Swiss Roll with Strawberry Jam Filling

Swiss rolls - I'm not sure why they are called "Swiss" rolls but this spongy egg-y cake reminds me of what we used to eat as kids. Mum used to buy swiss rolls for us when we were little - we would have them during recess, or as an afternoon snack, or after dinner dessert. You may wish to use buttercream inside your swiss roll but I opted for strawberry jam this time around. I'm actually thinking of making a Chocolate Swiss Roll soon - next time with chocolate buttercream and cherries soaked in rum - I'll post the recipe and photos up when I do make it. Watch this space.


Swiss Roll with Strawberry Jam Filling

3 eggs
1/2 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup self-raising flour
2 tbsp boiling water
1/2 strawberry jam
2 tbsp vanilla sugar
icing sugar, for dusting

- Preheat the oven to 180C
- Line a 20x30 shallow baking tin with baking paper. Grease the paper and the sides of the tin.
- Beat eggs until it becomes thick and creamy
- Add in sugar, beat until dissolved
- Sift the flour and fold this into the egg/sugar mixture. Add in water. Combine well.
- Spread the mixture into the baking tin
- Bake for 8-10 mins until it turns a slight golden brown
- Warm jam in a saucepan. Do not let it burn.
- Before removing the cake from the oven, line a piece of parchment paper on your kitchen-top. Sprinkle the parchment paper with vanilla sugar.
- Remove cake from the oven and turn immediately on top of the sugared parchment paper
- You'll be rolling the cake from the short side so when you spread the warm jam on the hot sponge cake, keep a 1cm edge at the end uncovered with jam. If you don't, you will end up with jam spillage when you finish rolling up the cake
- Place on a wire rack to cool
- When cooled, sprinkle with icing sugar
- Serve with ice cream/cream if you are having this as dessert

Turkey Cous Cous Salad

There's nothing easier to cook than couscous. There's simply nothing to it. All you need to do is to add an equal part stock/water to the same amount of couscous, then cover it with a tea towel for a few minutes. You can basically add anything to it. I've made couscous salads many times before and have mixed in tuna or sardines or bacon or chicken...with your choice of vegetables such as cherry tomatoes, pumpkin, cucumber, raisins, spinach...your choice of nuts such as chopped pistachios, pine nuts...then dress it with a mixture of yoghut, mustard and lemon juice, or red wine vinegar, or lime juice....ok, ok, you get the gist. Just whatever you want. You'll end up making a very healthy and low fat meal out of it.

Today, my couscous salad was made with turkey pieces, cherry tomatoes, plump raisins, rocket and roasted pine nuts. It was simple, filling and healthy. Adding raisins to the salad added a nice sweet taste to the salad.


Turkey Cous Cous Salad
(dinner for 1) - hubby is away.....

1/2 cup couscous
1/2 chicken stock
handful of cooked turkey, chopped
handful of cherry tomatoes, diced
handful of rocket leaves, cut into small pieces
handful of raisins
small handful of pine nuts
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
black pepper

- Roast the pine nuts in a saucepan until lightly toasted. Set aside.
- Heat up the chicken stock. Bring to boil and remove from the heat.
- Place couscous in a bowl, add in hot chicken stock. Cover with tea towel for a few minutes.
- In the meantime, soak raisins in hot water until they are plump and juicy.
- When the couscous is ready, fluff it up and toss in a bowl along with the rest of the ingredients.
- Drizzle with red wine vinegar and season with pepper. Combine well.

Smoked Salmon Avocado Salad with Poached Egg

Tonight was another salad night. In the next few days I will be making 2 other types of salads to keep up with this week's salad theme. As I'd mentioned before, I've promised myself to eat light this week after stuffing my face over the weekend.

This salad is made up of a bed of rocket leaves, topped with diced cucumber and a few handfuls of cherry tomatoes, smoked salmon pieces, sliced avocado and a sprinkle of goats cheese. I decided to poach an egg for added protein. A sweet mirin dressing was used as it goes well with the peppery taste of the rocket leaves.


