Blueberry Yoghurt Cake

Baked this cake a day before for Fern's birthday. Recipe took from a magazine.

Ingredients:-
125g butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 and 1/4 cups self-raising flour
200g blueberry yoghurt
3/4 cup frozen blueberries, plus extra to serve
icing sugar and thick cream, to serve

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease and line the baking tin with baking paper.
2. Use an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy.
3. Add egg one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Sift flour over batter. 
5. Add yoghurt + blueberries. Using a large metal spoon gently stir until well combined.
6. Spoon into prepared tin and bake for 40-45 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.
7. Stand for 5 mins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.
8. Transfer to a serving plate. Dust with icing sugar.
9. Serve with cream and remaining blueberries. 

Apple & Cinnamon Tea Cake

Guest post by Fernie. I baked this "Apple & Cinnamon Tea Cake" yesterday morning. This cake is very easy to bake and is extremely yummy. I decided to bake this cake after I bought a kilo of green apple.

Ingredient:

185g (6.5oz) butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
2/3 cup caster sugar 
3 eggs 
1.5 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk

Topping:
4 small green apples, peeled, halved and cored
1 teaspoon sugar 
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup apricot jam, warmed

1. Preheat the oven to 140°C . Place the butter, cinnamon and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy.

2. Gradually add the eggs and beat well. Sift the flour and baking powder over the butter mixture, add the milk and stir until combined. Line the base of a 22cm (8.5 inch) springform tin with non-stick baking paper and spoon in the mixture.

3. To make the topping, cut a row of deep slits in each apple half and arrange over the top of the cake mixture. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the apples.

4. Bake for 50 minutes. Brush the cake with warm apricot jam and return to the oven for 10 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

Banana Muffins

Guest post by Fernie; I have two leftovers organic bananas that turned very ripe that I need to get rid off. So I wanted to bake something with the ripe bananas. Found a very simple recipe in my recent purchased baking cookbook. This recipe makes around 18 muffins. I have given 3 muffins to a friend who is visiting and the rest is our breakfast and tea for the next week. 


Ingredient:
250g self raising flour
75g oat bran
185g caster sugar
60g unsalted butter, melted
170ml milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Instructions:
1) Preheat Oven to 210 Celsius
2) Lightly grease a 12-hole muffin tin.
3) Sift the flour into large bowl and add oat bran and sugar. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients
4) Combine the butter, milk, eggs and banana in a separate mixing bowl and add to the flour mixture all at once. 
    Use a wooden spoon, stir until just mixed. (Do not overbeat as the batter should remain lumpy.)
5) Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin holes. Bake for 15 mins, until puffed and golden brown. 
6) Transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool.

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:
200g margarine
2 eggs
1/2 cups brown sugar
2 carrots
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup reduced fat milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 cups self raising flour


Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees cel
In amixing bowl, cream sugar and margarine together
Add one egg at a time and stir unil combined
Grate carrots, stir into mixture with cinnamon and vanilla essense
Gradually add milk and flour until combined
Pour into a lined rectangular cake dish
Cook approximately 35 until cooked through and browned on top

Cherry Vanilla Cupcake

This month we started a challenge, to see if we can acheive by not eating out for at least a month. Actually we already only eat out once a week, which compares to many others is already a record. But we wanted to start saving for our ski trip in September and also our Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong "food journey" in October. Therefore we really want to challenge ourselves to see if we can do this. Ever since we moved to Melbourne and started doing cooking and baking ourselves, we came to realised a lot of "delicacies" we can actually do it on our own (and very very much cheaper actually). And also we do this to eat more healthy and reduce our meaty diet. 

So, last weekend we started baking Cherry Vanilla cupcakes for our one week supply of breakfast and tea break. And needless to say the ingredients don't cost you more than $2 for 12 cupcakes. In Melbourne, you are expected to pay at least $3.50 for one cupcake. So why not start making your own.

Ingredients:

1) 1 cup of self raising flour
2) 1/2 cup of shifted caster sugar
3) 60 grams of butter
4) 2 eggs
5) 1/4 cup of milk (60 ml)
6) 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Instructions:
1) Preheat oven from 160c to 180c
2) Beat all ingredients together using an electric mixer for 2 mins
3) Spoon the mix to a muffin tin/cupcake paper cups
4) Bake for 10-15 mins

Finally enjoy one for tea.

