Spoon yourself healthy (and possibly slim!)

I'm getting better at keeping up with my blog these days!

You might also notice that I've put some neat categorised Quick Recipe archive on the left tab of the page to make it easier for all of us to locate the recipe (yes, including me).

Today's post is rather general-ish, and it's about my ongoing obsession of eating (or you might call drinking) soup for both lunch and dinner. I love having soup because it's very simple to make, very healthy and really - this might sounds rather controversial - but I spoon myself to sliminess with homemade soups while occasionally splurging on dark chocolates and sweet treats! I'm sure the basic reason on why I got slimmer is because of the good healthy stuffs that I eat and the fact that I get fuller faster with the soup, thus reducing the chance that I overeat! Anyway this seems to be working - the more I eat at home, the healthier I am and the easier my effort is to keep my weight on track.

The very good thing about having soup for meals is that the high water intake will help us to get fuller faster and longer. Moreover it's free from oily stuffs (although most of my stir-fry dishes are made up of very little oil). Also - you can put a variety of 'good food' ingredients in your soup, like vegetables (Chinese cabbage is my favourite), mushrooms, wholewheat pasta, egg and meat/seafood ingredients. I've always liked meat rolls that Chinese hotpot restaurants serve, and so I bought the whole big pack of Pork Rolls from Oriental supermarket and stuffed them in my freezer. I normally use Baby Button Mushrooms because they are cheap and perfect in size - I just need to slice them in two before putting them into my pot. Tomatoes are good as well - the tomato flavour and juice will spice up your spoon and gives your soup a tomatoish flavour. Tomatoes in soup go great with eggs!

There are a lot of varieties of ingredients that you can mix in to create your own soup. Below is the picture of what I'd call a veggie + seafood soup marinara!

Veggie + Seafood Marinara Soup

The most simple way of making the soup mix is do it the oriental style. I simply boil around 400 ml of water, add chicken cubes (Knorr), and wait until the liquid boils before adding the stuffs in! You might also want Teriyaki sauce for some flavouring, or simple salt and pepper will do too!

I also put wholewheat pasta in, I strongly believe in the goodness of complex carbohydrates. My new favourite is Conchigliette wholewheat pasta for kids (yes - for kids). I found mine from ASDA.

Cooked Conchigliette wholewheat pasta

Below is what I just had for my late lunch/ early dinner!

Pork Roll and Conchigliette Soup

Basic Oriental Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

• 400 ml of water
• Knorr chicken cube (or other brand) (1 cube)
• Teriyaki sauce (optional) OR salt/pepper to add to the taste
• Fujian cooking wine (Chinese/Japanese cooking wine) [OPTIONAL]
• Chinese cabbage (5 leaves, chopped)
• Pork Roll for hotpot (from Asian supermarkets) OR can be changed to seafood stick/fish balls/beef balls/ diced chicken breasts
• Egg (preferably free range and organic - 1)
• Wholewheat pasta (approx. 50 grams)

How to Prepare:

• Cook the pasta, drain and separate in a bowl
• In a small saucepan, boil 400 ml of water
• Put the heat to medium
• Add the chicken cube, stir until completely dissolved
• Put the Chinese cabbage in, wait for around 4 - 5 minutes
• Put around 15 small pork rolls (or see substitute) in (to your liking), stir and wait until pork rolls have turned to grey cooked colour
• Crack the egg in, and carefully stir (I prefer not to break the egg's yolk) and wait for 3-5 minutes
• Splash two tablespoons of teriyaki sauce in or give more salt/pepper/seasoning
• Pour over the pasta, mix and ....
• SERVE!

How easy! And how nice and warm for the winter days! If you're living in a hot climate - this dish would also be very nice after a long day of work or study. It surely will replenish and freshen up the mind and body!

LOVE. the one by two kitchen.

Cooking with Coconut Milk + Salmon Coco Sauce Recipe Example

Hello!

I decide to make a general recipe post today!

Coconut milk is one of the most versatile cooking ingredients that I really like. This ingredient, which I believed originated in Asia (Indian, Thai, Indonesian, Cantonese cuisine all seem to favour this), can be used to make various types of cooking, from appetisers to main course and sweet desserts! In fact, I've always admired Thai coconut milk based desserts (although admittably I refrain myself from eating a lot of them because of their high sugar content!)

