Chicken Cashew nuts

One of the most popular dish that customer ordered when dinning out at Thai restaurants.. Chicken Cashew nuts .. the way they cooked in restaurant may be different depending on how the chef modified recipes.. This is the traditional home coking style with deep fried crispy dried chilli etc.. this dish is a dried stir fried dish, not a lots of gravy.. The flavour should soaking into the meats while cooking.. Of course it goes perfectly well with steamed Thai jasmine rice.. Kin kao ka 

Ingredients

200 g chicken meat (breast or thigh), cut into bite size

1 handful of roasted cashew nuts 

1/4 cup of onions, cut into small squares

1/2 cup of red or green capsicum, cut into small squares 

1/4 cup of sliced canned water chestnut, drained

1/4 cup whole babycorn

A handful of spring onions cut into 1 inch pieces

2-3 tbs self raising flour

Cooking oil

1 - 2 tbs Sweet chilli paste

3 pods of dried chilli, seeded, chopped into small pieces

1 tbs fish sauce

1 tbs oyster sauce

1/2 tbs palm sugar

1 tbs corn flour for thickening 

3-4 tbs water

Methods

Add a bit of oil in the wok at low to medium heat, add chopped dried chilli, quickly fry them for few seconds until changing colour but not burn. Take it out and set aside.

Coat chicken pieces lightly with self raising flour.

In the wok with plenty of oil (medium heat), fry chicken until cooked then take them out, set aside.

In the same wok, quickly cook vegies (except spring onions) in the hot oil, just to change colour ~ 1-2 mins, take the vegies out, set aside.

Drain the oil out, there will be just enough to coat the surface, medium heat, add sweet chilli paste, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, water & flour. Quickly mix them well together until sauce getting thicken. 

Add the chicken, vegies, spring onions, dried chilli and cashew nuts, stir them into the sauce quickly. 

Put on plate, serve with steamed rice.

Shepherd's pie

Some calls it Cottage pie, some call it Shepherd's pie.. whatever you prefer to call it.. originally I think they used minced lamb not beef but I have bad allergy to lamb, so I used lean minced beef instead.. to make pattern on the top, just using fork making pattern cross both way.. Something easy for weeknight tea.

Ingredients

600 g brushed potatoes, peeled and cubed

3 cloves of garlic, halved

500 g lean minced beef 

2 tbs plain flour

1/2 cup beef stock

3 tbs tomato sauce

3 cups of mixed frozen vegies

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

3/4 cup sour cream

1 tsp salt

Method

Put potatoes & garlic in the pot with a bit of water to cover, boil over high heat then reduce to simmer until tender approx 20 mins.

Preheat over 190 c

Brown minced beef over medium heat in a sauce pan then add flour, beef stock, tomato sauce and vegies, stir to combine, cook for 5 mins

Transfer beef mixture into casserole dish

Drain potatoes and mashed them a bit before add 1/4 cup cheese and sour cream.. Mashed together until smooth.

Spoon potatoes onto the centre of beef mixture, with fork spread potatoes from the centre to the edge to form top layer.

Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheese

Bake for 30 mins or until cheese is melted and golden.

Let cool for 10 mins before serving.

Slow cooked lamb shanks

when having a busy day ahead, this type of slow cooked is perfect when you have guests coming over for tea...Slow cooked lamb shanks.. I have to admit that I don't know what it tasted like.. I don't eat lamb! But my guests almost licked their their plate clean! .. I served this dish with mashed potato and some vegies.. of course, the mashed was nice! 

Ingredients

6-8 French trimmed lamb shanks 
Plain flour, for browning 
Olive oil 
1 cup red wine 
3 cups beef stock 
4 spring onions, halved and a bit extra cut into small cubes
4 cloves garlic, peeled 
6 bay leaves 
2 sprigs rosemary 
1 tablespoon black peppercorns

Methods

1. Dust shanks in flour.
2. Heat olive oil in large pan and brown shanks.
3. Place shanks and remaining ingredients into slow cooker.
4. Cook on low for 6 hours or until shanks are tender and meat about to fall off bone.
5. To thicken remove cooked shanks and add extra onions & corn four to desired thickness.
6. Serve warm with creamy mashed potato.

Chocolate summer berries pavlova

Who said chocolate and pavlova don't mix?.. Here we are.. Chocolate summer berries pavlova.. Crispy on the outside with soft rich chocolate taste inside, and the freshly whipping cream.. Hmmm yummy! Not for conservative traditional pavlova lovers tho.. But guess what .. I like it! 

Ingredients

For the chocolate meringue base

6 large egg whites

300 grams caster sugar

3 tablespoons cocoa powder (sieved)

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar 

50 grams dark chocolate (finely chopped)

For the topping

500 ml thicken cream

500 grams mixed berries

3 tablespoons dark chocolate (coarsely grated)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Beat the egg whites until satiny peaks form, and then beat in the sugar a spoonful at a time until the meringue is stiff and shiny. Sprinkle over the cocoa and vinegar, and the chopped chocolate. Then gently fold everything until the cocoa is thoroughly mixed in. Mound on to a baking sheet in a fat circle approximately 9 inches in diameter, smoothing the sides and top. 

