From the category archives:

lunchbox

Meatless Day #19 – Spiced tempeh and curried tomato sauce

by jeroxie May 5, 2010

I had a conversation with a meat lover just this weekend and was asked why the hell do I want to do this meatless day once a week. Both of us will usually eat quite a fair bit over the weekend and a meatless day is always welcomed. I try to make it the healthier option. And the other reason is to learn about flavour. It isn’t easy just whipping up a vegetarian meal without the use of animals fats. And it is nonsense to think that vegetarian food is boring and tasteless. In actual fact, they are quite the opposite when done properly and well.

Many times, I will just take the meat out of the recipe but good and delicious vegetarian does require more thinking and more flavour combinations. So this week, I thought I had to try a little harder. I bought fresh organic tempeh from the farmers market and had in my mind to make use of bold spices to kick some life into this piece of tempeh.

32 comments Full article here

Meatless Day #18 Chestnut soup

by jeroxie April 30, 2010

Very little thinking needs to be done this week. I have a bag of chestnuts at home and so chestnut soup it shall be. It was perfect weather for a nice, thick and wholesome soup that is satisfying. Aside from chestnuts being super yummy, they score pretty high on the nutrients front as well. I am definitely not a health freak but I do like to like to feel that I am eating the right foods and taking care of my body.

25 comments Full article here

Japanese veal curry

by jeroxie April 29, 2010

It is home alone with Tekkie. Mister is still travelling around in Tasmania till the end of the week so I will need to prepare meals for myself only. There was nothing very much in the refrigerator and I wanted to wait for Mister to be back here before going through all the Tasmanian goodies. When I posted the question of what to cook on twitter, there were many suggestions like veal schnitzel, scallopini, Japanese curry and even instant noodles!

I was going to make veal schnitzel but changed my mind once I got home. I need packed lunch and dinner for one other night so decided to make Japanese veal curry instead. There are some missing ingredients like onions and fresh ginger. I missed out the onions and used ginger powder instead. Please use fresh ginger if you can and also add onions for more flavour.

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Meatless Day Challenge #17 – Curry pumpkin, cauliflower, eggplant and chickpea salad

by jeroxie April 23, 2010

I am having fun and frustration at the same time with the new camera. I know that it takes time to know one and another. I have been too eager and excited. I am too used to using Mister’s D80 at home. I did throw a tantrum and beating myself up when my new camera was not performing the way I like it to. I need to get used to it and just tell myself to be patient. That is why camera is such a personal thing. What makes it tick, the settings, lenses, the grip, the buttons. So be patient with me as I experiment this new baby. And will also appreciate honest critic.

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Beef short ribs dangmyeong – Noodle Party

by jeroxie March 29, 2010

Noodle Party Invite!

An invitation to a Noodle Party! Christine and the Big Scary Kitchen, Fried Wontons 4 U and Momofuku for 2 are having a virtual noodle party. We’re all going to make our own take on a noodle dish and post them up at the same time. If you are following on twitter, search for hashtag #noodleparty.

I was really glad to be invited to this noodle party by @friedwontons4U and @momofukufor2. It was almost a no go for me as I had too much backlog of posts and own errands to do over the weekend. But I manage to squeeze this in as I failed in my last couple of attempts of cooking dangmyeong. Dangmyeong is a type of glass noodle made from sweet potato starch and it is a very popular noodle used in Korean Cuisine.

28 comments Full article here

Meatless Day Challenge #13 Almost Ribollita

by jeroxie March 18, 2010

Autumn is upon us and it is time where thick soups, stews, roasts, pies and loads of yummy rich desserts (especially chocolate) to tie us through the grey and cold weather. This week will be the first of the thick soups to make its appearance.

I am not Italian and I am sure many Italians will have their own secret recipe for Ribollita. It is a Tuscan dish that means ‘reboiled’. There are so many versions of this but it seems that the most Italian recipe involves the use of stale bread in the soup. I had it at the side and hence is it called ‘Almost Ribollita’. The vegetable and bean soup was definitely kept overnight and then reheated the next day, a good drizzle of good olive oil and served with a side of toasted sourdough bread.

26 comments Full article here

Meatless Day Challenge #6 – Mushroom, tofu and vegetables

by jeroxie January 29, 2010

It seems like a Chinese stir-fry theme this week for our household. We will usually cook this dish with addition of meat. It was rather unAustralian of us to cook this on Australia Day However, our social calender is packed for the rest of the week and it was the only day that we could do it.

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Teriyaki poached salmon on ramen

by jeroxie October 29, 2009

My love for eating fish comes from my Grandma and Mum. I was quite sickly when I was younger, Grandma and Mum will make sure that I have almost everyday for lunch and dinner. And it was the same kind of fish dish- Steam cod with ginger. I do not remember ever not liking it or pushing it away. I guess I was never the fussy eater.

I have been cooking more salmon dishes a lot more these days. Summer is fast approaching and Mister and I are still pigging out so I decided to make something healthy, light and really easy to cook. It does take a longer cooking time but you do not need to watch over it.

20 comments Full article here

Saltbush lamb roast on Israeli couscous

by jeroxie October 23, 2009

I bought some Israeli couscous from Victoria Market a few weeks ago and never got round to making any till last week. I had a complete disaster. There wasn’t anything wrong with the couscous. It is easy to cook but it was the not so fresh ingredients that I bought. After a big night out last Friday, we ended up nursing ourselves on the couch on Saturday day and thus missed out on farmers market and all those fresh lovely ingredients. I bought some calamari, mangoes and avocado next day at Footscray to make a nice light salad with the couscous and it flopped. It failed because the calamari was not fresh, the mango and avocado was at their near end of life. It just shows how fresh and good ingredients plays such an important role in how a plate of food taste and make me feel! I could not finish my dinner. It was really bad.

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DON and a lunch date with Matt Preston

by jeroxie October 4, 2009

Coming from Singapore, the only dried sausage I knew was lup cheong (dried Chinese sausage made from pork and spices). I remembered the first time I met DON was during mytime at University where I had to come up with an advertising campaign for the brand. This was my first introduction to Salami and DON. So when I received the invite from Nuffnang & DON to attend an event to celebrate Salamis of the World, I was over the moon! Not only I can eat and learn more about Salami from DON’s fleischmeister (or known as ‘meat master’), Gerhard Feiner, I get to meet the big man, Matt Preston.

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My version of fish otak

by jeroxie July 24, 2009

Alright back to my dish. Did a little research and came up with my own version as usual. Fish Otak is very popular in Singapore & Malaysia. I remember growing up buying & eating spicy grilled fish otak from the roadside Malay mamak and just eating it there and then.Reminancing it, I can almost feel and taste the char flavoured from the makeshift charcoal grill and the spicy fish mixture generously wrapped in the banana leaf and held by toothpicks at each end. There are a couple of options – mild or very hot. Guess which I choose all the time

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Warm & comforting – Ox cheek stew

by jeroxie July 9, 2009

Winter is the best time for having stews. I got ourselves some ox cheek at the market over the weekend. This cut is really tough and therefore needs to be slow cooked. I decided to use one of my ragu recipes. This recipe is really simple and it turned out pretty ok.

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Goat gerlami risotto with wild mushrooms & nettles

by jeroxie July 5, 2009

It is always exciting to get home from the market armed with new ingredients and recipe ideas! Never had nettles nor goat gerlami ( the name of the stall holder is Gerry and it is a salami so he named it Gerlami) before. We love chorizo risotto so I figured I could use the goat gerlami. And since wild mushroom has a really deep earthy taste, it should be able to compliment the dish.

3 comments Full article here