Pho Ga - Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup

I probably shouldn't tell you that I've been meaning to make this dish for almost two years, because then you would know two things about me. One - there are that many recipes that I am dying to make and have only just gotten to this one, which I admit is a little scary. Am I that food obsessed? And secondly that I am that good at procrastinating. How many times have I cooked the same boring thing when I could have been making fabulous Pho? Now that I've made it I'm a bit disappointed I didn't tackle this one sooner. I thought it was going to be this big elaborate evening in the kitchen and it was quite the contrary. 

I actually made this dish in a matter of minutes, but that's my style. I do a million things at once and manage to do them with extraordinary speed. Should I slow down sometimes? Yes. Do I know this, but generally disregard it? Unfortunately.  I'm a serial multi-tasker that speeds around the kitchen at a million miles an hour with little regard for the mess that I'm making. But I will say that I do make pretty darn good food most of the time, so I'm going to keep on cooking, baking and whizzing around. This is the place where I stop and smell the roses. The time when I reflect on the food I've made, the mess I've created and the memories along the way. So please indulge me in the pleasure of sharing my favorites foods to cook, as well as the naughty nibbles I bake along the way. 

What you'll need:  

• 1 package rice vermicelli
• 1 litre chicken broth
• 2 cm sliced ginger
• 1 pod cardamon
• 2 star Anise
• 1 cinnamon Stick
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 Tbs Palm Sugar
• fish sauce to taste 
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• For the garnishing:
• bean sprouts
• fresh basil leaves
• fresh coriander leaves
• fried shallots
• sliced green chillies
• lemon wedges

How to make it: 

1. Put the chicken broth in a pot. Add the ginger, cardamon, garlic, star anise, cinnamon stick, chicken breasts and bring to a boil. Remove the chicken breasts when they're cooked, slice the meat and set aside.
2. Strain the broth and simmer on low heat for another 10 minutes. Add the chopped green onions and season with palm sugar and  fish sauce.
3. Bring the broth to a boil and add the vermicelli noodles. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until barely soft, keeping in mind they will continue to cook.
4. Divide the noodles amongst individual bowls. Ladle the soup over it and top with sliced chicken and the garnishing.  Serve piping hot.

Matar Paneer

There's something incredibly satisfying about mastering your favorite dish that you order when you go out to dinner. My personal favorite in Saag Paneer. The creamy spinach, subtle combination of Indian spices and the firm paneer makes this dish my all time favorite. I'm not much of a fan of cottage cheese, but I strangely love paneer. I can't tell you why, considering its basically the same thing. This recipe is extremely similar to saag panner, so mastering it has been such an accomplishment. I've been searching for a recipe for years, and i've come across many elaborate recipes that call for all sorts of complicated steps, so when I came across a simple weeknight version I was so happy. While the ingredient list may look daunting, the simple instructions more than make up for it. This dish was so good that I made it a second time this week and doubled the recipe so I could have leftovers to eat at work over the next week. I hope you enjoy mastering this friendly Indian recipe and spread the Indian love.

recipe adapted from Christie's Corner



Ingredients:

1/4 cup canola oil
2 large onions, minced
2 Tbsp garlic, grated
2 Tbsp gingerroot, grated
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
1 Tbsp garam masala
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
1 cup paneer, cubed
2 cups peas, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup full cream milk

Directions:

1. Chop the onions.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the oil then onions, and sauté until dark golden brown.
3. Add the garlic and ginger, reduce the heat to medium, and cook for three minutes.

4. Add the tomato paste and cumin seeds and cook for one minute.

5. Reduce the heat to low, add the garam masala, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, turmeric, and salt, and cook for five minutes.

6. Add the paneer and cook another 5-8 minutes.

7. Add the peas, yogurt and cream. Cook for five minutes or until the peas are just cooked.

8. Sprinkled with fresh cilantro. Serve over rice or with pappadaums, or both!

Almond Meal Carrot Cake- Gluten and Sugar Free!

Im usually pretty go about going outside of my comfort zone when i'm cooking. I'll try just about any recipe, whether its Thai, Indian or French, bring it. But I think that's because i'm in the comfort of my own kitchen and the worst possible outcome is a tasteless Indian curry or burnt pastries. However when it comes to activities outside of the kitchen I often need a little push to help me get the motivation to venture out of my normal routine.

On Monday I took a step outside my little bubble and decided to cover a shift at Lululemon in Bondi (for everyone not living in Syndey thats a long way from home for me). There were a number of things that initially made me weary- new people, new store, conquering public transport there? Needless to say, I know you all guessed it. I rocked it, I arrived thirty minutes early for my shift and sent a text saying that I made public transport my B@t@%! Sorry for he language but it was necessary.

