a quick, delicious octopus stew

A quick octopus stew with loads of flavour.

I have to confess I made this octopus stew ages ago. I loved how it turned out, and I was so incredibly proud of myself. Yet I never got around to posting it, for a rather silly reason.

See, because I was so pleased with myself for creating something so delicious, I took way too many pictures of the darned thing, and then I got overwhelmed at the thought of sifting through all that, so I left it for another day... and another... and another. This is also why it's taking me so long to finish blogging about all my 2014 travels, and why I never blogged about my degustation lunch at Vue de Monde. Too many photos!

So anyway, retracing my steps - I was at the market that day, and I decided to forgo the baby octopus from Thailand in favour of a portion of Australian octopus instead. The fishmonger cleaned a single large tentacle for me, and frankly I had a bit of sticker shock when it came to $16. But I gracefully paid for it while mentally telling myself I better make something good to make the cost worthwhile.

I ended up making this octopus stew and I surpassed my own expectations - it was sensational. If I ever compile a list of my best recipes, this one's definitely making an appearance.

Thus I dare say this is a great dish to try out, and really quite easy even if you're starting off as someone who isn't very confident on how to cook octopus. The trick here is gentle cooking - this is a dish you cook tenderly, for tender results. Vigorous boiling will result in tough octopus, so you want to keep it at a soft simmer until it's just cooked, and even though I call this a stew, the whole process doesn't take long at all.

Beautiful seafood flavours tangle with sweet and tart notes in this savoury stew, and it reminds me a bit of French bouillabaisse and Spanish zarzuela, but far simpler. I did not bother to tenderize the octopus before cooking, but as we are using an acidic tomato broth here, I suppose the octopus is essentially tenderizing in it as it cooks. Either way, the result is lovely and yielding, with just the right amount of spring and bite. Grab some crusty bread to mop up the thickened broth at the end, and you're all set.

A fresh octopus tentacle.

a quick, delicious octopus stew
(serves 1 as a main)

250 - 300g octopus tentacle (1/2 - 2/3lb), cut into bite-sized pieces
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon chopped chilli (adjust amount based on variety of chilli and individual preferences)
1 cup cherry tomatoes (about 125g or 4.5oz), halved
1 small red onion or shallot (about 90g or 3oz)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional, for a smoky flavour)
1/4 teaspoon sugar (optional, helps balance the broth if it is too acidic)
1/8 cup basil leaves
salt and pepper, to taste

Cook garlic and chilli over low heat for about 1 minute. Add red onion or shallot. Stir and cook for 2 minutes. Throw in cherry tomatoes, turn the heat up a little, and cook for another 2 minutes.
Pour in balsamic vinegar along with 1/4 cup water. Allow the mixture to bubble over low to medium heat 12 minutes until the tomatoes are soft and releasing their juices.
Stir in the chopped octopus tentacles, and let them softly simmer for about 3 minutes or until opaque, turning them occasionally.
Remove from heat, and fold in basil leaves. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve! Enjoy this delectable stew on its own, or with crusty bread.

If you're after an easy octopus stew that tastes fantastic, this is it!

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mango sago dessert + a hint of pineapple, a drizzle of maple

Mango and pineapple blended with coconut milk, with large tapioca pearls and maple syrup.

Happy New Year / Happy Chinese New Year, everyone!

Last year, I made a couple of simple goals for myself - grow and harvest my own vegetables, try some recipes from cookbooks that were gathering dust - and I'm happy to say that I succeeded on both counts. I also managed to complete a whirlwind of very belated Thailand travel posts, and I'm very pleased that I finally got them done!

Aside from these small achievements, I think, for me, 2016 was about becoming content with life again. As for 2017? I'm not sure, but I think it's about brewing change. Simon and I are looking into the possibility of buying a cute little apartment in Melbourne. We'll see what happens. It's okay if it takes longer than expected, or if plans change. Something that is for sure, though - I really, really need to get my way overdue Taiwan travel posts done. That's going to be my goal this year, hold me to it!

In the meantime, here's a maple pineapple mango sago pudding for you. I've always liked to order the little Hong-Kong-style mango sago desserts for yum cha in Australia, and this is my slightly different version of it. I used bigger tapioca pearls for extra chewiness, threw in a refreshing touch of pineapple, and added depth with the sweet complexity of maple syrup. Delicious!

