Crab Season - Crab Dinner

Sometimes the best dinners are served at home. Especially when it comes down to seafood. Mainly because of the value for money factor and also the quantity of food you get. This is particularly true when we are talking about expensive seafood dishes, such as crab.

Crab dishes tend to be rare in Perth, unless it is like "crab meat pasta" (which often makes me question whether it is actually crab meat in the pasta, or whether its the "crab" meat from the tin or the frozen crab meat - especially when it is not crab season) or some crab with egg noodle dish at the Chinese restaurant/something along those lines (in which case it is ridiculously expensive for a mud/snow crab!).

Anyway, my lovely cousin hosted a dinner party consisting of chilli crabs (inspired by her recent trip to Singapore). She bought some Swan River crabs from Melville Fish market. There was so much crab meat and the crabs were so big. The sauce that coated the crabs was absolutely to die for. Delicious. She said it was half Jamie Oliver receipe and have google.

She was afraid she didn't have enough chilli crabs so also made some lamb shank, which I ended up taking home so I can have it for lunch at work.

Desserts were velvet cupcake inspired.

All in all, great food, great company, great dessert...

What more do you need?

 

Stuffed Lean Pork Fillet

It's one of those rare occasions where I actually feel inspired to cook. So on my RDO, I decided to cook some stuffed lean pork fillet inspired by Nigella and this Women's Weekly magazine I was reading at work one lunch hour.

I should explain to you what this this pork fillet is stuffed with: It has garlic, thyme, prosciutto and bocconcini.

So firstly this is what you would need:

1/4 x garlic clove (or however much to your garlic needs)
3-4 x sprigs of thyme (or however much to your thyme likings)
800g of LEAN pork fillet butterfly-ed out (we are on a health kick here..pork fillet has less fat and lean pork fillet has even less fat!! and ask your butcher to butterfly the fillet or if you want you can do it)
125g of cherry bocconcini (or however much to your liking)
100g of sliced prosciutto
Pinch of salt and pepper
Oven proof string (so when it goes into the oven it doesn't catch on fire!)

1) Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (I used fan forced because it heats up quick and cooks quicker)

2) Firstly if your lean pork fillet hasn't been butterfly-ed out do it (so basically cut it open). Then using a garlic press check the peeled garlic cloves into it so that the garlic is finely diced.

3) Smoother the finely diced garlic all over the pork fillet - you may want more or less garlic depending on your garlic taste - just remember that this is part of your aroma and your marinating flavours. Personally I like garlic so I was rather generous.

4) Take the leaves of the thyme of the stem and rub it into the fillet

5) Sprinkle pepper and salt to your liking. JUST REMEMBER THAT YOU WILL BE PUTTING PROSCIUTTO so go easy on the salt!!

6) Wrap the slices of prosciutto around the fillet - doesn't matter if it goes over the edge (just tuck it to the other side)

7) Dice the bocconcini in half or quarter and place it on top of the prosciutto

8) Tightly wrap the lean pork with all the stuffing inside it.

9) Tie the wrapped lean pork fillet with the string - make it about 2-3cm apart.

10) Grease the tray with oil. Place the stuffed pork fillet in it and then place in the oven for 40-45 minutes (or until cooked) - be sure to turn it over about half way.

11) You can also prepare roast potatoes and chuck it in with the pork fillet. While the pork is cooking why not organise the salad.

12) Once the pork is out of the oven remove it from the tray and place onto serving plate. Pour the juices of the pork in the tray onto the pork (or alternatively you can use it to make gravy - personally I don't think you need to make gravy because the pork turned out really juicy and I used poured the pork juices onto the cooked stuffed fillet).

13) LET THE PORK SIT ON THE SERVING PLATE (COVER WITH Aluminium foil) for as long as you can before serving.

I served the fillet with side of salad and roasted potatoes and turkish bread.

So easy, so simple, so quick and YET SO DELICIOUS!!

