Stir-fried Gravy Beef with Chilli, Ginger & Shallot

July 30, 2014December 31, 2018 amcarmen2 Comments

Hello Everyone! I actually wasn’t planning on photographing and posting today’s dish as I kind of made it up on the go. I usually plan ahead the dishes that I want to make for the week to ensure that I have all the ingredients that I need for the upcoming week – saves me time of having to go back and forth the grocery shops if I forget one or two ingredients. I actually don’t have much in the fridge right now (in terms of accompanying ingredients for my meat).

Last night I took my beef shanks out of the freezer to defrost in the fridge overnight but still not knowing what I was going to make until later on the next day. I still had the pantry essentials, such as chillies, ginger, onions, and shallots – so I decided to whip up a beef stir-fry! I also had all of the ingredients to marinade the beef in so that was good! I kind of eyeballed the measurements though so forgive me if this recipe is too bland or salty; I’m just going to go off by remembering how much of each ingredient I added to the marinade, feel free to adjust though!

PREP TIME 1 HOUR | COOKING TIME 10-15 MINS | SERVES 2-3

INGREDIENTS

For the marinade:

300g beef shank, sliced thinly
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tsp shaoxing rice wine
Ground black pepper

2 stalks spring onion, cut into 1-inch long strips
2 red bird’s eye chillies, sliced
1 thumb-sized ginger, peeled and sliced
1/2 red onion, sliced
3 tbsp Sunflower oil

METHOD

Add all the ingredients for the marinade in a medium-sized bowl and mix together until combined. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and let the beef marinate for at least an hour before cooking.
Heat the sunflower oil in a medium-sized frying pan over high heat. Add the green onions and ginger. Sauté for about 2 minutes. Then add in half of the chilli slices and onions, and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Add the beef shank slices and toss to combine. Cook for a further 5 minutes, adding a little bit of water to loosen the sauce a bit. Cook for a further 3-5 minutes or until cooked through.
Garnish with the remaining chillies and serve with steamed rice and asian greens.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Pan-fried Whole Snapper with Chilli, Ginger, Shallot & Soy Sauce

July 29, 2014December 31, 2018 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I bought 2 whole snapper for just 15 dollars. Well I thought that today I should cook up a delicious meal with the other – same ingredients to dress it up, but probably a little less healthy than the steamed snapper since it’s pan-fried, but obviously the flavour and texture changes when cooked differently.

As I was having it for lunch this afternoon, my housemate Marissa walked into the dining area and I asked her to try some. She loved it and said “did you take a picture of this?” knowing that I am one to definitely blog about it – I mean, of course I took a photo! She also asked me if I followed a recipe, and I said no, I just whipped this up with the ingredients I had in the fridge. It is actually a dish that my Mom makes very often, but with pompano fish – and dressed with just dark soy, calamansi (small round lime, green on the outside and with a centre pulp that is orange in colour), and a little bit of the fish oil that it was pan-fried in. Deliciously lip-smacking! Also often served with steamed rice and stir-fried kangkung in belacan. The simplicities are always the best.

Anyway, this is my take on my Mom’s pan-fried pompano – as the title says, pan-fried snapper with chilli, ginger, shallot & soy sauce. Marissa asked me if you can tackle this recipe with any type of fish such as barramundi, and I honestly think that it will go well with barramundi and any other types of fishes out there.

PREP TIME 5 MINS | COOKING TIME 10-15 MINS | SERVES 2

INGREDIENTS

1 whole snapper, gutted, scaled, and cleaned
1/2 cup sunflower oil
2 red bird’s eye chillies, sliced
1 thumb-sized ginger, sliced
1 stalk green onion, sliced, green and white parts separated
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp chilli oil
Lemon wedge
Ground salt and pepper

METHOD

Season the snapper with ground salt and pepper. Heat sunflower oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Make sure that the pan is scorching hot before putting the fish in as this will prevent the skin from sticking to the pan. Fry the fish for 5-6 minutes per side. Remove the fish from the pan and place onto a serving dish. Drain the oil, leaving about a tablespoon behind.
Add the ginger and sauté for about a minute before adding half of the chilli slices and the pale and white parts of the green onions. Cook for a further 2 minutes. Turn the heat off and add the soy sauce. Mix around for a bit and then pour over the fish. Add the chilli oil and drizzle with lemon juice. Garnish with the remaining green onions and chilli slices. Serve with steamed rice.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Baked Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese-Yoghurt Dip

