Roti June 24, 2011

This is a pan cooked flat bread that goes nicely with curry.  I got the basic guide from watching this YouTube video, which I suggest you watch!

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This recipe makes 8 roti.

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Mix together 1 cup plain white flour, half a cup of water, about 2 tsp oil, a pinch of salt and if you like a pinch of turmeric, a pinch of cumin and a pinch of corriander.  Mix this together and knead it until it’s smooth (I use a spatula, so I can sort of knead it in the bowl without getting my hands sticky).  Set aside for a few minutes, then turn out onto a floured surface and cut it into 8 sections.

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Roll each section into a ball, coat well with flour and roll out until thin.  It should make a sort of side-plate size rough circle.  Put that into a dry frypan, and heat until you can see brown spots forming on the under side.  Flip the roti over and cook that side until brown spots form.  I then flip over and redo each side again for a minute or less, – sometimes they puff a bit, sometimes not.  Flip onto a plate and give a light brush with melted butter (I add some garlic to my melted butter).  Then cook the next roti and put it on the one you just made.  You can butter both sides or just one if you prefer.

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It’ll probably take about 15 mins to make all 8 (If I start when I put my rice cooker on for the rice, I finish when the rice does – which is 15 mins), so the bottom one will have cooled by the time you’re done, but if you time it right, you can enjoy the top ones with your curry while they are still warm (or you could put them in the oven on a lot temp to keep warm while you serve)

Easy Slow Cooker Curry June 24, 2011

I cheat with this and use a sachet of curry sauce.  Actually, I use two, and fill my slow cooker, which does us several meals (it freezes well).

I start off by putting 2 sachets worth of Passage to India Korma curry  in the slow cooker and turn it on to high to start warming.

Then I chop up half a butternut pumpkin into bite size pieces (maybe about 2-3 cups worth of chopped pumpkin),  and a sweet potato, and adding that and 500g diced beef to a frying pan, and cook that (no oil) until the meat has browned.  You could of course leave out the meat for a vegetarian meal.

Put the cooked stuff into the slow cooker, with a chopped zucchini, 2 chopped carrots, a tin of drained (and rinsed) chickpeas and a tin of drained (and rinsed) lentils.  You can add other veg if you like.  Don’t add any extra liquid, as the slow cooking will add moisture.

Leave that cooking for several hours until the pumpkin is soft.  I like to mix a can of coconut milk through once it’s cooked.  Serve on rice, with some roti

Purple Carrot Cakes June 24, 2011

There are such things as purple carrots!  Not easy to find in supermarkets, but if you manage to find some, they release their colour wonderfully in foods.  These cupcakes were made from a normal buttercake recipe, with a grated purple carrot added – and they turned a lovely blue colour (why blue, rather than purple, I’m not sure)

Shepherd’s Pie “Cupcakes” June 24, 2011

Make these cute little savoury cupcakes!  Just line a muffin cup with pastry, fill with your pie filling stuff, and top it with very well mashed potato, piped on with a large piping tip.  Sprinkle some dried herbs, or poppy seeds on top as “sprinkles”

You can put a few drops of food colouring in the mashed potato to colour it if you like.  I’ve added some purple carrot to the potato to make purple ones

Sneaky Vege Lasagne March 2, 2011

Ingredients:
Milk
Flour
500g mince
1 tin lentils, drained, rinsed
1 small onion, finely chopped
Finely sliced mushroom
1 zucchini, grated
2 carrots, grated
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tins crushed tomatoes
Parmesan cheese
Pasta Sheets (Home made or bought)
grated tasty cheese
herbs (Fresh if possible – eg basil, oregano, chives, parsley)
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 heaped tablespoon cornflour
1 heaped tablespoon gravy powder
Lasagne sheets

