Double Chocolate Fudge and Oreo Brownies

To continue with the Christmas theme, this is a decadent dessert that I concocted all by my lonesome - a hodgepodge of trial and error. I saw photographs of brownies while I was surfing through Tumblr several years ago with broken pieces of oreo cookies in them and I thought 'Why not a layer of the cookies?'

This Christmas I spent it with my friends Efi and her family over at her place. This was my contribution. This has always been my go-to dessert for when I want to impress and also indulge in my chocolate cravings. Give it a try, and hope you enjoy it as much as my family and friends do!

Ingredients:

250g of butter
100g of milk chocolate
100g of dark chocolate

80g of cocoa powder
65g of flour, sifted
1 tsp of baking powder
300g of caster sugar
60g of brown sugar

4 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp of vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. In a bain marie, melt the butter and chocolates together until its soft and gooey, like below.

2. In a large bowl, sift the flour and cocoa powder together. Add in the baking powder and sugars and mix thoroughly.

3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together.

4. Gradually add the beaten egg into the mixture, and mix thoroughly.

5. Now that the batter is ready, in your chosen brownie pan, make a thin bottom layer with the batter.

6. Arrange the oreo cookies randomly in the layer of batter. Cover with the leftover batter. Make as many layers as you want (depends on the size of your pan).

7. Bake at 180 degrees C for 25-30 minutes. To test if the brownie is cooked, insert a skewer or toothpick and if it comes out rather clean, its cooked. It will be slightly gooey.

8. Serve it warm, with ice cream!

Christmas Homemade Gifts: Mulled Wine Spices

Its going to be Christmas time soon! And my dear friends Lydia and Eleni thought about making personal and homemade gifts for our friends this year. What can be more Christmas-y than spices?

The babes, Lydia and Eleni. With the mulled wine spice mix!

We went downtown to Evripidou, to the famous spice shops, and bought a lot of spices: allspice, cinnamon, cardomom, cloves, nutmeg and crystallized ginger, among others. We also bought empty teabags, so we could fill them with the spices.

Spices galore!

We spent 2 weekends bashing and packaging the spices into mixes over at Lydia's place. We made a Mulled Wine mix, and a Chai Latte mix. 

Bashing nutmeg

Of course the cinnamon and the nutmeg needed a bit of bashing into smaller pieces. You can use a mortar and pestle, or put them in a freezer bag and use a rolling pin and beat the bag until the spices are broken.

Crystallized Ginger

The ginger also needs to be chopped into smaller pieces. This may a bit time consuming, but with friends and chatter, time flew by and we had chopped ginger ready to be mixed.

Mulled Wine Spices Mix

Ingredients & supplies: (makes 20-25 bags)

100g of cinnamon sticks

5 nutmegs

200g of cloves

200g of allspice

100g of crystallized ginger

Peel from 3 oranges, dried in the oven

Peel from 3 lemons, dried in the oven

Empty teabags

Cooking twine

1. Mix the ingredients together in a big bowl.
2. Fill the teabags with 2 heaped tablespoons of the spice mix. Tie with the cooking twine.
3. Package in small plastic bags (optional), and its all ready for you to gift them to your friends and family! Don't forget to include the instructions(below) with your gift.

Instructions: How to make mulled wine
Combine 1/3 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of water in a big pot. Simmer on medium heat. Once the sugar has dissolved, add 1 bottle of red wine and 1 bag of spice mix. Simmer gently on low heat until the wine is hot. Remove and discard the bag, before serving. Best to serve hot!

Mulled wine gift bags

How I made mine at home:

I added a few extra pieces of fresh orange peel when I made the wine, as a taste test. I liked it more orange-y, but George didn't. The result was a rather fruity and Sangria-like mulled wine. If you like Sangria, add more orange peel. If you don't, just stick to the normal spice mix.

Pah's Rendang Tok

Its been a rainy winter week, and winter time is the best time to cook dishes that takes ages to make - I can be in the kitchen where it is warm, and this rendang is very well suited to cold weather too. With a bowl of pilaf rice or a plate of nasi lemak, this dish is great.

