The Cookbook Challenge - Week 17 - Vietnamese - Chicken with Vietnamese Caramel Sauce

Yes, I'm late. I'm sorry. Fitting blogging in around my life is harder than I anticipated. Uni's back, and I went away for the weekend - not making excuses... ok, maybe I'm making excuses. But, I'm blogging now!


This week's recipe came from delicious. Magazine, June 2007 edition - Chicken with Vietnamese Caramel Sauce. This is a great mid-week dinner recipe as it's nice and quick, cheap, and delicious. Although, and I'm not quite sure how, I did manage to create a lot of washing up with this recipe. I have a reputation for using the maximum number of dishes and utensils possible when cooking though, so don't let this put you off the recipe. I expect I'm the exception. And that's what dishwashers are for.

Chicken with Vietnamese Caramel Sauce - delicious. June 2007


1 tbs sunflower oil (or substitute peanut oil)
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/3 cup soy sauce
125g brown sugar
1 tbs fish sauce
1 tbs tamarind concentrate
4 chicken breast fillets with skin on
steamed pak choy and white rice to serve


Heat half a tablespoon of oil in a pan over medium heat, add ginger and stir for one minute - watch it carefully as you don't want burnt ginger. The ginger flavour is really mild, so if you're looking for a ginger kick, double the amount. I will next time.

Add soy sauce and brown sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add fish sauce and tamarind concentrate, reduce heat to low and simmer for five minutes or until sauce thickens and is a dark caramel colour. I found it took no time at all to caramelise, but I think I had the stove up a little too high - it didn't seem to make a difference though. I still simmered it for the five minutes while I cooked the chicken.

Make three to four slashes in each chicken breast, about an inch apart so it depends on the size of your chicken breast, and season with salt and pepper.


Heat remaining oil in a frypan over medium-high heat. Add chicken, skin-side down, and cook for two to three minutes until golden brown. Turn and cook for two minutes on the other side, then turn skin-side down once more.

Reduce heat to medium-low, then add the sauce and cook chicken, basting, for a further five minutes or until cooked through. Serve with white rice and steamed pak choy, drizzled with the sauce.


Tip: Donna Hay (Modern Classics Book 1) taught me how to cook rice perfectly - To serve 4, put 1 1/2 cup long grain rice, 2 1/2 cups water in a pan with a tight fitting lid. Cook over a medium heat for 10-12 minutes, until funnels form in the rice and the liquid is absorbed. Set aside for 10 minutes, then fluff with a fork and serve. Ignore the instructions on the pack and follow these - you'll have perfect rice every time.


There you go, that's something by Kate.

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 13 - Love - Molten Chocolate Puddings

Love is.... serving chocolate pudding just the way he likes it - to his desk while he plays Battlefield on the computer on Valentine's Day.

Love is.... serving it undercooked because that's the way he likes it, despite the fact it will photograph badly for the blog.

Love is.... making a recipe that's from a book I've already used for the cookbook challenge, and a recipe I've made before, because he "loves chocolate pudding even more than chocolate mousse" - this was a big call from someone who rarely orders dessert, but if he does it's chocolate mousse. 

I came across this recipe when I was making Spicy Chicken Thighs from Bill Granger's Every Day for Week 10 of the challenge.  

Love is.... having made this recipe five times since Week 10 of the challenge, and it's only Week 13 now.

Ok, you get the point. This is why I chose this recipe for our love theme. And I stuck a white chocolate heart on it for bonus points - but didn't serve him that one, since he doesn't like white chocolate. See how much I love him?

This is a simple, molten centred pudding that I haven't had fail yet. The first time I made it, following Bill's cooking time instructions (10 minutes) it was only just firm and held its shape, you could probably cook it for 10 1/2 - 11 minutes and still have a gooey middle, but I cook it for 9 1/2 to get it the way he likes it. I like it either way, but tend to leave mine in the oven for the 30 seconds it takes me to plate his up, just for a little more cake, and a little less batter. I also always wish I'd made enough for two each!

Here's one I prepared earlier - about 11 minutes in the oven - I also didn't have it on the middle shelf, and it was a little too close to the bottom element, as you can see from the "robust" colouring.

