Isabel's Cooking Adventure: February 2014

Evaluation

By Isabel - 06:33

Disclaimer: Before you start reading this blog post, please do scroll to the last post and start reading from there. Cuz that's where all it started...

Overall, I have to say I did horribly horrible in my practical. Here is what happened that day:

Everything started off alright at first. I marinated the chicken wings before staring to cook my fried rice. I have tried cooking the fried rice and omelette at home before with my helper, and it was rather successful. I kind of made a mistake by putting in the long beans before adding in the garlic. I guess I was kind of over excited. Whenever I asked my helper how long I have to cook the ingredients before I can add in the next one, she said that she could not give me a proper answer and I had to determine if the food is almost cook before I add in the next ingredient. Hence, I relied a lot on my taste buds to tell myself when to add in the next ingredient. I think I ate almost 1/5 of all the ingredients because I kept tasting the food to see if it was almost cooked due to my impatience hahah.

CHEF ISABEL AT WORK

Before long, I had finished the fried rice in time, and everything was running smoothly just as I expected. My taste buds were proved to be working just fine when the fried rice turned out to be a success in the end. I felt that it was yummier than the one my helper cooked nearly every week! I placed the marinated chicken into the oven and began the cooking of the omelette. I let the egg mixture spread out in the frying pan so the omelette will be as big as possible.

The successful fried rice!

That was when everything went wrong.

When cooking at home, I left the omelette in the frying pan for about 5 minutes, put in the fried rice and the omelette was done. There was no need for turning the omelette and the base of the omelette was not burnt. After cooking the omelette in school for 5 minutes and putting in the fried rice, I flipped half of the omelette over the rice to create a semi-circle with the rice wrapped in the omelette, expecting the base of the egg to look beautifully golden brown. However, upon turing half of the omelette, my jaw dropped to the ground. THE BASE OF THE OMELETTE WAS BURNT!! I was really surprised because the top part of it wasn't even fully cooked and the base is already BURNT?! And it wasn't slightly burnt. It was VERY burnt. Like the literally the whole base of the omelette was brown. I was like 'OMG WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!'

Never judge a book by its cover. This egg may look perfect, but it is not.

I panicked. By then, many of my friends have already finished making their dishes and are sending their dishes in to Mrs Abbas for tasting. Time was running out, but i decided to race against it to make another omelette, telling myself that this time I will DEFINITELY NOT burn the omelette. With 3 unused eggs from 3 different friends, I made another omelette as quickly as possible, praying that i will be able to do it on time.

Me trying to stir the eggs as quickly as possible!

In my rush and hustle, I totally forgot about flipping the chicken wings. That was the reason why I was rather surprised that the chicken was not done yet after nearly 10 minutes when I went to the oven to check on the chicken wings while mixing the eggs with the sauces and spices. Thinking that there must definitely be a problem with the oven, I continued to let the chicken grill.

Despite letting the omelette cook for only 2 minutes, THE OMELETTE WAS BURNT AGAIN. I was like URGHHHHH. Then Mrs Abbas' voice shot out from the front '2 minutes left!' I gaped at the chao-tah omelette before moving on to my watch. OH MY! I was seriously screwed. I tried to make my omelette as presentable as possible (I even added a little but of green veggies that all those chefs in high-class restaurants put on top of their dishes) before going to the oven to take out the grilled chicken wings. I was stunned when I found that the top part of the chicken was not cooked enough while the bottom part was kind of burnt! That was when someone told me 'You forgot to turn it!' I face-palmed. How can I even forget that?! Time was up and I had no choice but to send in the severely unsatisfactory dishes to Mrs Abbas.

I felt really saddened by my failure. My dish was a complete disaster as compared to my other classmates. I had such high hopes for myself and the depressed feeling from failure was simply too much for me to take. I swallowed a lump in my throat and felt tears stinging at the back of my eyes, at the same time willing myself to get a grip. THAT is the worst feeling one can ever get.

