SPAM (Luncheon Meat) Omelette

Cold rainy Saturday in Sydney. In need of a quick hot lunch for a lazy day. Peeping at the pantry, looking in the fridge. A can of SPAM (we call it Luncheon Meat in Malaysia) + a couple of eggs. How about some SPAM Omelettes?

SPAM Omelette Recipe

1 can (340 g / 12 oz) SPAM

6 eggs, lightly beaten

Oil for pan frying

Method

1. Mash the SPAM with a fork in a big bowl.
2. Add eggs and mix well with mashed SPAM. No seasoning is needed as SPAM is quite salty.
3. Add oil to a non-stick frying pan.
4. Pour one scoop SPAM and eggs mixture into the fry pan. (I use an ice cream scoop to get equal size small omelettes, makes about 10).
5. Fry for 1-2 minutes on each side or until egg is cooked. Repeat with the rest.

Serving Suggestions: Perfect as sandwich filling with tomatoes and salad. You can also serve it with steamed rice or salad.

Trashy? Perhaps. Taste good? Yes. Will you try it? I bet.

Singapore Chilli Crabs Prawns

If you are a foodie and you live in Australia, you will know about the current popular TV series "Masterchef Australia "on Channel 10 - the country's biggest and toughest amateur cooking competition. If you are not here, you still can watch the shown episodes on the Official MasterChef Australia website.

You must be wondering what this dish having to do with "MasterChef Australia"?

Firstly, I have to rant. Please excuse me, but I have to do it! Why do they need to show MasterChef Australia at the time slot of 7 pm daily??????? They don't think about us: The Mums!!! 7 pm -8 pm is the busiest time for us. Dinner time, cleaning after dinner mess time, bath time, changing to PJs time, story time, bed time, making sure their school bag is ready for school the following day time. GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Thank goodness I can catch up all the episodes on their official website. Although I am not totally up to date, at least I won't miss out on any episode.

As I was watching the first episode, when one of the top 20 contestants Lucas Parson, an ex professional golfer who has played with Tiger Woods and who currently owns a coffee shop, impressed the judges by cooking his favourite dish "Singapore Chilli Mud Crab", I thought, "It's been a while since I cooked this dish."

You can watch the video clip of Lucas Parson cooking his signature dish HERE.

Lucas steamed his mud crab, but the traditional way to prepare this popular dish is to coat the crab in flour and deep fry it in hot oil. This cooking process is to enable the thick eggy sauce to cling to the floury layer of the crab shell, so you can lick the sauce off the shell before continuing the treasure hunting to find the crab meat.

When judge Matt Preston questioned Lucas about one of the ingredients in her dish, "Tomato sauce from the bottle?", Lucas answered, "Yes, from the bottle, can't get the sauce right without it". Matt nodded with approval. Lucas and Matt were absolutely right! That's the 'SECRET' of this Singapore Chilli Crab dish. It's the bottled tomato sauce (we actually use Tomato Ketchup in Malaysia, it's thicker and sweeter) and also.... the Maggi Chilli sauce (the Malaysian version, quite close to Australian Maggi Sweet Chilli sauce but not exactly the same).

Note: In Australia, we call this dish "Singapore Chilli Crab" but back in Malaysia, we call it "Sweet and Sour Chilli Crab".

Mr J is too lazy to eat crab (unless it is peeled) and it's no fun to eat the whole crab by myself. "Good food needs good company" is my motto. I thought "Why don't I replace the crab with prawns so we can still enjoy mopping up the sauce with soft white bread?"

There are many different recipes for Singapore Chilli Crab, but the basic ingredients and cooking methods are the same. You can deep fry or steam your crab. You can adjust the ingredients to suit your taste (more sweet, less sour, more spicy, less garlicky....). This dish is very versatile and that's the fun part about cooking. Don't stick to the recipe 100%. Get hold of the basic recipe and be brave, be adventurous to play with the ingredients. A good example is when Lucas mentioned lime and palm sugar as some of the ingredients in his sauce. Traditionally we use rice wine vinegar and sugar. That's the concept.

