Snicker-dee-doo-dah, snicker-dee-day!

November 28, 2006

in Cookies & Slices

There is something about certain words and the mouthfeel that they give which will make me develop either a like or dislike of them, almost in spite of what the words themselves mean. For example, I find I can’t feel much for the word ‘fluctuate‘ – saying it makes my mouth feel awkward, almost as if it were full of marbles (I will never forget that look on Audrey Hepburn’s face when she finds herself in this predicament in ‘My Fair Lady’!), but a word as mundane as ‘sequential‘ can feel round and voluptuous as it rolls off my tongue, not akin to the sensation of a small piece of chocolate melting in your mouth.

“Snickerdoodle” is a bit of a strange one. It’s a bit long, and yet bounces off the palate easily and quite vibrantly. It sounds and feels a bit childish, and yet there’s something oddly comforting in its pronunciation. And when a cookie has such a name, it makes it almost impossible to resist making them, just to see what kind of physical tastes are associated with such a word!


These speckled, almost cakey cookies are as fun to eat as their name implies!

Yet another recipe from Nigella Lawson’s “How To Be A Domestic Goddess”, trying this recipe has only served to strengthen the love I have for this woman, the way she writes about food and the recipes she provides. Though the cookies didn’t form the crackled appearance that they are apparantly famous for, the flavour and texture did not fail to impress, and their spicy cinnamon breath is inherently comforting. The dough could not be any easier, and the process of making these (scoop, roll, roll, squish) is soothing in that way that easy, repetitive actions are. We’re already down to a half-batch, so I have a feeling I might be running another batch through the oven come this weekend!

Snickerdoodle Cookies (recipe from Nigella’s “How To Be A Domestic Goddess”)

Ingredients
250g plain (all-purpose) flour
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
125g butter, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

For coating:
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Mix together sugar and cinnamon for coating and place on a plate and set aside.

2. Combine all dry ingredients and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar till pale and creamy, then beat in egg and vanilla till well combined.

3. Stir in dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon till you have a smooth mixture. Take a tablespoon-ful of dough and roll into a ball. Roll in the cinnamon sugar coating and slightly squish down onto a lined baking tray. Repeat with remaining dough, leaving about 5cm (2 inches) between each cookie.

4. Bake for 15 minutes, or till they start to go golden-brown. Remove from the oven and rest on baking tray for a minute before removing to a wire rack to cook.

5. Make yourself a cup of tea and enjoy with a cookie or two :)

[tags]snickerdoodles, sugar cookies, recipes, cinnamon, cookies, biscuits[/tags]

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Lunch for lazy days

November 27, 2006

in Rice, Noodles, Pasta & Grains,Vegetables & Vegetarian

Sometimes I get into a mindset where I cannot be bothered doing anything – forget cooking, forget washing the dishes, you can even forget about me changing out of my jam-jams! All I want to do is read/watch movies, or if the weather is fine, swing in my hammock and watch the clouds roll over my head.

Unfortunately, even when I am feeling utterly lethargic like this, I am unable to indulge in my slovenly desires as there are usually things that need to be done…like doing my laundry, being a kitchen hand, walking/grooming/playing with Mr. Woofy, proofreading letters and essays written by various members of my family, and entertaining my mother. And that’s just on the days that I don’t have to go to work (all the working mothers out there, I salute you – you must either be mad, or have the best time-management skills in the universe!). Because I’m generally doing something, when I have the opportunity to do absolutely nothing, I find it difficult to do even the most menial of tasks.

Such as feeding myself.

(listens to audible gasps of disbelief)

Now come on, surely I can’t be the only one who has these phases!

Many times this means that I have toast or a bowl of cereal for each meal (could I get any lazier?), sometimes it comes down to me grabbing an apple or a carrot from the chiller in the fridge and idly gnawing away at it. Now, whilst not unhealthy, it certainly doesn’t titillate the tastebuds in any way. One of the reasons I bought Jill Dupleix’s “Totally Simple Foods” is because it promised a variety of dishes that could be created simply, but the problem with the book is that many of the key ingredients of her dishes are not the kinds of things I have lying around in my fridge on a regular basis, and when one feels lethargic, the thought of grocery shopping hardly excites.

There is another reason that I need quick and easy savoury dishes to be added to my repetoire.

On working days, I leave the house at 7am and, if I’ve gone to the gym after work, don’t get back home till 9pm. This means that I have only a little time to relax, have dinner and then make something to take for my lunch the next day before trying to get to bed by midnight.

Last night was an example of this – I was buggered and needed to make something that was quick, easy and relatively healthy and so I rummaged through my fridge. Emerging with some cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and chicken thigh, I set about making something which I’ll most definetely be recreating!

Roast Cherry Tomato & Mushroom Pasta

Ingredients
15 cherry tomatoes
2 field mushrooms, cleaned and chopped into a large dice
1 onion
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 knob of butter
1 cup of cooked pasta

*Optional: 1 chicken thigh, all skin and fat removed and cut into a small dice.

