Sweet Potato and Chorizo Soup

When it's cold outside, one of the best thing to enjoy inside is a bowl of piping hot soup in front the fireplace. A fireplace I don't have but a bowl of soup can be easily whipped up in no time at all. This one combines the sweetness of the sweet potatoes with the spiciness of the other ingredients to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside which in my opinion is a very nice feeling to have in winter. And of course,anything with chorizo is always delicious!!! ;)

Adapted from Jamie Oliver Food Revolution
Serves 3-4
Ingredients

2 carrots
1 large onion
3 cloves of garlic
450g sweet potatoes
100g chorizo sausage
1.5 heaped teaspoon curry powder
1 vege stock cube or 1 vege knorr stock pot
900ml of water
1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped


Method
Peel and roughly slice the carrots and onions.
Peel and slice the garlic.
Peel and chop the potatoes.
Slice the chorizo.


Put a large heavy based pot on medium heat and lightly fry the chorizo without any oil. Once the oil oozes out of the chorizo, remove the chorizo and set aside.
In the same pot, add onion and garlic. Saute until onions are translucent. 
Add carrots, sweet potato and curry powder and mix together
Cook for around 10 mins with the lid askew, until the carrots have softened but are still holding their shape.
Put the stock cubes/stock pot into a jug and pour in 900ml of boiling water
Stir until dissolved then add to the vegetables
Add back the chorizo into the pot, give the soup a good stir and bring to the boil
Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 mins until potato is softened


Season with salt and pepper
Using a hand blender or liquidiser, pulse the soup until smooth and scatter over a little finely chopped chilli
Divide between bowls and serve with bread!!

Cinnamon Banana Courgette Bread

It's been a long time since I've picked up Harry Eastwood's red velvet chocolate heartache. The last time was when i baked the aubergine brownie, an odd ingredient one might think but believe me it's actually really good! :)


So when it was time to show some #squashlove, that first place i turned to was of course this book! I was intending to post this recipe at the beginning of this month but as i made an impromptu trip home, i had to put it on hold for a bit. So here it is, on the last day in nov... a banana bread that's also filled with the goodness of courgettes or zucchini and nuts! The texture is a wee bit spongy but it tasted much better than when first made a banana courgette bread using another recipe.

Adapted from Harry Eastwood Red Velvet Chocolate Heatache
Ingredients

140g banana (peeled weight)
2 medium free-range eggs
100g golden caster sugar
150g topped, tailed, peeled and finely grated courgettes/zucchinis
150g plain flour 
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon 
1/2 tsp mixed spice
25g finely chopped brazil nuts
25g finely chopped pecans


Method
1) Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Brush the inside of a loaf tin with a little vegetable oil
2) Mash the banana thoroughly with a fork
3) Whisk the eggs and sugar for a full 3 mins until pale and light. Whisk in the mashed-up banana until completely incorporated. Add the courgette and beat again.
4) Add the flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract, cinnamon and mixed spice, and whisk again until completely blended.
5) Mix in most of the brazil nuts and pecans and pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Sprinkle the remaining nuts over the top and bake in the middle of the oven for 45 mins.
6) Remove the cake from the oven and leave it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes.

Home

Hi Everyone! I'm back and thanks for all your concern when I last posted. :) Usually, I'm always happy and looking forward to going home however, this time it was with mixed feelings as I had to make an impromptu trip back to Singapore as my dear Grandma passed away. The last time I saw her was in April and she looked fine so I really didn't expect this to happen so soon, but that's just part and parcel of life isn't it? I also had the chance to spend some time with family and friends which is always nice. :) A trip home is always never long enough so all I can do is to look forward to the next one.......


I didn't take any photos during the trip but here are some I took previously. So here they are of.....Singapore, my home. :)

Marina Bay Sands

Singapore Flyer

View of the Central Business District

Helix Bridge

Orchard Road (Shopping District)

CHIJMES (Dining Venue that used to be my old school)

Pan Pacific Hotel

Taking a break

Hey Lovely Readers!


I'll be taking a break from posting for about 3 weeks to attend to some family matters but in the meantime, I'll still be visiting your blogs. :)


Have an awesome Nov! Christmas is almost here! :)

Hola! Paella with Chicken and Chorizo!!

One of my absolutely fave place in London is Borough Market, where one can find loads of fresh , wonderful and sometimes unusual produce! I made a trip there recently and look at what I found....aren't they pretty? I also bought  big bowl of the sweetest plum tomatoes I ever tasted for only £1!

Pattypan and Carnival Squash

Brindisa, a Spanish food store in Borough Market is the place to go when you want to find any food related spanish stuff!! Jamon, chorizo, paprika, saffron, paella pan...you name it and they will have it! Stocked up on some chorizo, calasparra rice, paprika so of course i had to cook us some Paella when we got home! I still don't own a paella pan so I just used one of my heavy bottom cast iron pan which worked well too.

Adapted from Gordon Ramsay World Kitchen. Serves 4 to 6.

