Showing posts with label Seah's Spices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seah's Spices. Show all posts

Wednesday 16 July 2014

[4 recipes] Quick Meals Using the New Philips Avance XL Airfryer

Rosemary Chicken with Sweet Potato Fries plus Chocolate Cherry Pound Cake
Whipping up healthier meals by reducing (or omit) the amount of salt, sugar and oil intake makes it a better diet for everyone in the family. And being the main cook for the family I always try my best to prepare their favourite food with a twist to safeguard our body functions. Example, using coconut or olive oil for in our dish or bake; incorporate more fibres, greens, proteins and fresh fruits in our daily diet plus always source for "fresh ingredients" to prepare our meals.

Monday 29 October 2012

3 New Seah's Spices - Kung Pao Spices, Singapore Noodles Spices And Singapore Fried Rice Spices

Even though I love to use fresh ingredients and herbs in my daily cooking but sometime I do have packets of instant sauce, spices, food and etc in my kitchen pantry to stock up for days where I just wish to cook simple and yet decent dishes for the family.

In this post, I am trying out some pre-packed spices which were given by SEAH'S Spices to test out their new products. And as a fan's of SEAH'S Spices especially their Bak Kuet Teh (recipe) and Emperor Herbal Chicken Spices (recipe) which are our family favourite, I am more than willing to try out their new spices.

As most of you would known, Seah's spices is 100% locally made in Singapore since 1991 and it is also a leading local brand which is available in all supermarkets and provision stores in Singapore. Recently Seah's Spices has launched 3 NEW spices packet which are Singapore Noodles Spices, Singapore Fried Rice Spices and Kung Pao Spices.

Each of these spices above has it's own distinctive flavour which you could incorporate it into your daily cooking to impress your loved one with local delight at the ease of home dining. And also most importantly these spices are with "NO added preservatives and colourings" as well as "NO added MSG".


SEAH'S KUNG PAO SPICES


Out of the 3 given spices, I am more interested in their Kung Pao Spices which comes in "powder" form instead of the usual "pre-mixed sauce" that are available in the supermarket. According to the cooking instructions given, the chicken has to be deep-fried before mixing with the spices but for my case on a healthier version I just pan-fried the chicken using Happy Call Pan.


(Serves: 2 - 3  | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 20 minutes)

Ingredients:
1/2 Portion of Chicken, chopped into pieces
1 Medium Brown Onion, cut into wages
6 Dried Chilli, pre-soak in hot water till soften
1 Stalk Spring Onion, cut into sections
Some Red and Green Chilli (optional), sliced
1 Tablespoon Cooking Oil
1/2 Tablespoon White Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Rice Wine
1 Packet of Seah's Kung Pao Spices


Method:-
1. Coat and marinate chicken pieces with Seah's spices from the "White Coloured Sachet" found in the packet for about 2 minutes.

2. Preheat Happy Call Pan (HCP) and lightly oil with 1/2 tablespoon of oil. Arrange chicken pieces in the pan, cover and cook for 4 - 5 minutes each side or till chicken is cook with brown outer skin.


3. Removed the chicken, coat it evenly with the spices from the "Red Coloured Sachet" and set side.

4. Add in 1 Tablespoon of oil to the pan, stir-fry onion, chillies and spring onion till fragrant.

5. Stir in the meat and spices and continue to cook for another 1/2 minutes on low heat, covered.

6. Drizzle white vinegar and wine mixture together on the cooked chicken, give it a quick toss and serve hot with steamed rice.


For me, I did not add in the whole packet of  the "Red Coloured Sachet" (still balance 1/4 packet) and I also added in some sliced fresh chilli so my version of Kung Pao dish is a bit spicy. And after eating a piece or two of the chicken you would feel a "numb" after taste feeling on your tongue due to the spices used.



SEAH'S SINGAPORE NOODLES SPICES


At first when I look at the Noodles Spices I thought it was Singapore Chao Mian Spices. Whenever I order noodles from the Cze Char stall, I would always go for either fried noodles or fried bee hoon if I am not having my usual Fried Hor Fun (fried rice noodles). But now with Seah's new Singapore Noodles Spices I could use it on different types of noodles or even pasta to create new dishes with distinctive Singapore flavour.


