If you insist on cooking erm, “authentically”, I suggest you get peeled chestnuts from the chiller department of Sheng Siong. They’re $2 a packet, uncooked, untreated, but already naked for convenience. I was gonna get them but they ran out. See what I mean about NO ONE wanting to get those nuts outta their shells manually? So I got the next best thing: ready-to-eat vacuum-packed chestnuts. The dish turned out great anyway.

I marinated the chicken fillet overnight because I don’t like to spend a long time in the kitchen at any one time, prepping and prepping. It makes me feel like cooking is a chore, which it isn’t, and I love cooking! If you don’t usually cook and want to devote more time in the kitchen, simple marinate the chicken for 20-30 minutes on the day itself just before cooking. This dish is also great with chicken wings.. but I don’t normally feed my family chicken wings for health reasons even if they do taste so good. Chickens are often injected with steroids at the neck or the wing.. so I believe that the level of steroids is higher at these areas. I’m not a doctor or healthcare professional, but this is the way I choose to eat! And chicken fillet has less fat and they still taste so good.

Makes 4 servings

What I used:

600g chicken fillet, cut into bite sized pieces, marinated with:
a) 1 tablespoons soy sauce
b) 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce (not the runny, very salty kind)
c) 1 satchet sugar
d) 1 tablespoon chinese cooking wine
e) 1 tablespoons corn flour
f) a dash of white pepper
g) 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger

1 carrot, chopped to bite sized pieces
2 packets of vacuum-packed chestnuts
a few cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed lightly (optional)
1 tablespoon chopped shallots
2 slices ginger
1 teaspoon olive oil
700ml chicken stock (dissolve one chicken stock cube in hot water, then add 1 tablespoon oyster sauce + a dash of sesame oil)

1. Heat up your saucepan. Add oil and fry ginger and shallots til fragrant.
2. Add in the garlic pieces and chicken. Discard leftover marinate juices. Fry for 4-5 minutes then add carrots and chestnuts.
3. Add the chicken stock, sesame oil and oyster sauce. Bring to boil then lower flame to simmer for 20 minutes til chicken is tender.

How much I spent:

$4 for chicken fillet
$3 for chestnuts
$0.30 for carrot
Everything else from my pantry

Total cost per serving: $1.83

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When I tasted this during cooking, I thought to myself.. “wow.. this is just like homecooked food!” Then I realise how silly that sounds cos this is homecooked food! If you’re thinking of cooking something for your family today, why not try this simple dish? All the ingredients are combined together to cook slowly.. the chicken pieces become so tender and the chestnuts break down and lend a sweet, nutty flavour to the dish. Plus, if you choose to add garlic (I love them!), you’ll get little surprises when you bite into one.

Because everything cooks together in one saucepan, there is minimal clean up and because this is a braised dish,you don’t have to worry about temperature, whether the meat is overcooked or not. Nothing gets easier than this (erm ok except some of my idiot-proof recipes), and I promise, you’ll get a sense of satisfaction dishing this up!

The post Braised Chestnut Chicken Casserole appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

I experience major cognitive dissonance when it comes to pork chops. One part of my brain (the health freak part) tells me I should cook with pork loin chops, the lean meat that hardly contains any fat, and the other part (the understanding, indulgent twin) tells me I should always make pork chops with pork shoulder butt.

I don’t particularly like the texture of pork loin because those that I’ve had outside tend to be a little dry as the meat is very lean. Some people love the texture though, but not me.. I love a juicy, succulent  piece of pork chop with some fat.. which the seasoning caramelises together with to form a savoury, sticky sauce that coats the meat perfectly. There isn’t that much fat in reality.. it is ok to have some fatty meat (it’s not that bad anyway) as long as you watch portion size. Everyone should make pork chops with pork shoulder!

I prepared this dish two ways- oven baked the first time as I was cooking a few pieces together, and airfried the next day for a single serving. Both were lip-smackingly tasty and tender. The airfryer version didn’t have much gravy because I used the grill pan, but it was still very juicy. Because my table-top oven is small, I always cover chicken or pork with foil before baking so that the meats don’t burn or dry up easily. To reduce the stock which I cook the meats in, remove the foil for the last 10 minutes and spray some cooking oil on top to get the glaze or crusty finish. The meats always turn out moist this way.

The picture above is making me drool.. I can even see the marbling of the meat! (click on the pic to enlarge it!)

The post Juicy Oven-Baked Pork Chop in Char Siu Sauce (Airfryer option!) appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

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.