Molten Chocolate Puddings - Bill Granger's Every Day

Serves two 

(but doubles well, just use four ramekins as they won't cook well as two larger puddings)

50g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
50g dark chocolate, chopped
1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
1 1/2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 teaspoon plain flour


Preheat the oven to 220 degrees. Butter two 250ml ovenproof ramekins and dust with cocoa powder, shaking out any excess.


Melt the chocolate and butter together in a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water or in the microwave on 50%. While the chocolate is melting use and electric whisk to beat the egg, yolk and sugar until pale and thick.

 Isn't that cute? I have no idea how the shadow is trying to create a heart, but it's very suitable for Valentine's Day

Pour the melted chocolate into the egg mixture, sift in the flour and gently fold in. Spoon into the ramekins and bake for 10 minutes. Serve either in the ramekins or turned out onto serving plates.

There you go. That's something by Kate. Happy Valentine's Day!

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 12 - Eggs - Strawberry Vacherin

I'm late, I know. I'm sorry. No excuses, I just didn't have time. Don't ask me what I was doing, I have no idea how I had no time this week, I'm not convinced I was actually doing anything, sometimes it just happens that way, that you're busiest when you're not. I always fit more in when I'm busy than when I'm free.

And, the recipe I chose this week was a bit of a production. I had ten egg whites in the freezer which I needed to stop adding to and start using (I have a weakness for carbonara pasta) so I knew my egg recipe needed to involve egg whites rather than whole eggs. Plus, I had a bunch of ingredients that I wanted to start using up, rather than adding more specialty ingredients to my baking pantry - I can't believe how lucky I am to have a dedicated pantry for these things!

When I came across the Strawberry Vacherin in delicious. magazine from May 2002, it was perfect. The only thing I had to purchase was strawberries for decoration. 

With flagrant disregard for food safety I took six egg whites out of the freezer (I freeze them in pairs in bags) before I went to work in the morning and left them on the bench so they'd be room temperature and ready for action when I got home. Turns out food safety was not to be my downfall..... I got a voicemail message about 4.30pm - "did you have eggs or something in plastic bags out? There's goo all over the floor. I'm running late for the cricket, I cleaned it off the carpet, but not the tiles, don't slip". That'll teach me.

Cats. I love them, but apparently the bench is their favourite playing surface when I'm not home. The bags of egg whites had been redistributed across the lounge and kitchen floors, and bitten into so that they'd all oozed out. The little buggers hadn't even tried to eat any of it, it seems they were just interested in making mess. 

Once I'd cleaned that up on my return home, the remaining four egg whites were removed from the freezer, and defrosted very carefully in the microwave. At least I'd achieved my goal of using up the egg whites in the freezer! In fact, I now have an egg yolk in my freezer, since I had to use an extra egg white. 

I also used some of the 1.2kg of Toblerone we were given for Christmas.

Ignore the missing Toblerones - they may have ended up in my belly

The recipe specified toasting and grinding whole almonds, but I already had almond meal, so I substituted it with no great dramas.

I would make this again (keeping in mind the proclivities of my cats) but I'd layer strawberries on the inside as well as on top, to counter the sweetness, and would halve (at least) the icing sugar in the cream. 

Strawberry Vacherin - delicious. May 2002

175g almond meal 

5 egg whites

225g caster sugar

110g melted butter, cooled

70g plain flour, sifted

300m thickened cream

150g pure icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g Toblerone chocolate

250g strawberries

I love it when I pour the exact amount first go - this time I managed it twice. Small joys.

Preheat your oven to 120 degrees. Cut three 20cm circles from non-stick baking paper, grease one side of each circle, and place greased side up on baking trays. The easiest way to do this is to trace around a 20cm cake tin, unless you have 20cm plates, in which case that would work too.

Beat together the egg whites and half the caster sugar, until stiff, then add the almond meal and remaining sugar and stir to combine.

Gently fold in the butter and flour (I almost forgot the butter and was wondering why the mixture seemed so dry, so it got a little more folding than it should have, but it was still ok).

Spread onto the baking paper circles to about 1cm thick, and bake for 50 minutes, then peel off the paper and set aside to cool.

 

I probably didn't really need to use the twins, but.....

Whip the cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract together until thick, and set aside.

Melt the Toblerone - delicious. recommend using a a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, but I used the microwave - be warned if using the microwave, Toblerone will hold its shape, but still be melted, so check it by stirring regularly.

