Tag Archives: recipes

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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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.

Recipe: Duck a l’orange

Posted in Food, French, Recipes by

Following on from my adventures with the humble duck, after much deliberation, I have decided to turn the duck breast that I butchered from the duck frame into a classic duck a l’orange dish. I was thinking of making something with a mustard based sauce but I had no mustard left in the fridge. What a shocker. I did have oranges though because it’s that time of the year when oranges are insanely sweet so I’ve stocked up on them.

In case you’re wondering about the time lapse of 10 days between this post and the previous post where I attempted to make duck confit with mushrooms and potatoes, it did not take me 10 days to finally cook the duck breast. It would’ve been off by then and I would’ve just threw it out. But no. I do not waste duck meat. Duck is like my holy grail and I would never waste something that special.

Enough of that and onto the recipe – which was quite easy to make actually. The only thing missing from this dish is the duck skin. I had a skinless breast because I used the skin to gather the duck fat for my duck confit. You can easily use any oil to panfry the duck breast but I couldn’t bring myself to throw out the duck fat until I’ve used up all its potential so I used the duck fat for frying too.

Duck a l'orange

Ingredients

1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 orange, juiced
2 teaspoons vinegar (I used apple cider); could be more depending on the sweetness of the orange
1/4 cup duck or chicken stock
1 duck breast
salt and pepper
oil for pan frying

Method

1. Heat oil in a pan. Season the duck breast with salt and pepper. If the breast has the skin on fry it skin side down first to render the fat on medium heat; otherwise, whichever side goes first doesn’t matter. Cook the breast until just cooked inside or with a hint of pink (whichever you desire). About 5 minutes each side for a well done breast. Set it aside and let it rest.

2. In a small sauce pan, prepare the simple syrup but melting the sugar and water and letting it boil until the syrup is amber in colour. Then add in orange juice, vinegar and stock and let the sauce boil until reduced to half the quantity. At this point, taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning. It should be as sweet as it is sour so add more vinegar/sugar if you need to. If you find the sauce a little too thick thin it out with a few tablespoons of water. Switch off the heat.

3. Slice the rested duck breast into 1-cm slices and arrange them on a plate. Spoon the sauce over the breast.

4. Serve and enjoy.

Recipe: Pork chops with raisin and cranberry sauce

Posted in Food, Modern Australian, Recipes by

pork chops with raisin and cranberry sauce

Ingredients

8 pieces pork chops

1/8 cup raisins

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 orange, juiced

2 cups chicken stock

dash of red wine

oil for pan frying

 

Method

1. Heat oil in a pan and pan fry the pork chops until almost well done.

2. In the same pan, add in the raisins and cranberries and sauté for about 1 minute. Then add in the orange juice, chicken stock and red wine. Cook the fruits for about 5 minutes on low heat.

3. Transfer the fruit mixture to a food processor and blend until the mixture is smooth. Or you can use a blender or a hand-held blender if you don’t have a food processor. Pour the mixture back into the pan on low heat. Then add in the pork chops and simmer until well done. If the sauce is drying up or is too thick, add in more chicken stock or water.

4. Serve and enjoy.

 

 

Recipe: Vietnamese pork spring rolls

Posted in Recipes, Vietnamese by

From my kitchen: Vietnamese pork spring rolls

Inspired by the spring rolls I’ve had in Phong Vinh and Viet Hoa, These are actually quite tasty even without the dipping sauce that it usually comes with. I was just going to use hoisin sauce for dipping but even that was not needed.

Ingredients

1/2 kilo minced pork

1 teaspoon mixed spice powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 carrot, chopped finely

1 tablespoon fresh coriander, chopped

bean sprouts

spring roll wrappers

oil for deep frying

Method

1. In a bowl, mix together the pork, mixed spice powder, salt and pepper. Then cook the pork mixture in skillet until well done. Break up the pork into small pieces while cooking. Set aside to cool.

2. Heat oil for deep frying while you prepare the spring rolls.

3. Once cooled, place spoonfuls of the cooked pork mixture onto the spring roll wrapper. Place about 3-4 pieces of bean sprouts on top of the pork. Fold the edges of the wrapper and roll the wrapper. Brush the last edge of the wrapper with water to seal it. The spring roll should be quite stuffed with filling.

4. Fry the spring rolls until golden brown.

5. Serve hot (with your choice of dipping sauce if you like) and enjoy.

 

 

Recipe: Turon and Banana cue

Posted in Coffee & Desserts, Filipino, Recipes by

From my kitchen: banana snacks

Banana snacks from my childhood. Turon is something like “banana spring rolls” and banana cues are bananas on a stick! You must use plantains (saba, as we would call them) though and not regular bananas because the regular bananas would just dissolve when you cook them. I found frozen sabas in an Asian shop (Kongs Oriental Shop) in Northbridge that were imported from Davao City in the Philippines which were just the perfect plantains to use.

