Of course, this is a dish which combines most of the leftover vegetables I have after cooking 七样菜 on Day 7 of CNY. Just add all the aromatics together, then toss in some mushrooms, and finally layer with chicken, and dinner is done!

I love my slow cooker (I use Takahi). I can prepare ingredients the night before and place the inner pot in my fridge. Then next day before I go to work, I add hot stock and turn the button to ‘auto-shift’. And dinner is settled for the day. It’s a mad rush every day for me. Let me tell you what I have to accomplish in 2 hours after work. Why 2 hours? Because 8pm is cbb’s bed time and SHE GOES MAD IF I DON’T TUCK HER INTO BED!

5.15PM: Get off work
5.55PM: Pick cbb up from school
6.15PM: Reach home, prepare her dinner, feed her
6.55pm: Cook dinner for the family/husband, prepare my lunch box for the next day, EAT MY OWN DINNER AS I COOK
7.20-7.30PM: Bathe
7.35-7.50PM: Wipe down cbb while she struggles and cries bloody murder
8PM: Feed cbb milk and tuck her into bed

There are some days when my meetings end at 530 or 545.. that’s when I am incredibly thankful for dinners like this. I basically skip the dinner preparation.. EVERY MINUTE COUNTS!

To make a nice stew, you need a base vegetable which melts beautifully to form the gravy, or impart yummy flavours into the gravy. Vegetables like onions, leeks, celery, potato, garlic.. all these are great. For bite and texture, you can add ingredients such as carrots, mushrooms and capsicums (they’re yummy when cooked through, too!). And of course you need a protein.. chicken thighs, chicken wings, beef or pork shoulder are good choices.

The thing about slow cookers is that you can’t really thicken the gravy nicely at the end. So when I need to thicken my stew, I always ladle them into a cooking pan and add my cooking cream or coconut cream. For dishes like oyster sauce chicken, I thicken them with cornstarch slurry. I used cooking cream for this chicken stew, but you could use coconut cream instead (use 100ml instead of 150ml) for a different taste. And add some potatoes if you wish.

Enjoy!

If you like my posts and updates, or would like to be informed of baby/cooking-related giveaways and promos from time to time…..
Like my Facebook page or follow @budgetpantry or @chuabeebee on Instagram! Yes, I just started an Insta account for CBB too!

The post Slow Cooker Creamy Leek and Chicken Stew 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.

============================================
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.

If you’ve read Munch Ministry‘s interview with me on Homecooks Spotlight, you’ll know that I grew up eating “a creamy chicken stew cooked using roux, red onions, potatoes and carrots”. You’re in luck, because I’m gonna share this family recipe today!

This is my favourite childhood dish. My aunt used to cook this often. I loved it because it is creamy and hearty.. the gravy is just perfect ladled over a plate of steaming hot rice. Years later, this dish also became Cheng Wu’s favourite (he is my little-st brother. We have a 14-year age gap) and he gets heart palpitations every time he sees this on the dinner table.

I have a funny story to tell about this dish. The siblings and I have known it as “goy see tu” since we were toddlers cos that’s what Ah-mm says it is, and you never question the cook. One day when we were all grown up, we sat around in the living room talking about random things, and the topic came to “goy see tu”. “Why the *** is it ‘goy see tu’?” We pondered, trying to solve the most mind-boggling mystery of the universe. We could understand “goy” cos obviously it means “chicken”, but “see tu”? See tu see tu see tu….. OMG S-T-E-W! “Goy see tu” is CHICKEN STEW! Eureka moment. I still rank this as one of the greatest discoveries of our lives.

(not the prettiest picture, but trust me it’s yummy!)

Ah-mm used to cook this over the stove top. It took constant stirring because of the roux, and because she has a bad knee, she no longer cooks this anymore. My sister-in-law has mastered the dish – she cooks her version in the slow cooker for at least four hours. The gravy of the stew comes from the onions which are cooked till soft, melted and savoury.

This dish can be cooked in the pressure cooker, slow cooker and over the stove top. I like using the Philips All-in-One Cooker. It took me only 30 minutes to achieve the same rich, creamy and tender results (note that actual cooking time may vary due to model, heat source, size and quantity of food. you will need to add more water if your pressure cooker has a bigger capacity).

The post Creamy Homestyle Chicken Stew appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

Anyway. I read about the addition of tuna from Nami’s site and just knew that I had to try it. According to her, the tuna adds an extra savoury flavour and I thought, why not? I was already cooking my white stew with carnation milk instead of whipping cream to lower the dairy and fat.. I could do with a richer sauce!

The list of ingredients make it seem like a lot of work, but it is just really about chopping them up before hand. Most of the work gets done in a single pan so you get very little clean up which is major plus for me. If you prefer a richer flavour, you may use heavy whipping cream in place of carnation milk. For variation, add corn kernels or peas if that’s your thing. I liked the addition of tuna and will make this again!

The post White Stew with rice appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.