Fongolicious

Crumbed Green Beans with Toasted Almond Silvers

2020-12-15T20:55:00.005+11:00

I want to call them green bean chips but they're not but they're just as addictive. After buying two kilos of green beans on sale, no knowing what to do with so much fresh green beans, OG showed me this fantastic recipe and pretty much had him make it for me three days in a row coz I couldn't get enough.

The below recipe is VERY approximate. Rely on your own intuition and have fun. I've also tried to give you vegan options too.

Ingredients

~400g to 500g (about 1lb) fresh green beans
~1/4 cup raw silvered almonds
1 Tbpsn butter (vegan butter, coconut oil, peanut oil or sunflower oil if you wanna go vegan)
~1/2 cup breadcrumbs
Generous pinch of salt - like a few grinds on the salt mill (or your favourite seasoning eg. Lowry's, Tony Chachere's creole, Chicken Salt for the Aussies out there)
1/2 to 1 tpsn garlic powder (depending how garlic-y you like it)
Dried or fresh herbs (i.e. your favourite herb mix such as Italian, Provencal, mixed herbs. I used dill, chives, basil. Consider sage for the "burnt butter flavour")
2 to 3 Tbpsn nutritional yeast and/or
2 to 3 Tbpsn grated Parmesan cheese

Method

1. Wash, top and tail green beans. Cut into ~2 to 3 inches (~5cm) long to make it more manageable in the pan.

2. Steam green beans for 5 minutes in steaming basket / bamboo steamer (or whatever you have) over a pan of boiling water. Remove steamer from heat and set aside. Pour out remaining water from the pan.

3. In the dry pan, add almond silvers and stir constantly over medium heat to toast almonds. Add butter (or oil) to pan. Butter will quickly brown, so keep it moving. Add breadcrumbs, salt, garlic powder, your favourite herbs. Keep stiring to avoid it burning and to toast the crumbs til golden brown.

4. Remove crumb mixture from heat and place in serving bowl. Add green beans to pan, then stir through crumb mixture to coat the beans. The crumbs have a tendency to fall to the bottom of the bowl, so try bring them to the top.

5. Serve warm. Best eaten freshly cooked.

Savoury pancakes - herbs and cheese

2020-11-13T21:48:00.001+11:00

Tired of sweet, fruity, chocolate-ty pancakes for breakfast? I know, silly question, but there are some folks out there that just don't dig that sweetness, especially at that time of the day.

I adapted Recipe on the Tin's recipe for Blueberry pancakes, twice over actually. I initially changed to for double chocolate pancakes. Then, when we didn't want to have anything sweet for breakfast, I decided to try this same recipe but removed the sugar and other sweet elements completely and added cheese and chives. Let's just say it was surprisingly ... "so good"! They come out pretty light and fluffy due to the baking soda and vinegar mixture. You can add other fillings too, I've suggested some options below. If you find the mixture a bit too thick, add a dash of water to the mixture.

Ingredients

Dry

120g (1 cup) plain flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 tsp dried chives (or fresh) or other herbs you fancy (e.g. basil, oregano, parsley)

Wet

1 egg

30g (2 tbpsn) butter, melted

185ml (3/4 cup) milk

1 tsp white vinegar

~1/4 to 1/3 cup grated cheddar cheese (colby, swiss, gouda are also good alternative options)

Other filling ideas

Sun-dried tomatoes

Sauteed capsicum

Mushrooms

Bacon bits

Salami

Shallots

Chopped spinach

Melted butter for pan

Method

Mix dry, then mix wet ingredients, then add wet mixture into dry. Whisk until well combined. Stir in desired toppings.

Heat pan over medium heat. Cast iron is best but any heavy base is good. Melt a little knob of butter to coat the base. Spoon mixture to form desired pancake size. When bubbled, flip (~1.5 minutes). Cook for another minute or so. Remove and repeat this step until all mixture is used.

Flip it at this point.

Serve. Serving suggestions include crispy bacon, fried chicken, avocado, sour cream, salsa.

Mexican-style Pulled Chicken with Beans and Rice

2020-11-04T18:02:00.002+11:00

Don't you love good accidents? When you "wing-it" and it just turns out. This dish was one of those..."lets try it" and yep we're doing it again.

This was originally just a slow cook chicken dish with kidney beans. Then we added rice and then presto - a new dish was born.

Really hard to go wrong with this. The flavours are largely Mexican and Cajun influenced and the rice style is akin to Spain's paella. Whatever you want to call it, it's delicious!

Ingredients

3 to 4 chicken thigh fillets
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder (optional)
1 to 2 tablespoon smokey paprika
Olive oil for coating pan
1 large onion, diced
1 medium capsicum, cubed
~3 to 5 coriander roots, finely chopped
~1 teaspoon cumin powder
~1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 x 400g canned crushed tomatoes
1 x 400g canned red kidney beans
1 dash garlic powder (finely minced 1 clove if you're using fresh)
~1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
~1/2 teaspoon dried basil
~1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
~1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
~1 teaspoon dried coriander leaves
2 bay leaves
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup basmati rice
~1 to 2 Tablespoon liquid smoke

~ see notes

Method

Season chicken fillets with your favourite spice mix. Our household favourite being the Masterfood's Cajun Spice Mix. Sprinkle over with turmeric powder, smokey paprika.
Prepare other ingredients - capsicum, onion, coriander roots.
In pan over medium to high heat, add olive oil to coat pan. Saute onions until translucent. Add coriander root and capsicum and saute for a couple of minutes then move to the contents to the side of the pan or remove from pan and set aside.
Add a dash of oil the cleared area of pan, then add chicken fillets, flavoured side down. Sprinkle with cumin and ground coriander over the chicken. Brown off.
Add canned tomatoes then turn heat down to low. Add kidney beans and dash of garlic powder. Add tarragon, basil, marjoram, coriander (fresh or dried), oregano and bay leaves. Add approximately a cup of chicken stock (we used powdered chicken stock and water in the empty tomato can to rise the can out. Stir, cover and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. Check and stir every 15 minutes or so.
While simmering, wash rice.
Remove chicken from pan and rest on plate for about 10 minutes. Add rice to pan. Stir and cover for approximately 15 minutes or until rice is cooked. You may need to add more water if it's starting to catch at the bottom of the pan.
While rice is cooking and chicken has rested, shred/pull chicken using a couple of forks. Add liquid smoke over shredded chicken.
When rice is cooked, stir-in shredded chicken and remove bay leaves.
Serve with some grated tasty cheese, a dollop of sour cream, fresh coriander leaves and your favour hot sauce. Alternative, wrap it in a warm cheese tortilla.

Notes

These are approximate values. Add more if you want more, don't add or add less if you don't like.

Filipino Bihon Noodles

2020-10-26T15:50:00.004+11:00

During my university years, parties were never really a party without our friend's mum making Filipino Bihon noodles and lumpia spring rolls (recipe). To me it was just staple comfort food that simply gives you a hug and makes you feel loved. For so long I've asked for the recipe or to be shown how to cook this but it never really happened. Fortunately, I recently stumbled upon Pickled Plum's blog and found this recipe. Also known as Bihon Pancit or in my household - bahoon noodles (don't ask why - weird names just happen).

It's pretty easy and can easily be made vegan/vegetarian. Below is my adapted version.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
~250g boneless, skinless chicken breast/thigh (sliced into bite size pieces) - for vegans/vegetarians use firm tofu or omit entirely
1 small onion (finely chopped)
~400g pack bihon noodles, or thin vermicelli or rice noodles
Chopped up vegetables such as carrots, cabbage and green beans, scallions (chopped bite size slivers - see picture)
salt and pepper to taste

Pancit Sauce:

2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce (I use the vegetarian version)
1 teaspoon sugar
Light shake of garlic powder

Method

In a wok or a large saucepan over medium heat, add oil and heat. Add onion and saute for about 2 minutes. Add the cooked chicken and season with a little salt and pepper.
Stir in the veges (in order of time required for it to cook) and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until a little tender.
In a separate bowl, add all the ingredients for the pancit sauce - mix then add to pan and bring to a boil.
Add noodles and stir until all the noodles are coated with the sauce. Keep on stirring and cooking until the noodles are tender (3-4 minutes). Initially it might seem a bit futile but persist, use the sauce to soften the noodles and continue to stir.
Add more stock (or water) if the dish is dry before the noodles are tender.
Season with salt and pepper and more soy sauce if necessary. Serve immediately with fresh coriander, sesame seeds, fried onions (all the favourite toppings).

