Mexican Bread Pudding

Ingredients

Serves: 10 

500ml (2 cups) water

10 cinnamon sticks

330g (1½ cups) caster sugar

1 loaf sliced white bread

125g butter softened for spreading

150g (1 cup) sultanas

1 (440g) can pineapple pieces, drained

125g mild Cheddar cheese slices

125g (1 cup) chopped walnuts

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Directions

Prep:25min  ›  Cook:30min  ›  Ready in:55min 

1.      Preheat oven to 180 C and grease a large baking dish.

2.      Combine water, cinnamon and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to the boil and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Set aside.

3.      Toast bread and butter each slice on one side. Remove crusts if desired. Arrange toast in a single layer in the baking dish. Sprinkle bread with sultanas, nuts and pineapple pieces.

4.      Place some cheese slices over this mixture. Repeat layers until all bread is used, making sure enough cheese is left over for the top.

5.      Remove cinnamon sticks from the syrup then pour over everything in baking dish.

6.      Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for at least 15 minutes.

Smoked Salmon Scrambled Eggs

Ingredients

Serves: 2 
   2 slices bread
15 g butter
1 egg, beaten
15 ml milk freshly ground black pepper to taste
45 g flaked or chopped smoked salmon

Directions

Prep:2min  ›  Cook:3min  ›  Ready in:5min 

1.      Heat butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Beat together egg, milk, salt and pepper and pour into the saucepan. Stirring constantly, cook eggs until light and fluffy.Take them off the heat just before you think they are done because they will keep cooking. Remove from heat. Stir in salmon.

2.      Slice toast into triangles and place, with points in toward the middle, around a plate. Spoon scrambled eggs into the centre, sprinkle over chopped parsley and serve warm.

Mee Rebus

Ingredients

Serves: 8 

         600g yellow noodles

         300g sweet potatoes, boiled and mashed

         250g lean beef, sliced thinly

         3 cm cinnamon stick

         4 cloves

         3 star anise

         8 cups (2l) beef stock

         1/3 cup (75 ml) tamarind juice

         1 teaspoon ground fennel

         1/2 teaspoon tumeric powder

         1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

         Salt and sugar to taste

         Oil for cooking

       

           Spice Blend:

           8 shallots

      3 cloves garlic

      1 cm ginger

      1 cm galangal

      8 dried chilli peppers, soak in hot water discard seeds

      For the garnish :

      1 cucumber, peeled and cut into matchstick size

      250g beansprouts, tails remove tails and blanch in hot water

      150g fried shallots

      3 stalks spring onions, chopped

      3 red chillies, sliced

      3 hard boiled eggs, quartered

      8 small limau kasturi, halved

      Prawn crisps ( see recipe)

Directions

Prep:40min  ›  Cook:30min  ›  Ready in:1hr10min 

1.      Grind all the spice ingredients until fine. Heat a little oil in a pot and fry the spice blend until fragrant. Mix in the fennel, tumeric, black pepper, cinnamon stick, star anise, cloves and fry until the oil separates.

2.      Add the sliced beef and stir fry for 2 minutes. Pour in the beef stock, tamarind juice and mashed potatoes. Stir well and cook over low heat and bring to a boil. Season with salt and sugar to taste.

3.      Blanch the noodles in boiling water and drain. To serve, put noodles in bowl and ladle the soup over it. Garnish with each of the ingredients.

Mum’s Chilli Crab

Ingredients

Serves: 4 

        1kg fresh crab (cleaned) and halved, separate claws

         5 cm fresh ginger (cleaned and sliced)

         3 tbsp vegetable oil

         250ml water

         1 egg

         1 tsp salt

         1 tbsp sugar

         6 fresh red chillies (deseeded) 
         1 medium onion

·                                                                                                                     2 cloves garlic

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Directions

Prep:15min  ›  Cook:15min  ›  Ready in:30min 

1.      Puree the chillies, onion and garlic in a food processor - you may want to use gloves when de-seeding the chillies to avoid burning your hand - then put aside.

2.      Heat oil on high in a wok. Add ginger slices and stir for 10 secs. Add pureed mix and stir for 30 seconds or until oil rises above mixture. Next, add water and lower heat to medium. Add salt, sugar and mix well.

3.      Add crab pieces, stir to coat well and cover wok. Simmer for 10 mins. Switch off heat. Break egg into wok and stir around quickly to coat crab pieces.

4.      Serve with steamed rice.

Malay Spicy Tomato Chicken (Ayam Masak Merah)

Ingredients

Serves: 4 

·         1 (1 1/2 kg) whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces

·         1 teaspoon ground turmeric

·         1 pinch salt, to taste

·         1/4 cup dried red chillies

·         3 fresh red chilli, finely diced

·         4 cloves garlic, crushed

·         1 red onion, diced

·         1 (3cm thick) slice fresh ginger root

·         2 tablespoons sunflower seed oil

·         1 cinnamon stick

·         2 whole star anise pods

·         5 whole cloves

·         5 cardamom seeds

·         2 tomatoes, sliced

·         2 tablespoons tomato sauce

·         1 teaspoon white sugar, or to taste

·         1/2 cup (125ml) water

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Directions

Prep:20min  ›  Cook:35min  ›  Ready in:55min 

1.      Rub the chicken with turmeric powder and salt. Set aside.

2.      Soak the dried red chilli in hot water until softened. Blend the softened dried chilli, fresh red chilli, garlic, onion and ginger in a blender to a paste.

3.      Heat the oil in a large frypan over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken in the hot oil until golden on all sides. Remove the chicken from the frypan and set aside.

4.      Remove excess oil from the frypan leaving about 1 tablespoon. Cook and stir the chilli paste with the cinnamon, star anise, cloves and cardamom seeds until fragrant. Return the chicken to the frypan.

5.      Stir in the water adding more if needed. Toss in the tomatoes and stir in the tomato sauce and sugar. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the chicken is no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear; about 15 minutes. Serve hot.