Chicken San Choy Bow {Recipe}

May 14, 2013Asian, Chicken, Dinner, Lunchasian, blogger, bow, chicken, choy, cos, food, lettuce, muchamunch, recipe, san, sydneyMJyummymunch

San choy bow is a classic Asian meal consisting of minced meat and vegetables served in lettuce cups. It is usually served as an entrée at restaurants but double or triple your serving and you can easily have this as a main meal at home. It’s a delicious and simple meal that’s also very quick to put together. I try to make this for the family at least once a week because it is so quick and healthy.

Now I realise there isn’t much vegetables in this san choy bow and that’s because this was made by throwing in together whatever I could find in the fridge and the cupboard. You can’t really go wrong with making san choy bow – as long as you have minced meat, vegetables, soy sauce and lettuce cups ready, you can improvise and make this in a flash.

Chicken San Choy Bow – serves 4

Ingredients:

2 baby cos lettuce (separated and washed)
500g lean chicken mince
1 onion (diced)
2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 large potato (diced)
2 Tbsp salt reduced soy sauce
1 Tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp kecap manis
oil for frying

honey
toasted sesame seeds

Method:

Separate and wash cos lettuce leaves. Set aside.
In a hot pan, add oil and lightly brown chicken mince. Add potatoes, onions and garlic. Stir fry for about 3 minutes or until chicken mince has browned all over.
Mix in soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil and kecap manis. Stir fry until all heated and combined.
Evenly spoon mixture into cos lettuce leaves. Drizzle with honey and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

If you’re not a fan of honey and sesame seeds, you can omit that step. I saw Jamie Oliver do it on TV and I thought it was cool. Haha!

Have a great week.

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Cinnamon Donuts {Recipe}

May 7, 2013Afternoon Tea, Morning Tea, Snackblogger, cinnamon, donuts, food, muchamunch, recipe, sydneyMJyummymunch

Donuts! Yum! That’s all I can say about them. They’re just so good and they make everybody happy. They sure make me happy. It must be something to do with my cinnamon obsession. Here, here, here and some more here. I didn’t realise I was that crazy about cinnamon until I looked at my past recipes. Haha!

My daughter and hubby love cinnamon donuts. Love. Them. I do too. We’ll buy dozens of them fresh at Coles and they are demolished when we get home. We’ll be lucky if there are some left for the next day. My daughter and hubby can usually eat cinnamon donuts on their own, but me, I’m a little different. I need to have a hot cup of coffee with mine. I like to dip the donuts into the coffee for added espresso taste and moisture.

Yes, I dip!

Anyone else do that?

I made these donuts for the first time a few months back and thinking back on it, I remember these donuts tasted better the next day because all the sugar and cinnamon had been dissolved into the donut.

Cinnamon Donuts – makes 15-20 donuts (depending on the size of your cutter) – recipe adapted from Taste.com.au

Ingredients:

4 ½ cups of plain flour
½ cup caster sugar
3 x 7g packet dry yeast
pinch of salt
¾ cup warm milk
220g butter (melted)
3 eggs (lightly whisked)
oil for frying

3 tsp ground cinnamon
2 – 3 Tbsp of caster sugar or regular white sugar

Method:

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, yeast and pinch of salt. Make a well in the centre and add milk, melted butter and eggs. Mix until combined.
On a lightly floured surface, begin to knead the dough until smooth. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover. Leave to prove in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Punch down the dough with your fingertips and knead the dough again on a lightly floured surface until smooth (about 2 minutes or so).
With a rolling-pin, roll the dough flat to about 1cm thick. Use a big round cookie cutter (6 or 8cm) to cut out discs and a small round cookie cutter (2 or 4cm) to cut out the inner circles. Leave to rest for about 10 minutes.
Half fill a deep frying pan with oil and heat to a medium heat. Once oil is hot, place 2-3 donuts in the hot pan and cook donuts 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Transfer to a paper towel to drain excess oil.
Combine 3 tsp of ground cinnamon and 2 – 3 Tbsp of caster/regular white sugar on a plate. Lightly coat donuts with the cinnamon sugar.

Notes:

Ensure that the milk (when adding into the flour, yeast, sugar and salt) is not hot otherwise it will kill the yeast. Make sure it’s warm.
You can test if the oil is ready by dipping the end of a wooden spoon into the oil and if there are plenty of bubbles that form around it, then it’s ready.
Don’t throw out the donut centres (or donut holes). Fry them along with the regular donuts for bite size treats for the kids.
Don’t throw away the left over bits of un-used dough. You can roll them again, flatten and cut out to make more donuts.
Experiment with different shaped cookie cutters for fun looking donuts, eg. flower, heart, star. Great for children’s party.

