Merry Christmas & Chox in box

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
I heart Christmas! (sigh) I Absolutely adore what this day represents, how it brings love ones together and the uncontrolable joy that expels through every vessel in my body upon receiving presents. But what I absolutely adore about Christmas, is the food - food glorious food. Your turkeys, hams, chooks, spuds roasted to perfection. Oh dear goodness Christmas is like a smorgasboard that celebrated once a year and gives anyone and everyone a guilt-free reason to indulge themselves into having extras. More potatoes? Yes please!....Gravy oh yes!

However this Christmas, was first one in a long time where we had home cooked meal, or should I say barbeque. Last year I was on a plane to Cambodia on Christmas day, the year before that we went to a birthday. This year Mum had the fortunate task of feeding us silly and she succeeded. What was on the menu:

Cos lettuce salad mixed with capsicums, olives, tomatoes and feta cheese
Potato salad (always good)
garlic sauteed prawns (with chilli dipping sauce)
Corn on cobs
barbequed baby carrots
Lamb on the barby

Melbourne's weather decided to take a break from giving us thunderous, lightning and constant pouring of rain the days leading up to Christmas. We were praying for good barbeque weather, as Mum was adamant of having her lamb chops on the bbq and her prays were answered, it turned out to be beautiful, actually - warm, not to windy, not hot, just right.

Unfortunately folks, I did not take any pictures and I have a good reason. I'm currently moving out and renovating the house, so everything is everywhere at the moments, so instead of showing you pictures of our wonderful Christmas feast. I've posted up these choccies. Yes folks! Chocolates, I made these about a week ago, during the last week of work. Last year I made chocolate chip cookies and put them in tiny boxes and gave them out to my workmates. This year I wanted to make chocolates, but didn't have the stamina to present them in little gift boxes, so instead I brought them to our Kris Kringle morning brunch and was well enjoyed by my fellow peers.

INGREDIENTS
200g of either milk,white or dark cooking chocolate broken into pieces i used dark and white)
1/4 cup thickened cream
20g butter chopped
1 cup rice bubbles
1/2 cup desicated coconut
50 g red glace cherries coarsely chopped

EXTRA: Coco powder and/or icing sugar to decorate.

This recipe was adapted from Woolworths Fresh Magazine at my local Safeway supermarket. Simple, beautiful, tasty. I used dark and white chocolates.
1. Melt chocolate, cream and butter in heatproof bowl over a pot of boiling water until smooth. (In the original recipe, it instructs you to melt the chocolate cream and butter in a bowl in the microwave for 1 1/2 mins, stirring every 30 seconds)
2. Ad Rice bubbles, coconut & cherries and stir until well combined. chill until firm.
Divide mixture into 2 parts and roll into logs by place chocolate on a sheet of baking paper. Cut into 1cm- thick slices. You can roll some of them into balls to create different shapes.
3. Coat with coconut/icing sugar or coco powder

They make adorable pressies. As shown in picsabove I placed them in a round box

Summer, apricots and salmon

We're in the last days of November and summer is unbashfully making its presence to the normally dreary and unpredictable Melbourne state. I confess, I'm not too particular to summer due to the sweltering heat that my body can't handle; my ease of tanning on right side of my body whilst driving leaving me with abnormal skin colour; people's body odour and the idea of me having to bare more skin that usual. But what I do love about summer are beaches at sunset, longer days, ice-cream, barbeques, Christmas in summer and FRUIT, glorious fruit!

apricots in all it glory..ahhh

Oh if there's any time fruit can taste better and make me a healthier person for including it in the recommended 3 fruit and 2 veg a day regime - it is during summer. I cried happy tears seeing all the mangoes, watermelon, apricots, strawberries, honeydew melons, peaches, nectarines, mangosteens and cherries (i could go on) in the market stalls. I have devoured half a watermelon in 2 days, and believe me kids this melon was huge and I’m talking huge like a 3 month old baby size.