Place one meringue circle on a plate, spread with half the Toblerone and top with a third of the cream. Place a meringue circle on top of that, spread with the remaining Toblerone, and half the remaining cream. Top with the last meringue circle, and the rest of the cream. Quarter the strawberries and arrange on top. Dust with icing sugar.

There you go, that's something by Kate.

Who Won? And - The Cookbook Challenge - Week 10 - Cool - Spicy Chicken Thighs with Cucumber and Cashew Salad

And the winners of the Bondi Chai giveaway are.....

Sarah from http://imasugarjunkie.wordpress.com/ with her suggestion of a vanilla honey chai cupcake, with honey buttercream icing, and Agnes from http://offthespork.blogspot.com/ who said she'd use the chai in a sweet baked ravoli with a chai & ricotta filling. Thanks guys, and congratulations. Email me your postal addresses to somethingbykate at gmail.com, and you'll soon have some Bondi Chai winging its way to you. I hope you'll make your suggestions soon, and post them on your blogs so everyone gets to see!

I really didn't have time to do ice-cream this week - or post on time, I'm so sorry!!!! As much as I have been desperate to make a strawberry balsamic ice cream, without an ice cream maker, and being back at work meant it just was not going to happen.

Cool, cool, cool??? Cucumbers! Cool as!

Without this week's challenge, I may never have gotten around to making Bill Granger's Spicy Chicken Thighs with Cucumber and Cashew Salad, and that would have been an absolute shame. This dish is awesome! Plate licking awesome, believe me, I saw Mr Something literally licking it clean. He also rarely comments on my cooking, unless he really doesn't want me to make something again, but two bites in, and compliments were flying. Definitely in the Repeat Recipe Rotation.

 I didn't follow Bill's recipe exactly, but I really think that's in the spirit of Bill! He's self-taught, and so casual, I think he wants people to just have a crack.

• I didn't have any fish sauce, so I substituted a couple of ground up anchovies and soy sauce.
• I didn't have any mint, so I used coriander - I think the coriander is a win, I won't be reverting to mint next time I make it.
• I only had whole cashews and was feeling lazy so didn't crush them - it wasn't necessary. 
• I used only a third of the amount of sugar that Bill recommended and it was still plenty sweet - it may be necessary to use more if you're using fish sauce and not soy, or love it sweet. 
• I used half the chicken and salad amount but the whole sauce amount - it was perfect.
• I went nuts with the lime juice.
  

The ingredients list below show Bill's quantities.

Spicy Chicken Thighs with Cucumber and Cashew Salad

3 tablespoons fish sauce

freshly ground black pepper

3 crushed garlic cloves

2 large red chilled, finely minced

2 teaspoons of sugar

8 boneless skinless chicken thighs

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons lime juice

3 tablespoons caster sugar

200g vermicelli noodles

2 cucumbers, halved and thinly sliced

1 handful of fresh mint leaves

4 spring onions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons cashew nuts, crushed

My fish sauce substitute in the flavour shaker

Whisk the soy sauce, pepper, garlic, chillies and sugar in a bowl. Put the chicken in a separate bowl and pour over half the marinade, cover and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.

Fry the chicken in the vegetable oil over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes on high. Bill suggests putting another frypan on top to make the chicken crisp, I used a plate, and it worked quite well.

Trust me, there's chicken under there.

While the chicken cooks, add lime juice and sugar to the marinade that wasn't added to the chicken, and stir until the sugar had dissolved to make a dressing.

Pour boiling water over the vermicelli and leave it for a minute or two until soft, drain and rinse under cold water. Mix with the cucumber, coriander, spring onions, cashews and dressing in a large bowl. Serve with the sliced chicken.

Since I was juicing a lime, I also zested it, and put the zest in a zip lock back in the freezer.

How much do I love my new microplane?

Is anyone else as big a slob as I am, ending up with food all over their books?

There you go. That's something by Kate.

Bread and Cinnamon Chai Butter Pudding with Raspberry Glaze

I had half a loaf of Glick's Sweet Challah sitting on my bench, left over from my visit to Costo last week, and was a bit tired of having it toasted with strawberry & vanilla conserve.  I also wanted to play a bit more with the Bondi Chai tea powder that Martin sent me.  How could I combine those two things to make something delicious? Turns out, it was easy-peasy! Old school bread and butter pudding, livened up a little.

The English are famous for their puddings so I turned to Cook with Jamie Oliver for a quick refresher on what goes into the custard, and I was away!