Method:
1). Brown the mince and onion, then add the garlic and mushroom. When the garlic has cooked, pour in the tomato, herbs, spices, carrot, lentils and zucchini and allow to simmer for about 15 mins. Mix together the cornflour and gravy powder with about half a cup of water, and pour this into the mince mixture, and stir until it thickens.
2). In another saucepan, add the milk – or use a few tablespoons of milk powder with water (I don’t know how much, maybe 4-5 cups?) to about 1/2c flour and stir well to make a white sauce. Bring to the boil to thicken. If it’s not thick enough, add more flour (mixed with a little water, then pour that in), or if it’s too thick, add more milk or water. Add a sprinkle of nutmeg, Salt and pepper, and Parmesan cheese to taste (About 3 tablespoons of powdered/dried stuff). When thickened, leave to cool slightly.
3). Get your lasagne dish (Any flat casserole dish or baking pan will do), and make a layer of meat sauce, then a layer of white sauce, then place your pasta sheets on top to form another layer. Repeat until you run out of ingredients, or your pan is full.
4). Make sure the final layer is a white sauce one. Cover with aluminium foil.
5). Place this into a hot oven to bake for about 45 mins. Remove the foil and scatter grated cheese on top, then return to the oven for about 5 mins to let the cheese melt (I normally turn the oven off and let the residual heat do it)

I like to put a baking tray under my Lasagne dish, to catch anything that overflows … the tray catches this and is easier to clean than the oven.

Banana & Choc Chip Muffins February 24, 2011

Ingredients:
2 bananas (past their prime)
1/2 cup raw sugar
dash of vanilla essence
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk (or coconut milk)
2 cups SR flour
Handful choc chips

Method:
1). Mash the bananas into the bowl, then stir in all the other ingredients.  For these I used half a block of cooking chocolate cut into fine bits, as that’s what I had on hand.  Spoon into muffin tins (or make in a loaf pan), and bake at 180ºC for about 15 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean.

yes, no butter in this recipe, the banana replaces it!  You could use coconut/soy/almond milk in place of regular milk for a dairy-free alternative

“Under the sea” bento February 24, 2011

This is a cute little kids school lunch I made today.

I started out by taking a spoonful of cream cheese in 2 separate containers, added a bit of food colouring, and spread it onto a halved slice of bread.  This forms the background.  The fish with pink scales was made with a boiled egg, placed into an egg mould and allowed to cool.  Then painted with pink (natural) food colouring.  The eye is a dot of cream cheese leftover from the background, with black sesame seeds as eyelashes.

Baby fish cut from carrot (by hand, a fish cutter would be handy)… “seaweed” is a cheese stick “stringer” cut in half and peeled open.  The starfish is a piece of bread spread with apricot jam and orange sprinkles.

The “octodogs” were something new I tried today, they get their name from hotdog octopus… and these are a skinless cocktail frank.  What you do is cut the bottom portion in half lengthways, then turn it on it’s side and cut again, so now there are 4 “legs”, then carefully cut between those (I did single layer, not all the way through, so I could make sure it was even) to make 8 legs.  Then simply put them in a pot of water, bring to the boil and watch their legs fan out  Allow them to cool before putting in the lunchbox.

They curl more the longer they are in the water, this shows the difference in just the time it takes to cut each one (the most flared went in first, the least flared was in shortest time)

Personally they don’t seem very appealing cold in a bento, but apparently kids love them… They are a bit cute, I admit, so I think I might make some hot ones one day just for fun…  maybe poke a piece of wild rice into where the eye should be?

Homemade cordials December 9, 2010

Lemon Cordial/Lemonaid (left)

Mix 1 cup water with 1/2 cup sugar in a saucepan.  Heat until the sugar dissolves.  Allow to cool, then mix this sugar syrup with 1 cup lemon juice.  This can be kept in the fridge and used as a cordial concentrate, or add 1 litre of water (or soda water)  to make it up all at once.

