Come Dine with Me (1) - Sunrise Smoothie; Com Do (Vietnamese Tomato / Red Rice); Pea Soup with Grilled Cheese; Kit Kats and Jelly Beans Birthday Cake

Welcome to my first post of the "Come Dine with Me" series. This is actually an idea from Mr J. As you probably know by now that I cook and bake a lot but slack in writing. I always feel inferior writing in English which is not my first language growing up in Malaysia.

As the results, I have a massive backlogs. There are some pictures that have been sitting in my photo folder for ages. There are times I am simply too lazy to style the food properly. Occasionally the photographs didn't turn out the way I liked it to due to darkness in winter evenings. Hence, I decided to group a few of these recipes in a series of posts titled "Come Dine with Me".

Please don't get me wrong. They are still the recipes that I love and happy to share. Some are my own recipes, most are recipes that I found in the magazines, clippings from the newspapers and cookbooks I have borrowed from my council library or friends. Having them on my blog means I can consolidate them in one place and not have the risk of losing them.

Enjoy reading!

Sunrise Smoothie

This is my favourite blend of smoothie that I often make for breakfast at home. I don't have a recipe but usually is 1 or 2 bananas, berries that are in season, a few dollops of Greek yogurt and a big squeeze of honey.

Ingredients

Strawberries
Banana
Greek Yoghurt
Honey

Method

1. Put all ingredients in the blender and process until smooth.

Com Do (Vietnamese Tomato / Red Rice)
(Adapted from Luke Nguyen & Mark Jensen's Secrets of The Red Lantern)
Serves 4

I love Vietnamese tomato rice. Besides Pho, I always order this tomato rice with roast chicken or grilled pork chop in Vietnamese restaurant. It's fairly easy to make it at home and it is great with any grill meats. I like it with Nem Nướng (Vietnamese Grilled Pork Skewers, will post recipe soon) and a simple salad. A "sunny side up" fried egg is also a nice addition. Please note that I have reduced the amount of butter from 50g to 10g. It's simply too rich to use 50g of butter in 150g of rice!

Ingredients

150 g (5 1/2 oz / 3/4 cup) jasmine rice, cooked, left in the fridge overnight
10 g butter
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp tomato paste (concentrated puree)
Salt, to season

Method

1. Put the cooked rice into a large bowl. Wet your hands slightly so the rice doesn't stick to them, or don a pair of plastic gloves, and break up the rice.
2. Place a wok over medium heat, add half the butter and the garlic and stir-fry until the garlic is fragrant, then add the rice.
3. Increase the heat and, using a wooden spoon, stir and toss the rice.
4. Add the tomato paste and continue to stir-fry, working the tomato through the rice until it is evenly coloured. Add the remaining butter and fry until it is incorporated.
5. Season with salt and serve.

Pea soup with Grilled Cheese Toast
Makes 4 lunch serving

This has to be my favourite lunch treat on a cold winter day. All you need is a packet of frozen peas and some pantry items. It can be whipped up quickly and keeps you warm for the rest of the afternoon.

Ingredients

280 g frozen peas
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove
1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 mint leaves, torn
Grilled cheese sandwich, to serve
Pea shoots, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onions; cook 5 minutes, or until tender.
2. Add garlic; cook 30 seconds. Add chicken or vegetable stock, 1 cup water, and 1/4 tsp salt; heating to boiling over high heat.
3. Stir in Frozen peas. Return the mixture to boiling. Reduce heat to medium and cook 10-20 minutes, until peas are very tender. Stir in mint leaves. In blender, blend in small batches until smooth. Season to taste.
4. Serve a toasted cheese sandwich and sprinkle with pea shoots (optional).

Kit Kits and Jelly Beans Birthday Cake

Miss C turned 8 two weeks ago. As I have mentioned on her birthday post last year, she only like vanilla butter cake (recipe HERE). So here it is. Another vanilla butter cake for her birthday! This year I have decorated the cake with two of her favourite treats - Kit Kat and Jelly Bean. This cake turned out to be a massive hit with the birthday girl and her little party guests. Everyone is fighting to have more kit kats and some of them even traded their kit kats for jelly beans and vice versa.

Ingredients

2 x vanilla butter cakes (Recipe HERE)
Butter cream icing (Recipe HERE)
Kit Kats
Jelly Beans

Method

1. Stack the two vanilla butter cakes on top of each other. Sandwich them with a layer of vanilla butter icing. Make sure the total height is slightly lower than the length of the kit kat.
2. Spread a layer of vanilla butter icing to top of the cake and on the side.
3. Break the kit kats into individual piece.
4. Stick the kit kats one by one against the icing around the side of the cake.
5. Tie a ribbon around it to further secure them.
6. Pour a big packet of jelly beans on top of the cake.