Tom Kha Gai - Thai coconut lemongrass soup

Adapted from Spirit House
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 cups chicken stock
2 stalks lemon grass, outer leaves removed and cut into 2 cm pieces
6 pieces kaffir lime leaves
2 cm ginger, grated or finely sliced
400ml coconut milk
2 small chillies, seeds removed and finely chopped
2 tablespoons palm sugar (or brown sugar)
3 tablespoons fish sauce
Juice and zest of 1.5 limes
300g chicken breast, cut into thin strips
1 bunch brocollini, sliced into 5cm pieces
1 red capsicum, cut into strips
Udon noodles
Coriander to garnish.

Put stock, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves and ginger into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 5 minutes to infuse the flavours.

Add coconut milk, chilli, palm sugar, fish sauce, zest and lime juice. Stir and simmer for 1 minute. Add chicken and vegetables, simmer until chicken is cooked (approximately 5-10 minutes).

Meanwhile, cook Udon noodles according to packet directions. Once cooked, divide noodles amongst serving bowls. Ladle finished soup onto the noodles. Serve garnished with coriander.

Healthy delicious banana pancakes - Just 2 Ingredients!

Serves 2

Ingredients
2 medium bananas, mashed
2 eggs, lightly whisked

Optional:
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp chia seeds or 1 tbsp LSA

Mix together banana and eggs. Add any optional ingredients and mix until combined.

Heat some coconut or olive oil in a frypan, add pancake batter and cook until browned. Flip and cook until ready to eat! (Don't make them bigger than 10cm as they will be difficult to flip).

Serve with toasted coconut, berries, maple syrup and greek yoghurt (or whatever you like!).

Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes 15

Ingredients
22 Oreo's (about 1.5 packets) - 15 whole, 7 chopped
500g Cream Cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup Sour Cream
2 Eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
15 Mini Oreo's

Preheat oven to 135°C and put cupcake cases into a muffin tin. Place one Oreo at the bottom of each cupcake case.   

Using an electric beater, beat cream cheese until smooth while gradually adding the sugar. Add vanilla and mix until combined. Gradually add eggs to mixture and beat until combined, ensuring you scrape the sides of the bowl as you mix. Add sour cream and mix until combined. Mix in chopped Oreo's using a wooden spoon.


Fill cupcake cases until almost full. Bake for 24 minutes or until set. Let cool in tins. Refrigerate for atleast 5 hours, or overnight. 

To serve whip cream with icing sugar until stiff, and pipe onto cakes. Top with a mini Oreo for cute deliciousness. 

Giant meatballs with a mozarella surprise

Adapted from Taste.com.au, Serves 4. Meatball Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, diced
3 thyme sprigs, leaves picked
500g beef mince
500g pork mince
2/3 cup fresh breadcrumbs (just blend a piece of day-old bread)
2 tablespoons fresh ricotta
1 egg, lightly whisked
1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
8 small bocconcini mozzarella
Finely grated Parmesan to serve

Tomato Sauce ingredients (can be substituted with bought sauce)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 long red chilli, seeded, finely chopped
400g can chopped tomatoes
700ml bottle tomato passata
1 dried bay leaf

Pasta, rice or crusty bread to serve

For the tomato sauce, heat oil in a large oven-proof saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, chilli and cook for 5 minutes, stirring. Add the tomatoes, passata and bay leaf. Season. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 40 minutes, until the sauce thickens.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and thyme, and cook for 5 minutes until soft. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine beef and pork mince, breadcrumbs, ricotta, egg, parmesan, parsley, garlic and onion mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Divide mixture into 8 even portions, and roll each into a large ball (tennis ball sized). Create a hole in each meatball with your fingers, insert a bocconcini ball and cover the ball with the mince mixture. Place the meatballs on a lined oven tray. Cook in the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove the meatballs from the oven and add to the tomato sauce. Return to the oven, and cook for a further 30 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from oven and sprinkle with Parmesan.

Serve with pasta, rice or crusty bread. 

 

Homemade Hummus

Makes 1 cup
Ingredients
400g tin chickpeas, rinsed
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 cup tahini
Juice of 1 lemon
Pinch salt
3 tbsp cup water

Process chickpeas in a food processor until smooth. Add garlic, tahini, lemon juice and salt. Process until smooth. Add the water 1 tbsp at a time until Hummus has reached the desired consistency.

The Hummus will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

The Hummus will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Home-made Garlic Naan Bread

Adapted from taste.com.au
These are so delicious that we usually end up eating them all within 5 minutes. They are a little bit closer to bread than a traditional naan, making them delicious with soup (as well as a curry). 

