Y for yogurt for #AtoZChallenge: classic yogurt salad recipe

Friends and people in Turkey, Greek, Eastern Europe, India have commonly enjoyed classic yogurt salad. I have to acknowledge Rani, an Indian stall, for inspiring me to include the classic salad as a frequent dish item in our family meals, starting in late 2013. Baby Ren's Daddy loves it a lot.



Hard-working students, ambitious career professionals, and multi-tasking mothers love how very fast and easy this recipe is to prepare.

For #AtoZChallenge on 2014 April 29 Tue, I lovingly present a recipe of classic yogurt salad by ServicefromHeart. 

Servings: 2
Preparation time: < 5 minutes

Ingredients:
♥ 1 Japanese cucumber
♥ 1 red onion
♥ 5 tbsp low-fat plain / Greek yogurt
♥ 1/2 tsp black pepper
♥ 1 tbsp fresh cilantro (coriander), finely chopped

Other optional ingredients:
♥ carrot
♥ tomatoes
♥ blueberry
♥ sesame seeds
... over 100 salad ingredients!

Directions:
1. Peel the Japanese cucumber, onion and chop into bite-size chunks.
2. Mix with yogurt and pepper.
3. Garnish with cilantro.
4. Serve immediately or put into the fridge before serving. It will taste better!



Tips:
♥ For variations, substitute cilantro with 1-2 tbsp fresh parsley or 1 tbsp fresh dill (莳萝) or 1 tsp fresh mint (薄荷).
♥ If you have more time, after chopping cucumber, put into freezer for up to 30 minutes or until just starting to freeze for crunchier cucumber.

Check also our other #5minutemeal recipes, especially for salad! 

With love,
ServicefromHeart
20140429

Almost thick satay sauce for bread spread recipe

Good morning lovely people! Let us enjoy bread spread inspired by satay sauce, that tastes wonderful accompanying toasted bread. 

This recipe is easy and fast to prepare, hence ideal for a quick breakfast in the morning.

Traditional satay sauce takes more efforts and time to prepare. Its ingredients include roasted peanuts, sweet soy sauce (kecap manis), sugar, salt, oil, tamarind, red chilli, garlic, shallot, lemon grass, galangal / ginger, coriander / cilantro.

To prepare almost thick satay sauce for bread spread, we can use mainly peanut butter with red onion. 

Originated from the the Aztecs who ground roasted peanuts into a paste, peanut butter is a good source of proteins. It has been used as an ingredient to fight malnutrition in famine stricken countries.



Picky eaters - who are not allergic to peanut - can enjoy bread and cookies with peanut butter too.  Decorate with raisins to create crawling ants in a row. If your little ones love Teddy Bear (so does baby Ren!), create a face of Bear using banana slices and blueberries on top of peanut butter-spreaded wheat bread.

Since we are currently living in Singapore, I use locally made Spread Talk Creamy Peanut Butter produced by Sing Kee Kaya, that I bought from NTUC Fairprice. The ingredients include roasted peanuts, vegetable oil, sugar & salt. Thus, I no need to add any other ingredients to give salty flavor*. The label also indicates
♥ No cholesterol
♥ No preservatives
♥ No trans fat

Sometimes, I also add 1/2 slice of cheese to each bread. The cheese will give an additional salty taste.

Servings: 2
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
♥ 4 slices 5-grain bread (五谷面包)
♥ 1 tsp peanut butter (花生酱)
♥ 1 tsp honey (蜜糖)
♥ 1 red onion, finely chopped (红洋葱)

Directions:
1. Pan-toast* bread slices over low heat. Cover the pan with a lid.
2. Mix peanut butter, honey, red onion.
3. Spread on bread.
4. Keep bread on the pan until ready to eat.

You can also use bread toaster. I prefer our bread to be not too brown yet slightly crispy at the edges.