1. Cut a small cross into the base of the cherry tomatos, place onto a lined baking tray and bake at 200 degrees C for 10-15 minutes, till soft and skin has split and is starting to peel off. Set aside.

2. Melt the butter in a frying pan and saute the onion till it is starting to caramelize, then add the mushrooms and garlic and saute till the mushroom is just cooked. Add the pasta to the pan and stir round to heat through, then remove to a plate.

3. Add the roasted cherry tomatoes to the plate and toss around, making sure to press down a little on each of the tomatoes so they release that wonderful concentrated flavour. Serve whilst still warm :)

If you want to add the chicken to this otherwise vegetarian dish, add it in step 2 at the same time as the onion and before you add the mushroom. Even with the chicken, this makes for a light and flavourful dish that isn’t too heavy and yet filling enough to keep you going for hours. The roasting of the cherry tomatoes concentrates their flavour and sweetness and is the sauce for this dish, so make sure you get vine-ripened and not hydroponic produce!


Though the tomatoes provide the main flavour, the mushrooms absorb the flavour from the garlic, onion and tomatoes and so become tiny morsels of heaven.

[tags]pasta, vegetarian, roasted tomatoes, mushroom[/tags]

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Making muffins is child’s play

November 26, 2006

in Cupcakes & Muffins


Making Nigella’s ‘Jam Doughnut Muffins’ is something kids will love – as will you!

Nigella claims that these ‘Jam Doughnut Muffins’ are something easy enough that her kids could help out with in the kitchen, and that’s definetely true as the batter took me all of about 5 minutes to put together. However, she also claims that the danger with these little morsels is that they taste so good, you may be tempted not to share, and she definetely does not lie here.

Now, I’m not a huge doughnut fan, as the whole deep-fried aspect tends to leave me feeling a bit sick, as well as making my stomach feel like lead, but there is something in their light, airy texture and slight chewiness that I miss, and these muffins come about as close to replicating that aspect as any other cake I’ve made/tasted. To keep the calorie count slightly lower, I’ve refrained from dipping them in melted butter and rolling them in a cinnamon sugar mix, but I imagine that doing so would make them taste a whole lot closer to your typical doughnut!


They’re called ‘Jam Doughnut Muffins’, but where’s the jam?


Here ’tis!

The making of the batter is excessively easy, but I had difficulty with the jam – Nigella doesn’t give any clear instructions on how much is to be added so I put about 1/4 tsp in each, but had to be wary of the jam sinking towards and out the bottom of the muffin after the first tray I removed all ended up being bottomless.

So, if you’re after a baked doughnutty treat that doesn’t have the deep-fried aspect, give these a try, but do be warned that their moreish goodness makes it difficult to stop at eating just one!

Jam Doughnut Muffins (from Nigella’s “How To Be A Domestic Goddess”)

Ingredients
125ml milk
85ml vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g self-raising flour
100g caster sugar
12 teaspoons strawberry jam

For topping:
100g unsalted butter
150g caster sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.

2. Beat together milk, oil, egg and vanilla extract. Add the flour and caster sugar and beat till just combined – don’t worry about lumps, overbeating will result in tough muffins.

3. Spoon into incredibly well-greased or silicon 12-bun mini muffin tray till each is 2/3 full, then carefully spoon 1/4 tsp of jam on top (making sure to keep it towards the middle) and cover with more batter till each mould is full.

4. Place tray into the preheated oven and cook for about 20 mins, or till tops are golden and feel springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and cool in tray, then remove to a cooling rack.

5. Melt the additional butter, and mix together the cinnamon and sugar in a seperate bowl. Dip the tops of the muffins in the melted butter, then roll in the cinnamon sugar and enjoy :)


Though they taste best whilst warm, even cold they’re a delightful little treat!

[tags]doughnuts, muffins, Nigella, cinnamon, jam [/tags]

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Cockroaches and cabbage

November 21, 2006

in Pancakes & Fritters,Vegetables & Vegetarian

“Urrrgh” I grunted as I carried the multiple shopping bags back into the house. My mother had been pestering me to try making Okonomiyaki for a few days, and I thought that today, with it’s 39 degree C heat would be the perfect day to stand over a hot stove and fry up one after another of these Japanese pancakes.

Though having tried them before, I’d never actually tried making them so after a bit of googling I settled on a ‘basic’ recipe for the batter and decided to try it with whatever other ingredients I had on hand – after all, it is meant to be “cook what you like, the way you like”. Unfortunately, the lack of cabbage (something every recipe puts down as a necessity for this dish) meant that I needed to go shopping, which led to my current situation with the shopping bags. I dropped them on the kitchen table and started pulling out items of the bags when…

“CRUNCH”

I blinked. My hand wrapped around a 2L bottle of milk, I slowly raised it to see what had made the offending sound from under the moo juice. Hard to distinguish at first, I saw a gooey brown mess inside a wadded up ball of cling wrap (plastic wrap). Fearing what the mess would be, but driven by my curiosity, I held the plastic between two hesitant fingers and lifted it to the light. And then dropped it. And then screamed.

