Cooking & Meal Prep Session 8

Chicken Corn Egg Drop Soup + Ghee Shortbread + 3 Day Meal Prep

Hello guys!

Winter has truly set in here in Sydney. It is 6:00 am and a very brisk 4C. My fingers are frozen as I type this newsletter. But I am thrilled by your response to the last couple of meal prep newsletters and excited to share some delicious new recipes with you today. This week we are upping the ante by cooking enough meals to last us 3 full days and then some. So, let's get going! Also, please let me know how you are doing with the meal prep, what you find useful and what you would like to see in future newsletters :)

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INDO-CHINESE CHICKEN SWEETCORN EGG DROP SOUP

A hearty, lusciously thick, delicious soup ready in just 10 minutes. This Indo-Chinese Chicken Sweetcorn Egg Drop Soup has saved my life on more occasions than I can remember. It is a staple after-school snack during winter and so easy, even the boys can put it together themselves. Make it today!
 

The Magic Of Indo-Chinese Cuisine

If you are a regular follower of my blog, you will know by now how much I adore Indo-Chinese cuisine. In the past, I have shared many recipes from my years growing up in Mumbai and eating at roadside Indo-Chinese stalls. A fusion cuisine that was a result of the Chinese Hakka community adopting some Indian ingredients to spice up their everyday Chinese dishes.
 

While studying at University in Mumbai, Nick and I used to be forever trying out new local eateries for an exciting hot meal after a hard day of studying and working on assignments. Indo-Chinese shacks were our favourite. Our meal always started with a thick, hot soup. The reason being, it was Mumbai and the city was forever in the grips of the monsoon. When it rained, it poured and it flooded. Umbrellas reduced to bare skeletons and clothes and shoes soaked, a hot soup on our journey home was like the nectar of Gods.
 

The soup menu was always exciting – Manchow Soup, Hot And Sour Soup, Chicken Sweetcorn Soup, Lung Fung Soup, Talumein Soup, American Chopsuey! All soups were luscious and thickened with cornflour. But my .......
 

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Naankhatai (Indian Ghee Cardamom Shortbread)

Naankhatai is an Indian shortbread made with ghee and flavoured with some ground cardamom. It is a melt-in-your-mouth, buttery, sweet treat sold at sweet shops and grocery stores in India. My recipe is a four-decade-old mum’s Naankhatai recipe that I have grown up with. And today I share the story of that naakhatai with lots of useful tips on choosing the right ghee, rolling the perfect dome and baking these to their crispy golden perfection! 

The Story Of My Naankhatai

Naankhatai is a divine shortbread very famous in India and Pakistan. It is derived from the Persian word naan meaning bread and khatai from a Dari Persian word meaning biscuit. Biscuits were a staple in my childhood home. Mum had a deep-seated fondness for all baked things and had a pantry meticulously stocked with biscuits (sweet and savoury) of all kinds. My favourite was her Naankhatai – a melt-in-your-mouth, decadent, buttery shortbread made with homemade ghee, a touch of semolina for that beautiful crunch and the delicate flavour of cardamom. One was never enough! 
 

The most astonishing thing in all this was the fact that we didn’t have a proper oven at home. No one did in India back in the seventies and eighties. My mum had a round oven that looked like a porthole in an ancient submarine, a burnished steel contraption with a peek-a-boo glass top. It was only slightly bigger than a standard round cake tin and it was a dedicated cake oven for the butter cakes my mum would bake from home churned butter. Oh dear God!
 

As you must’ve guessed; this oven was not suitable for anything other than an eight-inch round cake. My mum’s naankhatai was baked at the local bakery, late in the evening when the daily rush had died down and the industrial oven was offered to whoever wanted to bake their homemade treats. I must remind you, that this being an industrial oven; one couldn’t just turn up with a batch of 15 biscuits. That would be absolutely ridiculous! So, my mum would make a few hundred and load them up layer by layer in a huge aluminium tin. And I was her helper. We would carry the tin .......
 

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So today's meal prep will again focus on "3 Days of meals" rather than a whole week but with a small variation from last week. We'll be prepping Breakfast, Lunch And Dinner for all three days which means you'll have most meals already prepped and not much to do for three whole days (it can get addictive)! The theme is "Warming Soups/ Hot Rice Based Meals With Virtually No Cooking On The Day/Prep For Quick Breakfasts".