Tips:
♥ I prefer to use red onion / purple onion to white onion for the high flavonoids content of the former. Studies reveal that flavonoids have potential anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. (PMID: 19381780)
♥ While we love this almost thick satay sauce paste for our bread, we try to consume it moderately, perhaps at most once a week. We enjoy eating diversely, as the saying goes, "diversity spices up life!"

Check also our other #5minutemeal recipes.

With love,
ServicefromHeart
20140317

gratitude soup stock recipe 感恩高汤

Soup stock is not only tasty and nutritious to cook / boil soup, but also versatile to prepare other dishes, from stews, savory steamed rice, stir-fried / sauteed vegetables to noodle meals.

I call this soup stock gratitude soup stock (感恩高汤) because it is supposed to contain rich nutrients from the sky, the land and the sea. We are grateful for all goodness that are bestowed to us.

Ingredients:
♥ 2 kg bones (骨头) and meat (肉), washed & cut into pieces
♥ 200g dried mushroom (干香菇), washed, soaked, drained
♥ 120g red dates (红枣), pitted & soaked
♥ 5 honey dates (蜜枣), washed (optional)
♥ 50g dried scallops (干贝), soaked
♥ 2 tbsp anchovies, washed
♥ 5 cloves garlic (大蒜)
♥ 1/2 small knob (10g) ginger (姜)
♥ 1 tsp white pepper powder (白胡椒粉)
♥ 2 liters water (过滤水), filtered if possible

Directions:
1. Blanch bones and meats in boiling water for ~5 minutes. Drain and wash. 
2. Boil 2 liters water in a big pot / slow cooker. Add all ingredients. Boil for a minimum of 5 hours using low heat.
3. Remove oil on the surface of the stock using a ladle (optional)*.
4. Sieve the stock from the ingredients. Pour stock into freezable containers**. Use some immediately, they are the freshest!
5. Store in a freezer after the stock cool down to room temperature.


* If you choose to keep the fat, it will float to the top layer in a refrigerator / freezer. An option is to use the fat for stir-frying.

Since I am going to store the soup stock, I am not using other ingredients that also make soups delicious, such as onion, green onion / spring onion / scallion, carrot, celery, pumpkin, sweet potato.

** I use Avent breast milk containers that fit into baby bottles warmer. The small cups are ideal for me because I am cooking in relatively small portions. Faster to thaw!



Alternatively to store stock in a freezer, Zhen suggests to use Zebra stainless steel tingkat / rantang / dabbas / safartas (tiffin carriers) that are commonly used as lunch boxes. You can reheat food in tiffin on the stove top or using an open flame.

Important note: Do not put your tiffin in a microwave because metal should not be microwaved.


Tips:
♥ If you like salty taste in your soup, add salt only at later stage of boiling soup so that nutrients can dissolve in the soup faster at early stage.

如果你喜欢咸的味道，煮汤时，别太快加盐，使营养物质可以在汤里快溶解。

♥ While boiling soup or soup stock, do not keep opening the cover of pot. This is to ensure that heat, fragrance and aroma stay and circulate well in the pot.

当煮汤或高汤，不要继续打开锅的盖子。这是为了确定热和香味逗留并在锅内循环良好。

♥ While boiling soup or soup stock, do not add room-temperature water. This is to prevent the nutrients (e.g. proteins) of the meat from solidifying.

当煮汤或高汤，不添加室温水。这是为了防止肉的营养成分（如蛋白质）再次凝固。

♥ Consume also the edible ingredients used for boiling soup. This is because not all nutrients of the ingredients will be dissolved completely in the soup regardless of the hours of boiling soups.

♥ Use frozen soup stock by 1 week to ensure freshness.

使用冷冻高汤1周内以确保新鲜。 


Other posts that I love:
♥ Lesh Karan's amaranth vegetable soup recipe @ The Mindful Foodie
♥ Shu Han Lee's Vietnamese fish stock @ Mummy I can cook
♥ Kathleen's chicken stock recipe @ Providence Farms
♥ Tiffin Time! Classic Stacked Lunch-Pails by Shahan Cheong

Check also our other #5minutemeal recipes.

With love,
ServicefromHeart
20140302