Quick and Easy Recipes

Quick and Easy Lasagna Recipe

2008-06-20T00:29:00.007-04:00

Lasagna is an Italian baked pasta dish made with alternating layers of pasta sheets, cheese, tomato sauce and fillings. The pasta sheet can be flat or rippled. Rippled sheets are common in the US, but not so in Italy.

Although it looks complicated, it actually is a rather simple and fast procedure that involves placing layers into a baking dish. The time consuming part is the baking time, which takes approximately 45 minutes to an hour.

The following recipe I created incorporates some Eastern spice flavors. I also do not add eggs as in a traditional lasagna recipe. The taste is remarkably delicious - juicy, saucy and filling. And since I add vegetables as well as the meat, I think it is a healthy meal.

Quick and Easy Lasagna Recipe

Ingredients

1 medium sized onion, chopped
1 box Mushrooms
2 lbs ground beef
1 can tomato sauce (containing oregano and basil)
1 box lasagna flat sheets
1 box Frozen Mixed Vegetables
Fresh spinach
Mozarella cheese
Olive Oil
Salt, Ginger and Garlic
All-spice powder

Procedure

1) Add some olive oil into a pan, then add the ginger and garlic, salt, all-spice powder, chopped onions and ground beef. Cook until the beef is properly browned.

2) Add the mushrooms to the pan, and stir for a few minutes. Then keep the pan aside.

3) Pre-heat the oven to 375 F.

4) Take out the baking dish, and spoon out some tomato sauce into the dish. Spread the tomato sauce all over. Then lay out the first layer of the pasta flat sheet. Use the type that does not require pre-boiling as it saves time.

5) Then spread out the pre-cooked beef. Add the frozen vegetables and fresh spinach over the beef. Then spoon out tomato sauce, and sprinkle mozarella cheese all over. Place second layer of pasta flat sheet on top of the cheese.

6) Repeat step 5 until the dish is almost full.

7) On stop of the last layer of the pasta flat sheet, pour out the remaining tomato sauce, and sprinkle mozarella sheet all over.

8) Cover with aluminium foil, and place into the oven for 45 minutes to an hour.

Serve the lasagna with fresh salad, and crusty bread.

Satay Peanut Sauce Recipe

2008-05-31T20:13:00.003-04:00

Peanut sauce (satay sauce or kacang sambal in the Malay language) is a sauce that is mostly used in Southeast Asian cuisine, primarily as a sauce for grilled satay. There are several different recipes for making peanut sauces, and this means that peanut sauces will taste differently depending on the recipe's country of origin. Typically, a home-made recipe will contain peanuts, coconut milk, soy sauce, and spices such as ginger. Some peanut sauces also contain fried onions, sesame seed, olive oil or peanut.

This peanut sauce recipe for grilled satay contained below is used in Singaporean and Malaysian cuisine.

Ingredients

8 dried chillies (soaked until soft). Remove seeds if you do not like it too hot.
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup shallots
4 candle-nuts or macadamia nuts.
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 cup peanuts (finely ground)
1/4 cup thin tamarind juice (get the tamarind paste, add a little warm water and squeeze the juice, strain)
1/4 cup evaporated milk diluted with 1 cup water (or light coconut milk).
1 tablespoon sugar
salt to taste

Procedure

Grind the chillies, garlic, shallots & candle-nuts together until very fine.

In a stir-fry wok, fry the ground ingredients in hot oil for 5 minutes.

Stir in ground peanuts and tamarind juice.

Bring to the boil.

Add milk and salt to taste and bring to the boil again.

Serve with grilled satay.

Satay Marinade Recipe

2008-05-31T19:37:00.007-04:00

It's grilling season! This grilled satay recipe is a perfect one to try.

Satay (barbequed meat on skewers) is a popular dish in Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia and Singapore. The secret of a delicious satay is in the marinade. The recipe below is an authentic satay marinade used in Southeast Asia - the spices in the recipe are guaranteed to tenderize the meat and imbue it with fragrant flavors.