Smoked Salmon Avocado Salad with Poached Egg
(serves 2)

1 avocado, sliced
2 Lebanese cucumbers, diced
8 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
100g rocket leaves
150g smoked salmon, hand shredded
goats cheese

Poached Egg
2 eggs
1 tbsp white vinegar

Dressing
3 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp olive oil

- In a saucepan, boil water (around 3/4 full); add in the white vinegar and stir. Add the eggs by placing it closer to the water. Poach for 3-4 mins.
- Arrange the rocket, cucumber, tomatoes, avocado, salmon and goats cheese on a plate. Top with poached egg.
- Make the dressing in a small bowl and drizzle over the salad.

Yoghurt Chicken with Pumpkin & Chickpea Salad

My hubby and I went to Adelaide this Australia Day long weekend for our friends' wedding. It also gave us the chance to have a post-wedding dinner with family friends who could not make it to our wedding in Sydney. When we travel afar, we'll be eating non-stop all the way through (that seems to be our style!) - starting with a BIG dinner on Friday night, followed by lunch & our friends' wedding reception dinner on Saturday, lunch again with friends on Sunday & closely followed by a BBQ, then a big breakfast with relatives before we caught our plane back to Sydney. As you can imagine, we've gobbled a whole lot of food in our ever bulging bellies! For some reason though, I managed to lose a little bit of weight when I weighed myself as soon as I got home. I have no idea why - maybe water retention before I left for Adelaide - or maybe I was just lucky I didn't gain 5kgs!

To compensate for our overeating this long weekend, I have decided to eat light this week. No objections from hubs since he thinks he really is getting a bulging belly. Not much coz he's so lean but I think guys with a little bit of fat around the waist is cute! hahaha...that's just me though. So, as I was saying, we have to eat light this week.

Tonight's dinner was my little invention - Yoghurt Chicken with Pumpkin & Chickpea Salad. It was a joyous success as hubs gave it a big thumbs up! "This is fantastic", he says. It's a filling and low GI salad. The yoghurt chicken went nicely with the salad. The pumpkin added sweetness, chickpeas added a little saltiness, whilst the tomatoes and cucumber were both refreshing. I served the salad with my double mustard and lemon dressing. There you have it.


Yoghurt Chicken with Pumpkin & Chickpea Salad
(serves 2-3)

250gm chicken breast
1/2 small butternut pumpkin, diced
1 can (240g) chickpeas, drained
2 tomatoes, diced
2 cucumbers, diced
few stalks of parsley, chopped finely
salt &/pepper for seasoning

Marinade for Chicken
1 small tub (125ml) of plain yoghurt
1 tsp Chinese 5 spice
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Salad Dressing
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp English mustard
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

- Preheat oven to 160C
- Slice up the chicken then marinade and refrigerate it for 30 mins
- Dice pumpkin and place on a baking dish, season with salt and pepper. Roast the diced pumpkin in the oven for 25-30mins or until they are ready
- When the pumpkin is roasting and chicken is marinating, drain the chickpeas, dice up tomatoes and cucumber, and make dressing
- Make the dressing in a small bowl, combining the 2 mustards, lemon and extra virgin olive oil together. Set aside.
- Pan-fry the chicken pieces until the chicken browns on both sides; then place the chicken pieces in the oven for 8 mins
- Meanwhile, combine the pumpkin, chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber and half the chopped up parsley in a serving dish
- Top with the marinaded chicken from the oven
- Drizzle with dressing. Sprinkle the rest of the parsley into the dish.

Dark Chocolate Brownies

These chocolate brownies were a spur of the moment thing. Nothing much was on TV so I decided to bake instead.

I've made chocolate brownies once before but they didn't turn out right. They were a tad oily and a bit too crunchy on top - it kind of resembled a blackened bread and butter pudding. I'm guessing maybe there was too much butter in the "other" recipe because when I took the pan out of the oven, I could still see the butter bubbling away. Eeeek! Nevertheless, I took the brownie to my friend's housewarming and they all devoured the brownies. So I guess they were nice BUT I wasn't satisfied. I told myself I would have to try and make brownies again to redeem myself.

This time around, I decided to use another recipe. This recipe was adapted from Alpineberry. The main reason why I used this recipe was because it had a lot less butter than the "other" one. These brownies turned out well. They were very light, chocolate-y, the texture was soft and fudgy, and the top of the brownie was slightly hardened. I love how brownies are fudge-y but yet soft when you bite into it. I guess I just don't like dense fudge-y desserts so I was never an advocate of chocolate mud cakes. Too rich in my opinion.

