Simple sandwich dinner for Sunday night! You can also make this at night to assemble for breakfast the next day. Yums! I love Delifrance’s chicken mayonnaise croissant, but from $3.90 a piece since my school days (yeah yeah way more than 10 years ago), it’s now double the price. How to eat? $7+ I can feed my family of four if I make it myself at home.

To make this, the basic ingredients are: chicken inner fillet (or you can use a whole piece of chicken breast), mayo, salt and pepper. To increase the flavour, I also like to add some concentrated chicken stock (I use Woh Hup) to the boiling water plus add some finely chopped yellow onions in the mix but it’s optional.

I recommend you eat this chilled for maximum taste! Have it in sandwiches, baguette or croissant, along with lettuce and sliced tomatoes. I hope you enjoy this!

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Every 7th day of Chinese New Year (also called ‘Ren Ri’ ; 人日), Ah-mm will tell me to go and buy 7 types of vegetables for her to cook 七样菜. 人日 is literally ‘human day’. According to Chinese legend, 女媧 created different animals on different days. Humans were created on the 7th day after she created the world, so Ren Ri is also known as everyone’s birthday. Don’t be surprised if a Chinese wishes you ‘Happy Birthday’ on this day!

Some markets will pre-pack the 7 assorted vegetables for you so you don’t end up with big bunches of everything. Ah-mm says there’s no hard and fast rule as to which vegetables go into the dish, but she insists on having Chinese leeks (大蒜), pronounced ‘da suan’, which sounds like calculating (money).She also always got some 春菜 (mustard greens) but it’s kinda hard to find. My 7 types of vegetables this year:

1. Chinese leeks (red leeks)
2. Spring onions
3. Chives
4. Celery
5. Cabbage
6. Puay Leng (Chinese spinach)
7. Xiao Bai Cai

You can add in some meat slices like lean pork, but I added bak gwa this year hehe. Slice the bak gwa into strips and fry them together with the leeks, chives and celery in the beginning, so that the entire wok has the smokey fragrance of bak gwa. But watch the fire to prevent burning. I like them a bit charred though!

For seasonings, I simply added a bit of mushroom powder. You can add some chicken seasoning powder or light soy sauce if you don’t have mushroom seasoning. Enjoy your birthday today and I wish health and happiness for everyone!

The post CNY dish: 七样菜 Stir Fried 7 Vegetables appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

I love vegetables, especially when they’re simply steamed or blanched in water without any seasonings. The husband doesn’t share the same love so this stir fried dou miao dish is perfect for him.

I had some leftover Taiwan sausage in the fridge (yes I buy processed food too!) and sliced them up to add to the dish hoping that someone else would eat it. Although Taiwan sausage is delicious, I really recommend adding sliced chicken fillet strips (or pacific clams!) instead :)

The thing about stir frying vegetables is that it can become limp if you add too much seasonings like soy sauce or oyster sauce, and I’m not a fan of soggy vegetables (cooked-to-death napa cabbage and fishballs soup is another matter altogether. I LOVE IT!). My vegetables must be stir fried on high heat and remain bright and crunchy from wok to plate. Just a little bit of seasoning is enough. Really, vegetables give out water on their own and drowning them in even more liquid will make it a soggy mess. My choice of seasonings for stir fried vegetables are mushroom granules, XO sauce or a light sprinkle of fish sauce and Chinese cooking wine. With dou miao, take note not to undercook it or it will taste grassy, but don’t overcook it in sauces or liquid too. Use high heat and a bit more oil.

This is the mushroom granules that I use and I get a whole big packet from Sheng Siong:

What’s your favourite way to eat vegetables? Can you accept eating them without any condiments or dressing and simply steamed or blanched?

The post Stir Fried Garlic Dou Miao (Pea Shoots) appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

I can’t believe it’s already the end of the year. 2015 seemed to have whooshed by in a flash! I had fun cooking and experimenting, although not as much as I’d like due to job demands and terrible lighting at dinner time :) I hope to bring us even more quick and simple recipes in the coming year!

I have posted about 100 recipes in the past year, and if you’re looking for a few to start with, here you go! My favourites of 2015, in order of preference:

1. Creamy Homestyle Chicken Stew, June 2015
Recipe at: https://budgetpantry.com/homestyle-chicken-stew/

This is a family recipe, passed down from my 80-year-old aunt. I’ve never seen anyone else cook chicken stew this way! Everything is from scratch and I don’t use canned soups or packaged creams. I ate this as a child and still love this today. My favourite way to cook this is on the stove top. This dish is perfect with rice and my #1 comfort food! Try it and you’ll know why!