 

Lemon, Lime & Ginger Cordial (right)

Grate about 3cm worth of ginger  into a bowl (you don’t need to peel it), zest a lime then add both the zest and juice to the bowl.  Slice an additional lime and place that in the bowl.  Zest a lemon, then add it’s juice and zest to the bowl.  Pour in about 1/2-3/4 cup of sugar and 1 cup of boiling water to the bowl.  Cover and allow to cool, then place this in the fridge overnight.  Then strain and bottle the liquid.  You can return the grated bits back to the bowl and add more water, leaving it to soak for a few hours, to make a diluted drink from the left overs too.

 

More recipes:

Ginger Cordials

• http://gourmettraveller.com.au/mango_ginger_and_lemongrass_cordial.htm
• http://coconutraita.blogspot.com/2010/09/pink-ginger-cordial.html
• http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/15619/ginger+cordial
• http://domesticali.typepad.com/domesticali/2010/06/pink-ginger-cordial.html
• http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/strawberry-ginger-and-mint-sekanjabin/Detail.aspx

Citrus Cordials

• http://www.towards-sustainability.com/2008/07/homemade-fruit-cordials-nablopomo-10.html
• http://aussieslivingsimply.com.au/forum/19-homecooked-food-recipe-request/296666-lemon-barley-cordial

Other Cordials

• http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/15889/passionfruit+cordial
• http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/17061/passionfruit+cordial
• http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/16243/raspberry+cordial

Spicy Sekanjabin December 9, 2010

(Sekanjabin is a vinegar-based cordial)

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
cinnamon sticks
whole cloves
star anise

Method:
Bring all to a gentle simmer for 10 minutes. Leave to cool and infuse overnight then strain off the spices and bottle.

Kashmiri Korma Curry Spice Mix December 8, 2010

Ingredients:
1 tsp Turmeric
10 cardamon pods
1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon
8 Black peppercorns
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp ground Cumin
2 tsp Ground Corriander
1 tsp dried Chilli flakes (optional)
1tb Ground paprika
1tb chopped fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic

Method:
Break open the cardamon pods to get the seeds out. You could buy the seeds, but I’m not sure how much you’d need as equivalent (maybe a teaspoon worth?). The seeds give a greater aroma and flavour than the powder does…. so use the seeds if you can. Then crush all the spices together in a mortar and pestle. You can keep this mixture in a spice jar and use all of it at once, or smaller amounts if needed. When you go to use it, fry it off with a little oil and the ginger and garlic.

Berry “Icecream” (Dairy free) December 7, 2010

Cut about 4 bananas into chunks and blend in a food processor until smooth. Put in a freezer-proof container and freeze until just frozen. Remove from the container and blend again to make a creamy frozen icecream-like consistency. You can repeat for another freeze-blend step if you like.

Divide the frozen/blended mixture in half, and add about a handful of frozen blueberries to one batch and a handful of frozen raspberries to the other

Blend each one separately to incorporate the berries, then spoon into the container again.  You can swirl the 2 flavours together.  Freeze again, or serve.

Rainbow Cupcakes December 7, 2010

Start off by taking any normal cakemix, and dividing it into a few separate bowls.  Add some food colouring to each separate bowl.  You can use natural colouring, but it won’t be vibrant

Spoon about a teaspoonful or less of each colour into the patty pans so you have layers of colour…   then bake.  They can look incredibly cool like this before you even do anything else to them!

When you do them in see-through patty pans (or take off the metal outer one) you can see the layers.

To do multi-coloured piping, all you do is make 4 colours of frosting, and spoon each one into the 4 corners of a piping bag (not that a cone has corners, but you know what I mean)… there will be some blending, but try to keep the colours as separate as you can.

