Monday, March 10, 2014

Our Bibimbap

2 comments:
Rice, mince, vegetables are some of our kids favourites... throw them all in a bowl together from a mish-mash of recipes (certainly not authentic!) I found and they are happy as little piggies in mud. Properly known as Bibimbap or Korean Mixed Rice this is our version, which is a hit with the whole family.

This recipe involves cooking everything separately and setting aside then combining at the end. Grab yourself a medium sized frypan, a bunch of small bowls to put the vegetables and toppings in separately when they are done and some deep bowls for serving.

Bibimbap/Korean Mixed Rice
Serves 2 adults and 3 hungry kids

Ingredients
2-3 cups long grain rice (Use as much as you like.. my family loves rice!)

Toppings
2 lebanese cucumbers, julienned
1 tablespoon salt
2 carrots, julienned
200g baby spinach
1 teaspoon garlic
Sesame oil
4 eggs
Vegetable oil

Meat sauce
500g beef mince
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 teaspoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons minced garlic

Bibimbap sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon raw sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon apple vinegar
2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoon miso paste
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon cooking wine

Method
Start with your rice, pop it on to cook then leave aside when done. Add all your meat sauce ingredients together in a bowl and leave aside to marinate while you prepare the vegetables.

Combine cucumbers and salt in a small bowl and cover with cold water. Leave for 20 minutes, then rinse and set aside.

Combine all the bibimbap sauce ingredients together, mix well and set aside. I use a jar with a screw top lid and give it all a good shake.

In a frypan on medium-high heat, add some vegetable oil and the carrots with a sprinkle of salt and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add a little more vegetable oil in the frypan and add garlic, baby spinach and a couple of drops of sesame oil and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

If needed, add some more vegetable oil and brown off the marinated meat for 4-5 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

Lastly, fry an egg for each person. Sunny side up is good, but however you like them.

To serve, divide the rice into bowls and place the meat and vegetables on top. Top with the eggs and bibimbap sauce.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Date Loaf

1 comment:
I love baking. Friday afternoons are one of my favourite times of the week; school is done, the weekend is here, Daddy is home for 2 days, there is no homework, and best of all once we are home there is no need to go out again. No activities. No daycare pickups. Nothing. So while I had no idea what was for dinner which is rare, I did know what was on the menu for afternoon tea, Date Loaf with smoothies.

The recipe is from BabyMac here, but while I only made one this time, once I stock up on more dates I will be making another batch of 2.. or even maybe 3! I plan on slicing it up, wrapping in baking paper and popping in the fridge for school lunches and easy afternoon tea.

The recipe is all on BabyMac's blog, but for just one loaf I used:

200g pitted dates (chopped)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup boiling water
60g butter
1 3/4 cups self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Poor Daddy didn't get much left for him... one loaf doesn't go far around this bunch!

Friday, March 7, 2014

The week that was

2 comments:
It feels like it's been non-stop around here. Somehow it's March and we are on to our 5th weekend in a row of kids birthday parties with three more to go including Eva's 3rd. Last Sunday, once swimming was done our plans were... nothing. I was so looking forward to nothing. Maybe make some popcorn and watch a movie with the kids, or a walk along the esplanade with the kids on scooters and walking the dog.
We never got past swimming. Eva versus car door = 2 days at the Children's hospital including surgery on Monday to remove her thumbnail and repair her damaged nail bed. So much for our lazy Sunday.

I am grateful for the Sydney Children's hospital. The nurses. The surgeon. The anaesthetics team. Captain Starlight and the clown doctors for their distracting skills. Australia's Medicare service. Carers leave at Dean's work so he could stay home. Friends for caring to check in on us this week. So much to be grateful for. It could have been worse, but our happy chicken had no tears, 22 hours fasting without a trouble, being poked and prodded in her "ouchie". 9 hours she had to wait for her turn, but she played happily, content with just toys, colouring in, reading books and showing off for the the nurses.
My very brave girl got a couple of special treats this week after her eventful time... brave little monkey who now has a right thumb the size of her whole left hand thanks to the bandages!.

We have nothing planned for this Sunday... let's see how it goes!