I came up with this recipe last year during my ambassadorship with Bulla Cream. I was asked to re-create George Calombaris' Olive Oil Chocolate Mousse with Spiced Red Wine Poached Pears with my own twist. I tried making this with olive oil and it tasted TERRIBLE!! Definitely had to put my own spin on this one. I didn't have any fancy servingware for these. I figured any glass, ramekin or bowl will do fine.

This is a light dessert. Great for those who are gluten free too!

Growing up, this recipe was one of Mum's regulars. It's actually pretty simple and gluten free. I had it memorised for my Bulla Cream Cook Off weekend, just in case I had to pull out a recipe on the spot. I find the only tricky bit is you need to melt the sugar over the stove. So you'll need a metal pan that's not spring-form. As opposed to those silicone ones. Do take care, not to burn yourself and be patient with the sugar. It will get there.

If you do like the coffee version of Crème Caramel, substitute about half a cup of milk with coffee. 

Ingredients
Base
¼ to ½ cup caster or white sugar

Filling
3 cups milk
4 to 5 eggs
¼ cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

With my Bulla Cream obligations, I've been given a challenge this month to re-create George Calombaris' Beetroot Salad. I have a confession - I do not dig beets. Ever since a little kid - I still can't get over the flavour. Yes, how  "unAustralian" of me! Second confession - I have never cooked fresh beetroot before. So - as much as this is an "ordinary" thing for many of you, this salad is just that little bit out of my comfort zone. But! That's what challenges are about. Challenge accepted!

Now, if you have a look at George's recipe, I personally find it rather involved. After about 2 minutes of digging around online, I've come up with this recipe below. It is a little less involved - but it will still take about 1.5 hours to bake. But since the oven is on, I've tried to make use of it with the other ingredients. Verdict - "really good" according to OG. 

Some tips I learnt while making this, beets stain like nothing else! So I covered my chopping board with cling wrap before peeling the beets, and used disposable kitchen gloves. I didn't use my white crockery but just the stainless steel bowl and glass bowl.


Ingredients
1 to 2 large brown onions, quartered
1 to 2 medium sized beetroots
4 cloves of garlic
Olive oil to coat onions, beetroot, and garlic liberally
2 teaspoons of salt
2 handfuls of walnuts
150ml Sour Cream
2 dozen fresh basil leaves
1 pomegranate, seeded
Few sprigs of chives to garnish

Method 
1. Preheat oven to 170C. 

2. Place whole beetroot and onions in a deep baking dish. Splash with olive oil to coat liberally and sprinkle with salt. Cover with foil and roast until skewer passes through easily, approximately 1 & 1/2 hours. 

3. Lightly bruise garlic cloves with the side of the a knife to just crack the skin. Coat with olive oil and place in a small baking dish. After half an hour of the beetroot and onions being in the oven, place garlic in the oven also.

4. Spread walnuts on a flat baking tray. With about 15 minutes left to go for the beetroot and onions, also place walnuts in the oven.

5. When beetroot is cooked, remove all ingredients out of the oven. Allow to cool slightly. 

6. Peel away the skin of the garlic cloves to reveal its soft flesh. Place into the sour cream and stir to mix in. Set aside (if the fridge if it's a warm day).

7. When cool enough to handle, wearing disposable kitchen gloves to peel beetroot skin and cut into small wedges/segments. Place in serving bowl. Using your gloved hand, separate onion into its individual layers and place in serving bowl. Stir to mix beetroot and onions.

8. Stir through fresh basil, the freshly roasted walnuts and fresh pomegranate seeds. Serve with sour cream garlic mixture. Garnish with some fresh chives.

How good is Turkish food! Following the hummus from before, we decided to give it ago and try recreate another of our favourite dips at home. Here is Tzatziki -  a very simple, quick and easy cucumber dip and great served on pita or Turkish bread, and or with grilled meats. 

I based this recipe from Donna Hay's online recipe with a few additions. You can adjust the ratios according to your taste. So the tip is to try as you go. I've tagged this post as “sugar free” as you can substitute honey with about 2 to 3g of Stevia. But the sweetness does balance out the flavour in this dish.

