Bangers and Mash

Tonight's dinner was all about warm cosy comfort food... because we were going to have a night in front of the telly. Watching a favourite program and just sitting back and relaxing over some sausages and mashed potatoes.... Bangers and Mash.

Nothing too fancy tonight just some easy food after the middle of week. We are half way through the school week and early mornings and long days are catching up with us. So with a few smoked beef garlic sausages to spare and a couple of spuds and maybe a bit of red wine this is what I came up with. 

Bangers and Mash

3 large smoked beef garlic sausages

1 medium onion, sliced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 cup red wine

1 cup chicken stock

1/4 tsp thyme

1 tbsp tomato puree

30 g butter

salt & pepper to taste

4 large potatoes

30 g butter

2 tbsp parmesan cheese

1 1/2 - 2 cups of milk

1. Wash and scrub the potatoes. Prick the potatoes with a fork, making sure it's thoroughly poked. This will release the steam and won't let the potatoes explode in the microwave!!!

2. Arrange the potatoes in a microwave pie dish, cover with a microwaveable cover with a vent for 12mins on high.

3. Remove from the microwave and use a fork and knife to peel off the skin.

4. Place the potatoes in a large bowl and mash it with a potato masher or fork. Add the butter, cheese and stir. Gradually add the milk and pour as much as you need for the right texture of mash. Add salt and pepper to taste.

(this is the same method that I used for my Meat Pie on a bed of Mash)

5. In a saucepan, heat the butter and add the onions and garlic. Sprinkle in the thyme and add some salt and pepper. Carefully cook the onions and garlic until they are soft. Remove from the saucepan and put aside.

6. Using the same saucepan. Heat up some oil and add the sausages and cook until they are browned. Remove the sausages when they have browned and slice the sausages thickly. Arrange on a bed of mash.

7. Add the cooked onions and garlic to the same saucepan. Turn the up the heat and add the wine, chicken stock and tomato puree to deglaze the pan juices. Stir the onions and garlic, coating them with the sauce. Reduce the heat and simmer the sauce until it thickens. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the sausages and mash and serve.

Dutch Pea Soup

As a child I can remember all the different places we lived and my most memorable was the few years we spent in Holland or the Netherlands. We first place we lived in was called Laren, which is in Northern Holland. It was a cobble stone village surrounding the small lake in the town centre but what I remember the most was the warm hospitality that our Dutch friends showed us and their love of Dutch Pea Soup or Erwtensoep ..... and many other foods like speculaas, pepermoten... spice biscuits made from cinnamon, pepper, cloves and nutmeg  ; oliebolien, appelflappen .... very similar to donuts with currants or apple and sprinkled with icing sugar; stroopwafel ...thin waffles with carmel and of course CHEESE! I could go about my love for Dutch food but I'll leave that for later.

I don't now why I love Erwtensoep or Dutch Pea Soup (sometimes called Snert too!) but I guess it has to do with it being a big source of comfort food especially when my mother makes it. She was taught by one of her good Dutch friends to make this soup and she always makes a big pot of it during the winter. It may seem like a long time to slowly simmer those green split peas over the stove but the finish dish is a wonderfully thick hearty soup. It's more like a meal than a soup, thick like a stew and flavoured with leeks, celery, carrots, pieces of smoked ham and rookworst (a smoked pork sausage).


So tonight's Sunday dinner I'm making Dutch Pea Soup using my mother's recipe but I've made some adaptions because some of the ingredients are hard to find in Malaysia.


.............Smakelijk eten! Eet Smakelijk!

Shredded Chicken Mushroom Stew on Rice Noodles

Rice is not only white fluffy grains but it can be made into a variety of yummy noodles. They are mainly made from glutinous rice flour and water. Sometimes tapioca flour and cornstarch are added to change the texture. They can be rolled into sheets and cut into different widths, spaghetti-like or even into thin vermicelli. Sold freshly made or dried in bundles ready to cook anytime they are all very easy to cook.

Just like rice, rice noodles are also a stable part of Asian cuisine but are more versatile because you can eat it cold or hot. The rice noodles can be used in a soup, stewed, fried and even in salads. The best thing about rice noodles is that they absorb a lot of the flavour of the dish because just like normal rice grains they are plain flavoured and can take on any sauce or gravy.

  As a kid I use to watch my grandmother make Lo Si Fun, which is also a type of rice noodle but hand rolled and short in length, about 2 inches. This is a picture I found on the net and the Lo Si Fun has a smooth surface. My grandmother's noodles had little ridges and looked more like little worms because she use to roll the dough on the back of a colander! We would always have noodles for lunch at grandmother's house on the weekends and this was one of my favourites growing up............ Lo Si Fun is hard to find nowadays because they have to be hand rolled and take longer to make.

Shredded Chicken Mushroom Stew on Rice Noodles

5 bundles of dried wide rice noodles

1 chicken leg quarter

8 - 10 fresh shitake mushrooms, thickly sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tbsp ginger, chopped finely

2 tbsp sweet yellow bean paste

1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce

1/2 cup water plus extra 1/4 cup for sauce

1 tbsp shaoxing wine

1 tsp sesame seed oil

1/2 tsp cracked ground black pepper

1 tbsp of carrot, finely shredded

cornflour water

1. Soak the rice noodles in hot water for about 10 mins or until tender. Remove from the hot water and immediately soak in cold water. Drain and set aside.

2. Pour water in a wok and using a steaming tray, cover and bring the water to a boil.

3. In a steaming dish, place the chicken leg quarter down with the skin side facing upwards. 

4.In a small bowl, gently mash the sweet yellow bean paste. Add the light soy sauce , shaoxing wine, sesame seed oil, water and stir the mixture.

5. Arrange the sliced mushrooms and carrot over the chicken. Pour the bean paste mixture over the chicken and sprinkle with pepper.

6. Steam the chicken for about 15-20 mins or until the chicken is cooked and can gently come off the bone. Remove the chicken from the heat and take out the chicken and gently shred the meat off the bone using two forks, discarding the bones. The meat should be easily removed from the bone.

7. Pour the sauce, mushrooms and carrot into a saucepan and add the shredded chicken. Add some cornflour water and extra water if needed and simmer until the sauce has thicken. The sauce should be able to lightly cover the back of the spoon. Pour the chicken mushroom stew over the noodles and combine until the sauce has coated all the noodles and serve.

My inspiration for this lunch dish was when I went out for a quick snack with my hubby at our fav dessert place where they serve light snacks all hours of the day. I shared my plate with J while the other kids where out with friends.