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Red pepper and carrot egg noodle stir fry with saucy mince

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A quick stir fry always is a go-to option for a dinner on busy nights. Although I have never been to China and had a real traditional one, I am obsessed with the ones I have had and made. I love how versatile they are and how creative one can be with them since always having the same can be boring after a while. Like this one, it is definitely not your average one, nope, but it is a DREAM! And super super quick!

What is stir fry? 

Stir fry actually is a Chinese cooking technique where food is prepared at high heat, continuously stirring and there for frying it quickly. Nowadays stir fry is a term with which one often refers to a dish rather than a cooking technique. The dish consists of vegetables sautéed with some sort of meat, seafood, tofu or tempeh all covered in a tasty sauce and served over rice or noodles or even another grain like quinoa. 

What’s special about this dish?

Usually stir fry is prepared with strips of meat or cubes of tofu. But in this dish we are switching it up and using minced meat. Firstly, it is a nice way to switch thighs up and make it different once in a while and secondly it soaks up the sauce super well, which makes the dish really tasty! 

Also, in regular stir fries you can find a bunch of different vegetables, including lots of greens. But here we only use two different ones. That helps to focus on their flavor and to also mane non veggie lovers be obsessed with this dish! But if you still feel like it, go ahead and add in a handful of spinach! 

Is stir fry healthy?

It actually is pretty healthy! But obviously, it still depends on what you are using. When prepared with something like chicken breast or tofu it actually is healthy but when it‘s made with something like pork belly or fatty meat, it loads up on calories and fats.

Which makes me come to the next point: fat. Stir fries usually are prepared with lots of oil because that is common in the asian cuisine. While oil definitely is not unhealthy (unless you prepare it with an oil that gets poisonous at high temperatures such as olive oil) it comes with a bunch of calories, which you should be aware of. 

The last point you should look out for is the soy sauce. Try to use one that is sodium reduced because a lot of sodium also is bot healthy but pretty common.

How to make it healthier

Try to add in as many veggies as possible and choose a type of protein that does not pack a lot of fat and use a soy reduced soy sauce. If you want to make it super healthy you can even serve it with whole grain rice or noodles.

Substitutes:

Bell Pepper/ Carrots – veggies you have on hand/ in the fridge
Ground chicken – any other ground meat or textured vegetable protein
Egg noodles – ramen, soba noodles, rice noodles 

I really love to make this dish because it is something the whole family loves and it is really versatile. Plus, it comes together in less than 20 minutes and is healthy! Perfect for busy weeks! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! 

Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cusinière

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Red pepper and carrot egg noodle stir fry with saucy mince

Saucy and juicy mince on top of soft noodles with crunchy veggies. A dream. Not your normal stir fry but a good one with a nice twist to it.

Course dinner, lunch, Main Course
Cuisine asian, Chinese
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 15 Minuten
Total Time 25 Minuten
Servings 4 servings
Calories 625 kcal

What you will need

  • 500 g ground beef
  • 250 g egg noodles
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 yellow/orange bell pepper
  • 3-4 carrots
  • 1 tbsp oil

for the sauce:

  • 4 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 3 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 cm ginger
  • 1 chili (optional but really good)

for garnish:

  • 2 spring onions finely slices
  • fresh cilantro
  • some sesame seeds
  • thinly sliced carrots
  • some lime wedges

How to

  1. Remove the core from the bell peppers. Cut the rest into about 0,5cm thick slices. Peel the carrots and also cut them into thin sticks.

  2. Heat up the oil in a wok pan or a non-stick pan. Once hot add the vegetables and fry on high heat for about 1 minute, then turning it to medium high for another 2-3 minutes.

  3. Add the grounf beef and fry on high heat for about 4-5 minutes, gently mixing through, so everything is well combined and the meat is evenly browned.

  4. Add all of the ingredients for the sauce into a food processor and blend until combined. If you do not have a food processor mix everything in a bowl and grate the garlic and ginger into it.

