Stir-fried beef with Sichuan pepper and salt and lemon

This is another Kylie Kwong recipe that caught my eye. I think the simplicity of it struck me and her description made my mouth water. It also gave me an excuse to use my packet of Sichuan peppercorns which have been sitting in the pantry unopened since we moved.

We loved all the flavours except for the Sichuan pepper and salt. I think that was my fault, because as I was measuring things out, I ran out of sea salt. I'd already combined what salt there was with the Sichuan peppercorns, so I couldn't adjust my volume of peppercorns. I used fleur de sel for the required tablespoon instead (*gasp*), but I think that it changed the flavour.

Sichuan Pepper and Salt
from "Simple Chinese Cooking" by Kylie Kwong.

1 tbs Sichuan peppercorns
3 tbs sea salt.

Dry roast the peppercorns and salt in a heavy-based pan until the peppercorns begin to pop. Take off the heat and allow to cool. Grind to a powder in a spice grinder.

Stir-Fried Beef with Sichuan Pepper and Salt and Lemon
Adapted from "Simple Chinese Cooking" by Kylie Kwong.

500g stirfry beef
cooking spray
1 tbs shao hsing wine
1 tbs white sugar
1 tbs light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 tbs Sichuan Pepper and Salt
2 lemons, cut into wedges

Marinade

2 tbs shao hsing wine
2 tbs kecap manis
2 tbs white sugar
2 tbs roughly diced ginger
3 garlic cloves, finely diced
1 tbs light soy sauce
2 tsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sesame oil

Combine beef with marinade ingredients in a large bowl, cover, and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight.

Spray a non-stick frying pan with cooking spray and stir-fry the beef in two batches for 1 minute. Once both batches are done, put all the beef into the pan with the wine, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil. Stir fry for another minute or until the beef is tender.

Serve with a small bowl of Sichuan pepper and salt and lemon wedges.

Gravy Chips

The Gravy Chip is the brainchild of Australian comedy duo Hamish & Andy, who embarked on a quest to find the people's chip on their radio show. The quest started when the two discovered that it was possible to customise a flavour for potato chips and they went to their listeners to find out what flavour people wanted in a chip. After many suggestions and shortlists, gravy flavour turned out to be the clear winner.

DD and I like to listen to Hamish & Andy on the way home and we had been listening to the all the excitement on release day and hearing about the people who had camped out and how quickly the first lot disappeared. It was quite a few weeks later when we were doing our first grocery shop for the new house and DD discovered gravy chips in the supermarket. He bought two packets to try them.

We discovered that gravy chips, while not exactly tasting like gravy - more like beef stock cubes, are really quite more-ish. They are hard to stop eating. I'm not a big potato chip fan, but these are okay. DD likes them though, and we had to buy more packets on the next grocery shop.

The Gravy Chips were released for retail sale in Woolworths in the beginning of August for a trial period, but since we found these in September not in a Woolworths, they may have found their way into circulation. Just in case they do disappear, DD asked me to post this here so we can say we were a part of chip history ;-)

Bento Box

When I was making my eggcup sushi, I was reminded of a place I used to visit years ago which sold teriyaki chicken bento boxes. I loved their bento boxes and had them far too often. Thinking about the bentos made me want to make some Japanese potato salad.

I found the perfect recipe on Maki's great blog, Just Hungry. Then, I explored further and found Maki's other blog, Just Bento. Just Bento and Just Hungry are the perfect resource when you are dreaming about bentos. In fact, reading Just Bento inspired me to try to make my own bento. I tried to copy the bento I remembered, but it wasn't quite the same. It doesn't matter though, my bento was awesome! Thanks Maki!

I don't think I've been so satisfied after lunch for a long time. It was great, I didn't have to go looking for a snack mid-afternoon.

My bento consisted of: teriyaki chicken, Japanese potato salad, rice and baby spinach. Head on over to Just Bento and Just Hungry to see the recipes.

Simple eggcup sushi

I bought the Pasta, Rice and Noodles book from Donna Hay's Simple Essentials series and I was drawn to these simple sushi balls. I've been craving some good sushi.