Ingredients

plantains

jackfruit, cut into small pieces (optional)

spring roll wrappers

brown sugar

oil for deep frying

skewers

Method for turon

1. If using frozen plantains, cook them according to package instructions. If using fresh plantains, just peel the skin.

2. Heat the oil for deep frying while preparing the turons.

3. Cut the plantains in half, length-wise.

4. On a spring roll wrapper, place the plantain close to the middle and put a few pieces of jackfruit on top of the plantain. Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of sugar on top of the plantain and jackfruit. Fold the edges of the spring roll wrapper and roll the wrapper. Brush the last edge of the wrapper with water to seal the wrapper.

5. Fry the turons until golden brown.

6. Serve hot and enjoy.

Method for banana cue

1. If using frozen plantains, cook them according to package instructions. If using fresh plantains, just peel the skin.

2. Heat the oil for deep frying while preparing the banana cues.

3. Roll the plantains in sugar and fry them until golden and sugar has caramelised. Ensure that the sugar is not burnt otherwise it would taste bitter.

4. Insert a skewer, length-wise, into the plantains.

4. Serve hot and enjoy.

Recipe: Thit Kho Tau (Vietnamese Pork Stew)

Posted in Recipes, Vietnamese by

From my kitchen: Thit Kho Tau

I was watching Food Safari a few days ago and it came to the Vietnamese cuisine episode. I was very inspired to cook some pho but that was too tasking so I’ve decided to make this Vietnamese pork stew instead. It says that this dish is traditionally eaten during New Year. I inadvertently added an extra ingredient – lemongrass – because I wasn’t paying close attention to the TV but it turned out well. Sweet and fragrant flavours.

Ingredients

pork belly, cut into small pieces

1/2 onion, cut into small pieces

3 cloves garlic

1 stalk lemongrass, white part cut into small pieces

1 stalk spring onion, cut into small pieces

4 tablespoons fish sauce

4 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

3 tablespoons palm sugar

2 pieces star anise

black pepper

oil

1/2 onion, diced

juice of 1 young coconut

water

8 pieces hardboiled eggs

Method

1. Put the onion, garlic, lemongrass and spring onion into a food processor or blender and blend until almost paste-like.

2. In a bowl, marinate the pork belly with the lemongrass mixture made in Step 1. Then add in fish sauce, light and dark soy sauce and palm sugar, star anise. Marinate meat for at least 3 hours or overnight.

3. In a medium sized saucepan, heat oil and sautee the onions until brown. Then add in the pork together with the marinade. Brown the meat then add in the coconut juice and about 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil and lower to medium heat. Skim the fat while it’s boiling. Let the pork simmer for about 1 hour.

4. Add in the hardboiled eggs and simmer for another hour. If the stew is looking a bit dry, add in another cup of water.

5. Serve with steamed rice and enjoy.

Recipe: Minestrone soup

Posted in Recipes by

From my kitchen: minestrone soup

A very hearty soup that I often make because it’s very easy and is a complete meal by itself. A big bowl of this warms my insides during winter. You can really use a variety of vegetables for this.

Ingredients

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, cubed

2 celery sticks, sliced into half-inch pieces

1 head broccoli, flowers separated and cut into bite size pieces

1 can beans (optional)

handful of shell pasta (optional)

1 can condensed tomato soup or 1 cup tomato paste

2 tablespoons olive oil

chicken stock or water

salt and pepper

slices of crusty bread

Method

1. In a medium or large stock pot, heat the oil. Sautee all the vegetables for about 3 minutes. Add in the condensed tomato soup or tomato paste. Stir for about 1 minute. Then add in chicken stock or water (or a mixture of both) enough to cover the vegetables plus about 1 litre extra. Bring to a boil.

2. When the soup starts boiling, lower the heat and simmer the vegetables until soft. If you wish to add the shell pasta, add them to the pot when vegetables are half cooked.

3. Season the soup with salt and pepper. Adjust the taste by adding more tomato paste if needed.

4. Serve with crusty bread, if desired, and enjoy while steaming hot.

Recipe: noodles with fish flakes and mushroom

Posted in Perth, Recipes by

From my kitchen: noodles with fish flakes and mushrooms

Remember how I bought a large container of fresh noodles from Big Bowl Noodles? Well, here is one of the ways I’ve cooked the noodles. Pasta noodles would work perfectly with this dish too.

Ingredients

noodles that serves 2-3 people

1 fish fillet

olive oil

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

1/4 cup white wine

1 – 1 1/2 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup cream or half a block of Philly cream cheese

1 tablespoon lemon juice

salt and pepper

Method

1. Cook the noodles according to packet instructions, drain and set aside.

2. In a large pan, panfry the fish fillet until crisp then, using a fork, flake it.

3. In a same pan, heat the oil and sautee garlic and mushrooms for about 2 minutes. Then add in the flaked fish.

4. Add in white wine, chicken stock, cream (or cream cheese) and lemon juice. Stir until well incorporated. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.

