Beef Rendang

I have been craving a good Rendang since the weather has becoming a little cooler. I also have been watching My Kitchen Rules -which always inspires me to cook. I have made my own Thai curry pastes but not an Indonesian Rendang so thought I would give it a go and it's really simple to make if you have all the ingredients and a food processor.

Note that Rendang is considered a "dry" curry, which means the sauce is simmered down to a minimum. Because it is so distilled, the sauce sticks to the meat, making this dish one of the most flavorful I have ever tried. And its wide variety of spices make it extremely healthy. If you like your curry with an abundance of flavor, you'll love Rendang!

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Ingredients:

I actually can't remember how much beef I used but I got a big tray (about 4) chuck steaks about the size of you whole hand.

You can also use a whole chicken if you prefer chicken:)

SAUCE:

1/2 can good-quality coconut milk

2 Tbsp. fresh finely chopped lemongrass - I got mine fresh from Coles but also have been able to get it in the Garden Gourmet tubes

1 onion, peeled and quartered

4 cloves garlic (I used 4 teaspoons of Garden Gourmet)

1 thumb-size piece ginger (or preferably galangal)

1-3 red chilies, depending on how hot you like your curry (de-seeded if less heat is desired) OR 1/3 to 3/4 tsp dry chili flakes

3/4 Tbsp. tamarind paste

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

2 tsp. dark soy sauce

4 Tbsp. fish sauce

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1 heaping Tbsp. ground coriander

1 Tbsp. ground cumin

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. shrimp paste OR substitute 1 Tbsp. more fish sauce

optional: 2 whole star anise

GARNISH (optional):

fresh coriander leaves

dry shredded coconut

Preparation:

Place all sauce ingredients - except whole star anise - in a food processor. Process well to form a thick curry paste or sauce. If you don't have a food processor, simply chop onion and herbs finely and combine with the coconut milk, spices, and other ingredients. These herbs and spices can also be ground together with a pestle & mortar.

Do a taste test for salt and spice, adding more fish sauce if not salty enough. If not spicy enough, add more fresh chili, or chili sauce. If too sour, add a little more brown sugar. I stuffed up a little here and put too much fish sauce in when it needed more chilli. It didn't turn out to bad in the end but I am guessing its a little trial and error.

Place sauce in a wok or large, deep-sided frying pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken (or beef) pieces, plus the whole star anise, and stir well.

Continue stirring occasionally as you bring the curry to a boil. Then reduce heat to a simmer. Do not cover the wok/frying pan, as you want the sauce to reduce and become thicker.

Allow the curry to simmer (stirring occasionally) for up to one hour, or until meat is cooked and tender. The sauce will reduce, so that it is almost like a coating on the meat (plus there will be a little sauce leftover in the wok/pan). Note in the pic below I hadn't poured any of the delicious sauce over it but the curry was indeed 'sticking' to the meat. 

Serve directly from the wok/pan, or place the curry on a serving plate (with any extra sauce poured over). Garnish with a sprinkling of shredded coconut and fresh coriander (fresh chives work too). Serve hot with Thai jasmine-scented rice, or Coconut Rice. I was going to make my own Roti bread but purchased some naan:) I am going to make my own Roti next time - I'll let you know how it goes.

Sticky Veal Osso Bucco

We purchased some veal Osso Bucco recently and found this yummy recipes included on the packaging. I served it with sweet potato mash and a little rice. Yummy:)

This slow cooked sticky veal osso buco is best served with stir fried vegetables and rice. It is absolutely delicious and rich, ideal for cold miserable nights in. The recipe is easily increased if you are catering for extras.

Ingredients

400 g veal osso buco
2 teaspoons oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, sliced
½ tablespoon grated fresh ginger
150 mL beef stock
1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
1 tablespoon Hoisin sauce
1 small bunch coriander, chopped
1 small mild red chilli, shredded

Method

Heat large non-stick frypan. Rub the veal with a little olive oil and brown over high heat.

Slow Cooker: Place into slow cooker with the onion, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, stock, sweet chilli sauce and hoisin sauce.
Cover and cook for approximately 4-5 hours, or until meat is tender.

Stove Top: Place browned veal into a large saucepan, add onion, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, stock, sweet chilli sauce and hoisin sauce.

Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to very low, cover and simmer for 1-1½ hours or until tender. Remove lid and increase heat to reduce and thicken the sauce if necessary.

Serve with chopped coriander and sliced chilli.

Jamie Oliver's Cheesy Mushrooms

The Yummy Yummy Mushroom (who knew!)

My hubby and I have fallen in love with a new recipe that I have stumbled upon from Jamie's 30 Minute Meals where he creates a steak sarnie with a number of tasty sides.  One of the sides is a lovely grilled mushroom. Now I usually do not have much luck with cooking mushies - they usually end up watery and tasteless. This recipe has a bit of crunch and a whole lot of flavour. I hope you enjoy....