They were so easy and so good. I'm not normally a fan of smoked salmon (I prefer it raw), but it really worked with these. It was hard to leave some for lunch! I've made Donna's recipe for sushi rice my go-to recipe. I really love the balance of flavours and it's not as sweet as the bought sushi seasoning.

Sushi Rice
from Donna Hay Simple Essentials: Pasta Rice and Noodles p21

Makes 4 cups

1 2/3 cups sushi rice
1 3/4 cups water
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 1/2 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Rinse the rice under running water for 5 minutes

In a small saucepan combine rice and water. Cover and bring to the boil for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat and simmer for a further 10 minutes or until most of the water is absorbed. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for another 10 minutes.

Combine the vinegar, sugar and salt. Spread the cooked rice over the base of a large, non-metallic, shallow dish and sprinkle with the vinegar mixture. Stir with a spatula in a cutting motion for 5 minutes or until cool to touch.

Simple eggcup sushi
from Donna Hay Simple Essentials: Pasta Rice and Noodles p54

1 quantity sushi rice
600g smoked salmon slices
Japanese mayonnaise
soy sauce, to serve

Line an eggcup with plastic wrap. Place a slice of salmon around the inside of the eggcup. Spread a small amount of mayonnaise along the inside of the salmon. Press the sushi rice firmly into the eggcup, ensuring that the rice comes right to the top. Turn the sushi out onto a serving platter. Repeat with the remaining rice and salmon. Serve with soy.

Thai Green Curry

Following my success with my Tom Kha Gai, I decided to try my hand at making a green curry. This one wasn't quite as visually successful as the hot and sour soup, but it still tasted pretty good. It wasn't perfect and I can definately improve on it next time.

In the class we were told that it's best to use a mortar and pestle when making the curry paste because the food processor/blender takes away all the texture. I was lazy, however, and everything went in my food processor. Next time I might try the blender as the food processor didn't get it as smooth as I would have liked. The flavour was really good though, it was pretty much how I wanted it to taste. It wasn't quite as good as the one we made in class though.

I did have some fun trying to add the shrimp paste without DD smelling it. He isn't a fan of any fishy smell, tinned tuna and fish sauce are bad enough to him to warrant some complaining. I don't think I succeeded very well, but I think he was suitably distracted at the time so he didn't notice.

The colour was a little off, but I think that was because I cut down on the amount of chillies and that took out a lot of green. I also didn't have any fresh turmeric. I did try and add some powdered turmeric for colour while cooking the curry, but that turned it a weird yellow colour. I won't be doing that again.

The curry turned out great though. It was as good as any takeaway.


Green Curry Paste
Nahm Prik Kaeng Khiao Wan
Adapted from Mons Ban Sabai Cooking School recipe

3 large green chillies
1 tbs chopped shallots
1 tbs chopped garlic
1 tbs chopped galangal
1 tbs chopped lemongrass (use only the bottom third)
1 tsp chopped coriander root
1 1/2 tsp ground roasted coriander seeds
1/2 tsp ground roasted cumin seeds
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp shrimp paste
Some dried Chinese ginger

Grind all spices in a coffee grinder

Finely chop all ingredients then blend in an electric blender or food processor with a little water.

Green Curry
Kaeng Khiao Wan Kai
Adapted from Mons Ban Sabai Cooking School recipe

300g chicken breast fillets
2 tbs green curry paste
2 carrots, sliced
handful sugar snap peas
400ml coconut milk, separated
500ml chicken stock
kaffir lime leaves
fish sauce
sugar to taste

Fry the chilli paste in thick coconut paste skimmed off the top of the coconut milk until fragrant. Add the meat and brown in the curry paste. Add the rest of the coconut milk, chicken stock and kaffir lime leaves and cook for a few more minutes.

Add the fish sauce and sugar as needed and bring to the boil. Add the vegetables and cook until tender. Serve over steamed rice.

