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Birthday Lunch @ IKEA

With its maze like set-up and kids' activity corners scattered throughout the store you can easily be forgiven for thinking Ikea was designed with only kids in mind. But that is exactly the beauty of it and what sets it apart from all other furniture stores. Both kids and the more mature in age will find something to hold their attention. For a family man like me it's heaven sent.



Let's get one thing straight though before I continue. I am not associated with Ikea in any shape or form. Having Swedish designed items in my house does not count! I paid for them with my hard earned cash. None were given to me for free. My whole family just genuinely enjoy the place.

I therefore did not think it odd that Yaya would request to have her birthday lunch at Ikea. Also, with a variety of reasonably priced meals how could I say no? $1 hot dogs anyone? But they are so much more than cheap reconstituted meat..

A must for a first timer are meatballs, gravy, mashed potato and chips. I don't exactly know how the Swedes enjoy theirs but that's the combination we like

One thing Yaya and I enjoy that no other family member seem to share is gravalax/gravlax (raw salmon cured in salt, sugar and dill). She started sharing my plate of a Swedish Open Sandwich as a toddler and has not stopped since.

Ikea is also one of the few places in Brisbane that offers bottomless drinks. Pay once and you can have as much lingonberry juice as you can handle.

There's also a variety of desserts on offer. To complete the lunch we shared some ice cream, chocoloate mousse, berry yoghurt and Swedish apple cake.

By the way, you can easily replicate the meals at home by getting the ingredients from their food store (follow an old post here).

Total bill, less than $30. Kids' smiles all around, priceless!

Pork Katsu (Tonkatsu) Curry

Thanks to Hanaichi, one of the fastest growing Japanese eateries in Queensland, Katsu Curry is now available all over Brisbane (in major shopping centres at least). They serve them cheap, fast, hot and very tasty. I figured, why bother making it at home?



But I was inspired after reading Cusinera's (of Busog! Sarap!) take on this popular Japanese take-away to try and cook it myself. It did not seem as fiddly as I thought it would be!





Trying to get the combination of spices spot on was to me very daunting so I never dared. But S&B's Golden Curry mix does away with all that (no, they did not pay me for this blog!).




Cooking this at home also give me more freedom on how it is served. In most Japanese restaurants the curry sauce is poured on top of the katsu. If you've been following this blog you know I prefer my sauces on the side. I decide when my rice gets mixed in with the sauce, not the restaurant (also keeps my katsu crispy!)





For the Curry Sauce:

100g S&B Golden Curry Sauce Mix (I used mild but there are "hotter" varieties)
2 1/2 cups water
1 large onion sliced
1 large carrot cut in large chunks
1 stalk celery cut in large chunks
2 desiree potatoes cut in large chunks
A bit of oil for sauteing

1. Heat up a bit of oil in a pot.
2. Saute the onion until soft and translucent.
3. Add all the vegetables and saute for another minute.
4. Add the water and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce the heat to simmering point. Simmer until all the vegetables are cooked.
6. Crumble the Japanese curry into the mixture. Stir until all dissolved. Cook for another 5 minutes.
7. Set aside

This is plenty for just one meal. You might want to halve the recipe if you don't like leftover sauce.


For the Pork Katsu (Tonkatsu)

2 pork chops sliced thinly lengthwise to make 4 thin chops
1 large egg beaten lightly
1 bowl of water
Plain flour with a bit of salt
Panko Japanese style breadcrumbs
Oil for frying

1. Heat up oil in a pan for frying.
2. Dip the pork chops in egg.
3. Coat each piece in flour and shake any excess.
4. Dip the coated pieces in cold water for a few seconds (I thought this was a crazy idea. It's a technique apparently used by fast food places to guarantee a crispy coating. It does work! I used the same technique in my Crispy Fried Chicken Recipe.)
5. Coat with the Panko bread crumbs.
6. Fry on each side until golden brown.
7. Chop into pieces and serve with the curry sauce on top or on the side.

Baon – Ginataang Hipon at Kalabasa (Prawn & Pumpkin in Coconut Milk)

In the past I never would have dared bring such delights to work. But after my tuyo and curry lunch barely caused a murmur I feel almost invincile and uninhibited to bring whatever i fancy. I figured there couldn’t be anything worse of an assault to your nostrils than dried fish (there's plenty I know but let’s not get side tracked).