Another thing I love about fruit is that it’s self-sufficient and there is no uneasy task of cooking, boiling, steaming, extracting, deveining, and filleting. In most cases the only effort required for the consumption of fruit is peeling, cutting and eating. Fruit taste best in its true raw form and as a bonus gives you essential vitamins and minerals you body needs.... ok I’ll stop there, as I’m starting to sound like a nutritionist and I far from it.

Last week I managed to bag me some luscious apricots and with that I managed to create a dish using the apricots in a salsa accompanied with avocado, cucumber served with pan-seared salmon cutlets. The apricots added a delightful sweetness to the dish and created interesting textures fusing with butteryness of avocado and crunchiness of cucumber.

INGREDIENTS
Salmon cutlet
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Olive oil

SALSA
1/2 cup of peeled & diced cucumber
1/2 cup of diced avocado
1 sml apricot, peeled and coarsely chopped

DRESSING
tbsp olive oil
squeeze of lemon
tsp apricot nectar

1. Season salmon cutlet with salt and pepper and rub olive oil. Set aside.
2. Combine olive oil, lemon & nectar in a bowl and whisk until infused. Then add the diced cucumber, avocado and apricot to the dressing and set aside.
3. Heat pan on High and let the pan heat up before placing cutlet leave for 2 minutes, (do not fiddle, poke or touch or your salmon while it searing or it will stick to the pan - trust me, I know). Then turn onto the other side for another 2 minutes.
4. Serve salmon with the salsa on top. Drizzle extra olive oil and cracked pepper (optional)

5 minute mushies

My love of food that can be cooked in a flash, stems from my uni days as an impoverished uni student whose staple diet consisted of 2-minute noodles and grilled cheese sandwiches. OK, maybe I lied, as I was not that impoverished, thanks to my parents who provided a roof over my head during those years. However working in jobs and receiving minimal wages sucked when going out to eat with a group of friends and scrapping for money in the corner of your bag to pay the bills...oh and I won't mention the embrassment when it came to splitting the bill - I even think one time someone pulled out a calculator!...I say no more.

I love food and dishes that can be whipped up in minutes and this is one of them. Mushrooms are one of my favs, second to potatoes. Like potatoes, they are versatile, delicious and have an amazing texture unlike any other foods. And quite frankly they are the only fungus on this earth I would eat.


INGREDIENTS
500g swiss brown mushrooms
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
Approx. tbsp of each - oyster sauce, fish sauce & kecap manis
1/2 cup coarsely chopped coriander (cilantro)
white onion sliced in thin wedges
vegetable oil for frying

Slice mushrooms in thick pieces about 1cm. And heat the wok with oil.
Throw in onions and garlic and let it cook off for a minute, then add the mushrooms and stir frequently. The mushrooms will absorb the oil and when it's slight brown add the oyster, fish and kecap manis sauces and stir so mushrooms are well coated.
After a minute or so throw in the coriander and stir for few seconds. Turn off the heat and serve it with some rice.

Make sure you don't overcook the mushrooms it will lose it's texture.

When I don't cook

This is what I do when I'm not blogging or taking pictures of food. I read about food and hence, my absence. The cookbooks above are bloody awesome and highly recommended. Australian chef, Kylie Kwong has some fantastic chinese recipes, I particularly liked her duck dish. And DONNA HAY...Oh she's an inspiration. A food stylist in her own right, she has some of the most lush and prestine shots and her presentation indicates what a true artist she is.

Salvating over the pages, I've come a cross a few golden nuggets for my next cooking ventures including, Ricotta baci, tiramasu, pies and lots of other goodies.... so until next time

Ultimate breakfast feast.....

On some occasions, not most, but some I have magic moments where I think, OMG Kim good one! My magic moment occured Thursday morning after perusing the wide world of web for recipes, mind you not for breakfast but for gyoza's - yes my stomach has no sense of self restraint to eating inappropriate foods during the assigned periods of a day in which certain foods should be consumed. If it were up to me Desert would replace Breakfast, Dinner would be in lunch's frame time and Happy Hour Drinks would be consumed at 5 hour interval throughout the day. Geez! Imagine that.. sorry got a bit side track. Back to the point, oh yes.. during my venture of searching for gyoza recipes I came across this website http://www.opensourcefood.com/ which has now become one of my favourites, as it is online hub, with food-loving people sharing gastronomical recipes and amazing photos. I came across one of the members, Yongfook. He had recipe for Shrimp Gyoza's & Pomegranate Ponzu which I have bookmarked, however intrigued by what this site was, I began to rumage through the rest of his impressive recipes and came across Light English Brunch. The dish was so cute and so simple so I made that morning with the crust and minus the mushrooms and this is how it turned out.

