Get Your Food on Issue 21
Chilli Paneer + Creamy Thai Chicken Noodle Salad + "Just One Thing" Meal Prep
Welcome to Week 21 of "Get Your Food On" - my weekly Cooking Newsletter. A big hello to all new subscribers. Today and for the next few weeks the newsletter will be different as the "Meal Prep Session" component goes on a short break before starting up again for Round 2. But there will be plenty of good, useful information to help you become better cooks and eat well.
During the break, I will be sharing some handy tips and information on best equipment, appliances, tools, storage to use in the kitchen to stretch your produce and help with cooking/meal prep. But today, I have a simple tip for all you meal prep newbies and people taking a break. It is called "Just One Thing".
And finally, Thank you for your continued support and all your wonderful emails/messages telling me how adventurous you are getting with meal prepping. I am slowly replying to you all as I find some time here and there. Please keep cooking and don't forget to SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER with your friends.Â
Sneh x
Chilli Paneer is a delightfully tangy and delicious Indo-Chinese dish made of crispy golden paneer cubes in a sweet, sour and spicy sauce. A fast vegetarian stir-fry for an easy weeknight dinner ready in just 15 minutes!
Chilli Paneer – The Vegetarian Cousin of Chilli Chicken
Chilli Chicken is possibly the most popular dish in Indo-Chinese cuisine. The cusine was the result of Chinese immigrants settling in eastern India during the days of the silk trade and their ingenius cooking that used Indian vegetables and spices with Chinese cooking techniques. And Chilli Paneer is a clever adaptation of the famous chicken dish to suit the vegetarian palette.
The dish itself is quite simple but boy is it absolutely delicious. Who wouldn’t love golden fried paneer in a sticky, spicy, sweet and sour stir-fry sauce? This dish has few, everyday ingredients. It is what makes it truly special because you would never think of pairing these ingredients together. Traditionally, Chilli Paneer would be served with fried rice or Hakka Noodles. I serve it with simple steamed jasmine rice.
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Chilli Paneer – Two Delicious Versions, Dry Or Gravy
In an Indian or Indo-Chinese restaurant, every main dish has two versions. Dry or Gravy. Amazingly, the taste doesn’t change at all, just the eating experience. The dry version has very less sauce, just enought to coat the protein so that it can be eaten as a canape along side a soup or with a nice cocktail to accompany it. There is a lot of heat in the dry version and perfectly chopped spring onion and coriander to roll it in. The Gravy version of the dish has ample Chinese-style sauce that makes it perfect for eating with rice or noodles. It is as fiery and delicious, just with lots more sauce.
My version is created off the back of the dozens of small Indo-Chinese eating shacks I used to ..
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CREAMY THAI CHICKEN NOODLE SALAD
A great fresh Asian-style Chicken Noodle Salad with lots of crunch and flavour. This Thai Salad is nut-free and gets its creaminess from coconut milk. Ready in just 15 minutes, it makes a very delicious, satisfying work lunch.
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Grilled Chicken, Soba Noodles And A Delicious Nut-Free Asian Dressing
The hallmark of any good salad is a great dressing packed with loads of flavour. And when you are using protein in the salad, you have to ensure you dress/marinate that as well before cooking to amplify the final flavour of the dish. This Creamy Thai Chicken Noodle Salad is one I cook for my boys a lot especially for a light weekday lunch. It is great hot or cold and also fares well in lunchboxes.
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There are only three components to this yummy salad and they come together in a flash.
Chicken – I use chicken thigh for this dish. You could also use chicken breast. In fact, this salad is so versatile, I often make two versions of it at once – one with chicken and the other with tofu (for me). When cooking chicken, it helps if you are using a good cat iron pan on high heat. It sears and browns the chicken quickly and then when you lower the heat and cook it until it’s done, the chicken gets nice and sticky. If you are cooking tofu, you will need medium-high heat throughout until the tofu is golden.
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Noodles – I use soba noodles for this salad. Soba noodles cook very quickly – a mere 3 minutes in boiling water. I also often use plain/chow mein pre-cooked egg noodles that need only a couple of minutes in hot water. No matter what noodles I use, after cooking them till they are just done, I ...
"Just One Thing" Every Day
About 4 years ago when I first started meal prepping, I got very excited and carried away by the enthusiasm and a bit of delusion. With visions of neatly packed colourful containers stacked up in my fridge, I set out to meal prep. Within the first 30 minutes, I was massively overwhelmed and wanted to throw a plate and give up. That day I did!
But then the following week I brought out my journal and pen and a whiteboard and started setting realistic goals, making lists of what my family needed, creating a weekly menu and shopping list. Bust most importantly, I decided to start small and introduced the idea of prepping "Just One Thing" every day of the week on the blog (in my older posts) so as to no get overwhelmed but also test the waters of meal prepping. But there were rules. Now this "one thing" couldn't be a fully cooked meal but rather something that would make my life easier if I were cooking or needed a quick snack or a boost to my main meal.
So if you want to take a break from all that meal prepping we have been doing and/or are just starting out, start here. Prep "Just One Thing" Every day this week. What this does is that it gives you the option of "add-ons" to your meals.Â
1. Sunday -Â Peel 2 whole heads of garlic. Pack away in the fridge in an air-tight, lidded glass container. Keeps well for a week. Use as needed.
2. Monday - Make A Pesto. Store in fridge in a lidded glass jar for up to 5 days.
3. Tuesday -Â Chop some onions. Finely diced in one container and thinly sliced in another. Store these lidded glass containers in the fridge for up to 5 days. Use as required.
4. Wednesday - Cook a pot of quinoa. Keeps well in the fridge in an air-tight lidded glass container for up to 3-4 days.
5. Thursday - Make a Chia Pudding.
6. Friday - Peel and chop 3-4 carrots into sticks/batons. Store upright in a lidded container filled with water in the fridge for up to 5 days.
7. Saturday -Â Make Smoothie Packs to freeze. Put peeled chopped bananas, washed berries, greens, oats, nuts, chia or hemp seeds in freezer-safe silicone bags. To make your smoothie, use one smoothie pack with milk of choice. (What To Add In Your Smoothie Pack?)
REAP THE BENEFITS
These might seem like really simple things but imagine you start cooking dinner/lunch and most good recipes start by sautéing onion and garlic and you have them both prepped and ready to go? It is a brilliant feeling and saves SO MUCH TIME!
Having a jar of pesto means you can whip up a good breakfast or light meal like this in minutes!
Frozen Smoothie packs take the hassle out of what to put in your smoothie any given morning! Plus fresh smoothie ready in minutes!
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" O, blackberry tart, with berries as big as your thumb, purple and black, and thick with juice, and a crust to endear them that will go to cream in your mouth, and both passing down with such a taste that will make you close your eyes and wish you might live forever in the wideness of that rich moment.
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~Â Richard Llewellyn, How Green Was My Valley
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!
