Chilli & Kaffir Lime Beef Skewers

A typical Donna Hay recipe from her Seasons cookbook; simple and tasty. Rump steak is marinated in fresh red chilli, fish sauce, lime juice and peanut oil then threaded on to skewers with blanched kaffir lime leaves before being cooked on a char grill or barbecue. The skewers are served with a simple salad of rice vermicelli noodles, coriander leaves and blanched sliced snow peas. The salad is dressed with the same marinade ingredients of lime juice, fish sauce, chilli, and peanut oil. I found the salad did not have enough flavour so added a little light soy sauce which worked for me. The meat was lovely and tender and had a nice flavour.

This would be particularly nice on a a warm summers night.

Rating 7 out of 10.

Poussin with Port and Eschalot Sauce

This recipe from the Masterchef cook book used quail but noted it could be substituted for poussin (3 week old chicken) or pork neck. I couldn't find quail so poussin it was.
The recipe can be found at http://www.target.com.au/html/whatson/img/masterchef/Justine_recipe.pdf
There is a slightly different version on the masterchef web site that removes the quail skin and crisps it in the oven which would have been nice as the way this dish was cooked did mean the skin wasn't crisp.
http://www.masterchef.com.au/quail-with-port-and-eshallot-sauce-carrot-puree-and-macedoine-potatoes.htm
To make this dish you fry the poussins whole until brown and crisp then remove from pan. Next you fry some sliced eschalots then add port, sugar and veal glaze. Return the poussin to the pan and cook covered for 40 minutes. The dish is served with crisp potato pieces cooked in duck fat and a carrot puree made with grated carrot and chicken stock. The carrot is blended with a stick blender and can be put through a sieve for a smoother sauce. I didn't bother doing this and left the puree quite "chunky".
My sauce didn't seem to reduce as much as it should have so I left it to cook uncovered for a further 10 minutes. It continued to thicken on standing and did end up a lovely rich, thick, dark coloured reduction (unfortunately this was after I had taken the photo!).
Veal glaze can be found in delis and is a very expensive veal stock reduction which you buy in a jar. You could make your own but by the time you bought all the ingredients it would end up costing nearly as much anyway! The sauce was lovely and would be nice served with a variety of meats and vegetables. The poussin was tender and tasty and the puree, although nice, would have been better if it had a smoother texture. I had bought chervil leaves to garnish but forgot to put them on the plate. This was a tasty, sticky, messy, finger licking good dish and a good winter meal.
Rating 7 out of 10.

Roasted Coral Trout with a Lemon Thyme Consomme

When I saw this coral trout recipe being cooked on Masterchef I knew I would have to try it as I had coral trout in my freezer and it looked pretty yummy. About half way through cooking it I wonderd why on earth I had tried!! 10 dirty saucepans and a very messy kitchen 2 hours later I decided it had been worth the effort!

The two hardest parts in making this recipe were removing the chicken skin without tearing it and making a clear consomme. A consomme is a perfectly clear soup free of fat and full of flavour. To make the consomme you boil chopped chicken marylands (remove skin and then cut through bones into chunky pieces), carrots, celery, onions, thyme, bay leaves and chicken stock for half an hour.

Once cooked you drain the concomme and cool the liquid. You then reheat the liquid after whisking in  pureed chicken breast, carrots, celery, onions and egg whites. The egg whites and meat are used to trap the particles still suspended in the liquid and hence clarify it as they cook and rise to the top. The trick is to remove the clarified liquid without disturbing the "raft" that has formed on top and strain it through a muslin cloth. I didn't have any muslin so used some paper coffee filters which were very slow to filter through! The result was a nice clear flavoursome broth but it did still have some fat particles shimmering on the surface. I think my raft was disturbed during the clarifying process, possibly I had the temperature too high at one stage and the bubbles caused the disturbance. I certainly wouldn't say it was a perfect consomme.

To prepare the trout you rub some chicken mince into the chicken skin and then push in the coral trout fillets. The aim is to have all the filling covered by chicken skin but as I had torn my skin I did have some gaps which didn't affect the dish too much. You then wrap firmly in cling wrap and briefly poach. Again I think my water was too hot as some of the cling wrap broke. You then place in iced water and remove cling wrap. Finally you make a light tempura batter from flour, curry powder and mineral water and brush onto the chicken skin before frying until nice and golden and cooked through.