Thai Spicy Minced Pork

We loved Thai food and just can't get enough of it. We still kind of miss the streetside stalls' food in Bangkok. So much of their character and so much of their flavours. I found this recipe on Taste.com.au, and anyone who likes spicy and sour dish can give it a try. It is really refreshing and appetizing.

Ingredients:
1) 1 brown onion
2) 2 garlic cloves
3) 2 small fresh red chillies
4) 1 small ripe tomato
5) 1/2 tablespoon of shrimp paste (optional)
6) 2 tablespoon sesame oil
7) 500g lean pork mince
8) 1 tablespoon fish sauce
9) 1 lemon or lime juice
10) 1 tablespoon soft brown sugar or palm sugar
11) 2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh coriander
12) 3 green shallots, finely chopped
13) 6 iceberg lettuce leaves, washed or steamed Jasmine rice, to serve

Place the onion, garlic, chillies, tomato and shrimp paste in a food processor or blender and process until just roughly chopped.

Heat sesame oil in a large frying pan over high heat, add the onion mixture and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the pork mince and cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring often, until mince is cooked and aromatic.

Stir in fish sauce, lime or lemon juice and sugar and mix. Add coriander and shallots just before serving. Serve in lettuce leaves as an entree or with rice as a main course.

Kylie Kwong's Fried Rice Recipe

Yes, Fried rice ... We had some left over cooked rice in the fridge and thought maybe we should do some fried rice with it. Found this Kylie Kwong's fried rice recipe on the internet and thought maybe I should just give this one a shot. 

Ingredients:

1) 1/3 Cup Peanut Oil

2) 4 large free range eggs, beaten

3) 1 tablespoon Peanut Oil 

4) 1 and 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger

5) 4 garlic cloves, diced

6) 1 medium-sized brown onion, finely diced

7) 1/2 cup roughly chopped Chinese sausage (I added some 1/2 cup cut shrimps as well)

8) 1 teaspoon white sugar

9) 2 tablespoons Shao Hsing wine

10) 5 cups cooked medium-grain white rice

11) 1 tablespoon oyster sauce

12) 1 cup finely sliced spring onions (scallions)

13) 3 teaspoons Maggi seasoning, I substitute with Dark Soy Sauce instead

14) 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

15) 2 spring onions (scallions), finely sliced on the diagonal

First we will work on the eggs. Heat up some oil, and pour beaten eggs into wok and cook for about 1 minute, lightly scrambling them. Set aside when cooked.

Clean wok, add in 1 tablespoon of peanut oil, and add in ginger and garlic to stir fried for 1 minute or until fragrance. Add in onion and fried for another 2 minutes or until brown and tender. Now add in chinese sausage and cut shrimps and fry for another 1 minute. Stir in sugar and wine, then stir-fry for 30 seconds.

Finally, add rice, set aside eggs, oyster sauce, spring onions, Maggi seasoning (dark soy sauce for me) and sesame oil. Stir-fry for 3 minutes, or until rice is heated through.

Divide rice between individual bowls and garnish with extra spring onions. 

Now you can enjoy great home cook fried rice. All Thanks to Kylie's recipe.

Lemon Sour Cream Cake

I always like to make desserts with the lemon theme in it. So happen to saw this Lemon Sour Cream cake recipe on the internet, and though of giving it a try over the weekend. This cake is actually pretty refreshing to taste and you can add some fruits on top for garnish. I actually added the lemons which I used to extract the zest plus some oranges (add in some sweetness for the cake) I bought from Queen Victoria market. Some strawberries to go with is a good match too.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1) 250g of butter

2) 2 tablespoons of lemon zest

3) 2 cups (440g) of caster sugar

4) 6 eggs

5) 2 cups (300g) of plain flour

6) 1/4 cup (35g) of self-raising flour

7) 3/4 cup (180g) sour cream (at room temperature)

8) icing sugar for serving 

9) fruits like lemon, orange or strawberries for serving

Preheat oven to 160°C (140°C fan-forced). Grease a deep 25cm-round cake pan and line base with baking paper.

Beat the butter, lemon zest and caster sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in half of sifted flour and half of sour cream. Beat in eggs one at a time (maybe 3 eggs for now) . Stir in the remainder half of sifted flour and sour cream, followed by remaining 3 eggs. Keep mixing the mixture until they become creamy.

