Granola Get up and go!

Consuming Granola (like roasted muesli) for breakfast will give you a great start to the day! It has incredible textures and crunch with a load of ingredients packed full of punch. This breakfast/snack recipe will give you loads of energy and help improve digestion.

Once you make granola in your own kitchen, you will be hook line and sinker.

Our Get up and go! Granola

Our recipe makes about 1KG;

65 ml sunflower oil

270g rolled oats

120g bran

170 g sunflower seeds

120g sultanas or raisins (you could do 60g raisins 60g sultanas)

160g dates

120g dried apricots

120g hazelnuts

120g walnuts

120g wheatgerm

80g Flax seed flakes (optional)
170g honey
*we have also add roasted macadamia nuts on occassions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees

Over low heat pour oil and honey into pan. Let honey melt completely

Place oats, bran and sunflower into a bowl. Remove pan from heat and add honey to bowl mixing well. Spoon mixture out onto large baking tray

Roast mixture for about 20-25 mins, turning mixture and spreading again three or four times to ensure even roasting and no burning, then leave to cool

Roast the hazelnuts until golden brown (about 8-10 mins). Once roasted leave to cool and then roughly chop, along with the walnuts, apricots and dates

Once mixture has cooled, mix all ingredients together, place into a dry air tight container - will last up to 1 month

**some ideas when serving granola;

 - Granola can be served with milk and your choice of fruit. We love blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and another great combo poached (or raw) sliced pears or apple

 - Granola can also be served with yoghurt - plain greek yoghurt or your choice of flavour, served with fruit

 - Granola can also be served with a berry coulis

Our Mixed Berry Coulis Recipe;

450g Mixed berries (frozen are just as good and cheaper)

70g Fruit fructose (maybe less, you decide)

a squeeze fresh lemon juice

2 tbs water

Berries in pan before turning to coulis/jam

Over low heat place all ingredients into a non stick pan and cover with lid for 10 mins

Check after 10 mins to make sure consistency is firm - if not allow to simmer with lid off for a few more mins

If you prefer no seeds, then the next step is to strain the mixture through a sieve (sieve will collect seeds and you can collect the coulis into a bowl)

Transfer the hot coulis into a sterilized jar and seal it up with tight fitting lid

Once opened, keep in the fridge

Can also be used as a great topping on ice-cream, pancakes or as a syrup in milkshakes

Berry coulis

***to sterilize jars, bottles simply by boiling water in a large pot, place the jar or bottles into water ensuring they are fully immersed. Also add the lids allowing them to float separately. Let them boil for 30 mins, then carefully remove them with tongs, tip upside down on clean tea towel to allow to dry (or place onto baking tray and allow them to heat dry in oven for ten minutes) then add your mixture to sterilized jar and you're done! Really easy.

ENJOY! 

Cooking Tip / Chopping onions without tears

Each Thursday we will be posting cooking tips to ensure your time in the kitchen is spent with smiles rather than tears or frustrations! Speaking of tears, we cant think of a better first post than this "Conquering the devil in the kitchen - the onion". I'm sure all of you would agree that at one time or another onion has got the better of you! How many of you have peeled and sliced an onion wearing swimming goggles? Don't laugh, it works! My husband wears them well...that is, he did, until I showed him a technique I'm going to share with you now...Most importantly, you MUST have a VERY SHARP knife;

Peel onion and cut in half vertically

Slice the half onion thinly from top
 to bottom of the onion

As per photo slice off the non root end

You should have gorgeous even cut sliced
 pieces of onion

Slice the other half of the onion thinly from top to bottom without cutting all the way through at the root end

Make sure you don't cut through the root (top end)
Cut vertical slices 5mm apart
from one side to the other  

Cut horizontal slices thinly across the onion
 towards
the root end

Finally cut the onion across the slices, dicing the onion
as you go

discard root end

fine diced from one half and sliced from the other half

Cool huh? We guarantee no tears if you do this method properly!
 ENJOY!

