Posts in Recipe

Shiitake Mushroom Ramen Recipe

Food Recipe 4 Comments
An aerial shot of the vegetarian shiitake mushroom ramen, with pickles and gyozas on the side.

I am an absolute ramen fiend – nothing beats a hot bowl of noodles and soup in the middle of a freezing winter. But most ramen broths are based in bone and meat for that intense flavour, and it does mean that my vegetarian friends often miss out on this awesome meal. But bone does add a depth of flavour that is hard to replace, so I thought to use Lapsang Suchong – a smoky black tea – and konbu – a dried seaweed – to add body to the soup.

The result is this Shiitake Mushroom Ramen that I can share with ALL my friends, and if I swapped out the egg and egg noodles, my vegan friends too!

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Carb on Carb Love: Koshari Recipe

Food Recipe 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?

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Nutella Hot Cross Bun Bread Pudding

Food Recipe 23 Comments
Nutella Hot Cross Bun Bread Pudding recipe - a great way to use up leftover hot cross buns from easter!

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?

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

Food Recipe 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.

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Feeling Crabby? Singapore Chilli Crab Fried Rice Recipe

Pantry Quick Recipe 6 Comments
Chilli Crab Fried Rice Recipe

Chilli Crab Fried Rice Recipe

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.

Chilli Crab Fried Rice Recipe

 

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Thai Glass Noodle Salad

Recipe 4 Comments
Thai Glass Noodle Salad on a white plate, with yellow chopsticks and a glass of Thai Iced Tea on the side

Thai Glass Noodle Salad on a white plate, with yellow chopsticks and a glass of Thai Iced Tea on the side

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!

Thai Glass Noodle Salad on a white plate, with yellow chopsticks and a glass of Thai Iced Tea on the side

 

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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:

Easy Tom Yum Fried Rice

Lunch Pantry Quick Recipe what i ate 4 Comments
Tom Yum Fried Rice with Vegetables and Shrimp

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!

Tom Yum Fried Rice with Vegetables and Shrimp

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Lunchbox ideas: Leftover Pizza Scrolls Recipe

Recipe 16 Comments
Homemade Pizza Scrolls Recipe

Pizza Scrolls

It’s back to school and back to work for most of us, and time to refresh that lunchbox! Inspired by a couple of magazine ideas that I’d read, I’ve created a recipe that produces fluffy scrolls filled with your delicious pizza toppings, and uses up leftover ingredients in the fridge!

And it’s no harder than rolling up your favourite pizza.

Leftover Pizza Scrolls Recipe

 

Leftover Pizza Scrolls
Recipe Type: Kid friendly, Easy, Freezer Friendly
Author: Tammi Kwok
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 24 scrolls
These pizza scrolls are a perfect way to involve the kids with making their own lunches AND use up leftovers in the fridge! It’s also freezer-friendly, which means that you’ll also get easy breakfasts on the go, if it even lasts that long!
Ingredients
  • [For the bread]
  • 2.5 cups strong flour, plus extra for adjustments
  • 1 tbsp dried yeast
  • 3 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1.5 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • Water
  • [For the pizza]
  • 4-5 tbsp tomato paste (about 140g)
  • 1.5 cups pizza cheese
  • toppings of your choice, I used leftover ingredients I had in my fridge:
  • 200g bacon
  • 80g ham
  • 100g olives
Instructions
  1. [For the Bread]
  2. Place all the ingredients for the bread into the bowl of a food processor, If you don’t have one, you can mix it in a bowl instead. It’ll just take a bit longer.
  3. With the motor running, stream in about 275mls of water. The amount of water you actually need varies depending on your flour and climate, but I add enough water to make a very wet dough, so it sticks to the spindle slightly. If you don’t add enough water, the dough will be hard to handle, and the gluten won’t form.
  4. After a minute or so, add 1 or two tablespoons of flour through the chute, just so that the dough balls off the side of the bowl, and makes a slack ball of dough.
  5. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl or container, and cover with a wet tea towel or cling wrap. Place in a warm draught-free place for 40min or till the dough has doubled in size.
  6. Sit back and have a cup of tea.
  7. [For the Pizza]
  8. Prepare your pizza topping ingredients: chop bacon, ham, “taste test” some salami…whatever you have to do.
  9. Split the dough into two portions. Roll it out into a rectangular shape, about 0.5cm thick. I find that it’s easier to roll with a non-floured surface, helping the dough stretch, but you’d then require a pastry scraper or plastic spatular to help you roll up the scrolls later on.
  10. Spread with half the tomato paste, top with half the toppings. Make your pizza!
  11. Starting with the long end, roll up the pizza into a long log. With a sharp knife, cut into 12 pieces. Place loosely into a deep roasting tray.
  12. Repeat with other ball of dough.
  13. Cover with a damp tea towel and heat your oven to 180C.
  14. The pizza base will prove and expand again, filling the tray.
  15. Bake for about 20-30 mins, or till golden brown and delicious!