Avigayil Damm

Yesterday, we had chicken parmesan. Originally I made enough for two days (with four big pieces of chicken breast) but my number one fan liked it so much he hada second helping with half a chicken breast. So now we end up having only one and a half chicken breast for dinner.

To avoid possible blood bath due to violent fighting over uneven pieces of chicken, I decided to cut it all up and mix it with rice and some (frozen) vegetables, creating a from-the-hip fried rice. I only stir-fried some finely chopped onion, then tossed in the chicken and vegetables, and added the rice. For added taste, I generously sprinkled it with a mixture of sweet and salty soya sauce (my choice is kecap ABC). Then it’s served with two eggs sunny side up. Bon appétit!

It was time to try out another recipe. Tonight I picked fish in herb tomato sauce, a modified recipe from ‘The Australian’s Women’s Weekly Make It Tonight’ series, with recipes for cooking in microwave.

Ingredients:

• 425 gr can tomato puree
• 1 medium onion, chopped finely
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 clove garlic, minced/crushed
• 2 small chicken stock cubes
• 1 tsp sugar
• 4 (1 kg) white fish fillet

The only white fish I came across in my last grocery shopping was dory fish, so I tried that one. The fish is cooked, covered, on high temperature in the microwave for about four minutes and then set aside. The rest of the ingredients, consisting of tomato puree, onion, garlic, oregano, parsley and thyme, chicken stock cubes and sugar,  are all mixed together and cooked, covered, in the microwave for about 5 minutes, stirring once.

The sauce is then poured over the fish and they are cooked again together, covered, for another four five minutes or until the fish is cooked through. Pardon for the poor-quality picture, but there you have the result.

Taste wise, I didn’t care much for the dory fish. What I would do next time, is probably fry the dory fish instead of cooking it in the microwave. Or, pick another type of white fish altogether, such as cod.

The onions could have tasted better if it was cooked ahead first with the garlic until soft and fragrant. Plus, next time I would go easy on the thyme – it made the dish smell slightly earthy. But I am not giving up on this one just yet. With the above changes, I will definitely try it again sometime.

After a few days of no serious cooking, I am back. Just a recap, on Sunday, after my visiting friend left, my hubby and I just heated some paprika meatballs which we stored in the freezer, so that was an easy dinner. On Monday, we anticipated coming back from work late, and being lazy to cook anything so we ordered in our favorite cheese burger from Amigos. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of those, but will do it next time and post it. On Tuesday, my hubby went to the field, so I was alone at home. I had some leftover lasagna in the freezer so that was my dinner that night, and on Wednesday I asked our guard to buy me some chicken from the street kitchen nearby. No pictures of those either, but will add them on later.

Anyways, today I whipped out the recipe which we did not get to cook last week because we came home late from the office and ended up eating something very easy. This recipe is one of our favorites because it’s fast, easy and tastes good. The usual prerequisites for a recipe to be repeated in this household. It’s peppered paprika beef. And the surprising part is, that it’s all made in the microwave!

All you have to do is prepare some thinly sliced meat, approximately 700 grams, mix in some corn flour, half a cup of water, 3 tbsp of soya sauce, 2 tbsp of sesame oil, salt and pepper. Mix these well before adding in chopped onions and chopped green and red paprika. Cook covered for 10 minutes, stirring twice, and then cook uncovered for about 5 minutes on medium. Voila! The dish is ready to be served, with any choice of side dish. We opted for Basmati rice.

Tonight, the menu is pasta (my choice is spaghetti) with tuna and capers sauce. It’s very easy, it took me only 20 minutes to cook it altogether. Chopped onions and garlic is fried for a few minutes until tender and fragrant, then tuna chunks is mixed in (I used tuna chunks in oil – make sure you drain it properly otherwise you will end up with a very greasy dish), together with cream (I used light cream), lemon juice, capers and parsley. The time it took for me to prepare the sauce was the exact time it took for me to cook the pasta. It fits into my weekday menu criteria: quick, easy and delicious. And I have three satisfied customer: my hubby, my visiting friend (yes people are now flying all the way from Yogyakarta to have a taste of my cooking!) and my little birthday pup, Sam.

Other than the picture of a cute little chick in between burger buns held by my hands-twin, I didn’t really find any interesting hints on what to put on a chicken burger. So we used the really basic ingredients: mayo, tomato sauce, mustard, tomato slices, cucumber slices, lettuce and cheddar cheese. We used ready made burger buns that was available in the supermarket. The buns were sooo thick that we decided to slice out the middle part and not use it.

When we started to eat, we realized we forgot rings of onions. But never mind, it tasted delicious anyway! And this must be the best looking picture of food I have ever taken so far for my blog.