Viennese Biscuits

These are the Darling Boyfriend’s (DB) favourite biscuit, so I thought I’d give them a go. A way to a man’s heart is through his stomach and all that!
I have to say, the piping was the hardest and I’ll get a piping set with a bigger nozzle before I attempt these again. That and the little buggers are very fragile and I broke a couple while I was “jamming” and “chocolating”. Otherwise I was very happy with the first attempt.

Ingredients:

250g unsalted butter
55g icing sugar
225g plain flour
75g corn flour
3 tablespoons of berry jam/conserve, sieved
300g dark chocolate

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.

Weigh out the butter and the soften it by briefly microwaving it, or leave it out on the bench for an hour or two. Weigh out the rest of the ingredients (except for the jam and chocolate) and place with butter into an electric mixer.

Mix the ingredients until it just forms a paste, do not over mix.

For a traditional look, place the mixture into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe into desired shape, onto baking paper or silicone biscuit mat.

Bake for 15 minutes or until just lightly golden. Cool on a wire rack, taking care as the biscuits are fragile.

Once cooled, carefully spread the flat side of on biscuit with the sieved jam and top with another biscuit.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and carefully dip the end of each biscuit into the chocolate and then place on non-stick baking paper to set.

Posted in Baking, Biscuits, Recipes | Leave a comment

Spotted Dick

Well, it’s been a big weekend of cooking; Hoisin Pork & noodles, Butter Chicken, Spotted Dick, Spinach, Mushroom, Bacon & Brie pie and Viennese Biscuits (recipes and photos to come).

After seeing Gary’s Spotted Dick on Masterchef’s Masterclass the other week, I’d been dying to give it a go. Here is the recipe http://www.masterchef.com.au/spotted-dick-with-custard.htm
and this is what it turned out like:

Sorry about the quality of the pic. We were too keen to eat it to get the camera out and had to quickly take the snap with my phone 😛

Posted in Cooking, Food | Leave a comment

Butter Chicken and Roti Canai

I finally found a butter chicken recipe that is made from scratch, that actually tastes like butter chicken. Thank you to Jimmy and Masterchef 2011 for the recipe.
Also thanks to the Spice World in Hobart for all those hard to find ingredients. http://www.spiceworld.com.au/
The Roti Canai (Flakey Fried Indian Bread) was made by the Darling Boyfriend (DB). Here is the recipe;

Roti Canai

Ingredients:
500 g plain flour
1 egg, beaten
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
50 g butter or ghee, melted
1 cup water
1 tablespoon condensed milk
¼ cup ghee or oil for frying

Method:
Sift flour into a mixing bowl, add egg, salt, sugar and melted ghee. Combine water with the condensed milk and add to the mixture. Mix well to make a soft dough. Roll dough into a ball and cover with a damp cloth. Leave to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Divide dough into 6 balls. Coat in ghee, cover and leave to rest for a minimum 20 minutes or up to 4 hours.
Heat an iron griddle or heavy pan and coat with ghee. Flatten dough balls and stretch out as far as possible. Fold edges inwards, continue until you have a round shape 15 cm in diameter. This gives the bread a layered texture. Fry the roti individually until crisp and golden, adding more ghee if necessary.

 

The MasterChef link keeps changing, so I have posted the butter chicken recipe below:

Ep 60 – Butter Chicken


MasterChef Australia on TV ONE and TVNZ Ondemand 

EP 60 MASTERCLASS 
Jimmy Seervai 

Butter Chicken 

Tandoori Chicken 
600g chicken thigh fillets, cut in three 
Juice of 1 lime 
1 tablespoon Kashmiri chilli powder 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1/2 cup thick Greek yoghurt 
1 teaspoon garlic paste, minced on microplane 
1 teaspoon ginger paste, minced on microplane 
1 teaspoon garam masala 
1/2 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves 
1 tablespoon sunflower oil 
Butter sauce 
2 tablespoons sunflower oil 
1 large brown onion, chopped 
1 teaspoon ginger paste 
1/2 green chilli, finely chopped 
3 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed 
2g blade mace 
2 tablespoons cashew paste 
600g vine ripened tomatoes, chopped 
50ml tomato puree 
1 cup chicken stock 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon honey 
1 teaspoon garam masala 
1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder 
1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves 
50g unsalted butter 
100ml pure cream 
Green chillies, fresh coriander and cream for garnishing 

1 For tandoori chicken, add all ingredients for marinade except oil to a bowl and mix well. Coat chicken with marinade and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. 