Shan Noodles (Shan Khauk Swe)

Shan is one of the states in Burma. Their regional food has a lot of noodle dishes that are well known throughout the country. Shan noodles can be eaten with broth or without. This version is without, allowing you to taste all the flavours of the gravy and appreciate it a lot more. However, the broth version, although the gravy flavours are not as intense, it's perfect when the weather is colder.

So here's the receipe. 

Shan Khauk Swè (Shan Noodles)

Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 40 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
For Gravy
2 pounds Tomatoes – slit a cross-shape just through the skin with a sharp knife, at the bottom of each tomato and diced
1 teaspoon Salt
1 pound Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (can also use minced chicken or vegetables if you are vegetarian)
3 tablespoon Soy Sauce (adjust to taste)
3 tablespoon Oil
8 cloves of Garlic – crushed or finely chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
1/8 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
4 teaspoons Red Chili Powder (adjust to taste)
2 tablespoons Tomato Paste
2 teaspoon Fish Sauce (adjust to taste)

Black Bean sauce

(you may also use/add fermented soy beans along with the black bean sauce)

Other Ingredients:
  Rice noodles (the skinny flat ones)
Fried Garlic flakes (adjust to taste)

Spring Onions (adjust to taste)

Directions:

1. In a pot big enough to fit all the tomatoes; fill it with 1 cup of water and add salt. Stir and add the tomatoes, cover the pot and bring it to a boil. Once water comes to a boil, cook for about a minute or two, just to loosen up the skin but not to cook the tomatoes.  Remove from heat, pour out the water and leave the tomatoes to cool uncovered.
2. Meanwhile, chop the chicken into as small as you can or about less than 1/4 inch pieces. It will look almost like minced chicken. Add 2 tbsp of soy sauce mix well and keep aside. (I find that partially frozen chicken is easier to work with when chopping it.)
3. When the tomatoes are cool, remove the skin and discard. Cut the tomatoes in half and remove as much seeds as possible without removing any pulp. Discard the seeds, chop the tomatoes finely and keep aside.
4. Heat a pot with oil over medium heat. Once hot, add garlic, turmeric powder, chili powder, black bean sauce (and if you want fermentated soy bean) and cook for few seconds till fragrant. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
5. Add chicken, increase heat to high and cook stirring frequently until all chicken pieces turns opaque and it starts to release water. Stir for few more seconds and add chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, fish sauce and the remaining 1 tbsp of soy sauce.
6. Stirring occasionally, cover and cook over medium heat for about 10 to 15 minutes until all tomatoes are crushed and the oil starts to separate from gravy. You should not need any water but if it is too dry, add some water. Turn off the heat and is ready to be served.

How to serve:
Have all ingredients ready before serving. You will have to work with one serving batch at a time.

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. And cook the noodles.
2. Place the cooked noodles into bowl/plate. Ladle couple scoops of chicken gravy on top. Top it up with fried garlic flakes, crushed chili and spring onions and serve immediately.
3. Mix everything before eating. 

Note: 

• Make gravy spicy enough so that you don’t need to add more chili at the time of serving. If not, serve with toasted crushed red pepper.
• The one that was made at home is with minced chicken.

Mohinga

Mummy made my favourite Burmese dish - Mohinga last weekend!

 

It was so delicious and takes me back to my childhood! Ohh massive massive love.

 

 

So for those that don't know, Mohinga is one of Burma's national dishes. It's rice noodles in fish soup. In fact, you might have seen Luke Nguyen go to Burma and have mohinga.

 

There are different varieties of mohinga in various regions of Burma such as Rakhine mohinga with more fish paste and less soup. Its ingredients depend on their availability. However, the standard dish comes from southern Burma, with fresh fish!The main ingredients of mohinga are chickpea flour and/or crushed toasted rice, garlic, onions, lemongrass, banana tree stem, ginger, fish paste, fish sauce and catfish in a rich broth cooked and kept on the boil in a cauldron. It is served with rice vermicelli, dressed and garnished with fish sauce, a squeeze of lime, crispfried onions, coriander, spring onions, crushed dried chilli and, as optional extras (but I HIGHLY recommend that you put all the garnishes in!!)

