Cooking: Beef Burger

I was craving for some burger last week.  Not just any burgers, but I wanted the taste of a freshly made burger, biting into a fresh beef pattie, filled with lots of chopped onions, carrots, parsley, celery..ummm

So we made our own.  The good thing about a homemade burger is you can choose the cut of the meat, minced it yourself and the freshness of the beef is what makes a good beef burger.  No dodgy ingredients in them, because you minced the beef yourself

The process is simple.  I have a Kitchenaid Mixer which with a mincer attachement and that can mince up the beef quickly and easily.  Next in go chopped carrots, onions, celery, parsely, add some salt, paprika, black pepper and a dash of barbecus sauce if you wish.  I also added a heaped teaspoon into the mince to help bind the pattie together when I cook them on the babrbie later on.  You can use eggs to replace the flour if you wish, but we have an “eggs-free” home because my kids are highly allergic to them.

Sit them in the fridge for about an hour.  Take them out again, rolled them into the size of half a tennis ball.  When you are ready to cook them, put them in a frying pan, or a barbeque, gently flatten it with the back of your spatula and you should have the patties ready in about 5-10 mins.

We also made some tomato chutney to go with the burger and it was delicious!  So delicious that I ate the whole burger, and not even a bite left. 

 

Cooking: Snow Peas with Japanese Tofu n Mushroom

Once a week, we will do a a vegetarian meal at home.  I love my vegetables, afterall, I live by that surname, haha!  JD is very much a vegetarian eater, and he eats more vegetables, fruits, tofu, beans than meat if I have them serve in a meal.  Chloe on other hand loves her meat, just like my husband. 

Last week we did a quick vegetarian meal, just snow peas, Japanese tofu and some dried mushrooms.

Ingredients:

• Fresh snow peas
• 6-8 chinese mushrooms (pre-soaked in hot water)
• Japanese tofu

First blanched the snowpeans in a pot of hot water.  Usually, I just use a big bowl, pour in some hot water from the kettle and let the frsh peas sit in there for 3-5 minutes.  It helps to soften the snowpeas a little bit and quicken the cooking process while keeping the cunchiness of the snow peas. 

Next, Dust some flour over both sides of the Japanese tofu.  Set it aside.  In a frying pan, heat up a little bit of oil.  Gently fried the tofu on bothh sides till it is browned.  Take it out of the frying pan and leave it aside.

Then in a wok, heat up a little bit of oil, throw in some fresh garlic and ginger.  Then drained the snow peas, pour into the wok, add the dried mushrooms that have been pre-soaked, seasoned it with some soy or oyster sauce if preferred anda bit of salt to taste.  Add a bit of water.  Then used some corn flour mix with a bit of water to thicken the sauce.  Lastly, add in the Japanese tofu to warm it up.

Serve it with a bowl of rice and a quick, simple, nutritious meal for you and the whole family.

 

Cooking: Pan Fried Toothfish with Soy Sauce

 

I bought a piece of Patagonian Toothfish from the nearby seafood shop a week ago.  I love fish, my two kids love them, especially toothfish, or salmon steak or basa fillets.  We could just eat fish with rice and they would keep asking for more.  Toothfish is quite expensive at close to 30 bucks a kilo, but it’s good for us, it is simply delicious with its white flesh and even texture.  So I really don’t mind spending that little bit extra and plus we love eating.

To cook the toothfish, I coated the fish lightly with some corn flour.  Then I oiled the frying pan and cooked the fish till it is crispy on one side.  Turned it over, browned it.  Then turn down the heat, sprinkle some soya sauce over the fish, add a bit of water, simmering for a minute or two before adding in some chopped spring onions.

It is a quick, simple and nutritious dish and another way of making sure my kids get their regular meal of fish every week.

 

It isn’t Chinese New Year without…

Pineapple Tarts!!!!!!! 

Yes, this is a must have.  I like them, but I have never made them myself.  So this year, I spent my Sunday afternoon, when it’s 37 deg c outside, with the house air-conditioning fully turned on, I decided to make some pineapple tarts for fun.  Talk about being environmental un-friendly and me being crazy! 

Ohhh, Pineapple Tarts, the aroma from the oven was enough to bring on the atmosphere, albeit only a little bit from where we are.  The kids were just excited with the fact that mommy was baking again and JD kept coming in and out of the kitchen just to pinch the pineapple jam and have a bit of the fresh flaky biscuit pastry.

I was pretty generous with the pineapple filling.  My sister P laughed saying that “If I try selling my pineapple tarts for a living, I would be bankrupt.”  Obviously, with such generous filling, I would need to sell at a premium price to break even, haha!

