Twice Baked Potatoes

Mmmm...at my family Christmas dinner last year, my boyfriend made these twice baked potatoes which were absolutely delicious and one of the most praised dish of the night : ) Though it was served as a side dish, it can easily be served as a main as they are quite filling! Since then, there have been many asking for the recipe!! So here it is : )

Twice Baked Potatoes:

Ingredients:
4 medium size potatoes (any that are good for baking)
3 tbsp of sour cream
100g shredded tasty cheese
200g of bacon, cut into small pieces, and pan fry until crispy
small bunch of chives, chopped
100g of butter

Method:

1. Preheat an oven to 180 degrees C, lightly season potatoes with salt and pepper and bake for 1 hour.
2. Once cooked, cut potatoes in half lengthways and scoop out the potatoe flesh into a small bowl.
3. Add butter, sourcream, chives and a small amount of tasty cheese and mix to combine well, season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Spoon the filling back into the potato skins, top with extra cheese and bacon and bake in oven until cheese is golden.

5. Enjoy!

Hope you enjoy this simple yet delicious recipe! All credits goes to my wonderful boyfriend!! xoxo

Happy eating,
Fat Pom Pom

Thai Red Duck Curry

Thai red curry are one of my favourite curries : ) Team that with roasted duck (at any chinese restaurant) and you have yourself one of the best Thai curries you'll ever taste hehe!! and im not joking :D

This is the recipe I use, feel free to vary the amount of curry paste you use as everyone's taste is different, I like really flavoursome and spicy curries!!

Red Duck Curry

Ingredients:

1/2 a roast duck, sliced into small pieces (smaller then in the picture)

1/2 a pumpkin, cut into 2cm cubes

4 cups of coconut milk

1 cup of water

4-5 tbs of red curry paste

1 tbsp of palm sugar

2 tbsp of fish sauce

1 red chilli

150g of pineapple pieces

10 lychees

Red chilli and Thai Basil leaves to garnish

Steamed Jasmine rice to serve

Method:

1. Bring half of the coconut milk to a gentle boil in a large pot. Add the curry paste and stir to break the paste up for about 5 minutes. Add the remaining coconut milk, stir and simmer.
2. Add the palm sugar and stir well to dissolve.
3. Next, add the pumpkin and about half a cup to a cup of water. Cover and simmer for about 5-10 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft.
4. Now add the sliced duck and the fish sauce. Stir gently and simmer for another 5 minutes.   
5. Add the pineapple pieces and chilli and stir well.
6. After about 5 minutes, taste the curry and see if you need any more fish sauce or palm sugar.
7. Next, add the lychee pieces and stir well.
8. Serve the curry in bowls with rice and garnish with basil leaves and chilli.

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did!!

Until next time my friends,

Happy eating

Fat Pom Pom

Lindt Chocolat Cafe

Recently I went to Lindt Chocolat Cafe on Collin Street in Melbourne with a couple of friends after many weeks of anticipation, we finally had a taste of the long awaited Macarons we hear so much about aka "Delices" at Lindt. We also tried some of the gourmet cakes from the selection available as well as tea and coffee.

The Macarons were absolutely delicious, crispy outside and chewy centre with a variety of different flavoured cream fillings. Every bite would dissolve in your mouth within seconds! We tried the Strawberry, Roselli, Passion, Champagne, Hazelnut and Caramel. It was the first time I've tasted a macaron and didnt know what to expect. They were definitely worth trying and I look forward to going there again :) My favorite was Strawberry mmmmmm...



Between the four of us, we also tried the Blueberry Chocolat Mousse cake and the Opera cake:

 Opera Cake

"This luxurious cake is made from thin layers of dark chocolate ganache, coffee butter cream and almond sponge that has been soaked in coffee syrup. The dark chocolate topping is adorned with 23 carat gold leaf."

 Blueberry Chocolat Mousse cake

"Exceptions are certain to be surpassed by the layers of chocolate hazelnut biscuit, blueberry compote and dark chocolate mousse that lay beneath a mirror of blueberry glaze."

Both cakes were delicious in their own ways, I myself much prefer the Blueberry Chocolat Mousse cake over the Opera as it had a more interesting flavour and was not as bitter as the Opera (im not too big a fan of very dark chocolate hehe). Overall Lindt Cafe was a lovely place to catch up with friends over some delicious sweets :) Do try it out if you get a chance and let me know what your favourite macarons were!

