Graeme's Chiang Mai Pork Balls (GF, TMX)

my boss's partner shared this recipe with me and I finally got around to making them. a much milder flavour than i expected but definitely very yum and surprisingly quick and easy to make (especially when you don't need to run out half way through to buy whatever mangy coriander woollies has in stock after 2 public holidays...). anyway here's the recipe with a few minor changes from me

1 tspn coconut oil
1 tspn ground coriander
1 tspn ground cumin
1/2 tspn ground turmeric
1 stick lemon grass
2 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger
2 green shallots / spring onions
roots and stalks of 1/2 bunch coriander (washed well!)
chilli to taste
2 kaffir lime leaves, or one piece of lime peel
around 500g pork and veal mince
2 tspns coconut oil
satay sauce of your choice - Graeme recommended masterfoods
1 tin (400ml) coconut milk / cream
snowpeas or other vegies of your choice
chopped coriander leaves to serve

 melt coconut oil & heat bowl - 2 minutes, varoma speed soft
add spices and cook 3-4 minutes varoma speed soft
add in lemon grass, garlic, ginger, shallots, coriander roots / stalks, kaffir lime and chilli and chop on speed 6 until it stops hitting the sides. scrape down and repeat.
add mince and mix by turning knob to closed lid and pressing turbo several times until well mixed
melt 2 tspns coconut oil in fry pan then shape mince into large balls and add to pan. cook over med-med high until browned all over
add coconut cream and several large dollops of satay sauce to taste (you don't want a strong satay taste, just mild). turn heat down and simmer gently for about 5-10 mins
add vegies and cook just long enough for vegies to be slightly soft.

serve sprinkled with chopped coriander. serve over rice, or if carb free i think you could either eat it on its own, or eat over shredded wombuk (chinese cabbage)

photo soon!

Thai Style Warm Spinach Salad (GF)

heat a medium saucepan and dry fry a few handfuls of cashews

add 2 tabs coconut oil and 1 small onion, sliced. cook stirring for a few minutes.

add 2 cloves roughly chopped garlic and stir for another minute.

add in a few cups of chopped vegies (i used eggplant, zucchini, broccoli and a whole red capsicum) and cook stirring until the vegies are cooked to your preference.

turn heat off and add in juice of one lime (or lemon), black pepper, good squeeze of stevia and some salt (or fish sauce). stir. add in lots of roughly chopped coriander and mint leaves

get a large bowl and put baby spinach in, top with vegies mix. gently mix so spinach has some dressing and some of it starts to wilt.  serve

we had ours with bbq'd pork cutlets and it was delish!

Satay Tofu and Veg (GF)

surprisingly good, this looked like a disaster for a while (i didn't put enough coconut milk in at first and it was nearly solid!) LOL

use any veg, herbs, protein or nuts that take your fancy

about 1/3 cup almond butter (see recipe a few days ago)
1 tin coconut milk
about 10 drops stevia
about 1/2 tspn curry powder
1/2 tspn stock concentrate
juice of half a lime

heat, mixing frequently, until it thickens and gets slightly darker. let cool a bit while you prepare the rest

extra firm tofu, diced
brussels sprouts, quartered
handful of sugar snap peas, ends removed

cook lightly - steam, fry, whatever you want, cool slightly

handful of nuts, lightly toast - i used macadamias and cashews

small cucumber
half a red capsicum
fresh mint

dice / shred

mix the tofu, nuts and vegies, pour sauce over and serve

Vietnamese Style Pork and Kale sour soup (GF)

pork mince - around 300-400g
1 onion
2-3 tomatoes, roughly chopped (skins removed if you prefer)
bunch of kale, finely sliced, tough stems removed
stock concentrate or salt
ground black pepper (lots)
splash of balsalmic vinegar or lemon juice to taste
boiling water
2-3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

fry pork and onion over a medium high heat, breaking them up quite well
add tomato and kale and stir until it just starts to soften
add all other ingredients and simmer until the kale is tender

serve - you may like to sprinkle with some fresh coriander.

this is based on a soup my vietnamese boyfriend at uni used to make, though changed to fit the yeast free / anti-candida diet thing...