Coconut milk gives a distinctive taste to my homemade cooking, and to me, is a great substitute allowed on the South Beach Diet. Moreover, at least in the UK, you can always find half-fat coconut milk (I found mine from Waitrose). If you ever have a chance to come to Indonesia during the Ramadan or the Islamic Holy Month period, you'll find that most of the food served after the day fasting period ends are nearly made entirely using coconut milk!

To incorporate coconut milk to your daily simple homemade cooking promoted by the one by two kitchen blog is relatively simple. I use them to make Thai green curry and one of my favourite dishes: salmon and Chinese cabbage in coconut milk sauce. Lately I've really liked eating Chinese cabbage, because they remain fresh longer than other leafy veggies.

An important bit of doing stir-fry is to add water to create the sauce. I learn this by experience!

Do take a look at the recipe below, and remember that you can change the ingredients to your liking. Just remember the Coco sauce mix: fish sauce, a little bit of water during stir-fry, and coconut milk!

Salmon, Prawn and Chinese Cabbage in Coco Sauce

Salmon, Prawn and Chinese Cabbage in Coco Sauce

Ingredients:

• Coconut milk (preferably half-fat - half a can)
• Fish Sauce
• Salmon (1 Fillet - cut to square pieces)
• King Prawn (approximately half-pack or 100 grams)
• Chinese Cabbage (approx. 5 leaves - chopped)
• Bean sprout (as desired)
• Spring Onion (2; chopped)
• Extra virgin olive oil OR other vegetable oil

How to Prepare:

• Heat one tablespoon of oil in a frying pan
• Sizzle the spring onion until the fragrance comes out
• Put the Chinese cabbage and bean sprout in, stir-fry for around 3 minutes
• Put the salmon in, stir-fry for additional 4-5 minutes or until salmon turns opaque
• During stir-frying, add some water if pan becomes too dry, but not too much until it covers the pan!
• Pour fish sauce sauce (approx. 4 tablespoons)
• Pour the coconut milk and stir-in
• Wait until the sauce boils and mix more fish sauce if you want more flavours
• Stir in the prawn and wait until they boil
• Serve!

AWESOME dinner and SBD-ish!

You might like to read my posting about fusion food at here.


LOVE. the one by two kitchen.

To Go Roll Up Healthy Sandwich

In my previous post, I mentioned how bad my pocket state is, having had to travel to London on Monday for my passport renewal!

And to add complication to my pocket, I've got to stay for quite a long time in the campus to do my lab work and research studies. I've always had prejudice that 'eating out' is not that healthy so it has never been my choice before. I used to go back every lunch time and come back to uni, but since my work is getting busier, I finally had to give in to eating on campus - with distinction, because I packed my sandwich.

I used to not like packing up sandwich because they always come out messy (and rather embarrassing!) However, I was really inspired by a friend of mine Katrina who used cling plastic to wrap her sandwich. I tried to roll them for more space, and guess what - they came out tidy and fulfilling too while I munched them in the library!

I use three wholewheat bread leaves and healthy fillings to suit my diet. Lately I'm really liking a cheese spread that Bila and I found in a Halal supermarket. Feel free to alter to your own dietary requirements! To make the sandwiches healthy, I put fresh veggies on.

The key point on rolling up the sandwich is by steaming the bread by either using a steamer or a microwave.

Three Roll Up Sandwiches

You will need to have Cling Plastic Wraps!

Serves 1 person


Ingredients:

• Wholewheat bread (3 slices)
• Cheese Spread OR Light/Low-fat Butter 
• Shredded lettuce (chopped lettuces will do)
• Tomato (1)
• Asian Floss (Indonesian Abon) OR can be changed to other fillings i.e. egg mayo, tuna mayo, fried egg, or any other fillings

How to Prepare:

• Steam your bread slices either on a steamer, or for a quick one, microwave for 1 minute
• Spread the cheese spread or butter onto the bread slices
• Dice the tomato, you might want to remove the juicy middle
• On the first slice: put the bread slice on a cling wrap (roughly 7 cm in length), put the diced tomato on top, roll over and secure
• On the second slice: instead of diced tomato, use lettuce instead
• Use any fillings you like on the third slice (mine is the Indonesian beef floss - known as abon in Indonesian)
• Pack them and enjoy!

Full of Veggie Goodness!

