Left-over BBQ?

Sometimes after a BBQ nite or BBQ party, we may still have a few left-over grilled beef, lamb and chicken, also veggies if you used them. Do not fret that this will have to go to the dumpster unless of course, they had turned bad the same day, or got contaminated. Other than that, they will make a great meal or lunchbox for the next day or even the next few days if you kept them sealed and frozen well. All you need is a little bit of creativity and innovation ;)

If your left-overs are cooked, meaning you have grilled them before freezing, you could thaw them first then lightly reheat them using small amount of oil. You could shred them first before 'stir-frying' or reheat as they are and shred afterwards. I like to add extra seasoning to disguise the 'yesterday's food' thoughts, so feel free to experiment using sauces, herbs, spices, or just the usual salt and pepper. You could also add in some veggies in the stir-fry, if you like. These are then serve with hot tortilla wraps, with fresh vegetables and sauces.

I also add them in fried rice and noodles which was a hit with my kids, and as mini pizza toppings!

Hope your family will enjoy these too, happy experimenting!

Simple Grilled Chicken

I've posted the recipe for the pasta dish in Simple Olio Spagetti so now is the time for the chicken's recipe. I got the idea when trying out Dominoes Pizza's chicken wings. The best chicken parts for grilling is usually either the wings or the drumsticks. You can choose to grill this in the oven, or if you have a bbq pit, or if you have none, than just fry them with just a liiiiiiitle bit of oil or fat (butter) enough not to make it to dry but also not too oily. They are best eaten on their own, which I know the kids would prefer, or with rice, or pasta or bread. If you have left-overs, refrigerate them and reheat the next morning for sandwiches.

Ingredients:

1kg chicken parts (usually you could get about 6 drumsticks or 8 wings), cleaned and pat dry with paper towels
1tsp ground/crushed black paper
1tsp dried oregano
1tsp salt
2tsb ground fresh garlic
2tsb olive oil
1tsb worcestershire sauce

Methods:

1. Mix all the marinates ingredients in a big bowl to get into a paste-like liquid before adding in the chickens
2. Give the chickens a good rub with the paste, making sure all mixed well
3. Transfer into a freezer bag, try to get as much air out before sealing then leave it to marinate in the fridge for 1 hour
4. Separate the chickens and keep the liquid in a separate bowl
5. While grilling or frying, keep on brushing the chicken with the liquid now and then. You can also bake them in the oven by arranging them in a tray-pan, pour the liquid about half a centimeter deep and turn the chicken once when the top side already brown to ensure the other side also get a bit brown

Freezing and reheating method:

1. Follow step 1-3 but instead of putting in the fridge, you can straight-away freeze them
2. To cook this, you need to take them out of the freezer and transfer them into the fridge at least 12 hours before the intended cooking time. Read more in Secrets of Frozen Food on freezing and reheating the chickens.

French Banana Beignets

When I first made these and shared it in my FB, some of my friends are interested and PM me for the recipe. Honestly, I've never heard or seen these before, but accidently found the recipe when I was looking for banana recipes. I love bananas...banana cake, banana muffins, banana stew or locally we called 'Sira Pisang', I guess. So what is beignet, but most importantly, how to pronounce it?

Ok, beignets or pronounce as 'beh-nye' without the strong 'h' sound, is a French deep-fried pastry with powdered sugar. The original beignet is just plain, but there are many variation now, chocolates, with cream filling, and of course...my favorite bananas :) There are also many shapes, and it's soft and fluffy like pop-doughnuts. In this variation, its a combination taste of our local 'Jemput-jemput Pisang' or famously known as 'Cekodok' and doughnuts. Kids love these, but I would advise not to serve this to a diebetic person as it is VERY VERY VERY sweet.

Ingredients:

2 cups of self-raising flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup of mashed bananas
1/2 cup milk
2 tsb vegetable oil
Enough oil for deep-frying

Sugar coating:
1/2 icing sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Method:

1. Mixed the dry items and wet items in 2 separate bowls until fully blended, then combined.
2. Drop spoonful of the batter into the hot oil and fry until golden.
3. Drain in paper towel and roll in sugar coating while still warm. You can also use dusting method instead of rolling

These cutie balls will be great for tea-time, with hot coffee or tea, or both!

