Preparing meals in the kitchen can be one of the most "
headache" household chores for modern working mothers/ladies. The thoughts of having to clean up the greasy kitchen top, cooking utensils, floor and etc always make it a "
OFF MODE" no matter how enthusiastic or simple the meal(s) can be.
For me, even though I might love to experiment different dishes or bakes in the kitchen, still I would always go for simple and easy to prepare recipes with either steamed or oven baked method if I am not using my reliable
Happy Call Pan.
IKEA always has a wide range of kitchen products such as cookwares, ovenwares, utensils, food storage and etc. And recently I have just got a set of this 365+ Pot, boiling insert as well as steamer insert to replace my old soup pot in order to help me reduce the time in preparing quick and healthier meals within 30 minutes to an hour.
For more information and prices of the above-mentioned, please refer to the review HERE.
HUAI SHAN, LOTU ROOTS AND SWEETCORN CHICKEN SOUP
As you can see from the photo above, I have use the IKEA 365+ pot to boil soup and stack up the Stabil steamer insert half way through in order to steam the egg dish while I could continue to boil the soup at the same time. And by the end of 30 - 35 minutes, we able to enjoy simple and yet delicious homecook food without any hassle or greasy kitchen floor. (less washing to be done too)
(Serves: 2-3 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 30 minutes)
Ingredients:
2 Chicken Drumsticks, skin removed
150g Huai Shan, skin removed
150g Lotus Root, skin removed, sliced
1 Sweet Corn, Cut into section, halved
100g Pumpkin(optional), skin removed cut into thick wedges
6 Big Red Dates
Some Fresh Gingko Nuts, Optional
Method:-
1. Fill the IKEA 365+ pot with water to about 1.5 litre mark and bring it to boil. At the meantime blanched chicken in another saucepan for about 2 - 3 minutes, remove and rinse well. Set aside.
2. When the water comes to boil in the soup pot, add in all ingredients except pumpkin(add only at the last 10 - 15 minutes of cooking time), put the lid(don't worry it would not overflow due to the steam vent ventilation) on and let it boil on medium heat for about 3 minutes, lower the heat and simmer the soup mixture for 30 minutes and season to taste with salt before serving.
OR
3. Simmer the soup for about 15 minutes, remove the lid, drop in the pumpkin and stack up the STABIL
Steamer insert on top, place the prepared steamed egg mixture and steamed on medium low heat for 13 - 15 minutes till done.
STEAMED EGG WITH MINCED MEAT
There are quiet a few ways which you can prepared this steamed egg dish using different ingredients which you prefer. Example:- you can do a seafood steamed egg using fish fillet or flower crab(recipe), firm tofu(recipe), ginseng(recipe), salted and century egg plus many other combinations. For this recipe, I am preparing my mum's version of "Steamed Egg with Minced Meat and Century Egg" which she always prepared for us.
(Make: 5" x 5" Square | Preparation: 5 minutes | Cooking: 13 - 15 minutes)
Ingredients:
2 (55g) Egg
1 Century Egg, cut into small cubes
1.5 Tablespoon Marinated Minced Meat, optional
100ml Drinking Water
1/2 Tablespoon Of Wolfberries
Some Chopped Spring Onion, Chilli and Shallot Oil
Method:-
1. If you are using minced meat, spread the mixture evenly at the base of the steaming bowl/plate.
2. Lightly whisk/beat the eggs in a bowl, add in 100ml of drinking water and continue to beat till combined.
3. Using a strainer, strain the egg mixture into the prepared steaming bowl. Scatter wolfberries on top, using heatproof cling wrap cover the top of the bowl leaving a small gap at one of the corner to prevent water droplets during steaming.
4. Place the bowl on the steamer rack, cover the lid and steam on medium low heat together with the soup(below) for about 13 - 15(with meat) minutes.
5. Remove the steamed egg together with the steamer and garnish egg dish with some extra chopped spring onion, shallot oil and chilli. Serve together with soup and steamed rice.
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Note:-
~ If you are not using marinated minced meat, add about 1/2 teaspoon of chicken stock powder into your egg mixture at step 2 to season your dish.
STEAMED EGG CAKE
(Ji Dan Gao - 鸡蛋糕)
Steamed Egg Cake can be consider as one of the easiest and yet tricky traditional steamed cake which requires a few simple ingredients such as Eggs, Flour, Sugar and carbonated Beverage like Cream Soda or 7-Up that act as a leavening agent for the cake.
(Makes: 14 cupcake size | Preparation: 15 minutes | Cooking Time: 25 minutes)
Ingredients:
3 (55g) Eggs
160g Caster Sugar
170g Cake Flour Or All Purpose Plain Flour
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
60ml 7-Up or Cream Soda
1/2 - 3/4 Teaspoon of Pandan Paste, optional
Method:-
1. Please refer to my previous Steamed Egg Cake post for the step-by-step preparation method HERE.
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Tips:-
~ Adding extra pandan leaves in the boiling water will enhance the aroma and flavour of the steamed cake.
~ By adding 1/2 - 3/4 Teaspoon of Pandan Paste to the cake batter will help to enhance the colour as well as get ride of the strong "egg" smell/taste from the steamed egg cake, leaving in jade green in colour with fragrant pandan(also known as screwpine) aroma.
Lastly I hope you would find this post useful if you do own a stock pot with steamer rack so that at least you can have an idea on how to prepare more than 1 dish at the same time to maximum the usage of time and the cookware. Till then, cya on the next post.