(Serves: 4 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 15 minutes)

Ingredients:
500g Fresh Noodles or 3 Pieces Instant Noodles
200g Chinese Cabbage, sliced
100g Char Siew (BBQ pork), diced
8 - 10 Prawns, shelled and devein
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
1 Medium Brown Onion, sliced
1 Stalk Spring Onion, cut into section
1 Red Chilli, sliced


Method:-
1. Bring a pot of water to boil, blanched or cook noodles according, rinse, drain well and set aside.

2. Meanwhile preheat wok/frying pan with 1/2 tablespoon oil, pour in the beaten eggs to the centre of the pan, tilting the pan so that the eggs spread out evenly over the bottom.

3. Cook until the eggs have set on the bottom, using a spatula flip it over and cook on the other side for a minute or two till set. Remove and set aside till cool before slicing it into egg strips.


3. Next add in another 1/2 Tablespoon of oil, saute onion, spring onion, chilli and prawns together till it is slightly pink in colour.

4. Stir in vegetables and continue to cook till vegetables is soften and prawns are cooked through.

5. Toss in cooked noodles and Seah's Noodles Spices evenly over the mixture and stir-fry for 3 minutes on medium heat.

6. Lastly turn off the heat, stir-in char siew and egg strips. Divide noodles on serving plates and serve hot.


Our opinion this Seah's Noodle Spices has a after taste that resemble instant "Mee Goreng" noodle perhaps due to the spices used. For this recipe, I used the dried egg noodles instead of fresh yellow noodles because we preferred a more springy texture for our fried noodles. Overall we do love the taste of this fried noodles and I am sure it would be something new to share during coming festive season as one of the potluck dishes.



SEAH'S SINGAPORE FRIED RICE SPICES


Since I am not a fan of "fried rice" I don't really get any fried rice spices for my pantry. Even if I would to cook fried rice, it would be just using simple seasoning such as light/dark soy sauce with some frozen mixed vegetables or egg.

To my surprised, Seah's Singapore Fried Rice Spices does not taste any similar to those fried rice from the Cze Char stall but rather it taste quiet similar to Nasi Goreng. 


(Serves: 4  | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 5 minutes)

Ingredients:
1 Packet of Seah's Singapore Fried Rice Spices
800g Cooked Rice, around 2.5 rice cooker cup uncooked rice
1/2 Cup Frozen Mixed Vegetables
2 Garlic Cloves, crashed
2 Tablespoons Cooking Oil
Some Cooking Wine
Some chopped Spring Onion
12 Japanese Chicken Sausages
4 Eggs

Method:
1. Boiled or Grilled the sausages, set aside. Fry sunny side-up eggs individually and set aside too.

2. Add oil in preheat wok, saute garlic till fragrant before stirring in the mixed frozen vegetables and cook for 1 minute.

3. Add cooked rice and continue to stir-fry for 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

4. Gradually add in Seah's spices into the fried rice according to your taste (you might not need the whole packet), stir well, drizzle some cooking wine and continue to stir-fry for another 1/2 minutes.

5. Remove, garnish with prepared sausages, egg and etc shown above. Serve hot.


Lastly I would like to thank Seah's Spices for sending us these 3 New Spices, and it's really a good experience to try out these new products before they are available in the supermarkets. So if you are a SEAH'S Spices users, do keep a look out on these NEW products launching in the supermarkets.

For more information and updates on SEAH'S Products, you could check out their facebook page HERE. Like their page to receive latest promotion and updates too.

Wednesday 24 October 2012

{Halloween Trick-or-Treat} Broccoli And Spinach Soup, Graveyard Fried Rice Plus Apple, Banana And Dragon Fruit Smoothie

Halloween is just a week from now and we are so excited about this weekend Angry Bird Halloween Party at Sentosa. For the past two years I have shared some Halloween themed dishes and treats which you could read more here. Although what I did this year was rather simple as compared to last year, but after all we do enjoy the process on preparing the food and etc on a raining cozy evening.