Then pour mixture into the pan and bake for 90 minutes (depending on how hot is your oven, my took slightly more than 90 minutes). Test the cake with a skewer to make sure it is cook inside. After removing it from the oven, let the cake stand for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan, and let it cool down further before you start garnishing it with fruits and sprinkle with icing sugar. Put cake in fridge for it to rest before you start to serve.

Finally get down to enjoying it ... Here's a slice for you ... What a great moment to enjoy this cake with a cup of tea or espresso on a lazy afternoon.

Prawn Stock Recipe

Finally, I am going to cook my prawn noodles soup tonight. Previously, I freezed one batch of discarded prawn heads and shells just for today - to make my lovely prawn stock.

Ingredients:

1) 1 kg of discarded prawn heads and shells

2) 3-4 Cloves of garlic, chopped

3) 1 Onion, chopped

4) Ginger 2-3 slices

5) Salt and White pepper to taste

6) 2-3 tablespoons of fish sauce

7) 2 tablespoons Oil 

8) Water 4 cups

9) Chinese Wine 1-2 tablespoons

Heat up oil in a pot and pour in garlic and onion to fried till fragrance. Pour in prawn heads and shells. Fry until slightly brown and fragrant. make sure to bash on the heads with a wooden turner to release all the flavours.  Then splash in chinese wine. Pour in water and bring it to boil. Season with fish sauce, sugar (if need be to balance), salt and white pepper. 

Simmer for 2 hours until the flavour deepens. Strain off ingredients and keep stock for cooking or storage. I intend to use my stock for my prawn noodle soup.

Coconut Tart Recipe

I was looking at my fridge and saw I still have some shredded coconut lying around and some left over dough (which I made for my lemon curd tart) in the freezer. So I was thinking I should make something with these ingredients. Coconut Tart comes straight into my mind. I always buy some of these back from Footscray or Richmond, from my usual vietnamese bakeries. So why not I make some of my own.

Pastry:
For the pastry, you can refer to my recipe from Lemon Curd Tart. If you make more dough then you need, you can freeze them. They can last for up to 2 months.

Coconut fillings:
1) 200g of grated coconut
2) 50-60g of melted butter
3) 50-60g caster sugar
4) 1 large egg
5) 3 tablespoon of condensed milk
6) 3 tablespoon water
7) 1 pack of Cherries
8) Small tart tray (my is 11cm in diameter, so I can actually make 5 of these tarts)

In a bowl (I actually mix the ingredient in a warm pot), mix all the ingredients together. Taste them and adjust sugar, butter and milk to you taste liking. When you are happy with it's taste, you may set them aside.

Now we need to work on the pastry. Because I am using a larger tart tray (my is 11cm in diameter), I can actually make 5 tarts from the following ingredients proportions. Lightly grease the tart tray with butter, then press pastry evenly into it. Trim edges to remove excess dough. Fill tarts with coconut fillings to about 90% and a cherry for garnish.

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Put tarts into oven to bake for about 15 mins or until pastry is cooked.

Leave tart in tray to cool before taking them out. That's it, you can then start to enjoy your tart.

Bad Habit Cafe, Daylesford

I should now go back to where I left it a month ago. Daylesford. Want to write about this place we had our lunch. Bad Habits Cafe is located right inside The Convent Gallery, which is just a short drive from the Sunday market.

The cafe is just next to the art gallery and you can see they deco the place with small red umbrellas along the walkway.

Pretty nice and cosy place, and we managed to get this quiet corner for our sittings. I was captivated by the pastel coloured wall and how well the seats and table blend in, creating a mood for this picture.

It was too late to order brekkie, and therefore we jumped right into their lunch menu. I ordered Steak sandwich with their local made sourdough and Peppered beef fillet pie with Tomato Relish, Chat Potatoes and Garden Salad for my wife.

The steak sandwich was average to me. But the sourdough is certainly good.

But this fillet pie is definitely good. We rate it 9 out of 10. So if you have a chance to go to Daylesford, you must give it a try. Overall the food is not bad and the dining experience is good.

Here's their food menu:

http://www.theconvent.com.au/files/pdf/Bad_Habits_Menu_June2010.pdf

Bad Habits Cafe

Cnr. Hill & Daly St, Daylesford

Ph: +61 3 5348 3211

Fax: +61 3 5348 3339

Email: info@theconvent.com.au

Lemon Curd Tart

It's been awhile since I last posted something. Was really busy the last couple of weeks. Today I just want to post this recipe which I tried last weekend, incase I lost it. It is my favourite desert, Lemon Curd Tart.

