Quick apple pie

I love apple pie and I thought I'd share my love for these with the kids. This is my quick option for a midweek dessert. It's easy to add different fruit such as pear to mix it up. It's a definitely hit and I've been asked twice this week if I'm making this again for dessert. 'Of course' was the answer.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 apple thinly sliced (I keep the peel on)

1/2 pear thinly sliced with skin (optional)

2 sheets of puff pastry

Sprinkle of cinnamon

1 tsp of brown sugar

20g butter

20g currants

 

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius
 

2. Cut the sheets of puff pastry in half so you end up with 4 rectangular pieces of puff pastry. 

3. Place 6-8 slices of apple and 2 slices of pear on the bottom half of each of the rectangle of puff pastry

4. Sprinkle cinnamon on the apples

5. Add 1 tsp of brown sugar on each of the apples

6. Sprinkle a few currants on top of the apple filling

7. Add a knob of butter on each apple filling 

8. Fold the puff pastry over to close the parcels and press the edges down with a fork. 

9. Brush melted butter over the top of each square parcel. 

10. Bake for 12-15 mins until golden in colour. 

Lime syrup cake

With limes in season and hubby's birthday coming up, it was perfect timing to bake a lime syrup cake for the family get together lunch. I've made this once before and found this cake so moist with a sweet sour taste. As this was to be the birthday cake, I added a few strawberries for the finishing touches.

 

Ingredients

350g caster sugar
30g self raising flour
90g desiccated coconut
zest of 1 lime
250g unsalted butter melted
2 eggs
250mL milk

Lime syrup
225g caster sugar
zest of 1 lime
juice of 5 limes
180mL water

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.

2. Lightly grease a 19cm (7.5inch) square cake tin. Line the base and side with baking paper.

3.Place together the sugar, flour, coconut and zest in a bowl.

4. Pour in butter, eggs and milk and mix until smooth.

5. Spoon mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour (or until skewer put into the centre comes completely dry).

6. Put foil over the cake at 40minutes to prevent it getting too brown and continue cooking.

7. Make the syrup when the cake has 10mins of cooking time to go. Put sugar and 180mL in a heavy based saucepan and stir over low heat until sugar is fully dissolved. Add the lime zest and juice bring to boil and reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 8 minutes then strain.

8. Remove cake from the oven and use a skewer to poke a few holes evenly over the cake. Slowly pour the hot syrup over the cake and let it stand for 20mins to soak though.

9. To serve simply slice and serve on its own or with strawberries.

10. Cut up the baking paper into triangle edges and tie up with twine for a quick and easy presentation.

Handy hint

Pour the hot syrup over the cake whilst its still hot to soak up all the liquid.

Braised pork belly & toasted quinoa & broccolini

Another favourite childhood food memory is mum's braised pork belly. I haven't quite replicated the way my mother makes this dish but I was happy with the result. The smell of this dish cooking away in the oven is divine, my visitors were commenting how good it smelt as the fragrant spices wafted through the house.

Having recently eaten at One Red Penny in Summer Hill, I was quite taken with the use of the toasted black quinoa and black barley for one of their dishes. Toasting quinoa is quite easy to do and I think it just lifted this dish to another level with the nutty crunch. It's so good that hubby has told me that this is his new favourite dish. May have to make this dish again soon.

 

Ingredients

2 tbs sugar

1 tbs rice bran oil

1 tbs Shao Hsing cooking wine

500g pork belly

4 cups of water

2 tbs dark soy

3cm thick piece of ginger cut into large slices

4 crushed garlic cloves

3 cardarmon pods

1 star anise

1 cinnamon quill

1 cup of water during cooking 

1 tbs black quinoa

1 tsp rice bran oil

1 bunch of broccolini 

 

Method

1. Preheat oven at 170 degrees Celsius. 

2. Cut pork belly into strips 2cm wide and 2cm thick.  Pour 1 tbs shao zhing wine over pork belly to marinate for 20 mins. 