  5. Prepare the noodles according to package instructions. Add the sauce to the stir fry and let it simmer on low heat for about 3 minutes. Drain the noodles and add them to the stir fry. Mix until combined and the noodles have soaked up the sauce.

  6. Serve in bowls and garnish with the fresh spring onions, cilantro, carrots, sesame seeds and lime. Enjoy!

Octopus Salad

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A super tasty summer salad. It’s not like your boring greens with olive oil and vinegar. No, it is so much more. Packed with tons of different things, crispy octopus, conch veggies, sweet mango and a super fresh dressing! That’s all we need for a (rather) quick summer lunch.

We always go to Italy for our summer holidays. Every single year. And when we are at the sea we eat a bunch of sea food. (I mean if not there, where else would you have it?). I have eaten pretty much all sea food there and absolutely love it. Except for octopus. I just wasn’t quite mine or what I loved. And then came quarantine. And we wanted to cook as many different dishes as possible (I think the first 4 or 5 weeks we did not make anything twice!). So every weekend we would go to a market close to us and get some good fish. And so, once I saw that Octopus and I just though like: alright, why not trying it out again, maybe I can make it taste good and so I got it. And that was a really good decision because this turned out to be such a delicious dish!

Is octopus healthy?

It actually is super healthy. Just like most sea foods, octopus has a pretty low fat content. Therefore it is not very high in calories. But, it is really high in protein. A 100g serving almost has 30g of protein which is quite a lot. Plus it also is pretty high in iron, selenium and Vitamin B12. So all in all pretty healthy.

Octopus Salad

Octopus is mainly eaten in asian cuisines like Japanese. Also, Mediterranean countries use it a lot in cooking. You can find it very often in the south of Italy, Portugal, Spain and Croatia. Another part in the world where it is pretty common to have it is Hawaii. There it often is served in poke bowls (which I also have a recipe on the blog). Octopus salad though, is often served in Italy. There a lot of times it is prepared with celery, tomatoes and parsley.

Octopus Salad à la Une Petite Cuisinière

While I got my inspiration from the rather „traditional“ salad I kind of changed it up completely. And it turned out pretty bomb. Why? I personally find that it is a bit boring with so little ingredients. Also, I love to eat the rainbow and combine as many flavours as possible. And there probably is not easier way to eat the rainbow than in a salad.

So we are using some basic greens as a base. I love to use a mix of baby spinach and lambs lettuce (Vogerlsalat) but any sort of greens works fine. To make it more filling we also add some potatoes. Those are just steamed in some water. I like best to use baby potatoes because you can eat them with skin but if you can’t find those, just use regular ones.

As for veggies we love using some green beans. Cut them up before steaming and then add them to a pot along with the peas or edamame. For some freshness and crunch we also add some bell pepper, tomatoes, radishes, cucumber and spring onions. And last but not least we are having some mango. This sweetens it up a little and makes it so incredibly tasty.

As for veggies we love using some green beans. Cut them up before steaming and then add them to a pot along with the peas or edamame. For some freshness and crunch we also add some bell pepper, tomatoes, radishes, cucumber and spring onions. And last but not least we are having some mango. This sweetens it up a little and makes it so incredibly tasty.

The dressing also is really simple. It is just olive oil, lemon juice, honey and a little vinegar. Super simple. But honestly, you do not need more because the salad already is really rich in flavour.

When to best enjoy it

I love this, for both lunch and dinner. It is not hard to make, comes together pretty quickly and does not sit super heavy in your stomach. Also, this works really well as meal prep. You can already add the dressing beforehand and just store it in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. It also is super nice to take this on a picnic and enjoy in the sun!

I hope that you will enjoy this recipe and make it on repeat this summer.

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Octopus Salad

Crispy octopus with many many fresh veggies, comforting potatoes and sweet mango. All packed up into one super delicius bowl!

