My Little Corner Store

I'm Back & Ready to Cook Some More

2008-06-04T21:53:00.003+10:00

Sorry for the 1 month+ long blogging hiatus but after having spent 5 weeks in Europe, I seemed to have lost my inspiration to cook and bake BUT I think I'm getting my inspiration back. Maybe you feel like this sometimes but I just haven't had the urge to cook/bake for the last couple of weeks. Maybe it's because I got lazy during my trip (but then I did cook 2 wicked pasta dishes in Cinque Terre), or maybe there's so much more to think about since getting back from Europe (work, life etc), other thoughts have taken over. It's been 3 weeks since I've been back and after having 3 weeks of simple homemade mediocre food of soups, salads and simple stir-fries, I have decided to get my act together and get back into it again. Food, afterall, is something I enjoy - whether it be eating it, making it or blogging about it. We should all count our lucky stars that we are able to enjoy even the simplest of foods because there's a food crisis going on out there.

Away in Europe

2008-04-23T22:44:00.002+10:00

I'm currently on holidays at the moment and writing from an internet cafe in Austria.

So far I've been to Prague, Vienna, Salzburg and am currently in Innsbruck. I've got lots of photos from these countries to share when I come back. So far, I've quite enjoyed Austrian food. Czech food however, I have not taken a fancy to.

Austria is beautiful and their warm apple strudel with vanilla sauce is something worth trying. We've been to so many restaurants here...I'll have to blog the ones worth mentioning when I get back!

Hot Apple Strudel

2008-03-24T23:12:00.005+11:00

I'm a big fan of apple strudels, apple crumbles and apple pies. Well, anything that has to do with baked apples. I don't like apples as is, in its raw state, let alone a Granny Smith apple. So the only way I will ever eat this fruit is if you cook it or bake it, one way or the other.

This is one of my all time favourite desserts - hot apple strudel. Served hot with rich vanilla ice-cream...yum...yum...o yum! Everyone needs to try and make this at home. It only took me 15 mins to prepare and 35 mins to bake. The smell of this freshly baked dessert after 25 mins of baking will make you want to take it out from the oven right away and dig in.

I've made this dessert twice already this week. Once when a friend came over for dinner and another just for hubby & I to indulge in whilst watching a dvd on a lazy Sunday night. It seriously is worth the effort. You will not regret making this!

Hot Apple Strudel
(serves 4)

1 sheet of low fat puff pastry, thawed
1 egg
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tbsp raisins

- Preheat oven to 180C
- Line a baking tray with foil and top with baking paper
- Thaw the puff pastry at room temperature on the baking tray until it is easy to handle
- Make egg wash by stirring the egg and water in a small bowl
- Mix the caster sugar, flour and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add in the apples and raisins and toss to coat
- Spoon the apple mixture onto the middle of the puff pastry. Leave 1 cm from the side edges. Then fold the top and bottom parts of the puff pastry together to seal. Then tuck the ends under to seal the sides.
- Brush the pastry with egg wash
- Cut slits that are 2 inches apart on top of the pastry
- Bake for 35 mins or until golden
- Cool on the baking sheet for 10 mins
- Slice and serve this warm with rich vanilla icecream

Pumpkin, Spinach & Haloumi Salad

2008-03-24T22:43:00.003+11:00

I tried this Pumpkin, Spinach & Haloumi salad at a local cafe a few weeks ago and thought it was totally delicious. The sweetness of the pumpkin mixes well with the saltiness coming from the haloumi cheese. This is not a quick salad to put together but one that is well worth the effort.

For those you who are not familiar with Haloumi cheese - it is a cheese made from a combination of goat's and sheep's milk, it's white, salty, its texture is semi-soft and because of its high melting point, the cheese is often grilled or fried before serving with salad or vegetables.

Pumpkin, Spinach & Haloumi Salad
(serves 2)

2 handfuls of spinach leaves
1/2 butternut pumpkin, sliced
100g Haloumi cheese, sliced to 0.5cm-1cm thick
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt & pepper

- Grill the butternut pumpkin slices until soft
- Grill the Haloumi cheese until golden
- To make the dressing, whisk the extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper in a small bowl until well combined
- Combine spinach, grilled pumpkin and dressing in a bowl. Divide between plates. Top with grilled Haloumi.

Dark Chocolate & Blueberry Muffins

2008-03-24T22:31:00.003+11:00

I varied the ingredients I used in making my White Chocolate & Blueberry Muffins to come up with this dark chocolate version.

Follow this recipe but add in 1/2 cup of cocoa and replace your white chocolate pieces with dark chocolate chips.

Turkey, Spinach & Zucchini Quiche

2008-03-19T23:29:00.004+11:00

If you're not hungry after work and have an hour to spare, try and make a quiche for dinner.

You can basically put anything as part of your fillings, be it ham, spinach & fetta cheese, mushrooms, capsicum....in my fridge, I had turkey slices, a bag of spinach and half a zucchini leftover from the night before...so I used these ingredients for my fillings tonight.

One thing that's different about this recipe is that instead of using the traditional milk/cream/half & half, I used a 99% fat free buttermilk that was already sitting in my fridge. I didn't know if it would work but experimenting with food is a typical foodie behaviour and so I gave it a try. The quiche turned out perfectly and was extremely tasty. My hubby ate 3 pieces of it and I had to tell him to stop stuffing himself!

Turkey, Spinach & Zucchini Quiche

6 pieces of Turkey slices, diced
1 handful of spinach leaves, sliced
1 zucchini, diced (I used 1/2 as I only had this much left after the other night)
3 stalks of parsley, chopped finely
2 eggs
250ml buttercream
1 tsp salt
dash of black pepper
1 handful of low fat shredded chedder
1 piece of shortcrust pastry

- Preheat oven to 180C
- Lay out a piece of shortcrust pastry and let it thaw
- If you are not using silicone, lightly grease your pie pan (I used a 25cm pie pan)
- Once the pastry has thawed, mould the pastry into the pan, smoothing the edges and the rim carefully. Use a fork to poke holes on the pastry. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs. Add in buttercream, salt & pepper. Combine well.
- Add in turkey, spinach, zucchini and parsley into the buttercream & egg mixture. Combine well.
- Add cheese into the mixture, leaving some to sprinkle on top of the quiche later when the filling is in the pan. Stir in.
- Pour the filling into the pie pan.
- Sprinkle the top with more cheese.
- Bake this in the oven for 45-50mins. When baked, take the quiche out of the oven and let it rest for 10 mins before serving.
- Serve this with salad.

Honey Mustard Chicken Pasta Salad

2008-03-18T22:03:00.009+11:00

When you come home from work wanting something tasty, healthy and takes only 30mins or less to prepare, this Warm Honey Mustard Chicken Pasta salad is for you.

As soon as you get home, just do 2 things:
(1) take the chicken out of the fridge and marinate it
(2) boil water in a pan for your pasta
When you've finished getting changed and cleaned up, the water should be boiling. Start preparing your pasta and pan frying the chicken pieces. Toss your salad leaves and pasta together with your desired dressing then placed the cooked chicken on top. Voila!

