Asian Ground Beef Pasta

 

Ingredients
250 g pasta
4-5 large garlic cloves finely minced
1 lg shallot minced (or onion)
100g fresh shiitake or 24gm dried soaked, dice to small cubes
20 ml olive oil
400-500g ground beef
20-30 ml Chinese cooking wine
20 ml light soy sauce
20 ml dark soy sauce
20 ml oyster sauce
A little freshly white pepper, add salt if necessary
2 spring onions sliced (garnish)

Method 
Cook the pasta then drain - reserve ¼ cup of pasta water.
Sauté garlic and shallots over medium heat until fragrant, about 15 sec.
Add the mushrooms and beef and cook over medium-high heat and stir until the beef is cooked through - about 5-6 min. Deglaze with cooking wine.Add soy sauces and oyster sauce. Toss to incorporate.
Add the pasta to the pan and stir through sauce. Season with pepper and add salt if needed. Add a little reserved pasta water if necessary.
Serve garnished with spring onions. Serve hot or warm with a fresh vegetable side.

Chook’s note: I used pappardelle because I had it and love it, but use whatever pasta you prefer. Best pasta is something that captures the sauce – rigatoni, penne, gomiti, or wide ribbons.
I also added a few shredded kale leaves.
I used a combination of fresh and dried shiitake (because I didn’t have enough fresh) and then used the soak water to loosen up the meat combo.
You can freeze the meat sauce in meal size containers and heat with pasta later.  I freeze pre-cooked pasta to use later. [Pre-cooked and reheated pasta increases its resistant starch content, which lowers blood sugar spikes and reduces absorbed calories. I do this with rice too for ease and it's better for your gut.] 

Thai turkey mince with rice

 

Ingredients 
1 Tbsp peanut oil
750g turkey mince
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
!/2 red onion chopped, optional

1/3 cup sweet chilli sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 red onion, halved, finely sliced
1 cup fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
A handful of iceberg lettuce leaves, shredded
Steamed jasmine rice, to serve
Lime wedges, to serve

Serves 4

Method
Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add mince, garlic and chilli. Cook, stirring constantly, for 4 to 5 min or until mince is browned and cooked through. Transfer to a large bowl.

Add sweet chilli sauce, lime juice, onion, coriander and lettuce. Toss to combine.
Serve with rice and lime wedges.

Chook’s note: It’s the fresh ingredients and herbs added at the end that give this dish a wonderful zing. You could also add a splash of fish sauce but it’s not necessary. If you don't like sweet chili suace which I don't much, you could use something else, but it worked here. It's a dish of flavours so do whatever you love.  You could use any lettuce leaves you have on hand but I like the iceberg.
You can prep the meat part ahead and simply warm at the last minute.
I use whatever rice I have pre-cooked in the freezer.

Japanese Salmon Rice

A quick an easy dish which can be thrown together from pantry items. I always modify to taste and according to what I have in the pantry-freezer 

Ingredients
1 ½ cups Japanese rice
½ cup sake (optional)
1 3/4 cup salmon stock or dashi (or chicken stock)
2 green onions, sliced thin
150gm cooked salmon meat, flaked
2 Tbsp furikake seasoning (see below)
1 to 2 Tbsp sesame oil

Serves 4

Method
Rinse the rice well before cooking. Put the rice, sake and stock in a pot, cover and turn on high until it boils. Drop the heat to medium-low and cook until the rice is mostly done, about 10 mins. When it's done, quickly uncover the pot and put in the green onions and salmon. Cover the pot and wait 5 minutes.

When you are ready to serve, fluff the rice with the sesame oil and furikake seasoning.

Chook's notes: If you don't have furikake seasoning, simply toast 2 Tbsp of sesame seeds and use that. (For recipe see https://thepingingchook.blogspot.com/2025/07/citrus-furikake.html)
I substitute Chinese cooking wine for sake and use chicken stock (because it is always handy).
I rarely have Japanese rice so I simple use medium grain white.  You can use precooked rice from the freezer, warm it and then add the green onions and a little stock before adding the salmon
I usually make this with smoked salmon cooking pieces or hot smoked salmon fillets.