I handed one of these to my colleague today and she loved it. She says it's a very good chocolate brownie and I value what she says coz I know how picky she can be. So if she likes it, then it's all good and I'm happy. Successful brownie this time around! Yay!



Dark Chocolate Brownies
(makes 8)

3 oz dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
3 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- Preheat oven to 160c. Line the muffin pan with paper moulds or use a silicone muffin tray.
- Melt the chocolate and butter over a double boiler, stirring occasionally, until smooth and blended. Let it cool slightly.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.
- In another bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg and vanilla until light in colour and doubled in volume. Whisk in the chocolate mixture and then the flour mixture until they are well combined.
- Divide the batter evenly among the muffin moulds and smooth the tops. Bake for 20 mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a brownie comes out with a few moist crumbs.

I topped each of the brownies with a piece of raspberry for some colour. I had some raspberries in my freezer so why not?

Century Egg Congee (Jook)

I swear I'm a good wife! I am! :P

OK, I don't mean to boast but I walked all the way from my office down to Chinatown and that's all the way from one end of the city to the other end, just so that I could get some yau char gwai (Chinese donut - sticks of dough fried in hot oil - it has a slight salty taste and served predominantly with congee) for my hubby. See, he likes his yau char gwai with his congee and being a good lo pau (wife) that I am, I went all the way down there just so that I could get 2 sticks of it ($2.20 per stick for dough!). Things I do for him!!!

Do you like my new Marie Claire bowl??

I love century egg congee with minced beef. This is my favourite congee and something my hubby and I would always order at Superbowl Chinese Restaurant in Chinatown. For me, congee (or "jook" as us Cantonese speakers call it) is my ultimate comfort food.

So what is the meaning of "Comfort Food" anyway? How I see it, comfort food should be your ultimate pick-me-up. It signifies something that's home-made and should conjure up a warm and fuzzy feeling inside you when you eat it. It is something you'd like to eat when you're feeling down and out. It should be something that you have grown accustomed to and have liked since you were a child. It should be a type of food that will trigger a pleasant feeling inside you, should be easy to prepare and uncomplicated.

For Asians, jook is a type of food that can be consumed at any time of the day. Some people see it as a breakfast staple - I know some people in HK who can't go without having congee with chow mein, yau char gwai, and a glass of soya bean milk in the mornings. Congee may also be eaten at lunch, dinner or supper. In Asia, it is commonly fed to young infants. I know people who will eat just congee when they are on diets (coz it's low in carbs) and almost all Asians consider congee as some sort of therapeutic treatment since they will always think of eating congee when they are feeling unwell. So, what is YOUR ultimate "Comfort Food"?

Eve from GardenofEating is hosting a 2008 Comfort Food Cook-off and this is my comfort food entry. This is actually my first time in any sort of a cook-off. I may not win the Macaroni & Cheese cookbook but it sure was fun just being able to participate and share this recipe with all you bloggers/readers out there.

This century egg congee with mince beef is my favourite. I served my congee with steamed gai lan, yau char gway and a cup of soya bean milk. Ahhhh, dinner was so satisfying tonight :)

Century Egg Congee (with minced beef)
(can get 3-4 servings out of this)

1 cup uncooked long grain rice
4 cups of water, add more where required
2 century old eggs, chopped into small pieces
250g minced beef
sesame oil
ginger
spring onions
salt
white pepper

- Put the rice and water in the rice cooker*
- In the meantime, cook the minced beef lightly with sesame oil and salt to taste; transfer to a plate
- When the water is starting to boil in the rice cooker, add in the beef and century old eggs
- The rice should be cooked to a point where the rice has broken down and it becomes fluffy; keep an eye on the porridge and add more hot water into the rice cooker if needed
- Add ginger and spring onions to the congee when it's ready
- Add salt and pepper to taste
- Serve with additional spring onions and ginger if you prefer

* if you don't have a rice cooker, just use a normal pot - just make sure you keep your eye on the pot to ensure there's enough water in the pot and that the congee doesn't spill over

You may want to chop up the yau char gwai into bite sizes and put these in your congee, but I prefer to dip mine whilst eating so it is still slightly crunchy when I bite into it.

Enjoy!

Low Fat Peanut Butter Cookies

If you love peanut butter, you'll love these cookies.

I baked these so hubby could take them with him to his poker game. I packed quite a big pack of cookies for 4 guys and they apparently gobbled them all up that night! Mind you, these are big cookies - who would've thought that a cookie dough the size of a 20 cent coin could blow up to be close to the size of an inner rim of a dessert plate?

