This is my first post in 2012! Relocated to Brighton last December, looking to do something different in my life! Maybe something food related...(quite obviously)

Bought a lovely cookbook "How To Make Bread" by Emmanuel Hadjiandreou from a local bookshop and now I am testing a few of his bread recipes. It is a very useful recipe book, detailed visual instructions and beautiful pictures by Steve Painter. You can clearly feel his passion of bread making and his willingness to share it with other people. 

The pizza dough takes 24hrs to proof, which is longer than other pizza dough recipes I have tried. So if you are in a rush or very hungry, this is not for you! 

I think, why order pizza from takeaway? Make it at home, it is so much fun and satisfaction! (I understand that you might not have the time or lazy or can't cook...) but really, nothing beats the homemade pizza. It is full of freshness! or you can order from me!

For the topping, I used sausage meat balls, thinly sliced onion, fresh chopped tomatoes, tomato paste with olive oil, mozzarella and some dried Ghormeh Sabzi mixed herbs.

Ps. I think it won't do any justice if I just copied Emmanuel's recipe on here. I would recommend you to get on hold of the book. It will be a good investment!

This sweet and savoury bacon jam was inspired by a discussion on a Facebook food page. I never thought of savoury jam, I have also associated jam with fruits. The past few weeks I have been making some fruit jams and marmalades for Christmas, this bacon and tomato jam with cocoa powder will add to that jam collection for this year!

I was surprised how a small teaspoon of the cocoa powder could lift the flavour of the jam to a different level! I can imagine this jam will work wonder in sandwiches....yum..I think they are really delicious..a bit smokey, slightly sweet, and a hint of sourness...

Ingredients: (make large 2 jars)

1. 300g smoked bacon (roughly cut into chunks)
2. 200g carrot (finely diced)
3. 2 shallots (finely diced)
4. 1 bulb of garlic (finely diced)
5. 2-3 tbsp olive oil
6. 500g cherry tomatoes (whole)
7. 1/3 cup unrefined can sugar
8. 4 generous tbsp golden syrup
9. 1 tbsp cinnamon powder (could be nice with smoked paprika)
10. 1 red chilli (cut into rings with seeds)
11. Juice of 1 lemon
12. Zest of 1/2 lemon
13. 1 tsp cocoa powder

Firstly, heat the oil in a pot, gently fry the shallots, and garlic until soft and colourless. Add the bacon pieces and fry the bacon until nicely caramelised.

Add the cherry tomatoes and stir well and cook it lid on until the tomatoes almost disintegrated. Add the golden syrup, sugar, carrots, cinnamon powder, zest of lemon, and lemon juice. Then cook the mixture under medium heat until the sauce is lightly darken and thicken. Finally stir in the cocoa powder and mix it well very well.

Store the bacon and tomato jam in sterile jam jars. Seal immediately and label them when cooled.

This recipe is very similar to the Pandan and Coconut Kuih I made last time, but a much simplified process.
The "deep" coconut taste really intensify the South East Asian flavour. These kuih also have a lovely honey colour, slightly translucent against the light.

Ingredients: (make 8 cup-size kuih)

1. 70g rice flour
2. 150g tapioca flour
3. 1 log of coconut palm sugar
4. 500ml coconut milk
5. 1/2 tsp salt
6. 1 cup of water

In a pan, bring the water to the boil and dissolve the coconut palm sugar and reduce it to slightly syrupy. Add the coconut milk and cook for further few minutes. Set aside. Keep hot.

This soup is inspired by a Korean oxtail soup recipe, great flavoursome but a simple winter warmer. 

It is a great idea to try different cuts of meat if you can find them in your local butcher. I always find the range of meat cuts available in supermarket rather predictable and boring. I love going to the local butchers to see what is available, although the smell of the shop can be overpowering sometimes, but you will be able to get a wider range of meat cuts at a more reasonable price.

Ingredients:

1. 1 whole oxtail (chopped into chunks)
2. 5 carrots (peeled and sliced into chunks)
3. 2 large whole onion (sliced into chunks)
4. 2 Cinnamon sticks
5. 1 Star anise
6. Generous fresh ginger root (roughly sliced)
7. 1 tbsp black pepper corns
8. 1 leek stalk
9. Salt and pepper to taste
10. 1 tbsp oil
11. 2 litres water

Bring at least 1.5 litres water to the boil in a large pan. Wash and trim off any fat from the oxtail. Put the oxtail in the boiling water and cook for few minutes. Remove the tail from the water and wash with cold water. Discard the water from the pan.