Tom Kha Gai

I caught a cold the day after my Thai cooking class and I was feeling pretty miserable. It was also the day my mother left to return home, so I was a little sad on top of that. I really wanted a pick me up. So, on the way home from the airport I stopped at a supermarket and picked up a few ingredients to make a hot and sour soup to clear my head.

This was so easy to make. In the cooking class the instructor told us that all the work in Thai cooking is not so much in the cooking itself, but in the preparation of the ingredients. There are a few ingredients in the soup, but you could easily adjust to suit your energy level. It was nice to be able to stand there and chop mindlessly.

The soup could not have turned out better. It was so good, I ate the whole batch over the course of an afternoon. Mine was a little light on the prawns because I'm still using frozen prawns in things (will I ever learn?) but tasted amazing. It was soothing thanks to the coconut cream and the warmth, but it was clearing because of the heat and the sourness. It was the perfect pick-me-up.

Tom Kha Gai
Hot and Sour Prawn Coconut Soup
Adapted from Mons Ban Sabai Cooking School Recipe

Handful of frozen prawns
1 cup coconut cream
1 cup chicken stock
1 lemongrass stalk about 6-8cm long, cleaned and lightly bruised
2 shallots lightly crushed
2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
4 thin slices galangal
3 kaffir lime leaves, stems removed
2 tomatoes cut into wedges
fish sauce to taste
lime juice to taste
sugar to taste
tom yum paste
chilli paste

Separate the coconut cream and coconut milk. Heat the coconut milk and stock over medium heat until simmering. Add the lemongrass, shallots, garlic and galangal and simmer for 5 minutes, or until fragrant. Add tomatoes, kaffir lime leaves, coconut cream and prawns and keep cooking until prawns are pink. Add fish sauce, sugar, lime juice and tom yum paste to taste. Serve garnished with coriander leaves.

Mons Ban Sabai Thai Garden Restaurant and Cooking School

Recently I was lucky to attend a Thai Cooking Class at the Mons Ban Sabai Thai Garden Restaurant and Cooking School. This was my first cooking class and I really loved it.

Everything was beautifully presented and ready to go on our arrival, with baskets of gorgeous fresh ingredients. The instructor, Raymund, took us through four popular Thai recipes, making each one from scratch. The dishes were:

Green curry with chicken
Tom Kha Gai (prawns in coconut milk soup)
Yum Nua (Beef Salad) and
Money Bags


It was quite a big class, so there was plenty of hands available to help with all the chopping and preparation.

First up, we made a green curry paste for our green curry. We had two mortar and pestles on the go with half the ingredients being ground in each, and they were combined at the end to make a gloriously green fresh tasting spicy paste. If it wasn't so spicy hot it would be an amazing dip.

green curry paste

It was set aside as we prepared the vegetables for the curry.

vegetable basket

Then we moved on to prepping for the Prawns in Coconut Milk Soup and Yum Nua. Raymund told us that the Tom Kha Gai can be prepared two ways, one with coconut milk and one with just plain chicken stock. We made it with chicken stock in the class, but the recipe we took home was with coconut milk. We also used prawns instead of chicken, because there was chicken in the green curry.

Vegetables for the soup

The head chef is a beautiful artist, her paintings hang on the wall in the restaurant. She also carves lovely things out of vegetables (see the carrot flower above).

Vegetables for the salad

Lastly, we chopped the ingredients for the money bags.

Then carefully assembled them, ready for frying.


Then it was time to cook and eat!

Moneybags frying

Yummy moneybags

Interior shot

Woks for the green curry and Tom Kha Gai and chicken stock

All the aromatics in the Tom Kha Gai

Tom Kha Gai simmering

Green curry

Mixing the Yum Nua

We ate the money bags straight away (with a glass of wine!) as everything else was being prepared, but then we sat down to an elegantly set table to eat the rest.

Beautifully set table

Clockwise from top: green curry, Tom Kha Gai, Yum Nua

Green Curry close up

Tom Kha Gai

Yum Nua

I really enjoyed seeing how the Thai flavours were put together and I got some hints and tips as well. I've made a few things from the class since then and they've turned out really well. I've also been back to the restaurant for takeaway, it's absolutely fantastic.