Rendang Tok is unlike any other sort of rendang you may find out there. Its a traditional rendang dish from the state of Perak in Malaysia, and its the state my grandmother, Pah, is from. Its sauce is also very much drier in texture than usual. According to Pah, Rendang Tok is an extravagant and rich dish that is made to last longer than the usual rendang, with the addition of palm sugar and rich spices.

I used a stewing beef cut here, because the hours of cooking will make the meat very soft. Ask your butcher for recommendations. 

It does require a lot of preparation and a lot of care while cooking, but the result is worth all the effort. You can use a blender to make a paste of the onions, lemongrass, garlic, galangal and ginger, but I am keen to follow my grandmother's advice - slice the ingredients by hand.

I also roasted and ground the spices in the pestle and mortar. If you have the spices ready ground, that is not a problem. I am quite lucky that I have a few pieces of fresh turmeric root with me. If you can't find fresh turmeric root, use 1 tsp of turmeric powder.

Ingredients: (serves 4-6)

1kg of stewing beef, diced

Marinade

3 tbsps of coriander

2 tbsps of fennel

1 tbsp of cumin

1 tbsp of black pepper

Marinade spices, before roasting

Marinade spices, after roasting and ground to powder.

3 tbsps of palm sugar/coconut sugar, grated

1 thumb sized piece of tamarind soaked in some water, drained of the seeds and bits (just the liquid).

1/2 thumb sized piece of fresh turmeric, pulped into a paste with some chilli. (or 1 tsp of turmeric powder)

1 tbsp of chilli powder

2-3 tbsps of sambal paste (or according to taste)

2 tsps of salt

Paste (for expediency, blend)

2 onions, sliced thinly

4 shallots, sliced thinly

4 cloves of garlic, chopped fine

7 lemongrass, sliced thinly

1 thumb sized piece of galangal, chopped fine

2 thumb sized pieces of ginger, sliced thinly

Other Ingredients:

5 pieces of cardamom
5 pieces of cloves
1 cinnamon stick

4-5 tbsps of kerisik

2 cans of coconut milk

2 tbsps of cooking oil

Preparation:

1. Marinade the beef in the marinade ingredients. Mix well and let rest for 2-3 hours.

2. In big pot ( I am using a wok here, or a kuali in Malay), heat the oil. Saute the paste ingredients until fragrant.

3. Add the marinated beef chunks and stir to mix thorougly.

4. Add the coconut milk, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick and the kerisik. Stir to mix thoroughly.

5. Bring mixture to a boil, and reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer gently for 2 hours or until the meat is tender. I had it covered for the first hour, and had it uncovered for the 2nd. Take care to stir the rendang once in a while to prevent sticking/burning at the bottom of the wok. 

6. You will notice that the liquid is slowly evaporating. Keep stirring and once the texture has turned 'dry', like below,

7. Serve with rice, or nasi lemak. 

8. Note: To prevent grumpy husbands from going 'blech' when he accidentally bites into a piece of cardamom or clove, when the ingredients are 'dry' as pictured above, it is easier to notice and pick out the spices before serving.

Lapin a la graine de moutarde (Rabbit in mustard)

I actually made this dish a few weeks ago, but only managed to type out the recipe now. I love rabbit. Its a healthy lean meat that is very tasty, although it can cost a pretty penny. Its a treat in this house - I save the innards (liver, heart, kidneys...) for my cat Katiki.

I found this recipe in the Le Cordon Bleu book I borrowed from a friend. I didn't exactly follow it word for word, as I decided to bake it in the oven with potatoes, and reduce the amount of butter and eliminate the cream. I didn't want to make a very heavy dish, and I also wanted to reduce the amount of time I will be spending in the kitchen. I love food that requires preparation and attention to detail, but easy to cook. 

