Month: April 2011

Succulent beef burgers from scratch, woohoo!

I saw a handbag on an online shopping site. I wanted it so bad. It would cost me an arm and leg though….

So I made beef burgers to bribe the man. I got the handbag….with a dress to boot.

Ladies, these burgers work!

The ingredients:

  • 400g beef mince
  • 1 small red onion, peeled 
and finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon of mustard powder
  • 1 tablespoon of ketchup
  • 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
  • Few dashes of Tabasco sauce
  • Sea salt & ground 
black pepper

# – Throw the finely chopped red onion and minced beef into a mixing bowl.

# – Add a tablespoon of ketchup.

# – Followed by a tablespoon of mustard powder. Of course, you can squeeze yours out from a plastic bottle if you want. Who can tell the difference?

# – Don’t forget a dash of Worcestershire sauce.

# – As well as a couple of dashes of Tabasco sauce for kicks.

# – Most importantly, season with some sea salt.

# – And also black pepper.

Now, go wash your hands properly because…

# – You have to stick them into the bowl to mix everything up till combined. Massaging minced meat is one of the most therapeutic things to do, trust me.

# – Remember, till they’re all combined into a lump of gorgeousness.

# – Now shape them into 4 burger patties. Stick them into the fridge for 30 minutes to firm them up. Not too long as you don’t want the patties to dry up!

# – Then, heat up a well greased griddle and then lay all four patties on it for about 3 minutes.

# – Flip them over to cook the other sides, also about 3 minutes. You can cook them longer if you prefer your beef well done.

# – Remove from heat and onto the homemade burger buns (might post the recipe for this). Feeling fancy? Put it on a lettuce and drizzle some mayo all over…

# – Not fancy enough? Stick a slice of fresh tomato on top.

# – And don’t forget fries. Fries, very, very critical, this one!

# – And then bite onto a deliciously juicy, flavourful homemade burger made with love (and /cough/ materialistic /cough/ intention).

And that, is how you make your man buy you an expensive bag. Willingly ;)

My favourite dessert in the world – the mango meringue mess

I love my desserts. I need dessert after every dinner. To me, a dinner without dessert is not a complete meal. I’m not particular about it with breakfast or lunch, but every dinner should end with something sweet, be it a fizzy drink, a fruit or pudding.

If I didn’t have dessert after dinner, I’d often end up having a massive, unhealthy supper. So I eat desserts to keep my body in reasonable condition. It is true!

Of all desserts, my favourite is the mango meringue mess. It’s essentially a mango version of Eton Mess, which is made with assortment of berries. I love it so much I could eat it every evening, if it weren’t for occasional concerns about the 35% fat content in whipped cream. And when that happens, I substitute cream with plain yogurt…and my life is beautiful again :D

For a 2 people serving, you need:

  • 2 mangoes, cubed and divided into 2 bowls
  • 100 ml of whipping cream, whipped till fluffy
  • About 6 fistfuls of crumbled meringues

Lets begin the journey to heaven…

# – Mangoes, meringues & cream – only 3 ingredients for the best dessert of your life!

# – Pour 100 ml of whipping cream and beat till double stiff and double in size.

# – Divide the cream equally into each bowl of cubed mangos. Check out my tutorial for easy and quick cubing of mangoes here.

# – Then, divide the crumbled meringues equally into each bowl. Learn how to bake meringues with no stress here.

# – Lastly, you mix them all up so that every spoon has a perfect balance of mangoes, cream and meringues.

Now, savour the bowl of heaven and after that, you bake more meringues, buy more mangoes and stock up on whipping cream! That’s how we roll it.

P/S: don’t forget to hide the scale!!!

Five spice peppery pork.

This dish was actually inspired by chinese roast pork belly or “siu yuk”, as locally known. While there’s no crackling or delicious melty lard to boast about, the pork is juicy, peppery and flavourful. Lovely with piping hot rice and some no-cook marinated cucumbers.

I love how stress-free cooking this dish is. Just dump all the spices together and marinate the pork for a couple of hours. Then, lay them on a griddle for a few minutes and voila, 5 spice peppery pork, DONE! To make the pork dish more complete, I served them on a bed of wilted onions, cooked with the same marinade too.

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon of five spice powder
  • 1 teaspoon of finely ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon of Lawry’s seasoned salt (you can use ordinary salt too)
  • 2 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 200 grams of pork fillet/pork steak
  • 1 medium size onion, sliced
  • some corn flour and water

# – First of all, put 1 tablespoon of five spice powder in a bowl.

# – Then, put 1 teaspoon of finely ground black pepper.

# – Followed by a teaspoon of Lawry’s seasoned salt. Of course, you can use ordinary salt too.

# – Lastly, put in a 2 tablespoons of olive oil. You can also use other types of cooking oil. Mix till combined.

# – Cut the pork fillets or pork steaks into strips as wide as your thumb.

# – Then, dump the pork into the marinade and stick them in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

# – When you’re ready to cook the dish, heat up a well greased griddle. I normally use a pastry brush to spread the oil to make sure the griddle is well coated.

# – Lay the pork strips on the griddle for about 3 minutes, or till you can see that the bottom parts have turned pale from the side.

# – Flip to cook the other sides for another 3 minutes or until the entire strip has turned pale. Set aside.

# – Now with the same griddle, chuck the sliced onions.

# – Stir around so that it’s coated with all the delicious bits left earlier by the porks.

# – Mix the leftover marinade with about 10 tablespoons of water and a tablespoon of corn flour, then pour over the onions. This is to moisten the onions up a bit. Cook for a couple more minutes till the onions have wilted to a consistency that you like.

# – The 5 spice peppery pork and onions are now done.

# – To serve, pile onions over some rice and then place the pork strips on the bed of onions. Garnish with spring onions.

# – Oh so delicious!!

Happy cooking!