Airfried Cheese Grilled Garlic Prawns (budgetpantry.com)
Makes 1-2 servings

What you need:

4 pieces large tiger prawns
2 tablespoons minced garlic
Squeeze of mayonnaise or mentaiko mayo
Shredded cheddar cheese
Spring onions and lettuce, to serve (optional)

Steps:

Preheat your airfryer or oven to 180C.

In the mean time, prep your prawns by cutting a slit along the back and remove the dirty stuff.

Pat dry and stuff with minced garlic, squeeze some mayonnaise and stop with shredded cheese.

Fold baking paper into a boat (I would have used my baking pan if the prawns could fit), lay out your prawns, sprinkle more cheese on top and airfry for 7-8 minutes at 180C until done. If using the oven, you may need to add two more minutes to the timing.

Tip #1: If you oven has the ‘Crispy Grill’ function, cook the prawns for 8 mins and switch to ‘crispy grill’ for another 1-2 minutes and watch the cheese sizzle.

Tip #2: If you have mentaiko mayo, use it!

Enjoy your yummy oven-baked or airfried prawns!

Creamy Garlic Pesto Chicken (budgetpantry.com)
Makes 2-3 servings

What you need:

2 pieces chicken breast, butterflied
15 cloves garlic, smashed
1 small red onion, minced
1 small red pepper, sliced lengthwise
1 small green pepper, sliced lengthwise
2-3 shitake mushrooms, sliced
200ml cooking cream (I use Bulla)
2 tablespoon green pesto
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon oil
Pinch of salt
Flour for dredging

Steps:

Clean and pat dry chicken breast. Dredge in flour and shake off excess.

Heat up 1 tablespoon butter and oil in a skillet. Brown chicken breast for 4 minutes, then turn over and cook for another 4 minutes till done. Remove and set aside.

In the same pan, add remaining butter and scrape the brown bits towards the center. On low heat, fry minced onion, smashed garlic, sliced peppers and mushrooms till wilted and soft.

Mix in the cooking cream and pesto. Stir everything together. Season with salt to taste.

Return the chicken breast to pan and simmer for a minute. Spoon cream over chicken repeatedly as you’re simmering. Serve with chunky potatoes.

ENJOY!!

Note: if you have an airfryer, you can save some time while prepping and extract more flavour out of the peppers and garlic this way: in the baking tray, toss garlic and peppers together with some olive oil. AF at 190C for 15 minutes. Add this mixture along with the oil to step 3.

Kid-friendly Airfried Begedil (budgetpantry.com)
Makes 10-12 pieces

What you need:
4 large potatoes
1 tablespoon oil
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon crispy shallot (pic here or you can use fry your own)
1 tablespoon chopped spring onions
1 teaspoon chopped parsley or parsley flakes (optional)
Dash of pepper (optional)
1 egg, beaten (for dipping)
1-2 tablespoon corn flour (for coating)

For minced meat:
100g minced meat (pork, chicken or beef are all fine)
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce

Steps:

Fry the mince meat: In a pot, heat oil and add the minced meat and soy sauce. Fry for a few minutes til no longer pink. Set aside.

Peel the potatoes and quarter them. Toss with oil to coat. Air fry at 180C for 18 minutes until soft enough to mash. Mash with a whisk or fork to the consistency you like – I prefer to have a bit of chunk but you can mash till creamy and smooth. (If you don’t have an air fryer, you can bake the potatoes in the oven at 180C for 20 minutes or so)

Add the cooked minced meat, crispy shallots, salt, spring onions, parsley (if using) and pepper (if using). Mix well and shape into patties with your hands.

Dip each patty in egg followed by a bit of corn flour, just to coat lightly so that the patty retains its shape in the air fryer. Spray or coat with a bit of oil and air fry for 12 minutes at 200C. (If deep frying, skip the flour. Just dip in egg and deep fry direct til golden brown)

(Tip: you can cheat and add more veggies like corn kernels, peas, carrots to up your kid’s veggie intake!)

Chai Poh Barramundi (Asian Sea Bass) (budgetpantry.com)
Serves 2-3

What you need:

2 pieces barramundi fillets (about 400-440g)
1 packet sweet preserved radish (chai poh)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon sugar
1 red big chili or chili padi, chopped
Handful of corriander, chopped
1 teaspoon oil

For the sauce:
200ml water
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon cooking wine
1 teaspoon sugar

Steps:

Preheat airfryer for 5 mins at 180C. Or prep your wok/steam oven/steamer for steaming.

Heat the oil in a pan. On medium-low heat, add preserved radish and sugar and fry till fragrant. Add the minced garlic.

Boil all the sauce ingredients and set aside.

Airfry the barramundi for 7 minutes. Top with sauce, chai poh, chili and corriander and serve immediately. (Optional: Heat up 2 tablespoons of oil in a small pan till sizzling. Drizzle over entire dish before serving.)

红烧狮子头 Braised Lion’s Head Meatballs (budgetpantry.com)
Makes 6 large meatballs

What you need:

500g minced pork (best if it’s 70% meat 30% fat)
200g fish paste (get from fishball section in supermarkets)
50g panko bread crumbs
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp cooking oil
1 tsp corn starch
5 slices ginger, cut into matchsticks
3-4 stalks spring onion, cut into 1-inch pieces including white part
200g napa cabbage, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 honey dates
3 tbsp Hua diao wine
500ml chicken stock (I use 2 tbsp concentrated chicken stock + water)
Dash of white pepper
Oil for frying

Steps:

Mix minced meat, half of the fish paste, panko, light sauce, sugar, sesame oil, oil and corn starch together. Shape into 6 large meat balls.

In an preheated airfryer, AF for 180C for 10 minutes until golden. If you don’t have an airfryer, panfry (use a deep pot/pan) in oil till golden, then drain and set aside.

In the same pot (or new pot if you airfried the meatballs), add some oil and fry ginger and spring onions till fragrant. Add the napa cabbage and mix everything well. Add hua tiao wine, chicken stock and honey dates. Bring to boil.

Once stock has boiled, add meatballs and simmer for 40 minutes till vegetables are soft. Spoon in remaining fishpaste and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add a dash of pepper. Enjoy!