Cottage Cheese Pastry Bites

An easy recipe from my neighbour. As this pastry is quite rich, best serve them on special occasions.

Cottage cheese pastry bites

Ingredients :-

Pastry
200gm All purpose flour
200gm Butter, cold
200gm Cottage cheese
a pinch of salt

To glaze
Egg wash

Toppings (optional)
Grated cheese of your choice
Cumin seeds



Method :-

1) Pre-heat oven at 180°c

2) In a bowl, combine all pastry ingredients and knead until just combine. Don't over work it.

3) Let dough rest in fridge for 15 mins.

4) After 15 mins. roll out dough to thickness of 0.5 - 1 cm. cut into shapes that you wish.

5) Glaze pastry with egg wash.

6) If using, sprinkle your choice of toppings all over pastry.

7) Bake in oven for about 18 mins. or until golden brown.

Zucchini and Cheese Bites

I have to say I'm one of those people that don't eat enough of zucchini .  The funny thing is I actually love zucchini but some how I only eat them when someone else had cooked them; which is not frequent.

With this recipe I'll be buying and cooking them in my kitchen this summer and the coming ones. They are great for meatless days!

Zucchini and Cheese Bites

serves : 4

source : No Salty

note : video available on above link 

Ingredients

+/- 600gm Zucchini (I used more)

1 tsp salt

1 pinch of black pepper

1 tsp garlic paste (used granulated garlic)

1 large egg

100gm grated cheese (used cheddar, will use a more intense cheese next round)

4 Tbsp bread crumbs

++ sauté onion

For breading
3 Tbsp flour
1 large egg
5 Tbsp bread crumbs

Method :
1) Grate zucchini into a fairly large bowl. Sprinkle the salt all over. Let it sit for 15 mins.
2) Strain away the liquid from zucchini as much as possible. Return grated zucchini to bowl.
3) Put in black pepper, garlic paste, sauté onion, crack-in the egg, grated cheese and bread crumbs. Mix well. shape into a bite-size balls. and place on a plate.
4) Coat each balls in this sequence first into flour, then egg and finish with a good coating of bread crumbs. shake of excess crumbs. Place on a plate. Repeat coating process until zucchini mixture is finished.
5) Heat up the oil in frying pan. Fry until golden brown. Serve immediately.

Crispy Oven-baked chicken

Before the opening of KFC in our town, whenever we crave the famous fried chicken, I make my version of it. Not with 11 herbs and spices, just with 5-spices including salt and pepper.

Crispy oven-baked chicken

Ingredients
chicken pieces

Marinate:-
salt, to taste
white pepper, sprinkle all over
ground cumin, sprinkle all over
smoked paprika, sprinkle all over
garlic powder, sprinkle all over
flour, sprinkle all over
an egg

To coat
bread crumbs

Method
1) Marinate chicken pieces in fridge for at least an hour.
2) After an hour, take out marinated chicken pieces from the fridge, pre-heat oven at 200°c/400°F/Gas 6 for min. of 20 min.
3) When 20 mins. is up, start coating marinated chicken pieces in bread crumbs. Place chicken pieces skin side down on baking dish.
4) Bake for 25 mins. Take out the chicken, turn over and bake for another 15-20 mins. until fully cooked and golden brown.
5) Serve immediately.

Rough-Puff Pastry

This could not get any easier. It's light and takes only a few folding as compared to real puff pastry. A real keeper.


Notes :-
1) I've adjusted the quantities of ingredients to based on 100gm of butter ; which yielded 12 mini horn shape.
2) I've mix, rolled and folded 3x and left dough in fridge for at least 1/2 hour , following one of the reviews.