Treasure Boxes

I love cooking for my family, and I believe most of my readers are too. I devoted my whole attention and passion to provide good and healthy food for my kids especially, since my husband is working away in KL while all of us are in the north, so he could only get to try some of my food during the weekend. Cooking is like a stress-reliever for me. Each time I cook, even the same food, will never taste the same as I will always innovate the recipe. Apart from the fresh cooking during the weekend and the reheating of home-made make-ahead food in the weekdays, my other passion is to make great lunchboxes for my dearest daughter to school, which I called my 'Treasure Boxes'.

 



If you noticed, I'm not into the fancy cartoons or shapes or designs. It's all about the food. They should be good, healthy and of course tasty. What good will I get if I do all the fancy food stuff which my girl won't eat? Some of these food are make-aheads like the pasta, marinated chickens, quiches, muffins, soups and rice. It will take me max 10 minutes every morning to prepare this, most of the time is less and those times are usually to cut the fruits because I could reheat the food while doing that...we mommies are such a multi-tasker, aren't we?

Nisa's lunchbox will always have either fruits or veggies, or can be both, but I still let her have her occasional sweet treats like cakes and jellies. Nisa is a natural-born fruits and veggies eater, so I don't actually have any problems to force her eating those. In fact, I think she eats much healthier than me and she cannot live a day without having her bowls of fruits, so fruits are the staple in our fridge. She used to love fish but as she grows bigger, she started to push them aside. The worst food to feed her are eggs or anything made with lots of eggs like quiches or egg sandwiches, but she's the BIGGEST fan of pasta, any kind of pasta!

I can share some of the recipes when I have time to write again. Follow my FB page at https://www.facebook.com/bzmamaskitchen and you can request for the recipe you are interested to try out.

Simple Olio Spaghetti

On days the whole family want something simple but tasty, I'll make these. Ok, I have to admit that the chicken was pre-made, which means I always buy a bunch of drumsticks whenever I see them looking fresh at the poultry isle, then marinate and freeze them at home for my convenient use anytime in needs :)

There are many ways to marinate chickens, too many recipes which I won't be sharing in this post as this post is about - the spaghetti. Olio Spaghetti is by far the simplest but still maintain you as a great cook at home..haha! You may have heard Aglio, Olio and also Pepperoncino or Pepperoncini Spaghetti and wondered? Yes, they are all the same thing :)

The recipe below is for 2 adults (standard size meal) or 3 kids below 9 years.

Ingredients:
250g cooked spaghetti (set aside)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (can add up to 1/3 cup if you want more)
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp dried basil flakes
1/2 tsp chilli pepper flakes (optional if you don't like it spicy, especially for kids)
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Heat up the oil and garlic, then add in the spaghetti. Stir and fold the spaghetti all over to ensure covered with the oil, then add in all the other ingredients which are the herbs, together. Keep on stirring to ensure all are mixed well.
2. Serve with cheese on top and either some fresh garden salad (if you are vegetarian) or grilled chicken as the picture or just garlic breads.

The best thing about Olio is, you can add in anything apart of its simple self. In these photos, you can see me adding cherry tomatoes. Add in some shrimps when heating the garlic and oil to have Shrimp Olio, or some squids too for a seafood one. Or at the end, instead of grilled chicken, you can put in grilled giant prawns with cheesy topping, or Portobello  mushroom like below, just simply anything! Enjoy!

Freezing Food IS Cool!

