Sue Zann Toh

Ingredients

• 360 g (1 cup) honey
• 250 mL (1 cup) pouring cream
• 250 g (2½ cup) walnuts, roasted
• Finely grated rind of 1 orange

Instructions

1. Combine walnuts and orange rind in a bowl.
2. Heat honey and cream over medium heat. Bring to boil, reduce heat and cook for 20 minutes or until it reaches 121 degrees celsius on a sugar thermometer.
3. Pour over walnuts and stir to combine.
4. Place tablespoons of mixture on a lightly oiled oven tray.
5. Fridge until set.
6. Store in the fridge in air tight containers between layers of baking paper.

I finally found a recipe for classic spaghetti bolognese that’s produces consistently great tasting spag bol. It’s so easy and tasty it’s unbelievable. I have to give a big thanks to C from university to introducing me to this recipe.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 1 onions, diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 500g minced beef (I use low fat minced beef)
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 8-10 mushrooms, quartered (I use portabello or swiss brown - they have more flavour than button mushrooms)
• 1 tsp dried oregano leaves
• 1 can Campbell’s condensed tomato soup (has to be Campbells)
• 140g tomato paste
• salt, pepper and sugar to taste
• 500g spaghetti

Instructions

1. Cook spaghetti according to the packet. Usually boil for 10 minutes in water with 1 tsp salt.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a deep frypan.
3. Saute mushrooms until cooked through, about 5 minutes.
4. Remove mushrooms from frypan.
5. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in the same frypan.
6. Add onions and garlic and cook until onions are translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
7. Add minced beef in batches and cook until brown.
8. Add tomatoes, cooked mushrooms, tomato soup, tomato paste and dried oregano leaves and heat through.
9. Add salt, pepper and sugar to taste.

Tips

The minimum ingredients for this recipe is the Campbell’s condensed tomato soup, tomato paste and spaghetti. Pretty much all other ingredients are optional and amounts can be varied to your liking.

A wonderful winter warmer, this beef goulash recipe is amazingly simple to cook and incredibly tasty. I got this recipe from Australian Better Homes and Garden, watch the segment here.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 3 onions, diced
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 800g osso bucco beef, diced and keep the bones
• 1 Tbs flour
• 5 cloves, chopped
• 1 tsp caraway seeds, ground
• 3 tsp Hungarian paprika
• 3 tomatoes, diced
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 potatoes

Instructions

1. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large casserole pot over high heat.
2. Brown onions then set aside.
3. Add another tablespoon olive oil to the casserole pot and add diced beef.
4. When beef is browned on all sides, add cloves, caraway seeds and Hungarian paprika and stir through for a minute.
5. Add diced tomatoes and stir through.
6. Return onion to pot, add salt, potatoes, osso bucco bones and enough water to cover the meat.
7. Simmer for 2 hours, then serve with rice, bread and/or sour cream.

Tips

The first time I made this recipe, I actually didn’t have any flour or caraway seeds in the house. I simply left out the flour and substituted the caraway seeds with ½ teaspoon of ground fennel seeds and ½ teaspoon of cumin. I’m happy to say that it still turned out mighty tasty.

Also known as jook, chok, Chinese porridge and rice porridge, congee is one of those traditional Chinese foods that reminds me of home. In particular, whenever us kids were sick, our parents made us congee of some sort, chicken, fish, pork or plain.

The following recipe is the most basic and most simple congee recipe that could ever exist. It serves 4.

Ingredients

• 1 cup long rice
• 2 L water

Instructions

1. Add rice and water in a saucepan and bring to boil.
2. Reduce to simmer for about one and a half hours, stirring.

Optional

• Add 400-500 g diced chicken (breast or thigh, which ever you prefer), pork or fish (white flesh) about 30 minutes before end of cooking.
• Add salt and pepper to taste at the end of cooking.
• You can cook the congee with garlic and ginger for flavour.
• If you like smoother congee, cook for longer and add more water as needed. If you like chunkier congee, cook for less time and use less water. I like my congee somewhere in between, and I find that the recipe above gives the exact right consistency that I like.

Frittatas are quick, simple and nutritious and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner. This frittata recipe can be used as a base to add in any leftovers to make a scrumptious meal.

Serves 2.

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• ½ cup milk
• 2½ Tbs parmesan cheese
• 10g unsalted butter
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 200g ricotta cheese
• ½ cup cheddar cheese

Instructions

1. Beat together eggs, milk and parmesan cheese until fluffy.
2. Heat the oil and butter together in a small deep saucepan.
3. Add egg mixture to saucepan and cook for 5 minutes until the edges start to set.
4. Add ricotta and cheddar cheese on top and cook for a further 15 minutes.
5. Grill for 5 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Divide and serve with fresh salad.