Rough-Puff Pastry
via BBC Good Food

Ingredients

250g strong plain flour (changed to 150g regular plain flour)

1 tsp fine sea salt (a pinch)

250g butter, at room temperature, but not soft (100g butter, frozen and cubed.)

about 150ml cold water (about 60ml very cold water)

Method

1. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Roughly break the butter in small chunks, add them to the bowl and rub them in loosely. You need to see bits of butter.
2. Make a well in the bowl and pour in about two-thirds of the cold water, mixing until you have a firm rough dough adding extra water if needed. Cover with cling film and leave to rest for 20 mins in the fridge.
3. Turn out onto a lightly floured board, knead gently and form into a smooth rectangle. Roll the dough in one direction only, until 3 times the width, about 20 x 50cm. Keep edges straight and even. Don’t overwork the butter streaks; you should have a marbled effect.
4. Fold the top third down to the centre, then the bottom third up and over that. Give the dough a quarter turn (to the left or right) and roll out again to three times the length. Fold as before, cover with cling film and chill for at least 20 mins before rolling to use.

Homemade chicken liver pâté

Chicken liver pate could be homemade easily. This kept in the fridge for 6 days! I'm not including an exact recipe but just ingredients used for my own reference.

Homemade chicken liver pate

Ingredients
300-350gm chicken liver
cooking oil and butter for sauté
Onion, sliced
garlic, minced
Spices
tarragon
smoked paprika
oregano
black pepper
salt
cream (10% fat)
butter for topping

Homemade Chinese Pork Jery

In total I spent 40 mins. getting this ready. I wonder why I only bake this once a year?

The recipe could be found here.

Potato curry puff recipe { Curried potato empanada }

Back home we have a snack called curry puff, a type of pastry deep fried filled with anything curry flavoured - potatoes, potatoes with chicken meat or potatoes with sardines.  You could usually get them at the hawker or road side stalls. This fried pastry could be classifed as empanada because I believe it existed from the Portuguese colonial times.

Easy curry puff
via Hungary go where

makes about 14 pieces

Ingredients

For the filling:
2 medium potatoes (about 250 g) (used new pototoes)
3 Tbsp oil
1 sprig curry leaves (didn't have, just replaced w fresh parsley after potatoes are cooked)
2 cm (20 g) ginger, finely chopped (didn't use)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (didn't use)
1 medium onion (100 g), finely chopped (replaced with spring onions)
2 Tbsp (meat) curry powder + 2 Tbsp water (instead 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp curry powder, 1/2 tsp paprika powder + equal tsps of water)
150 g minced beef (mine was meatless)
 3/4 tsp salt
½ tsp sugar (didn't add)

For the pastry:
250 g plain flour
½ tsp salt
60 g butter or margarine
125 ml water
Oil, for deep-frying

Method:
1. Peel the potatoes and cut into small cubes, about 0.5 cm each Heat the oil in a shallow pan or wok over medium heat. Add the curry leaves, ginger, garlic and onion, frying till the garlic and ginger start to brown.
2. Mix the curry powder and water to form a paste. Stir in the curry paste and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until fragrant and well cooked. Add the beef and stir-fry till crumbly before adding potatoes. Add ½ cup water and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Add salt and sugar to taste. Take the pan off the heat and transfer filling onto a plate and cool completely.
3. Meanwhile, make the pastry. Stir the flour and salt together in a mixing bowl and add butter or margarine. Mix with your fingertips until well distributed. Sprinkle in water and stir until the mixture comes together to form a firm dough. Knead lightly for 1 to 2 minutes, then set aside for 10 minutes to “rest” the dough.
4. Pinch off balls of dough (about 2 cm in diameter) and roll into balls. Working on a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into thin circles, each about 7 to 8 cm in diameter. Place a tablespoon of (cooled) filling in the centre of each dough circle and fold over to enclose (in a semi-circle). Pinch dough around the edges and seal by fluting or pressing with the tines of a fork. Fry in hot oil until golden brown and drain well in wire basket. Serve hot.

Baked Turmeric and Curry chicken wings

I had defrosted some chicken wings but has absolutely no inspiration what to do with them. Based on the main gravy going with it (carrot and parsnip sauce) I've decided to pair the sauce with turmeric as carrot and turmeric have been proven to pair well from experience. This turned out Good!