Ingredients
2 cups thick Greek natural yoghurt
1 Lebanese cucumber, grated
2 tablespoons chopped mint leaves
1 clove garlic, crushed/grated
1/2 tablespoon honey (optional)
1 lemon/lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and cracked pepper

Other optional flavours
Dill
Parsley
Cumin
Coriander

Method
Place the yoghurt, cucumber, mint, garlic, honey, oil, juice, salt and pepper in a bowl and stir to combine. Serve.
Yep that simple! Enjoy!

Ever had lovely fresh bread but need something equally nice to eat it with? We were faced with this dilemma this weekend and decided to make hummus. Ah! The simple tastes are always enjoyed any time of the year. 

Every South East Asian nation has their own version of stir fry noodles, and so does every Asian restaurant around the world, catering to the palates of their local patrons. 

With this dish, you have a lot of creative license. Throw together what you have or carefully select your favourite ingredients. Whatever you decide, there are a few simple directions to make this dish great. I’ve tried to highlight this in my instructions below. To summarise, it's a lot of different flavours – garlic, ginger, onions, herbs. And no matter how hard you try, you’ll always cook more than you think you need. But that’s okay, this is great as leftovers too (or mid-night snacks).

If you have your favourite version, I would love to hear about it, feel free to leave a comment.

This recipe serves 2 very hungry people or probably 3 to 4 average serves. Obviously you can increase the portions to cater for more people.

Ingredients
150g sirloin beef steak, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 to 2 tspn minced fresh ginger
1 medium onion, chopped
light soy sauce (I’m not sure of quantities, so just keep the bottle out. Basically use soy sauce of your salt.)
2 to 3 tblspn oyster sauce (I used vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce)
150g mushrooms, sliced
1 head of broccoli, cut into bite sized ‘tree-tops’ (as my mum likes to call them)
2 sticks of celery – thick slices
200g fried tofu, halved or quartered. (Apologies, this isn’t very descriptive, but you can see from the picture what I mean. But we love our fried tofu, obviously this is optional)
Vegetable or olive oil for frying
1 tspn flour corn starch mixed with 1/8 cup of water (cold or at room temperature)
200g fresh rice noodles (available at most Asian supermarkets)
bunch of chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
Pepper and sesame oil to taste

Other ingredients you can include:
Chopped cabbage
Baby spinach
Chinese greens (bok choy, choy sum etc)
Carrots – thickly sliced julienne
Cauliflower
Green beans
Snow peas
... I can go on! Essentially lots of veges
Eggs
Chicken, pork, fish (instead of beef)

Method
Preparation
1. Marinate the meat – It doesn’t matter what little time you have, some marinating time is better than no marinating. This particular instance I did this 3 days before and left it in the fridge, but that’s a bit extreme. I’d just so happened to defrost the meat to make pho. So I decided to marinate it and leave it in the fridge until I needed it later in the week. So in a small bowl, combine the sliced beef, 1 tspn minced ginger, 2 cloves of garlic – minced, soy sauce (enough to just coat the meat) and pepper. Stir and set aside.

2. Prepare veges – Once you have the meat marinating, spend all the time you like chopping up your vegetables. The idea is to get them bite sized. Not too big you’ll struggle to put the piece in your mouth, but not too small it falls apart and the noodles can’t carry it. When you’re chopping it, keep them separated. Though they’re similar in size, they still take different lengths of time to cook.

3. Other prep – chop up your onions, more garlic, more ginger. Again keep them separate. Slice up the tofu. Put rice noodles in a colander and rinse under tap hot water to loosen up and wash away the residual oil from the packet.

Cooking
4. The essence of this bit is high heat and work quick. If you can’t handle it, drop the heat or move the pan away from the burner until you’re ready to move on. Heat a wok or fry pan on high (when you put your hand over it, it should feel like you right next to a heater – toasty!) then add oil, swirl to coat the pan. Add onions, stir around until slightly translucent, add ginger and veges. General rule, the harder the vegetable, the longer it takes to cook. So carrots, broccoli generally take longer than the leafy spinach and the soft mushrooms.In this case I just added the broccoli, stir around, then add celery, reduce the heat slightly, add mushrooms, then add a dash of water and cover for about 30 seconds. This cooks the greens. You can tell its good when it just turns from a dull colour to a shiny bright colour, as soon as that happens take it off the pan and set aside. This will still be a bit crunchy but we’ll bring it back later so don’t worry.