Optional serving suggestions: add a touch of cream or butter and lemon juice to the rice, serve with steamed snow peas and scatter with chopped dill.

Turkey pilaf

 

[image from the internet]

Ingredients 
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes
500g turkey mince
1-2 cup cooked rice
1 lemon, rind finely grated, juiced
1 cup each of fresh mint and coriander leaves, firmly packed

Serves 4

Method

Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Cook the onion and garlic, stirring, for 2 mins or until soft. Add the spices and chilli. Cook, stirring, for 1 min or until aromatic. Increase heat add the turkey. Cook, breaking up the mince with a wooden spoon, for 6 min/until browned and cooked through.

Heat the rice and add the lemon juice and zest.  Season and add to the turkey mixture. 

Add the chopped the mint and coriander and stir to combine. Sprinkle with toasted chopped pistachios (optional) and drizzle with the extra oil or dob with butter – or both!

Chook’s note: the original recipe used couscous but I prefer rice. If you want to use couscous, place the couscous, lemon rind, juice and water in a heatproof bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Stand for 5 min to absorb. Fluff with a fork. Season. You can add cranberries if you wish but this is delicious as is.

Hot and Sour Chicken and Lemongrass Soup

 

Ingredients

1.5 L chicken stock
3-4 stalks lemongrass
½ tsp salt
½ tsp palm sugar
8 slices galangal
8 kaffir lime leaves
6 eschalots, peeled and thinly sliced
300g skinless chicken thigh fillets
6 Tbsp lime juice
6 Tbsp fish sauce
2-4 hot chillies finely chopped plus extra for serving
½ cup coriander, chopped
Serves 4-6.

Method

Bring stock to the boil. Trim and bash 2 lemongrass stalks and add to stock with salt, sugar, 4 slices galangal, 3 torn lime leaves and 3 eschalots.

Simmer 10 mins then add chicken.

Once soup returns to the boil, remove from heat and allow to cool. Remove chicken and slice into a bowl with lime juice, fish sauce and chillies. Mix well.

Strain soup, discard solids and bring back to the boil. Remove from heat.

Trim finely chopped 1-2 lemongrass stalks and add to soup with chicken mixture, remaining eschalots and galangal and thinly sliced lime leaves. 

Stir and taste – add more lime juice or fish sauce if needed.

Serve with chopped coriander and extra chillies if you like it hot.

Serves 4-6.

Chook's Note: this is one of the most delicious fragrant soups I have made for some time. Took me back to a lunch in Bankok last year.  

I used a homemade chicken stock but a low-salt store-bought one would work just as well. 
The recipe called for palm sugar but I didn't have any so used brown sugar. And I used ginger in place of galangal as I didn't have any - galangal is hard to find. The galangal has a gentler taste but ginger worked fine. As for how much 8 slices may be, I figured about 1 Tbsp chopped. This is a soup you can play with except for the lime and lemongrass and chilli - oh and fish sauce. It's all about the hot and sour balance. 

Fish sauce. It's worth getting a good one - I use a Thai brand. I start with 4 Tbsp and add more at the end if it needs it.

Tip on Kaffir lime leaves. Buy them when you see them and either freeze whole what you don't use immediately or dry and blitz then freeze. The freeze power is delicious sprinkled into many dishes or soup. 

Greek Spinach and Rice – Spanakorizo

 

[Photo from the internet, we ate mine]before I remembered to take a pic]

You can do this the traditional way or the easy way – my preferred way when in a rush for a side or accompaniment for a grilled meat or fish dish! This is the easy way so I should call it spanakorizo – sorry.

