SPICY MINCE BEEF WITH THAI BASIL STIRFRY. (PAD KAPRAO)

Pad Kaprao - My favourite dish when I was living in Thailand. Chicken and Pork variants are the most common, but I love the minced beef variant the most. It’s a typically very spicy dish, a big part about what I love about this dish. The deep fried egg just makes it even more enjoyable. 

It actually made using Holy Basil (Kaprao) but couldn’t get my hands on any so I used Thai basil instead. 

I just bought a couple of very young Holy Basil plants. I will upload a version using holy basil when I get a good harvest of leaves of the plants. (Fingers crossed)

300 grams of beef mince
150 grams long beans

To make the sauce:

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp light/regular soy sauce
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp water

Mix all the above in a bowl

1. Separate the leaves of 1 bunch Thai basil
2. Cut 150 grams of beans into 1 cm pieces
3. Dice half an onion
4. Slice 1 large chilli
5. Slice 8 bird's eye chillies (Reduce or increase to your preference)
6. Chop 6 garlic cloves
7. 300 grams of beef mince
8. Season with salt and pepper

Method:

Fry an egg, Thai street style (It just means use more oil and high heat, almost deep frying)

1. Oil in hot wok with high heat
2. Fry chillies and garlic until garlic is golden brown and aromatic
3. Add beef mince into the wok - break the mince up
4. Add the beans and onion into the wok
5. Add sauce and mix well
6. Turn off heat and mix in basil leaves

Ladle onto steamed rice – making sure to get some of the sauce.

I hope that you enjoy this dish as much as I did!

Mushrooms and Rösti, topped with an egg.

 

Rösti or rööschti - A type of potato fritter from Switzerland. Similar to a hashbrown I guess. but usually cook in a pan instead of a deep fryer.

We had potatoes and mushrooms in the house, wanted to jazz them up a little. Spring onion and thyme were from our back yard.

I made this one thin as I wanted it crispy. This is thinner than a traditional rösti I guess. Haven't had or made that many to be 100% sure. Those that I have had were thicker and larger. Important to get the mushrooms browned to intensify the flavour. Recipe: 1 Large Potato ~ 250 grams (Julienne or grated) Half and medium/small onion (finely chopped/diced) 2 garlic cloves (finely chopped) 6 mushrooms ~ 250 grams(sliced) knob of butter 2-3 sprigs of thyme 1 egg

Method:

1. Fry egg sunny side up.

Potato
2. Heat a flat fry pan with some oil. 3. Put potatoes in pan set to medium heat.
4. Cook until both sides are crispy.

Mushrooms
5. In a separate pan heat some oil over high heat.
6. Then add onion and garlic. Fry till softened and light brown.
7. Add mushrooms and fry until browned.

Assembly -

8. Mushrooms on the potato and top with fried egg.
9. Garnish with fresh herb of your choice.

Also, a short cut would be to use frozen/store-bought hash browns and just cook the shrooms yourself. Also, grate the potatoes if you don't want to julienne them.

Spicy Baked Eggs

The wife loves baked eggs in a tomato based sauce. So I decided to make this for breakfast one day. We both love little spicy kick in our food sometimes, (Actually its most of the time for me) so this is my spicy rendition of a great brunch dish. The trick is timing the bake, so as not to overcook the eggs.

Spicy Baked Eggs with sausage and garnished with basil

Here's what you'll need to serve 2.
4 Eggs - Cracked into 2 bowls. 2 eggs in each bowl.
1 400gm can of diced tomatoes
1/2 cup tomato puree.
1 small / medium yellow onion - diced
2 cloves garlic - minced/diced
1 teaspoon smoked paprika (Optional)
1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1/2 Red Capsicum - diced
2 sausages - cut into thick slices (I used spicy pork ones, but you can use your own preferred sausages)
Parmesan Cheese
handful Fresh Basil - sliced (For Garnish)
Salt and pepper to taste.

Steps:
1. Pre-heat your oven to grill/broil.

2. In a oven-safe frying pan, heat some oil over medium heat. When the oil is heated, fry the sausage chunks until they achieve nice browning on the surfaces. Remove sausages from the pan and set them aside, leaving the oil behind.

