Polenta & Parmesan Crusted Artichoke Hearts with Grilled Chorizo, Lemon Olive Oil and Fresh Mint

INGREDIENTS

1 cup polenta

½ cup grated parmesan

2 eggs, whisked

2 chorizo

Jar of marinated artichoke hearts, whole is better

50ml lemon juice

Zest of 1 lemon

½ teaspoon salt

250ml extra virgin olive oil

½ cup fresh mint, chopped

METHOD

1.    Combine polenta and parmesan in a bowl. Coat artichoke hearts with egg and then polenta and parmesan mix. Set aside.

2.    Heat oil and lemon zest to about 60 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and salt.

3.    Heat deep fryer to 180 degrees

4.    While oil heating, peel chorizo and grill until well cooked.

5.    Deep fry coated artichoke hearts until brown and crisp.

6.    Combine artichoke hearts and chorizo. Drizzle with lemon infused olive oil and top with fresh mint.

Sweet & Sour Sauce

INGREDIENTS

30ml vegetable oil

1 brown onion, peeled, sliced

1 carrot, peeled, sliced

1 tbs cornflour

225g can pineapple pieces in natural juice (drain and reserve 4 tbs of juice)

60ml (1/4 cup) white wine vinegar

20ml (1 tbs) soy sauce

2 tbs caster sugar

2 tbs tomato sauce

200ml vegetable stock

1/2 red capsicum, seeds and core removed, cut into 1cm cubes

1/2 green capsicum, seeds and core removed, cut into 1cm cubes

METHOD

1.    Heat oil in a saucepan. Add onion and carrot and cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Mix cornflour with half the reserved can juices. Set aside. Add vinegar, soy, sugar, tomato sauce and stock to onion mixture. Bring to the boil. Add pineapple pieces, remaining juice and the cornflour mixture. Stir until thickened. Add capsicum and cook for a further 1-2 minutes. Serve with grilled or fried chicken or fish.

Lemonade Scones

INGREDIENTS

1 cup of lemonade (not flat)

1 cup of cream

3 cups self-raising flour

Handful of sultanas (optional)

METHOD

1.    Preheat oven to very hot 220°C.

2.    Mix flour, a few sultanas if used, cream and lemonade. Mixture will be soft

3.    Turn onto a lightly floured board. Pat down, do not roll. Use a round cookie cutter to cut scones.

4.    Brush tops with milk or a lightly beaten egg.

5.    Bake for about 10 minutes, or until tops are golden

Notes:

·        When you turn the mixture out onto the kitchen bench, dust it again with more flour so it isn’t too sticky to cut up. This will allow you to get a lovely ‘scone’ shape.

·        I prefer using egg to brush pastries as this makes them more golden after cooking.

·        According to my husband, my ‘handful’ of sultanas was not enough, so if you’ve got a family keen on sultanas, add a 1/3 cup of sultanas instead!

·        These scones are wicked straight out of the oven with a slathering of butter.

Kari Ayam

INGREDIENTS

1.5kg chicken thigh fillet, cut into bite size pieces
½ kg potatoes, peeled and quartered
100g fresh red medium chillies, seeded
100g shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
25g garlic cloves, peeled
5 candlenuts
40g fresh turmeric, sliced
15g ginger, sliced
2 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra for frying the curry paste
2 stalks lemongrass, bruised
25g galangal, roughly chopped
1 litre coconut milk
2 tsp ground cumin seeds
2 tsp dried ground coriander
1 tsp fennel seeds, roasted, then ground
1 cinnamon quill
1 whole nutmeg, crushed
5 cloves
15g shrimp paste, roasted and crushed
1 tbsp salt
4 tbsp sugar

PREPARATION

To make curry paste, blend chillies, shallots, garlic, candlenuts and turmeric with oil until smooth.

In a hot pan, heat a little vegetable oil and fry curry paste until it darkens in colour.

Add lemongrass, galangal and coconut milk and then cumin, coriander, fennel, cinnamon, crushed nutmeg, cloves and shrimp paste.

Add salt and sugar.

Bring to boil then add chicken and potatoes. Simmer gently until chicken and potatoes are tender. If the sauce is too thick, dilute with a little water.

Garnish with a sprinkle of fried shallots and serve

Beef with Oyster Sauce

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon cornflour
2 tablespoons peanut oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons ginger chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped, optional
200g beef fillet, sliced
1 small onion, sliced
1 red capsicum, sliced
rice to serve

METHOD

Combine oyster and soy sauces along with sesame oil, sugar and cornflour in a small bowl. Set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the peanut oil in a wok. Swirl to coat. Add half the beef and stir fry until browned. Remove and set aside. Repeat with the remaining peanut oil and beef and remove and set aside.