When I was studying in Japan, each time I came back to Malaysia for holidays, I will packed some frozen local food to bring back so I could still enjoy the taste of Malaysia whenever I missed home. My parents would buy rendang, murtabak and other of my favorite local dishes, then we would freeze them in 1-person-portion in small plastic bags for 72 hours before my flight is due. The longer is the better actually. Next, we will pack them in polisterine box, sealed and this will travel with me for 6 hours flight to Narita, another 1 hours flight to Aomori and by road to Hirosaki, which will be almost 10 hours including the waiting time for each transportation schedule. I will quickly freeze them again, and these food will be kept for 6 months. Well, I have to admit, I didn't keep them up to 6 months, but it could last for more than a year, and being away from home, it still taste super-delicious to me! :)

I started to do home-made frozen food when I had my 3rd child. My maid did not want to continue her contract after 2 years of service, so I had to handle 2 small kids and a new baby alone at home. Even though it is 'pantang' or against the local rule for any post-delivered moms to eat cold food, I had no choice. Survival is more important, and that includes keeping me sane. Admit it mommies, we need our extra time, not only to spend more time with your family, but also to appreciate ourselves...we deserve it!



So, this is how my freezer usually look like, even now. I'll freeze my kids favorite food which are pasta, marinated chickens and ingredients for other 5-10 minutes recipes. Also curries and stews, only the gravy/soups. At times when I bake, it will have frozen muffins, bread puddings, quiches and buns.

So, how do you start a frozen food meal for your family? I've heard comments from my friends that their family doesn't like frozen food. Well, let's understand this, most restaurant food are also frozen, some with preservatives, and we are talking about home-made frozen food. Why does your family do not like frozen food? It's not the food, unless you really can't cook, but if you have been cooking fresh for them your whole life until you read this, and feeling tired and drained out, well, let me tell you this, it's not the food they hate, it's the 'ice' or 'freezer' tastes. Also, to some families is, the fact that you are serving the same food for a few consecutive days.

Then, how to make them accept frozen food?

1. Freeze it and reheat it well
There are ways to do it right and save you more time for yourself, if you appreciate yourself. I will share more on this in my post Secrets of Frozen Food

2. Do not serve it repeatedly
Imagine eating the same food at dinner table 2-3 days in a row? Of course, the first day you are serving it, it'll be a blast because you had just cooked it fresh. Then you happily freeze the left-overs, and to save your time, reheated it the next day and maybe the day after too. If you have picky-eater husband or kids or both, OF COURSE, they will know. Don't think they wouldn't notice the same chicken curry they had for 2 nights, do you? So, if you have left-overs, freeze it for next week, it won't get bad and in fact, for food that used lots of spices or herbs, it will taste even better! Think of mamak stall! :D

3. Similar but not
My rule is - home-made frozen food should not be the exact left-overs. If you have too much of a left-over, either freeze it and reheat it the next week, or else innovate your ideas and creativities to 'disguise' it.

When we have grilled lamb or chicken or beef for dinner last night and had left-overs, I will re-use them for either my kids' lunchboxes or home-meals. You can shred them, stir-fry a little adding a bit more herbs or just peppers, or you can even add sauces to turn them into sandwiches. In this photo, I packed tortilla wraps with the shredded grilled chicken left-overs and veggies. You could also add the shredded chickens in fried rice or noodles, or scattered on home-made pizza or quiches or omelettes...thousands of different ideas!

So, still thinking home-made frozen food is impossible?

Secrets of Frozen Food

If stored correctly, home-made frozen food can last between 3-6 months, depending on the food type. Keep in mind that food in the freezer very rarely goes “bad”, it’s the quality that starts to diminish because of 'freezer burn'. The longer the meal is in the freezer the longer it is exposed to opening and closing doors and susceptible to freezer burn. The microorganisms aren’t growing as they would be in a refrigerator, organisms are frozen. However, the longer you leave the dish in the freezer the less appealing it can become. As per my other post, I have eaten meals that have been in the freezer for over a year and still lived to tell about it though *LOL*

So how long you can freeze any food? Below is the general guidelines:

So, what is a freezer burn? Taken from Mr Wiki, Freezer burn is a condition that occurs when frozen food has been damaged by dehydration and oxidation, due to air reaching the food. This can happen when food is not securely wrapped in air-tight packaging. Freezer burn is NOT a food safety risk. The result, you have less tasty or 'prettier' food. So, the key here is - AIR TIGHT, and this lies in the containers you choose to use.

