Chocolate Chip Cookie

The chocolate chip cookie was accidentally developed by Ruth Graves Wakefield in 1933. She owned the Toll House Inn, in Whitman, Massachusetts, a very popular restaurant that featured home cooking in the 1930s. The restaurant's popularity was not just due to its home-cooked style meals; her policy was to give diners a whole extra helping of their entrées to take home with them and a serving of her homemade cookies for dessert. Her cookbook, Toll House Tried and True Recipes, was published in 1936 by M. Barrows & Company, New York. It included the recipe "Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie", which rapidly became a favorite to be baked in American homes.

Ingredients

2 cups butter
4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar
5 cups blended oatmeal (measure oatmeal & blend in blender to a fine powder)
24 oz. chocolate chips (eryne gune brand Hershey)
1 tsp. salt
18 oz. Cadbury bar (grated)
4 eggs
2 tsp. baking powder
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)
1 cup black raisins or dried cranberries
2 tsp. vanilla

Method

• Cream the butter and both sugars.
• Add eggs and vanilla;
• mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda.
• Add chocolate chips, Cadbury bar and nuts.
• Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet.
• bake for 15 minutes at 170 degrees.
• Makes 122 cookies.

Crème brûlée

My favorite crème brûlée is a very plain one. Crème brûlée is one of those immortal French dessert recipes. Crème brûlée somehow manages to pull off a sense of grandeur while still being an incredibly simple thing to prepare. Among its many virtues, it'll keep for several days in the fridge, making it an ideal dessert to serve at a dinner party. You simply pop them out of the fridge, caramelize the tops and you're good to go.

Ingredients
6 large egg yolks
100 grams caster sugar
1 pinch salt
500 ml double cream
50ml full-cream milk
1 whole vanilla pod
¼ cup caster sugar (for the caramelized tops)

Method
1. Steep the vanilla pod with its seeds in the cream for 1 hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 140°C. Put the cream, milk & salt mixture in a pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Beat the caster sugar and egg yolks together in a large bowl. Strain the cream over the eggs (discard the solids); return this to the pan on a low heat, stirring until it thickens.
4. Put 6 ramekins into a roasting tin. Strain the custard and fill the ramekins three-quarters full. Pour boiling water into the tray to come two-thirds of the way up the ramekins.
5. Bake for 30 minutes until just set. Take out of the water and cool a little. Sprinkle the granulated sugar over each. Caramelize under a hot grill.

Chocolate brownies

It’s a great recipe, but the real trick is to make sure you don’t overcook them - otherwise they will go hard all the way through. As all ovens are different, you’ll need to keep your eye on them - and remember that chocolate always firms up at room temperature, so if you take them out of the oven when they’re a little bit gooey, they’ll be perfect.

Makes 8 - 10

Ingredients
250g - unsalted butter
200g - best-quality dark chocolate (70 per cent cocoa solids), broken up
80g - cocoa powder, sifted
65g - plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
350g - caster sugar
4 large - eggs
100ml – double cream
150g - dried cherries/raisins
150g - chopping nuts (walnuts or pecans)
100g - chunk chocolate

Preheat your oven to 180ºC / 350ºF / gas 4. Line a 30cm / 12 inch rectangular baking tin with greaseproof paper.

In a large bowl over some simmering water, melt the butter and the chocolate and mix until smooth.

Add the cherries, chunk chocolate and nuts, if you’re using them, and stir together.

In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and sugar, then add this to the chocolate, cherry and nut mixture. Stir together well. Beat the eggs and mix until you have a silky consistency lastly add the cream.

Pour your brownie mix into the baking tray, and place in the oven for around 25 minutes.

You don’t want to overcook them so, unlike cakes; you don’t want a skewer to come out all clean. The brownies should be slightly springy on the outside but still gooey in the middle. Allow to cool in the tray, then carefully transfer to a large chopping board and cut into chunky squares.