Thai chilli basil noodles - Pad Kee Mao

2020-10-26T15:15:00.000+11:00

Accidentally vegan, I made this stir-fry with rice noodles to just use up the leftover veges and expiring tofu in the fridge.

You can use other veges, obviously. Simply add it in order based on the time required to cook it.

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped
~150g firm tofu, diced in like inch logs
Broccoli, separated the stalks from the florets
Carrots (I diagonally sliced the cross-section of a carrot then maybe like half or third the cross section to make little flat match-sticks)
Celery (around 2-3 sticks, diagonally sliced so they're similar shape and size to the carrots)
Choy sum, I used half a bundle (Separate stalks from leaves. Stalks I chopped in half so they're a bit smaller. Maybe halved the bigger leaves.)
Mushrooms, sliced - i used around 4 med size ones.
Fresh coriander - not essential but I have heaps at the moment. Separated the root, stalks and leaves. Root I finally chopped. Stalks I roughly chopped. Leaves I kinda hand tore before serving.
2-3 tablespoons of the chili basil sauce/paste (see below)
1 heaped tspn corn flour
1 flat tspn raw sugar
3 globs of veg. oyster sauce
like 3 dashes of normal light soy-sauce
drizzle sesame oil at the end
1/2 kg rice noodle (I really can only get the ones you have to slice yourself that comes in like a 1kg folded up sheet)

NOTE: I would have also a zucchini too but I forgot - but these would be similar shaped to the carrots. You could also use capsicum, cauliflower, eggplant, etc.

Method

Marinate the sliced tofu in chili basil sauce and a dash of soy. Stir and set aside.
Prep all your veges, coriander and onion.
Slice up your noodles (if you have to).
Make a slurry in a cup with corn flour, sugar, oyster sauce, soy sauce and some water. Stir to dissolve the corn flour.
Heat wok, add oil (I use either sunflower or peanut - olive is too thick and flavourful for this kind of dish) to coat the base. You know when oil is ready when it bubbles around a wooden cooking utensil. Add onions and saute. Add coriander root. Stir. Add carrots and broccoli stalk(s). Stir. Add choy sum stalks, celery. Stir. Add broccoli florets and mushrooms. Stir. Add choy sum leaves and coriander stalks. Stir. Sprinkle very lightly with salt and a generous dash of water and cover. This allows the veges to steam slightly. Probably like half a minute or so. You can obviously adjust the heat to where you feel comfortable. I usually have it between medium and hot. At the point the choy sum leaves might just be starting to wilt. Remove all the veges from the wok. It will continue to slowly cook while you cook the tofu.
Add a bit more oil to the pan then add the marinated tofu. Brown this off as best you can. Hard to see when there is sauce all over it. I guess I notice the tofu getting a bit softer. I then added the noodles. Out the packet seemed a bit dry and stuck together, so I added a bit of water and tried to steam it. Once it started softening up i could stir the tofu sauce and coat the noodles, at this point add the slurry you made. Stir that slightly then add the veges back in the wok. Stir it up. At this point you're also re-warming the veges too. Turn the heat off. Drizzle with sesame oil, sprinkle with black pepper, sesame seeds and coriander leaves. Serve. If it's not spicy hot enough, I would probably add pickled jalapeno slices but up to you. I also like adding fried onions from the Asian store too just for added texture.

Mac and Cheese

2020-08-22T21:40:00.001+10:00

This recipe really needs no introduction. Everyone knows and loves mac and cheese. Don't even buy the blue box stuff, this is simple and easy.

The quantities below are very rough. Give and take what you like, add other cheeses if you want. Suggestions include Gruyere, Swiss, Colby. Effectively, you're sauteing some onion, making a roux, adding mac and cheese, and enriched with some milk.

I'll add more photos later for you 😋

Ingredients
~500g pasta, best using the short type (You know like macaroni! Zing!)
~60g freshly grated Parmesan
~150g grated tasty cheddar
~100g grated mozzarella
1/4 red onion, diced
3Tbsp butter
3Tbsp plain flour
Generous dash of milk

Method

1. Boil pasta til cooked al dente as per packet instruction, use less salt than usual (like half). Drain and reserve pasta water (about 2 to 3 cups).

2. Using the same pot you used to boil the pasta, melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Add onions to saute until translucent. Add remaining butter and melt until bubbly. Add flour and stir constantly until flour is mixed in and bubbling. Using a whisk at this stage will make it easier. Gradually pour in reserved pasta water while whisking constantly to avoid any lumps. Using a soup ladle is super helpful. Stir in pasta then add cheeses gradually, mixing as you go. Add in a good dash of milk. To adjust to desired consistency, you can add more milk.

3. Serve. Top with desired toppings.

For those who like baked mac and cheese. Add this to a greased baking tray. Top with breadcrumbs and whatever toppings you want. Bake in a preheated moderate (180C) until golden.

Additional toppings and flavour ideas include:
- garlic
- parsley, basil, chives or other fresh herbs
- mushrooms

- truffle oil (if you're feeling boujee)

- shredded chicken

- bacon bits

- herbs and spices, personally like the cajun spice mix

- chilli flakes

Zucchini Pie

2020-05-05T10:54:00.002+10:00

Part of our regular dinner menu rotation, this dish is great to use up a decent amount of zucchinis and eggs. Also, it is very forgiving in terms of volumes of ingredients. The below volumes are approximate. Add/subtract what you like/don't like to suit yourself.

The original recipe comes from Pilsbury after it won a competition in 1980. Passed on from OG's grandmother to his cousin then to us, I've adapted it to suit the locally available ingredients and palettes.

Apologies, I haven't edited any of these photos. Straight from a phone camera to you! I'll try and update when I can.
Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
3 to 4 zucchini, thin-sliced (or however many you have to use)
250g mushrooms, sliced (or however many you want to have in it) (optional)
40g butter
1 Tblspn oil for frying
Herbs (dried or fresh)
- Parsley
- Basil
- Oregano
- Dill
5 to 6 eggs (beaten)
250g grated cheese (recommend using a mixture of mozzarella, cheddar and colby)
Enough puff pastry to line baking dish
Dijon mustard (~4 tablespoons)
2 to 3 tomatoes, sliced
salt and pepper to taste
½ teaspoon garlic powder or 1 clove freshly minced garlic (optional)

Method
1. In a large skillet, saute finely diced onions in butter and oil. Add sliced zucchini and herbs (and minced garlic or garlic powder). It is also a good opportunity to also add some turmeric powder (coz why not!). Saute to soften and set aside.

2. To the same pan, recoat with oil and butter and saute mushrooms until soft and set aside to cool. (Can put into the same vessel as the cooked zucchini.

3. In a large bowl, beat around 5 to 6 eggs, add some water to stretch it if needed. Add cooled zucchini/mushroom mixture.

4. Line pie or casserole with defrosted puff pastry. Lightly spread a layer of mustard on the pastry. Line base of pie with some grated cheese (either cheddar or mozzarella. Mozzarella was the original recipe but i use cheddar or colby).

5. Add remaining cheese to egg mixture and pour into pie dish. Top with more cheese (if you want). Add sliced tomatoes on top. This neat little trick stops the top from over browning or burning too much on top.

I added some goats cheese to half of this... not necessary though

6. Place in preheated 180C oven til the egg is set and pastry is browned. At least 30 minutes depending on the size and shape of your dish. Remove from oven to cool slightly then serve.

Note: you can also use chopped spinach and/or silverbeet as additions or substitutes.