But wait! Where was the magic moment? You may ask. Well, after impressing my self with cooking Yongfook's recipe, I had 2 round pieces of bread left over (cos I made 2; one for myself & my sister - hence the reason for 2 pieces) and I don't like wasting food or anything for that matter, so I made a baked bean stack using the leftover bake beans and buttering the pieces of breading of both side and cooked on a pan on both sides until they turned golden brown. Once cooked I stacked them and using the bake beans as filling in between the two pieces of bread.

Magic Moment #1 recipe - bake beans stack
After taking the photos I realised that this would have been better if I had scrambled eggs around it with 2 strips of streaky bacon....oh drool! Unfortunately I ran out of eggs, had no bacon in my fridge, but I have drool...yes it comes naturally. hehe!

The second magic moment came after, magic moment #1, of course! And still riding on the success of the first recipe using the cut out pieces of bread, I thought to myself...hhmm what about a sweet breakfast! Ah ha, yes magic moment #2 was born by using another 2 pieces of cutout bread, I buttered both side and dipped them in a plate of sugar/cinnamon coating both sides and then once again toasted them in a heated pan until their was caramelised crust. Once again stacking them but in between each layers I dusted each pieces with icing sugar and spread strawberry jam and then finished it of with a dollop of ice cream. Oh god was it good.... They tasted like those Danish mini pancakes, I think we call it potterflies here. Next time I'll try it with fresh strawberries or bananas... oh yum, can't wait.

Magic Moment #2 recipe - Strawberry stack

Mutated Black Beef stirfry

This is a mutation of beef black bean stirfry and sizzling beef. However I didn't have black bean sauce in my pantry, so I used black peppered sauce instead. This is great quick dish and fills you up and can feed an army or it can be served as part of a banquet. Like most of the dishes I make, I have recreated or attempted to emulate dishes from places where I like to go out and eat. I'm lucky that I have a good sense ingredients and taste, as I usually am able to pick up on what ingredients have been used. This dish was in honour of the many wedding banquest I've been to at Chinese restaurants. They always serves this dish, minus the carrots and over the years I've managed to acquire my own personal touch to it. It's isn't exactly like what they serve, but it's close enough and as long as it get's eaten by friends and family I'm well chuffed.

INGREDIENTS
400grams beef strips
Bunch of Chinese brocoli
1 Medium Onion - chopped into wedges
1 Medium Carrot - halfed and then slices
tbsp finely chopped garlic
tbsp chopped ginger
4 birds eye red chillies finely chopped
MARINADE FOR BEEF(About a tbsp of each)
darks soy sauce
oyster sauce
fish sauce
black pepper sauce
Kecap manis
minced garlic
grinded black pepper
Sugar

Corn starch and water to thicken stirfry

Like many asian/stirfry dishes, ingredients should be chopped, sliced, diced and blanched in advance. So make sure you have all the ingredient in hand ready for the wok
1. In a bowl combine beef strips and marinade and mix together so beef is well coated and leave in fridge to marinade for about 20-30 minutes.
2. Boil a pot of water on stove for blanching the chinese brocoli and carrots. Extract the stems of the chinese brocoli from the leaves and before throwing them in the the pot of boiling water, ad tbsp of oil into the pot, this will help give the brocoli glistening effect. The chineses brocoli only needs 30-40 seconds max, then take them out and strain them, then chuck in the sliced carrots for about 20 secs and then strain them as well
3. Replace pot with wok and ad some vegetable oil and let the wok heat up, then throw in the garlic. Let that sizzle for a few seconds before adding the brocoli stems and stir it so it coated with garlic and oil, then add the leaves, stirfry until the leaves have wilted, then transfer the chinese brocolit on a large plate, creating a bed.
4. Place wok back on the heat and a few tbsp's of oil and ad garlic and chillies. Then throw in onions and cook them for about 2 minutes (you still want them to be firm and they shoudn't be too soft), then ad the beef marinade and stir make sure the meat is evenly cooked through. At this point you can put some more cracked black pepper - I like to because it gives the dish a bit more kick. Finally ad the carrots and the corn starch mixture to thicken the stirfry. Once the stirfy has thicken, ladle it on top of the chinese brocoli. Voila! and serve with some Jasmine rice.
Serves - 6-8 people.

