I have been consulting my shelf of inspiration of late, as I have been feeling a bit stuck on what to cook, or have too many ideas running through my head that I can’t focus on cooking just one thing….
Bring the Action
Apart from my son reciting the words of the latest Britney Spears song (his favourites are ‘bring the action’ and ‘I wanna get lucky’ from Daft Punk…), this title refers to the fact that I have resumed excercise. I have rejoined my pre natal classes and after class 1, I could hardly move let alone pick up my children. Never fear, a couple of days later I was almost good as new and having participated in a few classes, now the body has remembered that I have muscles and they are capable of a bit more than lying on the couch and sleeping.
So in line with being active, I have decided to try to eat a more well rounded diet. I thought I should post one of my favourite salads that also doubles as a meal. It has a rainbow of colours and plenty of green so even just the sight of it makes you realise it is something tasty and good for you all at once.
The body of the salad is quinoa (pronounced keen wah), an ancient Peruvian seed that is higher in Protein and Iron, Magnesium (the list goes on) than any other grain. It is full of essential amino acids and is closely related to Spinach, Rhubarb and amaranth and not any wheat based grain. It is wheat free, and is considered gluten free. For me, it is a nice change from rice, pasta, or any other grain and knowing it is full of so much goodness is a plus. I also find it a very light addition to a substantial salad but still provides enough bulk to make it feel like a decent feed.
This salad is a great dinner meal and makes the perfect lunch the next day. You can omit the feta or add some other low fat cheese, but I find a small amount goes a long way to adding the salty tang and depth to the salad.
It might seem like there are a few ingredients but essentially its just a matter of chopping up salad and mixing it up in one bowl. Only cooking is the preparation of the quinoa and roasting the beetroot unless you use pre cooked (please not tinned – these should be reserved for hamburgers). The dressing is what makes this salad delicious and little oil is required, as the quinoa and salad can handle a lot of lemon juice. Feel free to adapt to please, but I promise you will love it.
Quinoa salad with Beetroot and Feta
Serves 8 as a side
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup quinoa
- 2 medium beetroot trimmed, washed but not peeled
- 1 large cucumber diced
- 1 punnet of cherry or grape tomatoes sliced in half
- 1 cup of chopped parsley
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
- 3-4 spring onions sliced finely
- 100g fetta crumbled or cut into small dice
- 1 packet of baby spinach
Dressing
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 1 tablespoon tahina
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- half a crushed garlic clove
- 2 tablespoons of a light olive oil
To Make
- Wrap beetroot separately in foil and roast for about an hour in a moderate oven. Leave to cool in foil (the steam will help to peel later). Once cool, open foil and the skin should just pull off. Dice the beetroot into bite sized pieces.
- Place the quinoa in a small saucepan with 3/4 cup water (or use the packets instructions). Bring to the boil on medium heat then lower to a simmer for about 15 minutes until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is fairly dry. Leave to cool slightly.
- To make the dressing add all ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. The tahina and mustard will help to emulsify. Season with salt and pepper to taste. It will be very lemony at this stage.
- In a very large bowl, add the spinach, herbs, cucumber, tomatoes, quinoa, spring onions and toss. Add half the dressing and toss again.
- Add the beetroot and toss lightly to avoid spreading pink amongst the entire salad. Dont worry if this happens, it will still taste the same.
- Drizzle over more dressing and scatter the feta over the top and serve.
P S – I like to add cubes of grilled chicken or simply serve as a side with your favourite meat
Taking it easy
Last week my husband had a week off work at home, more commonly known as a staycation. It is school holidays so it was perfect timing, unfortunately I still had to work but it was great and we even went away for a night as a family. We stayed at Banyan Tree al Wadi in Ras al Khaimah and it was magic. They even provide bikes for adult, bubs, kids etc.. to ride around the resort which as very handy on the morning we woke to see the sun rise and beat the heat of the day.
Since last week was a little slower pace, I decided to cook a household favourite Hainanese Chicken and Rice. It doesn’t actually take very long to make and is dead simple but there are a few components. It is real comfort food, quite healthy and super delicious.
I know my recipe will possibly have purists up in arms but the only thing I am not a fan of in this dish is the skin of the chicken after is has been poached. If I am eating chicken skin it has to be golden and crispy from a roast. I also like to make my short cut of poaching just chicken breasts as it lessens the preparation and cooking time and I know I wont waste a bite.
The sauces are really what take this dish to the next level and I really could eat this all day long. I do love making home made chinese style, it is very comforting and satisfying food that can often be made as part of a banquet for group meals. I apologise for the lack of photos but the poaching chicken is not overly appealing!
I researched this dish from a number of well renowned Asian cooks and decided the best explained and least complicated technique was from Adam Liaw’s book My Two Asian Kitchens so I have adapted my recipe from him.
