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).