Happy reading,

Fat Pom Pom

Vanilla Slices

Vanilla slices have always been a favourite in my family. Every time I make this deliciously smooth custard filled pastry dessert, my family would gather around the Vanilla slice all ready with a fork in their hands (we don't even bother to cut them into small slices anymore...just to save on washing the extra dishes hehe)

Within minutes, the slices are finish and everyone sits back and takes a sip of their warm cup of tea! Theres no better way to finish up the day then that :)

My recipe for Vanilla Slice

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups of vanilla custard powder

1 cup of raw sugar

3 cups of milk

2 and 1/4 cups of thick cream

2 sheets of puff pastry

Icing sugar to dust

Method:

1. Lightly grease 2 oven baking trays and place the 2 sheets of puff pastry with 2 extra trays on top of the pastry to keep them from rising whilst cooking in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for about 20-25 minutes until golden. Once golden, remove and leave to cool.
2. In the meantime, in a large bowl, put the custard powder, sugar and 1 cup of milk and mix with a spoon until there are no lumps.
3. Pour this mixture into a large saucepan on low to medium heat. Add the remaining milk and cream into the saucepan and stir consistently with a whisk until the mixture has thicken. It would take about 20 minutes.
4. Once thicken leave the custard to cool for about 1 hour in the saucepan.
5. To arrange the slices, in a 30cm square plastic container, place the 1st sheet of puff pastry at the bottom of the tin, cut off any excess pastry if necessary.
6. Pour the custard into the container and then place the 2nd puff pastry on top. Refrigerate for a few hours to allow custard to fully set before serving. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

I wish I had a better picture of the vanilla slice I made as the one I took does not look that appetizing hehe but believe me it tasted delicious regardless of how it looked!

I hope you have enjoyed my blog so far. My next post will be an exciting one so please keep following :)

Happy reading!

Fat Pom Pom

Simple Crepes!

I was given a crepe maker for Christmas and decided to make crepes for desserts today!

The crepe recipe was a simple one and for the fillings I used canned slice peaches (mmmm!) and vanilla icecream. My younger brother and sister was simply happy with just Nutella in theirs hehe my boyfriend was also eyeing the Nutella after he finished he's first peach filled crepes! hehe

Simple Crepes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 
  
• Method:

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth.
2. Heat the crepe maker to required temperature or a frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
3. Cook the crepe for about 1 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Serve hot with your favourite fillings. 

I hope you enjoy these crepes as much as I did!!! Its such a fun and easy recipe to make and you can be as creative as you want with the fillings :)

Happy eating!

Fat Pom Pom

Vietnamese Spring Rolls!

This dish is one of my favourite all time Vietnamese meals (apart from Pho....actually I love all Vietnamese food) hehe. I often eat them at my local Vietnamese restaurant called Dong Que in Footscray. They have many authentic Vietnamese dishes there that many other Vietnamese restaurants don't have. This recipe is inspired by Luke Nguyen and if you don't know who he is, check him out on SBS on Thursday nights. A Vietnamese chef from Sydney who travels Vietnam to explore all the wonderful food that the country has to offer. He is a hero of mine and inspired me to start cooking Vietnamese food (apart from my mum that is) !!!

This is the recipe I followed:

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Ingredients:
60g dried wood ear mushroom, soaked for 20 mins and sliced
50g bean thread vermicelli, soaked for 20 mins and cut into 4cm pieces
1small can of water chestnuts, finely chopped
200g mince pork
200g crabmeat
1/2 onion finely chopped
1tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt and 2 tsp of pepper
1 tbsp of fish sauce
20 round rice paper
Lettuce, Vietnamese herbs and mint to serve

Dipping Sauce:
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp of warm water
1 tbsp of white vinegar
1 tbsp of lemon juice
1 chilli and 1 clove of garlic finely chopped
Combine all ingredients to make the dipping sauce. You can adjust the quantity of fish sauce/sugar/lemon according to your taste.

Method:

1. To make spring roll fillings, combine of ingredients and mix well. 
2. Soak each rice paper in warm water for 2 seconds and put a heap tablespoon of the filling in the centre of the paper. 
3. Fold in the sides and roll the fillings in the paper tightly right to the end. Prepare the other 19 rolls in the same way.
4. Heat vegetable oil in the pan on medium heat. Deep fry a few rolls at a time in the oil to ensure that they don't stick together and become crispy. 
5. Remove from oil, and place on paper towel to absorb any excess oil.
6. Serve wrapped in lettuce leaves and herbs with dipping sauce.

I hope your rolls turn out as delicious as mine did hehe!! 

Happy eating friend :)

Fat Pom Pom