The recipe is a rehash of a previous post with a slight variation. I peeled the prawns before cooking for a less fiddly lunch at work.

I also brought some tuna for another layer of flavour to my lunch.


Ginataang Hipon at Kalabasa (Prawns & Pumpkin in Coconut Milk)

1 medium onion chopped
6 slices of ginger
6-8 medium prawns peeled
Pumpkin (I don’t know how to quantify this. 1 regular size wedge, I suppose)
1 bunch mustard greens (mustasa)
1 can coconut milk
Fish sauce or sea salt
Oil for sautéing

1. Heat the oil in a pan.
2. Sauté the ginger for about a minute then add the onion. Cook until the onion is translucent.
3. Add the prawns and cook for about a minute.
4. Add the pumpkin.
5. Add a bit of fish sauce or sea salt at this stage of the cooking.
6. Pour in the coconut milk and simmer until the pumpkin is done.
7. Add more fish sauce or sea salt if necessary.
8. Add the mustard greens and cook for another minute.
9. Serve with grilled or fried fish.

Baon – Banh Mi (Vietnamese Sandwich)

The one and only sandwich that truly hits the spot for me is the Vietnamese Banh Mi.

What is Banh Mi?

It is a sandwich composed of a light and crispy baguette (made using a combination of rice and wheat flour) filled with mayonnaise, liver pâté, chillies, coriander, cucumber, pickled carrot and your choice of protein (Vietnamese cold cuts, leftover roasts/barbecues, etc.).

It does sound a lot…because it is. But you only need small quantities of each to create this masterpiece of a sandwich.

For today’s lunch I’ve used leftover lechon (and Vietnamese pork roll) to give it a Pinoy touch and then some beetroot instead of pickled carrots to add a bit of an Aussie element to my sandwich.

Baon - Pork Adobo

Adobo is a cooking style indigenous to the Philippines but is similarly named to a Spanish cooking method. Filipino adobo basically means cooking meat (sometimes fish and seafood as well) in vinegar. The addition of soy sauce and other spices, black pepper and bay leaves in particular, came later when the Filipinos started trading with other cultures (especially the Chinese).

Homemade ensaymadas for breakfast

There are as many versions of adobo as there are Filipino households around the globe. Mine is quite simple and I prefer to use only pork. To achieve a real authentic adobo I suggest you use Filipino branded coconut vinegar (Datu Puti perhaps) and soy sauce (Silver Swan).


To balance the fattiness of my adobo I would normally serve it with a side of vegetables. For my baon today I brought fried eggplant that I topped with caramelised garlic and onion from my adobo.

Pork Adobo ala Kidpawan

1kg pork belly cut in fairly large chunks
60ml coconut vinegar
60ml Filipino soy sauce
1 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
Black pepper
1 head of garlic chopped finely
1 large onion chopped
Water (just enough to cover the meat)
Bay leaf (optional, I don’t use it in mine)
A bit of oil for sautéing


1. Combine all the ingredients in a pot but set aside a quarter of the garlic and onion for sautéing later.
2. Bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour or so or until desired tenderness of the meat is achieved.
3. Remove everything from the pot but separate the meat from the sauce.
4. Heat up a bit of oil in the same pot. Sauté the garlic then the onion.
5. Add the meat pieces back in and fry for a couple of minutes. If you prefer a “crispier” adobo fry it a bit longer.
6. Add the sauce back in and simmer for another five minutes.
7. Serve with steaming hot jasmine rice.

Baon – Spaghetti Bolognese with Meatballs

Who doesn’t like spaghetti? We might not agree on what is the best but everyone knows about it making it quite a “universally accepted” dish to have for lunch at work.

Spaghetti is quite popular among Filipinos (albeit, a version catered for the sweet-toothed). Evidence of this is found in all the popular fast food places. I might be wrong but I think it is only in the Philippines where you’ll find spaghetti at McDonald’s and KFC.

Brioche & Coffee for breakfast

I usually don’t make my Bolognese sauce from scratch. Getting home close to 7pm just does not give me enough time to pick tomatoes from the garden and simmer my sauce for hours and still be alive at the end of it. I use bottled pasta sauce (que horror!) and just tweak it to suit my taste. To give the sauce more body I add homemade meat balls.

Brioche w/ Nutella

Easy Meatballs

500g beef mince
1 bread slice torn to pieces then soaked in milk
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
1 egg
Parsley

1. Squeeze the excess milk out of the bread pieces.
2. Combine all the ingredients together
3. Form into your preferred size balls.
4. Cook half-way through by frying in olive oil.