Here's my Warm Honey Mustard Chicken Pasta Salad recipe:
(serves 2)

2 small chicken breasts, cut into strips
2 tsp English mustard
2 tsp honey
1 tsp minced garlic
1.5 cups of pasta spirals
6 button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 zucchini, sliced
1 handful of rocket leaves
1 handful of parsley, chopped
99% fat free Caesar dressing
black pepper

- Place the chicken pieces in a bowl and marinade them with mustard, honey and minced garlic.
- Boil water; add in pasta and cook for 10 mins until al dente.
- Place button mushrooms and zucchini slices in a frying pan, let this cook through then set aside.
- Place the marinated chicken pieces on the pan and let it cook until brown on both sides.
- Toss rocket leaves, mushrooms, zucchini and parsley in a large bowl; add in cooked pasta. Add in your desired amount of dressing; toss well together.
- Serve salad on plates; topped with chicken.
- Add in black pepper if desired.

White Chocolate & Blueberry Muffins

2008-03-17T21:20:00.005+11:00

One failed attempt after another in 2 weeks gave me the illusion that yes, I am not made to bake muffins. The last 2 attempts in making muffins turned out to be disastrous. When you are longing for baked goods and decides to spend 20 mins preparing and waiting an additional 25 mins for them to bake, one would be anticipating some wonderful, cake-like delectables right? Well, the last 2 times I baked, I felt like I was cursed. My 1st attempt was in making Spiced Peach Muffins, whilst the 2nd attempt was in making Mixed Berry Crumble Muffins...both were meant to be really nice but NO, my damn muffins stuck to the paper cases and the insides of the muffin came out doughy. I swear I didn't miss a step and followed the recipes to the T. So what went wrong? I've made cupcakes and muffins before and never failed so dismally. After thinking it through, I think it HAS TO do with those DAMN muffin paper cases I bought from Coles. If you ever go to Coles, DON'T EVER, EVER buy the muffin cases by the makers of "Bakeit" - these muffin cases look cute on the outside, with mini bananas and strawberries printed on them but don't be fooled - don't use them because your muffins will stick to the paper and you will have to literally rip the paper off your muffins.

Today was my 3rd attempt in making muffins - my 3rd time in 2 weeks. Lo & behold, they turned out soooo well! This time, I didn't use those cursed muffin cases but instead used my other cheap, plain, white & foiled muffin cases which served me well many a times. The muffins I tried this time around were White Chocolate & Blueberry Muffins. These turned out soooo well!! The muffins were very light and fluffy, and just right with the amount of sweetness. This recipe is definitely a keeper. I'm going to use this recipe and improvise a bit next time to make Dark Chocolate and Cherry Muffins. First we'll need to clear these puppies off first - which shouldn't be too hard! They're really really yummy. I'm so happy my 3rd set of muffins turned out so well. Let's just say I will never use those cursed muffin cases again and if you ever come across them in your supermarket, remember this - DON'T BUY THEM!

White Chocolate & Blueberry Muffins
(makes 15)

2 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
125g white chocolate, cut into chunks
2 lights, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g butter, melted
1 punnet of blueberries

- Preheat oven to 180C. Line your muffin pan.
- Sift flour into a large bowl. Add sugar and white chocolate chunks. Stir until well combined.
- Whisk eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and melted butter together in a separate bowl.
- Use a large metal spoon, stir butter mixture into the flour mixture until just combined. Gently swirl through blueberries.
- Spoon mixture into muffin pan. Bake for 25 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the muffin comes out clean. Stand in pan for 5 mins. Turn onto a wire rack. Serve.

Prawn & Chives Fried Rice / Watercress, Carrot & Pork Soup

2008-03-09T22:35:00.010+11:00

Watercress, Carrot & Pork soup is a typical Cantonese style soup. What typifies a Cantonese style soup is that the soup is a clear broth that is prepared by simmering meat and other ingredients (vegetable and sometimes herbal ingredients) for several hours. You may eat the ingredients with your soup or dish them out and serve them with a little soy sauce to eat with rice and other prepared dishes.

Watercress, Carrot & Pork Soup

1 bunch Watercress, washed thoroughly
1 large carrot, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 piece of pork fillet
2 dried dates
salt to taste

- Add 3/4 water to a pot and bring this to the boil
- Add in pork fillet, carrots and dates
- Add in watercress
- Turn the heat down to medium and let the soup bubble away for 1 hour
- After 1 hour, turn the heat down to allow the soup to simmer for another hour
- Add salt to taste

I used pork fillet in the soup but some people prefer to use pork bones or chicken bones. If you are using pork bones, bring the water the the boil and add in pork bones first and let this boil away until all the bone marrow and scum float up to the top of the water. You will need to skim this away otherwise it will leave specks of grey in your soup so it won't look as clear. I used pork fillet because it's very lean so there is no need to skim off any fatty residue from your soup. Another tip worth noting is that you should boil your water first before you add in the watercress - if you don't, your soup will be bitter - that's what my mum told me.

You should be able to find ingredients such as watercress and dried dates in your local Chinese grocery stores. The dried dates, carrots & pork add sweetness to the soup and when the soup is boiled, the taste and smell of watercress is very apparent. Soup is very good for you. Drinking soup apparently gives you nice skin and who doesn't want that?

I also made Prawn & Chives Fried Rice to go with our soup tonight. Hubby says I should clear out everything that's in our fridge/pantry before I'm allowed to buy anymore groceries. He thinks I go overboard when it comes to food shopping. I guess he's right! So for this coming week, I will attempt to come up with dinner ideas from food that we already have at home so I'll need to be creative.

Prawn, Chives & Ginger Fried Rice
(serves 2)

1 cup brown rice, cooked
8 frozen tiger prawns, thawed then cut
1 bunch of Chinese chives, chopped
2 tsp grounded fresh ginger
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp soy sauce
white pepper to taste

- In a frying pan, add in the ground ginger. Stir-fry until fragrant.
- Add in cooked brown rice. Coat well with fried ginger.
- Add in chopped chives. Mix well with rice.
- Add in prawns
- Stir-fry until all of the ingredients are cooked and mixed well together
- Add in lightly beaten egg. Mix this in thoroughly and should coat the rice. You don't want large lumps of egg in your fried rice.
- Add in soy sauce. Stir.
- Sprinkle white pepper to taste. Stir.
- Serve immediately

Chinese chives are flatter, longer and has a stronger smell than chives you may normally find in your local supermarket. The chives and ginger make the dish very very fragrant. It's worth trying this version over the typical fried rice you may find in Chinese takeaway stores. It's very tasty and extremely easy to make.

An Afternoon Hanging Around Glebe

2008-03-09T21:33:00.006+11:00

It's been over a week since I've last posted. I've been really busy lately and haven't had the chance to cook much last week. I wonder if anyone missed me :)

My hubby and I ventured out to Glebe late Saturday afternoon to check out the Glebe Market. This Market is open every Saturday and it's a great place to look for vintage items at bargain prices as well as pieces from aspiring designers. There are also food stalls at the Market and one of them worth mentioning is a Turkish pide store that is always there without fail every Saturday. More on this in a minute.