Broccoli Soup

2019-07-29T14:07:00.001+10:00

You know those times when you just have a tonne of broccoli in the fridge and you think - what am I going to do with all this! Soup it! Fantastic for the cooler weather and so comforting. It's also a great option to use up any cauliflower and zucchinis you may have too.

This recipe can be made vegan and is a great vegetarian option. For those who miss their meat - try adding a few fried bacon bits before serving but it really doesn't need it.

I love this recipe as it's really creamy without the need to add cream due to the potatoes and it's very easy.

Ingredients
1 to 2 heads of broccoli, cut into small florets
1/2 a head of cauliflower (optional)
1 to 2 zucchinis (optional)
1 onion, small diced
2 to 3 potatoes, cut into small cubes
Dried (or fresh) herbs:
- bay leaf
- parsley (a generous tablespoon)
- marjoram or oregano (a heaped teaspoon)
- thyme (very minimal)
Spices:
- turmeric powder (about a shake or two)
- grated nutmeg
~4 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
oil/butter to saute
salt/pepper to taste

Method
1. In a large pot, heat oil/butter to generously coat the base. Add onions and saute til translucent. Stir in potatoes, herbs and turmeric. Stir until aromatic. Do ya smell it?! Stir in broccoli (and cauliflower and zucchini if using) until it starts changing colour.

2. Add stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until all veges are soft (around 10 to 20 minutes). Stir occasionally.

3. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Using a stick blender, blend contents until smooth. Stir in grated nutmeg. Season to taste.

4. Serve. You can add a dollop of sour cream if you want it even creamier. Top with some shredded cheese and or bacon bits for slightly different texture and added saltiness.

Other toppings I've enjoyed include sesame seeds, sesame oil, Nigella seeds (also known as black caraway, black cumin, nigella, kalojeere, and kalonji), marash pepper (or any red pepper flakes - eg piment d'espelette), fried onions, roasted macadamias, fresh parsley, grated Parmesan cheese. for Let me know your favourite topping suggestions by commenting below.

Meat-Free Banh-Mi

2019-01-06T16:00:00.003+11:00

It's been so long since I've last posted a blog (over a year! WOW). I'm still cooking but I haven't made much effort to record my creations on this blog. If you're keen beans you can check out my instagram for the latest fongolicious-ness.

This particular recipe was inspired by the need to clear the fridge of soon-to-expire ingredients. In this case, the firm tofu. I don't normally buy the stuff, so a few weeks ago I though - oh why not...! As I don't normally use it, I didn't really have an idea on HOW to use it. With excess salad ingredients too, the meat-free banh mi was created. Not an original idea but still good. I'm actually posting this for a friend but I hope you also enjoy it and find it helpful.

Please also note, I wasn't totally accurate with my quantities, so obviously do what's best for your palette and these are just rough quantities.

Ingredients
Lemongrass & Coriander Tofu
2 Tblspn soy sauce
pinch of garlic powder
pinch of ginger powder
1 tspn shaved lemongrass (I've been using the frozen stuff from the Asian grocery store)
1 tspn dried coriander leaves
1/2 tspn dried chives
1/2 tspn chilli paste
pepper (be generous)
olive oil for frying

Basil, Sesame & Chilli Tofu
2 Tblspn soy sauce
pinch of garlic powder
pinch of ginger powder

1 tspn dried basil leaves

1/2 tspn dried chives
3/4 tspn chilli paste
drizzle of sesame oil
pepper (be generous)
olive oil for frying

Banh-Mi
Bread roll (french baguette works, but if you have access to a Vietnamese bakery, use those rolls instead! The best ones are crispy and flaky on the outside, soft and fluffy inside)
Pate (chicken liver one works well. It is optional but it sorta makes the flavour. If you're vego and find vegetarian pate, use that.)
Mayonnaise (the eggy kind not the sweet kind)
Carrots - grated (you can pickle these lightly in some vinegar if you like)
Cucumber - julienne
Fresh coriander
1 Tblspn soy sauce
Fried tofu

Other optional ingredients:
Lettuce
Crispy fried onions/eshallots
Raw onion
Shallots
Fresh chilli slices
Daikon radish
Shredded cabbage or wombok

Method

If you're going to pickle your carrots, do that first.
Marinate the tofu - combine all above mentioned ingredients (minus the olive oil) in a shallow bowl and add slices of firm tofu. Coat the slices and sit for 15 to 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, prep your other ingredients (mainly slice up your salad filling)
Fry the tofu lightly til each side is golden brown.
Lightly toast your bread roll.
Construct the banh-mi - Spread mayo on one side and pate on the other side of the bread roll. Load up your salads (carrot, cucumber etc). Drizzle soy sauce. Top with tofu, coriander and chilli. Close up the sandwich and serve!

I wasn't very thorough with my method but I have confidence in you that you can construct a sandwich. ;)

Pistachio and Cardamom Cake

2017-03-11T19:18:00.001+11:00

I have this habit, some would call it a vice, of buying recipe books and probably never cook anything from it and it sits nice and pretty on a bookshelf. On a recent walk past this bookshelf, I decided to read a cupcake recipe book. A book I don't recall making anything from but it had pages so neatly tabbed. Hmm, what did past-me like so much in this book she had to tab them. It was with good reason I tabbed those pages. There was a number of interesting sounding recipes with unique flavour combinations - this one in particular - Pistachio and Cardamom!

It must be fate I came across this as I had all the ingredients on hand. This will make for a good dessert after a dinner of curry! And indeed it did. I decided to turn this recipe into a cake, rather than cupcakes. It just meant altering the cooking time. Admittedly - this cake is nicer a day or two after it's been made, it will be going in the regular rotation! It reminds me of barfi (an Indian sweet) that I grew up with in Fiji, especially when I opened the lid of the blender! YUM!!!

I didn't following the recipe's "suggestion" to serve with a honey yogurt topping but you're welcome to mix 250g (1 cup) of plain yoghurt with 1 tablespoon with honey. I also added turmeric for some colour and vanilla essence and cinnamon powder for flavour.

Ingredients
Cake
140g (1 cup) pistachio kernels
1/2 tspn ground cardamom (I slipped a bit when I tried to measure out half a teaspoon, so it's closer to 3/4 to 1 tspn)
150g butter, chopped
185g (1&1/2 cups) self-raising flour
170g (3/4) caster sugar - I cut this down to half a cup (125g)
1/2 tspn turmeric
1/4 tspn cinnamon
1/2 tspn vanilla essence
3 eggs
125g plain yoghurt

Syrup / Glaze
115g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
100ml water
rind of 1 lime (grated)

Method
1. Preheat oven to 170C. Line sides and base of a 8 inch / 20cm round cake pan (spring form works well).

2. Place pistachios and cardamom in a food processor and pulse until chopped and resembles large crumbs. Add butter, flour, sugar, turmeric, cinnamon and process until crumbly (finer crumbs), scrap down sides with spatula if necessary.

3. Add eggs, vanilla and yoghurt and continue to process until all is combined and resembles a runny cake batter.

4. Pour mixture into prepared cake tin and bake in preheated oven for 30 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Turn cake out and place on serving plate. Poke some holes in the top with skewer/tooth pick to allow syrup to be absorbed by the cake.

5. While cake is baking, make syrup/glaze but DO NOT over boil this - the syrup will go hard! In a small pot, over low heat place water and sugar. until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to boil and add lime rind and simmer for 5 minutes. Drizzle or brush syrup over warm cake. Decorate cake with a sprinkle of ground cardamom (and honey yoghurt).

Lemon Poppyseed Bundt Cake

2017-03-11T15:18:00.000+11:00

Following an impulse purchase of a bundt cake tin, it sat among my collection of bakeware for months. Then I received some lemons from my mum, I thought to make use of this tin. I was a bit nervous at first - what if it doesn't come out - it will be stuck there forever! Over dramatic - just a little! After researching an few different blogs, I decided to bite the bullet and use the bundt and make lemon poppyseed cake for my weekly family dinner. It turned out PERFECT-O! Thanks to Sally's Baking Addiction. The cake is moist, not too sweet, great tangy lemon-y flavour. Made this twice more in subsequent days to use up to lemons and share the love.

Below my version of events.