Ingredients
150 gm chopped frozen spinach thawed*
½ onion chopped 
1-2 spring onions chopped
1 Tbsp EV olive oil plus more for drizzling
½ Tbsp butter
Juice of half lemon (throw in some zest too if you like the tang)
I tsp dry mint or 1 Tbsp of fresh
1 Tbsp chopped dill or 1 tsp dried dill**
1½ cups cooked medium grain rice ***
Salt/Pepper
Serves 2

Method
Pop the spinach in the microwave for 2 mins then squeeze out liquid. Drizzle with a few drops of oil and/or lemon juice.
Sauté the onions with the rest of the olive oil and butter until soft
Add the cooked rice, spinach, dry mint, dill and heat through. Add a little warm stock or water if the mixture is too dry
Serve warm with a squeeze of lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil or better still butter. You could also add a little cheese (of your choice) but I like as is. Easy peasy and quick!

Chook’s note:  You could cook this in a risotto style if you have the time in which case *wilt fresh spinach in a little lemon juice and oil and then drain. Then add to other ingredients including *** ¼ cup of uncooked rice and ½ cup of water. Cover and simmer adding extra water or stock if needed. Brown rice gives an added depth of flavour.
** I find dill is one of those herbs a little hard to find sometimes and when you do there’s a lot of dill to be used fairly quickly before it spoils.  A favourite dish of ours is turmeric fish which needs a fair whack of dill but not a whole bunch. So I dry the picked-fronds in the microwave (see note) then crumble them, pop them into a small jar and freeze. The taste is good and you always have dill on hand – you only need a little. That small jar sits beside my wee jar of frozen dried kaffir lime leaves in my freezer. 

Forzen dried dill next to kaffir lime leaves (in the back are my bits and pieces,
I don't throw things out. They all get used)

Note on microwave drying: Wash and thoroughly dry the picked herbs – you can do this with any herbs. Place them between sheets of absorbent paper towel and place in microwave on high for 20-30 sec.  They may need 2 or 3 or more goes before they are completely dry and crumbly. Just turn them between blasts.  Once cool you can crumble then and store them however you want.  In the freezer I like little jars because they stay airtight in the damp environment and the lid is easily removed and replaced. But use whatever suits your kitchen and uses. Remember that dried herbs go a lot further than fresh once the water is removed.  Have fun!

Pasta with Artichoke Sauce

 

Don't be fooled, I bought them already prepared!

Ingredients
Serves 2
1 small jar of artichoke hearts, drained
¼ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
½ lemon, grated zest and juice
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2-3 Tbsp olive oil (to personal taste)
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper (I use Szechuan pepper)
Optional: mushroom and spring onion
120 gm bucatini (or spaghetti) or enough for two
Splash of reserved pasta water or hot water

To serve
Chopped parsley
Grated parmesan
Optional: Crispy bacon

Method

* Bring a pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta. Cook the pasta, reserve some of the starchy water.

* Place the drained artichokes, cheese, lemon zest and juice, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper in a food processor. Blend until combined *See Notes.

* Season to taste 

* Add a little oil to a pan and gently sauté the onion and mushroom, if using

* Drain the pasta and place it back in the hot pan and immediately pour the artichoke sauce over and toss to combine. Add a few Tbsp of the pasta water to bring it all together. 

Serve sprinkled with more parmesan cheese and parsley – and bacon crumbles if using. Serve immediately! 

Chook’s note: I use artichokes marinated in oil and use just a little of the oil in the sauce.

Try chopping a rasher of bacon and cooking till very crisp. This is totally optional but does add a bit more texture and flavour.   

*Note: The sauce can be blended until creamy or, as I prefer, left a wee bit chunky. All a matter of personal preference. 

I use pasta that I usually have already cooked and in the freezer. It’s such an easy option and the good thing is that the starch in pre-cooked cooled pasta is converted into ‘resistant starch’ which increases the food's fibre-like properties, resulting in a lower glycemic response, better gut health, fewer absorbed calories AND it saves time.

This is one of those go to recipes for a lazy night. Just keep a tub of precooked pasta in the freezer along with lemon zest and juice which I normally do. And a block of parmesan cheese in the fridge which I do because it’s my goto cheese for all manner of things. Oh and a jar of artichokes. As a substitute if you don’t have artichokes, you could substitute Chinese broccoli or some other vege. And you have a meal ready to go.

The sauce can be stored in the fridge for 3 to 4 days before using and I daresay it would breeze perfectly well.

You can thank me later!