Chocolate muffins and cookies

Sometimes, we all need a break from studying..

A really really long 2 hour break...

 The muffins were moist and super light, the cookies, crunchy and umm,,ran outta words

Anyway,

Chocolate muffins: 

200g butter, room temp 

3/4 cups sugar

a dash of vanilla

2 eggs

2 cups+1/4 cup flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup water

2 tablespoons coffee granules 

2 medium sized apples, grated

Dissolve coffee granules in water.

Cream the butter and sugar till frothy.

Beat in vanilla and eggs one at a time.

Sift in the flour+cocoa powder and mix in coffee mixture in alternates.

Mix in grated apple.

Spoon mixture into muffin cups.

Bake in a 180C oven for 25 minutes.

(You won't be able to taste the apple after it's baked)

Dhall

Dhalldhalldhalldhalldhalldhalldhall did I mention I love dhall? 

man I drink it like soup its so good so good

MMmmMM! 

onionsgarlicstaranicefenugreekchilliescurrypowdercorianderfennelandlentilswater are all it takes for a lovely pot of dhall..simple, nutritious and great for winter =) 

uuuugghh I want my roti canai!!! Counting down the months till december. Mamak, here I come!

Fish and chips, anyone?

Ok so just admit that you absolutely love fried food..no matter how healthy you claim to be, no matter how much you say you don't like fried stuff, deep down inside you do =) well, at least I do..

For the sake of self-comfort, fish and chips are'nt THAT bad if you make it yourself and use good oil.

So here it is

Fish and chips with a spinach and almond pesto

The fish, I used Basa fish because it has a really nice texture (fish and chips perfect). 

Wait till you see the "chips"

 

 Oh yeah

ooey gooey cheese incased potato sticks

 For these, I used mozarella cheese cos its just sooo good...

 These took some time to make but totally worth while

 I used Basa fish..its one of the cheaper types of fish but it has a really nice texture, perfect for this.

So the fish and "chips" were first dredged in flour, dipped in egg, covered in bread crumbs and then into the hot tub......of oil.

Spinach and almond pesto:

1/4 cups roasted whole almonds

250g baby spinach

4 tablespoons olive oil (extra virgin)

1/2 tablespoon sesame oil 

Blend the almonds till they are roughly chopped.

Add in the spinach and blend till combined. 

Add in oils and a good pinch of salt. Blend it to combine.

To Rachel, with lots of love

Today was Rachel's birthday. And I still can't believe that we're overseas studying all on our own..How time flies..It seems like just yesterday we were tuition-ing with teacher zoran and cheryl. All the fun and laughs we had together still fresh in my mind=) I'll never forget the moments!

Anyway, Happy 18th Birthday Rachel! or should I say, Rachal..haha

I really hope you enjoyed my quiet company.

 Carrot cakes with a honey glaze and marzipan icing

 ..and just cause we're pigs..

Scones

2 am in tze morning and I'm up doing stupid HOI..can you believe it? well I decided that breaks are essential.

Tummy's full but mouth so itchy,

Recipe book's in front of me,

I turn tze page and scones I see,

  Fate it was,

so scones it is.

They rose pretty well, I thought.

Scones:

2 cups of flour

2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

a pinch of salt

2 tablespoons of sugar

1/2 cup of milk

1/4 cup+ 2 tablespoons of water 

Preheat oven to 250 celcius

Sift flour and bicarb into a large bowl.

Mix in salt and sugar.

Make a well in the centre and pour in milk and water.

Mix with a fork until a dough is formed.

You may need to wet your hands a little IF THE MIXTURE IS TOO DRY.

Knead dough lightly for about 1 minute on a floured surface. Flatten slightly to about 3cm thick. 

Use a cookie cutter to cut out rounds and place the rounds in a lightly greased tin. 

They should be arranged like molecules of a solid (for those who do science) hehe..

Brush the top with milk. Bake for 12 minutes. Cool

Perfect with jam and cream..But that white stuff's actually yoghurt..I did'nt have any cream..hehe

Brunch

I was supposed to help in the gardening this morning but was just too lazy to bend my back..So I agreed to cook my brothers a brunch to get myself out of gardening=P

  Sweet paprika seared steak, buttered toast, avocado,

scrambled eggs, baby spinach and pear salad with pickled onion.

Gordon Ramsay was quite particular about how the perfect scrambled eggs 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU_B3QNu_Ks

In-te-res-ting..

I love onions but they make me tear whenever I eat them raw..it's just way too strong to have them raw in salads..However, these pickled onions are perfect for salads and it's the easiest thing in the world. 