Pineapple-mango sago pudding, sweetened with maple syrup.

maple pineapple mango sago pudding
(serves 4)

1/2 cup sago or tapioca pearls
2 cups mango (plus extra to stir through and garnish)
1/2 cup pineapple
1/3 cup coconut cream
1 cup water
pinch of salt
maple syrup, to taste (may substitute with palm sugar syrup or brown sugar syrup)

Bring 12 cups of water to boil in a large pot, add sago or tapioca pearls. Let it cook, partially covered, stirring from time to time, and adding more water if required, until the pearls are mostly translucent except for the tiniest speck. Turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let it sit until the pearls are completely translucent.
Drain off the cooking liquid, and thoroughly rinse the sago with cold water - I recommend using a fine sieve. Set aside.
Blend mango, pineapple, coconut cream, water and salt. Combine this mixture with the sago pearls and some additional small diced mango pieces.
If you use frozen fruit, you can serve this straightaway. Otherwise, let it chill in the fridge for a few hours.
Serve cold in individual bowls. Garnish with more mango pieces and add maple syrup to taste.

Note: If you have coconut milk instead of coconut cream, use 2/3 cup coconut milk and 2/3 cup water at the blending stage.

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mango-cherry cocktail-smoothie

A cider-spiked cherry-studded mango smoothie. A delicious seasonal drink for New Year's Eve in Australia!

I am no stranger to making cocktails that masquerade as smoothies. See: this raspberry-cucumber cocktail from 2011, and this lemon-jasmine-banana cocktail that followed in 2012. What can I say? I'm a smoothie fanatic, and I'm a lightweight when it comes to alcohol. So cocktail-smoothies, or smoothie-cocktails, well... they just work, for me. They're my perfect festive holiday drink!

Mangoes and cherries always appear prominently in the shops around Christmas and New Year's in Australia, so this time around, my creation is a fruit-a-licious cherry-studded mango cocktail with a subtle hint of alcoholic effervescence from apple cider (hard cider, for my North American readers). I downed the whole glass, and after the initial refreshing hit of coolness, it gave me just the right amount of warm and fuzzy, with no ill effects. Success!

Mango-cherry cocktail-smoothie.

mango-cherry cocktail-smoothie
(serves 1)

1 cup mango
6 cherries, pitted (more for a stronger cherry flavour)
1 teaspoon lime juice
1/2 cup hard apple cider or sparkling wine

Blend mango, cherries and lime juice with 1/2 cup water and 2 ice cubes. Pour into a glass, use a nice fancy one if you're feeling sophisticated. Top up with apple cider or sparkling wine. Sip it slowly or quaff it quickly - it's up to you!


Note 1: I used frozen diced mango and fresh cherries. I recommend that at least some of the fruit you use in this smoothie-cocktail be of the frozen variety, to ensure the end result is pleasingly icy-cold.

Note 2: If you prefer a non-alcoholic drink, feel free to use sparkling apple juice instead of apple cider to make this a mocktail!

Note 3: If you require this to be vegan-friendly, make sure that the alcohol you use has not been processed with animal products.

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raspberry goji smoothie

A super-delicious raspberry goji smoothie.

My love for smoothies continue, and this raspberry goji smoothie is my latest favourite creation.

It's funny how goji berries have, in recent years, become a darling in the Western world, lauded for its superfood powers and making endless appearances in smoothie bowls on Instagram. Growing up in our Asian household, goji berries are typically used in savoury soups and herbal teas, and I'll be honest, I was never a big fan, but upon the coaxing of my mum - "they're good for you, good for the eyes" - I'd reluctantly eat them, and at the end of the day, I didn't mind them that much.

Anyway, I purchased a packet of dried goji berries earlier this year - not because I was craving them, not because of their health benefits - but because I wanted to enter some health food competition thing to win a free holiday. Spoiler - I did not win the competition, and all I had afterwards, then, was this bag of goji berries and I had to come up with various ideas for consuming them.

I threw these goji berries into my muesli, added them to my ginger tea. I blended them up in various smoothies, too, but it wasn't until I made THIS smoothie that it felt like everything just fit together. My lost and aimless goji berries have finally found their home.

Dried goji berries for a goji berry smoothie.

raspberry goji smoothie 
(serves 1)

1 small banana
1 cup frozen raspberries
1 tablespoon goji berries
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
2/3 cup water

- Blend all the ingredients together, adding more water if necessary if you would like a thinner consistency.
- Forget about what is a superfood and what isn't, and just enjoy the super-deliciousness of this smoothie.

Intensely red raspberry smoothie with goji berries.

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ginger-honey poached tamarillo compote

Ginger-honey poached tamarillo slices, served with yoghurt.

All through winter I quietly passed by the box of seductive ruby-red tamarillos every time I shopped at my local grocery store, flirting with thoughts of random tamarillo recipe creations as I did so, but then I would continue to walk on, and that was that. As spring beckoned, however, my adventurous side took charge, and I finally took the leap.

This is my first experience with tamarillos, and I was actually - um - a bit nervous? Off I went to do some online research, and it was probably a good thing I did, as I found warnings about the intense bitterness of the tamarillo skin, and helpful instructions on removing it.