(Jamie Oliver's) Cheesy Mushrooms

original recipe can be found here

• 4 large flat Portobello or Field mushrooms (roughly 250g/ 9oz in total) 
• 2 cloves of garlic (I used Garden Gourmet squeezy tube and mixed this through the lemon before pouring over mushrooms)

• ½ fresh red chilli

• 2 sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley

• ½ lemon

• 1 or 2 tablespoons of lemon zest
• 50 to 100g crumbled feta cheese 
• A good splash of good quality olive oil

Lay the mushrooms, stalk side up, on a chopping board. Trim the stalks and place the mushrooms stalk side up in a small earthenware dish that they fit into fairly snugly.

Crush ½ an unpeeled clove of garlic over each mushroom. Finely chop ½ a red chilli and a couple of parsley sprigs, and divide between the mushrooms. Grate over the zest of ½ a lemon, drizzle well with olive oil and lemon juice and season. Crumble feta over the top of the mushrooms.  

pre-grilled cheesy mushrooms

Grill on the top shelf for 9 to 10 minutes, or until golden.  Serve immediately.

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Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals - Cheats Cheesecake

Finally I am getting around to making the dessert from Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals that I blogged about ages ago.  I have recreated the Oozy Mushroom Risotto, and the Sundried Tomato and Pinenut salad and now I am attempting the Cheats Cheesecake (or Raving Idiot's Cheesecake as I may call it).  This is because I have guests coming for dinner on Sunday and want to make them something special. It's also perfect as they are vegetarian so all the three dishes are perfect!!  


I have tried to write out as much as I can and included some pics. They were for my use but thought I would share as the Mushroom Risotto is gorgeous and the salad is very fresh and zingy.  Let's see how we go with dessert.

Ingredients

Hazelnuts – 50 grams

Butter – 50 grams

Gingernut Biscuits – 8 biscuits

Lemon zest

Creme Fraiche (we didn’t have any where I lived so I used light sour cream) – a small pot (see pics)

Icing Sugar – 1 teaspoon

Vanilla Extract – 1 cap full

Lemon Curd (I make an eggless variety from this recipe)

Raspberries (I used Strawberries)

Mint

Chocolate

Method

In a heavy based pan toast 50 grams of hazenuts.

While they are gently toasting, in a clean tea towel crush 8 gingernut biscuits.  Jamie makes a little bundle out of the tea towel and whacks it on the bench until the gingernuts are fairly well crumbled and powdery.

Crack the toasting hazelnuts in the pan  until they are chunky (you don’t have to crush the bits too small). Jamie uses sort of a wooden pestle but I’d probably crush them before putting them in the pan. 

Add butter to the pan and turn the heat off.  Let the butter fry together with nuts, melting the butter. Add a few scrapes of lemon zest (about two teaspoons as I could see) and sprinkle in the crushed gingernuts and combine with a spoon.

Divide evenly into glasses (or whatever you would like the base to be in) and gently tamp down.  Cover and chill until the base sets firm.

Mix the crème fraiche (or sour cream) with icing sugar and vanilla.

Add a few dollops of lemon curd to each glass, add three or so raspberries and then a few dollops of crème fraiche. Add a few more raspberries.  Add a few small mint leaves on top.

Get a ‘decent’ bar of chocolate. Turn it so its back is showing (the smooth side).  Rest the chocolate on the bench and up against yourself so it’s held in place. 

Using the flat part of a knife scrape towards you so you create chocolate rolls.  Do this a few times until you get the desired amount of chocolate rolls.


Jamie says ‘I know it looks chefy but a raving idiot could do it’ (this gives me hope!).  


Carefully sprinkle them over the top of the glasses.  Chill until be served.

 All pictures are taken from the television program - Jamie's 30 Minute Meals

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Jamie's 30 Minute Meals - Pinenut, Sun-dried Tomato and Cucumber Salad

This is the salad that Jamie Oliver creates with his Oozy Mushroom Risotto. Again, I have tried to write out what he has written and included some pics. They were for my use but thought I would share as the Mushroom Risotto is gorgeous and the salad is very fresh and zingy.

Ingredients

Pine nuts

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Sundried Tomatoes

Lemon

Packet of Baby Spinach leaves

Cucumber (Lebanese)

Mint

Parmesan Cheese

Method

In a heavy based pan lightly toast 200 grams of pine nuts.

Add to 3 tbspn of olive oil to a large salad bowl. Add 1 tbspn balsamic vinegar. Add 5 or 6 sundried tomatoes roughly cut in 1cm strips, squeeze in half a lemon, add a sprinkle of salt and  give it all a gentle mix in the bowl with your fingers.

Cut a packet of baby spinach leaves into 1 cm strips (Jamie gently holds the whole batch in a ball and cuts with a sharp knife).  Place on top of the dressing the bowl but don’t mix through until you are ready to serve.

Score the outside of a cucumber (I used a Lebanese but I think Jamie used the really long one that comes in plastic) then cut in half and then cut on angle in centimetre cuts.  Place the cucumber in the bowl on top of the salad.