July 26, 2014December 31, 2018 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! Back again with another lip-smacking recipe that will definitely fill your tummies (I am so full right now that I keep burping out loud, and my burps taste of garlic oops!). I love buffalo wings, just as much as I practically love every other chicken wing dishes out there. Now the easy option would just be to go to Coles and buy a pre-packed marinated bag of buffalo chicken wings and simply throw it on the grill and voilà! I mean, yes I have done that multiple times, at barbecue parties because it’s a quick and easy solution to getting ready-marinated meats on the day. But no, not today; I always have to take the long route, which I think is worthwhile especially if you’re learning how to cook. Taking shortcuts won’t allow me to get creative in the kitchen and experiment with recipes. It definitely won’t allow me to expand my abilities in the kitchen as well. I’ve been wanting to tackle this recipe for a while now, but never got around to until today.

So today I posted these two images on Instagram. If you have an account, please look up @amcarmenskitchen and give me a follow. I usually post teaser images of the ingredients that I will be using for the recipe that will be posted on the blog later in the evening. I also always ask my followers to guess what dish I will be making based on the pictured ingredients. I try to make my Instagram feed as interactive as possible with my followers. Today I posted a blurred image and asked them to guess the 8 ingredients for today’s dip to go with these succulent buffalo wings. Didn’t quite get many responses but thank you to my girl Mel Barrass for guessing an ingredient right! I then posted the other image and got a response from my twin Pamela about how curious she is to know what I’ll be making from these ingredients.

For this, I looked at two recipes from the Food Network and tweaked the method a bit. But please do check out the original recipes as linked:

PREP TIME 10 MINS* | COOKING TIME 35 MINS | SERVES 3-4

*Add an extra 4-5 hours waiting time for chicken to marinate

INGREDIENTS

For the buffalo wings

15 chicken mid-wings, washed and cleaned
85g unsalted butter
1/3 cup sriracha hot sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt

For the blue cheese-yoghurt dip

3/4 cup greek yoghurt
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp milk
1 clove garlic, minced
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Ground salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

Place the wings into a pot of boiling, salted water. Cover and reduce the heat to medium. Parboil the wings for 6-8 minutes. Remove the wings and carefully pat dry. Lay the wings out on baking dish lined with paper towels.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan along with the garlic. Add the hot sauce and salt and stir to combine. Remove the paper towels and pour the hot sauce mixture over the wings and toss. Cover the dish with cling wrap and leave in the fridge to marinate for at least 4-5 hours before cooking.
Meanwhile, combine the yogurt, blue cheese, mayonnaise, garlic, milk and lemon juice in a medium-szied bowl and whisk together until combined but still chunky. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Preheat oven to 220C. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil and place the wings skin side up onto the tray. Roast on the middle rack of the oven for 35 minutes, or until cooked through.
Serve with blue cheese-yoghurt dip and a salad of your choice. In this case, I had a 4 leaf mix with a french dressing, and homemade roasted sweet potato fries. A great combination!

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Spirali with Prawns & Coconut Milk

July 25, 2014December 31, 2018 amcarmen4 Comments

TGIF! Hope everyone had a good week. Today’s dish is once again pulled from my 1000 Italian Recipes Cookbook, though I must say that the ingredients are hardly Italian at all – but nonetheless packed with flavour and again very little ingredients needed. Today’s post will be a short one as I don’t have a long back story for you to endure before getting to the recipe, but please do enjoy this lovely dish.

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOKING TIME 18-20 MINS | SERVES 2

INGREDIENTS

1 cup spirali pasta (or other shaped pasta)
250g tiger prawns, shelled and deveined
1 cup (200ml) coconut milk
1 stalk lemongrass, ends crushed and tips sliced
1 red bird’s eye chilli, sliced
Zest of 1 lime
Chives
Ground salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water according to the packet instructions. Drain and set aside reserving about 2-3 tbsp of the cooking water.
Meanwhile, heat the coconut milk in a small saucepan together with the crushed lemon grass, lime zest and half of the chilli slices. Leave to simmer over low-heat for about 10-15 minutes for the flavours to infuse into the milk.
Add the prawns and leave until they turn pink (about 3 minutes), then stir in the chives and season with salt and pepper.
Fish out the lemongrass stalks and toss through the pasta. Garnish with remaining chilli and lemongrass slices. Serve.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Steamed Whole Snapper

July 23, 2014December 30, 2018 amcarmen5 Comments

Hello Everyone! My fridge (or should I say, my part of the fridge since I share a house with about 20 other people) has been looking a bit lonely for the past week. Nothing makes me happier than going to Paddy’s Market, and coming home with bags of fresh meat, seafood, and vegetables – and a bonus development of arm muscles from carrying heavy shopping bags, but probably not good for my back in the long run. My part of the fridge is looking happier now with all that food!

