pot. Before I came across this recipe, I didn't know what pot-in-pot cooking was, but this is a prime example!

Based on https://www.cookwithmanali.com/instant-pot-beans-brown-rice/#wprm-recipe-container-36574

Ingredients

Beans

• 1 cup dry beans - either soak them in warm water for a couple of hours (or cold water overnight), or if you're not so organized then you can do a quick soak in the instant pot (there are recipes for this online)
•  1 tbs olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 14.5oz can of tomatoes (or skip the tomatoes and just a little extra water instead - about 1/2 cup should do)
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika (smoked if you have it)
• 1/2 tsp chipotle powder, divided (optional)
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1-1.5 cups water, depending on how dry you like them
• 1 tsp salt
• 2-3 tbs chopped cilantro
• lime/lemon juice

Rice

• 2 c brown rice in a heat-proof container that fits inside your instant pot such as a medium-large bowl or a small lidded casserole dish - make sure the container is big enough to fit the rice and water comfortably
• 2.5 c water

Toppings 

• sliced avocado
• grated cheddar cheese
• diced tomatoes
• chopped cilantro
• whatever else you like: sauteed mushrooms, grilled chicken, steak strips....?

Method

1. Press Sauté button on instant pot. When it says "hot", add oil then onion and garlic.
2. Cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes - until onions are softened
3. Stir in the can of tomatoes (if using) and the spices (oregano, cumin, paprika, 1/4 tsp of the chipotle powder, cayenne)
4. Cook for 3-4 minutes. 
5. Add the soaked beans, water, and salt and mix well.
6. This is where the pot-in-pot comes in: Place a trivet inside the instant pot (yup, just smush it right into the beany mixture so it sticks out the top), then place the container of rice on top of the trivet
7. Add the water to the rice container. Cover this inner container with tinfoil or a lid.
8. Put the lid on the instant pot
9. Press manual or pressure cook button. Cook on high pressure for 22 minutes, let pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then do a quick release.
10. Open the pot carefully. Fluff the rice with a fork and carefully remove the rice container.
11. Remove the trivet then press the sauté button. Mash some of the beans (optional). Add cilantro and simmer 2-3 minutes. Add the remaining 1/4 tsp of chipotle powder (if using). 
12. Add a squeeze of fresh lime or lemon juice. Adjust seasonings to taste.
13. Serve bowls of rice and beans and let diners add toppings of their choice at the table.

This is the best way to cook rice because the clean up is so easy!

Butter, a can of tomatoes, and half an onion = tomato soup

(And some water and salt)

That's all you need.

Well, and let's be honest... it's a lot easier if you also have an immersion blender. Which you probably should.

And to be fair, I also went ahead and fancied it up since I happened to have a couple sprigs of fresh basil and some white pepper. But those are really unnecessary. The bottom line is this is a super simple and delicious soup.

The basic recipe comes from Inspired Taste and they will tell you the full background story, so check it out: https://www.inspiredtaste.net/27956/easy-tomato-soup-recipe/

I will post my ever-so-slightly-more-complicated variant here:

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (4 tbs) butter
• 1 800mL (28 oz) can of tomatoes - I'd go with low sodium and either whole or diced but it doesn't really matter
• 1/2 an onion, peeled and chopped into large chunks
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups water (I added about 1/2 tsp of "better than bullion" to mine)
• entirely optional: 1/8 tsp white pepper
• entirely optional: a small handful of fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped

 

 Method

1. Decide if you're making a single or double batch (you might want more)
2. Get out a suitably-sized pot and put it on medium-high heat
3. Melt the butter in the pot
4. Add the onion. You can cook it for a couple of minutes if you want or just continue immediately to the next step.
5. Add the can of tomatoes with all juice/pulp. 
6. Add the water or broth (don't forget to swish some of it around in the tomato juice can to get out all the yummy tomatoeyness)
7. Add the salt
8. Give it all a stir and bring to a boil - reduce heat to a simmer and set a timer for 40 minutes.
9. Give it a stir once in a while as you wait for the timer.
10. Toss in the extra seasonings if you're using them
11. Blend.
12. Serve, ideally with glorious homemade toasted sourdough bread that your awesome housemate baked.

Simple Tasty Stir Fry

Ingredients

• broccoli florets
• mushrooms, quartered or sliced
• other sliced veggies of your liking or that you happen to have (carrots, cauliflower, snow peas, onion, etc)
• splash of soy sauce (say 1-2 tbs or so)
• splash of sesame oil (say 1/2 tbs or so)
• splash of water (about 1/4 cup?)
•  oil (I just use olive oil)

Method

1. Heat oil in pan on high
2. Add the veggies and stir for a few minutes until they are coated with oil and starting to look a bit cooked/browned
3. Add the water and cover with a lid to steam the veggies. Leave to cook for a couple of minutes.
4. Check for desired level of done-ness - go with a little underdone instead of a little overdone!
5. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil, stir it all up, and remove from the heat

If you want to get all fancy, here are a few ideas to jazz it up...

