Chocolate Zucchini Cake

One way to guarantee kids eat vegetables is to cover it in chocolate. Obviously it's for a treat, or in my circumstance a trick as my twins refuse to eat zucchinis. They will willingly forfeit screen time just to avoid eating zucchini. Madness right? Hence why I hid the deliciousness of the zucchinis or courgettes in a cake. I was totally inspired by Sally's Baking Addiction, lots of very fab recipes there. This recipe is almost all Sally's, with my little spin.

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour

approx 3-4 cups of grated zucchini (squeeze some, not all liquid out)

1 cup dark cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp bicarb soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 dark brown sugar

4 large eggs

1/3 cup sour cream

2 tsp vanilla paste

2 tsp instant espresso powder/granules

250g dark mini choc chips

Frosting

Use whatever you like but I wanted something creamy to counter all the dark choc in the cake.

400g  Better Crocker chocolate hazelnut frosting (you don't have to use all)

200g Cadbury dairy milk

a little drizzle of vegetable oil

1. Sieve flour, cocoa, bicarb, baking soda and salt into a big bowl. Then add coffee powder and mix, set aside.

2. In another bowl mix oil, both sugars, eggs, sour cream and vanilla paste until sugar has dissolved. Then add zucchini and mix some more. Once it's combined add it to the dry ingredients and mix well. I used a handheld mixer. Then stir in the choc chips.

3. Divide into 2 x baking pans or 1 large, whatever you want. Oven should be preheated to 180 degrees.

4. Bake for about 30-45 minutes depending on your oven. I would check with skewer from about 30 minutes. I think mine took a wee bit more time then the original recipe said. Let it cool before frosting.

5. Melt the Cadbury dairy milk with a little drizzle of oil, just enough to give it a nice runny consistency. I didn't really measure, sorry... maybe 3 tablespoons give or take.

6. Slap the hazelnut frosting between the cakes and drizzle the milk chocolate all over the top.

7. Shove in face!

Anything Goes Curry

It has been many years since I wrote any recipes down and this recipe is as good as any to break the blog drought I think. This is my Anything Goes Curry with which I mean you can use any meat, any veggies, any legumes... anything! I make this dish once a week to use up whatever I have in the fridge. I throw in so much vegetables but the kids don't question it, they just happily eat.

The key to this curry is the curry powder. I don't use Keen's, I only use Baba's Meat Curry Powder but anything from an Asian supermarket will generally do, the flavours will be slightly different but still yummy. The thing to note is the curry powder blend, it should say MEAT curry powder.

In this version I am using lamb. Not any specific cut, rather off cuts. You can get them super cheap from any butcher. It takes a tiny amount of time to cut the meat down and because it's off cuts I dice the meat small so that it doesn't need a lot of time to cook and it doesn't matter what lamb cut it is. If you are going to use big chunky cuts of whatever meat I would suggest browning the meat first before adding to curry.

INGREDIENTS

approx 800g diced lamb (beef, chicken, pork, whatever works)

1 big carrot

1 onion

2 stalks of celery

1 sweet pepper

1 fennel

2 large potatoes

1 bunch of kale or spinach

a handful of curry leaves

4 tablespoons curry powerder

1 teaspoons chilli powder (more if you want a spicier kick)

2.5 cups water 

400ml coconut milk

salt

coconut oil (but use whatever you want)

1. Roughly dice meat and veggies.

2. Sautee carrot, onion, celery, pepper, curry leaves and fennel until fragrant and a little soft.

3. Add meat to the mix and cook for another 10 minutes or so.

4. Mix curry powder, chilli powder and water into a slurry and add to the meat and veg.

5. Bring it to a boil and add potatoes.

6. Add the coconut milk and salt to taste.

7. Simmer until meat is tender.

8. Add spinach or kale.

9. Adjust salt if needed.

10. Cook some rice and/or roti and shovel in face !

Beef and Prune Tagine

Spices are magical things that can take anything ordinary and turn it into something quite special. I'm a big lover of all things Asian having grown up in Malaysia. I thought I knew a lot about the taste and smells of different combinations of spices. I was SO wrong. I do know a lot about spices in Asian cuisine but this week I decided to tackle a cuisine I knew very little about. This week I decided to learn more about North African cuisine. I went to the book store, picked up a cookbook on Moroccan and North African cuisine and was completely blown away.

I decided to start on one of the infamous stews or tagines that are synonymous with Moroccan cooking. Traditionally stews are cooked in a special earthenware pot also called a tagine. I didn't have one but that was ok. I used a good old heavy based dutch oven which was just as effective. And so began my lesson in North African flavours.

I've never been a fan of adding fruit with meat but in the spirit of embracing something new I went with it and I am so very glad I did. I decided to make a beef and prune tagine/stew. Right from the moment I mixed the spices together I was blown away by the spectacular aroma. That's before I even turned the stove on. Then when the stew was simmering, OH MY GOD!! I don't know how to describe the wonderment that was filling my nostrils. So I shan't risk using big flowery words to try to describe it, I'll just type the recipe down, recommend you try it and hope you get transported to Morocco like I did.

I served the stew with an Almond and Olive Cous Cous because I wanted a salty cous cous to counter the sweet prunes. Really good match.

BEEF and PRUNE STEW

1 kg rump (or blade or any good stewing steak)
2 large onions (chopped fine)
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tsp cracked black pepper
a pinch of saffron threads
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
50g butter
425g can of diced tomatoes
1 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
100g roasted slivered almonds
250g prunes
1 tsp finely grated lemon rind
extra 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

ALMOND and OLIVE COUS COUS

1 and 1/2 cup cous cous
1 and 1/2 cup boiling water
20g butter
2-3 tablespoons preserved lemon finely chopped
approx 1 cup olives chopped coarsely
1/3 up flat leaf parsley
50g roasted slivered almonds

1. In a large bowl add beef and toss in onions, oil and spices. Coat well.

2. In a heavy based saucepan put beef, butter, tomatoes, water, 1 tablespoon sugar and half of the almonds. Bring to boil then turn heat down to a simmer. Cover and let simmer for an 60-90 minutes (depending on what meat you used).

3. Then remove one cup cooking liquid and set aside. Simmer uncovered for another 30 minutes.

4. Meanwhile place prunes in a small bowl in hot water for 20 minutes. Drain. Then in a small saucepan cook prunes, lemon rind, extra 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, remaining sugar and the 1 cup cooking liquid set aside before. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.

5. Add to stew, give it a good stir, season with salt to taste, serve with remaining almonds sprinkled on top and be prepared to be taken to heaven!!!

6. To make COUS COUS .... just add water and butter to cous cous. Let stand covered for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork. Add all other ingredients and stir. YUM!

Cauliflower Rice

Ok, I cannot believe I am about to say this BUT ... if I never ate a grain of rice again in my life it would be OK. To understand how big a statement that is from me you must understand that I LOVE RICE. I grew up in Malaysia. For the first 20 years of my life rice was my staple. I probably had it every day. However I have tried a substitute to rice and it's quite delicious.

The humble cauliflower has completely shocked me. I have heard a few people talking about this magical thing called cauliflower rice, they were singing out praises like low carb, healthy, vegan, gluten free, no starch blah blah ... and I kept thinking so what, big deal. I love my rice and curry and there's no way in hell I would ever not eat rice.

Enter cauliflower rice ... I did decide to try it and was quite blown away at how delicious it was. Not only was it easy to make it was light and didn't leave me feeling bloated. The taste was sweet and nutty and texture not unlike cous cous. Long story short, love love love it. Truth be told though, I will never give up rice completely, but I most certainly will be having lots lots more of this cauliflower wizardry.

Cauliflower Rice

1 head of cauliflower
a little cooking oil or butter
salt
optional add ons like coriander, nuts, sultanas

1. Cut up the cauliflower into small chunks and put in food processor. Blitz it to a fine texture. Do not over blitz it though as you don't want mush.

2. Heat oil or butter in wok, toss cauliflower ruble through. You want to stir it about for about 5 minutes. All you want to do is put some heat through it and let the grains soften a little. This process also helps remove some moisture so your "rice" isn't wet.

3. If you want to add extra bits like toasted almonds or anything else do it now. Toss some salt through too.

4. Serve warm with curry.
                                                                                                     

Chocolate Mint Truffles

If I had all the time in the world to cook or bake at leisure I wouldn't mind if whatever I was cooking required a gazzilion ingredients. Unfortunately I don't so I do love making things that don't require too many ingredients but still delivers maximum flavours and also very pretty to look at. When I saw this recipe online I must be honest, I was incredibly sceptical about how tasty it would actually be. I am so very happy to say my fears were ridiculous. These chocolate balls are ... amazeballs!!

The actual truffle itself only requires 2 ingredients, the 3rd is optional. For the chocolate coating that is completely up to you how you want to decorate. I chose to coat the balls in chocolate and drizzled some with a different coloured chocolate and some I sprinkled with crushed Peppermint Crisp bars.