Ingredients

12 shallots
6 cloves garlic
2 inch fresh ginger
1 tsp peppercorn
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp belacan (shrimp and chilli paste)
4 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp tumeric powder

Procedure

1. Grind up the shallots, garlic, ginger, white peppercorns, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds and belacan(shrimp and chilli paste) to make a paste.
2. Add water to the paste. Add the sugar and tumeric powder.
3. This is the satay marinade. Cover the meat with this marinade and leave till overnight in the refrigerator.
4. Skewer the marinated meat with bamboo sticks. Be sure to soak the bamboo sticks beforehand, so they do not burn when you begin to grill the meat. When grilling, turn the skewered meat over now and then. Each time you turn the skewered meat, baste them with the marinade.

Important Notes

The key of the marinating process is to marinate the meat for a long time, at least overnight and some people even marinate the meat in the refrigerator for up to three days. Also remember to slice the meat thinly so as to cook evenly, preventing overcooking on the grill.

In Southeast Asia, grilled satay is always accompanied with a peanut sauce dip, and fresh cut cucumbers. Click here for the peanut sauce recipe.

Simple Pita Bread Recipe

2008-05-20T16:20:00.005-04:00

As my readers should know by now, I love pita bread. Pita bread is traditionally used in Middle Eastern and eastern Mediterranean cuisines, where the bread is a staple. The pita bread is a flat bread with a large pocket inside, which forms as it cooks quickly at high temperatures. The pocket is ideal for placing any of your favourite fillings - take your pick. I have even spread peanut butter and honey in a pita pocket as a pick-me-up snack.

But usually, people make sandwich pita rolls with meat and vegetables as in the Middle Eastern restaurants. I use it to make sandwich rolls and homemade pita chips, as well as occasionally dipping it in soups. I frequently buy fresh pita bread from the Middle Eastern grocery store. But as I have written about in the past, pita bread price inflation has made buying pita bread an expense. Because of that, I decided to attempt to make my own pita bread at home!

In the Middle East, pita is made in brick ovens, where very high heat can be achieved. It is very hard to duplicate in a home kitchen, but this easy recipe below adapted from a video I found, combined with high heat comes very close.

The dough is very easy to work with and comes together quickly. In fact, the only time-consuming part is cooking them. Each pita cooks quickly, but you have to be there the whole time to monitor their progress. The resulting pitas a delicious and well worth the effort.

Note: You can substitute 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour in this recipe without sacrificing anything in terms of the texture of the finished product.

Pita Bread Ingredients

1 package active dry yeast (2 1/2 tsp)
1 1/2 cups water, warm (105-115F)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3-4 cups all-purpose flour

Procedure

Combine sugar, water and yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes, until slightly foamy. Stir in salt and 3 cups of flour, until dough is smooth. Add remaining flour, a tablespoon or two at a time, mixing until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl into a ball. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 4-5 minutes. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in size, 1.5 hours.

Turn on your broiler, leaving the rack in the center of the oven, and very lightly oil a baking sheet. Punch the dough down and divide it into 10 even pieces. Shape each into ball by grasping the corners of each piece and pinching them together. Cover the balls with a clean dish towel and allow the dough to rest, for 15 minutes so they will be easier to roll out. Roll out until balls form circles about 1/8 inch thick. Place on baking sheet (you may have to do them in groups of only 2 as in the picture) and broil for 2 minutes, until lightly browned. Flip over and broil again for 1.5 - 2 minutes, until browned. You may have to adjust the cooking time a bit, depending on how hot your broiler gets.Remove from oven and cool between kitchen towels to keep the pitas soft. Once they are cool, store in an airtight container.

This recipe made 10 pitas.

Singapore Popiah - Baked Spring Roll Recipe

2008-05-17T19:44:00.017-04:00

I love spring rolls. But I do not like them when they are deep-fried, the way it is usually done in the restaurants. That's just too much grease for me - and you know they don't use the good oils in the restaurants. SoI decided to try and make my own spring rolls at home - by baking them! I tried this yesterday, and it turned out great. Not bad for my first try.