• toast some slivered almonds and/or sesame seeds before you put the oil in the pan then set aside to sprinkle on top at the end
• add some minced garlic and/or ginger to the pan with the oil before anything else
• fry some meat (either plain or dipped in beaten egg then a flour/salt/pepper mixture) before cooking the veggies - I'd cook the meat first, remove it from the pan to do the veggies, then add it in at the end with the sauces
• grind some pepper on at the end?

Almond-crusted Fish Fillets

This was a tasty dinner, inspired by wanting to avoid heavy carbs and by taking a look at the fish counter in Thrifty's (they were selling almond-crusted sole fillets). I will write the recipe as I did it (as best I can remember) but there are many options for substitutions or scaling up/down...

Ingredients

• 4 good-sized fillets of snapper (or any white fish would be good)
• roughly 1 cup of nuts - I used mainly almonds and a few hazelnuts
• roughly 1 cup of breadcrumbs
• roughly 1/8 cup shaved/grated parmesan cheese (I probably would have done 1/4 cup if we had it)
• roughly 1/2 tsp garlic powder (I didn't feel like mincing garlic)
• about 1/3 cup chopped parsley leaves
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 egg, beaten 
• olive oil

Method

1.  Chop the nuts finely using a food processor or knife (exact size doesn't matter)
2. Lightly roast the nuts in a dry frying pan then set aside - don't burn them!!
3. Mix together the nuts, breadcrumbs, cheese, garlic, parsley, and salt and pepper and spread some of out on a large plate, saving some for spooning over the fish and replenishing the dipping plate
4. Dip fish fillets, one at a time, first in the beaten egg and then in the nut mixture.. spoon more nut mixture over top and press it down to make as much of it stick to the fish fillet as you can. As each fillet is prepared, place it on a second plate (in other words, do all the dipping first before you start doing any cooking instead of dipping and putting straight in the frying pan - it'll save stress on timing the cooking).
5. Heat oven to about 250F
6. Heat oil in a large frying pan (or in my case 2). Add the fish fillets in a single layer and top each with a little extra nut mixture so as not to waste it.
7. Frying time is going to vary a lot based on the depth of your fillets and your personal preference, but if you do like I did and stick them in a warm-hot oven for a little while at the end then it may help you to avoid over/undercooking... I fried each fillet probably 2-3 minutes on each side then transferred the pans to the oven where they stayed until I finished the rest of dinner about 10-15 minutes later. I turned down the heat on the oven to 170F shortly after putting the fish in.

Suggested Accompaniements

Our meal was fish fillets, green salad (incorporating some roasted nuts), and a simple stir fry of broccoli and mushrooms tossed with soy sauce and sesame oil. Very tasty!

Instant Pot Butter Chicken

We have borrowed Ziggy's and now we are getting our own Instant Pot, so some Instant Pot recipes may start to find their way here...

 Here's one for some very tasty homemade butter chicken, adapted from https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/instant-pot-butter-chicken/ 

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp butter
• 8 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tsp fresh ginger minced
• 1 cup tomato puree or passata
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 tsp garam masala
• 1 tbsp coriander ground
• 1 tsp cumin ground
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 lbs chicken thighs/breasts boneless and skinless, cut into pieces
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 2 tbsp parsley chopped

Instructions

1. Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting.
2. Add the butter and cook until the butter has melted. Add the garlic and ginger and saute for another minute or until the garlic becomes aromatic. Do not cook too long because you don't want to burn it.
3. Add the tomato puree and tomato paste to the Instant Pot and stir. Add the garam masala, coriander, cumin, paprika, turmeric and salt to the Instant Pot, stir and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes. 
4. Add the chicken thighs, water and stir everything together. There should be enough liquid in the pot to cover the chicken, so add more water if needed.
5. Close the lid (follow the manufacturer's guide for instructions on how to close the instant pot lid). Set the Instant Pot to Manual, high pressure, 5 minutes.
6. Once the Instant Pot cycle is complete, wait until the natural release cycle is complete, should take about 15 minutes. Carefully unlock and remove the lid from the instant pot.
7. Switch the Instant Pot to the saute setting (do not put the lid on). Add the whipping cream and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce should thicken and reduce a bit. You don't want it to reduce too much. 
8. Turn off the Instant Pot and garnish with fresh parsley.