I will divide this recipe into 2 parts. 

First Part: Making of the Tart Crust (for a 9 inch tart crust).

Here's the required ingredients:

1) 1 and half cup of all-purpose flour.

2) Half cup of caster sugar. I saw some recipes uses brown sugar as well.

3) 1/4 teaspoon salt.

4) 9 tablespoons or 4 and half ounces very cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces.

5) 1 large egg.

Now pulse the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl (food processor will be best). Drop in small pieces of butter into the mix. The butter will be coarsely cut via this process. Stir in the egg, little at a time until all butter is in the mix. Bring the formed dough out to a work bench and very lightly and sparingly, knead it just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped. Chill the dough, wrapped in plastic, for about 2 hours (I was lazy, I only chill it for an hour) before rolling. You can choose to put them in freezer (10-15 mins).

While the dough is being chill, you can actually start working on the Lemon Curd mix. 

Second Part: Lemon Curd Mix.

Ingredients required:

1) 3 large eggs.

2) 1/3 cup lemon juice (2-3 lemons).

3) 3/4 cup sugar.

4) 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into small pieces.

5) 1 tablespoon lemon zest. You can put more if you like, I definitely put more than 1 tablespoon, cause I love lemons.

In a stainless steel bowl placed over a pot of simmering water, whisk eggs, lemon juice and sugar. Cook, constantly stirring, until mixture becomes thick (8-10 mins). Then bring the mixture out from heat and slowly mix the butter. Finally the lemon zest. Allow mixture to cool.

Now the dough should be ready to roll. Oil the 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom using butter. Now roll the dough to 1/2 cm thickness, add flour if needed. Then fit the dough to tart pan, patch up any cracks. You may then freeze the completed dough in freezer for 15-20 mins for it to retain its shape. 

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius. Then baked the tart for 12-15 min, when it is slightly brown you are ready for lemon curb mixture. (You may need a tin to weight down the tart base during baking, incase it gets bloated). Now set the oven temperature to 160 degrees celsius, pour in the lemon curd mixture and allow it to baked for another 8-15 mins.

Now bring out the tart, allow it to cool to room temperature (if not tart will crack) before putting it into the fridge. Best is to leave over night in fridge. Sprinkle some icing sugar when serving. I can't find my, so I use caster sugar instead. But what's really important is the lemon, so who cares about the sugar.

Now you can have Lemon Curd tart for desert. And for me, no more spending money outside to eat them.

Daylesford, Victoria

We head to Daylesford over the weekend, it was a 1.5 hrs drive from Melbourne, and we are lucky to have a sunny and cool weather on that day. I will be writing more on Daylesford over the next posts. We made our first stop at Daylesford Sunday market. Btw, there's also heritage train ride on weekend at the market as well.

It is a huge outdoor market and what really caught our attention is the row of big yellow leaves trees. And stall owners just camp their stalls right below these giant trees. You need to be careful if it is on a wet day, as there will be no shelter to hide, so bring along rain coat or umbrella.

Lots of stalls selling fresh vegetables, food and produce. (And also lots of stalls selling junks too). The vegetables certainly look very fresh and surely is good enough to be use to whip out some great dishes.

We bought some handmade soaps from one stall, but you can get a better deal if you walk further into the market. There's two other stalls selling soap as well. And the best deal probably you can get is 3 for $5.50 or 1 for $2.

Honey freeks can go to O'Tooles honey stall, they say is probably the best honey you can find in the state.

Anyone for a coffee or tea?

Daylesford is also famous for their local freshly made sourdough. This stall here, we saw long queues of people lining up for it. We didn't try it, but I managed to taste local sourdough at a cafe for lunch (more on that on my next post).

Have you heard about lime butter? It is definitely new to me.

Next we head off for lunch at The Convent Gallery. More about that tomorrow ...

Daylesford Sunday Market

Midland Highway,  Daylesford Victoria 3460 Australia

Ph: 03 5348 3503

Buddha's Day Event at Fed Square

On 15th and 16th May 2010, we celebrated Buddha's Day at Federation Square, Melbourne. We actually volunteered ourselves to help up in one of the information booth. Although at the end of the day, we also ended up selling cyclamen flowers for our temple. But we had a terrific time, and felt really good that we can actually play a part in this meaningful event.