This year, we are having Spooky Broccoli Soup which served together with Graveyard Fired Rice and Bloody Smoothie.

Monday 6 August 2012

Cook For Family - Our 3 Generations Cooking Together for the #CookForFamily Initiative

I am so thrilled to be among one of hundred bloggers who had being invited by Daniel, from Daniel's Food Diary to take part in this #CookForFamily initiative started by him. As we know, his main objective is to get more bloggers, and hopefully their fans and followers, to start cooking and having family bonding with their families.

As for myself, I always tried to cook at least 2 meals per days during weekdays and hopefully one on weekend, especially Sunday.  And to support this #CookForFamily initiative, even my 8 years old boy who often helps up in the kitchen (washing and cutting) also volunteer to cook simple dish for us.  Below you can see some of the shots and dishes that he had cooked under our supervision. Overall we had fun and laughter in the kitchen sharing our family bonding and cooking skill together which makes meal time a fun time too.


#CookForFamily


I love to have soup during my meals and I brew soup almost everyday. Out of all the different kinds of soup we usually had, herbal soup is one of our family favourite. Here I specially made this "Herbal Black Chicken Soup" for mum with added Dang Shen, Ginseng and Dried Longan to regulate blood chemistry, strengthen the body as well as circulate the Qi in the body.


(Serves: 4      | Preparation: 10 minutes        | Cooking: 60 minutes)

Ingredients:
1 Black Chicken (乌鸡) / Half Portion of Chicken (600g)
2 Pieces of Dried Ginseng(人渗)
5 Pieces of Dang Shen(党参), cut into halves
8 - 10 Pieces of Big Red Dates(红枣)
20g Dried Longan (龙眼干)
10g Wolfberries (枸杞)
1.8 Litres Boiling Water

Method:-
1. Rinse the dry herbs and set aside. Bring a pot of water to boil and blanch the prepared black chicken which had being trimmed and cleaned.

2. Meanwhile using a soup pot (i used a big claypot), bring 1.8 litres of water to boil and add in all the ingredients including the blanched black chicken.

3. When the mixture comes to boil again, lower the heat and simmer over the lowest heat for at least an hour (careful of the heat and don't let the soup dried up). Alternatively,

4. You can transfer the soup to a slow-cooker and cook it on AUTO mode for about 2 hours.

5. Serve warm before meal or at night before sleep. This soup has a natural sweetness due to the herbs used so usually I won't add in extra seasoning or salt.

Stir-fry Celery With Sea Cucumber is one of my favourite vegetable dish which mum always cooked for us. And here for the #CookForFamily post, she prepared this dish especially for me while I take care of the herbal soup section.


(Serves: 4        | Preparation: 10 minutes         | Cooking: 6 minutes)

Ingredients:
2 Sticks of Celery
1 Small Red Capsicum, sliced
5 Fresh Shiitake Mushroom, sliced
1 Packet of Sweet Peas
2 Pieces of Sea Cucumber, sliced
2 - 3 Slices of Ginger
Some Chicken Stock Powder for seasoning

Method:-
1. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the outer skin of the celery and cut it into thick slices. Set aside.

2. Saute ginger with 1/2 tablespoon of cooking oil till fragrant, add in celery and mushrooms, toss for a 30 seconds in the Happy Call Pan (HCP).

3. Next add in the remaining ingredients such as red capsicum, sweet peas and sea cucumber.

4. Add in the seasonings and give it a quick stir, cover the pan and let it simmer on low heat for 3 minutes.

5. Drizzle some cooking wine, stir to mix well and dish up to serve.


My little boy on the other hand also volunteer to join us with the #CookForFamily task where he marinated the chicken wings using Wokkingmum's "Grilled Chicken Wings with Fermented Beancurd" recipe. He choose this recipe because he knows that both grandma and I love fermented beancurd which we always had it with our porridge.