These cookies are apparently low fat and gluten free. They're deliciously light and crumbly in texture. Hubs call them his "peanut butter crumble". Peanut butter is the main ingredient in this recipe so the cookies are quite rich and peanut-y. The dark chocolate chips found in them just add to their decadence.


Low Fat Peanut Butter Cookies (Makes 24)
(recipe adapted from this website)

1 cup peanut butter (I used light peanut butter)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

- Preheat oven to 180c, and line baking sheets
- Beat peanut butter and light brown sugar together until well blended
- Combine egg and sprinkle baking soda on top
- Beat the ingredients together until well combined
- Fold in dark chocolate chips
- Roll dough into approximately 1-inch balls, spacing them about 1.5 inches apart, pressing each dough slightly
- Put cookies in the oven for 10 mins (fan-forced), or until the cookies are lightly browned
- Remove the cookies from the oven when done. They will be soft to touch. Transfer these to your wire rack to cool completely before serving

These cookies should be stored in airtight containers at room temperature and could be kept for about 1 week (somehow I don't think these cookies will last 1 week coz they're really quite delicious and addictive).

Turkey & Mango Salad with Honey Lime Dressing

Hubby and I had a late lunch at Sushi Bar Makoto today at Chatswood. This is our favourite sushi bar (and understandably, the most popular sushi bar in Sydney). There are 2 Makoto sushi joints in Sydney, one in Chatswood, the other is in the city. This sushi joint is usually packed out at lunch/dinner and waiting in line for half an hour or more is considered as normal. There are reasons why I think they're so popular (1) the fish they use is very fresh (2) they don't give you a thin lousy piece of fish like most sushi bars, and (3) they are always coming up with some new sushi combinations. This sushi bar has never failed us.

By late afternoon we were still feeling quite full from lunch. I'm not one to skip dinner so I decided to make us a light summer salad. We had some leftover turkey in the fridge - not alot left but we shouldn't let it go to waste. So what's a girl to do with some leftover cooked meat in the fridge? You can't do much with it other than to make sandwiches out of it or to chuck the meat in a salad.

This salad is a great refreshing summer salad. I tossed the turkey pieces together with rice vermicelli noodles, cucumber, carrot and mango then combined this with a sweet and sour dressing. An extremely easy and light salad to make and perfect for summer.



Turkey & Mango Salad with Honey Lime Dressing
(serves 2)

100g dried vermicelli noodles
1 cucumber
1 carrot
1 mango, sliced
cooked turkey meat

Dressing
1/3 cup lime juice
1 tbsp honey
3cm peeled fresh ginger, grated
1 chilli, chopped finely
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
juice squeezed from mango pip

- Combine lime juice, honey, ginger, chilli, fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil and mango juice in a bowl. Set aside
- Place vermicelli in a large bowl and pour over enough water to cover. Set this aside to soak for 5 mins or until the vermicelli is cooked through. Drain and set aside.
- Cut the cucumber and carrots thinly
- Slice the mango into strips then scoop out the flesh
- Combine the noodles, cucumber, carrots, mango and turkey together in a bowl, toss with the dressing and serve; sprinkle in some pepper if desired

Mini Carrot Cakes

Sydney's weather has been pretty dismal lately. It has been raining for the past 3 days and the forecast says that it will continue to rain until next Monday. This has probably been the wettest summer in Sydney. The weather now can be so unpredictable. Who would've thought that it'll rain this much in the middle of January when we should be getting glorious sunshine this time of the year! Today's a good day to stay in, chill out and bake a little something. We are also going to our friends' A & L's new apartment tonight for dinner. I therefore took this opportunity to bake some mini carrot cakes for the occasion.


These mini carrot cakes are low in fat and low in carbs. I didn't use any butter in this recipe. Instead, it was replaced by light olive oil. I love the smell of the mixed spice when I was mixing the ingredients together. I also love the taste of orange in the cream cheese frosting - so fruity and sweet tasting.


(check out the orange specks in the frosting - so yummy!)

