Coconut Lemon Bars

This week has been a practice in listening and keeping mum; our 13th General Election took place on Sunday, and as with every election that happens in every country, there are people who are happy and there are those who aren't. My close friends and relatives all know that my personal political views have always been quite liberal, with my top personal causes being a quality education for all (key word: quality), and equality for all (come on, who are we to tell others that their skin colour/genitals/love/faith is less than ours?). 

Beyond that, I am tied to none of the political parties currently in play in our system, possibly because the word "politics" itself has nothing but bad connotations in my mind. I believe in truth, and the dissemination of truth from every responsible and rational human being (hey, that includes the "nobodies" sharing unverified shit on facewaste, got it?) to the wider population. What one person says, if untrue and not backed up by unshakable facts, can open up a major can of worms that just spreads and then infects the entire game of truth. 

As one who is very familiar with the internet, and understanding how things go viral (no matter how ridiculous or irrelevant), I've always believed that people need to check their effing sources before clicking the effing share button. Seriously, guys, I've photoshopped, spread memes, and reblogged enough nonsense to be able to discern what is and what isn't, yet so many people don't realise that just because someone said it, it doesn't make it true! I'm not pointing fingers at any one side, but people need to take responsibility over sharing opinions and facts because there is a large part of the population who wont take the time to check the source of your information, and take your opinion as fact. 

I'm just standing on my soapbox, pontificating now, so what does politics have to do with my coconut lemon bars? Nothing, except that I whipped this batch up while watching the electoral count on TV with my family. I was so stressed, so shocked at a lot of the things I was reading on Twitter, Facewaste, and other platforms, that I needed to occupy my hands with something besides clenching and unclenching my fists.

So, a lot of you have tried lemon slices, and lemon meringue pies, and key lime pies, and the such... but this was my first time pairing coconut and lemon, and I'm surprised that it worked as well as it did! Now I'm just thinking of other possible ways I can capitalise on this combo. Maybe a coconut cake with lemon curd? MMM Mother's Day is coming up, I might just try that this weekend! 

(Click on the image above to zoom for the recipe)

Anyway, let's go back to the nation for a second: my friends, I love you all, even though I may not agree with some of the views being said by quite a lot of you (both sides of the divide), I hear what you're saying and I understand the frustrations and the strengths of both views. In an ideal world, we could pick and choose the best of both worlds and put it in one completely new and independent system, but this is far from an ideal world. Quit comparing our nation to other such countries like the US, because baby, I hate to break it to you... they're in the same sinking ship we are. 

It is not politics that drives the country, it is the people and what we do individually. We have to stop expecting some greater power to dive in and fix all our discontent, there is no Utopia. Even etymologically, the word Utopia is derived from the Greek word Utopos (eu-topos) meaning "good place", and also I suppose Thomas More was being punny, "ou-topos" which means "no place". A perfect system is nonexistent.

There was no real point to this post, it was a full opinion post, and I also threw in a fantastic recipe for coconut lemon bars which I love and will probably make again and again and again. Lots of love x Nabs

Caramelised Garlic Quiche

I told you I was addicted! To be fair though, the last quiche that I posted, I made last month... but this time, I baked it, photographed it, ate it, and am gonna blog it. It's just that good. I've always loved garlic in my recipes, and have a special spot in my heart for roasted garlic mashed potatoes, but up until this week... I never knew I could enjoy caramelised garlic.

Also, the word caramelised has always put me off in the past. I've tried caramelising fennel, onions, and an assortment of other such root vegetables... they've all been one failure after another. I suppose this time I was just mentally prepared for all the wrong that could happen, so it worked! And ooh baby, the smell of that caramelised garlic wafting around your kitchen is hella good.

If you live in a tropical country and your body temperature just tends to run hot... you might wanna invest in a food processor with which you can create a perfect shortcrust pastry every single time. I used to suffer over these things with my hands, trying to keep them cool by always running them under water. But my crust always turned out way too hard. I got my Kenwood food processor for Christmas last year, and as a result I've been making various pastries I was always too afraid to try almost every other week!

Without further ado, here's the recipe for my Caramelised Garlic & Gruyere Quiche

Shortcrust Pastry

• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 113g stick cold butter, cut into small cubes
• 4 - 5 tbsp ice cold water

1. Preheat the oven to 200C and prepare your tart pan by greasing with a light layer of butter
2. Combine the flour, salt and sugar in the food processor and blend for a moment to ensure everything has mixed
3. Then cut the butter in bit by bit and pulse after each addition until the mixture resembles coarse pebbles
4. Pour in 3 tbsp of the ice cold water and whizz until it begins to come together, pour in the remaining water gradually (I find that 4 tbsp is enough) until it looks like it does in the picture below
5. Shake the batter out onto a piece of baking paper and pat down into an oval shape, then let it sit for 30 minutes
6. When ready to bake, roll the batter out into a large circle and press into the tart pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes then remove from the oven to fill with quiche goodness

Filling the quiche:

Cheese layer: I used a block of Swiss Gruyere, and a block of mature cheddar. Grated these both and then layered them into the baked crust, leaving roughly 3/4 cup of gruyere to top the quiche with later

Caramelised Garlic

• 2 heads garlic, cloves peeled individually
• Olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 220 ml water
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp chopped rosemary leaves, plus extra sprigs to use later
• 1 tsp dried/fresh thyme

1. In a small, non-stick saucepan, blanch the garlic cloves in water for up to 8 minutes (or until the water boils, then let it simmer for a bit) then drain the water and put the slightly softened garlic aside
2. Return the saucepan to the heat and heat about 2 tbsp of olive oil. When it's hot, put the garlic cloves back in and fry for roughly 3 - 4 minutes
3. Add the water and bring to a boil, then let it simmer and add the balsamic vinegar, caster sugar, rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper
4. Simmer for up to 10 minutes, or until the water has reduced to just cover the bottom of the pan (and not the garlic cloves). Remove from heat and scatter over the cheese layer

Egg custard (?) mixture

• 2 eggs
• 200ml cooking cream
• Salt
• Pepper

1. Whisk all ingredients together and pour over the entire quiche mixture, then crack some extra pepper and scatter your rosemary leaves, and cover with the left over cheese. Pop into the oven, lower the temperature to 160C and bake for 45 minutes. 