3. Next fry the diced capsicum in the pan for about a 2-3 minutes. Next add the onions, garlic, chilli flakes and smoked paprika. Fry for about 3-4 minutes, until the onions soften and the chillies give off their aroma. Then add the tomatoes and tomato puree and cook for about 5-10 minutes (cooking out the tartness from the tomatoes), stirring often. Taste as you go, adding salt and pepper as you like. Turn off the heat once you get the consistency and depth of flavor that you want. (I like my tomatoes really cooked out, so I sometimes cook them out a little longer)

3. Make a couple of little wells in the sauce with a spoon or ladle and pour the eggs in. Place the whole pan in the oven and grill for 6-10 minutes. (Depending on how runny you like your eggs).

4. Remove from the oven, garnish generously with basil and grated Parmesan. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil if you like. Serve immediately with crusty bread.

Hope you'll enjoy this coz we did :)

Creamed Spinach with Poached Egg

Creamed spinach is apparently a quintessential side dish to a steak meal. The wife and I had this at an upmarket steakhouse a while ago. We really liked it. The one we had was served with a sunny side up egg, which the waiter hacked to bits with a spoon at your table side.

The nearby Cold Storage was having a discount on baby spinach recently so we bought 2 packs. I really didn't feel like a salad that day (but then again I rarely do! ;P) so I thought I'd try my own rendition of creamed spinach. Both the wife and I found it rather enjoyable. The poached egg yolk added to the richness and bits of egg white gave the dish some textural variation.

Cream Spinach with Poached Egg

Here is what you'll need for 2
2 Packs Baby Spinach - About 180 grams or so.
1/2 white onion - finely diced
2 cloves garlic - minced
200ml whipping cream
1 knob of butter (about 1/2 tablespoon or so)
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese (Optional)
2 Poached eggs (optional)

1. Boil a large pot of salted water. (about 2 teaspoons of salt). When water comes to a boil, put all the spinach in. They take just seconds to wilt. When wilted, remove and strain the liquid. Set aside to cool.

2. Next mince the spinach with a knife on a chopping board. Or you can use a food processor if you want it really fine. I like mine with some bite, so I just used a knife to chop up the spinach.

3. In a frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Then sautee the onion and garlic till they turn soft. Add the cream and mix well. When the cream is heated up, turn off the heat and add the spinach and Parmesean (If using) and mix everything well together.

4. Serve in shallow bowls and top with poached eggs if desired. Serve warm.

Hope you'll like this.

Scrambled Eggs for Breakfast.

I had smoked salmon and button mushrooms in the fridge. I decided to try and use both for breakfast. This is what I came up with. Scrambled eggs on toast with 2 different toppings.

Scrambled Eggs with Mushrooms

Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon

Here is what you'll need for breakfast for two.

4-5 eggs - beaten
1/4 cup of milk
2-3 shallots - sliced
2 cloves of garlic - sliced
6-8 slices of smoked salmon
150 grams white button or Swiss brown mushrooms. Stems trimmed and quartered.
Extra virgin olive oil
Butter
Chives - chopped (For garnish)
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooking Oil

Steps

First I started with the sautéed mushrooms. This is just a basic sauté.

1. In a sauté pan, heat some cooking oil over medium-high heat.  add in shallots and garlic. Fry for 2-3 minutes, until shallots soften then add in the mushrooms and fry for another 5 minutes or so, until the mushrooms start to brown and the released moisture is almost fully evaporated. Add in the butter and mix well and fry for about 1 minute. Turn off the heat and dish and set aside.

2. To make the scramble eggs, over a large sauté pan over VERY low heat, melt some butter. Then add in the eggs. Stir the egg mixture frequently with a wooden spoon or similar implement. (Choosing one that will not scratch the pan). Add the milk gradually during this time. The stirring is to scrape the cooked egg off the base of the pan and allowing the raw egg to cook. Stir frequently until you get a porridge like texture. Remove from pan and set aside.

3. Toast 4 slices your favourite bread then drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over the toasted bread.

4. Lay about 4 slices of smoked salmon into two slices of the toast. (4 slices of salmon on each slice of bread) Preferbly get your toast is ready just before your eggs are done, that way you can scoop the eggs onto the toast immediately.

5. Spoon the eggs onto the toast slices. Even those without salmon. Spoon mushrooms onto those without salmon.

6. Garnish with chives and serve immediately.

Bacon & Egg Breakfast Ciabatta Sandwich

I found some Ciabatta bread in the supermarket one day, thought I'd try a breakfast sandwich. It was rather satisfying and most importantly, a joy to eat.

The Breakfast Ciabatta

Here’s what you’ll need for 4 sandwiches

For the spread:

4-5 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 cloves garlic - Finely minced or grated into a mince

1 stalk spring onion - finely chopped.

