Category Archives: Recipes

recipes I have devised from various cuisines

Plum and blueberry tea cake

Posted in Coffee & Desserts, Food, Recipes by

Guys, I realised I have not posted any new recipes since time immemorial so here’s one. I’m in a phase of branching out from the usual chocolate cakes I make so I thought why not use seasonal fruits? And more importantly I bake in smaller portions nowadays so I feel less guilty. The recipe for this cake is adapted from The Australian Women’s Weekly and is good for about 4-5 guilt-free servings.

Plum and blueberry tea cake

Ingredients
150g butter, softened
110g caster sugar
2 eggs
112g self-raising flour
38g plain flour
30g almond meal
1 medium sized plum, sliced
handful of blueberries (fresh or frozen)
icing sugar for dusting

Method
1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a 6-inch round cake pan (or springform pan).

2. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then beat in eggs one at a time. Using a spatula gradually fold in the flours and then almond meal.

3. Spread about 1/3 to 1/2 of the cake mixture into the prepared pan. Arrange the plum slices in a circular border (or alternatively arrange the plum slices in a random order). Then spoon the remaining cake mixture over the plum and smooth out the batter. Add the remaining plum slices onto the batter and sprinkle the blueberries. Press the fruits lightly into the batter.

4. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when tested. Cool the cake in the pan. The transfer cake onto a serving plate and dust it with icing sugar.

5. Serve and enjoy.

Plum and blueberry tea cake sliced

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Black bean chicken stir-fry

Posted in Chinese/Asian, Food, Recipes by

I have been busy very these days so I haven’t been keeping up with this blog lately. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been eating :) On one of the rare days I get to watch TV I was watching Kylie Kwong make blue swimmer crabs with black bean sauce and that made me salivate. Too bad I had no crabs on hand so I used chicken instead for the dish and adapted other ingredients and it was good.

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

1/2 carrot, cut into star shaped
1 small stalk celery, sliced into thin diagonals
3 whole chicken breasts, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small red capsicum, cut into squares
4 teaspoons Lee Kum Kee black bean garlic sauce or 2-3 teaspoons black beans
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1-2 teaspoons Shao Xing wine
1-2 teaspoons sugar
oil for stir-frying

Method

1. In a wok, bring 2 litres of water to a rapid boil and add in carrots and celery. Boil for 1-2 minutes and remove from wok. Set aside.

2. Drain water from the wok and wipe it dry. Heat wok on high heat then add in about 3 tablespoons of oil and swirl to coat the wok. Stir fry chicken in 2 batches until cooked. Transfer onto a plate and reserve chicken juice that have come out. Set aside. Then heat 1 tablespoon of oil on high heat and stir fry capsicum for 1 minute. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

3. In the same wok, saute garlic in 1 tablespoon oil. Add in black bean sauce, sesame oil, and Shao Xing wine. Saute for about 30 seconds. Then add in reserved chicken juice and mix well. Add sugar and adjust according to your taste. Add in chicken and sauté and coat it with the black bean sauce for about a minute. Then add in the vegetables and mix together with the chicken and sauce.

4. Transfer to a serving plate and serve with rice.

Quiche Lorraine

Posted in Food, French, Recipes by

I am happy to report that my first attempt at making a proper quiche was a success. I have been devouring quiches for years now like there’s tomorrow and me attempting to make one from scratch was long overdue. Watching an episode of Masterchef Australia sparked my flame of quiche making. This one here is a Quiche Lorraine. I had Lily and D over for a French-themed dinner and Lily made it clear to me that she loooooves quiche Lorraine.

Menu for the night:

  • Entree – Mushroom soup
  • Main – Quiche Lorraine (recipe follows)
  • Dessert – Tarte au citron from La Galette de France in Subi sponsored by Lily
  • Drinks – Rekorderlig and Sangria sponsored by D (not really French but any alcohol would do)

Ingredients

Shortcut pastry
240 grams plain flour
125 grams butter, chilled and cut into cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2-4 tablespoons (or more) cold water

Filling
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 leek (white part and some green), roughly chopped
200 grams bacon, cut into small cubes
3/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese

Custard
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
300 ml cream

Makes 1 large quiche or 4-5 mini quiches

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Lightly grease a large loose-bottom tart tin.

