Scrambled Eggs with Meat

This dish is easy to make, and great as a bento filler. It's basically minced meat (beef or pork) scrambled together with eggs. My mum used to make this when I was young, and she would serve it with plain rice or rice porridge.

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Scrambled Eggs with Minced Meat

3 eggs
100 - 150g minced beef or pork
half an onion, finely chopped (optional)
1 Tbsp soya sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
salt and pepper

1. Beat the eggs together with the soya sauce, a little salt and pepper.

2. Heat up a frying pan, and add the sesame oil. Add the onion if you are using it (fry until soft), then the minced meat, stirring so the meat does not clump together. 

3. When the meat is cooked, add the eggs and fry. Stir continuously as if you were scrambling eggs, until the eggs are cooked.

4. Taste, and season with more salt and pepper, if necessary.

Tip: If you plan on packing this into your bento lunch and eating it with plain rice at room temperature, make this dish a little more salty.

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Swedish Meatballs

These gloppy-looking round things are supposed to be Swedish meatballs. They taste a whole lot better than they look in the photo, though! I've been wanting to eat Swedish meatballs for some time - I first ate them at Ikea (of all places) - and finally decided to make my own. The great thing about this recipe is that the meatballs are baked, not fried (that sounds like an ad), which means less oil and fat! It also means less time standing at the stove, frying batches of meatballs, which can be time consuming. The meatballs can also be frozen - I made 40 in one batch, so there was enough for dinner, lunch the next day, plus two more batches in the freezer for another day...

Continue reading for the recipe...

Swedish Meatballs
(makes around 40 meatballs)

600g minced beef (as lean as possible)
400g minced pork

You can use half minced beef and pork if you prefer - I just find minced pork (in my area) quite fatty, so I use more beef)

2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 cups breadcrumbs (preferably panko - Japanese breadcrumbs)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
salt and pepper

For the sauce:

3 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup plain flour
1 cup milk
500ml beef stock (once I substituted this for lamb stock, as I could only find lamb stock cubes. I added two stock cubes into 500ml water)

1. Preheat your oven to 225 degrees C.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the minced beef and pork, eggs, milk, garlic, cinnamon, nutmeg and breadcrumbs. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper or foil. If you are using foil, lightly grease the foil so the meatballs don't stick.

4. Using a tablespoon or small ice-cream scoop, form the meat mixture into round balls and place them onto the lined baking tray.

5. Bake for 12 minutes, or until browned and cooked through.

To make the sauce:

Melt the butter in a small saucepan, then slowly add the flour and stir rapidly. Cook, stirring constantly for about a minute. Slowly add the milk, and then the beef stock. Bring the mixture to a boil, then simmer for a few minutes until the sauce has thickened a little.

To serve, dunk the meatballs into the sauce, coat them, and place them onto a plate. Serve with boiled potatoes and steamed vegetables, as well as with a scoop of berry jam. The Swedish traditionally eat this with lingonberry jam, but you could also use grape, red-currant or some other tart berry jam. Cranberry sauce would work, too...

Freeze any extra meatballs together with the sauce in freezable airtight containers or bags.

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Easy One-Sauce Lasagna

As the days go by, I've come to realise that Cloud9Food is all about comforting, home-style food that is not only tasty to eat, but is also heavenly for the chef ie. simple to prepare! Another favourite of mine which falls into this category is my One-Sauce Lasagna.

I love lasagna, but the thought of preparing the bolognese meat sauce, bechamel sauce, layering everything and then baking it sends me running to find something else that's faster to cook. Hence the One-Sauce version. 

Instead of making bechamel sauce from scratch (which I find terribly tedious), I make a large portion of "creamy" tomato meat sauce. The sauce is then layered with instant lasagna sheets and baked. It still takes some time, but is much faster than the original 2-sauce version, and I don't find I lose much taste-wise. This lasagna is still tomato-y, creamy and cheesy. The meat sauce can even be made in advance and frozen, which cuts down preparation time even more. And yes, I cheat and buy tomato soup (the no MSG, no preservative variety!) to add further flavour to the meat sauce. Who has time to boil and boil and boil the sauce?

For bento lunch makers, leftovers can be packed in microwaveable safe containers for lunch the next day.

Continue reading for the recipe...

Easy One-Sauce Lasagna
(makes one large lasagna in a 2.5 L capacity dish)

500g pack of instant lasagna sheets (which does not require pre-cooking)
6 -7 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp light olive oil (or other cooking oil)
400g minced beef or a mix of minced beef and pork (as lean as possible)
2 large carrots, chopped into small cubes
2 x 400g canned tomatoes
5 heaped Tbsp tomato paste
500 - 600g creamy tomato soup (look for the no MSG, no preservatives, organic soup variety if possible. For reference, I use Pacific Natural Foods Organic Creamy Tomato Soup)
black pepper
salt
1 -2 bay leaves (optional)
1 cup milk (low-fat, skim milk is also fine)
100g cheddar cheese
additional 200g - 250g cheddar and/or parmesan cheese (for layering and topping the lasagna)

1. In a large saucepan, add the olive oil and fry the garlic lightly until fragrant. Add the minced meat and stir to separate the mince until the meat is cooked. Add the chopped carrots. (If you are pressed for time, microwave the carrots to soften them first.)