When I got home and told this entire depressing experience with my family, my helper told me that I should have kept the fire very small to prevent the egg from burning, and my mother's reaction was 'Aiyo! Who ask you not to start learning how to cook from a young age?!'

~~~~~~

I felt the fried rice went right because I was rather careful and precise while cooking it. I kept tasting it to make sure the taste is right.

There is really a lot I need for improvement. I need to be more careful when handling the omelette, to reduce the size of the fire and also to check the bast of the omelette more! I also have to learn to remain calm when encountering a crisis. If I had remained as cook as a cucumber instead of freaking out, I would have remembered to turn the chicken wings. I should also have practiced more at home before the practical so that i will be more prepared.

I have learnt a lot from this practical session, and also from all of my lessons. I have learnt how to do so many dishes that I have never imagined myself doing. I have unleashed my (non-existent) inner chef and made edible, and sometimes even yummy food! From this practical, I have learnt that I definitely have to start watching my helper cook more and try cooking more dishes at home to hone my cooking skills. I also have to expect the unexpected and remain calm when something bad happens. Carefulness and patience is also something that I need to practice.

Most importantly, I have learnt to empathise with my helper. I have always complained that the food she cooked was not delicious enough. However, what I didn't know was that she put in lots of effort and hard work to create that 'disgusting dish'. I discovered that cooking was something exhausting and also back-pain inducing, something that is not as easy as it may seem to many. It requires a lot of hard work and effort to create just one dish. I can only imagine the number of times I have hurt my helper's feelings when criticising the dish that she had put so much effort into. I have learnt to appreciate the food she cooks. Who am I to even criticise her cooking when my cooking practical was a huge failure?

~~~~~

The only bright spot after that horrible cooking experience was that my 8 year old younger brother, Oliver insisted on finishing all of my failed fried rice, even with the burnt omelette and chicken wings! I couldn't believe he wanted to eat something that even my family members dare not eat! He gobbled everything up in 10 minutes before giving me a resounding burp. The motivated me to continue to pursue cooking and baking because whether my dish is successful or not, there is still someone who is willing to eat it!

~~~~~

Requirements of the task:
1) Simple nutritious dish -> I feel that my dish was both simple and nutritious. The fried rice had lots of veggies and the chicken was grilled instead of fried, which made it less oilier and even more nutritious. My dish was also rather simple and was not complicated at all.
2) Cooking for my sister and me -> The dish does not contain any food that my sister or I am allergic to, and it also incorporates my sister's favourite food, chicken and my favourite food, eggs.
3) Cost and availability of ingredients -> The total cost of the ingredients were within the budget of $10, and all the ingredients were bought from neighbourhood supermarkets, such as NTUC Fairprice or Giant Hypermarket.

~~~~~

I would like to end off this post by thanking many people who had helped me in this short but interesting cooking journey of mine:

Mrs Abbas, for all her support, for answering all my questions and doubts, for teaching me so many new skills and for making me look forward to every single home economics lesson with her unwavering humour that never fails to make everyone clutch their stomachs in laughter.

With the lovely Mrs Abbas!

Grace, for teaching me how to cook the fried rice and for cooking my meals every single day.
My grandmother, for always saying the food I cook is extremely delicious even though she was sort of grossed out by some of my dishes (such as the chocolate cupcake, which was totally black in colour)
Oliver, for eating everything I cook with gusto, asking for 2nd servings and declaring my food 'extremely yummy'.
The rest of my family members, for being willing to put their stomachs at risk by eating my food that may or may not be edible or safe to eat.
My classmates for being so supportive of me (and those who gave me your eggs to cook my 2nd omelette)
And also anyone who had helped me in one way or another (especially noobcook.com for all the wonderful recipes)

This is most definitely not the end of my cooking journey, but the start of a whole new one. Adios!

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Decision Making & Planning

By Isabel - 06:33

I had initially decided to cook fried rice with grilled chicken wings because it is nutritious, yummy, quick and easy to cook. However, after consulting Mrs Abbas, I have came to a conclusion. I am going to cook... *drumrolls please*

FRIED RICE WRAPPED IN OMELETTE WITH GRILLED CHICKEN WINGS

Mrs Abbas said that there is too little technique used and by adding the omelette, there is another technique called 'batter making' used in the practical. I was rather enthusiastic when she suggested this idea and even started jumping around in joy because I LOVE EGGS!

Here is the original recipe list before modification:

1 cup of rice
a few cloves of garlic
a few crab sticks, cut into pieces
a handful of peas
Baby Kailans
Cooking oil
A dash of pepper
A dash of salt
Light sauce
black pepper sauce
oyster sauce
Plum sauce
3 chicken wings
3 Eggs

Here are the ingredients that i have decided to modify:

I have decided to substitute the baby kailans into long beans because both Annabel and I do not like to eat baby kailans and we prefer long beans. I have also decided to change the peas to mixed vegetables because there is more variety of vegetables, such as carrots and corn in the mixed vegetables. This also creates a beautiful mix of colours in the fried rice which makes the dish looks more bright, hence looking more attractive and appealing to 9 year-old children. I am also going to reduce the amount of cooking oil and light sauce used when cooking this dish so that there would be less sodium in this dish.