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Meatballs & Risoni in Tomato Soup {Recipe}

May 3, 2013Beef, Soupblogger, food, meatballs, muchamunch, pasta, recipe, risoni, soup, sydney, winterMJyummymunch

A few weeks ago, my husband was asked by his work colleague if he’s ever tried risoni pasta. Like myself, my husband is a bit of a foodie. He doesn’t cook but he comes up with great recipe ideas and I do the cooking. We like to eat out and watch cooking shows for inspiration. We like trying new things and risoni is something we’ve never had before. Never seen it or even heard of it. So when asked, naturally the answer was no.

Curiosity got the better of me so I looked it up. It looks like a crossover of rice and short pasta. A little bit bigger than a grain of rice with the texture of pasta when cooked. It’s mostly used for soup but can also be used for salads or casseroles.

We were going to check it out on the pasta aisle while grocery shopping but my hubby’s colleague was kind enough to give us a box .

I decided to use it for soup which is perfect since it’s starting to get cold here. I cooked the pasta first but I later found out that it wasn’t necessary to cook it first as I could have added it into the saucepan 10 minutes before the soup has finished cooking.

I used the same ingredients for this soup as what I would use for a spaghetti bolognese. For the tomato based pasta sauce, I use Paul Newman’s Homestyle Bolognese sauce which is my favourite but of course you can use your favourite too or even make your own if you wish.

The meatballs used in this recipe are ready-made but you can make your own if you like. I just like to take shortcuts sometimes.

Meatballs & Risoni in Tomato Soup – serves 4

Ingredients:

600g beef meatballs
100g risoni pasta
400g tomato based pasta sauce (bolognese, napolitana, etc)
3-4 cups water (or vegetable or chicken stock)
1 large carrot (diced)
1 onion (diced)
1 clove garlic (crushed)
1 Tbsp oregano
1 Tbsp dried tarragon
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying

Method:

Bring a pot of water to boil (about 1L), add pinch of salt then throw in the risoni pasta. Cook for about 10-11 minutes. Then drain.
In a hot pan, sauté the carrots and onions. Once onions have become transparent, add the garlic and continue to cook until the garlic has browned. Remove from pan and set aside.
Add the meatballs to the hot pan (add more oil if need be) and cook until browned all over. Place back the carrots, onions and garlic into the pan and add your tomato based sauce, water or stock, oregano and tarragon. Stir and cover. Leave to simmer for about 5 minutes.
Stir in cooked risoni and salt & pepper (to taste). Lower heat and leave for another 5 minutes.
Serve hot.

You can add more vegetables to this soup but I wanted to make a quick and easy meal on the day hence why I only had carrots and onions. I also like a thicker consistency to my soup. Still, my little picky eater (Miss A) loved it. This soup is fragrant, flavoursome and hearty – perfect comfort food for the cooler months ahead.

Have a fantastic weekend.

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Say Thanks to Mum this Mother’s Day with High Tea

May 1, 2013Afternoon Tea, Baking, Cupcakes, Morning Tea, Mother's Dayblogger, day, dilmah, food, high, mother's, muchamunch, recipe, sydney, teaMJyummymunch

Information and recipes below from Dilmah and Horizon Communication Group.

With Mother’s Day just around the corner (Sunday, 12th May) we are all racking our brains to think of ways to spoil our mums.

There is no better way to say thank you than spending some good quality time with your mum over a cup of tea and some homemade treats. Dilmah has put together a couple of recipes to help you get started on your Mother’s Day thank you feast.

And if you enjoy creating tea infused treats, Dilmah’s ‘Real High Tea Challenge’ 2013 is now on. Using Dilmah’s finest selection of products, chefs and tea enthusiasts in Australia can enter the competition by creating a tea infused culinary masterpiece. Entries close 20th May 2013. For more information, visit www.realhightea.dilmahtea.com.

Recipe’s below for Gourmet Series Earl Grey Scones and Berry Sensation Tea Jam and White Chocolate Rose and French Vanilla Cupcakes (from Dilmah’s website).

Gourmet Series Earl Grey Scones and Berry Sensation Tea Jam

Scones

Ingredients:

500g self-raising flour
1 egg
50g caster sugar
60g butter
200ml Dilmah Earl Grey brewed tea
50ml milk

Method:

1. Mix well all the ingredients together, roll in to 1 inch thickness and use round cutter to obtain scones shape, brush with milk and dust with bit a caster sugar.