2 Preheat oven grill, and place chicken on the grill rack, with a tray underneath to collect the drippings. Grill for 8-10 minutes, brush with oil, turn chicken over and grill for another 4-5 minutes until the chicken is cooked. Keep aside. 

3 For butter sauce, heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat, add onion and cook until translucent. Add ginger paste, green chillies, cardamom, mace and cashew paste and fry for a further 2 minutes. 

4 Add tomatoes, tomato puree, stock and salt and simmer, stirring, occasionally for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. 

5 Once cool, blend to a puree to make a smooth sauce. Strain through a sieve. Return sauce to pan and cook over low heat. Add the honey, followed by the tandoori chicken and drippings. Stir and 
simmer for 3-4 minutes.  

6 Sprinkle over garam masala, Kashmiri chilli powder and dried fenugreek leaves. Add the butter and stir until it melts. Finally stir in cream and take off heat. Garnish with green chillies, fresh coriander 
and cream. Serve with rice or naan bread.

Posted in Indian, Recipes | Leave a comment

Ramblings….

The Poofus

Hello……..Bleeps? If you were following my Twitter you would be Tweeps….. Bleeps just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it? It’ll have to do for now, but realistically, the two of you that are reading this won’t mind. *waves to the lovely ladies who are reading (or at least said they would read this blog)*

I realised today (thanks to the lovely Lady J who asked me “where are your words, thoughts, inspiring comments….” ) that I haven’t really “blogged” yet, just posted some of my recipes, so….. *takes deep breath* here goes today’s ramblings…………..

I live with my darling boyfriend (DB) and my dog – the Poofus. He was nicknamed the Poofus by the DB’s georgeous kids (B1 & B2 who live with us every second week). The name came from a combination of Poo Tube and Doofus. Poo Tube was due to a few incidents behind the couch when he was a puppy and Doofus…… well he was half price because he had an over-shot jaw, but I suspect it was really because he just isn’t very bright! You can see from the picture that he has wound himself around a pole……again. Lucky he’s cute is all I can say!

So, I’m about to sign off as the fire is lit, the load of washing is finished, the cheese and bacon scones are ready to come out of the oven and Masterchef is about to start. So before I sit down with a scone and a beer to watch Masterchef, I’ll leave you with today’s piece of wisdom.

Never trust a skinny cook!

Words…….check. Thoughts…….check. Inspiring Comments…….. two out of three aint too bad for a first go 😉 Ciao Bleeps, Masterchef’s starting.

Posted in Ramblings | Leave a comment

Thai Red Beef Curry


Ingredients:

500g Lean Beef Strips
2 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
½ red capsicum, cut into strips
1 broccoli floret
2 tablespoon Thai Red Curry Paste
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
200 ml coconut milk
1/3 cup fresh coriander leaves

Method:

Combine the beef, oil and garlic in a small bowl. Heat a wok over high heat. Add the beef strips in small batches and stir-fry for 1 – 2 mins.. Remove each batch from wok when cooked and allow the wok to reheat before frying the next batch.

Add the capsicum and broccoli to the pan with a sprinkling of water. Steam for 1 to 2 minutes, then return the beef strips.

Stir in the curry paste, brown sugar, fish sauce, coconut milk and coriander. Toss for 1 to 2 minutes or until heated through. Serve with rice.

Posted in Recipes, Thai | Leave a comment