Baked Turmeric and Curry chicken wings

Ingredients
Chicken wings, cleaned

Marinate, quantity not exact, sprinkle the spices all over making sure each wing will be well coated
ground cumin
turmeric
curry powder
chilli powder
garlic powder
salt
black or white pepper
yoghurt, just enough to coat the wings

1) Marinate chicken wings in the fridge for minimum 30 minutes
2) After 30 mins. remove chicken wings from fridge and start to pre-heat oven at 200°c/400°F/Gas mark 6.
3) Let oven heat for 20 mins. while wings sit in room temperature.
4) Once oven is hot enough, place chicken wings on greased baking tray in one layer.
5) First bake for 25 mins. and remove from oven. Increase to gas mark 7 and flip wings over and bake for another 20 mins. until skin is browned and crispy and you're ready.

Salty shortbread

Salty Shortbread 

Source : No salty
Time : kneading + freeze 30 mins. + bake 20 mins. + rest 1 hour


Ingredients

For dough
200gm butter, melted - warm not hot!
100ml whipping cream
375gm plain flour
2 egg yolks
8gm salt

For Toppings
1 egg yolk, for egg wash
seeds of choice (sesame, poppy, sunflower) or
grated cheese

Method
1) In a bowl, combine salt and plain flour and set aside.
2) In another bowl, mix warm melted butter with whipping cream and egg yolks. Add in the flour/salt into wet mixture. Knead until just come together. Do not over knead!
3) Roll out dough to about 0.5 to 1cm thickness, depending on your liking. Place on a sheet and let it set in freezer for 30 mins.
4) When dough has been rested for 10 mins. Start pre-heating the oven at 200°c.
5) Remove dough from freezer after 30 mins. and let it defrost a little. Cut dough into desired shapes and sizes. Glaze with egg yolk, sprinkle with your choice of topping(s).
6) Bake in pre-heated oven for about 20 mins. or until golden brown and crispy.
7) Let it rest for at least 1 hour before serving.

Oven Fried Chicken Wings

 
Oven Fried Chicken Wings
Preptime : 45 mins.
Cook time : 40 mins.

Ingredients
14 pcs chicken wings
1 egg, beaten
2 Tbsp plain flour
Bread crumbs, for coating

seasoning
1 1/2 tsp salt, to taste (take into consideration saltiness of garlic powder)
2 tsp white pepper powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic powder

Method
1) Pre-heat oven at gas mark 6; for minimum 45 mins.
 2) Clean and dry chicken wings. Mix together flour and beaten eggs. Mix together seasoning. Rub wet and dry mixes all over chicken. Leave to marinate for 45 mins.
3) Coat chicken wings with bread crumbs. Place on greased baking pan.
 4) Bake for 20 mins., then take out from oven and flip over chicken pieces. Put it back to oven to cook for further 20 mins. until crispy and browned nicely. Remove from oven when cooked through.

Update :-
I have tried now using chicken thigh meat the same seasoning and method, the result was great. Chicken was crispy and meat was moist. Even after re-heating!

Quick & Easy Donuts

Quick & Easy Donuts
Source : Ste/ A te recepted Sep 2011
Makes 12-16 donuts

Ingredients
150gm plain flour (changed to 130gm)
pinch of salt
1 sachet x 10gm baking powder (half baking powder + baking soda)
1 egg
150gm yoghurt, natural flavoured (changed to 1x130gm tub)
Oil for frying

To serve with dips
sweet option Good quality fruit preserves/jam or dust with powdered sugar,
savoury option sour cream and grated cheese

Method
1) Whisk together  egg and yoghurt, then mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix until well combine. Let it rest for 10 mins. Meanwhile , heat oil in frying pan
2) Make sure oil is hot enough, or it will be too greasy. Use a spoon to scoop out batter and fry 1.5 mins. each side until golden brown. Drain fried donuts on kitchen paper.
3) Serve while still warm with preferred dipping sauces.