Wholemeal Pancakes with Raspberry Compote

I'm trying to use more wholemeal flour.

These pancakes are simple and tasty.

Ingredients:
1 cup of whole meal self-raising flour
2 eggs
low fat milk (about 1/4-1/2 cup) - enough to get to the right consistency (not too runny but not too thick)
raw sugar (to taste - I use a couple of tablespoons)
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract (again to your own taste)

Simple whisk all together and cook individual pancakes in a pan on low-medium heat as you would usually make pancakes.

For the raspberry compote I used frozen raspberries and some sugar, heated and mixed together to serve on top of the pancakes.

My Guacamole with toasted pita triangles

I've always wanted to make Guacamole, I hate the store bought stuff.  My recipe is simple, delicious and a real crowd pleaser.

Depending on the quantity and the number of people depends on how much ingredients you will need. I make enough for a small bowl for nibbles when I have friends over or to put in wraps.

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocados
Juice of 1 large lime
salt and pepper to taste
chilli flakes (just a pinch)
1-2 tablespoons of finely diced red onion (depending on how much onion you like)
If you like your guacamole a little creamy you can add a few teaspoons of sour cream. I personally prefer mine fresh and a bit chunky so I don't add sour cream to mine.

It's really as simple as mashing the avocado with a fork in a bowl, squeezing on the lime juice, adding in the onion and seasoning. Mix together and eat.

I like to serve mine with toasted pita chips. I use wholemeal pita bread. I got the idea from a friends birthday party.
Take a flat pita bread, coat lightly with olive oil. Season with whatever you like. I use just salt sometimes if I have a really tasty dip. You can also use chili flakes, cumin seeds, pepper, mixed herbs, really whatever you like. Slice the bread into triangles and bake in the oven for about 5 mins on 200 degrees celcius or until just starting to brown. You want them crispy but not too brown and crunchy otherwise they taste burnt.

Enjoy!

Slow cooked Oxtail with risotto

To say my boyfriend loves oxtail is an understatement. Truthfully I had never eaten it until I met him. It's popular in Botswana where he is from. He usually makes it with a mixture of things, slow cooked until it falls of the bone and eats it with either bread or potato. I decided I wanted to try making my own version of this Botswana-inspired dish and thought a risotto would go nicely. I got some really good oxtail from the Prahran market, but you can find it at most markets in winter (however it sells out very quickly!).

Now these are the quantities if you are making it for a family (the first time I made it I only made enough for 2 and the portions were much better and a lot less fat from the meat).

Ingredients (my usual rough estimations)

2L beef stock liquid

4 bay leaves

4 sprigs of thyme

pepper

2 teaspoons garlic butter

1 kg ox tail

olive oil

2 small brown onions

steak and chops seasoning

1 can whole peeled tomatoes

2 cups risotto

Season the meat with olive oil and steak and chops seasoning (if you can find it, otherwise salt and pepper will do).

 

Brown the onions and add the meat to gently brown. Add in 1L stock, tomatoes, bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper. Leave on a low heat to simmer for roughly 3 hours (or until reduced enough).

 Once the oxtail looks like it is reduced enough, spoon of most of the oil layer at the top and discard (alternatively if you make the oxtail the night before you can leave it in the fridge and spoon the hardened top layer of fat off, then reheat on the stove).

 In a large frying pan with some olive oil, gently coat and heat the risotto grains for about 1 minute, add the garlic butter and cup by cup add in 1L beef stock. Also spoon in the liquid from the pot with oxtail in it. Keep doing this until the rice is cooked.

Once done, serve the risotto with meat on top with some sourdough. YUM!

Fesenjoon - Iranian food- Walnut and pomegranate chicken

Fesenjoon is one of my favorite Iranian dishes. It's essentially a stew made from ground walnuts, pomegranate molasses. My mother uses steak sauce in her fesenjoon which isn't really traditional, but since she moved  from Iran to a small country town in Australia 30-something years ago, they didn't really have pomegranate Molasses so she had to find a substitute. Steak sauce is made from apples so it goes quite well. My mothers cooking is always the best, but here is a rough idea of how to make fesenjoon.

Ingredients (rough estimates):

Cut chicken thigh 1 kg (I used a mix of wings, drumsticks, thighs, really whatever you have)

1-1 ½ packets of walnuts finely blended x2

1 large onion chopped fried in olive oil

½-1 bottle Steak sauce

2 teaspoons Turmeric

1 tablespoon chicken stock powder (mix, add to taste)

Chicken liquid stock (I think about 1L)

Pomegranate molasses to taste (I put a 2 tablespoons) 

Method:

Blended walnuts

 Fry the onion and gently brown the chicken. Add the other ingredients to the pot. 

Fry onions

Brown the chicken

Mix together, put in casserole dish and put in preheated oven at 170* for 1hr and 15mins or keep on the stove top on a low heat instead of the oven if you prefer to use a large stove top pot.

 I like to eat fesenjoon with Zereshk Polow (Rice with barberries) and natural yogurt.

BBQ honey chicken wings

These little babies are very popular among my family and friends. Something I came up with that has turned into a staple for family get-togethers.

Basically its 3 joint chicken wings cut at the joint to make the drummette and the wing (or you can buy the pre-cut chicken nibbles). Heat the oven to 200 celcius. Put chicken in a non-stick roasting pan, drizzle a little olive oil, as much bbq sauce and honey over the top as you desire and mix through. Put in over for about 30 mins or until the top is golden.

YUM!

Roast Pumpkin and Rocket salad with honey ginger soy dressing

It's pretty easy and filled with flavor.

Salad:
Roast kent pumpkin (skin on) cut into thickchunks.
- Roast in oven with olive oil. Once roasted set aside to cool.
Rocket
Freshly shaved parmasen cheese
Sundried or fresh cherry tomatoes
Put all the ingredients in a bowl.

Dressing: These are rough estimates, you really need to do it to taste
1 table spoon Freshly grated ginger
1/4 cup Honey
1/4 cup Soy sauce
Heat in a pan until starts to bubble then turn heat off. Let cool a little and pour over salad. Mix and serve.

Enjoy!

My attempt at John Legend's Mac and Cheese

This wonderful family recipe of John Legend is courtesy of Martha Stewart, and can be found here. I made this after I finally found Montery Jack Cheese in Australia at Costco. This recipe is great, and it's really delicious. I however, being the dumbass that I am, burnt my arm while making it. But it was worth it. I have always wanted to learn how to make proper mac and cheese from scratch and was so proud that I finally made it.