Course dinner, lunch, Main Course
Prep Time 20 Minuten
Cook Time 10 Minuten
Total Time 30 Minuten
Servings 4 servings
Calories 338 kcal

What you will need

  • 500 g octopus about 4-5 tentacles
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 red chili optional
  • 250 g potatoes I prefer using baby potatoes
  • 1 bell pepper
  • 1 cucumber
  • 1 mango
  • 4 spring onion
  • 150 g green beans
  • 100 g peas or edamame
  • 100 g cherry tomatoes
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 lemon juiced
  • 1 tbsp vinegar
  • 2 tsp honey

How to

  1. Add the baby potatoes to a pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 20 minutes. Then drain them. If you are using larger potatoes you may need to cook them longer and need to peel them after cooking.

    Slice the octopus into slices, each about 0,5-1 cm thick. Heat up 1 tbsp of olive oil. FInely slice the garlic cloves and chili and add to the hot oil. Sauté for about 30 seconds. Add the octopus in it and pan fry for about 5 minutes on medium high. Then reduce the heat to low and let it kind of simmer a bit for 5 minutes.

  2. I the meantime chop up all of the veggies. Cut the cucumber into thin cubes just as the bell pepper. Half the cherry tomatoes and cut the spring onions into thin slices. Peel the mango and chop it up smaller. Cut the green ebans into bite sized pieces.

  3. Bring another pot with water to a boil and steam the green beans and peas for about 4-5 minutes.

  4. When the potatoes have cooled a little bit, cut them up into slices or cubes. Add all of the ingredients to a bowl. In a seperate one combine the remaining olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar and honey. Generously salt and pepper the salad and toss in the dressing. Serve and enjoy!

Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

Summer Rolls with Peanut Tofu

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Picture summer in a better way than having summer rolls in the sunshine with your loved ones on a picnic, maybe at a lake. Doesn’t this sound like a dream? To me it does. But wait, where’s the catch? Oh yes, maybe to get those summer rolls. I mean, sure you could order them at your favourite Vietnamese restaurant but why not making them yourself? It is so easy and way cheaper.

If you have been a little active in the food scene of instagram you probably have already seen those. I think summer rolls have become very popular a few years ago and have become part of the whole health food industry. Besides that they are super duper tasty. So here we are, and I have made a recipe for you to make them at home. If you are not very familiar with summer rolls here is just a brief introduction!

What are summer rolls?

Summer rolls is a dish popular in Vietnam. They are also called rice paper rolls, or fresh spring rolls. It is believed though, that they originally come from China and only became popular in Vietnam. Anyway, today you can find them in most asian restaurants, even in Japanese or Thai ones.

These cute rolls look very much like spring rolls. Same size and shape. The difference is the filling and the preparation. Spring rolls are mostly filled with pork and vegetables and then deep fried. Summer rolls on the other hand are filled with vegetables, prawn, pork or tofu and oftentimes also rice vermicelli (super thin rice noodles). Also those are not deep-fried or prepared with any oil and they are served at room temperature or cold. Both, spring and summer rolls, come with a sauce on the side.

Are summer rolls healthy?

Definitely! Since the main component are vegetables, they are super healthy. Other than vegetables you often have rice vermicelli, which also are not unhealthy. They are not high in sugar or fat but also not super nutritious. For your source of protein you can use prawns, pork or tofu. They are all great sources of protein. Prawns and they also are not high in fat at all. Pork on the other hand can be high in fat, depending on which part you use.

Summer rolls kn general are not high kn fat because, unlike spring rolls they are not deep fried, and prepared with rarely little fat. The only fat may be used when preparing the protein source or in the sauce.

The sauce is the only thing you should look out for when you have those. They often are served with a sweet chili sauce or lots of soy sauce. Sweet chili sauce mostly has a lot of sugar in it and soy sauce is high in sodium. If you only get a little on the side, that’s more than fine just be aware of that!

so what’s in these summer rolls?