thai style vegies and quinoa (GF)

another dish from my 'yeast control' (formerly 'anti-candida' lol) diet...

i pre-cooked a whole heap of quinoa so i had it ready to go. when i cook quinoa i am paranoid about losing the bitter taste after one time i forgot to pre-soak etc, disgusting!  so when i do quinoa i soak in boiling water for 20 mins, then drain and rinse well, then cook in boiling / simmering water for about 15 mins. drain and rinse well and it's ready to go.  i just cooked the rest of the dish in the same saucepan.

so to do the thai style dish:

1 tspn coconut oil
2-3 finely chopped garlic cloves
2cm finely chopped ginger (of course you can do this first part in the thermomix, i just happened not to)
1 red onion, sliced
1/2 stalk broccoli, cut into bite size pieces (i used the stalk too)
a handful of green beans, topped, tailed and cut into bite size pieces
1 medium zucchini, cut into pieces
2 tspn stock concentrate
1 can coconut milk
around 1/2 can water
6-9 drop stevia (or 3-4 tspns of a darker sugar)
juice of half a lime
chopped or dried chili to your taste
handful of chopped coriander
handful of vietnamese mint
about a cup or so of cooked quinoa

heat oil, add garlic, ginger and onion, cook stirring for a minute
add vegies and cook stirring for around 2 minutes.
add all other ingredients except quinoa, reserving 2/3 of the herbs
turn heat down to medium low and cook for around 10 mins until vegies are done.
add quinoa and herbs and cook a few more minutes until warmed through.

serve

this would be lovely with tofu, chicken or prawns in it too

Chicken and beans with mint and basil (GF)

our friend / natropath has suggested i go on an anti-candida diet and see if it helps. i'm easing onto it but made this for dinner for myself tonight, it's delicious!!!!!!!

this amount serves 2, especially if you have it with rice (which i'm not ;))

2 handfuls green beans, trimmed and chopped into bite size pieces
small red onion, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
1 tspn coconut oil
1 chicken breast, trimmed and finely sliced
lots of ground black pepper
1 tspn stock concentrate (or whatever saltiness you prefer)
little water
juice of half a lime
4-6 stalks each of vietnamese mint and basil, roughly torn

melt oil over medium high heat, fry onions, beans and nuts until vegies are just softening, place in bowl
fry chicken until nearly cooked
add all other ingredients and keep stirring until chicken is cooked through and serve

Kiama gluten free report

we are home from our holiday in Kiama (unfortunately!) I'm glad to say that Kiama redeemed itself as i hated it last time i went there for a winter holiday as a pre-teen LOL

I'm so glad i did my gluten free research before we went, it really does make it easier to have a list of places to try!

so where did we go and how was it?

Hanoi on Manning
10 Manning Street
http://www.hanoionmanning.com.au/

we got takaway from Hanoi on Manning one night and it was very yum! even their spring rolls were gluten free (made with rice paper) so i'm guessing they have a coeliac in the family. would definitely recommend them - especially their beef salad.

Domino's Pizza
40 Terralong Street

we also grabbed a couple of pizzas for the kids one night. dominos is dominos, not world class but did the job without making her sick ;)

Cafe Parkview
82 Terralong Street


we went to cafe parkview ummmm 3 times i think LOL rora decided it was her fave and kept insisting we return. we had mixed service and food from so-so to great. i would recommend it though, mainly because our experience at short black was worse lol

Short Black Coffee cafe
88 Terralong St

we had brunch on our final day here and regretted it. the coffee was pretty good, the food was OK-ish, though i watched the chef toasting the gluten bread on the same grillplate used to cook all the bacon, fried eggs, tomatoes etc. i assume the gluten free bread was toasted on it also though that didn't occur to me til after we'd left so we spent the whole trip home waiting to see if rora would be sick or not :( luckily she'd selected poached eggs so they were safe :)
our meals took 40 minutes to arrive (we were STARVING by this time) and as we sat right across from the coffee machine and owner, we had an hour of listening to her berate her young staff. it seemed they were new and needed some guidance but a full hour of it was quite offputting.

other places we tried which were not on the list included:

Harbourview Thai Restaurant 
48 Terralong Street Kiama NSW 2533‎
https://plus.google.com/100200849563187798217/about?gl=au&hl=en

we had takeaway from here one night (we don't usually buy so much food when we camp but we had food storage issues lol). it was nice though not as nice as we get from our faves in canberra.

