mea cooks

Fig Brownies

2008-09-24T21:17:00.002+10:00

This is a pretty simple and highly delicious recipe for brownies. The original recipe called for cashews but all I had were figs and, lemme tell you, it turned our very delicious.

Prepare:
-Mix 200g dark chocolate (broken up) with 175g unsalted butter in a bowl
-Melt in a microwave (medium heat for several minutes, stirring every now and then) or over a pot of boiling water and then leave aside to cool
-Whisk 2 eggs and 1 cup of sugar (brown makes for a moister brownie) for about 5 minutes until pale and fluffy-Add the chocolate butter mixture-Sift 1 cup flour and 1/3 cup of cocoa powder into the large bowl and mix well-Roughly chop 100g of dark chocolate and a handful of dried figs-Fold into the mix
Cook:
-Preheat oven to 160C/320F
-Pour into a shallow brownie tin, lined with baking paper
-Bake for about 30-35 minutes. Top should be firm but not too hard, as these will set when left to cool
-Enjoy with some fresh fruit or an icing

Tips:
-These are pretty quick to make and very delicious. You can use a sour-cream based icing but I find these sweet enough on their own to not need it
-You could use many different things instead of the fig: pistachios, cashews, almonds, dates, apricots, dried cranberries, etc.

Pecorino and Pumpkin Pie

2008-08-23T21:42:00.001+10:00

I bought a pumpkin and was browsing recipes and found an interesting one for a savoury pie thing. I modified it quite a bit as the original recipe looked fairly bland.

Prepare dough:
-Sift together 3 cups of flour with 1 tsp sea salt and 1 tsp rosemary
-Mix together 1/2 cup of extra-virgin olive oil, 1/3 ml of cold water and 1 egg
-Make a volcano out of the flour and add the liquid in the middle. Beat with a fork to form a dough, switching to hands once it gets too tough

-Knead for a couple minutes (add a bit of water at a time if it gets too grainy) until smooth
-Put in a plastic bag and place in the fridge for a couple hours

-Roll the dough to about 2mm thickness (pretty thin)
-Cut 2/3rds of it and mold it to fit a greased 6 1/4in x 10 1/2in baking sheet-The other 1/3rd of the dough should be cut into strips
-Place in the fridge for half an hour

Prepare filling:
-Preheat oven to 200C/400F
-Dice pumpkin, about 2 or 3 cups worth
-Coat in oil and a bit of salt and put in a roasting pan and into the oven
-About 20 minutes afterward, mix up the pumpkin and place 4 cloves unpeeled garlic in the pan
-Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl
-Grate about 2/3 cup of pecorino cheese into the egg-Once pumpkin is soft, remove from oven
-In the bowl, mash pumpkin and garlic (removed from skin)-Add a tsp each of sea salt, crushed black pepper, nutmeg, and basil

Cook:
-Place the filling into to the dough, smoothing out
-Place the strips diagonally across the pie-Bake for an hour or a bit more until the pastry is crisp and goldenTips:
-This made more than I wanted, so I assembled a whole small pie and put it in the freezer and baked it a week later, happily
-It was tasty but seemed to lack something that I couldn't put my finger on. Everyone else thought it was really tasty. I found the whatever-lacking was fixed by eating the pie with either a fresh, watery vegetable such as radish or cucumber or by spreading fresh pesto or schug on top.

Eggplant Lasagna

2008-08-23T21:41:00.001+10:00

I bought a bunch of eggplants in the market and wanted to put them to good use. I scoured the internet for ideas for how to make lasagna and found a good recipe for the cheese mixture. I also found a recipe for homemade pasta and embarked on the mission. It was a bit labour-intensive but so tasty and well worth it for the thanks from my friends.

Prepare lasagna sheets:
-On a clean, wide surface make a mound of 3 cups of flour with a dip in the middle (volcano)
-Crack an egg into the middle and beat with a fork within the volcano, picking up flour on the way; repeat with 2 more eggs for a total of 3

-Once you can't beat anymore with the fork, knead with your hands for a while - at least 5 minutes
-Set aside for about 30 minutes-On floured surface, roll (and roll and roll). It will most likely be easier to divide the dough in half and roll that way, otherwise it takes up too much space.
-Once it's flat enough to almost be transparent, cut into rectangular sheets -Get the widest slightly-deep pan you have and fill it an inch or two with water and set to boil
-Cook the sheets for a minute or two in the boiling water and then place aside to drain

Prepare eggplant:
-Preheat oven to about 200C/400F
-Cut a couple eggplants into 1/2inch thick slices.

-Place on a tray and coat with olive or canola oil
-Roast for about 5 or 10 minutes, then flip over and roast again

Prepare cheeses:
-Cube about 2 1/2 cups of fresh mozzarella, 1 cup provolone, 2 cups ricotta, 1 cup grated parmesan
-Mix in a large bowl with 2 or 3 cloves of minced garlic and an egg to hold it together

Prepare sauce:
-Make or buy a tomato sauce. I have a couple recipes on the site. I just made a basic one: sautee onion and garlic in olive oil with a bit of balsamic vinagrette. Add 2 or 3 tins of peeled tomatoes, 1 fresh tomato, some bay leaves, 1 tsp of stock powder, 1 tbsp tomato/chili paste, 1 tsp oregano, a bit of honey and some salt and pepper. Let simmer for about an hour (so start this before the pasta sheets)

Prepare lasagna:
-Line the bottom of a deep baking dish with eggplant
-Pour some sauce to cover eggplant
-Add the layer of cheese
-Repeat until everything is used up, trying to end with sauce on top. On the top place large pieces of mozarella
Cook lasagna:
-In an oven preheat to about 190C/380F, bake for about 30 or 40 minutes
-Take out and let cool for about 10 minutes so you don't burn the roof of your mouth
-Enjoy

Tips:
-I know it's labour-intensive. I made everything from scratch and from start to eating took less than 3 hours. But it was 3 full hours. Timewise, the best way to do this is to start the sauce, then make the pasta dough and roll it out; once it's flat and cut do the eggplant and while the eggplant is in the oven, cook the eggplant sheets in the boiling water. This way the oven can still be on once the eggplant is taken out of the oven and the lasagna can go right in.
-Rolling is pretty hard (especially with a wine bottle!). The best strategy, I find, is to roll a bit and then flip the dough over and rotate 1/4 of a circle clockwise. Once it gets pretty flat, it's harder to roll and you have to kind of press down as you slide the roller. Make sure stretch your fingers every now and then.
-This recipe for pasta is the same as any kind of pasta, so you can use it for any shape you'd like etc (I had more sheets than other material and so cut it into fettuccine and froze it)
-I don't peel eggplants because I like the texture and taste of the skin. I also have stopped salting them before hand since the newer varieties aren't as bitter and don't need that done

Lentil Burgers

2008-08-23T21:39:00.001+10:00

Last week was Ekka holiday. It is some random holiday whose function or reason is unimportant. What is important, however, is that BBQ was involved. I wanted to give a go on making veggie burgers, using lentils, for all my vegetarian friends. I got a couple ideas around the internet and the results were really quite tasty.

Prepare:
-Soak 1 1/2 cups of dried green lentils in water (more than cover) for several hours/overnight
-Change water and simmer for about an hour or until the lentils are soft. Drain and set aside to cool-Mix about 1/2 cup bread crumbs with a tablespoon of cumin seeds and toast in a pan on low heat for about 5 minutes

-Dice half an onion
-In a food processor, mince a couple cloves of garlic and a couple hot chili peppers with a bit of coarse salt
-Add the lentils to the processor and 2 eggs and pulse until completely mixed

-Add 1tsp honey and 1 tsp soy sauce
-Mix in bread crumbs/cumin seed mixture and the onion

-Check consistency - if too fluid (they should be able to hold together fairly well) then add more breadcrumbs
-Make several medium-sized patties (about 8 or 9, I got)

Cook:
-On a hot grill with some oil, place patties and cook for about 7 or 8 minutes on either side until brown and crispy

Tips:
-These were really good, even with non-vegetarians. They do look pretty nasty, though, so try to hide them, uncooked, from people.
-Even with a decent amount of breadcrumbs, they still were a bit viscous. This was no problem once thrown on the grill, though.
-They're totally fine to taste before BBQing, so make sure to check spiciness/saltiness etc (I added some extra cayenne pepper to a batch and it was great)
-It would be good if you made a thicker patty and then cut in the middle and put tomato or avocado or cheese or something
-Freezes well

Sweet Pistachio Cake

2008-07-02T11:09:00.002+10:00

Perusing the Weekend Australian magazine for the recipes, as per usual, I came across this interesting pistachio cake. What made it interesting was that all it had was pistachio, egg, sugar, and a bit of lemon juice. Since my girlfriend loves pistachio, I thought I'd give it a go. It turned out very tasty but really really sweet. More of a meringue than a cake, necessarily. I will give the recipe for how I think it should be done next time, so it's not too sweet. Also, contrary to a lot of baked goods, this should not be eaten just out of the oven. I found it MUCH better after spending overnight in the fridge.
Prepare Syrup:
-Mix about 1 cup of sugar with 180ml of water in a pot on high heat, simmer until sugar has dissolved
-Mix in about 1 tbsp lemon juice and 2 tsp (if you've got it) rosewater
-Set aside to cool

Prepare Cake:
-Coarsely chop 50g of unsalted pistachios

-Separate 5 eggs
-In a food processor with 'whipping' attachment, or using an electric beater, whisk together the egg yolks with 200g caster (icing) sugar

-In a food processor, grind 200gm (~1/2lb, sorry - no cups) of unsalted and unshelled pistachios

-Mix the pistachio meal with the whipped sugar and egg yolk-Now beat the egg whites until they turn stuff -Fold the egg-white into the pistachio mixture, not too much (don't blend it together completely)
-Put in a greased round cake tin, lined with baking paper-On top, spread the chopped pistachios

Cook:
-Preheat oven to 350F/180C
-Bake for about 45min-1 hr until nice and golden and firm on top upon pressing
-Poke about 15 holes around the cake and pour in half the syrup
-Taste a bit of the inside and if not sweet enough, add more syrup (make sure you do this and not dump all the syrup in!)
-Set the cake aside for a couple hours or refrigerate overnight and enjoy later with fresh strawberries
Tips:
-As I mentioned before, I changed the recipe to make it less sweet. You could just make half as much syrup or use the same amount of water but less sugar if you want the cake to be moist and gooey on the inside.
-I didn't have rosewater so I used the juice from one mandarin but I could hardly taste it. I would like to try it with rosewater next time.
-Make sure you clean the beater/whipping device in between whisking the egg yolk and the egg white, as fat from egg yolk changes the texture of the egg white firmness, supposedly.
-I didn't line the cake tin with baking paper and it SUCKED to clean. Please do it, you'll thank me later.

Refried Beans

2008-06-26T11:30:00.002+10:00

Refried beans always seemed like such an ironic luxury to me. Like donuts or potato chips, it was always something that was cheap and "common", yet I was never really able to eat, especially not as much as I'd like. Seen as unhealthy or just unusual to order on the the occasions I'd eat Mexican food growing up, I mostly avoided it. Well I've been hankering for it, indeed, and now that I'm an adult, I can eat anything I want! Googling and checking metafilter eventually got me this recipe. The secret ingredient is, incidentally, salt. Seriously, you need a lot of salt for this - it's not just me, I swear.

Prepare:
-Soak 1 cup of dried beans overnight in water
-Quarter 1 small onion and dice half an onion
-Chop about 3 lengths of bacon
-Mince 3 cloves of garlic
-Ready bay leaves, salt, and whole peppercorn

Cook:
-Place soaked beans in a medium pot and cover with water plus add another inch and a half of water. Put in quartered onion, a couple bay leaves, a tablespoon of peppercorns, and 2 tsp of salt (the water should taste like seawater)

-Simmer for an hour or until beans are ready (they should taste edible but still a bit firm; if you take a couple out of the pot and blow on them, the skin should peel). Drain the beans but reserve about 1/2cup of the water-Meanwhile, fry bacon on medium heat in a large pan until completely crispy and all the fat is in the pan. Remove the bacon and set aside

-Fry the onion in the bacon fat until it starts getting translucent and then add the garlic

-Add the beans and a bit of the water onto the pan and start mashing, add more water to reach desired consistency.-Enjoy on its own or in a burrito

Tips:
-Some of the recipes called for adding "salt pork" into the pot when cooking the beans. I think this is just a thick, salted and cured pork to add to the taste of the beans. I don't have it so I didn't use it
-I made this a second time and when cooking the beans in the pan, added about a tsp of pico de gallo and a tsp of cumin to give it a bit more flavor and it came out quite tasty.
-This can also be done with tinned beans, just add them at the same step as the cooked beans.

Shortbread Date Fingers

2008-05-31T19:57:00.007+10:00

This recipe I picked up from a Brisbane news magazine and adjusted it to taste. I was happy to use dried dates, as they are a very cheap dried fruit with an exquisite taste. This bar turned out very tasty and I got lots of kudos for it. It's a bit of work with some prep but worth it in the end.
Prepare Base:
-Sift together 80 g (3/4 cup) caster or fine sugar, 1 1/2 cup white flour, 1/2 cup rice flour (or extra white flour if you don't have it) in a large bowl
-Add in about 1 cup of chopped butter and a tbsp of oil and mix until you get fine breadcrumb-like objects
-Add in 15ml cold water and 1 egg yolk
-Knead until it forms a dough and then freeze for 20 min or refrigerate for 1 hr
-After it's cool, roll it out to the size of your deep baking dish (mine was 12''/30 cm by 9''/24cm or something) and then refrigerate for another 20 minutes-Place on deep cooking tray lined with baking paper and bake in oven that's been preheated to 175C/350F for about 25 minutes or until it starts turning brown
Prepare Filling:
-While the base is baking, place about 400gm (almost 1lb, maybe 3 cups) of dried dates in a small pot
-Cover with water
-Add the zest of 1 orange, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon, and a splash of vegetable oil-Simmer for 15 minutes or until it turns to mushPrepare Topping:
-Mix 425 g or ~ 3 cups of self-raising flour with 2 cups caster sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and 3/4 tsp of baking powder
-Mix in 1 1/2 cups unsalted chopped butter, with some oil, until coarse bread crumbs are formed
Cook:
-Spread the date-filling onto the base and sprinkle the topping crumbs over it
-Bake at 175C/350F for about 30 minutes or until it starts to get a bit golden on top. Check halfway and make sure it's firm - if not, sprinkle some more oil on top.
-Dust with powdered sugar on top and enjoy

Tips:
-This recipe called for a lot of butter. I used significantly less but substituted a fair amount of canola oil, olive oil and some egg white. It was from a pouring bottle and thus I do not know the exact amounts. Adding another egg or using applesauce and stuff would be a great way to cut out on the fattiness (though the fat is what makes shortbread short).
-The way I presented it was how I did it, but next time around I'd make the base and topping at the same time to cut down on time. Only for the end bit (mixing water and egg yolk) would I separate it. I'd also cut down on the sugar a bit as it was a tad sweet - otherwise, it was mighty tasty

Marinated Feta

2008-05-17T22:54:00.000+10:00

One of my friends marinates his own feta and it is so tasty, so I had to copy him.
Prepare:
-1 package of feta, chopped in chunks and placed in a plastic vessel
-3 cloves of garlic, minced
-1 chili pepper, chopped
-Mix the above together and cover with a nice extra-virgin olive oil
-Leave for at least a week (it's okay unrefrigerated)
-Enjoy, of course

Tips:
-Keep the olive oil and use it either as an even-tastier oil for pastas or salads or just keep it for the next batch of feta.