Make the pastry shells
3. In a food processor, add in flour, salt, and chilled butter and blend/pulse until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add in egg and process until the mixture forms a ball. Add 1 tablespoon of cold water at a time if the mixture is not forming into a ball. Dump the dough onto a floured bench and need for about 1-2 minutes until it becomes a smooth dough. Shape the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes in the fridge.

2. After the dough has rested, take it out of the fridge and work on a floured bench. Flatten the dough with your palms. Then using a rolling pin roll the dough until it is about 2-3mm thick. Ensure that it is bigger than your tin. Gently lift the dough and place it into your tart tin while gradually pressing the dough onto the tin. Ensure that you lightly press the dough to the shape of the tin including the bottom round edge.

3. To get that perfect fluted pattern (if using a fluted tin), instead of trimming the excess dough with a knife, I use a rolling pin to roll over the tin itself then peel off the excess dough. Dough will slightly shrink during baking so lightly press the dough on the side of the tin upwards – about 3-5mm higher than the tin. Then prick the base and sides of the dough with a fork.

4. Top the dough with a sheet of baking paper with loose sides that will be easy to lift out after baking. Fill the baking paper with uncooked rice or baking beads to serve as weights for the pastry shell.

5. Pop the pastry into the oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Then remove the baking paper and rice or baking beads and return the pastry into the oven and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until golden in colour.

*Pastry shell/s can be made in advance. I made mine 1 day prior to making the actual quiche. Let it cool completely and store in an airtight container or wrap with a plastic wrap.

Cook the filling
6. In a medium sized pan, melt the butter and cook the onions and leeks until onions are translucent and leeks are soft. Transfer the mixture onto a plate and set aside. In the same pan, cook the bacon until some of the fat has rendered and it starts browning. Add back the onion mixture and mix well to combine. Set aside.

Make the custard
7. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg, egg yolks, and cream until well combined.

Assemble the quiche
8. Spread the bacon, onion, and leek mixutre on the base of the cooked pastry shell. Pour in the egg mixture. Egg will shrink slightly after it’s baked so fill the whole pastry with the egg mixture up to the top of the shell but ensure that it doesn’t overflow. Then top with a generous amount of Gruyere cheese.

9. Carefully place the tin in the oven and bake at 200 degrees Celcius for 17 minutes. Drop the temperature to 160 degrees Celsius and continue baking for about 15-18 minutes until the custard is set. You can test this by inserting a toothpick into the centre of the quiche and if it comes out clean the quiche is set.

*Note that if making the mini quiche, baking time would be about 2-3 minutes less.

10. Take the quiche out of the tin and transfer to a serving plate.

11. Serve and enjoy.

Potato Salad

Posted in Food, Modern Australian, Recipes by

Nothing like a load of creamy carbohydrates to fill you up. This potato salad here is a childhood favourite of mine sans bacon bits.

Ingredients

6-7 baby potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1-inch chunks
4-5 heaping tablespoons egg mayonnaise
2 tablespoons creme fraiche
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1 big stalk celery, sliced into small fine pieces
salad leaves (optional)

Method

1. Fill a medium stock pot with water and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and boil until soft, about 10-15 minutes. Test the doneness of the potatoes with a fork. If the fork gets through the potatoes easily then potatoes are ready.

2. Drain the potatoes and set aside to cool by soaking them in cold running water.

3. In a large mixing bowl, mix together mayonnaise, creme fraiche, Dijon mustard, and wholegrain mustard until well combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Add in the celery and potatoes to the mayo mixture and mix until all potatoes are covered in dressing.

5. Leave to rest for a few minutes before serving so that the dressing thickens up a bit.

6. Serve on a bed of salad (if desired) and enjoy.

 

Serves 3-4 people

Cream of mushroom soup

Posted in Food, French, Recipes by

Reminiscing the cream of mushroom soup I had in Toronto’s Biff’s Bistro, I made my own version last night. I’m trying to watch my calorie intake these days so my version is not as creamy as I would have loved it to be. Instead of using heavy cream I added a few dollops of creme fraiche instead to make it rich.

The recipe below gives about 4 bowls of heart-warming soup.

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil, or 1/2 stick butter
1/2 onion, cubed
5 cups coarsely chopped mushrooms of different varieties (I used a mixture of button and Swiss brown cap mushrooms)
1 litre (4 cups) stock (chicken or vegetable)
1 cup heavy cream, or 3-4 tablespoons creme fraiche
salt and pepper to taste
parsley (to garnish)

Method

1. In a medium sized stock pot, melt butter and saute onions until soft. Add in mushrooms and saute until soft (about 5-7 minutes).