I don't pretend this is the most authentic or the best tasting recipe. But this is how we like it. If you want a quick fix of Singapore Chilli crab or prawns or squids at home, this is a quick and easy recipe to get your hands on.

Singapore Chilli Prawns Recipe

Ingredients:

20 large king prawns, shelled, deveined, scored on back
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp chopped ginger
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 chilli, seed removed and finely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 tbsp Tomato sauce (I use Heinz Tomato Ketcup)
2 tbsp Maggi Sweet Chilli Sauce
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tsp cornflour

Method:

1. Mix tomato sauce, sweet chili sauce, water, lime juice and corn flour in a bowl.
2. Add 1 tbsp oil in a wok or pan, fry garlic, ginger, chilli and onion until fragrant.
3. add prawn and give it a good stir.
4. Add the sauce mixture and bring it to a boil.
5. Quickly stir in lightly beaten egg and continue stirring until egg is well mixed and cooked, about 1 minute.
6. Remove and serve immediately with steamed rice.
7. Mop the leftover sauce from the plate with soft white bread.

Note: If you are interested in Lucas Parson's Chilli Mud Crab recipe. Someone from the MasterChef forum has managed to get his actual recipe from his wife (Apparently his recipe printed on Sydney's Sunday Telegraph newspaper is incorrect). Here is the recipe:

Lucas Parson's Singapore Chilli Mud Crab Recipe

Ingredients:

1 Cooked Mud Crab
Salt, coriander leaves and lime wedges to serve

Chilli Base:
2-2.5 fresh small red chillies, coarsely chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
10g piece of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
¼ cup peanut oil

Chilli Sauce:
300ml canned tomato paste
30g coarsely grated palm sugar dissolved in 75ml warm water
Juice of 2 limes
¼ cup tomato sauce
¾-1 tbsp black bean sauce

Method

1. For chilli base, place chilli, garlic and ginger in a mortar and, using a pestle, pound to a paste, then add ¾ -1 tbsp peanut oil and combine well.
2. For chilli sauce, place ingredients in a bowl and stir until well combined.
3. Prepare crabs by lifting tail flap, then, using fingers, ease off the back shell. Remove and discard the gills, liver and brain matter and rinse crab well and, using a cleaver or heavy knife, cut crab into 6 pieces. Heat remaining peanut oil in a wok until hot and smoking, add crab and cook for 30 seconds, stirring continuously, add chilli base and stir for 30 seconds, then add chilli sauce and cook for 5 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
4. To serve, arrange crab in a large bowl, then pour over sauce scatter with coriander leaves and serve with lime wedges.

I will give this recipe a try soon although I am very sceptical about the awful lot of 300ml tomato paste! p/s where is the egg???

Coconut and Passionfruit Slice

This is another of my favourite recipes from Bill Granger. I made them for afternoon tea with my neighbours.

Bill Granger's Coconut and Passionfruit Slice Recipe

(Recipe adapted from Bill Granger's Sydney Food)

Ingredients

Pastry:

125 g (4 oz) butter

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 1/2 cup plain (all purpose) flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

A pinch of salt

Filling:

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup shredded coconut

1/3 cup plain (all-purpose) flour

1 1 /2 cup (12 fl oz) cream

160 ml (5 1/2 fl oz) coconut milk

juice and zest of 1 lemon

1/2 cup (4 fl oz) passionfruit pulp (I used canned passionfruit because the fresh one is not in season)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). To make the pastry, place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy. Add egg and vanilla essence and beat well.
2. Add sifted flour, baking powder and salt, and stir until combined and the mixture forms a sticky dough.
3. Flour hands and press pastry evenly into the base of a greased and baking paper-lined 23 x 23 cm (9 x 9 in) tin. Bake pastry base in the oven for 15 minutes.
4. To make filling, place eggs and sugar in a bowl and whisk until pale. Add coconut, flour, cream, coconut milk, lemon juice, zest and passionfruit pulp, and stir to combine.
5. Pour filling over pastry base in the tin. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the tin.
6. When cool, slice into squares. Makes 20 squares.