Sesame Noodle with Steamed Veggies and Egg

2008-05-17T21:50:00.018+10:00

I was hankering for a nice sesame-sauced noodle dish. I googled around and saw that there is a lot of different ways to make sesame sauce. I tried to synthesize my own.
Prepare Sauce:
-Roughly chop a couple hot chilies, 3 cloves of garlic, and a bit of ginger
-Prepare 1 tsp each of olive oil, sesame oil, Chinese 5-Spice, black pepper, red wine, honey, and fresh chives-Prepare about 3 heaping tablespoons of good unsweetened peanut butter and another tablespoon or two of tahini
-Mix all the above in a food processor with about 1/4 cup of warm water
Prepare Dish:
-Soak any sort of noodles that you like in some water or cook them until they are just ready
-Chop/prepare any vegetables that you like steamed. I used broccoli, cauliflower, and bok choy
-Toast a tbsp of sesame seeds on a pan
-Roughly chop some cilantro and chives
-Ready a couple eggs

Cook Dish:
-Steam vegetables (broccoli and cauliflower take longer than bok choy)
-Crack 2 eggs on a warmed pan with olive oil over medium heat, after 1 minute of frying, roughly mix together

-Once vegetables are steamed, mix noodles through and leave for a couple minutes

-Mix in eggs and sauce, sprinkle with cilantro, chives, and sesame seeds

Tips:
-You can change this sauce anyway you see fit. I put in 3 chilies and it had a lovely amount of heat to it. I think next time I may add a bunch of cilantro to the sauce itself to give it a bit of that nice flavour.
-Substituting eggs with tofu or chicken would be a very welcome addition.

Citrus & Ginger Cordial

2008-05-17T21:50:00.017+10:00

My friend Ben recently gave me a large sack of different fruits. I feared early spoilage, what with limited refrigerator space and only myself to feed, and so set about on ways to utilize at least some of the fruits. Glancing around the net implanted some ideas in my head for a citrus cordial - a syrup mixer for creating drinks. I just made up my own ratios of fruit - I think it would be difficult to mess it up.
Prepare:
-Cut several citrus fruits in half, zest some of them as well. I used 2 oranges, 2 small mandarins, and 5 limes of various sizes-Peel and roughly chop a good amount of ginger
-Measure out about 2 1/2 cups of sugar (I used caster or icing sugar)
Cook:
-Juice the fruit-Mix the fruit juice with the sugar, ginger, zest in a medium pot-On medium-high heat, bring to a boil; lower and let it simmer healthily for a while
-Once it has reduced a bit and started getting more syrupy and viscous, turn off heat-Let cool and then filter out the ginger/zest.
-Store in an airtight bottle and enjoy as you wish
Tips:
-The cordial is quite sweet and so you would only use it mixed with soda water and not anything else sweetened like tonic water. I imagine it will go quite well with alcohol as well. I already used a teaspoon mixed with some boiling water and it resulted in a very nice hot lemon "tea"

"Light" Caraway Rye

2008-05-10T18:08:00.003+10:00

I love caraway rye bread. I specifically love light, white, airy rye bread with lots of caraway seeds. I did a lot of searching and wasn't able to find what I wanted. This recipe looked good and promising so I gave it a shot. I won't include the recipe here since I copied the recipe almost exactly as the post mentioned (I didn't have molasses so I substituted with brown sugar and some lemon juice). The bread turned out nice but not exactly what I wanted. Not rye-y enough, and a bit sweet. Quite tasty as a bread but didn't come out how I wanted (I want something like this). Oh well. No worries.

Focaccia-based pizza

2008-05-10T17:19:00.004+10:00

So I was making my delicious focaccia again and decided to freeze one of them, to see how it would turn out. I took it out of the freezer and waited about 2 hours and then set about making a dynamite pizza. With an easy tasty sauce.
Prepare Sauce:
-In a food processor, mix 3-4tbsp of tomato puree, 1/2 small can of whole peeled tomatoes (with some of the juice), 2 peeled cloves of garlic, a little bit of onion, 1 tsp each of white sugar, dried basil, salt, and oregano.
Prepare Pizza:
-Spread the newly made sauce on the focaccia base
-Put on top your favorite toppings: I think its sinful to have pizza without onion, broccoli, or olives. I also put on zucchini, fresh tomato, and mushroom
-Cover with some freshly shredded cheeses: mozarella and light cheddar work well, I also added a bit of parmesanCook Pizza:
-Preheat oven to around 400F/200C
-Place pizza on a thin pan and put in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until crust gets crispy (depends on thickness of the crust)
-Bon apetit

Dessert Burrito!

2008-05-10T17:09:00.003+10:00

I was hankering for something amazing this morning. No, I wasn't hungover, just craving. I thought that a dessert/breakfast burrito would be the best thing:
Prepare:
-Warm a tortilla in the microwave for 15 seconds
-Spread a good amount of nice peanut butter and Nutella down the middle of the tortilla
-Slice 1 banana down the middle and arrange on the tortilla, fold/wrap upCook:
-Heat a large flat pan on medium heat
-Place folded burrito on the pan and place a plate on top for seal and pressure, cook for 4 minutes (if it starts smoking, take it off!) and then flip over.
-Enjoy!Tips:
-This is pretty perfect on its own... you could add caramel or marshmellow fluff for a bit more of heaven.

Spicy Garlicky Pumpkin Seeds

2008-04-23T09:19:00.004+10:00

I found this little recipe from a spicy-foods cookbook called Red Hot. I had huge hopes for it when I saw the ingredients... it came out fine, but not as special as I'd hoped
Prepare:
-1 cup pumpkin seeds
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1 tsp dried chili flakes
-1 tsp salt
-1 tsp caster/icing sugar
Cook:
-In a fry pan on medium heat, cook the pumpkin seeds for a couple minutes till they swell and brown a little bit -Add garlic and cook for a couple minutes more-Add red pepper flakes and salt and cook for 1 or 2 more minutes
-Turn off heat, sprinkle with sugar
Tips:
-The book also states that you can sprinkle lime juice on it and eat right away; otherwise, store in an airtight jar

Polenta Focaccia

2008-04-23T08:42:00.005+10:00

Browsing through a copy of Woman's Weekly at the hospital, I stumbled on this easy polenta focaccia recipe. I whipped it up to serve for some friends for dinner as an appetizer to potato gnocchi and pesto. This recipe really was a winner. The bread topped with pesto and parmesan was an especially lovely treat.
Prepare:
-Sift together 2 2/3 cups self-raising flour, 3/4 cup polenta, 1 tsp sea salt, 2 tsp rosemary-Mix 1 1/2 cup warm water with 1 tsp instant dried yeast (7g) and mix well (whisk)
-Mix the flour with yeast-water and add 1/2 cup olive oil
-Knead together thoroughly -Set aside for an hour or so and let rise
-Re-knead for 5 minutes
-Divide into 2 balls
-Roll pretty flat (about 1 cm) on a floured surface
-Put on a pan that lightly has polenta flour spread on it-Place flattened dough on pan, sprinkle polenta on top and poke holes with a fork
-Let rise for at least 15 minutes
Cook:
-Preheat oven to 230C / 445F
-Once oven is hot place bread in and bake for 5-10 min, until golden brown
Tips:
-Mix in 1-2 tsp of freshly cracked pepper into the dough - I did it with only half and it was so good, I'd definitely do it for the whole batch next time. I also think I'd maybe mix in some minced garlic as well
-If you don't have self-raising flour, the equivalent to 1 cup is 7/8 cups plain flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp salt

Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Noodles, Corn and Brussel Sprouts

2008-04-19T18:27:00.006+10:00

I know I've posted a pumpkin soup recipe before but I wanted to post anew since this one is a bit different. That and a friend told me that this was "fanfuckingtastic" (thanks Claire).

Prepare:
-Chop up and peel half a large pumpkin
-Lightly coat with olive oil and place in a roasting tray
-Thinly slice 1 large yellow onion
-~5 dried dates
-Dekernel one corn
-Halve about 7 or 8 brussel sprouts
-Get about 1 cup of cooked chick peas
-Dice 1-3 hot chili peppers
-1 cup dried pasta (I used wholemeal spirals)
-Spices and seasonings... bay leaf, salt, pepper, honey, cinnamon, cloves...

Cook:
-Roast at ~ 400F/200C for about an hour, putting about half a head of garlic still in the peel in the tray after 30 min-Once the pumpkin is ready, lightly sautée onion for about 5 minutes -When onion is translucent, add pumpkin and roasted garlic (remove the peel!) to the pot, cover with water and stock powder or stock
-Bring to a boil, add bay leaves and chili
-Turn heat to a simmer, cover and leave alone for about 15 min
-Once pumpkin starts falling apart, add the chickpeas and dates, mix through and then puree using hand-blender and attain even mixture
-Keep heat at a simmer
-Add pasta and brussel sprouts
-Add 1-2 tbsp honey
-About 5 minutes later, add the corn kernels
-Mix 1 tsp of cinnamon and cloves each through
-Once pasta is done, take off heat. Serve immediately with toasted breadTips:
-I added the chickpeas mainly to give a bit of protein and thicken it up without using cream or anything - I couldn't really taste them, though. If you wanted a more beany taste, using a stronger bean like butter beans or borlotti beans would be best, as would upping the amount used and perhaps reserving some for after blending
-The corn and brussel sprouts worked quite well... the corn gave a sweet crunchiness and the sprouts a nice green solid feel. Broccoli or cauliflower would work quite well, put in a bit after the pasta
-The dates, honey, cinnamon, and cloves helped to make the soup a bit sweet and really complement the roasted pumpkin taste. The chili gave a bit of a bite that worked quite well with the the mellowness of the rest of the soup. It wasn't too sweet by any means; just had a nice richness to it
-Cream (coconut, especially) would not hurt this soup
-Make a large batch! This freezes quite well (almost better the 2nd day)

Cauliflower-based Risotto with Mushroom and Broccoli

2008-04-19T18:07:00.007+10:00

At the markets, I saw a gigantic head of cauliflower on sale and promptly purchased it. I'm a sucker for cauliflower and was keen on doing some experimentation, as well. This metafilter forum had a tremendous amount of awesome ideas, but this one really stuck out to me as being key. I set about making it following the loose steps in the post as well as adding from my own experience with risotto and food. It was pretty nice as a risotto but, honestly, I feel like the cauliflower taste was too subdued and almost a waste. But I regret nothing!
Prepare:
-Chop and separate about 1 medium cauliflower or half of a huge one
-Sprinkle oil through, mix, and then add salt, pepper, and cumin seeds
-Roast at 200C/400F for about 1 hr, mixing in the middle. 40 minutes into it, add several cloves of garlic, still in the peel -Once cauliflower is cooked, place in a pot with the garlic, some bay leaves, cover with water and bring to a boil
-After about 10 minutes, puree til even consistency. Set aside-Dice 1 large onion
-Prepare about 2 cups rice (you should use arborio but I just use medium grain)
-Chop some broccoli and some mushroom
-Grate 1/2 - 1 cup of parmesan
-Optional: have some previously toasted/roasted pumpkin seeds
Cook:
-In a large pot, lightly sautée onion in olive oil or butter for 5 minutes on medium heat
-Add rice and toast for several minutes, tossing often to get full area coated and cooked
-Add in the cauliflower soup
-Bring to boil, lower to simmer and keep stirring for a while
-As the rice absorbs the water/soup, add more water (with or without stock powder)-In the meantime, in a different pan, sautée mushroom and broccoli in some olive oil and salt on medium heat, turn off flame when veggies are cooked-Taste the rice every 5 minutes or so to check doneness
-Once rice is cooked through turn off heat, mix parmesan through, then add mushroom, broccoli, pumpkin seeds, salt and pepper
-Garnish bowls with fresh basil and a tiny bit of olive oil

Tips:
-As I mentioned above, this was very nice but not nearly cauliflowery enough. What I would do is maybe cook the risotto the same way, only solely with stock, and then at the end mix through with cauliflower soup instead of the parmesan (perhaps using some cream in the soup) or just mix in stir-fried cauliflower like the broccoli
-The pumpkin seeds were a whim but I was really pleased with them. They're ones that I'd salted, peppered, oiled and roasted for an hour after a batch of pumpkin soup

Melon Oatmeal

2008-04-11T11:38:00.002+10:00

I make smoothies/juices often and usually there some left. I put it in a tupperware and freeze it and then use it to "kick-start" my next smoothie. Somewhere down the line, I was hankering for some oatmeal (I use rolled oats) and thought, "hmm, instead of milk or water, why don't I use smoothie?" I did and it worked.
Yesterday morning I got up, hankering for some oatmeal. I didn't have any smoothie but what I did have was some canteloupe and watermelon. So I did it.
Prepare:
-3/4 cup of rolled oats (1 cup is a big portion)
-about 5 big bite-size pieces each of watermelon and canteloupe
Cook:
-Seed and blend the melon
-In a small pot on medium heat, mix the oats with the melon puree-Cook for about 5 minutes or until consistency you like is reached. If there's too little liquid after a couple minutes, add some milk/water/more puree

Zwetschgenschnecken! (German plum rolls)

2008-04-05T21:29:00.008+10:00

I added that exclamation mark because I feel a word like that must be yelled, not said.
I write this entry with trepidation - committing an almost-unthinkable act: adding a recipe before tasting the product.
Why would I do something like this, you may wonder; there are a number of reasons, actually:
1) this is the most technically difficult thing I've made, I reckon. I am proud and want to share my glory
2) I really fear this is going to suck. The recipe I got was weird, the fact that there are pretty much no other recipes for this thing is weird, and the name is weird.
3) I'm waiting while it's in the oven

It all started today with a bag of plums for 1 dollar. It's the end of the season and I was at the markets around closing time and so snagged it up. Some googling later pointed me to this recipe that caught my eye, though instilled worry given its lack of comments/reviews. I bought some cream cheese and commenced this wild ride. I made quite a few adjustments to the recipe, almost enough to call it Measchgenschnecken, I think, but they were based on availability of stuff in my kitchen/personal judgment.

Prepare:
-Dice about 8 plums. The riper the better, but not too soft
-Toast about 1/4 cup macadamia nuts (original recipe calls for almonds... I think any nice, not salty nut, would be good)-Prepare some "plum butter". This actually isn't butter; the recipe is here. I didn't have enough plums for that, so I used some pear jam/sauce that I made a couple weeks ago - about 1/2 cup
-Mix these first 3 and set aside
-In a large bowl, mix
-1/2 c olive oil
-1/2 c milk (I used soy)
-5/8 c white sugar
-1 1/2 c cream cheese (I just used a large packet, which is 250g and not enough and I think that may have contributed to some of the problems)
-1 pinch of salt
-1 tsp of cinnamon (I used cloves since I didn't have it)
-Then add 4 cups of flour and 1 tsp of baking powder (This was the craziest part... the recipe called for 1/4 cup of baking powder! Never have I heard of that - even "baking powder cookies" uses less than that. I assumed it was a typo and hope it turns out to be the case)
-Knead dough on floured surface
-Roll dough to a rough 20 inch by 20 inch square (I didn't measure this and was hopeless in this part)-Spread the plum mix in the middle
-Roll up tightly... somehow-Cut into 12 even slices
Cook:
-Preheat oven to 350F/ 175C
-Grease a flat pan
-Arrange rolls on the pan and butter the tops -Bake for 50 minutes or until brown
Verdict! So these turned out to be damn tasty, I must say. I'm glad I did the modifications that I did to the recipe since it turned out pretty right. In the future if I use the little amount of cream cheese that I did, I would add an egg to the dough to make it stickier and more pliable. But I'm very happy, even though it was quite difficult to do.
Tips:
-Rolling it up was pretty difficult... hard to evenly get it at once. I think maybe if you had put baking paper underneath originally it would be much easier. I also wonder if the dough was right - it felt like it was not connected enough... I suspect an egg should have been involved. Of course, this could be due to the fact that I didn't have enough cream cheese...

Banana Chocolate Shake

2008-04-05T10:05:00.003+10:00

Every now and then I get a craving for a creamy shake. The problem is that they're usually like 5$ and unhealthy, so I never buy them. I tried to make one at home that was maybe a bit healthier and definitely cheaper. It came out with pretty much the exact consistency I wanted, thick and creamy but still drinkable, which was very nice.

Prepare:
-Couple tbsp cocoa powder
-1 tbsp hot water
-5 cubes ice
-1 banana
-1/4 cup milk (I used soy)
-1.5 tbsp low-fat vanilla yogurt

Cook:
-I put the tbsp water in a big beaker that goes with my blender, then put it in the microwave for 30 seconds to boil
-Mix in the cocoa until it's a bit thicker and almost like a paste-Pour in half the milk and the yogurt and blend-Mix in the banana, ice, and the rest of the milk and blend again
Tips:
-You could change this in may ways... substituting ice cream for yogurt, using a different kind of milk, putting in berries instead of banana, different flavored yogurt, mixing in mint leaves... the world is your milkshake!