Add garlic, ginger and chilli to the wok. Cook for 30 seconds. Add onion and capsicum and stir fry for 1 minute.

Return the beef to the pan along with the combined sauces. Stir to warm through. Serve immediately with rice.

Kung Pao Chicken

INGREDIENTS

650g chicken breast fillets
1 egg white
2 teaspoons cornflour
½ teaspoon sesame oil
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
¼ cup chicken stock
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons peanut oil
6 medium sized dried red chillis, halved
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons julienned ginger
1- 2 teaspoon chilli bean sauce or chilli sauce
1/3 cup roughly chopped peanuts
shallots for garnish

METHOD

Chop chicken breast into 3cm pieces. Combine egg white, cornflour, sesame oil and salt in a bowl. Add chicken and toss. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Combine rice wine, soy sauce, chicken stock and sugar in a small bowl.

Heat oil in a wok. Stir fry chicken until browned. Remove and set aside. Add chillis, garlic, ginger, bean paste and peanuts to the wok. Cook for a minute. Return chicken along with sauce ingredients.

Cook for a further minute or until sauce thickens slightly. Serve with rice.

Pad Thai

INGREDIENTS


500g thick fresh rice noodles
8 medium uncooked prawns
¼ cup (55g) brown sugar
1/3 cup (80ml) chilli sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
¼ cup (60ml) fish sauce
1 tablespoon tomato sauce
1½ tablespoons peanut oil
2 eggs, beaten lightly
1 tablespoon water
500g minced pork
1 large (200g) brown onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/3 cup (50g) peanuts, roasted, chopped coarsely
2 cups (160g) bean sprouts
¼ cup fresh coriander leaves



METHOD


Place the noodles in a large heatproof bowl, cover with hot water and stand for 30 seconds. Gently separate the noodles then drain well. Shell and devein the prawns, leaving the tails intact. Combine the sugar and sauces in a small bowl.

Heat one teaspoon of the oil in a wok or large pan and pour in half of the combined egg and water. Swirl the heated wok to make a thin omelette and cook until just set. Transfer the omelette to a chopping board, roll it up tightly and cut into thin strips. Repeat with another teaspoon of the oil and the remaining egg mixture.

Heat half of the remaining oil in the same wok or pan and stir-fry the pork, onion and garlic until the pork is browned. Remove the mixture from the wok. Heat the remaining oil in the wok, add the prawns and stir-fry until the prawns have changed colour. Add the noodles, sauce mixture, pork mixture and remaining ingredients and stir-fry gently until hot.

Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Cham)

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 of a lime, juiced
3-4 cloves of garlic , minced
2-3 Thai chili pepper, minced

METHOD

In a small sealable jar, combine water and sugar and stir to dissolve the sugar. Add fish sauce, vinegar and lime juice and mix. Adjust flavors to taste.

Add garlic and chili pepper. The sauce can be stored at room temperature, if served the same day. Otherwise, store it in the refrigerator.

Makes 1 1/2 cups.

Twice Cooked Pork Szechuan Pork

INGREDIENTS

500gm pork leg / belly (no bone)
Knob of ginger
6 spring onions
oil
1 teaspoon Chilli bean paste
1 teaspoon Black bean sauce
1 teaspoon Chilli powder
1 tablespoon cooking wine
1 teaspoon soy sauce
Sugar, pinch
Salt, pinch
Chicken powder, pinch
2 tablespoons chilli oil

METHOD

1. Pork in pot and cover with water. Boil for 30min with ginger and 2 shallots. Allow to cool.

2. Cut pork into very thin slices

3. Heat oil in fry pan and fry sliced pork in batches till crisp and drain on paper towel.

4. Heat fry pan again with little oil, add chilli bean paste, black bean sauce, chilli powder and stir until fragrant.

5. Return pork to pan. Stir for 30 seconds.

6. Add cooking wine and soy sauce. Add remaining shallots. Simmer gently. For a few minutes.

7. Add sugar, salt, chilli oil and chicken powder and simmer for 2 minutes.

8. Serve with rice or noodles of your choice.

Stir-Fried Chilli Pork

INGREDIENTS

350g pork fillet, finely sliced across the grain

3 tablespoons peanut oil

6 long red chillies, halved lengthways and deseeded

4 gloves garlic, finely chopped

1 teaspoon chilli powder

½ teaspoon Sichuan pepper

3 tablespoon light soy sauce

2 tablespoons crushed yellow rock sugar

MARINADE

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

2 tablespoons shaoxing

A pinch of salt

2 teaspoons sesame oil

METHOD

To make the marinade, mix together the soy sauce, shaoxing, sea salt and sesame oil. Add the pork, toss to coat and leave for 30 minutes.