 

 

 

I really need to learn to make this otherwise when I grow up (i reliase I am already grown up..) and leave home I will crave this so MUST learn to make it! Otherwise I will have to go to the Burmese weekend market (Second Saturday of every month) at Stirling Chinese Community Centre on Stirling Street in Northbridge/Highgate and eat it.

 

According to the SBS website this is how you make it...

(NOTE THE FOLLOWING IS COPIED FROM THE SBS WEBSITE AND IS THUS COPYRIGHTED BY THEM!) 

Ingredients

½ cup peanut oil
1 tsp turmeric powder
½ red onion, finely sliced
1 stalk lemongrass, white part only, finely sliced
2cm piece of ginger, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
2 tsp shrimp paste
1 tsp sweet paprika
3 tbsp cooked, crushed chickpeas
85g toasted rice powder
4 tbsp fish sauce
2 red shallots, peeled
2 hardboiled eggs, sliced
100g boiled banana trunk (alternatively, use banana blossom)
600g cooked vermicelli noodles
4 sprigs of coriander, to garnish
4 snake beans, finely sliced
Pinch of dried chilli flakes

Broth
1 whole catfish, cleaned
1 lemongrass stalk, bruised
2 gloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp turmeric powder
2L cold water

Chilli paste
3 lemongrass stalks, white part only, finely sliced
4 whole dried chillies
4 red shallots, diced
4 garlic cloves, diced
2cm ginger, finely sliced

Preparation

To make the broth, add the catfish, lemongrass, garlic, turmeric and water to a large saucepan or stockpot. Bring to the boil and skim any impurities that rise to the surface. Reduce to low heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain the broth then remove the fish meat from the bones. Set aside and reserve the broth.

Meanwhile, to make the paste, in a mortar and pestle, pound the lemongrass, chillies, red shallots, garlic and ginger to a nice paste. Set aside.

Heat the peanut oil in a saucepan and add the turmeric. Next, add the chilli paste. Add the red onion, lemongrass, ginger and garlic. Cook for 5-6 minutes. Add the flaked fish and coat in the paste. Sauté over low-medium heat for 20. Add the shrimp paste and paprika. Continue to cook, over low heat, for a further 5 minutes to infuse flavours.

Return the broth to the stockpot. Add the chickpeas paste, rice powder, fish sauce and flaked fish mixture. Season with salt and black pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add the red shallots and boiled egg. Add the banana trunk.

Divide the vermicelli noodles among 4 bowls. Pour the broth over the noodles. Garnish with coriander, snake beans and chilli flakes to serve.

 

 

hmm.. don't know how authentic this is going to be.. should try it one day. Otherwise must ask mum and grandma how to make this! In fact I should spend a day with each member of my family learning how to cook my favourite dishes (as all of them are good at cooking a particular favourite) then record and write it all down so I don't forget it! Oh and then turn it into a family recipe book!

 

 

 

Mummy's homemade Mohinga

Pork Belly for family

Bf and I cooked at pork belly for my parents last Saturday night and it turned out restaurant quality! The crackling was crispy and NOT rubbery. The meat was juicy and moist.

To go with our pork belly we made mashed potatoes from royal blue potatoes (the best kind of potato for mashing) and salad with beautiful honey balsamic vinegar that I bought from my recent Busselton/Margaret River trip.

So to cook the amazing pork belly you will need:

ONE PORK BELLY - from the butcher's preferably - however many kilograms you want.

We got 1kg pork belly.

Ask the butcher to put some "incision" into the top of the pork belly. This ensures that the seasoning placed on top seeps into the pork.