Home-pickled olives

2008-03-16T11:49:00.006+10:00

I've recently started liking olives a lot. The problem is that in most delis, here in Brisbane, they're like 20$ a kilo, and that can get a bit pricey. At the farmer's market, I found fresh big green olives for 3.50$/kilo and figured I may as well give home-pickling a go (fresh olives taste horrible). Googling didn't yield much, until I found this cute and wonderful website.I followed the recipe exactly and will post here with updates (it takes ~5months to get it edible), changing the brine every month or so. Wish me luck!
Month 0:
Month 1:
Month 3 (I got lazy):

(I've since found a source for olives for 5$/kilo for black and 8$/kilo for Kalamata).

Creamy Chumus

2008-03-11T14:28:00.003+10:00

I'm made hummus before, but it didn't turn out the way I like it: it was good, but didn't have the creaminess of the Israeli chumus that I like so much. My older brother emailed me a recipe for the creamy kind and, while a bit labor-intensive, turned out just how I wanted it.

Prepare:
-Over night, soak 1 cup of dried chickpeas in 4 cups of water and 1tsp baking powder (use a large pot)
-Ready 1/3 cup tahini, 1/2 cup lemon juice (I used the juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime), 3 minced cloves of garlic, 1 tsp coarse salt, 2 tbsp olive oil
-Get out your food processor

Cook:
-Drain water from soaked chickpeas, fill pot back up with 4 cups water and 1/2tsp baking powder - bring to a boil and simmer for about 40 minutes (skimming off some foam from the top), until each chickpea is consistently yellow all the way through (ie they're edible)-Drain (but save water) and cool water and chickpeas down to room temperature and then stick in the freezer for about 30 min (or fridge for 2hrs) until well chilled-Process chickpeas with lemon juice and salt until even and creamy. It should be thick but not too thick. Add 1 or 2 tbsp of the cooking water to thin it out a bit -Add garlic and tahini and process completely
-While processor is still running, drizzle olive oil into it
-Taste and decide how to adjust (add more tahini, lemon juice, salt, garlic, etc)

Tips:
-Well, this turned out how I wanted it. It was a bit plain and so next time I'll go for a garlickier item, or perhaps make it spicy
-Originally, the recipe called for 1/4 cup lemon juice and I added 1/2 by accident and it turned out perfect. Normally I don't like things too sour, too, and I was fine with it
-The recipe called for 1/2 cup tahini but even with 1/3 cup the tahini taste was still quite noticable
-In the recipe, they mention in the stage between lemon juice and tahini to spread chickpeas on a "fine mesh sieve" to get out the peels. I tried with a paper-towel and (obviously) couldn't get anything out, so I just skipped that step and it turned out fine
-My processor was a bit too small for all the stuff, so I separated everything in two and mixed it with half the ingredients, then mixed the stuff back together

Spicy Lentil and Veggie Tomato Soup

2008-03-11T14:15:00.004+10:00

This hearty vegetable soup is tasty, filling, and fairly healthy. Takes a bit of time to cook but really isn't that bad for what you get. The extras freeze quite well.

Prepare:
-Chop 1/2 onion, 1/2 zucchini, 1 cup mushrooms, 1/2 a bell pepper, a couple chili peppers,and mince some garlic
-In a saucepan, put 1 cup lentils and enough water to barely cover. Cook covered, on medium-high, for about 10 minutes. Drain and keep
-Ready 1 can peeled tomatoes, as well as 2 cups of stock (or water with stock powder)
-Drain and rinse 1 can of beans (borlotti is good, or canellini)

Cook:
-In a large pot, saute onion, garlic, and pepper in some olive oil on medium heat -After 3 minutes, add zucchini and mushrooms and cook for about 2 more minutes
-Add and crush the tomatoes in the pot and add the stock. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat to simmer
-Simmer for 20 minutes, then add lentils
-Simmer for 10 minutes and then add beans
-Simmer for 5 more minutes and then garnish well with salt, pepper, dried basil and rosemary and serve hot

Tips:
-Fennel, broccoli, and others would go well in this soup
-Cook longer to reduce the volume and thicken up the soup
-Goes great with a simple garlic-bread: Peel one small clove of garlic, toast bread and as soon as it's out of the toaster, rub the raw garlic up and down. Garnish with olive oil and black pepper

Momos: the great return

2008-03-09T15:04:00.015+10:00

Well, I'm back after too long of a sojourn from the world of blogging, cooking, and blogging about cooking. My trips and travails were great, rest assured, and I even learned a thing or two to bring back to the site. One of the most special thing to introduce are Momos: the Tibetan/Nepali dumpling. This delicious snack was available all over Nepal with a variety of fillings: chicken, buffalo, veggies, or egg. I present here the recipe for beef momos. To save (a lot) of time, you can buy wonton wrappers from an Asian grocery store to use as the shells. This makes about 50 momos. You can freeze those that you do not eat. I made this beautiful batch with my older brother.

Prepare Filling:
-In a large bowl, mix 1lb ground, lean beef (I also made a batch with turkey, lamb, etc), about 1.5 cups of chopped cabbage, 1 cup chopped carrot, and 1/2 cup chopped onion. I also added 3 diced chili peppers for some kick. Add 1 tbsp each of grated/minced garlic and ginger, as well as 3 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp soy sauce. Add about a tsp of salt, black pepper, and cumin, as well as any other stuff you may have lying around (turmeric, cloves, coriander, fenugreek, ginger powder, etc).-Leave, covered, for 30 minutes to marinate while preparing the wrappers

Prepare Dough:
-In a large bowl, mix about 3 cups flour with 1/2 cup water. Mix together until the flour can be managed as a ball, peeling away from the bowl. Add water/flour until consistency is right.
-On a large floured surface, roll about 1/3 - 1/2 of total flour, until pretty flat (~1/2 cm). Then, using a cookie cutter or a thin-edged glass, wider than a can of soda, cut out circles of dough. Place aside, then take the remaining edges of dough, reball and reflatten it, repeat until all dough is gone.

Prepare Momos:
-Take about a tbsp (maybe a little less) of filling and place it on one half of the dough. Fold dough in half and flatten the edges together (or make in-dents with fingernails) and place them aside.

Cook Momos:
-Steam on a steam tray (making sure there's a bit of space in-between each momo) for about 7 or 8 minutes

Prepare sauce:
-Chop about 1 cup of cilantro, as well as 1 or 2 chilis. Mix with tbsp of olive oil, tbsp (or 2) soy sauce, tsp sesame oil, and a tsp of water. Mix well
-Dip momos in sauce and enjoy!

Tips:
-If you don't have a rolling pin, you can use a clean wine bottle
-For egg filling, hardboiled egg, chopped up, works the best
-You can buy coleslaw mix for the chopped carrot and cabbage and just use that with the meat

Bean and Broccoli Baked Polenta

2008-03-09T15:04:00.014+10:00

I got some polenta from an awesome Mediterranean grocery store and whipped up (and modified) a recipe from an Italian cookbook. It was nice, if a bit bland. It is a bit intensive (you cannot stop stirring polenta, really) so make sure you have everything ready ahead of time.

Prepare:
-Ready 3 cups water with 1/2 tsp of salt in a pot
-1 cup of polenta (yellow cornmeal)
-2 tbsp olive oil
-Chop and lightly steam about 1 cup broccoli
-Drain and rinse 1/2 cup cannellini beans
-2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Cook:
-Preheat oven to 400F (205C)
-Bring the pot of water and salt to boil and then reduce to simmer
-Immediately add polenta in a light, slow, constant stream (I put the cup of meal into a glass and then poured from there), mixing it as you add it. Break any lumps that happen to form-Once all the cornmeal has been added, add the olive oil
-Continue to cook, stirring the whole time (a wooden spoon is best), for 20 minutes. Make sure it's medium-low heat (to keep from polenta sticking to bottom of pot)
-Add beans, broccoli, and some cracked black pepper and salt and mix thoroughly-Pour polenta onto a baking dish (I used a loaf pan - it came out thick)
-Sprinkle cheese on top-Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until cheese has brownedTips:
-This was a bit bland - having a tomato or pesto sauce to go with this would be great
-I served this with kangaroo sausage. I think adding sausage directly to it would be nice as well.

Chicken, Potato, and Peppers

2008-03-09T15:04:00.009+10:00

Another recipe from the Italian cookbook gifted to me, this simple dish turned out quite tasty. I expanded on the original by adding chili peppers as well as chicken. Without the chicken, it would work well as a side or an appetizer.

Prepare:
-Boil several unpeeled small red potatoes until almost ready, about 10 minutes.-Chop up some chicken, 1 large bell pepper, 1 chicken breast, 1 hot chili pepper and half a red onion, as well as 3 cloves garlic, minced
Cook:
-In a large fry pan/wok sautee chicken and garlic in some olive oil, medium ht
-After about 5 minutes (all sides of chicken should be cooked), add the peppers and onions and let cook for about 8 minutes, covered-Add the potatoes and stir and cook for a couple minutes until the sides of the potatoes start to brown. Salt and pepper to taste, as well as 1 tsp of oregano and rosemary, each. Make sure chicken is cooked through
-Eat

Chocolate and walnut biscotti

2008-03-09T15:04:00.005+10:00

I got this recipe from a cute-little Italian cook book I got from my girlfriend's nephew and niece. The book is Italian Light and Easy and has a number of nice recipes, that I have cooked.

Prepare:
-Chop about 1 cup of walnuts, toast for 8 minutes at 350F. Keep oven on for the cookies
-In a bowl, melt 2 oz unsweetened chocolate with 3 tbsp unsalted butter in a microwave (about 1 minute), then let cool
-In a large bowl sift 1 1/4c flour with 1 tsp baking powder-In a different bowl, beat 2 eggs; add 1/2 cup sugar and blend; then add the chocobutter
-Stir the two together, then fold in walnuts
-On a lightly greased cookie sheet, form a roll, about 14 inches long, 3 inches wide, smooth
Cook:
-Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until firm all the way through
-Take out the biscotti roll and cut diagonally, 1/2 inch-wide pieces
-Place pieces on wire frame (I used the wired rack of the oven, cleaned) and back another 15 minutes
-Cool and enjoy

Tips:
-Any nut would work well for this. I think in the future, I'd try pecans or something
-I only had sweetened chocolate, so I used that and reduced the sugar by a tablespoon. The cookies weren't that sweet (though maybe they're not supposed to be) and in the future, I'd keep the sugar the same
-Adding dried cranberries or raisins would only be a plus with these babies!

Breakfeast

2007-10-26T10:11:00.000+10:00

Today I have no recipe for you, sadly. I am leaving for some travel for a while (4 weeks in Nepal, 2 in Buenos Aires, and then a month back in MN) and so the normal cornucopia of resplendent food will be postponed for a bit. Apologies in advance... hang tight, though, I will be back shortly with all new ideas.
Cheers

Kiwi Sorbet

2007-10-15T22:09:00.001+10:00

At the beautiful farmer's market on Saturday, I noticed a stall selling 12 kiwis for $2 (AUD). I thought that that was a bargain and a half and so I did what most shoppers are often compelled to do: buy something simply because of the value, not the need. Well, luckily, I had a brunch I was cooking the next day and so I brainstormed for a use for these kiwi. It was between kiwi jam or a sorbet and I settled for the latter. Most recipes online call for an ice cream machine, which I obviously don't have. The recipe I used was pretty simple, though a little annoying in its manifest, and came out delicious - my guests were most impressed. This makes about 6 servings, pending on how much you eat at a time.
Prepare:
-In a saucepan/small pot, add 1 and 1/4 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar and heat on medium low. The recipe said that you shouldn't mix it until it starts to boil, and then let it simmer for 5 minutes. After that, place pot somewhere cool (ie fridge)-Peel 8 kiwis and then puree (I had a little more extra puree for myself with 8... you might get away with 7, I think the point is to have equal parts kiwi and water)-Mix in 1 tsp lemon or lime juice
"Cook":
-Mix pureed kiwi and sugar water in container and place in freezer -About 2 or 3 hours later, once its set a bit, mix it around a lot
-Several hours later, once its fully frozen, mix it again
-Mix it again several hours later
-EnjoyTips:
-I recommend starting making this in the morning. I made the mistake of starting it in the late evening and ended up waking up at 2:30 in the morning (not with an alarm - just my own panic) to beat the sorbet!
-This was great plain... eating it with fresh fruit or mint or champagne or something would be delicious, I'm sure
-Other recipes I saw online suggested seeding the fruit. I don't quite know how one goes around seeding kiwi, but as I like the seeds this wasn't a problem for me

Challah

2007-10-12T09:19:00.000+10:00

Feeling nostalgia for home and its saturation of Jewish cuisine, I felt a craving for some challah. Sadly, here in Australia, I have never seen challah and would probably have to find some Jewish people and a synagogue in order to find one. So my solution was to make it. I got the recipe off the ever-proliferative AskMeFi, and would like to thank flakypastry for the post. This was not as difficult as I thought and amazingly delicious. Seriously, it was one of the nicest things I've made. This makes one big loaf.
Ready:
-2 egg yolks (save the whites for later) and 1 egg, beaten together
-2 packages active dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp)
-1 cup warm water
-1/4 cup olive oil
-1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
-4 cups bread flour (plus more for later)
-2 tsp salt
-Some sesame/poppy seeds, if you like them
Prepare:
-In a large bowl dissolve yeast into 1 cup of warm water, wait till you see bubbles
-At this point, add the beaten egg mixture, oil, sugar, salt, and flour and mix until you can remove the dough from the bowl-Knead on a floured surface/board, adding more flour, about 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough is not sticking to your hands, but still sticking together (you'll be able to tell)-Transfer dough to an oiled bowl (I sprayed with canola oil), and turn it a couple times till it's covered. Cover with a towel and leave somewhere warm for about an hour. It should have at least doubled in size and an indent made with your finger should stay in place -Knead dough for about 5 more minutes and then divide into 3 balls
-Roll out balls until they make 3 snakes, about a foot long or so-Press together 1 end of the three snakes, and proceed to braid them together
-At this point, get the egg white from previously and crack another egg in there, and beat it. Now, brush the surface of the challah with the egg wash, and then sprinkle sesame/poppy seeds on top-Place on a flat baking tray with baking paper
Cook:
-After you've seeded the challah, turn on oven to 350F/175C and wait for the oven to get warm while the challah rises a bit longer
-Bake for 30-35 minutes (mine took exactly 35), until it's starting to get golden. If you remove from the pan, knock the bottom - it should sound hollow

Tips:
-If you like/want a sweeter challah, you can up the sugar a bit and add raisins after the first rise. If you do this, you'll want to lower to the temperature to about 340/350 and bake for 40 minutes
-Keep the rest of the egg after the egg wash and fry it up into a little scrambled egg to eat with the fresh challah
-Enjoy with some hummus!