Beef Curry (Indian style)

Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon - Ghee
- Spice
3 - Green cardamom
1 - Star anise
1 - Cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon - Mustard seed

- Bland items
8 cloves - Garlic’s
¼ inch - Ginger
3 - Onion’s
½ cup - Tomato puree/paste

- 1.5kg - Beef chuck (cut into cubes)

- Spices (ground)
4 small packets - Beef curry powder
4 tablespoon - Chili powder
2 tablespoon - Garam masala
2 tablespoon - Poppy seed
1 teaspoon - Coriander seed
2 teaspoon - Salt
2 tablespoon - Sugar
140ml - Natural yogurt

- 6 - Potatoes (cut into ¼)

- 140ml - Double cream / Coconut milk
- Onions
- Curry Leaf

Method
1. Ground all the spice and marinate the beef for 6hours.
2. Melt the ghee, then add in the spice and cook it until u smell the aroma.
3. Add in the items that u have bland and cook for a while.
4. Add marinated beef and water.
5. Cover the pot and cook until the beef tender.
6. Add the potatoes and continue cooking without the pot cover to reduce the curry.
7. Once the curry is reduce to half, add in cream, onion and curry leaf.
8. Check the seasoning before serve (salt, sugar).

OUZI (Baked Lamb and Spiced Rice)

This is a traditional special occasion main dish in Lebanon, where a whole lamb is often prepared to serve large crowds. It is a beautiful presentation that will impress your guests.

Lamb Marinate
whole leg (cut into 2 inch slices)
salt and pepper
175ml plan yogurt
100g cinnamon
20 cloves garlic, (finely diced and crushed with sea salt)
4 bay leaves
Prep: Marinate for overnight

Water
6 liter salt water
bouquet garni
• 4 inch Cinnamon
• Nutmeg (crush)
Prep: Boiled for one hour

Lamb Juice
250g ghee, melted
marinated lamb
add water regularly
1½ tin evaporated milk

Prep: Add water to cover and bring to a boil. Skim off foam. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until tender about 45 minutes. Drain water from lamb and reserve for preparing Rice Stuffing. Keep the meat warm while preparing rice.

Rice Stuffing
3 kg basmati rice
250g ghee
2 onions (slice)
lamb juice

Garnish
1 cup pine nut
1 cup pistachios
1 cup white raisins
Sugar
Prep: Lightly toast

Preparation

To marinate the lamb
Brush the lamb with ghee, rub it with salt and black pepper inside and out, dust liberally with cinnamon and the diced, salted garlic. Allow to marinate, overnight if possible.

For the rice stuffing
Melt the ghee and add the onions and cook it until golden in color. Add the rice which has been soaked for half an hour in salted water before being partially cooked.

Baking
Layer the rice with evaporated milk, bay leaves, almonds, pistachios, raisins. Add the marinated lamb on top of the rice. Cover the pot and bake for 2 hours at 225 degree. Then open the cover and baked another 45mins.

Asparagus Masak Belacan & Udang Kering

Bahan-Bahan:
• Minyak
• 2 ulas Bawang putih
• 3 sudu udang kering

• Belacan paste
- 1 inci belacan (dibakar dahulu)
- 1 sudu makan cili kering (yang telah di bland)
- 3 sudu besar udang kering (direndam setengah jam dalam air)
- Garam secubit
- Gula secubit

• Suku cawan air
• 1 bundle asparagus (biasanya supermarket akan jual sayur ini dalam kuantiti sebegini)
• 1 Bawang Besar (dihiris)

Cara:
1. Rebus asparagus dengan air mendidih selama 30 saat dan sejatkan.
2. Tumiskan bawang putih dan udang kering hingga naik bau.
3. Masukkan belacan paste dan air suku cawan. Kemudian rasa. Jika tak cukup garam, sila tambah.
4. Setelah kuah agak pekat, masukkan asparagus dan hirisan bawang goreng hingga bawang layu. Kemudian siap.

Buffalo Chicken Wings

INGREDIENTS:

• 50 pieces chicken wings either center or upper portion
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 bottle tomato ketchup
• 1/4 pound butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 3/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup parsley, minced
• 1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled into fine pieces
• 2 tablespoons fine chopped yellow onion
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce (or more to taste)
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• Pinch Cayenne Pepper
• Peanut oil for deep frying
• Celery sticks for garnish
• Cheese deep

PREPARATION:

Mix the wine vinegar with the milk, and allow the milk to curdle. Add the yellow onion, garlic, parsley, milk, sour cream, mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, blue cheese, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Mix well. Refrigerate before serving.

In a large skillet melt the butter over low heat, and stir in the hot sauce. Add more or less to taste. Deep fry the chicken wing pieces in small batches in peanut oil at 385f for about 10 minutes, or until browned and crisp. Drain on paper towels (if you wish to avoid the fat, bake the chicken wings in a 400f oven for 25 minutes).

When all the chicken wings have been fried, reheat the skillet containing the hot sauce, and toss the chicken wings about in the sauce. Serve the chicken wings hot or at room temperature with the cheese dip and celery sticks.