A hearty stew is usually made up of a few core ingredients- potatoes, onions, a type of meat (beef and pork are common and impart great flavour) and (surprise!) celery. I know how most of you feel towards celery. Trust me, no one knows celery better. In a desperate attempt to lose weight (the wrong way) more than ten years ago, I survived on ONE stalk of raw celery per day. I hated celery. I lost a lot of weight (so would anyone, on the crazy diet) and lowered my blood pressure to a healthy range (it was 160/100 at my peak- very scary) and still hated celery. But I knew it was, and still is, good for me. What I want you to know, though, is that cooked celery tastes NOTHING like its raw form. It tastes earthy and potato-ey if cooked in a stew, and is essential to making a great stew. It is also used in chicken pie fillings.

Please do not leave out the celery if you decide to cook this dish. Please do not cook this dish if you intend to leave out the celery- it will not do this stew justice.

The version I’ve done above is a cross between a soup and stew because today I decided to serve this with rice instead of bread. This was after about 1.5 hours of slow cooking on a lowered flame. The stew gets thicker as it simmers. After two hours of slow stove-top cooking, this is what you’ll get:

A beautiful comforting soup, great with some warm crusty bread roll.

Makes 4 servings

What I used:

500g pork shoulder, chopped into 2-cm pieces (use beef if whoever you’re cooking for takes beef)
1 large onion, wedged
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 litre chicken stock (use beef stock if whoever you’re cooking for takes beef)
1 small Beijing cabbage, chopped
2 potatoes, chopped into chunks
2 carrots, chopped into chunks
1 tomato, wedged
4 stalks celery (leaves and white stems removed), chopped to 1-cm pieces
1 can mixed beans (kidney beans, chick peas etc, optional)
5 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp corn flour

1. Marinate pork pieces in some oyster sauce, soy sauce and corn flour for 15 minutes.
2. Heat up the oil in a pot, brown meat on both sides then set aside.
3. In the same pot, fry the onions til slightly soft, then add the garlic. Fry for 1-2 minutes then add the celery.
4. Fry for 5 minutes. Add stock if too dry.
5. When the celery is softer, add the rest of the stock and return the meat to the pot. Scrape the sides of your pot with the stock to get all the goodness.
6. Add in the carrots, potatoes, tomato, cabbage and bring to boil. Lower flame and simmer for 1 hour.
7. Stir in tomato ketchup and oyster sauce. Continue to cook for 30 minutes or til consistency is to your liking.

How much I spent:

$2.35 for pork
$1.20 for Beijing Cabbage
$0.60 for potatoes
$0.40 for carrots
$0.30 for tomato
$0.40 for celery
Everything else from my pantry

Total cost per serving: $1.32

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Because this is so good, I recommend that you make a batch of this in a large pot. Cover leftovers and refrigerate.. heat it up for dinner the next day. You can also freeze leftovers in an airtight ziplock bag (keeps for 2 weeks if frozen properly) and reheat when you feel lonely.

The post Rustic Pork and Cabbage Stew appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

Most people learn many things from their mother. How to sew a dress, how to “choose” a good husband (I don’t think this is teachable), how to be a good wife, how to live. From my mother, I learnt how to make soup.

I don’t know my mother very well and mostly see her once a year during Chinese New Year. This year I will see her more than once because of my wedding in November. I am not close to her but we do have conversations going when we do meet. We talk about cooking most of the time. She is a brilliant cook and baker.. her roast leg of lamb, roast pork with crackling skin, mixed vegetables (yes, even that!), steamed fish in HK style, sambal prawns and scallops, and her BUTTER CAKE, ohhh that butter cake, as Gary would say (hi!), is da bomb.

She taught me how to make a basic veggie soup with four core ingredients: onion, ginger, garlic and ikan bilis stock cube. From there you can add some noodles (I love spaghetti in soup. it is good, promise!) and turn the soup into a simple lunch, add some veggie variations and some fishballs/ crab sticks/ cheese tofu (like I have done above) and eat it just like that or with rice. This soup played a huge part in my life when I was on my no-carb diet. I looked forward to eating it everyday because it is so good and comforting.

Makes 3 servings

What I used:

One red onion, wedged
4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed/pressed with the back of your knife
A piece of ginger, about 2 cm thick and an inch across
1 ikan bilis stock cube (I used Knorr’s)
1 carrot, cut into chucks
1/3 of a cabbage
1/2 a tomato, wedged
Green leafy vegetables
Cheese tofu or what you like!

1. Place carrot, onion, garlic, and ginger in pot and fill with water. Bring to boil then reduce fire. Simmer 15 mins then add tomato.
2. Cook 10 mins then add cabbage, cheese tofu or other yong tau foo pieces, and stock cube. Bring to the boil (I usually add broccoli at this point. I ran out of them that day), turn off fire and you’re done.

How much I spent:

$0.20 for onion
$0.40 for cabbage
$0.15 for tomato
$0.30 for carrot
$0.50 for cheese tofu
Everything else from my pantry

Total cost per serving: $0.52

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If this isn’t easy I don’t know what is. There is no need to add any oil, salt, sauce, as the vegetables become really sweet after simmering and the onions, garlic, ginger and stock cube really do their job very well. This is also a great way to add more lovely vegetables to your family’s diet. You must use ikan bilis stock cube though. I have tried using chicken stock cube but it just doesn’t bring out the flavour of this soup.

I usually cook this with cabbage, carrots and broccoli (and crab sticks!) and leave out the tomato because it adulterates the soup. But that day, I decided a hint of tangy tomato flavour would be great for a change. I break the rules of this soup (and of life) sometimes, and why not? You probably should too.

Thanks mom!

The post How to cook a basic soup appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.