Chai is Indian spiced tea. There’s a great many ways to make chai with different quantities and variety of spices used. This particular recipe is a pretty basic and simple chai recipe. I would have included some fresh ginger, but there wasn’t any in the house when I hacked together this recipe.

Makes 2 cups, or if you’re like me, you’ll drink it all yourself.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of water
• ½ to 1 cinnamon stick or quill
• 8 cardamon pods
• 8 cloves
• 8 black peppercorns
• ½ cup of milk
• 4 tsp sugar
• 2-3 teabags, good quality, strong, black tea

Instructions

1. Add the water and spices to a saucepan and bring to boil.
2. Simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add milk and sugar and bring back to boil.
4. Turn off heat and add teabags and steep for 2-3 minutes.
5. Strain chai into cup and serve immediately.

Suggestions and Tips

• When boiling anything that contains milk, watch over the saucepan closely. Milk tends to boil over very quickly if you take your eyes off it
• I like my chai quite moderately strong, so I opt for 3 teabags and steep for 3 minutes. For weaker tea, use less teabags or steep for 2 minutes. The only way to find out which you prefer is to test it out.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 800 g sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 1½ cup arborio rice
• 3¾ chicken or vegetable stock
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add onion and garlic and saute until onion is soft, about 5 minutes.
3. Add rice to onion mixture and stir for 2 minutes or until rice is translucent.
4. Add sweet potato and stock. Bring to boil then cover and simmer until rice is al dente, about 25 to 30 minutes.
5. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Tips and Advice

Don’t rinse arborio rice prior to cooking. This removes the starch that gives risottos their creaminess.

Really simple and quick. This veal recipe fits all my requirements. There’s not much preparation or cooling involved.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 4 veal steaks
• 1.5 tbs tomato paste
• 1 tbs flat leaf parsley (Italian parsley)
• 4 thin slices of eggplant (Aubergine)
• 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tbs olive oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Line a baking tray with grease paper.
3. Heat a grill pan over high heat.
4. Brush eggplant slices with half the olive oil and grill until soft, about 3 minutes each side.
5. Remove eggplant slices from heat and set aside.
6. Coat veal steaks in olive oil and grill each side one minute each.
7. Remove veal from the frypan and place on lined baking tray.
8. Sprinkly veal steaks with parsley and season with salt and pepper.
9. Top veal steaks with grilled eggplant and mozzarella cheese.
10. Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.
11. Serve with steamed green vegetables.

Doesn’t the name of the muffins make you start drooling?

I don’t usually remember cooking recipes I watched on television, but Ainsley Harriot’s Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffins caught my eye on Saturday afternoon and I’ve been dying to give them a go.

I love watching Ainsley, he’s so energetic and oh-so-camp, something very different amongst all the other cooks on TV. He brings a smile to my face and I enjoy watching him at work.

Anyway, onto the recipe…

Ingredients

• 300 g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 150 g golden caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 225 ml milk
• 50 g butter, melted
• 100 g fresh raspberries
• 75 g chopped white chocolate

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Cut parchment or greaseproof paper into 8 x 15 cm (6 in) circles and push, creasing the paper to fit, into a muffin tin.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and stir in the sugar.
4. Crack the egg into a separate bowl and whisk in the vanilla extract, milk and melted butter.
5. Stir the liquid into the dry ingredients, taking care not to over-mix.
6. Gently fold in raspberries and white chocolate.
7. Spoon the mixture into the parchment cases and bake for about 15-20 minutes until well risen and just firm.

Tips and Hints

It’s really important not to over-mix the basic muffin batter. 10 to 15 strokes should be sufficient to combine the wet and dry ingredients without over-mixing.

Save a few raspberries and a few pieces of white chocolate to top off the muffins. Once the batter is spooned into the lined muffin tray, gently push in the raspberry and white chocolate pieces.

A tasty warm dessert perfect for a cold winter’s day. The hardest part of this dessert is peeling and cutting the pineapple, the second hardest is sharing with family and friends.

This baked pineapple recipe serves 4 as dessert.

Ingredients

• 600 g pineapple
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 teaspoon brown sugar
• ½ cup water
• 4 tablespoons vanilla yoghurt or ice cream

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F).
2. Peel and cut pineapple into chunks.
3. In a baking dish, add the cinnamon sticks and water and top with the pineapple chunks, then sprinkle the brown sugar on top.
4. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
5. Remove foil from baking dish and continue baking for another 15 minutes.
6. Serve with 1 generous tablespoon of vanilla yoghurt or ice cream topped with fresh mint.