For those
new to the British Kabayan Blog ( and with over 5000 readers we are picking up
new readers daily) I am a Brit, stuck in Bahrain, on my way to my new life in
the Philippines. Since I retired on 14 Feb I have downsized from a two room
house to a studio flat with one working electric ring. The restaurants are shut
from Sunrise to Sunset, and I am having to cook using one pan!
Chester, the artistic director and marketing man for the British Kabayan Blog suggested I should take on a challenge for Ramadan and write about it:
“Speaking of which, have you
entertained some challenge that may be content worthy? like....
2. No sugar this week
challenge
3. 3-day low carb diet
challenge
4. I only ate Talabat for 1
day challenge.”
My Ramadan shopping!
In my old house I used to spend 100 bd a week on food and now I am down to 50! But 20? Then I felt really bad when Chester explained his mum managed on just 20 bd when the hairdressing salons were shut here in Bahrain due to COV 19- well done Elizabeth. Challenge accepted for the last week of Ramadan.
No sugar is easy as I don’t have sugar
( well apart from 6 cans of coke a week!) -ok no coke in week 2 of Ramadan
3 day lo carb diet- much needed –
following the fine example of Alex Ginette- well done sir on loosing so much
weight- ok week 3
Talabat- haha, never have and never
will
So for week one it’s the one pot
cooking challenge- how much can I make in just one pan. First some careful menu
planning:
Menu Ramadan
B L D
Tues 13 HBE and
CC Pasta Bolognaise Tony Roma
Weds 14 Fruit parfait Sweet and Sour chicken Dome
Thurs 15 HBE and
CC Smoked Salmon salad Thai Juffair
Friday 16 Bacon and
egg Adobo Fish Market
Sat 17 Fruit parfait Tuna salad Nandos
Sun 18 All bran and
Bananas Quinoa salad Al Abraj
Mon 19 HBE and CC Turkey salad The Frying Scotsman
Then some
careful preparation to maximize pan use- we counted how many hard boiled eggs (
HBE) we needed ( 6 for breakfast and 3 for my salads) and the first one pot was
underway – 9 hard boiled eggs. As they cooked I made coffee and cut the whole
meal bread and spread the low fat cottage cheese. I found something fascinating
from my blog – the Langley Vale Cottage cheese I buy in Bahrain comes from a
farm opposite my friends’ family in Huddersfield – West Yorkshire, UK. Thanks
for that Lynda Green. When the eggs had boiled for 10 mins I took off the
shells and had two for breakfast and put the rest in the fridge.
The secret
of being a good chef is what the French call “Mis en Place” or put in place.
Before you cook make sure you have everything ( ingredients) in place – hard
boiled eggs, lettuce, cucumber etc. ready for your salads which we will make
this evening. I have also defrosted in the fridge the berries for the Fruit
Parfait and the belly pork for the Adobo on Friday. This avoids having to
defrost frozen food under hot water or in the microwave which can cause food
poisoning- so plan ahead and defrost only in the fridge.
So on Tuesday, the first day of Ramadan, I ate my hard boiled eggs and cottage cheese and then prepared for Wednesday. In my old house I had some sundae glasses I used for my Berry Parfait but here in Juffair I had to improvise with drinking glasses and some disposable bowls I purchased from Alosra! Its a very simple dish to make- you layer the defrosted berries and low fat yogurt. Having made it ( without the recipe , in my defense) , I remembered I usually cook the berries with honey and let them cool and then layer with muesli or granola to give it some crunch. I think this will be a week of compromise!
My Berry Parfait
After breakfast I moved on to make lunch and remembered an old recipe from 2000 when I lived with the Gregory's after I came back from Kuwait. You take some mince beef and brown it then add a bolognaise sauce in a jar. Next wash the pan and cook the pasta. Finally pour the sauce over the cooked mince and you have a delicious Pasta Bolognaise in one pot!
Cooking the low fat minced beef in the pot
Then the pasta in the same pot
Finally you add the bolognaise sauce from the jar and cook for 15 mins
For Wednesday I had Sweet and Sour Chicken- another Diane Gregory special- you dice the chicken breast and cook in oil and then add the Sweet and Sour sauce to the pot and cook for 15 mins- easy! Once I had made it I decided it needed some rice so I nipped out to Ramez, washed the pan, and cooked some rice. As with all these meals I made enough for two and only ate one portion. So now I have all next weeks meals ready as well! It is amazing what you can do with just one pot! My original plan was to go out to dinner every night this week but in the end I had so much food left I ate at home, apart from Thursday when I went to a new Thai restaurant with a new Thai friend.
Sweet and Sour Chicken- cooked in one pot
The hardest dish was my Phillipino specialty- Manok and Baboy Adobo which I made on Wednesday ready to eat on Friday with my houseboys Jake and Corleen to celebrate the end of the first week of Ramadan . This required me to cook a whole chicken, a kilogram of Belly Pork and Chicken livers with vinegar , water and soy sauce. Back in Awali I had several large saucepans for this and a wok to brown the chicken and pork. Here in Juffair I just had my faithful small one pot, so I cooked the food in small batches like so:
First cook the chicken in vinegar and water ( there should be garlic and bayleaf )
Next the Chicken livers with a cup of water- cook for 10 mins and pound half way through
Finally you add the soy sauce to the liquid from the chicken livers and the pork and the chicken to make the Adobo sauce. I thinks when Corleen and Jake are here I will microwave each portion separately with rice in some new bowls I bought while I was at Ramez. I hope it tastes as Masarap as usual, this was certainly the hardest dish to cook on one pan as there is enough for 6 people !
In between the one pot dishes I had what the Pinoys call Merianda ( snacks) such as Rambutan ( Thai fruit), Melon, Scones with clotted cream and Jam and, of course, Earl Grey Tea. For lunch I had salads on alternate days with Tuna, Quinoa, Avocado and Smoked Salmon ( with help from The Cheesecake Factory and Starbucks!)
Thanks for Challenging me Chester, It's been a lot of fun, very tasty, cheap, and a good start to the Holy month. It also helped me get back into cooking again after a month of eating out having moved into a smaller flat with a very small kitchen- just a microwave, kettle and an electric cooker with only one ring working. I hope you have enjoyed following my one pot challenge.
However I learnt this week how much you can do with one pot! Bring in the next challenge! Meanwhile to all our readers we wish you...
 |  |
Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
Next challenge: observe fasting for just 1 day :)
ReplyDelete