“WHY WAS THERE A COCKROACH WRAPPED IN PLASTIC SITTING ON THE KITCHEN TABLE???”

My brother poked his head out from his room. This act had him written all over it, and I looked at him with daggers in my eyes as I waited for an explanation.

“Oh yeah! I found it sitting on the mirror on the vanity in the entrance so I caught it with the cling wrap because I didn’t want to kill it! Sorry!”

I hrmphed. “Well, at least it’s dead now, I squished it with the milk.”

“Awww man, why’d you kill it?? I wanted to play with it later!!” Martin whined, and with that he disappeared back into his room, leaving me blinking with a look of complete disbelief on my face. HE had caught a cockroach, wrapped it in plastic and left it on the kitchen table ALIVE, and he was mad at ME for accidentally killing it? Where on earth is the logic in that??

Okay, so that story doesn’t have much to do with okonomiyaki, but the process of making the pancakes was uneventful so I thought I’d share the events from before the cooking with you. ;)


Basic Okonomiyaki Recipe

Ingredients
5 cabbage leaves, main white rib removed
1 brown onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1-2 carrots, grated
4 spring onions (scallions, green onions)
350g plain flour
300mL water
2 large eggs

*Optional: You can add anything to this dish, e.g. mince, chopped up seafood, grated sweet potato, mushrooms etc.

1. Cut the cabbage leaves into sections no wider than 5cm, then slice into strips about 3-4mm thick. Put aside.

2. Cut the spring onion into 5cm lengths, then slice up into thin strips about the same size as the cabbage. Put aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the water, flour and eggs and mix till there are no lumps. You want it to be fairly thick, but still sticky and oozy. Add all the other ingredients and mix thoroughly to make sure that the batter is evenly coating everything in the bowl.

4. Heat up some oil in a frying pan over medium heat, then ladle about 1 cup of the mixture in and spread it out into a rough circular shape no more than 2cm thick. When the underside is nicely browned and crispy, carefully flip over and fry the other side till also done.

5. Plate up and serve warm :)

Now, I didn’t have any okonomiyaki sauce handy at home, so I served it with a soy sauce/vinegar mix and some kimchi, and it went down pretty well. Would I make it again…? Possibly, but not regularly as I’m trying to eat healthily and part of that is being careful with the oily foods.

[tags]okonomiyaki, japanese pancake, japanese cuisine, cockroaches[/tags]

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Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river!

November 12, 2006

in Dips, Dressings, Sauces & Spreads,Rice, Noodles, Pasta & Grains,Vegetables & Vegetarian

ricepaper1.jpg

I’m afraid this has nothing to do with the Creedence Clearwater Revival, but rather, is about one of my favourite summertime dishes, rice paper rolls :)

When you’ve got a family with 5 adults all doing their own thing with their own schedules to follow, it ultimately means that you don’t get a lot of ‘sit down together’ time, and in particular it means that family mealtimes are rare – you hardly get more than 3 members of the family sitting at the dining room table at any one time. For someone who cherishes time with their family as much as I do, this is something that makes me quite sad. Don’t get me wrong, the essense of my nature is quite solitary and I need to have at least some time to myself everyday otherwise I start to feel a little strained, however I also love my family very much and adore the time I get to spend with them.

What does this have to do with rice paper rolls? Patience, patience, I’m getting there :) Despite the different tastes that we all have, one thing that every member of my family adores is rice paper rolls. Because we do not pre-roll, but rather just prepare the ingredients so that all the rolling is done directly at the table, it makes this a very communal meal with fingers/hands colliding and taking long enough to allow conversation at the dinner table to flow. I’ll usually prepare this on Sunday evenings for dinner as the rest of my family is out to church (whilst they are all Roman Catholic, I’m athiest as I gave up my faith years ago), and by the time they get back and have changed out of their Sunday best, dinner is waiting on the table for us to sit down and tuck in!

It’s easy enough as all you’re really doing is just making sure the ingredients are all ready to be placed into the rolls, and the fact that you use lots of veggies makes it lovely and refreshing for those hot summer nights!

ricepaper2.jpg

What really makes this dish for us is the tangy sauce that you add just before rolling which adds a whole nother element of flavour. It’s not vegetarian as it features fish sauce, but you can replace it with light soy sauce to make a vegetarian friendly variation!

Tangy sauce for rice paper rolls

Ingredients
1 cup pineapple juice
Juice from 1 lemon
2-3 tbsp cup fish sauce
3-5 tbsp caster sugar
2-3 birdseyes (thai) chillis, finely sliced (or as many as you think you can handle!)

Add all the ingredients to a leak-proof container and shake/stir till sugar has dissolved and everything has combined. Taste, and alter to taste (if it’s a bit salty for your tastes, add a little more lemon and sugar. If it’s too sweet, add a little lemon and fish sauce, etc).

Being a very watery sauce, this is not one for the rolls to be dipped into, so if you want a dipping sauce you’re probably better sticking with sweet chilli sauce :)

[tags]rice paper rolls, Vietnamese rice paper rolls, Asian cooking, Vietnamese cuisine, dipping sauce[/tags]

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