Berries Trifle for a very merry Christmas

Christmas Down Under is summer. Lots of fresh berries to make attractive and delicious trifle for parties.

Choose an assortment of different coloured berries. Strawberries and blueberries are more hardy, keeps better, and retains their integrity even with a bit of handling and mixing.   Raspberries are refreshing and serve as good antioxidants but they may not withstand longer keeping time. 

Ingredients

Premium Vanilla Custard (Paul's brand is fine and convenient) 500 g  or cook from scratch with 4 yolk & 1 cup milk
Fresh Cream (either whip from scratch or purchase ready dessert cream) 2 cups
1 punnet each of 3 types of berries (blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, mulberry, boysenberry)
Cherries for topping
Quality meringe (or whip egg white till max peak, pipe and bake)
Castor sugar 1/2 cup
Honey 2 TBS
Liquour - cointreau /grand marnier and brandy (any 2 of these will do) 2 TBS each
Chocolate garnache (melt a block of high cocoa chocolate in double boiler, add 2 TBS full cream, brown sugar and one yolk)
Sponge cake or sponge fingers about 200 - 300 g (pannatone Italian cake-bread is handy for this and pudding recipes)

Method

Prepare to layer a large glass transparent bowl (either special large surface uniform trifle bowl or large mixing bowl).

Firstly, line the bottom with chocolate garnache, followed by half of the sponge cake slices or sponge fingers.
Sprinkle some of the liquor on the sponge.

Spoon half of the fruit. Cover with custard.

Place the remaining sponge cake. Repeat : followed by a dash of liquour, fruit and custard.

Sprinkle some castor sugar.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Can be prepared the day before the party and chilled overnight.

When ready to serve, decorate with whipped cream, honey, cherries, mixture of cherries, meringe as topping.

Sticky rice with chicken, mushroom, sausage (claypot or fried/steamed) - Chinese risotto

Sometimes we wonder if the Chinese learned to cook claypot rice and sticky fried / steamed rice from Marco Polo or did the globetrotter(s) bring the idea back to Italy and thus risotto was born.

This is a delicious one-dish meal. It is usually listed on the menu of Asian restaurants as "raw fried glutinous rice". Though simple, it gives out a complexity of aromas from meat, vegetable, seafood and sausages.

No need to pre-soak glutinous rice. The result is soft fluffy but not water logged soggy rice.
A balanced meal, though not extremely "healthy", it is absolutely delicious. 

INGREDIENTS

Glutinous rice - 3 cup

Long grain rice - 1 cup

Chicken stock - 3 cups

Water - 4 TBS

Dried shitake mushrooms - 4 pieces (washed and soaked and sliced into quarters)

Chicken fillet - 200 g (sliced thinly and marinate in soy sauce)

Dried scallop (soak in hot water 3 times for at least 3 hours, discard first round of water)

or dried shrimp (washed and bashed)

Chinese sausages - about 2 sliced diagonally into 6 each (similar to using chorizo for paella)

Garlic (chopped)

Indian small shallot onion (sliced thinly)
Vegetable oil 3 TBS

Seasoning

Soy sauce (2 dark and 1 light)

Pepper to taste

Sesame oil (optional)

Garnish

spring onion slices and fresh coriander
fried garlic and shallot crisp

METHOD

1. Prepare fragrant oil and garlic/shallot crisps but frying gradually heating up garlic and shallot in cold oil. Be careful not to burn the crisp and turn off heat once the colour changes to golden yellow before turning brown as they continue cooking continues in the oil. Remove crisps and put on small serving dish.

2. Fry mushroom, chicken and dried shrimp (if using) till 80 % cooked. Dish up.

3. Add a little more oil to fry glutinous rice (if not using non-stick pot). Add a little water if required. Then add long-grain rice and continue frying till all the grains turn slightly translucent.

4. Add chicken stock to the rice. Mix in prefried mushroom, chicken and dried shrimp.

5. Place sausage slices on top. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes under medium-low heat.

6. Stir the rice mixture. Cover the lid back and cook for another 5 minutes with very low heat.

Acknowledgement : the above recipe is owed to the good advice from my homecook friend Sher who learnt it from her network of masterchefs, followed by lots of experimentation and practice. 

