Mia Cooks: Honey Garlic Sriracha Shirataki Noodles Stir Fry

Yup, I've been obsessed with sriracha sauce lately and I'm not gonna lie. I've been adding it to literally everything I eat these days, even salads (salad dressing recipe here)! Another ingredient I've been crazy about these days is the shirataki noodles. Not only are they super low calorie, but I love the chewy, bouncy mouthfeel of the noodles that great resembles glass noodles. 

So let's combine these two together for a quick, 1 pan lunch! For 1 LARGE serving (in terms of volume, not calories), you'll need:

200g shirataki noodles
100g shredded cabbage
1/4 white onion, thinly sliced
1 king oyster mushroom (around 50 - 60g), sliced
8 peeled shrimps (around 70g)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce (replace with light soy sauce if you don't have)
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sriracha 
1 tsp sesame oil
pinch of salt, garlic salt, ground ginger

optional: zucchini, sliced. 
I had just a bit leftover (around 40 - 50g) in the fridge so I just added them in.  

First up, boil the shirataki noodles. There'll be a strong fishy odour when you pour it out of the packet. While there's some who claims that the fishiness can be rinsed away, I always prefer to boil mine for a couple of minutes along with a clove of crushed garlic and a pinch of salt and ground ginger to be safe. 
Then, drain the noodles and set aside. 

In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, fish sauce, honey, sriracha and sesame oil together until well combined and set aside. 

In a heated non-stick pan, grease it with a little cooking spray and stir fry the onions until they turn slightly transparent. Then, add in the chopped garlic (I actually reused the boiled garlic from pre-boiling the noodles, but you can use two fresh cloves of garlic instead) and stir fry for a while more until fragrant. Then, add in the cabbage (and zucchini) with a pinch of garlic salt and cook until the cabbage are slightly wilted. Add in the mushrooms, shrimps and noodles. Give it a quick stir to combine, before pouring in the sauce mixture. Give it a good toss to make sure that everything is well coated with the sauce. Continue stir frying until the shrimps are fully cooked and it's done! 

I served mine along with some frozen chicken gyoza that I've steamed, but you can just have the stir-fried noodles on its own. It'll make a decent portion, hearty lunch! 

Best of all, everything (gyoza included) is barely 350 kcals! Super diet-friendly!

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia Cooks: Yogurt Sriracha Shredded Chicken Salad

You know what, I've been using sriracha sauce to spice up nearly ALL my stir fries for lunch these days (used up 1.5 bottles till date) and have also been snacking on greek yogurt as my mid-day snack for MONTHS. But never ever have I thought of mixing these two together to create a low calorie, diet-friendly salad dressing. 

But, better too late then never, right?

Anyway, the ingredients for the salad is really simple, and you can pair it with any type of vegetables you fancy, really. But here's what I used for mine.

For 2 servings, you'll need: 

For the salad:

1 half skinless, boneless chicken breast (about 150 - 180g, raw)

2 cloves of garlic, crushed (press down with the blade of your knife)

1/4 tsp ground ginger (or a few slices of fresh ginger)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Capsicum / Bell Peppers (I used red and yellow, half each)

Japanese Cucumber (1 small/medium, about 200g)

1 King Oyster Mushroom, sliced (about 70g)

1/2 white onion, thinly sliced (about 50g)

For the dressing:

2 tbsp plain Greek yogurt

1 tbsp honey lemon 

(I used the juice I have leftover in my jug of honeyed lemon slices, but you can mix honey and lemon juice in the ratio you prefer)

1 - 2 tbsp sriracha sauce

a pinch of salt

a dash of chili powder (optional)

First up, always brine your chicken if they're frozen. Immerse the chicken in a bowl of salt water and leave it to chill in the fridge for 2 to 3 hours. Then, rinse the chicken under a running tap for a few seconds and place it into a pot with just enough water to cover the entire piece of chicken. Into the water, add the crushed garlic, ground ginger, salt and black pepper and then bring the water to a boil. Allow to simmer until the chicken breast is fully cooked. Remove the chicken breast from the water and leave it to cool down before tearing the chicken into shreds with your hands; set them aside.

In a hot pan (make sure they're hot), put in the sliced mushrooms and roast them over high heat until they're browned and starts to smell roasty and fragrant. The trick here is to make sure that your pan is hot enough, if not the mushroom will start to produce moisture and they won't brown nicely. Once the mushrooms are browned, remove them from the pan and add in the sliced onions. Cook the onions over medium heat until they turn slightly translucent. Go ahead to cook them further until they're caramelised or even add them into your salad raw if you're a fan of either. Set the cooked mushrooms and onions aside to cool down. 

Then, cut your choice of vegetables into bite size strips and add them into a large clean bowl. Add in the cooled chicken, mushrooms and onions. Then, in a small bowl, add in 2 tablespoons of greek yogurt along with 1 tbsp of honey lemon water. As the consistency of greek yogurt differs across different brands, just add enough honey lemon water to reach the consistency of natural yogurt. Then add in sriracha until you get the desired amount of spiciness. Season with a tiny pinch of salt and some chili powder before adding the dressing into your bowl of salad. Toss well to combine.

