20 Jun 2012

Fifteen everyday family meals

  1. Beef braised with cassia and star anise on rice with hot and sour sauce and herb salad
  2. Spaghetti bolognese with a generous grating of Parmesan cheese.
  3. Japanese beef curry with potato on rice with pickles
  4. Thai green chicken curry with eggplant on rice
  5. Lamb chops and mint sauce with mash and vegies
  6. Stir fried chicken with ginger, asparagus and cashews on rice
  7. Fettuccine carbonara
  8. Chicken laksa
  9. Apricot chicken on rice
  10. Salmon with asparagus and sushi rice
  11. Sausages and vegies
  12. Chicken risotto with spinach and feta cheese
  13. Lasagne
  14. Teriyaki steak and rice with stir fried vegetables
  15. Chicken stir fried with Thai basil and kaffir lime leaves on rice
I had so much fun yesterday writing a list of meals from my childhood that I remember nostalgically yet rarely cook nowadays that I thought I would compile a list of the dishes I do cook on a regular basis. I had to enlist the help of the husband and child on this one, because it was hard to think!

The photo is of a chicken curry cooked on our recent trip to Cambodia. It is not yet a family favourite, but is rapidly becoming so. It was cooked by me though!

What do you eat on a regular basis? I was fascinated by some of your fondly remembered meals on yesterday's post. No doubt your current meals will be even more interesting. Do you eat as multiculturally as we do?

14 comments:

  1. ooh, lovely! I noticed you folk have a lot of rice! Our family favourites are Spinach and ricotta cannelloni, roast lamb or chicken with lot's of roast veggies, roast veggie frittiata, lot's of greek salads, salmon patties, oven baked fresh fish with a lovely salad of course, chicken stir fry with oyster sauce, crumbed chicken tenderloins with seasonal veggies, minestrone soup, pumpkin soup, prawn omelette, bangers & mash, carbonara, spinach pie, our new favourite is red thai curry with brown rice or gluten free rice noodles...YUMMO! I think you could say we eat multiculturally!

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  2. Sounds fantastic, Sarah! We do eat a lot of rice. It is our most common carbohydrate for sure. Still love roast spuds though.

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  3. Could you share some of the recipes? I know you showed me the curry paste for that beautiful Japanese curry but of course I don't remember it. I'd love to try that on my family!
    We eat a fair amount of rice and pasta (good meal stretchers when you have a crowd) and everyone here loves potato ~ roasted, mashed, in the jacket, scallops.......

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  4. I'd love to see those recipes, too!

    Right now our family favorites are fresh pesto, homemade focaccia bread with basil and feta, and a butter chicken recipe made with paneer. I can't get enough curry, though!

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  5. Hah! Japanese curries are super easy because they use a packaged roux available at most large supermarkets. I use S&B Golden Curry Medium Hot. Fry onion and beef/chicken, add water and potatoes/carrots and cook till the vegies are done. Add the roux and some peas and cook for a few more minutes.The amounts are on the side of the package. It is totally different from most other curries, but we love it here!

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  6. All sounds delicious.Our favorites would include: Chinese Beef with Broccoli & Bok Choy on Rice; Buffalo Style Chicken Strips with Brazilian style rice and veggies; Bacon Cheese Fries (so not healthy and since the price of bacon hit the roof we aren't having it often!); Pork Fried Rice; BBQ Meat balls with macaroni and veg; Spaghetti/garlic bread; Sloppy Joes on baked potatoes with cheese & sour cream; Pepper Steak and Rice; Thai Chicken or BBQ Chicken or Pepperoni Pizza; Tacos or Burriots with rice or Nachos; Borscht and Sour Cream Garlic Bread (winter); Beef Stew with hot bread (winter) Ham & Corn Chowder (winter), regular old hamburgers and oven fries; "Indian Food" (kids catch-all name for curries with chapatis or Naan and rice) and whenever the budget allows SUSHI! We all LOVE it! Ditto anytime we can afford Salmon or Shrimp.

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  7. Your every day meals sound totally gourmet like to me.

    Yes, share some recipes as you can, I put a request for the chicken laska recipe, I have no idea of what that would be but it sounds tasty.

    My parents are food crazy and both can cook divinely, only difference... dad will not clean the kitchen! LOL. I miss their fish and clam dishes, my husband is not that huge on fish, but he likes steak like fish like halibut, mahi mahi, salmon... tolerates tilapia.

    Our regular foods:

    We eat tacos with anything and everything inside because of the Mexican influence. Refried beans and chicken in a tostada (crunchy tortilla).

