Crispy Beef with Egg Fried Rice

This is a simple stir fry dish, that hardly takes any effort.  Perfect for a mid week meal that doesn't  take any time to put together. This recipe is enough for 2 adults and 2 children, you can always add more for a larger number of people

500g beef stir fry
8-10 mushrooms
1 Cup  green beans ( you can use fresh or frozen) oil for frying
2-3 Tbls cornflour
2 cloves garlic, crushed
some grated ginger
2 Tbls Teriyaki sauce
2 Tbls Soy sauce
1 Tbl sweet chilli sauce
3 eggs

1. Add the crushed garlic and ginger to the beef strips and set aside, cut the mushrooms into quarters.
2. Mix all the sauces together in a bowl and set aside
3. Put cornflour in a bowl and then add the beef strips to this, coating well
4. Heat oil in a large wok, you will need about 100-150 mls of oil, fry the beef strips in batches until golden, remove and set aside on paper towls, remove most of the oil, leaving enough to stir fry the vegetables
4. stir fry the green beans and then the mushrooms, add the sauce and then lastly crispy beef  just before serving, so the beef doesn't get soggy.

Serve with fried rice (see earlier post), with my egg fried rice, I cook the rice and then separately, whisk the eggs and make an omelet, cut into strips and stir through the rice.  Simple.

Carrot & Beet salad

I had this yummy salad at a friends the other day for lunch, it tasted divine! It was quick and easy, so I thought I would share my version.

For 3-4  people

5 medium carrots - grated, put aside
1/2 medium beetroot - again grated ( I went all out and used a whole one, hence the very red colour) you can use as much or as little as you want
1 can drained chickpeas
1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts
1/2 cup dry roasted cashews
handful of pine nuts
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbls olive oil

In a large frying pan, heat oil and add the spices, then add the chickpeas and all the nuts, fry off on a high heat for 3-5 min. Remove put aside to cool.
Just before serving toss the carrots and chickpea mixture and then add the grated beets, serve as a side with a meat dish or with some hot focaccia as a light lunch

 

Enjoy!

 

Till next time

 

Ashia

Gifts from my kitchen

There is nothing more satisfying than gifting food. For me it is one of those life's simple pleasures, that comes with an abundance of love and gratitude, given to special people that make a difference in our lives.

This year, my 3rd was no exception and I decided to carry on my little tradition that I started two Christmases ago when we arrived back in New Zealand.  Although this year was frantic and a wee  bit stressful, as we had just moved house 2 weeks before Christmas!

I have neglected my blog, although I have been taking photos of the food I have been cooking and the baking that has been done, sitting down and putting it all  together  on my blog has just been an impossibility.  Today has been the first time in over a month, that I have decided to finish all the drafts  of my posts and publish them!

So apologies for my lateness, but I hope you will enjoy my posts.  I  did not manage the last post for 2013 and wishing all my readers a merry Christmas, but I will post these  rather late Christmas blogs in the hope that it gives you ideas for the next festive event or foodie gift that you decide to make. 

I made my gifts this year of the Christmas fudge, coconut ice and mini mince pies, I found some gold star platters and tied them all up in cellophane and shimmery ribbon, perfect Christmas gift.

The  Christmas fudge has a dedicated post , the coconut ice is a yummy very sweet treat that is a must over Christmas.

Lots of versions around, this one was  the best.

Coconut Ice

White Layer
1/2 can of condensed milk
250g icing sugar
160g desiccated coconut

Pink Layer

1/2 can condensed milk
250g icing sugar
190g desiccated coconut
5 tsp raspberry essence

1.  Grease a 20 x 30 cm slice tin or any shallow  square or rectangle tin

2. Mix the ingredients of the white layer  until it is  combined well, then press down into the tin

3. Mix the ingredients of the pink layer and presss firmly down on to the white layer

4. Chill before cutting into desired sizes.




Mini Mince Pies

I used ready made sweet shortcrust pastry slab, and  24 hole mini muffin tin.

1 pkt 500g unrolled sweet pastry

1 jar mincemeat  (I used the Tasti one)

1/2 pkt  of white ready to roll marzipan or royal icing

icing sugar for dusting

1. Cut the pastry in two halves, using one of the halves cut into 24 even squares and then roll into balls.

2. Place each ball into the muffin tin and press down until you have 24 pastry shells.

3. Place the mincemeat into each shell, bake in a pre heated oven at 200c for 15-18 min.

4. Leave to cool, in the meantime roll out the icing and cut into stars, and then place the stars  onto the pies and dust with icing sugar!

 

 

 

 

Best wishes for  2014

 

 

Enjoy

 

Ashia

Cranberry and White Chocolate Fudge

I have seen versions of this gorgeous fudge and decided that this was by far the easiest and most Christmassy.  this is adapted from Natalie Oldfield.  I love that it combines all the colour of Christmas and I have then added a touch of sparkle which just gives it a touch of festive decadence.

You can add any combination of berries and nuts, may be some glace cherries and marshmallow for a rocky road fudge and maybe use dark chocolate too, experiment, that is what its all about.

I made a whole batch of this and gave it away as Christmas gifts, so personal and satisfying.