It's easy, it's fun and incredibly delicious. Make them as big or as small as you want. I made 2 dozen little ones for the kids plus a bakers dozen of Mummy size ones. Happy faces all round!!

Chocolate Mint Truffles

2 x 200g Arnott's Mint Slice biscuits
250g cream cheese
1 teaspoon peppermint essense (optional)

For the coating/decoration
white chocolate melts
dark chocolate melts
Peppermint Crisp bars crushed for sprinkling

1. Blitz the biscuits in a food processor. Then add cream cheese and peppermint essense (optional) and blitz until well combine.

2. Roll into desired size balls and pop in freezer for 20-30 minutes. The harder the balls get the easier it is to work with it when you're dipping it in chocolate.

3. Meanwhile melt the chocolate for coating over a double boiler or in the microwave. Dip chocolate balls in and decorate to your hearts content.

** I chose to coat some with white chocolate, some with dark chocolate, drizzled green chocolate and also sprinkled some with crushed Peppermint**

Bananaberry Bread

One night as I was tucking my twins into bed, Master H very randomly said "I want banana bread please". I did what most mothers would do to settle the kids and get them to bed, I simply said "ok, tomorrow, go to bed or you won't get it". When tomorrow came I of course had completely forgotten about the banana bread request BUT Master H did not. He kept harping on and on about it and I knew there was no shutting this one down.

My problem that day was I was actually working from home. I couldn't afford to spend heaps of time in the kitchen pretending to be a lady of leisure who didn't have a job and who had all the time in the world. So I Googled (of course) the simplest recipe I could fine with ingredients that were already in my pantry and got to it as quickly as possible.

This recipe was fabulous as I didn't even need an electric mixer, just a bowl and a wooden spoon. In 15 minutes flat the cake was in the oven. Master H was happy his request was baking away. I could go back in my office and work with a smile as the house was starting to smell heavenly.

Bananaberry Bread

3 ripe bananas
a handful of blueberries
half a cup of diced strawberries
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 and 1/2 cup plain flour
pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line a loaf tin.

2. In a bowl add all wet ingredients. Mix well until sugar is dissolved. Add fruit to mix and stir.

3. Then add dry ingredients and mix well.

4. Pop in loaf tin, shove in oven for 1 hour.

5. Serve warm with butter melting all over it!

Pork and Veg Rice

This dish is so tasty and hearty and just packed full of wholesome goodness that I have to share it. It's a dish that reminds me very much of flavours from my childhood.

I was inspired to make this because a Malaysian friend who happens to be a talented cook made a dish called Long Bean Rice and showed me a photo of it. It made me want it instantly so I had to give it a go. It's basically rice and long beans cooked in a wonderful broth. What makes this dish extra special is the use of some funky ingredients like salted fish and dried prawns. These ingredients bring layers of flavour that is just second to none. However these flavours can also be quite strong especially for my 4 year old twins so I have modified it to be less in your face but still completely tasty and flavoursome.

Long beans/snake beans is the prefered bean for this dish as it holds it's firmness more than any other bean but I used round beans as it's readily available from Woolworths and is just as tasty. Also you can substitute all ingredients with whatever you prefer like chinese sausage for chorizo, dried shitake for fresh ones etc. My type of cooking is all about what's at hand.

Here's my version. Hope you like it.

Pork and Veg Rice.

250g pork mince
2 pieces of lap cheong (chinese pork sausage available from Asian aisle in Woolworths - or use chorizo if you're unsure if you'll like it)
25g dried shitake (soaked in hot water for 15-20 minutes or use any other mushroom you like)
3 stalks of spring onions (use the white crunch bit at bottom, not leafy part)
3-4 cloves of garlic
200g round beans trimmed
4-5 tablespoons oyster sauce
3 tablespoons light soy
2 tablespoons dark soy
4-5 dashes of fish sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
white pepper to taste
salt to taste
2 cups uncooked rice
ginger about the size of a thumb
4 cups water
 
****you can add carrots, capsicums or whatever you like really****

1. In a wok or frying pan cook mince, sausage, garlic for a few minutes, just long enough for mince to start the cooking process and for flavours of sausage to start oozing into the oil.

2. Then throw in mushrooms, spring onions, beans and rice and toss it all together. Then add all the seasonings and sauces and make sure everything is well coated.

3. Transfer everything to rice cooker pot. Add water and stir. Taste the soup and adjust salt, pepper and soy to taste. Throw in the ginger and turn on rice cooker.

4. Half way throw cooking process give it a stir to make sure nothing is stuck to sides or bottom of cooker.

5. I serve it with homemade chilli and ginger sauce but that's optional.