Bento #10 - Simple Meal, Interesting Art

After so many days of heavy meals during Chinese New Year, I can't think of what to cook or eat for Sunday dinner. So after much struggling and thoughts, Reyon suggest that he wanted a sea creature themes on noodles. So I run through my bento accessories boxes in the pantry and come up with this....... "Seafood Noodles".


A simple Instant Noodle can be turn into an interesting meal if you put in some time and effort. It took me and Reyon about 30 minutes or less to come up with it. First, I use a small non-stick saucepan to cook the omelet and I fill it with water and start cooking the noodles while Reyon helps me to cut out the fishes from the omelet and ham. When the noodles is cooking, I cut out the Octopus and Crabs from mini hotdog. Next I removed the cooked noodles and place it on one side of the plate, then I blanched the broccoli using the same water for a while till half cooked, removed and arrange at one side to form as the water plants.

Next I throw in the cut ham, octopus and crab and cooked until done. Removed the arrange everything on the plate with the noodles then place some black sesame as the eyes of the sea creatures. If you don't have black sesame seeds you can replace it with cut seaweed sheet.

Related Topic:
1. Seafood Melody

Cod & Wolfberries Porridge

Cook this quick and easy nutritious porridge for our dinner. I have turned this simple dish into two version that suits both kid and adult. I cooked the porridge with some wolfberries until almost done then I add in the half-cooked pan-fry cod fish and continue to simmer till done.

Wolfberries can strengthens our body and bones, supplements kidneys and energy, nurses liver and clarifies eyes. It also cultivates energy and aids yang bodies, moistness lungs and stops coughing. Whereas Cod is a popular fish with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense white flesh that flakes easily. The use of cod fillet is to prevent bone that might be found inside the fillet and cause hazard to kid when they consume.

If your kid is not fancy of eating fish, this is a good dish which i find it suitable to incorporate fish into their meal, as the porridge is ready to be serve, you can just check for bone in the fillet then mash it together with the porridge and feed the kid, the texture and colour of the cod fillet blend well with the porridge and the kid don't really notice the existing of the fish...... :)

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1/2 - 3/4 cup of uncooked rice
1 Medium Size Cod Fillet, around 100 - 120g
1/2 Tablespoon of Wolfberries, rinse
600ml - 700ml Water
1 Century Egg, roughly chopped

Methods:
1) Wash the rice and soaked it with the require amount of water for about 30 minutes before cooking so that the texture of the porridge will be nicer and easier to cook through.
2) Next cook the porridge accordingly. While cooking the porridge, rinse, check for bones and marinate the cod fillet with some soy sauce, pepper and dust with some cornflour.
3) Next heat up a non-stick pan and lightly grease it with some oil then pan-fry the cod fillet, skin side down for about 2 minutes till sightly brown on both sides. (the purpose of pan-fry the cod fillet is to keep it whole while adding into the porridge and also the oil of the cod fillet will actually enhance the favour of the porridge)
4. Remove the half-cooked fillet and set aside.
5. When the porridge is half-way done (you can test by press the grain of the rice to see whether is it soft), put in the cod fillet and wolfberries and continue to simmer till the porridge is done.
6. If the content is too dry, you can add in more HOT water to dilute to the texture that you prefer. (usual I use my themo magic cooker to make the porridge as it require lesser time and it also able to keep the porridge warm till we are ready to consume)
7. When the porridge is ready to serve, remove the kid's portion of the porridge, add in some mashed code fillet(you can mash the cod fillet a separate bowl in order to check for bones) and serve warm.
8. As for the adult, you can add in the century eggs and serve with some shallot oil, pepper and etc....

Note:
a) If you prefer to add more fish, you can choose a bigger portion.
b) The use of the century egg is optional if you don't prefer.

You can also check on my other recipes using which use Cod Fillet @ COD RECIPES.