My Chocolate Shoppe
Shop 13, 106 Terralong Street, Kiama
http://www.mychocolateshoppe.com.au/

we didn't actually eat here but we did buy handmade chocolates for my mum (to say thank you for looking after our menagerie) and they were all gluten free :)
they do have a full gluten free menu which i have just found and am now wishing we'd gone there to try it!

Photo of Cafe Parkview, by Emelia (8)

Sang Choy Bow (GF, TMX)

Quick, easy meal that is still healthy and (supposedly) kid-friendly :)

of course in my family i was surprised by ryan eating one small filled leaf willingly and saying it tasted OK ("not good mummy, but OK") before making himself a pesto sandwich (pesto being one of his current 'things'). Rora ate heaps of the meat and tried the lettuce. Emelia on the other hand - usually my least fussy child - put up a huge fuss and barely tried and spat out a mouthful before almost being sent to bed for the fuss !!

on the other hand geoff and i loved it!

1 iceberg lettuce
1 large carrot
4 large firm mushrooms
1 medium red onion
2 tspn rice bran oil
1 tspn sesame oil
500g mince of any kind - i used beef but a friend recommends a veal / pork blend
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbspn gluten free oyster sauce (i used ayam's brand)
 1 tbspn gluten free black bean sauce (i used ayam's brand)
1/2 tspn sweetener of your choice (i used apple juice concentrate but considered maple syrup)
1 tspn cornflour? (optional, i didn't  use it but was thinking i should have as the meat was quite wet and runny)
coriander, finely chopped, to serve

remove the heart / stem of the lettuce and carefully peel each leaf off, keeping it whole. remove the thicker part in the centre bottom of each leaf

wash carrot & cut ends off, cut into 3-4cm pieces. wash mushrooms. peel onion and cut in half. place vegetables into thermomix and chop for 5-10 seconds at speed 6 until finely chopped.

heat oils in frypan then add vegetables, fry, stirring for a few minutes then push to edges of frypan. add meat and break up in smaller pieces. add garlic and fry, stirring. add sauces and cook until mince is cooked through.

if using cornflour sprinkle over and stir for a couple more minutes to thicken.

place a few spoons of the meat / vegie mix inside a lettuce leaf, sprinkle with coriander and roll / fold the edges around it -  and eat!

you can also add finely chopped water chestnuts with the other vegies, or chang's gluten free fried noodles to serve

Quick Asian-inspired Cucumber Salad (GF)

5 baby cucumbers (qukes) or 1-2 lebanese cucumbers, sliced finely
1 bunch asparagus, chopped and lightly steamed (remove woody ends)
1 carrot, grated
1/2 red onion, finely sliced
1/4 cup chopped cashews, lightly toasted
1/2-1 finely sliced green chilli
handful of chopped coriander or parsley

dressing
around 1 tab maple syrup
juice of 1/2 small lemon
2 tspns fish sauce
black pepper

mix all ingredients together well and serve (can chill if desired)

Disappointingly average...

Tonight a friend offered to babysit the kids while we went out - our first choice was closed so we ended up in Dickson.
In the mood for Thai but with our planned restaurant shut we ended up at Thai Garden in Dickson (behind Zeffirelli). We had rice paper rolls which were quite nice, full of fresh herbs. For mains we had chicken with five herbs and beef rendang. the beef was very tender but lacking flavour, and i had the sneaking feeling it wasn't a made from scratch dish.
the chicken with five herbs was nice enough but not at all what i'd expected - i thought it would be heaps of fresh asian herbs tossed throughout the dish. instead there was a bare minimum of herbs cooked into the sauce, with a vague flavour of the dill the only recognisable herb.

the restaurant certainly seemed busy enough, particularly for takeaways, but it was a bit of a let down, so we won't bother again.