Mini Carrot Cakes (makes 12)
(recipe adapted from Australian Good Taste - July 05)

1.5 cups of self-raising flour
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/3 cup sultanas
1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup coarsely grated carrot
1/3 cup light olive oil
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1 x 200g ctn country-style reduced-fat honey yoghurt (I used Attiki brand)

Cream Cheese Frosting
180g cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 tsp finely grated orange rind
5 tsp fresh orange juice
Sprinkles of walnut (if desired)

- Preheat oven to 180c
- Line muffin pan with paper cases
- Sift flour, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl
- Stir in sultanas, sugar and carrot
- Make a well in the centre. Whisk together the oil, egg and yoghurt in a jug. Pour into the flour mixture and stir to combine
- Spoon mixture among cases
- Bake in oven for 20-25mins or until a skewer inserted into centres comes out clean
- Transfer to a rack to cool
- Meanwhile, to make the frosting, use an electric beater to beat the cream cheese and icing sugar in a bowl until smooth. Add the orange rind and juice, and stir to combine
- Spread cooled cakes with cream cheese frosting to serve
- Sprinkle chopped walnuts on frosting if desired

Flourless Chocolate Cake

I really like this flourless chocolate cake. I've made this cake 3 times already but this time around, I added raspberries in my mixture. The sweetness of the chocolate and the mix of sour/sweet taste of the raspberries actually went well together. Strawberries would be nice in it too. I guess, any sort of berries would be nice on a cake like this one.

I love this cake because it's very chocolate-y. It's flourless so it's low in carbs (yay!) and you don't need to use any butter so it's low in fat too (double yay!) :P So to me, the cake is free of sin but it doesn't skimp on taste.



Flourless Chocolate Cake
(recipe adopted from Australian Good Taste - October 04)

Melted reduced-fat dairy spread, to grease
50g (1/2 cup) cocoa powder
80ml (1/3 cup) hot water
2 tsp instant coffee powder
2 tsp boiling water
1 x 100g pkt almond meal
100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
3 eggs, separated
Raspberries, handful

- Preheat oven to 180c. Brush a round 22cm cake pan with melted dairy spread to lightly grease. Line the base with non-stick baking paper.
- Combine cocoa powder and hot water in a bowl. Combine the instant coffee powder and boiling water in a cup. Add the coffee the cocoa mixture and stir until combined.
- Add almond meal, sugar and egg yolks to cocoa mixture, and stir until well combined.
- Use an electric beater to whisk egg whites in a clean, dry bowl until soft peaks form. Use a metal spoon to fold a spoonful of egg whites into cocoa mixture until combined. Gently fold in remaining egg whites until just combined.
- Pour mixture into prepared pan. Scatter raspberries all over.
- Place cake in a roasting pan. Pour enough boiling water into the roasting pan to reach 2/3 of the way up the side of the cake pan.
- Bake in preheated oven for 40mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven. Remove cake pan from water bath and set aside for 20mins to cool.
- Turn cake onto a wire rack and remove paper. Set aside for a further 20 mins or until cooled to room temperature.

Sago Red Bean Pudding (豆沙西米榚)

This was my first attempt in making Chinese dessert puddings. I've made red bean soup (紅豆沙) before but Chinese puddings are a whole new ballgame. I was nervous when the puddings were being steamed in my rice cooker but they turned out perfectly. The sago had a slight sweetness to it and went well with the sweetness of the red bean paste in the middle.



Sago Red Bean Pudding (豆沙西米榚)
(Makes 6)

(recipe slightly modified from Asian Online Recipes)

100g Sago
500ml Water
40g Sugar
30g Flour
6 tsp of Red Bean Paste
Olive oil for greasing

- Rinse and soak the sago in hot water for about 10 mins before draining well
- Grease tart moulds
- Boil 500ml water, add the sago and cook until transparent
- Rinse with water and drain well
- Mix the sago, sugar and flour together
- Fill the tart moulds half full with sago
- Put in one tsp of the red bean paste and cover this up with another spoonful of sago
- Steam over high heat for 20 mins or until transparent; or steam in your rice cooker until ready
- Turn sago cakes out of the mould
- Serve hot or cold

What Tarot Card Are You?

I came across this Tarot card reading while I was reading an old post by East Meets West (http://beaulotus.blogspot.com/). Being a curious soul that I am, I gave it a try. My card says that I am the Wheel of Fortune. Doesn't sound too bad hey? I don't know if I am as lucky and fortunate as they say I am but I sure hope so!