Celery and Bean Tomato Stew

2007-10-11T21:15:00.001+10:00

I had a freshly purchased batch of celery and half a can of beans in my fridge and I was wondering what to do with them. I spent sometime googling around and managed to formulate something pretty decent. It was surprisingly not bland and made for a great lunch with a fresh roll.
Prepare:
-Chop 1 or 2 big stalks of celery, 1 medium onion, 3 cloves garlic, 1 small carrot, and some broccoli
-Finely dice one potato
-Rinse and drain 1 1/2 cans of beans (I used berlotti beans and butter beans (aka lima))
-Ready 1 can of peeled, crushed tomatoes
Cook:
-In a large pot on medium heat, with some olive oil fry onion, garlic, and celery on medium heat until onions are cooked and fragrant -After about 5-10 minutes, add the rest of the vegetables, the beans, and the tomatoes-Add salt, pepper, cumin, some soy sauce, and a bit of sesame oil
-Lower heat to low, and let simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring every now and then making sure the tomatoes get crushed. Once the potato is done, so is the stew

Tips:
-You can obviously use any vegetables that you like. Zucchini, cauliflower, etc would work well. Also I think substituting the potato for pumpkin would turn out quite triumphant
-For the tomatoes, instead of a can you could use fresh tomatoes. 1 can is about 3 or 4 roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced. The way to peel tomatoes easily is to lightly cut the skin in one part, then put in boiling water for like 30 seconds, then cold water for a couple minutes, then peel off by hand

Celery and Pine Nut Risotto

2007-10-11T21:15:00.000+10:00

I recently received a cute little Italian cookbook. I opened it up and the first thing I saw was 'Asparagus and Pine nut risotto'. It looked good, interesting, and educational, as I'd never made risotto before. I had some celery and thought to substitute that for the asparagus and it worked out surprisingly tasty. I had to scale down the recipe a bit... this makes about 3 servings. It's not a difficult recipe, really, but the 20 or so minutes of cooking are intensive, as you are stirring the whole time. Be warned.
Prepare:
-Dice 1 medium onion and crush 4 or 5 cloves of garlic
-Dice 1 1/2 big stalks of celery
-Prepare about 1 1/2 cups of rice (note: you are supposed to use Arborio or some other shorter, absorptive rice. I used plain medium grain that I use for everything and it turned out fine enough for me)
-Prepare about 3-4 cups of stock
-Ready 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
-Optional: chop up about 1/3 cup worth of fresh basil
Cook:
-In a large pot, fry onion and garlic in olive oil on medium heat, until onion starts to get soft and translucent-Add the rice and stir like crazy, until it's covered in oil and oniony goodness-Add 1/4 cup of stock, while continuously stirring until it starts to evaporate
-Keep adding stock, 1/4 cup a time-In the meantime, spread out pine nuts on a flat pan and toast for 3-4 minutes on medium heat, stirring every minute or two, until they get golden brown -After about 10 minutes, add the celery-Around 15-18 minutes after the rice was initially added, it should start getting done: the rice should be firm still, but edible and almost fully cooked. If not, keep adding stock until it's cooked and starts getting kind of clumpy-At this point, mix in the parmesan
-Take off heat, add pine nuts, salt, and some cracked black pepper
-Serve with some basil

Tips:
-I added a couple chili peppers with the celery, but for some reason didn't taste them at all. Next time I'd omit or vastly increase them
-The pine nuts were good and complemented well the inherent nuttiness of the celery. Substituting another nut would also work, for sure, perhaps with different combinations of vegetables (peanuts and pumpkin... almonds and broccoli... pecans and peaches, go crazy!)
-I ate this with an over-easy egg. At the middle of the meal, I decided to cut up the egg into small pieces and mix it into the risotto and I must say it worked quite well. You could try if you wanted to get more protein in with the meal

Fruity Gluten-free Muffins

2007-10-11T11:27:00.000+10:00

Today is my last day in class with the teacher who has Coeliac's disease and thus needs to eat gluten-free foods. I decided to give a muffin-recipe a go, using rice flour and some fruity essence. I took the recipe largely from here and, as per usual, did some modifications. This made 11 (I know... odd number) smallish muffins. Anyway, I must warn, they turned out nice but nothing amazing unfortunately. If I were to make them again, I would up the amount of honey/sugar, for sure. Also, definitely more jam... I could hardly taste it. The rice flour was alright... a bit grainy but I guess that's what it's like. Oh well.
Prepare:
-Melt 60g (4 tbsp) of butter in the microwave (about 45 seconds)
-In a large bowl, mix butter, 2 eggs, 2 tbsp honey, 1 tsp vanilla, zest of an orange, and 1 cup milk (I used 1/3 cup vanilla yogurt and 2/3 cup milk) (I also made a batch that had about 1 tbsp of Milo - a drinking chocolate powder)-Mix into the bowl 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tbsp baking powder, and 2 cups rice flour
-Add in dried fruit, if you'd like (I added dried currants and cranberries - not too much)Cook:
-Preheat oven to 375F/180C
-Grease muffin pan
-Add a heaping tbsp of batter into the muffin pan
-Add 1/2 tsp or so of jam (I used blackberry) onto the batter, then cover with another 1/2-1 tbsp of batter. I also made 1 batch that had jam and peanut butter inside-Bake for 25 minutes
-Let cool on a cooling rack, dust with icing sugar
Tips:
-The butter will coagulate/thicken when mixed with the milk and eggs. I don't know if that was supposed to happen... I tried to whisk it as smooth as possible and then add the flour right away and whisk a lot and it seemed to look like a pretty homogeneous mixture.
-You could substitute for the fruit (or add) nuts or chocolate chips. For the orange zest you could use nutmeg/cinnamon/clove combo for that flavor.

Zucchini and Basil

2007-10-07T21:29:00.001+10:00

This is a pretty simple and wonderfully delicious side dish that I whipped up for dinner tonight. I got the recipe (idea...inspiration) from this site. Modified it a bit for my own tastes, of course. This makes about 4 persons worth of side dish, but I ate half of it for most of my meal tonight...
Prepare:
-Slice 3 zucchini and 2 button squash (total of about 2 1/2-3 cups of sliced veggie)
-Chop 1 medium onion (I did 1/2 yellow and 1/2 red)
-Chop 1/2 cup worth of basil
-Crush 4 cloves garlicCook:
-On medium heat, in some olive oil, cook garlic first for about 1 minute, then add the rest of the ingredients, except only half the basil. -Lightly fry for 7-10 minutes or until zucchini starts to get tender. Add salt, cracked pepper, a bit of soy sauce, a dash of sesame oil, and some sesame seeds-Take off heat, mix the rest of basil into it
Tips:
-Adding chili oil/freshly chopped hot peppers would be a spicy side
-I found eating it with white rice, wrapped in seaweed, was quite a treat
-This is very simple and any vegetable you liked could be cooked this way. I think broccoli, carrot, snow-peas, pumpkin or sweet potato (the last two would need longer time to cook... perhaps steamed for 5-10 minutes before frying would be good) would all work wonderfully.

Simple Tomato and Basil Sauce

2007-10-07T21:29:00.000+10:00

This is a simple and very nice and fresh-tasting tomato sauce that goes great with pasta, gnocchi, and on bread as a pseudo-bruschetta. This makes about 2-3 servings worth
Prepare:
-Seed and dice 3 large tomatoes
-Chop 1 large onion and 4-5 cloves garlic
-Chop up a bunch of basil, at least 1/2 cup worthCook:
-In a small pot, on medium heat, cook tomatoes and 1/4 cup of basil in olive oil-At the same time, in another pot/pan, lightly fry onion and garlic, in olive oil, until fragrant and tender-When tomatoes get soft, add the onion/garlic mixture, turn heat down to low, add salt and cracked black pepper, and about a tsp of brown sugar to offset the acidity; simmer for ~2 hours (you read that correctly), stirring every 10-20 minutes to make sure nothing gets burnt. When you're almost ready to use it, dump the rest of the basil in it Tips:
-You could add one or two hot peppers to the tomato if you wanted a sauce with more of a kick
-Adding marjoram, oregano, parsley, or other Italian herbs and spices would be welcome, of course, I just wanted to keep mine simple

Marshmallow & Tahini Oat Balls

2007-10-03T20:56:00.000+10:00

This is one of the weirder things that I have made. I had some tahini left over from the hummus, and so decided to make some random dessert thing. Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted all the pictures from my camera, so there will be no pictorial help. I fortunately had one of these guys left over so you can see the weird-looking creation. This recipe makes 6 things.
Prepare:
-Toast oats: I spread out 1 cup of oats, mixed with a bit of oil, on a pan and put in the toaster oven for about an hour on 350F, mixing it after 30 minutes
-Ready 30 g or ~1/4 cup of butter
-Ready maybe 10-15 large marshmallows
-1 tbsp tahini
Cook:
-In a small pot, melt the butter on medium heat
-Once it starts bubbling a bit, chuck in the marshmallows. Stir much (wooden spoon is best) until all the 'mallows have melted and it's an even mixture
-Add the tahini and the toasted oats, mix well and turn off heat
-Take out about 1/3 cup at a time, putting in a muffin tin
-Set aside to cool down for at least an hourTips:
-This was surprisingly good. Basically, it's an adaptation of rice crispy squares, only a bit different. The marshmallows they have here in Australia are a bit strange... smaller and flavored vanilla and strawberry, so the balls turned out a bit pink and weird - I think this would be much better with good ol' fashioned American 'mallows.
-The tahini was a good addition - added an interesting taste. I would up it to at least 1 1/2 tbsp or 2 tbsp, to make it a little stronger, since it was pretty hard to taste. Peanut butter would be an easy and obvious substitution, as would Nutella. Adding vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, maple syrup and the like would give it a good taste: almost be like granola balls.
-An aside: cleaning up the pot isn't easy (sticky sugar) so as soon as you take the goods out of the pot, make sure to fill the pot with hot water and some detergent. It will help the future

Hummus

2007-09-27T19:34:00.000+10:00

I got a new food processor for my birthday and so tried to inaugurate it with hummus. I love the Israeli style hummus (pronounced ch-oo-moos), which is much creamier and richer and less grainy than the hummus available in most stores. I failed, however, in making it and instead made a more Western-style hummus. Still tasty but not my cup of dip.
Prepare:
-1 can of chick peas, drained and rinsed (I should have used the fresh, maybe, and also removed the peels... but I didn't)
-1/3 cup tahini
-Several cloves of garlic
-Some olive oil
-Juice of 1/2-1 whole lemon, pending your taste
-1/2-1 tsp pending on your taste of the following: cumin, paprika, black pepper, salt
Cook:
-Roast the garlic in the peel in a toaster oven for about 20 minutes or until soft
-Process the chick peas first

-Add garlic, oil, lemon juice, and spices
-Add oil/water until reaches desirable consistency and flavor
-Garnish with some olive oil, parsley, and pine nuts, and enjoy with fresh pita, bread, or crackers

Pad Thai

2007-09-27T19:13:00.001+10:00

When I've been to Bangkok, the main delight was eating the astoundingly cheap yet amazingly delicious pad thai that the locals whip up on their mobile woks along the street. I've had pad thai at restaurants of various quality, price and location in the world and have never found a comparable pad thai. I wanted desperately to recreate that dish. What I made wasn't exactly the same but still turned out, if I say so myself, pretty delicious. I found the recipe at this website that specializes in Thai food, made a few modifications, and had it for dinner. This makes about 4 servings.
Prepare:
-Chop 1 small onion
-Crush 4 cloves garlic
-Get a 1 lb/400 gm package of dried rice noodles (I used the flat kind)
-Chop up a small piece of pork
-Chop 1/2 a cup of firm tofu-Ready 4 tbsp sugar, 3 tbsp fish sauce, ~4 tbsp vinegar, and 1 tsp chili powder
-Ready 3 eggs
-Chop up a handful of green onion and bean sprouts
-Crush 1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts
Cook:
-Soak the noodles in water for about 5 minutes (this is what I did per the recipe and found this was not enough, next time I'd half cook them in boiling water!)
-In a large wok, fry the onion and garlic for a couple minutes with a couple tbsp of olive oil on medium heat, then add the noodles-Fry for 5 minutes or so, or until noodles are well cooked, then add the sugar, fish sauce, vinegar and chili powder. Mix for another minute or so and then put aside (it said in the recipe, put to the side of the wok but I think you'd need a gigantic wok to be able to do that, so I just put it in a bowl)-In the same wok with added olive oil, fry pork and tofu for about 5 minutes or until pork is not pink on the outside -Toss the pork into the bowl, mix well
-Add a bit more oil to the wok and break the 3 eggs into it, scramble it a bit, and fry for 2-4 minutes (pending on how cooked you like your eggs)-Then pour the noodles and pork back in and mix well, turning off the heat
-Add bean sprouts and green onion
-Serve with crushed peanuts on the side

Tips:
-I was very pleased with how this turned out. It was a bit sweet, not salty, not too vinegary (which is great since I don't like vinegar, usually), but not spicy. Next time I'd fry a chili pepper or two with the onion and garlic
-The noodles were good but, due to soaking without boiling at all, a bit undercooked. They were difficult to fry, as well. Next time I might try with a different noodle
-The recipe called for salted Chinese radish but I didn't have that so didn't use it, if you have it or love it, you should throw it in

Granola

2007-09-27T18:41:00.001+10:00

I love granola but getting the good stuff is pretty pricey. I set about trying to make it myself, to see if that could make it any cheaper. It turned out delicious but, unfortunately, not much cheaper. I got the recipe from my friend Bowen, to whom I dedicate this post (but not this granola, unfortunately, as it has nuts and would kill her). I modified it a bit so if it doesn't turn out to your liking, blame me and not her. The most arduous part of the granola is getting all the ingredients... after that, it's too easy. This makes about 10 good size bowls.
Gather:
-3 cups of oats
-1 cup each sunflower and pumpkin seeds
-1/2 cup each walnuts, pecans, almonds, and sesame seeds
-1/4 cup flaxseed (linseed)
-1/2 cup shredded coconut
-1/4 cup oil (I used olive)
-5 tbsp honey
-1 tbsp blackcurrant jam (use any dark, sweet fruit-full jam)
-2 tbsp warm water
-1/2 tsp salt
-~1 tsp each cinnamon and vanilla (more or less pending on your tastes)
Cook:
-Mix it all in a large pot and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes or less -Place on a greased baking pan and bake 275F/160C for about 50-70 minutes (it should be crunchy and tasty)-Store in an airtight container. Tips:
-You can add a bit of brown sugar if you like a sweeter cereal
-The original recipe called for maple syrup instead of honey, but as I didn't have it I didn't use it... I bet it would be delicious if you used it
-Dried fruit (raisins, currants, cranberries, dates, etc) go fantastic with granola but, I read online, should be added individually with your bowl because if it's mixed in with the granola, it causes it to moisten a bit
-Enjoy in a big bowl with some fresh fruit, your favorite milk (I think soy milk + granola = heaven), and a bit of yogurt and thank me later

Chocolate Date Muffins

2007-09-27T18:29:00.000+10:00

I found this recipe on the back of the package of dried dates that I had been munching on. Seemed easy and tasty enough, so I scaled it down for 6 muffins, made a bit more changes, and went to town.
Prepare:
-Chop up ~1/2 cup of dates
-Ready 1/2 cup of water for boiling
-Chop 50g (a little less than half a cup) of butter or margarine
-1/4 cup castor sugar
-1 tbsp chopped almonds
-1 egg, beaten
-1/2 tsp vanilla
-1/4 tsp baking soda mixed in 1/4 cup of milk
-1 cup self-raising flour (I didn't have self raising so used this convenient substitution: 1 cup self raising = 7/8 cup regular + 1 1/2 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp salt) mixed with 1/4 cup cocoa
-1/2 cup or less chocolate chips
Cook:
-Preheat oven to 210C or 410F (I know, it's hot, but it worked)
-Pour boiling water over dates in a bowl, mix and crush till melted
-Slowly add butter -Wait till butter melts, then add everything else except for the chocolate chips and mix very well
-Fold in chocolate chips-Pour batter into greased muffin tray-Put try in oven, baking for about 18-20 minutes, or until toothpick test works outTips:
-These were great, I don't know if I'd change anything... maybe substitute pecans for the almonds and also use chocolate chunks instead of chocolate chips
-Eat them warm - they're great that way

Spicy Ginger Chicken Stir Fry

2007-09-16T10:03:00.000+10:00

I've had this bottle of 'ginger refresher' sitting on my shelf for a while. It's basically a cordial, a syrup, that you mix with soda water to get very tasty ginger ale, or as they call it in Australia, ginger beer. The syrup is very strong and not too sweet and every time I helped myself to a drink I wondered if that syrup could be used as a marinade/sauce for cooking. So I tried.
Prepare:
-Chop stir fry vegetables. I used: cauliflower, broccoli, onion, pepper, hot pepper, zucchini, carrot, green beans, green onion, bok choy-Chop chicken
-Crush several cloves garlic and some fresh ginger
-Find some ginger ale syrup
Cook:
-Cook some rice, separately
-Heat a large wok, medium heat, and add some olive oil
-Throw in the chicken with half the crushed garlic and half the onions
-Add some salt and pepper
-Cook for about 3-5 minutes or until there's no pink on the outside of the chicken -Add the rest of the vegetables (include the other half of onions and garlic... don't include the green onion and bok choy) and turn up heat to medium-high
-Stirring constantly, add Asian sauces and spices (I did soy sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, Korean pepper powder and another Korean thing) and add about 2 tbsp of the ginger syrup and the crushed ginger
-Continue stirring and cooking for about 7 minutes, adding another tbsp of ginger syrup, until vegetables are reduced and chicken is cooked through. Add bok choy and green onion
-Turn off heat, stirring for 5 more minutes until greens reduce a bit-Serve with rice
Tips:
-Have everything ready before you start cooking, as it cooks quickly and stirring a lot is optimal to have the taste homogeneous and prevent sticking to the wok
-Adding an egg after the veggies have been cooking for a couple minutes could thicken it up a bit and add some more protein/taste
-If not saucy enough, add 1/4-1/2 cup of water with a bit of stock powder and let simmer for 5 minutes. This should be done after the veggies have cooked in the spices for a bit

