Home Eats: 2011

Saturday, October 15, 2011

New Flavors + Veggies!

You know how when you eat the same dish over and over and over, you end up disliking it?

For people on a tight budge it's probably hard to find a variety of food for every breakfast, lunch and dinner. Adding new different sauces or adding something different to a dish you've eaten 7 days a week of the same flavor probably helps with eating the exact same thing, just with a new flavor.

When my dad cooks his vegetables -- depending on which kind like broccoli, bok choy, spinach , etc-- it's usually boiled and a sauce is added in or on top of the dish, sometimes just a little bit of salt on top of boiled broccoli and it tastes great -- even without the salt -- The vegetables dad makes is always the same thing, but he tries to cook it in different ways. One is the already mentioned above, boiling, next is satay, then we have steam and another is adding it to a main dish so we have meat + veggies combined.

There are tons of ways to make vegetables more appetizing, but sometimes dad cooks them too fast --when he satay them -- and they still have a bite to them, which i don't usually mind except when it's winter melon, broccoli, and cauliflower, i think those soft!

Eat your veggies, after all they are good for your mind, body and soul!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Cauliflower yums

I love this dish a lot. It's simple, it's all veggie and it's DELICIOUS -- even my veggie avoiding sister loves this.

What you need:
Cauliflower
Oil
Salt
Chicken broth
Vermicelli noddle
Chinese Cabbage - bok choy

First, wash the cauliflower and bok choy thoroughly. Then cut them into medium-small size pieces. If you want the vermicelli noddle, it's the thin almost clear ones - you'll have to first loosen them up by placing them in water. So let these soak while you get cooking.

In a wok -- or a pan that has high edges -- put some oil and salt. Wait until the wok - or pan is heated before you place the cauliflower and bok choy in.

Stir it around for a few minutes to cook the vegetables then place a top over it to steam the vegetables for about 5 minutes, during which you should have lower the heat to medium. Next add some fish sauce and about a cup and a half of chicken broth into the pot. Alternative in stirring and steaming, so it doesn't burn.

Depending on how big the cauliflower pieces are the longer it'll have to steam cook. Add the noodles towards the end when your flowers are almost done. You want to make a small hole in your wok of your vegetables and then place the noddles in the middle, cover the noodle with the cauliflower and place the lid back to cook.

After you're done, with a bit of rice, or just as it is, ENJOY!

Curry Salmon

Today, I want to share a recipe I learned from my mom, one that she was tinkering with -- in a sense, I was her guinea pig . We usually have curry with chicken, carrot and potatoes in a coconut based curry. She decided to spice things up with salmon and a variety of vegetables.

What you need:
Salmon
1/4 Chinese Pumpkin
1/2 Green Pepper
1/2 Red Pepper
1 Carrot
1/2 onion
2 clove of garlic
Thai Coconut Curry Grilling Sauce

What the salmon looks like after the pan frying

First, you want to slice the salmon into small rectangles and season them with black pepper and salt. After, lightly pan fried them.

Cut the pumpkin into cubes, dice the peppers, carrot, onion and garlic. Cook the pumpkin until it is soft. Then place it on the side. Pan fried the rest of the vegatables until they are soft, then place in the grilling sauce and dump the pumpkin and salmon in there. Stir it and place lid on top to cook.

Cook some rice and place a ladle or two full of the curry and you have a delicious dinner waiting for you.

Note: Salmon are high in protein, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D. Each vegetables in this dish has their own unique properties that are good for your health..

Friday, October 7, 2011

Cooking, is it a chore?

Food is a basic necessity for life. Without it, you can only last a few weeks max.

I don't know about other people for in my family, my dad is the main cook and my mom is the experimental cook. My dad dishes out our dinner 5 times a week, but this foods lack variety. When mom cooks -- which is once in a blue moon, she comes up with the weirdest combinations or a spiced up version-- her versions usually include more veggies, how sneaky! -- of food she sees in cookbooks or online. I remember she made this really gross looking dish, did not look appetizing at all, but it was the only thing we had to eat, so it was either go for it, or starve till tomorrow. Despite how it looked, it was actually pretty tasty.

Now, i'm no chef or even a really good house cook but i can make an occasionally decent dish if i wanted to!

Most of the recipes i would like to share with you guys are the experimental ones my mom taught me, plus her special desserts/mini-eats and some good old fashion Chinese food i learned from my grandmother, she's a vegetarian so don't expect any red meat.

I hope you enjoy this blog as much as i'll enjoy writing it.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

'Controversies' of home cooking

A controversy on home cooking would be the question "organic or conventional (non-organic)?" The word organic refers to the way farmers conduct their farms. For farmers who grow crops such as fruits, vegetables, grains they won't use insecticides to kill the bugs or herbicides to keep weeds at bay, but use alternative non-chemical means to keep bugs and weeds from overpowering their crops. For farmers who manage animals, they would feed them organic foods and let them roam around outside to feed on grass (that haven't been treated with chemicals) instead of giving them antibiotics, medicine and hormones. The nutritional value of organic and conventional foods aren't any different but people prefer organic foods to limit their own exposure to chemicals like pesticide residue, additives and the fact that organic farming benefits the environment. The downside of choosing organic is that it's more expensive due to the fact that organic farms cost more to

manage and because fruits that aren't treated with wax or preservatives often spoil faster than those that were treated. Overall it depends on the individual if they would want to spend the extra amount of money.

Another is "all women [should] know how to cook". Women, have for centuries been the home makers in their families. knowing how to cook and run a household, was expected from women back in the day. Nowadays, both men and women know how to cook but not necessarily ALL women. My sister doesn't know how to cook an actual meal -- only know how to boil water for ramen whiles her boyfriend knows how to cook a variety of foods. The role, gender based roles, have changed through this century. Traditionally family oriented roles have, to some degree, been abandoned by the younger generation. The roles of wives being at home-- doing the laundry, cooking for their husbands, clean the house and take care of the children and the men go out to work 8+ hours a day to come home with the 'bacon', has been modernized and/or been redefined. Nowadays, we can see the roles being switched or see families eating out at restaurants instead of eating home cooked meals. The job /role of a women no longer limits her in a house/kitchen.

Home Eats