Place in the oven, then immediately turn the temperature down to 150°C and cook for about one to one and 15 mins. 

When it's ready it should look crisp around the edges and on the sides and be dry on top, but when you prod the centre you should feel the promise of squidginess beneath your fingers. Turn off the oven and open the door slightly, and let the chocolate meringue disc cool completely.

When ready to serve, invert on to a big, flat-bottomed plate. Whisk the cream till thick but still soft and pile it on top of the meringue, then scatter over the berries. Coarsely grate the chocolate & sprinkle haphazardly over the top.

Hummingbird cake

I usually prefer chocolate cake than other cakes but this... Hummingbird cake...cake is so yummy plus I have no chocolate left in the pantry.. gonna have to make with whatever was there.. Unlike most cafe which served this cake with thin layer of icing, I slapped loads of thick icing on top!.. I could never had enough good icing or topping on cake at the shop.. also I added more fruits and coconut with less flour, that gives extra texture and you really can taste what!/ in the cake!

Ingredients 

250g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground coriander

270g brown sugar

440g can crushed pineapple, drained

50g desiccated coconut

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

2 eggs, lightly beaten

250ml (1 cup) sunflower oil

Cream cheese icing

100g cream cheese

50g unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

225g (1 1/2 cups) icing sugar mixture

Method

Step 1

Preheat oven to 170°C.

Step 2

Grease and line the base of a 23cm square cake pan. Sift flour and spices into a large bowl. Add sugar, pineapple, coconut, banana, walnuts, eggs and oil. Stir to combine.

Step 3

Spread into lined pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Place on a rack and set aside to cool.

Step 4

To make icing, place cheese, butter, vanilla and icing sugar in an electric mixer and beat until smooth. Spread on top of cooled cake

Eccles cakes

I made this because of currents, sultans, raisins discussion!.. have no ideas what the word ... Eccles cakes ... coming from?.. It should really be called currents pies! :) .. The filling was very yummy with real buttery taste.. but please be careful, the filling is very hot when just come out of the oven.. Let it cool down a bit longer before bite into it, or you could burn your tongue!.. 

Ingredients

makes 8 cakes

 2 tablespoons butter

 1 cup dried currants

 A pinch of grounded nutmeg 

 3/4 cup demerara sugar

 1/2 package frozen puff pastry, thawed

 1 egg white, beaten

 1/4 cup white sugar for decoration

Method

Preheat oven to 220 c Sprinkle a baking sheet with water.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in currants, demerara sugar and nutmeg.

Stir until sugar is dissolved and fruit is well coated. Remove from heat.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out pastry to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out 8 (5 inch) circles, using a saucer as a guide. 

Divide the fruit mixture evenly between the circles. Moisten the edges of the pastry, pull the edges to the center and pinch to seal. Invert filled cakes on the floured surface and roll out gently to make a wider, flatter circle, but do not break the dough.

Brush each cake with egg white and sprinkle generously with white sugar. Make three parallel cuts across the top of each cake, then place them on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven 15 minutes, until golden.

Bread and Butter pudding with marmalade glaze

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  I used to go to a restaurant to just have this dessert!.. The bread and butter pudding.. I used fruits loaf instead of just normal white bread to give a bit more fruity taste and texture ans a little tangy with Marmalade glaze.. Something a bit extra than traditional  bread and butter pudding. 
  
  
  Ingredients
  
  
  100 g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 large pinch ground nutmeg
• 1 large pinch ground cinnamon
• zest of 1 orange
• 8 x 1 cm slices good-quality fruit or raisin bread
• 9 large free-range eggs
• 140 g caster sugar
• 500 ml semi-skimmed milk
• 565 ml single cream
• 1 vanilla pod, scored lengthways and seeds removed
• 4 tablespoons good-quality fine-cut marmalade
  
  
  Method
  
  Preheat the oven to 180ºC. 
  Make the butter mixture by mixing the butter with the nutmeg, cinnamon and orange zest. Use a little of it to butter a medium-sized shallow, ovenproof dish.
  
  Butter the bread using the butter mixture, then cut each slice in half diagonally. Put the slices in your buttered dish. 
  
  
  Separate the eggs, reserving all 9 yolks but just 1 egg white. Whisk together the egg yolks and egg white with the sugar, then gently heat the milk and cream in a saucepan with the vanilla extract.
  
  
  Pour into the eggs, stirring all the time, then pour the mixture over the bread and leave to soak for at least 20 minutes. 
  
  
  Put the dish in a roasting tray and pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the side of the dish. Then put it in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes until the custard has just set. 
  
  
  Meanwhile, gently warm the marmalade in a saucepan, then remove the dish from the oven and brush the marmalade over the top of the bread. Pop the dish back into the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes. Allow it to cool and firm up slightly before serving.