Pork Loin Kebabs


Easy to make, cheap ingredients.
Can be made in bulk and stored in the freezer.
Quick source of protein and fibre.
Beautiful presentation.
Great idea for BBQ!

Ingredients (makes 9 small kebabs):

- 1 packet of pork loin from NTUC ~$2.00 to $3.00.

- 1 Yellow Capsicum ~$1.00.

- 1 Green Capsicum ~$1.00.

- 1 Onion ~ 2 for $0.50 at a nearby wet market.

Alternatives:

If you are willing to indulge, go for Pork Tenderloin/ Lamb Tenderloin or Beef Tenderloin for a juicer and more tender kebab.

Add in more colour with a red capsicum.

Add in button mushrooms if you are a mushroom lover.

Step by step:

1. Cut the pork loin into cubes and marinate. If you do not have any sauce or gravy to go with the kebab, marination is important. Work with what you have in your kitchen, I used salt, black pepper, white pepper, garlic powder, a few drops of soya sauce. Not the ideal marination for a kebab but still edible and delicious.

2. Cut the capsicums and onion into cubes. 2-dimensional cubes that is! Marinate the veggies if you please.

3. Skewer them onto the bamboo sticks. I like at least a piece of onion before or after a piece of meat because I thinks that it will give the meat a bit of flavour when cooked. 

Done!

Storage:

I like to pack them into plastic bags, and chill. You can also use plastic boxes. If you're freezing them, segregating them in plastic bags prevents the whole gang from sticking together when frozen. 

Cooking

Pan-fry the kebab in the pan with a little bit of oil. Done!

However, if you cook them straight from the fridge, they might still be cold inside while cooked on the outside. In this case after pan-frying to sear the meat and seal in the juices, lay them out and toast in the toaster oven for a while. Serve with some starch (e.g. rice/ mashed potato) for a complete meal.

Kebabs are a fun way to make and store your food. Easy and convenient way to impress. If you are really a lazy bummer, you can forget about skewering them. Just make stir-fry pork and capsicums instead.

Burgers

One of my favourite food. A burger is like an all-rounded meal, carbohydrates in the bun, protein and fats in the patty and fibre in the vegetables. They are cheap to make. They can be prepared in bulk and stored, as well as take little time to prepare. Burger buns and patty can be stored in the freezer for long periods of time. Lettuces and tomatoes can be stored in the fridge for a week.


Ingredients for 2 burgers:
- Burger buns. (Got mine at Carrefour, 6 pieces for $3/-).
- Chicken patties 200g (makes 2 to 3 patties) Got it at Raffles City Marketplace for $4 but you can get it much much cheaper elsewhere.
- Cheddar cheese 2 slices (1 packet of 12 slices ~$3+/-.
- 1 Tomato ~$0.40/-
- 1 piece of lettuce ~$1.20.
*Except for the patties and chicken buns, the rest were found at home.

1. Burger bun

Spread some butter on them, off they go into the toaster oven.

2. Chicken patties
Do remember to marinate the minced chicken before cooking, because they are tasteless. Salt and pepper will do, but I experimented with what I have in my kitchen. 
I used a bit of everything I can get my hands on- salt, black pepper, soya sauce, mixed herb, garlic powder, chilli powder, breadcrumbs. Yes, I even used breadcrumbs (for fun), I was looking to add a bit of volume to the patties.


Roll up your patties, heat up your pan and flatten the patties in the pan!

3. The veggies


I found a tomato and lettuce in my fridge, so I used both. Onions also make a good team with the duo, but there were no more onions to be found at home.

4. Patties and cheese on.


Once the patties are done and on the bun, add a slice of cheese. I like my cheese melted so I toasted them in for oven for a while ~30 seconds. 

5.Sauces.


Time to dress your burger! You can use whatever sauce you find at home, but usually I will use tomato sauce/ chilli sauce/ mayonnaise or mustard. A cheap trick - If you dont usually have sauces at home, keep the packets of chilli/ tomato/ curry/ BBQ sauces that McDonalds give when you order delivery!


6. Enjoy!

Variations:
Bread/ ciabatta bread/ baguette instead of burger buns.
Minced pork/ beef/ fish instead of minced chicken.
Olives/ pickles can be used as a veggie.
Add a few strips of toasted bacon to add some magic.
Add finely chopped onions/ shallots or an egg into your patties if you don't have enough minced meat (e.g. if you only have meat for only 1 patty but you want to make 2 patties). Its a cheat to increase the volume of the patties!


The end, enjoy your burgers!

My First Entry

Chicken breast!

One of my favourite meat, they are a good source of protein, low fat, incredible versatile and absolutely delicious. You can bake them in the oven or pan fry them on your pan. In case you are organizing a BBQ with your friends, throw out the hotdogs and grill some chicken breasts!

Chicken breasts go well many types of spices and marinates. You can toss them with any seasoning you find in your mom's arsenal of seasoning (e.g. white pepper, light soya sauce, rice wine, cajun, five spices powder or really anything!). If your mom doesn't cook much, there should be at least salt and pepper in your kitchen. That's enough!

Best of all, they cook fast! What you have to do is to use the 'butterfly' method to make them thinner. Put it simply, to cut them at the side to achieve another piece of breast that is approximately the same size, but thinner. Marinate and freeze them up. Being thin, they thaw in minutes under the sun or beside the stove and cook in seconds!

A picture of a piece of chicken breast, cut into two and marinated.

You can either cook both, or a piece, keep the other one in a clear plastic bag and store them in the fridge or freezer (depending on when you want to cook it again). So the next time you are hungry in the middle of a night, open your freezer and start cookin'!

My easy chicken breast recipe:

- 1 packet of chicken breast from NTUC/ Cold Storage ~$2.00 to $3.00

- 1 lemon ~$0.40

- A pinch of salt and crushed black peppers ~From your home kitchen

1. Grate the lemon whole, to get lemon zest.

2. Rub the lemon zest, salt and crushed black pepper onto the chicken breast.

3. Apply oil directly onto the marinated chicken breast (this helps in a more even marinate).

4. Rub again after the addition of the oil (if you want).

5. Heat up a pan, let it get real hot.

6. Introduce the marinated chicken breast straight into the hot pan (no need to add oil again).

To see if the breast is cooked:

The best and simplest way is to use a pair of tongs or a fork, break open the thickest part of the chicken breast to see if the meat is cooked! Since you are eating at home, looks doesn't matter much. 

But if you want the whole piece of breast to be intact (maybe cos you looking to impress your boyfriend or girlfriend by preparing dinner), poke a METALLIC fork into the thickest part of the breast, wait for 5 seconds. Remove the fork and touch your lips with it. What you want to know is the internal temperature of the breast. The metallic fork conducts heat from breast. If the fork burns your lips and makes you jump, the chicken is done. If the fork is cold/ warm/ lukewarm it means you need to let the chicken cook for a while more. Don't overcook or the breast will be dry and sad.

Cook up some carbohydrates like rice/ baked potato/ mashed potato to make up a meal!

Hope this recipe fires up your interest in chicken breast!

Start cooking, and experimenting! Good luck!