Recipe adapted from Wokkingmum website HERE.

(Make: 12 Chicken Wings    | Preparation: 5 minutes   | Cooking: 25 - 30 minutes)

Ingredients:
12 Chicken Wings, halved
2 Tablespoons of sauce from Fermented Beancurd
1.5 Pieced of Fermented Beancurd
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Cooking Wine


Method:-
1. Using the back of the spoon mashed fermented beancurd and mix it with the sauce.

2. Next stir in sugar till well mixed.

3. Marinate chicken wings with the mixture together with some cooking wine for at least an hour before cooking.

4. Arrange marinated chicken wings on baking tray which is lined with baking paper, grill in the preheated 220 Degree Celsius oven for about 25 - 30 minutes or chicken is cooked.


As mum love fish compared to meat, I always tried to incorporate at least 1 dish with fish whenever she comes over for dinner. Here we have a simple steamed fish dish using Threadfin fish head and ready pack Portuguese sauce. To success remember to get fresh fish head, steamed it to just done (do not over cooked), drizzle with some Portuguese sauce and steamed for another 1 minutes.


SOME OF THE MEALS WE COOKED IN JULY


All these photos (except the one with my boy doing cooking) are taken from my daily Instagram shots which I have shared online.






Any simple dish will bring a smile on your loved ones face. In fact it can be just a bowl of instant noodle with an egg or even simple ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. For me it is more of the thoughts, loves and bonding time together that counts rather than the expensive ingredients or time spent on preparing the meals.

Photo credited to Daniel from Daniel Food Diary

So from today onwards, let's start to prepare something simple for your family as as head start and don't use the excuse that you can't cook or u are too busy. I am sure frying an sunny egg or boiling a hard boiled egg that served with bread and beverages won't even take up more than 15 minutes of your time a day.

Saturday 25 December 2010

Roasted Chicken With Brown Rice And Chestnut Stuffing

  Today is Christmas and as a Christian we do value this special and meaning day in December Calender. For the past two years, our church has planned outdoor Christmas Party in the neighbourhood area so that more residents can join us to celebrate this special occasion at the eve of Christmas. So since today is a rest day for family gathering, I decided to try my hand on preparing my very 1st Christmas Lunch.

To be honest, I seldom prepared western dishes because I do not own many of those spices or herbs which we hardly used in our daily Asian cooking. And this Roasted Chicken Lunch that I prepared is also not a fully western dishes too. As when you read the rest of the post, you would notice that I replaced the usual herbs stuffing with brown rice and etc.

Here are some collage photos to show the ingredients and steps on preparing the Brown Rice Stuffing which is quite similar to what I did a few years back on the Baked Pumpkin with Rice Stuffing (link HERE).

Ingredients: (for 1 quantity)
1 Cup of Uncooked Brown Rice Mixture
2 Tablespoons of Frozen Green Peas
6 - 8 Whole Ready to Eat Roasted Chestnuts
1 Tablespoon of Mixed Fried Fruit/Golden Raisin
1 Teaspoon of Minced Garlic
1/2 Teaspoon of Minced Ginger
1/2 Tablespoon of Oil
Seasonings:
Dash of Pepper and Sesame Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Light Soya Sauce

Method:
1. Rinse the rice mixture two to three time then soak in water for about 30 minutes before cooking.(soaking the brown rice prior cooking can decrease the cooking time)
2. Cook the brown rice in rice cooker with the usual method and once it is cooked through stand it rice cooker for another 10 minutes.
3. Next scoop the cooked rice to a place and let it cool off to room temperature while preparing the ingredients for the fried rice and get ready the chicken.
4. When done, preheat a non-stick pan with 1/2 tablespoon of cooking oil, saute the minced garlic and ginger till fragrant then drop in green peas and give it a quick stir before adding the cooked brown rice.
5. Use the back of the spatula, loosen all the lumps of the cooked rice till grains are formed.
6. Stir-fry the rest of the ingredients such as chestnut and mixed dried fruits then follow by the seasoning till well mixed.
7. Transfer the rice mixture to a plate while handling the chicken.