First, let me share with you on my experience at the Fair Trade Coffee Co - a cafe on Glebe Point Road, located not far from the Market. My hubby and I came here before we went into the Market because by the time we got to Glebe, it was already 3pm and I was starving. It would've been 24hr+ since I last had food in my stomach. The only thing that kept me going til 3pm was water. So I was getting cranky and needed some food desperately. We headed into the Fair Trade Coffee Co. and I immediately ordered their Buckwheat pancake with strawberries & apples (asking them to bring me honey instead of maple syrup) whilst hubby ordered toasted sourdough with butter & honey and a flat white. Our orders came after 20mins and I was totally disappointed at the sight of my pancakes and my hubby's toast.

This is a photo of the pancakes:

The presentation of it was not good. The dish came with 3 pancakes and on top of each pancake were slices of strawberries and long thin slices of Granny Smith apples. When I ordered, I asked for honey instead of maple syrup but a small ramekin of maple syrup came with the pancakes instead so the waitress had to go back into the kitchen to swap it with honey. A minor mistake is OK with me. Since I was already starving by the time my pancakes arrived, I dug into it even before the waitress came back with my pot of honey. OMG, these pancakes were the worst pancakes I have ever tasted. First of all, it was cold..ok, a little lukewarm...secondly, it was slightly burnt...and the third point I want to raise is that they were tasteless and dry, like chokingly dry. The honey didn't make them any better so I ate 1.5 of them and got my husband to eat the rest but all he did was to eat a small piece of it and left the sorry looking pancakes on the plate.

As for my husband's toasted sourdough bread with butter and honey - sorry we didn't take a picture of it so trust me on my description of it. When his order came, he wasn't given a butter knife so he had to ask the waitress to go get one for him. But the most shocking thing was the size of the order - 2 tiny, thin pieces of toasted sourdough bread were laid out on the plate and they just looked so tiny on a normal sized plate. I can't remember how much it was but our reactions were "gees, we paid money for this?! why are they soooo small?!" I felt jipped, so jipped. The only thing that was good was the coffee. Well I thought it was good because I like weak coffee but hubby said it was just alright...and he's a coffee drinker so he knows coffee way better than me.

I wasn't satisfied after our cafe experience. I was still starving and was getting even crankier. So we headed off to the markets and I had to find the food stall I can always rely on for a quick and tasty meal. I headed directly to the Turkish pide store (run by 2 Turkish ladies - I think it's a mother & daughter team) and ordered their vegetarian pide. They sell 2 types - (1) Spinach & Fetta (2) Spinach, Fetta & Lamb. I ordered the Spinach & Fetta pide. As soon as I gave the lady my money, her mother chopped the pide into 6 pieces and placed it on a plastic plate and topped it with a sliced piece of lemon. Oh it smelt soooo good and it was pipping hot. We found a spot near the lawn and sat down to enjoy this somewhat oily but delicious pide and did some people watching. Here is a photo of the pide. It totally satisfied my empty stomach. I didn't need any fancy buckwheat pancakes, a pipping hot & oily pide did it for me that day.

The Fair Trade Company Co.
33 Glebe Point Road
Glebe NSW 2037
Phone (02) 9660-0621

The Glebe Market
Glebe Public School
Glebe Point Road
When: Every Saturday
Time: 9.30am-4.30pm

Mini Cinnamon Palmiers

2008-02-27T23:38:00.005+11:00

I haven't eaten Palmiers in ages. Palmiers are also known to me as "butterfly biscuits" - that's what they call these in HK and the name is so fitting because the curly bits really do remind me of wings on a butterfly.

Since I had only 1.5 pieces of puff pastry in my freezer, it wasn't a hard decision to use them all up to make my butterfly biscuits. I made mini cinnamon palmiers which are perfect as mid morning snacks.

I packaged these mini palmiers and took them to work for a few friends of mine. They were very well received!

Mini Cinnamon Palmiers

1.5 sheets of puff pastry, partially thawed
1/8 cup raw sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp hot water

- Preheat oven to 220c. Line a tray with non stick baking paper.
- Place puff pastry on the workbench. Sprinkle one side with raw sugar. Turn this over and sprinkle the other side with raw sugar and cinnamon.
- Tightly roll one end of the puff pastry to the middle. Do the same with the other end. Cover with cling wrap and put this in the freezer for 15 mins until the pastry becomes hard.
- Take the pastry out of the freezer, unwrap cling wrap and cut roll into 0.5 cm slices. Place palmiers on the lined tray. Allow room for the puff pastry to expand when baking.
- Bake this for 8 mins. Meanwhile, dissolve the honey in hot water. After the palmiers have been baking in the oven for 8 mins, take the tray out and brush each palmier with the honey water. Put the tray back into the oven for an extra 3-4 mins until brown.
- When browned on one side, slip each of the palmiers over and brush the other side with the honey water. Bake for another 3-4 mins until brown.
- Cool on wire rack.

Cooking Salmon - 2 Ways

2008-02-27T21:11:00.008+11:00

I went grocery shopping yesterday and bought a pack of salmon fillets from Coles. A pack of salmon comes with 2 equal sizes of the fish and since I'm home alone again, it served its purpose over 2 dinners. So economical.

Yesterday's dinner was Pesto Salmon on Wasabi Soba, accompanied by steamed broccolini. Tonight's dinner was Green Curry Salmon with Tofu and Mushrooms. Both very quick and easy to make. Dinner for 1 can be just as enjoyable. All the more reason for cooking up something tasty and enjoying dinner whilst watching your favourite TV show.

Pesto Salmon on Wasabi Soba & Steamed Broccolini

1 piece of salmon fillet
1 tsp pesto
1 handful of organic soba
1 tbsp Hakubaku Wasabi Noodle Sauce
1 bunch broccolini
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

- Rub pesto over salmon; refrigerate for 10 mins;
- Meanwhile, bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add in broccolini and cook for 2 mins. When ready, transfer the broccolini to a sieve. When dry, place on plate.
- You can use the same water that was used for the broccolini to cook the soba. Cook for 4 mins or until the noodles are just tender. Drain & rinse over with warm water.
- Toss the noodles with the Wasabi Noodle Sauce. Place on plate.
- Add olive oil to a heated pan. Cook the salmon, 2 mins on each side or until cooked to your liking.
- Serve salmon on the Wasabi soba and drizzle Dijon mustard on top.

Green Curry Salmon with Tofu and Mushrooms

1 piece of salmon fillet, cut into cubes
6 button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 pack of firm tofu, sliced
1 tbsp green curry paste
1/4 cup buttermilk
Coriander, to garnish

- In a saucepan over medium heat, add in the green curry paste. Cook until the flavour comes through.
- Add in buttermilk and a splash of water. Bring this to the boil then add in salmon cubes and mushrooms. Let this simmer for 2 mins.
- Add in tofu. Cook for another 2 mins.
- The dish should have enough flavour in it so you shouldn't need to add in any salt or pepper. However, if you wish, you could add in a few drops of fish sauce (but I don't think that's necessary)
- Garnish with corinander.