Ingredients:

Cake
2 & 3/4 cups (343g) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (30g) cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt (reduce if using salted butter)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup poppy seeds
1 cup (230g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1&1/4 cups (250g) granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
zest of 2 large lemons
juice of 2 large lemons (about 1/2 cup)
1 cup (240ml) buttermilk, room temperature

Lemon Simple "Soaking" Syrup
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
juice of 1 large orange (about 1/2 cup)

Lemon Glaze
1/2 cup (60g) sifted icing sugar
juice of 1/4 large orange or (2 Tablespoons)
At this point I actually used the leftover "soaking syrup" and kept adding enough icing sugar to make a runny paste.

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Greased bundt tin with melted butter thoroughly. Set aside.

2. Sift the flour and cornstarch together into a large bowl. Whisk in the salt, baking powder, baking soda, and poppy seeds. Set aside.

3. Using a cake mixer, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and beat on high speed for 2 minutes until creamy and pale. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the eggs and the vanilla. Beat on medium-high speed until combined. Beat in the lemon zest and lemon juice.

4. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, and mixing each addition just until incorporated. Do not overmix. The batter will be slightly thick.

5. Pour/spoon the batter evenly into the prepared bundt pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cover the cake loosely with aluminum foil if you begin to see the top browning quickly. Once done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes inside the pan. Then turn out onto cooling rack.

6. During this time, make the simple syrup. Combine the granulated sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stirring constantly, cook until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside.

7. Place warm bundt cake on a large plate or serving dish and spoon the syrup on top of the cake. Allow cake to cool completely.

8. With the leftover syrup whisk in icing sugar to form a thick and runny paste. Do this a tablespoon at a time. Drizzle over cooled cake. Slice and serve.

Profiteroles

2015-07-18T21:10:00.000+10:00

When someone says "profiteroles" it's usually followed by a "Yum!" reaction from me. Seeing profiteroles (even a picture of one) is usually followed by salivation. Yes I LOVE profiteroles! However, every time I've tried to make it, I'd fail miserably. I had never successfully made choux pastry. I've been through numerous recipes, even a Gordon Ramsey recipe where I watched his video on YouTube! Granted after every failed attempt, I'd sulk until I'd forgotten about my failure.

In recent times, I've resorted to just buying it or getting others to make it. Especially at Christmas, my cousin Evelyn would bring a batch to the family gathering. Secretly, it was probably the one thing that motivated me to come to these functions.

During the year, my friend's mum would kindly make us a batch occasionally for our dinner parties / board game nights. Impressed every time we saw that platter of cream-filled chocolate covered sweet morsels, I finally got my hands on her recipe. I tried it out and SUCCESS! It was taken from a recipe book supplied with a kitchen electrical appliance of some sort. Who would have thought those picture-less books would have such good recipes!? Oh well, I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm grateful! I'm not going to try any other recipe. I'm not going to try and modify this recipe. That's it! It works and here it is, drop the mic, shut it down. The search ends here!

Huge thank you to Pete and his mum for this recipe!

Makes about 30 (but this will vary depending on how big/small you like them)

Choux Pastry
Ingredients
80g butter
1 cup water
1 cup plain flour, sifted
4 eggs

Method
1. Preheat over to 220C. Line two oven trays with baking paper.

2. Place butter and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to just a boil slowly.

3. Add flour to the butter water mixture all at once and beat/stir with a wooden spoon until dough forms and leaves the side of the pan.

Note: Using a wooden spoon doesn't fluctuate the temperature of the mixture. This is important for this recipe.

4. Remove dough from heat and cool slightly. Place dough in a large mixing/stand-mixer bowl. and beat with the paddle attachment on medium for about a minute. This will further cool the mixture.

5. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each addition. You will notice the texture of the mixture change after adding each egg. After the fourth egg, it will be stiff and shiny. Increase the mixer speed to high and beat for another minute.

6. Fill mixture in a piping bag with a large nozzle (or no nozzle). Pipe rounds of dough onto prepared baking trays. Using wet fingers, push down the peaks of the rounds to avoid them getting more burnt than the rest. If you don't have a piping bag, you can drop tablespoons of dough onto the tray.

7. Bake for 15 minutes at 220C. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DURING THIS TIME. Reduce the heat to 160C and make for another 15 minutes. Turn oven off and make a small slit in each puff and leave in the oven to cool, keeping the oven door open a-jar.

Creme Patisserie (custard filling)
Ingredients
2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup corn starch

Method
1. Place milk and vanilla in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil.

2. I a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar together until thick and pale. Add corn starch and whisk to combine.

3. Slowly pour in hot milk mixture to the egg mixture and continue to whisk. Pour mixture back into pan and keep whisking over medium-high heat until thick. This may take about 10 minutes or so. Remove from heat, cover surface with plastic wrap and set aside to cool.

Ganache
Ingredients
150g Dark melting chocolate, roughly chopped
70ml thicken cream

Method
1. Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until just boiled. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Stir until all chocolate has melted. Set aside to cool slightly.

Assembling the Profiteroles
Once both custard and choux puffs are cool, fill custard in a piping bag and pipe to fill the choux puffs using the slits you made earlier.

Gently spoon chocolate mixture over the top of each puff. Set aside or in fridge to allow the chocolate to set.

Serve fresh!

Arancini Balls

2015-02-18T19:39:00.002+11:00

Combing the aisles of Costco, there has been countless times where I would stare longingly into the freezer window, gazing at the frozen, pre-made Arancini balls. Slowly but surely, I would start salivating like a Pavlov puppy. However, I'm frequently deterred from buying it after reading the list of ingredients. Thinking "Pshhhh! I can make that!". Ha! Never happened...

My most recent visit, I talked myself into buying, only to be shut down by my dear OG - "I'll make it for you!". Here I'm thinking - "YES!!! WOOO!" Then... "we've never made it before, can't be that hard to make - right?"

Researching recipe after recipe around the world - there are fried versions, baked versions. Leave them overnight versions. All sorts of bread crumb types. Some people get really into it with such laborious and elaborate recipes. Which I'm sure it's worth it, if you have the time. For me I was after something simple, tasty and ingredients easy to find. I wanted little fried balls of rice with cheese that are super tasty. Not a tall ask.

So I decided to sorta wing it. And it turned out so well. Oh my goodness! Mmm!

These are great for using up leftover risotto. And I would really only consider making these again should risotto be on the menu.

There really isn't a set recipe. However I've outlined a few simple steps outlined below.

1. Make your favourite risotto. And there are so many types however I'd recommend not a sloppy one. One that is less like porridge or thick soup. Should your risotto be too wet, it won't hold as a ball and I suggest adding flour to your risotto to thicken it up.

2. Stir in a generous amount of grated cheese. Around 1:3 ratio to risotto. I recommend a pizza cheese type mix such as cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan. Ensure the cheese gratings are pretty small. I found some cheese gratings that were bigger to be less suited to ball forming.

3. Form cheese/rice mixture into balls. The size is up to you. I made them about a ping pong ball size - about 1 - 2 tablespoons. If you want, you could place a piece of soft cheese in the centre.

4. Roll the balls into flour, then beaten egg wash, then panko bread crumbs.

5. Heat oil in a heavy base skillet to about 1 to 2cm deep. The oil is hot when you place a wooden utensil and the oil bubbles around the utensil. Turn heat down to medium.

6. Carefully fry the arancini balls. Be sure not to crowd the pan. Turn after 2 to 3 minutes to fry the other side.

7. Remove from pan and drain on a paper towel. Serve warm with a sprinkling of grated parmesan.

Beef Burgers

2014-12-18T22:29:00.002+11:00

Ever watched cartoon characters eat a burger? You know that perfect bite when they chomp into it and you wish all food was cartoon food. I'm not saying these are cartoon burgers but they're pretty close! Different elements make up this awesome burger which I'll outline in this blog. However what makes a good burger a great burger is the quality of ingredients. You don't need to be all organic and "granola" about it, but be mindful of the ingredients you're putting together and seek out the best you can.

