Appelbeignets (Dutch Apple Fritters)

Appelbeignets (Dutch Apple Fritters) are another sweet snack besides Oliebollen that are traditionally eaten in Holland on New Years Eve.

Cantonese-style Roast Duck Recipe

This Cantonese-style roast duck recipe uses the traditional technique of cooking - from the drying process, to creating the distinctive, mouth-watering sauce that we all love!

I urge you to try this recipe soon, you know you are up for a memorable meal.

Banana Spring Rolls, Coconut Tapioca Pearls, Kaffir Lime Syrup & Toasted Coconut Flakes Recipe

Banana Spring Rolls, Coconut Tapioca Pearls, Kaffir Lime Syrup & Toasted Coconut Flakes Recipe

Serves 4

Babi Kecap (Slow Braised Pork with Ginger, Chilli & Sweet Soy Sauce)

Babi Kecap Recipe
(Adapted from Rick Stein's Far East Odyssey)
Serves 6

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil
100 g shallots, thinly sliced
50 g garlic, crushed
25 g peeled ginger, finely grated
1.25 kg lean pork shoulder, cut into 3cm chunks
4 tbsp kecap manis (I use Conimex brand which is a Dutch Indonesian brand.)
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp Tamarind water
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3-4 medium-hot chillies, seeded and chopped
4 red bird's eye chillies, left whole
500 ml Asian chicken stock
Crisp fried shallots, to garnish




Method

1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pan over a medium heat. Add the shallots and fry until they are soft and richly golden. Add the crushed garlic, ginger and 1/2 tsp salt and cook for 1 minute. Add the pork to the pan and fry for 2 minutes until lightly coloured. Add the kecap manis, dark soy sauce, tamarind water, pepper, chopped and whole chillies and stock. Leave to simmer, uncovered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring now and then towards the end of cooking, until the pork is tender.
2. Lift the pork out of the sauce with a slotted spoon onto a plate. Boil the cooking liquid until it has reduced to a well-flavoured, slightly thicken, shiny, dark brown sauce. Season to taste with salt, return the pork to the pan and stir in.Spoon the pork onto a warmed serving plate, scatter with the crisp fried shallots and serve.

Malaysian Sambal Ikan Bilis Burger Recipe

'Burger Malaysia' is a popular miniature sized snack available in 'pasar malams' (night markets) in Malaysia.

The mini yeast buns are deep-fried and then filled with sambal ikan billis (dried anchovy sambal) and cucumber slices.

As much as I love these mini burgers, the deep-dried mini slider buns can get overly greasy and I have decided to make some with oven baked mini milk panini buns.

The sambal ikan billis can be made in advance and reheated or served at room temperature. They are perfect as finger / party food and ridiculously moreish.

'Burger Malaysia' Recipe
Makes 16


Ingredients

16 mini milk panini / slider buns (recipe follows)
Sambal ikan bilis (recipe follows)
cucumber slices

Method

1. Halve panini, top with a few slices of cucumbers.

2. Spread with sambal ikan bilis.

3. And sandwich together.

Mini Milk Panini / Slider Buns Recipe
(Adapted from Gourmet Traveller magazine May 2011 issue)
Makes 16

Ingredients

15 g dried yeast
625 g "00" flour
140 ml milk, plus extra for brushing
50 g caster sugar
125 g softened butter, coarsely chopped

Method

1. Stir yeast, 125 g flour and 150 ml water in a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook to combine, cover and set aside until doubled in size (45 minutes - 1 hour). Add milk, sugar and remaining flour and mix on low speed until combined, then, while mixing, add butter a little at a time until incorporated. Cover and set aside until doubled in size (1 hour). Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knock back, then roll into 16 golf-ball-sized pieces and place on oven trays lined with baking paper (leaving 3cm between each), cover and set aside until doubled in size (1 hour).
2. Preheat oven to 180C. Brush top of panini with milk and bake, swapping trays halfway through cooking, until golden and cooked through (12-15 minutes). Set aside to cool.

Sambal Ikan Bilis (Dried Anchovy Sambal) Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup dried anchovies (ikan bilis), rinsed and dried with paper towel
4 fresh red chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped
8 (100 g) small Asian shallots
3 garlic
1/2 tbsp shrimp paste, toasted
2 candlenuts or macadamia nuts
4 tbsp oil
1 tbsp tamarind pulp + 1/2 cup water
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 small brown onion, thinly sliced

Method

1. Deep fry the ikan bilis in hot oil until golden brown and crisp.
2. Mix the tamarind pulp with water. Squeeze out the tamarind juice from the pulp and discard the seeds. Strain through a fine sieve. Set aside until needed.
3. Combine fresh red chilli, bird's eye chilli, shallots, garlic, shrimp paste and candlenuts together in a mortar and pestle or a food process and pound or whiz until it forms a fine paste.
4. Heat oil in a wok, add the paste and fry under low heat until it's aromatic, about 8-10 minutes.
5. Add the tamarind juice to the paste together with sugar and salt. Stir and mix well.
6. Add brown onion and continue to stir fry until the onion has soften a little but still have slight texture, around 2-3 minutes.
7. Add the ikan bilis and give it a good stir. This sambal can be served hot or room temperature.

Masak Lodeh with Nasi Impit (Malaysian Prawn Vegetables Coconut Stew with Rice Cakes)

Do not assume all Malaysians love their spicy food. Many do not. For example, Mrs Perchong is the only one among her 6 siblings who has a penchant for spicy food. Her working with many Malay colleagues is the main factor that contributed to her liking of cooking with spices and chilli. I was hooked to spicy food from a young age because of her.

Drunken Cherry and Shaved Dark Chocolate Crostata

I love the rustic and yet festive look of this crostata - especially the effect given by the cornmeal (polenta) in the pastry. This pastry recipe is adapted from a very old cookbook that I purchased 12 years ago in Malaysia. I have bookmarked this recipe a long time ago and this is the perfect opportunity for me to finally make it.

Japanese Spinach Ohitashi; Spice Temple's Chinese Stir-Fried Pork with Green Onions; Thai Pork Pad Kra Pao with Fried Egg

It's always a joy to cook Asian dishes in Australia. Australia has the freshest and best produce and by combining that produce with Asian cooking techniques we are having the best of both worlds.

Chocolate Panna Cotta with Lavender Cream

I love the smell of lavender but I don't often work with it as a dessert ingredient. It's a tricky ingredient to work with because lavender can easily overpower a dessert, resulting in the dessert tasting and smelling like a potpourri.

Chicken liver pate recipe with onion jam

Chicken liver pate recipe with onion jam

Chicken liver pate with some sweet sauce/onion jam on the side Is my favorite entree to order when we are eating out.

So one day, thanks to my little sister's birthday, I decided to try and make one on my own.

After I discovered how much butter it contains I don’t believe I will prepare it a lot, but eating a small portion on special occasion I am sure will do no harm. Any way, it tasted so great especially with the onion jam, we all just loved it.