First Day of Advent

Today is the first day of Advent, aka the beginning of the new liturgical year and the first of four weeks before Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. I'm not sure about you but I got all my Christmas decorations up and ready this year.
I made a DIY advent calendar (Christmas countdown house) to begin with. I have also put up two mini Christmas trees and decorated them. Then I have made some Christmas tree cones which turned out fantastic. I made some Christmas tree garland and finally I made a nativity scene papercraft to hang onto the wall. I'm pretty pleased with all the decorations. This really marks the beginning of this festive season.

Updated: I made a mini chimney.

Flashback Friday

Instead of a throwback Thurday, I will make a regular Flashback Friday post from now on. Essentially, just various dishes that I cooked, prepared and brought together during the week.

Pan-seared baramundi, sauteed asparagus and mushroom, with a bowl of lentil soup

Dr Oetker's Ristorante's pizza with some avo and sweet potatoes

Fish cake with chips (from the frozen aisle) and some salad

Cottage pie with some sauteed spinach

Bacon, kale and mushroom risotto

Fried egg, sauteed zucchin with rice and a bowl of corn soup

Matcha Crepe Cake (Mille-Crepes cake)

I first came across this 'cake' from Eugenie Kitchen. She has made several variations and I finally made my mind to make one myself. This cake is essentially made from 15 to 30 crepes staked on top of each other with cream filling in between each crepe. I have seen many flavours including plain one with whipped cream, nutella ,strawberry, custard, matcha and oreos. 

I decided to make a green tea one. I used Eugenie's recipe but incorporated some matcha powder into the batter instead of the colouring. I also made some matcha cream for the filling. Simply whipped some cold cream with some sugar and some matcha powder. It was actually not hard to make, you just need some patience in making the crepes and layering each crepe with the cream filling. The result is quite worth the time though. 

I started with making the batter the previous night. The following day, I made the crepes. I got 15 layers for this one. I trimmed the edges, whipped the cream, then layered each of the crepe and finally cover the whole 'cake' with the matcha cream. For a finished look, I dusted some matcha powder on top. I took me roughly 1.5 hours. 

Kale/Spinach, sweet potato and roasted chickpea

With all the craze about superfood lately, here is a simple meal incorporating some of the 'super' veggies. We have kale/spinach, sweet potato (my favourite) and some roasted chickpeas. I think this is perfect for a healthy and light lunch or even dinner. I has sweetness, spices, crunchiness, texture, and is quite filling.

Firstly, mix a can of drained chickpea with some paprika, pepper, salt, garlic powder and olive oil.
Secondly, cut sliced your sweet potatoes and sprinkle with some cumin seeds. Then put both the chickpeas and sweet potatoes in the oven at 180c for about 20 minutes for the chickpeas and 30 for the sweet potatoes, turning halfway through.

Next, fry some garlic, onions and then add your greens (spinach or kale), season with salt and pepper and cook until wilted.

Finally mix the roasted sweet potatoes and chickpeas with the greens and you are done. Simple as that.

Frangipane Tart (Recipe)

I love frangipane filling. It is similar to crème pâtissière, but made with almond instead for the custard.
Lots of almonds used in this recipe for a very tasty tart. It has to be my favourite tart.

Recipe:

For the tart base:
250g AP flour
125g butter
A few drops of cold water

For the filling:
75g sugar
100g softened butter,
125g almond meal (ground almonds)
2 eggs
1tsp almond essence
1tbs AP flour
A dollop of cream (about 2 tbs)

For the topping:
1 cup of flaked almonds

For the glaze:
2tbs of apricot jam with 2tbs of warm water

Method:
Prepare the tart base by mixing butter and flour, until resemble crumbs, add water little by little until it forms a dough.
Cover with cling film and put in the fridge to rest.

Prepare the filling by creaming butter and sugar. Then add the remaining ingredients and mix.