I made the chai butter, by mixing 100g softened butter with 1 1/2 teaspoons of Bondi Chai Club Cinnamon, and spread it on both sides of sliced up Challah bread.

Layered the bread in a shallow baking dish, also spread with the chai butter.

Warm 1 1/2 cups milk, 1 3/4 cups cream, and 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste over a really low heat - below a simmer.

While that's heating, beat 6 egg yolks, and 1 whole egg, then pour the warm cream mixture into the eggs, stirring constantly.

Pour the custard over the layered bread, dunking any bits that stick out to make sure they're coated, and leave to soak for about 1/2 hour.

Place the baking dish into a roasting tray, and pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the side of the dish - making sure it's not so full that you won't be able to lift it into and out of the oven safely!

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees (fan forced) for 45 minutes. After this, microwave 1/4 cup raspberry jam for about 20 seconds on high, and brush generously over the bread tops. Return to the oven for 10 minutes.

Allow the pudding to cool for at least 10 minutes before you serve it - although it will be tough to wait!

I love the balance of creamy, cinnamon spicy, gooeyness, and jammy toastiness, so try to make sure everyone gets a bit of both when you serve it. Be warned, it's very addictive, and very filling. I had to warn Mr Something not to jiggle the couch too much, because my belly might have overflowed! Yet I still have some left - YAY!

Guess what I'm having for dessert tonight!

There you go. That's something by Kate.

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 8 - Sweet - Strawberry and Vanilla Conserve

Wow, week 8 of the cookbook challenge already. Can you believe it? And more food bloggers are still joining us. It's fantastic! Check out everyone who's participating over at Rilsta's blog.

I had no idea what I was going to make for this week's challenge, there were too many options, and I ended up making something that wasn't even on my shortlist at the start of the week. I received January's Australian Good Taste magazine in the mail on Wednesday, and when I got to page 21 I knew I'd found my recipe for the week. What's sweeter than jam?

This choice was made even easier by my local supermarket having a special on strawberries of $1.89/250g and the find I made on my first ever visit to Costco this week:

a 65g jar of Queen Vanilla Bean Paste is currently $10.88 at Coles ($16.74/100g), but this 320g baby set me back only $23.99 ($7.50/100g). Bargain! I also picked up AWW Bake for $44.95 which I've been coveting since Rilsta made the lemon white chocolate mudcake in week 1 of the cookbook challenge. Much cheaper than $100.95 at Borders, where I almost bought it last week!

Anyway, back to the challenge.

This was my first attempt at making jam (sorry, conserve) and it was so easy.

I halved the recipe, except for the vanilla, as I didn't really want 2 1/2 cups of conserve, although I kind of regret it now, and will have to make more soon. I'm consuming it much faster than I anticipated.

Strawberry and Vanilla Conserve

500g strawberries, washed and hulled (I also halved them, as I didn't want it too chunky)

500g caster sugar

40ml lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Strawberries have to be the most photogenic fruit!

Layer strawberries and sugar in a large bowl, cover, and allow to infuse overnight.

Transfer to a large saucepan with the lemon juice and vanilla. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves.

Increase heat to medium-high and bring to the boil. Skim any froth that forms on the surface using a large metal spoon.

Cook, stirring often, for 25-30 minutes. I cooked mine for 25 minutes, and I probably should have stopped at 20.

Check if it's ready by placing a saucer in the freezer for 5 minutes, then spoon a little conserve onto it and return it to the freezer for 2 minutes. Touch it, and if it wrinkles and feels gel-like it's ready.

You probably can't see it, but trust me, it's wrinkled.

Spoon the hot conserve into clean, dry, glass jars. I heated mine (gently, on 70 degrees) in the oven first, but this probably isn't necessary, I'm just paranoid about mixing high and low temperatures and glass. Seal jars and invert for 2 minutes. Turn right side up and leave to cool. I used old pasta sauce jars, and it was pretty awesome that when they cooled the safety seal button depressed! Ok, maybe that's lame, but I was excited to see it.

If you're going to leave your strawberries whole, make sure you use a wide mouthed jar. I used quite narrow jars, and even with the strawberries halved it was awkward to spoon the hot conserve into them.

Don't forget to enter your creative Chai recipe at last week's post, for your chance to win some Bondi Chai. You've got one more week to think about it!

There you go. That's something by Kate.

