Meat and egg with dark sauce (lor bak, lor neng)

Recipe is borrowed from here.

Comments

The following modifications are made to the recipe:
Beef is used instead of pork belly to reduce calories.

I have to admit that the recipe taste better with pork belly, but I'm going to experiment with different beef cuts to see if it can be better without adding too much extra calories.

Ingredients (serve 4)
800 g lean beef stew
2L water
10 cloves garlic, with skin and washed
4 hard boiled eggs , shelled

Seasoning :
10 peppercorns, crushed
5 tbsp soya sauce
1 tsp salt -> should be none
1 tbsp sweet soy sauce -> should be 2 tbsp
1 anise star
2" cinnamon stick

Nutritional information (per serving)

		PRO	FAT	CARB
beef stew, 225 g		45g	20g*	0g
hard boiled egg, 1		6	5g	0g
soy sauce, 1 tbsp		1g	0g	2g
sweet soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp		0g	0g	8g
TOTAL (473 cals)		52	25g	10g

*: fat content is lower if you didn't drink all the sauces, since some of the fat should be in there.

Cooking instruction
1. Bring water to boil. Add in all seasoning.
2. Add in beef. Simmer for about 30 minutes before adding the garlic cloves and hard boiled eggs.
3. Continue to simmer over a slow fire until meat is tender, about another 20 minutes.

Results





1st attempt:
The recipe is way too salty but not sweet enough for me, so I have to save them by throwing away half the water, and add in fresh water. I also add an extra 1 tbsp of sweet soy sauce and marinade the meat 3-4 hours before serving.
Next time, I'm going to get rid of the salt and marinade the meat in soy sauce for 1/2 hour, and brown them a bit with sweet soy sauce before putting them in the water. I think that'll make the meat more flavourful.

Medan chicken soup (soto ayam Medan)

Recipe is borrowed from here.

Comments

The following modifications are made to the recipe:
1. Boneless and skinless chicken breast is used instead of whole chicken.
2. Chicken is stir fried after boiling instead of deep fried.

The chicken taste better when deep fried for sure, but even without doing that, the recipe still taste great.

Ingredients (serve 6)
2 lbs chicken breast
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp ground lemon grass or 1 lemon grass
5 lime leaves
1/2" galangal
1 cup coconut milk
3 hard boiled eggs
6 cups bean sprout -> boil quickly before serving
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp salt -> 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sweet soy sauce

Spices:
8 shallots
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tbsp ground coriander seed
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2" ginger
3 nutmeg

Garnish:
1 green onion
fried shallots

Nutritional information (per serving)

		PRO	FAT	CARB
chicken breast, 150 g		36g	2g	0g
hard boiled egg, 1/2		3g	3g	0g
bean sprout, 1 c		11g	0g	3g
coconut milk, 1/6 cup		0g	5g	0g
sweet soy sauce, 1/2 tsp		0g	0g	3g
TOTAL (314 cals)		50g	10g	6g

Cooking instruction
1. Put chicken and 4 cups of water in sauce pan and turn the heat to high. When the water boils, turn the heat to low, and put in bay leaf, lime leaves and galangal. Simmer for another 8 - 10 mins, put the chicken aside and leave the chicken broth on low heat.
2. Put all the spices in a blender, and ground them. Spray oil on frying pan and stir fry the ground spices for 1-2 minutes. Put the ground spices and salt and sweet soy sauce in the chicken broth and mix well.
3. Put the coconut milk into the chicken broth mix and stir every 10 minutes or so under low heat. Stirring under low heat is important, because otherwise the coconut milk won't mix well. Keep doing this for 1 hour.
3. Cut chicken into bite sizes, and mix well with soy sauce, then stir fry for 3-4 minutes.
4. On a bowl, put half hard boiled eggs, bean sprout and chicken. Garnish with green onion and fried shallots. Pour 1/6th of the broth mix on top of it. Enjoy!

Results





1st attempt:
This recipe taste amazing. Next time, I just have to do two things to make it taste a bit better. First, boil bean sprout lightly before serving, since the broth mix is not hot enough to cook it. Second, reduce salt slightly, taste is a little bit too salty for my liking.

