COVID Food Discoveries

How to avoid COVID 15? Eat healthy!

How to lose weight during COVID stay at home? Eat healthier!

Of course, exercise regularly as well.

On healthy diet, it has been difficult for me to cook everyday without losing appetite of my own food. However, with all the hassle of gearing up and disinfecting, I have given up on ordering take-outs. Alternatively, I have taken some adventures in discovering food I have not tried before. Here is a little summary of my most recommended finds after countless “failed purchses”. These are all great for bulk buys and easy to prepare, and mostly from Trader Joe’s.

A rather unhealthy but definitely my top pick from Trader Joe’s is the Sliced French Brioche Bread. Buttery and moist, and it’s the closest to Asian style egg bread loaf. Great for breakfast. No picture here due to no recent purchase, for two reasons: 1) not that healthy, and 2) more importantly, these expire soon, and with the 3-day disinfection period on groceries I have bought less and less bread and switched over to making my own bread, despite not as tasty.

One Pot meal

When you run out of cooking ideas, try this one pot miso soup! You can use any ingredient you have, just chop it up and then cook in medium heat. Often I add dumplings too. Instead of miso, I also recommend water + sake for a lighter soup base. Recently I also tried tomato + water as base and add hotpot ingredients for the one pot meal. Quick and easy, and most importantly warm and yummy for a cold day!

Cantonese-style Braised Lamb Casserole

Lamb is a popular meat to consume during fall/winter months as it is believed to be helpful for warding off the chill. Gathering only what I have home, this recipe is a dumped down version of the Cantonese style braised lamb casserole. It is perfect to ward off the chill during this COVID-19 battle! If you are making it for a big party, you can prepare the casserole as a hot pot - serve over tabletop stove and prepare romaine lettuce on the side for dipping into the stew.

The following recipe makes two servings.

Ingredients

Lamb should chop x 2, diced

Garlic x 3, lightly pressed using knife

Green onion white base from two stalks

Rock candy, you can add small amount at a time until the taste if right.

Fermented bean curd x 2

Dried bean curd, pre-soaked in water

Notes

• Lamb breast is a better cut for this casserole if you are looking for tenderness and some more fat

• Usually I would add some carrot chunks and shiitake to the casserole; there are many variations, roasted chestnut is a common ingredient to add as well

• You can use a similar technique to make pork belly casserole as well

• I once learned that the role of rock sugar in meat stews is to function as a natural tenderizer.

Seasoning mixture

Chinese cooking wine x3 tbsp

Soy sauce x2 tbsp

Instructions

1. Blanch lamb in boiling water for ~ 1 minute, then drain and rinse with cold water.

2. Fry garlic and white base of green onion over medium heat.

3. Stir in lamb meat.

4. Add fermented bean curd and stir quickly.

5. Add the cooking wine and soy sauce mixture and stir quickly.

6. Add rock candy and enough water to cover all the ingredients. Bring to boil, then cover and simmer over low heat for ~30 minutes or until meat is tender.

7. Add bean curd stick and cook for another 15-20 minutes until the bean curd stick soaks up the moisture and become soft.

8. Serve in a casserole or as a hot pot over heat.

Oyakodon 親子丼

First cooking blog, sharing a simple recipe that takes <30 minutes to prepare. It is chicken, egg, and onion cooked simmered in a soy sauce based mixture and then served over a bowl of rice. I added some shiitake mushroom which goes well with chicken.

A popular dish in Japan, Oyakodon is translated to “parent-and-child rice bowl”. When I first saw this on the menu, I thought it meant a dish that’s for everyone, for the adult and for the kid, from the literal meaning of the kanji. It made total sense, since the ingredients are quite healthy. Later I found out it actually meant parent (chicken) and child (egg) on rice! There’s a fish variation: salmon sashimi and salmon roe rice bowl. How amusing!

The following recipe makes two servings, each serving is prepared individually.

Ingredients:

Chicken breast x 2, cut in chunks

Onion x 0.5, sliced

Shiitake x 1, sliced

Green onion x 1, chopped

Egg x 2, beaten

Seasoning Mixture

Mix about 1.5 tbsp of sake, mirin, shiro dashi, and soy sauce with enough water to dilute to taste of preference. Usually sugar is also added to the mixture and balances the umami flavors from the other sauces. Alternatively, sukiyaki sauce, which basically a mixture of mirin, sugar and soy sauce, can also be used for this dish.

Instructions

1. Lightly fry half of the onion in heated sesame oil.

2 Pour half of the seasoning mixture over the onion.

3. Add half of the chicken and the shiitake mushroom and bring to boil.

4. Cover for ~5 minutes, until the chicken is cooked thoroughly.

5. Drizzle one beaten egg and cover briefly until the egg is cooked to your preference.

6. Sprinkle green onion and it’s ready to be served!