My First Risotto

You have to try something new every now and then. You know, just to keep it interesting. I decided to make my first Risotto. This is a high in starch meal, so try not to overdo it :)

 

Mushroom Risotto

250g Mushrooms thinly sliced

1 large onion thinly sliced

1l of vegetable stock

1 Pack of mushroom soup powder

400ml Low fat Milk

250ml Pasta Rice

Firstly gently sweat the onion and mushroom until the onion is soft.

Add the rice and some of the stock; keep adding the stock little bit at a time waiting for the rice to absorb the liquid. Do this until all the stock is absorbed or the rice is nice and soft.

Lastly add the soup powder to the milk and add to the risotto, stir until it thickens.

Let it gently cook for about 10 minutes.

You could serve this with a bit of parmesan cheese if you like.

Pork Chop Suey

I love Chinese takeaway. It is one of my weaknesses. The problem is always the portion size, and I don’t know what goes into making my food. This means that sometimes I will have more starch, salt and fat than what I would usually have.

So the other day I googled some recipe’s for one of my favourites, Beef chop suey. I tweaked it to suit my lifestyle, and I must say it didn’t go that bad. Well it tasted good, and it feels great to know exactly what I'm putting in my body.

Pork Chop Suey

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chicken stock
• 3 tablespoons lite soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 4 teaspoons corn-starch
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 pieces of pork tenderloin, trimmed and cubed
• 1 medium onion, slivered
• 1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced (next time I'll add some greenpepper for colour)
• 2 medium carrots thinly sliced
• 2 cups bean sprouts
• 20 grams of Plain Cashew nuts
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

Method:

1. Let the pork marinade in 1 tablespoon molasses + 1 tablespoon soy sauce for a few hours.
2. Combine the corn starch with a small amount of broth, mix well until there’s no more lumps in the corn starch. Now add the rest of the broth, soy sauce, molasses and pepper.
3. Next fry off the pork in a large pan over a medium heat, for about 2-3 minutes. Take it out of the pan and set aside.
4. Add olive oil to the pan and fry off the onion, bell pepper, ginger, sprouts and carrots for 3 – 5 minutes on a medium to high heat.
5.  Now reduce the heat to medium again and add the starch/broth mixture and pork. Make sure to get all the pork juices. Cook for about a minute until the sauces slightly thicken.

Serve this dish with rice. I used brown rice, just because I can.

What is your favourite take away? Maybe I can find a healthier alternative :)

Tuna Bake

Last week was one of those “mad-rush-to-nowhere” weeks. The result? I was feeling tired, cranky and most of all not in the mood to cook anything. So I turned to left overs.

I had some steamed broccoli and rice over from the previous night. So I decided to try something new. A Tuna bake. It tasted real nice, oh and there was no left overs :)

It tastes good, promise :)

Tuna Bake

1 tin of Shredded Tuna

1 small onion diced

1 cup of cooked rice

200g of cooked broccoli (cut into smaller pieces)

2 eggs

1 cup of milk

1 tablespoon of Mayonnaise

Salt and Pepper

Some grated cheddar/parmesan cheese

Now comes the easy part, mix together the tuna, onion and rice. Add the eggs, milk, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Mix well. Lastly add the broccoli, mix gently careful not to break the broccoli too much.

Put it all in an oven dish, cover with some grated cheese and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.

Add a salad and enjoy.