Save those extra quids for Easter holiday!

LOVE. the one by two kitchen.

French Macarons Obsessions

I'm officially skint now!

Having just gone to London to renew my passport (and yes, passport renewal did cost quite a lot when you included your train tickets to London, London tube Oyster fare, and the little awesome things that make life nice), I'm officially broke now.

I bought Pierre Hermes macarons from Selfridges' Food Hall, London. I've always heard a lot about them (a lot of raves, yes), so I did go and bought myself a 16-macarons box which accumulated to the growing deficit of my monthly budget. But hey! It was Valentine's day and I thought I should treat myself!

Here is the picture of Pierre Hermes macarons gift bag. Yes, they are absolutely good, wrapped in the poshest gift bag and paper bag that reminds me of top branded shopping bags. And yes, they are expensive so this is rather a one-of-a-kind treat for me!

I bought the box with self-chosen assorted macarons. I've always liked macarons ever since I tried them in Singapore a good 4 years ago. Well the thing is - I like them so much that the only summer I was in Indonesia after I started my studies in the UK, I got annoyed because I couldn't find these petite nice treats! My bestie Gaby is in love with them too. I took her to English afternoon teas and she instantly felt in love with them!

Here is the inside of the box that I bought:

One of my all-time favourite flavours is Rose Macarons. Pistachio is also a favourite, however Pierre Hermes version is rather hip with various combinations too.

I brought the whole box back to Nottingham to enjoy whilst I was in the library. The crispness of the macarons, the tasty sweet cream, its fragrant and the sensation of eating them were really a bliss in my studying time!

And that's me enjoying my Rose macarons with Bila and Stefanie while applying for Engineering jobs. Rather random? Yes. But if you are doing engineering, you definitely know how much you need a break after a long day of non-stop studying and campus hopping!

LOVE. the one by two kitchen.

Quick for Valentine! Chocolate Clusters Recipe

Who's in for Valentine's Day?

Apart from the chocolates, I am not a big fan. But I'm pretty sure that a lot of you are actually anxiously waiting for this day filled with chocolate! This is not an SBD friendly recipe (but hey Valentine's a cheating day, right?)

Chocolate Clusters

If you have not bought your chocolates yet and are too skint or want to make something good last minute, check out the following easy Chocolate Cluster recipe. I made this a long time ago for Christmas, however it's very versatile to use in all occasions depending on how you decorate them! It's so easy (less than 20 minutes to make and half an hour to leave them in refrigerator) and you definitely would want to impress that special someone that apart from being a fashionista/smartie/girl next door (if you're a girl), you're also a domestic goddess! Or - if you're a guy - you might want to show your girls your homeloving abilities!

Right - first thing first. This is an easy recipe that will never, ever, cost you your head and arms (it's not expensive at all!) Quickly get your notes and jot down everything listed below!

NOTE: You will need a large bowl and a saucepan that can fit in your bowl. That's it.

Ingredients:

• Dark chocolate bar (approx. 250 grams or one bar)
• Cornflakes cereal - a handful (from your morning breakfast!)
• Colorful sprinkles or anything to decorate
• Muffin paper cases (better but not compulsory)

How to Prepare:

• Break the chocolate bar to pieces and put them into a large heatproof bowl (a ceramic bowl will do)
• We're going to melt the chocolate now. Fill the saucepan with water, making sure that when your bowl is put onto the saucepan, the water will not leak onto the bowl (you don't want a nasty mixture of chocolate liquid)
• Turn up the heat and bring the water to boil, carefully stirring your chocolate until they completely melt
• Remove your bowl from the saucepan (or move the entire thing from your hob) and stir in a handful of cornflakes
• Stir the cornflakes until they are fully coated, add some more cornflakes if possible
• Use your spoon to scoop the chocolate cornflakes and fill each paper case. Size is to your liking. However I recommend a bigger one than shown on the picture for Valentine's day
• Sprinkle your colorful sprinkles or decoration on top
• Move to the refrigerator and let it cool (approximately 30 minutes - check on yours!)
• Quickly wrap them in some nice tubes and give them a good wrapping!
• Serve! No! I mean send them to that special somebody!

Since this recipe is quick for Valentine's, I wouldn't say much for this one. It's simple, easy and it will impress! Go on, have a try, it's nearly foolproof!

LOVE. the one by two kitchen.