2. Add the canned tomatoes and tomato paste. Season with some salt and pepper, and stir. Add 1 -2 bay leaves here for added flavour (optional). Bring to the boil, then simmer over medium heat for 20 - 30 minutes. 

3. Add 500g of the creamy tomato soup and simmer for another 5 - 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves.

(When making the meat sauce in advance, allow to cool and transfer into a freezer-safe container for freezing at this point. To defrost, transfer the frozen sauce into a large saucepan and heat until defrosted.)

4. Add the milk and 100g cheddar cheese to the meat sauce and stir. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. You should have quite a lot of meat sauce at this stage as it replaces both bolognese and bechamel sauces.)

5. Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees C. Lightly grease a 2.5L capacity ovenproof dish. Ladle some meat sauce into the dish to cover the bottom. Add a layer of instant lasagna sheets (you may need to break them to fit the size of your dish), then a sprinkle of cheddar or parmesan cheese, then some more meat sauce. Repeat until the meat sauce is used up. (There may be leftover lasagna sheets as well.) End with a layer of meat sauce, and sprinkle some cheddar/parmesan (or a mix) of cheeses on top.

Tip: Around 3/4 of the way through layering, if it looks like you don't have enough sauce, add another 100g or so of the creamy tomato soup to the sauce and mix. 

6. Bake the lasagna in the oven according to the time indicated on your packet of instant lasagna sheets (approx 30 -45 minutes). Serve with a side salad.

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Bacon & Asparagus Rolls

In addition to Ham n Egg Rolls, another roll that's easy to make and great as a bento filler is a Bacon & Asparagus Roll. You can adapt this dish and use the bacon to wrap many other things like vegetables, sausages, etc, but my favourite is asparagus. 

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Bacon & Asparagus Rolls

• Asparagus (you really need fresh asparagus here, not the canned variety)
  
• Streaky Bacon Rashers (streaky bacon works best as it is more malleable than back bacon, although the fat in the bacon means this isn't the healthiest of recipes)
  

(With 4 thick stalks of asparagus and 4 long rashers of streaky bacon, I could make 16 mini rolls, but this will depend on your asparagus, width and length of bacon rashers)

Teriyaki Glaze
equal parts of:

• Soya Sauce
  
• Sake
  
• Mirin
  
• Sugar
  

1. Wash and trim around 1cm (1/2 inch) off the base of the asparagus stalks.

2. Boil some water in a saucepan and when the water is boiling, add the asparagus. Turn down the heat and simmer for around 4 minutes, or until just cooked through. Drain and set aside.

3. Cut the asparagus into shorter lengths. I cut mine to around 5cm (2 inches) long, but go along with the original length of your asparagus as well (eg. cut it into thirds or quarters if more convenient).

4. Cut the bacon into shorter lengths. A good gauge is to make the lengths of bacon around twice the length of your asparagus stalks. Slice the bacon to adjust the width if necessary as well. (You may want to cut one slice first to test if the width and length are correct.)

5. Roll a strip of bacon around the asparagus. If you are using thick stalks, you can wrap the bacon around each stalk. If your asparagus stalks are thinner, wrap the bacon around 3 - 4 stalks. Put the rolls tightly next to each other in a small bowl (to help prevent them from unrolling). If the bacon unrolls too easily, the lengths of bacon are too short.

6. Make the teriyaki glaze by mixing equal amounts of soya sauce, sugar, sake and mirin. For a small batch of bacon & asparagus rolls, 1 Tbsp of each seasoning is sufficient. Pour the glaze over the rolls.

7. Heat up a little oil in a non-stick frying pan and fry the bacon and asparagus rolls on both sides until the bacon is cooked and lightly browned. Baste the rolls with the extra glaze in the bowl as you are frying them. You can also cook the rolls on a bbq/cast iron grill/George Foreman grill.

 
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Tonkatsu Pork Bento

I don't know why but I have a thing for cute green frogs - but only cartoon ones, mind you. I don't like real frogs at all. So I was happy to use my smiling frog bento box today - one of my recent acquisitions from Hokkaido. The colours of the food sadly matched the rather pale green of the box, though! 

