meal for one

There is a fine art of cooking for one person. Did you know you can stir fry bulbs of fennel? They are actually quite delicious when combined with soy sauce with a bit of sugar to produce a syrupy result. The ingredients are simple - start with 2 cloves of garlic, onions (sliced length ways), the sliced fennel and if you can stand it, 2 bird's eye chillies, and fry in about 2 or 3 teaspoons of oil. Once the onions start to go translucent, add slice courgettes. Cover with a lid over your frying pan and allow to cook for about 2-3 min. When the courgettes have slightly browned, add the sliced chicken or turkey. Cover again with the lid for about 2-3 min. The pan will get really hot at this point and you can start the stir-fry. Add soy sauce and a touch of sweetness or even balsamic vinegar. If you have leftover sweet corn, whether fresh or canned or frozen, you can add to the pan. Cook for another 2 mins on high heat, switch off the heat with lid on and let the meat naturally cook for another 2 min. The meat should be tender. (To ensure tenderness of chicken or turkey slices, you can pre-seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper and a bit of corn starch). Serve with rice or if you are too lazy to cook rice for 1 person (or don't want left-over rice the next day after cooking rice for 2), then you can also have with bread - the sauce goes well with it. For me, I am having the muesli bread i bought yesterday morning with my stir-fried turkey with fennel. I feel so healthy!

By the way, I was cooking my dinner, talking to my friend Dexin in Singapore and ordering 2 pairs of snazzy shoes from Swear in Carnaby Street for him online. Talk about multi-tasking!