Bistro Pepper Steak with Fries

I have never cooked a steak before and came across this recipe which looked pretty easy to make and decided to give it a shot.
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The recipe's pretty idiot proof.
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Ingredients:-
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups (375ml) beef/chicken stock
- 1kg frozen potato fries
- 2 tbsps peppercorn medley
- 4 beef fillet steaks (600g)
- 1/3 cup (80ml) thickened cream
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1. Prepare the fries according to instructions
2. Meanwhile, place pepper and salt in shallow dish; press onto both sides of steaks.
3. Heat oil in a large frying pan; cook steaks until browned on both sides and cooked as desired.
4. Remove from pan; cover to keep warm
5. Add stock to pan; simmer, uncovered, until reduced by half. Stir in cream.
6. Serve steaks with sauce and chips. You can also steam some fresh vegetables like french beans and carrots like what I did.
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See....not difficult right?
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Just a note, I will suggest that you at least slice a few lines across your steaks. It cooks faster.
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Have fun!!!!

Chicken & Mushroom Pilau

Ok, I'm getting back into the cooking mood and am beginning to get a bit adventurous. Went to the supermarket over the weekend to buy some ingredients to try out some new recipes for the week.

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Hopefully, I'll get to try out all 3 new recipes. Tried one today but in hubby's opinion, it wasn't really his cup of tea or his tastebuds, to be exact. I think it was alright. Nevertheless, I still decided to share the recipe because it may entice some of you who follow my recipe blog....

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Ingredients:-

- 300g (1 1/2 cups) basmati rice

- 2 tbsps oil

- 1 large onion, chopped

- 3-4 garlic cloves, crushed

- 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger

- 500g chicken tenderloin fillets, trimmed and cut into small pieces

- 300g Swiss brown mushrooms

- 90g (3/4 cup) slivered almonds, toasted

- 1 1/2-2 tsps garam masala

- 125g (1/2 cup) plain yoghurt

- 1 tbsp finely chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves, plus extra for garnishing

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1. Rinse the rice under cold water until the water runs clear. Drain and leave for 30 min.

2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and stir in the onion, garlic and ginger. Cook, covered for 5 mins; or until the onion is browned.

3. Increase the heat to high, add the chicken and cook, stirring for 3-4 mins, or until the chicken is lightly browned.

4. Stir in the mushrooms, almonds and garam masala. Cook covered for 3 mins or until mushrooms are soft.

5. Remove the lid and cook, stirring for 2 mins or until the liquid evaporates. Remove the chicken pieces from the pan.

6. Add the rice to the pan and stir for 30 seconds or until well coated in the mushroom and onion mixture.

7. Pour in 375ml (1 1/2 cups) water and bring to the boil, stirring frequently to prevent the ingredients catching on the bottom of the pan. Cook for 2mins, or until most of the water has evaporated.

8. Return the chicken to the pan, reduce the heat to low and steam, covered for 15 mins or until the rice is cooked.

9. Meanwhile, combine the yoghurt and chopped coriander in a small bowl. Fluff the rice with a fork then divide among serving bowls. Top with a dollop of the yoghurt mixture and garnish with coriander leaves.

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There we go....the whole works..... In my opinion, it tasted quite alright but like I said, it may not be up to everyones tastebuds.....

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Tomato Fried Rice - Alina's Version

Caitlin apparently loves to eat fried rice. So, here's my simple version of a tomato fried rice. You may add wahtever else ingredients that you may like.

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Well, see.....looks quite delicious, doesn't it??

Anyway, here's the recipe..................
Ingredients:-
- 5 tbsps oil
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 4 tbsps tomato paste
- 500g cooked rice (best to used overnight rice or at least it's been cooked and cooled for more than 4 hours)
- 2 tsps salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 6 cloves garlic, chopped
- 200g prawns, deveined and shelled
- 300g chicken fillet, cubed
1. Heat 3 tbsps oil in a large wok. Scramble eggs and move to the side.
2. Add 1 tbsp oil. Fry paste, mix with eggs. Add rice, salt and pepper. Mix well and remove.
3. In the same pan, heat 1 tbsp oil, stir-fry garlic, prawns and chicken for about 3 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
4. Return the rice and fry for another minute and serve.
Voila!!!!! Here's the very simple fried rice which is quite idiot-proof.
Cheers.....