Quick & Easy Toddler Meal

It had being a long long time since I post something on Toddler food, actually there is nothing fancy on this dish. I use the same old mix vegetables stock to make either noodle, porridge or rice for Reyon whenever he requested for it. For this post i just want to share with you the cute fish cake that I spot in the wet market today. Although it look kind of out of shape for some of the design...i still cannot figure out is it a MOUSE? BEAR or ???? Can you figure out what animal is it? But then it's rather cheap compare to the Hello Kitty design fish cake that is sold in some of the supermarket..... The packet that I got is about $2 for 15 mini fishcake.

Danish Bread With Egg & Cheese

The texture of Danish Pastry is very similar to puff pastry's: flaky and buttery. Its main ingredients include yeast, flour, milk, and lots and lots of butter. To produce the trademark flaky texture, the dough is spread out thinly over a wide surface while generous amounts of butter is applied evenly on all areas, after which the dough is folded systematically and rolled. This tedious process is repeated several more times to achieve the flaky and buttery effect. Wow... these sounds tedious if making I am going to make this Bread at home but since I am not good at bread making, I decided to get a loaf of Danish Bread from the bakery instead :p


So for today's breakfast, we will have Danish Bread with Egg & Cheese. I just love the crispy and buttery fragrant of the bread when toasted..... it's so yummy no matter what you eat it with.... :)

Ingredients: (serves 2)
4 Slices of Danish Bread
2 Slices of Sandwich Cheese
2 Small/Medium Egg
2 Slices of Ham, optional

Methods:
1. Use a medium size cookie cutter to cut out a shape on two slices of bread and set aside.
2. Place 1 piece of bread on a square piece of foil which is slightly bigger than the bread so that you can wrap the 4 corners up when toasting.
3. Place the cheese and ham(if using) on the bread and top with another bread that is with a cut-out.
4. Crack the egg in a small bowl then slowly spoon it into the bread opening.
5. Next wrapped up the 4 corners of the bread and toast it in the oven toaster for about 5 - 8 minutes depend on how well you want the egg to be done.
6. When done, remove the toasted bread onto a serving plate and sprinkler some dried parsley and pepper then serve it with extra fruits or tomato if desire.

Notes:
a) You can use any kind of bread towards your liking or in your pantry.
b) Try to choose those thicker bread if not, you will need 3 slices so that the egg white will not overflow.

Winnie The Pooh English Breakfast

How will you react if you are serve with this Set of Assorted Pooh Design Breakfast during Sunday Morning. I am sure no matter if you are an adult or kid, you will definitely be delighted to see this and it will bring smile on your face for the rest of the day. But out of this set, I am still not perfect in the Pooh Sunny Egg because I don't really know how to handle the mould well to make the egg in good shape....... :(


I made these for Reyon this morning and the 1st reaction he had when he sees this is "Wow!!!! So many Bear Bear!!!!" I used the Pooh Bread Cutter for the Toast, the Pooh Egg Ring Mould for the Sunny Egg, Pooh Cookie Cutter for the Ham and Pooh Vegetable Cutter for the Apple Slices...... too bad i can't mould the Tomato in either Pooh Slices or Shape... :)

P/s: You can find the related post on the Pooh Utensils(click on link)

Winnie The Pooh Breakfast Set

In order for me to make these cute little Pooh Breakfast for Reyon. I must sincerely give my Thanks for one of my dear friend Julia. I must thanks her and her husband for taking the effort to help us source for the Pooh Series Bakeware and sent them to us all the way from Japan. Reyon and I really appreciate it and your effort really bring Big and Warm smiles to this little fan of Pooh. Thank you so much, my dear friend.



If you still remember, I had a similar cutter for Hello Kitty which I used to make Kitty Breakfast as well. So this round, when I got hold of the Pooh Cutter, I also try to make something similar and it's really cute. I made both the Big Pooh Bread as well as the mini one. And Reyon love them so much, he can finished all the 4 mini pooh bread just in a few minutes...... :) Guess kids are always attracted those those cute and interesting food.