Mons Ban Sabai
Thai Garden Restaurant and Cooking School
12 Martha St
Camp Hill
Ph: 3843 5366
www.monsbansabai.com

Verve Cafe

We recently purchased an Entertainment Book after seeing DD's mother's version when we went down to Sydney. We haven't used it much (although we've already nearly recouped the purchase price), but we'd like to use it to explore places we wouldn't normally go and to make us go out more.

When my mother flew down to visit we decided to pull out the Entertainment Book and try somewhere. We chose Verve Cafe. I decided that I loved the place even before we went there just from looking at the meny, so I did go in with high hopes. I'm happy to say that I wasn't disappointed.

We booked in for an early dinner on a Friday night. Verve is located on the basement level and it is a really different atmosphere. It's hard to explain, everything I want to say makes it sound really closed in and claustrophic when it was really anything but. It was almost cave-like, but it's an airy cave. The walls are lined with art, and there is so much to look at. It's quite dark, so my apologies for the poor quality of the photos.

We were seated and our drink orders were taken immediately. The service was fantastic, not overbearing or pushy, but there was always someone there whenever we needed something.

Herb bread ($4.90) and Pan bread with kalamata olives, sea salt, basil and bocconcini ($4.90)

We ordered two breads to start. The breads are freshly baked each day and are generously topped. Both breads were delicious, although DD and I loved the simplicity of the garlic and herbs in the herb bread. Mum loved the pan bread.

Sand crab and prawn risotto - diced Roma tomatoes, zest of lemon, fresh thyme, cream ($20.90)

My main was the sand crab and prawn risotto, I saw this on the menu before we came and I'd already decided that this was what I was going to order. It was amazing. It was sheer bliss eating it. The flavour was spectacular, it was creamy and perfectly cooked and I still have dreams about it. I couldn't have been happier with it.

Roast Pumpkin Pizza - pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, English spinach, pesto, caramelised onion, mozzarella ($15.90)

DD was really hungry on this particular night and he wasn't too pleased when I made him take a photo of his dinner before he got to eat it, so I think he took a blurry one on purpose. Although, he also took a photo of mum's dinner below and it was in focus, so maybe he was just a bit close in bad light.

In DD's words, the pizza was f***-ing awesome. He thought that it was going to be dry, but it wasn't. The pumpkin added a nice flavour, but it wasn't overpowering. DD isn't normally a big pumpkin eater, so it shows how good this pizza was.

Veal Scallopini - pan seared, parmesan mash, sauteed mushrooms and Marsala cream sauce ($28.90)

Mum's veal scallopini surprised us both (DD doesn't like veal, so he didn't try it) because it was creamy sweet. It was perfectly matched to the veal and mash though, and it worked really well. Mum really enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, it's been nearly a month between our visit and this post, so my memory isn't the best. All I remember is that we had a wonderful night out with fantastic food and service. We left so blissfully complete. I can't wait to go back to Verve again.

Verve Cafe
Basement
109 Edward St
Brisbane
Ph: 3221 5691
www.vervecafe.com.au

Ekka

I've been living in Brisbane for a few years now and I've never been to the Ekka. Last year, I said that 2008 will be the year I go to the Ekka and it was indeed.

We went on the afternoon of the final day. We were really only interested in the food hall and the animals, so it wasn't really a full day, but it was fun.

DD liked trying all the different hot sauces, we had some Dippin' Dots ice cream and a toasted cheese sandwich from the Dairy Farmer's stand. I found a beautiful semi-sweet wine that I liked and Mum enjoyed trying some of the spice mixes available. It was like a lovely little teaser about what we'll see at the Good Food and Wine Show in November.

I also got to try the famed strawberry ice cream (see above). Luckily, it lived up to its hype. It was really good. The nicest, creamiest strawberry ice cream I've ever tasted and I loved the surprise of fresh strawberries at the bottom of the cone.

