Lockdown Cooking

I struggled at the start of staying at home repetitively and going totally dry of cooking ideas. However, a whole avenue opened up after a few months and I found countless inspiring meals. I've meal-planned consistently for a couple of months now and explored so many new cuisines and dishes. I really have been enjoying experimenting in the kitchen.

• Steamed drunken prawns - a favourite always

• Vegetable pancakes have been a staple from the start of lockdown. We make this so often. It's so easy and literally any vegetable can go in. The variations are limitless. Tastes absolutely delicious with black vinegar dipping sauce.

• One of my most surprising experiments. So good! Cantonese smothered tofu. It was like restaurant quality! Very pleased with how it turned out.

• Soy sauce pork belly - never used to like this but it's a traditional easy to make goodie!

• Air fried salmon with veges and sweet potato fries - another dish which quickly became a staple in our household.

• Mozzarella chicken balls which ended with a contest for the longest cheese pull that C won!

• Another fun staple during lockdown - homemade pizzas! C really enjoys making these.

• My mother- in-law's recipe for Yam Cake. Tastes so good but for some reason, I always get acid reflux after. Aside from that, I'd still make this once a year!

• The husband nailed making sweet and sour pork during the lockdown. The boys especially love the pineapple.

• Another dish I made a myriad of variations of - japchae!

• We were recommended some cheap and amazing sourdough and the airfryer has been amazing at making bruschetta and garlic bread. 

• Made tteokbokki so many times! The version slowly became bastardised as I added more ingredients like lamb thins and beancurd. Love the traditional and bastardised versions! The rice cakes have such a chewy, addictive texture. Quick and easy to put together too. I even tried making my own but nothing compares to the storebought ones. I must stress that it should be made in Korea because I tried some from China and boy oh boy, they are not the same!

• Y mastered the art of making Nasi Lemak as well. It is literally perfect and beats many shops hands-down. I've got to ask him to make this again soon.

• Seafood mushroom soup with the trusty garlic bread. Really love the mushroom soup and garlic bread combo, a staple as well during this lockdown. Campbell's mushroom soup is good but nothing beats homemade mushroom soup.

• I tried my hand on airfryer pork belly. The crackling was not very successful so there's that! The pork was yummy though.

• Missing mamak stalls, Y mastered the art of making roti telur bawang from regular frozen roti. :) It was so good. I made a variety of curries and Y made dhal too to enjoy with it.

• Missed English breakfast so made this one day. I really do love baked beans.

• Orange chicken which turned out superb!

• Oven baked salmon and veges - staple!

• I made inverted sushi for the first time with 3 coloured rice which is the best rice we've tried ever. If only it wasn't on the pricy side, we'd have this regularly. 

• A real good weekender - fried rice with any leftovers in the fridge!

• Bibimbap! A huge favourite in the month of August and September. We had this so many times. So easy to make too! I've started making Bibimen too and it is just as delicious, if not more!

• Zucchini pasta

• Korean street toast - a random experiment. It was alright but not something I'd make over and over.

• One of our absolute favourite discoveries this year. Vietnamese rice rolls. We've made these every which way and have it weekly, sometimes twice a week! So healthy, fun to make, endless varieties and so delicious.

• I finally nailed down the filling combo for prawn and pork wontons. So good in soup or served with vinegar chilli oil. 

• Made some oven-baked falafels. 

• Y mastered fish and chips. We eat the fish with some homemade tzatziki. Definitely Hall of Fame.

• Our friends sent us this recipe of pesto chicken pasta and it's really good! Made it a couple of times since.

• A recent favourite is smoked salmon, cheese and avocado bagels. Best enjoyed at the beach.

• Our healthy Christmas feast - baked parmesan salmon, crostini and watermelon salad. The salmon turned out so good with lemon sauce! Yumms!

• Some of the best recipes involved the airfryer which I'm very grateful for. These honey garlic butter chicken wings are the bomb especially with pepitas sprinkled over them. 

• Air fryer prawn toast! So so good and easy to make. Guilt-free as they're not deep-fried oil sponges as they usually are. :)

• Our latest experiment. Airfryer Korean BBQ pork with homemade ssamjang. It turned out so fantastic. Definitely doing it again.