Kombucha

Kombucha is a pro-biotic drink which is full of enzymes and vitamins and is very good for health.  If you buy it from the shops, it's about 6 dollars for 300ml, so I decided to make my own.  It's quite easy to buy SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) online, I bought mine from eternal delight and started my first batch on the 21st July.

The SCOBY is the living bacteria that produces kombucha by converting the sweetened tea into healthy acids that are so good for your body.  Each batch of kombucha tea will produce a new SCOBY.

Recipe for kombucha tea

1. Bring to a boil 3 litres of water and add 5-7 tea bags (I like to use English breakfast tea).  Steep for 15mins.  Add 1 cup of white sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves.  Allow the liquid to cool to room temperature.  Keep covered and careful of contamination at this stage.
2. Pour cooled, room temperature liquid into fermenting container.  
3. Add SCOBY and 1 cup of previously fermented kombucha brew as a starter.
4. Cover with a clean cloth, paper towel or coffee filter.  Set aside in a quiet undisturbed spot (no direct sunlight).  Every time the liquid is disturbed the culture will begin to start forming over again and not form properly.
5. Ferment 6-14 days to your taste.  Mine normally takes about 12 days.  Taste with a straw (after the 5th day) until the flavor is the right combination of sweet and sour.
6. Save half a cup to begin the next batch once this batch has brewed.  A new SCOBY will form which you can use for the next batch too.

Tea

Black tea is most nutritious for the scoby and will provide the most ideal brewing conditions. 

Flavouring

You can add flavours to your kombuha after you have harvested it.


Add desired herbs and fruits to a large glass jar, fill the bottle up with kombucha and seal the jar up with a lid
Allow the kombucha to remain bottled for another 2-5 days at room temperature (away from direct sunlight), this will carbonate the kombucha
Place the bottle in the fridge to halt the fermentation process
Remove the scoby from the finished kombucha.

A few of my favourites:  lemon, lemon and ginger, blueberries, goji berries

Fresh, frozen or dried fruit:  20% fruit and 80% kombucha
Juice:  10% juice and 90% kombucha





You can experiment to come up with the best combinations for your taste preferences.

Pasta salad with Haloumi and Umami

Serves 2

Ingredients:

 

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Squeeze of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of umami paste
25g pitted black olives
1 tablespoon pesto
1 tablespoon parsley paste
70g dried spaghetti pasta (per person)
2 teaspoons olive oil, extra
250g haloumi

Method:

1. Whisk the oil, vinegar, lemon juice and umami paste in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Combine the olives, pesto, parsley in a bowl.
3. Cook pasta in a large saucepan following packet directions. Drain and return to the pan.
4. Heat extra oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook haloumi until golden on both sides.
5. Add oil mixture and olive mixture to pasta. Toss until well combined. Divide among serving bowls. Top with haloumi and smoked salmon.

Five-spice Crispy Pork Belly - 燒肉

 

Ingredients

500g pork belly

Olive oil

1 teaspoon of five-spice powder

1 teaspoon of ground white pepper

1 tablespoon of sea salt

Method

1. Preheat halogen oven at 200 degrees
2. Score the skin of the pork belly with a sharp knife
3. Rub pork belly with olive oil
4. Sprinkle five-spice, white pepper and sea salt on pork belly and massage these evenly on both sides
5. Place pork belly (skin side up) in preheated oven and roast for 40-50 minutes (depending on the thickness of the cut).  Pay attention to the crackling to ensure it doesn't burn, you will know that it's almost ready when you see the crackling bubbling up.
6. Remove pork belly from the oven and place on rack to cool for 10-20 minutes (the crackling will be chewy if it's not cooled properly)
7. Place skin down on chopping board and cut pork belly into eatable chunks
8. Serve with English mustard

 

Pineapple Fried Rice - 菠蘿炒飯

Ingredients

1 Tbsp oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp hot chili sauce
2 eggs
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup pineapple chunks
1/2 cup shrimps
1 chicken breast (cut into bite sized pieces)
3 cups of cooked rice
1/2 cup roasted cashew nuts

Method

1. Heat oil in pan, add garlic, ginger and chili sauce and fry till fragrant
2. Add egg and scramble it
3. Add chicken and shrimp to the fragrant sauce and add fish sauce, soy sauce, curry powder, turmeric powder and sugar
4. Stir fry chicken and shrimp until cooked
5. Add rice, cashew and pineapple and stir fry for a few minutes until well combined

You can serve the fried rice in the hollowed-out pineapple and garnish with crushed peanuts.

Thai Beef Salad

Ingredients

100g mixed salad leaves
1 capsicum (sliced thinly)
1 cup of herbslaw
1 cup of cherry tomatoes
300g scotch fillet steaks

For the sauce: 

1/2 tablespoon of lime juice
1 tablespoon of chilli sauce
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
Handful of coriander leaves
Handful of  mint leaves
2 tablespoons of chopped roasted peanuts
1 red chilli

This is pretty straight forward.

Just grill the steak (a couple of minutes on each side), I did 4 minutes on each side and I was using a hot plate so it takes forever to cook something.  For gas cooker, you would probably want to cook the steak for about 2-3 minutes each side depending on the thickness of the steak.  I try to choose steaks with a good amount of fat (try to look for a nice marble pattern).