Tamarillo, also known as tree tomato.

So I immersed my tamarillos in a bowl of freshly boiled hot water, and after a couple of minutes, I retrieved them, made a cut at the top with a knife, and managed to peel off the skin without too much of a struggle. As I did so, the luscious scent of passion fruit hit me - oh, divine! Then I sliced up my naked tamarillos, and they looked ever so pretty.

Peeled and sliced tamarillo.

At this point I was still debating whether to have the tamarillos raw or cooked, so I sampled a piece. It tasted kind of like a passion fruit, tomato, and kiwi fruit rolled into one - there is definitely potential for deliciousness here, but for some reason, my tamarillos were more on the tart and bitter side, with not much going on in terms of sweetness.

I decided then and there to poach my tamarillo slices in a ginger-honey syrup, and this did the trick! I ended up with a nice tamarillo compote that paired well with yoghurt for a healthy breakfast - as shown in the pictures - but I have to say, I tried it with vanilla ice cream, too, and I loved that even more. If I am to make just one recommendation, I say go the vanilla ice cream option, you won't be sorry.

ginger-honey poached tamarillo compote

2 tamarillos
2 cm ginger
2 tablespoons honey

Place the tamarillos in a bowl. Boil some water, and pour enough over the tamarillos so that they are fully submerged in hot liquid.
After two minutes, drain off the hot water. Make a cut on the top of the tamarillos, and peel off the skin.
Slice the peeled tamarillos into rounds of about 1cm/0.5" thick.
Peel and thinly slice the ginger, and plonk it into a small pot or saucepan. Add 1/3 cup water, and bring to boil. Turn the heat down and let it all simmer for about 5 minutes.
Stir in the honey, and add the tamarillo slices. Simmer for another 5 minutes, and remove from heat. Discard the ginger.
Allow the compote to cool down slightly before serving it warm with vanilla ice cream, or you can also let it cool down completely before covering it and storing it in the refrigerator for later use.

Ginger-honey tamarillo compote with yoghurt.

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simple and wholesome: broccoli and prawn soup

Broccoli and prawn soup.

It is a wonderful thing when your ingredients shine. And the easiest way to achieve this, is to keep things simple, while harnessing all the magic you can with what you've got.

In the case of this broccoli and prawn soup, it's all about the prawn heads. Some people would rather not handle these parts of the animal, but by shying away from them you'd be shortchanging yourself. The flavour you can draw out from these things - it's just fabulous, infusing so much richness and complexity into the soup that you hardly need any other embellishments. I mean, aside from salt, pepper, and water, this is effectively a 3-ingredient soup. Grab the prawns, broccoli, and lemon, and you're set. So here we go...

A lemony prawn and broccoli soup.

broccoli and prawn soup (serves 1)

6 large prawns/shrimp, with shells and heads intact
1 cup broccoli florets
1 wedge of lemon
salt and pepper, to taste

Chop off the prawn heads, and remove the shells. Throw the heads and shells into a pot with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer.
In the meantime, devein the prawns, and set aside.
When the liquid in the pot is reduced, takes on an orange hue and is wonderfully infused with flavour, discard the prawn heads and shells.
Add the broccoli florets to the prawn stock, and bring it to boil. Let the broccoli cook for 1 minute before stirring in the peeled and deveined prawns. Reduce the temperature and allow the soup to simmer gently for about 3 minutes or until the broccoli is tender-crisp and the prawns are just cooked through. Turn off the heat, and add salt and pepper to taste.
Transfer the soup into a bowl, squeeze in some lemon juice, stir with a spoon, and enjoy!

A simple broccoli and prawn soup, with a touch of lemon.

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aztec fruit, or white sapote - and a smoothie!

Aztec fruit, or white sapote.

Ever since I finished my Thailand travel series, I've been so busy at work. But don't worry, I'm still around! While there is still the Taiwan travel series to come, those can wait till later in the year. For now, I'm going back to recipe posts!

It was autumn in Perth when I first spied this unfamiliar fruit at my local Asian grocery store. The sign perched on top says "Aztec fruit". Originally from Mexico and Central America, but now also grown in Australia, it is perhaps better known as "white sapote". Some also call it Mexican apple, and while from the outside it may look a bit like a green apple at first glance, I feel that there is where the similarities end.

I waited until the white sapote yields slightly under a firm but gentle press of my finger, and then it was time to investigate this fruit that I have never tried before! The smooth, creamy flesh within has an appearance and texture that reminds me of avocado, except it doesn't have that oily, fatty touch. Meanwhile, a few large seeds take up valuable real estate. I read somewhere that the skin is edible, but it was too bitter for me, so off to the compost it went. So all that aside, what does white sapote taste like? To me, it tasted very much like custard apple, or a soursop without the sourness. Simon said it reminded him of a soft, sweet guava.

The insides of the white sapote fruit.

I had purchased two of the white sapotes, and I had gone for the bigger ones - they were quite substantial, about 300g (or 2/3lb) each, though after removing the seeds, I was certainly not left with quite as much! I ate one just on its own, but if you know me, you know I can't resist making a smoothie with the other one. What can I say, I love smoothies!

And I really love this one. The sweetness of white sapote goes together beautifully with the dewy quality of cucumber. Yoghurt and freshly squeezed lime juice add a bit of zing. Add your favourite sweetener if you like, and there you go - a wonderfully invigorating white sapote smoothie.

A delicious, refreshing white sapote smoothie.

aztec fruit smoothie / white sapote smoothie (serves one)

1 white sapote, or Aztec fruit (about 300g or 2/3lb)
1 small Lebanese cucumber, chopped and frozen (about 90g or 3oz)
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 heaped tablespoons yoghurt (optional)
1 teaspoon honey (adjust to taste, optional)

Discard the peel and seeds from the white sapote - use only the flesh. Combine it with the other ingredients, and blend everything together with approximately 2/3 cup of water. You may choose to use more or less water depending on whether you prefer a thinner or thicker smoothie.

Drink, and be energized!

For a vegan smoothie, use a coconut yoghurt instead of a dairy yoghurt, and use brown rice syrup, agave nectar or maple syrup instead of honey. Alternatively, these ingredients may also be omitted.

Yep, it's worth making: an Aztec fruit smoothie.

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balsamic, black pepper and garlic braised fennel stew with tomato

Simple and satisfying: a balsamic, black pepper and garlic braised tomato-fennel stew.

Fennel is not a vegetable that I use often, as I tend towards cheaper produce, but every now and then, it begs to be consumed. Raw, it is crisp and fragrant in a salad. Braised, it boasts a voluptuously meaty presence in a stew.

For this recipe, I went for the latter as I embark on the type of kitchen adventure that I find to be most enjoyable: scanning my available ingredients, and throwing them together to create a tasty dish.

And tasty it was: I uncovered a fennel bulb from the fridge, picked a vine-ripened tomato from the garden, and introduced the pair in a pot. The fennel softens to a more yielding disposition, while the tomato breaks down, embracing the garlic, black pepper and balsamic vinegar to form a luscious base. This is an easy way to prepare fennel, one that rewards you greatly with only minimal effort.

Braised fennel in tomato, garlic, balsamic vinegar and black pepper.

braised fennel stew with tomato, garlic, black pepper, and balsamic vinegar
(serves 1, multiply the ingredients to create more servings)

1 medium to large fennel
1 medium to large tomato
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water

Chop off the fennel stalks, and cut the fennel bulb into eight wedges. The stalks and bulb are the parts that are to be braised. Reserve the fennel fronds to use as a fresh garnish.
Cut tomato into eighths.
Warm up olive oil in a saucepan over low heat, and gently fry garlic and black pepper in olive oil for 2 minutes or until the garlic is soft and golden. Add tomato and cook, stirring, for another 2 minutes. Add fennel, and cook the mixture for an additional 2 minutes before incorporating balsamic vinegar, salt and water.
Bring the mixture to boil over high heat, then reduce the temperature, cover the saucepan, and allow the ingredients to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the fennel is tender-firm. Add more salt and pepper to taste, if desired.
Pour the stew into a serving dish, and top it with fennel fronds.
Serve this fennel stew by itself, with crusty bread, or stir through some freshly cooked pasta.

This delicious braised fennel stew is quick and easy to make!

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2-ingredient rockmelon smoothie / cantaloupe smoothie

Rockmelon/cantaloupe smoothie.

Happy Chinese New Year!

I wish I could say that I've been baking some really fabulous Chinese New Year goodies, but to be honest, my attempts have been nothing to write home about, and now that we're going through a heatwave in Perth, I am very much not inclined to continue trying. When I'm not working, you can typically find me hanging out in front of the fan, drinking cold beverages all the livelong day, and wishing I have air-con in my room.

But anyway, today, inspired by the flavours of one of my favourite Asian desserts, melon sago pudding, I whizzed up a delightfully tasty and satisfying two-ingredient smoothie, and it went down a treat. So without further ado, here's the incredibly simple recipe for this slushy, icy smoothie.

2-ingredient rockmelon smoothie / cantaloupe smoothie

2 cups diced and frozen rockmelon/cantaloupe (honeydew melon also works great!)
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup water

Thoroughly blend all the ingredients together, and voila, you have a healthy, refreshing rockmelon smoothie that tastes like Asian melon sago pudding!