Ingredients: (serves 4-6 people, or 1 husband, cat, and me for 2 days)

1 Rabbit, cut into pieces, preferably 8 or more. (approx. 2kg)

100g of wholegrain mustard

100g of Dijon mustard

A large handful of parsley, chopped

4 shallots, chopped fine

1 glass of dry white wine

2 cups (500ml) of chicken stock

A few small knobs of butter, to brown the rabbit

2 tbsps of olive oil

1 kg of potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters (or into long and fat 'fries' like I do)

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation:

1. In a big bowl that you can cover and store in your fridge, add the rabbit pieces (leave the head out - I cook that and the liver, heart etc for my cat Katiki), season with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly with the 2 mustards and cover. Leave in the fridge for up to 12 hours. (I left mine for about 4)
2. Before cooking, take it out of the fridge and let it sit outside until it gets to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
3. In a frying pan, melt some butter. When its hot, fry the meat pieces until slightly brown. Place the pieces into a baking dish.
4. In the same pan, lower the heat and add the chopped shallots. Saute until transparent.
5. Add the white wine (deglaze) and any liquid leftover from the mustard marinade. Scrape the bottom of pan to mix the cooking juices well. Reduce the liquid to about half.
6. While waiting for the juices in the pan to reduce, lightly coat the potatoes in olive oil, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Arrange the potatoes around the rabbit.
7. Once the liquid in the frying pan has reduced by half, add the chicken stock and parsley. Cook for another few minutes.
8. Empty out the pan into the baking dish. Turn the rabbit pieces around so as to coat the rabbit in the sauce.
9. Cover the baking dish with foil, and bake in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the rabbit is cooked through. The last 15 minutes, I like to remove the foil. This will allow the rabbit and the potatoes to brown slightly and the juices will become thicker.
10. Serve hot!

Halloween Anniversary Trilobite Chocolate Cake

Last week it was Halloween. A few days before that it was also our Wedding Anniversary. * years! The idea to combine George's love for weird creepy crawly looking fossils and my love of chocolate just came naturally.

This was my first attempt at making a decorative cake, and I have to say, George and I did a rather good job. He drew the template of the trilobite and drew the skeleton of the trilobite on the cake with white chocolate. I baked the chocolate cake, shaped it and covered the cake with marzipan and chocolate ganache.

The chocolate cake wasn't too sweet, and extremely chocolate-y. It was moist and rather fluffy because of the meringue mix. Please do try this recipe, it is from Keiko Ishida's Okashi cookbook.

Ingredients:

Batter

35g of good pastry flour or top flour

50g of unsweetened cocoa powder

100g of dark chocolate pieces (55% cocoa and above)

80g of unsalted butter

40g of castor sugar

4 egg yolks

50g of whipping cream (that has about 35% of fat)

Meringue

4 egg whites

100g of castor sugar

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C. Prepare your baking/cake pan of your choice. Line the sides with parchment paper. I used my silicone cake tin so no additional preparation was needed. 

2. Sift the cocoa powder and the flour together, twice.

3. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water (bain marie). Once the chocolate and butter has melted, add the sugar, egg yolks and cream and mix well until smooth. Set aside.

4. Make the meringue. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add half the sugar and continue beating for a few more minutes. Then add the remaining sugar and beat until the egg whites are glossy and stiff peaks form.

5. Add 1/3 of the meringue mix into the chocolate mixture and fold with a whisk until smooth. Add the flour and cocoa powder and fold in thoroughly. Add in the remaining meringue and fold in gently until just incorporated. You don't want to lose the lovely air in the meringue - this will make the cake moist and fluffy.

6. Pour the batter into your cake pan and bake for about 45-50 minutes. Its best to check the check with a toothpick in the centre - if the toothpick comes out clean, then the cake is ready.

7. Remove from oven, unmould from pan and leave to cool on a wire rack.

8. Dust cake with icing sugar, slice and serve with some whipped cream or garnish as desired.

Trilobite Genesis:

I used the template that George drew to shape the cake.

I covered the cake with marzipan and made the tail and ridges.

I covered it with chocolate ganache and left it in the fridge to cool.

George made the outlines with piped white chocolate details of the trilobite.

Saffron and Rosewater Chicken Biryani

I bought a bottle of rosewater a few months ago to make a a rose-flavoured cake and also rose cookies for my friend Eleni. Lets just say that I still have a lot of rosewater left over, and I needed to make something that doesn't involve sugar and sweets.