Stroopwafel (Dutch Syrup Waffle)

It's about time I blog about a Dutch delicacy.

So what exactly is a Stroopwafel?

Stroop = Syrup

Wafel = Waffle

It is one of Holland's true specialties, a very popular sweet snack to be eaten during coffee or tea time.

Stroopwafel is made of two thin layers of waffles with a rich chewy caramel-like syrup filling in the middle which glues them together.

The waffle is made of flour, cinnamon, sugar, butter, egg, dry yeast and water and the filling is made of brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and corn syrup.

These days hardly anyone makes them at home because a specialized pizzelle iron is needed to bake a proper stroopwafel. Furthermore, it's easily available in surpermarkets and market stores in The Netherlands. A lot of us are not aware that stroopwafels are available in Woolworths (Safeway) Australia, in a small section devoted to Dutch delicacies, usually next to the Mexican food section.

If you are interested in the history of the Stroopwafel: it dates back from 1784 when a Gouda (Gouda is a town in Holland) baker used some left over old crumbs and spices to bake a waffle and filled it with syrup.

Now that you know some facts aboutthe stroopwafel, do you know what is the traditional Dutch way to eat them?

The size and the shape of the stroopwafel is specifically made to fit a coffee mug perfectly.

See how it fits my coffee mug!

But why?

So that you can rest it over a warm cup of coffee or tea and the steam will warm it up just right. Then, EAT IT!

Lekker bakkie koffie!

Prawn Korma Curry

I used ready made korma paste to cook this curry. Korma curry is a very mild Indian curry, the paste is flavoured by dessicated coconut and coriander. It blends very well with seafood and vegetables. I like to add cherry tomatoes during the cooking process to add the extra sweet and sourness.


Prawn Korma Curry
Serve 6-8

20 large King prawns, shelled, deveined with tails on
2 tbsp oil
2 medium (300g) onions, chopped
1/3 cup (80 ml) korma curry paste (I use Patak brand)
1 cup (250 ml) cream
1 cup (250 ml) water
250 g green bean, halved
250 g cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander



Method

1. Heat oil in large pan, add onion, cook, stirring, until onions are just tender. Add paste, cook, stirring, 1 minute.
2. Add cream and water, simmer, covered, until just below boiling point.
3. Add bean, coriander and tomato, simmer, covered, about 7 minutes.
4. Add prawn, stir gently, continue to simmer for a further 3 minutes or until prawn is cooked.

Fig Sorbetto

I just received my new ice cream maker today! I have got to try it out. Flipping cookbooks, flipping food magazines..... FIG! Another of my favourite fruit. It's almost at the end of the fig season. I was lucky to be able to find some at one of my local fresh fruit and vegetable store.

"Close your eyes when you first taste this sorbetto - it will take you to some exotic place. I often wonder how something so simple to make can taste so very good." - Valli Little

Need I say more?

Fig Sorbet Recipe
(Recipe adapted from Delicious Magazine March 2009 issue by Valli Little)
Serve 4-6

Ingredients

12 ripe figs, trimmed

200g vanilla sugar* (see note at bottom of post)

Juice of 1 lemon

200ml thickened cream

Method

1. Process the fig (there's no need to peel them), vanilla sugar and lemon juice in a food processor until well combined. Add the thickened cream and pulse until smooth.
2. Churn in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's instructions.
3. Alternatively, Pour the mixture into a shallow container and freeze for 2 hours or until frozen at the edges. Remove and beat with electric beaters, then return to the container and refreeze. Repeat 2 or 3 times. Serve scoops of sorbetto in glasses.

Note: I used cinnamon sugar instead of vanilla sugar. To make your own vanilla sugar, store any leftover vanilla beans (once you've used their seeds in another recipe) in your caster sugar container. After 2 days, the vanilla flavour will have infused the sugar. Substitute regular caster sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract.

Lapin avec Pommes Parisienne (French Style Rabbit Stew with Baby Potatoes)

One of the many advantages of being married to a Dutch is that Paris is only a three hour Thalys train ride away from Rotterdam. We visit our families in The Netherlands every other year (lucky us). Family times aside, we always allow a couple of days to visit Paris, just Mr J and myself. Little Miss C is always thrilled to stay with her Opa and Oma and to have play dates with her cousins. We can have child free time, strolling and eating in Paris.

I have always loved lapin (rabbit in French), especially lapin prepared French style. During our recent trip to Paris, we went to Chartier Restaurant for dinner. When I saw 'LAPIN' was listed as the special of the day on their menu, I was estatic!! And it came with Pommes Parisienne (Parisian Potatoes).

In short, to make Pommes Parisienne, you require a Parisienne scoop (or melon baller), to scoop out balls of potato, approximately 1.5cm in diameter. Then, boil and pan fry in butter to perfection. I will write a separate post on Pommes Parisienne recipe soon.

Both lapin and pommes parisienne are my absolute favourites. Mr J stayed safe and ordered his steak frites (steak and fries). My dish was as DELICIOUS as it sounded on the menu. Mr J picked some of the dish from my plate and regretted for not ordering it.

Guess what? He insisted to go back to Chartier the following day to get his lapin fix. We went back to Chartier but unfortunately the lapin was no longer the special of the day, so we reluctantly moved on to another place for dinner.

Seeing the disappointment on his face, I told him I would cook him the lapin dish at our next holiday destination, Chamonix. We planned to stay there with his parents and little Miss C in an apartment with a kitchen.

Chamonix

Mont Blanc (highest mountain in Europe)

I always love to cook in France. The markets, the fresh produce, the deli's, the butchers. It's an absolute delight to cook. I manage to get a fresh lapin and the dish turned out so well that Mr J and his father were fighting for the last piece of the lapin.

I still cook this rabbit at home. Unfortunately, I can only get frozen rabbit from my local butcher. Sometimes, I substitute it with chicken but Mr J and little Miss C would complain... "It's not the real bunny!"

French Style Rabbit Stew with Baby Potatoes (Lapin avec Pommes Parisienne) Recipe

Ingredients

1 rabbit (ask your butcher to cut it into 6 large pieces)
2 large onions, quartered
2 carrots, cut into large pieces
600g baby potatoes, skin on* (See note at bottom of post)
180g diced bacon
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 ripe tomatoes, quartered
4 tbsp all purpose flour
extra flour for coating rabbit meat
6 tbsp oil or butter

Method

1. Coat rabbit in flour, dust off excess flour.
2. Add 2 tbsp of oil in frying pan. Pan fry rabbit in batches until brown on both sides. Remove from pan.
3. Clean the frying pan and add 2 tbsp of oil and pan fry the baby potatoes in batches until skin is browned. This is to add the rustic look on the potatoes. Remove potatoes from pan.
4. Add 2 tbsp oil in large pot, fry onions and bacon for a few minutes until onions are soft and bacon is browned. Add carrots and tomatoes and continue cooking for a minute.
5. Add flour, stirring until flour is brown and bubbling.
6. Add wine, keep stirring until the alcohol has evaporated.
7. Add chicken stock, bring to a boil on high heat. Return the rabbit to the pot, bring it back to a boil and reduce to a low heat, covered and simmer for 30 minutes.
8. Add potatoes, continue to simmer for another 30 minutes until potatoes are cooked.
9. Serve immediately.

Note: This dish is best served with crusty bread to soak up the delicious sauce. I substitute Pommes Parisienne (Parisian Potatoes) with baby potatoes.

Call me old school but I love the bistro style French food similar to those served at Brasserie Les Halles in NYC where Anthony Bourdain was the executive chef for many years.

Chartier Restaurant is a traditional French restaurant in Paris. NotQuiteNigella has a great review of this Chartier Restaurant and here is a video of the restaurant:

Custard Apple (Cherimoyas) Honey Yoghurt

Custard Apple (Cherimoyas) is now in season in Australia. Growing up as a child in Malaysia where custard apple is easily available, I enjoyed the sweetness and creaminess of the flesh and I had plenty of fun spitting the black seeds in a big bowl handed to me by my mum.