I adapted the recipe below from a traditional Singapore Popiah (spring roll) recipe; made some changes to it to suit my own tastes.
I used store-bought frozen spring roll wrappers - the product I used is from Singapore (see the picture). All you have to do is unfreeze the wrappers, by leaving it outside the freezer in its packaging for 25 mins. Then remove the packaging, and place a damp cloth over the wrappers. The wrappers will easily separate once you are ready to apply the fillings.

Spring Roll Filling Ingredients:

Ground lean meat (optional)
Diced Onions
Diced Carrots
Diced Red Cabbage
Diced Potatoes
Ginger
Garlic
Salt
Soy Sauce
Spice Powder
Olive Oil

Procedure:

Add the olive oil to a preheated skillet set over medium to medium-high heat and cook meat, onions, carrots, cabbage and potatoes with the garlic and ginger. Then add soy sauce and spice powder and mix well. I found that the red cabbage and soy sauce gave this filling recipe a nice smoky taste. Transfer to a bowl, and keep aside to cool. Pre-heat the oven to 400F.

Now peel off the first layer of the spring roll wrapper from the stack, and spread onto a clean surface.

Place the cooked filling in a diagonal fashion. Then I added fresh uncooked spinach.

Pull one side of the flap over to close the filling.

Fold the two ends as in the picture, and proceed to roll the wrapper, pulling over the flaps to close the roll.

Place the spring rolls on a baking dish, brush olive oil over the rolls. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Black Pepper Sauce

2008-04-24T17:19:00.004-04:00

Chop garlic, onions and mushrooms into fine pieces.

Fry the garlic, onions and mushrooms in olive oil.

Then add the grinded black peppers.

Pour some water to make a paste.

Add some oyster sauce. Stir till you obtain a good mixture. The add more water until is becomes slightly watery. Now add some sugar so that not the sauce is not too saltish due to the oyster sauce that was added earlier.

Black Pepper Chicken with Vegetables

2008-04-24T15:59:00.009-04:00

A lot of my friends tell me that they just love Chinese or Thai food. When eating out, I find that people tend to pick Chinese or Thai retaurants over others with the mistaken belief that such food is a better dietary option than fattening American food like hamburgers, pasta or pizza, or rich and creamy Indian curries. After all, many of the popular stir-fry dishes contain enticing colourful vegatables. I do not wholly disagree with them. But I do not think that Thai or Chinese food, the way it is cooked in restaurants, is healthy either.

And there are fat and unhealthy Chinese people just as there are fat and unhealthy American people.

Too often, Chinese and Thai dishes in restaurants contain copious amounts of oil, salt and additives like cornstarch and MSG. The average adult needs around 2,000 calories a day and 2,300 milligrams of salt, which is about one teaspoon of salt, according to government guidelines. A report showed that a plate of stir-fried greens has 900 calories and 2,200 milligrams of sodium. And eggplant in garlic sauce has 1,000 calories and 2,000 milligrams of sodium! Scary stuff indeed.

It has been years since I ate out at a Thai or Chinese place. Yes, seriously. Instead, I do my own cooking at home.

Here is a recipe I often do at home. Stir-frys are easy, quick and healthy, if you know how to do it right, the un-restaurant way.

Black Pepper Chicken with Vegetables

Cooking chicken dishes typically takes time for me - I have to clean the chicken, cutting away the unwanted fat, for example. So I usually cook chicken dishes over the weekend. But saving the breast meat to use in quick stir-frys for the weekdays is a huge time saver!

So last Sunday, I saved the breast meat from a whole chicken, and then cut it into small cubes. I then marinated the chicken cubes overnight in the refrigerator to use for dinner on Monday night.

Marinade:

2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons crushed ginger
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 teaspoon chicken curry powder

This week, I used the black pepper sauce from Trader Joes. The total calories from 2 tablespoons is 60, and the fat calories is 20. But when I have the time, I make my own black pepper sauce.