We had a lovely day and it was very nice, but I don't think it is worth the entry fee. We were lucky and had some free tickets, so we only had to pay for 1 entry. I don't think that it would be worth the entry fee if we'd had to pay full price. Still, I'm glad I got to go.

I leave you with a picture of some llamas, because llamas are awesome.

Jan Power's Farmer Markets Manly

I love the Jan Power's Farmers' Markets at Manly. The markets are more spread out than they are at New Farm and it doesn't feel as crowded. There's lots of places to sit and eat, it's right next to the water and there's a beautiful breeze. It's so relaxing.

The markets are there every third Saturday from 6am to noon.

Manly Winter Fresh Food Markets
Manly Esplanade (between Cambridge and Cardigan Parades)
Manly

Thai-style sticky mince

I find that whenever we have minced beef, we seem to have the same heavy flavours every time. I have found a favourite in Spiced Beef Rice Noodles and I really like the balance in that dish, but DD would never choose to eat it. He will eat it if I make it, but I know he would prefer another combination of flavours, so I have to keep looking for a nice minced beef recipe.

When we were grocery shopping one day I succumbed to the temptation to buy one of the cheap cookbooks they have at the checkouts and it was all about minced meat. We went through it together and decided to try the Thai-style sticky minced beef.

I made quite a few modifications to the recipe to take into account DD's preferences and the contents of my pantry and I can confidently say that what I ended up with is nothing like what's in the book. Which is probably a good thing, as I found this to be way too sweet and cloying. DD liked it though.

Thai-style sticky mince

olive oil spray
500g minced beef
2 tsp minced beef
1/8 cup palm sugar
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 tsp coriander paste
1 tsp chilli paste
2 tbs fish sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
4 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
1/4 cup deep fried shallots
soy sauce, to taste

Coat a large frying pan with olive oil spray and cook garlic and mince until brown. Remove from pan.

Combine sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, lime leaves in the frying pan, bring to the boil. Simmer the mix until it starts to caramalise and thicken. Put the mince back in the pan with some of the fried shallots and turn in the sugar mixture. Cook until the mixture is sticky but not dry. Taste at this point, add more lime juice or soy sauce if necessary.

Serve over rice, sprinkling with more lime juice and the rest of the fried shallots.

Soy Sauce Chicken

I still have lots of posts left over from the moving/no internet period, but I'm having trouble posting them because I can't seem to find any of the recipes. All of my recipe books have disappeared on me! I'll keep looking for them, but I've decided to not delay posting until I find the recipes just for the sake of keeping things in date order. I like keeping things in order quite a bit.

Anyway, taking things completely out of sequence, I made this chicken for dinner tonight. I bought Kylie Kwong's Simple Chinese Cooking a few weeks ago. I loved so many recipes in the book I was tempted to try something similar to Sarah's blog Sarah Discovers How to Eat and cook my way through the entire book. There were a few problems with that though, namely that DD doesn't like soup, pork, lamb or seafood. I've amended my goal to just try and cook my way through the beef and chicken sections of the book. We'll see how that goes ;-)

This recipe is simply chicken poached in a deep rich brilliantly scented stock which, according to Kylie, is similar to the stock used to cook the chickens sold at Chinese barbecue shops. The flavour was lovely, fragrant with the soy and shao hsing wine and ginger and star anise. The chicken stayed lovely and moist and went perfectly with some steamed rice.

Kylie says that you can reuse the stock, too. Just strain it well and keep it in the freezer. Apparently it becomes richer and deeper each time it's used. Finding a freezer-safe airtight container to keep it in was a challenge though. That's what I get for buying all my plastic stuff from Ikea.

Soy Sauce Chicken
Adapted from "Simple Chinese Cooking" by Kylie Kwong.

400g chicken stir fry strips

Red Master Stock

3/4 cup shao hsing wine
3/4 cup dry sherry
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup light soy sauce
1 cup brown sugar
6 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup ginger slices
4 spring onions, trimmed and cut in half crossways
1/2 tsp sesame oil
5 star anise
2 cinnamon quills
4 strips fresh orange zest

Combine all the stock ingredients in a large saucepan with 3 cups of water. Bring to the boil.

