TERIYAKI CHICKEN WITH NOODLES

I was ecstatic to find gluten-free Teriyaki sauce in my local organic store for only $4 on Friday and rushed home to cook with it. I had gone without my favourite Asian sauces including Kepis Manis, Black Bean, Hosin sauce & Teriyaki sauce for so long as I searched for alternatives. I purchased the Ozorganics brand, however my mother told me today that you can purchase gluten-free sauces in Coles for slightly cheaper. Being sick with the flu all week, I needed a boost of green vegetables, hence the wombok (Chinese cabbage) and beans in the stir-fry. A good friend told me that ginger is meant to be excellent for curing colds so I threw some of that in the wok for good measure. All in all a delicious somewhat Japanese stir-fry!

INGREDIENTS

• 400g chicken breast fillets, cut into even 4cm pieces
• 1/4 cup gluten-free teriyaki sauce (I used Ozorganic sauce)
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3cm fresh ginger, grated
• 1/4 wombok (Chinese cabbage), shredded
• 150g green beans, washed & trimmed
• 1 tablespoon tamari sauce (gluten-free)
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil 
• 400g flat rice stick noodles (the majority of these noodles are gluten-free but just double-check to be sure if you are intolerance)

COOKING 

1. Place chicken pieces, sesame oil, garlic, ginger and teriyaki sauce in a medium bowl. Toss well to combine and place in the fridge to marinade for 30 minutes. 


2. Meanwhile, wash and chop up all vegetables. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and place noodles in the water. Cook, stirring every now and then for 5 minutes or until noodles are tender but not soggy. Remove from heat and drain well, pouring cold water over the noodles twice. Place in a large serving bowl. 


3. When chicken has been marinaded, heat a wok over medium-low heat. Add chicken mixture and cook, stirring frequently, for around 5-6 minutes or until chicken is coloured and no pink flesh remains. Add wombok and beans to the wok and cook for 3 minutes, or until beans are tender, stirring. When vegetables are tender and coated with the teriyaki sauce, remove from heat and place onto of the noodles. 


4. Add tamari sauce and toss the chicken vegetable mixture with the noodles to coat the noodles with sauce. Serve warm. 


Serves / 4 
Total Preparation time / 10 minutes (plus 30 minutes to marinade)
Total Cooking time / 22 minutes 

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INDIAN SPICED CHICKEN

I am positive that I have talked about my love of Indian food several times on this blog. Well here is another recipe to testify my love for this cuisine. A very healthy and satisfying recipe to make, the madras curry powder is really what makes this dish, as it adds spice and zing to the chicken. Madras curry powder usually consists of chilli powder, all spice, turmeric, coriander, black pepper and cinnamon, as well as several other spices and herbs. It is a powerful taste; therefore a few teaspoons can go a long way. If you are a fan of using generic curry powder in cooking give Madras curry powder a try.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 teaspoons ground turmeric 
• 1 1/2 cups doongara rice
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon grape seed oil
• 400g chicken breast, cut into even strips
• 2 teaspoons madras curry powder 
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• Optional- fresh coriander leaves, to serve 

COOKING 

1. Combine chicken strips, madras curry powder, garlic, cumin and oil in a medium bowl and toss to coat. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to marinade. 

2. Meanwhile, bring rice, turmeric, stock and water to the boil in a medium saucepan. When boiled, cover and reduce to a simmer for 10-12 minutes or until the rice has been absorbed and is tender. Remove from heat. When you start to simmer the rice, preheat a fan-forced oven to 200 degrees celsius and prepare a baking tray with baking paper. 

3. Place chicken on the prepared baking tray in a single layer and bake for around 10 minutes, or until no pink flesh remains (you will need to test the chicken by removing the biggest piece from the oven and cutting it in half to make sure that the meat is white and tender). Remove from the oven and serve chicken on top of cooked rice, with coriander on top if you desire. 

