Beef Kheema

This is one of my all time favourite dishes and also one that has a long history to it. Mum used to make her own version of this when I was younger and she called it a Minced Meat curry. She used to make it with minced beef and diced potatoes and we would all enjoy eating it with rice. The next day, we'd fill slices of bread with the leftover mince curry and polish it off!

Needless to say, when I went off to Uni, this was one of the dishes that I would often cook. I changed the recipe somewhat and added tomatoes as well as frozen mixed vegetables to it whilst omitting potatoes. I used to love this dish so much that almost everytime it was my turn to cook, I would cook this. As a result, my flatmates used to call me the "Mince Meat Man" although they used to enjoy this dish as much as I did!

I remember when I was in my Final year. It was just before mid term exams which meant that we were smack in the middle of Winter with cold, wet nights. We were all busy studying through the night and at about two in the morning, my flatmate walked into my room and annnounced that he was 'feeling hungry' and asked if I was too. We considered driving down to the local 24hr food outlet but decided that we wanted something hot and spicy; something that would 'comfort' us at this late hour when our minds were numb with too much studying. I suggested making some Kheema and my flatmates eyes lit up. He cooked up a large amount of rice while I quickly whipped up my Kheema. We sat in front of the gas fireplace and delighted in the steaming hot rice and spicy hot Kheema. Truly comfort food indeed!


The beauty of this dish is that it is an all-in-one dish with meat and vegetables in it. It's also extremely versatile in that you can eat it with rice, bread or even noodles. In fact, often times, we would eat the leftovers with instant noodles for a quick snack or even a meal the next day.

Kheema is really the Hindi word for Minced Meat but has also become the generic term for a Minced Meat Curry. This is my recipe:

600g Mince Beef or Mutton
300g frozen Mixed Vegetables (Pees, Carrots, Corn)
2 medium-sized Red Capsicums
4 Large Tomatoes - quartered
1 Large Onion
3-4 cloves garlic
a little ginger, chopped finely
6 Cloves
2 - 3 Tbsp Curry Powder
¾ Tbsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Ground Black Pepper
cooking oil
Salt to taste


Method
Slice onion into thin slices and chop garlic and ginger. Dice Capsicum and thaw frozen vegetables. Lightly fry onions with garlic, ginger, black pepper and cloves until onions are soft.
Add in Curry powder and Chilli powder and fry till fragrant. Be careful not to burn the mix.
Add in tomatoes and mix well. Add in a little water if needed.


Continue cooking till a nice paste is formed.
Add in Mince and cook well.


Add in Capsicum and frozen vegetables
Continue cooking, stirring frequently. Add a cup of water and cover pan. Simmer for a further 10-15 minutes then remove cover, mix well and cook till most of the water is evaporated.



Coincidentally, the topic of the Monthly Mingle this month, hosted by my friend Meeta over at Whats for Lunch Honey is on Comfort Food. Although Kheema is great with plain white rice, it TRULY becomes Comfort Food when served with Yellow Rice or what I call Fools Saffron Rice.

Saffron Rice or Yellow rice is traditionally served instead of white rice for festivals or special occasions. Somehow, the food seems to take on an expensive and exotic twist when Yellow Rice is served.

I call this Fools Saffron Rice because it is an easy way of making fabulous, tasty, yellow rice in a rice cooker that can easily pass off for Saffron Rice – fooling most people!!

3 Cups Rice
4 ½ Cups Water
1-2 Tbsp Butter
2 handfuls Raisins and/or cashew nuts(optional)
6 cloves
2 tsp Turmeric powder


Method

Wash the rice well and place into the rice cooker.
Add the water, butter, cloves, turmeric powder and raisins/nuts (if using)
Mix lightly then turn on the rice cooker.
When rice is cooked, quickly stir the cooked rice to ensure all ingredients are mixed well.



Although I prefer Minced Beef, this dish is just as lovely made with Minced Lamb or even Minced Chicken! (I think my US friends would call Minced Meat as Ground Meat!)

I hope you all like this dish as much as I do!

Christmas Tradition - Cake for the Godparents

Another one of the traditions that have sprung up in recent years is the giving of a cake to my son's Godparents and their 3 lovely daughters for Christmas. Each year I try and make something different although there is normally some semblance of chocolate in the cake! Everyone loves chocolate!

In 2006, I made a Rehrucken Cake and that was actually one of the first pictures I posted on this blog. For Christmas just past, (i.e. Christmas 2007) I decided to make a Chocolate Rum Log - taking inspiration from the Daring Bakers Challenge of a Yule Log. I had also made a similar log for my own family in 2006 but as usual, I tried to improve on it.

