Back to School Series... Simple Sides

Meals aren't usually complete without rounding it out with vegetables, grains and salads on the side. I find sides are a perfect and safe way to introduce your family to a variety of new foods with different flavours and textures. Since you already have a steady main course you know the family will eat, sides allow you to experiment more liberally with ingredients such as unfamiliar vegetables and grains, herbs, sauces and yes, spices and their levels. As I said in my meal post, I hope you discover or rediscover recipes here which are sure winners in my home that will fit your dinner menu and satisfies your family's tastes. Get inspired!

Soups

A great hot soothing beginner course or a side to accompany the rest of the meal.

Hot and Sour Soup - a tasty harmony created from hot and sour notes. The delicious secret... toban djan- a specialized Szechuan sauce blending chilis and fermented beans. TIP: You can use vegetable broth to make it truly vegetarian! And adjust the level of spice to suit your taste.

If your kids don't like to see chunks in their soup, try the humble Split Pea Soup loaded with vegetables. Once its put in the blender or a hand blender gets to it, bye bye vegetables!

Salads

Greek Dill Quinoa Salad is a refreshing bed of both romaine and mixed greens topped with textured nutty grains of superfood quinoa and a medley of crunchy colourful vegetables dressed with garlicky lemony dill. If you like quinoa, try Simple Cranberry Quinoa Salad and Black Bean Quinoa Salad. Making homemade buttermilk dressing is a cinch and contains ingredients you can pronounce. Try this alternative delicious green salad to accompany your dinner: Garden Salad with Buttermilk Dressing.

Greek Dill Quinoa Salad

Two Chinese-inspired salads I love to make for the family are Spicy Bean Curd Salad and Enoki Mushroom Cucumber Salad. Both are refreshing and textural; feel free to omit or adjust the spiciness of the chili oil in the first to appeal to your family's taste.

Enoki Mushroom Cucumber Salad

Sublime Avocado with Onions A great side for Italian, Mexican and Mediterranean meals! Ripe avocado slices are simply dressed with finely chopped onions, a heavy drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil, generous splashes of lime juice, freshly ground pepper and pinches of coarse gourmet salt such as fleur de sel. All it takes is five minutes- how's that for fast and simple! 

Stir-Fries

So easy to prepare for Asian meals, stir fries will become a mainstay side when you find a few favourites with ingredients you can change up for something new on the table!

Stir-Fried Snow Pea Shoots and Garlic
Essentially the base recipe to make other fabulous stir-fry greens such as bak choy, choy sum, watercress and celery. TIP: Just make sure the vegetable is cooked close to tender or wilts before adding the garlic so that the garlic doesn't overcook and will add the proper fragrant accent to the dish!

Stir-Fried Purple Beans They're green you say? Hmm..Check it out!

Spicy Stir-Fried Cabbage The flavours here uses Szechuan peppercorns and chilis. It could be a pleasant dish to try with the family in low doses of heat. My kids could eat fairly spicy now and its because I slowly crept up the spiciness once I knew they could tolerate the last dosage.





Pan-Fried and Pancakes

Kimchi Pancakes Crispy with caramelized bits on the outside, mildly spicy, slightly crunchy and chewy on the inside... It can be served as an appetizer, or a side accompaniment to a Korean meal such as BBQ meats and lettuce wraps. My twins enjoy eating kimchi on it's own but in small doses with rice; when they are served in a pancake, they can woof those things down easy.

Zucchini Fritters These are definitely crowd-pleasers for the old and young alike! It's a great way to get in a lot of the nutritious vegetable (you use 3) in such a fun and tasty format, which can be attempted to win over a picky eater.

Enoki Mushroom Mini Omelets

Asian-Inspired

Grilled Yakitori Chicken Hearts

Yes, a meat can be a side too! This exotic meat skewers may not be for the faint at heart (pardon the pun), but try the marinade on more familiar meats such as chicken thighs, steak cubes, pork sausages, you name it... I've also done it with chicken gizzards!When you're thinking of bringing in a new ingredient to your regular meals, always try to adapt it in a dish or format your family is already enjoying. In my case, my kids can eat anything off a stick; if that didn't work with chicken hearts, then I guess the next bet was stir-fry.