Quick Bolognese Sauce

1 onion chopped
2-3 cloves garlic chopped
1 carrot chopped finely
1 celery stick chopped finely
500g beef mince
1 jar Raguletto Romano Cheese Tomato Pasta Sauce
Salt & pepper to taste
Olive Oil

1. Heat up some olive oil.
2. Sauté the onions until soft.
3. Add the garlic, carrots and celery.
4. Add the beef mince and cook until the meat changes colour.
5. Add the pasta sauce.
6. When the sauce starts bubbling add the meat balls. Simmer until the meat balls are thoroughly cooked. Add salt and pepper to suit your taste.
7. Serve with spaghetti or whatever pasta you prefer.

Baon – Singapore Chicken Curry

If you’ve been following this blog for a while you’ll probably realise how much I love curries. It’s easy to make, keeps for long, and very tasty. Also, the variety of curries available guarantees a lunch that is not going to be mundane.

Toasted Ham & Cheese Croissant and Soy Latte

The other bonus, it is an “acceptable” meal to have at work…even inside the office. Some of my workmates might not squeal with delight when their nostrils are hit with the aroma of curry but no one protests as it is not an unfamiliar scent.

One of the easiest curries to make would have to be Singapore Chicken Curry and this is what I brought to work today.



Singapore Chicken Curry

2-3 Desiree potatoes (one potato cut in 4)
½ a free range chicken cut up in large pieces
2-3 tablespoons Singapore curry paste (depending on how spicy you want it)
Water or coconut milk (if you prefer a creamier sauce)
Salt to taste
Oil

1. Marinate the chicken pieces in the curry paste for at least half an hour.
2. Fry the potatoes until golden brown.
3. Heat up a little bit of oil and sear the chicken pieces a few at a time. Set aside.
4. Add the chicken pieces back in the pan. But if you prefer a spicier curry, sauté some curry paste on the same pan used to sear the chicken then add the chicken pieces.
5. Add the desired amount of coconut milk or water.
6. Simmer until the chicken is cooked.
7. Add the potatoes.
8. Adjust the taste by adding salt or fish sauce.
9. Serve with roti and/or steamed rice.

Baon – Open Face Tuna Sandwich

A sandwich is not my idea of a meal. It could be a precursor to a meal but never the main event. I am always left unsatisfied even after gobbling down conspicuous amounts of these sliced bread concoctions.

But there are days when I’m left with no choice. I spent most of the weekend outside the house. There are therefore no yummy leftovers to speak of.

If you’ve been following this blog you know how much I can’t stand soggy bread. That is why I prefer my sandwiches open faced. The bread and the filling only have a few seconds to get acquainted before they get devoured.

For today I am having an open face tuna sandwich. I could have brought some cucumber to liven up this grey mass a little bit but I also did not have time to shop.

To make the tuna filling you basically drain a can of tuna, add a bit of mayonnaise and white pepper and mix together. I had it with lightly toasted wholemeal bread (only because we’ve run out of white).

Baon – Thai Green Chicken Curry

Now that I’ve decided to post about my packed lunches I make that extra effort to actually plate my food, nicely. I the past, like fellow blogger Julie (of Mama at Home to Two) I didn’t bother. I’ll heat up my lunch and eat it straight out of whatever csontainer I brought that day.




Also, to solve my “sauce-infused rice” issue I’ve decided to start bringing my lunch in at least two containers. The rice would always have its own. I’ll put it in a plastic bag if I have to.



Today’s lunch is Thai Green Curry Chicken. I also brought tuyong biya (as a challenge) which I like having with Thai curries. There you go Edik (of The World According to Melchizedik), I’ve done it! No more kaluoy!

Extra treats for today included leftover pancakes for breakfast and a pink muffin for morning tea as part of the Pink Ribbon Breakfast to help breast cancer research.

Baon – Leftover Steak Dinner

I like my rice plain. But one thing that is almost unavoidable when bringing baon to work is soaking it in whatever ulam I’ve brought. Unless I’ve got separate compartments in my baunan my rice is bound to be infused. The rice and the ulam will go together later on anyway so what am I fussing about? Well, I like to do it in my own terms…

For today, I’ve brought left over steak and vegies. My workmate also gave me some home made bola-bola siopao (Vietnamese style) which I had for breakfast.