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!

Tasty Pan Mee and dinner at Gao Ren Guan, Jaya One

Took a break from counting yesterday and decided to focus on today's meal. It was really hard trying to control dinner portions and I'm realizing that trying to find cheap healthy options for lunch at work is tough. Most quick food out there are not very healthy and if they are, they usually come with bigger price tags.

Chilli 'Pan Mee' at Face to Face 
Not entirely sure what went into this. But we can safely assume that the main ingredients include the following:
Thick egg noodles - 310 calories
One egg - 65 calories
Fried dried shrimp and chilli - 36 calories
Minced pork sauce - 140 calories
Oil - 123 calories
Total 674 calories

Oh dear, the meal was really tasty but that number doesn't look good at all. The damage during dinner may be even worse and I don't think I'm going to like this tabulation. Let's see how much my picky eating helped.

Dinner comprised of 7 small dishes at Gao Ren Guan

My family, especially my mom, love coming to this place. It serves up food that is similar to what we have at home, is near my mom's house and has reasonable prices. Of course it is more expensive to eat out, afterall, you have to pay the person doing all the cooking and cleaning on your behalf. The only inconvenient thing was me staring at delicious food and having to think twice whether I would be able to burn it during the next gym session.

Fried Threadfin with soya sauch - 518 calories

Fried tofu - 924 calories (I'm surprised as well)

Fried long beans and roast pork - 403 calories

Pork stomach in rice wine soup - 260 calories

Pork rib curry - 603 calories

There were two other dishes that we ordered. Unfortunately, I must apologize for forgetting to take pictures of them. I wasn't able to specifically state down ingredients for each food, as I am short of time. However, if anyone wants to know, just send me a message and I'll break it down. The total calories contained in the above is approximatekly 2,708. But it was split between 6 family members. My portion was about 451 calories and if I add the other two dishes, my meal would hover round the 600 calorie mark.

I didn't manage to eat under my BMR today. But at least I didn't burst the cap and I enjoyed my meals.

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.