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

2007-09-13T18:32:00.001+10:00

I have always loved carrot cake and was inspired to make it when my brother told me about his recent success with a batch. In order to make it gluten-free and keep it delicious, I culled ideas from these 3 different recipes: 1, 2, and 3. I was worried that it wouldn't turn out well, especially when I used olive oil since that's all I had, but the cake turned out to be very moist and delicious. The batter was enough to make one cake plus 6 muffins. What I did was bake the cake the night before serving it, then refrigerate it over night and the following day make the icing, ice the cake and then serve it cool. It turned out excellent and all my friends were pleased with it. It was one of the more involved things I've made: I'd say about 30 min of prep, 1 hr of cooking for the cake, with another 10 min for the icing. It makes for a good 50th recipe, for sure.
Prepare Cake:
-Grate 3 cups worth of carrots (this was about 4-5 carrots, pending on the size)-In a large bowl, mix 2 cups gluten-free flour, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup white sugar, and 1 tsp baking powder
-Beat 3 large eggs in a bowl
-Chop about a handful of dried dates into small pieces-Mix the carrots, dates, and eggs with the flour, adding 1 cup of cooking oil (I used 1/4 canola, 3/4th olive)
-Add 1 tbsp of vanilla essence and 1 tbsp ground cinnamon-Pour into lightly greased cake/loaf/muffin pan, leaving room at the top since it rises a significant amountCook:
-Preheat oven to 375F/180C and bake for about 50 minutes for the cake, 30 minutes for the muffins
-Be sure to check with a toothpick! The outside should be firm yet depressible and the inside should be moist but not wet-Let cool on a drying rack and refrigerate if not eating soon

Prepare Icing:
-Let 1/2-1 cup butter and 1 8oz/225g package of cream cheese soften-Chop/crush 1/2 cup pecans and 1/2 cup walnuts
-Mix the butter, cream cheese, nuts, 1 tsp vanilla, and about a cup of icing sugar (if not sweet enough, add more)-Spread atop cake
Tips:
-This cake was very flavorful as it was; other things you might want to add would be nutmeg, cloves, ginger, or orange zest. Also, you could substitute/add to the dates with raisins, craisins, dried apricots, candied ginger, etc.
-The batter was quite runny and pour-able (like beaten eggs). That being said, if it's too runny, add a bit more flour
-With the muffins, you can slice in half, put icing in the middle, and piece back together
-I was worried about the olive oil as the batter had a distinctive olive-oily taste, but there was none after cooking. Still, in the future, I'd maybe use 1/2 olive oil and 1/2 something else. Alternatively, I may use 1/2 oil and 1/2 applesauce for a healthier and still-moister cake
-Some recipes I've seen have called for 1 cup of drained pineapple chunks to be used instead of1 cup of carrots - I did not do this but I bet it would contribute well to the moistness as well as add a bit of tart to the cake. Also, I think that maybe doing half carrot and half zucchini would work nicely
-For the icing, what I did was place the butter and cream cheese in the mixing bowl and set that atop the oven while baking something - they slowly melted and made the blending a lot easier.

Gluten-Free Cheese Balls

2007-09-13T18:21:00.000+10:00

This was another dish that I made so my Coeliac's teacher could eat without intestinal problems: this food is a pretty quick and easy savory snack that has an interesting texture and pretty unimpeachable taste. The recipe that I used claims that these balls originate in Brazil and are called 'Pao de Quiejo'.
Prepare:
-In a saucepan on medium heat, heat 1/4 cup olive oil and 1 cup milk, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it starts boiling-Remove from heat, add 1 1/4 cup gluten-free flour, mix and set aside for 5 minutes-Mix in 1 egg, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, and whatever flavoring you would like: I used garlic salt, dried basil, and Korean pepper powderCook:
-Preheat oven to 375F/180C
-Separate the dough into 12 balls, place evenly on a sheet of baking paper on a pan-Bake for ~20 minutes, flip over (bottom should be browning), turn down heat a bit and then bake around 10 minutes more. Make sure to do the toothpick testTips:
-These are very sticky when raw! You may want to flour your hands ahead of time - I was able to spoon the balls out but it wasn't the most pleasant thing ever

Sweet Potato Oven Fries

2007-09-10T21:17:00.000+10:00

I love sweet potatoes and am always looking to eat them. I'm happy to simply steam them and chomp down, but decided to go for something a little more civilized this evening.
Prepare:
-Slice sweet potato length wise, into pieces about the size of a finger. Peel if you'd like (I like the peel and it's a good source of fiber, so I leave it on)
-Place in a plastic bag with a bit of olive oil... start off with 1 tbsp-Seal and shake up well, till it appears that all the surfaces of the potatoes are coated. Add more oil if necessary
-Into the bag, add any spices that you like: I added cumin, Korean pepper powder, pico de gallo, and garlic salt (1/2-1 tbsp each) - enough so it's well coated-Lay out on a oven-safe pan, with a raised edge
Cook:
-Preheat oven to 375F/180C
-Cook for about 20 minutes, take out and flip the pieces over, cook for another 10-15 minutes or until potato is tender Tips:
-This delicious dish would be a great side or light meal. You can substitute/add regular potato, yams, or pumpkin even in the flavoring
-I also included in the roast some garlic (still in the peels) and onion, because I love roasted garlic and onion too much to not include them in a roast
-You can adjust your spices pending on what you like: cinnamon and brown sugar for a more "traditional" sweet potato taste; turmeric and coriander for an Indianesque flavor; sea salt and cracked black pepper for a neutral pleasure
-I know it may seem wasteful to use a Ziploc bag for this, but I used one that I had previously used for sandwiches - recycle!

Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

2007-09-09T18:19:00.000+10:00

I found this recipe off allrecipes, like so many other good ones, based on its impressive rating and reviews. Many were heralding it as the "most amazing cookie ever" and "the kind of cookie you get in a bakery but can never make at home". I copied it as written on the website and prayed for a worthy product. It was very delicious - nicely crunchy on the outside, but good chewyness on the inside. Not the most amazing cookie I've ever had, but very very delicious nonetheless.
Prepare:
-Melt 170g (3/4 cup) of unsalted butter (I used salted and didn't add the salt later on)
-Cream1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar into the bowl with the butter -In a small bowl, beat 1 egg and an additional yolk, mixing in 1tbsp vanilla essence-In a large bowl, sift 2 cup plain or all-purpose flour with 1/2tsp of baking soda and 1/2tsp of salt (skip if used salted butter)
-Mix the 3 bowls together... not too much, though, just until more or less blended
-Fold in as many chocolate chips as you'd like-Refrigerate for about 40 minutes
Cook:
-Roll dough into balls... using 1/4cup measuring spoon gets you a nice big cookie
-Space evenly on a baking pan lined with ungreased baking paper (this is important)
-Bake at 350F/160C for about 15-20 minutes, or until outsides start to turn brown but inside is still soft
-Let sit outside, on cookie sheet, for a couple minutes to finish cooling. Eat!Tips:
-I made these at a friend's house with aluminum foil instead of baking paper and it turned out plain wrong! Use baking paper
-The time is weird... according to the recipe, it called for 15 minutes or less, but mine took closer to 25 or 30 minutes to cook. It depends on the size of the cookie and the efficiency of your oven, I suppose
-You can make the batch, and separate it into rolls (wrap in baking paper and then cling wrap/plastic bag) for freezing - then when you want a cookie or two, just cut off from the loaf and bake in a toaster oven!-Substitute chocolate chips for chunks, or any other flavor (butterscotch, white, peanut butter) chips, as per desire and availability

Dal

2007-09-03T20:15:00.001+10:00

Lentils has always been something that I knew about, but never wholly embraced. After a camping trip where a friend whipped up a simple yet sumptuous meal of dal and rice, I was hooked.
Prepare:
-Get 1 cup dried lentils and soak for 1-10hrs in 3 cups water (I used a 'soup mix' that had lentils, split green peas, beans and other pulses and it was great)-Chop up an onion, some zucchini, and 1 medium-heat pepper
-Crush 3-8 cloves garlicCook:
-In a large pot, lightly fry onion and half the garlic in olive oil
-After a couple minutes, add the zucchini-Once onion starts to become tender, add the lentils with the water they were soaking in (alternatively, you can drain them and add fresh water/stock... I used the same water and added stock powder)-Add the rest of the garlic, pepper, and other seasonings that you want (I used hot pepper powder)
-Bring to boil and then lower heat to low and cook for about an hour, stirring every 10-15 minutes-Garnish with fresh spring onion or cilantro
Tips:
-This hearty and delicious food could be eaten as a main meal or as a side dish. I ate mine with some roasted chicken.
-Adding cumin, turmeric, and other Indian spices would give it more of an Indian-feel. Other good things to add would be ginger, coriander, cilantro, Moroccan seasoning, curry powder, etc.
-Broccoli or cauliflower would definitely go well with this

Chocolate Gluten-free Puddings with Custard

2007-09-03T20:15:00.000+10:00

I was browsing some women's magazine in the doctor's office a couple weeks ago, searching for recipes as per usual, when this one for Chocolate "Christmas" Puddings jumped out it me: it looked really good and didn't require any wheat-flour. Our discussion tutor has Coeliac's disease and thus needs to eat gluten-free foods. I surreptitiously ripped the page out of the magazine and readied to make this delectable food. Note: 'pudding' in British countries means, essentially, moist cake.
Prepare puddings:
-200g (a bit more than a cup) of chopped dried fruit (I had dates, apricots, raisins, papaya, and apple)-2 tbsp Tia Maria or Kahlua
-1 cup of gluten-free flour (this can be rice, potato, corn, or a mixture
-1 1/4 cup caster sugar
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/3 cup dark cocoa
-200g (1 1/2 cup) butter, melted-3 eggs
-1 12-hole muffin pan, with slots greased and a bit of baking paper on the bottomCook:
-Preheat oven to 180C/375F
-Mix the fruit and the liquor, sit aside
-Sift together the powders in a large bowl, make a well in the middle and-Add eggs and butter, mix well until smooth
-Add fruits and mix till heterogeneous
-Pour batter into muffin tray, leaving maybe 1/2 inch/2cm from the top-Bake for 40 minutes, let cool for 15 minutes before taking out of the tray

Prepare custard (note, this was hectic and thus I was unable to take pictures):
-1/4 cup of honey/golden syrup
-1 cup Tia Maria or Kahlua
-2 1/2 tbsp gluten-free flour
-300 ml of cream
-50g (~1/3 cup) butter
Cook:
-Melt butter in sauce pan/small pot-Mix in flour, cook for 1 minute
-Add the remaining ingredients
-Lower heat to medium low and stir constantly until sauce begins to boil lightly and thickens
-Remove and immediately cover in plastic wrap to prevent skin formingTips:
-You could substitute the mixed fruit for just one of your favorite fruits, to concentrate the flavor. Alternatively if you used half fruit and half chocolate chips, this would turn out much more chocolatey
-Make sure to grease the trey pretty well, as I had a hard time removing the puddings
-Would work great with fresh berries on top
-Do not let the custard actually boil: maintain a level of almost-boiling-ness while stirring
-

Turkishish Eggplant Stew

2007-08-28T20:46:00.000+10:00

My mom and little brother went to Turkey recently and returning, they raved about the eggplant dishes. They are now on an eggplant-fix and constantly cooking with it. Being away from home as I am, I googled some Turkish recipes with eggplant and found this lovely stew on an interesting website. Similar to ratatouille, this hearty stew was flavorful for being vegetarian and great on its own for dinner.
Prepare:
-Peel one large eggplant. Cut into large slices, salt, and store in the fridge for 20min-several hours - this is to excise the bitterness. You don't have to do it, I think, with the long thin eggplants, but I'm not sure
-Chop 1 large onion
-Crush several cloves of garlic, the more the better-Chop 1 zucchini, 1 potato, and some hot peppers-Open a can of diced or peeled tomatoes
-Ready either 2 tbsp tomato paste or pepper paste (I used Korean hot pepper paste)
-1/3 cup stock
-salt, pepper, other spices such as cumin, turmeric, Moroccan seasoning, etc
-Chop some fresh parsley (optional)
Cook:
-In a large wok, medium heat, lightly fry garlic, onion, and eggplant in olive oil for about 15 minutes -Mix in the paste until it's all the way through-Add the remaining ingredients (except the parsley), turn to low heat and simmer for about 45 minutes (until potatoes are thoroughly cooked), stirring every 10 minutes or so and making sure you crush and tomato pieces -Add seasonings to taste, garnish with fresh parsley
Tips:
-I thought this was nice, but a bit bland with the original ingredients, which is why I added those other seasonings (cumin, hot pepper, etc) . In the future, I think I might even add more garlic, just to ensure that loveliness
-I think pumpkin, added at the same time as potato, would be an excellent addition, as would sweet potato
-Grated Parmesan would also work well with this dish
-Eat with nice flat bread or some rice

Khichdi

2007-08-20T18:57:00.000+10:00

At the farmer's market this weekend I bought a punnet of mung beans on some whim. I don't know why, as I'd never had them before, but thought that I'd seen some interesting recipes that call for mung beans and would give a try. I did some googling and stumbled onto this, poorly arranged, page with lots of interesting recipes, and I opted for Khichari (aka Khichdi). I thought it was very tasty and interesting, though pretty bland. Looking over the article in wikipedia, suddenly it makes sense: it's the first food babies get and it's given to recovering patients! If only I'd known, I'd have changed it even more than I did. Oh well, for next time.
Prepare:
-Ready a cup of mung beans... I think you're supposed to peel them ahead of time, though I didn't. To do that, just soak them in some water for a while, I think-Chop up some cauliflower, carrot, tomato, onion, green onion leaf, and some hot pepper (this is what I was lacking!)-Ready spices: 1 tbsp fresh ginger, 1-2cloves crushed garlic, 1tsp turmeric, 1 tbsp cumin, 1tsp coriander powder/seeds and salt and pepper (I used crushed black and Korean red pepper powder)
-Measure out 1 cup long grain rice
Cook:
-Heat beans in a pot with 5 cups of water until soft, around 5 minutes-Add vegetables (except onions) and rice, bring to boil and lower heat to med-low
-Check when rice is soft (around 15 - 20 min, for me)-Once rice is fairly soft, in a large wok on medium heat, lightly roast onion in 2 tbsp butter/ghee for 2 minutes, and then add coriander, ginger, and garlic-Once onion is soft/translucent, add the pot of rice and vegetables into the wok-Mix in, adding cumin, turmeric, salt, pepper, and green onionTips:
-Well this was definitely bland, I needed to add way too much salt and pepper afterwards but that's okay, because I know I have to fix it for next time. The recipe didn't even call for garlic or onion but I had to add it in. In the future, I will use at least 2 chili peppers in the pot, as well as one in the wok, and up the cumin. I also may consider using a half stock/half water mix for the rice
-The recipe called for adding the vegetables 10 minutes before the rice, but this just made them so reduced that they were nonexistent, so I changed it to be with the rice. If you like vegetables more or less raw, then adjust accordingly. Other vegetables that would probably work well: broccoli, zucchini, and some kind of bean added at the end (chickpeas, for instance)
-Eat with na'an, papadums, or other flat bread

Banana Bread

2007-08-19T14:11:00.001+10:00

Yesterday while walking through the lovely West End Markets, I happened to pass a Vietnamese-bakery stand, where the lady was selling banana bread. I got an instant craving and proceeded to buy several of the ripest bananas I could find in the next stall, eager to bake. Early this morning I went biking and hiking with two friends and, as it was a bit cold and we were hungry and had earned good food, I invited them over for some banana bread. In quick need of a recipe, I searched my favorite site and quickly arrived at this. Well, when a review gets that many ratings, you don't mess around with it. The bread turned out moist and delicious.
Prepare:
-Preheat oven to 350F
-Cream 1/2cup butter with 3/4cup brown sugar in a large bowl -Beat 2 eggs and add to the bowl-Mash 2 cups-worth of ripe bananas (this is a lot more than you'd expect... I'd have anywhere from 5-8 bananas on hand) -Add banana to the liquid mix-In a separate large bowl, sift 1 tsp baking powder, 1 pinch salt, and 2 cups flour-Mix the two together -Put in greased loaf panCook:
-Place in oven and cook for 60 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out dry
-Cool for 10 minutes if you can resist putting it piping hot into your mouth!

