Socceroos Fever.... Aussie Aussie Aussie

The moment is here: Australia vs Germany at the FIFA World Cup!!!!!


Go Aussie Aussie Aussie!!!!!!


The game starts at our time 2.30am and back in Australia it will start at 4.30am. I'm pretty sure all football fans in Australia are draped in tour national colours of green and gold, flying the Australian flag, fans singing Waltzing Matilda and Advance Australia Fair, all decked out with scarves, replica shirts or just anything to show our pride for our Aussie team. 


Getting into the spirit of it all is what we'll be doing over here too. Although I'm miles away in Malaysia I'm still rallying up behind my country and cheering on my team. I know my brothers will be watching them as will many more as luck has been given to our home with the Queen celebrating her birthday so granting Aussie a well deserve day off. 


I know it may be a long shot with all expectations for a win by Germany but just wouldn't it be nice for the underdogs, Australia to come in a take it all away with a win! I'm just hoping and praying for that win! 


I know for tonight's snack I should have made something more in tune with an Aussie flavour like a good old Aussie Meat Pie, a sausage roll but I've settled for spring rolls. We'll be needing that extra spring in their kick to our win for tonight!


.... whatever the outcome I know Australia will play at their best and that will be all I could ever ask for.

Spring Rolls

300 g chicken fillet

1 packet of spring roll wrappers, small to medium about 50 pcs

5 stalks of coriander, chopped roughly

1/4 cup carrot, finely sliced

1 cup cabbage, finely sliced

1 packet rice vermicelli

1 cup hot water

1 small onion, chopped finely

2 cloves garlic, crushed and roughly chopped

1 tbsp soy sauce, or to taste

1 tbsp fish sauce or to taste

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 - 2 cups of oil for shallow frying

1. Finely slice the chicken fillet leaving the skin on. Heat up some oil in a wok, add the onion, garlic, chicken, coriander, fish sauce, soy sauce and black pepper. Stir until cooked and add extra fish sauce or soy sauce to taste. Add 1/2 cup water if dry. Remove and set it aside.

2. In a  bowl, add the vermicelli and hot water and soak until the noodles have soften. Remove the water. Add the remaining ingredients and stir throughly to coat all the ingredients.

3. Open up the spring roll packet and peel off an individual sheet. Using a dinner spoon, place the filling in the upper corner of the sheet and fold over the top corner followed by the sides and moisten with water the bottom corner before rolling to seal the roll. Repeat and set aside on a plate.

4. Heat the oil in a wok until it is hot enough to fry the rolls. Fry the rolls in batches and turn over to evenly cook. When the rolls are golden, remove and drain over paper towels. They should be crispy and golden, serve with Thai sweet chilli sauce or any sweet chilli sauce.

Snacks for the Big Night!

So tonight or should I say this morning is the BIG day in our house.

It's ENGLAND vs US!

In a few moments this household is going to be glued to the tv watching the live telecast of the much anticipated game since 1950. The time when the US defeated England in the FIFA World Cup. And today we are going to be watching a rematch in this opening game for  Group C at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in a place so far away from their homes. They will be the first teams amongst Slovenia and Algeria and will be fighting to win to make it to the finals of the World Cup. Just who will win?.... My prediction is ......England!!!!

Well, let's just watch the game and enjoy it..... It is after all just a "game"!!! (My hubby won't be pleased to hear that!) But really no matter what the outcome I've prepared the nerves and excitement for today with some snacks... Toasted Cinnamon Roll Chips and Cinnamon Rolls

 

Toasted Cinnamon Roll Chips


Cinnamon Rolls and some Milo Cinnamon Rolls

I'm a huge fan of cinnamon and I couldn't think of anything better than to make some Cinnamon Rolls for tonight's game and give it a bit of a twist by making some Toasted Cinnamon Roll Chips.

Cinnamon Rolls

7 g dry yeast

1/2 cup of warm water

1 tsp sugar

80g butter, melted

1/2 cup hot milk

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 egg

3 3/4 cup plain flour

Filling

3/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped

3 tbsp Milo for optional topping

50 g butter

1. Using a small bowl, dissolve the sugar and yeast into the warm water. Leave it for about 10 mins or until is becomes foamy. I always find it's better to add a bit of sugar to get the yeast going.