Can you smell Chinese New Year from where you are?  Or smell the cookies at least, hee? 

This year I have become even more nostalgic by decorating my house with all new year decorations!  Actually, I just want the kids to enjoy it.  I just want to see the little faces staring into the red decorations, swaying to the air from the air-conditioning, lanterns hanging around in the backyard and on the trees in the garden…seeing the lanterns “dancing” to the wind in the evening was rather nice.

Though far from home….the meaning and atmosphere can always be created.

I do miss home terribly during CNY, and I miss it even more yesterday afternoon when I was baking the cookies.  Because I could just imagine the fun we would have if we bake this in my mum’s kitchen, my mum, all the sisters together, chatting away, my dad probably would enjoy all the cookies …and no doubt I would have lots of babysitters around, hee!

 

Cooking: Vegetarian Spring Rolls (素春卷)

I love spring rolls or popiah as we affectionately call it back home in Malaysia and Singapore.

My mum make one of the best spring rolls.  Oh I sooooo love it.  I miss it.  My mum usually make a vegetarian spring roll consisting of lots of mang kuang (sweet turnip), carrots, green beans and cabbage.  She will stir fry the ingredients, cool it, then using her two hands to squeeze the excess fluid out so that the spring rolls are nice and crispy when she wraps or fry them.

When I came to OZ, my late FIL has another recipe.  Meat forms a big part of my in-laws diet which I am still getting used to.  But my FIL would used lots of cabbages, carrots and minced beef.  That’s his version and I like that too.

But as I eat more vegetables, fish than meat, I decided to do a vegetarian one at home.

I use:

• Cabbages, shredded
• Carrots, chopped very finely
• Bean sprouts
• Chinese mushrooms, soaked and sliced finely
• Glass noodle (tang hoon in Chinese), pre-softened with hot water and drained
• Black fungus, sliced finely

In a wok, stir fried some garlic, then pour in the cabbage and carrots.  Stir fried until the cabbage has softened and you can taste its natural sweetness.  Then, add in the bean sprouts, mushrooms, glass noodle, black fungus, mixed in together and seasoned it with some pepper, salt, or a very tiny bit of oyster sauce .

Next cool the ingredients because wrapping the spring rolls when the filling is hot would make it look wrinkly.

My kids and  I love both the fried and non-fried versions.  Infact as I was wrapping it, my 2 kids were hanging around me, asking for one after another, hee.

The filling…

Nicely wrapped and making a healthy snack for some…

Or fried and dressed up a little bit….a delicious snack too…

 

Well, I don’t usually “dress up” my meals at home.  We were all so eager to eat that night that I have forgottent to take a picture of the fried spring rolls.  And when I realised it, we  had only 2 left on the plate.  To take a picture of 2 leftovers would make it look quite sad, so I dressed it up a bit, and you know, some fancy restaurants here would serve a spring roll appetizer served in the exact same manner for some $12!  Mine probably cost 20 cents, hahahaha!

Oh, all that filling I probably make around 30 spring rolls, I gave 10 spring rolls each to our friends that were visiting and we finished the rest, burp!

If you prefer a healthier version, you can always choose not to fry it.  I probably should not have the fried one since I have skipped the gym for at least 2 weeks, yikes!

 

Cooking: Sweet n Sour Pork (酸甜猪肉)

I remember my mum used to make a really yummy sweet n sour pork.  It was always a comfort meal for me, especially on a cold rainy day when I was growing up. 

Last week, instead of steaming the pork ribs, I decided to do a sweet n sour style!  I used some oil to fry the pork that has been marinated with some soya sauce, a little bit of oyster sauce, some salt, sugar and a good amount of corn flour to coat the pork.  I marinated it overnight and the flavour was just awesome.

With the sauce, I just quickly fried some onions, and used a bit of tomato sauce, rice vinegar and sweetened it with a little bit of raw sugar.  Simmer it quickly and add in some corn flour to thicken the sauce.

My children prefer to dip the pork in the sauce rather than me mixing it all in.   

 

 

Cooking: Ginger and Shallots Lobster

Last weekend, I walked past the seafood shop after my groceries shopping and decided to get 2 frozen lobsters.  So I called my mum-in-law and asked her to be at our place 6pm that evening.  My MIL loves lobster and crab, and one word mentioned of it, she would be there!   

So I chopped up some garlic, fresh red chillies, ginger and set it aside.  Then using a sharp knife, I chopped up the lobster into chunks.