2. Add in stock and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat to medium. Continue boiling for 10-15 minutes.

3. When mushrooms are completely soft, turn off the heat. Using a handheld blender blitz the soup until mushrooms are finely blended. Alternatively, you can use a blender and pour soup back in the pot after blending. Bring the soup back to a simmer and add the heavy cream or creme fraiche. Mix well until cream is evenly mixed into the soup. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Serve in bowls and garnish with a few leaves of parsley if desired.

Donna Hay almond macaron with chocolate filling

Posted in Food, French, Recipes by

I am happy to report that my exams are over and done with (1 down, 4 to go). Whether I pass or not is another story. What better way to celebrate than with some macarons! Let’s be honest. I was supposed to go back to the office after the exams but who in their right minds would do that? So I called in and informed them I won’t be going in. I went home instead to make some macarons from almost scratch using Donna Hay’s premix. This is the last of the Donna Hay premixes I bought.

I love macarons. I’ve heard here and there that it is time consuming to make so I haven’t bothered myself to attempt making them since time isn’t really a luxury for me. Now that I had the whole afternoon off it was time to open the box. I guess using the premix did save me some time. The whole process took me 1.5 hours. With enough time left to make a batch of cupcakes as well and watch Dark Shadows.

The premix box, again, provides you with everything you need. You just need to add some water and 2 tablespoons of cream for the chocolate filling.

Instructions are fairly simple.

First, add warm water to the egg white mix and beat until it is glossy and forms soft peaks, about 5 minutes says the box.

Then add the almond meal provided and fold it into the egg white mixture. After that you are ready to spoon the mixture onto baking trays. The box says to use a dessert spoon and form the mixture into circles by doing a circular motion. In not entirely sure that would give you round macarons. So I used a piping bag instead. More washing to be done but more evenly shaped macaron shells. After piping, air the mixture for about 10 minutes.

While the mixture is airing to dry make the chocolate filling by using a double boiler. The chocolate chunks are provided in the box as well and all you need to add are 2 tablespoons of single cream. I had no single cream on hand so I used a few tablespoons of butter instead just to make it rich. Once melted remove the chocolate from the heat and let it cool until ready to be used.

Now it’s time to pop the shells in the oven preheated to 160 degrees Celsius and bake for 10 minutes.

Cool the shells on the tray before removing them. Once cooled spoon about 2 teaspoons of the chocolate filling on one macaron shell and top it with a similar sized shell.

The box says it yields about 24 macaron shells or 12 sandwiched macarons. I ended up with about 20 sandwiched macarons! And because of that I ran out of the chocolate filling and had to melt more chocolate using what I had stocked up in the pantry.

I found the egg white mixture a bit too runny for the macarons. It spread really fast on the tray and resulted in flatter macaron shells. A bit too flat for what I liked. The shells were also too chewy. Taste-wise, though, this premix is pretty good. It had strong almond meal taste and the chocolate filling complements it well.

Not a bad premix for a first time macaron maker.

Donna Hay Easter cupcakes

Posted in Recipes by

I was given a very short notice at work yesterday that I was making mini cupcakes for our Easter morning tea slash colleagues birthday. This was due to my showing off of the new mini cupcake pan that I bought during my lunch break that had all the ladies in the office craving for some cupcakes. So all my plans of studying that night went out the window and I stopped by the supermarket instead looking for inspiration for my cupcakes.

I’m just gonna go ahead and say this: I have never used pre-mixes for my baking needs. Never. I like making things from scratch and although it is time consuming to get your measurements right, spooning and leveling flour soothes me. But I was intrigued with the Donna Hay blue pre-mix boxes staring at me in the baking aisle. Out of all the boxes on the shelf, Donna Hay’s stood out because they look natural. Natural and homey. I thought I’d give that a shot since I was pressed for time anyway. The Donna Hay pre-mix range has cupcakes, brownies and macarons. Out of the spur of the moment I bought them all!

Last night was about the cupcakes though. I bought both the vanilla and the chocolate variety. I know, my colleagues are always spoiled with sweets. The package comes with all the dry ingredients you need and you just have to supply the wet and perishable ingredients such as butter, eggs and milk. The instructions are printed clearly on the box so it was easy to follow.