2. Using a larger bowl, combine the hot milk, butter, sugar, egg and salt. Stir it until it is well combined and then add the yeast mixture. Add the flour and mix it until it forms a dough. Add extra dough it is too moist. Knead the dough onto a floured surface for about 8 mins or until it more elastic. Grease the bowl with some oil and place the dough back into it until it becomes doubled, about 1 hour. I would normally turn the oven on at 180C for 3 mins and turn it off and then place the bowl with dough, covering it with a damp cloth and leave it there to proof, but this will only work with a metal bowl!... my mixing bowls are all enamel so this makes it easier.

3. Remove the dough once it has doubled and punch it down on a floured surface. Knead it again for about 5 mins and divide into 2. Roll it out into a rectangle and spread butter over all over it. Mix the sugar, walnuts and cinnamon and sprinkle in onto the butter dough. I added Milo to the other half of the dough just to try it out. 

4. Roll up the dough and divide it into 12 equal 1inch slices and arrange them onto a baking tray. I use a 4' x 8' baking tray but you could also use a round baking pan. Sprinkle with some extra sugar on top. Repeat for the other half of the dough and bake them at a preheated 180C oven for about 25mins or until golden brown. 

Toasted Cinnamon Roll Chips

6 cinnamon rolls

1. Using a bread knife, slice each cinnamon roll into 1cm slices and arrange them onto a baking tray. Bake them in a preheated 180C oven for about 12 mins or until they a golden and crispy. 

I use to love buying this from St. Cinnamon so I was inspired to make them as a snack for the game.

World Cup Fever

Tonight is the start of the FIFA World Cup and in this household our night time TV has been put on hold for the next 31 days. Yes it's that time again when hubby goes into serious TV mode. You see he's a huge football fan not soccer but FOOTBALL! He's very passionate about his English football club the Tottenham Hotspurs and a huge supporter of the England team since he was a 12 year old at boarding school. 

English Premier League isn't in season so now our nights will be filled with the cheers for our favourite teams England and Australia .... or whoever is playing for the day. So to celebrate these upcoming 31 days I'll be concentrating on purely comfort foods to fuel our cheering lungs with and to keep us going for those 31 days.... 31 days ..... that's a long time to be playing football but I'm getting into the spirit of things so here we go with my opening special. A real treat for my hubby whose a meat and potato kind of man... Meatballs and Mash Potato and thrown in to that a good helping of Beef Garlic Sausages! I served the meatballs with the Bangers and Mash recipe and just drizzled the sauce over the meatballs. 

Meatballs

300g beef mince

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

2 tbsp homemade spicy BBQ sauce

1/4 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp basil

pinch of cayenne pepper

pinch of ground black pepper & salt

1 egg

1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs

1/2 cup plain flour for coating

1. Using a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients until it is well mixed. Put it in the refrigerator for about 10 mins. 

2. Remove the meat mixture from the fridge and using a heaped teaspoon roll it into meatballs. Dip the meatballs into the flour and place on a dish.

3. Heat oil (about 3 tbsp) in a fry pan. Fry the meatballs in batches and drain on a paper towel. 

Lamingtons

Lamingtons were always one of those goodies you would always find at a school bake sale. It's really an Aussie tradition just like the meat pie and pavlovas. I can remember whenever my brother's school had a lamingtion drive our house would be full to the brim with lamingtons. Lamingtons in the cake container, lamingtons in the fridge and lamingtons for later in the deep freeze! 

Now a lamington isn't too bad. Actually is a pretty good cake. A little sponge cake dipped in chocolate icing and coated with desiccated coconut. Sometimes even with a layer of cream sandwiched between the sponges. A bit messy to make, especially with it comes to the dipping in the chocolate icing and coating it in the desiccated coconut but that also can be alot of  fun part. 

The lamington has been around over 100 years and was made in honour of Lord Lamington (Charles Cochrane-Baillie), who served as the Governor of Queensland. It was made accidently when there was nothing to serve to some guest but some leftover sponge cake, and a bit of chocolate icing, and some desiccated coconut. Imagine that!

Lamingtons

125 g butter

3/4 cup caster sugar

3 eggs

2 cups plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 cup milk

icing

3 cups icing sugar

1 tbsp butter, melted

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup water

Preheat the oven to 180C.

1. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar using an electric mixer until it is light and creamy. Add the vanilla essence and mix well. Gradually add each egg on at a time and mix well. 

2. Sift the flour and baking powder and fold it into the butter mixture using a metal spoon. Alternate this with the milk and mix well.