Hainanese Chicken Rice
This dish will serve 2-3 generously
Ingredients
- 500g chicken breast
- 2 garlic cloves
- 4 slices of ginger
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 cups (500ml) chicken stock (I used a concentrate – another shortcut)
- Jasmine rice ( I used 2 of the small cups that come with the rice cooker)
- 1 large cold cucumber sliced
- small handful of fresh coriander sprigs
Chilli Sauce
- 2 long red chillis sliced (I removed the seeds)
- 2 tablespoons ginger grated
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Spring Onion and Ginger Oil
- 4 spring onions chopped, including green bits
- 2 tablespoons grated ginger
- 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
- 3 tablespoons neutral flavoured oil
Dressing
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce
To Make
In a saucepan, place the chicken breast, 2 slices of ginger, 2 garlic cloves and fill with cold water.
Bring the pan to the boil and then poach on a simmering heat for about 15 minutes, and check to see if cooked all the way through.
Take the chicken out and rub with soy sauce and sesame oil and wrap with cling film.
To make the rice, put 2 remaining slices of ginger in a rice cooker with the washed rice and fill with enough prepared chicken stock, reserving 6 tablespoons for the ginger oil and dressing. Cook rice to cookers instructions.
To make the chilli sauce, place the chillis, salt, sugar, garlic and ginger in a mortar and pestle and grind to a paste. Stir through the lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of hot chicken stock.
To make the spring onion and ginger oil, using a mortar and pestle grind the spring onions, ginger and salt. In a small saucepan heat the oil until its smoking and then pour over the paste and stir through and let sit for a few minutes to infuse.
To make the dressing, stir in the soy sauce, sesame oil and 4 tablespoons of chicken stock.
Slice the chicken in bite size pieces and arrange on a platter with slice of cold cucumber and sprinkle with coriander sprigs.
Serve with rice and sauces and enjoy!
P S – Another sauce I love is 1 part sweet soy (kecap manis) with 1 part sweet chilli sauce to serve with the rice, perhaps if the chilli sauce is not to your liking
Keeping up with the times
Ok so the weekly blog is racing to keep up and not doing so very well. Not surprisingly our household is always busy and the last 2 weeks more than usual. I’m sure most people can relate to feeling like you are constantly chasing your tail and then before you know it another couple of weeks, months have passed you by. You know you’ve been busy but you can’t recall every detail. …
Puree food is so 2012
It seems 2013 marks the transition from endless ice cubes of baby food in the freezer to now having to prepare one meal for 2 kids, hooray! At 11 months, my daughter has quite aggressively refused food being fed to her specifically in the pulverised version. Breakfast mush still is acceptable but I fear for a limited time…. I guess there’s always the reliable back up of Vegemite toast!
Along with the baby changes, my husband and I are making some diet adjustments of our own. This week we are going to get back into the healthy mid week meals, and try to make enough to take leftovers as lunch the next day. I visited the produce markets this weekend and felt inspired by all the leafy green vegetables on offer. I am a big believer that green vegetables will cure all illnesses (this is just one of my almost-medical theories)! I feel the Drs in my family reading this feeling fairly relieved I chose the creative career route!
So I bought Kale, Chard and Arugula (it sounds more exotic than rocket!). With my 3 bunches of green goodness in hand, along with a lovely bunch of baby beetroot I thought of a yummy salad. I love big plates of hearty salads that are a meal in one and I plan on sharing many. This one is made up of the green veg mentioned earlier, baked baby beets, zucchini and pearl barley with a basic vinaigrette.
Last week, I was fortunate to have my parents in town, which was great as my mum also cooked a number of meals for us!! She made a lovely salad using pearl barley as the main body of the salad (otherwise the men start wondering where the main course is!) served with delicious grilled fresh sardines. I had never made barley this way and it was really good.
Pearl barley it is so easy to prepare, just boil it in a lot of water like you do pasta for at least 40 minutes. It was soft on the outside and still had a little pop in the mouth when you bite into it. Its quite tasty on its own and the good news is that it’s very good for you. High in fibre, low GI, contains lots of vitamins and antioxidants and is low in fat. Unfortunately it is not gluten free (it’s low gluten though) but it is wheat free.
So that’s my healthy spiel, here is the recipe, I was really happy with how it turned out and it can be made with endless variations. Oh and the Spanish Clementines I bought yesterday taste even better than they look – I am a sucker for fruit with the leaves still on 🙂
Antioxidant Salad of Goodness
Serves 6-8 as a side or 4 as a meal
Pre heat the oven to 160 degrees celcius
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup pearl barley (dry)
- 1 bunch of beetroot (I used baby but regular size is fine)
- 1 bunch each of rocket, kale, chard (you could use english spinach if you can’t find kale or chard, anything green and robust) sliced so it yields about 6 cups or so of greens
- 1 small zucchini diced
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- drizzle olive oil for sautéing
Dressing
- 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- juice of a lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
To Make
- Firstly prepare your beetroot. Chop the stalks off and wrap the washed bulbs in foil. If using large beetroot, wrap each one individually. I put 3 baby ones in each package. Bake in the oven for about 45 – 60 minutes. I cooked mine for about 50 minutes then turned the oven off and left them in the oven while I prepared the rest. To prepare, using disposable gloves if you wish (I used bare hands), open the foil packages, the skins should pull straight off and chop the beetroot into bite sized chunks, not too small.