To prepare the vegetables you fry sliced fennel until tender (adding some butter for flavour at the end) and blanch some sugar snap peas, carrots and cauliflower. The recipe asks for baby yellow carrots and shimeji mushrooms which I couldn't buy so I ommitted the mushrooms and substituted regular baby carrots. You also confit purple and kipfler potatoes (and golden baby beetroots, which I left out as I couldn't buy them) with garlic, thyme and olive oil. Basically this means you cover them in olive oil and cook over a low heat for 25 minutes. The potatoes were meant to be "turned" or shaped into nice football shapes but I just cut them into pieces.

To serve you arrange the vegetables in a bowl and top with sliced coral trout then pour the consomme around the plate and garnish with thyme leaves.

The flavours in this dish were lovely and light and worked really well together. The fennel and curry powder added interest. The coral trout was tender and the chicken skin crisp. A very nice dish which can be found at  http://www.masterchef.com.au/roasted-coral-trout-with-a-lemon-thyme-consomme.htm

Rating 8 out of 10.

Steamed Fish Curry with Coconut, Turmeric, Lemongrass and Kaffir Lime Leaves

This dish is one of Cambodia's most famous. It is known as Amok Trey or Fish Amok. Rick Stein notes that in Cambodia they would use noni leaves which have a lemon scent but you can substitute with lemon verbena, lemon balm or coriander. I used coriander as it was all I could buy.

You can use any white fish but obviously choose one that holds it shape when cooked in a curry. I had mackerel on hand, so that is what I used.

The first step is to make the curry paste by blending lemongrass, garlic, shallots, turmeric, crushed dried chillies, ginger, kaffir lime leaves and roasted peanuts with some coconut milk. You then cook the curry paste until aromatic and add palm sugar, fish sauce, salt, star anise, kaffir lime leaves and more coconut milk. This mixture is then cooled.

Once cool you add beaten eggs, fish and coriander. The mixture is then put into heatproof bowls (making sure you have one piece of star anise in each) and steamed in a steamer or covered wok until the custard is set and the fish cooked.

This dish was unusual as the texture was quite different to a "normal" curry due to the eggs causing the mixture to partially set. The fish was lovely and the flavours delicious. A nice hint of chilli and wonderful lemony fragrant ingredients. I served it with steamed rice and would definitely make it again.
Rating 8-9 out of 10.

Tomato Soup Baked Lamb Shanks

I had forgotten what wonderful comforting food you can produce in a slow cooker! I shouted myself a new slow cooker this year as the one I had was 15 years old and I was getting a little concerned that it may burn the house down.

This recipe was from Allyson Gofton's, "Slow" cook book. A very simple dish of lamb shanks slow cooked with tomato soup powder, beef stock, onions, carrots and rosemary. The recipe suggested trimming the shanks but I decided to take the risk and just put them in untrimmed. Fat does not break down in the slow cooker so there were some fatty pieces remaining on the meat and I did skim some fat off the top of the sauce but overall I think this took less effort than trimming them before cooking. I browned the shanks in a fry pan before cooking to give extra colour and flavour and had to add extra liquid to cover the shanks so added some flour for the last half an hour to thicken the sauce.

I served the shanks with mashed potato and steamed broccolini and beans.
Yum!
Rating 7-8 out of 10.

Glazed Veal Cutlets with Chive Mash

I found this yummy recipe in a Philadelphia Cream Cheese promotional cook book called "Simply Heaven". I found it in Woolworths last week and it was free if you bought 3 Philadelphia products. There are also some great recipes on the Philadelphia Cheese web site; http://www.philadelphiacreamcheese.com.au/Recipes/Dinner.aspx
The pan fried veal cutlets were rubbed with rosemary, garlic and olive oil before cooking and then served with a glaze made in the same pan. The glaze was made with redcurrant jelly, red wine vinegar and beef stock.The cutlets were very moist and tender. As we like our meat well done I just put the lid on the fry pan for the last 5-10 minutes to retain the moisture until they were cooked through.  The cutlets were served with potato which was mashed with Philadelphia Cheese, milk and chives and had a lovely texture and flavour.
This was a very flavoursome, easy dish.
Rating 8 out of 10.

