Cuisine & Culture the Chinese Family Way
Indian food is rich with interesting ingredients and cultural influences. It’s also fascinating to learn more about its history. Many in the UK crave it when they don’t feel like cooking.
According to ChefOnline, many people feel it “is likely to crave a hefty Indian dinner after a long day when cooking dinner sounds worse than serving time in prison.” Below are some top facts many don’t know about the best Indian takeaway they love.
While there’s still some debate about it, dinner is still considered as one of the 3 most important meals of the day. By eating nutritious food after a long day full of activities you are giving your body a chance to maintain its balance, improve digestion and get a good night’s sleep.
However, preparing the ultimate dinner often poses a real challenge for many families. While some opt for lighter meals such as Caprese pasta salad, others look for something more eloquent like Wagyu beef.
When you are cooking at home, it can be fun to improve your skills and cook some new things. If you have a family to look after, you will have plenty more opportunities to do this and make some great meals. Of course, if you don’t have many skills in cooking, you might want to look at some tips and tricks to make things like seasoning and chopping a bit easier. To help you with this, we are going to discuss some of the things that you can do to improve your cooking skills at home below.
Do you know why Vietnamese food is one of the best healthiest foods in the world? It is because it uses a variety of ingredients in the food that are low in fat, gluten-free and jam-packed with vitamins and minerals! It is the perfect food to boost your immune system, especially during times like this pandemic! Did you know that Vietnam has only recorded 327 cases and 0 deaths at this present time? Vietnam has successfully managed to contain COVID-19. They are lifting social isolation measures and reopening the economy to allow businesses to resume. Food must have a part to play in this!
Crispy roast potatoes, tender meat, and a generous serving of gravy: who doesn’t love a roast dinner, especially at this time of year? But slow-roasting a big joint of lamb or pork can take half the evening, and you end up using so many pots and pans to cook everything, making a mountain of washing-up.
However, I’ve recently discovered a few simple hacks that make it easier and quicker to cook a roast dinner. Have a read and test them out for yourself.
This autumn, McCain want to champion the simple joys of teatime. They want to hijack every Thursday night of the week where mums and kids can connect over food by simply swapping roles and encouraging kids to take over the helm in the kitchen.
I totally love this idea, not only is it a great way to get kids to learn a basic life skill, it also gets them off the TV or iPad to spend some time with me in the kitchen. It is also the only time that we are able to spend time in the kitchen. Most of the days we are rushing to their extra-curricular activities and Thursday night is the only day that we get to come home straight from school.
Both Mr K and Ms C are at the age where they can give me a hand in the kitchen and for them to decide what to have for tea. Mr K is the head chef while Ms C is his runner.
For the next few weeks on Thursday night, to make my life easy, we are going to use McCain Oven Chips, McCain Curly Fries and McCain Baked Potatoes as part of our meal. These McCain products are a few of my favourite! Also not forgetting the Potato Wedges. Whenever I host a party, these always get served.
Love Christmas? Why not try making Christmas dinner in summer? Recently, you may have seen on Twitter or Facebook a trend of people sharing Christmas in July which reminded me that we’re over halfway through the year and so Christmas is not that far off now! It is always a holiday I look forward to because it is a day that is usually filled with laughter with families. Anyway, I am going to give a twist to this Christmas dinner I made. It is a kind of Asian fusion meal with a summer twist!
When you think about Christmas, you will think about Turkey! So sticking with tradition, I am using Turkey meat. However, that’s where the similarities end as I wanted to use my Asian background to make it a fusion between the two cultures.
This Valentines day, OXO Good Grips set us a new challenge – to cook a 3 course meal for our loved ones. So I decided to make crispy duck pancakes for starters, duck breast with cranberry sauce for main and waffles with strawberries for dessert.
In order to help me with this challenge, I have picked the 3 piece large bowl & colander set, mandoline slicer and 9” tongs with silicon heads to use along with all my other OXO Good Grips kitchen accessories.
Last week, we had a unique and lovely meal at Fiesta Del Asado, Birmingham’s first Argentinian restaurant. The white historic building is located on the busy main road of Edgbaston and they have their own car parking at the front and back. When we arrived inside the restaurant, the place is deceptively large with a nice comfortable atmosphere. It is very well designed high end restaurant with plenty of beautiful ornaments around.
Our fabulous Cotton On’s blogger Zoe Lester very kindly organised us huge goody bags! To carry all the goodies, we’re thankfully to JoJoMaman Bebe who sponsored us each a navy JoJo Buggy Bag valued at £9 RRP. This is definitely a great value practical bag. It can be worn over the shoulder or clipped onto the handles of a buggy. It is very big (H36 x W51 x D11cm) and can fill a lot of useful stuff so is perfect for shopping. I have not used it on a buggy as Ms C is able to walk everywhere now. But I imagine it would be very handy for a picnic too! The large strap is quite long and the design is unisex which can be also carried by men!
It is getting so cold and windy! As you may know, I come from a hot country without the usual four seasons, so when the winter turns cold, I like to cook spicy Asian food to keep me warm! My husband and the children are not used to eating very spicy food so sometimes I end up cooking two to three different meals to suit the whole family!
I always love Thai food as they can be very spicy! They are best to eat after coming back home from the cold and harsh weather as they give you a fantastic endorphins rush! I choose to cook Thai Tom Yum Soup.
I always love kitchen gadgets that help to make cooking easier. This OXO Good Grips Flip & Fold Omelet Turner is perfect for making omelets. I always found it hard to use a flat wooden spatula to glide around the egg or turn the omelet around. The rim of the omelet tends to stick on the wooden spatula and it is hard to flip the whole omelet with a small spatula.
Last weekend was our bloggers night in and we had received some food samples for us to try out during and after the party. During the party, I served my guests olives straight from the tin. Personally, I have never bought tinned olives as I was always concerned that the tin may cause the olives to have a metallic smell. I would opt to buy fresh or in a jar. However, after trying these olives, I was very impressed! Both green and black olives are very tasty, not soggy and bursting with flavour.
Organix is a well know brand for baby food and snacks. They have built a 40 strong team to make delicious, nutritious baby and toddler food. They have a huge range of food suitable from 4 months onward.
One more week to go before my children go back to school! Have you started thinking about what to pack for their lunch box? Do you find that you always run out of ideas? Munchkin has recently launched a Click Lock Bento Mealtime Set to make lunchtimes fun, fresh and organised. It keeps food separate and fresh so sandwiches, fruit, salad and other items can all be stored neatly and compact in one place. The unique Click Lock lid ensures a secure seal so food is kept fresh with no spills and no mess. It comes in three colours; blue, pink and green and is priced at £7.99. It is BPA-free, microwavable and freezer safe.
