Gearing up for the Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year as most people know it can be a manic experience. Having to make special dishes and deserts as well as buying exotic fruits to celebrate an auspicious year can be overwhelming! I wanted to make a batch of won tons to each during the week and in advance should the need arise.
In all honesty, I have made this based loosely around Vietnamese Foody's Wonton Vietnamese Noodle Soup (mi hoanh thanh)recipe, a mix of my mum's and my own interpretation! So the end result will be more catered to my own tastes, most likely a yay then!
Yay or Nay: Yay
I can't lie, it was good! Delicious in fact! The only downside was that I'd overcooked the won ton just to make sure that they were cooked on the inside. Chuc Mung Nam Moi / kung hei fat choi / Happy New Year
When both of us wants pie, we usually go for the fail-safe steak and ale, so for something a little different I remembered making a chicken and chorizo pie. After searching and searching, I found Curiously Delicious' Chicken and Chorizo Pie but couldn't find the original one I made way back before the blog. This version was the most similar to the original, bar the tomato sauce and peppers.
FYI: I used Jamie Oliver's shortcrust pastry recipe which I have reviewed here.
Yay or Nay: Yay
I've only added photos of the filling, mainly because everyone knows what a pie looks like!! The recipe straightforward and even though it wasn't like the dry original pie, this one I purposely reduced the tomato sauce down (in case of a soggy bottom!) and the chili paste (I used chili powder) gives it some heat. My only gripe is that I cannot for the life of me find real Spanish style chorizo, here in the States, it is more like a regular raw sausage.
TIP: The recipe says to use puff pastry, but I prefer shortcrust. I followed Jamie's recipe for cooking the whole pie, but I would increase the time to about 50mins as I like my pastry crispy and brown.
I'm always on the hunt for healthy, sweet, chocolately snacks. Yes, I know you can buy versions of chocolate treats at your local whole foods/natural food stores but I'm always slightly dubious as I don't really know how much of each ingredient they have put in, plus the price is never worth it!
I've had puffed quinoa before and it reminds me of rice crispies, so when I saw a bag of quinoa for sale and knowing I had some left over raw cacao powder, I knew I wanted to make Deliciously Ella's Quinoa and Cacao Cripsy Treats.
Yay or Nay: Nay
I made the puffed quinoa myself three times, which is two times too many. It didn't look any different to regular quinoa, it was still hard to the bite and definitely did not look puffed! The chocolate mixture itself is ok, nothing special, I was excited about the addition of nut butter but I think the badly puffed quinoa put me off the whole thing. I'm glad I only made 6 of these!
TIP: I used almond butter but the recipe doesn't specify any in particular. Also, I made waaay less than the recipe stated as I wanted to try before making a ton of them!
Happy New Year everyone!
I discovered this recipe a while back and it's been a long time since I made it. It's Mexican but not like I usually know it - burritos, tacos and empanadas. Admittedly I wasn't recipe browsing when I spotted Country Living's recipe for Huevos Rancheros, I was looking for interior inspiration.
Either way, the recipe looked easy and appetising - not heavy on the cheese and heartburn!
Yay or Nay: Yay
There are a lot of ingredients and a lot of steps but each one is pretty easy to do. I didn't fry the tortillas as I wanted a lighter option so I baked it. Bad move! Instead of being crispy, the tortilla was hard and chewy. I definitely want to find a better way to bake this to give the same texture as frying it.
TIP: Fry your eggs sunny side up as the oozing yolk adds to the whole experience!
TIP: Feta cheese works as well as Cotija cheese if you can't find it - I can't so I sub feta for this.