So after the incisions are done, rub lots and I mean LOTS AND LOTS OF SALT (sea salt) and then rub olive oil on top. We also sprinkled some fried garlic that you get from the Asian grocery stores as well. Or if you have put garlic salt instead of sea salt.

Then put it in the oven - fan forced at 250 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes, you should start hearing the pork crackle if you have salted enough. After 20 minutes turn the temperature of the oven down to 180 degrees and cook for 40 minutes. After that it should be all done.

Because our pork was 1kg it took ONE HOUR - so for every kilogram you should cook the pork for ONE hour.

Then all you have to do it get it out of the oven and onto a plate.

With the juices from the pork add it onto your gravy or you can make your own apple sauce if you like. We just opted for a packet gravy with addition of the pork belly juices - we just didn't have enough time to have homemade gravy.

While the pork is cooking make the salad and the mash potatoes

Put some milk and butter into the mashed up potatoes; it provides a silky and creamy texture and if you really want something rich you can add cream.

And voila restaurant quality pork belly dinner at a fraction of the price.

I can tell you bf won brownie points with my parents.

Pasta with love

My bf and I made a lovely dinner and some to freeze over one night. This consisted of tomato based sauce (along with addition of a couple of tomatoes), chirozos (left over from making breakfast one day), carrots, mushrooms and broccolini, a dash of masala and tumeric powder to make lovely pasta with a twist. Along with the pasta, we had some garlic bread.

 

 

It was a lovely dinner and the pasta with the addition of some spices gave it that nice kick and made it all the more interesting. 

Homemade Nangyi Khao

One my favorite Burmese noodle dishes - Nangyi khoa

Simple dish - noodles, splash of oil if the chicken breast curry gravy isn't enough, fresh spring onions, coriander, thinly sliced cabbage, sliced boiled egg, "chick pea" powder (optional) and soy sauce.

Mix it all and the dish is just divine! Yum and love it!

Wish list - Thermomix!

At present I wish for a thermomix. They are truly your best friend in the kitchen!

And anything that cuts down cooking time and allows you to make everything from scratch is fantastic! It even makes sorbet and ice cream in less than 2 minutes!!

If I had this I'll be throwing dinner parties more often!

Please Santa this year get me a thermomix!

Ps. Yes I have just been to a demo! They cooked 6 courses in under 2 hours.
A risotto dish, two dips, fresh bread, sorbet, lemon custard and beetroot salad... It was amazing!

I'll definitely be getting one for the kitchen when I get my own place!

Restaurant food at home

One weeknight I felt inspired to cook restaurant quality food at home and I was especially craving crispy skinned salmon fillet. So I decided to serve it for my boy and me.

After buying it fresh from the seafood section I further ensured the skin had no scales at home, coated the skin with olive oil, sprinkled a dash of salt (very small dash as seafood already has natural salt) and some freshly grounded pepper.

Heated up a non-stick pan - no oil needs to be added. Sprinkled some water - this is to test that the pan is hot enough. If it is, the water should sizzle in the pan. Once it is hot enough, put the salmon fillet SKIN side up and cook for a few minutes/until crispy then turn over the other side to cook. In total I took about 5-7 minutes - depending on the thickness of the fillet.

The salmon fillet should have crispy skin and a moist pink inside when cut. My two fillets were cooked perfectly, delicious crispy skin and moist fillet (not overcooked!). Bf was so impressed. Now he says I can't say I can't cook, because he knows it's not true.

I also made with mash potatoes - boiled potatoes mash it - add small amount of margarine, milk (quantity according to how dry the potatoes are) and lightly salt and pepper.

Also sautéed some broccolini and asparagus. As well as making a salad tossed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

It was just a delicious and balanced meal. And quiet healthy because of the use of minimal oil.

We then had scoop of ice cream just to round out our meal.

Must say it was a lovely homemade dinner for two at home.