Ingredients
3 cups bread flour
8g sachet dried yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp caster sugar
3/4 cup warm water
1/3 cup Greek yoghurt
2 tbs vegetable oil
olive oil spray
2 tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed

In a medium bowl combine flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add water, yoghurt, oil and mix well with a wooden spoon. Knead dough for 5 minutes or until smooth. If it is too moist add a bit more flour, or add a bit more water if it isn't coming together.

Place dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place for 1 hour. The dough will have doubled in size by this time.

Preheat oven to 250°C. Make sure your baking trays (or ideally a pizza stone) are in the oven while it is heating up. 

Mix olive oil and crushed garlic in a small bowl.  


Once doubled in size, punch down the dough and divide it into 6 portions. Lightly flour a surface and roll out each portion of dough into a 12 x 20cm oval shape. 

Spray or brush one side of the dough with olive oil, place the dough oiled side down on the hot tray/pizza stone. Brush the other side with the garlic oil. Bake on for 5 minutes, or until puffed and golden. Wrap in foil to keep warm and repeat with the remaining dough.

Goes great served with Thai style sweet potato soup.

Thai Sweet Potato Soup

This is a great winter warmer, and is a bit more interesting than boring old pumpkin soup. It goes great served with home-made Naan bread.

Ingredients

2 tbs olive oil

2 red onions, diced

1 tsp turmeric powder

3 tbs grated ginger (if you freeze your ginger it is easier to grate) 

2 red birdseye chillies, de-seeded and finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1kg sweet potato (kumara), peeled and cut into 3cm pieces

5 cups vegetable stock

150ml coconut milk

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions, ginger, turmeric, chillies and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until the onion softens. Add the sweet potato and stir.

Add the stock to the pan and increase the heat to high. Once the stock has boiled, reduce heat to medium and cook until the sweet potato is tender (approximately 30 minutes), stirring occasionally. Add coconut milk.

Transfer the soup to a blender, or use a stick blender to blend it in the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Serve accompanied by some delicious homemade naan bread (see here for the recipe).

Chicken, feta and pumpkin filo parcels

Adapted from Taste.com.au

These flaky filo parcels are delicious and a real crowd-pleaser. They are a bit fiddly, but easy to make ahead. The recipe serves 6 so I usually cook four and freeze the other two for a last minute meal.

Ingredients

500g butternut pumpkin, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes

500g chicken breast, cut into 2cm cubes

2 tbsp olive oil

Olive oil spray (can be replaced with 1/2 cup olive oil) 

1 large red onion, diced

60g baby spinach, chopped roughly

200g Greek feta, crumbled

18 sheets filo pastry

Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Place the sweet potato and 1tbs of olive oil in a large bowl - toss to coat. Place pumpkin onto the baking paper in a single layer. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes (or until tender). Set aside until cool enough to touch.

While the pumpkin is roasting, heat 1tbs of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until soft. Transfer to a large heatproof bowl.

Add chicken to the pan and cook over medium-high heat for 4 minutes, or until just cooked through and brown on all sides. If you don't have a large frying pan then make sure you cook the chicken in two batches. Transfer chicken to the bowl with the onions.

Add the spinach and pumpkin to the bowl and toss to combine. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool, and then place in the fridge until room temperature (about 10 minutes). Once cooled, add feta and toss to combine. 

Lay pastry on a flat work surface and cover with a clean tea towel to prevent it from drying out. Spray one sheet of pastry with olive oil spray (or brush with olive oil). Top with two more sheets, ensuring you spray olive oil between each layer. Spoon 1/6th of the chicken mixture on the narrow end of the pastry, leaving a 5cm border at the end, and on each side. Fold the front edge of the pastry over the filling, then fold in the sides and roll up to form a parcel. Repeat with remaining pastry to create 6 parcels. 

Line a baking tray with baking paper and place the filo parcels seam-side down on the tray. Spray each with a little oil (extra parcels can be frozen at this stage). Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until crisp and golden.

These taste great served them with roasted root veggies.

Fall-apart braised pork with leeks and Pak Choi (Pressure Cooker)

This is the most delicious pork I have had in a long time, the pork literally melts in your mouth - no knife needed! This is a good fusion between Asian and Western flavours and a great weeknight meal. Give it a go - I promise you won't be disappointed!

