Celebration dinner

Yesterday was our 6th anniversary and I wanted to cook up a storm. Original plan was to cook a 3 meal course but ended putting everything on one plate casue I was so flicker about what to cook. And here's how it look like....



Originally I wanted to make a cheese sauce for the fillet fish and for couscous I wanted it to be more of a salad side dish but I have forgotten to buy tomatoes and parsley even though I was at the supermarket a few hours ago. And for the calamari rings, it was just an additional side.

Here's the fish recipe

Ingredients
2 fillet boneless fish
minced garlic
shredded ginger
1/4 cup sweet chilli sauce
olive oil
salt and pepper

Method
Heat oil in non stick pan.
Add garlic and shredded ginger then fish.
Turn fish when it is cook (solid white colour)
Add salt and pepper to the other side (only add to one side if not it will be too salty)
Set aside once cook.
Pour in sweet chilli sauce and a bit of water and stir.
And pour over fish.

Salad Sanwiches

It is so unbelievable ... but yeh today we had a healthy brunch which involved salad served in bagel. Partially because my fridge is filled with nothing but greenies. Due to the fact that my shopping tactics are relatively bad and often buying things in bulk since it is cheaper and at most times the ingredients either go rotting away or thrown out due to expiry dates. *sigh*

Anyways since I have more than 3 types of vege in my fridge. I thought, "why not make a hearty sandwich!" Therefore the chosen one is BABY ROCKET LEAVES.

Baby Rocket has a unique look; jagged-edges and a peppery flavour when eaten. It is often used in western salad and it goes well with parmesan cheese and pine nuts. While Koreans often use it in their hot spicy soup or wraps during BBQ and apparently to some of my Korean mates, it gives men 'MAN POWER' - u know wat I mean >:}

Often when one is first introduce to this veg, it may tastes a bit too raw and bitter yet peppery however I suggest one to give it another chance as this veg tends to produce a much more pleasant taste after 2 tries and trust me you will be yearning for more :)



Ingredients
1 cup of Veg such as Baby rocket / lettuce, chucky pieces
1 tomato, chucky pieces
2-3 fresh cup mushroom, chucky pieces
1 fresh beetroot / can beetroot, thinly sliced
1 hard boiled egg, chucky pieces
1 Tbsp olive oil
1-2 Tbsp of lemon juice
salt and crack black pepper for taste

Method
Toss all veg together with olive, salt and pepper and add in egg last.
Serve with toast / bagel (i used poppy seed bagel)

Variations
- add smoked trout/salmon with a bit of sour cream on bagel and then salad
OR
- add cool meat such as ham / chicken into salad and toss well.

Potatoes filled pastry

Recently I bought a package of filo pastry, wanting to make apple strudel. But ended up using it for something totally different from my original plan. Instead it turned out to be more like a meal snack.



The basic filling for the pastry is potatoes. Used any preferred ingredients together with potatoes fillings, such as cheese, ham and mushroom combination or peas, chicken and curry powder for a touch of Indian samosa.
In my case, I used bacon and prawns (cos they were the only ingredients I had in the fridge..need to re-stock). Enjoy!



Ingredients
1 pck of filo pastry (any supermarket in the frozen aisle)
1 pck of instant mashed potatoes / 1 kilo of potatoes for mashed
3-4 rashes of bacon, oven till crispy
1 cup of prawns, deshelled and cut into pieces
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
coriander, chopped
chilli powder (any preferred sauce/ powder such as curry / sweet chilli sauce)
sugar
salt and pepper

Method
Prepared mashed
Mix prawns, lemon juice, coriander and 1tbsp chilli powder and 1/4 ts sugar.
Then pan fried till cooked. Set aside
Mix prepared mashed together with prawns and small pieces of crispy bacon.
Add salt and pepper and coriander into mixture and mix well.
Spread filo pastry on flat surface and put about 4tbsp (depends how big you want ya pastry to be) of mixture on it and fold it
Fold another sheets over it . ( I used about 3 sheets for 1 pastry)
Used water to stick the edges.
Brush oil on the outer sheet and pan fried till golden brown.

I think it is a Brownie

After reading, Renee's blog about Oatmeal Fudge Squares, I have been craving for a fudge squares for days and the desire for them get stronger everytime i read her blog...

