Caramelized Balsamic Red Onion Soup

I realised I have this thing for Balsamic Vinegar. I always thought it was a fancy, hoity-toity thing to eat olive oil, balsamic vinegar and bread. I didn't understand why people just ate bread and oily vinegar together. Then I had some one day, I was like 'my heavens this is some good shit'. But you have to have the right kind of bread for it. A nice dense french bread or even sourdough. Love sourdough! Anyway, finally bought a bottle of balsamic vinegar because I was craving it. So I started adding it to everything I cooked. Since I love onions and I love balsamic vinegar, why not make a balsamic onion soup? Have to warn you: you must only eat this in small portions, don't drink gallons of it like I did, because the vinegar starts getting a bit intoxicating after a while and you feel like you're on a Redbull high or something. It was awesomely yummy nonetheless. But you must control your gluttonous tendencies with this.

Your Challenge: cook summin' super-sonic balsamic!

 Ready---Steady---Cook!

Caramelized Balsamic Red Onion Soup

(Makes 4 servings)

INGREDIENTS:  

1/4 cups olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
3 large red onions, thinly sliced 
5 Mushrooms, sliced

1 bunch fresh Coriander, chopped 

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

2 teaspoons salt 

1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar 

2 tablespoons soy sauce 

2 tablespoons prepared mustard 

3 cups water 

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

1 Chicken soup cube (Maggi) 

METHOD:  

1. Heat a large pot over medium heat for one minute. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan, and then add the butter. Once it melts, add the garlic, sliced onions and salt, and then reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions turn golden brown, about 30 minutes.

2. Add the balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, and mustard, stir well, and cook for five minutes.

3. Pour in the 3 cups of water, and turn the heat to high. Add the Chicken soup cube, Mushrooms and Coriander and let it boil.

4. When it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low, partially cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

5. Season the soup with black pepper and, if needed, more salt. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with a crouton. Serve immediately with cheesy bread. 

Challenge Accepted ???

Enjoy!

Tosakanth

Baklava

One of my friends in Sydney was leaving and going back to the mother land for good. So for her farewell they wanted me to make something because they've been seeing all the culinary expeditions that I've been on. I've been out Sheesha-ing with this chick who is leaving a few times and she mentioned that she LOVES Baklava. When I say love, what I really mean is - obsessed. She buys these things in bulk from a shop in some godforsaken corner of Boganville NSW. How she finds these places, I don't know.

I am not a Baklava fan. I find it too sweet to handle. I feel a bit nauseous just from its super sweet rose-watery aroma. Anyway, I decided to make Baklava for her because she loves it. May as well fare her well, well.  I always thought it must be super difficult to make because it looks pretty complicated. But seriously, it's soo easy. The only thing that is annoying is the layering of the sheets and there is so much butter involved, this cannot possibly be good for you. Anyway, I looked up a few recipes and found some good ones and mixed them all together to get the final result. So the recipe below is a fusion of about 3 recipes. It turned out pretty well. I myself had a few pieces and enjoyed it without feeling nauseous. That says a lot. Seriously. I can't walk by donut shops without feeling nauseous. To get myself to actually eat the Baklava proves that it's a good recipe.

Your Challenge: make some Baklava for your Luvah.

Ready --- Steady --- Cook

Baklava

INGREDIENTS:

375g pack filo pastry 
450g Chopped Walnuts and Pistachio mix
250g Butter
3 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons of Rose Water
1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

For syrup:
200g sugar
250ml water
130 ml honey
3 tablespoons rose water
1 teaspoon orange blossom water
Squeeze of lemon juice

Makes 30 pieces

Prep: 40 minutes | Cook: 40 minutes

METHOD:  

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Butter the bottom and sides of a 20-23cmx30cm baking dish. 

2. Toss nuts with cinnamon, 3 tablespoons Sugar, 2 teaspoons of Rose Water and Vanilla Extract and set aside.  
3. Unroll filo pastry. Cut whole stack at once to fit the dimensions of the baking dish. Cover filo with a damp cloth to keep from drying out as you work.   
4. Melt the butter fully. (This is used for the layering)
5. Place two sheets of filo in the dish, buttering the top layer. Keep adding 2 sheets together and buttering the top sheet until you have a good thick base of about 20 sheets. 
6. Sprinkle a good serving of the nut mixture evenly on the filo pastry layers. 
7. Continue layering and buttering the sheets of filo pastry. Place 2 sheets per layer and butter and add another 6 layers at least before puting more nut filling. 
8. Keep doing this until you finish the nut mixture. 
9. Continue layering and buttering the sheets of filo pastry. The top layer should be 8-10 layers deep. 
10. Using a sharp knife, cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the dish. 
11. Butter the top layer well to have a golden crisp look once baked. 
12. Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutes or until baklava is golden and crisp. (pay close attention as it may burn depending on the oven) 
13. Once Baklava is baked, remove from oven and immediately and pour the hot sugar syrup over the hot pastry. Let it settle and cool before cutting it. 

Sugar syrup:

while the pastry is baking, prepare the sugar syrup.  

1. Combine the sugar, honey and water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil for 15 minutes.  
2. When the syrup becomes slightly viscous, remove from heat, add the rose water, orange blossom water and mix through. 
3. Add a squeeze of lemon juice. 
4. Remove form heat and allow to cool. 


Challenge Accepted ???


 Enjoy!

Tosakanth

Chili Chicken

Back in 2008 my sister cooked this amazing Chili Chicken and Sticky Rice for my mom and I when we went to visit her in the UK. It was out of this world. super spicy and super awesome. I've been telling her to recreate that for years now but she has never been able to get it right. When they came to visit me in June 2012, she tried making it but wasn't as good because she made it a curry instead of a dry Devilled Chili Chicken. Yesterday, I was craving some super yummy chicken and also my food stock for the week had finished so I decided to try whipping up this amazing Chili Chicken. I must say that it turned out really really really well. A pretty close match to my sister's one. 

Your Challenge: Cook some Chicken in your kitchen!

Ready --- Steady --- Cook

Chili Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

300g Chicken (roughly 3-4 thighs)

1 Onion (sliced)

2 cloves garlic (chopped)

3 tbs Chili Paste 

2 tbs Sugar

3 tbs Sweet Chili Sauce

3 tbs Cooking Oil

Salt to taste

METHOD:

1. Heat the oil, add the garlic and onions and temper until onions are soft or brown and set aside.

2. Add the chicken to the pan with some oil and cook for 10 mins or until chicken is cooked.

3. Add the onions to the chicken and mix well

4. add the chili paste, sweet chili sauce and sugar and mix well.

5. add salt if needed

6. taste and adjust spicy-ness to taste.. if too spicy add more sugar, if you want it to be dynamite add more chili paste or dry chili pieces

Note: You can buy Chili Paste in any Asian shop or Supermarket. It's generally made with garlic, shallots, Thai dried chili peppers, tamarind, shrimp paste and palm sugar. Alternatively, if you want to go totally home-made, here's a thai chili paste recipe or the best one to use is this dynamite recipe.
You could also add some broccoli and red bell peppers to the chicken to make it extra Thai like.

Challenge Accepted ???

Enjoy!

Tosakanth