Kafta with Pomegranate Molasses - AFF featuring West Asia

Decided to post up my final post of the year by participating in this month's AFF. In fact I have been procrastinating on recipe since 1st week of Dec haha! Anyways, I am glad I finally got it done and over with....and it was really delicious haha! So no regrets there for sure. :) In fact this is perfect timing to make this dish since poms are on sale and you will need at least 4 of those big fruits to extract a cup of the precious molasses for this dish.

Please pardon the qualities of my pictures as most of them are taken using my phone camera haha! Anyway, brown coloured food are usually harder to produce nicer shots. ;P There is basically two steps in making this dish, first is of course making the pom molasses is most of the tedious part is the reduction of the juice. So here is the recipe:

Pomegranate Molasses (makes 1 cup)
3 large pomegranates, yields about 500ml juice
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup caster sugar

• Place all the pomegranate seeds into a blender and zap at high speed for about 1-2minutes.
• Using a fine sieve, drain through all the pom juice and toss the pulp and seed.
• In a saucepan, add in all the pom juice, lemon juice and sugar. Set to medium fire and bring to a boil. Then lower the fire to low and let it cook down till it is thick, much like syrup consistency.
• Let cool completely and set aside for later use.
• 

 Kafta with Pomegranate molasses (Serves 2-3)

Ingredients:

200g minced beef

1 large onion

2 -3 sprigs fresh parsely

3 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp seasalt

1/2 tsp white pepper

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp bread crumbs

1/2 diced onion 

2-3 tbsp pomegranate molsses

• In the blender, add in onion, parsley, garlic and all of the seasoning. Once it blend till paste form, pour into a mixing bowl.
• Add the minced beef & bread crumbs into the mixing bowl and stir to combine paste with meat till uniform.
• Form about 1.5" balls from the meat mixture. Then chill if needed prior to cooking so that it will be more firm.
• In a large skillet, add about 1 tbsp of cooking oil over medium heat. Add the kafta balls and cook till golden brown. Add a couple tablespoons of water to steam cook if necessary.
• Remove the kafta balls from the skillet once cooked and add in the 1/2 diced onions and cook till soft.
• Return the cooked kafta balls into the skillet and 2-3 tablespoons of the pomegranate molasses.
• Toss and coat the meatballs with the molasses and dish up.Serve when it is still hot with steam rice.

I was really please when my two little ones love these meatballs! The meat was moist and tender and flavorful, yummy! Loving the slight tang the pom juice gave the meatballs, plus the spices wasn't overpowering at all...definitely a keeper around my household.

I am please to submit this month's  Asian Food Fest: West Asia hosted by Shannon from Just As Delish.

Signing off now and wishing everyone a wonderful new year! Promise I will post more often haha

Roasted Lemongrass Chicken (Gai Ob Ta Khai) -AFF featuring Thailand

Posting a quick one in support of this month's AFF featuring Thailand. This time I made something simple; Roasted Lemongrass Chicken (Gai Ob Ta Khai). The key to making this dish a successful one is the long hours of marination. So it is best to make this ahead and let it chill in the fridge marinating. :) But the cooking part was really a no fuss easy oven baked dish!

Check out the glisten on that chicken wing haha! I guess to every meat we enjoy, we wish its tender, succulent and flavorful. Well this dish pretty much covers all these criteria! So let's check out what you need to get this on your dinner table. ;) I adapted this recipe from "Cooking Classics Thailand" by Forest Leong.

Ingredients for Roasted Lemongrass Chicken Wings (Serves 3-4)
8 chicken wings, trimmed of fat, wash and pat dry
3 lemongrass stalks
2 Tbsp olive oil

Marinate
2 lemongrass stalks, ends trimmed and bruised
1 tbsp dark soy
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
125 ml water 

Method:

• Prepare the marinate 3-4 hours ahead. Chop the lemongrass finely. Heat the saucepan on medium fire and add in the lemongrass in. Then add in all the rest of the marinate ingredients and bring to a boil. Then remove from fire, cover and let cool completely.
• Once the marinate is cooled, pour into a big mixing bowl. Then add in the chicken wings, coat the chicken wings well with the marinate sauce. Leave the chicken to absorb the marinate in the fridge for 3-4hrs.
• Preheat the oven to 200C
• Take chicken wings out from the fridge. Arrange chicken pieces on an aluminum foil lined baking tray. 
• Using the bruised lemongrass stalk, dip in cooking oil and use it as a brush and brush the chicken wings well. This step will help crisp up the skin / surface and prevent burning.
• Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or till the juice runs clear.
• Remove from oven and place on serving plate and serve immediately. Garnish with lemongrass if desired. 