Tadaa~

I'm not a huge fan of salad dressing in general, hence I used the bare minimum amount I need to get some taste in my raw vegetables. If you're the kind who loves to drench your salad in dressing, you may want to double the recipe for the dressing instead. 

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia Cooks: Healthy Oyako Don

Yes, as if oyako don itself isn't healthy enough (as compared to katsu don). But hey, it wasn't a cheatday and I just wanted to eat cleaner. 

So here's my #eatclean recipe for a healthy oyako don, using chicken breast and brown rice! 

For (relatively normal) 2 servings, you'll need: 

1 skinless & boneless chicken breast (about 200g raw weight) 

1 small/medium white onion (about 100 - 120g)

3 medium/large eggs (about 50-55g each, without shells)

1 tbsp milk

120ml chicken broth (I used Swanson)

30ml light soy sauce

30ml rice wine vinegar (or mirin)

1/2 tsp sugar (if you're using rice wine vinegar instead of mirin)

1 serving of cooked brown rice, or any other type of cooked rice preferred. 

(or even half portion of rice, if you're watching your diet)

Firstly, to get the sauce mix out of the way, it should always be in the 4:1:1 ratio, 4 parts broth to 1 part soy sauce and mirin/rice wine vinegar+sugar. So if you're halving or doubling the recipe, you can do your own maths. But do note that the ratio should be following the number of eggs you're using and not the amount of chicken you're adding. 

To prepare the chicken breast (especially if you're using frozen ones like I did), immerse it in a bowl of salt water and leave to chill in the fridge for 2 to 3 hours. Brining your chicken is very important, especially if you're using frozen chicken, or chicken breast. It not only make the breast meat more tender, but also help to eliminate the "icy frozen meat taste" that tends to be quite distinct in frozen chicken meat. Rinse the brined chicken under running tap for a few seconds and pound the meat slightly using a tenderiser or the back of your knife. Then, cut the meat into bite size chunks.

Wash the white onion and slice it into thin slices (or however thick you prefer). Spread the onions out evenly onto your lightly greased non-stick pan and turn on the heat. Allow the onions to cook until they're slightly translucent (I prefer to "roast" mine over medium to high until they're slightly charred) before adding in the chicken. Then, pour in the sauce mix and cover the pan with a lid and allow the meat to fully cook through on medium heat. 

In a clean bowl, first crack in 2 eggs and beat it with a tablespoon of milk. Add the mixture into the pan evenly and allow to cook until the egg is set. Then, crack in the last egg and just lightly stir it to break the yolk; do not beat the egg into a homogenous mixture. Pour the egg mixture over the set eggs and cook it until the eggs are set to your liking. 

If you're making just 1 serving (with just 2 eggs) in a smaller pan, you can just slide the whole "cake" off the pan and directly onto your bowl of rice and serve with a sprinkle of chopped spring onions. 

But since I was making 2 servings together in the same pan, I had to scoop them out bit by bit. Hence my final product wasn't that IG-worthy. HEH!

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia Cooks: Chickpea Toasties

Chickpeas fans, anyone? 

-credits to medicalnewstoday-

Chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans, are a type of legume that's rich in fibre and protein. It contains a range of nutrients, which is necessary for bone, muscle and skin health. Chickpeas (both canned and dried) has been one of my main choice of protein sources (alongside tofu, chicken breast and white fish fillets) for my #stayhomelunch these days. 

I've been mainly stir-frying them with zucchini and tomatoes in sriracha sauce to go alongside a serving of rice or oatmeal porridge

And then I thought, why not make a toastie sandwich out of them? 

So let's get over the ingredients, so we can get started! Do tweak the amount depending on how generously you'll like to fill up your sandwich. I obviously prepared way too much filling, so much so that I had to do a "double-decker". 

100g boiled chickpeas or canned chickpeas, drained

30 - 40g white onion, chopped

a pinch of salt

25g natural plain yogurt

1 tbsp (~10g) sriracha sauce

a dash of black pepper

a dash of chili powder

a dash of ground ginger

two slices of bread according to your choice

optional toppings:

lettuce slices

tomato slices

cheese

First up, chop the onions as finely as you fancy and sauteed them over a lightly greased pan, with a pinch of salt, until they're slightly transparent (cooked). If you prefer your onions to be sweet, you can also cook them further until they're soft and caramelised. Then, dump the cooked onions into a bowl along with the chickpeas and mash them up with a potato masher (you can try using a sturdy fork as well, or even a food processor) until the mixture is mashed up to your liking. Add in the yogurt, sriracha and seasonings and mix well. Do give the mixture a taste test and add more seasonings according to your preference. 

Then, grab two slices of your choice of bread (I used wholemeal) and pop them into the toaster or oven, and toast them until they're browned and crisp to your liking. Assemble your toastie with the prepared filling, plus whatever toppings you like. 

I actually added some shredded mozzarella cheese onto my bread while they toast, but the chickpea filling will be quite flavourful and you won't be able to taste the mozzarella at all. If you'll like to have some cheese in your toastie, I'll suggest that you use a cheese with a sharper flavour. 

And tadaa~
My double-decker chickpea toastie, served with some pan roasted vegetables.

Till then,
Mia Foo

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