Pickled onions: 

2 red onions

1 cup white vinegar

3 tablespoons of sugar

Slice the onions thinly. Put them in a jar. Add in sugar. Pour in the vinegar. Shake lightly. Leave to pickle for at least 30 minutes before use. Or refridgerate for up to a week or two. 

Bread, why are you so crunchy?

Bread is a staple in our house..it's not very asian, but it's just impossible to avoid buying that crusty, rustic-looking loaf of bread in the Italian deli that I love so much=) Tonight was ALL about tze bread..

                                      Crostinis

 Smoked salmon and baby spinach "roses" with basil sour cream

 Pea and mint pesto with avocado

 This one's really just an egg sandwich with avocado on top..

 the 3 different crostinis

 And since we were already having bread,it only made sense that we have dessert..

French toast, warm cinnamon pears and chocolate sauce

 life is good

 Oh yeah!

WE WANT RIBS

I used to chicken out on cooking ribs. I was always afraid that it would turn out tough or dry, but not anymore! turns out, they're easy to prepare and the yummy smells filled the house..

 

Marinade them overnight with whatever you like really..I wanted mine asian style so i went with soy sauce, sesame oil, honey and chopped garlic and ginger. Then bake them in a 180 celcius fan-forced oven for about an hour and a half (depending on the weight) until they're well done. I had 2.5 kilos of ribs so you do the math=)

 The porky flavours were strong so you need something "clean" tasting to balance it all up=) I feel, that there's nothing better than a simple salad. This is my FAVOURITE salad ever: rocket, pear and green apple salad. Its sweet, tangy and I just love it..

salad:
green apple,quartered and sliced thinly

pear,quartered and sliced thinly
rocket leaves
walnuts
dried cranberries
lemon juice
extra virgin olive oil
salt

mix the apple and pear slices with a squeeze of lemon juice, a glug of olive oil and salt to prevent them from discolouring.
Place the rocket, walnuts and dried cranberries in a large salad bowl and set aside.
To make dressing, mix one part lemon juice to 2 parts olive oil and season with salt to taste.
Pour this over the rocket mixture. Add in apple and pear mixture. Toss well and serve.

Roast chicken and pizza anybody?

 Roast chicken is easiest when you can't think of what to cook for dinner. Of course, I could easily drop by woolworths and buy one, but nothing beats home-cooked..

The market had fresh turkish bread. Its just flat bread thats oval shaped and its perfect for making pizza

 I used basil, tomatoes and mozzerella cheese. Mozzerella is really mild and milky so I added a generous sprinkle of salt on top before grilling it in the oven. It was perfect! cheesy, tomato-ey and the basil, ohh man the basil gave it everything it needed=)But something was still missing..no greens? Then came salad and roast pumpkin to the rescue..really good

Roast chicken

1 whole chicken
1 whole garlic bulb
3 tablespoons oil
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons sweet paprika powder

500g potatoes, halved (i used baby potatoes)
500g pumpkin, cut into wedges
2 sprigs of rosemary
3 tablespoons oil
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper

Butterfly your chicken http://video.about.com/bbq/How-to-Butterfly-a-Chicken.htm
With a pestle and mortar, pound the peeled garlic with salt. Add in the oil and blend it to a smooth mixture.
Using your hands, separate the skin of the chicken around the breast and the thighs. Fill it with the garlic paste.
Season the whole chicken with salt and rub the paprika all over it.
Place the chicken on a baking tray lined with foil. 
Toss the potatoes and pumpkin with the rosemary,oil,lemon and salt and pepper. Place them around the chicken on the baking tray.
Bake this in a 180 degree oven for about 45 minutes.

Nasi lemak and Indian food=)

Cold, wet and gloomy..A day like today was a three in one package for misery. You have no idea how much I miss home. If only all it took was a snap to be on the next flight to KL. It's been a while since I've been to my favourite mamak for nasi kandar..it's been even longer since I've eaten road-side nasi lemak..GAHHH desperate for some real food! Without wasting anymore time feeling sorry for myself, I decided to get cooking..and was cheered up :)

 

Indian beef curry, brinjal chutney and fish cutlets

And of course, Nasi Lemak to go with everything=)

My brothers and I were very pleased with how the rice turned out. It was grainy and coconutty just the way it should be. The curry was spicy, full of aromas just like the ones in tze mamak stalls..*Score* I particularly enjoyed the fish cutlets..they were so tasty! and I was quite surprised because I had actually forgotten to add in any salt. Indian food is awesome..right Rae? yeahh=)

The great thing is, everything's easypeasy to make.. For the coconut rice, cook your rice like how you do all the time but replace half the amount of water with coconut milk. Then, add in a reasonable amount of salt before cooking it.. And of course, for many of us coconut milk will come from a can..I managed to find "ayam brand" here in melbourne..

