Tamarind spice biscuits

Based on recipe


Step 1

125g unsalted butter, softened
250g caster sugar
1 egg
25g tamarind concentrate

Step 2
3 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp garam masala or mixed spice

Step 3
200g plain flour
¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda

1. Beat together Step 1 ingredients 
2. Beat in Step 2 spices
3. Stir in Step 3 
4. Baking style A: scoop small balls from the mixture, flatten the dough evenly in your palm, the biscuits will be thin and crispy 
5. Baking style B: scoop and roll dough into round walnut-shaped balls, and place directly 5cm apart in the oven, the biscuits will be thick and crunchy
6. Bake at 170C (150C fan-assisted)/335F/gas mark 3 for about 15 minutes

Peanut flavour ice cream

to make 500g of ice cream:
200ml cream
150ml milk
85g sugar
1 vanilla pod
1 egg
2+ large tbsp of peanut butter
pinch of salt

1. Slice open the vanilla pod and remove the vanilla seeds with the back of a knife. Place the cream, milk, sugar and the empty vanilla pod in a sauce pan and bring to just boiling.
2. In a large bowl, mix the egg with a pinch of salt and the vanilla seeds.
3. Slowly add the heated cream mix to the egg while whisking vigorously. Scoop out the vanilla pod and discard.
4. Add the peanut butter and mix until the cream mixture is smooth.
5. Leave to cool and place in the fridge for 1 hour.
6. If you have an ice cream maker you can use that from this point on, if you don't own one (like me), pour the cream into a metallic pot and place in the freezer compartment for at least 5 hours. Mix the ice cream every 30-60min to achieve the creamy effect. If you only allow it to freeze without mixing you will taste the water icicles and not iced cream!

French Crêpes

Enough for 5 crêpes:

- 125g plain flour
- a pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 egg
- 200ml milk
- a knob of butter
- 70ml water

1. Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a large bowl.
2. Mix together the egg with milk and water.
3. Slowly add the egg mix into the flour and whisk continuously to make a smooth batter mix.
4. Melt the knob of butter and stir into the batter mix too.
5. Ready to cook! Grease a non-stick frying pan with butter, spoon enough batter to thinly coat the bottom of the pan. Cook and flip the crepe when the edge start to come away from the pan. Cook till both sides are golden.

Ideas: Mushroom, ham and cheese crêpe
Cook some mushrooms with butter in a frying pan. Pour away all the liquids once the mushooms are cooked. Stir in some ham and grated cheese (best is Gruyère). Spoon the filling onto a crêpe and fold into quarters. Bake in 180°C oven for 5 min and serve immediately.

Taiwan pride - Beef Noodle

Base recipe

Beef brisket - 1-1.5kg, cut into 4cm cubes

Group A
4 Spring onion - cut side ways
6 ginger slices
6 cloves garlic
1 red chilli pepper, halved

Group B
2 tomatos, peeled and quartered
1 onion, quartered
2 carrots, in chunks

Coriander - to serve
Plain noodle - to serve

Spice base:

Group A
Black bean paste - 3 tbsp
Taiwan BBQ sauce 沙茶醬 - 2 tbsp
Chilli paste - 1 tsp

Group B
Soya sauce - 100-150ml
Rice wine - 3 tbsp
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Star anise (optional) - 3 pieces

1. Briefly boil beef cubes in boiling water to wash out the blood, set aside
2. Fry Group A ingredients and spice base on medium heat, set aside
3. Fry Group B ingredients and spice base, plus the beef cubes from step 1., add mixture from step 2.
4. Add 1-1.5 litre of water or beef stock
5. Cook on low heat for 2 hours (minimum)
6. Sprinkle spring onion / preserved cabbage / coriander to serve

Crostata

For 1 crostata:

- 125g unsalted butter
- 250g flour
- 80g sugar (white or brown)
- 2 egg yolks
- jam of choice

1. Mix room temperature butter and sugar into a cream.
2. Add the yolks to butter and mix evenly again.
3. Sift the flour and add all at once into the butter mixture.
4. Work with hands, mix the flour and butter into a neat dough.
5. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
6. Heat the oven to 180C, grease the baking tray with butter. Sprinkle a tb spoon of flour in the tray and shake the flour around to coat the tray. Discard excess flour at the end.
7. Cut 2/3 of dough and roll out thin enough to cover the whole base of the baking tray. Spoon over the jam of your choice (here I used figs jam).
8. Using the remaining 1/3 of dough, roll to long strips and lay them across the crostata. First make the outer ring then the central diameters before secondary lines.
9. Bake at 180C for approximately 30min till the dough looks slightly golden. Cool before serving!

