FoodObsession's Xanga

Halloumi Spieße

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 20:27:01 GMT

Have you ever took time to read the recipes that comes on the back of food packages? Well, to tell you the truth, I never did. I didn't think these recipes were any good. Olaf, on the other hand, reads it all. And he has actually found a couple of really good recipes along the way.

Over the weekend, we brought ourselves some Halluomi cheese. I had this halluomi cheese salad some time ago, and was craving for some ever since.

Halloumi is a cheese made from a mixture of goat and sheep's milk. It is naturally salty and has a distinctive layered texture, similar to that of mozarella. It is an excellent cheese for frying and grilling because it can be fried until brown without melting due to its higher-than-normal melting point.

The following recipe comes from the back of the Halluomi package:

Ingredients:
250 g Halloumi cheese
1 Paprika
1 Onion
1 Bio-Lemon
5 Tablespoons Olive Oil
8 White Button Mushrooms
3 Cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
Thyme, Oregano, Rosemary, Black Pepper

Mix oil, lemon zest, lemon juice and black pepper in a bowl. Add the thyme, oregano, rosemary and garlic to the mixture.

Chop the paprika, onion, cheese into 2cm slices

Pour the marinade mixture into the chopped vegetables and mushrooms. Keep it aside for 4 hours.

Arrange the vegetables in any order on a wooden stick.

Fry the sticks for 2-3 mins on each side in a hot pan or 8 mins over a grill

Serve with rice and salad

So, the next time you see a recipe behind a box, take some time to read it. You might end up with something delicious.

Sambal Kartoffeln (Potatoes)

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:34:16 GMT

Sambal (von Wikipedia)
sind dickflüssige, ursprünglich aus Indonesien stammende Würzsaucen auf Chili-Basis

I came across this bottle of Sambal Oelek while doing our weekly grocery shopping. And this recipe came immediately to mind. My grandma's maid from Indonesia had prepared this for me as a snack (a really spicy heavy snack ), but it was really yummy. I stayed around in the kitchen to watch her prepare this dish and picked up the recipe along the way.

For those who LOVE spicy, this is the perfect side dish to go with rice and noodles. (Watching Olaf finish up the potatoes, i can safely claim, the Germans will like it - just be warned, the tummy might give u a little trouble the day after)

Ingredients (serves 2)

5 potatoes (speise kartoffeln)
3 teaspoons of Sambal Oelek (Can be adjusted to any level of spiciness)
3 teaspoons of Sugar
2 teaspoons of Salt
1 and a half cups of oil

1. Peel and chop the potatoes into small cubes

2. Heat up the oil in a wok, put the potatoes into the oil once it is hot and deep fry them for approx 3-5 mins, or till they turn golden.

3. Remove the potatoes from the wok and place them on a paper towel to drain
4. In a hot pan, combine the potatoes, sambal, sugar and salt.
5. Stir fry for 2 mins and Serve.

Chinese New Year & Pineapple Tarts

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:28:13 GMT

And so we begin a new Chinese Year , the year of the Rat Mouse ( Mouse sounds cuter doesn't it?).
This Friday marks the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations (info:- the chinese follow the moon calendar, and the chinese new year celebrations usually last for 15 days till the next full moon).
Although I didn't get much of a chance to celebrate it this year (was in fact working ), I did ease my homesickness a little by baking myself a nice batch of pineapple tarts.

Pineapple tarts are a very Chinese New Yearsy snack. During the New Year period, almost everyone stocks up their homes with pineapple tarts. I really can't remember where I got this recipe from... , but the one who came up with this is definitely a Genius! I've seen it repeated in some other recipe blogs and it's no wonder as well, considering what a great hit it is with family and friends.

Pineapple filling

Pineapples (I used canned pineapples - couldn't get nice sweet fresh ones)
200g brown sugar
2cm piece cinnamon stick
1 tbsp lemon or lime juice

Pastry dough

340g plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp icing sugar
225g butter, cubed
1 egg yolk
25ml iced-cold water
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 beaten egg, for glazing

To make the jam, I chopped up the pineapple into fine bits. Then I combined the pineapple with the rest of the ingredients in a pot and cooked over a moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture is almost dry.
Set aside to cool.