Beef Rendang & Vegetables (GF, TMX)

well, this was the best meal i've cooked in months!!!!!

had a craving for a beef curry - was thinking thai red beef curry but then decided to go for a rendang. Used the recipe in the old EDC to cook it, but made changes based on the feedback in this thread and the recipes i had in books here and online...

served with coconut rice (just basmati with the leftover coconut cream & water to required amount of liquid) and a simple vegie dish it was utterly divine - geoff kept telling me it was restaurant standard!!

Simple Sidedish of Vegetables with Roasted Peanuts
1/4 cup whole raw peanuts
3 medium potatoes, chopped into 2" x 1" pieces, and steamed until just soft (I steamed mine over the rice)
1 tab oil
1 handful green beans, topped and tailed (drying them is a good idea)
1 red onion, cut into wedges
2 garlic cloves, peeled & roughly chopped
1 bunch asparagus, woody ends removed, but into 2" pieces
1/4 red capsicum, cut into matchstick pieces
1 tab brown sugar or other brown sweetener (agave, palm sugar etc) *
gluten free soy sauce to taste*
a little water

into a medium size saucepan or frypan place the peanuts and heat to medium. when they start to brown you will need to stir regularly. when brown all over and smelling yummy get a strong potato masher and squash them a bit so you have some smaller pieces. pour into a bowl and when they've cooled for 5 minutes remove any loose bits of skin.

heat oil. when hot add beans, fry, stirring for about 4-5 minutes. add onion and garlic and fry, stirring, for about 3-4 minutes. add the other vegetables and cook, stirring for 5 minutes.

add sugar and soy sauce and enough water to make a bit of sauce in the bottom. leave to cook for around 5 minutes, stirring once or twice.

stir peanuts through and serve top with coriander if you have any!

* if you don't need GF use ketjap manis / sweet soy sauce


Beef Rendang
Paste:
1 large red chilli, cut end off
2.5cm fresh ginger, peeled
3 cloves garlic
1 small red onion, peeled
1 tspn turmeric
20g oil
1 tspn fish sauce

Other:
4 bay leaves
1/2 tspn ground cinnamon
3 star anise
5 cardamom pods, squashed with the flat of a knife
ground pepper, to taste
25g brown sugar (or palm sugar etc)
150g coconut cream
30g dessicated coconut, browned (i did it in the same saucepan i cooked the vegies, before starting them)
500g diced beef (i used scotch fillet which worked really well, as i had no chuck etc)

place the paste ingredients EXCEPT fish sauce & oil in the thermomix (don't touch the cut edge of the chilli with your fingers - or if you do wash well and don't put your fingers near your face or eyes!) and chop for 10-15 seconds on speed 6

add oil and saute for 3 minutes at 100'c speed 3

add all the remaining ingredients to the bowl EXCEPT the meat and cook for 5 minutes at 100'c speed soft

add meat and cook for 90 - 120 minutes (you'll need to set it twice or add time as you go) at 100'c reverse speed soft

serve with coconut rice & vegetables. try not to drool too much or make too much of a pig of yourself LOL

More Master So Scrumptiousness!

Today we managed to get rid of both our boys so i decided it was a good day for a another visit to Master So - our local chinese restaurant, which has gluten free options (we hadn't managed to get back there since our last visit)

funnily Emelia was wearing her supergirl shirt again so the owner recognised us straight away and asked if I was the lady who wrote about them on my blog - so this is a big hello to her :D she is hoping to have their menu updated soon to make gluten free options easier to see

today we ordered lots (taking it home for dinner for geoff & i too ;)) and it was all utterly delicious, especially the yum cha... mmmm

Har Gau (Prawn Dumpling)
BBQ Pork Bun (not GF)
Beef Chow Mein done GF
Garlic Chicken and rice

apparently the people at the next table were in the photo from our last visit too lol

Honey Chilli Chicken

Love this one for being so easy! it's also great for the slow cooker (though it only takes about 6 hours on low).