5. In the same pan, bring the pan’s temperature back to hot, add more oil to just coat the pan and add meat. Stir around to just cooked through. As the meat starts browning add starch/water mix. This will create a thick gravy. Especially with beef this won’t take long. Set aside (can be in the same vessel as the vegetables from step #4).

6. Again, in the same pan, bring the heat back to hot and add a bit more oil and the tofu with about 1/2 tspn of chopped ginger. The idea is to the bring the tofu to hot and slightly flavour with ginger. Again this shouldn’t take long. 1 minute or so. At the same time, the tofu will pick up the residual flavour of the meat left behind from the previous step. Set aside (can be in the same vessel as the vegetables and meat from step #4 & #5).

7. In medium to high heat, add noodles, any gravy from the vegetables from step #4 and meat in step #5. Then add a dash of soy sauce and oyster sauce to noodles and stir to combine. Reduce heat to medium. Add all the veges, meat and tofu back into the same pan and stir to combine evenly. This step is to bring it all together, reheat the vegetables, meat and tofu you set aside and make sure you have all the flavours right. This is a point to taste and adjust the seasoning where you see/taste fit. If too salty, add sugar. If not salty enough, add soy sauce.

8. Serve hot with a light coating of sesame oil and pepper.

There is no other way of describe this dish but “Mmm tasty treat!”. I love Agedashi tofu whenever I go out for Japanese food. I probably could keep eating it all day. With our favourite local Japanese restaurant closed down, it's time to try making this myself. It makes great comfort food. I served this with some terriyaki chicken and bok choy over brown rice. As you can see below, I didn’t completely deep fry it, so don’t be afraid to try this, as you don’t need heaps of oil.

This recipe comes from the Woman's Weekly Japanese Cookbook. I know not very … authentic. But its given me some good results in the past. Obviously, I’ve made modifications. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients
Tofu
1 packet of firm silken tofu (I found the Fortune Brand quite good – if you’re in Australia)
1/4 cup potato flour (you can also use wheat corn starch if you don’t have potato flour on hand)
1/2 cup olive (or vegetable) oil for frying
Bonito flakes to serve (optional)

Broth
3/4 cup dashi (Japanese seaweed stock) you can also use powdered vegetable stock if you don’t have dashi. You can get instant dashi from your local asian grocer.
3 tblspn mirin (I don’t think you can really substitute mirin with anything else. A must have for many Japanese dishes)
3 tblspn soy sauce
1 tblspn miso paste
1/2 tspn sugar

Method
1. Prepare broth
Combine all broth ingredients in a small pot. Heat over medium until it comes to a boil and sugar and miso paste has dissolved. Set aside.

2. Drain tofu package of liquid. If not already, slice up into squares. Heat oil in pan over medium to high heat.

3. While waiting for oil to heat, on a plate add a few spoons of potato starch.

Tip! You can tell the oil is read if you place a wooden chopstick/spoon in the oil, it bubbles around the chopstick. Alternatively drop a bit of flour in the oil and it bubbles up.

4. With a paper towel, pat dry a tofu square to remove excess liquid. Then roll the tofu on the plate of potato starch to light coat.
  
5. Gently place tofu in the oil. Be sure not to crowd the pan. Flip tofu after a minute or two. It should look just golden. After another minute or so remove from oil and drain on a paper towel to remove excess oil then into serving dish. Don't leave on paper towel as it will start sticking as it cools.

Repeat steps 4 to 5 for remaining tofu. If you find the oil level dropping, add more oil to the pan between batches, not during as this disrupts the temperature of the oil and will results in uneven and soggy Agedashis. If you do add more oil, be sure to bring it upto hot temperature before starting a new batch.