2. Airfried Cod Fish with Crispy Skin, HK Style, January 2015
Recipe at: https://budgetpantry.com/airfried-cod-fish-with-crispy-skin/

I often cook this dish, or variations of this dish using different types of fish like sea bass and salmon. The best part is that it can be done easily in the airfryer. You don’t have to worry about over steaming it, nor do you have to care about skin that sticks to the pan (and messy splatters!) if you choose to fry in oil. I love how the rock sugar and boiling hot oil (that you ladle over at the end) really makes a difference to its flavour.

3. Mongolian Chicken, October 2015
Recipe at: https://budgetpantry.com/mongolian-chicken/

I seldom deep fry my food, but when I do, I make sure it’s worth it! And this is worth it! ‘Mongolian Chicken’ doesn’t seem to be available in Mongolia, just like how Singapore Noodles is non-existent here, but deep fried chicken pieces slathered in creamy, buttery gravy perfumed with evaporated milk and curry leaves is too good to pass up, no matter where this dish really is from.

4. Wok Fried Kam Heong Prawns, October 2015
Recipe at: https://budgetpantry.com/kam-heong-prawns/

One of my missions for 2016 is to make seafood-in-a-bag with kam heong sauce! Imagine crabs, prawns, lala, corn and carrots served Dancing Crab style but with kam heong sauce.. I think it’ll be a great match. Let’s see if it happens!

5. Salted Egg Sotong, March 2015
Recipe at: https://budgetpantry.com/salted-egg-sotong/

I did a few versions of salted egg sauce this year. This version is my favourite. I prefer not to steam the egg yolks first to get the sandy texture and more fragrance. The addition of stock also made a big difference to how this dish turned out. This recipe recorded the highest hits ever for the blog, with over 5000 unique views in a day!

6. Traditional Pumpkin Rice 南瓜饭, May 2015
Recipe at: https://budgetpantry.com/traditional-pumpkin-rice/

This is another of my go-to recipes for fuss-free dinners, especially when I don’t know what to cook! When you’re out of ideas, all you want is to throw everything into the rice-cooker and let it do its magic.

7. Airfried Cajun Salmon, December 2015
Recipe at: https://budgetpantry.com/airfried-cajun-salmon/

When cooking salmon, always remember not to overdo it! I’ve had my airfryer for 3 years – it’s the first generation Philips 9220 and it has served me well. The one thing I have cooked the most in my airfryer? Salmon. I will never pan fry salmon again with this fool proof recipe. Just wash, sprinkle on Cajun spices, and airfry for 7 minutes in a preheated 180C AF. This recipe is so simple, dinner is literally on the table in 10 minutes, including prep time!

8. Low carb lunch idea: Grilled Cauliflower Steaks, June 2015
Recipe at: https://budgetpantry.com/grilled-cauliflower-steaks/

One of the most beautiful dishes I have photographed.. I’m not a fan of cauliflower when it’s stir fried but when roasted, grilled or baked, cauliflower is totally transformed, emitting a delicious, intense, nutty flavour. So good!

9. Hakka Abacus Seeds for Noobs, December 2015
Recipe at: https://budgetpantry.com/hakka-abacus-seeds/

I had to include this because it was the most back breaking thing I have ever attempted. If you’re a noob at this like me, you’d like this recipe.

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So that’s my round-up for 2015! Thank you for sticking around, especially those who are with me on my Facebook Community – you have no idea how much your likes, shares and comments mean to me!

Love,
Chris

The post 2015 Budgetpantry’s recipe round-up! appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

What do you do with a loaf of bread with a ‘Use by’ date of tomorrow? Make fun food!

It is always funny to me how a slice or two of bread for a casual snack sounds excessive (at least to me), but transform them into a dessert and it becomes a snack that just disappears from the plate (into my tummy) within seconds! I had a few slices of bread which were just starting to go stale. The expiry date was the next day and there was no way we would be able to finish it. I sometimes toast them and make bread crumbs to coat my chicken fillets with, but most of the time I’m too lazy to do it.

So in order not to waste food, I made French Toast Nutella Rolls with the bread yesterday! Ok I didn’t exactly use Nutella, but I used Ovomaltine, which I bought from Candy Empire for $10.80 and later found in Sheng Siong for $6.90.

It’s really simple: choose your fruits (I used strawberries and bananas), spread a layer of Nutella or Ovomaltine on your bread, arrange the chopped fruits at the edge of the bread, roll it up and lightly press the seams down on your plate or work bench. Dip in beaten egg and fry in a little olive oil. Rotate all sides with a pair of tongs till they’re just turning golden.

My aunt and I had two flavours each and Jason polished off the last one. Leftover bread? No problem! This would be a fun activity to do with your kids or nieces and nephews. If you’re not into strawberries and bananas, you could also use blueberries, blackberries, apples and even cheese (chocolate and cheese is super yums)! Have fun rollin’!

The post French Toast Nutella Rolls – the easiest dessert ever! appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.