3. Line a lamington tin (20cm x 30cm) with grease paper. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for about 25 to 30 mins or until cooked. Leave it to cool and refrigerate for about 2 hours or overnight.

Icing

1. Using a mixing bowl. Sift the icing sugar and cocoa. Add the butter and water and mix well until smooth, and slight runny.

2. Arrange the icing bowl, desiccated coconut in separate bowls. Prepare the cake by cutting it into small rectangles about 24 pcs. Using 2 forks, gently dip the cake into the icing and coat all sides with it. Drain off any excess icing and then roll the cake with the desiccated coconut. Gently pat the coconut onto the cake so that all the side are coated. Place it on a rack or a plate to dry and repeat for the other pieces. The whole process can be pretty messy when you dip the cake into the chocolate icing but the coconut will absorb most of the excess moisture from the icing.

3. When the cakes have been rolled in the coconut, place it in a container and refrigerate to firm it up. It should be ready to serve when it has been cooled for about 2 hours or overnight.

Pretzels

I had this urge today to make pretzels so I thought I'd try to look up the origins of the pretzel.  While scrolling down the list of articles, I came across one called the "Lenten Pretzel" by Fr. William Saunders. An interesting read about the origins of the pretzel and it's traditional beginnings as a symbol of faith during Lent. 


It was interesting to learn that there is actual documentation describing the pretzel in a manuscript held by the Vatican Library. It was made during times of Lent when it is a time of reflection and pray and a period when you had to refain from eating meat or animal products. The pretzel was basically a bread which Italian monks in the 600s had made to remind everyone of this special time of pray and the shape of the pretzel was to symbolise the crossing of the arms in pray positon.  They made them to give out to the faithful  and some were also given to children for reciting their prays. And for this they were originally named bracelle, which is Latin for "little arms" and was also know as a pretiola, meaning "little reward" . Eventually the pretzel became very popular and evolved from a soft pretzel to a hard pretzel made more popularly by the Germans, who came to name them bretzel which somehow became the pretzel we know today. Interesting???!!! ... and today just so happens to be The Most Holy Trinity.


So here's my take on the pretzel adapted by a recipe by Christa Rose. I made a few adjustments and baked half of them like a bagel by boiling them first and the other just left to bake. Both were equally soft and buttery and I'll be adding different toppings when I make them again. 

Pretzels

1 1/2 cup warm water

4 tsp dry yeast

1 tsp sugar

5 cups plain flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1/4 cup sea salt

1 egg, whisked with 1 tsp water

1. Dissolve the yeast and 1 tsp of sugar in the warm water. Set it aside until it is foamy, about 10 mins.

2. Using a large mixing bowl, add the plain flour, sugar, salt. Pour the yeast mixture and oil into the flour and combine. If it is a bit dry just add some more water and then knead it on a flour surface until is becomes a smooth dough. It should take about 8-10 mins and then place it in an oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and place it in a warm area. Leave the dough to rise until it has doubled, about an hour.

3. Preheat the oven to 180C.

4. When the dough has risen, remove it and punch out the air. Knead it again and divide it into 12 parts. Roll out the each piece into a rope about 40 cm long and twist it into a pretzel shape. This bit might be a bit tricky but I find if you hold both ends in a U shape and just twist it and lay it down it becomes easier and faster to make. 

5. Place each pretzel on a baking tray with a greased piece of baking paper. Leave them to rise for about 15 mins. Brush them with a bit of the egg wash and sprinkle with the sea salt. For this recipe I experimented with baking half the batch by boiling it in a pot of hot water, just like a bagel and then brushed it with the egg wash and the other I baked normally. I didn't find any difference between the two methods as they were equally yummy!

Ravioli

This first time I tasted ravioli was when I was in the 2nd grade at Taipei American School. My best friend Alex would always bring a flask of ravioli for lunch and I think this was the only thing she would bring for lunch. It was the canned type but it tasted really good compared to my sandwiches that I would bring from home. Small little pillows filled with meat and covered with a tomato sauce. I had never tasted anything like this before!


That's me in the yellow dress next to Alex in the blue dress and sitting next to her was my brother. It was my last day at school in Mrs B's class and on the way to our new home in Holland.


