Category: Recipes

#Balsamic #beetroots, brown rice and #lentil salad

Discovered the concept of using 90 second microwave brown rice as an addition to salads!

It’s a great way to add some healthy carbs for a delicious lunch or as a side.

This combination of balsamic, beetroot, onions, lentils and walnuts with a good dollop or two of lemony yoghurt dressing is very delicious.

Serve it warm or cold.

Ingredients:

Pack of 4 pre-cooked fresh baby beetroots (available in supermarkets in Australia)

1 can brown lentils

250g 90 second microwave brown rice

1/2 red onion sliced thinly

1/2 cup copped continental parsley

1/2 cup walnuts

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 cup plain Greek yoghurt

Juice of half a lemon

Method:

1. Cut beetroot into wedges, heat oil in non-stick pan, cook beetroot for 2-3 minutes, add vinegar and sugar and cook another 2-3 minutes until vinegar evaporates. Remove from heat.

2. Slice onions, chop parsley, squeeze lemon juice. Drain lentils. Mix yoghurt with pinch of salt and lemon juice.

3. Toast walnuts in a non-stick pan..be careful not to burn.

4. Cook 90 second brown rice

5. Put warm rice into a salad bowl, add drained lentils, onions, beetroot, parsley. Mix gently. Then top with toasted walnuts.

6. Dress salad with yoghurt lemon dressing.

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Bali Breakfast rice pancake #yellowflowercafe

This was a beautiful, light wheat free breakfast rice pancake enjoyed at one of our favourite breakfast spots in Bali, Yellow Cafe 2019 Best “blooming breakfast in Penestanan village in Ubud.

The homemade palm nectar and freshly grated coconut and bananas and berries are a sensational combination.

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Black bean loaded #cabbage steaks

We’ve now instituted Meat-free Mondays at home, going all veg without being vegan.

These cabbage steaks served with a tangy fresh green salad and avocado were a recent hit.

I just used the drained black beans straight from the can, but this would be great topped with Tequila Black bean salsa

Ingredients :

Half a cabbage with the core intact

1 can black beans (or 1.5 cups Tequila black bean salsa)

grated Cheddar cheese 250g or so

1 avocado

Lime juice

Salt

Olive oil

Paprika

Coriander for garnish

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius

Thickly slice cabbage retaining core to hold leaves together

Place cabbage steaks on parchment lined oven pan

Sprinkle with paprika and salt, drizzle olive oil lightly over steaks

Roast in oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown

Remove steaks from oven, top with black beans or Tequila black bean salsa and cheese

Put back into oven and bake until cheese is melted

Serve with chopped avocado sprinkled with lime juice and a green salad. I put jalapeños in the side salad to add a touch more Mexican,

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Hokkien Har Mee Laksa Bowls #harmee #laksa

This version of the famous Hokkien Har Mee, spicy Malaysian prawn and pork soup, was inspired by our daughter’s recent visit to have Laksa at Abel’s Komi Tiam in Canberra.

Stuck here in Sydney, with a couple of pork short ribs in the freezer, I googled around for a recipe to use the ribs and come close to an almost irreplaceable Abel’s Mum’s Laksa experience.

I read with interest about all the different versions of street hawker soups …which brought back great memories of our trip to Malaysia many moons ago.

Night market at Langkawi Island in Malaysia

The solution came forward in the form of a combination of recipes and my decision to just buy a good ready-made curry paste to start off the process. I bought this and other ingredients at a new Asian supermarket Summit at Bondi Junction

The great thing about this recipe is that it’s easy to make and you can pre-prepare most of it and just repeat and assemble at the end.

Ingredients for Hokkien Har Mee

The other inspiration was this article in The Guardian Use your Noodle By Yottam Ottolenghi

The end result, somewhere between a laksa and a har Mee was just the soupy Asian fix we were looking for, and I got to use up the pork short ribs!

This recipe will serve 3-4 people.

Ingredients:

  • 500-750g pork Asian style short cut ribs (ask your butcher)
  • 8-10 green prawns with heads and shells intact
  • 180g curry laksa paste (or closest you can get)
  • 50g of rock sugar chunks
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 litres of water
  • 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
  • 500g yellow Hokkien noodles
  • 350g or thereabouts of rice vermicelli noodles
  • 1 bunch water spinach or Asian greens of your choice eg bok choy
  • 2-4 hard boiled eggs
  • 3-6 tofu puffs
  • Bean sprouts
  • Asian crispy fried shallots
  • Leaves of half a bunch of Vietnamese mint (totally optional but great if you can get it. It’s not called Laksa leaf for nothing)
  • Finely chopped coriander, mint or vietnamese mint for garnish.

Method:

1. Cut pork ribs into single pieces in between the ribs, set aside

Cut pork into single ribs

2. Peel and remove veins from prawns, reserving heads and shells.

Don’t forget to keep prawn heads and shells

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large stock pot or casserole, add half the curry paste (reserve the rest for later). Stir fry curry paste until dark and fragrant, add prawn heads and shells (not the prawns!). Stir fry until prawn heads turn pink.