Beef noodle soup with rice noodles from Luke Nguyens Vietnam

http://www.sbs.com.au/food/video/l375051/beef-noodle-soup-with-rice-noodles-from-luke-nguyens-Vietnam

Many of us LOVE going out for Pho. This particular dish is becoming increasingly popular in our hometown of Melbourne, Victoria. We are really looking forward to preparing this dish in our own home and wanted to share with you a link to Luke Nguyens "how to make Pho bo" from Luke Nguyens Vietnam series. We are HUGE fans of Luke's and have been following his show for a few years now.  His style is so exciting, bringing together traditional Vietnamese food and rich culture. We also hope to visit his Sydney restaurant "Red Lantern" in the near future. 

After watching this link we are sure you will gain confidence in approaching this delicate dish.

Vietnamese dipping sauce Nuoc cham

We found a brilliant Vietnamese sauce base in a cook book we are now the proud owners of - Rick Stein's far eastern odyssey. This sauce is traditionally Vietnamese and provides an amazing depth of flavour to so many dishes as below - including our very own recipe using king prawns.

Vietnamese dipping sauce Nuoc cham

2 tbs fresh lime juice (big juicy lime)

2 tbs fish sauce

1 tbs sugar

1 tsp fresh ginger very finely chopped (skin off)

1/2 red chilli (large and seeded for mild spice) or 1 red chilli (small for hot spice)

1 garlic clove (Asian) very finely chopped 

Combine all of the ingredients together with 2 tbs water (optional), then place in dipping saucers to serve.

This is the size to aim for when preparing your ingredients

A favourite recipe we love to prepare using the Nuoc cham as a base to our marinade is our very own recipe - Kristy's Fragrant Vietnamese prawns! This dish came about last year when we were planning a lunch at our place with family. We love the colours of Asia and wanted to showcase this in our array of food for the afternoon! Secondly, a seafood dish was a must along with wonderful textures and incredible flavours of course!

Colour and Flavour for Kristy's Fragrant Prawns dish

Kristy's Fragrant Vietnamese Prawns

**Prepare Nuoc cham sauce as above and use this as your base marinade for this dish

18 King Prawns (shelled with tails left on)

1- 2 fat lemongrass stalk cored, halved and very finely chopped

 **use only the bottom half and discard the thin top part. Make sure you finely chop otherwise will taste woody & unpleasant in texture

1/2 cup very finely chopped coriander

1/4 cup very finely chopped mint

1/4 cup Vietnamese basil

1 tsp cracked black pepper (no salt needed as salt already contained in fish sauce)

Place Nuoc cham into large bowl. Add to this the prawns and toss around with your "clean" hands or use latex gloves for even better hygiene

Add remaining ingredients and toss through with hands

Taste test and add more flavour if so desired (we LOVE garlic and chilli, so I usually add another chopped clove on top of the garlic already used in the Nuoc cham sauce and a little more chilli)

Admire the incredible colours, smells and tastes, then cover with cling wrap and place into refrigerator for 1 hour

To cook Prawns;

Option 1 Thread individually onto skewers (be sure to soak skewers in cold water for 30 mins prior, to avoid burning) BBQ over medium to high heat for 5-6 mins (maybe less) until cooked through (prawns should be translucent and moist) turning frequently until cooked through

Option 2 Cook in pan over medium to high flame for 1-2 mins turning frequently until cooked through (prawns should be translucent and moist)

Nuoc cham also works brilliantly as a topping sauce for Rick Steins  "Baguette sandwich of char grilled beef marinated in soy, lemongrass and chilli"

Rick Steins "Baguette sandwich of char-grilled beef
 marinated in soy, lemongrass and chilli"

This recipe we enjoyed borrowing and changing slightly from Rick Stein's far eastern odyssey and we highly recommend you give it a go! This has become a favourite in our home across summer.

400g piece of beef topside, trimmed of all fat

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 fat stalks lemongrass, core and finely chop

20g crushed garlic

100g shallots, finely chopped

4 tbs dark soy sauce

2 tbs palm sugar

2 red bird's eye chillies finely chopped (seeded also for milder spice)

To serve:

1/2 cucumber grated length ways

1 small green mango (weighing about 450g or opt for a green pawpaw same amount and slice with mandolin - we used the pawpaw as green mangoes were not available at our Asian grocer)

4 tsp fish sauce

4 tsp lime juice

12 small par-baked mini baguettes 

Thinly slice beef and then cut into strips, 2.5cm wide. Put the black pepper, lemongrass, garlic, shallots, and half the soy sauce into food processor and process into a smooth paste. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the rest of the soy sauce, the sugar, chilli and beef. Leave to marinate for 1 hour. Cover 24 bamboo skewers, about 18com long, with cold water and leave them to soak alongside the beef.