Tips:
-I would normally add chocolate chips, since I love chocolate, but felt more like a breakfasty-banana bread than a dessert cake. Adding chocolate chips right at the end would work well
-This turned out amazing but my only complaint would be that it was a tiny bit greasy. I would maybe substitute half or 1/3 the butter for apple sauce
-Creaming the butter and sugar was kind of a pain: leave the butter out for a while before you attempt it
-If banana is too plain for you on its own, the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, or vanilla (a tbsp of vanilla yogurt hand in hand) would go well

Update:
I have made this again with a few modifications and am glad to say they were only improvements! Changes:
-Used unsalted butter instead of salted
-Mixed about 1/3 cup of rolled oats with the flour
-Add dried currants and cranberries in the final mix
-Mixed in a cup 1 tbsp water, 2 1/2 tbsp brown sugar, and 1/4 cup of oats and then spread that on the top of the bread before I put it in the oven. It made it nice and crunchy and delicious on top!

Cauliflower Popcorn

2007-08-19T12:44:00.000+10:00

I like raw cauliflower so much that, besides for throwing it in stirfrys, I don't do much else with it. Well, I had an excess of cauliflower and bread crumbs from previous cooking, so I decided to give cauliflower "popcorn" a shot. It would make a good appetizer or side dish to a meal.

Prepare:
-Cut cauliflower into bite-sized pieces, brush with olive oil (alternatively, beaten egg)-Prepare bread crumbs. You can use plain but I decided to make it more flavourful and so mixed in Korean pepper powder, cumin, turmeric, salt, dried basil, and shredded Parmesan-Spread on a baking panCook:
-Preheat oven to around 350
-Place in oven for 10-15 minutes, mix up, then bake another 10 minutes
Tips:
-I had extra bread-crumb mix and so decided to not be wasteful. I cracked an egg into the crumbs, and mixed it to make a batter. Then, I sauteed some garlic and onion in olive oil (med heat) and threw the batter in, flipping it after 5 minutes. It made for a nice and tasty patty

Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce

2007-08-16T17:40:00.000+10:00

Sticky date pudding is a very common Australian/British dessert. Pudding in this sense is not the creamy stuff that we in USA know, but more like a soft and moist cake. Made with fresh dates, this recipe is very delicious and pretty easy: the product being a moist and succulent cake. The sauce is, well, the icing on the cake, but it should be skipped if you suffer from any heart problems. It's creamy and very rich. This recipe came from the awesome employees at Mrs. Flannery's Organic Wholesale Market (via abc.com.au). I know it's crazy for me to have 2 desserts in-a-row without chocolate but, trust me, this one's worth it.

Prepare:
-Chop up a bunch of dried, pitted dates (1-1.5 cups, after chopping)
-Ready 100 g (1/2cup) and 150 g (3/4cup) of brown sugar, separately
-Ready 50g (<1/4cup) and 80g (<3/8cup) of butter, separately
-1 cup self-raising flour
-32o ml (1 1/4 cups) of water
-300ml cream (<1 1/4cup) cream
-1 tsp baking soda
-2 eggs, lightly beatenCook Pudding:
-Preheat to 375F
-Heat water to boiling, add dates and cook, stirring and mashing often until it's one uniform goo -Take off heat
-Mix in baking soda and let stand for 5 minutes
-Blend in sugar and butter (1/2 cup and <1/4cup respectively)
-Mix in eggs and flour
-Pour into a loaf oven pan and cook for 1 hour (toothpick should come out dry)-Cool for 10 min
-Serve with sauce on top

Cook Sauce: (this takes ~15-20 min, so start ~45 minutes after you put the cake in the oven)
-In a saucepan/thick frypan mix cream, sugar, and butter (3/4 cup and 3/8 cup respectively) on medium-low heat, stirring constantly-Cook for about 15-20 min, tasting every so often: there should be no sharp butter taste, but rather taste rich and butterscotchy
Tips:
-This is very rich and sweet. You could lower the sugar by almost half, probably, in the cake or the sauce or both and it would still turn out okay, especially if you upped the amount of dates
-Served with fresh, but not sweet, fruit and/or tea and coffee, this would be good
-You could also serve it with a vanilla or banana custard

과일빙수 (Kwah-Il BingSu: Fruit Ice Bowl)

2007-08-15T10:31:00.000+10:00

During the summer in Korea, these kinds of dishes are a very popular dessert item to refresh and cool down. Sold in most coffee shops, ice cream parlors, and spas, the exact contents vary but usually accord in a few base ingredients. The most common kind is 팥빙수, Pat BingSu, which has a sweet red bean mixed in. Unfortunately, I didn't have that lying around the house. The other really Korean ingredient that is really necessary is 선식, SunSheek, a cereal powder made from tons of different grains, rice, vegetables, and other dried goodies (website in Korean but a pic with all the contents). If you don't feel like purchasing it, it could be substituted for crushed cereal crumbs/crushed granola/etc. Regardless, it's very easy and tasty and a welcome change from the typical bowl of cereal in the morning.
Prepare:
-Peel and dice the fruits that you like/have: I used kiwi, banana, orange, and dried datesCook:
-Crush several cubes of ice, pour into a large bowl-Add fruit
-Add cereal powder on top-Add 1-2 tbsp of yogurt (I used vanilla)
-Mix up and enjoyTips:
-Other fruits that go well would be strawberry (or any berry), peach, pear, nectarine, or (seeded) grapes
-You could sprinkle some cocoa powder on top for a chocolatey taste, or some crushed mint

Carbonara Pasta

2007-08-15T09:42:00.001+10:00

For those of you who think I'm all about the health food, thesedays, this oughta abed your fears. Originally created as a breakfast for Italian laborers, without cream, this pasta has evolved to be a creamy sensation. I had it at my friend Ben's house for lunch a couple weeks ago and it hit the spot in ways I never imagined possible. Mine turned out so delicious and not too greasy for how much fat is in it. There's probably a way to make it more healthy, but why bother?
Prepare (for 2 servings):
-Dice half an onion
-Crush 2-4 cloves garlic
-1-2 chopped chili peppers (optional but I like my spice)
-Cut 2-4 strips of bacon (you should end up with around 1 cup)-Lightly beat 1 egg -Prepare 1/4 cup whole cream
-A handful of pasta... fettuccine works best for this but I only had spaghetti
-Seasonings: fresh/dried basil, crushed red pepper, Parmesan
Cook:
-Set water to boil, add pasta, cook til al dente, drain, rinse in cold water, set aside (this should be done while cooking the sauce)
-In a big, deep fry pan or a wok, add a bit of olive oil and a couple pieces of butter (you read that right; the olive oil stops the butter from burning), medium heat-Add crushed garlic and fry for 1 minute
-Add onion and bacon and fry for about 10 minutes or until bacon starts to crisp -Lift pan off heat, lower heat to medium-low, and add cream (otherwise cream may burn)
-Mix, simmer for about 5 minutes, turn off the heat-Throw in pasta, mix for about 3 minutes-Throw in egg, mix thoroughly for 30 seconds, then serve
-Garnish with basil, crushed red pepper, Parmesan, salt to taste
Tips:
-While it may be heresy, I think this dish would only benefit from broccoli. I'd steam it lightly and add it with the pasta in the cream.
-If you like bacon even crispier, chuck it in a minute or 2 before the onion. Also, I used red onion and you might get a better taste with yellow onion or shallots
-As this is Italian, a nice pancetta would be even tastier than bacon, presumably

Creamy Zucchini & Garlic Soup

2007-08-14T18:09:00.000+10:00

I was craving something with zucchini and garlic in it (who doesn't?) thinking about an interesting side dish that I ate often in Korea. That side dish didn't jump out at me while I was googling, but this recipe from an Atkins website did and I decided to give it a go. It turned out very unthick and too salty: I used much more stock than I should have given the little amount of zucchini I used. Next time, I would double the zucchini.
Prepare:
-3 cups of stock/3 cups warm water and 3tsp stock powder
-2 medium-large zucchinis, peeled, halved, and julienned-1 cup of peas (I didn't have any)
-Several cloves of garlic, peeled (I used something like 7)
-1/4 cup thick cream
-1-3 spicy peppers (optional)
Cook:
-Set the stock to boil with the garlic and pepper inside, boil for 15 minutes-Add zucchini and boil another 7-8 minutes or until zucchini is tender, add peas after 7 minutes -Throw veggies and a bit of broth into a blender, puree, pour out and use the stock water to help clear out the blender (unless you're lucky enough to have a hand-blender)
-Set on low heat, add the cream and simmer for a couple minutes
-Eat with some thick bread Tips:
-For nutritional purposes, one could substitute the cream for skim milk and a tbsp or 2 of corn flour
-Corn would work well in this soup, as would broccoli

Sweet Potato and Pea Tomato-Curry

2007-08-11T21:41:00.000+10:00

This recipe was on the same page as the Spicy Chickpea recipe from before. I liked that other recipe so much, I figured I'd give this one a try.
Prepare:
-Chop up a bunch of sweet potato - around 2 cups worth
-Defrost/peel about 1/2-1 cup of peas
-Slice 2 medium onions
-Peel and crush 4 cloves of garlic-Dice 1 or 2 hot peppers
-Prepare 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp freshly grated ginger, 1 tsp chili powder, 500ml stock/water, salt, 3 tbsp tomato paste
Cook:
-In a large saucepan/wok, fry 2 cloves of garlic, onion, and sweet potato in olive oil for about 15 minutes (on low-med heat)-Once onion is tender, add spices and the rest of the garlic, fry for 1-2 minutes-Add stock/water, tomato paste, and bring up heat
-Once boiling, turn down heat to low and let simmer for 10 minutes -Add peas and cook for another 3-5 minutes or until peas are cooked-Sprinkle some fresh cilantro, salt, cracked black pepper and enjoy
Tips:
-This works well with some naan or Lebanese bread. Also, some couscous or rice or lentils on the side would have worked but I didn't attempt any
-Some cheese would have worked well, I think, but am not sure about "Indian-style" cheeses
-This would work as well with regular potato if that's what you had lying around

Schug (Spicy Cilantro Paste)

2007-08-11T21:33:00.000+10:00

This is a purportedly Israeli spicy sauce that my dad would always make. Schug (the 'ch' is the back of the throat, hard sound) is an amazingly delicious paste that works wonders on sandwiches, meats, etc. It's also easy to make and freezes quite well.
Prepare:
-Buy 1-2 bunches of cilantro, chop off only the bottom 1/3 of the stems-Get several spicy peppers. I used Thai chili peppers since that's easiest to find where I live, but a good variety of Thai, Jalapeño, Habanero, etc will add to the depth of the paste, roughly chopped but not seeded (1-4 peppers per bunch of cilantro pending on how spicy you like it)-Peel several cloves of garlic (1 if you don't like garlic, 3-4 if you like the taste)Cook:
-In a food processor, pulse cilantro, garlic, peppers, a bit of olive oil (only enough to make the paste liquidy), and some salt. If it doesn't blend properly, add a bit more olive oil, slowly (you don't want it too oily), taste and adjust pepper or cilantro to taste-Store in a jar and refrigerate/freeze
Tips:
-If you don't like it spicy, make sure to put in some flavorful but not spicy pepper, otherwise the sauce will only be cilantro
-I've never tried this but I reckon a bit of red onion might add to the flavor

Lime and Vanilla Pound Cake

2007-08-09T19:37:00.000+10:00

I had some leftover sour cream in my fridge and since I don't like sour cream, I decided to make a cake with it. I found a decent recipe on allrecipes. Well, I hesitated for too long and the sour cream went bad, but I decided to go with the recipe anyway, substituting vanilla yogurt instead. It turned out fantastic: moist on the inside and nice and crispy on the outside and not too sweet!
Prepare:
-Preheat oven to 375F (190C)
-In a large bowl, mix 1/2 cup (115g) of butter with 1 1/2 cups of sugar, blend until smooth
-Add in 3 eggs and 1/2 cup yogurt (or sour cream)
-Mix well
-Add 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and a pinch of baking soda
-Add the juice and zest of one lemon or lime
-Pour into greased loaf pan
Cook:
-Place pan in oven, bake for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out dry (it took me exactly 1 hour)
Tips:
-I also added some mandarin zest in my cake mix
-I used vanilla yogurt, but plain yogurt would also be nice. Adding a bit of vanilla essence would make it more vanilla-y. Also, you could nix the vanilla and add poppy seed for a nice lemon-poppy seed cake. I love chocolate and was thinking of adding it, but I thought it wouldn't work with the citrus. If I make it again, I'll cancel the lemon and add chocolate chips
-Fresh strawberries on top would be great

Spicy Pumpkin, Cauliflower, Chickpea with Rice

2007-08-09T19:22:00.000+10:00

I found this recipe in our local Brisbane magazine. It looked delicious, healthy, and pretty easy and so I gave it a whirl. It called for couscous, which I didn't have, so I used medium-grain rice instead.
Prepare:
-Cook 1-1.5 cups of rice
-Dice pumpkin, onion, hot pepper, and cauliflower into small chunks-Crush a couple cloves of garlic
-Drain 1 can of chickpeas
-Prepare spices and herbs: cumin, curry powder, basil, parsley
Cook:
-In a wok on medium heat, lightly fry garlic in (olive) oil
-Throw in onion, cauliflower, and pumpkin and cook for about 10 minutes-Add spicy pepper and cook for about 5-1o more minutes, or until veggies are tender (stick a fork in a piece of pumpkin and if it comes out easily, then it's ready)-Add chickpeas, 1/2-1 tsp cumin and curry powder, as well as salt, pepper, etc.-Cook through for about 5 minutes or until chickpeas are fully heated and semi-cooked
-Mix in rice, once stirred through, rice should acquire brown quality
-Serve with a bit of olive oil and some fresh, chopped basil and parsley (I didn't have fresh so I used dried, unfortunately)Tips:
-Zucchini would go great in this (in fact, that's what the recipe called for), I would add it in with the peppers. Broccoli would be good, too.
-I didn't have any curry powder, so I used extra cumin, some pico de gallo and

Sausage, Bean and Veggie Pita

2007-08-08T22:27:00.001+10:00

Sometimes cooking isn't about careful measurement and complex cooking-processes. Sometimes it's just about having an interesting idea and going for it. The inspiration for this pita sandwich came to me as a sudden craving while I was in class, planning what to make for lunch.
Prepare:
-Toast a pita
-Slice, lengthwise, half a cucumber, half a tomato, some cheese (I used cheddar), and some red onion, and jalapeño-Crush some garlic
-Drain some beans (I used Borlotti or cranberry beans)
Cook:
-In a pan, lightly fry 1 sausage in garlic (I used kangaroo sausage)
-Slice sausage in half, lengthwise
-Pile everything on the pita, including the fried garlic (I'd do most structurally-sound items on the bottom: cheese, then moving up onion, cucumber, tomato, with the beans being on top)-Season as you like: salt, pepper, basil, cilantro, etc.
Tips:
-You can toast the pita with the cheese in it to give it a melted-er taste
-I used Borlotti beans by accident, actually, as I had intended to use chick peas, which I think would be very nice in this sandwich
-Substitute any meat, like bacon or chicken, and add any vegetables you like such as broccoli, carrot, lettuce, etc.
-Roasted or fried potatoes (or French Fries) would definitely match in this sandwich, as the Israelis eat it.