Starting with the bun. It should be soft, not sugary and has some integrity so it doesn't just fall apart when sandwiching a bit of meat.

Moving onto the bacon, if you're using it. It must be smoked bacon. Remember, not all bacon is smoked. Some are cured by other means. Those you should avoid. In Australia, you'll find what they call "streaky bacon". This is the ideal bacon cut for burgers. Take your time with cooking this. Don't add oil to the pan when you're frying this as enough fat will come out of the bacon. Use medium heat and let is crisp up good.

Last but not least the beef. In the past we'd always use store bought mince. Those days are over. We now buy rump steaks and hand mince them. This way, you know what meat is actually in your mince (not offal, bones and cardboard). Remember to include a good ratio of fat to meat (20/80 is ideal). I find rump is a great cut, well priced with good fat ratio. And I hear you asking, "how do you hand mince meat". You don't need a meat grinder. You simply cut the meat fine. I also suggest separating the meat with the fat and cut those up separately then mix it together afterwards. Be sure not to overwork the meat, as in handle it too much. I truly believe home, hand minced beef is the secret to a great burger.

Other ingredients to consider include slowly sauteed onions and mushrooms. Opt for cos lettuce if you can. It has more of a crunch and less water content. Pick a melty cheese. Jack, colby or cheddar are good options.

I'm not going to outline every single step in assembling a burger as everyone has their own "style". Below is a recipe to flavouring of the patty and a few tips we've learnt. Note, the quantities are rough and largely "free pour". So trial and error with your flavours. Add more if you like more flavour, add less if you want to keep it simple.

Patty mix Ingredients
~500g Hand mince beef
1 egg
1/4 to 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
~ 2 Tbpsn tomato sauce/ketchup
~ 2 Tbpsn worcestershire sauce
~ 2 tspn dried (or fresh) parsley, (sometimes I put oregano and minced garlic too).
~ 1 tspn salt
pepper to desired quantities

Patty method
Mix all the above mentioned ingredients together in a large bowl until just combined. Allow to rest and flavours mature. Cover and leave overnight in the fridge or set aside for a few hours.

Portion patties appropriate size to the buns. Roll in balls then flatten. Following my visit to the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, I "juicy lucy" -'ed these patties. I put a little piece of cheese in the middle of the patty before frying it.

Fry in a well greased, pan on medium to medium high heat. Tip here is to only flip once. When you flip, you can melt a slice of cheese while the patty is frying on the other side. Another tip: lately we've been frying the bacon first, then cooking the patties in the bacon fat. This definitely adds extra flavour. You could also BBQ the patties for that nice char-grilled flavour.

Construct burger, eat and enjoy!

White Chocolate Mousse with Stewed Raspberries and Macadamia Praline

2014-12-18T20:25:00.001+11:00

I came up with this recipe last year during my ambassadorship with Bulla Cream. I was asked to re-create George Calombaris' Olive Oil Chocolate Mousse with Spiced Red Wine Poached Pears with my own twist. I tried making this with olive oil and it tasted TERRIBLE!! Definitely had to put my own spin on this one. I didn't have any fancy servingware for these. I figured any glass, ramekin or bowl will do fine.

This is a light dessert. Great for those who are gluten free too!

Ingredients
Praline
½ cup chopped macadamia nuts
1 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup water

Stewed Raspberry
1 cup frozen raspberries
1/3 cup caster sugar

Mousse
100g white chocolate
2 large eggs, separated (room temp)
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon caster sugar
300ml thickened cream

Method
Praline
1. In a pot with a heavy base, place sugar and water. Over medium to high heat, allow sugar to boil. Swirl the pot to keep the syrup moving but don’t stir with spoon. This will cause it to crystalize. Keep simmering until about 165 C (use a candy thermometer). This syrup will be at “hard ball” stage (when you dunk some of the syrup on cold water it will be hard). The mixture will also start to turn a bit brown.

2. Spread nuts on a sheet of baking paper over a baking tray. Pour hot syrup over nuts. Set aside to cool and harden.

3. When harden, break pieces up with you hand. If you like the pieces fine, place pieces into a blender and whiz it up.

Stewed Raspberries
1. In a small pan add raspberries and sugar. Over low to medium heat, stew the raspberries until the sugar has melted and bubbles. You’ll find some water come out of the raspberries which is what you want.

2. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Mousse
1. In a double boiler melt chocolate until smooth.

2. Using whisk, stir in egg yolks, one at a time until smooth.

3. Using a cake mixer, beat egg whites with sugar and a pinch of salt to form soft peaks.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk cream until soft peaks form.

5. Alternating between egg whites and cream, spoon about a third into the chocolate mixture, starting and finishing with the cream. Carefully stir, not to over mix as to keep the air in the mixture.

Assembling
1. Line the bottom of 4 serving bowls with stewed raspberries.

2. Spoon the mousse over the raspberries and top with praline. Serve with extra macadamia nuts (if you have any spare).

Clam-less Chowder

2014-12-18T20:24:00.004+11:00

Once upon a time I had a shellfish allergy. During the winter months, the thought of a nice creamy seafood chowder was so delectable! Feeling disappointed every time, OG made me this chowder minus the seafood. Mmm it was delicious! I'm glad that now I can have it with clams, but I wouldn't hesitate to recreate this soup.

Ingredients
150 g streaky bacon, diced
4 cups stock (chicken or vegetable)
1/2 onion, diced
1 medium clove garlic, minced
1 large stick of celery, chopped
2 medium potatoes, cubed
1 tblspn parsley
1 tsp dill
5 average sized mushrooms
3 tsp corn starch, dissolved in about 1/4 cup water
100 ml milk (as desired)

Salt & pepper to taste
100ml cooking cream (regular cream that doesn't split when cooking)

Method
1. On high heat, fry bacon and set aside leaving residual fat in pan.

2. Return pan to heat and fry onions until translucent, add celery and garlic, stir to combine. Add dried herbs and potatoes. Stir.

3. Add stock, and bring to a rolling boil, then reduce heat to medium. Simmer until potatoes are soft (the longer you leave cooking the more the potatoes break down and the thicker your soup gets). This usually takes about 10 to 15 minutes (time dependant on how big your potato cubes are). Add mushrooms when potatoes are partly cooked.

4. Stir in prepared corn starch and water. This will help to thicken the broth.

5. Reduce heat to low. Add bacon, cream and milk, and stir to combine. Season to taste (add more milk to reduce to salt level). Serve with crispy toast.

Mac n' Cheese with Smokey Bacon

2014-12-18T20:08:00.004+11:00

Growing up, if someone offered me "mac n’ cheese", I would get a highly processed, neon orange dish that came out of a blue packet. The smell of that instantly turned me off.

While travelling in the US, mac n' cheese was on offer almost everywhere. From street cart vendors to family restaurants. At first I had my suspicions, but surely queues of people to just one mac ‘n’ cheese store cannot be all bad!

So as the saying goes “when it Rome…”, in this case “when in America…” you eat mac ‘n’ cheese. I have to say, man was I wrong. I mean if I really thought about it, it’s just pasta and cheese but there is something about it that’s just so tasty! I understand the queues now. With Mac n’ cheese, there are different blends of cheeses and a variety of other toppings. When someone gets the mix right, you’ll be sure there will be people lining up for a taste.

Feeling a bit travel-sick (as in missing my travelling days), I wanted to have the ol' mac n' cheese of the US. So OG made me this and it was DELICIOUS! A little different to the "traditional" macaroni and cheese, where he added bacon, mushroom and broccoli. Feel free to add your own favourites or just leave them out. If you decide to use mushroom, be sure to put them on top. That nice roasted style leaving a shrivelled fungi yet rich mushroom flavour is awesome!

Ingredients

500g pasta - I used the shell pasta, but elbows, macaroni, penne are good to hold this dish

200g bacon, diced

~300g mushrooms, sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 to 2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon plain flour

Milk, enough to make a sauce 1 to 4 cups

~200g grated cheese - cheddar, colby, gouda is good as it melts nicely

~1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1 head of broccoli, cut into small florets

~100g parmesan, grated

Method

1. Boil pasta as per in packet instructions. Grease a large baking dish with butter. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. In a large pot, on high heat, fry bacon until crispy. Remove from pan.

