20111129 Meatballs in Curry Sauce

(SOURCE: Bill Granger - Relax)

I got this wonderful cookbook, Bill Granger's Relax, for my birthday - thanks Heather! His recipes are so easy to follow, so I couldn't help but try one of them right away. Tonight I made half the meatballs but the same amount of sauce. I served my meatballs with some steamed basmati rice, and wish I had some roasted cashew nuts to go with them. As my husband was late from work and we had to dash out, I simply made him a meatball ciabatta sandwich to go - the fragrant sauce and the fresh and crusty ciabatta, yummmm. Next time I may just make those meatballs alone as finger food at parties!

INGREDIENTS
For the meatballs - 
300g minced pork
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small egg, lightly beaten
25g breadcrumbs
1/2 red chilli pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the curry sauce -
3 tbsp curry paste
2 tsp freshly grated ginger
4 tomatoes, finely chopped
200ml coconut milk
200ml chicken stock
lemon juice and brown sugar, to taste

METHOD
1. Heat the oven to 220 degree C.
2. In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients for the meatball. Then make about 20 little meatballs. Grease a roast pan with some olive oil (about 1/2 tbsp) and toss the meatballs in. Cook the meatballs in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.
3. In the meantime, cook the curry paste and ginger over high heat until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes. Then add the coconut milk and stock. Bring it to the boil, and then let it simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes.
4. Throw the meatballs into the curry sauce and let it simmer for another 20 minutes. Season with lemon juice and brown sugar, and scatter with roughly chopped coriander leaves.

20111123 Pear and Honey Muffins

(SOURCE: Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson - Pear and Ginger Muffins)

What's best to do when you wake up at 4am? BAKE! Nothing says a good morning better than some warm breakfast muffins. I had had a flu for the last couple of days, and have been living on hot tea with honey. So this morning I wanted some warm muffins served with honey. And looking at what I have in the kitchen, I figured I could simply make pear and honey muffins. They were SO GOOD, especially when they are still a little warm. I used a very ripe pear so the muffins are very fragrant. As the muffins are very sweet already, don't smear it with any more honey - unless you have a very big sweet tooth, of course. Perfect muffins for this misty fall morning.

INGREDIENTS
250g flour
2 tsp baking powder
150g caster sugar
75g brown sugar, plus 1/2 tsp per muffin for sprinkling
1tsp ground ginger
142ml sour cream
125ml vegetable oil
1 tbsp honey
2 eggs
1 large pear (about 300g), peeled, cored, and cut into 5mm dice

METHOD
1. Heat the oven to 200 degree C, and line muffin tin with 12 muffin cases.
2. In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, caster sugar, brown sugar, and ground ginger).
3. In a measuring jug, whisk together the sour cream, oil, honey and eggs. Then fold into the dry ingredients.
4. Mix in the diced pear, and divide the batter evenly between the muffin cases.
5. Sprinkle each one with 1/2 tsp of brown sugar and bake for 20 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack.

20111113 Cake decorating workshop

My sister in law always wanted to learn how to decorate a cake with marzipan and how to make roses with marzipan. So this year I decided to take her to a cake decorating workshop as her birthday present, and she LOVED IT!

I was not particularly interested in marzipan cake, but enjoyed the workshop nonetheless. It's like playing play-doh for 3.5 hours, and the best part is, I could eat what I crafted. So here is my fall cake with pumpkins and porcupines.

My sister in law did an absolutely amazing job with those marzipan roses on her oilily cake. Seriously, you can't tell that this was her very first time decorating a cake with marzipan.

Okay I am still not crazy about marzipan, but have to admit that I am tempted to decorate cupcakes with marzipan just for the fun of it. Now I just need to find the audience to eat them.

20111109 Zoervleis

(SOURCE: AH.nl - Stap-voor-stap zoervleis volgens Robin Berben)

As I am not feeling 100% and it is getting cold, I wanted to make something warm and meaty tonight. I never had or even heard of zoervleis (literal translation: sour meat) before. It is a traditional dish from Maastricht - which is a stew of beef with onions, vinegar, ontbijtkoek, and apple (or pear) syrup. It is usually served with apple sauce, and (home-made) fries with mayo. Another way is to pour the zoervleis all over your fries, and serve it with a simply green salad. As I was feeling lazy, I simply served this with boiled potatoes and steamed broccoli. This recipe was picked as the "best recipe of traditional Dutch dish", but it just didn't work for me. I didn't like the sweet and sour taste at all, as in my opinion beef stew should always be hearty. Maybe I didn't cook it right, but no more zoervleis in my kitchen for sure!

INGREDIENTS
700g stew beef, cut into 3cm blocks
300ml red wine vinegar
3 bay leaves
3 cloves
butter
3 medium onions, cut into chunks
3 slices of ontbijtkoek (Dutch spiced cake), broken into crumbs
3 tbsp appelstroop (apple syrup)

METHOD
1. Add 300ml of water, vinegar, cloves, and bay leaves to a large bowl. Add beef, and season with salt and pepper. Let it marinate for at least 24 hours in the fridge.
2. Remove beef from the bowl and dab dry. Remember to save the marinade for later.
3. In a Dutch oven, brown the onions with some butter. Remove and set aside.
4. Brown the beef, then add the onions and marinade. Bring it to the boil, and let it simmer over low heat for 2 to 3 hours. Stir occasionally.
5. When the beef is done, add the ontbijtkoek crumbs to thicken the sauce. Season with appelstroop, and salt and pepper to taste.