3. Add sugar and oil to a heavy based pot over medium heat until sugar dissolves. 

4. Add pork belly to the pot to melted sugar. 

5. Add 4 cups of water into the pot. Add dark soy, garlic, cardarmon, star anise and cinnamon. 

6. Put into the oven for 2hrs.

7. Add another cup of water after it has cooked for 2 hours and continue cooking for another 1 hour. (The pork will be melt in your mouth tender) 

8. Cut broccolini in half so you end up with stems and florets. Boil water and blanch for 2 mins. Drain water and cool with cold running water. 

9. Add 1 tsp rice bran oil to a fry pan over medium heat. Rinse 1 tbs of black quinoa through a sieve before adding to the frypan. Shake the pan every 1 min for approximately 3mins until you hear quinoa popping and pour into a bowl to use for later.
 

10. Place broccolini on plate and pile with braised pork belly. Sprinkle toasted quinoa on top before serving. 

Tomato and buffalo mozzarella salad

This dish is ode to One Red Penny in Summer Hill when I tried their ox heart tomato, golden beetroot, toasted black barley and fresh Italian cheese made of mozzarella and cream (burrata) salad. The toasted barley just added that extra pop drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar.

Ingredients

1 red truss tomato
1 buffalo mozzarella
1 tbs pearl barley
1 leaf of kale
leaves of parsley
100g red quinoa
1 cup of water

1 tbs of olive oil
1 tbs of aged balsamic vinegar

Method

1. Cut the tomato into 6 round slices and set aside.

2. Blanch kale for 2 minutes until it turns a bright green in colour, drain, cut into 3cm thick pieces and set aside.

3. Rinse 100g of red quinoa and add 1 cup of water to quinoa in saucepan. Cover with lid and bring to boil. Once boiling, bring head down to simmer for 12-15 mins.

4. Place frypan on medium heat and dry roast the pearl barley for 5 minutes.

5. To serve, place tomatoes around the plate, add blanched quinoa, parley leaves, before topping with buffalo mozzarella. Sprinkle toasted barley on top before drizzling the olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar.

Red Lentil Dahl

My other half, Pepe loves red lentil dhal. Red lentils range from gold to a red in colour and tend to lose their shape and colour when cooked but their thick mushy texture is perfect for Indian dhals. I find this a super healthy dish, especially good to dip your roti canai into.

Ingredients

1 tbs of rice bran oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 tbs of mild curry powder (I used korma curry powder-mild)
1 cup dried red lentils rinsed and drained
1 tsp of fresh ginger finely chopped
3 &1/2 cups of chicken stock

1/2 cup of fresh coriander

Method

1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat.
2. Cook onion for 8-10 minutes until softened
3. Add garlic, ginger and curry powder and cook for another 2 minutes
4. Add lentil and stock and bring to boil.
5. Reduce heat to low. Simmer partially covered for 30 minutes until lentils have softened.
6. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally for 20-30 mins until thickened.
7. Remove from heat.
8. Serve warm with coriander and plain roti canai.

Roti canai and murtabak

I must have been living under a rock when it comes to discovering the dish, murtabak. I remember my first experience at Rumah Indo Restaurant and thinking to myself that this was one tasty dish that I need to learn to replicate.

It's been a weekend of relaxing, picking up 2 Japanese maple trees to add to our garden and trialling a new recipe or two. I was going to attempt to make roti canai and from there I was going to make the filling for the murtabak.

Roti canai is a flatbread that is served with curry throughout southeast Asia. Whereas murtabak is a stuffed pancake made with roti canai and comes in many variations either sweet or savoury.

There are many different recipes available and I did have to look up a few youtube videos to get the hang of flipping the dough. Pepe and I were having competitions to see who could flip the dough better. Quoting the words of my Mr4 year old, "I think, Mummy win".

Start the roti canai the night before, so it will be perfect for breakfast.

Makes 8 serves

Roti canai

Ingredients

450g plain flour
3 tbs ghee

Wet ingredients
1 egg lightly beaten
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp salt
250mL water

Method

1. Combine the egg, sugar, salt and water into a bowl, stirring to combine.

2. Place flour into a stand mixer with a dough attachment and pour the wet ingredients in. This mixture will form into dough.