The secret to getting a delicious frozen food meal is thawing it the right way. Frozen food will taste best when it is back to room temperature, which in thawing it will takes more than 12 hours. You can thaw it outside the fridge if you are staying at home the whole day to check on the food now and then, or in the fridge. Casserole and lasagna type dishes will take 24-48 hours to defrost in the fridge; meat will take anywhere from 12-24 hours. Usually what I will do is, If I'd like to have the food for breakfast, I will take it out of the freezer and put in the fridge before going to sleep at night, or even while cooking dinner, if I already have plans for breakfast menu. The first thing in the next morning, I put it on the table, and than have my showers. Next, I can reheat them either by fire or just pop in the microwave/oven (depending on the food) while getting my kids ready. In less than 10 minutes, we would have our breakfast on the table! This also goes well for dinners for working moms. Before going out of the house in the morning, take out your 'future dinner' from the freezer into the fridge, then after work, just pop it into the microwave/oven...or you can even cook it on fire as usual.

For extra-sensitive-taste-buds and I-can-only-eat-local-food picky eaters, there's also a solution for our busy moms. Cook the curries, sambal, stews, soup separately without adding in the meat (beef/lamb/chicken) or seafood. Reheat the food on fire and once the liquid fully melted and return to its own usual texture, add in the meat or seafood. You can cut them upfront together with the veggies but store separately in the freezer, and thaw the same way as the gravy by taking them 12 hours upfront into the fridge. Before you start cooking, again thaw them using water as this will bring them to their natural state faster. This is almost similar method as you buying and using packed instant curries sold in the market, but the great thing here is, yours now is home-cooked :)

Dried Mixed Fruits Scones

I love scones and always can't get enough of them! The best scones are always freshly baked or you could bake in big batches then reheat them anytime you want to have them :) Scones don't get molded fast, unlike muffins or cakes hence you may not even have to freeze them unless you are planning to keep them for more than a week. They are very simple to make and yet let you have great breakfast of tea-time snacks every day! You can use raisins as the recipe usually requires, but as my daughter and husband always said desperately, "Mama, you always buying cookbooks, look at them while cooking but came out with something else!". The reason is, they always expected what they saw I was referring at in the cookbooks, but I always can't stick to the recipe and like to set out for an adventure by twisting it a bit :)
So for this recipes, I had some dried apricots, mixed raisins, dried blueberries and cranberries, also dates in the stock, hence I chopped them all to make half a cup and add them in. You can use less or more, depending on your preference. Enjoy!

4 cups of self-raising flour
2 large whole eggs (beaten)
Milk or Buttermilk mixed with the beaten egg, enough to make 1 1/2 cups of liquid
1/2 cup soften butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cups mixed dried fruits (chopped)
1 extra egg for glazing (beaten)
Extra flour for rolling the dough

Mixed butter, salt and flour well to make them crumb-like, which is almost the same method use for making pastry sheets. Obviously I didn't take any photos while doing this (as my hands are busy! *LOL*) hence the photo below is courtesy of another web. The texture should be as the last photo:

Next, pour in the the egg and milk/buttermilk mixture together with the dried fruits, and get ready to roll! First roll the dough in the mixing bowl till it forms a round dough, before moving it to a lightly floured surface. Roll to about 2cm or 1 inch thick and cut with your cookie cutter. Place them on the lightly oiled or buttered baking tray, glaze with the extra egg on top then bake for 10-15 minutes or till golden brown.

Serve hot with cream cheese or if you prefer butter or cream, and of course, jam!

To freeze:
Make sure they had cooled thoroughly. Wrap each individual scones in either aluminium foil or plastic wrap before storing all in freezer sealed bags and put in the freezer. Remember, this is only if you need to keep them longer than a week. To reheat, thaw them for 30 minutes then bake them for 8-10 minutes or you can put them in the microwave about 8-10 seconds per scones. If reheated via microwave, you need to eat them while they are hot or they may turn rock-hard when they are cold.