Chilli Eggplant

There is a dish from Indonesia that can always be relied upon to have so much flavour that even a tablespoon of it can make me eat a whole serve of steamed rice. The chilli eggplant is exactly that dish. You don't need a lot of it but it is tasty and makes you want to eat more.
It is quite simple to make and it is really up to you if you want a lot of sauce or if you prefer it to be reduced to a thicker, more flavoursome consistency. My mum and my aunty would make this dish and they had different degrees of heat - very spicy or extremely spicy.
If you are not a fan of rice, another option is to serve with warm roti. Enjoy.

Ingredients
2 large eggplants
1 large onion
1 cup of vegetable or chicken stock
2 tbsp olive oil

Spice Mix
1 large red capsicum
2 large red chilli - deseeded
2 birds eye chilli (optional)
1 ripe tomato
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tbsp garlic
1.5 tbsp sugar or honey*

Method
1. Cut eggplants into pieces as desired, I quartered then cut 5cm cubes, sprinkle with salt and leave to drain
2. Place spice mix in a food processor until it resembles a liquid consistency
3. In a frying pan, add 1 tablespoon of oil and sear the eggplants in batches
4. In a small pot, add 1 tablespoon of oil, brown the onions then add the spice mix from step 2 and stir to cook the ingredients
5. Add the eggplant and coat with spice mix
6. Add stock and bring to boil
7. Lower flame and place lid on to simmer for 30 minutes
8. Leave lid slightly open whilst simmering to reduce the liquids up to desired consistency. I leave mine for around 10 minutes.

Serve with steamed rice or roti.

*Tomatoes can cause the dish to be sour so adjust the sugar or honey to balance it.

Chives Pancake

My mum always makes chives pancakes for our snack. They are savoury and aromatic. Dipped in soy sauce they are complete. This pancake is simple to make.

Chives
1 Cup Flour
Cold Water

Mix until you have a runny consistency
Add salt to taste
Add vegetable oil to pan
Once oil is hot, scoop a ladle of mixture
Spread around to evenly coat the pan
Flip once bubbles start to appear
Brown other side
Serve with soy sauce for dipping.

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Enjoy!

Vegetarian Fritata

Vegetarian Fritata

4 Eggs – beaten

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1 Brown Onion

3 Carrots – grated

2 Zucchinis – grated

1 Cup of Cooked Barley

Seasoning (Salt, Pepper, Curry Powder) – Your choice

Method

Add oil to pan and stir-fry onion until see through and browned on the edges, add curry powder or other spices and herbs

Add carrots and zucchini and stir until liquid is released and evaporates

Remove from pan and in a bowl mix vegetables, eggs and barley

Add salt and pepper (optional)

Place in lined baking tray and bake in fan-forced oven at 160 degress for 40 minutes or until top is browned and mixture is solid

Serve with salad or have on its own

Easy Beefy Skewers

In the freezer we always keep stock of the basic meats like minced or ground beef, chicken wings and chicken carcass. Last night I took out some minced beef with plans to make some burritos but this morning I thought it might be nice to use skewers and cook them on the bbq instead.

So here is how I made these yummy beef skewers.

1. In a bowl, place 2 tbs of breadcrumbs, 1 tsp of salt, pepper, 1 tsp of cumin, chopped parsley and 500g of minced beef

2. Mix thoroughly so all the ingredients stick together and breadcrumbs are no longer visible.

3. Shape into sausages and insert skewer in the middle

4. Using a pastry brush, brush each lightly with olive oil

5. Cook on the Weber or bbq for 4 minutes each side

Serve with salad or in my case I had some quinoa and stir-fried kale with garlic. It was delicious.

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Pumpkin Bread

I made pumpkin soup the other day and had too much butternut pumpkin so I thought I will just use them to make pumpkin bread. I had a banana bread recipe that used oats as well as flour and I wanted to experiment with swapping the bananas with pumpkin. The recipe needed about 400 grams of pumpkin and I didn’t have quite enough so I bought a small sweet potato to add. The best thing about using oats is that it fills you up and you only need a few slices at a time, in my case, 2 slices are enough.

The recipe makes 2 loaves. I slice them up, wrapped 2 slices with glad wrap and placed everything in a zip lock bag and freeze. I like to take 2 slices to work for breakfast. To crisp them up and warm them, I place them on the flat toaster for a few minutes.

What you’ll need:

• 400g butternut pumpkin– steamed for 20 minutes then mashed
• ¼ cup of sunflower seeds
• 125 g rolled oats
• 495 g wholemeal self-raising flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 135 g brown sugar
• 150g butter, melted
• 375 ml skim milk
• 2 x loaf pan

How it’s done:

1. Steam the pumpkin for 20 minutes
2. Heat oven to 180 degrees or 160 degrees fan forced
3. Grab a big mixing bowl and add all the dry ingredients – oats, flour, baking powder, sunflower seeds and brown sugar. Mix well and get rid of any lumps in the flour or sugar.
4. Add milk and pumpkin and mix well
5. Add melted butter
6. Mix well to ensure that all flour have combined with wet ingredients
7. Line loaf pan with baking paper and pour bread mix
8. Bake in oven for 45 – 50 minutes. Depending on your oven, you may need to adjust the temperature or timing. I tend to place mine at about 140 degrees and cook it for longer to ensure the inside is cooked properly.
9. Bread is ready when skewer inserted comes out clean
10. Once cooled, slice the loaf and freeze as mentioned above or serve

I hope you like this pumpkin bread as much as I do. It’s definitely something handy to have in the freezer. It takes about 30 minutes to defrost 2 slices. I took it out of the freezer as I was leaving for work and by the time I arrived in the office, it was ready to heat up.

Don’t forget that you can use sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin and add other seeds and nuts.

Enjoy.

Check out my Instagram account @heelsandspice for more recipe updates.

Ginger and Garlic Kale

I don't know about you but I love Kale. It's very woody in flavour and when cooked right, it is chewy and wholesome.

Here is how I prepared the ginger and garlic kale.

1. Steam kale for 4 minutes
2. In the meantime, toast some sesame seeds in a frying pan.
3. Smash some garlic and ginger.
4. Once kale is steamed, place some oil in frying pan and add garlic and ginger. Toss in pan to release aroma and flavour.
5. Add kale and season with salt and pepper to taste. Since kale had been steamed, no need to leave for too long.
6. Place kale in bowl and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
7. Serve and enjoy.

Follow me on Instagram @heelsandspice for more recipes and updates. Check out my other posts for simple recipes.

Midnight Cheat's Noodle Soup

It's midnight and I am craving noodle soup. All yhe restaurants in my area are closed and I am not in the mood to drive to Chinatown to get some.

So I check my pantry and I have some Special Chicken flavoured IndoMie and some dumplings in the freezer which I had prepared earlier. There are some greens in the fridge and I am pretty much all set. Here is how you turn the humble 2-minute noodles into a meal.

1. I left some dumplings out for a few minutes to defrost then fried them on low heat to get the wrappers crispy.

2. Cook noodles as per instructions then add the vegies. Depending on what you have, I had leafy ones so I just blanched them in the same pot as the noodles.

3. Drain then place in bowl, add dumplings.

4. Serve with fried shallots and fresh chilli. Enjoy!

It's not the healthiest indulgence but it certainly satisfied my craving. Don't have dumplings? Substitute with leftover meat, mushroom or put an eggs in there and poach. Follow me on Instagram @heelsandspice for more ideas and updates.