Pork Cutlets with Caramelised Pear Sauce & Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding

These recipes were both from the Womens Weekly, Eating Together cook book and are both nice, family friendly, weeknight dishes. The caramelised pear sauce was a nice alternative to apple sauce and worked really well with the pork cutlets. The sauce was made with pears, brown sugar, butter, white wine, chicken stock and sage. I served the pork with steamed carrots and beans and hasselback potatoes which are made by thinly slicing part way through the potatoes then coating them in butter and oil and roasting them. By cutting them this way they get a crispier top and fan out as they cook. In this recipe the potatoes are sprinkled with bought breadcrumbs and grated cheese before cooking for the last 10 minutes which gave them added flavour and crunch. I will definitely be making them this way again. This is a link to the same potato recipe http://aww.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=783120

Rating for the pork: 6-7 out of 10.

I have always loved chocolate self saucing pudding. This recipe was a little different to the usual one I use and the resulting dish was sweeter with a sugary crisp top and very thick sauce. Still a very nice treat on a cold night!
Rating for the pudding 6 out of 10.

Egg and Meatball Lasagne

This recipe was in the Masterchef magazine (Issue 1) and is derived from a recipe of George Calombaris's Nonna. A slightly different version can be found at http://www.masterchef.com.au/lasagne-with-pork-and-veal-meatballs.htm, just read the forum comments for some tips before having a go.

For the magazine recipe, meatballs made from veal and pork mince are simmered in a fresh tomato sauce then layered with fresh lasagne sheets (which I cheated and bought), bocconcini or buffalo mozzarella, sliced boiled eggs and confit shallots and garlic. The lasagne is topped with grated parmesan before being baked until warm and golden. I served it with a simple salad of rocket and baby truss tomatoes.

Buffalo mozarella is made from the milk of the domestic water buffalo and is usually only found in delis. I used bocconcini as I didn't have time to get to a deli and could buy this in my local supermarket.

To cook the shallot (eschallots) and garlic confit you need to cook them over a low heat covered in olive oil until tender. Traditionally confit  referred to slowly cooking meat submerged in flavorful rendered  fat until very tender. Confit has only recently been expanded to include slowly cooking meat, fish or vegetables in a flavorful oil such as olive oil. Once the shallots and garlic are tender they are halved and cooked in a fry pan until golden.
I wouldn't say this lasagne was any quicker to prepare than a traditional lasagne but it was a nice alternative and a very filling comfort meal. I found the meatballs were a bit dry and lacked flavour and if I made it again would season them more and make them smaller. I was a little disappointed in this dish but think it has potential. The version on the Masterchef web site seems to have more seasoning and may be a better recipe overall.
Rating 6 out of 10.

Pan-fried Mackerel with Bacon Mushroom Sauce

I wanted to cook some Spanish Mackerel Cutlets I had in the freezer and my husband chose this recipe from an old Womens Weekly cook book, The Best Seafood Recipes. I was sceptical as to how a creamy bacon and mushroom sauce would work with fish but due to the quite strong flavour of the mackerel it worked surprisingly well. The sauce was made from bacon, onions (I used eschallots), cream, shallots and mushrooms and was thickened with cornflour. It was loaded with bacon and mushrooms which gave it a lot of flavour. I simply floured and pan-fried the mackerel fillets in butter and served with steamed asparagus and carrots and baked potatoes. This was a simple, tasty weeknight dinner that was very filling and worked well despite my scepticism!

Rating 6 out of 10.

Roast Beef with Yorkshire Puddings

A very traditional dish with a few added touches. I followed the recipe from the Womens Weekly, Eating Together, cook book. The beef was marinated for 3 hours with red wine, bay leaves, garlic, onion, peppercorns, wholegrain mustard and thyme. It was then baked on a bed of carrots, leeks and celery. The marinade and pan juices were both reserved and used to make a lovely rich gravy.

Yorkshire Puddings originated in Yorkshire, England and are made from batter and commonly served with roast beef and gravy. I have never made Yorkshire Puddings and have since been told it can be hard to get them to rise well BUT these rose beautifully, were nice and crisp on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside. The main trick seems to be getting the oil in the muffin tins nice and hot before adding the batter. This gives the nice crisp outside. I served the Beef and Yorkshire Puddings with steamed corn, broccolini and baby carrots. Broccolini is similar to broccoli but has smaller florets and longer stalks.

Next time you have a roast beef have a go at some Yorkshire Puddings.

Rating 7 out of 10.

Slow-cooked Lightly Smoked Duck Stuffed with Garlic, Lemongrass and Galangal

Yum, yum, yum and yum!!!!!

