Pearl Barley Nasi Goreng

Nasi Goreng is an Indo Malay cuisine sometimes even referred to as a national dish of Indonesia. I absolutely love nasi goreng because it has a chilli bite to it. The version that you see in this picture looks like a typical nasi goreng dish, but if you look closely I have used the superfood pearl barley instead of rice and I also decided to add another superfood called dulse (seaweed) flakes. 

Now I will be honest I really don't like the taste of seaweed so in order to mask the flavour I braised the dulse flakes with onion and garlic. 

Ingredients: - 

Nasi Goreng Paste

1 Cup of Pearl barley soaked for atleast 3 - 4 hours prior to cooking and par boil for 10 - 15 mins 

Any veggies you like finely chopped

1 Tsp of Dulse flakes

1 Tsp of Garlic

1 Tsp chopped Chilli

1 Tsp crushed ginger

1 Brown Onion finely chopped

1/4 piece of a green pepper finely chopped 

Chopped shallots 

1 TBLS coconut oil 

Method: - 

Place a pan on to a medium heat, add the coconut oil to the pan and add the onions, garlic, chilli, ginger, shallots, dulse leaves and green pepper. Allow this to cook until slightly brown, add the nasi goreng paste, as much as you want, to add the depth and flavour that you like. Once the paste has cooked off add the par cooked pearl barley and allow to simmer for 10 - 15 minutes. If you like you could add an egg to complete the traditional nasi goreng dish. Serve with a spinkle of extra shallots and enjoy. Much love CC :) 

Chocolate Cheesecake - healthy style

As you have seen before, I love cheesecake but for some reason lately I have been wanting to try or rather find a cheaters version of cheesecake, just to cut down on some calories I guess. This purely happend through reading and experimenting and finally ending up with a product that is so damn delicious. 

My husband is not a fan of cacao nor does he like chia seeds, I happen to have used both in this recipe and he ate 3 of the 4 cheesecakes that you see in the picture above, so I think it is a winner. :) 

Ingredients: - ( Serves 4) Once again this is a raw recipe so all the products used were certified organic

For the cake 

1/2 Tin coconut cream 

1 TBLS Chia seeds (white or black) 

1 Cup of Coconut Sugar

2 Tsp of cacao powder 

For the base

1 Cup of peanut butter

1 Tsp of cacao powder 

Method: - 

Line a cupcake pan with cupcake tins. Whisk together the coconut cream, chia seeds, coconut sugar and cacao powder until a uniform mixture is formed. Leave it aside and prepare the base. Mix the peanut butter and cacao powder together and take about a tablespoon to press into the cupcake tins to form the base of the "cheesecake". Now pour over the mixture over the base and refrigerate for about 3 hours until the mixture has set. Serve with blueberries and strawberries. A little slice of heaven minus a lot of calories. Enjoy :) 

Chocolate Truffles - healthy, guilt free and completely satisfying

It was 4pm yesterday afternoon, when my sugar fix decided to kick in and all I could think of and feel for was Chocolate!!!!! Yes!!!!!!! Chocolate seems to be my weakness when I need something to pick me up quickly. So instead of giving into the chocolate and candy aisle in woolworths I decided to head back home and make something healthy but still give me that chocolate flavour. I bet many of you will like this recipe, I honestly think that if you gave this to your kid, they would not be able to tell the difference. Ofcourse they would have to like peanut butter and you will see why.... ;)

Ingredients: - 

I like to use certified organic products for when I make anything that is raw. So for this recipe all the ingredients I used were organic. This recipe would make about 10 - 15 small balls, you could freeze this until you are ready to use or keep refrigerated.  

1/2 cup Peanut butter or you could use Tahini preferably the unhulled version 

1 TBLS Coconut oil 

1 TBLS Cacao powder

10 - 15 Dates that have the pitt removed 

Coconut flakes to roll the balls in at the end

Method: - 

Place all the ingredients into a food processor and mix until the ingredients are well combined. Take about a Teaspoon of the mixture and roll into a ball. You could coat the outside using coconut flakes, or if you want to make this really special specifically to gift, my suggestion would be to roll in cacao powder. They look so professional and your friends and family will love this. 

Here is a pic below where I gifted some of the Chocolate Truffles as Christmas gifts. ENJOY Much love CC :) 

Tamari grilled fish with fried rice and alfresco salad

Tamari is probably my new favourite ingredient. I always see it in the supermarkets but never really had the opportunity to try a recipe with it, so I finally decided to give it a go and wow does it have some fantastic flavours. I paired it with the fried rice because I was actually craving rice on the day and I am so glad I fried the rice, because the tamari sauce and all the other ingredients combined together with the fried rice was a firecracker of flavour!!!!! So I am thrilled to share this with you all. 