Buddha's Day and Multicultural Festival incorporates the traditions of Buddhist ceremonies and celebrations including the "Bathing of the Buddha", daily Dharma ceremonies, the Wishing Bell and traditional incense offerings, a vegetarian culinary tour of Asia alongside the Yarra on the River Terrace, cultural demonstrations and insights, music, art and craft and community service groups.

Extract from http://www.buddhaday.org.au/

While taking a break from my duties, I decided to walk around taking some shots via my mobile phone's camera (forgot to bring my camera). Here I saw lines of queues of people wanting to bath the Buddha. I decided to take some shots and also close ups.

Close up on Buddha statue. Unfortunately we didn't take part in the queue. 

Got caught up by the look of the vibrant colours, and managed to capture some rays of sunlight shinning down onto the Buddha statue. There's plenty of vegetarian cuisine food stalls down at side of Yarra river but we didn't take any snaps of it. Did try out some of the food ... Not too bad.

We have various activities and talks in the BMW auditorium hall as well. But I only managed to sit in for this CH'AN tea ceremony. We were taught on meditation and teacher also shared some Buddhism teachings on living life. One teaching I find it really useful is telling people not to spend too much time and energy worrying on things that didn't happen and start living and enjoying the present. At the end of the ceremony we tasted some tea (although I am more of coffee drinker). The tea leaves actually comes from Taiwan Alishan mountain. 

Lastly we have Lion dance performed by our temple volunteers as well. Overall it was really an enjoyable day. Sometimes we think to ourselves, we are blessed to be able to volunteer ourselves for such meaningful event and to enjoy every moment of it. 

My Grilled Crab

Today I liked to write a post on my grilled crab recipe which I have made some time back.

Here's the ingredients we will need:
- 2 large crabs
- 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons of good olive oil
- 1 tablespoon of minced ginger
- some bruised red chilli without seeds
- 1 tablespoon of finely chopped coriander
- 1-2 chopped tomato

To prepare the crabs, bring to boil a large pot of water. Put the crabs, one at a time, head first into the boliling water. Let it boil and then simmer it for 5 minutes. Remove crabs from the water. To clean the crabs, pull of triangular tab from belly. Lift off the shell. Clean entrails and gills from crab, wash then drain.

Next we make our special sauce mix. Mix and stir white wine vinegar, olive oil, ginger, chilli, coraindar and tomato into a bowl.

Place the crabs on a preheated grill. Cooked with the lid closed, brushing them with our sauce mix occasionally. Turn the crabs over after 5 mins and apply mix. Leave it in the grill for another 5mins. Crabs are done when the meat in the leg is opaque.

Place on serving dish and spoon remaining mixture over crabs. You may grill some sweet corns to go along with this dish. And of course some wine to go along.

Lake Elizabeth, Otways, Great Ocean Road

We done this trip back in April 2009 during our tour to Great Ocean Road (GOR). We signed up for a Platypus canoe tour at Lake Elizabeth and need to be at the town of Forrest by 5.30am.

Lake Elizabeth, hidden deep in the Otways near the township of Forrest, is an inspiring sight with heavily timbered flanks and calm waters punctuated by the trunks of dead trees, drowned when the valley was flooded.

The lake was created more than 50 years ago when record rainfall sent thousands of tonnes of rock and earth tumbling into the East Barwon River, damming the river and forming a lake in a remote forested valley.

We started our drive at 4.30am from Apollo Bay, and it took us an hour before we reach our meeting place. The drive can be a little challenging as the roads are dark and winding. We are supposed to meet our guide at the front of a small general merchandise store in small town of Forrest.

From Forrest we drove another 10-15mins before starting our walk (around 30 mins) to the lake through Otways forest, with its towering trees and dense fern glades. By the time we got to the lake, the sun is about to rise and the scene of the lake was really captivating (with all the fogs and dead tree trunks). I was lucky to be able to capture the peaceful mood with this shot. Lighting was low and therefore holding the camera firmly was really required.

We prepared our canoe and set off ... Catching glimpse of platypus coming out of their bed for food. We even had breakfast on our canoe and enjoying this untouched nature site.

The whole tour lasted 3-4hrs. The platypus photos are provided by Bruce, our tour guide. Good on you Bruce! We highly recommend you do this tour in your next visit to GOR.


Otway Eco Tours
10 Blundy St Forrest VIC 3236 
Ph: 03 5236 6345 
bruce.jackson@aapt.net.au
http://platypustours.net.au