Home made dim sum

Steamed lemon chicken and spring onion coriander wontons:

Season chicken with , salt, curry paste and ginger. Add a pinch of Tumeric for color. Cook chicken and set aside to cool. Crumble chicken and add chopped spring onions, coriander and squeezed lemon juice. 

Place filling in centre of wonton wrapper and then wet two adjacent sides with water. Fold into a triangle and the fold over two corners to one. 

Steam wontons in a bamboo basket until wrappers are translucent. 

Serve with different dips- soya sauce mixed with fish sauce, sweet chilli sauce or plain chilli sauce

Barbecue chicken Spud

Next time you throw some chicken on  the braai, bake some potatoes too. Shred chicken once cooked. Assemble spuds by adding mayonnaise, grated cheese, tomato onion salsa, chilli sauce , chicken and more mayonnaise. 

Salmon salad

Spicy salmon, avo and sesame seed salad

Happy 30th to hubby

Exactly the same as my henna cake except the middle frosting is fresh cream caramel treat and peppermint crisp 

Funghi Bianco

Melt two table spoons butter in a wok

Add two teaspoons crushed garlic (less if you prefer)

Add 1 tablespoon cake flour

Ensure its not too dry. If it is add a bit more butter. Should make a paste.

Cook until it just starts to brown

Add about two cups coarsely chopped mushrooms and coat in flour mixture 

Add seasoning, salt, black pepper, origanum, crushed chillies and Italian herb mix. Continue  stirring on high heat for another  3- 5 minutes and but avoid mushrooms burning.

Add half a cup of fresh cream and about a cup of low fat milk. You can add more milk if you prefer more sauce.

Bring sauce to the boil and keep stirring. 

Add al dente cooked pasta ... Linguine works well. Coat in sauce and dimmer for about 3 minutes. 

Add fresh coriander or parsley. Serve with slices of Parmesan cheese. 

Quick Sunday dinner - pizza bread

Recipe courtesy of our brother in law...

Toast bread in a pop up toaster 

Mix some chilli and garlic in a ready made tomato salsa and spread on the bread. We used Woolies spicy tomato salsa.

Add your choice of toppings like satueed mushrooms, chicken, peppers, onions etc 

Top with grated cheese and a good sprinkle of origanum. 

Grill in oven until cheese melted.

Everyone's favourite snack... Paaturi

Batter made with

1 cup Inkomazi

1 cup Chana/chickpea flour

1 and half cup water

Green chillies

1/2 tsp Tumeric

1/2 tsp salt 

1 Tsp Sugar

Dash of lemon juice to taste

Steam batter until cooked. See below for pictures on how to roll 

Sprinkle coconut before rolling into mini Swiss rolls

Topping: heat two tablespoons oil, add mustard seeds and sesame seeds. Wait until they pop and pour over Paaturi rolls. 

Garnish with coriander 

Peppermint crisp Ganache with mendhi design

Saturday project ... Inspired by all the mendhi designs and peppermint crisp phase, I combined all to come up with the below . 

Using different components I researched  - I can say this is my own creation.

It's a 2 layered chocolate cake. 3 types of frosting. 

1.Sandwiching frosting is a peppermint crisp icing ( icing sugar butter beaten fresh cream and crushed peppermint crisp).

 2.Top glaze is a dark chocolate ganache (fresh cream and dark chocolate with a few spoons of kalua liqueur). 

3.Mendhi design icing is a basic icing colored with gel food color. Putting my school day henna classes to good use. 

Such a fun day creating this delicious art piece :)

My version of Kingklip Thermidor- my own "invention test"

Tuesday nights are MasterchefSA nights so there is always inspiration to come up with something new. Fishmonger has a similar dish which also triggered this "invention". The dish I made was a cheese crusted baked Kingklip in garlic and dill sauce with a potato bake base. Baked deliciousness served with roasted carrots butternut tomatoes and onions.

Breakfast after Gym on Mandela Day

Salad & Eggs on honey and oats toast 

Crab Curry Friday

Home made dipping sauces!!

Peanut hoisin sauce- mix hoisin sauce with smooth peanut butter and some chilli flakes

Sweet sour chilli sauce- boil water, lime juice, crushed garlic, sugar, chilli and a dash of soya sauce for about 5 min. Cool. Strain and serve

Delicious as a combo with spring rolls 

Melanzane

Quick comfort food dinner. Usually notorious for being oily, my trick is to brown aubergines in a little oil and rather have it cook in sauce while baking.

Used chopped italian tomatoes for a richer flavour and breadcrumbs for a crispy topping

Dad's 75th

This weekend we surprised my Dad with a visit for his 75th birthday. It's also my nephew's birthday so a double celebration on this special day. I have always wanted an occasion to bake the rainbow cake I have been admiring for months. What better occasion than Paps' birthday( also it helps having Moms helping hand and her big kitchen and oven) 

Day one, made one 5 layered cake and also a 3 layered multi colored sponge as a backup because I kind of misread the method on the 5 layered cake. The rainbow cake had butter cream icing and the 3 layer had a Nutella cream filling 

The rainbow cake was a hit for both young and old. Definitely loving my Gel colors 

Trial and error

I have been itching to try out gel food coloring in cakes. Finally bought some last week and now it's time to experiment. First try are some cupcakes. They aren't the best but I have the hang of it. Watch this space, something great is brewing :) 

What's for Sunday night dinner?

We went away this weekend and the food was shocking! I think we spoilt at home :) All we needed was a good home cooked meal to complete this weekend. Dinner today spicy crab soup with home made chilli garlic focaccia... 

What's for dinner? Chilli crusted salmon...

Chilli, black pepper and parsley crusted salmon. Avo and sesame seed salad. Baked potato. 

Inspired by seared salmon sushi. The combination of salmon, cucumber, Avo, sesame seed & soya works well. Definitely one to try again as it was super quick to make 

Strawberries in season

Quickest, easiest dessert

 

Lindt chilli dark chocolate covered strawberries.

How to make them:

Wash and dry strawberries

Melt chocolate pieces in the microwave for 30s, stir chocolate

then another 30 s

stir again until melted. Heat again if not all

melted.

Coat strawberries in the chocolate, place on grease

proof paper on a tray - set in fridge

 

Inspired by Vietnam

After travelling to Vietnam in February this year, I was inspired by the fresh flavours of Vietnam. My favourite starter has to be the crystal spring roll. I finally tried this for a dinner we hosted on Friday night. They were fun to make and came out pretty OK if I say so myself :)

 

Filling: Sautéed prawns, fresh basil mint coriander & lettuce, rice vermicelli

 

Dipping sauces:  home made sweet and sour chilli sauce and a peanut flavoured hoisin.

 

 

Father's Day breakfast

My first post, a team challenge with hubby.... Breakfast for the fam on father's day

Eggs Benedict served on a toasted English muffin with roasted tomatoes, black pepper mushrooms, crispy chilli mutton slices... 

Biggest challenge, pulling it together in a foreign kitchen!

About me...

Foodie in the making

Having Fun in the kitchen

Teaming up with hubby to make scrumptious, artistic meals

Whats for dinner?

Love entertaining

Getting those creative juices flowing

Any challenge accepted...