Authentic Teriyaki Beef

Konnichiwa my fellow bloggers! I luuuuuuuurve Japanese food but I was never game enough to cook this cuisine myself. I was, shamefully, a bit of a xenofoodie (fear of cooking foreign food). I thought the ingredients would be hard to come by and I believed I'd be slaving away in the kitchen for hours, only to end up with a failed attempt at a Japanese dish. I was oh so wrong, the thing is guys and gals, their dishes are so quick and easy to make and you'll find most of the ingredients in the asian section of your local supermarket. So without further ado, let's get cooking.

What you need

600grams of lean beef topside roast

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup mirin (asian section of supermarket)

1/4 cup sake (can use dry sherry)

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

Slice beef thin, this is so it can cook through before the Teriyaki sauce becomes too thick

In a bowl combine soy sauce, mirin, sake and caster sugar and stir with a fork until sugar has fully dissolved    

Add beef to sauce and refrigerate for 2 hours, this ensures the flavours infuse into the meat.

Fry until meat browns. Serve immediately with steamed Japanese rice.

どうぞめしあがれ  (bon appétit).

Open Taco Sandwich

Hola! I am OBSESSED with fresh bread right now. I've basically converted my kitchen into a commercial bakery this week, and the smell of fresh bread baking is such a winner with any hungry visitors that swing by. This week I decided to team my delicious french loaf with an authentic Mexican dish. who says you can't combine two cultures in one meal? My kitchen, my rules!

I decided to whip up a mouthwatering shredded beef. It's always the first thing I'll order when eating out at a mexican joint. I topped it with a simple homemade salsa and diced avocado (didn't have time for guacamole). So my hungry little Amigos lets get cooking. 

What you need

SALSA

3 tablespoons of diced onion

3 large ripe tomatoes, deseeded, peeled and diced

1 red chilli deseeded and sliced finely

1 1/2 tablespoons of lime juice

SHREDDED BEEF

1 kg lean beef topside roast- sliced into 3 cm thick pieces 

1 greed chilli, deseeded and sliced

1 teaspoon cumin

1 X 400 grams diced tomatoes

Lay beef chunks flat on the base of a casserole dish.     

Deseed the chilli by slicing lengthways on one side, scrape seeds out with your thumb. Use a kitchen utensil if you can't avoid touching your eyes immediately after handling the hot chillies. Slice thinly and add to beef. 

Sprinkle cumin powder evenly over the beef. (You can add any     other spices you like to give you beef a bit of flavour, cinnamon sticks, turmeric and garam masala to name a few). 

Pour the canned tomatoes in and add enough water to ensure the beef is fully immersed. Pop it all in a pre-heated oven of 130°C with the lid on the dish.

A quick 6-10 hours later or after a good night sleep, your beef will look like this.

 Mash lightly and the beef will just fall apart nicely. Trust me it tastes better than it looks!

 Now for the five minute salsa: place diced onions into a strainer and pour over 2 cups of boiling water, this helps to soften the onion and makes it taste just that little bit more pleasant.

Combine all the ingredients into a bowl and add lime juice. Stir. Voilà, your salsa is ready. 

 

Slice any good quality bread into thick pieces.

Add toppings in this order: shredded beef, salsa and diced avocado.

Believe me, you will want to demolish every last morsel. I certainly did and went to bed with the closest thing I'll ever have to a pregnant belly!

   

Handcut Chips with Garlic Aioli

So, who watched the tennis last night? Wasn't it good? I know most of you will be disappointed that Federer lost and I totally get it - he seems like a really great guy. While I feel your (and his) pain, I must confess I was cheering for Murray in that match. You see, two Scottish people brought me into this world (thanks mum and dad!) and I suppose it makes me feel like I should show some sort of loyalty to Scotland when it comes to duels such as that between Murray and Federer last night. 

