Thai Style Curry Chicken Meatloaf

A meatloaf is my fall back meal plan. It’s one of my favourite “anything goes” meals- AND I can make that in bulk. Usually two meat loaves = at least 4 meals.

You can tell from the photos that I had no intention of taking them. But when I tasted it, I thought it was so good that I have to share.

Having some curry paste in my fridge and left over kaffir lime leaves, I marinated chicken mince with both ingredients, stick it to the oven for 45 minutes and dinner done. And lunch, and another dinner, and another lunch.

Simple is good no?

Thai Style Curry Chicken Meatloaf (makes 1 loaf)
500 grams chicken mince
3 tablespoon of thai red curry paste
8 kaffir lime leave chopped
1 tablespoon of garlic
1 onion chopped
1 egg
1/2 cup of almond meal

Preheat Oven 200C
Mix it all together. Place in lined loaf pan. Stick it into the oven for 30 minutes, check, turn and cook it for another 15 minutes or so. Serve with veges.

Honey Nut Cake

Being healthy, and having fitness as a goal does not mean we go without our treats. Saturdays are my days where I tend to “cheat“- no, not cheating my hubby of course. I mean having treats. If I want the lemon meringue pie, I am enjoying every single bite of it. Pad Thai? bring it on.

Because I believe food and nutrition need to have some balance. I was so tired of living the life of guilt in food. Sure, I still have the scales. And yes, I’m slowing weaning myself from stepping on the scales too often (it started from day to day, now it’s weekly..and hopefully fortnightly, and then… who knows).

However, on some week nights or on Sundays…when we have friends pop over, and I do not feel like having a “treat treat” but still want to share a slice of cake with them, I like to experiment and make something that I can have and still know that it is full of nutrition and not sugar. So they are our week day or Sunday treats. 😉

I’m actually really surprised by this coffee honey cake- would you believe we got away with just TWO tablespoon of honey? Since it serves at least 8 people- it really isn’t heaps when divided to single serves.  This is a very simple cake to make- a tea cake perhaps.

And they will never know that it is a healthy treat.

Honey Nut Cake
1/2 cup of coffee (instant expresso and water)
2.5 cups of Almond meal
1/2 tsp of sea salt
1/2 tsp of bicarb soda
2 tsp of cinnamon
1tsp of mixed spice
2 eggs
1/2 cup of olive oil
2 tablespoons of honey
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

Line 9 inch round cake tin with baking paper. Preheat oven to 180C.

Mix almond meal, salt, bicarb soda, cinnamon and baking soda in a bowl. In a jug, whisk eggs, coffee and honey together. Pour wet to dry and fold in. Fold in walnuts last. Serve with a dollop of greek yogurt (with a squeeze of lemon juice) or some cream.

Pulled Pork with Mashed Cauliflower and “BBQ sauce”

I have only recently discovered the beauty of pulled pork. Slow cooked melt in your mouth shredded pork served in a sandwich or by itself. The best thing about this dish is that it’s simple to cook, and all it need is a good slow cooker or the use of the oven.

You can choose to cook the pork in the sauce but because I am oven roasting it, I chose to make my own sauce, simmering it for 30 minutes or so. It is definitely a Sunday “weekend” kinda of meal as the meat took 4-6 hours to cook! Nonetheless, I squeal in delight when the pork pulled away.

The other dish that I love was mashed cauliflower. No one told me that mashed cauliflower could taste so good!! I blitz it up in the food processor and had it with the pulled pork and “bbq” sauce. It’s nearly like mashed potato-only better.

Pulled Pork with Mashed Cauliflower and “BBQ sauce” (Serves 6-8)
1.8kg of pork shoulder
1/2 cup of stock
2 tsp of salt, pepper and olive oil

Preheat Oven 230C.
Pat dry the pork shoulder. Season with oil, salt and pepper. Place on baking tray. Pour stock into the base of the pan. Roast on high for 2 hours. Then change it to 150C and slow cook for another 2-3 hours preferably as long as you can till the meat tears away.

“BBQ sauce”
2 cans of tomato sauce
2 tsp of grainy mustard
1 tsp of honey
1/2 cup of white wine
1 cup of stock

Simmer everything for 30 minutes till it thickens.

Mashed Cauliflower
2 heads of cauliflower
salt pepper
olive oil

Cook cauliflower in boiling water till done. Drain and blitz it with salt and olive oil. Serve with the above.

Flourless Banana Blueberry Chocolate Chunk Muffins

So a friend came to visit from Singapore recently. A childhood friend to be exact. My mother and grandmother made a request if they could forward a package to me via him. That turned out to be a 5 kg box of clothes, happy call pan (yay!), sponges (?) and ceramic knives.

Blessed my mum and grandma!

So as a huge thank you to our friend. I made him and his family a batch of my chocolate brownies and these pretty muffins. They are quite addictive I have to say. It’s flour less but honestly, I think they are better. This was actually a loaf made into muffins.  I left the banana chunky which is the way I like it, and the blueberries are just a nice added touch.