Heat a wok until just smoking. Add the peanut oil and, when hot, stir-fry the pork and chillies until the pork is well browned, then remove.

Reheat the wok and stir-fry the garlic, chilli powder and Sichuan pepper for 30 seconds, then add the stock, soy sauce and sugar and return the pork and chillies to the wok. Cook for another minute for the flavours to mingle.

To serve, transfer everything but the sauce to a large plate. Leave the sauce on the heat and allow it to reduce slightly, then pour over the pork before serving.

Thai Satay

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon tamarind (I use paste from Asian section at Woolworths)

3 tablespoons sugar

2 -3 tablespoons peanut butter (I use crunchy)

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1 tablespoon red curry past

¾ cup coconut milk

WHAT I USE

The above

+ Olive oil

+ 1 onion

+ Lots of garlic

METHOD

Add the coconut milk to a cold sauce pan and start to heat it up at medium heat. As it is heating, stir in the curry paste and break the paste into small pieces. Mix well. When you see red oil simmering to the top, add the peanut butter and the rest of ingredients. Stir and taste. You should be able to taste the fish sauce, sugar and tamarind flavours. If it becomes too thick, add a few teaspoons of water to thin the paste.

WHAT I DO

Add enough olive oil to a saucepan and heat until hot.

Add onion and garlic and cook until onion transparent.

Add remainder of ingredients and turn saucepan to low and simmer until thickened.

WHAT TO DO WITH IT

Cook a chicken schnitzel in a fry pan with a little olive. When cook slice and place on rice then pour sauce over top.

Cook chopped meat (anything) and the vegetables that you want. Add the sauce and simmer until heated. If doing beef, cook beef very quickly before hand and then add at last minute.

Portuguese Tarts

(makes 12)

INGREDIENTS

3 egg yolks (I prefer 2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg

115g caster sugar

2 tbsp cornflour

230ml cream (I don’t use cream, I use milk)

170ml milk

2 tsp vanilla extract (I use Queen Vanilla Bean Paste

300g rolled puff pastry (I use one sheet of puff pastry)

METHOD

1.    Lightly  grease a 12 hole 80ml muffin tray

2.    Put the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a pan and whisk together. Gradually whisk in the cream and milk until smooth.

3.    Place the pan over a medium heat and cook, stirring, until the mixture thickens and comes to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Transfer the custard to a bowl, cover the surface with cling film to prevent a skin forming and leave to cool

4.    Pre heat oven to 200 degrees

5.    Cut the pastry dough sheet in half, put one half on top of the other and set aside for 5 minutes. Roll up the pastry tightly from the short end and cut the pastry log into 12 x 1cm rounds. Lay each pastry round on a light floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll out until each is 10cm in diameter

6.    Press the pastry rounds into the muffin tin. Spoon the cool custard into the pastry cases and bake for 10 – 25 minutes or until the pastry and custard are golden. Leave the tarts in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Imperial Beef (a.k.a Rusty Nails)

Slice 750g rump steak into very thin strips


Mix together

1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon chopped ginger (I used the already chopped from the jar)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 egg white (helps tenderise the meat)
1 teaspoon bicarb soda mixed with 3 tablespoons water (helps tenderise the meat)


stir well and put the beef into this mixture to marinate all day if you can.
While the beef is marinating, mix together:


4 tablespoons tomato sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1/2 cup sugar (I use Splenda crystals to cut down on the sugar)
1/2 teaspoon chilli oil (or fresh chilli to taste if you don't have chilli oil)
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper.
Stir this all together and refrigerate until required.
METHOD


Remove the beef from the fridge. It should be reasonably moist. If the beef is too dry add a little water to moisten. Dredge well with cornflour and mix around so the beef is covered by a sort of light batter.
Heat a wok with a couple of inches of oil until very hot (or you can use a deep fryer). Cook beef strips in small batches until crisp and golden and drain well. Repeat until all the beef is cooked. (It's quite yummy at this stage also). Once all the beef is cooked drain the oil from the wok, return all the cooked beef to the wok and pour the prepared sauce over and toss the beef until it is coated with the sauce and piping hot. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with fried rice and steamed bok choy. It's a sort of sweet and spicy sauce which is delicious.