Double Chocolate & Macadamia Nut Cake

2008-02-24T18:11:00.006+11:00

This cake was made for my brother's gf, M, who celebrated her 2x bday yesterday. Happy Birthday! I thought it would be fitting to make her a birthday cake to celebrate the occasion.

From what M told me, she likes chocolate and nuts, and she has a liking towards white chocolate. So that's how this Double Chocolate & Macadamia Nut cake came about.

This is my first birthday cake attempt. Maybe it was me and I was very particular about getting it right, the whole process took me a few hours to make. Most foodies out there will probably take a lot less time than me. Initially I wanted to make a round cake but alas, my cake box was alot smaller than I had thought so I had to cut the cake into a square shape instead. The cake ended up being smaller than I had in mind. Eventually, after many hours in the kitchen, my creation was born. I got some reviews back and the birthday girl said the cake was delicious. Am so happy it turned out well.

Happy Birthday M! I hope you had a great one!

Double Chocolate & Macadamia Nut Cake

Chocolate Cake:
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
6 tbsp cocoa
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup margarine
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup boiling water
2 tsp vanilla essence

- Preheat oven to 180C
- Line 2 round cake pans (8 inch - I used a 9 inch and made this twice coz that's all I had) with baking paper, grease the sides
- Sift the flour, baking soda, cocoa and salt into a bowl
- Add in the eggs, margarine, buttermilk, vanilla and water
- Using an electric mixer, beat on low setting then increase the speed until the batter is smooth
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 40 mins, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean
- Cool in the pan for 30 mins then turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Dark Chocolate Frosting:
180g unsweetened dark chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups icing sugar
1 tbsp vanilla essence

- In a bowl, beat butter until creamy
- Add icing sugar and continue to beat until fluffy
- Add vanilla
- Add cooled and melted chocolate
- The icing should look glossy and smooth

Decoration:
18 caramelized macadamia nuts
White chocolate shavings

- When the cakes are cooled, use a spatula and spread the dark chocolate frosting evenly on the top of one cake
- Place the second cake on top
- Continue to spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake
- Decorate the top of the cake with the caramelized macadamia nuts and fill the rest of the top layer with white chocolate shavings

Foodie Blogroll

2008-02-24T17:59:00.003+11:00

I'm now on the Foodie Blogroll! Yay! I've wanted to join this since I've started my blog so I could start sharing my recipes with other food enthusiasts out there.

To join, simply go to this website: Foodie Blogroll

I hope I'll meet and interact with more of you out there. Happy to be a part of the group now :)

Mixed Berry Cheesecake

2008-02-21T23:51:00.008+11:00

My brother and his gf came over the other night for dinner so I made this mixed berry cheesecake for dessert.

This is a very light cheesecake. I used cream cheese and yoghurt to form the filling, topped with a low calorie jelly.

Mixed Berry Cheesecake

Base:
125g digestive biscuits, crushed into fine crumbs
60g butter, melted

Filling:
250g low fat cream cheese
250g low fat plain yoghurt
50g icing sugar
1 tbsp gelatin powder
40ml boiling water
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup mixed berries

Jelly:
1 packet Jelly crystal (raspberry or strawberry) flavour
1 cup boiling water
1 cup cold water

- Mix biscuit crumbs and melted butter together in a bowl. Transfer to an 18cm tin, with removable base. Use your fingers or a glass to spread and press the mixture firmly onto the base of the tin. Place in the fridge for 30 mins to chill.
- Place gelatin and boiling water in a bowl. Stir well to combine. Keep warm.
- Using an electric beater, beat cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla essence together until smooth & creamy.
- Add in yoghurt and beat until smooth. Add in gelatin and mix well.
- Pour the mixture onto the base. Add the mixed berries onto the cheese mixture. Chill for 3.5 hours.
- Dissolve the jelly crystals using the boiling water, then pour in cold water. When the cheese mixture has solidified, pour the jelly on top. Let the jelly set before removing the cake from the tin.

My One Pot Wonder - Chicken, Bok Choy & Mushroom Fragrant Rice

2008-02-19T00:19:00.007+11:00

I had a severe attack of Monday-itis. Yes this is a day where you wished you could've just stayed home, sleep in and not have to do anything at all. I was still feeling it at 5:30pm! When I bumped into a friend of mine while I was leaving the office, she noticed right away that I was affected by good ole "Monday-itis". It certainly didn't help when, at 4:30pm, I had this guy standing next to me talking to his colleague who's sitting on my right in an ever so boring monotone voice for half an hour!! It could not have happened at the worst time - 4:30pm - when you're already sleepy and you are trying to keep yourself busy and entertained for another hour before you could leave work. That voice..that monotone voice…nearly made me fall asleep on my keyboard and hit the zzzzzzz key.

I was bored and tired. I needed some form of entertainment so I started thinking about what I could cook for dinner tonight. Being a little tired doesn't help when you are trying to be creative. So, stuff it, I just want to cook up a nice dinner, something that didn't involve alot of cooking or washing up. That's where my rice cooker came in and did its job tonight.

What better way to cook a meal than to dump everything in a pot and let it cook itself? So that's what I let my rice cooker do for me tonight. When you hear that "click" sound coming from the rice cooker. it's telling you that "Yes, your food is ready & I'm keeping it warm for you".

I'm calling this my one pot wonder - my Chicken, Bok Choy & Mushroom Fragrant Rice. It looks a little like risotto...Chinese style :)

Here how it was made.

Chicken, Bok Choy & Mushroom Fragrant Rice
(serves 2)

1 cup jasmine rice
375ml chicken stock
200g chicken (breast or thigh), chopped into bite sized pieces
6 mushrooms, sliced
1 bunch of bok choy, chopped into small pieces
1 tsp minced ginger
1 handful basil leaves, chopped roughly
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese wine
Salt & Pepper to taste

- Marinade the chicken pieces with oyster sauce, light soy, dark soy and Chinese wine for half an hour
- Rinse the jasmine rice in the rice cooker
- Fill the rice cooker with chicken stock
- Add in the marinated chicken pieces, ginger, mushrooms and bok choy in the rice cooker
- Cook until the rice cooker signals that that rice is ready
- Add salt and pepper to taste
- Add in the roughly chopped basil leaves. Stir into the rice and cover the lid for 5 mins so that the basil infuses throughout the rice.
- Serve immediately.

Chocolate Chips & Sultana Oats Cookies

2008-02-17T22:33:00.007+11:00

It's time to refill our cookie jar again!

I adapted this recipe from a fellow blogger Little Corner of Mine. I've always wanted to make these cookies but for some reason, everything else I wanted to make took over and jumped the queue. However since I had a bit of alone time tonight and all the ingredients were in my pantry, I finally decided to bake these to fill up my cookie jar. I should've made these a long time ago. They turned out so well.

These cookies are healthy and delicious. They're crumbly in texture, the sultanas become a little caramel-y when cooked and who doesn't love chocolate chips?