Serves / 4 

Total Preparation time / 10 minutes (+ 30 minutes refrigeration time)

Total Cooking time / 30 minutes 

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PAD THAI

I’ve always wanted to try my hand at cooking Pad Thai since I started eating takeaway Thai food (only allowed once every 3-4 weeks at my childhood home). Over the past 2 years I’ve cooked various pad thai dishes, some greasier than others, some much tastier than others. The recipe below is my latest attempt at pad thai and the recipe that I find to be the healthiest and the most flavourful. If you do not have an intolerance to gluten, by all means use regular oyster sauce, sweet chilli sauce and soy sauce (instead of tamari sauce).

INGREDIENTS

• 200g cooked and peeled prawns
• 500g chicken mince
• 2 green onions, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3cm fresh ginger, grated
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 head of broccoli, cut into even florets
• 200g green beans, trimmed and washed
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 375g rice stick noodles
• 1 tablespoon gluten-free oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons gluten-free sweet chilli sauce 
• 1 tablespoon tamari sauce
• 1 tablespoon lime juice 
• 2 tablespoons roasted unsalted peanuts, crumbled, to serve 
• a handful of fresh coriander leaves, to serve 

COOKING 

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add rice noodles and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until noodles are tender but not soggy. Remove from heat and drain twice with cold water. 

2. Heat oil in a wok over medium heat and swirl to coat. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring for 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant. Add chicken mince and stir constantly, cooking until coloured through. Add eggs and stir-fry until set. Add broccoli and beans and continue to stir for 4 minutes. Add prawns and toss to combine. 

3. When green vegetables are cooked through and almost tender, add the drained noodles to the wok with the oyster and sweet chilli sauce. Stir-fry until combined, then remove from heat. 

4. Place the stir-fry in a large serving bowl, adding tamari sauce and lime juice. Toss well to combine, then serve with coriander leaves and roasted peanuts, if desired. 

Serves / 4 

Total Preparation time / 15 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 25 minutes 

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WARM STEAK SALAD SANDWICH

I’m not usually one to buy my own salad dressings or sauces preferring to make them on my own. However, when I was browsing a local Organic store and found the Ozganics brand of dressings and sauces, I made an exception. It is incredibly difficult to hunt down a low-fat, healthy and tasty dressing/sauce that is gluten free and dairy-free- in fact its almost impossible. Ozganics makes simmer sauces, pasta sauces, salad dressings, marinades and table sauces- all containing not a trace of gluten or dairy. They have a super cute website http://www.ozganics.com.au/ as well. Definitely a brand for anyone with food allergies and/or lacking time to make healthy condiments. This steak salad sandwich idea came about whilst I was browsing the latest issue of Super Food Ideas (June 2012 issue) and me and my boyfriend were hungover last Sunday night. Awesome simple dinner idea.

INGREDIENTS

• 300g lean eye fillet steak, cut into small even strips
• 1 teaspoon grape seed oil
• 2 large tomatoes, washed and cut into wedges
• 1/2 a continental cucumber, cut into slices
• 1 x 400g tin of beetroot slices, drained 
• a generous handful of baby spinach leaves, washed and drained
• 1/2 an avocado, cut into small pieces
• 2 slices of gluten-free bread multigrain bread, toasted and torn into bite sized pieces
• a drizzle of 'Ozganics Egg, Gluten & Dairy Free Creamy Garlic Dressing 

COOKING 

1. Heat a small to medium frying pan over low-medium heat, adding oil and swirling to coat. When pan is heated add strips of beef and cook, stirring often, for around 7-8 minutes or until the beef is cooked and no red meat remains. Remove from heat. 

2. Combine baby spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, beetroot, avocado and torn bread pieces in a large serving bowl. Add cooked beef to the bowl and toss well to combine. Add a drizzle of the garlic dressing or any low-fat dressing you like and serve whilst beef is warm. 