In a wok, heat up the oil, fried the garlic, chillies, ginger till it is fragrant.  Next throw in the lobster, stir fried it together for a bit.  Next, add half a cup of water or chicken stock, let the sauce boil before adding a bit of corn flour to thicken the sauce.  Seasoned it with some salt, sugar, throw in some shallots and there u have it!  Quick, easy, and eat it with a bowl of rice, truly satisfying for a hungry tummy!  Burp!

And these two lobsters only cost me $26, a much cheaper meal compared to eating that in a restaurant

 

Cooking: Cheat Bob the Builder B’day Cake

A little boy that I looked after turned 2 today.  He is crazy about Bob the Builder and all sorts of trucks and diggers.  We had a little birthday celebration for him during afternoon tea today.

To bake him a Bob the Builder cake from scratch would be impossible for me, with the limited time and energy I have.  And honestly it would be way too big for a little group of us.

So, to improvise … Download a Bob the Builder image from the internet, type in a few Happy Birthday wordings, printed it out.  Then run it through my laminator and cut them out into little Bob figurines.  Stick a toothpick behind the card with a sticky tape and stick it on the cupcakes!  Tada!

The smile on the little boy’s face when he saw the cakes - priceless! It was just lovely!

  

•  A packet of White Wings Irresistible Chocolate Cake Mix
• 1 egg
• 1 and 1/3 cup of water
• 125g butter

Whisk the ingredients together until it is well mixed.  Pout the batter into muffin trays and cook it in the oven at 160 deg c for 30 mins.

Icing

• 125g soft butter
• 1.5 cup of icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk

Beat the butter in a small bowl till light in colour, gradualy add in half the sugar and then milk.  Beat in the remaining sugar.  If prefer, you can add some colourings or cocoa powder.  I decided to use cocoa powder as I wasn’t prepared for a houseful of hyper kids! 

Note: Due to the runny texture of the icing, it is more suitable for spreading and I would not recommend it for piping.

 

Cooking: Quick Minestrone Soup

In our household, we usually have a few essential items in our pantry cupboard.  For me, I always make sure I have pasta, pasta sauce, mushrooms, canned tomatoes, kidney beans, mixed beans, baked beans that can be whipped up into a quick meal.

With a busy day ahead, and tired of the usual pasta bolognaise, noodles, sandwiches, fried rice, casserole for dinner, I decided to make a quick minestrone soup.

All you need are:

• 1 onion chopped into pieces
• Carrots, diced
• Celery, diced
• Pumpkin, diced
• Some bacon, diced into small pieces
• A can of peeled tomatoes and mashed into small pieces with a fork
• A can of mixed beans

In a pot, fried the onions and bacon till browned.  Then mixed in the celery, carrots, pumpkin and cooked till the vegetables just turned soft.  Using a fork to mash up the canned tomatoes, pour it into the pot together with the tomato juice, then the can of mixed beans, then add half cup of pasta shells, and a cup of water.  Reduce the soup to simmer for about 20 mins or until the pasta has just turned soft.

Serve the soup with some toasted bread!  It’s a meal in itself!  The kids get all their vegies in one meal, can’t complain about that!

Total cooking and preparation time: 30 minutes!

 

Cooking: Ham and Cheese Pikelets

What happened when I thought I had turned the oven on to roast a chicken, only to find out more than half hour later that I haven’t done so?  And it was 20 mins to lunch time, and I have all these little mouths waiting to be fed and yelling out for “I am hungry!!!!”.  They would be so especially when they have spent almost the entire morning playing “Animal Rescue” “Fire and Emergency Rescue” and running about in the back garden…

Quickly I looked into my pantry, grabbed the flour, got some eggs, milk, cheese from the fridge, cut up some ham, onions, 15 mins later at 12pm sharp we have some fresh and fluffy Ham and Cheese Pikelets for lunch!  The kids ate up the whole lot, all quietly and happily tucking into their lunch.  The beauty of it was they also happily ate up the bean sprouts, baby capsicums, baked beans.  But the best thing was the onions, cheese and ham were all hidden within the pikelets and you don’ t get to hear those annoying “I don’t like cheese, I don’t eat cheese…” kids comment!  Yay!

Ham and Cheekse Pikelets

• 1 cup self-raising flour (or in our case we swap it with wholemeal flour)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 20g butter melted
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 slices of ham or bacon, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup of grated cheese

Place flour in a bowl, gently stir in milk, egg, butter and mixed to a smooth batter.  Then stir in the garlic, onions, cheese and ham.  Pour a little bit of batter into the frying pan, cook until bubbles appear and turn the pikelets over.  Cook until both sides are brown.  Serve with salads, sour cream or anything you prefer!