Ingredients

Cupcake
1 box Donna Hay vanilla cupcake or chocolate mix
125 g butter, softened
2 eggs
180 ml milk

Icing
1 packet Donna Hay icing mix (from the box)
125 g butter, softened
1 tablespoon milk

You can easily follow the instructions on how to make the batter and icing so I won’t repeat it here. Basically you just whip everything together until you get a smooth batter then you’re ready to pop them in the oven.

You let them cool while whipping up the icing and voila! Cupcakes are ready. And because it’s Easter I topped them with mini Easter eggs. The box said the recipe yields 12 big cupcakes but I ended up with more than that. I had 12 big cupcakes and 24 mini cupcakes of each flavour. So yes that was quite a lot of cupcakes.

So that I can honestly judge the result of the pre-mixes, I followed whatever is printed on the box as it is. It told me to whip the butter for 10 minutes I stood there and held my handheld mixer for 10 minutes while watching Modern Family.

The verdict on Donna Hay’s cupcake pre-mixes? Overall, they were delicious and really easy to make but they are not without flaws. Let me list out what I like about the pre-mix and what I think needs improvement.

Pros

  • fresh, tasty, and insanely moist cupcakes
  • easy to follow recipes
  • sweetness was just right, even for the icing
  • provides a good basic cupcake base that you can dress up
  • comes with cupcake liners
  • not greasy, not one bit of grease mark on the tins and I dont even have to wash them
  • office people loved both the chocolate and the vanilla ones

Cons

  • Just for the chocolate cupcakes – the liners peeled off from the cupcake even before I got to ice them and even more liners peeled off due to vehicular movement when I transported them to the office
  • more accurate description on the box (e.g. yields 12 cupcakes but I ended up with almost twice the amount)

At this stage, I am really pumped to start using the macarons and brownie pre-mix.

Have a blessed Easter! xo

 

 

French toast with mangoes, maple syrup and creme fraiche

Posted in Breakfast/Brunch, Food, Recipes by

This is a variation of the French toast I had this week. One of our family friends gave us homegrown mangoes so I used those instead of bananas. I also had extra creme fraiche sitting in the fridge so I had the inkling to use that as well. And, of course, another round of maple syrup. Wow. This was even better than the french toast with banana version. I have had French toasts 3 days in a row now. One can never get enough of them!

French toast with mangoes, maple syrup and creme fraiche

Ingredients

1 piece egg
2 tablespoons cream
3 tablespoons milk
2 pieces of bread (brioche preferred but any bread would do), sliced diagonally
1 piece small mango, peeled and cut into small pieces
maple syrup
2-3 tablespoons creme fraiche
oil or butter for pan frying

Method

1. In a shallow dish, beat the egg with the cream and milk. Add in the slices of bread and let it soak the egg batter for a few seconds on each side.

2. Heat oil or butter in a pan. Pan fry the slices of bread until golden brown on each side.

3. Plate up the french toasts. Arrange the slices of bread on a plate. Then top with mangoes and drizzle with maple syrup. Finish off with a dollop of creme fraiche on top.

4. Serve and enjoy.

French toast with bananas and maple syrup

Posted in Breakfast/Brunch, Food, Recipes by

French toast is one of my most favourite food for breakfast (or snacks). It gives me a great sense of comfort every time I eat it probably because my granny used to make this for me when I was little. Of course back then granny’s french toasts were merely topped with caster sugar. We didn’t have the luxury of syrup when I was a kid. I have made my own upgrades since then.

This one is really simple easy to make and hits all the right spots. This is one of those occassions where I would use the maple syrup I bought from Montreal sparingly.

French toast with bananas and maple syrup

Ingredients

1 piece egg
2 tablespoons cream
3 tablespoons milk
2 pieces of bread (brioche preferred but any bread would do), crusts cut off then sliced diagonally
1 piece small banana, sliced into small pieces
maple syrup
oil or butter for pan frying
icing sugar for dusting (optional)

Method

1. In a shallow dish, beat the egg with the cream and milk. Add in the slices of bread and let it soak the egg batter for a few seconds on each side.

2. Heat oil or butter in a pan. Pan fry the slices of bread until golden brown on each side.

3. Plate up the french toasts. Arrange the slices of bread on a plate. Then top with bananas and drizzle with maple syrup. Sprinkle with a little bit of icing sugar if desired.