So, there we were - me, Harry Rachel and Dan all glued to this tennis match and we were starting to get super hungry. Now, when you are glued to the television as the second set is taking place, you don't have time to go to the shop for anything. And that's a shame because us students don't really ever have anything readily available in the fridge or pantry. But last night I swear the gods were smiling upon us, just as they were on Murray. And I know this because, after a cavity search of our pantry, we discovered we had potatoes! And what is the cornerstone of your average Scottish diet? Deep fried potato chips, wrapped in newspaper just like our grandma used to make them.

We gave our fried friends a little "Modern Australian" twist with our garlic aioli. And before you correct me, I am aware aioli didn't originate in Australia, but we've totally adopted it as our own, just like the pavlova, barbecues and Thai food. 

What will you need for this simple, effective dish?

Potatoes

Oil - hopefully you have a deep fryer with used oil but fresh in the fry pan is also OK

Aioli

3 teaspoons of crushed garlic

2/3 cup of virgin olive oil

2 eggs yolks

Salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons of American Mustard


Prepare your aioli by separating the yolk of two eggs and adding to a bowl with garlic. Using your electric beaters, mix on a low setting for about one minute. 



Next, you are going to need to SLOWLY add oil to the bowl in droplets. If you add too much oil at a time, the aioli will not emulsify (fancy word for egg and oil not being able to mix together - you can tell that guy/girl you want to end things with that you didn't "emulsify" properly and they'll look at you like you're mad and hey presto you'll probably never see him/her again). You can slowly start increasing the flow of oil 'til it is a thin stream as you are beating the eggs - it will take about ten minutes for you to add all the oil. 



Then you can add a couple of teaspoons (I added three myself) of garlic, salt and pepper and if you're after a bit more zing in your life, add an extra teaspoon of American mustard.


Now for the chips - start by peeling your potatoes then slicing them lengthways to resemble french fries. Actually, screw that, cut them as thick as you like. I like them thinner but that doesn't mean I can't accept your preference for a fuller figured chip. Different strokes. You can soak the chips in water beforehand if you want but I don't have time to wait when I'm hungry and need sustenance to get me through the next set. A simple rinse is fine for me.

Set your deep fryer to 190°C. If you don't have a deep fryer, heat 3 cups of oil in a large saucepan on high - the chips ready when they float to the top. You can keep them floating there for longer if you like a bit of extra crunch and colour. 

When the chips are done, place the chips on paper towel to soak up any extra oil and give a really generous shake of salt and they're ready to enjoy!

Bon Appetit! And Happy Burns Night to all the Scots out there! (Thanks to my sister Rach for the hand modelling - she has a great set of paws, no?) 

Hangover Hot Dogs

When you've had a few too many ciders the night before, there's really not a lot you can do to stop that squeamish feeling in your tum. Salty, buttery, carb-dense or greasy fried foods are the only things that seem to be able to take away the hangover blues. Today, I whipped up these dirty dogs and the house full of sad and sorry post-partiers seemed to perk up as soon as they smelt the buns browning and bacon sizzling. Here's what you'll need:

Hot Dogs 

Buns

Butter

1 onion, diced

8 rashers short cut bacon, diced

Cheddar cheese, grated

Sauces of your choice

Start by boiling a pot of water for your hot dogs. Once you've thrown them in, start frying the chopped onion and bacon together in 1 tsp oil. Hot dogs are done when they float to the top, kids.

Once the dogs are done, you can leave them in the hot water while you grill the inside of the buttered buns. Don't be stingy with the yellow stuff, you're gonna need all the grease you can get! The reason I pre-butter the buns before grilling is because it gives the bread the most palate-pleasing effect - soft, buttery and no crumbs all over your clothes...

Pull the buns from the oven and pile the dogs with your bacon/onion mix, cheese and sauces...

Then, enjoy! This is Elphin by the way - whenever there's food around, so is he...

What are your fail-safe hangover recipes?

Sun, Sand and Camembert

On a trip to visit the folks in regional South Australia Harry and I thought we'd set out and explore the magnificent Limestone Coast. So on a sweltering 40 degree day we only packed the bare essentials, towels, sunscreen, camera, one scented candle and, of course, cheese! Although I do love a sharp, crumbly cheddar nothing pleases me more than a soft gooey camembert melting in the sun.

Here's a few pics from our little expedition...