The Chocolate Rum Log I made was basically my Chocolate Cake recipe but infused with a lot of rum. For the icing, I added some Dark Chocolate to my usual icing recipe together with a substantial amount of rum. I baked the cake in a log pan I have that also has a thinner, smaller pan for the branches. I then cut a diagonal off the larger log and placed it on top as the knot of the large branch.

Again, taking inspiration from the DB Challenge, I made Marzipan Mushrooms and placed them all over the log before dusting the log with snow powder.


I saved a tiny piece of the smaller branch and I thought the rum in the cake combined with the dark chocolate (and more rum) in the icing made this an exceptioanally tasty cake!

Mom's Birthday - Reverse Black Forest Cake

It was my Mom's birthday on the 13th and would you believe that it was my Dad's birthday exactly a week earlier? On the 6th? They were born in the same year too. Quite amazing really.

So to kill two birds with one stone, the family went out for lunch and then we all came home to my place to cut the cake. My Mom loves her cake, more so than Dad. Mom also loves anything with Chocolate in it, as do most of us, so the sensible thing to do was to make a cake with loads of chocolate in it.

But at the same time, I wanted to make her something different and so I decided on a Reverse Black Forest Cake. A What?? Well, its my own concoction so I beleive I can call it whatever I want to. So there!

But first, some history on the Black Forest Cake. This cake is believed to have originated in Germany in surprise, surprise, the Black Forest! The Black Forest Region is located in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg and is known for its sour cherries. Kirsch - a clear Cherry Brandy is made from these sour cherries.

In German, the cake is known as Schwarzwälder kirschtorte or to translate Black Forest Kirsch Cake. This cake is basically a chocolate layer cake infused with Kirsch and layered with cherries and cream.

So a Reverse Black Forest Cake would simply be a Vanilla Layered Sponge, infused with Kirsch and layered with cherries and Chocolate Mousse. Get it?

But we haven't quite finished. We need a German name for no better reason than the fact that I spent some time in Munich and Hanover and thus think that I know a helluva lot of German (which I dont, but humour me anyway.) So, the Reverse Black Forest Cake would now be known as a umgekehrt Schwarzwälder kirschtorte

Rather brilliant if you ask me!! :)


This is my recipe given with some hindsight as I think I used to few cherries. If I were to make this again, I'd double the cherries although it is terribly, terribly expensive to get canned dark cherries over here....:

Vanilla Sponge Cake (from the Aust Womens Weekly New Cookbook - 1978!!)
4 egggs
3/4 cup castor sugar
2/3 cup plain flour
1/3 cup cornflour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Beat eggs with electric beater till thick and creamy. (about 5-8 minutes) Mixture will triple. Gradually beat in sugar till dissolved.
Sift dry ingredients a few times and the gently but quickly fold into the egg mixture. Pour mixture into two greased and lined 20cm (8in) round cake tins. Bake in preheated 180C oven for about 20 - 25 mins.

Chocolate Mousse
4 egg yolks
400g good quality dark chocolate
650 ml whipping cream or thickened cream
Sugar to taste (optional)

Melt chocolate in a double boiler with about 30ml of the cream. Mix in beaten egg yolks while still over heat and stir quickly. Mixture may thicken and coagulate a bit but dont worry. Remove from heat and beat till chocolate smoothens. In separate bowl, whip cream till soft peak stage and then add in cooled chocolate mixture. Continue to beat till mixture thickens and becomes light, airy and mousselike.


1 to 2 cans Black Cherries drained and syrup reserved (depending on how fruity you want the cake)
Brandy - to your taste or you can omit altogether.
Infuse the brandy (if using) into the syrup.

Assembly:
First, bake the sponge as per directions. Then make the mousse. Place sponge in center of 9" springform of 9" metal ring. Brush cake with syrup to moisten it. Lay a layer of cherries over the cake and then cover with a layer or mousse, ensuring the the mousse fills in the 1/2 inch space around the cake. Place second sponge over the mousse and soak with syrup as well. Repeat layer of cherries and mouuse and smoothen the top. Allow to chill for at least 4 hours but preferably overnight.

Before serving, garnish with Roasted Almond slivers or almond nibs. Dust with snow powder.



This recipe is not as complicated as it looks and produces a very lush and decadent cake that was enjoyed by everybody.

Happy Birthday Mom!

100th Post and the history of my cooking

Can you believe this is my 100th post? I certainly can't. When I started this blog on the 19th December 2006, I really didn't know where I was heading with it nor what I wanted to do with this blog.

Now, not only have I written 100 posts, but I've made so many friends from all around the world. Not only that, but I've joined the Daring Bakers and I'm also a contributor to The Daily Tiffin. Who would have thought huh? Certainly not me!

So, in commemoration of my 100th post, I thought I'd give you all an insight into how I started my cooking adventure and how it has turned into a love affair with food and the kitchen.