I saw a trailer for Jon Stewart's new movie, aptly titled 'Rosewater', based on a book written by Maziar Bahari titled 'Then They Came For Me'. All I can say is go and watch the movie; buy and read the book. It is very relevant to today's world, with many journalists jailed or in court for writing something that the authorities disagree with, as in Turkey and unfortunately in Malaysia. It is a slippery slope from being a citizen, activist, academician to an enemy of the state.

A lot of biryani recipes out there that uses boneless chicken thighs or chicken breasts. I used whole chicken legs because I noticed that when I make chicken curries, they taste better when it is on the bone. It does take longer to cook, but the gravy flavours nicely this way. So I have decided to make it with chicken legs but if you want to use boneless chicken, please do so.

Ingredients:

Chicken Marinade:
500g of chicken thighs, boneless (or 750g of whole chicken legs - drumsticks and thighs)
4 tbsps of Greek yoghurt
3 garlic cloves, chopped fine
1 thumb sized ginger, grated
1 chilli, de-seeded and chopped fine
1 tsp of chilli powder
1 tsp of ground coriander
1/2 tsp of ground turmeric (or 1/2 thumb-sized of turmeric root, grated)

Gravy
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 piece of cinnamon bark
3 cardamom pods, bashed slightly
1 tsp of cumin seeds
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp of salt

Rice
2 cups of Basmati rice, soaked in cold water for at least an hour.
1 tsp of salt
4 tbsp of whole milk, warm
A small pinch of saffron, soaked in the milk mentioned above for at least 15 minutes.
Rosewater (about 2 tsps, or more according to how fragrant you want it)
3-4 tbsp of melted butter (or ghee if you have any)

Garnish (as much as you want)

Crisp fried onions

Toasted sliced almonds

Roasted cashew nuts

Preparation:

1. Marinade the chicken in all the marinade ingredients. Toss and coat thoroughly and chill in the fridge for at least an hour and no more than 4 hours. For the last 30 minutes you can have it at room temperature.

2. In a deep pan/wok, heat the oil. Fry the spices until fragrant. 

3. Add in the chicken pieces to brown all over. Once its nice and browned add in the leftover marinade and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and stir. Lower the heat to medium low and leave to simmer for 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. The sauce should start getting thick and almost dry, but make sure that it doesn't burn at the bottom of the pan. Add water to stop this from happening, but not too much - you do not want too much gravy or this will make the biryani soggy. Once the chicken is cooked and the sauce is ready, take it off the heat and set aside. Cover to keep it warm while you make the rice. (This is when I usually remove all the spices that I can see like the cinnamon bark and the cardamom and cloves - this is so that I don't accidentally bite on it when I eat the rice.)

4. Wash the soaked rice until the water is clear. Cook the rice in 2 cups of water and 1 tsp of salt and when you see 'craters' at the top of the rice, take it off the heat and cover. Let it steam for no more than 5 minutes. The rice is not fully cooked, its part-boiled and this will make the rice fluffy when you cook it again later. It is best to assemble the biryani while the rice is still hot.

Assembly:

1. In a deep pot or casserole pot, add 3 tbsps of water and 2 tbsps of melted butter/ghee at the bottom of the pan. Spoon in 1/2 of the part-cooked rice. 

2. Sprinkle the rice with half of the milk and saffron mix. Sprinkle 1 tsp of the rosewater (or more) onto the rice. My rosewater came in a spray bottle, so I sprayed 3-4 times onto the rice. I love the smell of roses, so I may have used more than 2 tsps here.

3. Pour and spread the chicken mixture onto the rice. Cover with the leftover rice.

4. Sprinkle the rice with the rest of the milk and saffron and rosewater. Garnish the top of the rice with 2/3 of the crisp fried onions, almonds and cashews.

5. Drizzle the rest of the butter on the edges of the rice so it drips down the inside of the pot.

6. Cover with a lid. Cook on high heat for about 2-3 minutes or until you can see some steam rising. (Uncover to check after 3 minutes)

7. When you see steam, cover tight. Lower the heat and cook on low for about 30 minutes.

8. Spoon out onto a plate and garnish with more crisp fried onions and nuts.

9. Serve! This dish goes really well with Pomegranate and Cucumber Mint Raita.