The Cookbook Challenge - Week 7 - Soft - Lamb Shanks, Perfect Pannacotta and a Giveaway!

Sorry I'm late with my cookbook challenge this week. I lost my camera cable and couldn't post without pics. It was "tidied" and I've only just re-located it.

This week's challenge recipes are fresh from the first dinner with the in-laws in our new house. The meal received rave reviews, and both recipes are definitely going on the repeat recipe rotation. Australian Women's Weekly, what would we do without you?

I've been wanting to make Lamb Shanks in five-spice, tamarind and ginger from AWW 501 Low Carb Recipes for ages - it was the reason I bought the book in the first place, but 6 months later I still hadn't done it. The Cookbook Challenge's Soft theme is the perfect week for melt in your mouth, falling off the bone, slow cooked lamb shanks. It takes a while in the oven, but is really simple.

I also needed to produce a dessert that was light and fresh, and able to tone down the chilli flavours from the lamb, while still holding it's own in flavour. You may remember that Martin from Bondi Chai sent me some of their product to have a play with (and giveaway, so make sure you read to the end!), and I thought the Vanilla Honey Chai would be a perfect pannacotta flavouring, so I combined it with this week's Soft theme, pulling out 1000 Best Ever Recipes from AWW which was a much appreciated Christmas gift.

I'll post these recipes in the order I served them, rather than the order I made them.

Asparagus wrapped in proscuitto

Self explanatory really. Steam your asparagus sparingly - no more than 5 minutes.

Lamb shanks in five-spice, tamarind and ginger

2 tsp five-spice powder

1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anise

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup Chinese rice wine (I couldn't get any, and used dry sherry)

2 tbsp tamarind puree

2 tbsp brown sugar

40g grated ginger (I was desperate to use my new microplane that I got for Christmas, but the supermarket was out of fresh ginger, so I used the tube stuff)

2 cloves garlic coarsely chopped

1 1/4 cups water

8 (1.6kg) french trimmed lamb shanks (AWW says this serves 4, but take into account who you're serving - I served 6 shanks to 2 gentlemen and 2 ladies and it was perfect)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Combine soy sauce, rice wine, tamarind, sugar, ginger, garlic and water in a medium jug.

Dry-fry five-spice, chilli, cinnamon and star anise, stirring constantly until fragrant.

Add spices to the jug of liquids, and whisk to combine.

Place shanks in a large shallow baking dish (preferably with a lid) in a single layer and pour the spice mixture on.

Cover and bake for 2 hours, turning occasionally (I did it every 1/2 hour).

Once cooked, remove shanks from dish and cover to keep warm. Strain remaining sauce into a small saucepan and boil, then pour over lamb and vegetables of your choice.

I served mine with mashed potato (not in the spirit of the low-carb recipe) and steamed choy sum and broccolini.

Vanilla Honey Chai Pannacotta

300ml thickened cream

250ml milk

1 vanilla bean (I substituted this for 8 teaspoons of Bondi Chai Vanilla Honey Creamy Tea Latte Powder)

1/4 cup caster sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons gelatine powder

1 strip lemon rind (trust me, it's better with 2!)

Stir all the ingredients in a pan over low heat until warm.

Stand until cool.

Strain mixture through a fine strainer into medium jug, and pour into 4 1/2 cup moulds, or martini glasses. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

Turn pannacotta from moulds onto serving plates, or leave in glasses.

I served mine with a rosewater strawberry syrup, made by boiling 1/4 cup caster sugar with 1/2 punnet chopped strawberries, 1/4 cup water and a few drops of rosewater essence.

And I promised a giveaway!

While my pannacotta was absolutely delicious, and was eaten even by the person who at first responded to it with cries of "why isn't this chocolate mousse?!?" I haven't been overly creative with my use of the Bondi Chai powder.  I bet you can do better! I have 1 Club Cinnamon Bondi Chai, and 1 Vanilla Honey Bondi Chai to give away courtesy of Martin from Bondi Chai.

Leave me a comment telling me how you would use Bondi Chai powder in your cooking, and the 2 most creative ways will win a packet to create their vision. Whilst I welcome comments from international visitors, I can only post these prizes within Australia, and I will make the final decision based on comments received before 18th January 2010.  You may want to check out the Bondi Chai website for some inspiration, or try their Facebook page.

There you go. That's something by Kate.