{Recipe} Beef Rendang

This is a repost from my old blog (August 8, 2009); please forgive the terribly blurry photo lol

Felt like a proper Malay dish last week so made myself some :) Here's the recipe with the ingredients in order of usage.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 lemongrass
2 red chillies (about 2 tbsp)
1 medium red onion, half sliced thinly
3 garlic cloves
1 tbsp ginger
3 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp cumin
600-750 grams beef, sliced and cut into bite pieces
1 cinnamon stick
4 curry leaves
2 tsp brown sugar
2 cups coconut milk
1 tbsp lemon juice

1. Blend lemongrass, chillies, half of onion and garlic and ginger. Set aside.
2. Mix the beef with coriander, turmeric and cumin.
3. Sautee the sliced half of the onion until soft.
4. Add the beef mix and cook until browned.
5. Add cinnamon stick, curry leaves, brown sugar and coconut milk. Cook covered for 1 hour.
6. Removed lid and cook a further 1 1/2 hours or until it reaches the consistency desired. Stir every once in a while.
7. Removed cinnamon stick and add in lemon juice.

Adjust the sugar and other spices according to your preference. Great eaten with rice cakes, glutinous rice or even plain rice/bread. I know it seems like a lotta work and takes so long! But if you're missing/craving it... Well, it'll be worth it, enjoy! Ta ra~

{Recipe} Jacket potatoes

A repost from my old blog

I wanted to post this recipe a few weeks ago (forgive me!) but I was caught up in so many projects that I just couldn’t sit down and spend half an hour writing this up. But here it is now! As with many of the recipes on the blog, It was a whatever-I-had-in-the-pantry-and-the-fridge recipe. And as usual you can substitute wherever you need to.

Jacket potatoes (serves 2 or 4 as a side dish)

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

4 potatoes

50 g Wensleydale cheese with cranberry

2 tbsp cream

Salt and pepper

1 spring onion (I only used the green part), chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (190 fan-forced).
2. Pierce the potatoes with a fork in six places.
3. Rub with olive oil and salt and pepper.
4. Place on a baking tray lined with aluminium foil and put in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes.
5. Turn down the oven to 180°C (170 fan-forced) and bake for a further hour.
6. Check if the potatoes are done (when the skin is golden and crisp), take out and place a potato on a clean tea towel. Cut a shallow cross on top and squeeze from underneath to ‘open’ the potato. Repeat with the rest.
7. Mix the cheese and cream and spoon 1 tbsp of the mixture onto the potatoes and top with spring onion (I don’t like raw spring onion that’s why I cooked it but you can leave this until after you take the potatoes out of the oven).
8. Place in the oven for 5 minutes or until cheese has melted.
9. Serve with your favourite main or enjoy it on its own!

Tip: You can use a softer cheese and omit the cream altogether or use whatever toppings you have on hand.

Sorry for the shadowy photo! Ta ra~

Photo sources for ingredients board:

http://www.newhealthguide.org

www.huffingtonpost.com

http://canadacheeseman.wordpress.com

http://www.vegetables.co.nz

http://a2milk.com.au