You are The Wheel of Fortune

Good fortune and happiness but sometimes a species of
intoxication with success

The Wheel of Fortune is all about big things, luck, change, fortune. Almost always good fortune. You are lucky in all things that you do and happy with the things that come to you. Be careful that success does not go to your head however. Sometimes luck can change.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Why don't you give yours a try?

Lemon Cookies

I noticed that we haven't been buying any biscuits or snacks at home recently so I decided to make these cookies so I could snack on them when I get home after work (and just before dinner time - I get really hungry during this period!). Also my parents stayed over at our place last night so I thought it would be nice for them to arrive at our place to a welcoming smell of freshly baked cookies :)

The recipe I used here was from Nigella's website http://www.nigella.com/. As I was rolling these cookies into balls, I decided to make some with jam drops in the middle just to make some look a little different! I love the lemon-y smell of these cookies.

Lemon Cookies

(makes 18)

110g butter softened plus extra for greasing
1 lemon
50g caster sugar
150g self-raising flour, plus extra for rolling out the cookies
icing sugar, to sprinkle (your choice)
raspberry jam, for jam drops (your choice)

- Preheat the oven to 190c. Line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside
- Using the side with the smallest holes, grate the peel from the lemon and set aside
- Using a wooden spoon, beat the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy
- Add the lemon zest and flour to the mixture and mix thoroughly
- Put some flour on your hands and roll 1 teaspoon of the mix into a small ball; place on baking tray
- Flatten the balls to cookie shapes with a fork, or you can flatten them using your hand
- If you are making jam drops, fallen the ball using your hand then by using the back of a chopstick, put a small hole/indent to the cookie; put jam in the indent
- Bake cookies for 8-10 mins until golden
- Cool on tray for 10 minutes then move them to a cooling rack
- Sprinkle the cookies with icing sugar if you wish

Beef with Beancurd Sticks and Chinese Mushrooms

This was our dinner tonight. Another Cantonese dish which was also quite simple to prepare.

When you are using dried beancurd sticks and chinese mushrooms (shitake), make sure you soak them in hot water first and wait until they become soft before you use them in your stir-fry. If not, you'll be eating hard beancurd and chewy mushrooms even when you think they are cooked properly. Mushrooms take longer to soften so it'll be good to soak them in hot water first then put them in the fridge overnight. As for the dried beancurd sticks, you can soak them in hot water for around 15 mins before you begin your stir-fry (there's no need to soak these overnight).


Beef with Beancurd Sticks and Chinese Mushrooms

8 Chinese mushrooms (shitake), soak in water overnight
3 pieces of dried beancurd sticks, broken into 1-2 inches long by hand
600g beef fillet
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 small piece of ginger, sliced thinly
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1-2 tbsp Japanese mirin
3 stalks of coriander, chopped up finely - separate stalks from leaves

For beef marinade
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornflour
small handful of sesame seeds
pepper

- Soak mushrooms overnight
- Marinade beef with soy sauce, sugar and pepper for 30 mins or overnight
- Before cooking the beef, add in 1 tsp of cornflour on beef; mix well - this is the key to ensuring your beef is tender at the end of the cooking process (always works!)
- At the same time, soak dried beancurd sticks in hot water until it softens
- Squeeze water from mushrooms; cut the stems off the mushrooms as these can be quite hard to chew; cut the mushrooms into thick strips - keep the mushroom water (you can use this later on when you are stir-frying)
- Heat up wok, stir-fry garlic and ginger together
- Add in beef and stir-fry until 80% cooked; dish this up and place aside
- Next, stir-fry the mushrooms and the beancurd sticks; add in mushroom water
- Add in the oyster sauce, miran and coriander stalks; stir-fry until the beancurd sticks are cooked through
- Add beef back into the wok, cook for another 2 minutes
- Lastly, add in the coriander leaves
- Serve immediately

I love the taste and smell of the miran in this dish, and the mushrooms & beancurd go nicely with the beef.

Lemongrass Chicken with Chinese Bean Sprouts

Stir-fries are quick and easy. To me, a simple stir-fry is a combination of meat with vegetable and sauces to suit your taste. This was our dinner on a lazy Sunday night. It took a mere 15 mins to cook.

Give it a try!