Honey Chicken

Here's the recipe of a dish I have previously tried but it's been a long time since I have tried....honey chicken!!!! Yummy, right??? It is indeed and the recipe isn't difficult to be executed.......
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Ingredients:-

- 1kg boned chicken breasts, skin on
- 2 1/2 tbsps cornflour (cornstarch)
- 125g (1 cup) self raising flour
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- peanut oil for deep frying plus 1 tbsp for stir frying
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 3x2 cm piece fresh ginger, finely chopped or you could sliced it
- 4 tbsps honey
- 2 spring onions (scallions), thinly sliced on the diagonal, to garnish
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1. Cut the chicken into small bite-sized pieces and put them in a bowl with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the cornflour. Shake to coat well, then leave for 10 minutes.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the flour and with 310ml (1 1/4 cups) cold water until you have a loose batter.
3. Fill a wok with enough oil to deep-fry the chicken pieces.
4. Dip the chicken in the batter, allowing the excess to drip off. Fry the chicken in batches until crisp and golden. Drain on paper towel.
5. Mix soy sauce and remaining cornflour in a small bowl.
6. Drain the oil from the wok and wipe the wok clean.
7. Heat remaining oil, add ginger and stir-fry for 1 minute.
8. Add honey and when it is heated through, add chicken pieces and coat well.
9. Stir the soy and cornflour mixture and cook for 1 minute.
10. Pile into a bowl and garnish with the spring onion. (well, I actually didn't bother)
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Ta da!!!!!
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Butter Cake

For those of you who know me quite well, know that I'm a dessert person. So, I can never seem to be like those model slim girls and am generally on the....what call?? Voluptuous side??? Heheheheh....

Anyway, I have made Chinese New Year cookies before but have never tried making a cake and I thought making a simple cake like a butter cake would be a good start.

The last time I made cookies, the batter were all hand mixed and believe you me, it can be quite tiring. So, 2 weeks ago, I decided to invest in a cheap mixer to give making a cake a shot and of course, to make Yuli and my life much easier in mixing cookie batters. Hhehehehehehehe.....

Anyway, here's the recipe.

Ingredients:-
- 250g butter or 1 block
- 250g self raising flour, sifted
- 170g castor sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tsps of vanilla essence
- about 6 tbsps of milk
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1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Line a cake tin of about 8 inches in diameter or you may use butter to grease the tin all over and dust some flour over it. This is to prevent the cake from sticking onto the baking tin. Please remember to shake off the leftover flour.
3. In a mixer, beat butter and castor sugar until white and fluffy.
4. Add in eggs one at a time, alternating with the flour.
5. Add vanilla essence to milk and mix in.
6. Ensure the consistency of the batter that it has dropping consistency and it does not stand hard. If it does, please add a little more milk.
7. Pour into baking tin and bake for about 20-30 mins.
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##NOTE##
- I did NOT use the oven fan as I remembered my mom telling me once that the cake will be very dry.
- When filling up the baking tin, please only fill up to a little less than half of the height of the baking tin or else your cake will burn and crack. (which mine did!!!!!)
- Bake twice if you have to or make into some cupcakes
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Anyway, here is my cake. Surprisingly the inside of my cake tasted really yummy and soft. Very well mixed. Yuli scraped off the burnt top and sliced the cake to put into a container. Other than that, it was a easy recipe to make.



Doesn't look that bad, right???
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Stir Fry Chilli Lala

Here is one of my personal favourites. Not something that I got from any recipe book. Just my own concoction. I've always been crazy over lala, so I decided to dabble on this recipe some time back and since I've more or less perfected it, I've now decided to share this recipe with you....
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So, here it goes.....






Looks yummy, right?
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Ingredients:-
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- 500g to 800g fresh lala
- 5 cloves garlic, diced
- handful of dried shrimps
- 2 tbsps chilli paste (it also depends how spicy the chilli paste is or how spicy you want it to be)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 cup water
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1. Wash the lala properly and throw out those closed lala. Do not force open the lala.
2. Heat up oil in a large wok.
3. When oil is hot, throw in the dried shrimps and stir fry till you smell the aroma.
4. Add in the garlic and stir, followed by the chilli paste. Stir for about 1-2 minutes.
5. Pour half of the water into the chilli paste mixture.
6. Add lala and stir fry till lala is cooked through. The shells should start turning a bit pinkish.
7. Add salt and sugar; and continue to stir. Ensure that the chilli paste is mixed well with the lala.
8. Add the remaining water and continue to stir fry for another 1 minute.
9. Serve.
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See??? Not difficult, right? Even Caitlin tried the lala. She didn't think it was spicy from the looks of it. She was enjoying it....hubby and I were worried she was trying to eat the shells as well!!!! And she had real fun spooning the lala onto hubby's plate......



Anyway, I hope you do try this recipe out and I do hope you like it as much as I do.....
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Cheerios!!!
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Italian Roast Chicken with Vegetables