To make this amazing dish, known in Bali as Bebek Betutu, you lightly smoke a whole duck and then stuff it with Balinese Spice Paste (the same paste used previously for the Balinese Slow-Roast Pork) mixed with tamarind water and kecap manis. The skin of the duck is rubbed with a mixture of shrimp paste, tamarind water, salt and oil. The duck is slow roasted for 4 hours in an oven bag with some water to keep it moist. The end result is amazingly tender, moist duck that is not "fatty" at all and has a wonderful smoky flavour combined with the lovely flavours in the spice mixture. The spice paste can be eaten like a relish with the duck flesh. The cooking juices are served as either a soup or as a sauce to pour over rice. The juices also have a lovely balance of smoke and spice.

I served the duck with Fragrant Yellow Rice, Nasi Kuning, which is a common Balinese dish. The rice is cooked in coconut milk and flavoured with turmeric powder, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass and galangal. It had a lovely light flavour which worked well with the duck.

Rick Stein suggests this duck dish may be even better than a perfectly cooked roast duck and I have to agree. It was pretty sensational.
Rating 9 out of 10.

Lamb Biryani

Biryani is a layered rice and meat dish from Bangladesh. Rick Stein used lean lamb loin chops in this version. The chops are marinated in a ground spice mix of cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon, mace and dried Kashmiri chillies mixed with garlic, ginger, salt, pepper and yoghurt. You then melt some ghee in a large casserole dish and place the lamb and marinade on top with sultanas and aloo bokhara (small dried punes).

Basmati rice is cooked for 3 minutes in water containing cumin seeds, cardamom pods, cloves and salt. You put half of the rice on top of the meat, spinkle with a mixture of ground saffron strands and rose water, top with remaining rice and sprinkle with remaining saffron and rose water. Finally you pour over some milk, cover tightly and cook for 2 hours in the oven. To serve you spoon it onto a platter and top it with roasted almonds and crisp fried shallots. The meat was incredibly tender and the flavours were nice but I don't generally enjoy fruit in curries and savoury meat dishes so this wasn't a top hit for me.

I served it with Rick Stein's Kachumber Salad and some nice date chutney I found at the Indian supermarket. The Kachumber Salad was a layered salad of tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, green chillies and coriander leaves flavoured with ground cumin, kashmiri chilli powder, pepper, salt and lime juice. It was simple and delicious and would work well really with barbecued meats.

Rating for salad 8 out of 10.
Rating for Biryani 6 out of 10.

Chocolate Caramel Slice, Picnic Cottage Loaf, Twice Bake Cheese Souffle, Warm Pear Tart

We had our third cooking club get together last Friday and I would have to say it was a very successful day. The two dishes chosen to challenge us were both from the Masterchef Australia Cook Book; Manu Feidel's Twice-Baked Cheese Souffle and Matt Moran and Andrew Honeysett's Warm Pear Tart. Both these recipes had different components to them which worked well when there were 5 of us cooking.

I had made a Chocolate Caramel Slice to have with coffee while we read through the recipes. An "oldie but a goodie"! This particular recipe I found in the new Womens Weekly, Eating Together (Bringing the Family Back to the Table) cookbook. It had dark chocolate on top which made it quite rich.

I also made a Picnic Cottage Loaf from the same book as I wasn't sure the Cheese Souffle would be filling enough for lunch on its own (as it turned out, it probably would have been). To make these very pretty loaves you hollow out a cob loaf and fill with it with various antipasto layers; in this case, roasted capsicum, zucchini and eggplant, roast beef, caramelised onions, rocket pesto, rocket leaves, ricotta and goats cheese. You layer the ingredients, pressing in firmly, replace the cob loaf "lid", wrap in glad wrap, tie with kitchen string and refrigerate. You could use any number of ingredients to make this loaf which is perfect for a picnic.

The cheese souffles were made with Gruyere Cheese, a semi firm Swiss cheese with quite a distinctive flavour.They were further flavoured with eschalots (French shallots), thyme and freshly grated nutmeg. Once you have made the souffle mixture you bake the souffles in a water bath and then fully cool them in the refrigerator. When cold they are turned out of their moulds, topped with grated Gruyere cheese and baked until golden. We could have cooked ours a little longer to give them a bit more colour.