The first tier contains rice with furikake, and zucchini stir-fried with sesame oil and soya sauce in a little flower container to brighten it up. If your food is a little pale or dull in colour, it can help to use such accessories to brighten things up. The second tier contains pork tonkatsu slices on a bed of shredded cabbage, and some baby corn. The little container has some spicy tomato sauce to dip with the tonkatsu and there's another container (not pictured) that has some sesame salad dressing for the cabbage. 

I used my tonkatsu recipe for the pork, but this time I cut the pork into slices first, before breading and frying it.




Scallop & Sausage Aglio Olio

This is another of my favourite pastas. Usually I just make this pasta with sausage, but on special days I like to add some scallops to it. Continue reading for the recipe...

Scallop & Sausage Aglio Olio Spaghetti
(serves 2)

250g spaghetti
1 whole bulb garlic (or less if you are not a garlic fan)
light olive oil
2 polish sausages (use 3 -4 sausages if you making the sausage version without the scallops)
8 large scallops, sliced into half
wild rocket leaves (optional)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Cook the spaghetti in salted boiling water according to the packet instructions (less one minute).
   
2. Peel and finely chop the garlic, slice the sausages thinly and slice the scallops into half.
   
3. When the spaghetti is cooked, rinse with cold water to stop the spaghetti cooking, drain and set aside.
   
4. In a saucepan (I use the same one I boiled the spaghetti in), heat up the chopped garlic with some light olive oil over low heat.
   
5. Fry the garlic until golden and fragrant (make sure it doesn't brown or burn). 
   
6. Turn up the heat to medium and fry the scallops until they are just cooked, then remove them from the saucepan and set aside.
   
7. Add the sausages and fry a little, then add the spaghetti into the saucepan. (You may need to loosen the spaghetti a little first with some water as it may have clumped together.) 
   
8. Mix well, then add the scallops back to the saucepan and stir gently. 
   
9. Season with some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. 
   
10. Top with some wild rocket leaves (optional).
    

Tip: Add some chilli flakes or chilli oil to the pasta for a spicy version.

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Char Siew & Kon Loh Meen Bento

Today's bento is a Malaysian-style bento, containing Char Siew (Chinese barbecued pork) and Kon Loh Meen (soya sauce noodles), with haricot beans stir-fried in sambal belachan chilli. I've packed this bento in a microwavable container, as this dish tastes better warm.

Kon Loh Meen (lit. dry, mixed noodles) is a popular noodle dish in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. There are many variations, usually with some combination of garlic, oil, and soya sauce mixed together with cooked noodles. This is my mother's version, that she makes to accompany her homemade Char Siew (Chinese barbecued pork). Kon Loh Meen is usually made with thin egg noodles, but when I was young, we didn't have access to a large variety of Chinese noodles, hence my mother used instant noodles instead. Now, although I can easily buy thin egg noodles, I still like using instant noodles to make this dish - old habits die hard!

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Kon Loh Meen (Dry Soya Sauce noodles)
(serves 1)

1 packet instant noodles or thin egg noodles
3/4 Tbsp light soya sauce
3/4 Tbsp thick dark soya sauce
1 Tbsp garlic oil
dash of oyster sauce
dash of pepper

1. Mix the soya sauces, garlic oil, oyster and pepper on a medium-sized plate.
   
2. Boil some water in a saucepan, and add the noodles to the boiling water. Stir to loosen the noodles.
   
3. When the noodles are cooked, drain, then immediately pour them onto the plate with the sauce. 
   
4. Stir well to combine the noodles with the sauce. (You have to mix them immediately when the noodles are warm, or the sauce won't coat the noodles evenly.)
   
5. Taste, and add more seasoning (soya sauce/oyster sauce/garlic oil) if required.
   

To make garlic oil:
Over low heat, fry some finely chopped garlic in light olive oil until the garlic is fragrant and golden (but not brown or burnt).

(It's handy to make extra garlic oil and keep it on hand to use for noodles or pasta)

Note: The thick, dark soya sauce is known as kicap pekat in Malaysia. It is a dark soya sauce, slightly thicker than the normal Chinese dark soya sauce, and a little sweet.

Serve these noodles with Char Siew (Chinese Barbecued Pork).

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Homemade Char Siew (Chinese Barbecued Pork)

Char Siew (lit. fork roast) or Chinese barbecued pork, is a popular method of cooking pork in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Traditionally, long strips of marinated boneless pork are skewered with long forks (hence the name) and cooked in an oven or over a fire. This recipe is my mum's homemade version, and is based on the dark char siew common in Malaysia (as opposed to the red char siew version). It's very easy to make, and the taste is pretty authentic, especially taking into account how simple it is to prepare. 

