KookyCulinary

Hey, I’m up to #5 already! Nowadays it’s been a little harder to make bento in the morning because it’s SO cold!! Too cold to get out of bed! hehe… ok, must remind myself to be more disciplined!! :P 

Anyway, for bento #5, we have Hot dog on a stick, homemade roti canai/prata ( The recipe can be found here) with apple sauce for dipping.

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Actually I have no idea what is the proper name for this dish. It is is supposed to be “yao zham yu” which in Cantonese literally translates as oil-dipped fish. Correct me if I’m wrong please? I’m not Cantonese. Somehow oil-dipped fish doesn’t sound too appetizing, so I’m calling it Pan-Fried Tilapia!

Anyway, when I was in Malaysia, it was one of my favorite dish. The whole fish is deep-fried till very crispy. Then remove from oil, drain and a mixture of soya-sauce, a little hot oil and scallion is drizzled on it. Simple yet delicious. In this case, I modified a little. I just pan-fried tilapia filets till crispy. In the meantime, i fry some garlic strips in a small pot with some oil to make garlic oil. Then when the fish is done, I mix the fried garlic strips, garlic oil, soya sauce and scallions & drizzle over the fish. The garlic fried rice is just plain rice, garlic & egg.

Now that the chilly weather is here to stay, it’s time for more soups & stews to warm up the day.

Last week, I made Brunswick Stew. A bowl of this served with some garlic toast was just so comforting on a cold wet day!!

Recipe:
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 cup carrot (original recipe says red bell pepper)
1 tbsp flour
1 lb boneless chicken thigh or breast - cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Tabasco
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen corn - thawed
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen baby lima beans - thawed

• Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray.
• Add onion, celery and carrot to pan. Cook for 5 mins. Stir occasionally.
• Combine flour & chicken in a bowl, tossing to coat. Add a little oil to pan. Then add chicken to pan. Cook for 2 min till lightly brown.
• Stir in chicken broth, bring to a boil.
• Add tomato paste, dried thyme, salt, Tabasco, corn, lima beans to pan. Cover, reduce heat & simmer for 30 mins.
• Serve with garlic bread.

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It has been really cold & rainy these past couple of weeks. So we have been having lots of steamboat. Have not been doing much cooking or baking. So for now, here’s another bento.

Clockwise: Ham Sandwich with cheese fan, a bunch of carrots, cranberries rice crispies and dip for carrot.

Beef Hor Fun aka Beef Kway Teow aka “gong chao ngau hor”

Looks good, eh? No, I didn’t cook this. DH did! Normally DH is the one who will cook all the noodle dishes since he loves noodles and he is also not afraid to add in lots of oil!! Why do I say that? Because for fried kway teow to turn out good, it needs quite a bit of oil. For me, unless it’s deep frying, I don’t like to cook with a lot of oil, so my kway teow always don’t turn out right. (or maybe it’s just an excuse for me not to cook!! heehee….)

With Christmas just around the corner, I think it’s about time I start my Christmas shopping. Every year, I usually end up buying clothes or books as gifts but this year, I am planning something different. I think some delicious San Francisco cookies will be a great gift instead. Don’t you think it’s a great idea?

The only problem is that I can’t decide which cookies to get. LOL! I wonder if I should choose Chocolate Chip Cookies, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies or maybe Peanut Butter Cookies. Everything looks so good! I am sure that no matter which cookies I end up choosing, my gift recipients will love these Christmas cookies. Do you want me to send you a box too?

Today’s bento consists of the all-American favorite, Macaroni and Cheese, Turkey slices, celery sticks with peanut butter in the yellow container, and chocolate raisins for dessert.

For the macaroni & cheese, I prefer to make my own rather than using the boxed ones and I will try to sneak in some vegetables like peas and corn.

You would have probably noticed that I have some empty gap in my bento box. According to the “bento rule”, there’s not suppose to be any empty gaps in the bento. This is to prevent the food from sliding all over the place. I really didn’t want to add any more food to it because it wil probably go to waste since toddler is not a big eater. But maybe I should add an empty containter there next time just to prevent it from moving around.

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