Wonton noodle

Recipe is borrowed from a friend.

Comments

The following modifications are made to the recipe:
Lean ground beef is used instead of ground pork.

Recipe still taste good without pork.

Ingredients (serve 5)
500 g lean ground beef
500 g wonton noodle
5 hard boiled eggs
10 wonton

2.5 tbsp sweet soy sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp cooking wine
3 cloves of garlic
2.5" of cinnamon stick
1 anise star
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 cup water
1 cup chicken broth
1 green onion

Nutritional information (per serving)

		PRO	FAT	CARB
lean ground beef, 100g		20g	10g*	0g
hard boiled egg, 1		6g	5g	0g
wonton, 2 pieces		3g	2g	6g
wonton noodle, 100 g		16g	2g	40g
sweet soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp		0g	0g	8g
soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp		1g	0g	1g
TOTAL (575 cals)		46g	19g	55g

*: fat content for ground beef is very likely lower, since fat is drained after cooking. It should be more like 7 g or so.

Cooking instruction
1. Brown ground beef and drain the fat. If you want to reduce the fat some more, rinse beef with hot water.
2. Put beef and everything else except wonton noodle and chicken broth in a sauce pan and turn on the heat to high until the sauce is boiling. Once the sauce is boiling, turn the heat to low, and simmer for 1 hour or until the sauce thickens.
3. After the sauce thickens, throw away the cinnamon stick, anise star and garlic skin.
4. Boil wonton noodle in water, and wonton in chicken broth. Once they're done, serve and garnish with green onion.

Results







1st attempt:
This recipe taste great, but a little too sweet to my liking. Next time, I'll reduce sweet soy sauce to 1.5 tbsp only.

Taiwanese style noodle

Recipe is borrowed from here.

Comments

The following modifications are made to the recipe:
Ground beef is used instead of pork.

Ingredients (serve 4)
500 g ground beef
340 g (2 piece) firm tofu
1 green onion
2 chili pepper, de-seeded
4 packages of udon

1 tablespoon sambal oelek
1 tablespoon soy bean
2 tablespoon cooking wine
2 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoon sugar
8 tablespoons water

Nutritional information (per serving)

		PRO	FAT	CARB
lean ground beef, 125 g		25g	12g*	0g
firm tofu, 1/2 piece		12g	2g	10g
udon, 1 package		5g	0g	55g
soy sauce, 1/4 tbsp		0g	0g	0g
soy bean, 1/4 tbsp		1g	0g	1g
TOTAL (562 cals)		43g	14g	66g

*: fat content for ground beef is very likely lower, since fat is drained and rinsed after cooking. It should be around 8g.

Cooking instruction
1. Brown ground beef in pan, drain the fat and put aside. If you need it to be leaner, wash the ground beef with hot water.
2. Slice tofu into small pieces. Spray frying pan and stir-fry tofu until slightly brown. Add beef, and put aside. 3. Spray frying pan and stir-fry mix of sambal oelek and soy bean until fragrant and add all other seasonings. Return beef and tofu and add chili peppers. Stir well until liquid is almost absorbed.
4. Boil udon, put beef mixture on top of it and garnish with green onion.

Results





1st attempt:

I copied down the wrong amount of seasonings, instead of 1 tablespoon, I thought it was 1 teaspoon. The beef is a little dry and are not spicy enough obviously. Next time, I'm going to follow the recipe more closely.

Welcome to Tasty Easy and Healthy! (teh =D)

Hey everyone!

This blog will list my attempts in cooking tasty, easy and healthy food.

* Tasty in this case will be influenced heavily by my taste preference. =) It'll be mostly Asian with some Mexican and North American thrown in.

* Easy means I can cook it. If an amateur cook like me can cook it, everybody can do it. =D

* Healthy means that each meal will be high in protein, medium fat, medium carb, filling and include veggies. Girls should split this meal into two, and men can keep it as it is. To be exact, each meal is going to be around:
- 40 - 50 g of protein
- 10 - 20 g of fat
- 50 - 60 g of carb

I hope readers will enjoy it as much as I do!!!