Being adventurous again and the result was this dish, its the second time I have made this. The first was a bit of an experiment, this time just did a couple of tweaks for final result and very satisfied. Its a simple dish which doesn't take long to whip up and best served chilled.

Could not decide what to have for dinner, checked the pantry saw a can of chickpeas and a couple of chorizo sausages in the fridge. So decided to create a middle eastern dish, accompanied by a quinoa salad. 




I have heard and read so much about Quinoa the super grain. Not only is it packed full of protein, but, according to Wikipedia, it 'contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it a complete protein source, unusual among plant foods'. Quinoa is also gluten free and considered easy to digest. 
Its similar to couscous with a mild vegetal flavour but slightly crunchy. It has a light texture which makes it great for mixing with other ingredients which I was to discover myself. Never having cooked with Quinoa before decided to 
give a go and happy with the dish that I dished up.


Chorizo & chorizo ingredients
2 chorizo sliced thickly
1/2 onion finely diced
Can of chickpeas 
Can of diced tomatoes
1/2 zucchini sliced and quartered
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder(optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Quinoa salad ingredients
1 cup Quinoa
2 cups chicken stock(home made) or water
1 tbsp slivered almonds(toasted)
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
Honey 
Butter
1/2 preserved lemon peel, finely sliced

Method 
Heat a medium size pan with a little oil, toss the sliced chorizo sausage in the pan and fry once one side is nicely caramelised turn over and do the same, then remove the sausages from the pan and set aside. Put in the onions and cook for 3 - 5 minutes, empty the can of tomatoes with a quarter can of water into the pan with a tsp of cumin and chilli powder(optional) and cook for  a few minutes.Turn down the heat a little, and in goes the can of chickpeas,zucchini and the chorizo sausages, cook for 10 minutes, stirring now and again. Season to taste.

Quinoa Salad
From what I have read the rule of thumb for cooking Quinoa is 1 cup of quinoa to 2 cups of stock or water. Made sure you rinse the quinoa because it can have a bitter residue. Once rinse place in a pot with stock or water and cook for 15 - 17 minutes, until all the liquid is absorbed. Take off from the heat and let it stand, covered for another 5 minutes. 
Drizzle a teaspoon of honey into the quinoa with a couple of small knobs of butter and stir in. Toss in the toasted almonds,chopped fresh mint leaves and the preserved lemon peel and gently mixed through. 
Serve up and enjoy!!!

As I wrote earlier really happy with the dish, the quinoa salad was a taste sensation sweet, minty and sour from the preserved lemon and it complimented the spiciness of the chorizo's. This is a keeper and will try out different ingredients with quinoa, so stay tuned.

What do you do with leftover  bolognese sauce and rice. Well easy make lasagna rice(Riso Al Forno). I was shown how to make this dish by my sister in-law who in turn was taught by her mother and she by her mother. It is such a simple dish to prepare. 




Ingredients:

Bolognese sauce
Cold rice
Sliced Ham(I used smoked ham which gave it a depth of flavour)
4 hard boiled eggs, quartered
Mozzarella cheese
Salt and pepper.


Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
Lightly grease a casserole dish with oil, to prevent the rice from sticking. Put in your rice in the casserole dish top it with the ham and hard boiled eggs. Spoon the bolognese sauce over the top  and then a generous sprinkling of mozzarella cheese over it.
Place in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes, or bake until the top is bubbly and golden brown.
Let it sit for a few minutes and enjoy with a side salad.  

I have been buying commercially made dumplings for a while and then I saw a blog post from my favourite blogger 3 Hungry Tummies on the recipe for the filling.
I then decided to try the recipe which turned out to be very easy. I have  since made it on a few occasions with great success with the family.These dumplings can also be frozen for future consumption. 

Here is the link to the recipe. http://3hungrytummies.blogspot.com.au/2009/10/everyday-pork-mince.html 

The last issue of Woolworths good taste( magazine caught my eye whilst I was at the check out.  It was loaded with recipes worth trying and I have already tested a few with great success.

We had friends over one Sunday and I decided to try out this recipe (page 55). It was a simple dish to prepare and the end result was sensational, served with couscous and baked sweet potatoes.

Fried rice is one of the easiest meals anyone could whip up and a few friends having been asking how I cook my fried rice.   So I decided to show how it is done in the video below. 