I probably bought more than 5 kilos of meat ranging from beef, chicken, and yummy pork ribs. I also got 2 whole snappers for $15, one of which will be featured in today’s post, and the other probably later in the week, as well as some prawns and salmon portions. I know that this sounds like a LOT of food for a tiny girl like me, but all this will probably last me a month or so. Paddy’s is not difficult to get to from where I live, but it is quite a bit of a trek and time consuming to go to every week to shop especially when there are a few other supermarkets close by. The reason why I go to Paddy’s at least once a month is because of their meat, seafood, and vegetables – cheaper and definitely fresher and of better quality than your local Coles or Woolies. I once got sick from meat that I got from Coles… That’s all I’m going to say.

Anyway, onto the recipe – this is a dish that my mom would always make for dinner, using a different fish of course and a different method of cooking. She usually cooks it over a charcoaled barbecue and I don’t know, there’s just something about it being cooked that way that made it so much more tastier. I obviously wasn’t going to start a barbecue for just one fish, plus, I don’t actually have a barbecue in the house (well I do but it runs on gas and I kind of blew it up towards the end of last year – don’t ask). So I stuck to steaming the fish today, but if you do want to give this a try, I highly recommend my mom’s way of cooking. Lip-smacking goodness I tell you!

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOKING TIME 20 MINS | SERVES 2

INGREDIENTS

1 whole snapper, gutted, scaled, and cleaned
1 thumb-sized ginger, sliced
1 stalk green onion, sliced, green and white parts separated
1/2 red onion, sliced
1/2 tomato, sliced
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns
1/4 tsp rock salt
1 red bird’s eye chilli, sliced

METHOD

Nestle the snapper on a large piece of foil and scatter the red and white parts of the onions, ginger, tomatoes, peppercorns, and salt. Drizzle the lemon juice, soy sauce and sesame oil over the fish.
Loosely seal the foil to make a package, making sure that there is enough space at the top for the steam to circulate while the fish cooks.
Steam for 20 minutes. If you don’t have a steamer, you can place the parcel on a heatproof plate, or a stainless steel wire steamer rack, over a pan of gently simmering water, cover with a lid and steam.
Garnish with the remaining green onions and chilli slices. Serve with steamed rice.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Chorizo & Leek Orecchiette

July 18, 2014December 30, 2018 amcarmen2 Comments

Hello Everyone! Here is another recipe from my ‘1000 Italian Recipes’ cookbook. I am actually surprised at the fact that most of the featured recipes in this cookbook require no more than 8 ingredients to create such a lip-smacking dish – which is a good thing because it means less preparation, easy, quick, and simple, and obviously less expenses. You know what they say, less is definitely more.

Orecchiette is basically a type of pasta shaped roughly like small ears, hence the name (orecchio, ear, OR orecchiette, little ears). They are slightly domed with their centres are thinner than their rims. This particular shape gives them an interestingly variable texture; soft in the middle and somewhat more chewy on the outside.

PREP TIME 5 MINS | COOKING TIME 10 MINS | SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS

2 cups orecchiette pasta (or other shaped pasta)
2 chorizo sausages, sliced
1 leek, sliced thinly
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp rosemary leaves, finely chopped
2 tbsp garlic-infused extra virgin olive oil
Fresh red chillies, optional
Shaved parmesan cheese

METHOD

Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water according to the packet instructions. Drain and set aside reserving about 2-3 tbsp of the cooking water.
Meanwhile, heat the oil over high heat in a medium-sized pan and fry the chorizo sausages until golden. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Sweat the garlic and onions without colouring. Then add the rosemary leaves and leeks. Reduce the heat and cook until soft, about 3-5 minutes.
Return the chorizo sausages to the pan and add the reserved cooking water. Turn the heat off and toss together with the pasta. Season with a touch of pepper and fresh chillies if desired, and shaved parmesan cheese.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Neapolitan Casareccia Salad

July 15, 2014December 30, 2018 amcarmen7 Comments

Hello Everyone! It’s been a whole week since I last uploaded, sorry for that! I haven’t been cooking anything new the past week – just things I’ve already covered in this blog, or quick, easy meals because I didn’t feel like cooking. I’ve also been eating out a bit, catching up with both old and new friends over the holidays, and also saying farewell to my other Dutch housemate Sam. It’s getting lonely in the kitchen now without you! No one to creep up on me (be it in the kitchen or bathroom) and unintentionally spook me, no one to fight with over for our favourite shower room, no one talk to while cooking, and no one to eat with. No one to share my desserts with! And most importantly, no one will ever understand me when I say, “you’ve never heard of Medina?!” Please come back! Please don’t leave!