Fish cutlets
500g basa fish, boiled and flaked
250g potatoes, boiled and mashed
1 large onion, chopped
a thumb sized piece of ginger, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
a handful of chopped coriander leaves
2 green chillies, chopped
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 teaspoon cumin powder
1 egg
oil, for frying

Mix all the ingredients except tze oil together, using your hands if you need to (i did). Form into palm sized patties. Fry on both sides till golden brown.

Mapo tofu

What a long and gloomy day it was. But however restless by the end of the day, dinner has to be put on the table right? These are the days that calls for something quick, simple but still really good.

                  Piping hot "mapo" tofu and stir-fried spinach on top of hot,steamy rice really hit the spot.
                                                         And it was really simple too=) 

Simply saute garlic,onions and ginger until its golden brown. Then add in some minced pork that has been mixed with oyster sauce and plum sauce. When the pork is totally cooked, add in the cubed tofu and diced green pepper. Add in some chilli if spicy's your thing.. Let the tofu simmer for about 2 minutes. Mix a little cornstarch and water and add it into the tofu. Let it boil and thicken for another minute or so and it's all done!

Experimental muffins

Ever wondered how a tea-flavoured muffin would taste like? well, its GOOD! and its easypeasy lemonsqueezy. All it takes *dump*plat*crack*dump*mixmixmix*bloobleepla and into the oven.
recipe:
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar (add more if you prefer it sweeter)
1/3 cup lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
a dash of vanilla essence
1 cup wholemeal flour
1/2 cup almond meal
3 bags of lemon tea

 Empty your teabags.
Combine eggs,oil,sugar,orange juice,zest and vanilla in a large bowl. Mix in flour,almond meal and tea until everything is just combined.
Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full and bake them in a 180 C oven for about 20 to 25 minutes.

Now would'nt these babies go well with cream cheese frosting? yeah they would=) here we go:

(for 12 cupcakes) 

250g cream cheese

1/3 cup icing sugar (more if you like)

zest of 1 lemon

Soften cream cheese by either leaving it in room temperature for a couple of hours or zapping it in the microwave for about 20 seconds. (australian weather being so cold, I normally zap it). 

Sift icing sugar over the cream cheese and mix it in until you have a smooth mixture. 

Stir in lemon zest and Ice away!

An Abbulous Cake!!

Consisting of 13 layers of crepe, lemon mousse and topped with meringue, this cake was definitely a project! Making the crepes was really time consuming as they had to be made as thin as possible for best results. But other than that, the rest of the work was'nt difficult. The most fun part of making the cake was the last step which was blow-torching the meringue. Yeap, mum bought me a blow-torch=) Thanks mum, and happy mother's day! This one's for you.

 

There's the blow-torch beside the cake. And if you look closely you can actually see my reflection on my shiny kitchen table top..teehehe.. 

This bright picture was taken the second time the cake was made (without the fancy-shmancy pattern on top). It was delicious=) The crepes were soft and reminded the tasters of the traditional indonesian "kek lapis", the lemon mousse was light and refreshing, not too creamy or filling either. On top of that, the sweet meringue balanced the tangy lemon. So it's kind of a lemon meringue but with crepe in it. Im thinking of what more I can do with tze blow-torch now : P

Berry yummy muffins

These healthy berry muffins are deliciously moist and one's just not enough=) Naturally sweetened by honey, the tartness of the berries cut through and gives these muffins a real zing. Replacing half the amount of flour with almond meal and the other half with self-raising wholemeal flour really contributed to their moist texture. But don't worry if you don't have these ingredients lying in your kitchen..just use normal flour. This recipe called for oil, so i used olive oil, which gave it a unique flavour. So easypeasy and totally fuss-free that i make them almost every week.

The recipe:
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons orange juice
Zest of 1 orange

1 cup almond meal
1 cup self-raising wholemeal flour
1/2 cup milk
1 cup frozen mixed berries

Oven- 180 celcius
Whisk eggs, oil, honey, orange juice and zest in a large bowl. (whisk gently initially to avoid splaterring oil all over).
Mix in almond meal.
Add in wholemeal flour and mix until the mixture is just combined. Be sure not to over-mix otherwise you'll have tough muffins.
Fill 1/3 of your muffin cups and scatter a few berries over the batter. Then spoon more of the mixture on top until the cups are filled 3/4 of the way.
Bake them for about 20 minutes until they are firm to the touch and golden brown on top. Leave to cool.