Fusion Food + New Blog Layout

Hi everyone!

For those that have known me before my transformation to somebody quite decent, you might remember that I was a wreck and a careless and carefree girl who avoided the colour pink. Well karma paid me off and here I am with a revamped look of the one by two kitchen blog, and guess what - entirely in pink! I've also changed the name from a mere the one by two kitchen name to the one by two kitchen blog.

The reason why I change the colour to pink is because all of a sudden I fell in love with the softness of the colour and the feeling that it brought to my blog upon trying on new templates. As the one by two kitchen promotes good, healthy, and easy food recipes, I always feel compelled to continuously promote my blog to greater audiences. Personally, I also believe that girls my age have to be exposed to the world of cooking (because it's a great activity and you can feel self-sufficient and womanly too :) yay!), and thus I'm hoping to make my blog more attractive to female audiences. It'd be great if you all can share the link to my blog! Just copy and paste the following link: http://onebytwokitchen.blogspot.com to your Facebook, Twitter or any sharing options.

While I was cooking my dinner this evening (Quorn Chicken Tikka Masala Spaghetti), I thought to myself on how I really like fusion cooking. Well I'd be honest with you! I used to hate fusion food when dining at posh restaurants, I always thought that the 'authentic' recipe is always the best. However, as a university student, I found that making a totally authentic dish is expensive and complicated, and a large amount of excess ingredients might go down to waste! As somebody who's studying to build a more sustainable and environment friendly world, I cannot withstand the thought of 'wasting' stuffs off!

Salmon teriyaki with spaghetti: inspired by Pasta de Waruku

While I was in Indonesia I never really liked the restaurant 'Pasta de Waruku' which is a fusion Japanese restaurant with Japanese dishes combined with various pastas. However, I really like the concept of combining salmon teriyaki and spaghetti. I never can really digest creamy and cheesy spaghetti (unlike my sister Rachel who can eat several plates at once!) However I love whole wheat spaghetti, not only because of its Al Dente texture but also because of its health benefits! If you know SBD diet quite well, you will know that whole wheat and wholegrains are recommended in Phase 2 and 3 to fulfil your daily carbohydrate requirement! Thus - instinctively to me, this recipe came out to my head and I made one of my first notable fusion cooking. I love everything about this dish - the teriyaki broth, the whole wheat pasta, the salmon and the onion, as well as the healthy spinach! The dish above was created at the original one by two kitchen approximately a year ago.

Steamed salmon and mushroom teriyaki with cheese topping

My second try of fusion dish was to combine cheese and teriyaki. I made this dish a year ago, and it was because I was so inspired about steamed dish because of its health benefits (maintaining the vitamins and minerals of green leaves, for example). This dish is more for SBD Phase 1 since there is no main carbohydrate ingredients (unless you count some grams of the teriyaki sauce). Who can imagine that steamed cheese can melt in a perfect way when combined with teriyaki? I made the dish often and can't wait to make it again this year.

Steamed morning sandwich

Now here comes the curious one! Steamed morning sandwich! My good friend Bila always wondered and pondered about this dish to me. I did not have a steamer last year, so I used all possible means to steam my food (continuing my heavy obsession of steaming food). Basically the sandwich was made up of two slices of wholegrain bread, wafer ham, tomatoes and a slice of Gouda cheese (my favourite). I had to use my sifter to steam, but hey! It worked! The best thing about this sandwich was that the texture of the wholegrain bread became quite chewy and moist in the nicest way. What a way to start your day with something rather fusion-istic style!

Last but not least - is today's dinner. Quorn chicken tikka masala spaghetti. I personally didn't make the Tikka Masala paste but bought it from a supermarket (Loyd Grossman's Hot Tikka Masala). Instead of using the whole jar, I used around one-quarter of the paste with half a cup of water to create a Quorn chicken stir-fry, then mix in the wholewheat spaghetti. Nicely done as shown below.

Quorn Chicken Tikka Masala Spaghetti

So there you go, chefs! I know quite a lot of good fusion restaurants across the countries that I have lived or visited. In America, I'm sure it's more down to the Japanese-American fusion (as well as in Indonesia), while in London you can find quirky but delicious restaurants serving fusion food. But why not make one yourself? I shall post one of the recipes soon for you to impress yourself and your guests!

LOVE. the one by two kitchen.

the one by two kitchen Matcha (Green Tea) Cupcakes

Hello again!

This week alone, I have made more than 40 cupcakes (in two batches)! Basically since I am still in my SBD diet Phase 2, I'm allowed to use wholemeal flour and Splenda sugar substitute. I myself have not been a big fan of Aspartame or any sugar substitute, but somehow found Splenda okay (because of the seemingly good health review and sugar aftertaste).

One of my favourite thing in the world is green tea. I don't know whether it's because it's green, the fact that it has so many health benefits, or because of its aroma. When I used to live in China, I always bought the Long Jin Cha, a green tea speciality from the Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, recommended by my good friend Cissy Wang!

However, I have to admit that nothing beats the original Japanese green tea! Matcha or Green Tea is very popular especially in East Asia region.. and to me, they will make fabulous desserts!

A friend of mine Nicky gave me a cupcake recipes book on my birthday, and it wasn't til recently that I finally have the time to try the recipes. My first try is the green tea cupcake, however I alter and change many ingredients to suit my SBD diet.

Proud owner of the one by two kitchen :)

Using Splenda instead of ordinary sugar has also got its own baking benefit! Splenda does not brown that easily and thus the cupcakes come out beautifully green. However, the icing will be very sugary and thus high-calorie, so it is entirely up to you if you'd like to have your cupcakes with icings or not.

Grab your notes and get ready for this Low-calorie, Good-carb and seriously lovely green tea cupcakes!* I actually counted the calories - if you're using small cupcake cases (one batch will produce around 18 - 20 cupcakes), one cupcake is less than 100 calories!

Half of a batch!

*Warning: you need to have an oven, cupcakes/muffin mould (I use my silicone cupcake case), cupcake/muffin paper cases, big mixing bowl, sifter, whisker (electric is preferable, however manual is fine - I use manual instead) and measuring cups. 

Cupcake Ingredients:

• Unsalted butter (185 grams)
• Green tea powder (4 teaspoons)
• Splenda sugar substitute* (20 teaspoons)
• Wholemeal self-raising flour (1 1/2 cups)
• Semi-skimmed milk (125 ml)
• Vanilla extract (preferably natural) (1 teaspoon)
• Eggs (3)

*Splenda can be substituted to 170 gram caster sugar (superfine sugar)

Green Icing Ingredients:

• Unsalted butter (60 grams)
• Icing sugar (120 grams)
• Green food colouring (preferably natural)

Decorative Ingredients:

• Poppy seeds
• Walnuts; or if available, Azuki beans

How to Prepare the cake:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius for around 15 minutes
• On a saucepan, bring the milk to boiling point and quickly remove from heat
• Mix the green tea powder in, stir until even
• On a mixing bowl, beat the butter, Splenda sugar and vanilla in with electric whisker (or manually)
• Crack each of the eggs in, one by one, and beat well
• Using your sifter, sift the wholemeal flours in to the mixing bowl, then fold using your wooden spoon (do not use your whisker!) until even
• Pour the green tea milk mixture in (after making sure that it is even) and fold again with your wooden spoon. I recommend that the green tea milk mixture is in a warm/hot condition, because as mentioned in my previous posting, I was told that when making cakes/cupcakes, pouring hot water/liquid to it will somehow mix the mixture very well
• Line your cupcake cases on to your muffin mould or cupcake mould, then pour evenly (to 3/4 height of each)
• Bake for 12 - 14 minutes, then remove from oven
• Make sure that the cakes are baked well by inserting a toothpick to one of the cakes. A clean toothpick means that the cakes are baked well. If there are many residues, put it back to the oven for around 3 - 5 minutes. However this is a very unlikely case and it would mean that you might got the ingredients wrong!
• Let the cupcakes cool and prepare the icing!

How to Prepare the Icing and Decorations:

• In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and icing with an electric mixer, and drop 2 drops of green food colouring, beat well
• When cakes are cooled down, pour the icing to your liking on each cupcakes and you are free to decorate! (I use poppy seed and walnuts on mine! You can use chopsticks to help you with the decorations.)

SMILE :)

Serve with a huge big smile from the one by two kitchen recipe blogs!

Do leave me comments should you want to ask about the ingredients in Indonesian/Mandarin Chinese language or if you need further help/explanation!

LOVE. the one by two kitchen.