Full-on Pizza

2007-08-07T13:13:00.000+10:00

I got some free vegetables and bacon from an Italian place that was closing down a couple nights ago and decided to give pizza-making a go. It was so easy (I didn't make my own dough) and delicious that I made some again last night.
Prepare:
-Preheat oven to 350F
-Sauce your bread. I used Lebanese flat bread and spread tomato paste (from a jar) on the bread. I also added to the sauce some dried basil, crushed red pepper, and garlic salt-Prepare the toppings you want: I chopped tomato, broccoli, onion, zucchini, cauliflower, garlic, roasted pepper, snow peas, garlic, bacon, and some pickled jalapeño peppers-Arrange the toppings on the pizza. I did it so the stuff that I didn't want cooked would be under the cheese while the stuff I wanted cooked on top (so tomato, onion, garlic, zucchini, and bacon on top and the rest underneath). Grate cheese (I used just cheddar but provolone, Monterey, mozzarella, etc would be good) on topCook:
-Put in oven for about 8-10 minutes, then take out and put back in with the former-front facing the back ( I did this for an even crisp) , cook for another 5-8 minutes or until reached desired level of crispiness Tips:
-Use any topping you have, you just can't lose! Yesterday I sauteed some chicken and then added it with the pizza and it was great
-If you want a pizza-chain cheese-stick type flavor, then ahead of time melt a bit of butter, mixed with fresh crushed garlic, and then spread that on the pizza base

Bean, Nut, Tomato sauce with Rice

2007-07-31T22:02:00.000+10:00

I was in school one day and I saw my friend, Ben, eating his leftovers from last night. It looked a bit weird/gross and I asked him what it was. He explained that it was some South African dish and offered me a taste. I was hooked. Though I don't know the name. I quickly scribbled down the recipe and planned to make it. Trust me, it's better than it looks.
The bean used for the dish is called a Borlotti bean, an Italian bean, commonly sold here in Australia. Other names are cranberry bean, saluggia, or shell bean. They are quite tasty. I bought a can, since it was easier.
Prepare:
-Buy a can of Borlotti beans, drain and mash -Dice half an onion, about a cup of zucchini, 1 chili pepper, crush several cloves of garlic-Peel and dice 2 or 3 roma tomatoes (or buy them in a can, which is what I did since I was lazy)
-Prepare nuts. The recipe called for peanuts, which I didn't have, so I used cashews and it was good
Cook:
-Cook 1-2 cups of rice
-In a wok/pot heat up some olive oil, medium heat
-Throw garlic in
-Sautee onion, nuts, zucchini, and chili pepper for about 5-7 minutes, or until veggies are ready-Add beans and tomatoes -Cook for about 10 minutes, crushing tomatoes as well as you can until it's all broken up, season with salt, pepper, and a bit of soy sauce and ginger
-Low heat and let simmer for another 10 minutes-Serve on top of rice with some fresh cilantro

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

2007-07-30T21:55:00.000+10:00

When I was making the pumpkin soup a couple days ago, I was sure to save the seeds. Toasted pumpkin seeds are a relatively easy and delicious snack, not to mention fairly healthy.
Prepare:
-Seed a pumpkin, separating the seeds from the pulp as best you can. It will be a bit slimy
-Wash the seeds. I placed the seeds in a bit of water and let it soak for about 5 minutes, twirling every so often - this helps to further separate the pulp and leave just the seed. Scoop or sieve out the seeds (but not the pulp) and spread out on a plate
-Leave the plate out and let the seeds dry overnight. I left mine for two days (due to time constraints) and they were still good-Once they're dry, toss them in a bowl with a bit of olive oil, so they're all covered
-Lay them on a oven-proof pan/foil and sprinkle seasonings on top: salt, pepper, cumin, etc... whatever you like. I used garlic salt and red pepper powderCook:
-Preheat oven/toaster oven to 250F
-Place pan in oven
-Toast for one hour, mixing up the seeds every 20 minutesUpdate:
-I made this again with cracked black pepper, garlic salt, and cumin and it turned out quite well. I think my next go will be in a different vein: brown sugar and cinnamon
-I made brown sugar and cinnamon and it did not turn out well at all, sad to say. Either the butter or the sugar were unable to withstand the temperatures of the toaster oven for an hour, since it charred. Also, the seeds hardly tasted sweet or cinnamony. Oh well - I guess I'll stick with savory

Creamy Pumpkin Soup with Cinnamon Toast

2007-07-26T20:42:00.000+10:00

I love soups. You may have noticed. Usually I just through a bunch of vegetables in a pot, boil it, puree and eat. This time I decided to focus the veggie a bit and add a little depth to the meal. I got the idea to serve the creamy pumpkin soup with cinnamon toast from a recipe on allrecipes and I decided it was just crazy enough to work.

Prepare Soup:-Peel and cube a bunch of pumpkin, maybe 3 cups worth. I find that peeling a pumpkin with a peeler is not fun and so I just used a knife and sliced off the rind. Alternatively, you could steam/boil the pumpkin for about 10 minutes and then the peel comes off easily. Also remove the seeds (but don't throw them away!)-Dice about half an onion. It doesn't matter the size of the pieces as you will be boiling and pureeing them
-Optional: get a hot pepper. I find that the pepper doesn't detract from the taste and gives it a nice kick. I used 1 habanero and that was just fine.
-Ready (soy) milk, cornflour, bay leaf, salt, oil or butter, some crushed garlic, cheese, and any other spice you like
Cook:
-Lightly fry the garlic and onion in butter or oil for about 5 minutes, or until onion is tender in a decent-sized pot-Throw in the pumpkin for about a minute or two, letting it coat itself in oily goodness-Add water: the level should be a bit short of the height of the pumpkin (the pumpkin condenses as you cook it and you don't want the soup too watery... as long as you mix every 5-10 minutes then everything should cook evenly)
-Add crushed bay leaf and other spices.
-Lower heat, cover, and let simmer for an hour, mixing every 10 minutes until the pumpkin is at the level of the water
-Puree once everything is very cooked-Put back on medium heat, mixing in 1/4 cup -1/2 cup of milk and a bit of flour to thicken it up. You can also add some cheese to give it a nice creaminess (I used fresh mozzarella)
-I like to throw fresh spring onion on top, adding to it a crisp oniony flavor

Prepare Toast (2 slices):
-Preheat (toaster) oven to 400F
-Melt a tbsp of butter (more if you like a more buttery toast)
-Mix with 1/2 tbsp of brown sugar and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon (more if you like cinnamony taste)Cook:
-Toast for about 10 minutes, or until top is bubbly/browning
Tips:
-I also fried up some bacon for this dinner. The salty smokiness of the bacon is really complementary with the creamy pumpkininess of the soup and the cinnamon sweetness of the bread
-You can quarter or eighth the toast and mix it in the soup
-You can fry the bacon with the onion when making the soup originally, and make it a pumpkin and bacon soup.
-Some people like this soup curry style and so add curry powder or cumin and tumeric as well as coconut milk for the milk. Others like it sweet pumpkin-pieish and so add cinnamon, nutmeg, etc

Eggplant Parmesan with homemade Spinach & Mushroom Tomato Sauce

2007-07-26T20:37:00.000+10:00

Eggplant Parmesan is a tasty little dish. Moderately healthy and meat-free, this dish take a bit of work but is worth it. I decided to make my own tomato sauce, just to make it more work.

Prepare Tomato Sauce:
-Dice some tomatoes (I used 2), as well as some onion, garlic, mushroom (I used portabella) and shred some spinach
Cook:
-In a pot or wok, sautée garlic and onion in olive oil for about 5 minutes-Add mushrooms and cook another 5 minutes
-Add spinach and cook until wilted-Throw in some salt, pepper, basil (fresh or dry if you have it, I didn't!)
-Add diced tomatoes and 1 can of crushed, peeled tomatoes, reduce heat-Cook for about 25 minutes, stirring constantly, until most of the tomato is reduced-Puree-Mix in cheese if you'd like (I used cream cheese to see how it'd be, but I think something like parmesan or even feta would be good)
*note: it pains me to say this, but my sauce was not that great. I was not pleased. The cheese helped a lot, as did adding some more salt, sage, and chives, and cooking longer to reduce it further, eventually it got alright... okay enough for the parmesan

Prepare Eggplant:
-Preheat oven to 350F
-Peel the eggplant and cut into slices lengthwise, so you get around 4-5 slices per eggplant-Put salt on the surfaces, rub it in, and put it in the fridge for an hour (this sweats the eggplant and reduces the bitterness. It's optional but getting a big bite of bitter eggplant is unpleasant)
-Rinse the eggplants and thoroughly dry them
-Beat 1-2 eggs (1 egg per eggplant)
-Prepare batter mixture: breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan and dried basil is ideal. I had none so I used flour-Lay eggplants in egg, then breadcrumbs (on both sides) and set on an oven pan
-Meanwhile, slice cheese. I used a mixture of fresh mozzarella, provolone, and cheddar. I also had some grated parmesan
-Optional: dice some broccoli. I find that broccoli works amazingly in this dish and so I throw it in
Cook:
-Put pan in oven for about 5-10 minutes, until starts to crisp, and then flip over and another 5-10 minutes-Alternatively, you can fry the eggplant... this is a bit easier but less healthy, so do as you wish
-Layer eggplant in casserole/any deep oven-proof dish as such: eggplant (+ broccoli), sauce, cheese,eggplant, sauce, cheese, eggplant, sauce, cheese, with the parmesan on the topmost layer, if you have fresh basil, you can put that on top too -Put in oven for about 25 minutes, or until top is bubbly Tips:
-Enjoy with a nice wine and salad. I made a simple lettuce, lime juice, olive oil, and salt salad and roasted some pumpkin
-I'm pretty sure this exact recipe would work for chicken, veal, or even plain lasagna. Feel free to add any vegetables that you like in the mix, like (roasted) pepper or sun-dried tomatoes or somethingUpdate: I made essentially the same thing with chicken. I sliced chicken breast halfway through (so less wide) and baked on each side for ~15 minutes (note, it shouldn't look "done" in the way fried chicken works one both sides, as that dries it out... when you take it out it should be moist and a tiny bit pink)The ones in the top rack are good, the ones in the bottom were too cooked!

김밥 (Kimbap: Korean Sushi Rolls)

2007-07-25T20:39:00.000+10:00

Kimbap, literally meaning 'seaweed rice', is a ubiquitous delight in Korea. Their version of the California Roll, this filling and fairly healthy tidbit can be found on any block in any peopled area, usually for a dollar. Two if it's got extras like kimchi, meat, tuna, cheese, or everything.
Prepare:
-Slice vegetables lengthwise; carrot and cucumber are the usual culprits. A normal addition in Korea, but you will need to buy in a specialty store in the States, is 단무지 (danmuji): sweet pickled turnip-Beat a couple eggs, about 1 per 2 rolls, with a bit of milk
-Prepare anything else that you think you'd like: meat such as steak, chicken, pork, or any ground meat work well; avocado is great, as is cheese.... have everything prepared so it's long and thin-Buy some seaweed. These will be called "sushi seaweed" or "nori sheets" or something. Should be a bit smaller than a piece of paper and will come in a pack of 8 or 10; you should be able to find them in any Asian grocer or big grocery stores
Cook:
-Cook rice: about half a cup per sheet of seaweed, with a little more water than normal so it's a bit soggy - preferably medium-grain or "sushi rice". Once the rice is cooked, mix it with about 1-2 pinches of salt, 2 tsp of sesame oil, 1 tbsp of soy sauce, and some sesame seeds-Cook the eggs like you would an omelette, trying to keep it thick. Cut it so it's also long and thin
-Place a sheet of seaweed on a flat, hard surface, shiny side down
-Put about a handful of rice on one half of the seaweed, spread out evenly-Put the innards ontop of the rice -Roll carefully up, until there's about 1/2 an inch of seaweed left. At this point you can either put a bit of rice along the edge or lick it, in order for it to stick-Slice into bite-size pieces or cut in half for a hand-held food item and enjoy!
Tips:
-If you want tuna (which is very popular in Korea) you should mix it with a little mayonnaise and, though I don't know if you can find it in the States, some perilla.
-This stuff doesn't last very well - one day tops. So eat it right away.

순두부찌개 & 계란찜 (Soondudu Chiggae: Tofu Stew &Kehranjim: Omelette Soup)

2007-07-21T16:01:00.000+10:00

Continuing with my Korean tradition of soup-loving, here are two more dishes that my girlfriend made for me one Tuesday afternoon. The soondubu chiggae is along the same lines as the kimchi chiggae I made earlier, except the main thing is soft tofu. To go with it, I had her made for me one of my favorite side dishes, which is typically served in a barbecue-meat restaurant, a kind of omelette soup.

Prepare Soondubu Chiggae:
-This one starts a bit weird: mash some dried anchovies and seaweed to make a great stock base. I know that this may be out of the range of most Western kitchens, and so dissolving some regular stock powder would be okay. Mix with 3-4 cups of water -Dice some carrot, zucchini, hot pepper, green onion, and any other vegetable you like (it's blasphemously inauthentic but I love throwing in broccoli and cauliflower)
-Prepare your Asian spices and sauces: sesame oil, soy sauce, hot pepper paste and hot pepper powder (고추장 and 고추가루)
-Own soft tofu - this is very different from the regular firm tofu that we find. It's sometimes sold in tubes and should not hold shape on its own well at all
Cook:
-Set the water/broth to boil. Throw in some garlic, pepper powder and paste, a bit of soy sauce, and a hot pepper, as well as some ginger and sesame oil
-After a couple minutes of boiling, add the tofu and vegetables-A couple minutes later, crack an egg into the soup
-Let simmer for a long time, till it reaches a nice red level

Prepare Omelette Soup:
-Very finely dice green onion, garlic, carrot, and mushroom - about a tbsp of each
-Whisk two eggs with the vegetables, add a bit of salt and pepper, as well as some milk to fluff it Cook:
-Set a bit of water to boil in a small pot. You can add a bit of the stock powder that you used above. The volume of water should roughly be equal to the volume of the omelette solution-Once its boiling, pour the egg in. You can mix. Lower the heat, cover, and let cook for about 7 minutes
Tips:
-For the water for the soups, a Korean trick is to use the water that's had rice soaking in it. It's supposed to up the flavor.
-Enjoy with rice (obviously), kimchi, and a nice cold beer.

"Israeli" Salad

2007-07-21T15:53:00.000+10:00

This is a salad we often made in my house growing up, ostensibly calling it "Israeli Salad". I think it's fairly ethnic but we've bastardized it enough to make it our own. It's basically a very delicious vegetable salad.
Prepare:
-Dice most of the vegetables you own. Vegetables I would deem necessary would be tomato, cucumber, carrot, some kind of pepper, some kind of onion, and cilantro. I did tomato, cucumber, radish, green onion, red onion, carrot, bell pepper, chili pepper, and cilantro. -Mix vegetables with about 1/4 cup of olive oil, salt to taste, and juice of around 1/4-1/2 a lemon, to taste.
Tips:
-Works great with feta
-Stuff in a pita with or without some meat for a great sandwich.

Nachos

2007-07-21T15:48:00.000+10:00

These are ridiculously simple but I feel I should put these in on the basis that there are people out there who have never thought how or even to make these.
Prepare:
-Layer plain corn chips on oven-proof dish (casserole or a normal thick plate will do)
-Dice some red onions, Jalepeno or chili pepper, and some olives-Grate a bunch of cheese (cheddar, pepper jack, etc)
-Spread veggies and cheese on chips
-Preheat oven to 350Cook:
-Put in oven for about 10-15 minutes or until ready
Tips:
-Try it with fresh salsa (tomatoes, onion, pepper, salt, garlic, cilantro in a food processor) or some guac.

김치찌개 & 두부전 (Kimchi Stew & Fried Egg-Tofu)

2007-07-11T10:17:00.000+10:00

I lived in Korea for a year and was daily exposed to their amazing selection of soups and stews. They are a big soup culture: they feel every meal should have soup and rice. Kimchi, spicy fermented cabbage, is the staple of their diet and so it stands to reason that kimchi stew would be a popular and delicious dish. Fortunately, my Korean girlfriend was able to cook this one for me. This is served with a simple fried egg-tofu dish and, of course, rice.
Prepare:
-Dice some pork; marinate with some ginger, garlic, salt, and soy sauce-Cut up some kimchi into small pieces. The best kimchi to use is older, more sour kimchi, as it gives flavor to the soup.
-Dice carrot, zucchini, pepper (hot and normal), green onion, onion, and crush garlic-Cut tofu into bite-size chunks (make sure you use firm tofu)
Cook:
-In a pot, heat some olive oil and lightly fry garlic and pork until pork is brown, then throw in kimchi and pepper-After a couple minutes, add 3 cups of water and the rest of the vegetables
-Let simmer for a while, tasting and adding kimchi juice, pepper powder, salt, and pepper to taste-When it's ready, put in the tofu.