Then as you pipe it on, the colours come out as separate swirls

Spring Rolls August 4, 2010

Ingredients:
500g pork mince
1/4 cabbage
3 good size carrots
handful of bean vermicelli
handful of bamboo shoot slices (optional)
handful of dried shitake mushrooms (optional)
about 2 tb finely chopped fresh ginger (optional)
handful chopped leek or spring onions (optional)

Spring roll wrappers (I find the ones from Asian grocers to be far better than the pampas ones you get in the supermarket)
Sauce:
1 egg, beaten
about 2tb soy sauce
about 2tb oyster sauce
about 1/4 tsp cumin (optional)
about 1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice
a pinch of mace (optional)
dash (1/8 cup maybe) water

Method:
Brown off the mince in a dry frypan (I always fry mince dry, since it loses oil anyway and that’s enough to stop it sticking in my non-stick pan)… Soak the mushrooms and vermicelli in boiling water to soften.  Add the leek/onion and ginger to the mince and cook them off….  Finely chop (I use a food processor) the carrot, mushrooms, bamboo and cabbage.  Add the chopped veg to the pan and cook that until they start softening…

Chop the the vermicelli into small pieces and mix that through.  Mix the sauce ingredients together and pour that over (the egg should thicken things up), then roll the spring rolls up…

Put a heaped tablespoon in the corner of the sheet

Start to roll it up until you reach the centre

Fold one side over, then fold the other side over

Then roll almost to the end, wet the last point of the spring roll paper, and continue rolling it up.  The water sticks the spring roll closed.

(You can make mini spring rolls by cutting the sheet in half, but I find it more fiddly)

 

You can  just cook them in the oven as is….  but the outer goes a bit crispy… you can brush them with oil and oven cook them, but I have found the tastiest way is to shallow fry them in very hot oil for a second until the pastry outer starts to darken and bubble, then put them on paper towels to absorb excess oil and put them in the oven to finish off cooking.

I like them with chilli plum sauce.  To make that, mix equal parts chilli sauce and plum jam (you can microwave the jam to make it mix through well).  You can make a batch of this up and keep it in the fridge.

Curry Puffs February 21, 2010

Ingredients:
500g mince
1 tin lentils
1 small onion
carrot, pumpkin, sweet potato, broccoli
Curry powder, Cumin, Cardamon
Salt & pepper
Pastry

method:
Brown the mince and finely chopped onion. Drain off remaining fat/oil. Drain and rinse the lentils, then squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Chop enough vegies to make about 2 cups worth, and steam these until cooked. Mix all the ingredients together. Season with spices to taste – I never measure things, but I try 1tb curry powder, 1/2 tsp cardamon and about 1tsp cumin, and add more if you need it. Cut pastry sheets into 9 squares, put a spoonful of mixture into the centre and fold into a triangle. Pinch the seams closed. Bake at 200ºC for about 15 mins.

Meatball Patties February 21, 2010

I find a flatter meatball is easier to eat… so I make these as a sort of golfball size meatball and then flatten it a bit.

Ingredients:
500g mince
1 carrot, grated
1 small zucchini, grated
1 small onion, diced (optional)
1 tin lentils
1 large egg
Spices to taste
1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Method:
Drain and rinse the lentils, and press them into the colander to squeeze out extra moisture. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together. Form into balls/patties and place on a lightly sprayed oven tray. Bake at 180ºC for 15 mins, then flip them and bake for a further 15 mins.

Sultana & coconut cakes February 13, 2010

Ingredients:
1 can coconut cream
1 handful of sultanas
2 eggs
2 cups SR flour

Method:
Soak the sultanas in the coconut cream overnight to plump up the sultanas. Then mix all of the ingredients together (you may have to add a little water if the mixture is too dry). You can add sugar and spices (or dessicated coconut if you want a stronger coconut taste). Spoon into muffin tins and bake at 180ºC for 20 mins.

Apple & Blueberry Tarts November 29, 2009

These are really simple, look cute and are delicious.  They also make great lunchbox snacks.

Ingredients:
3 apples
handful of frozen blueberries
2 tb raw sugar
1 tb cornflour
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice

Method:
Peel and core the apples, and chop into small pieces.  Put them in a saucepan with enough water to cover them by about 1cm, and simmer until the apples are soft.  There should be only a small amount of water left at this point.