Chocolate Chips & Sultana Oats Cookies
(makes 30)

(A)
1 egg, beaten
125ml olive oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup + 1/8 cup of sugar

(B)
1 1/4 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup oats (not quick oats)
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup sultanas

- Mix (A) in a bowl. Then add in (B). Mix well.
- Roll the mixture into balls and place on parchment paper. Slightly press down the cookies.
- Bake at 180C for 15 mins.
- When ready, let the cookies cool in the pan for 5 mins before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store these in an air-tight container.

Tetsuya's - The Restaurant

2008-02-16T23:31:00.023+11:00

Today marked the end to a long awaited dining experience at Tetsuya's. I made this booking 4 months ago and the earliest booking back then was for lunch in February; if we wanted to go there for dinner, the earliest booking back then was July! So I guess you would understand why I was so excited about this day. We finally made it to Tetsuya's :)

Tetsuya's is renowned for its 10 course degustation menu. The food was brilliant. The whole experience was worth every penny. Expect to pay a minimum of $195 per head (drinks not included) but the hefty price does not just go towards the fresh ingredients that were used but it also goes towards the creativity and the preparation work that go into making every one of the dishes. Last year, the restaurant was awarded the highest rating (Three Chef's Hats) in Australia and was also named Restaurant of the Year. It received many other awards and accolades, one of which ranked it as the 5th top restaurant in the world in 2007.

The restaurant is situated in the city on 529 Kent Street, in between Bathurst and Liverpool Street. It has a big gated entrance. The big gate is sensored and will automatically open when you approach. Stepping through the entrance, you are greeted by one waiter outside the door. When you step inside, you will be greeted by 4 other waiters. One of them will show you to your table. We were seated in one of the rooms with a big wine cellar and facing a Japanese pond. This particular dining room could and did fill around 12 tables of 2, 1 table of 6 and 1 table of 4. The tablecloths and plates are in white, and there is an big artistic ornament placed in the middle of the room. The service is attentive. After the waiter lays your dish down on the table, they will begin to tell you the name of the dish. Your plates will be cleared promptly when you are finished and glasses will always be filled with your choice of drinks. The dishes are perfectly timed so you will never feel like you're being rushed or you are waiting too long for the next dish to arrive.

The first thing they serve us was a choice between 2 types of warm toasted bread - white roll or brown organic sourdough. My husband and I both chose the sourdough. The bread was warm, freshly baked and crusty. It was perfect. Served with this was the most delicious black truffle salsa butter. I usually don't smother alot of butter on my rolls but this time..this time was different. The butter had the most luscious mushroom taste to it.

Warm Crusty Organic Sourdough Roll with Black Truffle Salsa Butter

Here are the courses, as they were served.

Cold Corn Soup with Saffron & Vanilla Ice Cream

Smoked Ocean Trout & Avruga Caviar

Leek & Crab Custard

Sashimi of Big Eye Tuna with Wasabi & Eschallot

Confit of Petuna Tasmanian Ocean Trout with Konbu, Daikon & Fennel
Seasonal Green Salad
(Tetsuya's Signature Dish)

Ravioli of Queensland Spanner Crab with Tomato & Basil Vinaigrette

Fillet of Barramundi with Braised Baby Fennel

Twice Cooked De-Boned Spatchcock with Olive & Caper Jus

Seared Fillet of Veal with Wasabi Butter

Comte with Lentils

Marinated Peach with Vodka & Peach Sorbet
Summer Pudding
(accompanied by Mini Lemon Madelines & Unseeded Grape Skewers)

Banana Mousse & Caramel Ice Cream

Chocolate Terrine with Mascarpone & Cognac Anglaise

Coffee or Tea (Flat White shown here)
&
Petit Four
(Almond Shortbread, Coconut Covered Peanut Biscuit,
Chocolate Macaroon with Lemon Buttermilk filling, Green Tea Marshmallow)

We sat there for 3 hours, eating. It was of pure enjoyment. We slowly savoured each dish, analysing what was in each dish and if we could taste the ingredients that were made known to us through their names.

Our favourite courses were:
- Smoked Ocean Trout & Avruga Caviar
- Sashimi of Big Eye Tuna with Wasabi & Eschallot
- Confit of Petuna Tasmanian Ocean Trout with Konbu, Daikon & Fennel
- Twice Cooked De-Boned Spatchcock with Olive & Caper Jus
- Marinated Peach with Vodka & Peach Sorbet, and Summer Pudding

Both Ocean Trout dishes were brilliant and we both raved on about the Summer Pudding. I think I might try and make this Summer Pudding in the next week or two. It will surely not taste as good but I'll give it a go. I surprised myself for liking this pudding more than the Chocolate Terrine given that I'm a die hard chocolate fan.

The whole experience was absolutely worth it. We were actually glad that we went there for lunch instead of dinner as we had enough time to digest the food for the rest of the day :) After Tetsuya's, we worked it off by playing a round of golf. What a great day.

I said to my husband that we should go to Tetsuya's for our wedding anniversary and make this a yearly thing. If that's the case, I might have to call up and make a booking soon for this coming December!

Tetsuya's Restaurant
529 KENT STREET
SYDNEY NSW 2000
Telephone: +612 9267 2900

Lunch: Saturday from 12 noon
Dinner: Tuesday to Saturday from 6pm

Ten course degustation menu is $195 (GST inclusive) per person
Accompanying wine course is an additional $90 (GST inclusive) per person

Spinach and Mushroom Crepes

2008-02-16T22:23:00.005+11:00

I didn't go to work on Friday because my stomach was playing up and I had to go see the doctor that morning. When I stepped into the doctor's office at 9am that morning, I learnt that there were already 8 people waiting in line to see her and there would be a 2 hour wait! Oh man...I was tossing up between (1) giving up on seeing her & just go to work, or (2) to go home & hang around for 2 hours before paying her a visit again. I chose the second option - it's a quiet period at work anyway and I've been meaning to see her for the past week now (ever since my stomach played up just over a week ago) - I guess it was an easy decision to make.

I'm ok. She says I have a mild gastric condition and had to take this tablet for 2 weeks. My doc also said that I didn't need to cut any food out from my diet...maybe just alcohol and coffee...but I haven't had these 2 things in ages so all is ok. I'm happy. I can still eat what I want.

After seeing doc and taken the stomach tablet, I was itching to go out and do something :P I'm not one to stay at home - maybe ok for a few hours but I can't stay home for more than a few hours without feeling extremely bored. So what did I do? I went shopping! :P I've been thinking about buying another pair of Lee jeans ever since I tried on a pair and bought one a few days ago. Yes, I bought a pair of Lee jeans a few days ago and I don't know about you, but I find it hard to find jeans that fit well...so if I find a pair that suits me, I get totally obsessed about them and will want to buy ANOTHER pair of exactly the same jeans to add to my collection. Sound crazy but I know some of you girls out there know what I'm talking about. You would not believe this but when I was at the shop, the EXACT same shop, I found out they were on further discount!! So, get this...5 days ago, these jeans were selling at $70...now $50!! What a bargain! I snapped them up immediately and grabbed the last pair of size 7s. Yay!! last pair...I felt really lucky. I also managed to run a few overdue errands that day too. What a fruitful day :) It's good to do all of that knowing that everyone else is at work..hehehehe. By the time I finished what I needed to do, 2.5 hours had gone by and it was already 5:30pm. OH man...I was tired by the time I got home.