Ingredients: - (serves 2) 

For the fish 

1 Red Chilli, finely sliced

1 bunch of bok choy

200g of white fish fillets a soft fish like barramundi (per person) 

2 TBLS tamari

2 TBLS coconut Oil

1 Garlic Clove, crushed

1inch of ginger, grated

2 tsp of manuka honey

handful of chopped coriander

lime wedges to serve 

For the rice

1 cup of basmati rice

1 Brown onion, finely chopped

1 cloved of garlic, crushed

1/2 green chilli, crushed

1 TBLS of coconut oil 

1 Tsp Tumeric 

For the afresco salad

 

2 Boiled potato's 

1 Carrot, finely chopped

1 Cup of corn 

Shallots, finely sliced

1 brown onion, finely chopped

Salt and pepper to taste 

Mayonnaise 

Method: - 

For the fish you need to marinate the fillets in all the above listed ingredients and refrigerate for approximately 30 minutes before cooking. My suggestion to cook them is place a piece of baking paper onto a baking tray, place the bok choy first then place the fillet of fish and drizzle over some of the marinade. You want to make parcels with the baking paper like in the picture below. You can keep them ready like this is the fridge until you are ready to bake the parcels. To bake them, ensure your oven is preheated at 200 degrees and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the fish is cooked through. 

For the rice: - 

Boil the rice as per instructions on the rice bag. Place a nonstick pan onto a medium heat, put in the coconut oil, onions and chilli garlic and fry this until the onions are slightly brown. Add the cooked rice and tumeric about a tsp. Let this fry until all the rice is covered in tumeric and slightly starts to stick at the bottom of the pan. Remove and place onto a serving board or platter. 

For the salad, simply mix all the ingredients together and place onto the serving platter. Once the fish fillets have cooked through, place them fillets ontop of the rice and pour the marinade over, you want the mariande to start to soak into the rice. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander and lime wedges. 

Serve and Enjoy!!! Much love CC :) 

 

Chilli Prawn Skewers with Quinoa Pilaf

I absolutely love eating prawns during the summer months. Not only is it a great source of protein but it is really filling and quite healthy to have when you pair it up with something like quinoa or steamed basmati rice. It is a light refreshing meal and I can guarantee that any fussy eaters will love the flavour combination that I have going on the prawns.

Ingredients: -  (Serves 3)

 

For the prawn Skewers 

(Don't forget to soak the skewers in water before you thread the prawns) 

500g prawns 

1/2 red chilli, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tsps of lime, finely grated

2 tsps of lime juice 

1 tsp of chopped coriander

1 TBLS of coconut oil

For the Pilaf 

3/4 cup quinoa (I used the mixed bag for this one) 

2 tsps coconut oil 

1 brown onion, finely sliced

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander powder

Any veggies that you would like to add, I used mushroom, asparagus and pumpkin for this dish 

Shallots and fresh coriander to garnish 

Method:  - 

Shell and devein the prawns, keep the tails on, as I find this helps keep the prawn from curling up during the cooking process. Combine the above listed ingredients and toss in the prawns. Let this marinade in the fridge for 30 mins to an hour. 

Once marinated thread the prawn onto the skewers and place onto a hot grill or into a preheated oven at 160 degrees for about 10 minutes. 

To make the pilaf

Wash the quinoa really well and place a pan onto the stove over a medium heat, put the coconut oil, garlic, onion, cumin and coriander powder and let this cook until the room is filled with the aroma of spices. Add the quinoa and 300ml of water and allow the quinoa to cook until soft. You can add the veggies with the quinoa so that they all soak up flavours simultaneously. This needs to cook for about 10 - 15 minutes. 

To serve, place the pilaf onto a serving platter and place the prawn skewers over the pilaf, serve immediately. Your family will love you for this gracious meal. Much love CC :) 

Halloween Party Ideas

Halloween Treats are so much fun to create and this year I have some special treats for all of you. This is a really simple and easy recipe to create and get the kids involved they love doing this sort of stuff. The bloody monster fingers and angry marshi's will complete your halloween party.... 

Now the monster fingers ofcourse are not for any faint hearted individuals who do not like the sight of blood, as they really do look like fingers that have been chopped off. BEWARE!!!!! Don't say I did not warn you..... 

What you will need for the Bloody Monster Fingers: - 

Hotdogs (I used vegetarian hotdogs for this recipe) 

Brown onion, cut into squares 

Tomato sauce

To put it all together you need to cut the hotdog in half. Using a knife create three horizontal lines at the top and bottom of the finger to create a crease like you see on your fingers :). Using the knife cut out a really thin square piece at the top of the nail to create a nail bed for the square cut out of onions. Now place alittle tomato sauce into the nail bed and press the onion square firmly onto it to create a "bleeding" nail. You could also dip the bottom ends into tomato sauce and place onto a platter with a layer of tomato sauce underneath so that it looks very realisitic and also quite scary!!!!!!

What you will need for the angry marshi's: -

Edible food pen to draw the faces

a bag of marshmellows (you could dip these in food colouring to create green or orange marshi's) 

Draw different faces onto the marshmellows and place in platter or scatter over the party table. Enjoy :) 

Diwali boxes 2014

Today I will not be sharing a recipe with you, but I thought I would share some of the pics of some of the tasty treats I created over the diwali season. This is why I have not blogged over the last couple of days, as I have been busy creating these beautiful treats for all the people who ordered diwali boxes from me. 