- Have your barley cooking in a big pot of water for about 40 minutes and drain when done.
- To make the dressing, whisk ingredients in a small bowl until combined.
- Heat a big pan or wok with a drizzle of olive oil and on a high heat toss the green leaves, zucchini and garlic with a pinch of salt and pepper for about a minute until just wilted. turn off the heat to avoid the leaves becoming too soggy.
- Throw the cooked barley, beetroot and dressing in and toss lightly and serve. We had this with simple grilled chicken breast for some protein.
PS – I had planned on tossing in a variety of herbs such as dill, mint, parsley or coriander along with some nice salty chunks of feta. This would make it even more delicious but I thought it was great as is.
Fuel Food
It’s running season in Dubai. During the cooler part of the year every weekend there is some interesting sporting event (the world parachuting championships is in a few weeks – you wont see me jumping out of a plane!), and usually also a run whether it’s a charity walk, a night run, the marathon for the hard core (a lot of admiration for these slightly insane people), or a running relay through the mountains.
On Friday (here our weekends are Friday and Saturday) I ran in a 10km ladies run on the Palm Jumeirah. This has been my mini project for the last 10 weeks and I joined a fab running group to help motivate me. I am not a keen runner (I prefer to walk), but I do like a sporting challenge, and it’s been while between competitions (I was cooking a couple of little people in the meantime).
So I survived and thought I should post a recipe that I could categorise as Nutritious. I have been making these muesli bars in copious quantities since I found the recipe. The boxed ones at the store are ok (but I know they have too much sugar and salt) but the range is very limited and the amounts that my son likes to consume makes for a costly shopping trolley. He is not a huge breakfast person but since introducing these oat packed bars I am happy he has his share of morning nutrition. I don’t indulge too much with kids treats but if it’s home made I feel that it’s ok to have a cake in the house or some fresh baked cookies.
The introduction of this new staple food in our house has also been a way for my husband to stave off the 9am hunger monster and save his lunch for actual ‘lunch time’. Because it’s full of oats and seeds, it has all the good fats and energy that should keep you satisfied for longer. In my case I have been hoping they are contributing to my fitness / training and will eventually help to get me over the finish line of my race! I did, so it must have worked!
I have made these in many different varieties, the beauty of them is that you can add whatever goodness you choose – the dried fruit aspect I think makes them more appealing for children and you can easily substitute the nuts for more seeds or dried fruit. You can also choose dried fruit that doesn’t require chopping so it makes the recipe a simple pour, mix and bake process, so there’s no excuse of not having the culinary skills or time to make them (just the 1 hour for baking )
The original inspiration for the recipe came from one of Bill Granger’s books and it falls in the chapter ‘Breakfast on the Run’. I am a big fan of breakfast so these bars make a perfect midmorning snack for me. But if you are not good with food first thing, then this should help get you started in the mornings.
Back to the run; it was hot and hilly and I a) finished in one piece and b) almost reached my target time, so I’m thrilled and the bars must have helped! So much so I have signed up for another 10km race in January, I want to beat my time! I think I have a lot of bars to bake!!
Muesli Bars
Preheat the oven to 130 degrees (I have 150 degrees with my gas oven)
You will need a brownie tin or similar appox 35cm x 25cm lined with baking paper
Dry Ingredient Mix
3 ½ cups of oats (I used quick cooking, the large rolled oats are pricey here)
½ cup powdered coconut (finer than shredded, but use if you prefer)
½ cup oatbran (if not just substitute with more oats)
½ cup sliced almonds
¼ cup pumpkin seeds
¼ cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup ground flax seeds (linseed), optional
¼ cup raisins or sultanas
¼ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup dried apricots (sliced or sniped with scissors)
Combine the dry mix in a bowl
Wet Ingredient Mix
¾ cup honey
¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup vegetable oil (I use light olive oil, grapeseed is also very good)
Put the wet mix in a small saucepan on a low heat stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
- Pour the wet mix into the bowl with the dry mix and combine. It will seem quite dry at first, I use my hands.
- Tip into pan and press firmly until evenly spread (I had a good helper!)
- Bake for about 50 – 60 min until golden brown. Take out of oven and cool slightly (if you take out of tin while hot it will fall apart), then cut into pieces with a big sharp knife. As it cools the bars will become quite firm.
P.S – The dry ingredient mix would be a fantastic muesli mix to have for breakfast with milk and yoghurt. For bircher muesli (a family favourite), soak the mix in some apple juice or sparkling apple juice overnight and serve with yoghurt – another good breakfast to have when you get to work.