Ingredients:

Marinated chicken cubes
Black pepper sauce, 2 tablespoons
Olive oil
Red onions
Carrots, sliced thinly
Broccoli
Snow peas
Mushrooms
Black pepper, sprinkle.

Add the marinated chicken cubes into a wok with heated olive oil, or something similar. Stir-fry until chicken is half-cooked. Then add the red onions. Add some of the liquid from the remaining marinade. Stir-fry until chicken is almost cooked. Add the carrots, mushrooms and snow peas along with the black pepper sauce. Cook to desired level (I like my veges a little crunchy, so I don't cook them till they are too limp). Then add the broccoli and black pepper.

You will notice that I did not add any salt to this dish. That is because the marinade contains salt from the soy sauce, and the black pepper sauce also has salt.

Tandoori Baked Wild Salmon

2008-04-15T19:26:00.011-04:00

Salmon is a versatile fish. It is one of my favourite fish to cook because it is firm enough to grill, and it does not break off into pieces when handling or turning over. It can also be baked because it does not dry out as easily as other fish. I usually use wild salmon becuase it can eaten without fear of contaminants or mercury, and it has a very high nutrient content, especially the all important omega-3 fatty acids.

I tried doing something different with my wild salmon yesterday. I wanted to "indianize" the recipe by using tandoori spice powder, but I did not want to add the yoghurt as the typical Indian recipes call for. I did not use any oil for this recipe. I added mushrooms, honey, and crushed garlic and ginger. It turned out very well indeed. I served the salmon with mixed sauted vegetables and white rice.

Tandoori Wild Salmon

Wild Salmon Fillet
Mushrooms

Marinade:
1 teaspoon Tandoori spice powder
1 teaspoon fresh ginger,crushed
1 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon honey
salt

black pepper powder, to sprinkle
lemon juice, to drizzle

Mix all marinade ingredients together with enough water to make it liquid. Put the salmon fillets in dish and cover completely with the marinade. Turn the fillets over a couple of times, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for 30 to 45 mins.

Heat the oven to its 420 F. Take the salmon fillets from the marinade, place onto a baking dish and drizzle it over with the marinade. I added the excess marinade onto the fillets because I like my salmon juicy. Then I drizzled lemon juice and sprinkled some black pepper over the fillets.

Add the mushrooms. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes.

The tandoori spice powder in this recipe gives the salmon a wonderful red colour!

Strawberry Sherbet

2008-04-13T17:51:00.012-04:00

Summer is fast approaching, and making this strawberry sherbet for your family and frineds will find you most popular indeed. I made this for myself yesterday - it took me all of 10 minutes, and it was just so refreshing.

Strawberry Sherbet

I bought a carton of fresh strawberries from a farmers' market recently. I froze them, and use them now and then to make fruit-protein smoothies, and sherbets, as in this recipe.

1 box of frozen strawberries
1/2 cup orange juice
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla whey protein

Place all of the above into a blender, and blend until frozen strawberries are properly broken down. The consistency should be slightly thicker than as in a smoothie drink.

Make the sherbet moments before serving because once the frozen strawberries are melted, the mixture becomes diluted, turning it into a smoothie drink.

But whichever way you go, sherbet or smoothie, this is a delightfully easy recipe. Enjoy.

Recommended Reading:

Peanut Cookies

2008-03-07T15:41:00.010-05:00

This is not a low-fat recipe, so be forewarned. But peanut cookies are a once-in-a-while indulgence of mine, which is necessary for the enjoyment of my life! Peanut cookies are usually made around Hari Raya in Malaysia and Singapore. When I was growing up, one of life's simpler pleasures was awaiting the end of the fasting month, so I could partake in the delicious treats made at home for the Hari Raya celebration, one of the treats I loved being the peanut cookies. Now that I am away from home, I try to replicate the treats I enjoyed when I was younger.