Boy, am I glad I made a hearty vegetable soup at lunchtime. This meant my hubby and I could have this as part of dinner and all I needed to make was something light to go with the soup. I bought some mushrooms today at the supermarket, and since we had buttermilk and avocado in the fridge, I decided to make us Spinach and Mushroom Crepes for dinner.

Here's the recipe.

Spinach and Mushroom Crepes
(makes 4 crepes)

Crepes
1/2 cup plain flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp butter, melted
1/8 tsp salt

Filling
1 bunch of spinach leaves, chopped
6 mushrooms, sliced
1 avocado, mashed
1 handful of Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

1 handful parsley, chopped
extra Parmesan cheese for sprinkling
black pepper

- Toss spinach in a pot, add water and cook for several minutes until leaves are wilted. Set aside.
- Add olive oil, garlic and mushrooms to the pot. Cook until the mushrooms are tender.
- Add the cooked spinach back to the pot.
- Add in the mashed avocado, Parmesan cheese and buttermilk. Stir well to combine all of the ingredients together. Turn the heat down so the ingredients are simmering in the pot. Season with salt and pepper.
- Turn the heat off when done and cover with lid.
- In a saucepan on medium heat, spoon in 1/4 cup crepe batter; swirl the batter around the pan to make thin crepes. Cook until brown on one side then flip over to the other side.
- Fill half a crepe with the spinach/mushroom/avocado mixture. Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese in the crepe before folding the other side over. Add a little more sauce over the finished crepe and top it with chopped parsley and black pepper.

Valentine's Day

2008-02-15T22:32:00.006+11:00

This year we didn't go out for dinner on Valentine's Day. Instead we opted for a seafood meal at home. Why? well...no point spending money on an expensive Valentine's dinner when we're going to one of the world's most famous restaurants Tetsuya's in 2 day's time! OMG, I can't wait. More about this in a later post.

Anyway, back to Valentine's Day. Hubby went to the Fish Market late in the afternoon and bought everything his wife ordered (hehe..) - 2 dozen oysters, 1 lobster and salmon & kingfish sashimi. I used some of the sashimi to make sushi rolls which included slices of avocado, cucumber and carrot. It was as lovely dinner - so light and refreshing. We've also moved our dining table to a different place that night so it didn't seem like it was an ordinary dinner at home. We haven't moved the table back to its original position since then. Looks good where it is now. I wonder why we didn't think about moving the dining table like this before.

Healthy Beef Sausage Rolls

2008-02-13T22:25:00.005+11:00

Whoever invented puff pastry is a star. I love how puff pastry adds a whole new element to a dish. I defrosted around 250g of minced beef in the fridge and could have easily made a stir-fry with it for a fast and easy meal. However, another way of using a small amount of minced beef is to mix it up with your desired ingredients, wrap them up in puff pastry, then stick them in the oven for a deliciously baked roll or pie. When they're done, they smell sensational and there's nothing more deliciously tempting than something that comes directly from the oven and onto your plate. You'll want to dig in as soon as these are done.

Healthy Beef Sausage Rolls
(makes 4)

250g minced beef (premium quality; less fat)
1 carrot, grated
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp McCormick Season-All (all round seasoning for meat & vegetable)
black pepper (as little or as much as you like, depending on your taste)
1 egg, lightly beaten (for mince mixture)
1 egg, lightly beaten (to enclose and brush pastry)
2 pieces of low-fat puff pastry, thawed

- Combine mince, carrot, onion, parsley, egg and seasoning in a bowl. Use hands to combine.
- Cut a piece of puff pastry in half, then spoon the mince mixture onto the middle of the pastry half. Roll up and brush the last 2cm of the pastry with egg. Conceal and place on baking tray. Repeat for the remaining pastry.
- Brush the tops of the rolls with egg then pick the pastry top gently using a fork.
- Bake for 25-30mins or until golden.
- Serve with tomato sauce...BBQ sauce...sweet chilli sauce...mustard..whichever you prefer.

Oh, I put a thin slice of mozzarella on top of our sausage rolls just before taking them out of the oven coz I wanted a bit of cheese on ours to make it more interesting but that's just me. You don't have to do that. They're nice without the cheese on top too.

Seachange Cafe and Grill @ Dee Why

2008-02-11T22:17:00.000+11:00

My husband and I headed up to the beach suburb of Dee Why on Saturday afternoon. We leisurely strolled around the beach and before we knew it, it was already 7pm. I wasn't really that hungry so I could settle for anything. My hubby, on the other hand, was getting hungry and was craving for good ole fish'n'chips. There are quite a number of restaurants and cafes facing the beach but none of them took our fancy except for one because, unlike the other restaurants on this strip, this one seemed alot more cosy and laid back than the rest.

This cafe is a small establishment, with tables set quite closely together. Good thing we didn't feel claustrophobic sitting so close to the other diners. The cafe is one that serves all-day-breakfast but we couldn't go past their wide selection of seafood main courses and salad variety. Although my hubby did want his fish'n'chips earlier on, his mind changed when he saw big pieces of succulent fish on the other diner's plates.

We ended up ordering an entree of Turkish Bread with lemon and herb to share. I ordered one of their warm salads which consisted of snow peas, roast capsicum and mixed leaves served with "BBQ'd blackened Salmon chunks with 4 thai king prawn cutlets, lemon myrtle 'n' chervil vinaigrette & pineapple salsa". Hubby ordered their "Chermoula rubbed Tuna Steak; buttermilk mash, honey & sesame wok fried baby greens, chilli plum saucee & BBQ'd lemon".

Lemon & Herb Turkish Bread

Not long after we ordered, our entree arrived. The turkish bread was delicious! It was warm and I loved the herb and butter taste. I couldn't taste any lemon though which was a shame. But I didn't care too much. The bread tasted so good! While we were eating our second slice of bread, the rest of the food arrived.

Snow peas, roast capsicum and mixed leaves served with BBQ'd blackened Salmon chunks with 4 thai king prawn cutlets, lemon myrtle 'n' chervil vinaigrette & pineapple salsa - $19.90

Oh my, take a look at the big pieces of marinated salmon on my salad leaves. On top of this laid 2 skewers of big prawns and on the side of the dish was a small spoonful of pineapple salsa. It didn't matter that the amount of salsa they give you is so little because the salmon and prawns were so well marinated, you didn't need any salsa to go with them. The pineapple salsa was just "there" and seemed a little out of place.

Chermoula rubbed Tuna Steak; buttermilk mash, honey & sesame wok fried baby greens, chilli plum saucee & BBQ'd lemon - $28.90

This was my hubby's dish. Our dishes both looked very similar. However his had a big tuna steak which was very meaty and cooked just right, with a tinge of rareness in the middle. Same as my dish, he also had 2 skewers of king prawns laid on top of his tuna. Beneath his tuna were the butternut pumpkin mash, a good number of asparagus and strings of beans.

