Back from Malacca, still on leave and didn’t feel like cooking up a storm today – I’m leaving that for tomorrow (I’m making fall-off-the-bone ribs in a lip-smacking cantonese bbq + plum sauce)! Lunch for today was a simple pasta with bacon and Portobello. Jason loves his pasta in cream sauce, while I’m a fan of tomato based sauces or ragù. But since I have some cooking cream in the fridge, I was going to make his day!

How many of you love delicious white sauce but are quite done with using bottled sauces? I’m never happy with bottled cream sauces as they either taste watered down, too salty or very heavy on the palette with no real aroma. Plus you don’t know what really goes into the bottles. You won’t get any of these if you make your own sauce. It’s not as difficult as you think!

I like to thicken my sauce with eggs. It’s not quite carbonara because no cooking cream is used in carbonara, and cheese is added. I’m not crazy about cheese in my pasta, so when cooking white cream sauce, I leave it out. The husband sometimes sprinkles his own separately but most of the time the dish is already so flavourful that he forgets about the parmesan! The trick to getting loads of flavour and body in the sauce is to sweat some chopped onions in butter and oil – it lends a subtly sweet and savoury taste that ups the flavour up many notches.

This creamy white sauce will also be great with spaghetti or fettuccine. The 80-year-old aunt has always like white sauce (she’s a big fan of the Alfredo from Rocky’s Pizza!) and polished off the entire plate today. Looks like I will be making this again sooner than I think!

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Chicken wings are a favourite in my household, but I’ve not cooked them in quite a long time because of health concerns. I usually buy chicken fillet or breast as they are lower in fat. So when I decided to give my family a chicken-wing treat last week, I knew exactly what I was going to do with it: Make GINGER WINGS!

This marinade is great for BBQ-ing, baking or roasting too, so if you don’t have a Philips Airfryer, don’t fret! But being the Airfryer advocate, no other cooking method beats the convenience of cooking these in one. Just 15 minutes and no extra or splattering oil.. frying chicken wings doesn’t get easier than this.

These remind me of the grilled bbq wings we have in local hawker centers, only better! Using the airfryer means that the meat remains juicy while the skin turn out super crispy. I can’t imagine cooking crispy wings any other way. These ginger wings were finger-licking good and were cleaned out in minutes!

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There is an interesting story behind Mapo Tofu , literally translated as “Pock Mark Lady’s Tofu”. The Mapo Tofu we have here in Singapore is usually very spicy, with Szechuan chili oil used so liberally you would have thought they were free. We’re not fans of chili oil, so when eating out, we always order “Hotplate Tofu” instead– deep fried egg tofu, vegetables and cracked egg covered with non-spicy brown sauce, served on a sizzling hotplate.

So when I came across this Mapo Tofu which didn’t look too intimidating, heat-wise, I decided to have a go at it. The ingredients are basic and low cost, and the dish looks incredibly delicious over rice. My family loved it.

Makes 3-4 servings
(Adapted from Just One Cookbook with slight changes)

What I used:

1 block tofu, cut into cubes like in the picture (I used Unicurd brand “Chinese Tofu“)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced ginger
150g minced pork (you can use chicken)
2 sprigs of spring onions, cut thinly with scissors
1 tablespoon olive oil

For the sauce (combine everything together):

2 tablespoon chili bean paste
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 tablespoons white wine
1 tablespoon sugar
Half teaspoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 cup water (about 65ml)

1. Heat up the oil and fry ginger and garlic til fragrant. Add the minced meat and quickly break it up with your spatula or wooden spoon.
2. When the meat is no longer pink, add in the sauce. Stir to combine.
3. Add the tofu and briefly mix. Don’t break up the tofu or touch it too much. Heat through for 1-2 minutes til you see small bubbles in the pan.
4. Turn off the heat and sprinkle spring onions before serving.

How much I spent:

$0.75 for tofu
$1.50 for minced meat
Everything else from my pantry!

Total cost per serving: $0.57

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This dish can be served straight over rice in a large bowl, along with a simple clear soup. It is so easy to make, I’m sure I’ll see it more often during dinner, especially on days when I’m not too creative or just plain lazy!

The post Mapo Tofu with mild spicy bean paste appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

I made these Airfried Zucchini Patties sometime back, and decided to do a similar version with spinach. After all, my trusty Philips Airfryer makes frying so easy- I don’t even need to pan fry them in shallow oil but you can do that and achieve the same results.

Spinach is the choice vegetable for my family because they’re so nutritious and readily available. Whether you’re using round or sharp spinach, you won’t have a hard time finding them, unlike the very elusive YELLOW CHIVES which the veggie auntie told me she’s only seen twice in the two years she has been working there. It’s almost like they are wanted by the FBI.