Roll out dough from the fridge into your tart mould and prick with a fork. Blind bake for about 15 minutes at 180C in a preheated oven.

Pour filling on to the crust, top with the flaked almonds, and then bake for another 25 minutes, until set.

Once out of the oven, brush with the apricot glaze and enjoy.

Tortilla taco boats

This is a new range of tortillas from the 'Old El Paso' brand. They are called taco boats and they are quite handy to eat with actually. Instead of the usual wrap, this one acts as a holder for all the ingredients and toppings, so that there is less chance of any juices or sauces to fall off.

You have to put them in the oven for about 10 minutes which makes the tortilla just warm and soft enough, with some slightly crisp edges. Taste-wise, it is the same as the normal wraps in my opinion. I guess it's just another fun way to enjoy some homemade mexican food.

Homemade Waffles

I completely forgot about the waffle maker. We bought a waffle maker a few months ago and I have not yet posted about it for some reason. We have the heart-shaped Breville waffle maker and it's been doing its job. I have a few trials already and so far, it's all been good. It is actually quite easy to make, simply make the batter and follow the instructions from the booklet and there you have homemade waffles- as few or many as you want !

Who doesn't love waffles?

The recipe I used is adapted from Honeysuckle . I used twice the recipe without the choc chips. For half of the batch I added a teaspoon of matcha to make green tea waffles. Also, after making all the waffles, I put them in the oven for a few minutes to have that extra crispy texture. Drizzle with some maple syrup and you have the most mouth watering waffles.

Served with sliced bananas, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, with a drizzle of maple syrup

Vegetarian Korean Pancake (Pageon)

After watching Giada at Home today which was about Korean food, I was inspired to make some Korean pancakes. They looked quite easy to make, so I decided to give it a try. I have only eaten them once and remember really liking the crispy texture. It is strange it never occurred to me to try making them at home until then.

I looked up for some recipes and all were pretty much same as Giada's. However, I decided to go for Aeri's Kitchen's one. I roughly used the same ingredients, except for the Korean frying mix which I did not have. I used 1 cup AP flour with some cornflour, 1 cup water and 1 egg for the batter. I also did not have zucchinis, so I omitted them.Otherwise, I think the pancake turn out good for a first time trial.They were crispy on the outside and the veggies well cooked. Very nice.

  

Praline coated popcorn

Yesterday the new SBS food network channel was launched. I got to see so many cooking shows. I think it's such a great move for people like me. So far, I have watched Giada at Home, Rachael Ray’s 30 Minute Meals and Reza: Spice Prince of Vietnam. All seem to be great shows. 

In Giada at Home, I came across some pizza popcorn and it gave me some inspiration to make my own popcorn at home- which I did. I bought some popping corn, and looked for some recipes online. These are actually so easy to make and I cannot believe I only tried making them just now. They are really 'popped' corn.

I had some praline from Morish nuts and decided to use that instead of making my own caramel sauce, which turned out great. Essentially, you only need 3 ingredients, which made the job even more easy. I shall try some savoury popcorn next time, maybe some butter and herbs flavoured ones.

Recipe 

For the popcorn:
1/3 cup corn
2 tbs oil

For the praline:
75g praline
2-3 tbs water

Method:
1.In a small pan, heat up the praline.
2. Once hot, pour the water and bring up to boil and let to cool.

3 Heat oil in a heavy base pan
4. When hot, try popping 1 corn. Once it pops up nicely, put all the remaining corn in the pan and the lid on. You should hear the corn popping. it's only a matter of seconds. Shake the pan a little.
5. Once all corns are done (you won't hear any sounds), stir in the praline mix and mix well, still with the heat on.
6. Once coated, turn of the heat and let cool in the pan for a few minutes.
7. Transfer to an air tight container and enjoy.

These are really crunchy, with just that little hint of sweetness which make it so tasty. You definitely want to try this.

Sugary praline bubbling away

Just popped

With caramel coated