My wife decided to surprise me one cold night with a hot cocktail.  My initial impressions were spiciness, warmth, a hint of citrus, and overall very unique and nice.  After guessing cointreau as one of the ingredients, I gave up.  Just couldn't get the rest.  I was convinced there was tea but she said no.

As it turns out, it was cointreau and chilli cordial (which we had got quite a few years ago at Murray Breweries in Beechworth) and hot water .


It was certainly a delight.  Can't wait to have more.

Not exactly one of my recipes but since it originated from the same household, I'm going to claim it as mine and share it here!!

We were given these chillies to us from my wife's aunt who has a variety of herbs, vegies and fruit in her garden.  Every time we visit, it is like harvest time for us.  It is a real delight to receive home-grown organic produce.

With the freezer overflowing, I thought I had better get on to using them and decided to make some chilli pastes.  The first was a harissa paste.

I got the Harissa Paste recipe from one of my favourite food blogs - 3 Hungry Tummies. The only difference is I used fresh birds eye chillies instead of dried chillies.  The bird eye chillies were HOT!

Will post an update when I use the harissa.

This is my own recipe.  Traditional you would use dried chillies for this type of chilli paste but again, I used fresh chillies.

Recipe


Ingredients:

300g bell pepper chillies

10 cloves garlic chopped
5 large shallots (asian)
50ml water
1 tbsp belacan (shrimp paste)
oil

Method:

Blend all chillies, garlic and shallots into a fine paste.  Heat oil on medium heat and fry the blended paste until fragrant.  Still constantly, otherwise it will splatter.  Cook for 30-45 minutes.

Halfway through cooking, put in belacan and continue stirring until dissolved.  Salt to taste.  Cool and bottle.  Will keep up to 2 weeks in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer.

Use in stir fries or as an accompaniment to fried noodles, fried rice etc.

Chicken with preserved lemons

I have been curious about middle eastern food lately so have been experimenting, even making my own preserved lemons from provided by generous friends.  The preserved lemons didn't take long to prepare but took a while to mature.

I've served this dish twice accompanied by cous cous and a hearty lentil soup.  

I got the chicken recipe from the local library and the lentil soup recipe soup was from Ozlem's Turkish Table.  The only modification I made was to leave out the chilli so that the kids could enjoy it too.

I always consider a dish a success when my guinea pigs (my family) demolish every last morsel, especially when the two little ones give me a thumbs up as well!  My wife considers this a dark sweet and sour variant.

Recipe


1.5 kg spare ribs, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red onion, chopped finely
2 star anise
2 tsp minced ginger
1 cup black vinegar
1 cup water
1/2 cup dark soy sauce
1/2 cup chinese cooking wine
200g rock sugar (2 large lumps)
white sesame seeds, toasted (as garnish)

Method:

Brown ribs until colour changes and fat is released.  Take ribs out and reserve.  Discard oil. 

Fry garlic, onion, star anise, ginger until soften.  Then add in black vinegar, water, dark soy sauce, chinese cooking wine and rock sugar.  Bring to boil, then lower to a simmer.  Add ribs.  Cook covered for about 1 -1.5 hours.  Skim off excess oil during cooking.

For the last 10-15 minutes, increase heat to high to reduce sauce.  

Plate dish and garnish with sesame seeds.  Serve with steamed rice.