4. Serve and enjoy.

Celebrating Aussie day!

Posted in Food, Recipes by

Folks, it’s that time of the year again in Australia where you see people, young and old, men and women, patriotically adorn themselves in all things Australian – koala hats, kangaroo fur coats, crocodile sunnies and vegemite thongs. I am kidding, of course. What you’ll actually see though is the humble Aussie flag in all shapes and sizes – bikinis, flip flops, board shorts, beach towels, stubbie holders…and the list goes on and on.

The weather was forecasted to be a scorching 40 degrees Celcius; good enough reason for most people to flock to the beach. Avoiding the sun and the massive crowd, I think it was fairly smart of us (me and the gang) to start the celebrations indoors. The idea is to eat all things Aussie on January 26th. As it is really a pain to cook in such heat we all agreed to keep things simple. L signed up to bring meat pies; I volunteered to make mini pavlovas; D played host and supplied chilled Coke and other hard stuff liquor.

The meat pies and quiche were store bought because everyone banned me from using the oven on this day (though I gladly offered to make healthier pies). The pavlovas were (almost entirely) homemade. Here’s how I made it -

Summer Pavlova (Aussie themed)

Ingredients

1 box (10 pieces) ready-made meringue (bought mine from Coles)
1 carton whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks
2 oranges, juiced
1 lemon, juiced
4 tablespoons icing sugar
1 – 1 1/2 cups raspberries (for red colour or use blueberries for blue colour)
a couple handfuls of mixed berries (raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry)
1 mango, cut into small pieces
2-3 green kiwis, cut into small wedges

Method
1. To make the coulis – In a food processor, combine orange juice, lemon juice, icing sugar and raspberries and blend together. You can alternatively use a blender or a hand blender. Taste it to ensure that the coulis is not to sour. Add more icing sugar if needed. The amount of sugar needed depends on how sweet the berries are. Then pass the mixture through a sieve to strain out all the seeds.

2. Assemble the pavlova – Arrange the meringues on a serving plate. Top with 2 dollops of cream and cover the entire top of the meringue. Then spoon a couple tablespoons of the coulis on top of the cream. Finally, arrange a handful of mixed berries on top and a few wedges of mangoes and kiwis. Mixed berries and meringue are the Aussie flag colours while mangoes and kiwis are for green and gold, Australian National Colours.

3. Serve at once and dig in.

Other than meat pies, 99.9% of what we eat and do on this day involves and revolves around the barbie. You can fire up your own barbie at home or pack your eskis and head down to the beach or parks to use the communal barbies available. The stuff you’ll find on the grill is limited only by your imagination. We have meat in all varieties and cuts – beef, chicken, pork, kangaroo – sausages, kebabs, veggies, onions, corn on the cob, ginormous mushrooms, garlic bread…mmm, just re-thinking about it is enough to make me drool. So then you’d pair off all those meat and veg with a couple of beers chilled in your eskis, or sodas for the younger bubs.

We went to the beach a few hours later; found ourselves a good spot amongst the crowd; and loved every second of it. It sure was very hot but the breeze from the ocean was very soothing. L and I rotated between getting a tan and chasing massive waves. As you can see below, the sun was glaring so I spent every 5 minutes applying sunscreen. Fun times at the beach, yo.

Come dinner time we headed back to D’s place and polished off the leftover quiche and pavlovas. The weather quickly turned sour and it began pouring rain. Uh oh. Was the fireworks show still on? Thankfully it was. Thirty minutes of fireworks show with commentaries and music to end the night.

Milk poached fish fillets with broccolini

Posted in Food, Recipes by

If you have fish fillets in the fridge and more than enough cans of evaporated milk in the pantry, what do you get? Milk poached fish fillets. My family seem to love buying freshwater bass fillets and I am starting to get tired of the usual panfry way we cook it. So without the fussy eaters at home I made a new dish. Poaching the fish fillets turned out really well and I am very happy with it.

I had this with rice for one meal and with fresh pasta for lunch at work.

The only thing I would change is my pan. It would’ve been better to use a heavy bottom pan or a casserole pan like this because the milk burned too quickly in the pan I used. Lots of scrubbing was done after eating the dish.