Alex was an American and she introduced me to lot of other foods which were strange to me at the time. Tomato soup with ABC noodles, macaroni and cheese, and I can remember for some reason always putting butter on my pasta and rice at her place..... We had alot of fun times, sleep overs and just playing by the pool with our other friend Juliette. So that's Alex where ever you are for introducing me to ravioli all those years ago.

Ravioli

Filling

300 g mince beef

1 small onion, chopped finely

1 clove garlic, chopped finely

2 tbsp parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp sweet basil

Sauce

410 g can tomato puree + 1 can water

1/4 cup dry red wine

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp basil

1 small onion, chopped finely

1 clove garlic, chopped finely

salt & pepper

Pasta

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup flour + 1/2 cup extra

Filling

1. Using a saucepan, heat up some oil and saute the onions and garlic. Remove and add this to the other ingredients in another mixing bowl and refrigerate until the pasta is ready. 

Pasta

1. Using a mixing bowl, add the flour and make a well in the centre. Add the two eggs and use a fork to gradually mix the flour and egg together.

2. The dough will be a bit sticky so remove it from the bowl and place on a well floured surface. Add extra flour to the dough and knead it into a firm smooth dough. 

Make sure you sprinkle enough flour so that it doesn't stick to the surface. 

3. Divide the dough into 2 and taking one piece carefully roll it out until it is thin enough to pass through the widest setting of the pasta maker. Roll the dough through and section the dough into 3 parts and fold them over lapping each other. Roll the dough through the pasta maker again. It should be the smooth and uniform in width.

4. Roll the dough again but at the next setting. It should gradually get thinner. Roll the dough until the 2nd last setting or until it's about 2mm thick. Lay the pasta on a floured surface. Using the blunt edge of a knife mark a line along the middle of the length of the pasta sheet and along the other side making small squares.

5. Take out the filling from the fridge and use about 1/2 a teaspoon and place it in the centre of each square. Cover it with another layer of pasta and using a knife cut squares along the filling. Pinch along the sides to seal and use a fork to gently press along the edges. 

6. Use a clean tea towel and spread the finished ravioli to dry while you finish making the rest of them. Transfer the ravioli to a plate and refrigerate until needed. You can also freeze them to use later.

Sauce

1. Using a saucepan, heat some oil and saute the onions and garlic. Add any leftover filling and cook over medium heat. Add in the tomato puree and 1 can of water and stir. Add the wine, herbs . Cover and simmer for about 15 mins. Add the salt and pepper to taste. Cook until the sauce has slightly thicken and set aside.

2. Use a saucepan and fill with 3/4 of water. Bring to the boil and add the ravioli. Cook in batches. The ravioli will float up when it is cooked it should take about 6 mins. Remove and drain the ravioli.

Reheat the sauce and add the ravioli. Serve the ravioli in individual bowls and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Crispy Deep Fried Sotong (Calamari)

My daughter has always been a fan of anything with what is locally know as sotong, also know as calamari or squid. They call it sotong in Malaysia and it is usually prepared in so many ways but the most popular way is having dried and roasted over charcoal and then pounded flat and eaten with sugar or a squirt of sweet dark soy sauce. Another popular way of eating is just simply deep frying it and that's the way my daughter loves it. Crispy and with just the right amount of batter.

I know for some the very thought of preparing the squid can really turn some people off but it's really quite easy to do. You don't have to be too squirmish about it. Just peel off the skin and remove the inner parts. That can't be too hard??? Ok, so it's a bit slimy but you can get the hang of it and then it's just one step closer to eating a delicious snack!

Crispy Deep Fried Sotong (Calamari)

4 large squids

1/2 cup plain flour

1/2 cup corn flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

pinch of paprika and cayenne pepper

vegetable oil for deep frying

1. Wash the squid and remove the tentacles. Clean out the inside of the squid and pull out any remaining intestines and the hard membrane. Cut out the squid's beak and eyes. This can be a bit squishy but it's easier just to but below the eyes. Cut the squid into 1cm rings and half the tentacles.  Dry the squid with clean tea towel and make sure all the moisture dried out. 

2. Prepare the other ingredients in a bowl. Toss the squid in the flour mixture and set it aside.

3. Heat the oil for deep frying. The oil has to be really hot to get the squid to be crispy. You'll have to cook it really fast in the hot oil. Shake off any excess flour and add the squid in small batches to the oil so that it will be crispy. Cook until is is golden and crispy. It should take about a 1-2 mins. Remove it and drain over paper towels. You can serve it with all types of sauces but our favourite is mayonnaise.