This recipe I tried is fantastic because it is so easy to follow. If I could do it, I think anyone can because I am not much of a baker.

Peanut Cookies

Ingredients:

250g ground peanut powder

200g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

110g icing sugar (or castor sugar)

1/4 tsp salt

140g corn oil (or peanut oil)
Egg wash:1 egg yolk lightly beaten with 1 tsp water

Method:

Mix ground peanut powder, plain flour, baking powder, icing sugar and salt in a big mixing bowl till well combined. Pour in oil slowly and mix till a dough is formed. You might need a little more than the stated amount if the dough is too dry. Shape into small bite-size pieces. Place about 2cm apart on lined baking sheet. Apply egg wash. Bake at 170C for 18-22 minutes or till golden brown.

Notes:

You can buy ready-made peanut ground powder, but I like to do it myself - I think it tastes better that way. Roast 250 grams of peanuts in a pan, then grind them into powder in a blender.

Use icing sugar instead of castor sugar to get a finer textured cookie.

Do not add too much oil or the cookie will be too crumbly.

Enjoy!

Garlic Pita Chips

2008-03-05T18:12:00.014-05:00

I just love bread. Bread has received a lot of flak over the past few years. Everyone I know is into some form of a low carbohydrate diet. And bread, especially white bread, is on the to-avoid-eating list. I indulge in my fair share of breads now and then, but I have found a perfect bread that fits my requirement of being healthy, low fat, filling and tasty. That's the wheat pita bread. I love pita bread so much that I need to always have a ready stash of it sitting at home in my freezer.

Pita bread has about 110 calories. I usually fill with it with salads, tuna, lean meats or scrambled eggs to make a lunch or dinner pita sandwich wrap. But I also use pita bread to make tasty homemade snacks. Recently, I noticed that Trader Joes have on their shelves Crunchy Pita chips on the snacks aisle. Now I love shopping at Trader Joes, but I can just as easily make pita chips at home myself.

And so can you. Enjoy this simple and healthy recipe :)

Garlic Pita Chips

Ingredients

Pita Bread
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Dried Rosemary
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425°. Cut pita bread into wedges (you can determine the size you want - I usually cut them into 8 wedges). Lightly coat one side of each pita bread with the olive oil using a brush. Sprinkle with garlic powder, dried rosemary, and salt to taste. Arrange pita bread wedges in a single layer on baking tray. Bake at 425° for 6 minutes or until golden.

Eat with hummus, or a low-fat dip of your choice.

This recipe has been inspired by Martha Stewart (with some of modifications).

What's for Dinner?

2008-03-01T15:33:00.000-05:00

We are all aware of the importance of a nutritious yet low-calorie diet, but it difficult to find interesting recipes that are both delicious and healthy. A high fat diet has been implicated in many diseases amongst them obesity, diabetes and cancer. But a fast-paced lifestyle also leaves many of us, working professionals, with little time to prepare wholesome home-cooked meals.

I know I get discouraged when I look at the multitude of recipes that call for hard-to-find ingredients and timely preparation methods. Ordering take-out on those nights when you return home from work dead tired can appear as an easy option - I have been guilty of it myself! Still, I know that ordering take-out each night is hardly the route to the healthy lifestyle I want. There is too much grease (you know they don't use that extra virgin olive oil), too much fat, too much salt out there.

Over the years, I took charge of my diet and began cooking almost every night (yes!) while continuing to lead the busy and full life that I have. It is not impossible to create delicious yet healthy meals on your own without having to slave over the stove.

In this blog, I will provide a list of easy-to-prepare, easy-to-follow instructions for delicious and healthy low-fat recipes as I prepare them for myself. The recipes I use will be inspired from around the world, with a stress on fresh ingredients you'd have readily available in your kitchen, flavor and color. If I do not attribute a source, then the recipe will be of my own creation.

Anyone who has more than a passing interest in improving his or her health through better nutrition will find this recipe blog useful.

Happy reading :)