Thai Beef Salad

Ingredients :
450g Fillet steak
6 tablespoons of light soy sauce.
4 cloves of garlic put through garlic press
2 limes, juice off, you could save the zest for a bit of extra zing in the dressing.
2 cm piece of ginger, grated, use the peelings as well.
2 bird's eye chillies chopped.
4 Kaffir lime leaves (I grow fresh leaves if you cannot get them). Cut into strips.
300g assorted lettuce leaves
2/3 cup mint leaves
2/3 cup basil leaves (Thai basil if possible).
2/3 cup coriander leaves.
1 Lebanese cucumber sliced in strips (take the seeds out with a spoon).

Dressing
2 Red chillies diced
6 tablespoons of light soy sauce
6 tablespoons of lime juice, about 2-3 limes
4 teaspoons of palm sugar (get at Thai grocer, or from me)
4 Kaffir lime leaves shredded into fine strips - julienne.

Method :
1. Mix the marinade together. Add the beef and allow it to marinade for an hour or two to cure it. Turn it every half hour or so. It is even better if you marinade it for 4-6 hours.
2. Prepare the dressing and set aside.
3. Cook the beef to rare or medium rare, basically to your liking. I normally chuck it in the oven for 12 minutes. It depends on the thickness of the meat for the cooking time. Set the beef aside for at least 15 minutes to rest.
4. Mix and arrange the lettuce leaves, basil, coriander, mint and cucumber on a platter.
5. Slice the beef quite thinly, (I think rump steak would need to be very thin).
6. Place beef strips on top of the salad.
7. Stir the dressing, and pour over your salad.
8. Bring the salad to the table to great applause!

This is a modern dish, the Thais even put fish sauce in, so I think you can do whatever you want as you will find the right balance in the flavours.

For wines, I have tried Pinot Grigio and Semillion / Sauvignon Blanc. (Voyager estate, Evans Tate are good). Even a light Grenache would work well

Ginger Chilli Prawn

Ingredients
1.5 Kg medium sized fresh green prawns
I pack of wooden BBQ sticks

Marinade
1/2 Cup Olive oil
1/3 cup Lemon Juice
1 red Onion Peeled and quartered
6 Cloves of Garlic
5 cm piece of fresh Ginger
3 Thai bullet Chillis
3 Kaffir Lime leaves
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method
1. Prepare the wooden bamboo skewers the night before. You need to soak them in water overnight so that they do not burn on the BBQ.
2. Put all of the marinade ingredients into a food processor and blitz them until you have a smooth marinade. Don’t bother peeling the ginger, just roughly chop it up.
3. Peel the prawns and leave the last tail segment on them. When you twist
the heads off, you should be able to pull out the intestine easily. Don’t
butterfly them.
4. Put the prawns in the marinade for at least 3 hours if not 5 hours. Cover with cling film and put them in the fridge.
5. Thread two prawns on a wooden skewer via the tail.
6. Light that BBQ and get it ready, and cook the prawns carefully turning them over direct heat. Do not leave them as overcooked prawns are not so good.So do not let them go black either, that means the fire is too hot. Theyshould just turn slightly white which means they are cooked on the ‘edge’ of being cooked. It should take 5-10 minutes depending on your BBQ.

Note:
This works for Balmain/ Moreton Bay bugs and Yabbies too.

Classic baked cheesecake

Ingredients :
icing sugar for dusting

1 cup sweet biscuit crumbs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup cornflour
1/2 cup cream
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 x 250g block PHILADELPHIA* Light/Regular Cream Cheese, softened
3 x 55g eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup caster sugar

Method :
1. Combine biscuit crumbs and butter, press into the base of a 20cm spring form pan; chill.

2. Beat Philly* until smooth, stir in remaining ingredients (caster sugar, cream, eggs, lemon juice, baking powder and cornflour).
3. Pour mixture onto crumb crust and bake at 150C for 60 minutes. Allow to cool completely in oven and refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving.

Apple and Cinnamon Cheesecake

Ingrediants :
apple slices, brushed with lemon juice, to serve

1 cup cream
1 cup sweet biscuit crumbs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoon gelatine, dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water
425g can pie apple
500g block PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
80g butter, melted

Method:
1. Combine biscuit crumbs and butter and press into the base of a 22cm springform pan, chill.