Cafe-styled breakfast at home with love

One bright and sunny Saturday morning bf arrived at my house early while I struggled to get out of bed due to many late nights. He came with a bag of goodies - chorizos, portobello mushrooms, baker's delight freshly baked bread and eggs. He then whipped out the knife and got to work chopping the chorizos, mushrooms before lightly pan-frying them.

Then he tried his new trick - poached some eggs. Although, he remembered what the Masterchef programme has taught him, he got a little too excited after adding the white vinegar wine to the boiling pot of water he just carefully placed the eggs in. Although, however, not very round and presentation wise the eggs weren't that great, they were definitely poached well, the yolk was still runny on the inside when cut. Alas, he has succeeded in making the perfect poached egg (minus the presentation).

Next, was the mammoth task of making the hollandaise sauce to go with the eggs. After much whisking it was done. 

The bread was then toasted, the eggs were dried on paper towels before being placed on the slices of bread, the hollandaise sauce poured on top with the chorizoand mushrooms on the side.

While he was busy in the kitchen, I was busy trying to catch some zzz in order for me to stay awake for the beautiful breakfast he made with much love.

I must say he did a fabulous job, although next time I might remind him to salt the eggs and to keep an eye on the chorizos and mushrooms and not burn them. 

Regardless, I can't believe he made me a fabulous breakfast, allowed me to attempt to go back to sleep while he cooks. Massive love.

Goumet Pizza at home.. with love...

As much as I love going out and dining, there is nothing better than just staying in and cooking/baking/frying up a storm in your own kitchen, or better yet, in someone else's kitchen!

My lovely cousins, and the boys gathered to make our very own goumet pizzas topped with everything we love to the max! Nothing is more fun then buying a pizza base from the pizza shop down the road, buying everything we want to put on top like chicken, sweet onion, goat's fetta (top quality of course!), tomato, chirozo, sweet potatoe, mozzeralla cheese, capsicums, olives, more cheese, bocconcini it's just fantastic.

The best part is after cooking the chicken, making the onion into sweet onion using sugar etc. cooking the chirozo and sweet potato is of course making the pizza toppings. Boy did we go nuts.

 JM being all Master Chef-like

Ready to go into the oven...

Pizza number 1 - sweet potato and onion with chicken

Ready for the oven:

 Pizza Number 2: Chirozo, capsicum, olives, boccocini fetta cheese

Pizza number 3: 

Chicken LOTS OF SWEET ONION and potato and fetta

Pizza number 4: 

The Works

After having fun making the pizza (and of course it was effort throwing stuff on!) it was time to shove it into the oven then wait....

wait...

wait...

DING..

out it comes..

ready to dig in! All I can say is it's better than any Little Caesar's Pizzeria or anything like that! Just bliss.

Should do it more often. It's not like it's that hard.

lamb shanks, wine, summer lovin'

We realised that lamb shanks are usually a warm fuzzy winter's day dish, but sometimes when you want something hearty and it's an unusual cold summer's night that it was when we had this lovely homecooked meal nothing can be done but to cook it and enjoy it with the best of company.

My lovely cousin was kind enough to lend her house and was ever so ready to test out her skills in the kitchen and made the lovely lamb shanks, along with german dumplings (which I never really enjoyed too much, but I guess the gravy that was made just did the trick to improve what is otherwise just potato mash, flour/corn starch and water). The recipe she used was from taste.com.au , which I must admit is one of my favourite online cooking sites.

The lamb shank was cooked to perfection, the tender juicy meat just falling off the bone. I guess the only problem that I had was the lamb smell, which can't be helped I suppose.

Her housemates also made spiced stir-fried prawns and a chinese cabbage salad, although different from the European styling of the lamb was just delicious in its own rights.

Overall the evening was a success, good food, good company and a night of Cranium fun.

Life should always be an array of dinner parties. Especially homecooked ones in the comfort of good family and friends.