Chicken Laksa

Yesterday a good mate of mine took me to China Town in Sydney to experience some new foods.
Of all the years just walking around Sydney taking random photos, I never realized past the 2 lions infront of a red arch there were many more streets of China Town. Apparantly I went there when I was little, but I can't remember.

 

I tried a chicken laksa for the first time in my life. The tastes exploded in my mouth. The smoothness of the soup, the mild spicyness, the crunch of bean sprouts, the chewiness of the tofu, it just all worked in so well together. I found a recipe for a chicken laksa today, but this one is much more spicy and doesn't have tofu. I could have added tofu myself, but I don't know whether to use soft or hard or some other kind, and not oo sure how to cook it yet. The last time I attempted to cook with it was a fail.

 

 

 

- 200g udon noodles

- 185g jar Ayam Malaysian laksa paste

- 5 shallots, sliced                          

- 1 litre chicken stock

- 2 kaffir lime leaves, torn

- 2 cups chopped cooked chicken

- 165ml can coconut milk

- 1/2 cup bean sprouts

- 1 small red chilli

- 1 lebanese cucumber julienned

 

 

1. Prepare noodles according to their packet. Cook chicken in the chicken stock. Once cooked, set aside and reserve the stock.

 

 

2. In a large fry pan, cook the laksa paste for 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add the chopped shallots and cook for 2 minutes until soft. Stir in the stock and 1 cup of cold water. Add the lime leaves. Cover and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.

 

 

3. Add the chicken and cook for 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat. Remove the lime leaves and stir in the coconut milk. Divide the prepared noodles into the serving bowls and ladle the soup of them. Top with bean sprouts, cucumber, chopped shallot tops and chilli.  

 



Beef Stir Fry

I found this recipe in Julie Goodwin's cookbook... Australia's first master chef. I was surprised at how tender my meat went. And the taste? The taste has only one word to descibe it. WOW. The only vegetable the recipe asked for was broccoli, but I added a few extras.

- 1 1/2 teaspoons light soy sauce              
- 1 1/2 sugar                                              
- 1 tablespoon cornflour
- 800g lean rump steak, sliced thinly
- 1 carrot, sliced thinly
- 1/4 cup oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce, extra
- 2 tablespoons dark sauce
- 2 teaspoons cornflour, extra
- peanut oil, for stir frying
- 6 shallots, cut into 3 cm lengths
- 500g brocolli, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- noodles for serving

1. Combine the light soy sauce, sugar and cornflour with 1 tablespoon of water and mix well. Add the beef and toss well, making sure it all gets coated well. Refrigerate covered for 1 hour.

2. Combine the oyster sauce, light and dark soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of water and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix the extra cornflour with 2 tablespoons of water.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large frypan and add the beef. Cook until browned and almost cooked through. Remove and set aside.

4. Heat 1 teaspoon of oil and quickly fry the shallots until they are a little tender. Add to the meat that's set aside.

5. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil, and add the broccoli, carrot, garlic, salt and sugar. Fry for around 30 seconds. Add 1/2 cup of water and cover for 3 minutes until broccoli is tender but still crisp.

6. Return everything set aside to the frypan. Add the sauce ingredients and the cornflour mixture and stir until it thickens.

7. Serve on top of noodles of your choice.

Plain Sweet Waffles

A few years ago, I tasted my first waffle. What an explosion in my mouth! The feel of the hot mixed with the cold of icecream, and the sweet mixed with plainness... What a combination. Well last week, I bought myself a waffle machine for only $20. It shocked me just how easy they are to make. It came with 3 different kinds of waffles to make, all of which I intend on tasting.

- 1 1/2 cups plain flour                        
- 1/2 cup self raising flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup caster sugar
- 2 eggs, separated
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 100g butter, melted

1. Preheat your waffle machine for 10 minutes.

2. Sift the flours and baking powder together in a large bowl. Stir in sugar and combine well.

3. Combine the egg yolks with the milk and whisk until smooth.

4. To the dry ingredients, add the egg and milk mixture. Add the melted butter and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.

5. In a clean glass bowl, whisk egg whites until stiff peaks form Gently fold into the mixture in 2 batches.

6. When the waffle machine is ready and heated, pour 1/3 cup of your mixture onto the centre of the bottom plate. Close the lid and cook for 5 minutes.

7. Repeat with remaining batter.

8. Serve with a scoop of icecream ad a drizzle if your favourite topping.

vegetable curry

This was my first time using fenugreek seeds and mustard seeds. I had absolutely no idea what fenugreek seeds looked like. My mum thought they smelt a bit like celery, I thought they smelt a bit like curry. Cooking these seeds, it made me want to put sleeves on... they were popping out of my frypan left right and centre, pricking my arms with hotness. I found this recipe needed some salt added, and maybe some more pineapple juice and coconut milk. (or maybe I just cooked it a little longer than intended). I also added some broccoli to dish as well, as I'm not the biggest lover of cauliflower, but next time, I think I'll just use all cauliflower, it had a nice taste with the rest of the ingredients. Also, the recipe asked for 1 fresh red chili. Instead, I used a big pinch (maybe around 1/4 of a teaspoon) of chili powder, for my mum's taste buds.

