Simple and Healthy Asian Meat Burger

Never more apt. I LOVE FOOD. And I absolutely enjoy sinking my teeth into a juicy piece of patty. *droools* However, I have always been intimidated by making my own since it looks highly complex and elaborated. But ever since I figured that I should start adopting a habit of preparing my own meals more often so that I know what actually goes into my body as compared to consuming unhealthy take outs, i decided its time I give it a go. And boy am I glad I did. These meat patties were flavourful and juicy at the same time. No more dry, lacklustre burgers!

Asian Meat Burger

Makes 3 patties

250g ground pork/chicken/beef

Marinate meat with:
1 tbsp of light soy sauce
1/2 tsp of white pepper powder
1 tsp of sesame oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp of corn flour
3 tsbp of bread crumbs

Garnish:

Coral Lettuce
Cheese

Cherry Tomatos

Onions, sliced

• Marinate the minced meat for 30 minutes.
• Divide the minced meat with marinade into 3 portions. 
• Shape each portion into a patty. 
• Refrigerate for another 2 hours.
• Take the meat patties from fridge and re-shape it.
• Heat enough oil in a pan or wok. 
• Pan fry the meat patties until golden brown at both side. 
• Serve the meat patties with bun and veggies as burgers.
  
  These were so simple and easy to make. If you used to be intimidated with preparing meat patties for burgers I highly suggest you try this out. You will be surprised at how easy they come together! 

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

So one fine day, I chanced upon organic wholemeal flour at a Organic store under 5bucks so I decided I totally had to get it. I decided in the end to give some wholemeal cookies a try. These are albeit not the healthiest cookies because they still contain teeny weeny little bit of butter and sugar (won't really harm much right?) but they are healthier than most cookies you would probably have eaten. SO YES THERE IS MY JUSTIFICATION FOR YOU TO MAKE THESE.

Made with wholemeal and oatmeal, don't you just feel less sinful already?

Healthy Wholemeal and Oatmeal Cookies

Makes 24 cookies
85g unsalted butter
50g light brown sugar
20g white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

90g whole wheat flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
135g oats (roll oats or flaked oats)
65g walnuts, roughly chopped
60 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped (i chopped up chocolate coveture)

• Preheat oven to 175C. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Beat the butter and sugars until smooth. 
• Add in the egg and vanilla extract, mixing to combine.
• In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the whole wheat flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and oats. 
• Fold the dry mixture to the butter and sugar, mix till just combined.
• Fold in the walnuts and dark chocolate.
• Measure out roughly 1 tbsp of dough for each cookie and place on prepared baking sheet. 
• Bake for 8 minutes.

Note: Do make sure not to over-bake your cookies and leave them to cool on the baking tray as cookies continue to cook even after it is out of the oven! 

These cookies are not overwhelmingly cloying but yet gives the sweet tooth a real treat. 

So do make these cookies and sink your teeth into these beautiful babies, I promise you will make them again. 

Homemade Pancakes. Enough said.

These pancakes are my favourite. They are thick, fluffy and pairs well with some good ole' butter and maple syrup. It is the only pancake recipe you will ever need. Period. You can say goodbye to those box mix now. 

Homemade Pancakes

Serves 2
3 eggs, separated
115 g plain flour
1 heaped tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon (you can omit this)
140 ml milk

1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch salt

Flavouring (choose any or use none for plain pancakes)
chocolate chips
chocolate rice
blueberries
chopped strawberries
sweet corn
bananas

• In one bowl add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, milk, vanilla and yolk together and mix till you get a smooth thick batter. 
• With a hand mixer, whisk the whites with the salt until they form stiff peaks. 
• Fold the whites into the batter (Your pancake mixture is complete)
• Heat a good non-stick pan on a medium heat. (MAKE SURE ITS NON-STICK!)
• Scoop some of your batter into the pan and fry till golden brown and firm.
• At this point sprinkle your chosen flavouring on to the uncooked side before loosening with a spatula and flipping the pancake over. 
• Continue frying until both sides are a nice golden brown.
• Make the pancakes large or small entirely to your preference.
• Serve warm with maple syrup.

Quick tip: For perfectly cooked pancakes, flip not when you see bubbles BUT when those bubbles POP.

Now you know the tricks, your turn to try them out!

Perfectly Fudgy Gluten Free Brownies

If there is anything I love more than chocolates, that would be chocolate brownies. Some people like their brownies more cakey and others prefer it to be on the fudgy side. I stand somewhere in between. I like light crumbs in my brownies yet as the same time have these crumbs meld together to form some fudgy goodness... omphhhh bring me some brownies already. 

