Eggs in a Cloud

 Eggs are wonderfully versatile and this recipe just proves the fact that it doesn't have to be difficult to be stunning (not to mention delicious). Ideal for those special mornings or a brunch with friends, it won't fail to impress.

Ingredients：4 eggs (room temperature)

                 4 pieces of whole grain toast

                 Sliced cheese

                 Chives to taste

                 Salt and pepper to taste

                 Pinch of cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Separate egg whites and cream of tartar until firm peaks are formed. Gently stir chives into the egg white mixture. Layer cheese onto toast. Spoon egg whites onto toast and form a hollow in the centre of each. Add egg yolk to the hollow. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Serve with favourite sauces and season with salt and pepper.

Note: Cream of tartar assists in forming stable egg whites, it isn't necessary so don't stress if you don't have any at hand.

Steamed Pumpkin Muffins

These sweet, soft and easy to make muffins are an absolute killer at home. The pumpkin adds to the sweetness whilst retaining moisture with the hint of coconut taking it beyond the classic pumpkin muff. Not to mention the novelty of steaming a cake like this.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time:      15 minutes each batch.

Ingredients:         125 grams of steamed and mashed pumpkin

                         85 grams of castor sugar

                         200 grams of self raising flour

                         100 ml of coconut milk or cream

                         Pinch of salt

                         2 tsps cinnamon

                         30 ml of oil

                         1 egg

Steam and mash pumpkin and leave aside whilst preparing the rest of the mixture. Combine flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Beat egg, sugar and salt together with a whisk until frothy and well combined. Add coconut milk, egg mixture and oil to dry ingredients, mixing until a batter is formed. Use reinforced cupcake pans and fill halfway with batter. Steam on a high heat for 15 minutes. Lovely served with jam or pickles.

                         

Savoury Pumpkin Pie with Damper Crust

An Australian twist on my favourite pumpkin pie. A sweet and spicy centre with a classic damper top.


Preparation Time：20 minutes

Cooking Time:      30 minutes

Ingredients:        2 cups of mashed pumpkin

                        1 cup of steamed cauliflower

                        1 cup of cooked peas

                        1 cup of steamed diced carrot

                        1 diced onion

                        2 tsps minced garlic

                        2 tsps minced ginger

                        1 tsp ground turmeric

                        1 tsp fennel seed

                        2 tblspn of brown sugar

                        1/4 cup of plain flour

                        Salt and pepper to taste

                        Topping

                        1 and 1/2 cups of self-raising flour

                        3/4 cup of milk

                        30 grams of butter

                        Salt

Fry diced onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, fennel and brown sugar until brown and aromatic. Combine with cooked vegetables and flour and mash together. Place mixture in a pie dish. Make topping by rubbing the butter into the flour and salt, mix through milk until forms a dough. Knead dough for 2 minutes until smooth. Spread dough over the pie and cook in a 200 degree centigrade oven for 30 minutes. Spread grated cheese over pie during the last 5 minutes of cooking. Crust should turn golden brown and crisp when ready.

Passionfruit and Banana Scrolls

Another quick and easy recipe to use up those left over bananas. Nothing more than just a basic scone recipe with a mashed banana and some passion fruit. The hard part is in the rolling and cutting, I recommend storing in the fridge for half an hour before cutting the scrolls otherwise you'll find yourself with more passion fruit goop on the yourself than in the scrolls. Tinned passion fruit works just as great for the filling as fresh. I also like to pulverise the banana completely to get the lightest possible texture from the recipe.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time:      20 minutes

Ingredients:        3 cups of self-raising flour     

                        3/4 cup of milk

                        3/4 cup of mashed banana (usually 1 banana)

                        90 grams of butter

                        1/4 cup of caster sugar

                        Pinch of salt

                        3/4 cup passion fruit

                        2 tsps of cinnamon

Combine butter, flour, salt and cinnamon in food processor until it resembles fine bread crumbs. Move mixture to a large bowl and form a well in the centre. Pour in sugar, mashed banana and milk. Mix until a dough is formed. Roll dough into a rectangle of 20cm by 30cm. Spread half a cup of passion fruit over the slab of dough leaving a border of 2cm. Refrigerate log for half an hour. Slice into 2cm wide rounds. Place on baking trays leaving 4cm between slices. Top with remaining passion fruit. Bake for 20 minutes at 200 - 220 degree centigrade.

Delicious served warm or cool with custard or just with a cup of coffee.

                               

Rich Chocolate Self-saucing Pudding

Easy come easy go. That's how this pudding operates. Fond memories are tucked away of my mother whipping this decadent treat in a matter of moments only to be scuffed down in the blink of an eye.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time:      40 minutes

Ingredients:        Pudding 

                        1 cup of self-raising flour

                        3 tblspns of Dutch cocoa

                        1/2 cup of brown sugar

                        80grams of melted butter

                        1/2 cup of milk

                        1 egg

                        Sauce

                              3/4 cup of brown sugar

                        2 tblspns of cocoa powder

                        1 and 1/4 cups of boiling water

Sift flour and cocoa into a large bowl. Stir in sugar. Combine melted butter, milk and egg whilst slowly adding it to the flour mixture. Whisk until well combined. Spoon into a greased deep baking deep. Combine excess brown sugar and cocoa then sprinkle evenly over the pudding. Gently pour boiling water over pudding using the back of a spoon. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes at 180 degrees centigrade or until pudding bounces back after being pressed.

What in the world is a Sausage Cake?!

Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined a sausage cake, well, perhaps on a late night drunken binge which usually just ends in finding the nearest packet of mi goreng and shortly passing out. It's definitely to be my next cooking project. I'll leave a link to a recipe here.


I'd love to hear any feedback or suggestions from those sausage cake veterans out there on what makes a successful sausage cake.


Link to Hounds in the Kitchen - Sausage Cake

Aloo Paratha (Filled Indian Flatbread)

Crispy Indian flat-bread filled with spicy mashed potato, this sounds like heaven to me - and it is. May be a little time consuming but if you've an hour or two up your sleeve I promise it won't disappoint. Don't be fooled by its appearance - they're ridiculously easy to make. Often served along side a main dish but I think they go down a real treat disguised as finger food served with guacamole and chutney.

Preparation time: 1 hour

Cooking time:      1 hour

Ingredients:        2 cups of whole wheat flour

                         1 tsp salt

                         1 tsp olive oil

                         Water for kneading

                         3 large potatoes

                         1/2 cup green peas

                         1/2 cup diced onion

                         3 tsp grated ginger

                         3 tsp crushed garlic

                         1 tsp chilli powder

                         1 tsp turmeric powder

                         2 tsp sugar

                         1 jalapeno minced

                         1 tsp fennel

Knead flour, salt, oil and water together until it resembles the texture of tortilla dough. Just sticky to the touch. Set aside for half an hour. This should improve the texture and make it easier to roll.

Boil and mash potatoes and peas together. Fry onion with salt, ginger, garlic, turmeric, chilli, sugar, jalapeno and fennel. Mix well through potato mixture. Let cool. 

Take a ball of dough the size of a golf ball. Roll into a thin tortilla-like round. Make a ball of filling slightly larger than a golf ball and wrap the flattened dough around the filling. Roll this ball flat until until as thin as possible. Fry in a hot flat pan few a few minutes each side until crispy. 

Personally I like to have a higher filling to bread ratio in my parathas. The crunch of the crust against is the soft spicy filling is a treat for the palate.