Lisa's Lemony Kitchen

My post will be simple today....   I'm posting this poem... written by Mr H Jr ... published in his school newsletter when he was in Year 7. When Will It End? Wars malice spreads far and wide When will it end? Cannot people stand side by side Wars malice spreads far and wide Doors have closed and people have died More people to fight they send Wars malice spreads far and wide When will it end? 500g beef tortellini - cooked as per packet instruction 1 bottle Leggo Calabrese Sauce 8 sausages - thinly sliced 1 brown onion - chopped 2 carrots - cut into chunks and pre-microwave 1/4 cup parmesan. Cook the sausages and thinly sliced. Saute the onion in olive oil until soft. Add in the sauce, leave it to simmer for 5 minutes. Then add in carrots and sausages. Spoon the sauce onto the beef tortellini. Sprinkle with parmesan before serving... note: to get the flavour into the tortellini... mix the sauce and the tortellini before serving...

There are 2 versions of ' Pajeri's ~ Nyonya and Malay (well... I think it is Malay, my mom used to cook them!!!..hmm...I am making assumption here...)  Pajeri Nenas (pineapple curry)... it has a sweet, creamy and slightly sourish taste. Aubergine can be used instead of pineapple... and to get that tangy sourish taste ... just add tamarind slices.. Nyonya version (recipe below) used freshly blended spices and ingredients... whilst my mom's version used the commercial curry powder.... I'll attempt my mom's version of Pajeri next time... when I give her a call (soon)....just to make sure... 1 ripe pineapple - cut into 1cm thickness 3 cloves star anise 2 tablespoon coriander seeds - pan roasted then ground 1 red onion 10 dried chillies - soaked in hot water 1 cm of fresh tumeric 200ml coconut milk 1/2 cup of water 3 tablespoon of brown sugar salt Blend onion, fresh tumeric, chillies and pan roasted coriander into a thick pa

Before I start my rambling on food... let me show you some pics~ taken yesterday... The sky has opened its gates on us ... it did not rain but poured!!! After 122 days of dry spells... we could do with some heavenly nourishing 'sky juice'... Thank GOD that my house is still intact ..with a little leak in My Lemony Kitchen ... as the gutter just couldn't cope with the amount of flows...  my backyard .... inundated garage ... underwater Beautiful.... an aftermath of the thunderstorm One of Miss E's friend came home to a soaking wet bed!!! Driving was the scary part as the lamp posts were swaying from side to side... visibility was less than 1m..and the trees ... OMG... broken branches flying everywhere... Mr H Jr is at home today... as his school was badly hit in the storm ~ broken glasses ...the school's beautiful stained glasses in the Auditorium was damaged by hail (the size of a golf ball!!!).. We shall leave the thunderstorm

Originated from China... and known as  Gyoza  in late 17th century as it was introduced to the Japanese. There has been a lot of articles and recipes written on Gyoza...and its fillings... its up to individual taste buds...some will have mince pork, cabbage etc. But I usually go for simple filling... Its either I don't have most of the ingredients in the fridge when I am in 'the mood' to cook and eat certain things..(then I'll do the 'Nigel Slater' ~ scrounge for ingredients in the larder or fridge!!) or just plain lazy... most of the the time its the later.... Filling: 200g mince chicken 1/2 carrots - diced (finely) 15 pieces water chestnuts - diced Mix all the above ingredients and season with salt, sesame oil, pepper. Sauce: 2cm thinly sliced ginger 1 tablespoon light soya sauce a pinch sugar white vinegar Mix all the above Assemble: Place about 1 teaspoon of the meat filling on the gowgee skins, then 'wet' slightly t

Today will be another long day ... After sending   Miss E off to the train station..., I'll start preparing and cook dinner...and dinner must be something simple and one pot meal preferably...like the Soba Noodles above... or else my carnivore son will  put aside vegetables... and pretended not to see any greens... I plan to stop by  IKEA in the afternoon (there are some items on sale~ as advertised on TV) ... enroute to Miss E's school... fetch Miss E for her 1 hour Harp lesson... unfortunately.. her harp teacher does her teaching at her home in Bayswater. While she is having her harp lesson...I'll go for another quick 'survey'.. ehem.. window shopping again at Galleria in Morley... before another long journey home through heavy traffic ... will be out of steam by 8pm ... time to zzzzzzz ... 270g soba noodles - cook as per packet instruction. 500g lean beef - thinly sliced 3 spring onion - thinly sliced 3 cm of ginger - julienne 1/8 cup of teri

I could feel the heat permeating through the glass windows in my study as I am typing away for this post... Its going to be another hot day today... According to the weatherman ... the temperature will rise to 38C and tomorrow 39C... Oh dear!!! we are waiting for you ... Autumn ... please...please be here soon....    Another hot day = another salad day for us..... 300g pasta shapes - cooked as per packet instruction 425g canned tuna in spring water - drained a packet of fresh salad 1/4 cup of kalamata olives Mustard dressing 1 teaspoon of mustard 2 cloves of garlic - mashed 1/4 cup of olive oil juice of 1/2 lemon salt Mix all in a screw top jar, shake well. Mix the tuna, pasta and salad with the mustard dressing. Season with salt and pepper.

This is a good quick dinner for someone like me...  a stay at home mom .. and yet busy with kids' schedules...from Monday to Friday... being a mom~ its a 24/7 job!! There are always things to do... cleaning (I am abnormal according to Miss E who says 'normal' person don't clean their house many times a week!! ya..ya.), cooking, cleaning .. oops I said cleaning again ... gardening, marketing, banking, paying bills and etc etc etc...it's a neverending story for me!! 8 thin sausages - pre cooked and thickly sliced 1 red onion - wedge 2 canned diced tomatoes or 1 kg fresh tomatoes - diced 1 zuchini - thickly sliced 1 red capsicum - thickly sliced 1/2 cup kalamata olives 1/3 risoni pasta 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary - chopped Saute onions until soft, then add vegetables. Stir for 5 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Add the diced tomatoes and chopped fresh rosemary. Simmer for 5 minutes. Then add in sausages, kalamata olives and risoni pasta. S

Chicken Rice is one of the favourite rice dishes among Malaysians...Some serve their Chicken Rice with fried chicken and chilli sauce... but we prefer to have our Chicken Rice with 'steam' chicken... Preparing chicken and rice is not as tedious as it looked... but  preparing the varieties of  condiments may be time consuming... but the end result is... satisfying ... wholesome...  meal for the family.    For the chicken: 1 whole chicken - wash and clean. Reserve the chicken fat In a big pot, bring water to boil. Gently lower down the chicken into the pot and bring to boil again for another 10 minutes. Turn off the gas or heat, cover the pot and leave it for at least 40 minutes (note: the time mentioned is based on medium size chicken ). Drain the water and soak the chicken in cold water (to stop further cooking).  Pour Oyster sauce mix over the chopped chicken and beansprout. For the Rice 2 cups of long grain rice 2 inches of ginger - jullienne chick

Ginger Sauce : 4 inch of ginger - roughly chopped juice of 1 lime light soya sauce 2 cloves of garlic a dash of sesame oil sugar Mix everything in food processor, and process into a paste. Garlic Sauce 10 cloves of garlic - finely chopped 2 tablespoon of vegetable oil kicap manis Saute the garlic until golden in colour, then add kicap manis and oyster sauce. A dash of white pepper Sauce for steam chicken .. Garlic - finely chopped Oyster sauce 1/2 cup water dash of white pepper 1 tablespoon of cornflour mix with water as thickener Saute the garlic until golden, add oyster sauce . Give it a good stir on low fire. Add water and bring to a gentle boil, then add the cornflour mix. Stir until the sauce thickened then add a dash of white pepper. Coriander and Soy 1 cup chopped fresh coriander 1 tablespoon lite soy sauce 2 tablespoon kicap manis juice of 1 lime 3 tablespoon water  Mix all in a bowl..

Mango again...a versatile fruit... can be eaten fresh, make into mango chutney, mango salsa, mango salad or  mango kerabu , mango cake, mango pudding and mango jelly.... The original recipe uses mash pumpkin (recipe courtesy ~ my good friend, Samantha Tan  from Melbourne ). Its a crowd pleaser... easy to make.  Bottom layer 1 1/2 tablespoon agar-agar powder 80g sugar 350ml water 250g mango -pureed (optional - use the canned mango) 150ml coconut milk a pinch of salt Mix the pureed mango with coconut milk and a pinch of salt in a heatproof jug. In a saucepan, add water, agar-agar powder and sugar. Bring to boil until agar-agar powder has dissolved. Remove from heat and pour in the mango mixture. Stir well. and pour into a square mould or any mould... leave it to set. Once it is 3/4 set, make some grooves (lightly) on the surface of the semi set mango jelly. Optional: add slices of mango on top of the semi set jelly. top layer 1 tablespoon of agar-agar powde