Lemongrass Chicken with Chinese Bean Spouts

2 tbsp lemongrass marinade (I used the Lee Kum Kee brand marinade)
1 tbsp minced garlic
500gms chicken thighs, cut into bite size chunks
1 large onion, sliced
2 large handfuls of bean spouts
Fresh coriander
Salt and pepper

- Marinade the chicken thighs using the lemongrass marinade, minced garlic and pepper; refridgerate for 30 mins (or overnight if you prefer)
- Heat up the wok then stir-fry the onions until translucent
- Add in the chicken and stir-fry until cooked through
- Add the coriander stalks to the wok
- Add in the bean spouts, cook for a minute or so
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Finally add in the rest of the coriander

Serve hot with jasmine rice.

Rocket, Pear & Parmesan Salad with Caramelised Balsamic

Two weeks ago, my hubby and I went away on a 2 day trip to the Southern Highlands (Bowral, Berrima and surrounding small towns) which is around 1.5-2 hours south of Sydney. There is a winery near our resort and on our first night we decided to go there for dinner. It was called Centennial Vineyards and the food they served at their restaurant was delicious. One of the entrees we ordered was the "Wild Roquet, Pear & Aged Parmesan Salad with Reduced Balsamic". This was one good salad. I love the sweetness of the pear combined with the pepperiness of the rocket leaves. It's so refreshing to eat on a balmy summer's night and very quick to prepare. This salad dish goes well with everything - chicken, beef or fish - or to have on its own.

This is my version of the salad. Hubs thought it was just as good as the salad we ate at Centennial Vineyards :) I hope you'll like it too.

Rocket, Pear & Parmesan Salad with Carmelised Balsamic
Serves 2

2 big handfuls of rocket leaves
half a pear
1 handful of goats cheese (or fetta or parmesan - whichever you prefer)
juice of 1/2 lemon
caramelised balsamic vinegar
pepper

- Remove the pear skin with a peeler
- Cut the pear in half and deseed; julienne the pear then drizzle with a dash of lemon juice
- Place rocket leaves onto a plate; scatter the thinly sliced pear pieces over the rocket
- Drizzle with more lemon juice
- Crumble the goats cheese on top (I didn't have goats cheese at home so I used parmesan instead - would prefer to use something a little more salty and creamy here as this type of cheese would go very well with the sweetness of the pear)
- Drizzle with caramelised balsamic vinegar
- Serve immediately topped with a sprinkle of black pepper

Voila! An easy, fresh sweet and peppery salad that's perfect for a summer's night.

Yummy Fish Curry

I love curry and today I was determined to make my fish curry dish. Instead of taking the easy way out by using curry paste or curry powder, I decided to make my curry from scratch by using turmeric, cumin and tamarind paste. So off I went to the Chinese grocery store at World Square and bought my first packet of turmeric and my first bottle of tamarind paste. It was also my first time in using coconut milk in my cooking. You see, I have a tendency to feel a little sick (racing heart beat) if I consume too much coconut cream/milk so I have never used these condiments in my cooking. But what's a curry dish without a little bit of coconut milk right? Instead of using normal coconut milk, I used AYAM's Light Coconut Milk in this dish. It has 55% less fat than the normal coconut milk so why not try this out? It's a less fatty option and having less coconut content in it means I have less of a chance in getting sick.

Yummy Fish Curry
serves 2
2 small onions
1 large ling fish fillet (around 600gm)
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp tamarind
2 red chilli (I used chilli flakes - add according to your own taste)
1 small old ginger
1 small bunch of coriander
1 can AYAM Light Coconut Milk (270ml)
375ml fish stock
salt to taste

- Cut fish into chunks, add 1 tsp of turmeric and a little salt; coat the fish and cover with glad wrap; put this in the refrigerator until ready to stir-fry
- Slice the onions and stir fry with a pinch of salt until translucent
- Add in 1 tsp of turmeric, 1 tsp of ground cumin, chilli and ginger to the onions
- To this mixture, add in the full can of coconut milk, 1 tbsp of tamarind, and fish stock
- Bring the mixture to the boil
- When the mixture is boiling, add in the fish and the chopped up coriander stalks
- Let this cook until the fish is ready, then simmer for another 5 mins; add in the chopped up coriander leaves just before serving

I served this dish with jasmine rice and some steamed bok choy.


This curry was really easy to make, delicious and full of flavour! It only took me 30mins to whip up this dish plus rice and bok choy. What a quick and easy dinner. Try this. You won't be disappointed.