3. Saute mushroom (minus a handful for the top) and garlic in bacon fat, add butter add a tablespoon of flour. Coating the mushrooms with the flour and cook flour down. The premise here is to make a roux.

4. Reduce heat and add milk, add cheese, and milk and keep mixing. Return bacon, add breadcrumbs and pasta. Stir well.

5. Add pasta mixture to prepared baking dish. Coat the top with a bit more breadcrumbs for that extra crunch. scatter the broccoli florets and push them in. Coat with parmesan and mushrooms. Bake until cheese is melted and browned and mushrooms have shrivelled. About 20 to 30 minutes. Serve hot!

Chocolate, Hazelnut and Almond Cake with Chocolate Ganache

2014-11-02T12:21:00.002+11:00

Hi readers, I sincerely apologise for being so absent with my posts. I have been busy in the kitchen but also busy in my life, to find the time to blog, which is no excuse I know! It's been since August! Wow! I'm terrible! hopefully I will make it up with a series of quick posts.

This particular recipe is from way back in October 2012. I made this cake for Mum's birthday. I didn't post it initially as I wasn't very happy with the photo quality. Then last year I decided to post it to my Bulla Cream account and also giving Bulla Cream some exclusivity. Now that my ambassadorship is over, here it is! Better late than never eh! Plus hopefully my photo editing skills have improved.

From memory, this cake is chocolate-y and moist from the nut flours. Of course, the chocolate, hazelnut and almond combination is always a winner.

Ingredients

Cake

1/3 cup cocoa (35g)

1 ½ cups plain flour (225g)2 tpsn baking powder

¾ cup almond meal (90g)
¾ cup hazelnut meal (90g)
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
200g butter, melted
3 eggs
1 cup milk

Ganache
150g dark chocolate, chopped
125ml Cream

Method
Cake

1. Preheat oven to 160C. Lightly grease and line with baking paper a 20 to 22cm diameter cake tin.

2. In a large bowl, sift flour, cocoa and baking powder. Add almond and hazelnut meal, butter, sugar, milk and eggs. Mix well to combine. Pour mixture into prepared cake tin. Tap sides to remove any big bubbles.

3. Bake for about 50 to 65 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Remove from oven and allow to cool in tin for 5 to 10 minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool completely. Place cake in fridge for about half an hour.

Ganache
4. In the mean time, place cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Bring cream to hot and almost boiling. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Keep stirring until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Allow to cool. As the mixture cools, it will start thickening up.

5. Pour ganache over cake. Serves 8 to 10.

Chocolate Raspberry Lamington Roll Cake

2014-08-13T21:37:00.000+10:00

One of the best things about Australia is the lamington. It's one of my all time favourite desserts, ever since I was a kid. Because it's so easy to find and relatively cheap, I've actually never made lamingtons before. According to SBS food, recently it was national lamington day. They put together a lamington recipe collection that has a slight twist on the ol' fav. One in particular caught my fancy - the Chocolate and Raspberry lamington. Mmm sounded delicious! It really wasn't such a stretch as lamingtons sometimes comes with jam and cream. This recipe just used raspberry jam and chocolate sponge (instead of regular vanilla).

One evening when I was home alone, I made this recipe. Well... I started making it. I did it in stages. 1) Bake the sponge 2) whipped the cream and stir in the jam 3) prepared the ganache 4) construct the lamingtons. Verdict? Yes they were delicious and ridiculously big as I sandwiched together two pieces of sponge. The cake was pretty dense so eating it was a staged process too.

This is my first attempt at making lamingtons

I chose not to blog it though as I think I could make it better. "How so?" I hear you ask. Well this is why I'm blogging this particular recipe. This is my take on the Chocolate Raspberry Lamington - I made it into a swiss roll. I decided to change the sponge cake recipe and used the "Chocolate Roulade with Coffee Cream" recipe from Australia's Sweet Baking Favourites (ISBN: 9780646580050) (Published by Nestle and Pacific Magazines). This cake is definitely for the sweet tooth folks out there. Enjoy!

Ingredients
Sponge
6 egg whites
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar (I reduced to about 90g)
1/4 cup (25g) cocoa powder
2 Tblspn plain flour
2 Tblspn boiling water

Chocolate ganache
200g good quality dark chocolate, chopped
300ml thickened cream

Filling and construction
100 ml thickened cream
1/4 cup (85g) raspberry jam (1 reduced to about 70g)
1/2 to 1 cup shredded coconut

Method
Sponge
1. Reheat oven to 170C. Grease a swiss roll pan or shallow baking tray (~35 x 25 cm). Line pan with baking paper.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until they form soft peaks. Gradually add sugar, beating well after each addition to ensure the sugar dissolves. Sift cocoa and flour over egg mixture then pour in hot water. Fold gently.

3. Spread mixture into prepared pan evenly. Try get this as levelled as possible. Bake for about 15 minutes or until cooked through and springy to touch.

4. Meanwhile, lay a clean tea towel on the table and cut a sheet of baking paper the same size as your baking pan, and lay the paper over the towel. When cake is cooked, remove from oven and turn the hot sponge onto the paper and peel away the lining paper. This maybe tricky, I used a chopping board to help me flip out the sponge. Working quickly and using the tea towel as a guide, roll the sponge into a swiss roll and allow to cool on a cooling rack.

Filling
5. Place cream in a medium bowl and whip til soft to medium peaks form. Stir in raspberry jam.

6. When cake is cooled, gently unroll it and spread the cream evenly along the inner side of the roll. Gently re-roll the cake, this time using the baking paper as a guide. Place on serving dish, cover and place in fridge for about 15 to 30 minutes.

Ganache

7. In a small pot, heat cream until just before boiling. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Constantly stir until all chocolate has melted is well combined. Set aside to cool slightly and thicken.

Construction
8. Remove roll from fridge and pour ganache over roll to cover. Sprinkle with shredded coconut. Keep in fridge until ready to serve. Serve with fresh fruits.

Jumbo Pizza Muffins

2014-06-19T16:52:00.000+10:00

Walking past cafes with lovely jumbo muffins, it takes me back to winter in high school. I used to love getting a jumbo choc chip muffin that's been over heated in the microwave with choc chips melting between your scorching fingers as you juggle muffin between your hands and mouth.

This week I dropped into a kitchen outlet store and picked up my first jumbo muffin tin. Being super excited, I couldn't wait to use it. I had a bunch of leftover pizza ingredients in the fridge so I decided to make these jumbo pizza muffins. The recipe was inspired by Leonie's instagram post and based on Donna Hay's recipe with some ingredient changes - (seriously guys - pineapple belongs in a pina colada! Yes! I'm one of those people).

The other dilemma I encountered was how do I line these muffin hole! Online - everyone seems to just use baking paper cut into squares and folded. Here is a good video on how to do it yourself. I literally cut a big square and shoved the paper into the hole and used a little ramekin to hold it down as I didn't have a tumbler that fit as per the video.

Of course, you can make this recipe vegetarian by omitting the meat. You can make this carnivorous by adding more meat (bacon, chicken, mince beef...). It's really how you like your pizza, but the basis is pretty simple - mix dry ingredients together, mix wet ingredients together then combine, fill muffin cases and bake.

A couple of learnings. 1) best put the mushrooms on top of the muffin before baking as they get soggy (unless you like it like that). 2) Cut up most of the ingredients small but not too small.

Makes approximately a dozen jumbo muffins or more smaller ones.

Ingredients
3 cups self-raising flour
1 tspn baking powder
2/3 cup oil (I just used olive oil and a little less)
2 eggs
2 Tblspn tomato paste (or pizza sauce)
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups grated cheese (I used a pizza mix, however, Cheddar and mozzarella are best)
1 tblspn dried oregano
1 clove garlic, minced

Filling (use what ever you like from this list - this is just what I used)
chopped pepperoni
fresh basil, chopped
mushroom, diced
sun dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
80g chopped spinach (I defrosted some frozen ones)
red onion, diced

Other filling suggestions
Capsicum, diced
olives, sliced
ham or bacon, diced
anchovies (you crazy kid)
artichoke hearts
prosciutto, small pieces
bocconcini, small pieces

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C (moderate). Line muffin tin with cases or baking paper.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, oregano, 1 cup of cheese, garlic and your filling (perhaps leave out the mushrooms if you intend to have it). Mix to combine. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, add eggs, tomato paste, oil and milk. Whisk to combine.