I have also decided to substitute normal white rice with brown rice because brown rice is healthier and more nutritious.

100g of brown rice

100g of white rice

From the nutritional data, we can see that brown rice contains lesser calories and more dietary fibre than white rice, hence making it healthier and more nutritious than white rice!

When it comes to cooking the omelettes, I chose not to use cooking oil but butter instead. I feel that butter is healthier and at the same time it makes the omelette tastier and also smell better.

1 tbsb of cooking oil

1 tbsp of Butter

According to these nutritional facts, one tbsp of butter contains lesser calories and fat than cooking oil, and butter has vitamin A while cooking oil doesn't. Although butter contains sodium while cooking oil does not, I feel that the sodium in the butter helps to enhance the flavour of the food when butter is used. By using butter, I can use lesser light sauce and salt since butter itself contains sodium.

I choose to grill the chicken wings instead of fry them because grilling requires no use of cooking oil, which makes it healthier. In my opinion, I also feel it tastes better than fried chicken.

Fried Chicken Wings

*Note: We have to multiply everything here by 7, because this only shows 20g of fried chicken wings, while the nutritional data below shows 140g of grilled chicken wings

Grilled Chicken wings

According to the nutritional values of grilled and fried chicken wings, it is very apparent that fried chicken wings has more fat and less calcium than grilled chicken. Although grilled chicken has a little more sodium than fried chicken, I feel that it is because grilling of chicken requires more sauce and spices to be used, hence more sodium.

Here is the modified ingredient list and recipe:

1 cup of brown rice
a few cloves of garlic
a few crab sticks, cut into pieces
a handful of mixed vegetables, defrosted
A few long beans, cut into smaller pieces
1 tbsp of Cooking oil
Pepper
Salt
Light sauce
black pepper sauce
oyster sauce
Plum sauce
3 chicken wings, defrosted and washed
3 Eggs, mixed in a mixing bowl with light sauce and pepper
2 tbsp of butter

Recipe:

Fried Rice

Heat the cooking oil in the frying pan.
Throw in the garlic and fry till they are of golden-brown colour
Put in the long beans
Cook them until 70% cooked before putting in the mixed vegetables
When the mixed vegetables are partially cooked, add in the crab meat.
When the crab meat is almost done, put in the brown rice.
Add in a dash of pepper, a dash of salt and pepper with a one tbsp of light sauce. Mix well.
Allow the fried rice to cook.

Plain Omelette

Add in 2 tbsp of butter into the frying pan and allow it to melt.
When the butter has fully melted, add in the egg mixture containing 3 beaten eggs, a dash of salt and pepper and a little bit of light sauce.
Allow the egg to cook
When the base of the egg is cooked, put in the fried rice.
Wrap the fried rice in the egg.

Grilled Chicken Wings

Marinate the chicken wings in oyster sauce, light sauce, black pepper sauce and plum sauce for at least 20 minutes
Put the marinated chicken wings into the oven and turn them after 6 minutes.
Let the chicken grill in the oven for another 6 minutes.

Here are the cooking methods/techniques that I have used:

1) Cooking of rice

2) Batter Making

3) Grilling

4) Marinating

Here is the cost of the ingredients:

1 cup of brown rice (200g) -> 5kg for $5.50, so $0.22 for 200g
a few cloves of garlic (about 10g) -> 500g for $1.15, so 10 g for $0.02 (rounded down to the nearest cent)
a few crab sticks, cut into pieces -> 250g for $2.35, 50g for $0.47
a handful of mixed vegetables, defrosted -> $3 for 500g, $0.30 for 50g.
A few long beans, cut into smaller pieces -> 200g for $0.90, 70g for $0.32
1 tbsp of Cooking oil -> 2L for $5.40, 1 tbsp for approximately $0.04.
Pepper -> 50g for $1.50, 2g for $0.06.
Salt -> 500g for $0.49, 1g for $0.01
Light sauce -> 640ml for $2.40 ->$0.06
black pepper sauce, 230g for $3.60, 15g for $0.23.
oyster sauce -> 505g for $2.55, $0.15
Plum sauce-> 260g for $3.50, 5g for $0.07
3 chicken wings, defrosted and washed -> 1kg for $7.50, 350g for $2.63.
3 Eggs, mixed in a mixing bowl with light sauce and pepper ->30 eggs for $5.15, 3 eggs for $0.52 + light sauce and pepper = $0.52 + $0.06 + $0.06 = $0.64
2 tbsp of butter -> 250g for $2.20, 30g for $0.26

Total amount of money spent: $5.48, which is <$10!