This is a vegetarian (actually vegan) version. I do not use rice vermicelli because I prefer them without (plus it is less work). So, as a base we have a bunch of vegetables. We use a mix of carrots, bell pepper, cucumber, lettuce and radishes. You could also add red cabbage or anything else of your preference.

To not keep it boring we also are adding some fruit. I absolutely love mango in here but papaya also works. But mango is better tbh. And of course avocado. What would a meal be without avocado? (btw, did you know that avocado is a fruit?) And of course, our source of protein, the peanut tofu. It adds a bunch of flavour and is so tasty. But still, it is not so flavourful yet, that’s why we are adding some more peanut sauce and, if you want, also some sriracha or hot sauce.

The rice paper

Rice paper is not such an easy thing to find. You will probably not find it at your regular supermarket but you can find it in pretty much and asian store. It has the form of a circle and is almost see through but a little white-ish. I get mine from Reishunger because it is super good, easy to get and they ship it right to your door!

I think that you will love this recipe for summer and I hope that you will enjoy both, making and eating it.

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Summer rolls with peanut tofu

a perfectly fresh and light summer dish for those hot days!

Course Appetizer, dinner, lunch
Cuisine Chinese, Vietnamese
Prep Time 25 Minuten
Cook Time 5 Minuten
Servings 2 servings
Calories 564 kcal

What you will need

  • 10 rice papers
  • 200 g tofu
  • 2 carrots
  • 1/2 cucumber
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 100 g radishes
  • 1/2 mango
  • 100 g lettuce
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 1 tbsp oil

For the peanut sauce:

  • 150 ml light coconut milk
  • 2 tbsp peanut butter
  • 4 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tsp sriracha hot sauce
  • 1/2 lime
  • 1 tbsp coconut sugar or brown sugar
  • 1-2 tbsp water

How to

  1. Combine all the ingredients for the peanut sauce. Slice the tofu into 1 cm thick and about 6-7cm long strips (or hwo ever it works best for you).

    Place them in the peanut sauce and let them marinate for about 1 h or longer if possible.

  2. Peel the carrots and either grate them or slice them into thin strips. Also slice the peper and cucumber into thin strips. Peel the mango and also cut it into bite sized pieces. Finely slice the radishes and chop up the lettuce.

  3. Heat up a pan with the oil. Take the tofu out of the sauce and fry on each side for about 2 minutes. Set it aside.

  4. To assemble prepare the rice paper according to package instructions. It most of the time works best when you take a kitchen towel and make it wet. Lay that on a flat surface. Then run the rice paper under water for about 3-4 seconds. Place them on the wet kitchen towl. Add a little bit of each filling and some of the remaining peanut sauce into the rice paper, rather on th elower end but not on the edge.

    First, fold in the rice paper from the bottom. Then fold in the sides and roll it up, so all of the fillings are in the rice paper and it is tightly closed. This takes a little practice but after a few it will work out.

  5. Pour the remaining sauce in a little conatiner and serve it with the summer rolls! Serve and enjoy!

Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

Creamy Basil Feta Pasta

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Summer to me is lots of fresh herbs. Mint, basil, rosemary, parsley, all of the good things. No matter where. Whether it is in salads, as a garnish, on toast, in drinks, in pesto or in pasta. It is just a sign and part of summer. So fresh, so tasty. But, as good as pesto is, here we are gonna switch things up a little bit and make an extremely easy, 10 minute pasta dish! No, that’s not a typo, it actually only takes 10 minutes (maybe 15 max)!

What does summer mean to you? Laying at the beach, toasting barbecues and summer parties, going for a swim? To me it is lots of sun, good times and fresh food! Definitely! That is why I love herbs so much! I love how they add so much freshness to every single dish you add it in. Also they just add such a nice flavour!

Are herbs healthy?