20111105 Peanut Butter Cake Bars

(SOURCE: Taste of Home - Peanut Butter Cake Bars)

For some reasons, I really wanted to bake these days but am not really up to eating loads of baked goods. As my friend loves peanut butter cookies, I looked for peanut butter baked good recipes so I can satisfy my need to bake and hopefully her stomach. I read a lot of reviews saying peanut butter cakes tend to be a little dry, but this recipe got a lot of good reviews so I gave it a go. As I could only find mixed chocolate chips here and couldn't be bothered to pick out the milk chocolate ones, I simply threw in 200g of a mix of white/milk/dark chocolate chips, instead of 300g of milk ones. The cake bars were finished by my friend and family yesterday - all family members ate 2 to 3 bars yesterday, so they bars must be okay. I wonder if I could replace the chocolate chips with Smarties or peanut M&M's next time...

INGREDIENTS
150g butter, softened
2/3 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
4 eggs
2tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
200g mixed chocolate chips

METHOD
1. Heat the oven to 175 degree C. Grease a 13x9 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Then gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Spread the mixture into the baking pan. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack, then cut into bars.

20111104 Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

(SOURCE: Baking Bites - Halloween Oreo Cheesecakes)

Though I love cheesecakes, I just can't seem to make them right and they always look awful. Argh! One of the biggest challenges is to know when it is done. For muffins and cakes, you can test if they are done by inserting a toothpick in the middle. But how do you know when cheesecake is "set"? I think I have overbaked these mini cheesecakes. They still tasted alright and my husband liked them - there are Oreo cookies in them, so what not to like? But they were just not cheesecake-y enough for me, as my cheesecake craving was still there after eating two of them. One tip: make sure you have some spare Oreo cookies in case you have enough batter left to make more mini cheesecakes.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup sugar
450g cream cheese, room temperature
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups chopped Oreo cookies
16-20 whole Oreo cookies

METHOD
1. Heat the oven to 175 degree C. Line 16 to 20 muffin cups with paper liners, and place one Oreo in the bottom of each muffin cup.
2. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, cream cheese, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract until very smooth. Then blend in flour, and lastly stir in the chopped Oreo cookies.
3. Top each muffin cup with 1/4 cup cheesecake batter. Bake for 16-19 minutes, until cheesecakes are set. Cool in pan.
4. Chill cheesecakes for at least 2 hours before serving.

20111103 Chicken with Tomatoes and Courgettes

(SOURCE: Simple Daily Recipes - Chicken with Tomatoes and Zucchini)

This was a refreshing dish. Next time I may add some roughly chopped fresh basil leaves to the tomato sauce to give it more fragrant. There was plenty of sauce, so we simply used some fresh ciabatta bread to soak up all the sauce and clean our plate.

INGREDIENTS
For the tomato sauce -
800g can whole tomatoes
1/2 small yellow onion, diced
1/4 large red bell pepper, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dried oregano
For the veggie and chicken-
1 large courgette, sliced lengthwise, 1/2 inch slices
remaining 3/4 bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch slices
grated cheese
olive oil
salt & freshly ground black pepper
2 chicken breasts, cut into 8 evenly sized strips
slices of bacon

METHOD
1. To make the tomato sauce. Heat olive oil in a medium pan over medium heat, and cook the onion and bell pepper until soften. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and dried spices, and bring to a boil. Cover with lid and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. While the sauce is simmering, prepare the vegetables and chicken. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray. Heat the oven to 220 degree C.
3. Toss the courgette and bell pepper slices with a little olive oil, and then spread evenly in the dish. Season with salt and pepper, and cover them with a layer of grated cheese.
4. Lay the chicken strips across the courgette, then lay a piece of bacon over each chicken strip. Bake for 20 minutes.
5. The sauce should be done when the casserole is baking in the oven. Remove the sauce from the heat, and then puree the sauce with an immersion blender until smooth.
6. Pour sauce all over the casserole, covering everything. Then bake in the oven for another 20 minutes.

20111102 Gingery Catfish

Another home alone evening when I indulged myself with fish - yup, all 300g of white catfish for me! As usual, I didn't want to cook up a storm for just myself, so I simply marinated and fried the catfish. The freshly grated ginger did wonders and the fish was so delicious. I just served them with some steamed green beans and basmati rice, and it was a very satisfying dinner for one!

INGREDIENTS
300g white catfish, dabbed dry and cut into large pieces
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
sea salt
white pepper

METHOD 
1. In a small bowl, mix the ginger, garlic, salt, and white pepper. Rub the gingery mixture all over the fish and let it stand for 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Heat some olive oil in a pan over high heat, and fry the catfish for 8 to 10 minutes, turning occasionally.