 

Ingredients

1 can evaporated milk (or 1/2 can evaporated milk plus 1/2 can normal milk)
4 cloves garlic, pounded and peeled
1/4 thumb ginger, sliced
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons salt
a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper
2 pieces freshwater basa fillets, sliced into 3-inch wide pieces
2-3 bunches broccolini, stalks cut off and flowers cleaned well

Method

1. In a large heavy bottom pan, pour in evaporated milk and bring to a simmer. Add in garlic, ginger, paprika salt and pepper and continue simmering for about 3-5 minutes until the garlic and ginger have infused their flavours into the milk.

2. Sprinkle a little bit of salt on both sides of the fish fillet. Then add them in the pan and arrange them so that all pieces are covered with milk. They need not be submerged but has to be in contact with the milk. Cover the pan and keep the milk at a simmer.

3. When the fish fillets are half cooked, flip them over so the other side is in contact with the milk and add in broccolini. Simmer until the fish is fully cooked and the broccolini is to your desired crunchiness.

4. Season with more salt and pepper, if needed.

5. Serve hot with rice or pasta and enjoy!

Homemade Fresh Pasta

Posted in Food, Italian, Recipes by

Fresh pasta. So tasty. So easy. So much better than dried pasta. This is seriously one of the best things one can make at home. All you need is an investment in a good pasta machine (sturdy and heavy duty), unless you want some serious arm workout. I bought this pasta machine when it was on sale for about AUD 40 and I haven’t looked back since. Mine came with an attachment for 2 types of pasta – spaghetti and fettuccine – and that was enough for me since those are 2 of my preferred types of pasta. The machine also has this grip thing where you can lock it onto your benchtop but my bench top was to thick/high for it. If that’s the case I just get my happy helpers to hold down the machine for me while I roll out the dough.

Another thing to remember is that you need only 2 ingredients to make fresh pasta. Yes, TWO ingredients – flour and eggs. An easy guide to this is that you need 1 large egg for every 100 grams of flour you use. One egg, 100 grams of flour. Two eggs, 200 grams of flour…you get the drill.

Here’s a step by step on how to make those darn tasty Italian noodles.

N.B. Pasta made with 100 grams of flour plus other ingredients like chicken, tomatoes, veggies…etc can feed about 2 people.

1. In a medium sized mixing bowl, put in 100 grams of flour and make a well in the centre. Add in 1 large egg in the well. Using a fork beat the egg while gradually incorporating the flour starting from the middle going to the edge of the bowl.

2. When the dough is ready to be handled using hands (you will know this when the dough becomes too stiff for the fork and the dough need not be in a ball shape), tip it onto a clean and floured surface.

3. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth. If the dough feels a bit dry sprinkle some cold water and continue kneading. The dough should feel like a playdough; soft and does not stick to your hands when handled. Then shape it into a flattened ball and wrap it in plastic wrap. Place dough in the fridge and let it rest for 30 minutes.

4. Set up your pasta machine while the dough is resting. If you plan to cook the pasta straight away ensure that you have a pot of boiling water with salt and a touch of oil ready to be used. Fresh pasta takes only 2 minutes or so to cook and as soon as they come out of the machine you can dump them straight into the pot.

5. Now the fun begins. Take the dough out of the fridge and depending on the size of your pasta machine cut the dough into smaller pieces to fit the machine. For instance, I would cut mine in half to fit the machine (pictured below) and keep the other half wrapped in plastic wrap. Sprinkle some flour on the dough before you roll it through the machine.

6. Start rolling your dough with the widest setting on the machine (mine has 7 as the widest). Do this about 3 -4 times, until you get a smooth looking, flouring the sheet of dough on both sides every time you pass it though the rollers.

7. Then roll it again using setting 6. Then setting 5. Then setting 4; all the while flouring the dough each time. The dough will become longer and harder to handle the thiner it gets. Cut it in half so you don’t overstretch some parts of the dough or accidentally rip a hole.

8. Once you’re happy with the thickness of the dough (only trial and error will tell this but I find that setting 4 gives a reasonable “bite” to the cooked pasta) it’s time to roll it through the cutters. Pass the dough through the cutter the same way you did with the rollers only this time sprinkle the surface where the cut up dough would land with flour to avoid sticking.

