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 :)