Midnight Cheat's Noodle Soup

It's midnight and I am craving noodle soup. All yhe restaurants in my area are closed and I am not in the mood to drive to Chinatown to get some.

So I check my pantry and I have some Special Chicken flavoured IndoMie and some dumplings in the freezer which I had prepared earlier. There are some greens in the fridge and I am pretty much all set. Here is how you turn the humble 2-minute noodles into a meal.

1. I left some dumplings out for a few minutes to defrost then fried them on low heat to get the wrappers crispy.

2. Cook noodles as per instructions then add the vegies. Depending on what you have, I had leafy ones so I just blanched them in the same pot as the noodles.

3. Drain then place in bowl, add dumplings.

4. Serve with fried shallots and fresh chilli. Enjoy!

It's not the healthiest indulgence but it certainly satisfied my craving. Don't have dumplings? Substitute with leftover meat, mushroom or put an eggs in there and poach. Follow me on Instagram @heelsandspice for more ideas and updates.

Brown Rice Salad

I am attending a housewarming bbq and what I usually do is make a dish to bring then leave the serving plate there as a gift.

Today, I have decided to make some brown rice salad. It is something simple, healthy, flavoursome and delicious.

So here is what I did:

1. Cook or heat up brown rice. I need two cups of cooked rice.

2. Mix half a teaspoon of chopped garlic, a teaspoon of soy sauce, a teaspoon of mirin or rice wine vinegar or just vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar (optional) and a tablespoon of olive oil and leave for ingredients to fuse together

3. Chop up a medium sized, red capsicum and three shallots or spring onions

4. In a large bowl, place brown rice, a cup of sultanas or raisins, half a cup of pepitas or sunflower seeds, capsicum, spring onions, dressing and mix well.

5. Serve in platter or bowl.

The combination of colours and flavours are just amazing. Nuts can be added or chicken but I prefer this dish to be meat-free. I hope you like it too. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram @heelsandspice for more ideas and updates. Enjoy!

Office Smoothie

I find it a real challenge to eat fruit. Despite living in Melbourne where we have a wealth of fresh fruit, I am not someone who has a habit of having fruit in my diet. Also, getting braces in my teeth and other attachments, I decided to make it easier for myself and make smoothies in my afternoon tea break.
1. To give me a boost to get me through the afternoon
2. To incorporate fruit in my diet

I know the last two smoothies in my instagram account included yoghurt, however most of the time I only have the fruit and some water to keep it all natural and raw.

So how do I do this in the office?

On my visit through a local department store, I saw a blender with a sports drink attachement for $15. It was cheaper than other types of smoothie blenders so I decided to give it a try. I store it in my bottom drawer in my workstation and every day at 3pm I take it into the kitchen where I have frozen berries in the freezer and pineapple that I cut up in portions and place in a bag in the freezer. I then bring a banana, kiwi fruit or get any other piece of fruit from the supermarket and those are my ingredients.

It takes minutes to cut up and place in the blender and since you are using the same bottle to drink out of there is minimal washing up. The blender is still going after a year and others have jumped on the wagon - the more the merrier.

So if you want more fruit in your diet and you cannot find the time elsewhere, especially if you are a busy mum like myself, try the smoothie at 3pm. It works for me.

Steamed Fish with Brocolli and Jasmine Rice in 20 minutes

Today was one of those days where I hadn't prepared anything for dinner. All I knew was that I wanted some fish fillets and some greens on rice. It was my turn to pick up the boys and they will be hungry.

So on my lunch break, I grabbed some skinless blue grenadier fillets from the supermarket and some fresh spring onions. I had some ginger at home so I decided to make some soy and ginger steamed fish and some veggies on the side, I was pretty sure we had some brocolli in the fridge.

When I arrived home, here is what I did:

1. Cook 3 cups of rice in the ricecooker. Turn it on and leave. It will take around 20 minutes to cook.

2. Mix 1 tsp of caster sugar, 1/4 cup of soy sauce (light), chopped up ginger and sliced spring onions (white part) in a bowl

3. Cut up the fish fillets into 4 parts each and spread around a pie dish or any flat dish that can hold liquid and fits into the steamer.

4. Pour the sauce on the fillets and place the whole dish in the steamer. Set for 15 minutes.

5. Cut brocolli into florets and wash in cold water. Place in a separate steamer for 2 minutes.

6. Once brocolli is steamed, stir fry in olive oil with garlic and chicken stock powder with 5 tablespoon of water.

7. Place a pan with 3 tablespoons of sesame oil until heated and once the fish is cooked, pour oil onto the steamed fish (watch out for splaterring)

8. Leave the fish steaming for another minute then take out of steamer. Garnish with green parts of the spring onion.

9. Get a bowl and fill with a cup of steamed jasmine rice, a cup of stir fry brocolli and a portion of fish. Pour some sauce over the fish and rice.

10. Serve and enjoy