I know right, what a contradictory title. And being always contradicting, I cooked these noodles for lunch even though I have never a) liked Hor fun style gravy nor b) been a fan of Tau Chiam noodles. I don’t even like the name of these noodles to begin with. In my (Teochew) family, we refer to bean vermicelli (glass noodles) as “Tau Chiang”, or “Dao Qiang”, if you will, in hanyupinyin. Then one day, Jason bought these Singlong noodles and called them “Tau Chiam”, which caused widespread panic and confusion. I spent much time calming those nerves. From that day on, I’ve secretly resented these noodles because 我们是不会承认你的。

But it is not Jason’s fault because what he simply did was call a packet of noodles a packet of noodles:

The small wordings under “Bean Mee” read “Tau Chiam”- the noodles just would not back down. Anyways.

I decided to cook this last week because Ah-mm and 88 love their gravy over carbs. Ok, so I lied. I cooked these last week because I wanted to do a one-dish meal to escape stir-frying the shanghai greens BECAUSE I hate cooking leafy greens. And also because Ah-mm and 88 love their gravy over carbs. I’ll prove it to you- they slurped up their Seafood Mui Fan dinner tonight. Evidence coming up soon in another post.

Back to the noodles. I did a light version without eggs because I felt that the noodles were heavy enough. They almost have the texture of ban mian.. not quite there, but still starchy. I soaked them to remove some of the starch which nobody needs to eat. A gravy that is not too heavy would work better here.

Makes 2 servings

What I used:

3 bundles of “Tau Chiam” noodles (Singlong brand), soaked in hot water til soft, then rinsed with cold water.
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed with the back of your knife
4 tbsp light soy sauce
A dash of sesame oil
A dash of chinese wine- hua diao jiu
6 prawns, shelled
Pork Slices
Leafy greens & spring onions (optional)
300ml chicken broth
Cornstarch solution (2 tbsp corn starch mixed with 4 tbsp water)

1. Heat up your cooking pan. Make sure the flame is at its highest. Add olive oil and wait til oil is hot, about half a minute.
2. Add garlic. Fry for a few seconds then add the pork and prawns. Stir fry for 2 minutes til prawns turn pink.
3. Add in the noodles, 3 tbsp soy sauce, sesame oil and chinese wine then swirl to combine. Remove from pan.
4. In the same pan, pour in the chicken stock and bring to boil.
5. Add the veggies, reduce flame, then gradually mix in cornstarch solution and remaining 1 tbsp soy sauce.
6. Turn off the flame and ladle over prepared noodles.

How much I spent:

$0.50 for noodles
$1.50 for prawns
Everything else from my pantry

Total cost per serving: $1.00

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I pre-fried the noodles for maximum flavour as I haven’t used a crazy amount of seasoning in the gravy. You can add in some fish cakes, crab sticks, carrots, or change your selection of carbs (ee-meen would be nice!). Add an egg if you choose a less starchy carb and let me know how it goes.

#tip: the addition of fish sauce is veryy good with this type of gravy. I’ll post up my (a bit different from this) mui-fan recipe next week.

The post Tau Chiam Noodles in Hor Fun Gravy appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

Why is this called ABC Soup? Because it is unbelievably easy to prepare, that’s why! <-- this is my version of the reason. Some people say it is because of the vitamins in the soup, and I've read someone say it is because A for Ang Mo Kio ("tomato" in Hokkien), B for Bawang ("onion" in Malay) and C for Corn. Hilarious! Anyways. This soup usually has got pork ribs in it but since I have no pork ribs, I have made this without it. The soup is sweet and still bodied (if there's pork ribs then it would be erm full-bodied but this version's just "bodied"), with my favouritest ingredient in the world- THE ONION. Really, if there is one ingredient I can't live without, then it's gonna be THE ONION. It's such an amazing thing, it's gonna be a blockbuster movie.

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I served this with shanghai greens and curry pork as part of a Chinese meal. This is such a comforting, fulfilling and familiar soup. Best for cold, rainy nights. I could just have this with a bowl of rice, or without, since I now don’t eat rice, but you get the idea.

*By the way, I used half a carrot and half a corn only because I chose a pot that’s too small. Your ABC Soup will not become XYZ Soup because of how much carrot and corn you put in. Please, I’m not forcing you not to use your carrot and corn so cook as you please. Not only does cooking fill your tummy, it also teaches you life skills- you adjust and adapt to circumstances (big pot or small)!

The post ABC Soup with Chicken appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.