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!

Sao Nam Vietnamese, Chocolate Buttermilk Mascarpone Cake and Salsa

I admit. Not very disciplined when it comes to making daily uploads over the weekend, so sorry about that. Hence, I've decided that the best may be to compile it all under one post for easier reference. 

It was my mom's birthday last Saturday so we took her out for a nice dinner at Sao Nam's along Tengkat Tong Shin and then I served her with a delicious cake after. Needless to say, all the calories I burnt at the gym yesterday became wasted effort. But someone once told me that I was allowed a break once in a while as a reward.... or maybe I just made that rule on my own.

Anyway, here goes. As usual, I won't post the restaurant's full calorie value or recipes unless someone asks me in detail, so please let me know if you need a proper ingredient listing and count, it will require time. My apologies in advanced for the weidest restaurant pictures ever. But I only had my phone camera and was too lazy to get off my fat ass to move around the table :P

Sao Nam Vietnamese Restaurant - Tengkat Tong Shin

Chiken on sugar cane skewers - 600 calories

Broiled and then roasted beef - 374 calories

Special crispy pancake - 343 calories

Rice paper spring rolls - 262 calories

Eggplant fried with garlic and chilli - 329 calories

Chicken Stey - 1241 calories (Never order this if you want to be healthy, observe the oil)

Boiled Okra with tomato garlic sauce - 175.6 calories

Prawn Curry - 382 calories (prawns are healthy at about 10 to 15 calories each)

Total from that meal was 3706.6 calories. But I only had my share of about 529.5 calories. I enjoyed the meal very much but on the whole I felt it was a little too expensive in some areas. I think the chicken stew was the worst of the lot, since it came at a hefty price of RM25 for a few pieces of chicken and loads of oil. Not a good price to pay, especially not with your health. So will we go back? Only if we feel like expensive Vietnamese food..... so maybe not.

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Mascarpone Filling 

  

Ingredients 

1 and 3/4 cups cake flour (light flour and not all purpose or self-raising) - 796.25 calories

1 teaspoon baking powder - 2.44 calories

1 teaspoon baking soda - No calories

1/2 teaspoon salt - No calories

3 tablespoons of cocoa powder - 36 calories (Ah hah! Its not chocolate that makes you fat afterall!)

1 cup sugar - 774 calories

1 stick unsalted butter - 1627.6 calories

1 teaspoon vanilla essence - 18 calories

2 large eggs (In our parts it should be 3 eggs) - 195 calories

1 cup buttermilk - 98 calories

Berries soaked in hot sugar and honey syrup - 122 calories

500 grams of mascarpone cheese - 1920 calories

1 cup heavy or whipping cream (or low fat cream if on diet watch) - 300 calories

I had a lot of fun making this and then eating this. But.....You ready for it? The total calories in this cake that serves 12 was.......5859.29 calories!!! Not to worry if you stick to only one slice since its only 488 calories, which is well within daily limits. Though I wouldn't recommend eating slices of cakes everyday and I suspect this is exactly where all those added pounds are coming from. Unfortunately, I can't help it. Two things work against my favour, a) I love to bake and b) I love eating sweets. So if anyone wants to know the cooking method for the above, do let me know. I'll be glad to share.

So after that whole Saturday of indulgence, it was back to basics with a nice bowl of fresh salsa. I simply chopped up tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and a few cloves of garlic. You could even add parsley or spring onions too but I didn't have any in my fridge. Next, I drizzled some olive oil, some dried basil, pepper, salt and sherry vinegar. Since my stomach doesn't take chilli too well, I left that out. But if you prefer a little spice then just add a single chilli and you're good to go. Me and the hubby had this with a few slices of Iranian or flat bread. The whole bowl was only about 250 calories, but it filled me up fast and was simply yummy. I'd recommend that you try it... but err, get those mints ready. You will have onion breath.

My half-eaten bowl of tomato, cucumber and onion salsa

How do I stay away from delicious Wan Tan Meeeeeeee??

Whenever I walk to my favourite Wan Tan Mee stall, I tell myself, today I'll order the small. I repeat that until I get to the stall, see the juicy "char siu" or roast pork marinating in the sauce and immediately request for a medium order instead. I am pretty hopeless with temptation. So lets see what damage its done.

Dry Wan Tan Mee based on my assumed ingredients
Egg noodles - 300.2 calories
Char Siu - 73.2 calories
Oil - 122.63 calories
Wan Tan - 110.53 calories
Soup - 40 calories
Total 646.56 calories

That looks like a painfully large amount and I don't event want to start digesting what went into the sauce, especially since each tablespoon of soy sauce has about 10 calories. Now on to dinner. Feeling as if I've committed a sin, I decided to get creative and make a healthier option for dinner. I went to the local grocer, picked up a juicy fat red capsicum and some medium sized tomatoes. Then headed upstairs to see what was left in my fridge. The final ensemble, a baked pie that had no crust. 

 Here's what went into the concoction.

Baked Crustless Pie (I really have no idea what else to call it)
One large capsicum - 41 calories
3 Medium sized tomatoes - 108 calories
250g chicken - 325 calories
1 whole garlic bulb - 104 calories
1 1/2 medium sized white onions - 60.8 calories
Olive oil - 496.68 calories
Mixed herbs (dried) - oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil - 50 calories
Black pepper - 16.32 calories
3 small tofu blocks - 188 calories
Total 1,389.8 calories in the dish

My consumption was a third of the above serving or 463 calories and the rest was devoured by my dear hubby. I was fuller after eating my own home cooked dish as compared to the wan tan mee, which shows that I should seriously consider cooking more meals. The total damage today was approximately 1,109.82 calories and since my basal metabolic rate needs a consumption of about 1,200 calories per day, I suppose I am on my way to losing those kilos - add in the gym and exercise and I should be all set. I wonder if that means I can bake a juicy goodie this weekend... hmmm... scones, pavlova, chocolate cake, cheese cake...

Takeaway Stir Fry Yau Mak and Marmite chicken

Seeing how I had a migraine today and with the fridge rather empty, I decided to get my dear hubby to buy takeaway from a nearby Chinese restaurant. He brought home the following:

With some crazy internet search, I manage to come up with an estimated calorie count for my portion of the dishes based on very basic knowledge of chinese cooking and what I assume might be contained in the stir fry. Here goes:

Garlic stir-fry 'yau mak' or big head rommaine
Big-head rommaine lettuce - 25 calories
Chicken stock - 5 calories
Oil - 80 calories
Garlic - 13 calories
Total 123 calories

Stir-fry chicken in Marmite sauce
Chicken cubes - 130 calories
Garlic - 13 calories
Sugar - 12 calories
Marmite - 18 calories
Oil - 120 calories
Total 293 calories

I consumed a total of 416 calories for dinner. Although these numbers are not entirely accurate, I think the numbers are pretty close considering that the average stir-fry chicken is around 250 calories per cup and about 130 calories per cup for the stir-fry vegetables.

Judging from the above, I think my road down the careful eating path is going to be VERY long and hard.