Tag: eggs

Colourful Chinese Egg Fried Rice #LittleKitchen

Posted in Cooking With Kids, Family Meals, UncategorizedLeave a comment

To make a change from my usual baking and sweet recipes which I create, it has been a welcome change to bring you something completely different. This is a recipe I have used for nearly 15 years with my own two children and also one that has been made at an After School cookery club that I used to run.

When Wren Kitchens contacted me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I would like to be involved in their #LittleKitchen campaign, I was really excited. Although I’m really busy at the moment in my teaching career and with home commitments, I love to take part in schemes which are very close to my heart.

The #LittleKitchen campaign has been created to encourage children to cook by being involved in food preparation and cooking. Wren Kitchen’s philosophy is something I heavily relate to: the kitchen is the heart of the home and where the family whatever their ages are able to come together. They talk, prepare food and have fun while they’re doing it.  At the same time you spend precious family time together as well as creating healthy and delicious food.  Not only that but by being involved in the food preparation process, children have fun, a sense of responsiblity and also are more likely to eat something that they’ve made themselves.

 It is always a challenge to find meals which tick all the boxes.  Is it delicious? Does is contain portions of fruit and veg which will count towards your 5 a day? Will the kids actually like it? I think this recipe has proved time and time again that it does fulfill that need.

My Chinese Egg Fried Rice recipe is one that children of all ages can help to create and it is a valuable recipe to add to the repertoire. I am convinced that being able to cook simple, yet nutritious, but fun meals is a valuable life skill as everyone has to eat. My own daughter is off to uni this autumn and she will be able to cook the Egg Fried Rice for herself and her friends.  The beauty in this recipe is that you can used whatever leftover veg you have left over, so long as they are chopped up small.  It can also have frozen peas and sweetcorn in it so it fills out the dish. All the ingredients are cheap so it is a useful budget dinner.

CHINESE EGG FRIED RICE

You need:

225g dry weight long grain or basmati rice

2 medium carrots, peeled and diced

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped finely.

1 pepper, deseeded and chopped

Approx 75g frozen peas

2 medium eggs, beaten

3 tbsp rapeseed oil

2 tbsp soy sauce

If you fancy substiuting any of the vegetables, feel free.  I sometimes use 3 or 4 spring onions in the rice instead of the ordinary onions. I used a yellow pepper here but the colour doesn’t matter. Just use whatever you have at hand.

108
All you need for you and your children to make this delicious egg fried rice.
109
Step 1: Cook the rice following the instructions on the packet.
110
After about 5 minutes cooking time, add the diced carrots to the boiling pan of rice.  About 5 minutes after that add your frozen peas or maybe if you fancy it, some sweetcorn.
111
In a frying pan or a wok, heat one tablespoonful of oil, then soften the onions and peppers for five minutes or so while the rice is still cooking.
112
Crack two eggs into a small bowl and beat them up.
113
Set the softened onions and peppers aside on a small plate and heat up the remaining two tablespoonfuls of rapeseed oil.
114
Pour the beaten eggs into the heated frying pan or wok. Fry in the oil for a minute.
115
Flip over the mini omelette and cook for another minute. As this picture shows I’m rubbish at making omelettes.
116
Chop the omelette up into tiny, bite size pieces.
117
Mix the drained rice mixture with the softened onions, peppers and the chopped egg as well as some soy sauce.
119
Serve in a massive bowl and let everyone help themselves. My family love this fried rice with left over chicken pieces which is great for a leftover Sunday roast dish.

KIDS IN THE KITCHEN:

Even very young children can take part in making this dish.  My own two children used to help by using a child friendly knife to cut and prepare easy to cut vegetables like peppers and to help weigh out ingredients.  I included them in every step of the process even though they kept away from the hob when I was frying the vegetables and boiling the rice.  When the dish was put on the table I let them serve themselves.

As children get older they are more able to cope with cutting more difficult vegetables, such as onions and will be able to peel the carrots.  You could involve them by adding the vegetables and rice to the pans at the right time and they could stir the contents of the pan.  They could also make the omelette with help.  Teenagers will easily able to cook the Egg Fried Rice without supervision. Though my children will always leave me their mess to clean up afterwards!

Happy Cooking.

Love Sam xx

Syrniki from the Great British Bake Off Celebrations.

Posted in The Great British Bake OffLeave a comment

I’m a bit at sixes and sevens with my blog posting recently.  I started writing this post last week but the WordPress app kept crashing on my ipad. I had nearly finished it too and the whole thing was lost.  I was fuming and ended up giving it up on the night.  Now I’m trying to type it on my laptop while crossing my fingers at the same time.

Anyway, you’ve all probably gathered I’m a real Bake Off fan and I love watching the series.  I did apply for series 2, the one that Jo Wheatley won back in 2011.  But looking back I could never put myself under that pressure. I would cry my eyes out if Paul Hollywood said my cake tasted like wallpaper paste or like rubber. So I have immense admiration for all the contestants who take part in the series.  I’m content with baking from the book and trying out new recipes without Paul and Mary commenting on it.