Honey Chilli Chicken

Ingredients
3 spring onions, finely chopped
6 skinless chicken thigh fillets (we use breast)
1/2 cup water or chicken stock
3 tabs clear honey
1 1/4 tspns sesame oil
4 tspns hot chilli sauce (we use Thai sweet chilli sauce)
1 1/2 tspns salt (if not using stock)
2 tabs sesame seeds

Method
Preheat oven to 190'C (375'F)
Spread spring onions in a casserole or microwave dish into which the chicken will fit snugly.

Arrange the chicken pieces side by side on top of the onions and pour in the water or stock.

In a small bowl combine the honey, sesame oil, chilli sauce and salt (if using) and pour evenly over the chicken. Scatter sesame seeds over.

Cook uncovered in preheated oven for 25 mins, basting occasionally with the sauce. Check if done and cook a little longer if needed.

MICROWAVE: cook on HIGH for 8 mins, baste with the sauce and cook for a further 6 mins.
Baste again and leave to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS: a saute of spinach, or of sliced green and gold zucchini with shredded ginger, plus steamed white rice, potatoes just about any way, or buttered noodles.

from the "Fast & Fiery" Cookbook by Jacki Passmore

Green Curry Fried Rice

in order to use up half a chinese cabbage in my fridge i decided to make noodles and bought chicken mince and baby corn to do so :) then had no noodles lol
my plan for making this changed multiple times before and during making it, due to no garlic and some inspiration on the way :D

it's very quick and simple and easy to substitute whatever you have in your cupboard, to use things up.

ingredients:
cooking spray or oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
500g chicken mince (or any kind of mince or cooked shredded meat)
1 large onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1-2 tabs green curry paste (or any kind of curry paste)
assorted vegetables (i used 2 packets baby corn, blanched & chopped, 1/2 green capsicum & small piece of red capsicum, half a chinese cabbage shredded, small piece pumpkin diced, frozen beans and frozen peas)
1 tin light coconut cream
soy sauce (or fish sauce or stock concentrate) USE GF if needed
cooked rice (jasmine or basmati)

gently fry eggs without stirring too much, remove and let cool then dice or shred
respreay wok and heat on high til slightly smoking, add chicken, onion, carrot and curry paste and fry til chicken is at least 2/3 cooked.
add the longer cooking vegies such as pumpkin etc and coo, stirring
add other vegies and coconut cream, turn heat down to medium / medium low (you don't want the coconut cream to boil)
add all other ingredient and mix well. our vegies weren't quite done so we put a lid on and left it on low for around 5 minutes.

serve with sweet chilli sauce and / or fresh coriander if desired :)

Quick Chicken-Vegie Noodle Stirfry (GF)

mmmmm this was good and so easy! I'm working at a school atm and today we made something very similar in cooking class so I decided to use the inspiration for home :)

this will serve 6 probably

1 250g packet rice noodles (i wanted the fat flat ones but only had vermicelli)
oil of your choice, a few tabs
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 onion, cut into wedges
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1" ginger, peeled and chopped
500g chicken breasts or thighs, minced (or chicken mince of course!)
vegies of your choice - i used a pack of baby corn, cut into strips, 1/2 wombuk, shredded, 1/2 bunch of broccoli cut into small pieces *
fresh mint and coriander to your taste, shredded or chopped
soy sauce, perhaps 1/4 cup? (to taste) gluten free if required
1/2 lemon or lime
sweet chilli sauce to serve (optional)

heat oil in wok. add eggs and swirl a few times to cook a thin omelette. remove from pan and when cooler roll up and shred. save.
add more oil if needed and cook onion, broccoli, garlic and ginger until just starting to turn translucent. add chicken and baby corn and cook over high heat, stirring until nearly cooked.
add remaining vegies and cook for 5 minutes until soft
add remaining ingredients - including squeezing juice over wok and shredded omelette - and mix well heating well, serve with sauce if desired

yum!


* you could also use any chinese greens, capsicum, carrot etc

Master So Kitchen, Holt - Gluten Free - Review

Master So Kitchen website (it takes a while to upload unfortunately)

a few weeks, on our way to the library, we noticed that the Chinese restaurant in Holt was advertising gluten free. we hadn't eaten Chinese since Rora's diagnosis, so we went down and got a copy of the menu to have a look at and discovered they had heaps of gluten free options!!

today we were one (fussy) child down so decided to go there to try it for lunch. when we walked in we discovered that they also do yumcha, and that there were also some gluten free options in that too!

so we decided to have a combination of regular and yum cha style gluten free dishes, with the help of the lovely lady who was there (an owner?).

