Food Archives | Page 4 of 16

How To Cook When You Don’t Know What To Eat

Food April 17, 2015 4 Comments

Aerial shot of my cook books on a white background.

As an obsessed eater, my cooking choices are almost always driven by what I feel like eating. Whether it’s a new favourite from the latest restaurant, or comforting dishes from my childhood, my stomach and tastebuds has never led me down the wrong path when it comes to cooking.

But sometimes I get bored, and my stomach remains rebelliously silent. And when my dinners start looking the same week after week, I get into a food schlump, and all the joy starts getting sapped from my meals.

It’s at these times when it’s so important to have an arsenal of backup food inspiration, to shake off the doldrums of stale repetitive food. This is how I cook, when I don’t know what to eat.
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Carb on Carb Love: Koshari Recipe

Food Recipe April 15, 2015 8 Comments

A plate of Koshari sits on a table set with smaller plates, cutlery, and middle easter inspired napkins

As the months get colder, it somehow feels more acceptable to dig into a huge bowl of carbs. But not just one kind, mind you, no, it has to be layers upon layers of different carbs, with sauce and crispy shallots over the top.

Introducing my Koshari recipe – a carb lover’s winter dream come true or rice, pasta, lentils, chickpeas, a tomato based sauce, crispy shallots, garlic vinegar and hot sauce. And of course, my twist on it with Persian rice, because the Persian in my house wouldn’t have it any other way.

And how can you go wrong with butter and rice?

Not-so-secrets To An Organised Kitchen

Food April 10, 2015 5 Comments

I like to think that I’m a neat person generally, but when it comes to my kitchen – home is where the food is! – I’m an absolute stickler for keeping things organised.

And why not? An organised kitchen means a more efficient way to get the delicious food into your belly, and a reduction in food waste that means more dollars in your pocket!

So, anyone else a fan of Tetris?
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Gluten Free Claypot Prawn Noodles Recipe (Sponsored Recipe)

Food Recipe April 8, 2015 3 Comments

An aerial shot of the gluten free clay pot prawn noodles

When I think about winter warmers, I always start with the carbs. Do I want potatoes, rice, noodles, bread or pastry? Soups get thickened with flour and potatoes, and the starch reigns supreme!

But that sometimes means that my coeliac friends miss out, and we can’t have that! So I’ve worked with Chang’s to create a winter warmer that I can share with them!

Nutella Hot Cross Bun Bread Pudding

Food Recipe April 1, 2015 23 Comments

Before I came to Australia, hot cross buns were a completely foreign idea to me. Most of the bread I had growing up was savoury, so needless to say when I got exposed to fruit breads, I became obsessed because now it felt like there should be sultanas in EVERYTHING. So I decided to combine my love for bread pudding – it runs in my family, I swear! – and newfound appreciation for the hot cross bun, into a next level dessert to warm you up this winter.

And of course, what’s dessert without a little secret ingredient?

One a penny, two a penny: Hot Cross Bun Cocktails!

Food Recipe March 29, 2015 4 Comments

Hot Cross Bun Cocktails for Easter! Served in a hollow Chocolate Easter Egg

Coming from a country that isn’t all that into Easter celebrations, I think I’ve properly embraced this time of year since moving to Australia. As soon as the last licks of Christmas clears off the shelves of the supermarket, Easter charges right in, with Hot Cross Buns and so much chocolate and related confectionary you can see children’s footprints trailing up the walls.

I love a good spiced fruit bread, and hot cross buns to me are convenient, travel sized portions for all your fruit bread needs. Inspired, I decided that those flavours would work fantastically in a cocktail, served (of course) in an Easter Egg.

Laska Roasted Barramundi With Coconut Lime Potatoes

Food Recipe March 25, 2015 8 Comments

Laksa Roasted Fish with Coconut Lime Potatoes

I absolutely love the smell of spice shops. Whether it be mounds of brightly coloured powder in barrels at the market, or in pretty acrylic boxes like Gewurzhaus that I’ve recently discovered in Sydney.
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Feeling Crabby? Singapore Chilli Crab Fried Rice Recipe

Pantry Quick Recipe February 20, 2015 6 Comments

I may be a very hardworking *ahem* eater, but I’m actually quite a lazy cook at home. And let me say this:

There ain’t no shame in using modern conveniences!

I do love making a lot of things from scratch, but there are just some sauces that take so much time and effort that it’s really worthwhile getting a good packet sauce mix, for the convenience. Sambal belachan, for example, is one of those that’s full of pungent fermented-shrimpness and takes ages, so JUST BUY THE DAMN BOTTLE.

And Chilli Crab, for me, is one of the other. Sure, make your own when you have the time, but there’s nothing to say that you can’t enjoy a weekend meal on a weekday. You just need a little helping hand. So this Singapore Chilli Crab Fried Rice uses packet Chilli Crab sauce, bottled sambal belachan, frozen vegetables, and a tub of picked crab meat.

And it’s frickin’ delicious, in 40 minutes or less.

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Thai Glass Noodle Salad

Recipe February 13, 2015 4 Comments

For quite a few years when I was a kid, one of my aunts – the cool one, in case you’re wondering – moved abroad and lived in England and Vietnam, and came back with all sorts of amazing dishes, like a kickass potato salad, shrimp fried chicken, as well as this glass noodle salad, full of amazing Thai flavours.

This salad became a fridge favourite when my aunt dropped off a batch – I would sneak a bowl between meals when my parents weren’t looking, and at one point I just ended up eating straight out of the tub during those midnight trips into the kitchen.

What? Sleep eating is a thing right?

Over the years, the recipe has evolved a touch. I’ve added loads of fresh veggies – because my mind lays on the guilt like an Asian mother – and taken out the chicken, just for preference. It’s not quite the same as what my aunt makes, but it’s become my own version of the fridge favourite of my childhood, ready on hand for lunch boxes…

…and of course, midnight trips to the fridge.

It just so happens that the theme for this month’s #LetsLunch is noodles, so I’m sharing my recipe for this Glass Noodle Salad, for the last weeks of summer!

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This post is also part of the Let’s Lunch linkup! If you’d like to read some of the other noodle themed Let’s Lunch posts, check out these blogs below:

Gingery Chicken and Boy Choy Noodle Soup (From Cheryl Liu Lien Tan)
Lokshen Kugel (From The Monday Morning Cooking Club)
Chicken Noodle Soup with Roast Barbecue (From Asian in America)

Easy Tom Yum Fried Rice

Lunch Pantry Quick Recipe what i ate February 6, 2015 4 Comments

Tom Yum Fried Rice with Vegetables and Shrimp

Even the most eager of home cooks come to a point in their week when they get a bit lazy, and because I’m a night eater (ooh that should be my Super Villain name!) my laziness always comes in the form of not entirely having fresh ingredients at the end of the week, and not wanting to rush to the shops to buy last minute ingredients in the final 5 minutes before they close.

Enter this Easy Tom Yum Fried Rice, made entirely out of ingredients that I keep stocked at home! You’ll notice that my frozen prawns and veg is cooked straight from the freezer – no thawing time! And it works, too, because the prawns are small and the veg is bite-sized. If you have larger pieces of meat that are frozen, they may require a little bit of thawing, unless they were cut before freezing, in which case, substitute away!

But the whole point of this recipe is that it’s more of a guideline: feel free to mix and match ingredients that you might keep on hand, and create effortless deliciousness!

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