Serves 4

 
Ingredients
700g pork tenderloin, cut roughly into 3cm slices
2 tbs olive oil
1 large leek (white part only), thinly sliced
2 tbs ginger grated finely (or finely chopped)
3 garlic cloves, chopped
220ml water
100ml white wine
1 tbs light soy sauce
1.5 tbs brown sugar
Bunch Pak Choi (sliced into quarters lengthways)

Heat half the olive oil in the bottom of the pressure cooker pan over medium heat. Fry pork in two batches until brown all over. Remove to a plate and set aside.
Add the rest of the olive oil to the pressure cooker. Add leek, ginger and garlic and stir over medium heat for 5 minutes (until the leek softens). Add water, wine, soy sauce and sugar. Simmer uncovered for 2 minutes. Add pork.

Take the pressure cooker off the heat and attach the lid following your manufacturer's instructions. Return to high heat and heat until pressurized (your pressure cooker will have an indicator for this, mine has a small red button that pops up). Once pressurized set the timer for 25 minutes. Leave to cook, adjusting temperature as needed to maintain proper pressure.

After 25 minutes turn off the heat and let the steam release naturally (do not use the quick release). Once all the steam has left the pressure cooker remove the lid with caution and set aside. Turn the heat up to medium and place the Pak Choi on top of the pork. Put the lid on loosely for 3-4 minutes or until the Pak Choi is tender (do not fix the lid, you just want to steam the Pak Choi). Serve with rice.

Carrot Cake with Olive Oil

This carrot cake is moist and delicious and exactly as a carrot cake should be. I scoured the internet for carrot cake recipes and the majority contained vegetable oil - which I am not a big fan of for various reasons. So I adapted a recipe from Sass and Veracity to make this fantastic cake. It's not super sweet so is the perfect cake for afternoon tea (as we ate it). The cream cheese frosting is also a much healthier version than the usual - so you can enjoy twice as much. 

Ingredients
1/2 cup olive oil
250g brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground mixed spice
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup raisins
250g carrots (approximately 2 medium carrots), peeled and grated
1 x 220g box of cream cheese
3 tblsp greek yoghurt
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat oven to 165 degrees C. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper (don't forget this step as the cake is very sticky).

Put olive oil, sugar and eggs into a medium bowl and mix well. Sift flour, baking powder, bicarb soda, salt and all spices into the olive oil mixture. Mix until combined. Add walnuts, raisins and carrot, stirring until incorporated. 

Pour cake mix into prepared tin and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool.

To prepare the icing combine cream cheese, yoghurt, sugar and vanilla essence in a small bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy. Taste and add more sugar if needed. Spread the top of the cake with icing and enjoy!

Penang Beef Curry - Pressure cooker style

Since buying my pressure cooker 2 months ago I have become a convert. Pressure-cooking cuts down time and provides you with an extremely tender end product. Although coconut cream would usually be used for this curry I have opted for the healthier coconut milk option.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons coconut oil (can be replaced with olive oil)

1kg diced beef blade or gravy beef

400ml can coconut milk

3 tablespoons red curry paste (I use May Ploy)

2 tablespoons palm sugar

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1/3 cup roasted peanuts, finely chopped

8 kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced

1 cup basil leaves (preferably Thai basil) 

1 chilli, de-seeded and sliced

Boiled rice to serve. 

Heat 1 tablespoon of coconut oil over medium heat in the pressure cooker (using it without the lid). Once hot cook 1/2 of the beef until browned. Once browned remove beef from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate. Repeat with the remaining coconut oil and beef. Set aside browned meat on a plate.

Heat the curry paste in the coconut oil remaining at the bottom of the pressure cooker for 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add the coconut milk to the pan and cook stirring for 4 minutes. Add the beef, kaffir lime leaves and half the peanuts.  Stir to combine and cook for 2 minutes. 

Take the pressure cooker off the heat and attach the lid following your manufacturer's instructions. Return to low heat and heat until the pressurized (your pressure cooker will have an indicator for this, mine has a small red button that pops up). Once pressurized set the timer for 45 minutes. Allow mixture to cook adjusting temperature as needed to maintain proper pressure.

After 45 minutes turn off the heat and let the steam release naturally (do not use the quick release). Once all the steam has left the pressure cooker remove the lid with caution and set aside. When you open it the oil will have separated from the curry, so give it a stir. Put the pan back on medium heat and cook until the sauce has thickened slightly. Add the fish sauce and palm sugar. Stir in the chilli and basil. Remove from the heat as soon as the basil has wilted. Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with remaining peanuts. Serve with rice.