I usually cook spinach by quickly blanching them in boiling water, adding to soups at the last minute, or stir frying them with anchovies. They’re a rich source of Vitamin K which protects your bones and helps to normalise blood clotting, Vitamin A (especially lutein, a carotenoid vitamin which many think of as the “Eye Vitamin”) and Iron (which is good for people like me who are sometimes anemic, sometimes not). More information on the nutritional components of spinach can be found here. I really loved making these spinach balls as they fun to eat. Anything fun to eat usually end up delicious!

Makes 20 Spinach Balls

What I used:

1 package fresh spinach, blanched, cooled, drained and chopped
1 carrot, peeled and grated
Half a yellow onion, chopped
1 egg
2 slices bread, toasted and processed into bread crumbs
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Half teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
Half teaspoon black pepper
2 slices Kraft singles, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon cornflour

1. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except breadcrumbs. Mix well.
2. Add the breadcrumbs last and shape into balls.
3. Airfry in preheated Airfryer at 180 degrees for 10 minutes. Alternatively, heat up some oil in a skillet and shallow fry each side til golden brown.

How much I spent:

$0.50 for spinach
$0.30 for carrot
$0.20 for onion
$0.80 for cheese
Everything else from my pantry!

Total cost per serving: $0.60 (6-7 spinach balls per person)

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I used to add parmesan cheese to my zucchini/ spinach patties but decided I prefer less potent cheese. I used kraft singles for these and the cheese melted beautifully within. This is a great way to start your picky eater on vegetables (I don’t mean your husband). I just hope Aegon will eat these!

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After doing a taste test of these noodles this afternoon, my only regret is that I can’t eat an entire bowl of this myself! I know, I know, I am constantly on a diet and have not had an entire bowl of carbs to myself for the longest time. But this time really cannot ok? In case I forget, I have a wedding coming up next month. Yes, mine.

I love cooking with yi mein, or ee-fu noodles, or yi mian because there’s really a whole lot of variety that you can have with them. Make crispy “Sang-Mein” by ladling boiling hot gravy over them, along with ingredients like carrots, mushrooms, chicken or pork, shrimps, squid, veggies and a beaten egg. Make claypot noodles by simmering them for a short while in a prepared sauce the above ingredients but with whole cracked egg. Or, like in this recipe, braise them for a longer time along with beansprouts, chives, mushrooms, shrimp and chicken pieces, until all the sauce is about soaked up. No matter which method you choose, they’re a definite crowd pleaser BECAUSE EE-FU NOODLES ARE ESSENTIALLY DEEP FRIED CARBS.

How do they get their crispy texture otherwise and how in the world can deep fried ANYTHING not taste good?!

So today, just pretend noodles are good for you (they’re made of wheat okayyy?!) and cook this delicious dish already.

Makes 1-2 servings (1 cake of noodle = 2 rice-bowl portions)

What I used:

1 round cake crispy ee-mein
A handful of shrimps
1 chicken fillet, sliced
2 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked til plumped up and sliced (I soak overnight, then reserve soaking water)
A handful of beansprouts, more if want!
2 stalks chives, cut into 1-inch lengths
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon olive oil
Cornstarch solution (1 flat teaspoon corn starch mixed in 2 tablespoons tap water)

Seasoning sauce (mix together)
1.5 tablespoon oyster sauce
1/4 teaspoon  dark soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon mushroom powder seasoning (my Mom introduced this to me last week and I love it)
1 teaspoon chinese wine (hua diao jiu)
Dash of white pepper
Half cup water
Half cup reserved mushroom soaking water

1. Heat up the olive oil in a pan. When oil is hot, saute garlic for 30 seconds then add mushrooms, chicken and shrimps. When the chicken is no longer pink and the shrimps are about pink (identity crisis, these two), add the beansprouts and chives and stir fry on high heat for another minute.
2. Add the seasoning sauce. Bring to boil and add the noodle cake. Lower the flame to medium.
3. Ladle the sauce on top of the noodle as much as you can, add the cornstarch solution, then cover with lid for 3-4 minutes. Check to see that the braising sauce is almost all absorbed by the noodles, switch off the flame, garnish with some more chives and serve.

How much I spent:

$0.27 for noodles
$1 for shrimps and chicken
$0.10 for bean sprouts
$0.20 for chives
Everything else from my pantry!

Total cost per serving: $1.57 or $0.79 if you’re a small eater

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I really wanted to describe these noodles as “creamy”, thanks to the braising gravy and corn starch, and because they’re almost really that! The savoury oyster sauce, wine, and seasonings just melted into these noodles. Don’t worry about them being too heavy, they’re honestly not as we did not overdo the corn starch. Instead of chicken or shrimp, you can go all vegetarian and use straw or button mushrooms and carrots instead, or substitute chicken for pork if that’s more your thing. A delicious and versatile dish for the new week?

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