Note:-
~ Mix 1/2 cup each of Brown Rice with normal Long Grain Jasmin Rice. (I do encourage you to try brown rice as it will give this dish a very nutty fragrant and taste)

This is the final Brown Rice Stuffing with Chestnut, green peas and dried mixed fruit mixture which is ready to be used. Since this is used as a Christmas theme stuffing you could realise that the colour that I used seems t be circling with green, red, golden and etc. I am sure this would be something new to you as to add dried mixed fruits into rice stuffing.

Here is another set of collage photos showing the ingredients of the roasted vegetables and steps on stuffing the chicken.

Ingredients For Roasted Vegetables: (Serves 4)
1 Medium Carrot, cut into 2cm thick chunks
2 Medium Potato, removed skin and cut into 6 chunks each
300g of Pumpkin, removed skin and cut into chunks
1 Fresh Sweetcorn, cut into 2cm thick ring, halves
Seasonings:
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Peppercorns
1/2 Teaspoon of Dried Chilli Flakes
1/2 Tablespoon roughly chopped Coriander

Method:
1. Mixed all the vegetables together with the seasonings in a bowl and set aside while preparing the chicken.


Since I still have some Seah's Spices available from their complimentary gift (link HERE) set, I decided to use one of this "Seah's Salt-Roasted Chicken Spices" for our Christmas Roast Chicken Lunch. There are two small 20g sachets of spices in each packet where you can roast up to 2 chicken of 600g each.

Ingredients: (Serves 4)
1 20g Sachet of Spices(Seah's Salt-Roasted Chicken Spices)
1 Sakura Chicken, around 1kg size
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
1 Quantity of Prepared Brown Rice Stuffing
Prepared Vegetables Chunks for roasting

Method:
1. Before stuffing the chicken, trim the extra fats, emptied and cleaned the cavity, removed the head, neck and feet. Rinse and pat dry using kitchen paper towel.
2.Next brush the olive oil evenly around the chicken before rubbing the powder spices all over the chicken include the cavity of the chicken and under the skin layers.
3. Scoop the rice stuffing into the cavity and pressed tightly using the back of the spoon until all all or most of the stuffing are used up.
4. Place the stuffed chicken in a baking dish, secure the chicken thighs and wings to its body by using some kitchen string.
5. Arrange the prepared vegetables chunks around the sides of the baking dish and roast in a pre-heat 220 degree roast for about 20 minutes.
6. Remove the baking dish from the oven, quickly brush over another layer of olive oil all around the chicken and also give the veggies a quick toss before putting back to the oven to roast for another 20 minutes.
7. To get that nice and crispy outer skin, you can switch the oven function to fan-force mode on the last 7 - 10 minutes of cooking time.



In about 1 hour time, we could enjoy a hearty Christmas Roasted Chicken Lunch with rice stuffing and mixed veggies at our comfort home without need to eat in rush and wait for the festive season queues in the eateries. You can also re-heat some ready served chicken gravy pack or festive cranberry sauce from the supermarket to go with the roasted chicken.

This photo shows the inner cut of the roasted chicken where you can see the colourful brown rice stuffing in the cavity. The rice is so yummy and fragrant by the spices and juice from the roasted chicken too.

Roasted Chicken will be great to serve with Caesar Salad that consists of the crispy romaine lettuce and croutons which dressed with Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil and etc.You can easily prepared this by getting some fresh romaine lettuce and ready salad dressing pack from local supermarket such as Cold Storage.

This is the 1 person serving portion of our Christmas Lunch. Everyone enjoys this simple and wonderful meal with accompany of white wine and sparking drinks.

Although this year Christmas has almost come to an end in another few hours time but I would still like to wish everyone of my blog readers a wonder and blessed Christmas. Hope you have enjoy this festive season with your loved to ones and Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

And also I am submitting this post to "Aspiring Bakers #2: Christmas! (Dec 2010)", hosted by Passionate About Baking at this link HERE.


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