滷豬腳 Taiwanese pig feet stew

Recipe adapted for rice cooker.
- pieces of pig feet/knuckles.
- 5 garlic cloves
- 3 chili
- 1 inch of ginger
- spring onion
- 1/2 cup soya sauce
- 1 cup rice wine
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 滷包 (twnese spice mix pouch)
- salt

1. Wash and boil the pig feet briefly to remove any dirt or hair fragments.
2. Roughly chop the ginger and spring onion to 4-5 chunks. Slightly crack each garlic clove.
3. Place all the ingredients: feet, chili, garlic, sugar, soya sauce, rice wine, spice mix and water into the rice cooker pot.
4. Cook! If you don't have a rice cooker, you can also stew the feet over medium-low flame until tender. For rice cooker, cook first with half a cup of water in the outer pot, then 1/3 cup again. Fish out the spice mix pouch after the first cooking stage to avoid overpowering taste.
5. Check that the stew is salty enough, add salt if required. Leave the feet overnight in the stew sauce, cook again for the final time next day with 1/3 cup water in the rice cooker (or over flame) to tenderize the skin.

Almond chocolate biscuits

To make 30 biscuits:

- unsalted butter 75g
- white sugar 25g
- brown sugar 25g
- double cream 25ml
- flour 90g
- cocoa powder 10g
- almond flakes 40-50g

1. As the diamond sablé, mix the room temperature butter into a cream like consistency and then add and mix the sugars.
2. Add double cream, the sifted flour + cocoa power, mix into a rough dough using your hand. Add the almond flakes last, mix evenly into a final biscuit dough.
3. Shape the dough into desired shape, here a long rectangle. Wrap with clim film and chill in freezer for at least 30min.
4. Preheat the oven to 170C. Cut the biscuit dough into ~1cm pieces. Bake for 17-20min at 170C.

Spinach (Palack) Paneer

Palak paneer
Originally uploaded by chowen

250g Spinach, cook in boiling water or microwave (2 mins)
150g Paneer, cut into pieces
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
1/2 inch Ginger
1 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, sliced
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/2 lemon or lime juice
2 tbsp butter
Salt

1. Cool and blend spinach to form a paste
2. Shallow fry paneer, till golden (for a healthier option, boil in salted water for 1 min), set aside
3. Heat butter (ghee) and fry the onion till golden brown
4. Add ginger, garlic, cumin and pepper. Mix well
5. Add spinach paste, salt and water
6. Mix in the cooked paneer and cook for a further few mins
7. Remove from heat, when cooled, add the lime juice

Sri Lankan Aubergine (Brinjal) Moju

Sri Lankan Moju
Originally uploaded by chowen

3-4 Aubergines, cut into 1 inch stripes, sprinkle with salt (marinate for 10-15 mins, squeeze out the water)
250g red onion, cut into chunks
1 tsp Ginger paste or grated ginger
6 cloves Garlic, crushed

Spices:
1 cinnamon
1 cardamon pod, crushed
Salt
1 tsp tamarind, dissolve in 1 cup hot water to make the pulp
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp Chilli powder (optional) or 1 tsp pepper powder instead of chilli
1/4 tsp tumeric

1. Deep fry the aubergine in oil, drain grease on paper
2. Heat 1 tsp oil in pan and fry the spices (cinnamon, cardamon) 
3. Add onion, ginger, garlic, chilli or pepper powder
4. When cooked, add tamarind pulp and tumeric
5. Reduce heat and add sugar
6. Fold in the aubergines, mix well
7. Cook further on low heat for a further few minutes until all the flavours have been absorbed