To read more on Reyon and his Pooh Breakfast, click on "Winnie The Pooh Breakfast"....... and if you are interested to view my collection of Pooh Bakeware, click on "Winnie The Pooh Bakeware".

Kitty Breakfast

Found this interesting Kitty mould which I bought I without thinking twice. Because I knew I can used it for many different purpose like making cookies, bread or pancake that shapes and look like kitty which Reyon will loves it.

So after gather all the necessary ingredients for the Breakfast Sandwich, I decided to make these cute little kitty sandwiches for Breakfast. I guess no one will resists such a cute piece of bread as breakfast.



I used the cutter to cut out the bread, ham and cheese into the same shapes then assemble them together and used meat floss and nori sheet to make the details of the sandwich. When Reyon saw these for his breakfast he was really overwhelming and he even ask me to make more. I also brought some to my office for my colleagues to try and they were as delighted as Reyon. Rebecca even insists that she wanted to bring it home to show her daughters as she find it too cute to be eaten.......

To see another version of the kitty sandwich, click on "Reyon's Kitty Breakfast"....... and if you are interested to view my collection of Kitty Utensils, click on "Hello Kitty Baking/Cooking Utensils".

Animal Pasta

It had being a long long time that I didn't post anything on Toddler Meal. You must be wondering what are the things that I always feed my dear reyon. Actually when kids get older, they tend to share what we eat so it's rather common that we don't really make just something special for them. But recently I found these cute little animal pasta from one of the supermarket. So I decided to get it home for Reyon and not surprised he loves them. Especially those little turtle, he even started to count how many turtle he had eaten during his meal.


Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Uncooked Animalet
2-3 Pieces Of Pork Ribs/1 Chicken Drumstick
1 Medium Potato, cubes
1/2 Medium Carrot, cubes
1/2 Brown Onion, finely chopped

Methods:
1. Blanch the pork ribs or chicken drumstick in boiling water, rinse and set aside.
2. Heat up a small saucepan with 1 teaspoon of oil then saute the chopped onion until fragrant then add in the pork ribs, carrot and potato and stir-fry for a few minutes.
3. Add in suitable about of water(600ml) and bring it to boil then simmer for about 15-20 minutes until the potato and carrot are tender.
4. While preparing the soup stock, cook the Animalet according to the packet instruction then rinse with water and set aside.
5. When the soup is done, add in the cooked animalet and bring the soup to boil again, simmer for a few minutes then remove from stove and serve warm.

Fish Porridge With Fresh Lily Bulb

Since I still have some left over Kai Lan from cooking the Mix Vegetable Alphabets Pasta. I decide to use it together with some other ingredients in the fridge to cook Fish Porridge With Fresh Lily Bulb. This porridge consists a few kinds of vegetables, walnuts, fish and fresh lily bulb which makes an appetizing and nutrition dish for toddler. Besides that I also mix in some yellow millet with rice to cook the porridge in order to boost up the flavour.

Mixed Vegetable With Alphabet Pasta

Make this Alphabet Pasta (ABC) with Mix Vegetables Soup for my boy this afternoon. He loves to eat this Alphabets Pasta as compared to Macaroni and he will request me to cook this at least once or twice a week. As for the ingredients I often add in dice potato, carrot and fishball. Today I try to add in another new ingredient which is known as Kai Lan (芥兰) stem since my son is picky with greens and the easier way to add them in his diet is through soup.

Mixed Vegetables And Walnut Porridge

Tried making this porridge twice by adding different ingredients such as minced pork, carrot, potato and walnut to cook with the mixture of Rice Grain (白米) and Yellow Millet (黄小米). And for this meatless recipe, I have added more vegetables to make it a healthier and nutritious porridge for young children. Although the most time consuming part is to remove the skin from the dry walnut but when seeing how much my boy loves the porridge I think it is worth the effort.