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As you all know, I have gone MIA for a while and have hardly had the time to cook and am now trying to get back into experimenting new stuff again. Anyway, I came across this recipe and thought I should just give it a shot since it didn't look very complicating and seemed pretty healthy as well.
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Anyway, it turned out well and tasted really yummy. Hubby felt that the chicken was a bit bland because I didn't marinate it....well, first the recipe didn't require marinating and secondly, sometimes having it a little bland is good for the health. Moreover, the juice from the roasting was tasty enough for me.
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Here's the recipe.....
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Ingredients: -
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- 4 chicken breast fillets
- 4 thin slices rindless turkey bacon (I used beef bacon as it's not easy to find turkey bacon)
- 500g cherry tomatoes
- 2 medium (400g) red capsicums, cut into thick strips
- 250g baby potatoes, thinly sliced (you may use regular potatoes)
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced or diced
- 1/4 cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
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1. Preheat oven to 240 degrees/220 degrees Celsius; fan forced
2. Wrap each chicken breast with a piece of bacon. If the chicken fillet is too large, you can always slice them to smaller fillets
3. Combine tomatoes, capsicum, potatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper in a large, shallow baking dish; mix well.
4.Push the vegetables to the sides of the baking dish and place chicken in the centre dish, turn to coat in the oil from the dish
5. Bake, uncovered for about 20 minutes.
6. Turn the chicken from the bottom, facing the top and bake for another 10-15 minutes.
7. Add parsley to vegetables.
8. Serve.
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Voila!!!! A delicious simple meal. You may want to make some soup to go along with this dish.....
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Home Made Beef Burger Patties

Hubby and I love burgers and we only get to eat them if we buy them or have them at restaurants. Sometimes, just for a quick fix, we'll just get the typical 'Ramli' burger which is a famously sold at almost every nook & corner in the country.

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Then, I came across this recipe of home made burger patties and thought....this would be much healthier and a nice change for dinner.

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So, here's the recipe that I wanted to share. My apologies for not updating anyting lately as life been really hectic for me for the last month or so......

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Ingredients:-

- 500g lean mince beef

- 1 cup breadcrumbs

- 1 onion, chopped finely

- 2 tbsps chopped parsley

- 1 egg yolk

- 2 tbsps smoked hickory BBQ sauce

- 1 tsp fine salt

- 2 tsps grated black pepper

- 1 tbsp oil

- burger buns to serve

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1. In a large bowl, combine beef, breadcrumbs, onion, parsley, egg yolk, BBQ sauce and salt & pepper. Mix well and shape into patties.

2. Heat oil in a Grill Frypan over a medium-high fire.

3. Grill burgers for 4 mins on side or until cooked.

4. Serve hot with burger buns.

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You made add it with some fries on the side. I also added to the burger bacon slice with lettuce and tomato slices and believe me; it tasted really yummy!!!!

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Enjoy........

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Steam Savoury Egg Custard with Mince Meat

A dish I made this evening for dinner. A simple dish to make and always taste yummy.

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You may not want to add the fried garlic onto the egg custard if you're not much of a garlic fan. My hubby doesn't like it with garlic. So, this is aboslutely an optional choice for you.

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Here's the recipe.....

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Ingredients:-
- 3 eggs
- 3 tbsps of minced meat (marinated with 1 tsp of concentrated chicken stock, a dash of pepper and 1 tsp of sesame seed oil)
- 200ml water
- Salt and pepper
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Topping:-
- 2 tbsps oil
- 2 tbsps chopped garlic
- 50ml water
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsps soy sauce
- 2 tbsps sliced spring onions
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1) In a heatproof dish, beat the eggs with water, salt, pepper and minced meat until thoroughly mixed.
2) Prepare a wok / steamer for steaming
3) Bring water to boil, then turn down the flame to low
4) Steam the dish for 10-15 mins, or until eggs are set
5) Heat oil in a pan and add in chopped garlic to brown lightly.
6) Sprinkle the browned garlic on to the custard.
7) Then add soy sauce, water and sugar to the oil which is still in the pan
8) Bring to boil and pour over the custard.
9) Garnish with sliced spring onion.
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Ta da!!!!!

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Penne Pasta with Creamy Meat Sauce

I got hold of this recipe and decided to give it a shot. Turned out pretty well. It's more of a dry recipe and does not have much gravy. So, if you are a gravy person, this is not for you.....
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This dish serves 4.
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Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 medium carrot, shredded
- 1 rib celery, finely chopped
- 8 ounces ground beef (240g)
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 1/3 cup tomato paste
- 1 2/3 cups milk, divided
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp dried leaf oregano, crumbled
- 12 oz penne pasta (340g)
- 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
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1. In a large non-stick skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until softened.
2. Stir in shredded carrot, chopped celery, and 1/4 cup water; cook until vegetables are tender and liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes longer.
3. Stir in ground beef and cook until browned, about 4 minutes.
4. Add wine and cook until the liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes.
5. Stir in tomato paste, 2/3 cup of milk, salt, pepper and oregano, reduce heat and simmer, stirring frequently, until the milk has been absorbed.
6. Continue cooking until the sauce is thickened, gradually adding the remaining 1 cup of milk.
7. Cook until all has been absorbed, about 20 minutes longer.
8. Meanwhile, cook penne pasta in a large pot of boiling water until just tender; drain well.
9. Transfer sauce to a large serving bowl. Add the penne pasta and Parmesan cheese; toss penne pasta gently.
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Ta da!!! Not a difficult dish to prepare.....
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Enjoy.....
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