Thai Prawn Papaya Salad!

When someone mentions thai food, two things come into mind: Pad thai and papaya salad! This salad is refreshing, sweet, sour, salty and to make it that extra special, some cold boiled prawns. Let's get cooking!

Ingredients:

- 500g prawns (you can buy fresh ones or pre-cooked ones from your local supermarket/seafood store)

- 1 whole papaya

- A bunch of mint leaves

- Handful cloves of garlic crushed/chopped finely

- Peanuts to garnish

- Freshly chopped chilli (optional)

For the sauce:

- 1/2 cup of fish sauce

- 1/2 cup sugar

- 1/2 cup of white vinegar

- 1/2 cup of water

Method:

1. Remove the skin of the papaya and shred into thin strips.

2. Boil prawns till they change to the colour of orange and peel them. 

3. To make the sauce, combine the fish sauce, sugar, white vinegar and water together and stir well. Add the finely chopped garlic and chilli to the sauce. 

4. Toss the papaya, prawns and mint leaves together. 

5. Pour over the sauce and add peanuts to garnish at the end. 

This salad is wonderful as an entree or a main course, served with some sticky rice (glutinous rice) or normal rice as well. Healthy and tasty - it can't get better than this!

Celebratory Sangrias!

What I love about this awesome drink is how you can throw everything into a jug and have it tasting like you're on the beach in summer! So whip out a large jug and throw in these ingredients!

Ingredients:
- 1 bottle of a fruity red wine (there are even sangria ready red wines these days! Feel free to use those as well)
- 2 sliced oranges
- 1 sliced lime
- Large handful, about 50-100g, of cherries (removing the pip would be really helpful!)
- Few mint sprigs for garnish
- Soda water to top up

Method:
1. Throw in all the orange and lime slices, the cherries and muddle (you can use the end of a rolling pin to crush the fruits and release their juices).
2. Add the bottle of red wine and give it a stir. Add ice.
3. Pour into a cup and top up with some soda water. Give it a quick stir.
4. Garnish with a slice of orange and mint sprigs.

2 Ingredient Broccoli Soup (With Soup Art!)

It's becoming to become a bit chillier here in Australia so it's time to bring out some simple and easy soup recipes that will keep your whole body nice and warm!

If you have not, I would highly recommend investing in a soup machine - these great inventions let you throw all your ingredients in and they do the rest of the work. A "Soupmaster" may set you back around $80 but it will be worth your while. I promise!

Ingredients:
- 2 heads of broccoli
- 1L of chicken stock (you can either pre-make stock by boiling chicken and its' bones in water for a few hours or if you're a bit lazy, buy some pre-made stock from any supermarket).
- Thickened cream (heavy cream) for garnish [optional]

Method:
If you have the soup maker, all you have to do is chop the broccoli into small pieces (including the stalk) and add them to the soup maker with the stock. Press some buttons and you're done!

If you don't have a soup maker, no worries! Keep reading on...
1. Chop the broccoli into small pieces and add them into boiling water till cooked (around 10 minutes or so). Drain away all the water.
2. In a pot, add the blanched broccoli and the stock inside. Let the soup simmer for a couple minutes.
3. To make a smooth soup, either use a hand blender or transfer the the soup (with the broccoli) into a blender. Bend till smooth.
4. Season to taste. I normally only need a pinch of salt as the stock may already be flavoured!

Soup Art:
Spoon some heavy cream and carefully drizzle over the soup to create patterns. Start by doing zig zags then drizzle the cream in the opposite direction to create a pretty artistic pattern!

This will impress any tough crowd! Happy cooking!

Rum Alexander Dessert Cocktail!

Looking for a classy, elegant yet delicious cocktail to finish off dinner? This one is for you! The Rum Alexander is so simple and impressive it will knock your socks off.

Ingredients

3 parts dark rum (I like to use Bacardi Gold Rum)
4 parts Cacao liqueur or coffee liqueur (I like to use Tia Maria)
3 parts heavy cream (known as thickened cream in Australia)
Pinch of Cacao powder

1. Add all ingredients into a shaker and top up with ice. Shake for 20 old seconds.
2. Strain into a flute glass. Sprinkle on top cacao powder.

Enjoy this creamy delight this winter y'all!

Salsa Bruschetta Entrees!

Whether you're cooking up an Italian storm or just need some sort of canapé to impress some guests at your place, these little babies will get you A+ from everyone! Simple yet elegant, here's the recipe for my twist on the bruschetta!

What you'll need:
- French stick (or a nice loaf of bread such as ciabatta works well too!)
- Butter
- 1 red onion
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 cucumber
- Pinch of salt and pepper
- Olive oil
- Balsamic vinegar

1. To make the salsa, dice up the onion, tomatoes and cucumber. Place all those in a bowl.
2. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and a good drizzle of olive oil (I like to use garlic infused olive oil which you can get at any supermarket) and balsamic vinegar. Don't overdo it with the vinegar!
3. Slice the french stick in around 1-2cm cuts and butter the bread generously! Place into an oven to toast until the bread is golden brown (watch your bread so it doesn't burn. Each oven works differently!).
4. Place the salsa onto the bread and serve it up!

Simple as that, you've got yourself an entree to impress!