The Louis Vuitton and Versace cakes were both eggless cakes. The Louis Vuitton was a pink ombre cake covered with a two tone rose buttercream icing. 

The Chanel cupcakes, were actually burfi cupcakes, which is an indian sweetmeat. 

I really do not do very well when it comes to baking biscuits, but I was quite impressed when I made these button biscuits and stringed them together with a hemp cord and pegged a happy diwali tag on the top. 

The lollipops were coconut slice swirled together. Really tasty mind you and very addictive too. 

It truly gives me a lot of pleasure to create such beautiful foods. A lot more designer and customed than a traditional diwali box. Much love CC :) 

Home made Tagliatelle & Pasta Sauce

Mama Mia what do we have here?!?!?! This is a dish that I am still smiling about today. It was a huge achievement for me as I made the pasta from scratch. It was my birthday recently and my dear husband surprised me with some really expensive and gorgeous cooking equipment one of them being a pasta machine. So ofcourse I could not wait to use the machine and I am so glad that I did. I never realised how easy it is once you have a pasta machine, that it takes out all the hard work and effort of rolling and folding the dough. This is my homemade organic tagliatelle pasta and homemade organic sauce, which I am super excited to share with you all. This recipe is dedicated to my amazingly gorgeous and loving husband. 

Ingredients: - 

To make the pasta 

It is all dependent on how many people you are intending on feeding so for each person it is a 100g of wheat flour and one egg. I was feeding 2 on the day so 200g flour and 2 eggs. If you do not want to use eggs you can use a glass of natural mineral water (1 glass of water to replace 1 egg). DO NOT ADD SALT TO THE DOUGH. 

To make the pasta sauce

1 TBLS Olive Oil 

3 tomato's (blitz in a food processor with the skin on)

1 med to large brown onion, finely chopped

1 handful of curly parsley, finely chopped

2 Cloves of garlic (crushed) 

1 Tsp italian herbs 

1/2 red chilli crushed

2 Tsp tomato sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

250ml of thickened cream

1 Can of Tuna (optional) 

Method: - 

To make the pasta dough 

Combine the flour and eggs in a food processor until they resemble fine breadcrumbs. Tip the breadcrumbs onto a lightly floured board and combine together until you have a firm dough. I usually add about 1 Tablespoon of water to make the dough a little more pliable. This is the part that takes abit of elbow grease. So knead the dough until you have a silky textured dough, it will still be firm but you will feel it when it is silky. This takes time so be patient and stick with it. The reason for this is you want to get the gluten working in the dough to give you that al dente pasta otherwise you will end up with thick, chunky and not so tasty pasta. 

Cling wrap the dough and place in the fridge for approx 30 minutes (make the sauce during this waiting time). Once you remove the dough, I usually give it a quick knead again to make sure no crusty parts have formed on the outside and then slice into smaller pieces. Now the fun part, use your pasta machine, follow the instructions on the pasta machine manual as they tend to vary in terms of settings.

If you do not have a pasta machine, you will have to roll your dough, dust with flour and fold. You will have to repeat this process quite a few times until you have achieved the correct thickness to make your tagliatelle pasta.  

To make the sauce

During the waiting time while your dough is working hard at getting the gluten going, start with the sauce. Place a pan onto a medium heat. Add the olive oil, onions and parsley to the pan. Allow this to cook until the onions are translucent, add the crushed chilli and garlic and give it a stir. Add the tomato's, italian herbs, salt, pepper and allow to cook until the tomato's are completely cooked through. You will notice the tomato's turn slightly darker.  Add your tomato sauce,(if you want to add tuna add it now. I used tuna for this recipe as I wanted a balance of carbohydrate and protein) and half a tin of the thickened cream. Allow this to simmer for about 5 minutes until your sauce appears to have a thicker consistency. 

Once you have your sauce ready move it aside and get a pot of boiling water onto the stove to add your freshly made pasta. Don't forget to add a splash of olive oil to the boiling water and salt, this seasons your pasta and prevents the pasta from sticking together and becoming gluggy. Cook for approx 7 - 10 minutes until your pasta is al dente. 

Place the pasta into a serving bowl. Top with sauce, grate some pamersan cheese and crack over some black pepper. Garnish with some parsley and serve straight away. :) 

 

Delicious Watermelon Fruit Cake

The warm summer weather is upon us again this year in Australia and sometimes all you need to cool down is a great simple salad. Normally I would serve up a nice big bowl of summer fruit after dinner, but this year I decided I am going to make dessert time a celebration of fruit, with a festive fruit cake. I will be making a couple more over the season so watch this space for more images. 

All you need to make a cake this size is : - 

1/4 watermelon

1 pear

Punnet of strawberries, bluberries or raspberries (can use all 3 if you like) 

A melon baller to make the ball shapes

Cherries 

Grapes 

Lychee/Litchi 

Method: - 

Simply slice the watermelon in half and use the centre of the watermelon to cut out four even sized slices to form the base of the cake. Use the melon baller for the remainder of the watermelon to form balls and place ontop of the slices to create the cake toppings. I did not have berries with me on the day so I used a pear, but my ideal cake would have berries, grapes and any other seasonal fruit ontop as well. I will share more images as soon as I make more festive fruit cakes, just to show you what amazing stuff you can make with fruit. Ciao ciao :) 

Cajun Salmon with Carzoodle salad

I have always had cajun fish, but never have I tried a cajun spiced salmon. I have no idea why that is, but to me it makes perfect sense and the flavours are like a match made in heaven. Ofcourse making the cajun spice rub is pretty easy, but it does require quite a few ingredients. So what I like to do is make it in bulk, place in a jar and keep it ready to use at anytime. You can follow traditional cajun recipes where they would fry the coriander, cumin and fennel seeds until they start to pop and then grind them down to a fine powder. I did not follow the traditional method for this recipe but surprise surprise the flavours came out exactly the same. My advice would be save the time and mix the store bought powders together to create some smashing flavours. 

So here we go, what you will need: - (Serves 2) 

2 Tsp for all the below ingredients (combine together) 

Cumin powder

Coriander powder

sweet paprika

garlic salt

Italian Herbs

Salt

Pepper

Fennel Seeds 

cayenne pepper (pinch) 

You will also need: - 

2 Salmon fillets 

1 Lemon 

1 bunch asparagus

additional salt and pepper

butter

Crushed garlic

1 Zucchini

1 Carrot 

greek salad dressing 

Method: -

Preheat oven to 160 degrees. Start of with the salmon fillets and remove the skin. Place crushed garlic about 1 tsp and rub over the salmon fillets. Take the Cajun spice mix and rub this over the salmon fillets until the fillet is completely covered. Place the salmon fillets into a baking tray that is lined with foil or baking paper and place into the oven for approx 20 minutes (depending on how you like the salmon cooked, I prefer my salmon to be cooked through so I usually keep it in the oven for abit longer). 

In the mean time while your salmon is cooking take the bunch of asparagus chop the ends off and place into a pan over a medium heat with a knob of butter. Season with salt and pepper and cook this until your asparagus turn bright green in colour. Switch off the heat and keep them covered until you are ready to serve. 

Once you are done with the asparagus, take the carrot and zucchini, using a grater or a julienne peeler to create your carrot and zucchini noodles (carzoodle) for the salad. Take the strips and place them in a bowl and dress them with a homemade or store bought greek salad dressing. At this point check your salmon it is probably going to be cooked. At this stage I would take the lemon and squeeze as much juice as possible over the top of the salmon fillets (half a lemon for each fillet). 

To plate up simply place a generous serve of your carzoodle salad in the centre of your plate. Place salmon fillet on top and finally the asparagus. If you have some butter left in the pan I would drizzle that over the plated asparagus. You could serve this with abit of mash on the side like I have. Now take a  bite into this and taste all the amazing flavours come together. Enjoy!!!! much love CC :) 

Kale & Zucchini Raw Lasagna

Raw food is always a great thing to start the summer season with. I guess using this with Kids is also a great way to get super foods such as kale into their diet. Really easy and simple all you will need is: - 

2 Large Zucchini (Use a peeler to get the long thin strips. As you get towards the centre of the zucchini turn it over and use the other side for more strips.) 

1 Tin of tomato paste

Kale roughly chopped

Cottage cheese or herb mayo whichever you prefer 

Method: - 

Simply take a teaspoon of tomato paste and generously spread over the strip of zucchini. In a seperate bowl mix the cheese or mayo together with the kale and place a teaspoon of the kale mix onto the end of the zucchini strip. Roll up and place onto serving platter. This can be kept refrigerated until you are ready to serve. Great as a starter and as a main meal. Enjoy much love CC :) 

Mars Bar Caramel Crisp

This is probably one of the best and easiest desserts ever. It is decadence personified!!!!!! I am not kidding you, if you have a heart condition or are a diabetic this is something you will want to steer clear from. There are options ofcourse to change a couple things to reduce the caloric intake and sugar intake, but in all honesty life is about living and enjoying everything you can. I will be honest with you I would rather die on a happy stomach then an empty one and if it comes to that I would sure as hell hope I have this in my stomach. 

So this is my take or version on the classic bakers peppermint crisp. If you live in South Africa you are probably familiar with the bakers tennis biscuit packets that would have the recipe on the side. I love that recipe as it takes me back to having dessert at a the end of a huge family get together. 

All you need is 10 minutes and you are good to go. If you have a super busy day ahead and planning appertisers and mains for your guests, this is a quick and easy dessert that you can prepare the day before a big party.

Ingredients: - (this makes enough to serve 10 people)

2 Packets bakers tennis biscuits 200g each (if you cannot buy it from a South African store you can use any other really thin coconut biscuits) 

2 Mars Bar (OR Bar one if you do not get mars bars in your country) 

1 Tin of caramel fill

1 500ml Fresh Cream 

1/2 Cup Chopped almond nuts

Method: - 

Mix the fresh cream and the caramel fill together until light and fluffy. Place a thin layer of the mixture at the bottom of your dessert bowl. Now place a layer of your biscuits (it does not matter if there are gaps between them as it will get filled with the mixture) and cover with another layer of mixture, place chopped pieces of mars bars and almond nuts. Continue to layering process until you have come to the last and final layer which would be your biscuit covered with the caramel mixture and topped with chopped mars bar and almond nuts. Keep this refrigerated until you are ready to serve. Needs atleast 2 - 3 hours for the caramel mix to soak through the biscuits. ENJOY, ENJOY, ENJOY!!!! Much love CC :) 

Banana Bread Muffins

Sometimes I wonder why does banana bread and banana bread muffins look so ordinary. You often see them drizzled with a bit of glazed icing, but they still look pretty ordinary. Well, now they don't have to.... See even though looking at the picture above, you may think it looks like a cupcake that is filled with a ridiculous amount of calories, it actually isn't. I am going to show you how to do this.... :) guilt free treats for you to enjoy. 

Ingredients: - 

For the muffins 

1 3/4 cups of self raising flour

1/4 cup plain flour

1 Tsp bicarbonate of Soda

1/2 Tsp cream of tartar 

2 Teaspoon ground cinnamon

2/3 cups of coconut sugar

1/2 cup of skim milk/soy/rice/almond milk 

2 eggs

50g of butter

2 ripe bananas, that have been mashed

For the icing

50g of butter

1/4 cup xylitol icing sugar (may to add more to create a stiff icing mix) 

Method: -

Preheat the oven to a 160 degrees and line muffin tray with cupcake tins. Sift the dry ingredients together in a seperate bowl. In a mixer, add the eggs, butter and coconut sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Combine the dry ingredients to the egg mix and add the milk and mashed bananas. Mix until the flour, milk and bananas have all combined. 

Place about 2 dessertspoons of the mix into each cucpcake tin. Bake in the oven for approx 10 - 15 minutes. Use a skewer to check if they are cooked through, once cooked remove and allow to cool. 

In the mean time get your icing ready. You want your icing to be slightly stiff so that once you have piped the icing it does not lose its shape. When your muffins have completely cooled off do not try to level the muffins as you would with a cake or cupcakes. The whole idea of the muffin is to keep the top 'muffin top' as commonly referred to. Pipe and keep muffins at room temperature. Even though it is kept at room temperature the icing will hold its shape even though it is butter cream icing. :) 

New York Based Cheesecake

Who doesn't love a good cheesecake???? It is probably one of the most commonly had desserts in most households. In Australia, we are fortunate enough to have the cheesecake shops, who make absolutely divine cakes and cheesecakes of course. So sometimes I have to admit it is easier to buy one. :) 

Ok, so before I start the recipe I have to tell you this story, a childhood memory that I will never forget..... The best cheesecake I have ever tasted in my life was when I was in New York quite a few years ago. I was with my parents, and we decided to explore more of New York by foot. As we were walking through the streets we remembered that a family friend had mentioned that we should go to this particular cake shop and order a cheesecake. So, excitedly we start looking at the map and walking down the alley to find this particular shop. We finally find it and excitedly with smiles on our face we look at my dad waiting for him to take out his wallet so we can buy a couple slices of cheesecake. My mum, brother and I go ahead into the store and look at the cakes and know which one we want to order. We look at my dad who looked so upset because he couldn't find his wallet... He forgot to put his wallet back into his bag he was carrying, as he had taken his wallet out earlier at the hotel and forgot it in the hotel room. Now, the hotel was too far to walk back to and then go back to the store, so we moved aside and allowed the gentleman to serve the next customer. We  were not going to leave that store without a cheesecake!!!! All of us started checking our bags and pockets for any change that we had and finally found enough money to buy ONE slice of cheesecake for FOUR of us to eat... When we got to the hotel and I took a bite of the cake it was as though the heavens had opended up and angels were singing. Seriously, the taste of the cheesecake was unbelievable, I sit here salivating as I type this, that is how good it was. Best cheesecake yet and nothing has ever compared to it. So, I guess I have to go back to New York and find the store and make sure I have a wallet full to buy a whole cheesecake.... :)  SO this story was my inspiration for creating this New York baked cheesecake. 

Now, what is the difference between a normal cheesecake and a New York based cheesecake. Well, surprisingly it is more about where the cake is made that it gets the name from, but New York based cheesecakes are made alittle differently, they are made using heavy or thickened cream or sour cream. So the recipe I have below uses sour cream. 

Ingredients: -

This recipe serves 6 as a whole cheese cake. But, if u make smaller cakes like the one in the picture above you could get about 10 cakes (size of a regular cupcake). 

For the cheesecake 

125g Plain sweet biscuits, if you want to make an oreo one like one of the cakes in the picture you can use plain or chocolate biscuits  

62g butter melted

250g cream cheese

1/2 Cup caster sugar

1/2 Cup sour cream

1 Tsp Vanilla extract

1 Tsp lemon zest

1 egg

For Decorating 

You can use any fruit you like for example raspberry jam with fresh raspberries on top, passion fruit with blackberries, crushed oreos in the cheesecake before you bake and whole oreos to top. I used caramel fill to stick the oreos to the cheesecakes. You can also use the extra sour cream, just add some sugar and give it a whip or fresh cream if you like. 

Method: -

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Place the biscuits in a food processor and process until biscuits resemble breadcrumbs. Add the melted butter and process again until butter and crumbs are well combined. Press into baking pan or into lined cupcake trays and press to form a crust. Refrigerate for about 15 - 20 minutes until the crust is set. 

For the cheesecake combine the remaining ingredients (except the egg) and mix well. Once combined add the egg and beat the mixture until light and fluffy. Place the mixture onto the set crust. If you are using cupcake tins to make individual cakes place about 2 dessertspoons of the cheesecake mix into each cupcake tin. The cupcakes would need to bake for a shorter time about 10 - 15 mins whereas if you making a big cake you would have to cook it for about 30 - 45 mins. To know when your cheesecake is cooked, the centre of the cake will be wobbly (like that of set jelly). 

Once you remove your cheesecake and it starts to cool down, do not be alarmed when the centre of the cake starts to drop alittle, this is normal. It is something that will be covered up once you decorate your cake so do not stress. Cover your cooled cake with jam, passionfruit, caramel fill or even whipped cream. and decorate as you like. Refrigerate atleast for an hour before serving, I prefer to leave the cake overnight just to let it all set perfectly.  Enjoy :) 

 

Kit Kat Cupcakes

If you know me, you would know that my favourite chocolate is kit kat. Any type, shape or form of kitkat is heavenly to me. So that is where I got the inspiration to make these devilishly delicious cupcakes. You can use any cupcake recipe that you like, but I will share the recipe I used for this. The reason my cupcakes look quite browned is not because I let them brown, but I actually replaced the caster sugar in the recipe with coconut sugar, so it is the coconut sugar that gives the cupcakes this brown colour. You may ask why did I do that???? Well, firstly coconut sugar is low GI and also better and healthier then eating caster sugar. Also, when coconut sugar cooks it tends to give you this caramel like flavour. Which, I thought would compliment the kitkat really well. Because, you are using sugar and a fresh cream topping I thought I needed to cut down the calorie load just a tad on this one. :)  

I also sliced the cupcake once it was cooked to show you what the inside will look like. This actually isn't the kitkat, but what I did was when the cupcakes were cooked I used a apple corer to help me pull the centre part of the cupcake out and piped it with nutella and replaced the cored out bit of the cupcake so that it is covered at the top and gives alittle surprise when you bite into one. :) 

Let us get started. This recipe is easy the only part that is a little tricky is to core and place the cored bit  back. If you know how to pipe it will be easy to fill and decorate. You could also pipe nutella into the cupcake before cooking, but I found that a little messy that is why I preferred using the apple core method. 

Ingredients: - 

1 1/2 Cups Plain Flour 

1 Tsp Bicarbonate of soda

1 Tsp Cream of Tartar

3/4 cup caster sugar or coconut sugar (coconut sugar can be purchased at any health food store) 

3/4 cup milk

2 eggs

125g butter (soft)

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract 

1 Packet of kitkat bites (if you do not get the tiny bites of kitkat you could buy a slab and simply cut into bite size pieces) You would want to keep some to decorate the top of the cupcake as well

1 Tub Nutella (you will have heaps left over which you could use as a frosting if you like) 

Method: - 

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Using a mixer, cream together your butter, sugar and vanilla extract. Sift your dry ingredients together in a seperate bowl and add to the creamed mixture and finally add the milk, give this a good mix until you see that it is combined well. If you using coconut sugar you will see the brown almost caramel colour starting to develop. Add your kitkat bites and mix with a spatula. In a muffin tray that is lined with cupcake tins place atleast about 1 dessertspoon of the mix into each tin, making sure that each one gets atleast 2 kitkat bites, make sure you push the bites to the sides (because if you are going to core it you do not want to remove the kit kat bite). Place in the oven for around 20 minutes or until the cupcakes are cooked through. Use a skewer to test. 

Once your cupcakes are cooked, allow them to cool down completely before decorating or using the corer to remove the centre. If  you use the corer make sure you do not go all the way through as you still want to keep the base of the cupcake. Using a piping bag filled with nutella to fill the cored cupcakes. Replace the tops of the cupcakes as this will you to decorate the tops really easily. You can decorate the tops, with the extra nutella, whipped fresh cream or even buttercream. Finally, top with a kit kat bite or even better you could break a slice of the kitkat and push half all the way into the cupcake and leave the other half out. This way your guests or kids will know what they can expect when they bite into one. :) 

Tiramisu Chocolate Brownie

There is always something satisfying about having a dessert that not only has one of your favourites but two combined together. Oh yes, a decadent tiramisu chocolate brownie. Looking at this a lot of people have said to me it looks like it fell out of a magazine or better still from a patisserie (my dream to own one someday). Of course, I will take all the compliments I can get as I absolutely love taking the time to make things look beautiful and taste great. This recipe is really easy and not at all time consuming. The only thing that really takes time and patience is making the chocolate squares placed ontop of the cream. I will be doing a seperate how to tutorial which shows you how to temper chocolate correctly and use a chocolate transfer as this is the time consuming part that requires patience. 

Ingredients: - 

For the Brownie

250g butter

2 cups caster sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups plain flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder and alittle extra for dusting

1 1/2 Tsp vanilla essence

100g brown milk chocolate squares (baking chocolate)

100g white chocolate squares (baking chocolate) 

1/2 packet of savoiardi (sponge finger biscuits) crushed

20x30cm baking pan (greased and lined with baking paper) 

For the cream 

250g mascarpone

200ml thickened fresh cream

1/3 cup icing sugar 

Method: - 

For the Brownies

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan over a medium heat. Once melted remove from the heat and add the sugar. Make sure that your mixture has cooled somewhat before you add the eggs, as you really don't want your eggs to start to scramble in the mix. Add the eggs one at a time until you achieve a thick yet glossy mix. Add the vanilla, cocoa powder and plain flour to the egg mix. Add all the white chocolate squares and half of the brown milk chocolate squares and mix. Finally add the crushed sponge finger biscuits and mix well. Pour this into your baking pan which has been lined. Now, place the rest of the brown milk chocolate squares at random places on the brownie mix. This will start to partially melt when you bake your brownies. Place into the oven for approx 30 minutes. Test using a skewer. Once your brownies have cooked and cooled down you can cut them into squares and place on serving trays. 

For the Cream 

Mix all the ingredients together and keep aside until you are ready to serve. I usually keep this refrigerated in a piping bag, so when dessert time arrives it is easy to pipe the cream and then dust with a bit of cocoa powder. Serve and Enjoy... :) 

The guilt free Chip - Kale Chips

The first time I tasted these, was when my sister in law made them. Initially, I thought they would taste like nori (Which I am not a fan of at all!!!) but once I tried one, I couldn't stop and now I am hooked to this delicious snack, thanks Ameeta for introducing them to me.

This is not only a healthy snack, but a super super crunchy one and a great way to introduce your kids to eating kale. It is so easy, 15 minutes is all you need and you have a great guilt free snack for your family.

Ingredients: - 

Kale leaves, about 5 - 6 leaves cut into bite size pieces (stem removed) 

Any seasoning you like I used Nando's Peri Peri Salt

1/4 Tsp Fennel Seeds

2 TBLS Olive Oil

Baking paper 

As you can see from the picture above, it is this simple. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees and mix everything together in a bowl. Place the seasoned kale leaves into a baking tray lined with baking paper and place into the oven for 8 minutes. Check that all the leaves have crisped up and drain on paper towel. Place into an airtight container and keep for 3 - 4 days or until they run out, which I guarantee will be before that. :) Enjoy!!! 

 

Cheese and Garlic Roti

Why not make your dinner a little more interesting then just having a normal roti. The Cheese and Garlic Roti is created in the same way you would a cheese and garlic naan. The only real difference is you do not have to wait for the dough to rise, so cuts down the cooking time. For this recipe I used organic white flour to make the roti dough as opposed to the conventional atta or brown flour mix. The reason for using the white flour is that it has a thicker texture then the brown flour and keeps everything together. 

For the Roti: - 

1 1/2 cups flour

1 TBLS Olive Oil 

Boiling water to form the dough (use a spoon to mix.. DO NOT BURN YOUR HANDS!!!!) 

Simply add all the ingredients in a bowl and mix to form a soft, pliable dough. Divide into smaller pieces of dough and form a ball. 

For the Stuffing you will need a combination of cheese, namely cheddar, mozarella and gouda cheese. Add some chopped garlic, coriander, salt and pepper. I have added a picture here to show you how to do this. 

Roll the dough into a circle about the size of a small bowl, so that you can add a teaspoon full of the cheese mix. Pull the ends together to form a ball again. Using flour on a board, gently roll the ball of dough to form a circle. It is ok if the cheese starts to ooze out of the dough as this will still cook and give you a melted texture. Place the rolled out roti onto a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat and cook on both sides until golden and crisp.

Serve this hot with any curry of your choice. 

 

Bhel Puri and Chutney Made Easy

Sometimes I wonder to myself, why does indian snacks particularly take up so much time to make??? By the time you end up making it you tend to find yourself really exhausted and really hungry, that you literally gobble down the meal and don't actually take the time to enjoy it. Indian cuisine without a doubt has one of the most exciting starters or appetizers that can so easily be turned into main meals and even though most of them are vegetarian they are extremely satisfying. 

Take Bhel Puri for example, it is such a common meal in india and many african countries, but yet in the first world countries it is not as commonly found. Why is that??? Simply, because it is time consuming to make and different chutneys are required. So, ofcourse here in the creativelycooked kitchen I decided to shake things up abit and make bhel puri, that gives you the same great taste you would get in a restaurant, but in your very own home and in half the time. Another secret weapon: Why waste time making three chutneys when all you need is one really good one. It really does taste like all three combined into one. I am going to share this fantastic secret with you, try it out, let me know what you think. I think it sure is a killer chutney that can be used with anything even western Cuisines.  

Ingredients for the bhel puri (Serves 4 as a starter) 

Sev (I bought the premade sev from an indian grocer, absolutely nothing wrong with doing this, I buy a big packet and store the rest to use another time) 

1 Packet of Frozen Spring Roll pastry (cut the pastry in half to fry as this makes it easier to cook, to serve four I fried about 8 sheets of pastry) 

2 Fresh Corn on the cob (corn sliced off the cob, you can use frozen if you cannot get hold of fresh corn) 

1/2 Green pepper, finely chopped

1 Brown onion, finely chopped

2 Boiled potato's roughly chopped

1/2 Tsp Crushed Garlic

1/2 Tsp Crushed Green or red chilli

Salt to taste 

1 Tsp Red chilli powder (if you are using kashmiri chilli powder, please becareful how much you add as it is very spicy) 

Method for the Bhel Puri 

On a medium heat place a saucepan with 1 TBLS olive oil. Add the onions, peppers, garlic and chilli and cook until the onions are translucent. Add the chopped potato and corn, you really want to slightly cook this until your corn appears bright yellow in colour. Add your salt and chilli powder and remove from the heat and let this cool. 

If you have a fryer to fry the spring roll pastry please use that, otherwise place a pot with oil on a medium heat to deep fry the spring roll pastry and drain the pastry on paper towel once fried. Keep aside until you are ready to serve. 

For the Chutney

You will need 1 bottle of a spicy tikka masala sauce (Steers spicy tikka masala, available at South African stores), if you cannot get a spicy tikka masala sauce all you need to do is add archaar masala (slightly braised in oil on the stovetop) to tomato sauce. You will need 1 bottle of chutney Mrs Balls Originial Chutney (Also available at South African stores) is great. If you cannot get the Chutney use any sweet chilli or a chutney relish that is sweet/sour. You need 2 TBLS white vinegar, 1 TBLS sugar, 1 handful of coriander, 1 stem of curry leaves and  2 tomato's. Soak the toamato's in boiling water until the skin has softened and you can peel this off. Take the coriander, blanched tomato's and curry leaves and place into a bowl and blend until a uniform mixture is formed, the coriander and curry leaves should be completely fine. Add the other ingredients to this mix. Taste the sauce and see if there is anything else that is needed. That's it!!!!! Chutney done... Below is an image of what it should look like once you are done. When you taste your chutney you should have a balance of sweet, sour and spicy. You should also be able to taste the coriander and curry leaves. 

To assemble, place the corn mix in the centre of the bowl. Crush the fried springroll pastry into smaller bite size pieces and place on top of the corn mix. Add the sev and garnish with chopped coriander. Now the best part..... Top with the freshly made chutney as much as you like. Bite into it and savour every bite... Enjoy :) 

You probably will have a lot of chutney left over, don't throw this away save it in a sterile jar and the next time you make a burger why not use your very own chutney. 

How to: Crumb coat

Hey guys, today I decided not to put up a recipe, but instead talk abit more about how to crumb coat any meat fillet or even veggies for that matter. 

The standard rule of thumb when it comes to crumb coating is flour, egg and lastly the breadcrumbs. DO not forget to always season your flour, egg and breadcrumbs. 

Now, sometimes when preparing a meal you may have one or more guests that may be gluten free, lacto-vegetarian or ovo-lacto vegetarian or even vegan and it can get abit confusing as to what to use so lets look at alternate ways of coating.

For Guests who are Gluten Free (People who do not eat any wheat or wheat products). 

My standard go to products for gluten free are the orgran brand. The corn crispy crumbs really do give you the same type of crunch that you would get with bread crumbs. Same method applies, flour, egg and corn crumbs for a gluten free diet. Just make sure that you are using gluten free flour and crumbs. 

A Lacto-vegetarian is typically someone who eats a vegetarian diet including dairy products, but excludes eggs. For this crumb coat, you would use the four step crumbing process (In the pic below), which is milk, flour, milk and crumb (You do not have to season the milk only the flour and the breadcrumbs). You can use a normal breadcrumb as long as there was no egg used in making the bread. 

A Ovo-lacto vegetarian is someone who eats a vegetarian diet, but does include dairy and egg products. For this type of vegetarian you can use the standard rule of thumb, flour, egg and breadcrumb. 

A Vegan diet does not include any animal products. In order to crumb coat for a vegan diet you would have to use a four step process of milk, flour, milk and crumb. I would tend to go with Soy, Rice or Almond milk and use a corn crumb.

This is just an image to show you the difference in breadcrumb and corn texture. You can grind the breadcrumb abit more if you would like a smooth texture. 

I hope you find this useful, if you would like more info or tutorials like this please comment in the box below.