Bean Salad

We had a barbeque yesterday in a 38 C weather. We didn't know it's going to be that hot when we planned the BBQ, but hey, what can we do? I thought a very refreshing salad to go with a BBQ is a Bean salad, and this recipe was a big help.

I made some hamburgers and chicken satay. I took a picture when I started cooking them, but we were so hungry so I forgot to take a picture when they were already cooked. Hence, they still look raw in these pictures :D

As mentioned on this original recipe, the sugar in the dressing is important. I tend to agree, the sugar makes the dressing. It just so happened that our friend (who came to the BBQ) made the same salad. See, great minds think alike. I don't think she put sugar in her dressing, because it's a tad vinegarry (if that's a word). And of course, my boys said, mine tasted better. They better say that, because I am the one feeding them, otherwise there's a possibility they won't get fed anymore. ;D I added cherry tomatoes on this salad because I happened to harvest some from the garden.

Ingredients:

2 cans 400 g butter beans

2 cans 400 g 4 mix beans

2 cans 400 g red kidney beans

2 stalks of celery, sliced thinly and diagonally

a handful of flat leaf parsley

2 small onions, sliced thinly (I used white onions, but you can use red onions too)

a handful of cherry tomatoes, halved (optional)

For the dressing:

1/3 cup cherry vinegar (or use balsamic)

1/3 cup white sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Drain and rinse the beans thoroughly under running cold water.
2. In a large bowl, mix the beans, celery, cherry tomatoes and parsley.
3. In a separate bowl, mix and whisk thoroughly the vinegar, sugar, olive oil, salt and pepper.
4. Toss the dressing into the Bean Salad.
5. Chill the Bean salad for at least an hour (or longer if you have time) for the beans to soak up the flavour of the dressing.
   
   
   

Spinach Pie/Silver Beet Pie

I have lots of silver beet in the garden and I gave some to a neighbour. He said that they really enjoyed it because it's not as strong as the silver beet one buys in the supermarket.







I asked how they cooked it, he said they made a pie with ricotta cheese. It so happened that I chatted with my sister and she said that her silver beets are really growing well. (I gave her the seeds.) She's also thinking of harvesting some and doing something with it. I said make a pie, and I proceeded to tell her about my neighbour and that I have given him a bag of silver beet again today, etc. etc. etc. Search for a recipe and I will search some too, I said to her. The wonders of the internet, in a few seconds, I found a recipe and pasted the link in our chat. She said, you bake it first and if it is nice, then I will bake it too. Sisters! So, here's the result of that pie. I tweaked it a bit, and I doubled the recipe because I have lots of silver beet, remember.

• Ingredients:
  
  ½ - 1 cup of cooked rice
  2 sheets frozen, ready-rolled puff pastry, thawed
  1 bunch English spinach or silver beet, washed and shredded (chopped finely)
  2 -3 tbsp of olive oil
  1 small onion, finely chopped
  1 cup grated cheese
  1 – 2 rashers of bacon, chopped
  2 – 3 eggs, lightly beaten
  1 tbsp of milk
  
  Directions:
  
  Preheat oven to 220 C (200 C fan forced). Line a 23 cm pie dish with 1 sheet of pastry. I used a big rectangle pyrex dish and used 1 and ½ sheet to line the bottom. And the same amount of sheet to cover the top. I am not very good with pastry, so you can see where I put one on top of the other. lol
  

1. Heat oil in a pan.
2. Add the onions. Stir until translucent, then add the bacon.
3. When the bacon is cooked (to your liking) add the spinach/silver beet to wilt it a bit.
4. Keep stirring, then remove it from the heat.
5. Cool it down a bit, or if you are like me, impatient that is, mix the cheese, rice and beaten eggs right away. Season it with salt and pepper. Watch your salt; remember the bacon and cheese have salt already.
6. Spoon the mixture to you lined dish. Brush edges of pastry lightly with water.
   Top with remaining pastry. Press edges of pastry together.
7. Brush pastry top with milk.
8. Bake for 20 minutes or until pastry is golden and crisp.
9. Serve hot or cold. In our case, it was served hot and there was no left over to know what it tastes like cold.

Beans with Meat Balls

This dish is my experiment. I had this spice - Chinese five spice powder - sitting in my cupboard for a long time and I don't know what to do with it. So one day I tried mixing it with this dish and it worked so well. My family just loved this dish. Even friends of my kids enjoy this one. I like using frozen baby beans because I find them handy and they work well in this dish as well. And one seldoms find fresh baby beans in the supermarket anyway. Usually, the beans in there are old and stringy, unless of course, one spends heaps of time picking all the small beans. And one advantage of using frozen beans, I can cook this dish anytime I want, I don't need to wait until the beans are in season. Clever!!!

Ingredients:

For the meatballs:

500 grams minced beef or pork
1 onion, minced
1 tsp of minced dried garlic
Salt to taste
Pepper
1- 2 eggs, whisked
2 – 3 slices of bread, soaked in water, squeezed out extra water

Mix all ingredients. Make small balls and bake in 180 C oven until cooked.

For the beans:

2 tbsp olive oil
2 500 grams packet of frozen baby beans (or fresh if you prefer – top and tail)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped finely
1 tsp five spice Chinese powder
1 – 2 tsp of fish sauce
1 400 ml can coconut milk/cream

Directions:

Sauté garlic in oil.
Add onions, stir until translucent.
Add the five spice powder, stir thoroughly.
Add the beans, cooked until soft.
Add the fish sauce.
Pour the coconut milk and let simmer.
Add the cooked meat balls, stir through. Remember, the meatballs are cooked already.
Thicken the sauce with corn flour dissolved in water if necessary.

Ginisang Ampalaya (Sautéed Bitter melon/gourd)

It's only once in a blue moon that I get to cook ampalaya or bitter melon, sometimes called bitter gourd. They won't grow in this part of the world, at least, I can't grow them. I tried. Very seldom that they sell them in the supermarket or in the asian shop, and when they do, it's like buying gold. That's how expensive they are. But since they're good for our health, and my honey knows I love them, we buy them, although it's like buying gold or maybe silver. When we buy ampalaya, we pick the lighter coloured ones. I believe they are less bitter than the darker green. Don't take my word for it, but I've never been wrong (in this theory). I don't like putting meat with it, maybe few shrimps, but most of the times I just cook the ampalaya by itself, then I will have fish on the side, in this case some smoked herrings (tinapang tawilis). So, here goes ...

Ingredients:

2 medium size ampalaya
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced finely
1 medium onion, sliced finely
3-4 big tomatoes, chopped
3-4 eggs, depending on the size
fish sauce to taste

Directions:

Slice the ampalaya (lengthwise) then scrape the seeds in the middle. Sliced them very thinly/finely. Put the finely sliced ampalaya in a bowl of water with salt. Leave it soaking in the salted water while preparing the other ingredients. Don’t squeeze the ampalaya when you take it out of the water, I don’t. Just drain the water and wash it again in running water.

1. Sautee garlic in the olive oil
2. Add the chopped onion, stir until translucent.
3. Add the tomatoes; cook until tomatoes are very soft.
4. Season with fish sauce.
5. Add the drained ampalaya, and mix it through. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT stir the ampalaya, once it’s mixed through. When it’s half-cooked, add the beaten eggs, then you can stir it until the beaten eggs is mixed through. Remove from the heat and serve with rice.

I had fried smoked fish with it. I bought them in the pinoy shop in Melbourne.