Simple Lunch

After all the heavy meals and goodies during CNY, decided to have something light and simple for lunch

 

Dried oyster brown rice porridge

 

Pork fillet mushroom omelette 

was too lazy to prepare pork and egg separately so came up with this!

Roast Pork Belly

Decided to try roasting pork belly myself as it doesn't seem too difficult and it beats queuing up to buy. And we all know how expensive things can get during CNY, with prices of roast duck, chicken and pork belly etc rising above the pre-CNY prices.

The result is not too bad, considering this is my maiden attempt on roasting pork belly. This yields a soft and succulent insides with a crispy top from the grilling. Try it and I'm sure you'll like it!

Ingredients

500g pork belly (mine was about 540g)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp five spice powder

Method

1. Rinse and dry the pork belly. Combine the seasonings. 
2. With the pork belly skin side facing down, rub the seasonings over the top and sides of the pork belly. Flip the pork belly over and chill it for at least 6 hours to dry the skin.
3. Bake pork belly (with skin side facing down) in pre-heated oven of 220C for 40min. (use a roasting tray lined with aluminium foil)
4. Remove pork belly from oven and prick skin all over with tip of knife or fork (I used skewers)
5. Return pork belly to oven with skin side facing up. Grill the pork belly for 30min till skin turns golden brown and blistered. Take care not to burn the skin.

Homemade Bak Kwa

Shepherd's Pie - My Version

This is a quick and easy lunch, mainly because I used the leftover meat sauce from making lasagna and hence I only need to prepare the mashed potatoes. Quick and simple and a great way to use up my balance meat sauce haha

If you have a craving for meat pie, why not try out shepherd's pie. Its easy to make and I believe will be more healthy than pastry meat pie.

Can you tell from the photo how creamy and smooth the mashed potato is. Contrasts with the slightly crisped top layer.

Ingredients

2 large potatoes, boiled and mashed.
1/2 to 1 cup milk
50g cheddar cheese, soften
salt and pepper to taste
meat sauce (I used balance meat sauce from my lasagna making)

Method

1. Combine mashed potatoes, cheese together and add milk to it to make it creamy and soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Fill half of your baking dish with meat sauce and spread mashed potato mixture evenly over the top.
3. Baked in preheated oven of 180C for 20-25min till the top is golden brown.

Spinach Lasagna

Hmmm, the lasagna looks thin right, will slap on more meat sauce in future.

My super big bowl of meat sauce. I still have half a bowl left after doing the lasagna. 


Ingredients

Meat Sauce
300g ground pork / beef
1 onion, diced
1 big carrot, diced
1 red capsicum, diced
4 large ripe tomatoes, deseed and pureed
1 6oz can of tomato paste (I used the whole can as I do not want to have any leftovers)
A few bay leaves
Salt, pepper and Italian herbs to taste

White Sauce
1 cup milk
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
50g cheddar cheese

Mozzarella Cheese (I used low fat)
1 packet of spinach, boiled and chopped
Instant lasagna

Method

1. Heat oil in saucepan. Prepare meat sauce. Brown onion in pan till soften and translucent.
2. Add meat in and stir-fry till brown, add capsicum and carrot and fry. 
3. Add in tomato paste and tomato puree. Add in bay leaves and italian herbs.
4. Cook till mixture boils, and simmer over low heat for 20-30min. Season with salt / pepper to taste. Dish up and put aside for later use.
5. Boil spinach in water for 5min. Drain and chop into smaller pieces.
6. Prepare white sauce. Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in flour and cook for 2min over gentle heat.Remove from heat and stir in milk. Return to heat and stir till mixture is thick and smooth. Season with salt / pepper as desired and add cheese. Continue to stir over low heat till cheese melts.
7. Preheat oven to 180C. Pour meat sauce into a baking dish. Alternate layers of lasagna, white sauce, spinach, meat sauce ending with white sauce on top. Sprinkle top with shredded mozzarella cheese and bake in oven for 35-40min until cooked through. 
8. Let stand for 5min before serving.
   

Char Siew