Ingredients:
250gm Mince pork, chicken or Char Siew(Chinese BBQ pork)
3 Chinese Sausages (Lap Cheong)
100 gm Peeled prawns - halved
3 to 4 eggs
1/2 cup peas 
1 small can of corn kernels
2 cloves garlic mince
Light Soy sauce
2 to 3 cups rice (uncooked)

Marinade for Mince Pork or Chicken
2 tbs Light Soy
1 tbs Chinese cooking wine
A dash of Sesame oil

Important Tip!
Cook rice several hours before so that rice is cold when you start cooking.

Method

Ma Po Tofu is usually cooked with chilli, but this is my version that has no chilli and one of my kids' favourite dishes.

I love using tofu as it is such a versatile ingredient in Asian cuisine. Tofu absorbs flavours and adds a different texture to so many dishes.

Method

Drain the water from the tofu and dry the tofu on kitchen paper towels. Once this is done, cut the tofu into cubes, roughly 18 pieces per block.

Heat oil in wok until quite hot.  While oil is heating up, put the preserved soya bean, Chinese cooking wine and oyster sauce in a bowl. I usually like to mash the preserved soya beans to extract as much flavour as possible. Put the tapioca flour in a bowl, coat tofu in it, shaking off excess flour and once the oil is hot slowly put the tofu in. Do this in batches, do not overcrowd the wok . 

Fry the tofu until golden turning them a couple of times, then drain on paper towels. Once all of the tofu are done, discard the oil and clean the wok.
Place the wok back on the stove and heat 2 tbsp of oil, then toss in the ginger and spring onions and fry for a minute or so until fragrant. At this stage put in the minced pork or chicken, fry until cooked, breaking up the mince as you cook. 

Then put in the sauce, stirring to combine. Do this for a minute or so. Put in the water with the powdered chicken stock and stir to combine. Cover and cooked for 5 minutes on medium heat.  Then put in the fried tofu and simmer for another 5 or so minutes. Do not add salt as the preserved soya bean is already very salty.


Just before serving, dissolve 1 tbsp of corn flour in some water and stir into the dish  to thicken the sauce. Drizzle sesame oil on top to give the dish a silken finish.


Enjoy with plain steam rice. 

 This recipehas been submitted to Muhibbah Malaysian Monday! June Round-up.  

Billy Kee chicken, a strange name for a recipe. Got this recipe from my mum, she used to cook this recipe when we were younger. Rediscovered this dish one day at my brothers place, whilst discussing our favourites dish mum used to cook while we were growing up.

Its my wife's favourite dish now. Its a fairly simple dish to make, yet very tasty. It has a component in the recipe that is essential to this dish which is Sichuan Peppercorn.

Ingredients
500gm Chicken thighs - Cut to manageable pieces
1 cup tomato sauce 
1/2 cup red wine
1 tbspn Lea & Perrin sauce
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorn(dry roasted & pounded, using a mortar and pestle)
Salt
1 egg white
2 tbsp Corn Flour

Mix the chicken pieces with with egg white, corn flour, sichuan pepper and salt.
Heat oil in a wok and deep fry the chicken until cooked and golden, do this in batches, and drain on kitchen paper towels.

Mix the tomato sauce, red wine and Lea & Perrin sauce together.  Once you have completed deep frying the chicken drain oil place wok back on the stove and lower the heat pour in the sauce mixture and put the chicken in. Cook until sauce has thicken and dried up.


Serve and enjoy with steamed rice.

Making Hainanese Chicken rice today.  

To go with this dish I usually make a garlic,ginger,spring onion dipping sauce and a spicy chilli sauce, which brings me to my next story about my new micro planer. 
After my last one fell apart, I was astonished at the cost of replacing one. I finally  saw a bargain that was half price at $20 at House in Forest Hill Shopping Center.

A micro planer is a worthwhile investment as it makes it so much easier when grating the garlic and ginger for my dipping sauce.  There are many brands of micro-planers in the market and as you can see from the picture, the one I bought was a Microplane which is probably one of the most expensive I have seen.  However, it is significantly better than the old one that I had. It grates the garlic and ginger very finely which I require for both dipping and chilli sauce.

Above is the dish with the accompanying sauces on the side.