Roughly mash the apples to remove most of the lumps.  Then mix the cornflour with a little water and add this to the pot, over heat, until the mixture thickens.  Add the blueberries and sugar.  Mix well and the blueberries should squash a bit and turn the apple mixture into a purple colour while still leaving lots of whole blueberries (you could mash them together if you don’t want to have whole blueberries)

Set aside to cool.

Lay out sheets of shortcrust pastry, and cut them out with a scone cutter.  Grease muffin tins and lay a pastry circle into each one, to make a tart case.  I used these silicone mini tart cases to get that wavy  tart shape. Spoon about a tablespoon of mixture into each one.

I like to cut a small star or other shape from the scraps of pastry, it’s less fiddly than making a full lid, and seems to give them a nice finished look (and makes them stackable!)  You can brush this with milk, but it’s not necessary.

Bake for around 15-20 mins at 200ºC.  Set on a wire rack to cool, or eat while still warm.  Makes about 24 small tarts.

Berry Cheesecakes November 29, 2009

YUM!

I used cherries for the ones pictured, but any berry should work …. I’ve also done strawberries… I’m going to try blueberries next!…  I made these as individual serves in foil muffin cases, but you can make it as a whole cheesecake.

Ingredients:

1 pack of defrosted frozen berries (optional)
1 tin berries
Gelatine
Cheesecake makings (Recipe to come)

 

Method:
1). I used crushed butternut snaps as the biscuit base for the cheesecake, because it makes a really yummy base, and I used I used the pokey-stick from a mortar and pestle (is it the pestle? or the mortar?) to push it all down into the muffin cases… It was a bit fiddly… but I liked the look of them.

2). Drain the tin of berries (keeping the juice), and use about half of the berries, squeeze out as much liquid as you can, mashing them a bit, and mix these in with the cheesecake mixture. Spoon that on top of the biscuit base. Put that in the fridge to set.

3).  Use the tinned juice to make jelly, using gelatine according to the instructions on the pack, but add a bit extra gelatine so it sets firm…When making the cherry ones I added a few drops of black and red food colouring to give it that dark cherry look. Carefully pour the jelly ontop of the cheesecake (the coldness of the cheesecake will make it set very quickly, and if you don’t pour carefully it can make craters in the cheesecake), and place the whole berries ontop to decorate – either several like the top picture, or one in the centre like below.

If you don’t want to use the frozen berries on top, I guess you could puree the rest of the tinned berries and mix that through the jelly and just have that as the topping.

For the record….. frozen berries have a better taste and texture to tinned ones. I imagine most people would find that an obvious conclusion, but I wasn’t sure when I made the first batch, so I tried both…. the tinned is good for the syrup used to make the jelly, but the actual berries are mushier and don’t look or taste quite as nice as the frozen (which don’t taste or look as nice as fresh – but fresh isn’t always an option)… so use the frozen ones to decorate, and the tinned to mix through the cheesecake.

Apple & Cinnamon Cakes November 29, 2009

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (approx) – room temperature
1/2 cup raw sugar
Pinch each of cinnamon, cloves and mixed spice
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 cups SR flour
5 apples (sweet ones)
1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tb raw sugar mixed to dust

Method:
1). Peel, core and finely chop 2 of the apples, put them in a saucepan with a little water and spices, and simmer until the apple is soft. Drain off the liquid.
2). Beat butter and sugar, add 1 egg, beat well then add the other egg, mix in half the milk and flour, beat well then add remaining milk and flour. Beat until pale and creamy.
3).  Spoon a a little of the mixture into muffin tins, about 1/4 fill them. Place a few pieces of cooked apple onto this, then top with more cake mixture.

4). Peel, core and slice the remaining apples to make enough apple slices to top each cake. Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar ontop.

5).  Bake in a preheated 180ºC oven for 10 – 15 mins until golden on top.

