Meal prep has become a vital part of being organised food wise as the load shedding becomes fairly unpredictable. Lunch or dinner meal ideas do not always come easy but preparing and planning meals does to me because when it’s all cooked and done you don’t fuss too much throughout the week. Here are the recipes that I have made this month which create around 5 servings each. I do suggest that once you know the type of recipes that you will be cooking make sure everything is chopped up  before you start cooking it makes it easier to move from one meal to the next during the cooking process.

Beef and Pork Meatballs

Everybody loves  meatballs. I always make the Chicken Thai Meatballs but I’ve  opted to go for beef and pork and these are equally delicious. 

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Ingredients

• 1 kg beef mince and 1 kg pork mince
• 2 large red onions, finely chopped
• 100g breadcrumbs
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds or powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 1/2 a large bunch fresh of coriander, finely chopped
• 2 eggs
• 1 whole ginger
• 2 whole heads of garlic
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil, for frying
• Salt and pepper to taste

For the Sauce

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp of the garlic-ginger mixture
• Passata sauce or 2x400g cans of chopped tinned tomatoes

Method

Blend the garlic and ginger into a paste (use in the other dishes as well). Add the beef and pork to a bowl then 2 tbsp of ginger-garlic paste, onion, all the spices, eggs, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and mix together. Make even shaped meatballs, heat oil in a large pan on medium heat, fry the meatballs until browned and on each side. After the frying is done make the sauce by adding the garlic-ginger mixture, tinned tomato or passata to the oil and bring to a boil put the fried balls back in the pan then simmer for 15 minutes. 

Kung Pao Chicken

I absolutely adore this dish and don’t tire of eating it maybe it is the mixture of the nuts, chicken and the chillies works so well. Here’s my take on this dish that I order every time we go for Chinese although I might have made my version too saucy and hotter than necessary to the point of tears but will keep trying until it gets to that restaurant standard I enjoy.

Ingredients

• 5 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
• 1/2 cup of oil
• 100g peanuts , roasted
• 3 red or yellow peppers, deseeded and cut into cubes
• 3 red onions, cut into cubes
• Garlic and ginger paste
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Fresh or dry red chilies

For the sauce

• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 cup sweet soy sauce
• 12 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp cornstarch

Place cubed chicken in a large bowl add the cornstarch and mix well then set aside for 20 minutes. Heat the oil in large pan or wok over medium heat and fry the chicken until slightly browned, then add the peppers, onions and garlic-ginger paste and fry together for 1 minute. Add the roasted peanuts and stir constantly so it doesn’t stick, mix the sauce and add to the pan simmer for 5 minutes and you are done.

Chicken Stir Fry

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Ingredients

• 5 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 1/2 cup of oil
• 3 red or yellow peppers, deseeded and cut into strips
• 3 large red onions, cut into strips
• 1 red cabbage, cut into strips
• 200g (2 cups) sugar snap peas
• 200g beansprouts
• Garlic-ginger mixture
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Red Chilies (optional)

For the sauce 

• 3 tbsp hoisin sauce 
• 2 tbsp sweet soy sauce 
• Rice wine vinegar (optional)

To make the sauce, mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl until completely blended. Heat the oil in a frying pan until very hot. Throw in the chicken until cooked, then cabbage until fried, sugar snap peas, peppers, onion then garlic-ginger mixture, then stir-fry for about 4-5 mins. Pour over the sauce and simmer with a splash of water. Remove the pan from the heat, then stir through just before serving or packing in tupperware.