Caramelised garlic is the new white meat in my books, my friends, LOL. This beautifully sweet and complex flavour, with the smoky gruyere cheese and the almost floral taste of rosemary... all soaked in a giant omelette, it's just my version of a love song to my family. 

I really hope some of you try this recipe, it takes roughly 30 minutes to prepare and you'll have it ready for a nice Sunday lunch! So so so so soooo beautiful, guys. 

Have a good weekend, much love x

Warning: Highly Addictive Oven Chips

I remember my uni days in Bristol, especially on those cold nights when I couldn't be bovvered to put sensible walking shoes on and step outside onto the icy pathways, where I would delve into my cheat pack of frozen oven chips... which I would proceed to cover in home made sesame oil (I had a Korean housemate whose mother shipped this stuff to him by the crate!), rosemary, salt and pepper then coat them completely in Heinz ketchup when they were ready. Let this not fool you: it wasn't the chips I craved, it was the ketchup. Weird, eh?

Anyway, since I've been back in Malaysia, I hardly ever eat home made chips anymore. This is probably because food is almost always prepared when I get home, or chips are so cheap and readily available from everywhere. The difference is: they're always shoestring fries. Me no likey.

So last month when my parents decided to throw a barbecue, I decided to prepare the carbs and instead of frozen oven chips I'd do it right. Now that I am older and wiser... LOL right.

Easy & Highly Addictive Oven Chips

• 2 large russet potatoes, scrubbed and cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch sticks/wedges
• 2 large sweet potatoes, same as above
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves
• A sprig of spring onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp chicken stock cube, dissolved in hot water
• Black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 200C
2. Soak the potato wedges in a large bowl of hot water for 10 minutes, drain the potatoes then pat them dry
3. Put the potatoes back into the bowl and toss them in olive oil, rosemary, spring onions, garlic, chicken stock, and pepper
4. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer on a baking tray, cover lightly with a piece of foil and pop in the oven for up to 5 minutes (the foil will trap the moisture in)
5. Remove the foil, then continue to bake for another 20 minutes or until they're a nice golden brown, then flip the potatoes with a spatula and continue to bake for another 10 minutes on the other side
6. Serve hot with an extra sprinkling of sea salt and/or pepper

I'm babysitting my siblings this weekend as my parents will be out of town, so I'm definitely going to prepare this dish with a side of grilled chicken breasts or something. Who cares, this goes with everything! lol

Easy peasy recipe, and I guarantee that you won't go back to frozen oven chips once you've tasted this.

Have a good weekend, friends, much love from the Happy Hufflepuff x

Quiche me!

I haven't updated in ages! I don't even know where the time has gone since my last post, what was it... a month ago! Yonks! I don't know why I'm shouting everything in my head, nor do I know why I started saying "yonks" today. It's like one of those things you do ironically, then it just becomes a bloody embarrassing habit you can't kick.

Totes. That's another one that stuck on me.

Quiche is the other thing. I never used to eat quiche, but lately it seems like the only thing I order when I go out to eat! There we go, there's another exclamation point. But, seriously, how did I not love quiche until recently?

I've been saving this recipe in my bank for a while now, mostly as I've been far too caught up with being a functional and social human being that I haven't had time to just sit at my desk and type this post up. LIES! I've been scrolling down my T dash for days on end and can't seem to tear myself away. That, my friends, is the ugly truth.



Let's quit with the crazy (as if) and get to the recipe:

Roasted Peppers, Eggplant, and Fennel Quiche

• Ready-to-roll puff pastry (*gasp* ready to roll? Whatever, ain't nobody got time for dat)
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese 
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 1 yellow pepper, sliced
• 2 medium sized eggplants, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• Olive oil
• Red wine vinegar
• Salt & pepper
• 1 fennel bulb, sliced
• Butter
• 3 large eggs
• 150ml milk
• 4 tbsp double cream
• 1 cup sliced cherry tomatoes

1. Follow the instructions for the pastry, and roll into a prepared pie dish
2. Brush with melted butter, then cover the base with shredded cheese (you can use any cheese, I just happened to have Parm on hand that day though I prefer stronger cheeses)
3. Preheat the oven to 180C, toss the sliced peppers, eggplants, and garlic into a baking tray and coat with olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Roast the vegetables for roughly 15 minutes in the oven, or until the aroma fills your belly with rumbling hunger
4. While waiting for the other vegetables to cook, cook the sliced fennel in a knob of butter and olive oil until soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste as you cook. 
5. When all the vegetables are ready, just mix them up together and layer into the waiting crust over the cheese, and add tomatoes
6. Then in a medium sized bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, and double cream to create the custard. Pour this mixture over the vegetables, and cover with more cheese
7. Pop into the oven and bake for 180C/fan for 30 minutes or until the custard has set. Cool on a wire rack and serve with fresh lettuce and a balsamic glaze dressing

Much love, and I'll try to be more disciplined with the posts! 

xx Nabs