Instead I have the critical eye and tastebuds of my family. My son is usually the one who comes out with all the comments, like “That looks like a giant turd” or “It tastes like cat wee!” Then again he is fifteen and being nice to Mum isn’t what he does!  The same went for when I tried to make Syrniki the other day for breakfast.

Syrniki? Well I wondered what they were, too!  According to the recipe in The Great British Bake Off Celebrations book on page 68, they are “a treat for Easter morning” and are “the festive version of the thick Russian breakfast pancakes popular also in Ukraine and Poland.” They are usually made with local soft cheese to produce a thick pancake batter.  The recipe in the book used Quark.  I had bought a tub of Quark the week before to go in a recipe but ended up not using it. The recipe also was quite fiddly because you had to separate the eggs.

First Quark was mixed in a large bowl along with some sugar and a little lemon zest.  After that I added in some plain flour and then some egg yolks.  The egg whites were whisked separately and then folded in to the mixture. Finally I added some raisins to the batter.

The batter came out really thick, even thicker than American pancakes or drop scones.  I fried two of them at a time and asked my children to stand with a plate ready to get one as they were being cooked.  My son took one look at them and said “I’m not eating them, they’ve got raisins in!” My daughter ate one and said the cheese made it taste “wierd”. So I cooked a couple for myself and tried them out.

IMG_2559
Syrniki-a type of thick Russian pancake.

I served the Syrniki with some blueberries. You could also have them with yoghurt, jam or maple syrup. I found them filling and the taste did not put me off like it was with my children.  I guess it’s what you’re used to, these had less sugar in them.

Would I make Syrniki again? Probably not as my family weren’t keen on them and I found having to separate eggs a bit of a faff first thing in the morning when everyone is hungy and wanting their breakfast.

Happy Baking.

Love Sam xx

Scandelicious Baking- An Update on the August Cooking The Books Challenge.

Posted in Breads and Yeast Bakes, Cooking The Books, Savoury Baking, Scandelicious BakingLeave a comment

It’s been a few weeks since I updated my blog. There’s been so much going on.  Once the school holidays are over I’m back into work mode and there is barely time to get the jobs around the house done.  Then again, I haven’t managed to get anywhere near my computer.  So I thought I’d better get something writen down.

My August Cooking The Books recipe book challenge from Scandelicious Baking seems like a lifetime ago now.  Although I found it enjoyable and I had plenty of time, I didn’t get round to baking two of the recipes I’d originally planned to bake. These were a Pistachio Pavlova with Boozy Cherries and a Norwegian AlmondTart.  I don’t know what happened at the end of the holidays, guess I just ran out of time.

So, to recap I think I would like to look at what I did get round to making.  On the whole I have really enjoyed testing out some delicious recipes. Different flavours and things I wouldn’t have thought to try.

I love making fish pie for my family so I thought the Scandelicious Fish Gratin would go down well with my family.  Instead of being topped with pastry, mashed potato or breadcrumbs this version of a fish pie was topped with some crushed Swedish Krisprolls.  Well I didn’t crush them enough so the topping looked very rustic and unappealing.  Also my son (who used to love my fish pie) refused to eat it.

339
The Scandelicious Fish Gratin had a topping of crushed Krisprolls.

To make the Fish Gratin filling I poached some cod cut into large chunks in some milk infused with peppercorns and nutmeg.  After this I made a sauce which had leeks, onion, eggs and creme fraiche in to add to the fish.  This was then poured into a baking dish ready to be topped with the crushed krisprolls!

340
The fish gratin filling.
341
The finished fish gratin. Looked a bit unappealing and appealed even less to myself and my family. Not a big success at all.

After eating some savoury cheesecake from a buffet once I was keen to have a go at baking one myself. So I had a go at the Scandelicious Cheese and Onion Cheesecake.  The cheesecake contained an oatcake and porridge oat base which had been combined with melted butter.  To make the filling I whisked egg yolks with a pinch of salt, then added some Quark and some cream cheese along with some flour, chopped spring onions and some cheese.  Now in the recipe Signe Johansen suggests Vasterbotten cheese which I have never even heard of, let alone seen it in my local shops.  In the end I used Jarlsberg cheese and grated it straight into the mixture.  In another bowl I beat some egg whites which were then combined with the cheese mixture.  When this was ready it went straight on top of the base and was baked in the oven for about half an hour.

400
The finished Cheese and Onion Cheesecake.
401
Delicious with a salad.
402
I had a slice on its own for lunch the following day.

I’m not very good at baking bread or using yeast but I wanted to have a go at the Spelt Picnic Buns.  I’m not that used to using spelt flour either but I like eating spelt bread.  These buns were meant to be useful for eating on a picnic but we never got to go on one as it was too cold or wet during the last couple of weeks of the school summer holidays.  I baked the buns in my muffin tin but they were not what I was expecting at all. I was expecting them to turn out a lot a bigger than they were.  They tasted delicious though and I had one spread with butter at breakfast.

014
Scandelicious Spelt Picnic Buns.

So here ends the Cooking The Books Challenge for August and I had more challenges for days in the month than I had time for.  There are lots more recipes I would love to bake from Scandelicious Baking.  I can definitely recommend the book.

Happy Baking!

Love Sam xx