They are served with a rich cheese sauce made from milk and Gruyere cheese and a salad of roasted hazelnuts, dijon mustard, white wine vinegar and micro herbs, which are the baby leaves of regular herbs. I managed to find baby flat- leaf parsley and red mustard.

If I made this recipe again I would just use regular herbs and possibly some rocket leaves. I don't feel we had enough salad leaves which meant this dish did not present as well as it could have and extra salad would also have balanced the rich souffle and cheese sauce. We should also have halved the roasted hazelnuts both for presentation and so you could have a smaller piece with each mouthful.The souffle was nice and light and overall the dish was very delicious. You could easily serve this dish at a dinner party. You could prepare most of it in advance and then just bake the souffles for a second time, heat the cheese sauce and dress the salad before serving.

We rated this dish an 8 out of 10.
You can find this recipe at http://www.masterchef.com.au/twice-baked-cheese-souffle.htm

The Warm Pear Tart suggested using Beurre Bosc Pears for the tart and Paradise Pears to poach. As Paradise Pears are not currently in season we used Packham pears which worked fine.

The pears were peeled, cored and poached in a lovely fragrant mixture of Pernod (a star anise flavoured liqueur), fennel seeds, lemon juice and water. This recipe also had caramel sauce, ginger crumble, apple puree and of course the pear tart. The crumble was just a simple mix of butter, plain flour, caster sugar and ground ginger baked in the oven until golden brown. The ginger gave it a really nice flavour. The apple puree was made by cooking apple pieces in caster sugar, vanilla bean seeds and dessert wine. It was very sad to see the beautiful dessert wine get tipped down the sink before the apple was pureed. If I made this again I think I would just use water instead of the wine. The puree did have a lovely flavour but was not a big component of the dish and I am not sure the added flavour from the wine was worth the extra money. The caramel sauce was made by cooking sugar until it turned golden brown and then adding cream and butter. It had a "burn't" caramel flavour which did balance the sweetness of the tart. The tart was made using puff pastry topped with a smooth marzipan mixture of marzipan (almond and sugar paste), egg white, vanilla extract and plain flour. This was spread onto the pastry, topped with pear slices, castor sugar and melted butter and baked for 15 minutes. The tart was then drizzled with half the caramel sauce and flipped over and baked for a further 15 minutes. Our pastry was not as crisp or cooked through as it should have been and the pear topping was not as caramelised as it could have been. If I made this recipe again I would increase the cooking time and oven temperature slightly.

To serve the tart you flip it back over and cut into rectangles. The apple puree is put into a squeeze bottle and zig-zagged onto the plate. The tart sits on top of the puree. Cut the poached pears into thirds and poke a fennel frond into one third. Drag a teaspoon of the cold caramel sauce onto the plate, put on a spoonful of crumble and top with a quenelle (a neat mini rugby ball shape) of thick cream. Our quenelles did not hold their shape very well and I think we should have beaten the thick cream before trying to shape it.

The end result really was "art on a plate" and looked even better than this photograph suggests. All the components were delicious and worked well together.

We rated this dish an 8.5 out of 10.

You can find this recipe at http://www.masterchef.com.au/warm-pear-tart.htm The same recipe in the cookbook is much easier to follow though!

I was very proud of our efforts today and felt we did both these dishes justice!

Spicy Fried Potato Curry with Paneer Cheese and Peas

The first step in making this Rick Stein curry from Bangladesh is to make some Garam Masala, which is simply a spice mix. Garam means "hot" and Masala means "mixture". To make this you dry fry cardamom seeds, cloves, cinnamon sticks, blade mace, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and black peppercorns then grind them together in a spice grinder.

You then fry potato slices and paneer cheese cubes until golden brown and set aside. Next you make a thick tomato sauce with fresh curry leaves, cumin seeds, onions, garlic, turmeric powder, green cayenne chillies and tomatoes.

Finally you add the potatoes, paneer cheese and some peas. It is finished off with a spoonful of ghee.

This curry was delicious and I will look forward to cooking with paneer cheese again. It is very like haloumi in texture but quite bland and not salty, unlike haloumi, so works really well in spicy dishes. There was nothing left in the pan at the end of the meal so I would consider this dish a hit!

Rating 8 out of 10.

Green Papaya Salad and Ginger Sponge with Lemongrass Custard

My husband went on a fishing trip last week and brought back some lovely fresh reef fish. I wanted to use the Venus Tuskfish and simply pan fry it in a little butter and oil. I thought this Thai Green Papaya Salad from Rick Stein's book would match it well and it did! This dish is a favourite in Thailand and known as Som Tum.