3. Let the dough be kneaded for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.

4. Grease the work surface with a 2 tsp of ghee.

5. Roll the dough into a sausage and divide into 8 equal pieces.

6. Shape the dough into a ball, rubbing with ghee as you go.

7. Place the balls on tray lined with baking paper and cover with plastic wrap. (Make sure it's wrapped well.)

8. Set aside in a warm place to prove overnight.

Murtabak

Ingredients

1 tbs coconut oil
2 brown onions finely chopped
3 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 tbs of finely chopped ginger
1 & 1/2 tbs of mild curry powder (I used my curry korma powder for this)
500g lamb mince

1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp of salt
1 egg

150mL ghee

Method

9. Heat 1 tbs of coconut oil in a wok over medium heat.

10. Add the onions, garlic and ginger and curry powder for 8 minutes until onions softened.

11. Add the lamb, sugar and salt. Breaking up the lamb as it cooks until the liquid has evaporated and the meat has browned (approximately 12 minutes).

12. Season to taste and remove from heat and stir in the egg.

13. Place a ball on the work surface brushed with a 1 tsp of ghee. With your hands flatten the dough to square shape.

14. Picking up one corner of the dough with one hand under the dough and other hand over, fling it over your shoulder then back onto the work surface. Move your hands to the next corner, flick the dough again for another two times. Until you have managed to flick the dough for each corner, a total of 4 times as a minimum. Or you can roll out the dough to a thin 30cm square.

15. Place the lamb mix into the centre of the stretched out dough. Brush ghee around the stretched dough with your hands. Fold in thirds. Fold the left hand side into the centre, then fold the right hand side into the centre. Fold in the ends to create a rough 12cm square parcel.

16. Heat 1 tbs of ghee into a fry pan over medium heat.

17. Place the parcel, folded side up first for 5-7 minutes, turning halfway to cook the other side for another 5-7 minutes until golden and cooked through.

18. Repeat with remaining roti canai dough and follow the steps through from 13.

19. Serve with pickled onions and coriander and a side of red lentil dahl.

 

 

Handy hints

You can also make sweet roti canai. Instead of the murtabak filling, spread a thin layer of jam, fold up into a square parcel and cook with 1 tbs of ghee. A dusting of icing sugar to serve was a hit with the kids.

Don't over handle the dough, once the dough has been flung, don't attempt to re-roll into ball as it will have lost its elasticity. Pepe learnt this lesson.

When you shape the dough, make the edges thinner before you fling it, as this ensures you don't have to deal with thick edges later.

If you get holes in the edges of your roti canai dough, just fold over a little dough to cover it and either fling it again or stretch it out.

Curry korma powder is available at Harris Farm or at supermarkets in the spice section.

Check out my pickled onion recipe in the next post. I'll also post a the red lentil recipe as well.

Sublime apple & cinnamon cake

I am craving cake. People may crave chocolate or sweets but I tend to crave cake. It's a blustery day out today and I've already made the most of it with a morning swim with the kids. Poked around a pile of dry leaves on the search for lizards and as while Mr4 was trying to catch them, my girlfriend discovered that it really is true, the tails detach and squirm around. We uncovered the trail of a snail and helped it on its way and before long it was time for afternoon tea, All I had to work with was a granny smith apple, a lime, and the usual cake making ingredients. The results were a moist delicious cake, I've already cut myself a 2 pieces before the kids and my inlaws are back from a visit to the museum. I'm not sure there will be much to devour when they get back.

Ingredients

Dry ingredients
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 & 1/2 cups white flour
1 tsp bi carb soda
pinch of salt
zest of 1 lime

Wet ingredients
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup of melted butter

1 apple sliced thinly (I keep the skin on)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius and grease 18cm  (5.5inch) diameter cake tin
2. Mix all the dry ingredients into a big bowl
3. Then add the wet ingredients on top of the dry ingredients and whisk up with a fork.
4.Cut the apple into quarters, remove core the put through the food processor to cut into thin slices.
5.Fill 1/4 of the cake tin with the batter, then add 2 layers of the apple.
6. Add another layer of batter to the pan then top with the apple slice until the batter mix is finished.
7. Bake for 40-50 mins, until skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean
8. Allow the cake to cool before placing onto the serving plate.

Handy hints

I always cut out a circular cut out with baking paper to place on the bottom of the cake tin so you never have an incident where the bottom of the cake gets stuck.

Use a food processor or mandolin to cut the apple thinly.