I love cooking stews because you just cook everything in a pot, leave it to simmer, and your lunch or dinner (for the next few days) are ready. I cook a few versions, including creamy chicken stews with potatoes and carrots, and tomato-based vegetable stews. And this one, ground meat stew with vegetables and kidney beans, topped with cheddar. This CAN BE low carb – just leave out the kidney beans. I used pork, but please use ground beef for the best flavour.

I often cook this on Sundays so we can have it for Sunday dinner and I have lunches ready for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I think three days is the max you can keep this in the fridge. And in case you haven’t realised, I can eat the same stuff for days on end, as long as I’m in my health nut mode and the food is good for me. For this recipe, I used red onions, celery and tomatoes as my base. I love stewed celery.. isn’t it funny how celery tastes awful raw (to me at least!), but when slow cooked in a stew, it breaks down to be one of the most delicious things ever, like a cross between radish and onion? I also added cabbage, bell peppers and canned tomatoes, along with ground meat and stock (use beef stock if you can), plus kidney beans towards the end.

Chili doesn’t normally use this much vegetables, focusing instead on the meat and onions. But too much meat isn’t my thing and cabbage fills you up plus lends a sweetness to the stew.

The best way to eat this is with some shredded cheddar (I used cheddar singles as I didn’t have the grated ones, and that’s ok – and cheaper) and sour cream. I didn’t have sour cream (full fat FTW) so I left it out. For some colour, I topped the stew with hand-shredded spring onions. Not essential, but quite good.

With assignments at work leaving me with no time to think (this is a busy time for me and all I want to do after work is clear my brain but I end up catching up on news – especially electoral news nowadays – online), I think chili stew will be my answer to packed lunches for the coming week! Like gumbo, I know every family has their favourite version of chili. Please share yours with me!

The post Almost low carb lunch idea: Chili Stew appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

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?

The post Cantonese Braised Ee-Fu Noodles appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

To be honest, fishball kway teow soup is not something I would order when I’m out at the hawker centre. There are so many other glorious food to eat! Fishball kway teow reminds me of dieting, sore throat, being unwell and sick, and is not my top choice. Then again, I also wouldn’t order this when I’m dieting because I don’t eat a whole bowl of carbs when I’m trying to lose weight. Sometimes I don’t eat anything at all when I’m detoxing and take a liquid concoction made from organic cactus honey extract, citrus extract, herbs and spices plus lemon juice throughout the day.

Contrary to belief, not eating anything for a few days is doable and is not an “extreme measure”. I love detoxing for the way it makes me look and feel.. and weight does not rebound easily. I lost 6 kg since I tried a 4-day detox program and have kept it off since.

Anyway, back to kway teow soup. It is quite simple to make but did you know that a bowl of kway teow soup contains approximately 2500mg of sodium, which is more than the recommended sodium intake for one whole day? So although it is low in fat, watch the sodium. Leave the soup behind, or cook your own at home!

Makes 4 servings

What I used:

500g kway teow (flat rice noodles)
16 large fishballs from the wet market or those packed in water
A handful of lettuce leaves, sliced thinly (I used endives in the pic above, but you should really use lettuce!)
1 litre water
1 small piece ginger
3 tablespoons dried ikan bilis (anchovies) or use 2 ikan bilis stock cubes
Spring onions and fried shallots, for garnish
Light soya sauce to taste (about 1 tablespoon)
A dash of white pepper

1. Boil kway teow for 30 seconds in boiling water, drain, portion into 4 bowls and set aside.
2. If using ikan bilis instead of stock cubes, add ikan bilis and ginger to water and bring to boil. Lower flame and cook for 15 minutes. Fish ikan bilis out and season with light soya sauce to taste. If using stock cubes, just add them to boiling water.
3. Add the fishballs in the same pot. When cooked, ladle soup and fishballs over prepared kway teow and garnish with spring onions, lettuce and fried shallots plus a dash of white pepper.

How much I spent:

$1 for kway teow
$2.90 for fishballs
$0.50 for ikan bilis/ stock cubes
Everything else from my pantry

Total cost per serving: $1.10

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You can add some garlic oil for fragrance if you wish.. but I normally leave out using extra oil as much as I can. On a side note, I was having a fainting spell that day after preparing the stock and fishballs, and told Jason to portion his own noodle + garnish and ladle the soup over. He took this pic using his handphone.. quite cute.. just throw everything together and eat! Hahaha! Check out his creation:

The post Hawker Staple: Fishball Kway Teow Soup appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

I was supposed to be on my way to meet the girls for Boon’s going-away-to-do-her-PHD party this evening. With 15 minutes to spare before I had to get out the door, I suddenly had this compelling urge to do a blog post on Char Bee Hoon! So what’s a girl to do except sit down dutifully to write a blog post at the risk of being veryyy late.. and this same girl is now now pretty miffed because the post got accidentally deleted!

In any case, I hope (re)blogging about Char Bee Hoon cheers me up. If the Char Bee Hoon you’re familiar with is a version stir fried with light soy sauce with dark sauce added for colour, change your mindset now! Your family will thank you for it. That type of Char Bee Hoon tastes fine, like uh, how something would taste when it is stir fried with light soy sauce with dark sauce added for colour. For me, Char Bee Hoon should always be braised in stock. When the correct amount of (chicken, fish, or vegetable) stock is added to the pan, the bee hoon would have soaked up all the goodness by the time it is ready to eat.

As you can tell by my cooking, I am kinda obsessed with stock. I use them everyday.. in soups and stews, in vegetables, in stir-frys, in noodle dishes like this one. And with instant stock available everywhere, it’s not like you need to put in a huge load of effort to prepare them. I would even go as far to say that discovering stock cubes changed my kitchen life.. they are a quick and easy way to add flavour, providing you with a base to experiment.. and you do just that, knowing at the back of your mind you’re covered.

Cooking with stock is like being in a safe and long term relationship which gives you the power to explore and do a little dance in the universe, knowing that you can always go home.

Makes 6 servings

What I used:

Half packet bee hoon, soaked til just soft and drained (do not oversoak!)
1 egg, beaten, omelette it and slice. Set aside
12 prawns
1/3 beijing cabbage, chopped
4 dried chinese mushrooms, cut into strips
1 carrot, chopped into strips
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp chopped shallots
Red chillies, fried shallots, spring onions and parsley for garnish
1 tbsp oilve oil
For the flavour stock (mix everything together):
Half a stock cube (chicken or fish) dissolved in 800ml hot water
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
White pepper

1. Heat oil in pan til hot, then fry shallots and garlic til fragrant.
2. Add in the mushrooms and fry for 2 minutes, then add cabbage, carrots and prawns.
3. Add the bee hoon, then slowly pour in the flavour stock til it comes up to about half the level of bee hoon.
4. Lower the heat, allow bee hoon to absorb the stock (about 4-5 minutes) til dry. Toss with chopsticks to mix.
5. Top with omelette strips and garnish with red chillies, fried shallots, spring onions and parsley.

How much I spent:

$0.60 for bee hoon
$4 for prawns
$0.30 for egg
$0.30 for carrot
$0.40 for cabbage
Everything else from my pantry

Total cost per serving: $0.94 (or $0.27 without prawns for a basic but still delish version!)

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Every household has its recipe for Char Bee Hoon, and this is how I cook mine!

The post Char Bee Hoon 炒米粉 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.