The girls are coming for tea (also two boy’s, Daniel, Anna-May’s son 15 and my hubby Baz) so there will be 7 of us. But with a bottle of wine each, it is a girls night out. Even Emma 13 enjoys these nights.
One of the things I enjoy is to set a nice table. As I am working through out the day, getting ready for the girls. I find out I only have 6 Chinese soup dishes. As I only have bits and pieces of a chines dinner set, that I have built up over the years (“O” my god what am I to do
1 Do I run to the local Asian shops, and try to find more.
Or
2 make do with what I have got. Well that got me thinking.
So why am I doing this dinner? Is it so we can eat together and have good food, good friends and fun. Or so my table looks nice. My friends are not coming to say (she has odd spoons and plates, they are coming to have fun, and will love what ever I put on the table) So odd spoons, and plates, but good friends is the way I went.
this is my one of my odd soup spoon’s.
Some times I think we get so wrapped up in how things should be, we forget why we are really doing this. It is to spend time with the people we love. It does not matter if dinner is fish and chips in paper on the table or floor, or you best dinner set, as long as it is done with love that is all that matters. Hell nothing makes me more happier than to go over to Ann’s for lunch and she does tin tomato soup and toast, and we watch a movie together.
When I told the girls during dinner, they told me not to be silly, as always the table looked good and the food was the best. Thank you girls. I am so lucky with the friends we have around us. Anna-May said she would ask Paul to bring me back some spoons from China, when he comes home, so I will have a set. Thank you Paul.
Little did I know that he will bring me back a whole dinner set for 10 people. It is just beautiful. I was gob smacked. I will put up photos at the end of this post. So now I have a Chinese dinner set 
Chicken dumpling broth, which is chicken meat balls cooked with Asian greens in a stock. With this you can do all of the prep before everyone arrives. Make the ball and put into the fridge, cut up all the vegetables and have on platters, and make the stock, so when everyone arrives you can cook while having a glass of wine in hand, chatting. I love this soup as you can use what is on hand, and just dump into stock. What made it easer for me, is that Daniel asked if he could help cook. (so two hands on my wine glass lol)
Daniel enjoyed helping me cook this, and I made this Gluten free for Anna-May. I had too made my own Teriyaki sauce, as I did not have one that was GF.
Homemade Teriyaki sauce GF
1/2 cup soy sauce Fountain GF
1/4 cup mirin rice wine GF
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon fresh ginger (grated)
1. Combine all ingredients listed below in a pan.
2. Stir the mixture well.
3. Put the pan on medium heat and bring to a boil.
4. Turn down the heat to low and simmer for a couple minutes.
5. Stop the heat and cool the mixture.
6. Store the sauce in a clean bottle in the fridge.
Tips: You can substitute mirin with sake and sugar (sake:sugar = 3:1)
Adjust the amount of sugar, depending on your preference.
Cooking Times
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Inactive Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
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NOTE; I use 1/2 cup of Casalare Baking white rice crumbs instead of bread crumbs or oats. Casalare Baking white rice crumbs, is made in Australia, and it is free from Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free, Soy Free, Nut Free, Seed Free. We did not notes any deference in the taste, from bread crumbs or oats that I would have use.
I was in the mood for something light, easy, and heart-warming. I think this pretty much did the trick; some ladleful's of homemade chicken broth, a myriad of greens, chicken ball’s and some chillies all simmering in a large pot. What more can you ask for?
Jan’s Chicken Ball soup
Chicken Balls
500 g chicken mince
1/2 cup Oats, or dried breadcrumbs (See GF note)
1 small coriander leaves, leaves and stalks finely chopped
1 Egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoon Soy sauce
1 teaspoon chillies ( I use crushed chillies from a jar)
1 teaspoon Sesame oil
2 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
Soup
1 tablespoon Olive oil
1 Brown onion, finely chopped
1 green capsicum, cut into thin strips
1 tablespoon Honey
1 tablespoon Teriyaki sauce
12 cups chicken stock I used home made stock
250 gram Bean Sprouts, (Rinsed)
2 large carrot, julienne
100 gram baby sweet corn cobs chopped in 1/2
500 gram of mixed Asian greens chopped into bit size pieces
300 gram dried rice vermicelli 1 Tomato, deseed, cut into thin strips
To make meat balls
1 Combine mince, crumbs, coriander, egg, soy sauce, chilli, sesame seeds and sesame oil in a large bowl. Roll heaped teaspoonful's of mixture into balls. Place on a large plate, and put in to the fridge to cool until needed.
To make the stock
2. Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add onion. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until tender. Add capsicum. Cook for 1 minute. Add honey, teriyaki sauce and stock. Bring to the boil. (This is where you can stop and put stock back on to simmer when everyone arrives).
3. Drop the chicken balls a few at a time, so the stock keeps on the simmering, and simmer gently without boiling for 15 minutes. remove and set aside to put back in just before you put in the first lot of vegetables
4. Meanwhile, place rice stick noodles in a large heat proof bowl and cover with boiling water according to the packet instructions. Just before serving drain and divide noodle’s between warm bowls, with the beansprout, Tomato and ladle soup over the noodles and beansprouts.
5. Add to the stock, carrots and cook for 2 minutes, then add the greens a few at a time cook to keep the stock simmering gently and cook for another 10 minutes. Serve over noodle’s, and enjoy
Source
Author: Jan Plater
Source: My cooking note book
Copyright: Jan Plater
Cooking Times
Preparation Time: 40 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Inactive Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Recipe Type: Kid Friendly, Poultry, Soups, Gluten Free.
Servings: 6
Yield: 16 chicken balls
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