 

Rip up a few sprigs of mint and throw on top.

Now dress the salad by gently tossing everything through with your fingers.  Make sure everything is scrummy and coated.

Now add the hot toasted pine nuts.  Add a few scrapes of parmesan cheese (maybe a couple of tbspns) and enjoy:)

The salad is from Series 1, Episode 8 where Jamie Oliver makes Oozy Mushroom Risotto, this salad and a yummy lemon, raspberry and gingernut desert. I am going to try and make the desert at a later date and will add it to this site if it's a success:)

All pictures are taken from the television program - Jamie's 30 Minute Meals

Jamie's 30-Minute Meals - Oozy Mushroom Risotto

We had the TV on the other day (a rarity for us in our house) and were randomly channel surfing, when we happened upon Jamie Oliver’s 30 Minute Meals.  Jamie makes three meals in 30 minutes.  In this episode (Season 1, Episode 8) he was making a yummy risotto, salad and desert.  I thought I would give it a go:)  

I have tried to write down what Jamie has done word for word and tried to add some pics (originally for my own use - but thought I would share).  I then realised I had never made risotto before, in fact I had tried it once or twice at restaurants and hated it!!:) But this looked too yummy to let go.  So I gave it a go. I didn't have some of the ingredients but the result was yummy - yummy - yummy.  Here is Jamie's recipe with my little notes added in.  I hope you enjoy:)

Oozy Three Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients

One or two sticks of celery (I didn't use these)

One large brown onion

Handful of dried porcini mushrooms (I didn't have these)

Fresh rosemary (I only had home dried rosemary)

Chicken or Vegie Stock Cube

Boiled Water

500g of mixed fresh mushrooms (I used oyster, swiss brown, king brown and enoki mushrooms)

300g of arborio rice

glass of white wine (I used Chinese cooking wine - ha!, as that's all I had!)

fresh thyme (I had fresh lemon thyme)

clove of garlic

parmesan cheese

butter

fresh lemon juice 

handful of parsley (I forgot about this too!!)

salt and pepper to taste

Method (note I didn't use some of these ingredients but have added in Jamie's recipe, in case you wish to use it)

Destring some celery (click off the top section and pull off the outside stringiness)

Place in food processor.  Peel one large brown onion.  Quarter or halve and place in food processor with celery.  Place in a handful of dried porcini mushrooms.   Place in a fresh sprig of rosemary (destemmed).  Whazz.

Place 3 tbsns of olive oil into a pan (Jamie uses a casserole dish).  Warm through and then add the mix from the food processor.  Fry.  Add 300g of Arborio rice.  Add a glass of white wine.  Stir. Add one veggie or chicken stock cube.  Add a splash of freshly boiled hot water (I reckon half a cup maybe).  Turn down to a medium–low heat.  Stir very well.  You keep doing this for 18-20 mins – adding hot water and stirring well. 

Get 500g of a variety of three mushrooms.  Slice into big chunks. Half will go in the rice now, half will be grilled later.  Add your mushrooms to the rice mixture. Add a little bit more water and stir.  Season lightly with salt and stir.

Place the other half of the mushrooms in a baking tray or something that can withstand grilling.  Season with salt, pepper and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil.  Add in some fresh thyme and rosemary and crushed garlic.  Mix it all with your fingers like you are dressing a salad.  Place small nobs of butter in and around the mushrooms.  Put aside for grilling later.

Add some more hot water and stir your risotto well.

At the 15 minute interval Jamie makes a yummy looking desert.  I am going to try and copy this out later and see how I go with it. It is ginger nut and hazelnut base with Crème fraîche and lemon, raspberries and chocolate (drool)

Give the risotto more boiling water and have another stir (make sure it doesn't dry out and stays wet and almost sloppy).

Place your pan of mushrooms into a hot grill.  Jamie leaves this for about 8-10 minutes.  They have to be caramelised and soaked in the garlic, olive oil and pop in your mouth.  Not crunchy and burnt:)  I add some extra olive oil to keep mine ticking over.

At the 21 minute mark Jamie makes a yummy salad.  I gave it a go. It’s very fresh so would go well with the risotto. Pinenut and Sundried Tomato salad.

At about the 23 minute mark, take your risotto off the heat and add a couple of big knobs of butter and grate about 50grams of parmesan to taste.   The risotto must be oozy so add stock or water if needed.  It should be runny and able to fall off the mixing spoon easily. Taste and check if it needs salt or parmesan.   Add a small squeeze of lemon juice.  

Finely chop a handful of parsley and stir through the risotto.   Pop a lid on the dish and leave it for 2-3 minutes.

Serve with more parmesan cheese (if desired) and a scoop of grilled mushrooms on the top.  I added way too many grilled mushrooms. Be warned they taste very strong. You don't need alot.  Enjoy:)

All pictures are taken from Season 1, Episode 8 of Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals.