Chinese New Year in Box Hill and a recipe for carrot salad

I have had a great food week cooking, being cooked for and going out.  Plus, I am enjoying fresh fruit and vegetables, receiving both from gardening friends, and from sampling the huge range available in the markets at the moment.

 

 I have cooked salmon coated in Japanese breadcrumbs with stir fried vegetables and rice,

 

 

 and sand crab and salad

 

 

as home meals.

 

I also had friends for dinner and we had barbecued Jamaican style, jerk chicken and JapaneseTeryaki style chicken

 

 

cornmeal bread

 

 

rice noodle salad

 

 

and Russian/Korean style ( nobody seems to know the origins of this dish) carrot salad, my new favourite salad.

 

 

I was asked to give the recipe in this blog, so here it is:

 

"Russian"/ "Korean" Carrot salad

 

Ingredients:

 

7 carrots

4 finally chopped cloves of garlic

5 sliced spring onions

3 tablespoons freshly crushed coriander seeds

4 tablespoons canola oil

3 tablespoons white vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon honey

 

Method:

 

MIx all ingredients together with your hands.  Adjust seasonings to taste.  Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate ( for a few hours if possible) until ready to serve.

  

I was introduced to a very popular , but unpretentious, Japanese restaurant ( which was actually run by Japanese!) in a little arcade in Burwood.  It is called  Kenji (shop 9-10 Toorak rd).   I enjoyed my seafood bento box and miso soup.  A good find.

 

 

We were also invited to join my daughter and her family celebrating Chinese New Year on a very hot evening in Box Hill.  Lots of businesses were advertising, so the kids gor free balloons and lollipops.  I preferred people watching and enjoying the decorations. 

 

 

 

 

 

But, I was  really interested in the huge range of food on offer- satays, noodles, stir fried tofu, fried prawns, dried pork sheets, octopus balls, were just some of them.

 

 

 

We tried the okonomiyaki, the popcorn chicken, grilled squid tentacles,  Movenpick icecream, and grilled meats on skewers,

 as well as freshly squeezed sugarcane juice

 fresh coconut juice

  

 

 Korean potato sticks

 

and deep fried crab and squid tentacles

 Then, I forced myself to pop into Dessert Story and try their  concoction of shaved ice, green tea icecream, condensed milk, chocolate and red beans.  Yummy- and I did share.

 Bob had the green tea icecream.  He has much more self control.

A great week of trying new things.

 

 

 

 

Afternoon tea.

 

I have been cooking for visitors, lately - chicken salad, banana cake, cupcakes, patties, pomelo salad and more - and preparing treats for the children in the hot weather - frozen white grapes and frozen quartered oranges.  However, I had the most fun preparing an afternoon tea party to celebrate my grand-daughter's birthday, using my collection of blue and white crockery.

 

I made berry syrup muffins:

 

raspberry muffins

cupcakes with royal icing:

cheesy puff-pastry rounds

sausage rolls:

the chocolate birthday cake:

chocolate dipped strawberries:

and berry and yoghurt icy poles ( yes, I bought the moulds).

 

 

We all ate far too much, laughed a lot, watched the children go crazy with excitement.  A lovely day.

 

Raspberry muffins

 

Ingredients:

 

1 3/4 cups self-raising flour

3 tablespoons caster sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 slightly beaten egg

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup melted butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

i cup raspberries (frozen  and slightly unthawed OR fresh)

 

Methods:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

Brush oil to bottom only of muffin tins (unoiled sides help them to rise and form rounded tops better)

Place flour sugar  and baking powder in a bowl.

In another bowl, mix egg, milk, essence and butter.

Add liquids to dried ingredients and stir gently with fork until mixture is moist but still lumpy. fold in raspberries.

Scoop batter and theree quarter fill muffin cups.

Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

loosen muffins and place on rack to cool slightly.  Better served warm, but can be frozen.

 

Starting growing my own fruit and vegetables and a recipe for raspberry ices.

My 2014 vision is to attack the back garden and bring it into some sort of order, while expanding the old, overgrown vegetable garden and developing my culinary herb collection and compost heap.  I am starting out small with herbs on the back door step, and have popped in some celery and zucchini that a friend gave me, as well as some garlic, in the existing flower bed, but am hoping that it won't be long before we are eating our own herbs, vegetables and fruit.  My nearest and dearest is making me a new, super dooper chicken coop and fencing off part of the garden to create a dog-proof and fox proof run.  Then, I can traipse off with the grandkids to buy some new chickens so I can have fresh eggs.  My only concern with my plan is the over-enthusiasm of the local possums.  Because we are one of the few gardens in the area that isn't super groomed and which has lots of fruit trees and roses, they focus on it.  Unfortunately, they are not good at sharing and are quite capable of killing a tree with their attentions.  They have already killed an almond tree and a plum tree and seem set on killing my apple trees.  I think careful pruning away from fences, some netting, and a nesting box for the local owls is in order if I am going to get a share in my fruit and vegetable growing.