Pork Ribs with Garlic

the end result was that we were very impressed and will definitely be back! we enjoyed the food - some of the dishes seemed a bit bland at first, but then as you ate more the true subtle flavour came out and was delicious! the service was good, though the young male waiters (who said they were only new) were a bit unsure of the whole gluten free thing but the lady who helped us mostly was very helpful and seemed to know a lot about the gluten free side of it. the prices were quite reasonable too.

here is what they can do gluten free (you need to specify GF), with stars next to what we tried:

Yum Cha Menu:
Seafood Dumpling
Har Gau (Prawn Dumpling)
Mixed Veggie Dumpling
Scallop & Snow Pea Dumpling
King Prawn Fun Gao
Prawn & Crab Meat Wrap
Pork Ribs with Garlic *
Plain Cheong Fun
Beef Cheong Fun
King Prawns Cheong Fun
BBQ Pork Cheong Fun
Salt & Pepper Calamari *
Desserts:
Chilled Coconut Pudding
Chilled Mango Pudding *
Sticky Rice Pudding * (girls LOVED this one!)

Salt & Pepper Calamari

Regular Menu:
Entree:
Steamed Har Gau
Sang Choy Bow
Soup:
Chicken & Sweet Corn Soup
Crab Meat & Sweet Corn Soup
Combination Short or Long Egg Noodle Soup
Specialities:
Fried Squid with Hot Rock Salt
Peking Shredded Chilli Beef
Lamb with Lemongrass & Fresh Chilli
King Prawns with Hot Rock Salt
Thai Specialities:
Thai Red or Green Curry with Mixed Veggies
Thai Red or Green Curry with Beef or Chicken
Thai Red or Green Curry with King Prawns or Seafood
Cashew Nut Dishes:
Sliced Beef or Chicken Breast Fillet with CN
Combination with CN
Meat Lovers with CN
King Prawns with CN
Curry Sauce Dishes:
Sliced Beef or Chicken Breast Fillet with Curry Sauce
Sliced Lamb Fillet with Curry Sauce
Combination with Curry Sauce
Seafood with Curry Sauce
Scallops with Curry Sauce
Ginger & Shallot Dishes:
Sliced Beef or Chicken Breast Fillet
Sliced Lamb Fillet
Seafood with Curry Sauce
Scallops with Curry Sauce
King Prawns
Sweet & Sour Dishes:
Boneless Battered Chicken
King Prawn Fritters
Seasonal Vegetables:
Sliced Beef or Chicken Breast Fillet
Meat Lovers
King Prawns
Seafood
Omelettes:
Vegetable
BBQ Pork or Chicken
Combination
King Prawn
Chow Mein:
Beef or Chicken * or BBQ Pork Chow Mein
Combination
King Prawn
Seafood
Vegetarian Delights:
Red Cooked Bean Curd
Bean Curd with Hot Rock Salt
Stir-fried Mixed Seasonal Vegetables
Lightly fried Chinese Broccoli with Ginger
Lightly fried Vegetables with Nuts
Law Hon Jai
Rice:
boiled rice
Fried Rice
Vegetable Fried Rice
Master So Special Fried Rice

Sticky Rice Pudding

PS: you know it must be ok when it is so busy on a Saturday lunch and more than half full of chinese people ;)

Variations on a Theme (GF, TMX)

*** Happy Australia Day! ***

today we spent most of the day with good friends, having a BBQ lunch at one house, all bringing food to share. As Rora loves the Asian Noodle Salad i made that but was missing at least half the ingredients lol it was still very nice so I thought I would record the variation in case it was useful to anyone :)

I also did a quick conversion of the Nem Nuong recipe from Taste

both recipes are gluten free :)

Asian Noodle Salad Variation
1/2 chinese cabbage (wom buk) shredded finely
1/8th red onion, sliced very finely
100g roasted cashews
1 pkt chang's gluten free fried rice noodles
approximately 15 leaves (or half a bunch) of vietnamese mint, finely sliced

dressing:
1/4 cup white vinegar
approximately 2-3 tablespoons apple juice concentrate (or any other sweetener)
1 tab gluten free soy sauce
a few tbspns of sesame oil
around 2 tabs sesame seeds

combine all dressing ingredient and shake well
mix all ingredients except the noodles. add the noodles and mix well just before serving.