- 1/2 a cauliflower                                          
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 heaped teaspoon of mustard seeds
- 1 heaped teaspoon of fenugreek seeds
- 1 heaped teaspoon of turmeric
- 1 small handful of curry leaves
- 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
- 2 cloves garlic
- 6 shallots
- 2 ripe tomatoes
- 1x400g can coconut milk
- 1x400g can chickpeas
- 227g canned pineapple chunks in juice


1. Slice the cauliflower in 1cm chunks. Pour the oil into a large frypan and quickly stir in the mustard and fenugreek seeds, turmeric, and curry leaves.

2. Pulse the peeled ginger and garlic and shallots in a food processor until smooth, then stir into the frypan as well. Roughly chop the tomatoes and add them, pour in the coconut milk, add the drained chickpeas, and pineapple chunks with the juice. Add the cauliflower and bring to the boil.

3. Once vegetables are tender, serve with rice. 

Left Over Salmon Patties

So last night I made poached salmon steaks (the recipe before this one), and as I can only eat a little bit, and dad has to be in the mood for fish as well, my mum decided to get creative. Using the left over salmon, she turned my poached salmon steaks into salmon patties, dad even enjoyed these. The thing is, the way my mum cooks stuff out of her head, there are no real measurements, so you will have to cook by taste.

- left over poached salmon, flaked

- potatoes                                                  
- 1 onion, peeled and chopped
- salt
- pepper
- oil for frying

1. Put your potatoes and chopped onion on to boil. Boil until the potato is tender.

2. While you potatoes are boiling, flake your salmon.

3. Once your potato is soft, mash the potato and onion together and leave it to cool. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Once cool, roll your salmon flakes together with the mashed potato into small patties.

5. Deep fry on both sides until golden. 

Poached Salmon Steak

This was my first attempt at cooking a fish, and I must say it is a lot easier than I thought it would be. I had absolutely no idea how to tell if it was cooked or not, so I made sure I followed the times in the recipe as well as I could have. This dish doesn't take long at all! Once you have your, I'll call it broth, even though it's not really, boiling, it only takes another 10 minutes until it's ready. I'm really not a lover of seafood, but I'm thinking to myself the more I keep trying it, maybe one day, just one day, I might come to love the stuff. I tasted the result of this recipe from the book Cook With Jamie (the one I got for Christmas), and I did like it. Sure I could only eat a little bit of it, but it was a lot nicer than I expected. I didn't even pull a face.

looks like quite a lot of greenery

For the poaching liquor:
- 2 carrots, peeled and sliced

- 1 fennel bulb, sliced                                      
- 1 onion, peeled and cut into eighths
- 2 sticks of celery, peeled and chopped
- 2 tomatoes, halved
- 4 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
- 2 bay leaves
- a few parsley stalks
- a small glass of white wine
- a glug of white wine vinegar (you just pour some in)
- a pinch of sea salt
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns

- 4x 200g salmon steaks, pinboned


1. Put all of your poaching liquor ingredients together in a large pot and fill it up with cold water. Bring this liquid to the boil.

2. Add the salmon steaks and turn the water right down. Simmer your salmon for 5 minutes.

3. After simmering your salmon for 5 minutes, turn the heat off and allow the steaks to rest in the liquid for another 5 minutes.

4. Drain off the poaching liquor and serve the salmon with the vegetables.

I made a quick salad to go with the salmon instead of serving  the vegetables with the dish.

Fail Chocolate Brownies

For a couple of weeks I had been craving chocolate brownies. With Santa leaving me a new cookbook by Jamie Oliver to work from, I thought I would attempt his recipe "Fifteen Chocolate Brownies". This recipe says you can add different things (if you like), the only thing I added was the nuts. I'm thinking either it was my oven (I need a new one, it doesn't really seal properly), or, with having less bulk ingredients, the mixture was too runny, maybe needing the brownies to be cooked longer. But, as this was a fail for me, it won't prevent me from posting it on here and trying it again another time.

- 250g unsalted butter                        
- 200g dark chocolate, broken up
- 150g dried sour cherries (optional)
- 150g chopped nuts (optional) (I used pecan nuts)
- 80g cocoa powder
- 65g plain flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 350g caster sugar
- 4 eggs
- zest of one orange (optional)
- 250ml creme fraiche (optional)

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius. Line a square baking tray.

2. Melt your chocolate and butter together over a pot of simmering water (this was the first time I've melted chocolate this way) until smooth. Add your cherries and nuts.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa, flour, baking powder, and sugar, then add it to the chocolate mixture. Stir together well. Beat in the eggs and mix until silky.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and cook for 25 minutes. The brownies should be springy on the outside but still gooey in the middle. Serve with a dollop of creme friache mixed with some orange zest.