Back to School Dinner Meals Suggestion List

Simple Chinese Style Stock

Cook your stock on Sunday, cool it down, store in three containers enough for three days. Most food can keep up to 3 days in the fridge, but if you want to keep your food a little longer, please keep in the freezer. It is always safer to defrost the meat with microwave than leaving it in room temperature for the whole day unattended. You can defrost your meat at the bottom of your fridge for a day depends on the size of your meat.

This nutritious stock can save you a lot of time, you can boil it, then simply add tofu, the green leaf vegetable or any ingredient of your choice. Or it can be prepared as stew with potato, carrot and meat quickly.

A healthy meal usually needs at least two choices of vegetables or mixture of vegetable (either beans, green leaves veg or roots) and a meat or fish dish. To save energy, the best way during summer time is eating assorted salad. The salad dressings are very easy to make. I will show you the simple salad dressings ingredients.

Ingredients:

1. Pork bones and chicken bones

2. Carrots, daikon or even kohlrabi,  cut in chunks

3. Onion and garlic

4. Leeks, mushroom, celery or even sweet corn

Method:

1. Fill up a large pot with water, add all the ingredients into it, or place everything into a slow cooker for safety reason if you are a busy mother.

2. Once it starts to boil, turn fire to simmer.

3. Skim continuously while simmering, don't stir or else you will get an unclear stock.

3. After 2 hours, sieve and keep the stock, let it cools down as soon as possible in the storage containers. Store in fridge or freezer. 

Tofu Meatball Soup

Ingredients:

1. Soft tofu

2. Minced pork

3. Seasoning: Sesame oil, egg, salt, pepper, vinegar, wine, soy sauce (add your preferred ingredients)

4. Spice/vegetable: Coriander, spinach, shallot or water chestnut (pick the one you prefer, mince it)

Method:

1. Mash tofu with minced pork, add seasoning and spice/vegetable of your preference. Knead into balls

2. Boil your stock, knead the meatballs and place into the boiling stock.

3. Boil at medium heat for at least 10 minutes depend on the size of your meatballs.

4. Add the herbs, mung bean vermicelli or/and vegetable of your choice to the soup. 

5. Check seasoning.

Beef Stew

Ingredients:

1. Chuck or skirt, cut into cubes or stripes

2. Carrot/Tomato/Daikon/Potato/scallion/leek/swede or any root vegetable

3. Green vegetable like broccoli/ kohlrabi

4. Stock 

Method:

1. In a oven proof pot, add cut beef, root vegetable and green vegetable.

2. Fill the stock paralleled with the meat and vegetable

3. Place a cartouche on top or a lip (careful don't burn your hands), place into a preheated oven of 180C to stew. 

3. After 30 to 45 minutes, check your seasoning. 

4. Careful always leave the towels on the handle to remind you that it is a hot pot. Place it on top of stove (away from children).



Steamed Minced Pork Cake

Ingredients:
1. Minced Pork
2. Eggs or soft tofu (for those who are allergic to eggs)
3. Seasoning: Soy sauce, salt and pepper
4. Spice: Shallot (Brunoise), garlic (Minced)

Method:
1. Whisk the egg or mash the tofu, mix in minced pork.
2. Add water, spice and seasoning.
3. Steam it over the top of the rice in the rice cooker or in a steamer until cooked. Usually it needs 30 minutes to get cooked.

Salad Dressings 


Italian Style Dressing
1. Balsamic Vinegar
2. Extra virgin olive oil
3. Spice and herbs: Minced garlic, salt and pepper

Method:
1. Whisk vinegar with herbs and spices, add olive gradually, whisk.
2. Check seasoning. 
Note: If you don't have balsamic vinegar, just add lemon can do



Cream Style Dressing

Ingredients:
1. 1 tsp Djon mustard
2. 1 Egg yolk
3. 100ml Olive oil
4. 1 tbsp Lemon

Method:
1. Add lemon and mustard to the egg yolk, whisk until pale white.
2. Add the oil gradually and whisking at the same time, stop when it has thickened. You can add a tablespoon of hot water at last, whisk and mix well.
3. Check seasoning with your preferable spices or chopped herbs, salt and pepper.

Note: You can use a stick blender to whisk, in this case you can get a creamy dressing within a very short time.



Steamed Pork Belly

Ingredients:
1. Pork belly, cut into slices (You can prepare it on Sunday, store in a container, either keep in freezer or fridge, if you keep in freezer, defrost it on the night ahead at the lowest tier of fridge on a tray or plate, if you keep it in the fridge, it must be cooked within 3 days)
2. Krill pickle
3. Seasoning: Lime/vinegar, garlic, scallion and chilies
4. Sesame oil

Method:
1. Place the pork belly slices in a bowl.
2. On top place the mixture of krill pickle, seasoning and sesame oil
3. Steam on the rice top or in a steamer.




Tomato Noodle Soup

Ingredients:
1. Tomatoes, get rid of skin (Buy lots of cheap tomatoes and store them whole in freezer during summer days)
2. Stock
3. Any green leaves vegetable or/and herbs like scallion or cilandro
4. Dehydrated Taiwanese noodles or fresh noodles


Method:
1. Boil the stock, rinse the tomatoes, poke a hole on the tomato skin, blanch the tomatoes in the stock for 20 seconds, then place the tomatoes in cold water, peel of the skin. 
2. Chopped the tomato into small pieces
3. Fry the tomato pieces with oil, add the stock, boil for 5- 10 minutes
4. Use the stock pot, fill up with water, boil then add noodle to cook until al dente (almost cooked).
4. Add vegetables or/and herbs, finally add the noodle, check seasoning.





A Simple Korean/Vietnamese Western Style Fusion Meal

Ingredients:
1. Sirloin steaks or Scotch fillets
2. Lettuce or Spring cabbage
3. Extra vegetable: Daikon, potatoes, scallion, cilantro
4. Extra seasoning and spice: Toasted sesame seed, fish sauce, Korean chili flakes, miso paste, garlic, any citric fruit like lemon or grapefruit, sweet chili sauce, sesame oil, sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper.


Method:
1. Marinate the steak with salt, pepper, miso paste, vinegar and garlic paste.
2. Wash your vegetables, peel daikon and potatoes and cut them into small cubes. Retain the whole lettuce leaf for wrapping. Julienne the scallion.
3. Prepare daikon pickle: Mix the daikon cubes with the mixture of sugar, vinegar, garlic paste, Korean chili flakes, sesame oil, fish sauce and cilandro (minced), toss and sprinkle with toasted sesame seed.
4. Grill the steaks over a frying pan until medium rare, slice the steak into stripes. Keep the frying pan to cook potato pickle.
5. Prepare potato pickle: Add the potato cubes into the steak frying pan, deglaze the pan with water, cook for 2 minutes, check the seasoning, garnish the potato cubes with scallion.
6. Prepare the sweet and sour chili sauce: In a small bowl, squeeze in a lemon or any citric fruit (preferable a bit sour), add fish sauce, sweet chili sauce (or use fresh chili paste), minced garlic, check seasoning.
7. Use the lettuce leaf, place steak stripes and cilantro on it, roll and dip into the sweet and sour chili sauce.