 Salt and pepper to taste

The rest of the stuff:

4 Ciabatta Buns (Or you can get a whole loaf and cut it up)

4 eggs - Beaten

8 rashers of streaky bacon - Cooked on a fry pan or in the oven till cripsy

4 sliced of cheddar cheese (halved, so that they fit better)

1 tomato – sliced

½ red onion, sliced

Handful of rocket

Steps:

1. In a bowl, mix the mayonnaise, minced garlic and spring onion. Add salt and pepper to taste.

2. Cut the Ciabatta across lengthwise and lightly toast the Ciabatta in an oven or on a pan and set aside.

3. Heat a frying pan over medium low heat with some oil/butter. Scramble eggs in the pan. When eggs are one, dish eggs into a bowl/plate and aside.

4. Spread the mayo mix onto the cut sides of the buns.

5. Now for the assembly. For each sandwich, place in this order (I find it more stable in this order). 2 rashers of bacon, 1 halved cheese slices, couple spoonfuls of scramble egg, tomatoes, onion, rocket, and the other half of the bun.

6. Enjoy! 

Who needs Egg McMuffins anymore? Who am I kidding, I'll probably still grab a McMuffin every now and then.

Open Faced Ham and Cheese Sandwich with Mushrooms and Poached Egg

Made this a couple of weekends ago for breakkie. Its similar to the previous eggs benedict recipe. Differences are the addition of mushrooms on the ham & cheese and just plain bread instead of French toasts.

Poached eggs on Shooms and Ham & Cheese

This combo makes for a rich, hearty and earthy breakfast dish.

Here is what I used to serve 2

4 slices of bread
4 slices of ham (I used honey baked, you can use your preferred type)
4 slices of cheese (Cheddar was used here)
4 poached eggs (poached eggs video by an instructor from CIA)
150 - 200 grams white button mushrooms - sliced
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic finely sliced
1/2 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (or replace with your favorite herb)
Oil for frying
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mushroom, Red Pepper and Spinach Fritatta

We really enjoyed the last time we had Fritatta at home, so I decided to do it again. This time changing around the ingredients I used a little. By the time I was done, I realized that I made a vegetarian Fritatta.

Mushroom, Red Pepper and Spinach Fritatta

Ingredients:
200 grams white button mushrooms - sliced
0.5 - 1 cup baby spinach
1 medium sized red pepper - diced
1 medium sized yellow/white onion - diced
150-200 grams cheddar cheese
6-7 eggs
50 grams mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
1 stalk spring onion - sliced (optional for garnish)

Eggs Benedict - with a twist

Weekend brunch, an activity that seems to be gaining in popularity here in Singapore over the last several years. I remember hearing the phrase "Eggs Benedict" may years ago and having to ask Wikipedia what it was. The wife loves her weekend brunch, even though I constantly remind her about how I feel that a lot of the popular brunch locales are grossly overpriced. 

There are those who really enjoy brunch food and do not have the inclination to make their own. Then there are those who enjoy taking pictures of their food and upping each other in "who went to the classier brunch place competition". Also not forgetting those who just want to be seen/tagged/<insert your preferred social network lingo> in a trendy brunch establishment. 

This reminds me of a quote:
"No matter how low things were in my life, how desperate, how unlovely my personal habits at the time, I could always get a brunch gig, the smell of failure for me is french toast.” Anthony Bourdain.

Interpret that however you like =P.

Anyway enough of my rants. Let's focus on the only parts that matter, the food and the eating.

I do enjoy brunch food (Bacon and eggs, what's not to like?). So I decided that this particular weekend I was going to stay home and make brunch. I got the idea of this dish from Chef John at www.foodwishes.com. He calls it the Monte Cristo Benedict.

It was really enjoyable. Actually no, it was not enjoyable, it was awesome.
It was like "French Toast" meets "Ham and Cheese" meets "Eggs Benedict".

Here is what you need for 2 portions.

Breakfast Frittata - My First Post

This is actually like a baked omelette or a quiche without a crust. Don’t limit yourself to cheese, bacon or sausages when filling a frittata. Its actually great for using up leftovers, like meats, prawns and even pasta.

Sausage, Bacon and Red Pepper Frittata

We thoroughly enjoyed this one. The sweetness of the onions and red pepper combined with the saltiness of the bacon and sausages was awesome. The dollops of cream cheese are like a little gooey surprise when you cut into the frittata. Finished off with the crusty crisp top layer of cheese, you get a combination of textures that really takes this dish to another level beyond being just an omelette.

Here is what you'll need for the frittata I made.