Cooking under pressure

Cooking and feeding a child can be even more taxing when you are displaced, like us. We have been in temporary accommodation while our new house is finished. For the last three weeks I have had a two-burner hotplate on a tiny kitchen counter to cook. I have had to be resilient and find recipes that would be quick to make, healthy and tasty. We have tried to eat out whenever the thought of being, let alone cooking in a cramped apartment has got the better of us.

On a Monday night we decided to try The Blue Breeze Inn, the new venture of Mark Wahlbank and Che Barrington of Moo Chow Chow. We went as a big group of ten and were seated on a large round private table. We had the banquet menu to try a good selection of everything on offer. Hospobaby loved the Bang Bang chicken that had smoked bacon that she loves. Zoya is partial to dumplings so the pork and prawn Shumai and prawn Har Gau were her favourites. After having seven dishes and sides each of us found it terribly hard to reach the door. We would definitely take Hospobaby back there.

I have had to contend with having a two year old on my hands 24/7, with all our moving we have had to pull Hospobaby out of daycare. In order to preserve my sanity as well as Zoya’s we have enrolled in activities to keep us busy. After our first Jumping Beans session we headed to the Lucky Taco truck in Ponsonby.

I am crazy for Mexican food and her dad Sid loves Asian cuisine, hence it comes as no surprise that whenever you ask Zoya what she would like for her next meal she will reply with either “tacos” or “dumplings”. Hospobaby was so excited to have her wish come true. I ordered the pulled pork taco for Zoya and a chipotle prawn one for me. We got Horchata, a traditional milky drink. We waited by the back of the truck so Hospobaby could see her tacos being made. She couldn’t understand why the tacos were being made in a truck. She kept calling the Lucky taco truck, a fire truck so loudly, that she managed to distract Otis Frizzell who was busy dishing out tacos at a hundred an hour. Zoya loved her pulled pork taco and made it disappear in no time. I had to fend her off my spicy prawn taco for the risk to setting her mouth on fire. The sweet Horchata was the perfect finish to our tacos. Hospobaby’s satiated smile made me feel like a champion mom.

It is hard feeling like champion when you cant get a meal on the table because you are running out of time or in my case are cooking in an alien and limited kitchenette. This quesadilla recipe that I have adapted from Nigella Lawson’s, Nigella Express has saved me on a couple of nights. It takes minimal kitchen equipment and is ready in literally 5 minutes. Some times cooking is not hard as we think it is…

Ingredients

30g thinly sliced cured ham (I use parma ham or prosciutto)

3- 4 slices of pickled green jalapeno chilli peppers cut up finely

50 g grated cheese

100 g queso fresco or goat’s cheese

1 spring onion finely sliced

small bunch of coriander

olive oil

Soft flour tortillas

Shop bought salsa

Method

Heat a pan and drizzle with olive oil.

Place some ham on the tortilla and then on one half pile up all the ingredients (leave out the jalapenos for the little people)

Fold the tortilla into half and grill in the pan

Take off the heat once light brown in colour and slice into 3 wedges

Serve with salsa or ketchup for the hungry little mouths.