My first foray into the world of cooking started at a very young age. Coming from a family of three boys, we all had to help out with household chores and also in the kitchen.

I used to particularly enjoy helping Mum make desserts and I would often operate the cake mixer while she supervised and added all the ingredients. My favourite part, of course, was licking the bowl clean! It was definitely Mum that started me off on my love for cooking. I remember getting a Children's cooking book by Betty Crocker from Mom and Dad - a book that I still have!

Mum and Dad used to throw dinner parties ever so often and there was this once when Mum asked if I would like to help make the dessert since she was busy with other things. I jumped at the chance and diligently followed Mum’s recipe for a Chilled Cheese Cake. The recipe was handwritten in this Green Diary that served as a repository for her personal collection of recipes (she still has this green diary!). The cheesecake turned out pretty well and was a hit at the dinner.

This became my signature dessert for many years. During my university days, I would often make this dessert to try and impress the girls!

My years spent overseas as a university student saw me experimenting with different styles of cooking and using different ingredients. As eating out was often expensive, and few and far between, I would often try to replicate something I had tasted at a restaurant – on a trial and error basis. That is how I learnt to perfect my dishes. I seldom used cookbooks and on the oft occasion that I did, it was merely to get an idea of what should go into the dish – I never followed the recipe exactly.

Although Mum was the very first to instil my love for cooking, it has been the Lovely Wife, Angelina, who has challenged me and spurred me on to increase my repertoire of dishes – particularly my desserts!

I first tried to entice her (as with all the other girls!) with my Chilled Cheese Cake and although she liked it, she admitted to liking the Baked variety better and in fact, favoured a cheese cake sold in a particular Coffee franchise (Starbucks? Coffee Bean? San Francisco Coffee? I’m not telling!). I had to admit that the Cheese Cake there was really very good and since I had never made a Baked Cheese Cake before, my experimentation with Baked Cheese Cakes started.

The two of us also enjoy eating out a fair bit and Angelina would often ‘challenge’ me to make a dish that she had enjoyed at some restaurant or cafe somewhere. Thus far I have not disappointed too greatly!!

When my children came along, I insisted that I would bake their birthday cakes. The problem however, was that I really didn’t have any experience in decorating cakes – a must for a child’s birthday cake. I learnt quickly however and I also learnt that all things are possible where love is involved. To this day, my pride and joy is the ‘Elephant Cake’ I baked and decorated for my son’s Third birthday. As my wife often says – “that cake was made with 20% skill and 80% love!” Proof that with a lot of dedication, anything is possible!


I don’t claim to be a master chef. I don’t even think I could call myself a chef! I have had no professional training whatsoever. I am simply a man who enjoys good food and who enjoys cooking. I believe that anyone can cook. All it takes is a little willingness, a little experimentation and a lot of self-belief. A little love helps a lot too!

If there were any advice I could offer, it would simply be this:
Never follow recipes exactly. Each of us has different tastes and you should modify your recipes to suit these tastes. Omit ingredients that you dislike and substitute or add in those that you like. You really can’t go wrong. The only time you should be more strict about following recipes exactly is for cakes and desserts. Slight alterations in cake and dessert recipes can drastically change the way they turn out – and can be the difference between success and failure! However, having said that, it does not mean you can’t experiment. Most of my desserts have been perfected and fine tuned after a lot of experimentation, trial and error – and in some cases of abject failure, straight into the garbage bin!

I take great joy now in cooking and preparing desserts for my wife and kids. The greatest compliment I can receive nowadays is from my children. There have been times that we have gone out for a meal at some restaurant and my children remark on the way home - "I think Daddy's food is better... Also Mummy's." Yeah, my kids the politicians and diplomats, even at this young age!

There was this once when I gave my Son and Daughter $5 each to spend on anything they wanted. My son bought himself a Hot Wheels car from a pharmacy while my daughter (she was about 2+ at the time) couldn't figure out what she wanted. We walked along the row of shops till we came to a cake shop. She stood at the large glass windows and I knelt down and asked her if she wanted a cake. She nodded her head and so I opened the door to let her in as my wife followed her. My son, who until then had been busy studying his new car, suddenly darted into the shop and yelled out.

"Sarah! Sarah! Don't buy the cakes here. The cakes here are lousy! Daddy's cakes are much, much nicer."

True story and it brings tears to my eyes knowing my children think so highly off me. They are definitely the impetus for me to continue to improve and increase my knowledge in the world of cooking.

It's really been a lot of fun sharing my cooking with all of you out in the blogspere and even more fun making new friends. I hope to someday meet some of you that are frequent visitors to this blog and I'm looking forward to having a lot more fun with this blog!