1. Sift the flour, salt and icing sugar in a mixing bowl.

2. Beat the egg yolk and add that, together with the ice cold water and essence to the flour mixture. Rub in butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

3. Working with little balls of pastry at each time, add the pineapple jam to the middle of the pastry and close it up

4. Place tarts on a baking tray and glaze with beaten egg.

5. Bake in a preheated over at 180°C for 15 mins. Reduce the temperature to 170°C and continue to bake for another 10 mins or till it turns golden.

Flower Tea (Blumen Tee)

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:31:10 GMT

When it comes to tea consumption, I would think that Germany comes in second place after China . I don't think I've even seen so many different types of tea back home in Singapore.!

I was just browsing through the Bio-shop before my German classes today trying to get some tea to soothe my "numbed-out" mouth (Had a visit to the dentist after the tooth filling dropped out on Saturday ) and I couldn't make up my mind! They had "Comfort" tea, "Relaxing" tea, "Concentration" tea, "Fruit" tea, "Mind-enriching" tea... I ended up with a bag of grapes instead

Well, this one still tops my list:

During the last trip to China with my German colleagues, we discovered "Blooming Flower Tea" and that is what exactly the tea does! It blooms in the water right before your eyes. What's pretty amazing is that you could leave it to stand the whole day and it doesn't get too thick, not like the chinese tea that comes in the dim sum restaurants. And you can add water to it over and over again. Haven't seen it around in the shops here, though I did read about it in a German magazine. Well, the next time I go to China, I'll take orders

Blog-Trifft-Gastro 2008

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:18:12 GMT

I had a wonderful weekend.

The Blog-Trifft-Gastro 2008, Stuttgart came to an end for me yesterday (sadly since I had to "camp" at home to study for a German exam tomorrow ) It was a great experience meeting up with people who share my passion of Food and Gastronomie. Every event was pretty much a highlight for me, from visiting the MarktHalle (which is always a pleasure), to tasting olives and an amazing combination of Goat's cheese and caramelized onions.. and the definitely dinner at Zauberlehrling. Truthfully, this has got to be my very first experience at such a renowned restaurant. Well, I was not disappointed.. as the photos will tell later

It was a pleasure meeting everyone and I'm looking forward to the next event already! There is something about a "Genuss-Camp" idea which I really hope and would love to help make a reality.

Enjoy the photos!

Blog-trifft-Gastro 2008

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 06:49:13 GMT

I really haven't had much discipline in maintaining the website.. Sorry that it has taken so long for a new entry...
In between work and language courses (and the occassional mood swings), I had really neglected the site. My Bad

I am taking baby steps towards enlarging my social circle here in Stuttgart (which currently stands at the Grand Count of 1). So, for the week ahead :

- The Blog-Trifft-Gastro 2008 will kick off this evening. Will be my chance to meet people here who share my passion for food Exciting! Of cos, there will be delicious food in play as well. I'll definitely post up photos of this event in time to come.

- Mexican with my German classmates I sooooo miss mexican food! Good food and a good crowd makes for a wonderful night out.

I definitely haven't stopped cooking, nor have I stopped my habit of documenting my cook processes. Just need some time to sit down and sort out the photos. Will do that really soon.. and post up some good recipes. Till then, stay tuned!

Ricotta Balls

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 17:46:16 GMT

I have a long list of food blogs that I follow constantly. But the one that always impresses me the most is definitely Delicious Days. Her entries are always so well written and the photos are inspiring (which probably explains why most of what I cook on this blog comes from her entries )

She posted this recipe of Ricotta Balls, from some program which she saw from Arte (some German tv channel).
Since Olaf is a HUGE cheese lover, I gave the recipe a shot. And actually it turned out really well .

The recipe can be found here. (I served it with wild rice)

Ingredients

Rolling the Ricotta Balls

Cooking the cheese balls in a tomato base sauce.. and Viola!