Anyway, today I got back into my cooking and decided to pull out a recipe from a cookbook that I bought months ago. A little story first about this cookbook. It was a public holiday I think (it was that long ago that I cannot remember), that I decided to go to a place called Basement Books at Railway Square – well, it was more that I recommended my friends to go there after a trip to Dymocks. I told them that books were generally much cheaper there. So while they were looking at novels, I was of course looking through the cookbook section. I found this cookbook, ‘1000 Italian Recipes’ split into three categories, starters and sides, mains, and dessert. Publisher’s price was at $16.99, and Basement price was at $9.99. I thought, what a bargain! Then I saw the exact cookbook behind it on the shelf and it said $12.99. Confused, I asked the sales lady what the actual price was, and she told me she would check at the counter. “It’s actually $6.99!” she said, and once again I thought, what a greater bargain! 1000 recipes for only $6.99!

So, why is it that I’ve only come around to try out a recipe from this book? Well, I don’t exactly know why. I’ve gone through the book numerous times and even bookmarked my favourites. I guess the main reason why I haven’t cooked from it yet was that I was probably not feeling very inspired, even though the recipes were fairly simple. I used to cook pasta at least once a week since I started cooking. No-cream Bacon Carbonara was my go-to dish whenever I wanted something quick and simple, but even so, I’ve not made that dish for a while because it made me feel sick and nauseous after a while – and I’m not quite sure if it’s the raw egg in it or the heap load of cheese. Anyway, I should get onto the recipe and stop blabbering about!

First off, casareccia is basically pappardelle pasta, rolled vertically and twisted into half, and works well with chunky sauces. The original recipe is meat-free and doesn’t call for the addition of chilli flakes. But you can get creative and bulk it up with bacon, ham, salami, etc. I kept it vegetarian, until I realised I had a pack of Hungarian salami in the fridge. Next time!

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOKING TIME 1 HOUR | SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS

2 cups casareccia pasta (or other shaped pasta)
1 punnet (200g) cherry tomatoes, halved
75g black olives, pitted and chopped
3 tbsp baby capers, drained
2 tbsp garlic-infused extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp fresh basil leaves
Dash of dried chilli flakes
Shaved parmesan cheese

METHOD

In a small pan, heat up the olive oil. Once heated through, add to a large stainless steel bowl together with the tomatoes, olives, and capers, and chilli flakes. Toss and then set aside to macerate (to soften or become softened by soaking in a liquid). I like to leave it to macerate for at least 5 hours for the flavours to further soak into the olive oil, but 1 hour should do the trick.
Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water according to the packet instructions. Drain and add to the macerated vegetables, with the basil leaves. Toss to combine and add more oil and seasoning if necessary.
Garnish with basil leaves and shaved parmesan cheese. Serve warm.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Basic Scones

July 9, 2014December 30, 2018 amcarmen3 Comments

Hello Everyone! So from yesterday’s a post, I mentioned that I had a tea and scones party. I decided to hold one when I made strawberry jam a few days ago. I wanted to have some scones with them, but I didn’t want to eat everything for myself – and so I decided to share the love! It was an afternoon/night of fun and laughter, and meeting new people over homemade goodness. When I say meeting new people, I mean my friends from different places (uni, housemates, etc.) meeting my other friends, and becoming mutual friends.

I decided to go with very basic scones because I wanted the berry-flavoured jams and lemon curd to shine. The original recipe for these basic scones can be found at Taste. When baking them, the kitchen and hallway filled with amazing buttery aromas. You could tell that these were going to be really tasty; crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. I think we (my friend Jialing & I; we made two batches so she worked on one while I worked on the other) may have underestimated how high the scones would rise so some rose a bit too much and collapsed – but still tasty nonetheless. This recipe is for one batch, which should make about 16 scones (probably only 10-12 if you made them too big like we did :P)

PREP TIME 15 MINS | COOKING TIME 20-25 MINS | MAKES 16 SCONES

INGREDIENTS

3 cups self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
80g chilled unsalted butter, cubed
1 cup milk

Only 3 basic must-have pantry ingredients! How convenient!