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Homemade Char Siew (Chinese Barbecued Pork)

1/2 - 1 lb shoulder pork
1 Tbsp light soya sauce
1 Tbsp thick dark soya sauce
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
2 Tbsp honey or golden syrup
dash of pepper

1. Trim any larger amounts of fat from the pork. Slice the pork into 1.5 - 2 inch strips.
   
2. Mix the soya sauces, oyster sauce, honey and pepper together to form the marinade. (There is enough marinade for up to around 1 lb pork)
   
3. Marinate the pork for 1 -2 hours.
   
4. Heat up a non-stick pan/pot, and cook the strips of pork until cooked, basting frequently with the marinade. You can also grill the pork (basting frequently). 
   
5. Slice and serve with rice or noodles.
   

Update: The thick dark soya sauce I use is Kicap Pekat, a Malaysian soya sauce that is thick and slightly sweet.

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Batman Bento

My godson J is currently into Batman, so when I went over to visit, I attempted to make a Batman Bento for him. Batman to me is rather dark and gloomy, but as J is only 4 years old, the bento is a light-hearted one, with little masked onigiri (rice balls), chicken teriyaki meatballs, and a batman emblem cut out of nori (seaweed) sitting on top of an oval tamagoyaki (fried egg omelette). Edamame, slices of baby corn and glazed fried luncheon meat stars complete the bento. 

Continue reading for the Glazed Fried Luncheon Meat recipe...

Glazed Fried Luncheon Meat

Luncheon meat is not the healthiest, but it is extremely tasty and I do indulge once in a while. Try to buy a good quality luncheon meat. For this recipe, I used Spam Lite, but other brands would work just as well. The ingredients used for the marinade and glaze are similar to those for a teriyaki sauce, except for the soya sauce, as the luncheon meat is already very salty.

Luncheon meat
Mirin (Japanese rice wine)
Sake
Sugar

1. Slice and cut the luncheon meat into decorative shapes, or cubes.
   
2. Mix together equal amounts of mirin, sake and sugar in a bowl and add the cut luncheon meat. Stir gently to coat the luncheon meat. Add more marinade if necessary. (For half a small tin of luncheon meat, I added 1 Tbsp each of mirin, sake and sugar)
   
3. Heat up a non-stick frying pan over medium low heat. Add a very small amount of oil if desired, although I prefer not to add any oil, as the fat in the luncheon meat will exude when it is fried.
   
4. Fry the luncheon meat on both sides until browned.
   

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Tonkatsu Sandwich Bento

I made my favourite tonkatsu sandwich for lunch again today. This time, I actually remembered to season the meat with salt and pepper first (which I strangely forget to do). It's pan-fried in light olive oil, so it's not as "bad" as a deep fried version. I decided to make this week's bento theme a floral one, so the mashed potato in the potato salad is supposed to be (a strange 5-petaled) flower. 

This tonkatsu sandwich looks a lot better than my previous attempt. For one, I didn't cut it up into strips which made for a strange-looking sandwich. I also ditched buttering one side of the bread - I figured the oil content was already way too high!

Continue reading for the Tonkatsu Sandwich recipe...

Tonkatsu Sandwich

Thinly sliced pork chops (deboned is preferable, but if you can only find boned ones, just cut away the bone.
Sandwich bread
Tonkatsu sauce (Store bought is fine. eg. Bulldog brand Tonkatsu Sauce)
1 egg, beaten
flour to coat pork chops
breadcrumbs (preferably Japanese panko breadcrumbs)
Salt & pepper

1. Trim away any fat on the pork chops and cut away the bones (if you have a boned pork chop). If your pork chop is thick, pound it gently to flatten it to around 0.5cm). 
2. Season the pork chops with a little salt and pepper.
3. Lay out 3 separate plates/bowls with the flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs on each plate/bowl. 
4. Coat each pork chop with flour, then dip it into beaten egg, and finally roll it in the breadcrumbs. You can use your hands, but I like using chopsticks or tongs as it is less messy.
5. Heat up a small, non-stick frying pan with some oil (I use 1 -2 Tbsp light olive oil) on medium heat. 
6. Fry the pork chops a few at a time (depending on the size of your pan) until golden brown (around 2 minutes). As the pork is thin, it will cook quite quickly. To test, lightly press the pork chop - if it is firm, it should be cooked. Remove from the heat and make a small cut in the centre to check the meat is no longer pink. 
7. Continue frying the rest of the pork chops, adding a bit more oil into the pan each time if necessary. Set aside to cool on paper towels to soak up the oil.
8. Take 2 slices of sandwich bread and remove the crust. Lay the cooled tonkatsu pork chop on one slice. Depending on the size of your pork chop, you may need to use 1.5 or 2 pork chops to cover the bread. 
9. Spread some tonkatsu sauce on the other slice and lay it on top of the pork. 
10. With a serrated knife, cut the sandwich up and pack it into your bento. (Make sure your tonkatsu is cool before packing it, otherwise the bread will get soggy.)

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