Get Your Food On Issue 10
Buttery Tomato Garlic Prawn Noodles + Rhubarb Polenta Traycake + Protein-Rich Meal Prep
GET YOUR FOOD ON // ISSUE 10 // June 24, 2021
Hi guys!
How is everyone today? Are you ready for another fun meal prep sesh? Today, I have simplified things for all our new subscribers who are just starting out and to give the rest of you (and myself) a bit of a breather. Maximum food prep with less effort. Thank you for all your feedback emails and messages. I love hearing how you get excited about food prep, how it is starting to help your weekly eating habits. Quite a few of you have been asking me about the jars I use. So here is a bit of info.
Most of the single-serve jars in my meal prep pictures are recycled pasta jars. I am a bit of a hoarder and having watched my mum create an army of meticulously stocked pantry jars by upcycling instant coffee jars for almost three decades (dad is a huge coffee drinker!), I have learnt to recycle my food glass jars. Filling jars with boiling hot water slips the sticky label off easily. The jars then go into the dishwasher and get a good clean. Ready to go! Besides the recycled jars, I like Kilner, Weck, Ball Mason and IKEA glass jars. Most of my square, round and rectangular glass containers are from IKA and Glasslock. Hope that helps. Now, let's begin!
BUTTERY TOMATO GARLIC PRAWN NOODLES
A happy fusion of Asian flavours with some good old fashioned butter creates this umami bomb! Buttery Tomato Garlic Prawn Noodles – a cross between garlic prawn noodles and buttery pasta. Ready in 15 minutes and tastes incredibly delicious!
A Fusion Noodle Dish Born Out Of A Childhood Memory
I remember the first time I had Maggi noodles. I was 7 years old, it was during my summer holidays. I was visiting my granddad who was the Accountant General Of India and lived in grand old government houses with huge gardens and staff. My aunt and I were sightseeing that day and she stopped to say hello to a friend who lived in an equally charming house with an immaculate lawn. I was playing cops and robbers in the garden with her son who was about my age, when she called us in for a snack.
Following the delicious smell into the dining room, I simultaneously saw bowls of steaming noodles dotted with green peas as the boy charged forward and yelled “Maggi! Yayyy!”. Up until this point, I had only watched the highly colourful Maggi ad and catchy jingle on the telly. I had not yet tried it yet. When we sat down to eat, the boy squirted a godawful amount of tomato ketchup on top of his noodles and then pushed the ketchup bottle towards me. Unsure of how much to put, I decided not to follow his lead but added a squirt or too demurely. Before we could dig in, the lady of the house swooped in and added a spoonful of butter on top our noodles (Indian mums are notorious for ladling ghee on everything to try and fatten their brood. Butter to me was definitely a step up at that age. A tiny bit fancy!)
As the butter melted into the hot noodles, I started swirling the fork through the tomato sauce and mixing it up in the noodles. The spice, the tomato ketchup, the butter – it was a tantalizing .....
*****
RHUBARB STRAWBERRY POLENTA TRAY CAKE (GLUTEN FREE)
A beautiful winter bake, this gluten-free, dairy-free Rhubarb Strawberry Polenta Traycake is baked low and slow for a gorgeous golden brown crust studded with perfectly caramelized winter fruit. Enjoy as a teacake or serve warm as a pudding with a dollop of cream or ice cream. Delicious either way!
Baking Gluten Free Cakes With Polenta
If you are looking for a great gluten-free tea cake, look no further. This Rhubarb Strawberry Polenta Traycake has been a regular fixture at my past workshops. With an almond base and using polenta instead of flour, this cake develops a beautiful crust as it bakes. Olive oil gives this cake a fresh fruity aroma profile. I like to try baking this with a variety of seasonal fruit, but it works best with rhubarb or a combination of rhubarb and strawberry.
The fruit is cut into tiny pieces. I slice the rhubarb quite thinly and cut each medium-sized strawberry into quarters and then sliced twice across yielding 12 pieces from a single strawberry. The size of the fruit is important to have the most perfect crusty top that is roasted enough to caramelize the fruit and still have a tender. Larger pieces will yield a mushy top with pockets of wet fruit which doesn’t make a very pleasant eating experience.
If I can’t find lemon thyme, I substitute with ...
Today's meal prep will focus on "Extra Protein Boost with every meal!". It is a shorter and more simplified version of previous meal prep sessions. This is to allow you to take things a bit slower (I had a lot of messages requesting this).
I have recently acquired a new toy (more about that later!) and have come to the realization that I run a bit low on my protein intake (understandable as I am a Vegetarian/Occasional Pescatarian and you have to make a conscious effort to boost your protein via a vegetarian diet). I also need to drink more water (don't we all?). So today's meal prep is focusing on injecting a plant-based protein boost in most of the recipes whether it is a full meal or a snack. Nut butter, nut meal, legumes, chia seeds, yoghurt and chickpeas.
