[Weekly Meal Planner #3] Our 5 Favourite Western Dish Recipes

It's Monday again and I hope you people have a great week without any blues. For this last Monday of March we shall continue on our  "Weekly Meal Planner" column with FIVE of our family favourite western dishes such as braised wine chicken, chicken skewers, mushroom pie and homemade mushroom soup. These dishes are easy to prepare and you could even get ready the necessary ingredient the night before so that your meal would be ready on the dining table in less than an hour.

Out of the 5 featured recipes in this post; my favourite are Braised Red Wine Chicken and Chicken Mushroom Pot Pie because both are comfort food which could be easily whipped up and they taste awesome especially during cold weather or after a hectic day at work.

[With Recipes] 2014 Chinese New Year Lunch Gathering With Relatives

This is the second year we invited our relatives over for Chinese New Year lunch gathering where everyone can mingles around as well as enjoy some homecook dishes and cakes prepared by my mum and myself. As usual we have a big group of relatives and to prepare a semi buffet for 30 people in a home base kitchen with gas stove and a microwave convection oven (my built-in oven was down) was rather a bit challenging for us. But thanks god we managed to get all the food up on time and everyone enjoys the array of food and family bonding time too.

So here is a long-winded post with photos of the food as well as related recipes (or recipe links) for your reference in case you need some inspiration on what to cook before the 15 days of lunar new year ends on Friday, 14 Feb 2014 (ooooo it's also Valentine's Day too)

3 Recipes On Quinoa Salad - Part II

Morning! It's Monday and here is Part II of my quinoa dishes which I would like to share with you. And if you have missed out Part I, here is the link. These super-grains can be used to make different food like salad, pancake, bread, cakes, porridge and etc which makes a healthy replace for our usual flours or grains.

In this post, I will be sharing how to use cooked quinoa and turn them into salad, fritters and risotto to create a hearty meal for the family. But if  you have any easy recipes on quinoa do feel free to share with us your post link or ideas on the comment box below too.

MUSHROOM AND BACON QUINOA SALAD

This Mushroom And Bacon Quinoa Salad was inspired by one of my friend, AiYen when we were chatting about Quinoa on skype last week. She told me she would like to try out her first quinoa dish with bacon and mushrooms so on that afternoon I loot back some bacon from the supermarket to test out her suggestion.

To our surprise this combination taste quite good with hint of bacon flavour and it's crispy texture hidden within the quinoa salad which blends well with the overall taste. But perhaps for next round I might add in a splash of extra virgin olive oil or lemon juice to lift up the taste.

KOHII - A Japanese Style Café in CBD Area

Located in Central Business District(CBD) which is less than 10 minutes walk from Raffles Place MRT, KOHII is a newly open Japanese cafe which serve busy executives, families and passer-by who is out looking for fresh and healthy meals other than those usual eateries available around Shento Way area.

At KOHII it offers a modern style Tokyo cafe and sandwich bar concept that is specialising in high quality coffees from imported from Japan as well as handmade sandwiches and soup to start of a healthy meal for the day.

While flipping through the menu, KOHII has a wide selections of beverages ranging from hot to cold drinks such as premium coffee from Japan, Tea, Soda, Smoothie and etc. Above show two of it's signature smoothies which named after the cafe owner's daughters; Ichigo Nana(front, S$6.30 each) which is a mixture of fresh strawberries with banana whereas Mango Momo(back, S$6.30 each) is a refreshing combination of Mango and Peach blended.

Compared the two smoothies that we had that day, ShiTing(author of Lobsterpaints) and me preferred Mango Momo more than Ichigo Nana as it has a very light and refreshing after taste fragrant which makes you crave for more.

KOHII has two types of home-made soup such as Pumpkin (S$7.50 per bowl) and Mixed Mushrooms (S$9.80 per bowl). Each order of soup is served with some freshly toasted bread and ours for that day is their Premium Mixed Mushrooms Soup which is popular among the ladies.

Indeed I was caught off with the taste of their soup which is quite different from the usual mushroom soup that I used to have. Kohii's mushroom soup which used 5 different types of mushrooms has a unique homecook taste which is light and flavorsome compared to those thick and creamy western mushroom soup. No wonder we saw most of the customers ordered mushrooms soup during our visit to the cafe last week.

The salad and sandwich bar where the customers could see how the food are prepared before being served or take-away.

Out of the 10 different fillings used for their Sandwich, we tried the Teriyaki Chicken Breast and Marinated Mushrooms. We love the Marinated Mushrooms which is something special and definitely worth trying. Each bite into the sandwich you could taste the assorted mushrooms bursting into flavour in your mouth together with the accompany vegetables and wholesome bun. And according to the serving staffs at the bar counter all their mushrooms used are imported from Japan and customer can also choose either plain or oatmeal bread for the sandwich too.

Teriyaki Chicken on the hand was a bit on the tough side perhaps due to the used of chicken breast meat but overall the marinated sauce and flavour of the chicken blends well with the sandwich.

As for Salad, Kohii has 6 different types of choices such as Plain(S$5.80), Teriyaki Chicken(S$8.50), Japanese Curry Chicken(S$8.50), Pesto Chicken(S$8.50), Assorted Mixed Mushrooms(S$9.80) and Assorted Seafood(S$10.50). Each is served with Kohii's homemade dressings (Soy Vinegrette, Goma and Miso) which would complement the light and fresh mix of salad greens.

For S$10.50 you would be able to enjoy a bowl of Assorted Seafood Salad which has very Fresh seafood that is air-flown from Japan. As you could see from the photo above, it consists of Alaska Snow Crab Meat, Octopus, Scallop and Prawn mixture together with Goma(Roasted Sesame Dressing) dressing.

And for those who wants some quick bite, KOHII also offer daily High Tea Specials from 2.00pm - 6.00pm @ S$7.90 nett. You could choose between, 1 sliced of cake/pie/muffin plus either coffee/tea to perk up your afternoon break or light dinner before heading for movie or meetup.

KOHII

1 Shenton Way
#01-06
Singapore 068803
Telephone: (65) 6509 9639
Website: Facebook Page

Operating Hours:
Mon - Fri: 8:30am - 8:30 pm;
Sat: 9:00am - 3:00pm

Closed on Sunday and PH