Perfectly Fudgy Gluten Free Brownies

Makes one 8" x 8" square tin
3 tblspn organic extra virgin coconut oil
216g dark chocolate (i use 55%)
70g light brown sugar
100g finely ground almond flour
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

• Preheat oven to 160C. 
• Line an 8x8-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
• Microwave and melt coconut oil and chocolate until smooth. Set aside.
• Meanwhile in a small bowl combine almond flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
• In seperate bowl whisk melted chocolate mixture with brown sugar until smooth. 
• Whisk in eggs. 
• Whisk in flour mixture, then vanilla extract.
• Pour into prepared baking tin. 
• Bake 27-35 minutes just until set. (Take note: Do not over bake!)
• Cool in the pan completely before removing and cutting the brownies. 
• Serve chilled or warmed slightly atop some vanilla bean ice cream.

*(you can fold in some chocolate chips into the batter prior to pouring the batter into the baking tin if you would like but i really didn't want those chunks in my brownies so I omitted them.)

Note: Do not use a electric mixer to make brownies or you will end up incorporating too much air into the batter and have chocolate cake instead.

I cut mine into bite-sized rectangular pieces and dressed the ends with a teeny bit of melted chocolate so that I could stick chopped nuts onto the brownies. Just for aesthetic purposes so you can totally omit that if you don't want to. 

These tastes better on the second day as the flavour develops. So grab a small bite if you cant resist and save the rest in the refrigerator. The wait promising to be rewarding i assure you!

So who said gluten-free desserts cannot be equally delicious?

Walnut Banana Loaf

Bananas are not just for monkeys minions.

They are great because they are packed with potassium, low in salt and has also been said to lower blood pressure. Plus they also make a great pre work out snack for an energy punch! YAY BANANAS!

I buy lots of bananas and I used to try finishing all of them by stuffing my family and myself with bananas for fear that they might go all black and unappetising. But now, I just peel those banana skin away, pack them in zip lock bags and freeze them up to save for future use. Like making smoothies or wonderful banana loafs for instance. Who doesn't appreciate the fragrance of bananas wafting through the house?

Quick tip: If you don't have over ripen bananas, the secret to flavourful banana bread would be to try roasting your bananas in the oven at 180 deg till the skin becomes black. Then you leave it to cool and mash it up for some awesome banana goodness.

How do you like some banana loaf today?

Walnut Banana Loaf

Adapted from John Barrowman.
Makes one 8" x 5" loaf tin

285g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
110g butter, plus extra for greasing
160g caster sugar
2 eggs
4 ripe bananas, mashed
85ml buttermilk (I used normal milk mixed with 1½ tsp of vinegar)
1 tsp vanilla extract

80g roasted walnuts (break these into smaller pieces)

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Line a 8 inch by 5 inch loaf tin with parchment paper.
• Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a mixing bowl.
• In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
• To the butter sugar mixture, add the eggs, mashed bananas, buttermilk and vanilla extract and mix well. 
• Fold in the flour mixture followed by the roasted walnuts.
• Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin.
• Transfer to the oven and bake for about 45min to 1 hour, or until well-risen and golden-brown.
• Remove from the oven and cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before serving.

Banana loafs are very versatile so you can add in some cinnamon if you may, replace walnuts with almond or chocolate chips. Entirely customisable up to your preference.

HAPPY BAKING!

Baileys Chocolate Flourless Torte

So yes, finally decided its high time that I finally archive my tried and tested recipes online (and also update this space) so that I will never lose it and also because all good things should be shared.

Baileys Chocolate Flourless Torte

Makes one 8” round

200 g dark chocolate (I use 55%)
80 g butter
80 g caster sugar
2 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream
4 eggs, separated
pinch of salt

• Butter and dust the cake tin and preheat the oven to 180C 
• Melt butter and chocolate together in baine-marie, stir to combine. 
• Remove and add Baileys and stir till it comes together. 
• Whisk in the sugar, then egg yolks. 
• In a separate bowl, beat egg whites to stiff peaks with a pinch of salt. 
• Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Do not over-mix.
• Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for 25 minutes, a toothpick inserted should come out clean.
• Let cool before removing the cake from the tin.
• Dust with powdered sugar before serving.
• Serve with ice cream, dried fruits or nuts entirely up to your imagination! 

And as of most chocolate cakes, the flavour continues to set and deepens as it cools so best served on the second day after refrigeration. (if you can resist that is)

Till next time!