CEIMB - Aromatic Noodles with Lime Peanut Sauce

I haven't participated in CEIMB in ages. I did actually make the Vegetable Cheese Strata a couple of weeks ago but it was such a disaster i didn't blog about it.

I've been looking forward to making this dish for a while. I made two substitutions, red wine vinegar for the rice vinegar, and baby corn for the snap peas. The sauce was very easy to make and very quick. I was sure the chilli flakes i used weren't going to be spicy enough so i put quite a bit in (yes i do have very spicy noodles now).

Apart from my veggies being a bit to undercooked, i really liked this. The sauce is great, maybe a little less chilli next time though ;)

Great choice Beth! Please check out her blog Supplicious and here for the recipe.

CEIMB - Thai Style Bocourti with Coconut Curry Broth

My mother is from Malaysia and my father is English. I love curry (and steak and kidney pies) and grew up eating this and other glorious malay food. I only wish i could cook malay food like my mum can. So its no surprise that when i told Mum i'd be cooking a thai fish curry she looked skeptical. You see, as well as being hopeless at cooking malay cuisine, i'm not fond of fish. I love shellfish, but not fish. I'm not allergic, its just that i don't like a strong tasting or smelling fish, and i don't like it cooked soft. It has to be really done before i'll eat it - no sashimi for me!

Its funny how things have different names in different countries. I don't know how many times i have an ingredient list in hand and i'm walking around the supermarket looking for something only to find its called something else. I had no idea what cilantro was and figured it was some sort of vegetable. The supermarket staff didn't know so i had to call my husband and he didn't know, but he did google it for me. Ahh... coriander. I did know it, just by a different name. Here are some others, eggplant - aubergine, capsicum - peppers, scallions - spring onions. THere are more but i can't think of them right now.

Only a couple of changes, i couldn't find light coconut milk so just used normal, and the halibut was a little expensive so i bought bocourti fish instead. Also, i didn't steam the baby spinach, i just added this into the sauce.



Mum did keep a watchful eye over me and was concerned a couple of times. Apparently there are different kinds of curry powder for meat and for fish. Well i didn't know (i bought the meat curry powder), oh well. She also said that tamarind would be a much better sour taste than the lime juice. She was also wondering where the chillies were. A curry with no chilli, she couldn't believe it. I had to add a teaspoon of sugar as the sauce was just too sour.

I really liked this, mum did too but she did say it would be much better with some chilli, i agree :)
The fish was good, firm and boneless (thank goodness). I really enjoyed it.



Big thanks are due to Liz from The Not So Skinny Kitchen for this great choice. Please check out her blog and her recipes, i think i'm going to try and make her cinnamon crumb cake :)

CEIMB - Jerk Chicken with Cool Pineapple Salsa

I'm really glad to get back into the swing of things. Lol, after 2 weeks off i have been baking and cooking up a storm :)

When i read the title of this weeks recipe i thought it sounded nice, then i read the ingredients for the salsa. Cucumber and pineapple, together? Hmm. Oh well, give it a try.



I live in a condo in Singapore so there isn't the same level of privacy you get in a house, and after 2 years here i'm still getting used to it. Anyways, i was dicing the cucumber and pineapple, my kitchen window was open and the little girl a floor below was singing at the tops of her lungs Kelly Clarkson's Miss Independent. It kept me so entertained that i just kept on chopping and ended up with double the quantity i needed for the salsa.



I really liked this, i wasn't expecting to but it was really good. I had the chicken and salsa with couscous and raisins and it was great. My kids wouldn't try it but my husband, picky eater that he his, finished his plate.

Thank you Jen from Notes From the Table for this weeks pick. Please visit her site for the recipe.

CEIMB - Lamb Stew with Orange

I am so excited! This weeks choice for Craving Ellie in my Belly was my choice, yay! Gosh it was a tough choice. I kept flicking through the book and kept going back and forth between quite a few recipes, but i always came back to this one. You see i love lamb, and seeing as its spring in England (i do miss living there) i thought it would be really appropriate to have spring lamb.