References:

http://nutritiondata.self.com/

http://www.fairprice.com.sg/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TopCategoriesDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=90001&catalogId=10051&homePage=Y

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Research and Development

By Isabel - 23:01

My Younger Sister:

She is 9 years old, 137cm and 29kg.
Her BMI is 5.5, and falls within the 5th to <90th percentile. She is of acceptable weight.
She is not a picky eater and likes to eat anything and everything, especially chicken.

I am not allergic to anything.
I am 14 years old and my BMI is 22.3.
I like to eat western food, anything spicy and anything made with eggs.

From this healthy diet pyramid, I have to choose dishes with ingredients that have lesser amount of fats, oil, sugar and salt because these are unhealthy food. I should also increase the amount of fruits and vegetables if possible when cooking my dish because they contain more vitamins and is more healthy.

Here is the recommended daily allowance for my sister according to the health promotions board:

RDA Energy (my sister falls under the age group of 9 and moderate physical activity)

RDA amount of calcium

Here is the recommended daily allowance for me according to the health promotions board:

RDA Energy (I fall under the age group of 14 and moderate physical activity)

Dishes I have in mind:

1) Fish ball Noodles

2) Fried Rice with Grilled Chicken Wings

3) Spaghetti (using store-bought sauce)

Recipe analysis:

1) Fish ball noodles:

Ingredients:

50 grams ikan bilis
700 ml water
12-16 fish balls
A few pieces of thinly sliced fish cakes
2 servings noodles e.g. bee hoon, tang hoon, kway teow, yellow noodles
3 leaves lettuce
A handful of bean sprouts
1 tsp fried shallots
salt or light soy sauce t
1 tbsp chopped spring onions (scallions)
chilli padi

I wanted to cook fish ball noodles because it is rather easy to cook since I have just started cooking. Furthermore, the ingredients are also rather healthy since there is lettuce and bean sprouts used. In addition, I can also reduce the amount of salt/light sauce used.

However, according to the RDA, there might be a little too much protein in the bowl of fish ball noodles for my sister and me. There is also not enough calcium in this dish for both of us. Perhaps I can cut down on the number of fishballs.

2) Fried Rice with grilled chicken wings

1 cup of rice
a few cloves of garlic
a few crab sticks, cut into pieces
a handful of peas
Baby Kailans
Cooking oil
A dash of pepper
A dash of salt
Light sauce
black pepper sauce
oyster sauce
Plum sauce
3 chicken wings

I wanted to cook this dish because I can put as many vegetables and any types of vegetables I want into the fried rice. The ingredients are pretty healthy and at the same time the dish will be tasty. In addition to that, with the mixed vegetables, there will be a beautiful array of colours in the fried rice, thus making it attractive to children at my sister's age. I have decided to add in the grilled chicken wings because my sister loves to eat chicken. I remember when I brought grilled chicken home after my home economics lesson a few weeks ago, my sister devoured it with delight. Moreover, as compared to deep frying or frying of chicken, grilled chicken is healthier because it does not require any usage of oil.

According to this chart, the amount of iron for both of us is about just right. However, the amount of protein and energy provided is too much while the amount of calcium is too little.

3) Spaghetti (with store-bought tuna meat sauce)

2 servings of spaghetti or your favourite pasta about 140-160grams
Store-bought sauce
10 pieces of button mushrooms, thinly sliced
A few sticks of crab sticks, sliced into smaller pieces
Ketchup
A dash of salt
A dash of pepper

I wanted to cook spaghetti because when I asked my sister what would she want to eat if I were to cook for her, she said 'SPAGHETTI'! Spaghetti is also one of my favourite food so it will definitely be one meal that we would both enjoy.

However, I do not know how to make my own spaghetti sauce, and it is rather boring and 'mainstream' because a few of my friends have already decided to make it. I also heard that the making of spaghetti sauce from scratch requires a lot of time and ingredients that might be difficult to find in the market. Hence, I decided to go with the store-bought sauce.

The amount of protein and iron is just right for us. However, the amount of calcium and energy from the food is a not enough to sustain us until her next meal.

References:
http://www.noobcook.com/fish-ball-noodle-soup/2/
http://www.hpb.gov.sg/hpb/ere/ere070101.asp
http://www.noobcook.com/mushroom-spaghetti/2/

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