    Ham and cabbage soup.

    Grilled salmon with asparagus or any veggies, and maybe rice, maybe potatoes...

    Any pasta too.

    Sausages and veggies too.

    Mussels, sardines, salad (anything with feta cheese)

    Speaking of which, I need to get off here and cook dinner!LOL.

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  8. OK, Jeanne, I give in, since you requested. ;o)

    The truth is that our meals look so different these days, thanks to nuclear contamination, that I can hardly think what is "normal" anymore. Add to the that fact that I have been on a no sugar, no starch diet so that I can get down to my pre-baby weight (yes, I know, I haven't had a "baby" in some years...), and food just isn't as fun to talk about as it used to be. The fact that I have lost 22 kg is very fun to talk about, though (patting self on back)!

    Anyhoo, our meals have been lacking in rice these days, because of the radiation issue, but we continue to eat favorites, like curry (usually Japanese style) with naan instead of rice. I also often do a roast in the slow cooker with homemade bread for the starch eating family members. Korean style beef (bulgogi) is a favorite, as well as terriyaki chicken or salmon (homemade, not bottled sauce). Hamburger patties with tomato sauce and cheese, with a side of mashed potatoes brings on squeals of delight. The most requested thing I make is chicken wings with my special Japanese style barbecue sauce. We also love to do Tex Mex - one of the easiest being quesadillas - Mexican spiced meat and cheese between two soft tortillas, which I usually toast in the toaster oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese and make the tortillas a bit crispy. Cut into wedges and eat with salsa, sour cream, or guacamole (or, all of the above!).

    I think our very most missed food right now is sushi. We just don't feel comfortable eating the fish. *sniff*

    So, there's an idea of the kinds of things we're eating lately. How's that?

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  9. Japan without rice and sushi? Unimaginable.

    What is your teriyaki sauce? Mine is mirin, sake, soy in equal amounts and a tbsp of sugar. We bottle it and store in the fridge for an easy meal.

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  10. Yep, that's the basic terriyaki - I may use a tad more sugar, but that's up to personal taste.

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  11. Jeanne, your list decidely Asian! but I like it! I love Asian food but am not good at cooking it. We tend to go more for middle eastern. These are some of our regulars:
    Homemade KFC chicken with homemade wedges, salad or veg.
    Italian meatballs (own recipe) and rice and veg
    Pasta Marinara
    Beef Stirfry and hokkien noodles
    Lamb meatballs or Kofta with Feta sauce and homemade marinated chargrilled eggplant
    Soups - mostly made with bacon hock - pea & ham, minestrone with homemade bread/rolls or scone
    Creamy Chicken Casserole
    Beef & veg slow cook casserole
    Kai Si Ming and rice
    Cheese Kranski with cabbage, mash and carrots

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  12. What about deserts, Jeanne? What does your family indulge in?

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  13. oooh, lovely!
    our staples are: some type of a spicy beef curry with rice and vegies, dhal and rice, fish curry and rice (Rebekah's just getting an appreciation for fish now!), roast beef with veggies, bangers and mash, some type of pasta with a mix of either vegies only or a tuna pasta (if we need to eat more fish), thai curries with rice, stir fries etc. I think ours may be quite as multicultural as yours though diet is restricted due to dairy and other intolerances!
    btw would love to learn how to make a Japanese curry:)

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  14. We have rice several times a week (and I have it for breakfast most days too!)
    For dinner it is served as either my hubby's home made fried rice, or steamed rice and stirfry made with some of the following: lemon, honey, sesame, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, chicken, veges, cashews, or beef.

    Pumpkin & lentil soup with homemade croutons or damper (and sometimes homemade gluten free crusty bread).

    Pan fried fish (various white fish, cod or salmon steak) with stirfried greens, noodle salad or mashed or crispy baked potatoes.

    T-bone steak or BBQ chicken with salad.

    Homemade meatballs on salad wraps.

    Slowcooked chicken in a sweet tomato & chutney sauce, served with mashed potato, rice or rice noodles.

    Nachos made with mince cooked in my husband's secret sauce, with cherry tomatoes, lettuce or snow pea sprouts, avocado, and for those who eat dairy cheese and/ or sour cream. And plain corn chips of course.

    Some of these my daughter doesn't like or won't try, so will have her meat set aside before sauces are added, and served on a sandwich.

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I'd love you to leave me a message. Tell me what you like - and what you don't. Just remember that this is what we do in our family - it doesn't have to be what you do in yours...