The same principle applies to cooking Asian claypot rice. In this variation, cook as you would boiled rice with additional savoury ingredients. The slightly burnt rice crust at the bottom is fragrant and delicious when mixed with the rest of the rice. Hot water can be added to remove the rice crust and drank as a soup so that nothing is wasted.

Egg Plant Omelette - Spanish Filipino Dish / Tapa

This is an urban Filipino dish heavily influenced by its Spanish colonial past and mestizo community.

Choose a medium size eggplant for easier cooking. Use a fork to prick the skin of the eggplant. Make slits lengthwise without cutting through the eggplant. Since the inside of the vegetable is not exposed, you don't have to soak it in salt water as you would normally do.

Steam or microwave whole eggplant till the skin and pulp are soft and tender. Use a masher to flatten the eggplant. Season with a light sprinkle of salt. Coat with either cornstarch or rice flour.

Beat three eggs lightly. Season with pepper, soy sauce, oyster sauce and paprika (optional).

Heat up heavy frying pan and coat with a layer of oil and spread to the sides as well.

Pour a thin layer of egg into the frying pan. Quickly spread mashed eggplant and mix with the uncooked flowing egg.

Let it sizzle for 10 seconds. Then add the rest of the egg. Ensure that the heat is set at medium so that the omelette is neither too soft nor burnt.

When you could smell the omelette is cooked on one side, flip over and cook the other side briefly. Turn off the heat. This will ensure that that the omelette is not too dry.

Buttermilk Spicy Roast Chicken - healthy, easy and tasty

This dish is inspired by North Indian tandoori chicken and Chinese crispy chicken wings. It has layers of sophisticated flavours to tease the most disinterested diner. Moreover, it is healthy and easy to prepare, hence, suitable for casual entertaining and family gatherings.

INGREDIENTS

Chicken drumsticks 10 - 12

Buttermilk 1 cup

Curry powder 2 tsp

Oregano 2 sprigs, chopped finely

Garlic 2 cloves pulverised

Lemon or lime juice 1 TBS

Salt and pepper to taste

Maltose or brown sugar

Vegetable oil (with high boiling point) - 1 TBS

METHOD

1. Remove excess chicken fat from chicken drumsticks. Score lightly to on the skin to reduce cooking time.

2. Put chicken in a large mixing bowl or ziploc bag. Add buttermilk, spices, seasoning, sugar. All except vegetable oil for cooking. Mix well.

3. Leave the meat to marinate in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight. Take out one hour before cooking.

4. Preheat oven to 200 C. Place chicken pieces on baking tray that has been greased lightly.

5. Lightly glaze the chicken with more marinate and oil every 20 minutes. Turn ocassionally to ensure even cooking. Roast for for at least 45 minutes in total.

Osso Bucco Veal or Ox tail

This Italian dish has become a favourite that has gained worldwide popularity. A heart warming winter fare.

INGREDIENTS

Centre of bone cut for stew about 1/2 kg

Pure olive oil

Brown onions 2

Garlic cloves 2

Anchovy fillet (fresh, pickled or spicy) 1/4 cup

Red wine or dry white wine 1 cup

Beef or veal stock 1 cup

Vegetables :

Fresh diced tomatoes 1 cup

carrot (diced 2)

celery (1 stalk, sliced)

mushroom (3 and quartered)

Herb bouquet : fresh thyme, sage, rosemary, bay leaf (2 sprigs / stalks each)

Seasoning : salt and pepper

Garnish : chopped parsley and butter 15g

STEPS

1. Season meat with salt and pepper. Lightly dust with flour.

2. Heat olive oil in a dutch oven or heavy roasting pan. Brown the veal lightly. Remove from heat and place on a plate.

3. Using the oil from veal, saute onion and garlic. Avoid burning onions as they caramelise quickly.

4. Deglaze by adding wine to the pan. Add veal stock and tomatoes and bring to the boil. Reduce heat.

5. Put vea backl in the pot or pan. Top with anchovy, vegetables and herbs.

6. Slow cook for at least 2 to 3 hours. Turn the meat ocassionally to ensure even cooking on both sides. It is ready when the meat is tender but not falling off the bone.

7. Add salt and pepper according to taste.

8. Garnish with chopped parsley and allow butter to melt on top of the stew.

9. Serve with bread or rissoto.