9. Cook the pasta in the pot of boiling water prepared in Step 4 for about 2 minutes. Pasta should be al dente and silky when you try it. Drain and run it under cold running water to stop the cooking process. Pasta is now ready to be added with other ingredients for an edible work of art.

10. Alternatively, you can place the uncooked pasta in airtight container sprinkled generously with flour and freeze it until ready to be used.

Nem Nuong (Vietnamese Grilled Pork Skewers)

Posted in Food, Recipes, Vietnamese by

This is my cheat version of Vietnamese Grilled Pork Skewers. I had this at a Vietnamese friend’s house; loved it so much and asked her how she made them. Turns out she also made it using the cheat version with a pre-mixed seasoning plus additional ingredients to make it more Vietnamese. Oddly enough, the pre-mixed seasoning is a Filipino seasoning for tocino. This is very easy to make once you get the hang of binding the meat onto the skewer. I would grab a 1.5 inch ball of meat then bind it onto the skewer using just my thumb, index and middle fingers. I found that using the whole hand to press the meat against the skewers does not really work well and the meat has to stick to the skewer as close as possible; otherwise it would fall off before you even cook it.

Ingredients

1 kilo ground pork
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
1 packet tocino seasoning mix (available from Asian grocery stores)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
oil for frying
20-30 bamboo skewers

Method

1. Soak the bamboo skewers in a bowl filled with tap water until ready to be used.

2. In a large bowl, combine the ground pork, garlic, peppercorns, seasoning mix, sugar and salt using your hands. Mix until all ingredients are well combined.

3. Bind the meat onto the bamboo skewers. Shape the meat into a 1.5-2 inch ball. Insert the bamboo skewer into the middle of the meat ball. Then gradually shape the ball into a long oval while pressing the meat onto the skewer until it feels firmly attached to the skewer. The meat should not be hanging/falling off when you lift it or move it onto a plate. Repeat until all the meat has been used up.

4. Grill the pork skewers on a BBQ grill (if you have one) or, alternatively, a large non-stick pan. Heat oil in the pan. Cook the meat until well done while frequently turning the skewers to prevent it from burning and over-caramelising.

5. Serve hot and enjoy.

Recipe: Stewed tomatoes with ham and egg

Posted in Food, Recipes by

I have, admittedly, been eating a lot of tomatoes lately. Once in a while I get this craving for some acidic taste such as tomatoes hence I stock up on fresh tomatoes, as well as canned ones for those lazy days.

A few months back I bought these 2 mini tagines that I have yet to use. They are so tiny there’s hardly anything you can fit in them but I bought them regardless because they were so cute. It must have been a dream but I woke up one Sunday with this idea to make breakfast with the tagines. I was tossing back and forth in bed the night before thinking of what to use the tagines for and i think this led to me dreaming about the tagines.

I woke up all pumped up and fresh from my dream ready to make breakfast. I searched the whole house for those little ceramic cookware to no avail. Someone in the house has a habit of packing things up and then when you actually need it no one remembers where they have packed those things. Sigh. Everyone else was still sleeping so I was hesitant to wake them up for the sake of my little tagines.

But fear not. Due to my need of having the kind of breakfast I want (otherwise it’s going to be a very long and hard day) I rummaged the house and found a very tiny saucepan. It was bigger than the tagine I originally planned to use but it was better than nothing. And since it was bigger I had a fuller breakfast than I originally intended either. It made me so full and sleepy I swear I could’ve went back to bed.

Anyway, the breakfast I dreamt about consisted of tomatoes, ham and egg. I intended to stew the tomatoes with ham and then topped with egg. I was going for a rustic and chunky kind of breakfast and I was pretty happy with the results. You can, of course, eat this with Italian bread or sourdough or plain toast but I went on a bagel craze phase so I ate it with a bagel (and straight out of the pan might I add).

Ingredients

1/2 can Annalisa brand whole tomatoes
1 slice of ham, either left whole (fairly thick about 1/2-inch) or sliced into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup red wine
sprinkle of thyme (dried or fresh)
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 egg

Method

1. In a small saucepan sautee the ham in a little oil until browned. Then add in canned tomatoes, red wine and thyme. Let it simmer on low heat for about 1 minute.

2. At this point adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper before adding the egg.

3. Once you’re happy with the taste, add in the egg by gently cracking it in the middle of the pan. Cover the saucepan and let the egg cook until the yolk is to your desired doneness.

4. Serve and enjoy.