Chicken Salad with mango avocado dressing

This sweet and creamy dressing was created when Thai mangoes are in season. I thought it will work well with chicken.

Here are the ingredients for the dressing.

mangoes

avocado

yogurt

olive oil

lemon juice

salt

pepper

Blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Feel free to adjust the amount of ingredients to your liking.

For this recipe, I am using:

chicken breast

carrots

celery

parsley

rosemary (1 sprig)

salt

pepper

Marinate chicken breast with salt and pepper. I am so used to steaming chicken and carrots with a sprig of rosemary that it has become my second nature. I love how the scent of the herb can infuse into the food like magic. The celery was kept raw to have a crunch in the overall texture of this dish. And the last step is to coat all ingredients evenly with the dressing and serve.

Oh yes, not forgetting a glass of white and perhaps some crusty bread plus more olive oil.

I hope you will like this recipe.

STEAM CHICKEN SALAD

Quite often, I like to steam all ingredients to make a complete dish to get a balance in my diet. This recipe is one of my all-time favorite. You can boil the vegetables but I prefer to cut them into bite size and steam it to retain their full flavor and they cook fast in this way.

Chicken breast

Carrots

Potatoes

One Shallot, finely chopped

A sprig of rosemary

Whole grain mustard

Mayonnaise

Lemon juice

Olive oil

Sea salt

White pepper

Black pepper

Season chicken breast with salt and white pepper and steam them whole with rosemary. Cut into bite size when cooked. Cut potatoes and carrots and steam till tender. For the dressing, combine shallots, mustard, mayonnaise, lemon juice, sea salt, black pepper and olive oil. Mix well then coat chicken, potatoes and carrots evenly. You can serve it immediately or leave it in the fridge for an hour.

SEVEN COUNTRIES IN ONE PLATE mango and prawn salad

This is what happens when we do not have our own produce. Thai mangoes are in season and I love it with prawns. There are many recipes to pair up these two beautiful ingredients but I picked the easy way out due to my busy schedule at work.

Mangoes from Thailand

Prawns from Indonesia

Cherry Tomatoes from Cameron Highlands, West Malaysia

Avocado from Australia

Lemon from Turky

Olive Oil from Italy

Black Pepper Corns from Sarawak, East Malaysia, Borneo

Sea Salt from France

Dried herbs from Australia

Bring a pot of water to boil and squeeze in a wedge of lemon juice. Cook prawns with shell on. Transfer prawns into ice water. Remove shell and vein then slice into half. Cut mango, tomatoes and avocado into bite size.

In a small bowl, mix olive oil, pepper, salt, lemon juice and herbs. Pour over the above and mix well. 

TUNA SALAD WITH CANNELLINI BEANS

I can’t wait to share this recipe that can be prepared within 5 minutes. I found it from an old recipe book by Carla Capalbo which was sitting on the shelf for some time. I got to admit that initially I was skeptical about the combination but surprisingly it turns out really good!

Canned tuna chunks

Canned cannellini beans

Good extra virgin olive oil

Fresh lemon juice

Sea salt

Crushed black pepper

Fresh basil (the original recipe uses parsley)

 

Emulsify the oil with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Mix in all other ingredients. That’s it!

I doubt you need 5 minutes.

RATATOUILLE

This is the first dish I cook in 2013.

Don’t laugh at me if I tell you that it was the lead character (yes, which would be the rat) in the animated feature film that has inspired me to go for my dreams. 

In the film, this dish marks the success of the rat who embarks on an extraordinary journey to become one of the top chefs in Paris.

I am a rat in the Chinese zodiac and I love to cook so it all connects up. But what’s most important is the message that I’ve got from the film.

No matter who you are, as long as you dare to dream and work hard for it, you are probably going to make it.

The rat’s recipe is definitely much better than mine but I could not get hold of it.

1 aubergine or egg plant

1 green or yellow zucchini

1 yellow or red sweet pepper

Olive oil

Sea salt

Black pepper

Balsamic vinegar (optional)

 

Sauce

1 canned Italian tomato

Few cloves of peeled whole garlic

Fresh basil

Sea salt

Black pepper

 

Preheat oven to 400F. Cut aubergine, zucchini and pepper into big thick pieces and season with olive oil, salt, black pepper and vinegar. Bake for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, fry garlic in olive oil till it starts to brown and add tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Add chopped basil and simmer over medium heat for an hour.

Serve vegetables with the sauce.

TOMATO SALAD WITH ONIONS, OLIVES AND AGED CHEDDAR

I like black olives in tomato salad or marinara sauce (Click here for my marinara sauce recipe). With the closure of Carrefour Singapore, I had a hard time trying to top up my olive bottle. I can only find green olives in other supermarkets. Black ones that are imported from Spain or Italy seem to be hiding themselves away. Green olives are good too but I just got that special love for black ones.

Cherry tomatoes

Pickled small crunchy onions

Black olives

Aged cheddar

Balsamic vinegar

Sea salt

Black pepper

Dry herbs

Extra virgin olive oil

Emulsify olive oil with vinegar, dry herbs, salt and pepper. Mix well with all other ingredients. If you happen to have fresh basil, throw some in. Basil is good friend with tomatoes.

PORTOBELLO WITH ROAST CHICKEN AND AVOCADO ON WHOLEMEAL BREAD

There are days when I would rather do minimum cooking and washing. This afternoon is one of them. I opened my fridge and found left over roast chicken, an avocado that was just ripe, pesto sauce that I’ve made and freeze and two big Portobello mushrooms. I knew I’ve found lunch!

SWEET PEPPER WITH GARLIC & BASIL SAUCE

It should be more than 15 years ago when I saw an Italian lady making this dish on TV. Back then I have not really started cooking and certainly not able to appreciate the taste of sweet pepper. In fact I remember red pepper was quite unusual at that time. The green ones are more commonly used in Chinese cooking.

I was curious why the lady needs to grill the pepper over stove fire and remove the skin but I could not get any answers so I did not bother about it till recently when this whole scene suddenly flash by my mind. That’s when I know it’s time for me to try it.

I did some research and found out that the skin is believed to be difficult for digestion. That’s why it is normally being removed in Italian cooking. I used the same method as describe above to remove the skin only to realize it is really messy and the stains that need to be scrub clean from the stove is crazy.

During my second attempt, I cut the peppers into half and remove the seeds and membranes before placing them skin side up and grill it in an oven pre-heat at 220 degree Celsius for 20 minutes. It turns out the skin tears off by itself without any effort. The texture of the pepper becomes really smooth with all the sweet juices that come out from it.

Sauce

Good extra virgin olive oil

Finely chopped garlic

Chopped sweet basil

Black pepper

Sea salt

Balsamic vinegar

Combine all ingredients together. Cut pepper into bite size and mix well with the sauce. It taste even better after chilling it in the fridge for an hour.

SIMPLEST PORTOBELLO MUSHROOM RECIPE EVER

I got this recipe from a local TV program. I initially doubt how good it will taste till I try it out of curiosity.

The Stars

Portobello Mushrooms (buy the biggest you can get)

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Freshly crushed Black Pepper

The Story

– Pour enough olive oil into pan over medium heat.

– Place mushrooms top side down and cook for 3-4 minutes

– Pour about one teaspoonful of balsamic vinegar onto each mushroom

– Turn mushroom over and cook for another 2 minutes

– Add black pepper and serve immediately

This is it! It’s that simple. The magic here is the balsamic vinegar which will caramelize and goes really well with the mushrooms. If the mushrooms are big enough, you can really eat it with fork and knife just like steak.

I will normally use the left over oil and juice to saute some onions to go with it.