Rockmelon + coconut milk = bliss.

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nectarine-apricot granita

A bright and sunny nectarine-apricot granita.

It is probably obvious by now that I thoroughly enjoy stone fruit season at my local farmers market. Top-grade fruit is affordable, second-grade fruit is cheap and still delicious, and every now and then, a stall might offer a "jam box" of blemished or extremely overripe fruits for almost next to nothing.

Simon and I took advantage of one of the "jam box" specials recently. Heavy with peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots, the $2 price tag beckoned to us. I had no intention of making jam, but I knew I would somehow figure out something to do with the fruits.

I extricated the flesh of most of the plums and froze them for future smoothie creations. I assessed the peaches and decided that they were still fit for standard consumption. So I was left with apricots and nectarines, some of which we ate, but several were so incredibly soft and sweet that I felt they were better off blended up and broken into a granita. Thus, here we are, with a nectarine-apricot granita.

This nectarine-apricot granita goes beautifully with a dollop of cream or yoghurt.

nectarine-apricot granita

300g / 2/3lb overripe apricots
150g / 1/3lb overripe nectarines (I used white nectarines, but yellow nectarines are also great!)
1/2 cup water
1 lemon (or about 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 2 teaspoons lemon zest)
1 tablespoon honey (Optional, especially if the stone fruits are fall-apart sweet. Omit for a vegan recipe.)

Remove the stones from the apricots and nectarines. You can remove the peel, too, but I didn't bother. (As you can see, my granita has lovely flecks of red from the nectarine skin!)
Blend the apricot and nectarine flesh with the water, along with the juice and zest from the lemon.
Add honey to taste, if you feel that it is necessary. If using honey, dilute it in a small amount of water before stirring it in.
Pour the mixture into shallow containers, cover, and place in the freezer. Fill up the containers to only about halfway, as you'll need the extra space when creating the ice crystals of granita.
Check back in about 2 hours - the mixture should be showing signs of setting at this time. Break the mixture into ice crystals with a fork, and place it back into the freezer.
Repeat the breaking of the ice crystals about once every hour after this. Do this until all the liquid is converted to ice crystals.

You can serve the granita on its own, but I suggest pairing it with cream or yoghurt. Deliciousness!

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sweet mung bean dessert soup

Mung bean dessert soup with sweet potatoes.

I have recently started working at a restaurant - hurrah for free food! - but this also means that it reduces the likelihood that I spend time and effort on preparing my own meals. I do still love cooking, however, so I try to make the most of it when I have some spare time.

Simon is fairly ambivalent about Asian-style dessert soups - but I grew up with them and they are my comfort food. So when I had a day off, recently, I made a nice batch of mung bean soup with sweet potatoes and a gentle hint of ginger to satisfy my cravings. This soup is wonderfully simple, and it can be enjoyed hot or cold. I like it any time of the day - for breakfast, as a snack in between meals, or as a dessert. As far as sweet things go, this one is reasonably wholesome, so give it a go and let me know what you think!

mung bean dessert soup (with sweet potatoes and a touch of ginger)
(serves 4)

1 cup dried mung beans (also referred to as "green beans" in Chinese)
225g / 1/2 pound sweet potato, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
3cm / 1 inch ginger, peeled and roughly sliced
60g / 1/4 cup light palm sugar / brown sugar / raw sugar / Chinese yellow rock sugar

Soak the mung beans for about 2 hours.
Drain off the water, rinse the beans well, and place them in a saucepan with 4 cups of water, along with sweet potato chunks and ginger slices.
Bring the water to boil, and then reduce the heat to low. Let the mixture simmer, partially covered, for about 15 minutes.
Stir in sugar, and continue to cook the dessert soup for another 10 minutes or until the sugar completely dissolves and the texture of the beans and sweet potatoes are to your liking. Discard the ginger.
Serve your green bean soup warm, or allow it to cool down before covering it, chilling it in the fridge, and having it cold - it's delicious either way!

Note:
This dessert soup continues to thicken after cooking, and becomes almost porridge-like. If anything, this makes it more delightful!
Also, it should keep well in the fridge for 3 days or so.

Asian-style green bean dessert soup with sweet potatoes and a hint of ginger.

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mint-ginger strawberry-peach smoothie-mocktail

The combination of mint, ginger, strawberry and peach makes for a festive summer mocktail-smoothie.

Christmas is part of the deal that comes with summer in Australia, so here's a summer drink recipe that features the festive colours of red and green. Call it a smoothie, call it a mocktail, call it whatever you want. Zingy with ginger and fresh with mint, sweet with peaches and exuberant with strawberries, this is a pretty beverage that will cool you down and invigorate your spirits.

Plus, you can easily convert this into a fancy cocktail by simply adding a complementary spirit or liqueur. Something like gin would be nice, but there are so many possibilities - for example, vodka, rum, Campari or Pimm's No.1, just to name a few. Or top it up with champagne to produce an effervescent delight. Feel free to be creative with it!

mint-ginger strawberry-peach smoothie-mocktail
(serves 1)

2 soft, ripe peaches, peeled and pitted
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 tablespoon roughly chopped ginger
10 mint leaves
1 teaspoon honey (substitute with agave nectar / maple syrup to make it vegan-friendly)

Throw the peaches, strawberries, ginger and mint into the blender. Dissolve honey in 2/3 cup of water, and pour that in. Blend all the ingredients together until smooth, and you're done!

A pretty summer smoothie - lusciously red, with twinkling flecks of green.

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honey-balsamic nectarine salad with rocket and almonds

Honey-balsamic nectarine salad with rocket and almonds.

It's summertime in Australia, which means dealing with super-hot weather, but also, thankfully, super-juicy stone fruits. Nectarines can be pretty hit-and-miss, but I had some truly amazing nectarines last summer from the farmers market, so when I saw them popping up again I was quick to the purchase. This early-season batch isn't the best I've had, but they were still pretty decent. Paired with sweet honey, tangy balsamic vinegar, peppery rocket and toasty almonds, the charm of the nectarine definitely shines through in this super-simple salad recipe.

honey-balsamic nectarine salad with rocket and almonds

2 nectarines, sliced, cores discarded
3 cups rocket (also known as arugula)
1/4 cup almonds, toasted in a pan until fragrant
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
salt and black pepper

Place nectarine slices, rocket leaves and toasted almonds in a salad bowl.
Whisk balsamic vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil and honey in a small bowl. Add salt and black pepper to taste.
Drizzle the honey-balsamic dressing onto the contents in the salad bowl, and toss everything together.

Nectarines, almonds and rocket/arugula tossed in a honey balsamic dressing makes for a simple salad.

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not-quite-traditional lazy easy tuna onigiri for non-crafty people

These easy Japanese rice balls make a nice simple meal or snack.

 "What's with the cow-patch design?" Simon asked, amused, upon laying his eyes on my onigiri creations.

Since we live out in Perth Hills these days, there isn't really an abundance of dining options, particularly international cuisine. It seems that the lack of a vibrant food scene may be starting to show its effects, as Simon has recently expressed a strong interest in making sushi, which I take to mean that I'll be doing most of the work.

As a compromise, I decided to make tuna onigiri. To keep things easy, instead of trying to wrap the rice around the tuna, and then wrap the nori around the rice, I just tossed everything together. And as it turns out, yes, my onigiris have a cow-patch design. Whatever, it's really kind of cute, don't you think? Also, they tasted pretty good - Simon was quick to devour most of it!

not-quite-traditional lazy easy tuna onigiri for non-crafty people
(serves: 2 as a light meal, or more as a snack)

1 1/3 cups sushi rice (uncooked)
2 cups water
1 can tuna packed in oil, about 150g or 5oz
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (I used wasabi mayo)
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 large sheets roasted nori (seaweed), torn into small pieces (I used a spicy seasoned nori)

Rinse the sushi rice, drain well, place it in a saucepan with 2 cups of water, and bring to boil.
Lower the heat and allow it to simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.
Remove the saucepan from heat. Wait for 5 minutes before transferring the rice to a large bowl.
Drain the tuna, thoroughly combine it with all the condiments, and mix it into the rice. Fold in the torn nori.
Put a piece of cling wrap on the table, and place a dollop of the rice mixture into the center. The size is up to you. Small ones can be cute and good for snacking and sharing, but take a bit more time.
Gather the ends of the cling wrap to enclose the mixture, and gently shape it into a rice ball. Set the rice ball aside on a plate. Repeat this step until all the rice mixture is used up.
Ta-da! You, too, can have your very own cow-patch-style onigiri.

Onigiri with a cow-patch nori pattern. Don't knock it till you try it.

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blueberry-chocolate smoothie with mint and celery

Blueberry-chocolate smoothie with mint and celery.

With all the travel posts in the last couple of months, I thought it might be time to get back into recipes for a while. But if you like reading about fun destinations, fret not - I'll come back to them next year. I've still got to tell you all about our trip to Thailand and Taiwan! If you really want your wanderlust fix, then go on and follow the Purring Around the World travel Instagram account or Facebook page that I started up recently - it has photos from Simon and me (mostly Simon, because he's the better photographer) - we're working our way through our photo archives so there is plenty to see!