Definitely! It honestly is very surprising to some! In most kitchens you will find some sort of herbs. Some prefer them in a fresh form to add them to dishes or as a garnish and some have them in their dried form. I personally prefer the dried form for seasoning because they are more intense in flavour but I always have fresh herbs on hand for garnish. Also they make pretty much everything look nice.

Back to the point. Herbs actually are super healthy. Their are extremely high in vitamins, minerals but also fibre. Some even have a decent amount of protein. The great thing about them is that it is so easy to add them to anything to give all of your meals an extra nutrient boost.

How to add more herbs to your diet

This part I believe is really easy. One of my favourite ways is to add it into salads. Like adding a little bit of mint and basil to your salad not only makes a great flavour but also adds a bunch of vitamins. Other ways are to stir is into sauces like into tomato sauce, into stir fries, here cilantro would work amazing, when marinating something or just make pesto out of it. All of these ways are super easy.

Is this sauce like pesto?

No, but also yes. So it is kind of similar but also different. What is pretty much the same is the strong basil flavour. But we are not using parmesan cheese and pine nuts and loads of olive oil. So basil as a base is same. Instead of parmesan cheese we are using feta. If you do not know, feta is a cheese made out of sheep’s milk. It originated in Greece and still is very popular these. It is a firm cheese but has a rather „light“ and fresh taste. So as said, it is a firm cheese but when you blend it up it becomes very creamy.

We still, also use a little bit of olive oil to add some flavour but not as much as in pesto. No nuts in here, which pesto does have. What is „new“ here, which is not usual in pesto is that we add some greek yoghurt. The greek yoghurt adds some creaminess and makes it really good.

How to make the sauce & substitutes

Well, that’s the easiest thing ever. Blend it all up, that’s it. First only the basil, which allows it to become very fine and smooth. Then we add the feta and lastly, some salt, olive oil and greek yoghurt. Also reserve some water from the boiling pasta and add it again when combining the pasta with the sauce. This really is key to making a super creamy sauce and to allow it to combine it well.

If you do not do feta, you can use cream cheese instead. I would recommend using one from goat though, because I believe that the flavour just goes in better harmony with the basil but regular one works too. If you do not have greek yoghurt on hand, you can use some regular yoghurt or half the amount and substitute it for cream cheese.

When to have it & meal prep

I LOVE this as a quick and easy lunch or dinner. It is perfect for a large number of people because it is super easy to make and very versatile. If you want, you can also add some grilled chicken or prawns on top, which also is really tasty.

I would not recommend it for meal prep just because I personally do not like reheated pasta and it only takes very little time anyway. If you do not mind reheated pasta, you can totally meal prep it. Or you just meal prep the sauce, this works really well.

I hope that you like this recipe and enjoy it all throughout summer !

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Creamy Basil Feta Pasta

A great summer pasta. Not like your pesto but much better. And easier. 10 minutes, 6 ingredients. Super good.

Course dinner, lunch, Main Course
Cuisine Mediterranean
Prep Time 5 Minuten
Cook Time 10 Minuten
Total Time 15 Minuten
Servings 4 servings
Calories 732 kcal

What you will need

  • 500 g spaghetti
  • 300 g feta
  • 100 g basil about 3-4 large handful
  • 100 g greek yogurt
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • some dried tomatoes

How to

  1. Bring a large pot with salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Before draining the pasta reserve one cup (about 200ml) of the pasta water.

  2. While the pasta is cooking add the basil to a food processor, until it is very finely chopped. Then add the feta and blend again until a creamy consitency is reached. Last add the olive oil, greek yoghurt and a pinch of salt. Add at least half of the reserved pasta water and blend again.

  3. After draining the pasta add it back to the pot along with the sauce. If it still is too thick and does not combine well, add some more pasta water.

  4. Divide onto the plates and garnish with extra feta, dried tomatoes and fresh basil.

    Enjoy!

Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière