My Mummy's Bestest Wantons, Ever!!!

These are without a doubt my favourite wantons in the whole wide world. As people always say "Mummy knows best!" Regardless fried or soup, hot or even cold, they will still taste so gooooooood! Anyone who has had the privilege of savouring them would certainly attest to it. Well, at least to me they will & would always be ;P" 

Ingredients (serve 1 toddler & 1 adult): 

240g of Australian corn fed minced pork

5 prawns, shelled & diced

8 water chestnuts, skinned & diced

Generous amount of chopped spring onions (missing in mine as I've forgotten to ask my hubby to buy when he did the groceries)

1 tbsp of Bob's Red Mill All Natural Cornstarch

1 tbsp of sesame oil

1 pack of wanton skins

360ml of thawed salmon stock

A dash of freshly ground black pepper (can replace with a few slices of ginger)

3 stalks of organic xiao bai cai 

Pot of water

Directions:

1. Marinate the pork with cornstarch & sesame oil for at least an hour.

2. Add in the prawns, water chestnuts & spring onions then mix evenly.

3. Put a tsp of the mixture onto the centre of a wanton skin (the side with more flour facing outside), fold it half & slightly press the edge of the filling to close it up properly. 

(Note: May have to wet the wanton skins slightly if they've dried up & hardened.)

4. Repeat till all the wanton skins have been used up.

5. Bring the pot of water to boil & add in the wrapped wantons to cook.

(Note: By not cooking them in the stock, it will ensure that your soup won't have a strong ghee taste.)

6. Meanwhile, add the pepper to the salmon stock & bring it to boil in another pot. Form meatballs with the remaining mixture (I actually kept about 100g of it for his dinner as the portion was a bit too much for both of us) & cook them in the stock. Add in the xiao bai cai when the meatballs are almost cooked & cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.

7. Remove the cooked wantons & put into a bowl. Top with the salmon stock & xiao bai cai then serve immediately.

The efforts in prepping this dish is definitely worth the while. Trust me on this. My boy finished everything in his bowl & even asked for more which I gladly refilled with more meatballs & soup. The salmon stock which I've frozen previously really came into good use too. With all the preparations required for the wantons, I'm glad that I didn't have to prepare seperate ingredients for a broth to go with them. Especially when you've a clingy BB for the day. One thing I will like to improve on is the skins as they're not homemade. My only consolidation is at least they don't contain preservatives. Maybe I'll be more advantageous & up to the 'challenge' one day. But, not today..hee ~.^ Let's wait a few more months till my boy can be Mummy's lil' helper in the kitchen.

Beneficial Combination:

Pepper + Pork = Favourable for digestion & absorption of nutrients

Buttered Prawn Bisque Couscous

As I was removing the prawns' heads & shells to prep for a prawn omelette, I noticed how fresh the heads were with their bright red roes. It would have been such a waste to throw them away & so I decided to keep them for subsequent use as a soup base. The following day, an idea came to me! I've always loved prawn or crab bisque so maybe I could try replicating them at home. It sounds complicated, right? But it's actually pretty easy peasy to prepare.

Ingredients (serve 1 toddler):

10 prawn heads

4 peeled prawns

1/4 cup of Origins organic couscous

1 cup of water

A handful of peas

2 stalks of organic leaf lettuces

1 tbsp of unsalted butter

Directions:

1. Bring water to boil & add in the prawn heads to cook for 15 minutes.

2. Pour in the prawns & cook till they start to turn red. Remove the prawn heads then add in couscous followed by lettuces & peas. Simmer till the water has been absorbed by the couscous which should only take between 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Remove from heat, stir in the butter then serve immediately. 

I tried a mouthful & it was yums! I must make a mental note to cook more for myself the next time round. Sinful but worth every bite of it ;P'

Beneficial Combination:

Peas + Prawn = Enhance body's immunity

Our Dinner with PaPaPa

Daddy-O is having reservist training this week & would be back earlier and so we decided to have dinner at home. Apple porky bone soup was already prepared during lunch & warmed up just before dinner was served.

Stir-fry organic Xiao Bai Cai with garlic: 1 clove of garlic, mashed slightly & 1 pack of xiao bai cai, washed & cut into smaller pieces, separating the stalks & leaves. Add extra virgin coconut oil to a hot pan followed by the garlic. Let it cook till starts to brown then add in the stalks & stir fry on low fire for 1 minute. Add the leaves in, stir fry till the leaves have turned a darker green & remove promptly.

Prawn scrambled eggs: 6 medium prawns shelled & cut Into smaller pieces (keep the heads to cook prawn bisque). Add some extra virgin coconut oil to a hot pan followed by the prawns. Stir fry till they start to change colour. Beat 3 eggs (I only used 2 as used up the rest earlier on for my brioche bread), pour over the prawn & let it spread evenly over the pan. Let it cook & set slightly then stir fry gently to combine the ingredients.

The following were cooked simultaneously in my Tecno 3-Tiers Electric Steamer.

Organic brown rice: 1 cup soaked for 7 hours in 1.5 cups of water. Steam for 35 minutes.

Steamed fish with organic cherry tomatoes: 1 fish & 9 tomatoes, halved. Pour some sesame oil over the fish & top with ginger strips. Steam for 10 to 15 minutes depending how big is your fish.

Really glad to see that BB's appetite has almost fully returned. He ate an entire bowl of rice with the dishes & yet managed to finished the big bowl of soup I left for him (I usually don't feed him soup during the meal as he'll keep asking for the soup instead of eating his rice).

Beneficial Combinations:

Garlic + Pork = Eliminate fatigue, improve attention & help enhance immunity

Pork + Tomato = For healthier stomach & digestion as well as invigorate spleen & replenish qi

Harmful Combination:

Garlic + Red Dates = Indigestion

The Good, The Bad & The Evil

I remember I used to marvel at the soup bases that mummies shared on the 'Healthy Food for My Baby' Facebook group when I was prepping myself for BB's weaning. So many ingredients were used in preparing the soup base & they would add in even more ingredients when they use it to cook porridge for their lil' ones. 'The porridges will definitely taste delicious!' was the thought that went through my head.

As I was following the 3/4 days rule for BB, it seemed to take forever to introduce new foods to him. Gradually, I was able to add in more ingredients to his porridge after he passed the respective allergy tests. Unfortunately, my parents weren't too supportive of it eventhough I was only using no more than 3 to 4 vegetables then. They were concerned that some of the combinations may bring more harm than good. Despite me explaining to them that a lot of mummies are doing the same or even more than me, they still weren't convinced. To put their mind at ease, I told them that I'd do more research on it. I then decided to look for a book shared by one of the mummies which shows foods with a list of other foods which when consume together, will either bring about some health benefits or harmfulness. To my dismay, it wasn't carried by Popular. While continuing my search for it, I chanced upon a similar book at a small book sale in Bedok Mall's FairPrice Finest so I bought it. 

After reading through the book, I realised that my parents were indeed right. For example, ABC soup, a very common soup cooked by mummies, usually contains carrots, corns, yellow onions & potatoes. However, carrots should not be eaten together with onions / corn & corn should not go with potatoes as illustrated in the following 2 pictures. I've since formed a habit of referring to this book before cooking any meals for BB. 

For mild cases, nutritional values are reduced or indigestion may develop. For examples,

Tomato + Zucchini = Reduce nutritional values

Beef + Rice = Indigestion

For more serious cases, diarrhoea or vomitting or even adverse health effects in the long run may be experienced or in worst cases, even poisoning! 

Prawn + Pumpkin / Kiwi + Milk (especially for mummies who eat overnight oats) = Diarrhoea

Chicken + Sesame = Possibility of poisoning if consume frequently

Without a doubt, the soup or soup bases will be very sweet & flavourful by adding more ingredients. However, in this context, more doesn't always necessarily mean better. On the contrary, some foods actually complement each other so do try to pair them up. For examples,

Chicken + Mango = Increase nutritional values

Apple + Corn / Cabbage + Carrot = Boost immune system

Cod + Pumpkin = Prevent flu

Lettuce + Pork = Energise 

Moving forward, I'll indicate at the bottom of each post the nutritional benefits, if any, for the dishes I've whipped up. I'll also add them on for those recipes that I've already posted previously. Cheers to healthy eating!