The shift was awesome, the people were beyond friendly and one of the other educators brought this carrot cake in for us to try. So not only did I have an awesome day, but I found a new recipe. What's more is that it's a flour-less (and sugarless) carrot cake using almond meal, which apparently is all the rage because of the added protein. You get the benefits and nutrition of almonds without all the fats. Yes i'm well aware that they are healthy oils and fats, but those fats pack a lot of calories... just something to think about.

Anyways this cake was the bomb. I mean freaking incredible. I found myself asking an almost total stranger if I could have seconds. I didn't want to sound greedy, but man I wanted more. The recipe she gave me called for stevia, but I opted to add a few extra dates and use agave instead. I think it worked out quite well. I'm stoked with what a simple, natural delicious recipe this is and hope you enjoy it half as much I did.

Lastly a shout out to the Saha Space, what a wonderful blog

Ingredients:
3 C. Almond Meal
12 Dates (chopped and soaked in boiling water)
1/2 C. Agave (depending on how sweet you would like your bread)
3 Large carrots
1 Tsp. Baking powder
1 Tsp. Nutmeg
1 1/2 Tbs. Cinnamon
3 Eggs
1/2 C. Chopped Walnuts (Optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 160 Celsius or 320 Fahrenheit

1. Chop the dates and soak them in 1/4 cup of boiling water.
2. Grate the carrots into a mixing bowl.

3. Add the baking soda, nutmeg cinnamon, eggs, and dates. Mix thoroughly.

4. Measure and add the almond meal. Mix thoroughly.

5. Grease a bread loaf pan, or muffin tin and spoon the thick batter into it.

6. Bake for approximately one hour or until a knife comes out clean.

Black Bean Brownies

The aftermath of a 'taste'

I don't even have a good picture of these brownies. Want to know why? Because I ate them ALL before I could even get a decent photo. I was telling my coworkers the other day about these incredible brownies, and I even admitted that I was going to bring some in for everyone to try. I honestly had every intention of doing that, I swear. But I had a 'little' taste to make sure they were good, I was so curious. I mean black bean brownies... I was skeptical. Well needless to say one little taste turned into a third of the brownies. About an hour later Stu came home, laughed at me for eating so much and took a little taste for himself. Twenty minutes later another third of the brownies were gone. Ill fast forward to the evening and make a long story short, we finished them all! There its all out in the open, we ate an entire batch of brownies in one evening.

Ingredients:

1 Can of Black Beans
3 Eggs ( 2 whole eggs, 1 egg white)
2 Tbs. Canola oil
1/4 C. Dark cocoa powder
2/3 C. agave or honey
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
1/4. Coffee (either brewed or 2 tsp instant coffee powder)
1/2 C. Dark baking chocolate (either chips or a chopped up block)

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 180 Celsius.
2. Rinse the black beans in a strainer and pour them into a bowl.

3. Using a fork, mash the beans until they reach a smooth consistency, it will take a solid 5 minutes, but this is where the fudgey consistency comes from- so do it!
4. Add the 2 whole eggs, separate the egg and yolk of the third and add the egg white.

5. Add the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the dark chocolate chunks.

6. Mix thoroughly.
7. Add the dark chocolate chunks and fold them lightly into the batter.

8. Grease a small baking pan with pam, oil or butter.
9. Pour the brownie batter into the pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

10. Wait for them to cool completely before 'tasting' them, be prepared to have seconds.

Enjoy!

Spiced Butternut Pumpkin Tagine

I wanna go. Where you ask, well Morroco of course! But I can't right now, so instead were taking a journey there in my one bedroom apartment. If you close your eyes and try really really hard you can almost imagine your in a busy street of Marrakech. Ok well not quite, but the aroma coming from my oven is as close as i've ever gotten and the complexity of the flavors of this tagine are unlike any thai or indian curry i've ever tasted. Somehow this savory dish dances on notes of cinnamon and honey, while the earthy tone of the toasted almonds and cous cous bring you back down to earth.

 Now I know not everyone has a tagine, but you should definitely try this dish anyways. I would recommend using a tall baking dish with lid. Enjoy!


Ingredients:
1/2 Butternut pumpkin
2 Tbs. Olive oil
1 Onion
3-4 Threads of Saffron
3 tsp. Cumin
1 tsp. Ginger
2 tsp. Paprika
2 tsp. Coriander seeds
2 Cans of tomatoes or 1 large tin
2 Red or Green chiles
1 Cinnamon stick or 2 tsp. Cinnamon
1 C. Water
Toasted almonds and coriander to garnish

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 Degrees Fahrenheit or 180 degrees Celsius

2. Chop the Pumpkin into one inch cubes.

3. Cut the chile length wise, deseed and chop finely.

4. Chop the onion.
5.  Add the olive oil to the pan and saute the onion, then add the dry spices.

7. Add the onion spice mixture to the tagine, then the pumpkin.
8. Open a large can of tomatoes and pour over the tagine.

