Home Thai Restaurant

Home Thai Restaurant is my daughter's latest happy place as it is affordable and most of all, yummy. Let's face it, we'll never go wrong with Thai food, just like Chinese. Average bill per head is aud14 to 20. You'll surely get your money's worth and the service was good. Food was served very quickly, I think the service time was one notch lower than Mc Donald's ha.ha. I was impressed.

For one salad, three mains, three drinks and a dessert, aud65. Isn't that great? And oh, their pork belly is consistent, meaning, everything is crispy; no chewy spots. Plus, the serving portion is just right. Will definitely come back here.

Green Papaya Salad

Crispy pork belly with pik khing sauce

Crispy pork belly with Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce

Pad Thai

Mango Sticky Rice

Bill's Chocolate Caramel Slices

The first time I got introduced to this lovely slice was when I started working in New Zealand. It was part of our daily preparation for the Te Papa Museum cafe. Oh yes! It was love at first bite! I got my recipe from my pastry chef then. However, I've tested a couple of recipes which I wasn't too happy with the results until I came across Bill Granger's version.It was perfect for my liking. The union of the coconut base, caramel and  dark chocolate is heaven.  Definitely not for the diabetics, sad to say. 


Here's the link to the recipe: Chocolate Caramel Slice

Some important notes:
It is quite important to get the right consistency of the cooked caramel because it won't set well even if it has been baked. I've experienced it before and it can be frustrating not to have those clean edges because the caramel slightly run.

Cooked caramel

Lastly, don't forget to dip your knife in hot water in between slicing to get those neat edges. Have fun! Best eaten with a good cuppa!

Leche Flan...An All Time Winner

I grew up always having leche flan during Christmas or special occasions such as town fiestas or birthdays. It is a traditional Filipino dessert which is similar to creme caramel. Although most of the creme caramel recipes use whole eggs or a combination of whole eggs and yolk, which makes the texture firmer due to the addition of eggwhites.

Here's my version of leche flan. For me and my children, our basis of a good leche flan is in the texture. It should be smooth and flan shouldn't have bubbles. Bubbles normally happens when flan is cooked on high temperature. Although, I know some people like it otherwise. I guess it's a matter of personal preference. It is cooked using a steamer but I prefer to bake it as I can control the temperature and it gives me the silky texture I am after. Steaming sometimes causes the bubbles,which I don't like, and I hate the the inconvenience of putting tea towels in between layers to prevent water droplets  into my flan.

Happy Eating!

Leche Flan

Ingredients:

Set A
Flan mixture:

1 can of evaporated milk

1/2 can of condensed milk

1/4 c sugar

6-7 pcs. egg yolks

Rind from one orange*

Set B

Caramel syrup:

1 c sugar

1/4 c water

1. Prepare the pan by lining it with caramel syrup.

2.Combine water and sugar (Set B )in sauce pot. Do not mix. Cook until amber in color.

3. Pour the caramel on the pan, use either llanera** or any container which is overnproof. Set aside. Careful as the syrup is hot.

4. Mix all the Set A ingredients in a bowl by using a wire whisk. The mixture can be strained to remove some of the egg white strands, known as chalazae,that comes with the yolk sometimes.

5. Equally pour the milk and egg mixture into the pans.

6. Bake at 150deg C on steam bath until done. Make sure water level is half the container. 

7. Cooking times may vary depending on the size of the flan however, to check if cooked, the flan should jiggle if slightly shaken. It will set as it cools down.

* lemon or lime rind maybe used
** I bought the flan moulds from our local Filipino store

A Glimpse of Jean Paul Gaultier's exhibit

Two weeks ago, we went for a short trip to Melbourne. Visiting this exhibit was the main highlight for my daughter, Ariana. I'm not a great fan of museums except if it's a food or modern museum. However, I enjoyed this one, interesting pieces of different textures and great designs.

Click here for a virtual tour. Yes, my daughter started writing.

Decorated Butter Cookies

Decorating cakes and cookies these days are much easier than when I started twenty years ago. Wow! I can't believe it's been that long or should I say...I'm getting old ha.ha. Anyway, you can now buy ready to roll (RTR) icing or fondant to finish cakes and cookies. I used to make fondant icing from scratch. Yes! from scratch. Hooray for these RTR icings. I conveniently buy online. There are also coloured icings available.

Made some cookies for a work colleague and my daughter months ago. I tried Martha Stewart's butter cookie dough recipe and it was ok. After the baked cookies have completely cooled down, it's ready to be finished. Roll the icing thinly around 1/8 inch and cut using the same cutter you used in your cookie dough. Occasionally dip the cutter in icing sugar to prevent the sides from sticking. I use water as adhesive for the icing to the cookies. Voila! Decorated cookies.

Mango & Melon Salsa ...Missing Philippine Mangoes

Tomorrow, summer officially starts here in Australia. Mangoes are everywhere but nothing beats Philippine mangoes, in my opinion. They might not be as huge as what we have here but the sweetness is so different. Most of the Philippine carabao mangoes are exported.  Oh well, I have to make use of what is available.

Sharing with you a great side dish for barbie...as what we call barbecues here. Mango and Melon Salsa. My younger daughter enjoyed it to my surprise. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3/4 c Ripe mango, diced
3/4 c Rock melon, diced
1/4 c finely chopped onion or red onion
1/4 c red bell pepper, diced
2-3 tbsps. Lemon juice
Salt to taste
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Few pieces of mint leaves, finely chopped

Procedure:
Mix all ingredients together. Chill for an hour or two for the flavours to blend together.
Serve with grilled meat or seafood.

Pecan and Walnut Tart

This is classic which is best eaten...trust me, slightly warm with vanilla ice cream.

It is quite difficult to find American brands which I use in baking here in Australia. When I chanced upon Karo light syrup in a health store, I grabbed it and automatically thought of pecan tart.

As usual, I'm  pressed for time so I used store bought sweet crust pastry for the pie base. It turned out good, just what I expected. This is a combination of walnuts and pecan, as I didn't have enough pecan in my pantry.

Here's the recipe for this lovely tart:

Ingredients:
2 sheets of ready to use sweet pastry (I used 2 pans, 7 inch diameter)
1 c brown sugar (can be reduced to 3/4 c)
3/4 c light karo syrup
1/4 c golden syrup
1/4 c butter
3 eggs
1 T rum or vanilla
280 g chopped, roasted walnuts and pecan
Chocolate pieces, as desired

Procedure:
1. Grease and flour the tart pan. Shake off excess flour.
2. Line the pan with the ready to use pastry. Remove excess crust by trimming the sides.
3 . Using a fork, dock the pie to prevent puffing or creating pockets while baking.

4. Set aside inside the fridge.
5. For the filling, mix all remaining ingredients except nuts.
6 . Once blended, add nuts and mix.
7. Pour in the pie base and chocolate pieces can be added for better flavour.  Bake  in pre-heated oven at 350 degF or 180 degC (160 degC fan forced)for 35 mins.or more until done (bigger tart pans will take longer to bake, around 45 to 50 mins.)

8. Cool down and slice.