6. To serve, laddle the both over the tofu and place some bonito flakes on to. Serve immediately and watch the little bonito flakes dance!

The rain has really settled in Sydney this weekend, as winter rears its head around for 2012. As usual, my mood for noodle soup has resurfaced. I made this recipe up – I don't think it's too much straying away from the traditional phở recipe. Although simpler, I feel a bit guilty using pre-made stock. At least it's not from powder and the packet was soon expiring.  

What makes this fusion? I’ll let you read the recipe below, but there is miso paste, apple cider vinegar, Chinese cabbage, button mushrooms and vermicelli noodles.

Ingredients
1 litre of beef stock
1 cup of water
1.5 tblspn fish sauce
1 tblspn oyster sauce
2 star anise pieces
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 large onion – roughly chopped
2-4 cloves of garlic – minced
5 thickly slices of ginger
1 – 1.5 tblspn miso paste (I used a dashi flavoured one)
1/2 tspn crushed peppercorns
1 cup of celery leaves
1 tblpsn apple cider vinegar
2 medium button mushroom – quartered
250g sirloin beef steak – thinly sliced
5 or so outer leaves of a chinese cabbage head – finely chopped. Separate the leafy and stalky bits.
2 tblspn chopping coriander leaves (I used dried as I didn’t have any fresh)
200g dried vermicelli noodles

Method
1. In a large pot, add stock, water, fish sauce, oyster sauce, star anise, cinnamon sticks, onions, garlic, ginger, miso paste, peppercorns, celery leaves. On high heat, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.

2. Add mushrooms and stalky cabbage bits and continue to simmer until mushrooms are cooked. Turn heat off (you can keep it simmering on low until you’re ready to serve).

3. In a large bowl put dried vermicelli noodles and pour boiling hot water to just cover. Allow to soften – about 5 or 10 minutes. Drain, set aside.

4. Just before serving, put beef slices into broth. The remaining heat will cook the meat.

5. To serve, put in bowls leafy cabbage then vermicelli noodles. Then add meat and hot broth and its contents. Serve with fresh sliced chilli (if you fancy it).

This is an ol' time fav amongst our friends. You know when you come over for BBQ, you're more than likely gonna get BBQ Cajun Chicken. And that's okay because is damn tasty! So I know I'm about doing stuff the back-to-basics way but this one thing that is just easier to buy pre-mixed. However - if you wanna make it up below I've listed the ingredients. This is really easy and simple - but yummy!

Ingredients
Cajun spice mix (Masterfoods is the best one we've tried that's available at a regular supermarket)
Olive oil
Chicken pieces (fillets, wings, drumsticks - whatever you fancy)

Method
1. In a bowl flavour your chicken pieces with the cajun chicken spices and oil. Don't be shy with the spice mix. Ensure a good coating.

2. Cover and place in fridge for a few minutes (or hours - depending how much time you have).

3. Take out of fridge and allow chicken to come to close to room temperature. In the meantime, heat your BBQ grill.

4. Grill chicken on hot BBQ til cooked through and serve.

Cajun spice mix ingredients:
Salt, Paprika, Wheat Starch, Black Pepper, Onion, Basil, Garlic, Chilli, Fennel, Thyme

This is one of OG's favourite dishes that's been loved by all who have tried it. No "Old El Paso" packet stuff. This is great mex with simple ingredients. It can be served many ways, over rice, on corn chips, in a burrito - you name it! 

This is dairy free, gluten free and egg free (depending what else you eat with it). The quantities I've listed below are rough and obviously if you want more or less of something, then add or subtract accordingly. Cumin and coriander is a must but don't worry if you slip in too much, all is forgiven.