But for now, hello smoothies! Before we went travelling last year, I had gotten into a happy and diligent habit of having smoothies almost everyday for breakfast. Sometimes I even whiz up smoothies at night! Since I moved interstate, however, I seem to have lost my smoothie mojo. Today's delightful blueberry smoothie is, thus, my attempt to get back on track.

But this is no ordinary blueberry smoothie. I'm not talking about the inclusion of banana, which makes it naturally sweet and creamy - that's par for course. It has the chocolate touch, and it has the slight tingle of mint, but I'm not talking about that, either. What I'm talking about is the gentle, teasing suggestion of celery that I've stealthily nudged into the list of ingredients. However, be assured that, rather than creating dissonance, the celery provides a soothing background note to the proceedings. Try it and you'll see.

Blueberry, chocolate and mint go well together - and surprisingly, a bit of celery doesn't go astray, either!

blueberry-chocolate smoothie with mint and celery
(serves 1)

2/3 cup blueberries
1/3 cup chopped celery stalk
1 ripe banana (medium-sized)
10 mint leaves
1 tablespoon cocoa/cacao powder (unsweetened)
3/4 cup water
4 ice cubes (if you're not using any frozen fruit, but would like a cold smoothie)

TIP: I'd suggest using either frozen blueberries, or chopped-up and frozen banana in this smoothie. I love using frozen fruits in smoothies, as I find that they create a pleasantly thick texture, and I love my smoothies refreshingly cold.

Blend all the ingredients until smooth, adding more water if necessary.
Serve, and enjoy immediately!

A luscious blueberry smoothie with banana, cacao, mint and celery.

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cinnamon apple steel-cut oatmeal with raisins

Cinnamon apple oatmeal with raisins.

I have only recently gotten into steel-cut oats. It takes longer to cook compared to rolled oats, quick oats and instant oats, but the substantial, al dente texture is really rather lovely. I'm not going to say that it rocks my world or anything extreme like that, but it's a quietly pleasurable experience that, for me, is worth the extra cooking time.

I'm not breaking any new ground here by combining oatmeal with apple, cinnamon and raisins. But hey, it's a classic combination for a good reason. Feel free to make a bigger batch of this cinnamon-apple-raisin oatmeal, and keep the leftovers covered in the fridge, where it should be good for at least 3 days. Warm individual portions up in the microwave for a quick breakfast on subsequent mornings. Too easy!

cinnamon apple oatmeal with raisins
(makes 2 - 3 servings)

1 tablespoon butter
1 apple, diced
3 tablespoons sultanas / golden raisins
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup oats
2 + 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup milk

Melt the butter in a saucepan, and add the apple, sultanas/raisins, dark brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Stir the mixture for about 2 minutes, then add the oats and water. Bring it to boil, and then reduce the heat.
Let the oats simmer, uncovered, for 15 - 20 minutes.
Pour in the milk, and cook the oats for another 10 minutes, stirring every now and then.
Add more dark brown sugar and spices, as well as a pinch of salt, if you wish. You can also use honey or maple syrup instead of sugar.

Note:
Alternatively, cook the apple-raisin mixture for a bit longer until the apples are perfectly tender. Retrieve the apple-raisin mixture from the saucepan, and set it aside in a bowl before proceeding with the other steps. Add the apple-raisin mixture to the oatmeal just before serving. This method works to retain more flavour and texture in the apple pieces.

Cinnamon apple and raisin oatmeal.

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sweet red bean soup

Sweet red bean soup, a simple Asian dessert.

Just a short and sweet one today! This is an easy red bean soup dessert that I've enjoyed since I was a child. Keep it simple using just red beans, sugar and water, or add an extra dimension with a piece of citrus peel or a knotted pandan leaf. This is very much the kind of recipe that you adjust to suit your taste, so don't be afraid to go with the flow.

sweet red bean soup / adzuki bean dessert soup
(serves 4)

1 cup red beans / adzuki beans
1 piece of fresh mandarin peel or dried tangerine peel (optional)
1/4 cup Chinese yellow rock sugar / raw sugar / light brown sugar
1 pinch of salt (optional)

Soak the red beans overnight with just enough water to completely immerse them.
The next day, drain off the water, rinse the beans well, and place them in a saucepan with 5 cups of water.
Bring the water to boil, and then reduce the heat to low. Add the mandarin peel or tangerine peel, if using. Let the beans simmer, partially covered, for about 40 minutes or until the beans are tender.
Remove citrus peel, and add the sugar and salt. Continue to cook the beans for another 20 minutes or until the texture of the beans is to your liking, adding more water if necessary. If you like, you can also mash or blend a portion of the soup for a thicker, richer consistency.
Serve the red bean soup warm, or chill it in the fridge. I quite like storing it in the fridge - it thickens up a little bit more, and seems to taste better the day after.

Adzuki bean dessert soup.