Chocolates just before dark

In the pursuit of some fine handmade chocolates for a pressie and on the recommendation of a friend (thanks jules!) I found myself on Parkhill drive in Berwick @ Margo's Fine Chocolates & Cafe. Margo's is surprisingly sweet and so out of place (in a good way) within the little shop district they've got there. Decked out with dark wood interior and handsome feature walls I found myself standing in front their chocolate displays for 10 minutes trying to decide which ones to get. They looked oh so adorable and I wanted to take them all home, so none them would feel left out out. In the end I selected six and I promised myself to return and rescue the others.

The photos were taken in the late afternoon just before it was getting dark. Enjoy

Chocolate boxes

L-R: Warm Continent, Peppermint caprice, Macadamia, red opal, Grand marnier and um..i forget this one. Sorry!

Red Opal

Grand Marnier & trio of chocs

Where in the world?

Margo's Fine Chocolates & Cafe

Shop 18, Parkhill Plaza

Parkhill Drive, Berwick 3806

ph: 8794 8440

http://www.margoscafe.com/

The art of making wontons

Making wonton soup was my alternative to the classic Aussie Sunday roast. Don't get me wrong I love roast on Sundays. But being an asian kid, growing up, you ate whatever your mum fed you, and in my case; instead of the meat and three veg, I had gingered beef with rice, and instead of apricot chicken, I had chicken red curry. So on most Sunday's Mum would made 'goi dieu' which is your Cambodian version of the Vietnamese 'pho'. A hot, steamy beef or chicken based broth infused with ginger, galangal, garlic and fish sauce to taste, ladled on a bowl of freshly strained rice or egg noodles, which had been sitting in a pot of bowling water only seconds before. The bowl of steaming noodle soup was then usually finished by chucking a few herbs of spring onions and coriander on top, with a touch condiments, like chillie sauce and lemon to your personal liking. So where does the wonton come in, you ask? Well, I discovered the delightful package of dumplings, during a birthday party. While the kids were stuffing their faces silly with lollies, chips, chocolate and the whatnots expected at a 10 year old's party - I was with the adults, consuming these little bundles of joy that were served in a small bowl with soup; not know what they were or what was in it, except that they tasted oh so good!
And that my friends, was the beginning of a beautiful relationship between me and wontons.

Making wontons is a beautiful art in which I have learnt to love and appreciate. Like ravioli, tortellini used in pasta dishes, you can make your wonton into many different shapes and use different fillings, such as pork, chicken, prawn, crab and lobster - I usually stick to chicken. They are also extremely versatile, as you can boil, steam, pan fry and deep fry them - they make fantastic appetisers at dinner parties.

Get your ingredients together...

Wonton Skins

Spring onions

add some fish & oyster sauces and ground some pepper to chicken mince

roll mixture into balls and place in middle of wonton wrapper

THE FOLDING

put mixture of chicken and ingredients mention above and fold into triangles using your index finger moistened with water to seal the sides

aren't they gorgeous, they look like stingrays on a chopping board..

bring the two ends of the triangle together using a dab of water to stick and then flick them up and you get a little boat

many moment laters of filling and folding you will have a bouquet of wontons..

And assuming you know how to make the broth and cook the wontons and noodles in boiling water, you will end up with something looking similar to this...

I lurrve my egg custards

Egg custards are the cutest buttons of eggin, sweetness, melt in your mouth tarts. Nothing beats a good egg custards. I've posted some photos of my for your pleasure.