Ingredients

400g Bomba or Calasparra rice

6 boneless skinless chicken thighs, about 600g

sea salt and black pepper

200g chorizo sausage

3 tbsp olive oil

1 red pepper, cored deseeded and chopped

1 orange pepper, cored deseeded and chopped

6 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

1 litre vegetable stock

pinch of saffron threads

3/4 tsp smoked paprika

100g peas, thawed if frozen

6 large tomatoes, skinned deseeded and chopped

handful of flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped

lemon wedges, to serve

Method

1) Rinse the rice well, drain and set aside. Cut the chicken in to bitesize pieces and season with salt and pepper. Cut the chorizo sausage into thick slices.
2) Heat olive oil in a large pan and brown the chicken pieces all over. Remove to a plate and set aside.Add the chorizo slices to the pan and saute for 2 mins, then add the chopped peppers and garlic. Cook for 3-4 mins, stirring frequently until peppers start to soften.
3) Stir in the rice and cook, stirring, for a few mins to taste the grains. Add stock, saffron and paprika. Bring it to a boil, add chicken pieces and lower the heat. Simmer for 15 mins, untouched. What we want is for a crust to form at the bottom so we should minimise any stirring.
4) Add the peas and chopped tomatoes, giving it a gentle stir and continue cooking for a further 10-15 mins, untouched. When rice is cooked and retains a slight bite, remove the pan from the heat and leave to stand for a few mins.
5) Scatter chopped parsley over the paella then serve with lemon wedges.

Panko crusted eggplant with Sesame Ponzu Sauce

In addition to the Negi Miso Chicken I mentioned in my last post, i also made some Panko crusted aubergine/eggplant with Sesame Ponzu sauce to go with it. I actually combined 2 recipes(Eggplant with Sesame Ponzu Sauce and the Eggplant Parmesan with Meat Sauce) I came across on Nami's Just One Cookbook Blog for this dish so I think I may have bastardise her recipes. Hope you don't mind, Nami! 

I just made a trip to the Japan centre supermarket in London(it's not often that I shop there) and bought myself a pack of Panko breadcrumbs as well as a bottle of Ponzu. As always, I was excited to use these new ingredients so I thought why not combine both to create a somewhat new dish. It actually worked quite well as the eggplants were a little oily from being deep fried so it was balanced off by the sourness of the Ponzu sauce which cuts through the oil nicely.

Adapted from Just One Cookbook
Ingredients
1 medium eggplant/aubergine
1 spring onion, chopped
Flour
2 eggs,beaten
Panko
Oil for frying


Dressing
2 tbsp Ponzu
1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
1 pinch of salt


Method
1) In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for the dressing and set aside in the fridge until ready to serve.
2) Cut the eggplant into 1/3 inch thick rounds and soak in water for 10 mins. According to Nami, this will get rid of the tart taste and prevent the eggplant from changing colour.
3) Dry the eggplants with paper towels.
4) Dip eggplant in flour, shake off the excess, then dip it in egg, again, shaking off the excess. Finally dredge it in panko until evenly coated. Side this aside and continue with the rest of the slices.
5) In a large non stick frying pan, heat 1/4 inch of oil on high heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, deep fry the eggplants until golden brown. When it's done, transfer them onto a plate with paper towels so that the excess oil can be soaked up.
6) Placed eggplants on the serving plate, sprinkle spring onions over it and either dip the eggplant into the sauce to eat or pour the dressing over the eggplants to serve.

Negi Miso Chicken

I absolutely love learning about new cooking techniques, new ingredients as well as the new method of cooking common ingredients. One of my favourite places to pick all of the above up is on the lovely Nami's Just One Cookbook Blog. I've learnt quite a bit about easy Japanese cooking from her and am looking forward to more interesting recipes.

One of the first recipe I've tried from her massive collection of recipes is the Negi Miso Chicken and yes it's simply delish! It's versatile too as according to Nami, it can be used as a dip, a marinade for fish or meat and to make yaki onigiri(grilled rice balls) too. I used leeks in place of the Tokyo Negi and I found this recipe really interesting as I won't usually think of using a vegetable to marinade chicken!

Adapted from Just One Cookbook.

• Ingredients for Negi Miso
• 1 cup (packed) Leeks (1 green top part)
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• <Seasonings>
• 2 ½ Tbsp. miso
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 Tbsp. mirin
• 1/2 tsp. soy sauce

• Ingredients for Negi Miso Chicken
• Negi Miso
• 5 Chicken thighs/breasts
• Oil

METHOD:

Method for Negi Miso:

1. Chop green part of the leeks into fine rounds.
2. In a large frying pan, heat sesame oil on high heat and stir fry leeks until wilted.
3. Add seasoning and keep stirring. Miso burns easily so keep stirring while you cook. Once  dehydrated, turn off the heat and set aside to cool down.

Method for Negi Miso Chicken:

1. Wash chicken and pat dry with paper towel. In a bowl or Ziploc bag, combine the chicken with Negi Miso and marinate for at least 3 hours.
2. Instead of pan frying the chicken, i roasted the chicken at 200 deg C for 30 mins and it was delicious too!!