homemade seasoning for meat and burger

today i have nothing to do and have nothing to cook from my freezer we only have our frozen home made burger patty so i decided to make burgers for dinner. its a rainy day today but lucky for me that it was sunny this morning up to 2pm or so...got my laundry done..so happy.

anyway i wanted to have a different taste to my 'original' burger so i thought i could add some seasonings on to my burgers while cooking it...my usual store bought seasoning was out (argh~ haven't been to the supermarket for the longest time) so i decided to mix my own...
and it turned out fantastic.


my MEAT and BURGER seasoning:

1tsp of :

1. mix herbs (oregano, parsley, bay leaf, rosemary...can't remember but you can buy it ready made for this one)
   
2. paprika
3. black pepper
4. ginger powder
5. sugar

and 1/2 tsp of white pepper.
3tbsp salt

blend or grind all of this until it become powdery then ready to use..keep it in an air tight container.

i don't have pictures for this one coz no point its all dark and gloomy...sorry!

Hi fiber bread/ loaf

first of all i'd like to apologize on the fugly pictures its been raining and gloomy lately its no condition for picture taking so please bare with me...but i can promise you this though that this is a great healthy bread recipe and a MUST TRY. with this same recipe you can ,make variations its so wonderful!

ingredient (A)
200g bread flour (you may also use all purpose flour)
50g bran mix
25g wholemeal
10g sugar
1/2tsp salt
2tsp instant yeast (my fave brand is saf instant they never fail me)

ingredient (B)
1.5tsp honey
170ml cold water or milk

ingredient (C)
2tsp shortening (you can use butter instead it gives better taste but texture wise shortening somehow gives more fluff so its your pick)

optional ingredient (D)
35g chopped walnuts or pecans or seeds what ever tickles your fancy

bread making:

1. mix ingredient (A) then add (B) in your mixer with bread dough fitted blade (just in case; its the one that looks like a cork screw), let it knead or mix to form a dough.
2. add (C) and continue kneading until its becomes smooth and elastic dough.
3. then add (D) and mix til combined.
4. cover dough with clear film and let it rise in a warm place for 45minutes to 1 hour or until it doubles the size.
5. divide the dough into equal pieces, mold them into balls nad leave them to rest for a further 10 minutes.
6. then as you would when making white bread, flatten the dough and roll it and give it a firm roll to make sure that the seams won't break during baking and coat them with some flour and put them on to the parchment paper make sure that its seam side down.
7. let them proof for another 40 minutes. the last 10 minutes preheat oven at 200c
   
8. then use a very sharp knife to cut out leaf shape (as per photo)
9. bake at 200c for 25 minutes.

TIPS:

1. when ever making bread it is often a MUST to make sure that at the end of the kneading that the dough become elastic. its important because this is the key for a long lasting softness of your bread. if you have that moment where yor bread is only soft freshly from the oven but when cooled it turned as hard as a rock? this is why. so please its important!
2. what do i mean by elastic? to test, rub your fingers with some oil or butter and try to stretch the dough if its breaks easily then there's a whole lotta kneading to do but if its streacthable to a thin film like then that's elasctic.
3. ample proofing is also a must for a soft and fluffy bread so don't be a smart ass and reduce the proofing time.

for variations:

A) for rye bread - omit the bran mix add 50g of rye flour and the rest is the same

B) white loaf - use 250g of bread flour instead of 200g bread flour omit wholemeal and bran mix.

Best Slow Cooker Chicken Stew

I've always wondered what makes a good stew...have you? i've eaten a lot of stew in my life and i basically love them all except that if you had bland stew then that's different...

if you ask me, a good stew must have good ingredients i mean it has to be fresh...mmm well actually having leftovers and turn it into stew also makes good stew but my point is that the initial ingredient must start fresh..i know what i mean? anyway the spice must not be too overwhelming that you can't even taste the main ingredient which in this case would usually be either beef or chicken of fish or other seafood...i always have this at the back of my mind when cooking " the main 'cast' must always be in the limelight "

apart from that it has to be serve hot or at least warm and to be honest...i love having a big bowl of hot stew just on its own or with lightly toasted home baked bread with butter on a rainy day or night...i think soups and stew taste their bestes during those time or if you're in a 4 season country during winter, its warm you up on no time.

made this last night with a high fiber loaf (which i'll post my recipe later)...ohh its healthy and tasty...

since we are using slow cooker then if you're making it fo dinner then you'd need start cooking at 2pm but if you're working then you can do this before you go to work its fine.