In a deep pot, heat the oil and fry onion, cinnamon, star anise and ginger until soften. Add in the oxtail and lightly brown the meat.

Add the water to the pan, and all the rest of the ingredients. Cook the soup under medium heat until the meat is soft and tender.

Strain the soup and discard other ingredients except the oxtail (obviously) and carrots. (of course you can eat the rest of the ingredients too if you don't like to waste the food)

I have done it yet again! A quick round in a Chinese supermarket always ended up with more items than I was planning to buy! I really should learn to just sticked with my shopping list!

So amongst the things I bought, I have a package of  rice noodles, some frozen prawns, bean sprouts, carrot etc. A very much fried rice noodles ingredients I then realise! Naturally, I can't wait to make myself some fried rice noodles with prawns as Saturday's lunch. (Fried noodles also commonly served as breakfast in Malaysia too..)

For this version of fried rice noodle, the ratio for the vegetables is higher than the rice noodles itself! So it is a healthy lunch.

Ingredients: 3-4 servings

1. 1/2 a package of dried rice noodles (socked in cold water until soft and drained)
2. 2 eggs (beaten)
3. 1 package of bean sprouts
4. 2 sticks of carrots (shredded)
5. A bunch of coriander (roughly chopped)
6. 1 package of fresh of frozen prawns
7. 1 shallots (sliced)
8. Few cloves garlic (roughly chopped)
9. 1 -2 tablespoonful fresh chilli paste
10. Spring onion  (chopped) (optional)
11. Pickled chillies (for serving)
12. Approximate 4-6 tbsp (or more)
13. Salt and pepper to taste
14. A teaspoonful of dark soy sauce

Firstly, in a hot wok add some oil and a pinch of salt. When the oil is hot, pour the beaten eggs and let it cook until lightly brown. Remove the egg from the heat and set aside to let cool. Once cooled, slice the egg into strips (for serving). In the same wok under high heat, add more oil and stir in the shallot, garlic and chilli paste. Fry until fragrant. Add the prawns and stir fry until the prawns are just cooked.

Then add the rice noodles, shredded carrot and bean sprouts and stir until all ingredients are roughly distributed. Add the dark soy sauce, salt and pepper and fry until the bean sprouts are just slightly cooked. Add the coriander (leave some for garnishing) then stir to distribute the green roughly into the rice noodles. Done! On a serving plate, arrange the fried rice noodle in the middle and garnish it with pickled chillies, fresh coriander leaves and sliced fried egg. Serves it hot (and spicy!).

ps: wow....can you see a little stickman in the central of the photo (on top of the prawn)?!!

Another versatile fruity preserves. I really like how this marmalade add different dimensions to either sweet desserts or savoury dishes. 

For the "pork belly" marinated with these marmalade, the fruity and zesty flavours do enhance the meaty sweetness of the pork. I find the slightly sharp and piney flavoured marmalade is a very good complement to the soften pork fat as well, it seems to lighten it fattiness!

But for the "cake" with the same marmalade as one of the ingredients, the subtle citrusy flavour refreshes the buttery soft cake. It works well with dark chocolate too to bring you some end of the year festive feeling.... 

This marmalade will bring a bit of summery feeling to your food during a cold, dull and grey winter days!

(Am I writing a presentation speech!??)

Ingredients:

1. 800g satsuma (peeled and juiced) (reserve the squeezed fruit bits and pieces for cooking)
2. 200g satsuma peel (pith gently removed with a spoon then finely shredded)
3. 500g preserving sugar
4. 1 juice of lemon (reserve the squeezed fruit for cooking)
5. 1 juice of lime (reserve the squeezed fruit for cooking)
6. Pinch of whole clove
7. 1 tbsp Juniper berries 

Put all the ingredients in a deep pan, and slowly simmer the mixture until the shredded satsuma peels are soft (I personally quite like the peels to be soft instead of "too soft"). This will take around 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the jam jars by boiling them in the hot boiling water. When the marmalade is thicken, and glossy, they are ready to be put into the sterile jars. Read this "post" for a quick way to know when the marmalade is ready for potting. Seal the jar immediately while the marmalade is still hot.

Done!

I don't know if i am sad or pathetic, I really enjoyed spending the whole weekend in the kitchen learning and making food! The first thing came into my mind when I woke up was "what to cook today"! I have to cook something in order to relax my mind and then I can concentrate on other things! Maybe this is a kind of obsession. (in a good way?)