Once the steak is done, let it sit for about 2 minutes, the steak will still continue to cook while it's resting so you don't want to overcook it. 

Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and set aside.

Cut the remaining ingredients and steak into bite size pieces and mix well with the sauce.  Sprinkle chopped peanuts over the top as garnish.

This is what I made for valentines day and it was very nice with a glass of sav.

Enjoy.

Baked Salmon with Lemon and Dill

Ingredients

1 salmon fillet
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
1/2 teaspoon of dill
1 lemon - thinly sliced

Directions

1. Preheat oven 200 degrees C.
2. De-bone salmon fillet, remove excess skin and fat.
3. Rinse the fillet with cold water and pat dry with paper towel.
4. Put a few pieces of the lemon on foil and place the salmon fillet above the lemon.
5. Season the fillet with salt, pepper and dill.
6. Wrap the foil into a loose parcel and double wrap with another layer of foil.
7. Bake for 20-25 mins, until easily flaked with a fork.

I think salmon and dill are the perfect combination.
You can use fresh dill and they are pretty easy to grow.  For convenience, I've used the dried ones and they are pretty good.

Bibimbap - 비빔밥

Bibimbap means “mixed meal” and this is a very popular Korean dish.  Bibimbap is very simple dish.  You just need to prepare the veggies, cook the meat, fry an egg and arrange these neatly on top of a bowl of rice and last but not least, a swirl of the bibimbap sauce.  All these ingredients will be stirred together just before eating.

Serves 4

Ingredients

Cooked rice

1 packet of bean sprouts
4 carrots, peeled and cut into matchstick strips
2 courgettes, diced into small cubes
8 shiitake mushrooms, sliced thinly
Sesame oil
Dash of salt

200g minced beef
1 tsp minced garlic
Soy sauce

4 eggs

Bibimbap sauce:
2 Tbsp korean red pepper paste
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp honey
1 Tbsp water
2 tsp sesame oil

Method

1. Cook rice.
2. Prepare vegetables.
3. Stir fry each vegetable separately in some oil and season with salt and sesame oil.  Set aside in a large platter.
4. Stir fry minced beef with 1 tsp of minced garlic, break up any lumps and cook until browned.
5. In a small bowl combine all the ingredients for the ‘Red pepper dressing’
6. Prepare 4 eggs, sunny side up.
7. Spoon rice into individual bowls.
8. Arrange egg, vegetables and beef on top of rice.
9. Serve with bibimbap sauce.
10. When ready, mix everything together and eat.

Scrambled eggs with truffle oil

With a few drops of truffle oil, you can turn ordinary scrambled eggs into a culinary delight!

Serves 2

Ingredients

6 eggs (I think free range eggs taste better and richer)
6 tablespoons of milk or cream (Lewis Road Creamery's double cream is awesome)
1 tablespoon of butter (Lewis Road Creamery's organic butter)
coarse sea salt and black pepper to taste
a few drops of white truffle oil
few slices of toasted ciabatta

Method

1. In a medium bowl, lightly mix eggs with milk (do not whisk)
2. Melt butter in frying pan until sizzling and then turn the heat down to low
3. Pour egg mixture into frying pan and stir slowly with a wooden spoon
4. Turn the heat off just before the eggs are fully cooked.  The remaining heat in the pan should finish the eggs off to perfection
5. Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper, transfer to plates
6. Drizzle with truffle oil and serve with toasted ciabatta on the side

Chorizo Mushroom and Spinach Penne

 

This is so easy to make and so delicious.  The key is not to overcook the penne initially because you are going to cook it in the sauce for a bit and you would want it to soak up a bit of the sauce.

Serves 2

Ingredients

 

160g dried penne pasta

1 chorizo sausage (sliced, not too thinly)

120g button mushrooms cut into halves

1 garlic clove

200g tomatoes (diced)

hand full of baby spinach leaves

Shaved parmesan to serve

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Cook penne according to the instructions on the packet.  Drain and set aside.
2. Heat a tablespoon of oil in frying pan and fry the chorizo sausage until brown.  Add mushroom and garlic and cook for another few minutes.  Add the diced tomatoes and cook until the sauce thickens.
3. Add penne and spinach to the tomato mixture and gently toss to combine.
4. Spoon pasta into bowls and top with shaved parmesan.  Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Kick-Ass Green Smoothie

I have decided to give my green smoothie an upgrade by adding in kale.  I think it's currently in season and I can buy these from the fancy supermarkets (Nosh and Farro).  It is quite expensive ranging from $4 to $7 a bag which is probably sufficient for 3-4 smoothies depending on what other veggies you are using. 

I have often heard people using raw eggs in their protein shakes and thought it's crazy and extremely disgusting.  Hey, but guess what?  I tried it today and it actually tasted quite nice.  I can't be bothered cooking the egg and then chucking it into the blender, so there we go.  I did use fresh organic eggs which was purchased a day ago.  I've also added frozen spinach, cayenne powder, stevia and xanthan gum to my green smoothie.

Yummo!  This is a such a refreshing and healthy lunch, also very filling.  You can look up the health benefits of kale and green smoothie and will be amazed by what you can find.