Both dishes were quite similar in taste. The only major difference was the fish. Come to think of it, my hubby should've ordered the tuna & king prawn salad instead because the ingredients were the same as his main course. His main cost us $9 more and the only difference was that the main had the buttermilk mash, asparagus and beans instead of salad leaves. OH WELL! I feel jipped now but we'll learn next time. That said though, both dishes were very well made and enjoyable.

Seachange doesn't offer a wide selection of desserts. If I recall correctly, there were only 3 types of desserts on offer. I would've loved to finish off with something sweet but we were full to the brim after dinner and couldn't fit any more food in our stomaches.

Next time, I'll be back to try out their breakfast menu which I've read good reviews about.

Breakfast Menu

Seachange Cafe and Grill
The Strand, Dee Why NSW 2099
Phone (02) 9971 9692

Ryo's Noodles @ Crow's Nest

2008-02-10T23:13:00.000+11:00

Ryo's Noodles has to be the best ramen place in Sydney. The restaurant is located on Falcon Street, Crow's Nest which is only a short drive from the city and across the Harbour Bridge. It's not situated in a prime location as there's not much around except for a Thai takeaway next door and a petrol station opposite the road. But people know where to find good food and even though the restaurant is not located on the busiest side of Falcon Street, people flock there and line up for their infamous ramen.

When my husband and I arrived, we were told that there will be a 20 minute wait. There were 2 groups waiting in front of us and after we got there, more people arrived. The waitress doesn't take down your name or give you a ticket number, you just need to wait outside until she comes out and tells the groups of people waiting outside that there's a table for 2 or table for 4 etc available. You basically need to remember who came before you and who came after you and judge when you're supposed to go inside without offending someone by accidentally pushing in.

The restaurant is quite small but cosy. I think there are only 6-7 tables. In some cases, you may need to share with other patrons. For us, we were lucky to get our own table at the back of the room. From where we were sitting, we saw autographs on A4 pieces of white paper stuck on the wall. We didn't know who they were but must've been from Japanese celebrities who visited the restaurant. We also saw quite a number of different Bruce Lee stickers on the fridge and big pieces of fatty pork in plastic rectangular baskets sitting on the fridge and on boxes stacked up behind where I was sitting. My husband pointed out that the guy cooking the ramen is kind of mean looking, with a look that says "I mean business" but I didn't think so :)

We sat down and ordered 2 bowls of Ramen Noodles in a Pork Soup and a serve of gyozas. With my ramen, I ordered corn kernals as an accompaniment whilst my hubby ordered pieces of seaweed. These accompaniments arrived with our ramen but in a separate bowl/plate and not in your ramen noodles. At Ryo's, water and pickled ginger are self served from the counter.

After waiting for around 10 mins or less, our noodles arrived. I wanted to dig in right away but had to take photos of it to show you all how yummy it looked. The bowl of noodles were pipping hot, topped with strips of pork which were of decent thickness, served with half an egg with the yolk still slightly gooey, and topped with a big handful of finely chopped spring onions and a decent amount of sesame seeds. The soup base is the best - it wasn't watery but was almost thick and had the most intense pork flavour. I think this was what made the ramen tasted sooo good. Ohhh, the thought of it makes me want to devour another bowl.

The gyozas came a few minutes behind our ramen and they were cooked to perfection. Although a little oily but the ingredients inside (I believe they were made out of pork and cabbage) were very fresh and the dough was slightly crunchy at the bottom where it was pan fried but the rest of the dough was chewy and soft. They were good. Very tasty.

I took my time eating every strand of ramen, loving the chewiness of the noodles and the intense flavour of the soup. I shouldn't forget to mention the strips of pork in the ramen as they were of decent size and the meat seemed like it was going to melt in my mouth. I don't remember chewing the meat at all to be honest.

One thing worth mentioning though. That night, my hubby managed to ram his car into someone else's bumper while he was trying to find a park on the side street. His car wasn't damaged at all which was a miracle but the other car's bumper was quite badly scratched and stripped off its own paint. Needless to say, I wasn't happy with him for being so careless but all was almost forgotten when our food arrived. The owner of the other car was actually a patron at the restaurant too and when she gave us a call about her car, we were just about to leave the restaurant expecting an angry person waiting for us in front of their car. Luckily she was nice about it. Tonight ended up being an expensive night for my hubby. An excess of $500 would probably need to be paid for to fix up that poor girl's car. **me shaking my head** So much for him making sly comments about women drivers on the way to dinner!

Ryo’s Noodles
125 Falcon St
Crows Nest 2065 NSW
Phone: +61 (02) 9955 0225
Thu-Tue noon-2.30pm, 5pm-9.30pm
Cash only; no bookings available

Pasta Boscaiola

2008-02-10T02:16:00.000+11:00

I had to whip this up pretty quickly the other night. You see, I got home early but because I've been having stomach cramps in the last few days, I couldn't be bothered doing much when I got home. My husband was at the gym after work and he likes to 'dilly-dally' (e.g. taking his time changing, walking back to the office, packing up his things etc). You may ask why he doesn't just take all his stuff down to the gym with him so he could come home straight after the gym, right? Yes, I've been on his case about this but he says he doesn't want to leave his stuff at the gym so he feels compelled to leave them all in his office. After a long wait, my husband finally gets home at 7:30pm and he wanted dinner. I didn't mind cooking coz I didn't want him to mess up my kitchen and tonight, after feeling crook the entire day, I needed to conjure up a quick meal. With leftover bacon and mushrooms in the fridge, I decided to make him my Pasta Boscaiola.

This pasta is great. It's very tasty and although it's a creamy sauce, the ingredients making up the sauce are not fattening at all. If you want to make a creamy pasta sauce but don't want to pack on the calories, I would encourage you to try using evaporated milk.

Pasta Boscaiola
(serves 2)

200g fettuccine pasta
4 pieces of fat-free bacon, chopped
6 swiss mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp garlic, chopped
1 can Carnation Light & Creamy Evaporated Milk
250ml vegetable stock
3 teaspoons cornflour
handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Parmesan cheese

- Cook pasta until al dente
- While the pasta is cooking, start making the sauce
- Mix cornflour with water, set aside
- Heat up a saucepan and cook garlic with bacon until ready; add mushrooms until they are tender
- Pour in vegetable stock and when this is heated up, add in the evaporated milk & bring it to the boil
- Turn the heat down and let it simmer; then pour in the cornflour mixture. Stirring until the mixture becomes a creamy texture
- Toss the pasta in the creamy sauce until the pasta is well covered
- Serve immediately with parsley, pepper and a handful of parmesan cheese (if desired)

HAPPY CNY!!

2008-02-07T09:44:00.000+11:00

Happy CNY and the year of the Rat to everyone! May this new year be full of joy and prosperity, love, laughter and good health!

I'll be going to dinner with my friends tonight to celebrate CNY. Hopefully I'll remember to take photos of the food tonight and share with you all in my next post.

Upside Down Pineapple Cake

2008-02-05T22:44:00.000+11:00

I bought a Bundt cake mould a few weeks ago at the sales - the purpose of which was to make a chiffon cake - but I never got around to it!! My poor cake mould was just sitting in its cardboard box wrapper next to my fridge collecting dust.