I added few extra ingredients to the already long list. I added lamb shank as well as the lamb cubes, some cinnamon and some allspice. I also increased the quantities so some other ingredients. Additionally, instead of chicken stock i used mushroom stock and a beef bouillon cube. I love this kind of cooking, all in one pot :)

I actually made this the same day i made my chocolate amaretti torte for TWD. When my friend Sandy stopped by to pick up her cake i let her try some of the stew and she really liked it.



I had the stew with brown rice and i absolutely loved it! The lamb was so tender and all the different flavours coming through..... delicious! I am definitely going to make this again.

I really hope all the other CEIMB participants enjoyed this and looking forward to next weeks Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach and Couscous chosen by Marthe from Culinary Delights.

TWD Blueberry Crumb Cake and CEIMB Chicken with Mango Barbecue Sauce

Apologies for the late and combined posts, my youngest son was in hospital with Gastroenteritis.
THANK YOU for the well wishes and prayers, we are very grateful to have him home and he is almost back to his usual self. :-)

TWD


I can't eat a lot of chocolate (i get headaches) and when i saw this weeks choice i was so relieved! There were so many chocolate choices last month and more to come next month, this and the yogurt cake are a welcome break :) I was really excited to make this! My friend Sandy loves blueberries so i promised her the cake, less a slice for me.



The only change i made to the recipe was to use pecans instead of walnuts. Everything seemed to go well. It looked great going into the oven and i was eagerly anticipating the first taste.

An hour went by and the middle of the cake was still jiggly and was very brown on top. Uh-oh. 20 minutes later and it was done. I cut a bit out and it was really soft and mushy at the bottom. I had no crumb topping on top, it wasn't even crunchy. I ate it with some double cream and rather than a cake, it seemed more like a pudding.

I wasn't thrilled by this and i'm not sure if i'll give it another go but i am glad i made it. Thank you for the pick Sihan!


CEIMB



I'll admit it, i was a little dubious. Mango barbecue sauce? When i told my husband what i was making for dinner, he gave me the same reaction. I was super confident 'don't worry, you'll love it. I have a feeling its going to be really good!'. Haha, i don't know why i put this pressure on myself.

I did make some slight changes to the recipe. Instead of pounding the chicken i left the breasts, browned them on the griddle, then put them into the oven to finish cooking. Additionally, after trying the sauce i found it far too tangy, so i added some ketchup and it was much better.

For my husband, i served it with broccoli and mashed potatoes, and i had it with boiled potatoes and broccoli. Delicious! I love the sauce and will make this again, and again, and again :)

THe reason why i don't have a nice picture of the final dish is because, well, we were so hungry and it was so good, it was all gone before i remembered. Sorry!

Thanks Aggie for the great pick!

CEIMB - Greek Style Stuffed Peppers

My first CEIMB post, yay!  Its kind of nice that my first recipe was very straightforward and was baked in an oven :)

The recipe was chosen by Ali from the healthy hostess.  

I was a little unsure about the recipe when i saw the list of ingredients, bulgar wheat (never tried it), zucchini (or courgette as i know it, and not that fond of it), and red peppers (hmm).  Well its my first CEIMB and i'm not going to give it a miss, and i do want to get over any irrational fears or apprehension of certain foods that i have.  

I loved the preparation of this.  Everything except the peppers, tomatoes and cheese, gets mixed altogether in a bowl, stuffed into the pepper halves then topped with the tomatoes and cheese.  How easy is that?  I did add the juice and some zest of a lemon as i still have lemons left over from my TWD French Yogurt Cake, and i also added some mozzarella cheese.  I actually made double the recipe as I have family staying with me at the moment.  Somehow i ended up with more stuffing then peppers so i just filled all the gaps with it too.

So in it went into the oven and an hour and a half later it was time to tuck in.  I served it with brown rice and it was really yummy.  Next time (yes i will be making it again) i will add some chilli and allspice to bring out the flavours a little more.

Thanks for a great choice and entry into CEIMB  :)