It was actually even better after we kept it in the fridge overnight Go visit Delicious Days.. and get inspired as well.

Rosti...Mmmmmmm!

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 18:36:30 GMT

In Singapore, the only place where one gets Rosti was at the restaurant Marche. After a long 4 hour bicycle ride today, we decided to cook some for ourselves. And as the Germans would put it, es war ganz einfach! Really simple! Ok.. it takes a little bit of arm work to shred the potatoes.. well, no pain no gain

Rosti with mushroom sauce

Ingredients (For my daily meat dose, I included some sausage...)

4 Potatoes (2 per person)
100g Mushrooms
1 Red Pepper
150g Cheese spread
2 Onions
1 egg
Salt and Pepper to taste
Oil to fry

1. Finely slice the mushrooms, red pepper and the onions.
2. Peel and shred the potatoes

3. To the shredded potatoes, add some salt and pepper to taste. Then add half of the sliced onions and a beaten egg and mix well.
4. Heat a pan and add oil to it. (Keep the fire at a medium level)
5. Add some of the potato mixture into the pan. Just enough to fill the pan.

6. Fry for approx 4-5 mins on one side before flipping it to the other and doing the same.
7. Put the fried Rostis on a paper towel to drain some oil.
8. In the same pan, stir fry the sliced mushrooms, onions and red peppers. Once the vegetables are soft add the cheese spread to the pan and continue stirring till the cheese is evenly distributed.
9. Serve the cheese sauce together with the Rosti.

Sinfully Delicious

A meal in one pot

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 11:22:48 GMT

There are just lazy days when I can't be bothered to just stand in front of the stove to cook. I figured you can't go very wrong when u just put all ur food together in one pot and just bake it (Of cos, there IS the possibility that it will burn ) Well, that's when I came up with my meal in a pot - Simple, Easy and of cos Good for the tummy

Ingredients (for 2)

2 chicken thighs
2 tomatoes
3 potatoes
3 carrots
6 slices of bacon
2 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Peel the potatoes and carrots and chop into slices. Oil the pot that you will be cooking in and line the base with the chopped vegetables.

2. Wash and de-skin the chicken thighs. Season with some salt and pepper, and wrap each thigh with 3 slices of bacon. Place the wrapped thighs on top of the carrots and potatoes.

3. Slice the tomatoes into halves and put them between the thighs. Season the tops with a little salt and pepper.
4. Put the cloves of garlic around the pot.
5. Drizzle some Olive oil all around

6. Bake in oven (Gas Mark 4) for 45 mins to 1 hour

Enjoy!

AufLauf

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 18:43:48 GMT

I tried to get Olaf to explain to me exactly what Auflauf meant, and he said it's basically just means "getting together". I guess this is what this dish does, gets all the ingredients together in one nice big pot for a good yummy meal .

There isn't much of a recipe to it, cos it basically is just putting together ur favourite ingredients. And it's really easy too, cos you really can't go too wrong. I'll put down what we had put in our Auf lauf, feel free to add anything else you like and let me know if it tastes better

Ingredients

1 Aubergine
2 Carrots
4 Potatoes
2 Zuchinnis (is that how u spell it? I doubt it..9
2 Pepper sausages (smoked sausages)
100g White mushrooms
1 Onion
Parsley
Feta cheese
Edamer cheese (grated for sprinkling)

- for the sauce -
1 cup of cream
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

1. Slice all the vegetables and sausages in thin slices

2. Mix the cream and eggs together, add a little salt and pepper to ur desired taste

3. Boil the potatoes till they are cooked, then peel them (or the other way round is fine) then slice them.

4. Oil a casserole dish, then start a first layer by placing the potato slices at the bottom, followed by the other vegetables. Then top that with some feta cheese and pour some of the sauce mixture on top. Repeat this process till u reach the top of the casserole bowl.

5. Cover the dish with the edamer cheese

6. Bake for approx half an hour in a oven (I had the temperature at Gas Mark 4)

Yummy!