Nem Nuong variation
35g jasmine rice
4 garlic cloves, peeled
5 green shallots (scallions / green onions), ends trimmed, cut into 2" / 5cm pieces
500g beef or pork mince (tradionally pork but i only had beef)
20g fish sauce
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp caster sugar (I forgot this and they were fine so i guess it's optional ;))
25g rice bran oil (peanut oil or any other mild flavoured oil)

heat rice on varoma for around 6 minutes speed soft until fragrant
grind on speed 10 for 30 seconds
add garlic and chop for around 10-15 seconds speed 6
add shallots and chop on speed 5 1/2 for 10 seconds
add all other ingredients and pulse using turbo / closed lid until well mixed
roll into small balls and chill before cooking if possible.



posted by Karen at http://brazen20au.blogspot.com

Sang Choy Bau - cool dinner for a hot day

Yesterday it was 38'c here so we didn't want anything too hot to prepare or eat. Based on our nearly empty fridge we decided on Sang Choy Bau, based on the recipe in Gluten Free and Easy by Robyn Russell

geoff cooked it and made a few minor changes, such a chicken instead of pork / veal mince, cashews instead of peanuts and served with hoisin sauce instead of the dipping sauce (which we couldn't be bothered to make lol)

the lettuce and vietnamese mint you can see in the picture was grown by us in our garden :D

the whole meal was delish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Asian Noodle Salad - Gluten Free

since being a gluten free house we'd only eaten our old fave Asian Noodle Salad once - and it sucked :( it was really bleh. so I was very excited to have found a magic ingredient to make it so good again!!!

yay for changs for making GF fried noodles!

1/2 chinese cabbage (wom buk) or savoy cabbage, shredded finely
4-6 green onions / shallots - finely sliced
100g roasted slivered almonds or pinenuts (I used 1 whole packet)
1 pkt chang's gluten free fried rice noodles

dressing:
1/4 cup white vinegar
approximately 2-3 tablespoons agave nectar - you can get this in your supermarket's health food section, or a health food store (this is the magic ingredient btw!)
1 tab gluten free soy sauce
a few tbspns of sesame oil
around 2 tabs sesame seeds

combine all dressing ingredient and shake well
mix all ingredients except the noodles. add the noodles and mix well just before serving.

mmmmmmmmmmmmm

PS: the other salad is potato, bean and bacon salad whcih is pretty good too :)




posted by Karen on http://brazen20au.blogspot.com/

Sate Beef

One of my old favourites, i haven't made it in years, mainly because i don't think the kids would eat it (bit spicy and strong tasting). this was from the old australian womens weekly chinese cookbook from the 80's and was one that mum made regularly. we always used Jimmy's sate sauce (definitely NOT satay sauce) which I think is by far the best.

AWW Sate Beef

500g fillet steak, in one piece
1 1/2 tspns soy sauce
pepper
2 tspns sesame oil
1 tspn cornflour
2 tabs water
2 tabs oil

Sauce:
1 clove garlic
1 medium onion
3 tspns sate sauce
2 tspns dry sherry
1 tspn curry powder
salt
2 tabs water
2 tabs soy sauce
1/2 tspn sugar

1. trim all fat & sinew from meat, cut into 5mm slices
2. gently pound each slice to flatten slightly. put meat in bowl and add marinade ingredients. mix well and stand 20 mins
3. heat oil in wok or pan, saute meat until brown, separating each piece as it goes in. brown on both sides, remove from pan.
4. peel and roughly dice onion, add to pan with crushed garlic and saute gently until onion is transparent. combine sauce ingredients, add to onions in pan. stir until boiling. return beef to pan, cook until beef is tender, around 1 minute. serves 4.