Nougat trial

Been long since my last post and I haven't experimented in a while but when I saw this video, I knew I just had to try it. Probably going to see if I can make a first batch this Sunday. If it works out then the year end's Christmas is going to be a real treat for the kids in the family. The only problem is, dare I count the calories in this one?

P.S. There were so many things in Taiwan, I think I'm going to select a few only for uploads. Sorry.

Going to Taiwan in a week to get some grub

I know I haven't uploaded anything in a while. Too busy at work to chart down my diet though I have been keeping to it....more... or less. Either way, after starving and slimming for the past 2 months, I'm now ready to regain all that weightloss during the coming vacation. Hopefully, I'll still be able to do some calorie counting and come back with a sizeable stash of tasty Taiwan treats to share. Can't wait to go off on a long vacate next week. Yay for a week of absolute gluttony... weeee!!!!

Savoury Herb Pancakes with Stir Fried Chicken in Red Wine Vinegar

The name's long but I had no idea what else to call it. Earlier today I had no more than a 350 calorie lunch and by the time I was on my way home, my mind was filled with nothing but food. At first nothing really struck my fancy until I started thinking of pancakes. Then, the idea of having savoury pancakes popped into my head and stuck till I reached my front door. By then I had a severe mouth-watering craving for them and I decided to go at it. 

I didn't have much left in my fridge, except for the usual carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes - long-lasting vegetables that are must haves for people who work and are unsure when the next home-cooked meal will be. That's why I think the recipe below has much room for improvement but I was definitely satisfied. I just need to master the art of making the pancakes rounder and fluffier and maybe change the meat from chicken to something else.

Savoury Herb Pancakes with Stir Fried Chicken in Red Wine Vinegar

Serves 2

Pancakes
2 cups flour - 900 calories
3/4 cup milk - 90 calories
1 tbsp Mix dried herbs (Thyme, Oregano, Rosemary, Parsley, Basil) - 30 calories
1 tsp baking powder - 20 calories
1 tsp salt
2 medium eggs - 120 calories
Pepper to taste
Butter for frying - 101 calories
Total of 1,261 calories

Stir Fried Chicken in Red Wine Vinegar
300g Chicken meat - 513 calories
Half a large white onion - 60 calories
1 tomato - 30 calories
1 cucumber - 40 calories
Half a fairly large carrot - 30 calories
1 tsp soy sauce to marinate chicken meat
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
Total of 673 calories

Method:

A) Pancake Batter
Step 1: Sieve flour into a bowl.
Step 2: Then add baking powder.
Step 3: Stir the flour together till evenly mixed.
Step 4: Add eggs and mix
Step 5: Add milk and whisk till smooth and all lumps have gone
Step 6: Add herbs, salt and pepper
Step 7: Melt butter in a pan and fry

If you want even sized pancakes, use a measuring cup to ladel out batter. Gets you the same amount everytime.

 

 

I know, right? Like what is wrong with my pan??? Don't buy Greenpan. That brand sucks. In any case, make sure to fry over low flame. That way the underside won't get burnt before you're ready to flip.

 

 

B) Stir Fry Chicken

Step1: Put olive oil in pan. Then fry garlic cloves and chopped onions until fragrant.

On hindsight it might have been a better idea to fry the carrots first.

Step 2: Put cucumber, carrots and chicken in.

Remember to marinate chicken in soy sauce first.

 

 

Step 3: Add red wine vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

Step 4: Serve. I love ketchup with everything so I just added a touch. But you're welcome to do without. It was still just as tasty.

 

The total calorie count on this dish was 1,934 calories. But I had about a third so that leaves me with 650 calories. The hubby usually eats more as he burns calories off easily by being very active. Now that I'm done with that its time for a restock!

How to: Basic Dashi Stock & Simple noodles

During this long Malaysia Day weekend, I have had a calorie binge. So it was definitely back to healthy options today. Knowing that I had a long work-week ahead, I decided to prepare a batch of Dashi stock (Japanese seaweed stock), that I could freeze and reuse in the dishes during the week. This stock is super simple to make, has almost no calories and best of all, is super tasty. Here's what you'll need.

Dashi Stock

Step 1: The ingredients.
2.5 litres of water
2 pieces of Kombu or kelp
A fistful of bonito flakes

Step 2: Put them all in a pot and boil

Set the flames to high until the water starts boiling. After that switch to a smaller flame and let it slowly simmer for 30 minutes or until the aroma starts wafting from the pot.

Step 3: Remove from flame and strain
After straining, leave until completely cooled before transfering to a covered container to be frozen for future use.