METHOD

Preheat oven to 200C.
Sift the self-raising flour into a large bowl and add the cubed butter. Rub the butter into flour using your fingertips until the mixture resembles a breadcrumb texture.
Make a well in the centre and add the milk. Mix with a flat-bladed knife until the mixture forms a soft dough. If the mixture is a bit dry and crumbly, add more milk if required. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until smooth (don’t knead the dough too much though or your scones will be quite tough).
Pat the dough into a 2cm-thick round, and using a circular cutter (about a 5cm diameter, or to whatever size/shape you want), cut out rounds. Press the dough together and cut out the remaining rounds.
Place scones onto a tray lined with baking paper, 1cm apart from each other. Lightly sprinkle the tops with a little flour and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and well risen. Serve warm with cream, assorted jams, and lemon curd (for the cream, we just bought a tub of thickened cream and whisked it until it thickened to a spreadable consistency).

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Homemade Lemon Curd

July 8, 2014December 30, 2018 amcarmen4 Comments

Hello Everyone! Yesterday afternoon I made some deliciously yummy lemon curd for today’s tea and scones party (which I will write about and post the recipe to basic scones tomorrow).

I decided to make it to go with the scones because I saw photographs of lemon curd being used as a spread with scones. I never knew the combination of the two go well together. It was heaven – scone, lemon curd, and whipped cream (and I’m not talking about the canned whipped cream; I find it very artificial-tasting to be honest). I followed the recipe from Taste, but I must say, it took me more than 10 minutes to get it at the desired consistency. I don’t know if it’s because I was doing it wrong, or the timing is a bit off in the recipe – but nonetheless it tasted SO good.

PREP TIME 5 MINS | COOKING TIME 45 MINS | MAKES 2 JARS

INGREDIENTS

2 whole large free range eggs
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup caster sugar
80g unsalted butter, chilled
Zest and juice of 2 lemons

METHOD

Whisk the whole eggs, yolks and sugar in a saucepan until smooth. Then place the saucepan over low heat.
Add the butter, lemon juice, and zest and whisk continuously until thickened (original recipe says about 10 minutes, but I took at least 45 minutes to get it really thick and to the right consistency, or at least the consistency I wanted it to be at).
Pour into a sterilised jar, cover, and keep in the fridge (lemon curd keeps for up to 2 weeks).

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Leche Flan (Crème Caramel)

July 6, 2014December 30, 2018 amcarmen16 Comments

Hello Everybody! Today’s recipe is definitely one of my favourite desserts and hands-down a crowd pleaser. It is one of the most-made desserts this year, today being the 4th time and in 3 consecutive weeks in June. Each and everyone of my friends love it, crave it and always look for it whenever I’m around during house parties. I’m pretty sure I’ll be making a lot of people happy by posting this recipe today – hint: Pam, Rachel, and Francesco.

Leche Flan, or also known as Crème Caramel, is a rich and heavenly dessert (the way I make it of course), made up of egg yolks and milk with a soft caramel top. It is widely known throughout the world (especially in Europe) and has been in the dessert menu of most restaurants because of its convenience in preparation – and it really is that simple! In the Philippines, celebrations such as parties and town fiestas won’t be complete without it.

PREP TIME 5 MINS | COOKING TIME 25 MINS | MAKES 6 MINI FLANS

INGREDIENTS

6 egg yolks, at room temperature
1 can (395g) condensed milk, at room temperature
1 cup milk, at room temperature
6 tsp caster sugar
1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Yes, you only need 5 ingredients! And makes 6 small, round flans. Working with ingredients at room temperature is ideal as I found that when I made them with chilled ingredients, the egg yolks started to form and you’ll then find lumps of egg yolk in your flan.

METHOD

Add one teaspoon of sugar to each round metal mould. Caramelise the sugar by placing the mould on the stovetop. Mix thoroughly until the solid sugar turns into liquid (caramel) and turns light brown in colour. Be careful as the sugar can easily burn. Set aside to wait for the caramel to fully solidify and cool down.
In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and vanilla extract together. Then whisk in the condensed milk, and finally the milk until well combined. You may see tiny bits of egg yolk starting to form. If so, strain the mixture through a sieve into another bowl.
Pour the mixture equally into the moulds and cover the tops with foil (this is to prevent any water droplets from the steaming process dripping nto the mixture – trust me, I’ve done this once before and I got very watery flans).
Place in a steamer and steam for 15 minutes. Once done, turn the heat off and leave it in the steamer for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the steamer and set aside to cool down before placing them in the refrigerator for at least 4-5 hours before serving.
To plate up, run a butter knife around the edges of the flan, place a serving dish on top of the mould, invert, and enjoy!