Add in prawns after frying half the curry paste

4. Add pork ribs, rock sugar and salt and cook turning until ribs are covered in curry paste and meat is sealed.

Add pork ribs to prawn and curry paste mixture.

5. Pour in all the water if you can and bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer for 1.5 hours, checking from time to time to skim off impurities and oil from pork ribs. Check to see park is fall of the bone tender, add more water along the way to ensure you have enough soup for all your diners. (End result should be about 2 litres of delicious soup stock.)

Skim stock to remove impurities along the way

6. After about an hour, hard boil your eggs, blanch your green vegees and set aside, blanch Hokkien noodles and vermicelli noodles, chop herbs, wash bean sprouts …so you have all your ingredients ready to go.

Blanch greens until just tender

7. After an hour and a half of simmering…..Strain soup stock into a large bowl through a fine sieve or strainer. Remove pork ribs from sieve and set aside to cool in a bowl.

8. I then strained the stock one more time through a fine sieve, but that’s not totally necessary.

9. Clean stockpot or casserole dish. Pour stock back into the pot and place on stove ready to heat up and pour into your bowls.

10. In a small non-stick pan, add the other 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, heat, then add all the rest of the curry paste. Once the curry paste is dark and fragrant and the oil is separating from it, place half of it into a small sambal dish. Add the prawns to the remaining paste and oil in the pan and fry until prawns turn pink and paste is nicely coating the prawns.

11. Heat the soup stock until simmering and add vietnamese mint leaves, tofu puffs to warm up….Quickly reheat ingredients in microwave if needed, an assemble bowls.

Reheating stock with laksa leaf and tofu puffs

12. In large soup serving bowls, arrange your ingredients starting with equal amounts of Hokkien and vermicelli noodles sitting side by side, top with warmed pork, green, prawns, bean sprouts, heated up tofu puffs and halved boiled eggs.

Place ingredients on bed of noodles

13. Remove vietnamese leaves from stock if using, then ladle soup over bowls until just under the brim of ingredients.

Soup poured over ingredients and garnished before serving

13. Sprinkle with herbs and crispy shallots and serve piping hot with the sambal on the side for those who want an extra chilli kick.

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New Summit for #Asian ingredients #eastgate #bondijunction

Discovered this new Asian supermarket called Summit in EastGate Shopping Centre at Bondi Junction today. Could have spent hours browsing the colourful aisles and fridges packed with intriguing ingredients.

Ingredients for all sorts of Asian cuisines including Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian, Indian and Japanese!

Bought everything I needed for my Hokkien Har Mee/Laksa inspired bowls for dinner tonight.

Will be going back for a planned exploration excursion!!

Here are some pics:

Ingredients for Laksa bowls
Tempted to buy this bag of Korean crackers
Juice heaven!
Asian snacks galore
Ready made authentic pastes and spices
Didn’t have time to interpret products in
this aisle!

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Coconut Chilli Prawn Rolls

These coconut chilli prawn rolls are so quick and easy to make…but are delicious and impressive as a starter or canapé. Beats making normal spring rolls.

Paired with a citrus lime Mayo dipping sauce, they bring together the best of coconut coated prawns and garlic chilli prawns all in one neat wrapping.

You could easily change the flavours and textures by using other spices to the prawns.

Ingredients:

  • 12 green prawns, shelled amd deveined with tail left on
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 red chilli
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • Toasted coconut flakes or toasted desiccated coconut
  • Oil for deep frying
  • 6 square sheets spring roll pastry
  • 1 tablespoon flour or cornflour
  • 2-3 teaspoons water
  • 3 tablespoons whole egg mayonaise
  • Juice of half a lime

Method:

1, Peel and devein green prawns, keeping tails intact

2. Smash up garlic, chilli with salt in a mortar and pestle to form a paste

3. Marinate prawns with paste, can put into fridge for an hour or two if you have time

4. Defrost spring roll pastry according to packet instructions. Make flour glue by mixing flour with water in a small bowl.

5. Take one sheet of spring roll pastry, slice in half, corner to corner, diagonally, to make 2 even triangles.

6. Turn one half of pastry so long edge perpendicular to board, then place prawn with just the tail hanging out on sheet as close to you as possible that it will fit.

7. Sprinkle prawn with toasted coconut flakes or desiccated coconut. (If using desiccated coconut, toast in pan first and cool before adding.)

8. Fold over triangular end of pastry, roll up prawn in rest of pastry, and secure with flour glue.

9. Keep rolls in fridge until you are ready to deep fry and serve.

10. Deep fry until pastry is golden brown for 2-3 minutes. Drain on paper towel.

11. For citrus mayonaise mix 3 tablespoons of mayonaise with the juice of half a lime and mix well until lime juice is integrated with mayonaise to make a silky dipping sauce.

Coconut Chilli Prawn Rolls

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