4. Pour egg mixture into flour mixture. Stir to combine. Fill prepared muffin tin. Add mushrooms on top and distribute remain grated cheese on top of each unbaked muffin.

5. Place muffins in preheated oven and bake for 20 to 30 minutes (less if using smaller muffin tins) or until cooked and golden brown. When pricked with a toothpick or skewer it should come out clean.

6. Remove from oven. Allow to stand for 5 to 10 minutes and remove from tin onto a wire rack to cool further. Serve warm - perhaps top with some aioli or pesto for that little bit extra.

Turkish Inspired Red Lentil Soup - Mercimek Çorbasi

2014-06-14T17:44:00.000+10:00

After wondering the streets of Istanbul, we discovered a local restaurant near our hotel, in the old town of Sultanahmet. I don't even remember the name of the place. Upon discovery, we frequented the restaurant daily and even multiple times a day. It was a little family run place with brick design linoleum lining their walls and a simple menu. This cheap and cheerful place was always busy!

So what's was the big deal? Their red lentil soup - AKA Mercimek Çorbasi. Oh my! So damn tasty! We tried a couple of other places' Mercimek Çorbasi, but it just didn't compare.

This is THE SOUP!

After return from our big trip, I was determined to replicate this soup. I didn't want to wait for another trip to Istanbul to get this soup. So I scoured the web and various family members' recipe books. I had a relatively long shortlist of recipes and I studied each one carefully. Their methods, their ingredients, their quantities. I then started experimenting. I've been through about 7 pots of soup now... and I think this is as close I can get it... so hence I've titled this "Turkish Inspired" as I don't think it's 100%, but hey, it's pretty close and it is definitely damn tasty. So to settle my cravings, and enjoy a warm hearty soup for the winter - here is my version of Mercimek Çorbasi. This should serve about 6 entree size bowls, 4 main size dishes or 2 super hungry hippos!

***Please note these herbs and spices amounts are approximate. I'll leave it to your best judgement to figure out the right ratios.

Ingredients
1 cup red split lentils, well washed (soaked for a few hours or overnight)
1/4 to 1/3 cup of Bulgur (either fine or coarse)
1 big knob of butter (this makes it, so don't skimp or use margarine), if butter isn't your thing, just leave it out.
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 brown onion, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large carrot, finely diced or grated
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Approximately 4 to 6 cups of stock (vegetable or chicken)
hot water to top up
salt/pepper to taste
Marash pepper to serve (optional)
Lemon to serve (optional)

The list of herbs and spices***
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
3/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon sumak
2 teaspoons dried parsley
3 to 4 medium size bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1 teaspoon paprika powder
1/3 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried mint leaves
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder

Method
1. Wash the lentil and bulgur well in a medium pot. Cover with about an inch of water and over medium heat bring to a boil and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside, it should look pale and mushy.

2. To a large pot over medium heat, melt butter and add oil. When butter has melted, add onions. Saute until translucent.

3. Add garlic and the herbs and spices list above. Stir to mix. Add carrot. Stir to mix. Allow carrots to cook slightly - about 1 to 2 minutes. Add lentil and Bulgur mixture. Stir to mix. Add stock. Stir to mix. Add tomato paste. Stir to mix. Turn heat up to bring to a boil and then turn it down to low to simmer.

4. Stir every 10 minutes. Simmer for about 30 to 45 minutes. The longer the better. Top up with water if it's starting to get a bit dry and thick. Taste to season. If you're in a rush, the carrots should be soft, take out the bay leaves and using a stick blender, blend until smooth (optional).

5. Serve with some fresh bread, lemon and some Marash pepper^.

^What is Marash Pepper: This is a red pepper/capsicum that is grown in Turkey with a complex flavour and moderate heat. It comes as flakes and maybe difficult to find. You can substitute with Aleppo Pepper which is similar or any moderate heat pepper flakes.

Cinnamon Rolls, Cinnamon Buns, Cinnabons

2014-05-14T17:42:00.000+10:00

Rolls, buns, cinnabons - whatever you like to call them. They're round sticky cinnamon'y goodness.

During my recent trip to Vancouver Canada, I scored another recipe. Vancouver is turning out to be a good source for great recipes! This one from my Aunty Maria. She claimed it to be one of the best Cinnamon Rolls/Buns she's had. Passed down to her from someone else, another tried and tested recipe.

These rolls puff up pretty big but they're really fluffy! It makes about 24 rolls which is quite a lot, so feel free to freeze some of the dough, as per instructions below, or have a few more mouths to feed.

Here is a good video with a slightly different recipe but the method is similar.

Ingredients

Dough

1 cup milk

½ cup caster sugar

1 ½ tspn salt

60g butter

14g dry yeast

2 Tblspn sugar

1 cup warm water (bath water temperature)

3 eggs beaten

6 cups of flour (approx. 800g)

Filling

Butter – softened (approx. 60g)

Cinnamon powder (approx. 6 Tblspn)

Brown sugar or caster sugar (approx.. 4 Tblspn)

Glaze

1¼ cups icing sugar (icing sugar mixture is okay) – 160g

60g butter, melted

3 Tbspn milk

½ tspn vanilla essence

Pinch of salt

Method

1. Warm milk. Add caster sugar, salt and butter. Allow all to dissolve (sugar, salt and butter). Allow to cool.

2. In a separate bowl, combine yeast, 2 tablespoons sugar and water. Set aside to dissolve and ferment. It will get frothy.

3. In a large bowl add flour – make well in centre, add eggs, yeast mixture and milk mixture. Mix in cake mixture with dough hook. If mixture is too wet, add more flour, until mixture comes away from the bowl. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until dough is smooth. Place back into mixing bowl and set aside and allow to rise (about 1 to 2 hours). At this point you can portion out some dough to freeze.

4. Grease a large baking tray (or two). You can also just line with baking paper.

5. Roll out risen dough to ¼ inch thick, spread butter and sprinkle will cinnamon and sugar. Roll up to a long and slice out even portions. Turn portions up so cross section is facing up and place onto greased tray, 2 inches apart. Set aside and allow to rise again (1 to 2 hours).

6. Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Bake for about 20 minutes until lightly brown. Be sure the sugar doesn't burn.

7. Prepare glaze – whisk together icing sugar, melted butter, milk, vanilla and salt in a bowl until smooth.

8. Drizzle glaze over warm cooked rolls.

Spring Rolls – Lumpia (Filipino Style)

2014-04-26T15:34:00.000+10:00

For the longest time, whenever we'd go over to our Filipino friend's family's place for parties we'd gorge ourselves on mainly two dishes. One of them being spring rolls. I don't know what it was about these spring rolls that were a million times nicer than any restaurant's. We could eat an entire bowl full and be completely stuffed yet they still kept coming! And we'd just keep eating. Magical spring rolls!

A few years ago, our friend's mum showed me how she makes them. They were very simple. We tried to make them ourselves, soon after being shown, but it just didn't turn out. So we left that alone.

After a few years of not having these magical spring rolls, recently our friend's wife told us about her version. And after trying hers, we got so excited and re-energised about making them. They were similar, except our friend's wife added more pepper and some prawns.

We decided to trying a small batch and they turned out beautifully! It was super tasty as if they had MSG in them but they didn't! It was fantastic! I combined our friend's mum's and wife's recipes and below is our version of these magical spring rolls!

