SESAME CHICKEN STRIPS

For some unknown reason I have (or had after this recipe) a large quantity of sesame seeds in my pantry. I cannot for the life of me remember how they all got there. It was close to 2 cups, an unusually sizeable amount of this ingredient. Last night, after viewing the interesting stripper movie Magic Mike, I decided to get rid of all of my sesame seeds. And what goes well with sesame seeds, you may ask? My mind immediately went to chicken. Luckily I had 600g of chicken in the freezer and was able to pull together some ‘chicken strips’ before my sister came over for dinner. Using one egg to stick the seeds is a great alternative to loads of unhealthy oil. Serve with Asian vegetables or on a bed of rice.

INGREDIENTS

• 600g chicken breast fillets, cut into even sized strips
• 1 egg, beaten 
• 1 1/2 cups sesame seeds
• coconut oil 

Sauce 

• 1/4 cup gluten-free plum sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

COOKING 

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

Arrange a plate covered with sesame seeds and place a small bowl with the egg next to it. Dip each chicken strip in the egg, then cover well with the sesame seeds. Continue until all chicken is covered. 

2. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon coconut oil. Place as many chicken strips as you can in the pan. Cook on each side for 5 minutes or until sesame seeds are slightly golden. Remove from the pan and place on the baking tray. Add more oil and cook the rest of the chicken strips. Place chicken on the baking tray and cook in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until chicken is cooked and no pink is visible. 

4. Make sauce by combing the plum sauce and vinegar in a small bowl. Serve the chicken warm with the plum sauce drizzled on top or on the side. 

Serves / 4 

Total Preparation time / 15 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 30-35 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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PUMPKIN PASTA WITH PESTO, SPINACH & RED ONION

Winter to me means hearty winter vegetables. Pumpkin, sweet potato, onions, leeks, regular potatoes all make this list. Before I made this dish on Sunday night, I don’t think I had eaten pumpkin since last winter and I had forgotten how flavoursome it is, especially on chilly nights. The spinach and red onion addition was just a way to get more vegetables into the pasta. As for the pesto, I had a bunch of basil to use up that was looking rather wilted. You can certainly serve this dish without pesto, in fact, it will be much better (calorie wise) for you! 

INGREDIENTS

Pasta 

• 500g Gluten-free pasta 
• 2 tablespoons roasted pine nuts (can dry-fry in a frying pan over medium heat until golden brown)
• a generous handful of baby spinach leaves, washed 
• 400g pumpkin, cut into 2cm pieces 
• 1/2 a red onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon grape seed oil 
• sea salt & pepper

COOKING 

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add a pinch of salt and pasta and stir occasionally for 10-12 minutes or until the pasta is tender. Drain well with cold water. 

2. Meanwhile, place the cut pumpkin on a large plate and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the microwave on high for 7 minutes or until pumpkin is very tender. Remove and let cool. 

3. Heat grape seed oil in a small frying pan over medium-low heat and swirl to coat. Add garlic and red onion and stir occasionally for 2 minutes, until onion is soft and garlic is browned. Return heat to low and add spinach leaves and cook for 1 minute or until leaves are wilted. Remove from heat. 

4. Place the cooked pasta in a large serving bowl. Place the cooked pumpkin and spinach mixture on top. Sprinkle salt & pepper over the top. Pour pesto over the top if you wish. 

Homemade Pesto 

• a bunch of fresh basil 
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• 1/8- 1/4 cup olive or grape seed oil
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• sea salt
• a blender or food processor
• a mortal & pestle 

COOKING

1. Place the garlic and pine nuts in a mortal & pestle and crush into a paste. (This should only take a few seconds. You can perform this step with a blender if you wish, I just find that using the former makes a better paste). 

2. Place basil leaves in a blender/food processor and gradually add 1/8-1/4 cup oil. This process may take around 5 minutes, as we are using less oil that typically used to make pesto. If you can, try grape seed oil as the flavour is very different to using olive oil. Add salt to the basil and continue to blend/process until pesto is smooth. 

Serves / 4 

Total Preparation time / 15 minutes (20-25 with pesto)

Total Cooking time / 25 minutes (35 with pesto)

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PRAWN & VEGETABLE FRIED RICE

Another prawn dish! You may be thinking ‘when is she going to get over prawns and experiment with other types of seafood?’ which is funny, as I have been pondering the same thing. I think I am enjoying prawns so much at the moment that I may cook them to death before moving onto crab. Crab will be a real effort to cook without using any dairy- a future challenge! This fried rice is quite effortless to make and tastes like you spend hours in the kitchen perfecting it.

INGREDIENTS

• 200g cooked & peeled prawns, thawed to room temperature
• 400g bean sprouts, washed
• 4cm ginger, grated
• 3 green onions, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/2 large red capsicum, cut into even cubes
• 1 head broccoli, cut into florets
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 1/2 cups doongara rice 
• 2 tablespoons gluten-free oyster sauce 
• 2 tablespoons tamari sauce 
• 1 tablespoon lime juice 

COOKING 

1. Place rice in a medium saucepan with 3 cups water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 10-12 minutes or until all water has been absorbed. Remove from heat. 

2. Heat sesame oil in a large wok over medium-low heat and swirl to coat. Add ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until fragrant. Then add broccoli, capsicum and oyster sauce and cook, stirring frequently, for 4 minutes or until broccoli is almost tender. Add prawns, sprouts, tamari sauce and rice and stir, combining well. Remove from heat. 

3. Serve with lime juice stirred in and green onion on the top of the rice. 

Serves / 4 

Total Preparation time / 10 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 25 minutes 

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BEEF THAI SALAD

INGREDIENTS

• 250g eye fillet steak, cut into even strips
• 250g fresh bean sprouts, washed
• 250g rice vermicelli noodles
• 2 small lebanese cucumbers, cut into even strips
• 2 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil 
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce 
• 1 tablespoon tamari sauce 

Thai salad dressing

• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons gluten-free sweet chilli sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce 

COOKING 

1. Combine eye fillet, oil, lime juice (3 tablespoons), fish sauce (1 tablespoon), tamari sauce and green onions in a medium bowl. Marinade in the fridge for at least 1 hour. 

2. After 1 hour, remove from fridge. Heat a small frying pan over medium-low heat and add marinated beef. Cook, stirring constantly, for around 5 minutes or until beef is brown and no red flesh remains. Remove from the heat. 

3. Bring a kettle of water to the boil. Place vermicelli noodles in a large saucepan and pour boiling hot water over the top of them. Leave for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally with a fork, until noodles are tender. Drain well with cold water. 

4. Make Thai salad dressing by combining lime juice, sweet chilli sauce and fish sauce in a small jar with a screw-top lid and shaking to combine. 

5. Place cooked noodles in a large serving bowl and add cucumber and bean sprouts. Top with cooked beef and Thai salad dressing. 

Serves / 4 

Total Preparation time / 12 minutes (plus 1 hour cooling time)

Total Cooking time / 15 minutes 

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