For the salad, cut the cucumber in half lengthways, scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon, then, using a potato peeler, cut it lengthways into thin strips. Peel the green mango (or green pawpaw) and finely shred it. Mix them together in a bowl and leave in the fridge until needed.

Bake the bread according to the packet instructions if necessary (we bought ours from Vietnamese bakery and had them cold)

To cook, weave 2 strips of beef onto each bamboo skewer.

Light your BBQ - if coal wait until the coals have turned a light colour and grill the beef skewers for 1- 1/12 minutes on each side until nicely browned on the outside, but still moist and juicy in the centre.

Mix the fish sauce and lime juice in the green mango or green pawpaw and cucumber salad.

Split open the bread rolls, place 2 skewers of beef inside and slide the meat off into the roll. Add some of the green mango or pawpaw salad and a drizzle of Nuoc cham sauce

We look forward to hearing about your experiences making these dishes.

ENJOY!

VIETNAMESE LUNAR FESTIVAL MELBOURNE

We visited the Melbourne Vietnamese Lunar Festival on Sunday in Victoria St, Richmond - this festival also coinciding with the start Chinese New Year Festivities.

If any event should represent the heart and soul of our great city - this was it. It was an example of what the modern day Australia has become. It is something, we, as Australians should be proud of.

The day showcased a wonderful & thriving Melbourne-based Vietnamese community and the richness it's culture brings to our young country.

In 1976 - just after the Vietnam War - there were only 382 recorded Vietnamese immigrants in Victoria. These few were mostly made up of orphans from the war, Vietnamese wives of Aussie servicemen and a few tertiary students. Today over 58,000 Victorians are Vietnamese born. We love what they have brought to this country - the wonderful food and culture full of so much color &  incredible flavor!

We walked Victoria street bouncing off thousands of people as well as zigzagging our way to each of the amazing Vietnamese street-food stalls. The air was full of the smells of Vietnam with fragrant BBQ'd offerings at every turn - we couldn't see the stalls through the thick crowd - we only needed to follow our noses to find the next offering.

The constants of Vietnamese food were all around us, the waft of fresh BBQ, the ever-present pungent aroma of fish sauce & shrimp paste, freshly cut & brightly colored salads used to accompany the marinated pork, prawn and chicken skewers, stuffed squid & BBQ'd quail. The Vegetarian offer was prevalent also with freshly cooked Vietnamese pancakes served with minty-leafy greens for wrapping and sweet dipping sauce. It was also hard to walk past the many stalls serving delicious bowls of Pho, quickly assembled - so clean and fresh! Fresh fruit and sugar cane thirst quenchers were also available and very enjoyable.

Calamari

Octopus

Pork & Chicken

Corn. Chicken Satay

Snail

Snail

Vegetarian Pancake

Rice cakes with egg

Sugar Cane

Enter the year of the dragon!

Enter year of the little pup - Kingston

Small & Big kids enjoying snow cones and fairy floss

Sweet little girl enjoying the festivities

Bali's traditional "Basa Gede" - Basic spice paste....

At a recent Balinese (Ubud) cooking school we were privileged to learn the art of making "Basa Gede" or Basic Spice Paste. Basa Gede is used as the basis for many dishes in Bali and Indonesia generally. The ingredients are invariably used fresh and are kept seasonally in most households for ready use. Once mixed together these ingredients offer a beautifully rich and complex flavour that com-pliments whichever protein you wish to cook with. It is great to make a large batch and freeze in portions for ready use - it lasts for 2 weeks in the fridge or up to 6 weeks in the freezer.