Reduce heat and simmer gently for 30 minutes.

Reduce the heat even further and add the chicken. Poach for 14 minutes but be careful with the heat - Kylie says that no more than an occasional ripple should break the surface. The stock should not be allowed to come to a simmer again.

Remove the chicken pieces and strain the stock. I found it easier to strain the stock first and then remove the chicken pieces. Serve over steamed rice with a small amount of stock spooned over.


Note: I really butchered this recipe to turn it into an easy weeknight meal. Ideally, it should be prepared with a whole chicken and the chicken should be allowed to steep in the stock for 3 hours after the 14 minutes of poach time. This allows the chicken to finish cooking. Since my stir fry strips didn't need as much cooking time as a whole chicken (and I was hungry), I skipped this bit.

Blood Orange Curd

Blood oranges have been popping up at the farmers' markets recently. I've never tried them before so I bought a couple. They sat on the bench through all the bustle of moving, looking at me reproachfully. Just before the kitchen went into boxes, I found a recipe for a tart filled with blood orange curd in a Donna Hay Magazine.

I didn't make the actual tart, just the curd to use my oranges.

There were two large stalls selling blood oranges at the farmers' market I bought these from, and the ones I ended up buying weren't as gloriously red as the ones from the other store. As you can see above, these were only motley. The juice turned out a beautiful colour though, so bright and vibrant!


I stole some of the juice and served it diluted with soda water for a bit of a refresher. I don't know what I was expecting, but it was yum!!!

The blood orange curd was really easy to make too. I don't think I let it thicken for long enough, as it was a bit on the runny side. The recipe says to serve the tarts with cream, but I felt that the curd was creamy enough to hold up on its own. The flavour was nice and subtle.

The curd was one of the few things in the refrigerator that was transferred to the new house. I'm still working out the lighting for the pictures. While the kitchen seems very bright, the photos seem to be turning out really really dark. You can still get the idea though.


Blood Orange Curd
From Donna Hay Magazine Aug/Sep 2008 p150

6 egg yolks
1/2 cup (125ml) blood orange juice, strained
1 1/2 tbs lemon juice
3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar
70g cold butter, chopped

Place the egg yolks, orange juice, lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan over low heat and whisk to combine. Cook, stirring constantly, for 8-10 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat and gradually add the butter, stirring well after each addition. Pour into a bowl, press some plastic wrap or baking paper onto the surface so it is completely covered and refrigerate for 1 hour or until thickened.

Penne with spicy sausage, ricotta, tomato and chilli

This is another recipe trying to use the wedge of soft ricotta sitting in my fridge. In the same trip to Pennisi's I had bought some fresh chorizo sausage. DD thought I was crazy buying so much "gourmet" stuff just before we moved, but in the end he really like the stuff I made, so I hope he forgave me.

I found this recipe on Taste.com.au and saw that it had ricotta AND feta AND chorizo and it became a recipe to help clean out the fridge.

I loved this dish. I absolutely adored it. It made a huge potful, giving me lunches for the next three days, but I happily ate them because it was that good. I can't describe the flavour, everything in the recipe just combined so well to make a flavour that was different and new and amazing. Try it for yourself, it's really good.

Penne with spicy sausage, ricotta, tomato and chilli
adapted from Australian Good Taste Magazine as published on Taste.com.au

375g dried penne pasta
3 chorizo sausages, thinly sliced diagonally
1 tbs olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tin crushed tomatoes
200g fresh ricotta, crumbled
1 tsp mild chilli spice blend by Gourmet Garden
120g feta, crumbled
1 cup fresh baby spinach leaves
freshly ground black pepper

Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water following packet directions or until al dente. Drain.

Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the chorizo and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 minutes or until brown. Transfer to a plate.

Heat the oil in the same frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add the pasta, tomato, ricotta and chilli. Gently toss until well combined and heated through. Remove from heat.

Add the feta and baby spinach, and gently toss until combined. Taste and season with pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl. Sprinkle with remaining feta and serve immediately.