So today, I decided to make them (even though i was trying to go on a diet).
But the oatmeal fudge squares are low fat, so it shd be okie for dieting :)
Sadly my kitchen do not have most of the ingredients needed. But my desire for a chocky snack was so strong that, my heart kept telling me to go and bake it while my brain was actually too tired to think (esp when it is past 11.30pm). I went ahead and bake it, even though it didn't turn out the way it was suppose to be...surprisingly it looks like a brownie yet like a flat muffin...but overall it was edible and it wasn't too bad.
This is how it looks like ...



Ingredients
1/2 block of Dove dark chocolate
1/4 cup white chocolate
2 tbsp self raising flour
3-4 tbsp plain flour
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup walnut

Method
Preheat oven 180.
Mix well, all flour and egg together in another bowl.
Melt both chocolates in a heatproof bowl over a pot of heating water.
Turn off heat when chocolate melted and pour flour mixture in and mix well.
Sprinkle a bit of plain flour on a baking tray (I used a 9 inch baking square)
Pour mixture in and bake for about 15mins.
Remove from oven and cool.

I only consumed it the day next.

Serving
Cut into bite sizes and heat it up in microwave for 10-20sec (pls watch while it is in the microwave)
Smack / spread a bit of nutella on it.
Serve with ice-cream and sprinkle some chocolate sprinklers.

where is my carrot cake

Background: Carrot cake is often found in Asia's street stalls, supermarket (pre-made),food courts and even hotels. Contrary to its name, "carrot cake", does not have any carrots in it and it is not baked in an oven unlike the cakes in the West.

Taste: Very different from the carrot cake we buy from our bakery in the West.

Variations: Steamed first then fried with an egg with or without sweet dark soya sauce. Another variation is to serve it straight from the steamer.
Adding Yam - aka as yamcake / bits of shredded carrots / dried shrimps maybe added inside the paste before steaming.

Serve: Often it is serve as breakfast, however it can be served at anytime of the day.

Cost: Considered a cheap delicious food in Asia (around 2 - 3AUD) and for homemakers, it is a good low budget food for the family.



Carrot cake
Ingredients (serve 2-3)
1 cup of rice flour
1 tsp of plain flour
1 1/2 cup hot water
salt and pepper

Savoury
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 shitake mushroom, soaked and thinly sliced
1/4 cup or more of preserved salted radish ( can be bought in any Asian grocery or even Coles in Sydney)
1-2 tbsp light soya sauce
3-5 tbsp ABC ketchup manis / sweet dark soya sauce
chilli paste - opt
* 2 beaten eggs for pan fried version *

Savoury Method
Heat oil.
Pout in garlic, then radish and shitake mushroom.
Add light soya, and ketchup manis and pepper.
Fried till fragrant.

Method for carrot cake
Heat wok / steamer first.
Get a heat proof bowl or baking tray.
Mix rice and plain flour together with a pinch of salt and pepper in a bowl or baking tray.
Pour boiling water into mixture and stir till it turn pasty.
Put bowl / baking tray and steam still it harden.
To check, using a folk and test the centre of the cake for dryness.
Once dry, serve with savoury and ABC ketchup manis.

Serve it plain with savoury


OR

Fried carrot version


Method
Heat oil.
Cut carrot cake into pieces and fried.
Add ketchup manis, light soya and pepper for taste.
Add savoury.
Add beaten egg.
Serve and garnish with spring onions or shallots.

strawberries temptation

strawberries strawberries...simply cant resist them...esp when there is a price war in the market (3pines for 5AUD). Unfortunately i am one who often stock them and allow them to rot away.

however this time round, i decided to be good and will not contribute them to the garbage bin like i often do...so i only bought 1 special pine of strawberries home, reminding myself that this pine will last me for 3-4 days since i am such a slow consumer.

Wanting to finish this pine in a day was really difficult as i am such a slow consumer when it comes to fruits and also my partner would not give me a helping hand (dislike strawberries)

But today was different...
I tried to convince him how good they were... after awhile he decided to try (so that i will stop bugging) and usually if something not right after one bite, he will shake his head and reject it...
Today...he had more than one bite instead he had a few of them...so proud of him ")

And this is wat i did...coat them with chocolate...




Ingredients
Fresh strawberries
1/2 cup dark chocolate & 1/2 cup white chocolate
OR 1 cup milk chocolate

Method
Melt chocolate on a heatproof bowl while siting on another bowl / pot of water under heat.
Stir non stop.
DO not add milk / water.
Stir still the mixture melt.
Coat strawberries using hands (get an excuse to lick chocolate after that) / satay sticks.
Set aside to cool & keep in fridge if there is left over.
*try with banana too*