Flourless Banana Blueberry Chocolate Chunk Muffins (around 10 muffins)
1.5 cups of Almond Meal
4 eggs
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup of organic coconut sugar (or use 2 tablespoon of honey)
3 medium bananas roughly mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of blueberries
1/2 cup of dark choc chunks

Preheat Oven 180C.
Mash banana, olive oil, eggs, sugar, extract together. Mix almond meal, cinnamon, baking powder, salt together. Fold wet to dry and add blueberries and chocolate chunks. Spoon into muffin trays and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Chocolate Hazelnut Butter

I can so eat this by the spoonful. I must be working my food processor overtime with all the nuts I am blending. Never thought it can be so fun figuring out what nut butter should I make next.

I wouldn’t call this nutella, I can’t seem to get a very smooth consistency with the blitzing of hazelnuts. It does have a bite to it which I quite enjoy. I tried to use almond milk to make it creamier, which it did but I’m guessing I did not add enough of it. Nevertheless, this is a very good dip or pair it with some fruit, or do what I do, which is to eat it by the spoonful!

Chocolate Hazelnut Butter
2 cups of hazelnuts-preferably roasted to release more oil
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
1 tsp of honey or organic coconut sugar
1/2 cup of almond milk
2 or 3 tsp of cacao powder

Blitz hazelnuts for as long as it takes to make it into a butter. Add in coconut oil to make it smooth, followed by almond milk. Add cacao powder. Taste and add some sugar if required or honey. Eat!

Miso Carrot Soup

The weather is warming up but I’m still in a very soupy mode. There is just something comforting about soup. Maybe it’s because I grow up drinking different kinds of soups, or perhaps inherently, I am reaching out for something that helps me feel comforted.

Everyone go through difficult or  challenging times. For me, a good workout, a laugh with my girlfriends, snuggling up to my hubby, reading magazines or books, baking, cooking or having a warm bowl of soup and more importantly quiet time with my heavenly father are all activities I do to make me feel better.

This soup is rich and comforting for sure. Blended carrots make such a creamy sweet soup. I totally can’t get enough of eating this. I made this version with miso but I’m thinking it will do very well with a dash of sour cream.

Now, a word of warning though, be careful after blending this soup and re heating it. It can make a messy kitchen! Nothing like cleaning to make it therapeutic right?

Miso Carrot Soup (serves 6)
2 red onions chopped
1.5 kg of carrots chopped
1 bunch of celery chopped
2 tablespoon of miso paste
2 litres of chicken stock
water if needed

Saute red onions and cook till soft. Add carrots and celery with chicken stock. Cook till done and then blend the soup up. Return to pot and add miso paste. Season, taste and serve.

Almond and Vanilla “Scones”

Theresa Cutter is one of my favourite chefs. Her recipes on Home and Garden, and on her websites are a godsend. They are easy, and most of all, very lean and clean.

I spotted her version of scones on her website and couldn’t help but make them. It actually came up more like a huge biscuit and not your traditional scones texture. They are gluten and grain free which is what I like about them. Oh and they are melt and mix recipes. Best of all, pretty low in sugar and a very nice after dinner treat on my weeknights.

Baking these days are a combination of usual treats and experimenting with almond and coconut flour. Both ingredients that seem so alien to me. I’m pleasantly surprised though by how successful it can be!

Almond and Vanilla “Scones” 
3 cups of almond flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup of coconut oil-melted
1 tsp of vanilla extract
2 eggs

Preheat Oven to 150C. Mix almond flour and baking powder together. Whisk all the other ingredients and pour into well of dry ingredients. Mix into a soft dough- add a little water if needed. You can choose to flour the surface, and roll it out. However, I just shaped them in my hands. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool. Enjoy!

Ginger Wine Chicken

Back in 2008, I made my first ginger chicken. Since then, I have been adapting and adjusting this recipe. It hasn’t changed much, but I really like it with chicken thighs-maybe for its tenderness than drumsticks for some reason. The addition of spring onions is good too.

I “inherited” a clay pot when a friend of mine returned back to Singapore. What a gem I thought!! The use of a clay pot makes such a difference. It retain heat and adds a lovely flavour to this stew. Perfect for winter!

I used Stones ginger wine to make this dish. While it is not “authentic” in the sense of making the ginger wine by myself, it is a good compromise. The more I stewed this dish, the better it taste, but I cannot resist adding an additional dash of ginger wine before serving for a stronger taste.

The most funny thing was, back in 2008, I forgot the black fungus. guess what? I forgot it this round too!

Ginger Wine Chicken 
600 grams of chicken thigh diced
1 tablespoon of garlic
5 generous slices of ginger
1.5 cup of ginger wine
1 cup of chicken stock
small bunch of spring onions
10 chinese mushrooms hydrated and sliced
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of sesame oil

saute garlic and ginger. Brown chicken in claypot. Simmer in stock and wine for 20 minutes or so. Add in mushrooms at the 10 minute mark for it to absorb all the beautiful flavours. Season with salt and sesame oil. Toss in spring onions at the last minute. If you like, add a dash of ginger wine before serving and a little drizzle of more sesame oil.