Serves / 2 as a main / 4 as a side 

Total Preparation time / 15 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 10 minutes 

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BAKED SWEET POTATO WITH SPICES

I neglected comforting sweet potato in the recent summer for more seasonal vegetables such as tomato, cucumber, avocados, crisp lettuces etc. I must admit that I have greatly missed this vegetable. One of my favourite autumn/winter things to do is to bake sweet potato with different spices, as whatever seasoning I choose always ends up tasting edible. Ground fennel with sweet potato is my latest craze, it used to be ground cumin OR ground coriander. Hence I decided to combine all three earthy spices in this dish, as well as a little chilli to bring out the flavours. These spices can be easily found in the baking aisle in major supermarkets or in bulk at Indian supermarkets. 

INGREDIENTS

• 650g sweet potato, peeled and cut into even slices
• 1 teaspoon ground fennel
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes (depending on how much bite you want the potato to have)
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons coconut oil

COOKING 

1. Preheat fan-force oven to 220 degrees celsius. Line a large baking tray with baking paper. 

2. Meanwhile, cut and peel potato. Combine potato slices in a large bowl with oil, spices, garlic and chilli flakes. Toss well to combine. 

3. Place covered potato slices in a single layer on the prepared baking tray and cook in the oven for 20 minutes or until slices are very tender. 

Serves 4 / as a side

Total Preparation time / 15 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 20 minutes 

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GLUTEN-FREE CHICKEN NUGGETS

Chicken nuggets are such a pastime for me. I remember my mother making them for us four kids when we were little (healthy chicken nuggets of course, with cornflakes and no oil). After tasting her delectable chicken nuggets, I never understood why my friends loved the same dish at MacDonald’s. A massive blow with my new gluten-free diet was that cornflakes and breadcrumbs were out of the picture. Or were they? These days gluten-free bread has become almost as ubiquitous as white floury bread. So much so that when I was ordering breakfast at a brand new café the other day (open for 3 days at the time) the waitlist apologized to me profusely for not having gluten-free bread on the menu as of yet and told me that they would get it in just for me! So, my longwinded point is, I use gluten-free breadcrumbs instead to make chicken nuggets. And I’ll let you in on a little secret- my nuggets taste BETTER now.

INGREDIENTS

• 600g chicken breast fillets, cut into even cubes / pieces
• 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 4 pieces of gluten-free bread (preferably seeded)
• sea salt 
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten 

COOKING 

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius fan-force. Line a large baking tray with baking paper. 

2. Tear the gluten-free bread into pieces and place in a blender. Blend for around 30 seconds, making sure that all bread pieces have been processed into fine breadcrumbs. Remove from blender and place in a small bowl and combine with sesame seeds and salt. Place lightly beaten eggs in a separate bowl. 

3. Prepare the chicken by placing each individual nugget in the egg first, then covering with breadcrumbs and lastly placing on the lined baking tray. (Having a kid help you with this can be super fun!)

4. Bake chicken nuggets in the oven for around 15-17 minutes. Remove after this and slice the biggest chicken nugget you can find, making sure that no red flesh remains. 

These chicken nuggets taste great served with plum sauce. 

Serves / 4 

Total Preparation time / 15 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 17 minutes 

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DIJON POTATO SALAD

This potato side was a dish I quickly whipped up for my boyfriend last Tuesday night. As he works every night and most of the day, when he graces our entryway at 8:30pm he is starving. I usually cook in the afternoons and have leftovers, however I had eaten a little too much of our (my) dinner and therefore had nothing for Chris. I quickly concocted up this mustard potato salad using the best mustard ever- Dijon- I dare you to disagree. Whilst it definitely was not my finest work, Chris seemed to love it. Gluten & dairy-free too, of course.

INGREDIENTS

• 300g basic small potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of gluten-free dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh parsley
• a pinch of sea salt & black pepper

COOKING

1. Place peeled & cut potatoes into a medium saucepan of water. Bring to the boil and cook for around 10-12 minutes or until potato pieces are tender (that is, the blade of a fork can easily slide through the potato). Remove from heat and drain with cold water, cooling. Place cooked potatoes into a medium serving bowl. 

2. Add mustard and parsley to the potatoes and toss well to combine. Season with salt & pepper. 

Serves / 2 as a side

Total Preparation time / 10 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 20 minutes 

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