I haven't thought about using custard apple in any recipes until I saw a pamphlet in my local Woolworths Supermarket promoting custard apples. Ideas were brewing in my mind after reading the 'Tips and Hints' section and I made this healthy and yet delicious yoghurt for breakfast.

Custard Apple Honey Yoghurt Recipe
Serve 2

Ingredients

1 custard apple
2 cups Greek yoghurt
Handful of flaked almonds
Honey


Method

1. Remove the black seeds from custard apple flesh then puree flesh until smooth.
2. Swirl through your yoghurt and sprinkle with flaked almond.
3. Drizzle with honey to add extra sweetness.
4. Serve immediately.

Note: This recipe is great for breakfast or after dinner dessert.

More on Custard Apple:

1. Look for plump fruit with no splits or skin discolouration. Pale green custard apples are ready to eat straight away, whilst dark green fruit will need a few day to ripen.
2. Dark green custard apple should be allowed to ripen at room temperature until pale green. When ripe, they will yield slightly to gentle pressure (similar to an avocado). Once at this stage, they're best stored in the fridge and used within 2 days.
3. A custard apple's creamy flavours are complemented by dishes which combine them with cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon, orange, honey and vanilla.

Tiramisu

Tiramisu needs no further introduction. But, there are so many different recipes out there, which is 'THE BEST'? Everyone has their own favourite but I strongly urge you to give mine a try. It's easy and no cooking is required. Just mix and stir and in the fridge you go.

I have been using this recipe for more than 10 years and my friends often request or even 'bribe' me for my Tiramisu when they are invited over for dinner. Don't you reckon it tells you something about my Tiramisu?

Tiramisu
Serves 8
(I used Mary Berry's Tiramisu recipe from her 1995 cookbook as a base recipe. I improved it in many ways to give it a more modern twist .)

Ingredients

1 cup strong black coffee
2 tbsp Marsala wine (you can replace it with Brandy, Whisky, Kahlua or Bailey)
2 eggs
75 g caster sugar
250g Mascarpone cheese
300 ml double cream
Cadbury drinking chocolate powder* (See note at bottom of post)
1 packet Savoiardi sponge fingers (you can replace them with sponge cake)

Method

1. Mix the coffee with Marsala wine.
2. Combine the eggs and caster sugar in an electric mixer and whisk together until thick and light. The mixture should be thick enough to leave a trail on the surface.
3. Put the Mascarpone cheese into a large bowl. Stir in a little of the egg mixture. Fold in the remaining egg mixture. Fold in the double cream.
4. Cut the sponge fingers to fit the size of the base of the serving glass.
5. Line the bottom of the glass with a layer of sponge fingers. Drizzle coffee and Marsala wine mixture over the sponge fingers.
6. Sprinkle over a thick layer of chocolate, then spoon Mascarpone mixture on top (3-4 tbsp, enough to cover the sponge fingers). Level the surface.
7. Repeat the layers until it reaches the top of glass.
8. Decorate with the remaining chocolate. Cover and chill for 4 hours.

Note: You can use any brand of drinking chocolate powder. You can also use chocolate chips and chop them in a food processor until they form a powder with some larger pieces of chocolate for texture. I prefer to use chocolate powder it gives me the 'melt in the mouth' feeling.

Pineapple Relish

The sweetness of pineapple combined with fresh chillies and spices makes this relish a perfect side dish for a curry meal.

The recipe is so simple and you can make it in advance, refrigerate for up to a week.

Pineapple Relish

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 small fresh red chillies, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar
1 pineapple, chipped

Method

1. Heat oil in pan, add onion and chillies, cook, stirring for a few minutes.
2. Add ginger, nutmeg, sugar and pineapple. Cook, stirring occasianlly, for 8-10 minutes.
3. Cool, place into a jar, cover, refrigerate.
4. It's best served cold directly from the fridge.