The Happy Smoothie And Sun Juice are a HUGE hit in our home right now. I often find one or more members of my family sitting with a jar of one of these, happily sipping away. Who knew having fresh juices and smoothies stocked in the fridge would be an incentive for everyone to fill up with all the goodness? I will try and bring you new seasonal smoothie/juice recipes every week so you can fuel up on a variety of fruit and veg.



6 MEALS

• Green Minestrone Soup (For 4/ serve with crusty bread)

• Vegan Ma Po Tofu (For 4/ serve with steamed rice)

• Chicken Sweetcorn Egg Drop Soup (For 2/ Can be easily doubled)

• Smoked Salmon Kedgeree (For 4)

• Vegan Nasi Goreng (Indonesian Fried Rice) (For 4)

• Crispy Bay Roasted Smashed Potatoes (For 2)

EXTRAS

• Naankhatai (Indian Shortbread) (Makes 15)

• Sun Juice (Makes 3-6 serves)

• Happy Smoothie (Makes 2 serves)

• Blueberry Chia Lassi (Makes 2 serves/ can be easily doubled)

RAW PREP

• Sliced Spring Onions

• Chopped Leeks

• Steamed Rice

• Boiled Eggs

• Boiled Chat Potatoes

• Pan-Roasted Cauliflower

• Green Sauce

• Nasi Goreng Paste

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 (2 hours 20 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 and Vitamix which is easiest to clean right after making the juice/smoothies. I also have 7-8 300ml capacity lidded glass jars ready.



 Part I 
1. Wash and cook rice in the rice cooker (2 cups raw rice will give you 5 cups cooked rice. For Kedgeree And Nasi Goreng recipes you will need to cook 3 cups uncooked rice) (5 minutes)
2. Give a big pot of 16 chat potatoes to boil. Boil 4-8 eggs in a medium saucepan (2 minutes)
3. Preheat the oven, chop a whole head of small cauliflower and add to a pan with oil, salt and pepper on medium (5 minutes)
4. While the cauliflower cooks, wash, dry, slice and chop 3-4 leeks. Store in an air-tight container with a piece of paper towel. Do the same with a bunch of spring onions (5 minutes)
5. Gather ingredients for Sun Juice, Happy Smoothie and Blueberry Chia Lassi (5 minutes)

Potatoes are now boiled, store them in a container ready to make Crispy Bay Roasted Smashed Potatoes in the next day or two. Boiled eggs, chopped leeks, chopped spring onions are all ready to be stored in the fridge.
Active Time -  25 minutes



 Part II 
6. Cook the cauliflower for 15 minutes until browning, then add half a cup of water. Cover and cook until water is absorbed and cauliflower is al dente. You can do this while prepping other things, just keep an eye on the cauliflower.
7. Make Happy Smoothie and fill in jars(10 minutes)
8. Make Sun Juice and fill in jars (15 minutes)
9. Make Blueberry Chia Lassi and fill in jars (10 minutes)
10. Gather ingredients for Green Sauce, Nasi Goreng Paste, Chicken Sweetcorn Egg Drop Soup and Naankhatai (10 minutes)

Pack away the roasted cauliflower for the fridge. It will keep for up to three days. 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 -  45 minutes




 Part III 
11. Mix and roll dough for Naankhatai. Put them in the oven to bake (10 minutes)
12. Make Green Sauce (5 Minutes)
13. Make Nasi Goreng Paste (5 Minutes)
14. Make Chicken Sweetcorn Egg Drop Soup (10 Minutes)
15. Gather ingredients for Vegan Ma Po Tofu and Green Minestrone (5 minutes)

Pack away cookies, Egg Drop Soup, green sauce and paste.
Active Time -  35 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 at this point to reduce my work later. 


 Part III 
16. Chop mushrooms for the Ma Po Tofu. Chop veggies (celery, potato, beans, zucchini, tomato). Peel and crush 8 cloves of garlic. Grate some ginger. (15 minutes)
17. Make Green Minestrone Soup (10 minutes)
18. Make Vegan Ma Po Tofu (10 minutes)

Pack away soup and the tofu dish. 
Active Time - 35 minutes

 

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" Food is not rational. Food is culture, habit, craving and identity. 

~ Jonathan Safran Foer

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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!

Buy Signed Copy (Australia)