Pan-Fried "Steak" Tofu with Mushrooms Full on flavour and a great main or side dish to accompany any Asian meal! This pan-fried tofu dish with the duo topping of Japanese mushrooms really makes this extraordinary. Another super thing is that firm tofu could nicely replace the meat in your meal as it is high in protein (the highest in tofu types) and the texture is quite hearty and unyielding- think "steak" tofu.

Seasoned Sesame Spinach - A great Korean banchan to go with rice!

Extend the flavours of summer with two brush-on sauces on corn on the cob in Grilled Coriander Lime Corn Cob.

Comfort 

Grilled Zucchini with Garlic
With zucchini, simple is best, like I found with this incredibly easy recipe with just good EV olive oil, garlic and coarse salt with flavourful results! Indeed a perfect veggie side to go with pasta and hamburgers!!

Baked Scalloped Potatoes- a great side for a meaty main!

When you've got lots of spinach on-hand, give this delicious Creamed Spinach with Bacon recipe a go. Nice to accompany a meat main and stirred into a pasta sauce.

Roasted Cauliflower

Oven-roasting vegetables is a snap. Simply toss your vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper and some dried herbs such as thyme or oregano; spread them on a foil-lined oven pan and let bake at 425F until caramelized. I like to use my toaster oven as the amount of vegetable it holds is just right and to save on electricity. I've done asparagus, broccoli and cauliflower this way! And my kids love it!







Next up... Breakfast ideas that are fast and nutritious to get your kids through the morning...

Back to School Series- Meal Mains...

Okay... how did summer seem to come and go with the blink of an eye? Now back-to-school routine is around the corner, which means a flurry of activities from tight morning schedules to getting our kids up, dressed, fed and out the door to being picked up on time, preparing dinner, eating, homework, bath, bed.. whew... just to have it start all over the next day and the next... From today and through to next week, I will be posting family-friendly food ideas to get you thinking about meal-times from mains, sides and breakfast... nutritious and appetizing... 

To start, here is a collection of some of my gang's favourite mains and additional organization tips that helps you prepare in advance to save you precious time; I hope you find something here that inspires your dinnertime repertoire to get you and your family through one of the busiest weeks of the year...

Chicken

You can never have too many dinner ideas for the most popular meat and versatile chicken. In general, cooking with a whole chicken, drumsticks and wings makes it more economical. These recipes are mainly Asian-inspired, and see how a delicious chicken roast can easily turn into three nights worth of dinners.

From top left clockwise to bottom: Hainese Poached Chicken;  Five-Spiced Chicken Wings; Pang Pang Noodles with Chicken; Roast Chicken and Double Soy Sauce Chicken Drumsticks

Meaty Mains

Savoury Mushroom Salisbury Steak Ground beef is cheap and plentiful. TIP: The meat mixture can be prepared the night before and formed into patties on a plate, covered and refrigerated- ready for you when you are!

Grilled Dijon Rubbed Ribs

Slow-cooker Jamaican Oxtails
TIP: Do it easy by using a slow-cooker. Toss all your ingredients in the slow-cooker and set it on low before you jet to work and come home to an insanely aromatic kitchen and fall-off-the-bone tender oxtails to devour. 






Fish Fan Fare 

Aren't we all looking for ways to incorporate more omega-rich fish in our diets? Give cheap-cut salmon trimmings a try to make salmon with garlic, and if you have leftovers or a piece of salmon on-hand, make tasty breaded fish patties with tofu to double your family's dose on health!



Salmon with Garlic
Salmon and Tofu Patties

Chinese Fried Fish

Pan-fried Mini Fish Omelets- so simple and so good! TIP: Thaw frozen white fish fillets such as basa or tilapia the night before. If you got an egg, some corn starch/flour, you've got yourself this fish dish in 30 minutes!



One Pot Wonders

Cook everything in one pot or skillet, and you've got only one to wash! How's that for meal motivation?

Japanese Curry In a Hurry
Japanese curry is often sold in a package with convenient dry blocks to break the portions into your cooked meal to make a versatile sauce. Today I used leftover ground beef and corn, cooked this sauce with it and served it over udon noodles. TIP: Serve sauce over rice, with bread, as a topping in noodle soup or get creative- you can't go wrong!

Macaroni in Pork Bones Soup

Asian-Spiced Salmon Rice (Kedgeree)  A healthy and beautiful basmati rice dish with salmon and eggs. You've got a wonderful meal in easily less than an hour! 

Another easy eats rice dish to try is Chinese Sticky Rice. TIP: Prepare your ingredients by cutting them and soaking the rice the night before. A quick stir-fry and the 1-1/2 hours steam allows you to get other things done. Before you know it, a fragrant pot of rice awaits you.

Shepherd's Pie

Some great one skillet noodle and pasta dishes to try are: Thai Basil Noodle with Peanut Sauce and Garlicky Basil Pasta.

Customized Family Fare

These are just fun eats and lets your kids do-it-themselves to whatever they please. They say when kids gets their hands in preparing their food, they are more likely to eat it. TIP: Just chop/slice all your vegetables, and slice/marinate your meats the night before to make cooking a cinch the next day.

Mexican Chicken and Steak Fajitas

Mexican Beef Tacos

Homemade Pizzas

Comfort
This category was labelled as such as these dishes bring comfort and nostalgic memories for me and now I am passing them along to my kids. I hope they will nourish your family as much as they do mine. 

Simmered Beef and Tofu  This satisfying recipe features a richly flavoured beef and onion topping nestled in soft tofu with earthy shiitake mushrooms. Served over hot rice, the beautiful flavours are soaked up and instantly becomes more irresistible and full-filling with each bite.

Classic Chinese Tomato and Egg Stir-frying tomatoes and eggs together is a quick and satisfying staple in Chinese home cooking. Juicy tomatoes mingle with softly scrambled eggs in a saucy dish that's scrumptious over rice and what I classify as "easy eats" as it's easy to shovel down and finish before you know it!

Big Batch Cooking

These recipes are great for the weekend when you have a bit more time on your hands to make lots more so you can freeze them away to take-out for dinner nights when you're on a time crunch.

Mamma Mia Meatballs TIP: Double or triple the meatball recipe and freeze them on a flat tray for one hour before placing them in a freezer bag to store. Serve it in tomato sauce or make a cream sauce and eat along with your favourite pasta!

Pork, Shrimp and Chives Dumplings  Lots of tips in this dumplings 101

Wonton Noodle Soup This is my ultimate heaven-in-a-bowl comfort food.TIP: Place a plastic wrap on the bottom of a Tupperware or reusable plastic container. Lay the extra wontons in a single layer. Then, cover with plastic wrap to add a second layer. Place another plastic wrap before closing with lid. Can be frozen for two months if properly sealed. Yum- wontons to tap into at your whim!






Next up... my selection of family-friendly sides to go with your every meal! 

Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup (Samgyetang)...

We've recently had a few days of very hot weather and this revered medicinal Korean soup was lingering on my mind to make. Samgyetang is a celebrated one-of-a kind traditional Korean soup as it originated in royal and upper-class kitchens. Considered a summer dish, it is eaten in restaurants and in the homes during the hottest days to help deal with the heat. It also makes a wonderful meal when you're fighting off a cold or flu. Ginseng (insam) is one of Korea's most famous products with its rejuvenating properties valued as a booster for the immune system. A source of energy and vitality, it also promotes longevity and increases libido. The best grade is fresh cream-coloured wild ginseng roots; it tastes like a bitter parsnip with a hint of sweetness and is usually blended for drinks and used for cooking. 

Traditionally, each small whole chicken is boiled in its own clay pot over the stove, then served boiling hot, directly at the table. Koreans will break up the chicken and rice in the pot so that it becomes a porridge. I prefer to serve it intact with everyone helping themselves from the pot, taking a little of everything and spooning the rich broth over the chicken. The jujubes (properties alleviates stress and prevents aging) provide a touch of contrasting sweetness to the chicken, rice and ginseng. If you don't have ginseng and jujubes, just the duo of protein-rich chicken and a handful of antioxidant-rich, anti-inflammatory and heart-healthy garlic will do wonders for you! Either way, the resulting tender garlic-accented meat, is not only healthy and nourishing, it's incredibly intoxicating and delicious!

Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup
Makes 1 complete serving or for sharing

1 small chicken or Cornish rock hen (fresh or frozen, thawed)

1/3 cup of glutinous rice (sweet rice), well rinsed and soaked in water to cover for one hour, drained

1 or 2 small pieces of ginseng root, each 2 inches long (look for it in the refrigerated section in Korean grocers)         *Note: flavour of ginseng can be strong for kids. Use 1 in the soup and not in stuffing.
a few jujubes (dried Chinese or Korean dates), hydrated in water to cover for 1/2 hour, drained

1/2 dozen cloves of garlic, halved lengthwise
1 green onion, chopped

Ginseng has been known for its healing properties for 5000 years.

Wash and rinse your chicken and its cavity in cold running water. Drain. Stuff the chicken with the rice, a ginseng root (optional), a few jujubes, and 3-4 cloves of garlic. Place it in a small pot or individual clay pot with the remaining ginseng, jujubes and garlic on top.

Pour water into the pot, cover and boil it over high heat for 20 minutes. When it starts boiling, skim off any foam and fat that rises to the surface Then pour in more water and cook over medium heat for 40 minutes. Place a fork under the lid and watch for spillage. When ready, top with green onions to serve.  

Eat with rice and a variety of banchan. Serve meat dipped in salt and pepper.

If you're looking for an alternative medicinal soup to strengthen the immune system, a famous tasty Chinese one to try is Black Chicken Tonic Soup.

Two Ways with Enoki Mushrooms...

I've always liked the cute look of enoki mushrooms- an army of thin white threads standing at attention together, small and large all bursting out with their heads resembling bobble-like caps. My kids were always curious when they saw me preparing them in the kitchen. Now when they catch their glimpse, they just say "oh I know that!"

In Japan, they are known as enokitake which means "under the snow". An ideal diet food, it contains no calories, is rich in fibre and has a surprisingly high vegetable protein of 5%. Because enoki mushrooms has very little flavour of its own but absorbs the flavours of other ingredients, it mixes well with almost anything. They don't hold up well to heat, but it doesn't mean you can't be innovative in working with its delicate nature such as pan-frying, grilling, steaming and adding in soups near to the end.


Here are two recipes I like to make for the family which you can serve as an appetizer or simple sides to accompany an Asian meal.






Shopping at Asian supermarkets, you may have encountered sweet ladies cooking up these simple but tasty omelets as a cooking demo and for sampling. It really is so easy to do at home.

Enokitake Mini Omelets
Makes about 15 minis

3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. cooking wine
1 package enoki mushrooms, roots chopped and discarded, and chopped into thirds
1 green onion, green parts only, thinly sliced
salt and ground white pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. oil

Whisk eggs and cooking wine in a bowl with a fork; add mushrooms and onions. Salt and pepper to taste and stir well.

Preheat a non-stick skillet on medium heat and drizzle a 1/2 Tbsp. oil. Spoon the mixture onto the skillet in several places- do not overcrowd. Once the omelet is golden brown on one side about one minute, flip it over and fry it on the other side, pressing down slightly with spatula. Working in two batches, it should yield about 15 mini omelets. 

Delicate tasting omelets with a slight springy mouthfeel of mushrooms.

The tangy savoury garlicky profile of this second enoki mushroom dish got me hooked when I first tried it at a Northern Chinese eatery. A simple but refreshingly good salad to try at home!

Enokitake Cucumber Salad

Makes 4 servings

2 packages enoki mushrooms, roots chopped and discarded

1 large cucumber, quartered, thinly sliced then cut into strips (set the cucumbers over a colander tossed with 1/2 tsp. of salt. Let water drain for five minutes. Squeeze out excess water)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. rice vinegar

1 tsp. mirin or 1 tsp. cooking wine and 1/4 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. soy sauce

salt and ground black pepper to taste

sesame oil

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Pull apart the mushrooms to separate them at the base; blanch in water for one minute, give it a stir then drain in a colander. Fill a basin with cold water and add the drained mushrooms to remove some of their "slimy" texture. Strain in colander and squeeze well to remove excess water before placing in a bowl along with the prepared cucumbers.

Mix the vinegar, mirin, soy sauce, salt and pepper in a bowl and toss with salad. Then add the garlic and give it another toss before chilling in fridge for one hour upon serving. Drizzle with sesame oil.

Reminds me of a vegetarian version of jellyfish and cucumber salad! Yummy!