2. Beat Philly*, sugar and cinnamon using an electric mixer until smooth. Add cream and beat until well combined. Stir in juice and gelatine mixture, then stir in apple.
3.Pour mixture into prepared base and chill 3 hours or until set. Top with sliced fresh apple and serve.

crumbed veal with cheese and ham and side mushroom

Ingredients
Veal Cutlets
Salt and pepper to season
Procutto Ham
Cheese
Plain Flour
1 Beaten egg
bread crumbs
Butter for frying
2 cloves of garlic
Thyme

Method
1 Cut veal cutlets into half
2. season with salt and pepper
3. Place 1 piece of procutto, followed by 1 or 2 pieces of cheese and 1 more piece of procuto
4. Close the cutlet and coat with flour, egg, and breadcrumb
5. Melt butter, add 2 cloves of butter and thyme
6. Fry veal on each side for 5 mins

Optional
melt butter
add mushroom
add garlic, shallots and parley
stir fry till cook

Dom chicken

Ingredients
2 large chicken thighs (I leave the skin on, but trim the excess fats around it)
3 tbsp DOM (D.O.M) Benedictine liquor (法国廊酒)
1 tbsp ginger juice (grate the ginger, take the ginger pulp and squeeze out the juice)
5 tbsp water/stock (I use clear chinese soup which I cooked that day)
1 tbsp wolfberries
10 red dates
- 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
- 10 shitake mushrooms, stems removed and then sliced thinly
- spring onions, sliced thinly to wispy strips (to garnish, optional)

Directions
1. Place the chicken thighs into a wide and deep plate. Line the bottom of the vessel with sliced mushrooms, reserving some to top the chicken.
2. Add in ginger juice, D.O.M, water/stock, sesame oil, wolfberries, red dates and the rest of the sliced mushrooms.
3. Cover the vessel with a lid or seal tightly with aluminium foil and cook the chicken on high heat until the water at the steamer is boiling.
4. Lower down the heat and continue to cook for about 40-50 minutes.
5. Season the soup with some salt if you like. I didn’t do that since I am using Chinese soup for the stock. Use a spoon to drizzle some soup onto the chicken. Garnish with spring onions. Serve with warm rice.

Notes:
- The original recipe calls for the chicken to be double boiled. If you prefer this method, place the chicken and ingredients in the double boiler pot and filled the outer pot with water (not covering more than half of the inner pot)). After cooking, arrange the contents into a bowl/plate.
- Whether you steam or double boil, the important thing is to seal the vessel you are using so as not to lose the aroma and soup due to evaporation.
- To test if the chicken is cooked, insert a fork in the thigh area. If clear liquid (no blood) runs out, it is cooked.

Momma T's Bread & Butter Pudding

Ingredients
A)
1.5 Lit Fresh Milk
1.5 Lit whipping cream
5 gm cinnamon

B)
400 gm sugar
3 eggs

C)
180gm Golden Raisin
French Bread

Method :
1. Combine A in a pot , small fire, till warm.
2. Beat B lightly till all well mix with the whisk.
3. Spread butter on bread both sides
4. 1st layer place bread into the casserol, 2nd layer raisin then continue alternate
5. Mix A And B and pour on bread and Raisin layers. Let it soak for 15min
6. Bake 175 degree for 45min till golden brown.

Sticky Date Cookie

Ingredients
125g unsalted butter shopping list
3/4 cup Sunbeam pitted dates, chopped shopping list
1/2 cup water shopping list
1 cup brown sugar shopping list
1 egg shopping list
1 teaspoon vanilla essence shopping list
1 cup self-raising flour shopping list
1 1/2 cups plain flour shopping list

Method :
1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C. Line baking trays with greaseproof paper.

2. Place butter, Sunbeam Dates, water and sugar in a saucepan.
3. Bring to boil then remove from heat. Cool for 5 minutes.
4. Stir in egg, vanilla essence and flours. Place heaped teaspoons of mixture onto prepared trays.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.

Makes approximately 50