Prepare Fried egg-tofu:
-Cut tofu into thin slices
-Beat an egg well, mixing in saltCook:
-Heat a pan to medium heat with olive oil
-Dip tofu in batter, then place onto pan -Turn after 2 or 3 minutes
-Serve plain or with sauce made from soy sauce, vinegar, and green onion

Pesto Pasta with Garlic Bread

2007-07-11T10:05:00.000+10:00

Who doesn't love pesto? It's usually so expensive to buy those tiny jars, but it's amazing how easy it is to make. I served this with garlic bread since that, too, is easy to make and delicious.
Prepare Pesto:
-Destem a bunch of basil, wash the leaves well
-In a food processor, mix some pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, Parmesan (optional), and the basil leaves: the proportions should be to taste and the olive oil to consistency. Start out with half the basil, a couple cloves of garlic, and maybe 1 tbsp of pine nuts... adjust as you tasteCook:
-Prepare some pasta, al dente
-Mix with pesto
-Garnish with fresh basil and grated Parmesan
Prepare Garlic Bread:
-Crush garlic
-In a small bowl, mash garlic and butter. -Spread onto pieces of bread
-I sprinkled some cheese on top of the bread, too.
Cook:
-Put bread in an oven/toaster oven for about 10 minutes or until bread is slightly brown and butter is completely melted Tips:
-The pasta goes well with sauteed onions and tomatoes, as well as chicken. Smear some pesto on halfway-cooked chicken breast and serve with the meal.
-For the garlic bread, I used regular sliced 9grain bread because that's all I had. This works better with baguette, French bread, Turkish bread, or anything else.
-For the garlic butter, you can add in some dried basil, crushed red pepper, or Parmesan to give it extra flavor.
Drink with a nice wine and enjoy!

José

2007-07-11T09:44:00.000+10:00

In Minneapolis, there is a famous breakfast joint in the university campus. Al's Diner serves hot, tasty breakfasts to very few customers at a time, while a line of people wait. Biking there on Sunday mornings with my dad and brothers was a nice tradition growing up. One of their tastiest meals was the José: a poached egg and hashbrown medley mashed up with fresh salsa and cheddar. To get hash browns to be the quality and consistency of what's served up in a restaurant can be a complicated process. Mine isn't that hard and the results are scrumptiously decent.
Prepare:
-Boil some potatoes. Don't peel them ahead of time, just give them a nice wash and scrub. Once they're boiled, put them in the fridge or freezer until they are cold.-Grate some cheddar
-Make/prepare some salsa
-Eggs for poaching
Cook:
-Once the potatoes are cold, dice them up to the size that you like. Heat up a pan with a lot of oil (or butter... this is one of the few times I allow myself to cook with butter). Once these stop being clumpy and start being crispy, lower the heat and spread the grated cheese on top, cover
-Poach an egg or two. You can use the method I mentioned before. I happened to recently purchase silicon rubber egg poachers and they are amazing.
-Make a hole in the hashbrowns and put in some salsa. Serve on a plate with the egg on top and some toast on the side and some fresh juice. Enjoy!

Ema's Lamb Kebabs

2007-07-05T17:58:00.000+10:00

My mom once got a recipe from some friends of hers for a turkey kebab. She thought it was nice but could be improved with lamb and other ingredients. I don't like lamb that much but I have to say that these patties are quite nice.
Prepare:
-Ground lamb: I used about 1 kilo to make about 12 kebabs
-Finely chop parsley, chili pepper, (red) onion-Use either bread crumbs or crackers, ground up fine-Beat 2-3 eggs
-Have cumin, salt, anything else you'd like (~a tbsp of each)
Cook 1:
-Use about 2/3 of your beaten eggs, mix it with the vegetables and spices and the lamb. Mix well
-Coat your fingers in a bit of beaten egg, and form a kebab (an oblong, thick object) or a patty
The stuff should be mixed very well.
Cook 2:
-Grilling is the best way to cook these. Around 8 or 9 minutes on each side, or until cooked all the way through.
Tips:
-Any herbs would work well in this, I think: cilantro, basil, chives, etc. Use whatever you have on hand.
-If you want to go easy on the eggs or if the mixture is too dry, you can add a bit of water; what works much better is a little beer

Chocotastic Cheesecake

2007-07-05T17:55:00.000+10:00

I've always loved cheesecake but never tried to make it. I had an opportunity to do it for a picnic and decided to put a twist on a classic cheesecake and make it chocolatey, as I love chocolate. For the base, or crust, of the cake I used the dough from Natasha's Triple Choc Cookies. If you wanted a bit plainer/non-chocolate base, you can crumble Graham crackers mixed with butter and a bit of sugar into the bottom of a greased pan and bake at 350F for about 15 minutes.
Prepare:
-Dough as given in the cookie recipe. You don't need as much as is written, but I used some extra to layer the cake and froze a ball of cookie dough for later. I pressed it, raw, into the mold of the cake pan, then took it out and baked it on a cookie sheet.-2 8oz packs of cream cheese, melted to room temperature
-a couple tsp of lemon juice, with some pinches of lemon zest-1 pint heavy whipping cream
-1/3 cup of sugar
Cook:
-Mix together cream cheese and lemon-Beat heavy whipping cream until thick, mix in with cream cheese, add sugar-Pour into pan, on top of crust
-Chill for at least a couple of hoursTips:
-I put half the cheesecake filling on top of the crust and then put in a layer of crumbled cookie crumbs and sliced banana. Any fruit would work wonderful, especially a berry. I then used the rest of the crumbs to decorate the top of the cake (PBL 15 is my discussion group).
-This cake turned out very tasty but very sweet and rich. I think next time I might use light cream or light cream cheese.

Pumpkin and Potato Gnocchi

2007-06-06T21:03:00.002+10:00

Gnocchi are tasty and surprisingly easy to make. Usually anything you have lying around the house will suffice. I've made plain potato gnocchi before, but this time around decided to make it a little more different and combine with pumpkin.
Prepare:
-Peel and chop potato and pumpkin
-Put on a tray and into a pre-heated oven (around 350F) for 20 minutes or until firm and tender (you can stick a fork and it goes all the way in, but comes out easily)-Set aside to cool for a bit (you will be handling them with your hands so cool enough that they don't hurt you)
-In a large bowl, beat 1 egg, and mix in 1 crushed clove of garlic (optional) as well as some salt
-Mash the potato and pumpkin with the egg until it's pretty liquidy-At this time, heat up a pot full of lightly salted water
-Pour in flour, about 1/4 cup at a time, constantly mixing, until it reaches a consistency that it's not so sticky on your hands, but still sticks together and can be rolled
-Roll into several "snake" shapes on a dusted surface
-Cut into bite size piecesCook:
-When the water is at a rolling boil, put the gnocchi in one by one. Don't dump them all in at the same time or the water will stop boiling too suddenly

-Once they start floating to the top (3-4 minutes), take them out-I ate them with homemade pesto, fresh basil, Parmesan, crushed red pepper, and garlic salt

Tips:

-Any normal pasta sauce will do: tomato, creamy cheese, etc. They would even work with just olive oil or butter or sour cream with some dry condiments
-I did equal parts pumpkin and potato, and it gave it a more neutral taste with neither dominating. If you wanted a more sweet flavor, I would do only pumpkin or substitute sweet potato for the potato
-Mashing in a fresh garlic clove was tasty, but a bit strong. Next time I will roast the garlic with the veggies to give a more subtle taste

Groomed Hamburger

2007-06-05T20:56:00.001+10:00

I like my hamburgers to be a little interesting. A plain beef patty just doesn't do it for me. I had a bit of beef left over from my stir fry, so I decided to mess around with a seasoned hamburger.
Prepare:
-1/4-1/2 lb of beef, defrosted
-finely chop anything that piques your interest. I did a small chili pepper, a small clove of garlic, a bit of onion, and some fresh cilantro-mix herbs into patty, and add a splash of Worcestershire sauce (I added a bit of soy sauce and some garlic salt), and mix well. Mold into a ball
Cook:
-Preheat your grill and throw the patty on (I don't have a grill and in Australia they have this weird mini-oven as part of the oven that functions as a grill)-Cook for about 5 minutes on each side, or until the inside is the color that you like
Tips:
-Really, the hamburger can extend as far as your mind/kitchen allows. Mixing in basil, chives, oregano, parsley, etc would all work well. As would perhaps tomato or pepper, or a nice hard cheese
-I'm not sure about the egg-issue. I think the burger may benefit from an egg in the mix, but I didn't find mine lacking.
I enjoyed mine with some cheddar, tomato, cilantro, and a spicy cilantro/chili pepper sauce, with roasted pumpkin and sweet potato on the side.
Update:
-I just made an amazing batch: finely diced green onion leaves and chili pepper, hot pepper powder, garlic salt, 1 egg, and some diced fresh mozzarella. They were great.

Rice Pudding (Kheer)

2007-06-03T22:47:00.001+10:00

I bought goat's milk yesterday and discovered that I don't really like it. Therefore, I've been looking for ways to use it. Last night I made chowder and tonight I decided to try for a dessert.
The Indian restaurant near my home in Minneapolis always had a great Sunday-afternoon buffet. The final touch of an unbelievably-filling meal was always managing to squeeze in one tiny bowl of kheer - the Indian/Pakistani sweet and rich rice pudding. This makes ~3 servings.
Prepare:
-Soak 1/4 cup of rice in cold water for an hour
- 3 cups of milk
-1/2 cup of sugar (next time, I'll use a little less- it came out pretty sweet)
-4 cardamom pods, crushed a bit
-some almonds (I didn't have that, so I used almond meal that I pinched from my house-mate. I don't think this is necessary)
-1 tsp vanilla (optional)
Cook:
-On low, cook milk and rice for 50 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so
-Turn up to low-medium, add the sugar, cardamom, almond, vanilla and cook for 20 minutes, stirring every couple minutes
-Once it reaches a nice consistency (should be a bit runny but a bit thick too) and a nice taste, serve
Tips:
-I think traditionally this is served cold, but I was excited to try it so I ate it warm and it was fine.
-It turned out surprisingly good with goat's milk, considering I don't really like it. I think it would be great with soy.
-It was a tad too sweet at the end, so I added some plain milk and mixed it in and it turned out well.
-Since I love chocolate, I figured it could have a part to play with this dessert. I mixed some chocolate chips in a small bowl of the pudding, where they quickly melted in. It tasted fine, but not that great, to be honest, and it detracted from the pudding-ness.
-This goes great with fruit. I'd say something like banana, mango, or something along those lines (not sour, not watery).

Spicy Red Stiry Fry with Rice Cakes (고추장볶음떡)

2007-06-03T22:31:00.000+10:00

This is a simple stir fry recipe, with a Korean slant, that I made up one night. It uses ddeok (떡) which is a Korean rice cake. The ddeok is made by smashing rice into a flour-like powder, then forming this substance that tastes like rice but with an awesome chewy consistency. I suggest picking some up at a Korean market; they're pretty cheap and great to cook with. The other necessary thing is gochujang - a spicy pepper paste that is also Korean.Prepare:
-Chop up any vegetables you like for a stir fry (this time, I used okra, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, onion, chili pepper, carrot, Buk Choy, chives)
-Crush 1-3 cloves of garlic (duh)
-Prepare the ddeok: make sure it's room temperature or a bit colder and chopped up so that length-wise it's bite-size. You don't have to break it apart width-wise as they will fall apart while cooking-Get sauces ready: definitely gochujang, some chili garlic sauce, some olive oil, stock powder, oyster sauce, sesame oil, etc.
Cook:
-Heat up your wok, medium-high
-When it's hot, dump in some olive oil and the garlic
-Chuck in the veggies and ddeok (except for greener vegetables, like leaves of Buk Choy, chives, cilantro, or green onion)
-After a couple minutes, mix in your sauces: 2 whopping tablespoons of gochujang will be good
-Cook for about 7 more minutes till stuff starts looking done: ddeok should be soft, the veggies should look good. Everything should have an awesome redness about it. Mix in greens.-Once it's done, taste it. Mine was a bit salty and so I added about 1 tbsp of sugar and 1 tsp of honey and mixed it in. That sweetness made it great, complimenting the spice perfectly.

Mexicanesque Chicken Corn Chowder

2007-06-02T20:30:00.000+10:00

I had an ear of corn lying around and as opposed to my usual steamin', I wanted to do a chowder. Searching around allrecipes yielded the usual array of corn chowders, but this "Mexican" one piqued my curiosity. This yields around 2 servings:
Prepare:
-Cut up some chicken (roughly 1/2 breast per serving) into bite-size pieces
-1 cup of hot water with a bullion cube dissolved within (1 cup of stock would work the same)
-1 ear of corn, de-kerneled
-1/2 a tomato, 1 small onion, and 1-2 chili peppers diced-1 cup of half-and-half or cream or milk+1 tbsp of butter
-A bunch of cilantro, chopped relatively well
Cook:
-In a pot on medium heat, cook chicken, 1-2 cloves of crushed garlic, and onion until chicken isn't pink anymore-Add water/stock, 1-2tbsp of cumin, bring to a boil, turn to low and cover
-Simmer for 5 minutes-Add corn, chili, and milk; turn up to medium heat
-Cook for another couple minutes then add the tomato and about half of the cilantro you have
-Let it boil for a while, until it reaches the thickness that you like (I added a tbsp of flour to mine to help with thickness)
-Once it reaches desired thickness, pour into a bowl, garnish with the rest of the cilantro and some grated cheese (cheddar, Monterey Jack, etc.)
Tips:
-Pour some corn-chips crumbs into the bowl, it gives it a nice balance of crunchy and soft and salty and whatnot
-Some avocado in the chowder works well too
-I used goat's milk (I used it because it was on sale today and I was curious how it would taste) and it gave it an interesting richness and added a bit of sourness. I think soy would give it a heartier, fuller taste whereas plain milk would be inoffensive. I think I'll use soy next time.

Nutella Pancakes with Banana or Coconut

2007-06-02T00:26:00.001+10:00

I love chocolate. My mind frame is thus: if I'm eating something sweet, it's pointless if it doesn't have chocolate. As I was getting to sleep last night, I was dreaming about different ways to use Nutella in cooking, to give a rich, chocolatey taste. I decided that in the morning, I would make Nutella pancakes; of course, mixing one of the fruits that was made for chocolate: banana.
Prepare:
-1 cup of flour
-1 tsp of salt
-1 cup of milk (I used soy since I like the flavor. You can also add a spritz of lemon/lime juice to give it a buttermilk-type thing)
-1 banana, sliced
-1 beaten egg
-1 heaping tbsp of Nutella
Cook:
-Sift together flour and salt
-Make a little hole and pour in the beaten egg. Mix-Slowly add the milk, beating with every pour
-Add the Nutella. Mix well, as it's clumpy in the beginning but should even out towards the end
-Cover in saran wrap and put in the fridge for 30-60min to let it thicken a bit. The consistency should be pretty runny but not full-on liquid-In a pan on medium, melt some butter (normally, I'm an olive oil guy but I figured a situation like this called for butter)
-Drop 1/4cup of batter onto the pan, put the bananas on the top-After ~1 min (you should see a bit of smoke on the edges... you can feel firmness) flip it over
Coconut:
I had leftover batter after this morning (the mix makes about 6 pancakes) and so tonight for dessert I decided to try it with coconut.
Prepare:
-Same batter as above
-2 tbsp of coconut
Cook:
-In an unoiled pan, toast the coconut for about 1 minute or 2 until it starts getting brown
-Mix it with the batter and then cook the same as mentioned above

Tips:
-The pancakes weren't that sweet. You could add 1/2cup of sugar to the mix to sweeten it up. Also, chocolate chips would work quite well.
-I am not a syrup fan, so I ate 2 of the banana pancakes with honey and 1 with kiwi on top. Both were delicious
-Make the batter, make a couple pancakes, and then save the batter for later.