Crying tiger (seua rong hay)

INGREDIENTS

500g slice rump steak
1/3 cup (80ml) light soy sauce
½ cup (125ml) lime juice
1/3 cup (80ml) fish sauce
½ teaspoon white sugar
pinch dried chilli powder
2 purple Thai shallots, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander leaves
finely shredded Chinese cabbage and carrot, for serving, optional


METHOD

Combine the beef and soy sauce in a shallow dish or snap-lock bag; refrigerate for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, combine juice, fish sauce, sugar, chilli powder, shallots and coriander leaves in a small bowl.

Drain beef from soy sauce and pat dry.

Cook beef on a lightly oiled, heated grill plate (or grill or pan-fry) until browned on both sides and done as desired. Transfer the beef to a warmed plate; cover and stand for 5 minutes.

Slice the beef thinly and serve with lime juice mixture, cabbage and carrot.

Chicken Potato Slice

INGREDIENTS

1 barbeque chicken

750g potatoes, thickly sliced

15g butter

6 green shallots, chopped

30g butter, extra

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 tblspn plain flour

1/3  c. water

1 chicken stock cube

1/3 c. dry white wine

½ c. cream

2 tsp. french mustard

1 tblspn mayonnaise

½ c. grated tasty cheese

paprika

METHOD

1.     Remove chicken meat from bones, break into bite sized pieces.

2.    Place potatoes in shallow dish, dot with butter, cover cook on high for 9 minutes or until tender.

3.    Top with chicken and shallots.

4.    Melt extra butter with garlic (high 30 seconds).

5.    Stir in flour, water, crumbled stock cube, wine & cream. Cook on high for 3 minutes.

6.    Stir in mustard & mayonnaise, pour over chicken.

7.    Sprinkle with cheese and paprika. Cook on high for 5 minutes or until heated through.

Beef, mushroom and glass noodle salad

INGREDIENTS

1 sirloin steak (200g)

100g glass noodles

10g dried mushroom strips, such as wood ear mushrooms or Chinese black fungus

1 small handful mint leaves

1 small handful basil leaves

1 small handful coriander leaves

1 small handful Vietnamese mint leaves

2 kaffir lime leaves finely sliced

2 long red chillies, julienned

1 red onion, sliced

1 Lebanese (short) cucumber, halved lengthways and sliced into 2mm wide pieces

1 teaspoon roasted rice powder

1 tablespoon chopped roasted peanuts

1 tablespoon fried red Asian shallots

BEEF MARINADE

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

SALAD DRESSING

45g grated palm sugar

4 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 garlic clove

1 tablespoon chilli oil

1 tablespoon sliced lemon grass, white part only

1 small handful coriander leaves

2 tablespoons olive oil

METHOD

1. To marinate the beef, mix all the marinade ingredients together in a bowel, add the sirloin steak and coat well. Leave refrigerated for 2 hours.
2. Soak the glass noodles and mushrooms separately in hot water for 20 minutes, strain and dry with paper towel. Cut the glass noodles into 4cm lengths and set aside. Put all of the salad dressing ingredients in a food processor and blend to combine.
3. Cook the sirloin to your liking on a char grill or in a frying pan. Allow to rest for 5 minutes, then finely cut the sirloin across the grain into 5mm slices. Combine the beef with the rest of the salad ingredients, except the peanuts and shallots in a large bowl. Add the dressing, then toss well to combine. Turn the salad out onto a serving platter and garnish with roasted peanuts and fried shallots.

SERVES 4 AS PART OF A SHARED FEAST.

Chicken & Cashews

INGREDIENTS
600g chicken fillet
2 TB cornflour
2 TB oil
6 green onions (cut into 3cm lengths)
2 cups vegetables
Roasted salted cashew nuts


STIR FRY SAUCE
2 TB oyster sauce
2 TB sweet chilli sauce
1 TB Kecup manis
1 TB brown sugar



METHOD

1. Make stir fry sauce by combining all ingredients in bowl.
2. Cut chicken into strips. Coat chicken in cornflour.
3. Heat wok over high heat. Add 2 tsp oil and chicken. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes or until cooked and transfer to bowl.
4. Add remaining oil to wok. Swirl to coat. Add onions and vegetables, stir fry for 1 minute then add cashews. Add chicken and sauce. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes or until heated through.