Chocolate Red Wine Cake

It's been a while since my last post. I do apologise for the long absence. Life got crazy and I got lazy but I s*#@r I will strive to add on new posts and more recipes on a more regular basis. It was the Christmas Holidays that I chanced upon this recipe in Food and Travel magazine. I have always wondered what to do with leftover red wine from the Christmas holidays and this recipe is the perfect answer! I had some good wine left over and promptly put it to use in this recipe!

Ingredients

280g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 heaped cup of cocoa powder

200g butter

400g soft brown sugar

4 eggs

400ml red wine

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg celcius. Grease a 10 inch bundt pan and lightly dust with flour.

2. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder thrice.

3. Cream butter and sugar till creamy, then lower speed and add beaten eggs very slowly. Continue beating and gradually incorporate wine and flour mistures alternately, until well mixed.

4. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for 50 to 60 mins until a cake tester inserted into the cake centre comes out clean. Allow to cool before unmoulding.

Myanmar-style Sour Prawn Curry with Coriander Rice

Ingredients

Coriander Rice

1. Cook rice in rice cooker. When rice is cooked, stir in chopped coriander.

Myanmar-style Sour Prawn Curry (recipe from Food and Travel Magazine)

10-12 large prawns, shelled and de-veined

1 tsp ground tumeric

2 tsp assam (tamarind paste)

150 ml water

3 Tbsp oil

1 purple onion, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp chilli powder

5 large ripe tomatoes, diced

1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce

salt to taste

1. Rinse prawns and pat dry, then rub with tumeric and set aside while you prep the other ingredients.

2. Knead assam and water together until assam dissolves, then strain assam liquid and discard seeds and fibers.

3. Heat oil in a wok over medium-high heat. When hot, add onion and garlic and fry, stirring constantly until softened and lightly browned, 2-3 minutes.

4. Add chilli powder and fry for 30 seconds. Add tomatoes and fish sauce. Cook, stirring for 3-4 minutes or until tomatoes have broken up. Stir in prawns and assam liquid. Cover and cook for 5-6 mins.

5. Uncover and cook 1-2 mins more. Prawns should be cooked through and there should be a little thick gravy. Dish up, garnish with coriander and serve hot with rice.

Margarita Ice cream with Puff Pastry and Chocolate Drizzle

Margarita Ice Cream recipe from Nigella Lawson

1/2 cup lime juice

2 tbsp tequila

3 tbsp orange liquer (I used cointreau)

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

2 cups heavy cream

1. Pour the lime juice, tequila and orange liqueur into a bowl and stir in the sugar to dissolve.

2. Add the cream and then softly whip until thick and smooth but not stiff.

3. Spoon into an airtight container to freeze overnight. This ice cream does not need ripening (softening before serving), as it will not freeze too hard and melts speedily.

Garnish

1 quantity store bought puff pastry

50 g good quality dark chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg celcius.

2. Cut puff pastry into quarters.

3. Place puff pastry onto tray and bake for 15-20 mins or until golden brown.

4. Melt dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.

5. Place scoops of margarita ice cream on baked puff pastry and drizzle warm chocolate over. Serve.

Chicken and Orange Salad with Colby Cheese

This salad is a variation of the Chicken and Mango Salad posted recently. The same recipe for balsamic vinaigrette is used as the dressing. Only difference between the two salad is the orange being used in place of the mango and the cubed Colby cheese added in for this one. My only consternation was I realized that I forgot to add toasted almonds only when I almost finished the salad :(. One other variation from the previous salad was the seasoning used to marinade the chicken. It was done by my hubby using a mixture of dark and light soy sauce and some sesame oil. I do not know the exact amounts of soy sauced used as my hubby is unable to recall what his magic chef hands put into the marinade. But I have to say that it smells and tastes absolutely fabulous! However, feel free to marinade the chicken your favourite way for this refreshing summer salad!

Pan Fried Salmon with Mushroom Butter Sauce

This recipe serves 2.

For the salmon:

2 salmon steaks

1-2 tbsp dried dill

1/2 tsp salt

Crushed black pepper to taste

1-2 tbsp vegetable oil

1. Season salmon steaks evenly with the dried dill, salt and crushed black pepper.

2. Heat a pan with the oil. Place salmon steaks skin side down on the hot pan to cook. Flip salmon steaks halfway and cook salmon all the way through. Place cooked salmon aside.

For the mushroom butter sauce:

2 packs of brown crab mushroom

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup butter

5-6 cloves of garlic

salt and pepper to taste

1. In a medium-large pan, sautee garlic in butter until fragrant. Add crab mushrooms and stir fry till cooked. Set aside in a bowl.

2. Add cream to hot pan and stir in the mushroom, butter and garlic mixture. Stir until cream is evenly distributed. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve.

Peanut Butter and Toblerone No Bake Cheesecake

This cheesecake is inspired by a recipe printed on a philly cheese packaging. This recipe does not require baking so you could still make it if you do not own an oven and happen to have a very bad cheesecake craving. Mind you this is a very rich cheesecake.

Ingredients

Digestive biscuit base: you could double it, if you, like me, love to have more of the biscuit crumb base.

1 cup digestive biscuit crumbs

1/3 cup butter, melted

1. Mix biscuit crumbs with melted butter and press into base of a 8 inch round springform pan. Set aside in the refrigerator to chill.

Cream cheese filling

500g cream cheese of choice (i used philly's), softened at room temperature.

3 tsp gelatine (dissolved in 1/2 cup of boiling water)

150g caster sugar

50g toblerone dark chocolate, melted

1/2 cup cream

approx. 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Garnish

Additional toblerone pieces

cocoa powder

1. Prepare gelatin mixture (i.e. dissolve gelatin in boiling water) and leave to cool.

2. Melt toblerone chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water.

2.Beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until soft. If you do not have an electric mixer, use a fork or potato masher to mash the cream cheese and beat till creamy and smooth using a wooden spoon.

3. Add gelatin mixture, caster sugar and cream and blend until smooth.

4. Divide cream cheese mixture into 2 equal parts. Mix one part of the cream cheese mixture with the melted toblerone chocolate until smooth. Mix the remaining cream cheese mixture with the peanut butter until evenly distributed.

5. Drop random dollops of the chocolate and peanut butter cream cheese mixture on to the crumb base to create the marbled effect.

6. Place pieces of toblerone chocolate round the edges of the cheesecake and dust some cocoa powder on the top to decorate. Chill the cheesecake in refrigerator for 2-3 hours or overnight.

Serves 8.

Chicken and Mango Salad

This has got to be one of my fav salads! Great easy to prepare with low fat and low carbs! This recipe serves 2.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

1 tsp mustard

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp honey

2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Salad components

6-8 cherry tomatoes

romane lettuce (add as much as you want you could also use other vegetables instead)

1 ripe medium mango

1-2 chicken breast (already cooked)

1-2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

2-3 tbsp toasted slivered almonds

1. To make balsamic vinaigrette, mix all the vinaigrette ingredients in a bowl, whisking till combined. (You could use your fav brand of ready made balsamic vinaigrette from the supermarkets if you prefer).

2. For the salad, place washed salad greens into a large bowl. Add cheery tomatoes (sliced into halves), chopped mangoes, shredded chicken breast, toasted almonds and parmesan cheese into the bowl. Pour over the prepared balsamic vinaigrette and serve.