2. Bake at 180°c for 12 minutes.

Jam

Ingredients:

500g berries
1 lemon, juiced
500g caster sugar
120ml strong brewed Dilmah Exceptional Berry Sensation tea
1 packet fruit pectin

Method:

Brew 4 Berry Sensation tea bags in 1 litre of water and reduce it to 120ml.
Add all the ingredients and simmer for 1 1/2 hour. Pour into sterilised jar.

White Chocolate Rose and French Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients:

300 g chocolate
200 g butter
250 ml milk
165 g caster sugar
2 tspn Vanilla
2 x large eggs 59grams lightly beaten
100 g self-raising flour
150 g plain flour
10-15 Dilmah Exceptional Rose with French Vanilla tea bags with the tags cut off and tied in bunches of five

Method:

1. Put chocolate, butter, milk and sugar in a med pan on low heat. Stir frequently. When the butter is nearly melted, add the tea bags and push them into the chocolate mix. Leave the mix to cool for 15 minutes. Stir the mix every few minutes. Squeeze the teabags with a teabag squeezer a few times. When 15 minutes are up, extract as much from the teabags as you can by squeezing. Stir through. The mixture should be a pale tan colour.

2. Add vanilla and eggs to the chocolate mix and stir until combined. Sift both types of flour into a med bowl. Add one cup of chocolate mix to the flour, stir until it forms a paste. Repeat with half of the chocolate mix, stir then finish with the last of the chocolate mix. Stir until smooth.

3. Dollop out using a quarter cup measure for each cupcake. Bake at 160-165°C for 17 minutes.

4. When the cakes are cooked through, remove from the tray immediately. Cover with a clean tea- towel and leave to cool on a wire tray.

White chocolate icing

Ingredients:

200 g of white chocolate
1 tbsp of butter/margarine
400 g of icing sugar
milk

Method:

1. Melt 200grams of white chocolate in microwave with 1 tablespoon of butter or margarine for 35 seconds. Stir until smooth. If chocolate hasn’t melted, microwave in bursts of 10 seconds.

2. Place in a med bowl and add 400 grams of icing sugar. Beat with an electric beater and add milk, a small amount at a time, until it becomes the consistency of meringue.

3. Pipe a small amount onto the cooled cupcakes and decorate.

4. Cupcakes can last up to 1 week in an airtight container and suitable for freezing.

5. Icing can be adjusted to suit the taste, more or less butter and chocolate.

~~~~~~~~

Much a Munch is not affiliated with Dilmah or Horizon Communication Group. Above recipes, images and Real High Tea event information were provided to Much a Munch by Horizon Communication Group for a guest post. For more information, visit their website on www.realhightea.dilmahtea.com and www.horizoncommunication.com.au.

Banana Cupcakes with Cinnamon & Maple Syrup Buttercream

April 23, 2013Afternoon Tea, Baking, Cupcakes, Dessert, Morning Teabanana, bananas, blogger, buttercream, cinnamon, cupcakes, food, maple, muchamunch, recipe, sydney, syrupMJyummymunch

Hi everyone, hope you all had a nice weekend. I’m a little bit under the weather. Have been nursing an aching back for the last week and a half so just a quick recipe post today for all you nice people.

I came across these banana cupcake photos in my laptop which I made a while ago and realised I never got the chance to post the recipe. Hope you enjoy these.

Banana Cupcakes with Cinnamon & Maple Syrup Buttercream – makes 12

Ingredients (Cupcake):

1 ½ cups plain flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 medium ripe bananas (mashed)
1/3 cup milk
2 eggs
1 Tbsp butter (melted)
1 tsp vanilla essence

Ingredients (Buttercream):

125g butter (softened)
1 ½ cups icing sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp maple syrup

Method (cupcake):

Pre-heat oven to 180ºC. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
Place dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar) in a large bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine mashed bananas, milk, eggs, butter and vanilla essence. Mix well.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until combined (do not over mix).
Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until skewer inserted in centre comes out clean.
Transfer cupcakes onto wire rack to cool.

Method (buttercream):

Using a stand mixer or hand-held mixer, beat butter until pale (about 4 minutes on high-speed).
Gradually add icing sugar in small quantities and continue to beat on medium to high-speed until buttercream becomes fluffy.
Add cinnamon and maple syrup and beat until incorporated.
Pipe or spread buttercream onto cooled cupcakes.

I came across another old recipe which I will post next week. In the meantime, I’m off to put my feet up and rest my achy breaky back Have a good week everyone.