5. Add in the drained noodles and mix until all of the noodles are covered with sauce. Let the noodles soak up the sauce. Note that the this recipe is meant for dry-type noodles with only a hint of sauce on the plate.

6. Serve hot and enjoy.

Recipe: Fish fillet with white sauce

Posted in Modern Australian, Recipes by

From my kitchen: Fish fillet with white sauce

This is an alternative way of cooking basa fillets that we usually cook Asian-style (with soy sauce and ginger or teriyaki sauce). I used milk instead of cream for the sauce so it’s not a heavy kind of white sauce. My auntie has specifically requested for this recipe so I’m inclined to think that this was a hit at the dinner table.

Ingredients

6 – 8 fish fillets (I used freshwater basa fillets for the photo above)

salt and pepper

dill

1 tablespoon butter

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon flour

5 pieces button mushrooms, sliced

5 tablespoons white wine

1/4 cup milk

chicken stock or water

1 tablespoon lemon juice

salt and pepper

Method

1. Season the fish fillets with a little salt, pepper and dill. Steam cook them or panfry then set aside.

2. In a pan, melt the butter and add in the garlic. Cook for about 1 minute. Add in mushrooms and cook for a another minute. Then add in the flour and stir until the mixture forms a paste.

3. Add in white wine and stir until the paste becomes a thick liquid. Then add milk and chicken stock or water and stir to your desired sauce consistency. Just keep adding chicken stock or water to thin out the sauce – the sauce will thicken as it boils.

4. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.

5. Place the fish fillets into the pan with the sauce to reheat the fish, about 3 minutes.

6. Serve and enjoy.

Recipe: Jelly with jackfruit dessert

Posted in Chinese/Asian, Coffee & Desserts, Recipes by

From my kitchen: Jelly with jackfruit

A very refreshing dessert courtesy of Auntie Cindy. Once jelly is made this dessert can be put together in 5 minutes! The jackfruit can also be substituted with whatever fruit you like (lychee, longan…etc).

Ingredients

Jelly or gelatin powder or agar powder

Food colouring of your choice

1 can of jackfruit

Ice cubes

1 lime, juiced

cold water

sugar syrup

Method
1. Cook the jelly according to packet instructions. Add food colouring of your choice. Then pour the jelly into mould shapes of your choice.

2. Once set, de-mould the jelly onto a big bowl. Add in ice cubes and the jackfruit together with the juice.

3. Add in lime juice and about 1 cup of cold water and stir.

4. Adjust the taste according to your liking by adding more water or some sugar syrup.

5. Serve and enjoy.

Recipe: Good ol’ steak with mushroom sauce

Posted in Modern Australian, Recipes by

From my kitchen: steak with mushroom sauce

Ingredients

1 piece steak – your choice of cut

salt and pepper

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

4 pieces button mushrooms

1/8 to 1/4 cup white wine

water or stock

Method

1. Season steak with salt and pepper on both sides and cook it in a pan according to your liking then set aside.

2. In the same pan, melt the butter and add in the flour. Stir together until it forms a paste. Then add in the mushrooms and cook for about 1 minute.

3. Add in the wine and stir until a thick sauce is made. Add in the juice from the steak that was set aside.

4. Gradually add in water or stock until the sauce is gravy-like.

5. Season with salt and pepper.

6. Spoon the sauce on top of the steak.

7. Serve with a side of salad or mash and enjoy.

Recipe: Crepes – dessert in a flash

Posted in Coffee & Desserts, French, Recipes by

From my kitchen: crepe with dark chocolate sauce

We were recently cleaning out our freezer and found a box of frozen crepes bought years ago from Ikea. So we decided to have them as dessert today before they become inedible. Some crepes are suzette style and some served with dark chocolate sauce. Also perfect with a cup of hot chocolate on a cold night.

Ingredients

6-8 pieces ready made crepes (or you can make your own if you wish)

6 tablespoons butter, cold but softened

3 tablespoons sugar

3 teaspoons lemon juice

dark chocolate flakes or bar

Method

1. Heat up the crepes according to package instructions and set aside.

2. Mix the butter and the sugar together.

3. Heat a pan and melt about 1 tablespoon the butter-sugar mixture  and 1 teaspoon of the lemon juice on low heat. Add in a piece of crepe and leave it on 1 side for about 20 seconds. Flip to the other side and leave it on for a further 20 seconds. Then fold the crepe into a triangle and transfer onto a plate. Repeat the process for all the crepes.

From my kitchen: crepe suzette

4. If you prefer a chocolate sauce for the crepes, simply melt the dark chocolate flakes or bar and serve it in a small bowl.

5. Best eaten warm with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee