Wednesday 17 October 2012

Sea Bass with Moroccan Style Couscous

I love Moroccan food; it’s one of my favourite types of food to cook. I love the sweet and the savoury aspect of the ingredients and the robust spices. I make my own spice blend but for the fish here I used Ras El Hanout spice blend you can buy at most stores. It’s a simple evening meal and very healthy! Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 sea bass fillets
½ c. whole wheat couscous (you can use regular)
¾ c. vegetable stock (boiling)
½ c. frozen or fresh broad beans
Small handful of dried apricots
Small handful of pistachios
Small handful of dates
½ small onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. ras el hanout rub
Oil

To start:
Prepare the couscous: put the dry couscous in a bowl, and add your boiling vegetable stock and let sit and ignore it until ready to use.
Dice onion, garlic, dates, apricots and pistachios.
In a small pan heat some oil, when hot add the onions and garlic until fragrant turn temperature down.
When onion is softened add the apricots, dates, and broad beans.
Mix around until the broad beans are warmed through. Stirring frequently.

For the Fish:
Take your fillets and sprinkle ras el hanout and salt on them.
Grill in a shallow pan for 4 minutes per side.
When firm to the touch take them out and set aside.

To Finish:
Add the warm onion, fruit and broad bean mixture to the couscous and stir to combine.
Add the pistachios.
Place the couscous on the plate for serving and top with the fish fillet

Super simple evening dinner and very tasty as well! Enjoy!

Friday 12 October 2012

Cauliflower Fried Rice

I love this recipe and am so happy to finally share it! It’s such a great alternative to heavy fried rice! It’s great along with stir-fry but it’s especially good on its own. It’s great for those watching their carb intake, since you use cauliflower instead of rice you get zero of the carbs from the rice. I never thought this would be as tasty as it is but it’s a definite re-occurrence at our house for dinner! This can serve 2-4 depending on if you’re serving it as a main dish or a side dish.

Ingredients:
1 Large head of cauliflower, florets separated
200g cooked cold water prawns (use any size you like but I use the baby ones)
½ c. frozen peas
3-4 green onions
1 egg slightly beaten
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 clove garlic minced
2 tbsp oil

To Start:
Mince the garlic.
Slice the green onions.
Shred the cauliflower- I suggest a food processor but by hand is fine.

To Cook:
Heat oil in a skillet.
When hot add green onions, and garlic, sautee for a few minutes until fragrant.
Add the cauliflower and mix to combine. One minute.
Next turn up the heat add the prawns, and peas and sauté for a further 2 minutes.
Add soy sauce and mix.
Move everything to one side and add the egg and stir it until set, when set incorporate with the rest of the mixture.
Serve immediately!

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Delicious Moist Vegan Carrot Cake

I went searching for a specific type of carrot cake after tasting my local coffee shop’s delicious eggless butterless cake. I found a recipe and have adapted it perfectly for me and I think it should be shared. It’s utterly delicious and extremely easy! You can absolutely make this cake with milk and butter, but I kept it as close to the original recipe as I could and added my own flare.

Ingredients:
¼ c. applesauce or fruit puree
½ c. softened vegan or vegetarian spread
1 ¼ c. Flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp grated ginger
1 c. white sugar
¼ c. almond milk (soy or regular milk will be fine)
1 c. grated carrots (I prefer the thicker shred)
1 c. chopped pecans
½ raisins or sultanas (soaked in rum or brandy if you’re naughty)

To Mix:
Cream together softened margarine, sugar, vanilla and applesauce until creamy.
Sift into that flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Stir to completely combine.
Lastly add the grated carrots and chopped pecans.

To Bake:
Preheat oven to 160C or (~325F).
Grease a loaf tin and add the mixture.
Bake for about 45 minutes.

Note: It’s going to make a thin loaf and will be rich. I do not suggest doubling the recipe as it doesn’t cook right. Enjoy!

Monday 8 October 2012

Phở Bò (Beef Pho)

This is one of my favourite Vietnamese dishes, and I decided that I had to make it, I used a recipe and edited it to my liking. This is a very tedious dish that can take hours, but the results are completely worth it! It is a heart-warming Vietnamese soup that will sooth your soul. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2kg beef bones
2 large pots for boiling water
2 large onions – skin on
1-2 large pieces of ginger –split in half
1 tsp. cloves
4 cardamom pods
2 4 inch cinnamon sticks
Handful star anise
50mls fish sauce (2/3 cup)
3-4 tbsp palm sugar
2 tsp salt
300-500g sirloin steak (or adjust per servings)
Rice vermicelli noodles


Garnish:
Bean sprouts
Limes
Coriander
Mint
Chillies
Thinly sliced red onion soaked in water
Hoisin sauce
Siracha sauce

To Start:
Bring to a boil two large pots full of water.
Once one pot is boiling, put the bones in and boil for 10-15 minutes to par boil or clean them.
While the bones are boiling split the onions in half along with the ginger (very rough) Put them under the grill in the oven until they get a nice char.
Once your bones have boiled for 10-15 minutes drain the water and rinse them off.

To continue to cook:
Add the rinsed bones to the second boiling pot of water (you can skip this two pot part but it’s better to have a pot of water ready boiling once the bones are clean)
Add the charred onions, and ginger.
Add the rest of the spices, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, fish sauce, cardamom pods. (save salt for last).
Simmer at a low heat for 8-10 hrs. (Overnight works best, but I would wake up and add more water and check on it if needed)

To finish:
Strain the mixture into the second pot over a cheese cloth. Until you have a nice clear broth.
Bring the broth back to a boil and immediately pour over thinly sliced steak pieces, cover with cooked rice noodle and garnish with desired garnishes.