The ingredients for Basa Gede (enough to make 6 cups) are;

25 Shallots or 2 onions, peeled & chopped

2 cloves of (asian) garlic, peeled & chopped - or 8-9 cloves regular garlic

7 large red chillies, seeded & chopped (for the adventurous try 2-3 small red or green chillies)

5cm large Galangal, peeled & chopped, (like ginger but spicier and woodier)

5cm small Galangal, peeled & chopped (also known as Kencur root)

(Galangal can be found in most Asian grocers in Australia)

10cm of fresh Tumeric, skin on & chopped

1 tbs dried Coriander seeds

6 Candle Nuts or your choice of Walnut, Brazil Nut, Chestnut or 10-15 almonds

2 tsp dried shrimp paste - an essential ingredient in many Asian dishes

1/2 tsp Black Peppercorns

1/2 tsp White Peppercorns

1 pinch freshly grated Nutmeg - or 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder

3 Cloves or 1/4 tsp Clove Powder

4 tbs Coconut or Palm Oil ( Can also use Rice Bran, Peanut Oil, Canola Oil or Grape seed Oil - do not use  Olive Oil)

1 pinch of Cumin powder

1/4 tsp sesame seeds - you can add more of you wish to taste - 1, 2 or 3 tbs

1/2 Bay leaf

In a Mortar & Pestle pound together all of the above ingredients - except the oil (or for cheats, you can use a blender - just add 1/2 a cup or less of water).

Yes we cheated this time around!

Heat the oil in a wok or large pan. Add the blended spice mix and cook over a high heat, stirring frequently for 5 mins until the mixture becomes golden, add pinch salt and you're done (See below). 

Cool before using. The mixture can be frozen for up to 6 weeks or refrigerated for 2 weeks.

Blended spice mix turning golden.

Basa Gede can be added to a variety of foods to create wonderful dishes. As below we have added the mixture to fresh uncooked prawns to make Sambal Gorang Udang (Fried Prawns). A basic way of determining how much Basa Gede mixture to use is to lay the meat, fish, poultry or veggies on a plate and cover 1/4 of the portion with the mixture as below.

Cover 1/4 of the food you wish to cook with Basa Gede.

Recently we made Sambal Gorang Udang and added the following to the Basa Gede spice portion;

(we used about 3 tbs basic spice paste for this dish)

9 uncooked Tiger Prawns - your choice to leave on head, shell or not 

Marinade prawns (for 15-20mins covered in fridge) with;

Juice of one big juicy lime

I tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Meanwhile start chopping the following;

1-3 small green chillies seeded and sliced (depending on your love of all things spicy)

1 onion thinly sliced

1 capsicum thinly sliced

1 large red chilli seeded and sliced

1 tomato peeled and thinly sliced (try to peel the tomato from top to bottom in circle motion keeping skin in one piece...if you are successful you can use it to make a rose presentation on plate later)

You will also need 1 cup coconut milk

Once prawns are marinated and out of the fridge, add to them;

3 tbs of Basic Spice mix

1 tbs Kaffir lime leaf (very "finely" sliced)

1 1/2 tbs grated palm sugar

Heat 2 tbs coconut oil in pan over high heat - you want it nice and hot, but be careful!

Pour prawns and mixture into pan for 1 minute

Pour in coconut milk

Add green chilli, red chilli, capsicum, onion to pan

cook for a further 4-5 minutes MAX as below.

Sambal Gorang Udang cooking

Arrange cooked dish on plate with your tomato skin (rose) and some lettuce. 

Your guests will be impressed! A side serve of rice to compliment the dish and you're done.

Sambal Gorang Udang presented and ready to eat

*Please note all ingredients highlighted will also make a Garam Masala spice powder.
Simply roast those ingredients on a low heat for 2 mins, then ground in mortar and pestle (or blend in blender)

UBUD / LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE

Ubud Central Market - Bali, Indonesia

Over the past 10 years we have travelled the world soaking up cultural richness, meeting wonderful people with amazing stories and eating fantastic food until we can eat no more! We have been drawn to people, cultures, food and photography like moths to a flame - or in our case a hungry traveller to a great curry. 

We love the warmth, depth and strength of families in rich cultures around the world. They always find a reason to come together - bringing food, music and love to the table. No matter their financial realities, people find a reason and a way to come together and share their love. These are the richest people in the world for they understand the meaning of life - there is no calling higher in this world than to share our love with others.

Over the past few years, our view of these life influences has changed. We recognize as Australians, the reason why we are so attracted to rich international cultures is both their reflection in our young country's patchwork society - but also their beautiful cultural depth developed over generations. As a young country Australia lacks this cultural depth - we know it will come in time - but for now we will travel the world and also inject ourselves into local cultural groups with a view to bringing this beauty to our lives and to you!

This is what we love, and live for.