Darn you can see my pencil in the background amongst other things - how pro am I?

Poof! Where did those props go - here's a better photo without my pencil and other stuff in the background

Yes! I can cook... here's the proof

Rested and recuperated from the previous week's unsolicited throat infection that plagued my tastebuds of unscrupulous deprivation from the tasting of food, I gladly announce that I am back into form. Hallelujah! My throat, mouth, tongue and everything within the vicinity of the bottom half of my face that aides in the munching, tasting and digesting of food has now been healed. To celebrate my return, I cooked. Yes, I can cook! Well, I believe I can; solely judging by my families and friends, who have managed to sustain every dish that's been put in front of them, and the absence of anyone regurgitating my dishes also reassures my confidence of being able to cook.. If they regurgitate, then I will stop. Perhaps

I am very much a 'see and do person', or if I hear something that I like, my brain goes Bing! "I'm going to do that". During the week I had one of those 'Bing' moments, during a not-so heated (as apathy is my middle name) debate between me and my boss on the topic of; who was able to eat beyond human moderation. Gluttony is a sin in which I am everso guilty of and it was everso apparent when i spent the majority of my weekend stuffing my self silly with meat, meat, meat...

Sausage? yes please...

Hamburger? yes....

Lambchops? oh yes...

Steak?...mmm yes please

mushroom? ....oh vegetable, who cares...yes please?

"Anyone for seconds?"....Yes me! Gotta love barbeques!

After my ramblings, she counteracted with her list, which was quite impressive, however after her many '...and then I ate..', it was the moment when she said, ...and then I ate Spaghetti Bolognese..' BING! That was it, whilst still listening (because I am capable to do two things at once) my brain noted, 'hmm…I think I'll cook some pasta tonight.' So I did.

Enough to serve any army, this was a very rich pasta, using rigatoni shells stirred through a Bolognese sauce of minced beef, mushrooms, olives and Sopressa salami. It was quite nice, though not my best, as I may have put one too many olives which left a bitter after taste. And I believe it was even noted by my little sister - my guinea pig who is subjected to test many of my dishes - pointed out quite blankly "...um, I think I like your other pasta dishes better, you know your creamier ones..(referring to my Carbonara and Creamy Chicken & Mushroom pastas)." Nonetheless, she finished her plate.

Spicy salt n' pepper octopus with green beans

The second dish I made was on a Thursday night, after a dismal defeat of our volleyball match. I managed to conjure a variation of the classic Salt and Pepper Squid, but instead of using squid I used baby octopus. Because you know, they're pretty much cousins; they are both white and squidgy, have tentacles and come from the sea. Same difference…Right? I dusted them with salt, pepper and rice flour and then in batches shallowed fried them in vegetable oil. Then using 2 tbsp of the same oil, in a new wok I chucked in a heap (handful - a heap sounds like too much) of chillies and garlic and then threw in the squid and cooked that through a minute or so until the squid was covered in the chilli and garlic.

custard,congee and mushy fajitas

fajita mush, congee with loads of herbs & chillie sauce...ahh and custards

Rather than give you a spiel about myself and this being my first posting ever - HOORAY! - I'll get straight to it. Last week, I found myself absent from my workplace, due to unfortunate circumstances of being ill. I had a few days to kick around (sorry, I meant rest and recover) and I managed to take some pictures of one of my favourite things ever, FOOD. I love, food and I believe food loves me. There's a mutual agreement there, with which I am content and never wish to part. However, the only disappointment I frowned upon, was the missed chance to actually taste the food that I photographed. Don't get me wrong, I ate the food, but couldn't taste a thing, due to my darned throat infection - I'd lost all sense of taste :'( very sad. Every mouthful was complemented with curses...that I won't repeat here. Anyhoo, pictures posted are egg custard tarts mmm...congee (for those non-Asians, it's like an Asian risotto, traditional planked with innards of pork or chicken; I usually stick to chicken) and homemade chicken fajitas, that I proudly made myself. Enjoy, because I obviously didn't! *screwing up nose*