Apple Tarts November 29, 2009

These are really simple but look cute and are yummy.  They also make great lunchbox snacks.

Ingredients:
5 large apples
1 tb cornflour
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice

Method:
Peel and core the apples, and chop into small pieces.  Put them in a saucepan with enough water to cover them by about 1cm, and simmer until the apples are soft.  There should be only a small amount of water left at this point.

Roughly mash the apples to remove most of the lumps.  Then mix the cornflour with a little water and add this to the pot, over heat, until the mixture thickens.

You may add sugar to this mixture if you like, but I have found if you use sweet apples, it isn’t needed.

Set aside to cool.

Lay out sheets of shortcrust pastry, and cut them out with a scone cutter to get that wavy edge.  Grease muffin tins and lay a pastry circle into each one, to make a tart case.  Spoon about a tablespoon of mixture into each one.

I like to cut a small star or other shape from the scraps of pastry, it’s less fiddly than making a full lid, and seems to give them a nice finished look.  You can brush this with milk, but it’s not necessary.

Bake for around 15-20 mins at 200ºC.  Set on a wire rack to cool, or eat while still warm.

Honeycomb Rocky Road September 7, 2009

Not a recipe as such… but to make these, just melt chocolate (I made 2 separate lots in milk and white chocolate)….  then pour a layer about .5cm thick onto a tray (you might want to use non-stick baking paper or a silicone sheet)…. use about 1/3 of the amount of choc you have, then top with marshmallows – pretty close togther.  I used one pack of pink & white marshmallows…. the whites went into the white choc one and the pink ones in the milk chocolate one.  Then crush some honeycomb chocolate bar (I used “violet crumble”) and sprinkle between the gaps in the marshmallows.  Then top with the rest of the melted chocolate and sprinkle more honeycomb on top.  Allow to set then cut into chunks with a heated knife.

Cannelloni September 6, 2009

Ingredients:
1 small onion, very finely chopped
1 tin crushed tomatoes
1 tb mixed herbs
1 clove garlic
1 jar pasta sauce
1 carrot, grated
1 small zuccini, grated
500g mince
cannelloni tubes
Grated cheese (optional)

Method:
Fry onion and mince until cooked. Add garlic and fry until it starts to brown.  Remove from heat and add the grated veg, herbs and enough of the pasta sauce to make the mixture moist

Fill the cannelloni shells with the mince mixture. Pour a layer of the tinned tomato into an oven proof dish, lay the cannelloni ontop of this, and top with remaining pasta sauce (adding some of the tinned tomato if needed.  Cover with aluminium foil and. Bake for about 25-30 mins, until the canelloni shells have softened.  Top with grated cheese, and return to oven without the foil, for an additional 5 mins until the cheese melts.

Gift idea – Cookie Mix in a Jar August 29, 2009

• http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2009/08/mix-things-up.html
• http://myfivemen.blogspot.com/2008/03/cookies-in-jar-recipe.html
• http://www.akronohiomoms.com/archives/773
• http://www.squawkfox.com/2008/12/02/holiday-gifts-8-homemade-gifts-in-a-jar-with-free-printable-gift-tags/
• http://hallmarkladybugs.blogspot.com/2008/12/cookie-mix-in-jar-easy-economic-and.html
• http://www.dominosugar.com/content/158/baking_gift_ideas.aspx

Mint Icecream August 12, 2009

http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/006066mint_chocolate_chip_ice_cream.php

Berry Muffins/Cupcakes August 10, 2009

(I divide the batch in half and do half raspberry and half blueberry.)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (approx) – room temperature
1/2 cup raw sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 cups wholemeal SR flour
handful of berries

Method:
Beat butter and sugar, add 1 egg, beat well then add the other egg, mix in half the milk and flour, beat well then add remaining milk and flour. Beat until pale and creamy.  Add the berries and stir to mix them in.  Spoon into muffin tins.   Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 10 – 15 mins until golden on top.  Best eaten while still warm