Green Papaya is simply unripe Papaya (or Pawpaw). The fruit is shredded using either a knife or a papaya shredder (I found one of these in the Asian supermarket and it made the job much quicker and saved me from chopping off a finger!). The papaya itself has little flavour but it picks up the flavours you add to it and gives them a crisp, chewy texture. This dish is made by first bruising (partially crushing the ingredients to release the flavour) some garlic, red chilli and green beans in a mortar and pestle. You then add palm sugar, roasted peanuts, dried shrimp, fish sauce, tamarind water, tomatoes and lime juice and bruise again. Finally you add the shredded green papaya and give it all a final bruise. This salad was quite sour and if I made it again I would put in a little less lime juice. In Thailand the salad is often made to suit the taste of the customer by varying the quantities of fish sauce (salty), palm sugar (sweet), lime juice (sour) and chilli (hot).

By the way dried shrimp are just that; sun dried shrimp that smell terrible! They are often used in Asian cooking and come in a variety of sizes.

Rating 7 out of 10.

I found this receipe for Ginger Sponge with Lemongrass Custard when I was looking for ways to use the left over tough part of lemongrass stalks (which I had been keeping in the freezer). This simple sponge was mixed in the mini food processor and cooked in the microwave. The recipe said 8 minutes so I popped it in and left it, without checking, to come back to 4 very burn't sponges! Having already made the lemongrass infused custard, which looked delicious, I decided to give the sponges another go and this time cooked them for 5 minutes on medium high and then a further 3 minutes on high. They were much better and had a nice light texture with a slight hint of ginger. They did get "tougher" as we ate them which I guess is because they continued to cook once out of the microwave. I would recommend watching the sponges carefully as you cook them if you want to try this recipe. It did have nice flavours but getting the cooking time right was a little difficult! http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/gingerspongewithlemo_84534

Rating 6 out of 10.

Stir-fried Beef with Black Beans, Chinese Greens and Bamboo Shoots

I went on an extremely successful shopping expedition yesterday. I was on a mission to find several ingredients including paneer cheese, aloo bokhara, the elusive Kashmiri chilli and hickory wood chips. I did a bit of internet research and found an Indian supermarket on the Gold Coast which was my first stop. The lady there was delightful and very helpful. I managed to find not only dried and powdered Kashmiri chillies but also the paneer cheese, aloo bokhara and some lovely fresh curry leaves (which she gave to me for free). These leaves from the curry tree are widely used in Indian influenced cuisine as Bay leaves are in European cuisine.

Paneer cheese is simply an Indian cottage cheese and would be something you could easily make yourself if you had the time and inclination. You can buy it frozen and the cheese is already cubed ready to add to curries.  Aloo bokhara are small dried prunes which are both sweet and sour.

Whilst there I bought some saffron strands which she explained to me come in various grades. I bought the number one grade which was $6 for 0.5g and wondered if I had been had but after again doing some research think I have done ok! If you are interested have a look at this site http://www.saffron.com

These ingredients are for some recipes from Bangladesh (Lamb Biryani and Potato Curry) where the cuisine is influenced by both Persian and Northern Indian cuisine. If you need any Indian ingredients try visiting the Spice Trail http://www.spicetrail.com.au/

The Hickory wood chips I found in a barbecue shop and will be using them to make a Balinese smoked duck dish. I love coming home and spreading all my finds across the bench and actually went to bed wishing I could make all the dishes at once as I am excited about experiencing all the new flavours.

So to dinner last night; Stir-fried Beef with Black Beans, Chinese Greens and Bamboo Shoots. This dish had the look of a Chinese Beef and Black Bean but was actually a Malaysian dish. The addition of lemon grass and shrimp paste in particular made it Malaysian in flavour. Being a stir-fry I decided it would be easier to have all the ingredients ready to toss in as directed. Once again I was surprised at the number of ingredients in this dish; rump steak, salted black beans, palm sugar, sesame oil, shrimp paste, cornflour, chicken stock, vegetable oil, ginger, garlic, red chillies, lemongrass, Chinese rice wine, bok choi, bamboo shoots and kecap manis.

Once all the ingredients were prepared it was a very quick dish to throw together, as stir-fries are. The result was a colourful, healthy, tasty dish which was both sweet and salty.

Rating 7 out of 10.