This coming Thursday is Chinese New Year and to follow Chinese tradition, we are meant to clean up the house before the New Year. My duties tonight were to tidy up my clothes and to throw out the magazines that are scattered next to my bed. But I'm lazy :P I should've cleaned and tidied up a little tonight but as I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, I had the sudden urge to make something sweet...I wanted something sweet and syrup-y!

I opened my little pantry cupboard...thinking...looking around...what can I make...what ingredients do I have? Then my eyes rested on a small tin of pineapple. Oh, pineapple. I remember there's an upside down pineapple cake recipe somewhere I had always wanted to make and all the ingredients are sitting in my pantry. Perfect! Oh, and I thought to myself, what tin should I use to make this delightful cake? I looked at my sad Bundt mould next to my pantry cupboard...ah, Bundt mould...tonight is your night!

This Upside Down Pineapple Cake is a delight. When I was baking it, I was worried because the cake wasn't distributing evenly so I had to move it a little so one side wouldn't brown and rise more than the other side. I didn't worry about it too much - as long as the base is not burnt and the cake is cooked then I'm okie.

My hubby loved the cake. I cut him a piece 10 mins after it was baked and he finished that piece up pretty quickly telling me how nice it was. He loves his pineapple so that was probably one of the reasons why he liked the cake so much. He also mentioned how nice it was to have a slightly crunchy bottom. He liked it alot and asked for another piece telling me the piece I cut him earlier was "too small". Too small?? This is coming from someone who's complaining about getting fat but now he wanted another piece of cake! Haha..Men!!

Upside Down Pineapple Cake

Preheat oven to 180C

Topping:
80g butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
small can of pineapple slices

Cake:
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup pineapple juice from the can + leftover pineapple slices (squashed up)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup self raising flour
1/4 tsp salt

For the topping:
- Melt butter in the microwave for 25 sec; pour into Bundt mould
- Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over the butter
- Arrange pineapple slices on the butter/sugar mixture

For the cake:
- Beat eggs for a few minutes
- Add in sugar 1/3 cup at a time, beat into the eggs
- Add in pineapple juice & remaining pineapple pieces
- Add in vanilla essence
- Beat until well combined
- Add into the mixture sifted flour and salt
- Pour the cake mixture over the topping in the Bundt mould
- Bake in over for 30mins @ 180C; the cake should be springy to touch
- Turn pan upside down on a plate and cool for 10-15 mins before serving

Sugared Hazelnut Biscuits

2008-02-03T23:12:00.000+11:00

These biscuits are so fragrant! They are fantastic. Once you have combined all of the ingredients together, you'll love the smell of the hazelnut, mixed spice and vanilla essence of your biscuit mixture. Now, just because this biscuit doesn't require the use of butter or olive oil, it doesn't mean the mixture won't stick together. The mixture may look a little crumbly at first but once you start combining all of the ingredients together with your hands, it will come together. So don't worry. Nuts have oil in them so the mixture will come together and will take shape as you roll it into a ball.

I adapted this recipe from Donna Hay's sugared macadamia biscuits. I was lazy and I didn't want to finely chop any macadamias so I used ground hazelnut instead. I also didn't have any ground star anise in my cupboard so I increased the amount of mixed spice by 1/4 tsp.

Sugared Hazelnut Biscuits
(makes 25)

220g ground hazelnut
1 cup caster sugar
3/4 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/3 cup plain flour
2 egg whites
raw sugar, for sprinkling

- Preheat the oven to 180C & line your baking tray
- Place the ground hazelnut, caster sugar, flour, mixed spice, vanilla essence and egg whites in a big bowl. Mix the ingredients together using your hands
- Roll the mixture into small balls, place on the baking tray and press the mixture down with your fingers
- Sprinkle with raw sugar and bake for 10-12 mins or until light golden
- Cool on tray

Salmon Fettucine in a Light Lemon Sauce

2008-02-03T22:12:00.000+11:00

*Sigh* The weather...Sydney has been raining since Thursday night! From the looks of things, it will continue to rain this whole week. Rain periods, showers, thunderstorms. What has happened to our summer? Where is the sunshine? Rain periods during summer reminds me of what the weather is like in HK during their summer time but luckily not as humid.

Today was certainly one of those days you'll want to stay indoors and veg. What goes well when you're vegging around at home is to indulge in a big bowl of hot pasta. I didn't want anything too heavy since I'm already not moving much except for picking up the remote control and moving my fingers every so often, so I didn't want my pasta to be drowned in any creamy sauces. For a refreshing summer taste, I used lemon juice in my pasta instead. Half cooked salmon adds creaminess to the dish. I also added a roma tomato, some fresh organic asparagus, swiss mushrooms and a small handful of dill in this pasta.

It's delicious and easy to prepare. It satisfied my pasta craving and was so comforting eating this whilst sitting on the couch. As I was sitting there with my bowl of pasta, I looked out the window and didn't care what the weather outside was like anymore. If only my apartment had a balcony, I would happily sit outside watching the rain whilst slowly enjoying this comforting pasta dish.

Salmon Fettuccine in a Light Lemon Sauce
(serves 1) - hubby is still away

150g salmon fillet, no skin
2 stalks of asparagus
3 Swiss mushrooms
1 roma tomato
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 small handful of chopped dill
juice of 1/2 lemon
fettuccine for 1 person
salt and pepper to taste
grated Parmesan

- Cook the fettuccine in a pot of boiling water until al dente
- Cut the salmon into 2cm cubes
- Cut the asparagus to 1 inch long; de-seed the tomato, cut into bit sizes; slice the mushroom
- In a pan, heat the olive oil then combine together the salmon, lemon, salt and pepper. Cook salmon until it turns pink. Remove from pan. Don't overcook it and even if it's still a little rare inside, remove the salmon from the pan. Don't worry if you think the salmon is not cooked properly because the heat will slowly infiltrate and cook the inside of the salmon. This way, the fish will remain buttery and not dry
- Use the pan again and cook the asparagus. When it's almost done, add in the tomatoes and mushrooms
- Add the salmon, asparagus, mushrooms and tomatoes into the pasta
- Add in dill and lemon juice. Toss well
- Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese

Swiss Roll with Strawberry Jam Filling

2008-01-31T22:45:00.000+11:00

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

2008-01-31T22:17:00.000+11:00

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

2008-01-30T22:53:00.000+11:00

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

2008-01-29T22:26:00.000+11:00

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

2008-01-24T23:15:00.000+11:00

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)

2008-01-22T23:20:00.000+11:00

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

2008-01-20T22:35:00.000+11:00

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

2008-01-20T20:46:00.000+11:00

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

2008-01-19T18:37:00.000+11:00

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

2008-01-16T22:22:00.000+11:00

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)

2008-01-16T21:34:00.000+11:00

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?

2008-01-15T15:32:00.000+11:00

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

2008-01-15T11:27:00.000+11:00

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

2008-01-14T23:48:00.000+11:00

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

2008-01-13T21:15:00.000+11:00

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

2008-01-13T20:02:00.000+11:00

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

2008-01-12T19:29:00.000+11:00

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.