Simple rice noodles in dashi broth
Step 1: Put 4 to 5 ladels of broth in the pot (Depends on how much broth you prefer)
Put in rice noodles (Or your preferred noodle choice)

 

Step 2: When noodles are soft, add 1 tbsp mirin (Japanese glutinous rice wine)

 Step 3: Add 1tbsp Goma shabu (Sesame sauce for shabu shabu)

Step 4: Soy sauce to taste

Step 5: Crack an egg and add dried seaweed in a bowl. Pour hot noodle soup on top of egg and seaweed. (I prefer my eggs a little undercooked but if you're worried about eating partially raw eggs you can cook them in the pot first)

Step 6: Eat

Total calories for Soup Noodles - 320 calories (mainly from rice noodles)

There are a tonne of things that you can do with Dashi broth. For example, it can be used as a base for a hot pot, to sweeten sauces for tofu dishes or as the basic in stews. If you're the type that has a busy lifestyle to maintain, this is definitely one to keep in stock.

Oh So Yummy Bak Kut Teh... But is it healthy?

You never really think about what goes into Bak Kut Teh. Especially not when the fragrant soup puts most people into a trance. Spoonful after spoonful of that delicious herbal broth goes down your throat and for the fatty pork lover, its a heavenly combination of flavours. For some, its the best way to mask that rather unpleasant odour of pork innards that you would otherwise not eat. But here's the real debate, can such a fatty dish be healthy?

Some sources say that Bak Kut Teh's herbal qualities can neutralize the fat contained in pork belly meat and that it was a herbal concoction created to boost health. But I'm rather skeptical that a dish of such high calorie content can be anywhere near healthy or have any positive impacts to one's health. But we'll never know unless we dig deeper into the pot. So here goes.

Bak Kut Teh

Broth
Chinese Angelica (Tong Kui)
Chinese ginseng
Polygonatum Odoratum (it’s a flower, dried out)
Licorice root (Tonifying the heart and spleen, moistening the lung to arrest cough, purging fire to remove toxins, relieving spasm to alleviate pain, and moderating other herbs.)
Wolfberries
Rhizoma Ligustici (part of ginger family, great against cold + flu)
Star Aanise
Radix Rahmaniae (great for cleansing liver/kidneys; cooling effect – not in most pre-made packs but essential for the nice colour)
Cassia bark
White pepper
Black pepper
Radix Codomopsitis (Poor man's ginseng)

Now, at this point, the broth looks pretty good especially since most of the herbs have medicinal properties that help stimulate your internal organs, which in turn benefits overall health. But of course you can't have a wholesome soup without the meat or bone component. So let's look at what's contained in a typical pot of bak kut teh.

Pork - 620 calories (Not belly meat)
Tau Pok (Dried tofu) - 520 calories
Mushrooms - 50 calories
Intestines or innards - 280 calories
Total calories contained = 1,470

If you're sharing the bowl with say 3 people, it would be around 490 calories each (the above count serves around 3 to 4). But you'll have to add in your individual rice portions which is around 200 calories for normal rice and up to 300 calories for oily rice. So your one Bak Kut Teh meal, could cost you about 2 hours in the gym and I haven't even included the calorie count for the broth, which is around 50 to 100 calories. So why do people say Bak Kut Teh is healthy? 

Well if you look through the history again, this dish was created for hard labourers. Unfortunately in the present day, we don't do enough hard labour to burn off the amount of calories this dish contains. So unless you workout enough, weekly consumptions of Bak Kut Teh will definitely set you back in your weight watch. Having said that, we can still enjoy the healthy properties of this dish. Just stick to the lean meat, don't eat too much tau pok or fried bread sticks (yau char guay) and don't order the oily rice.

Calories in Beer

Like why would you even want to go there? I know. I don't really want to either. But after I started my habit of finding out what's in everything I consume, I took a look at the beer cans and realized, there are no calorie numbers on a can of beer. Well of course its not something that's nutritious so calorie listing for a can of beer isn't needed. But I think it would be useful for some to know exactly where that ever-growing beer belly is coming from. I got this calorie count from various sources on the internet and based on what it takes to make a can of beer, I think the numbers are fairly accurate. So the next time you consumer a can of beer, you might want to think twice about the hours you need to put into gym later.

(I just happen to be drinking one now)

- Tiger Lager: 160
- Guinness: 153
- Heineken: 150
- Corona: 148
- Stella Artois: 140
- Bud Light: 110
- Anchor Steam - 153
- Bass Ale - 160
- Budweiser - 140
- Corona Light - 105
- Guinness Draught - 126
- Guinness Stout - 153

In the future, I think I might even start counting calories for various cocktails. So stay tuned for those :)

Cooking With Dog.... Not literally

Since I've not been eating much except for leftovers, I've decided to post and introduce a cooking channel on Youtube that I'm pretty fond of, "Cookingwithdog". Ok, its not what you think. This is a Japanese lady cooking delicious Japanese food. She also provides very simple and quick cooking techniques that you can use for other recipes. I find that her food is healthy and often involves very little oil. I've posted a few of my favourite videos and I recommend that you try out her recipes. Her custard puddings were delicious. The total calories contained in each dish have been listed for reference and if you're keen to try the recipes, just look under their respective Youtube information tabs. Enjoy :)

 (1,092.26 for 6 pieces)

(769.88 calories, which serves 4)

 (1,229 calories for 25 dumplings)