Muruku - Christmas Tradition 4

Part of the goodies that we serve, especially during Christmas time, is Muruku. What in tarnation is Muruku? Well, it's a traditional Indian savoury crispy thingamebob. I really don't know how to explain it. So maybe it's best to just tell you how it's made.

Before I explain this, I have to admit that I have never made this and probably never will!   Why?   Firstly, my Mother-in-Law makes the best Muruku around.
Secondly, it's a highly complicated process and I don't have the patience (nor skill) to make it.
If I needed any other reason not to make it is the fact that you can buy Muruku mixture, much like Instant Cake Mix and just whip it up.
As a final reason, Muruku is also often sold ready made in many food stores as well.

So anyway, Muruku is basically a mix of Rice flour, Chick Pea flour (also known as Besan or Gram flour) and spices. These are then mixed together and then piped out into a circular pattern before being deep fried. There is a Murukku Press i.e a contraption made out of wood and brass dies to pipe out Murukku but you still have to move your arms as you squeeze the press to get the round circular shape. It takes a great deal of skill to get it in such a lovely symmetrical shape.

Muruku is full of flavour and it is highly addictive - meaning you can't just eat one. You end up nibbling and crunching them one after the other. It goes really well with Beer too! Also coffee and tea for those that don't imbibe. The kids love to munch on Muruku as well.


I wish I could give you the recipe, but if I did, I'd have to shoot you...

Seriously, my Mother in Law has been making this for such a long time that she just instinctively knows how to throw it all together without following any recipe. And any attempts to ask her just result in "a bit of this, a dash of that, throw in some of those"



Or maybe, just maybe, the Mother-in-Law and the Lovely Wife are conspiring together and keeping secrets from me.....

Chocolate Cake - Christmas Tradition 3

This cake is beyond any doubt one of my most 'famous' cakes and it is certainly looked forward to by friends and family alike at Christmas time.

My Mom would make this cake for all the special occasions, and of course for Christmas but for the last 12 years or so, I have taken over the responsibility of baking the Chocolate Cake for Christmas.



This recipe actually originated from my Paternal Grand Aunt - Aunty Freda. Her recipe was passed down to all her sisters, nieces, daughters - basically to everyone in the family. My mom however, seems to have perfected making the cake as everyone in the family says that her Chocolate Cake is the best. My mom in turn, passed the recipe on to many a friend and relative but somehow, they have never been able to get it to turn out quite the same way. Some have even accused my dear mother of witholding some secret ingredient in the recipe!

This is one of the very first cakes I baked by myself. In fact, the first time I baked this cake, I was about 15 or so. In my eagerness to do it myself, I got confused with the different types of flour in the house. Instead of using plain wheat flour, I used Atta flour instead – a kind of wholewheat flour (the type used to make chappatis!) The cake still turned out okay except that the Atta flour gave the cake a very wheaty, grainy texture! That episode is now fondly referred to by my friends and family as the Chocolate Chappati incident!

Of course, that experience made me learn that there were different kinds of flours used for different purposes. I also learnt how different cake tins produces different results as well as how different ovens could also produce different results. I obviously learned well from my mother as I have managed to reproduce her famous Chocolate Cake and I believe, my cake is now the benchmark. I guess it also helps that I use the same oven as my mother did (she has changed her oven since and I think it affects the timing of the recipe). I have made a slight adjustment to the original recipe but this is only for the icing where I add a little bit more butter to make the icing a little creamier. The original recipe was always for a large rectangular tin but I have halved the recipe to make a nice 9" round or a smaller rectangle or square.


Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
250 g Butter
300 g Castor Sugar
200 g flour
30 g corn flour
¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
4 eggs
3 tbsp cocoa
1½ tbsp milk
1 tbsp honey
3/8 cup hot water
1 tsp vanilla

Method
Cream butter and sugar till light
Beat the eggs lightly and add in a little at a time
Sift flour, corn flour and bicarbonate of soda together. Fold into cream mixture
Combine water with cocoa and smoothen to a paste
Add in to cake mixture. Mix well
Add in honey, milk and vanilla. Mix well
Spread into a lined and greased cake pan
Bake in a preheated 180oC oven for 50 minutes of till done.
Remove from Oven and cool
Frost with Chocolate Icing


Chocolate Icing
170 g Icing sugar
60 g cocoa
60 g butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 coffee mug hot water

Method
Cream butter till soft
Sift icing sugar and cocoa together
Slowly add to butter and cream. Mixture sill stiffen
Add in hot water a little at a time till desired consistency is achieved. (Like thick butercream)
Spread onto cake and let set


My children love this cake too and I bake it for Birthday's or anytime the kids feel like some of "Daddy's Yummy Chocolate Cake!"