Ingredients
300g mince pork
100g fresh prawns, minced/chopped finely
1 carrot, finely grated
1 egg
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small onion, finely chopped
~1/2 Tblspn oyster sauce
~1 Tblspn soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
~2 to 4 Tblspn finely chopped fresh coriander and/or chives (optional)
1 x 50pkt frozen spring roll pastry (with egg)
Vegetable oil for deep frying or shallow fry with slightly more oil

Method
1. In a bowl combine all the ingredients mentioned above minus the spring roll pastry. Mix until all ingredients are evenly distributed throughout the mixture. Set aside.

2. Remove frozen spring roll pastry from freezer and allow to defrost, for most brands, it takes about 50 minutes.

3. Take defrosted pastry out of the packet and wrap with a clean damp tea towel.

4. Place a sheet of pastry on a plate so it sits like a diamond. Place about 1 to 1 1/2 tspn of mince mixture across, on the side slightly closest to you. Fold the corner closest to you over the mixture to form a tight/snug roll and roll away from you. Fold in the left and right corners and continue to roll. Secure with a dab of water at the top tip. Repeat with remaining spring roll sheets.

My funky rolling instructions

Note: If you’re confused about my instructions here is a good guide.

5. Heat oil in fry pan (or deep fryer). You know when the oil is hot enough when you stick something wooden (I use a chopstick) in the oil, it starts to bubble around the wooden item.

6. Slowly lower the spring rolls in, if you’re kind of shallow frying, turn spring rolls after they’re brown on one side (about 1 to 2 minutes per side). depending how big your fry pan is, I usually do about 5 to 6 at one time. Once browned remove from oil, allow excess oil to drip back into pan and place on clean paper towels to further drain away excess oil. Repeat for remaining spring rolls.

7. Serve hot to warm with some chilli sauce on the side.

Chicken Supreme with Curry Bread Dumplings

2014-04-22T20:16:00.001+10:00

After many conversations with OG about favourite dishes we grew up with, there was always mention of Playboy Chicken. First I thought, oh skinless chicken! Or a chicken and rabbit dish. I soon learnt, it’s a dish from the Playboy magazine. I think further questions about the circumstance wasn’t really warranted. So I moved on. Tell me more about this dish. “It was creamy, with capsicum and curry dumplings.” Sounded good. So I emailed for the recipe from his mum and it came looking like this:

Fortunately it was transcribed for me also.

So below is my slightly amended version. I didn't have any cognac or sherry, so I just used a couple tablespoons of whiskey and we had a bit of fun setting it a light!

I tried to take photos as I went to demonstrate outcomes of certain stages. However, as this was my first time, I wasn't sure if this was correct. It turned out perfect, so I’ll be sure to post more photos upon my next attempt.

Ingredients
Dumplings
1 cup flour (120grams)
1 1/2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
1 tspn curry powder
1/4 tspn turmeric powder
3 Tblspn butter, chopped (~44g)
1 Tblspn chives, finely chopped
1 egg
1/3 cup milk

Supreme Chicken
~3 Tblspn butter
1/2 medium brown onion, 1/2 inch dice
500g chicken fillets (breast or thighs – I prefer thighs) cut into big pieces
1/2 medium green capsicum, 1/2 inch dice
1/2 medium red capsicum, 1/2 inch dice
~150g button mushrooms, quartered
2 Tblspn cognac (optional)
3 Tblspn dry sherry (optional)
1 1/2 cups chicken (or vegetable) stock
3/4 cup cream (regular thickened cream or cooking cream works fine)
3 Tblspn butter, melted (43g)
3 Tblspn plain flour (26g)
salt/pepper to taste

Method
1. Prepare dumpling mixture – Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, curry powder, turmeric. Add butter to flour mixture and rub butter with flour mixture until it resembles fine bread crumbs.

Butter rubbed into flour mixture resembling fine bread crumbs

2. Add egg, milk and chives. Mix until blended. Batter should be lumpy and not too firm. Set aside.

Mixture after egg, milk & chives

3. In a large skillet (heavy base fry pan) over medium heat, melt 3 tablespoons of butter. Turn heat up to high and add onion. When onions turns translucent add chicken fillets. Brown chicken off.
Note: If the chicken catches at the bottom of the pan, that’s normal.
4. Add capsicum and turn heat down to medium. Sauté until capsicum softens.
5. Add cognac and sherry and set aflame. This is completely optional. When flames die down add mushrooms, stock and cream. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.
6. In a separate bowl, combine 3 tablespoons of melted butter and flour. Add to simmering chicken pan. Stir constantly until sauce thickens. Add salt/pepper to taste.
7. Using tablespoons to form dumplings, drop them into the pan. The dumplings will be partly submerged. Turn heat down to very low and cover. Simmer for about 15 minutes to cook the dumplings.

Dumplings just added to pan

Dumplings after it's cooked

Cooked dumplings from the top view

Note: Do not stir dumplings in pan.

8. When dumplings are cooked, serve chicken, dumplings and veges hot.

Fruit and Custard Tart

2014-04-14T23:45:00.000+10:00

Last month was Dad’s birthday. Which means I’m back to my birthday cake making duties. Deciding what to make often is the biggest challenge when it comes to making birthday cakes. Asking the VIP what they want, I often get “whatever you want to make for me”. It’s tough to choose the right cake for the right person. And I can tell you how tough.

I often look to magazines, TV Shows and cook books for inspiration. For this cake, I was watching a New Zealand cooking show and they were making beignets (French donuts) that were stuffed with stewed apples and rolled in cinnamon. Seemed pretty straight forward, so I thought to try that. But wait! Dad doesn’t like cinnamon. Okay, let’s try raspberries and topped with white chocolate and rolling in macadamia nut meal. Then suddenly I remembered, Dad LOVES custard. So I'll stuff it with custard! Ok that's like profiteroles! I was settled with that plan… so I thought. I decided to make the custard on one day, then the beignets, and then stuff them on the next day. I decided to use the custard (Crème pâtissière) recipe based on SBS’s website, from their croquembouche recipe. Without any regard for the amount of ingredients being used, I ended up with a lot of custard! What do I do with a tonne of custard? Make a TART!

So here we are! After considering 3 different recipes – this is my fruit and custard tart. Suffice to say my family demolished the tart. So I take it as a good sign.

The base is an almond meal base – like my New York Baked Cheesecake.

Ingredients
Custard
1 litre milk
175g white sugar
1 tspn vanilla essence
50g butter
2 eggs plus 4 egg yolks
95g cornflour, sifted (I ran out of cornflour while making this so it was a 50/50 cornflour and custard powder)

Base
1 1/2 cups almond flour/meal
1 1/8 cup plain flour
1/3 cup caster sugar
135g butter, chilled and chopped

Topping
200g strawberries
5 kiwi fruits
Whatever other fruit that takes your fancy. Suggestions include: raspberries, passion-fruit, blueberries, peaches, rock-melon, honey dew, mango, pineapple, figs.

Method
Custard
1. Combine the milk, a quarter of the sugar, vanilla and butter in a large saucepan and heat gently until hot (not boiling), then remove from the heat.
2. Whisk the remaining sugar with the eggs and egg yolks in a large bowl until pale. Add cornflour and a little of the hot milk and whisk well. Whisk this mixture into the hot milk and return the saucepan to medium heat, whisking constantly. Cook for around 3 to 5 minutes, until thick, smooth and glossy. Transfer to a clean bowl to cool.

Base
3. Preheat oven to 160C. Grease base and sides of a large tart tin with melted butter.
4. Place almond meal, flour, sugar and butter into a bowl. Rub mixture with your fingertips. You can also use a cake mixer with the dough hook attachment. The mixture will form coarse breadcrumbs. You know this mixture is ready when you squeeze a handful in your hand and it stays that shape.
5. Place the base mixture in the tin and press gently with fingers to line the tin until even and then smooth out with the back of the spoon. I suggest doing the sides first before you press down the base. Bake for about 15 minutes or until light golden. Remove from oven and set aside.

Constructing tart
6. Pour cooled custard into baked base. Smooth out with a bake of a spoon or spatula.
7. Slice up fruit and arrange accordingly. Some like to pile the fruit high. Others prefer more custard, so less fruit.
8. Serve with a dusting of icing sugar.

Note: I had a little leftover pastry and custard, so I make a few little ones too.