1 can of condensed milk  (395g)
zest of 3 limes
375g white chocolate (I used Cadbury
3/4 cup shelled and chopped pistachios
1 cup dried cranberries (I used craisons)

1. Grease a 22cm square tin or a rectangular one if you don't have a square one

2. In a saucepan, over a medium heat add the condensed milk and lime zest, until the milk starts to simmer, turn to a low heat making sure that it doesn't burn, simmer until the milk starts to thicken

3. Remove from heat and add the chopped white chocolate and mix until it has melted, then add the berries and nuts and mix.  Pour into the tin and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours, slice and devour!

Enjoy!

Till next time

Ashia

Banana Loaf

I love sugar in my tea and coffee, but having 4-5 cups a day, with a teaspoon of sugar, you do the maths!  I'm seriously thinking this is not good for my health and well being. So I started to look at other options, I came across coco sugar at a neighbour's house, and decided to give it a go.

So it's fine in tea/coffee, it resembles natural sugar in colour and texture, so I thought I would try baking with it, the result was great. Coco sugar is derived from the sap of the coconut palm tree, and has a lower GI (glycemic index) than sugar, so healthier for you.  I would probably use it for denser cakes like banana, apple or carrot cake, and stick to the refined sugars for your sponges and light cakes.  If  you are watching your sugar intake give this a go. I adapted this from the Edmonds cook book as it had 1/2 cup of sugar, my other recipe I love using has 1 cup, so I used this

Banana Loaf

1 3/4 Cup Self raising flour
1/4 Tsp Baking soda
1/4 Tsp salt
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1/4 Cup milk
75g Melted Butter
1 Cup mashed banana

Sift flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Mix in sugar, in another bowl beat eggs. Stir in milk, butter and banana.

Mix quickly into dry ingredients, stirring until everything is combined. Pour into a greased  22cm loaf tin.

Bake at 180 c for 40-50 min, until a skewer comes out clean. Leave in the tin for 10 min before turning out.
Serve sliced, with butter (if you prefer)

Enjoy!

 

till next time

 

Ashia

Adam's 12th Birthday

Wow, I cannot believe how time flies, first you have a tiny wriggly bundle in your arms and before you know it, they are taller than you!
My son Adam turned 12 last week, and he just wanted some friends over to hang out, shoot some baskets and watch movies on the media screen in the lounge.  So we decided to do it over the long weekend, was it wise having six  12/13 yr olds sleep over....ummmm I don't know if any of us got any sleep!  But they had a great time hanging out and being boys.

I love baking cakes for both my children on their birthdays, but I must admit it's getting harder to figure out what they like without being too childish (for a 12 yr old that is!) So when I saw something like this on a fb page, I decided to have a go.

Really simple, I used my no fail chocolate cake recipe ( in one of the earlier entries), made three cakes - using 23 cm cake tins, and sandwiched them with chocolate icing.
I made a simple chocolate icing, using butter, cocoa, icing sugar and boiling water. And crumb coated the cake.  In hind sight though butter icing is also a good option.
After crumb coating I attached the chocolate wafers, and six types of chocolates, jaffas, maltesers, pebbles chocolate covered raisins and some mint balls and white chocolate drops.

 

 

The result was fabulous and the cake went down a treat!  I don't think anyone will be eating chocolate for a while.

 Dinner was chicken burgers and fries ( they said no to salad....) followed by birthday cake and then ice cream.

Shooting hoops....what they do best, four of them are in the school basketball team

The quietest I saw them the whole weekend ;-)

Salmon Parcels with Roasted Vegetables

I honestly haven't dropped off the face of the earth, I am here, and feeling very guilty about not blogging and keeping up with my regular posts.  I do have an excuse, a valid one I might add.  We are in the process of selling our home and buying another one.  A very stressful process, causing me a lot of anxiety and grief, and far too much time being spent in the car going through open homes, hence the lack of posts.

But you have to eat, it really does not matter how stressful your life is,  you need to feed the family, so with this in mind I turn to quick and simple dishes that are nutritious and full of flavour.  I love parcel food, its a great easy concept for a busy life, it's one that I first saw in one of Jamie Oliver's earlier books.  He used chicken, but you can use any meat/fish.  I love this one as salmon is packed full of goodness and does not require too much flavouring.
Here I have used two marinades a simple parsley one ( for the children) and one with chilli flakes for a kick (for moi)

You will need 4 pieces of salmon fillets ( or more depending on how many you are feeding)
4 Foil envelopes (tightly  folded on 3 edges, with an opening)
For the marinade -;
1 Tbl of Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
squeeze of lemon juice
small handful of parsley ( I use the dry variety)
or 1/2 tsp chilli flakes if you are going for the kick version
Mix it all together
Place the salmon fillets in the foil bag and drizzle your marinade over the salmon, seal the envelope/bag at the top so that no air can escape, this is important, as the fish will cook in the steam created in the bag.
Place on an oven tray in a preheated oven at 160 for about 15-20 min.

Serve with a medley of roasted vegetables  (one of my earlier blog entries has this recipe) or a potato mash.  Delish!

 

Enjoy!

 

Till next time.

 

Ashia