Ingredients

1 Tbspn olive oil (approx) 1 Medium onion - finely diced pinch or 2 of cayenne pepper (or to taste) 2 to 4 Tbspn ground cumin 2 to 4 Tbspn ground coriander 300g of mince beef (can be substitute with mince pork) 2 cloves garlic - roughly chopped 1 to 2 cans red kidney beans - drained 1 can diced tomatoes 1 tspn salt (to taste) * (optional) fresh chilli(s) - sliced

Method
1. On high heat, in a medium to large pan, add oil to coat base and a little extra. Add onions and brown slightly. Add half the cayenne pepper, half the cumin, half the coriander and stir. Add mince beef and stir to quickly and roughly seal. When there are still pink bits of meat, turn the heat down to medium to medium low. Stir in garlic (as the pan cools from adding the onions and meat so not to burn and go bitter). If you find it catching at the bottom of the pan, a little bit more olive oil.

2. At this time most of the beef has browned. Move the meat to one side of the pan and add kidney beans. While in the pan, mash about half the beans (either with a potato masher or a fork). You can pre-mash them before adding them to the pot if that's easier. Mix through the beans and meat. Mashing half the beans creates a creamy texture, while having some whole beans for taste, colour and presentation.

3. Stir in canned tomatoes. 

4. Add remaining cayenne pepper, cumin and coriander to taste. Add salt to taste. If you're adding fresh chilli(s), you'd do that now too. Mix through.

5. Turn heat down low and leave to simmer for about half an hour. Check and stir every 5 to 10 minutes to ensure the mixture isn't sticking to the pan. This allows the flavours to combine and absorb through.


Serve with rice/corn chips/ tortillas. Goes well with salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, avocado... all your typical mexican sides. Garnish with fresh coriander/cilantro (optional).

Today at work we're raising money for the Cancer Council through an event called "Girls Night In". Where we each bring a plate for lunch, and money we would have spent on lunch goes towards Cancer Council for their research, prevention and support programs.

My contribution - Lamb Kofta - with a nice little surprise inside (it's just bocconcini) with a side of mix salad greens and tzatziki.

Ingredients
Kofta
500g lamb mince
1 brown onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 egg, lightly whisked
2 tsp oregano leaves
2 tsp ground cumin
1 clove minced garlic
2 tsp sumac
2 Tbsp falafel mix
1/4 cup almond meal/flour 
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper 
2 to 3 small bocconcini balls (diced into 1.5cm cubes)

Tzatziki
1 cup natural yoghurt
1 small Lebanese cucumber (or half a med to large size), halved lengthwise, deseeded and finely chopped (can use a grater)
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (about 1/2 a medium sized lemon)
1 clove minced garlic
1 dash olive oil
salt to taste

Method
Kofta
In a mixing bowl combine all ingredients except for the bocconcini. Mix together thoroughly to ensure all ingredients are combined. I usually use my hands and squeeze the mixture through my fist to get an even texture. 

Cover bowl with cling wrap and set aside in fridge for an hour or more. This allows the flavours to marinate into the lamb. Meanwhile, make the Tzatziki.

Roll dessert-spoonful/table-spoonful of mixture into balls, press a cavity with your thumb into the ball and place a bocconcini cube. Close the cavity with the mince mixture, set aside. Repeat until you use up all the mince.

Heat a large well greased frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook meatballs in pan, be sure not to crowd the pan. Turn to brown, reduce heat and cover to cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and repeat with remaining balls. Then serve with tzatziki and salad greens.

Tzatziki
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Stir to mix through. Cover with cling wrap and place in fridge until ready to serve.

Last night was my first experience cooking and eating quinoa. After learning about what it is a few weeks ago and its nutritional benefits (15% protein!) I was very keen to give it a go. My work colleague, gave me this recipe - which I adapted (of course). Turned out fantastic and delicious with multiple helpings and extras for lunch the next day. Definitely something I'll continue to cook and eat, YUM!

Ingredients
1 tblsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed/minced
¾ cup quinoa
1 ½ tsp curry powder
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
½ tsp cumin
¼ tsp cinnamon (I put in a few shakes only)
1 ½ cups vegetable stock (I used chicken stock)
1 (400g) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
200g defrosted frozen spinach (approx. you can add more or less)
200g haloumi chopped in small cubes (approx. you can add more or less)

Method
In a medium saucepan, stir together the olive oil, onion and garlic over medium heat until the onion has softened and turned translucent; about 5 mins.