The skin was crisp and super flavorful. So delicious with a bowl of steam rice! Loving the savory, lemon twist in this dish. If you like lemongrass like I do, you should definitely give this a try. :)

I am submitting this to Asian Food Fest ( Thailand ) November Month hosted by frozen wings

Matcha soba noodle salad -AFF featuring Japan

Okay, this is gonna be another rushed out post for AFF. Matcha soba noodle salad, a simple yet all so refreshing and delicious meal to have at anytime of the day. And it is really really so easy to prepare...I think even my kids can do it haha!

Ingredients for Matcha soda noodle salad (Serves 1)
1/2 package of matcha soba (or any flavor you prefer)
1 egg (tamago), beaten and pan fried, cut into thin strip
3-4 imitation crab meat, cut into thin strips
2 slices ham, sliced thin
1/2 Japanese cucumber, sliced thinly
1 tsp vegetable / olive oil

Dipping sauce:
1 tsp dashi granules
50ml mirin
50 soy sauce
1 tsp caster sugar 

• Bring a pot of water to boil and add in the soba noodles. Takes about 4-5 minutes depending on the thickness of the noodle. Do read the package for details.
• Drain and rinse under tap water to cool it to stop it from cooking.
• Toss the cooled noodles in vegetable or olive oil to prevent it from sticking together.
• Place all the sliced ingredients nicely over the noodles. Then add a tsp of the tobiko over the top as garnish if desired.
• Prepare the dipping sauce by mixing everything together.
• You can either toss the toppings together and drizzle the sauce over or simple just fork out mouthfuls of noodle to dip into the sauce. Enjoy!

Such a simple and healthy dish to serve to your family and friends! Do try this at home. :)

I am happy to submit this to this month's Asian Food Fest #1 Oct 2013 : Japan, hosted by Alan from travelling-foodies   

California Maki -AFF featuring Japan

Oh my, this is bad. Bad as in I am gone too long and still feel comfortable about it, haha! Gosh, I seriously hope this ain't gonna become a habit! Anyways, Shan't waste time doing small talks, let's just get down to business. This is a much delayed post since I made this like 3 weeks ago haha! California Maki, a rather popular a kind of sushi roll, usually made inside-out, containing cucumber, crab meat or imitation crab, and avocado. In short, it is delicious sushi, haha!

Ingredients for California Maki (Serves 3)
1 cup sushi rice (uncooked)
1/2 tsp Japanese rice vinegar
1/2 tsp mirin

• Cook the rice as per normal. Once done, add in the vinegar and mirin and gently fold in to combine. Let rice cool before use

~3-4 tbsp tobiko
1 ripe avocado, peeled, cored and sliced into 8 equal strips lengthwise
1 Japanese cucumber, also peeled, removed seed portion and cut lengthwise into 4
8-10 strips of imitation crab meat
2 egg, beaten and pan fried, cut into strips (Optional)
Some Japanese mayo
4 nori sheets

You will also need:
Bamboo mat
Saran wrap

• I usually will wrap the bamboo wrap so that the rice will not get in between and hard to wash up later.
• I cut the nori sheets into half.
• Place about 3 to 4 tbsp amount of sushi rice and press down so that the rice stick nicely.

•  Next you gently flip the nori sheet over and rice facing down.

•  Place the avocado, crab meat and cucumber on top. At the same time, squeeze some Japanese mayo on top.

•  Then roll it up tightly. If at this point you find the ingredients are "oozing out", it means you have place too much ingredients. If you prefer having more ingredients, you might not want cut the nori sheets into half.

• Using a teaspoon and sprinkle/press the tobiko over the top surface of the sushi roll.

•  Then place a saran wrap over the top and then gently using the bamboo shoot and roll it up to press down the tobiko.

• Unwrap the bamboo and saran, then using a sharp knife to cut the sushi into half first. Then cut each half into 3 equal portions.

I actually kind of enjoyed making this California maki. In fact I love making sushi for my kids and this inside out version was kinda of a challenge haha! But definitely worth a try if you love sushi, :)

I am happy to submit this to this month's Asian Food Fest #1 Oct 2013 : Japan, hosted by Alan from travelling-foodies
Have a good night all!