MAINS
Vegan Rajma Masala (Red Kidney Bean Curry) (For 4/ serve with steamed rice/crusty bread or naans)
EXTRAS
Beetroot Apple Lemon Juice
RAW PREP
Chopped leek
Chopped spring onion
Passionfruit pulp
Avocado mash (to freeze for smoothies) /
Avocado lime mash (to freeze for guacamole)
Things To Do This Week (Thursday & Friday)
1. Print out all the recipes you plan to cook
2. Make a shopping list of things you don't already have and buy them before the weekend.
WEEKEND MEAL PREP SESSION (1 hour 50 minutes)
>> Before you begin, get a large plastic/enamel tub to catch all your scraps and rubbish (multiples if you are saving scraps for chooks/compost). I cannot stress how much time you will save and keep the bench tidy if you are not going to the rubbish bin every few minutes.
>> For Part II of the meal prep, I make sure the kitchen sink is clean and empty. This allows me to quickly wash my Breville juicer, Nutribullet and Vitamix which is easiest to clean right after making the juice/smoothies and hummus. I also have 7-8 300ml capacity lidded glass jars ready.
Part I
1. Gather all ingredients for Vegan Rajma Masala. Blend the onion-tomato curry base and start cooking the Rajma Masala. When all the steps and ingredients are in, move on to your next prep. (10 minutes)
2. Mash 2 avocados in a bowl and pack in small snack/ziplock bags for smoothies. Mash 2 avocados and juice of 1 lime in to a bowl and pack in small snack/ziplock bags for guacamole. Label and freeze the ziplock bags. 10 avocados will give you 5 ziplock bags ready to freeze. (10 minutes)
3. Cut 8-10 passion fruit and scoop the pulp in a glass jar. This can be used to top breakfast yoghurt bowls, in smoothies and cocktails and to make passionfruit butter. Will keep in the fridge for up to a week. (5 minutes)
4. Gather ingredients for Sun Juice, Beetroot Juice, Salted Caramel Banana Smoothie (5 minutes)
Store avo mash in the freezer, store cooked rice in containers in the fridge.
Active Time - 30 minutes
Part II
5. Make Sun Juice. (10 minutes)
6. Make Beetroot Juice. (5 minutes)
7. Make Salted Banana Caramel Smoothie. (5 minutes)
8. Pre-heat the oven for the Rhubarb Strawberry Polenta Cake. Prepare the rhubarb and strawberry, mix the cake batter. Assemble the cake and pop in oven. (10 minutes)
9. Gather ingredients for Mango Lassi Chia Pudding and Basic Hummus. (5 minutes)
Pack away juices and smoothies in glass jars. The actual juice and smoothies only take a couple of minutes to make but I am allowing time for clean-up and washing of the appliances. I use my Breville Juice Maker to extract the cold-pressed juice and my Vitamix to make the smoothies.
Active Time - 35 minutes
Part III
10. Make Mango Lassi Chia Pudding. (10 minutes)
11. Make Basic Hummus (5 Minutes)
12. Wash, dry, trim and slice the green part of the spring onion. Line a container with paper towel and add the chopped spring onion to the container. Top with another piece of paper towel. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. The paper towel absorbs excess moisture from the spring onion and keeps it dry and crisp for a very long time. The root ends get stuck in a jar of water. They will regrow and you can use them for up to 2 regrowths before they lose their punch. I usually have two containers of spring onions - one sliced roughly for stir-fries and the other sliced finely and diagonally for garnishes and recipes like the Scallion Pancakes. (10 minutes)
13. Chop leek and store in a lidded glass container for the fridge. Line this container with a paper towel as well. Will keep in the fridge for up to 1 week. (5 minutes)
Pack away mango lassi chia pudding in individual or large containers for the fridge, hummus and prepped veggies.
Active Time - 30 minutes
BREAK 10 minutes - We are almost in the home stretch now. Make yourself a cup of tea/coffee or pour a glass of wine. I like to load the dishwasher, put away ingredient jars and wipe down the counter at this point to reduce my work later.
Part IV
16. Last thing to do today. Gather ingredients for and make Buttery Tomato Garlic Prawn Noodles. (20 minutes)
17. The cake will have baked by now. When cool, cut into square slices. (5 minutes)
Pack away noodles and cake.
Active Time - 20 minutes
" The simpler the food, the harder it is to prepare it well. You want to truly taste what it is you're eating. So that goes back to the trend of fine ingredients. It's very Japanese: Preparing good ingredients very simply, without distractions from the flavor of the ingredient itself.
~ Joel Robuchon
I have limited copies of my cookbook Tasty Express - a labour of love filled with over 100 of our family's most tried and tested and exciting 30-minute recipes inspired by street foods of the world. Mostly Vegetarian recipes that go from breakfast to quick dinners in a heartbeat. They make great gifts for you or a friend!