I was happily spent 4 hours just now in the kitchen testing and learning the process of making some crystal skin prawn dumplings. It wasn't easy but It was so exciting! The wheat starch and tapioca skin was quite delicate and the folding of the skin was fiddly but interesting too - difficult to get them look uniform and similar to those of restaurant standard. 

I had the vision of a very thin and translucent crystal skin which you can almost see through the colourful fillings inside. I imagine if there are some colourful ingredients such as chilli and parsley wrapped within a translucent skin, the dumplings would look very beautiful for serving. But that was quite difficult to translate into reality! The thinner the skin, the more difficult to wrap the filling and even more fragile when they are steamed...But the result...I have to say, I am very pleased with how the dumplings look and taste, very good attempt for the first time, I think!

Ingredients (For the fillings): 

1. 200g fresh prawn (roughly chopped) 
2. 2 tbsp parsley (finely chopped)
3. 1 tbsp ginger (finely cubed)
4. 2 tbsp chillies (finely cubed)
5. 100g radish (finely cubed) (to add some crunchiness to the fillings)
6. Salt and ground white pepper (to taste)
7. 1 tsp oyster sauce
8. 1 tbsp sesame oil
9. Roughly 2 tbsp corn flour
10. A squeeze of 1/2 a lemon juice
11. About 1 tbsp Chinese Shaoxing wine

Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl and set aside and marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Ingredients (For the crystal skin): (make about 15 dumplings)
I referred to this youtube video for the process of making the skin.

1. 60g wheat starch (You can find this in a Chinese supermarket)
   
2. 25g tapioca flour
   
3. A pinch of salt
   
4. 1 tsp oil
5. 100 ml boiling water

Mix wheat starch, tapioca flour, salt and oil in a mixing bowl. Then add in the boiling water. Knead well for few minutes until a very smooth and non-sticky dough. Set aside and cover the dough with damp cloth for 5 minutes.

After that, shape the dough into a long log, and divide into 12 pieces. Set aside and cover the dough with damp cloth.
Oil the work surface and rolling pin. Roll out the divided dough gently and thinly and use a 88mm size round cookies cutter, cut out a neat round wrapper. Gently remove the wrapper from the work surface. (You may have to test a couple of times to successfully make the wrapper!) (Re-use the off cut for the dough, you can get another three more wrappers out of it!)

Fill the wrapper with about 1 tablespoonful prawn filling, and gently and neatly fold it to form a parcel (follow the youtube video closely, it is quite difficult to explain them in words I think!) Do this gently and firmly. This stage is going to be a rather patience-testing stage! But I can assured you that, once you get the hang of it, it is actually quite easy and satisfying!

Once done the wrapping stage, prepare the bamboo steamer (if you have one). Line it with some grease paper. Oil the the paper generously, but I find that, the dumplings also need to be generously oiled so then they will not stick to the paper once cooked.

Steam the dumplings for about 6 minutes. Once done, the skin should be translucent. Serve warm.  


Well done to myself..:) I am very happy that I have learnt something new this weekend. But maybe I should really go out more!

There are quite a bit of "buy one get one free" fruit offers in the supermarket at the moment. There are some out-of-season unripe plums on offer, so I thought maybe it is good to use them to make some plum jam! (Suddenly feeling Christmasy...)

I am sure this is not the proper way of jam making. But it is quick(er) and easy(ier)! Can't wait to experiment these jam with some "creative" recipes...I imagine these spiced (with piney with citrus overtone) plum jam might be good for roast duck..mmmm...

Ingredients: (make 2 1/2 jar of jam)

1. 900g plum (quartered and pitted)
2. 500g perserving sugar
3. 1 tbsp juniper berries (crushed)
4. 1 tbsp green cardamon pods (crushed)
5. 1 juice of lemon
6. 1 piece cinnamon stick

Put all the ingredients in a deep pot and simmer the plum under low heat until very soft. It will take about 30-45 minutes. Once it is done, push it through a sift to another pan. (Keep those bits and pieces too large to go through the sift, I think you can use it for something else..maybe as marinade or baste for roast..)

Meanwhile, boil some clean jam jars and lids in boiling water.

Put a small plate to the freezer (this is to use as a surface to test if the jam is ready to set)

Return the sifted liquid to low heat, and boil until the liquid just starting to bubble. Place a small teaspoon of the liquid to the cold plate and put it back to the freezer for 1 minute. When it is ready, use your small finger to push the jam from one side, if you see wrinkles forming on the surface of the jam, the patch is ready.

Remove the jar (one at a time) from the boiling water and drain well. Gently pour the jam into the jar and seal immediately. ALL Done! 

Wonderful home-made present for your friends this Christmas...