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coconut persimmon yoghurt bowl

Coconut persimmon yoghurt bowl (with a hint of mandarin).

I wasn't expecting to find persimmons in the thick of winter. But there they were, at the farmers' market, at $3 a kilogram. And these were seedless persimmons! I felt like I had hit the jackpot.

The persimmons were delicious on their own, and the more I allowed them to ripen on the counter, the sweeter they tasted. There is really no need to embellish the persimmons any further when they are gloriously, perfectly ripe, but one morning, I decided to make a full breakfast meal out of them by adding them to yoghurt and sprinkling them with toasted shredded coconut.

This simple persimmon yoghurt bowl looks pleasing to the eye, and it did a fine job of satiating my hunger, too - it fueled me for a few hours before I started to feel peckish again. I think I'm going to have to make yoghurt bowls for breakfast more often from now on!

Persimmon yoghurt bowl with toasted shredded coconut, a healthy breakfast dish.

coconut persimmon yoghurt bowl (serves 1) 

1 ripe persimmon
2/3 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon mandarin juice (or tangerine, tangelo or orange juice)
1 teaspoon honey
3 tablespoons shredded coconut
a pinch of chopped fresh rosemary, mint or thyme (optional)

Combine the yogurt with honey and mandarin juice in a bowl. Add more honey or mandarin juice if you like.
Gently toast shredded coconut in a pan over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until most of the coconut is golden brown.
Peel the persimmon, and cut the flesh into small cubes.Top the yogurt with the diced persimmon and the toasted coconut.
Drizzle on a bit more honey and mandarin juice along with a tiny sprinkling of herbs, if you wish.

Enjoy this coconut persimmon yoghurt breakfast bowl...

A simple textural delight with creamy yoghurt, tender persimmons, and crunchy coconut.

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chewy no-bake honey tahini chocolate puffed cereal bars

Go on, try these chewy no-bake honey tahini chocolate puffed cereal bars.

It seems that I never leave empty-handed whenever I visit my sister. I snuck in a side trip to Canberra on my recent jaunt in Sydney, and this time around, she gave me a bag of organic multi-puffs - a light and airy gluten-free mix of puffed brown rice, puffed buckwheat and puffed sorghum.

A mix of puffed buckwheat, puffed brown rice and puffed sorghum.

I came to the logical conclusion of using the puffed multigrains to make no-bake cereal bars. I toasted the puffs and tossed them merrily through a thick chocolate honey tahini sauce, and then I packed the concoction into a dish and let it set overnight as I slept. In the morning, I cut the cereal block into squares, and Simon and I gobbled down these treats in all their sticky, chewy glory. It was all gone by the end of the day.

Meanwhile, it still appears as if I'd barely made a dent in that bag of multi-puffs. I'll definitely make more of these puffed cereal squares again, and experiment with different flavours, but what else can I do with my multi-puffs? Feel free to give me your suggestions!

I wouldn't dare say that these tahini chocolate honey cereal bars are super healthy, but they're quite wholesome.

chewy no-bake honey tahini chocolate puffed cereal bars

3 cups puffed cereal (e.g. buckwheat, sorghum, brown rice, millet, quinoa, amaranth)
1/4 cup chopped or crumbed walnuts (or other nuts)
1/2 cup tahini
1/4 cup honey
1/8 cup unsweetened cocoa/cacao powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Lightly toast the puffed grains and the walnuts in a large saucepan, and then pour them into a 20cm/8-inch square baking dish or baking pan.
In the same saucepan, stir together the tahini, honey, cocoa powder and salt over low heat. When the cocoa powder is well-incorporated and the mixture is warm, return the puffed grains and walnuts into the pan. Thoroughly combine all the ingredients, and then scrape the mixture into the baking dish. (For ease of removal, grease the baking dish beforehand, or line it with parchment paper or foil.)
Press the mixture into the dish. Allow it to cool completely before covering the dish, and leave the mixture alone for several hours before cutting it into squares or rectangles.

Note:
- If the room temperature is warm, keep these cereal bars in the fridge.

Adjustments to try:
- Add 1 - 2 more tablespoons of cocoa powder for a richer chocolatey taste, or omit all cocoa powder entirely to highlight the taste of the tahini.
- Use brown rice syrup instead of honey to make it vegan and not as sweet (this should also help bring out the taste of the chocolate, as rice syrup is much milder than honey.)
- Create a nuttier bar by reducing the amount of puffed cereal and increasing the amount of nuts. Just make sure that the combined volume of the puffed cereal and nuts adds up to 3 and 1/4 cups in the end.
- You can also use puffed wheat or puffed spelt, as long as you're not following a gluten-free diet.

Chewy chocolate honey tahini cereal bars for everyone!

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