You can still make good meals with shop bought ingredients, but after you have grown your own, you really notice the difference in freshness and flavour.  My growing collection of herbs and lettuces on the back stairs reflect my liking for fresh, unsprayed herbs, and my determination to get as self-sufficient as I can, as quickly as possible:

 
In the meantime, I am making do with supermarket fare and , more excitingly, goods from the Box Hill market.  Check out these cute apples:

I have been cooking a lot of old favourites, but have begun experimenting a lot too.  My daughter made some brilliant strawberry cream icy-poles using the recipes from this month's Feast magazine.  I got so excited, I had to make them too, but I didn't have any of the ingredients.  This is my version of icy poles done in patty pan holders and a cake tin because I didn't have icy pole moulds.   Next time, I will add a bit more yoghurt and I will buy some moulds -  but they tasted brilliant!  Very refreshing on the 35 degree day we were experiencing.

 

 

Raspberry and yoghurt ices

Ingredients:

750 grammes fresh or frozen raspberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup Greek youghurt (I will use a cup in future)

Method:

Process berries and sugar until roughly chopped.
Transfer to a samll saucepan and bring to a boil. cook a few minutes until thickened.
Stir in  lemon juice and leave to cool completely.
Put a layer of the berry mixture in the mould, then the yoghurt, then another layer of the berry mixture.  Swirl together.
Freeze.

Tis the season to eat, and eat and eat! 3 recipes for you.

Like many of you, at this time of year, I seem to do a lot of cooking and eating.  Because in Australia the 25 August signals the end of the school and working year, the beginning of the summer holidays and Christmas Day, the weeks beforehand are full of shopping, cooking, catching up with friends and family, eating out and at the homes of others, having friends and family to stay, drinking and stress!

This year, because of the move and because I managed to develop a doozy of a chest cold, I added a stressor but removed some of my usual activities.  Normally, I would use fruit soaking in alcohol to make fruit cake and chocolate balls.  I would make shortbread biscuits, panaforte, nougat,  white Christmas, mince pies, almond biscuits and lots of other goodies for gifts and to offer visitors.  This year, I only managed cathedral cake and rocky road.

Rocky Road

Ingredients:
100 g macadamia nuts
200 g marshmallows
1/2 cup cherries
600g chocolate

Method:
Line a cake tin with baking paper.
Mix the first 3 ingredients together.
Melt chocolate in microwave, then pour on other ingredients and stir together.
Pour into lined cake tin and smooth.
Put in cake tin infridge to set while you lick out the mixing bowl.

When cool, cut into chunks with a sharp knife

Gluten free Cathedral cake.
(if you want to, substitute plain flour for rice flour)

Ingredients:

5 cups mixed nuts (brazil, almonds, pecans and cashew)
5 1/2 cups glace fruits (cherries , pineapple, peaches, apricots, angelica, mango, pelon, pawpaw, canteloupe, oranges)
2 cups dried fruit (sultanas, raisins, currants)
4 large eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanella essence
1 1/2 cup rice flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
alcohol( rum/brandy/whisky)

Method:

Heat fanbake oven to 120 degrees .  Grease a loaf pan. and line with baking paper
Cut larger pieces of fruit into chunks.
Mix eggs, sugar, vanilla, flour, baking powder and slat until smooth.  Add fruits and nuts,thoroughly.
Press even into pan and mix.
Bake 2 to 3 hours until firm when pressed.
Remove from oven and cool. 
Then, remove from paper and pan and brush with alcohol and then oil.  cut in slices wth serrated knife.

But, I have cooked a number of nice meals : a Japanese style dinner for my son's birthday.

By the way, the blueberry cheesecake his girlfriend made tasted as good as it looks!

and chicken " ribs" and potato wedges:

I also cooked my mum's Jamaican chicken recipe (sorry, but the photo didn't turn out), which, as usual, I have given my own twist:

Jamaican chicken

Ingredients:

Chop a whole chicken into pieces and marinate overnight if possible
in
Soya sauce( enough to cover and colour the meat, but not make it too salty)
Sugar, 1 dessert spoon.
Stones Ginger Wine, about 1 slosh
Garlic, 2/3 chopped
Ginger, about a knuckle size, chopped
Black Pepper
2 Onions sliced

Method:

Take chicken pieces from marinade, reserving marinade
Brown pieces in oil, then add marinade and extra water if needed.  Bring to boil then simmer till tender.  Thicken with cornflour if desired.

I usually serve this with rice and peas/

 

However, the best meals were made by others.  We had guests over and my husband created this amazing seafood paella:

They provided the salads

chocolate shortbreads filled with brandy cream and strawberries

and raspberry jelly

and I contributed a pavlova.

On Christmas day,  we had pippies

 

 as well as chips and antipasto olives and sun-dried tomatoes and artichokes.

 

My daughter cooked the ham with an amazing sauce:

My husband cooked the turkeys that I had stuffed with sausage meat, pork mince, cranberries, pinenuts and seasoned breadcrumbs:

 

I made the candied sweet potato 

and we also had salad, baked potatoes, peas and mint.

After opening presents, we had fruit salad:

Plum pudding, upon which my husband poured rum for the annual flaming

and ice-cream cake

as well as custard and chocolates.  No wonder we are all starting the new year with a desire to lose weight!