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.

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.

Easy Pad Thai

I have tried a lot of pad thai recipes in the past but have never found one that I really liked.  Most of those recipes use tamarind paste which is an ingredient I rarely use.  I have substituted tamarind paste with fresh lime juice and vinegar and I think it gives a similar taste.  So here's my version of pad thai, it's probably not authentic but definitely delicious.

Serves 4

Ingredients

 

Sauce:
1 tablespoon of peanut butter
1/4 cup of soy sauce
5 tablespoons of lime juice
1 tablespoons of white vinegar
2 tablespoons of hot sauce
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
1/4 cup of sugar

Protein:
1/4 cup of small dried shrimps, soak in water overnight and drained
2 blocks of firm tofu, cut into small pieces
16 prawns
4 eggs
1/4 cup of chopped roasted peanuts

Veggies:
2 cups of mung bean sprouts 
2 tablespoons of pickled radish
1/4 cup of coriander, finely chopped 
1/4 cup of thai basil, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 green onion stalks
1 lime, cut into wedges for garnish

Carbs:
250g pad thai noodles, soak in water for 30 minutes and drained

A few tablespoons of oil for frying

Method

1. Combine the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Heat 2 tablespoon of oil over high heat and add garlic.  When the garlic begins to sizzle, add the dried shrimps and extra firm tofu and stir fry until the tofu is slightly golden.  Transfer the dried shrimps and tofu to a bow and set aside.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil and fry the prawns until they start to colour, transfer the cooked prawns to the bow of shrimps and tofu and set aside.
4. Stir fry the mung bean sprouts in a bit of oil for about a minute and transfer to a bowl and set aside.
5. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and crack the 4 eggs in the pan and scramble them up.  Try not to over-mix so that you can still see some of the yolk and egg white parts.  Transfer scrambled eggs to a bowl and set aside.
6. Add the noodles and sauce to a frying pan and cook until the sauce has been fully absorbed.  Test the firmness of the noodles, if it's too hard, add a bit of water and cook for another few minutes.
7. Add the cooked dried shrimps, tofu, prawns, mung bean sprouts and scrambled eggs to the noodles and stir fry until well mixed.
8. Add the pickled radish, coriander and roasted peanut to the cooked noodles and stir fry for another minute.
9. Transfer noodles to a plate and garnish with green onion and lime wedges.

Homemade hokey pokey

It's father's day tomorrow so I have decided to be adventurous and make me old dad some hokey pokey from scratch.  I remember making this in science class using the good old bunsen burner and it seemed a lot easier back then.  Probably because I don't have to clean the after math.

Recipe from TV4 Kids

Ingredients

5 tablespoon of sugar
2 tablespoon of golden syrup
1 teaspoon of baking soda

Method

1. Combine sugar and golden syrup in a pot and stir over a low heat until sugar is dissolved.
2. Turn up heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat as soon as mixture boils.
3. Add baking soda. Mixture will froth up at this stage.
4. Stir quickly to make sure it is all combined and then turn out on to a greased tray.

Hambagu - ハンバーグ

Makes 4 patties

Ingredients

250g minced beef
200g minced pork
1/2 finely chopped onion
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 cup panko (japanese bread crumb)
salt and pepper
vegetable oil , for frying
3 Tbsp ketchup
3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Method

1. Heat oil in a saucepan and fry onion until brown, set aside.
2. Soak panko in milk.
3. Put onion, panko in milk, salt, pepper and egg in a bowl and mix well with a fork.
4. Add ground beef and pork to the above mixture and combine ingredients with hand.
5. Make four meat balls and toss each ball from one hand to the other hand repeatedly.
6. Make four patties and indent the center of each one with a finger.Heat oil in a pan and saute patties over medium heat.
7. Turn over and saute the other side.  Add 1/4 cup of hot water in the pan and put lid and steam the patties for a few minutes.
8. Remove the lid and cook until the water is almost gone. Transfer hamburgers into individual plates.
9. Add ketchup and Worcestershire sauce in the pan after hamburgers are removed and cook until it looks like a sauce.
10. Serve the hambagu with the sauce on top.

Rewena Bread

Rewena bread is a traditional Maori bread made with the rewena bug; a starter made by fermenting potatoes, sugar and water.

Ingredients

5 cups plain flour
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup risen rewena bug
2 cups warm water

Method

Part one:  the bug

• Add 3 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of sugar in a large bowl and mix well with a fork
  
• Make a well in the center of the flour and sugar, pour in the risen rewena bug and stir with a fork to mix
  
• Add 1 cup of water to to the flour mixture and mix until well combined
  
• Remove 2 Tbsp of the dough and place it into a clean glass jar to grow a new bug

Part two:  making the bread

• Add 1 cup of the warm water to the dough and stir well
  
• Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead until smooth
  
• Place the dough into a greased loaf pan, cover and let rise for about 7 hours in a warm place  (allowing the dough to rise for too long causes the bread to have a poor texture and a sour taste; not allowing it enough time yields undersized, tough loaves)

Part three:  baking the bread

• Bake loaf at 150 C for 30 mins and then loosely cover with foil, turn the temperature down to 120 C and bake for another 30 mins
  
• Rub butter over the cooked surface to keep the crust soft and moist