Ingredients:
1/2 chicken
1ltr chicken stock (preferably home made if not store bought is fine)
2celery sticks cut into rough chunks
1-2 carrots cut into large cubes
3-4 potatoes but into large cubes (you can adjust teh amount to your liking)
2 large onions cut into large chunks
2clove garlic crushed

for thickening the stew:
1.5tbsp corn flour

seasonings:
salt to taste
1tsp black pepper
1/2tsp white pepper
1tsp sugar

methods:

simply dump in all the vegetables in the slow cooker then put the chicken on top. pour in the chicken stock.

if you are making this at 2pm then set the slowcooker on high and let it do its thing. around 6:30pm or so you make go and have a looksie and see if the chicken is cooked and tender. it should be very tender by now, take out the chicken and set a side to cool. then shred the chicken for easy consumption. then put the shreded chicken back in the stew.

in a small bowl, take some of the stock from the slow cooker and dissolve the corn starch to thicken the stew. stir the stew and see it thickening if the stew is too thick to you liking then you can adjust it by adding more water. then let it simmer just for a bit say for another 5 -10 minutes on low heat. don't forget to have a taste before you serve do the final 'touch ups' (adding additional seasoning to taste if necessary). then ready to serve.


p/s: if you are making this before going to work then set the slow cooker on low heat the rest is about the same.

if you have left overs which i doubt you can use it to make chicken pie or chicken pot pie all yo need is the short crust or puff pastry and some remikins...

chocolate souffle

this souffle is actually a lot higher but it deflate a little while i was trying to take a picture and fyi i made this in the middle of the night say at 11pm ish...crazy huh?
then i've found out that i don't have any powdered sugar to drizzle it so this look less impressing.
non the less the satisfaction eating it just priceless!
souffle in the oven..look at it rise!! beautiful ain't it?

this is a borrowed recipe...so click here for the recipe

Simple roasted beef

this roasted beef looked all done but its actually medium well and still have a touch of pink in the middle...which is purrrrrrrrrrrrfect!!!

this dish was one of those movie inspired dish...mmm namely the desperate housewife where argh can't remember the red head character's name this is annoying...oh yeah Bree, the 'perfect' housewife cooked a 'perfect' dinner (this was i think the 1st season where she still cook the restaurant worthy food)...

so my mom and i instantly had that craving so we immediately went to the market (pasar tani) that afternoon to look for a prime beef and some other ingredients to accompany the roast beef.
it was a simple recipe and also very satisfying dish. we didn't even have left overs, it was that good!

so here's the recipe:


Roast beef
a log of prime beef - if you are not familiar with the parts of beef, ask your butcher. its mmm how can i explain it one of those beef that is near the ribs its the best part. (correct me if i'm wrong though)
carrots
parsnip
celery sticks

seasoning:
salt - generous amount
freshly cracked black pepper as much as you like, personally the more the better.


side dish:
corn on cob
your fave garden veges
potatoes wedges season with salt and paprika


for this roasted beef you'd need to season it generously. why?
1. because its a big chunk of beef, any less you'll end up with bland roast
2. because we didn't marinate it, marinating is not necessary here.

as for the balck pepper you don't need to put it too much at first coz we'll need to season it with black pepper again later just before serving.

pre heat oven at 200c.
cut carrot, parsnip in big chunks, potatoes in wedges and line them in a buttered casserole dish together with celery sticks. then top it with the beautifully seasoned beef. roast it for 15 minutes.
reason being is that i wanted to some sort sear the beef and have that gorgeous browning effect around the beef and have that very tasty beefy outer crust. at this point you'd need to keep a special eye coz you might want to rotate it every now and then for even browning.

after 15minutes turn the heat down to 160-170c and let it roast for a further 1.5-2 hours depending on your desired done-ness. i like my beef medium well so with my oven it only take about 1.5hr.

once the beef out the no 1 cardinal rule of roasting beef is that YOU NEED TO LET IT REST for at least 15-20 minutes or so. why? because if you don't you'll end up with somewhat dried roast...so for this purpose you'll need to let it rest on a wire rack. this is important because this step will help the roast beef retain all the juice in side. if you notice when you roast beef and let it sit on a plate or tray and later on you see that your roast beef is in a pool of its own juice? this is what we want to avoid and what we want is to keep as much as moisture left in the beef as possible....

i hope you understand my explanation coz i feel like i'm talking gibberish... anyway let the roast sit on the wire rack and cover it with aluminum foil. after the 15-20 minutes rub it again with freshly cracked black pepper for extra kick and slice it and serve it. simple as that.

i need to also point out here is that the veges from the casserole dish is very flavorful and its abit too salty to eat it on its own so you'll need to incorporate it with your gravy.

to make the gravy just heat a knob of butter in the sauce pan mean while pour in hot water (about 2cups or so) in the casserole dish to loosen all of those flavors and pour it in the sauce pan. then add in about 1-2tbsp of corn starch to thicken the sauce, season it with salt and pepper to taste.

as for the side dish:
garden vegetables : just blanch it in hot water then set aside.
then heat a knob of butter and saute chopped garlic until almost brown then dump in all of the garden veges and toss it then season it with salt and pepper to taste. then ready to serve.

corn?...this is to easy for me to write this down, common go figure!


mmmm i just realized that i've forgot to take my gravy picture...sorry...but i do hope that you'll give this recipe a try and i can promise you this that this is and easy dish that will impress anyone who have a taste of it!