9. Add the honey to the tagine.

10. Cover with the lid.

11. Cook for one hour for until the pumpkin is soft.
12. Garnish with toasted almonds and coriander.
13. Serve over cous cous or any other grain you prefer.

Cinnamon Sugar Roasted Chickpeas

How often do you cook or bake a snack? I have a folder in my bookmarks for baking, dinner, sweets, bread and breakfast, but its just not that common to have a recipe for a snack. Well I finally found one, and now I have a folder named 'snacks.' You go chickpeas! I've seen roasted chickpeas in the health food aisle at the market, but they seem to be plain roasted chickpeas for an obscene price. Not happening.

I'm a grazer, you know a seed munching, cracker snacking, peanut butter dipping, grape picking eater. Three meals a day just doesn't cut it for me.  I need to graze, and frankly I get a little bored with your typical 'healthy' snacks. These chickpeas are a great alternative, almost a breath of fresh air. They are packed with protein and have fewer calories than nuts. Plus, you can use a dozen different spices to roast these chickpeas and come up with dozens of flavor combinations. Personally cinnamon sugar is my favorite, but I also tried garam masala and it was pretty darn good. Let me know what flavor combinations you come up with!

Ingredients:
1 can of chickpeas
1 tbs. Cinnamon
2 tbs. Canola oil
2 tbs. Brown sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit or 180 degrees celsius.
2. Pour the chickpeas into a strainer and rinse the chickpeas.

3. In a large bowl measure out the cinnamon, brown sugar and oil. Mix thoroughly.

4.  Add the chickpeas to the bowl and coat evenly with the cinnamon oil mixture.

5. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or baking paper.
6. Spread the chickpeas out onto the pan and place in the oven.

7. Bake for about 45 minutes, stir occasionally to ensure they roast evenly.

Bahama Mama Key Lime Pie

I'll warn you in advance, this isn't one of those healthy posts. It's really one of those recipes thats darn right sinful. Its the kind of recipe to keep in your bag of tricks. I pulled this one out for my boyfriends grandmother's birthday, she loved it. Thats a win win in my book.

I can't remember the last time I made this, for a bake sale when I was ten perhaps? The only distinct memory I have is of my mother making this pie for every single dinner party ever thrown. It was her signature, and let me tell you no one ever complained about the pie's repeat performance. The pie is actually pretty easy to make, honestly its hard to mess it up. It gets even easier if your super lazy and buy a pre-made graham cracker crust. Unfortunately for me, not only do they not sell pre-made graham cracker crust down here, they don't even sell graham crackers period! Oh well, I found Digestives and a pinch of cinnamon make a pretty good substitute. I definitely recommend some fresh whipped cream or ice cream with this one!

* note: this recipe requires overnight refrigeration to set, so plan to make it in advance

Ingredients:

For the filling
1 Can sweetened condensed milk
5 Limes
2 Egg yolks

For the Crust
1 stick or 125 grams Butter
1 1/2 C. Crushed Graham crackers or digestives plus a tsp of cinnamon
1/4 C. Sugar

zester or cheese grater
spring form pan

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit or 170 Degrees celsius.
2. Using a fork, and maybe even your hands, crush the digestives into a crumble. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of crumble into a large bowl.

3. Add the butter and sugar to the crumble and mix thoroughly.

4. Pour the crumble into a spring form pan and press the mixture down. Try and spread the crumble evenly and build the crumble up on the sides to form a crust.

5. Bake the pie for 5 - 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.
6. Using a zester or the fine edge of a cheese grater, zest the 5 limes. These should yield about 2 teaspoons of zest, but more is okay, set aside.

7. Using the palm of your hands roll the limes on a hard, flat surface, this little trick will help you get more juice out of the limes.
8. Cut the limes in half and squeeze the juice from the limes. The limes should yield about 1/2 a cup of juice.

9.Separate the egg whites from the yolks, this recipe will not use the whites. Place the yolks in a large bowl.

10. Pour the sweetened condensed milk into the bowl with the yolks.

11. Add the lime zest to the egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk mixture.

12. Slowly mix in the lime juice.

13. Pour the mixture into the pre-baked crust.

14. Bake for 15 minutes.
15. Wait for the pie to cool to room temperature, then place in the fridge overnight to set.