Mrs. Rowley: Mum and Dad’s famous Porcupine Meatballs

A recipe we all grew up with and all knew how to cook because it is so simple and everyone loves it! The trick is to get the rice to puff out of the meatballs just like a porcupine!!!

Meatball Ingredients:

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Ground Beef: Ground Chuck is the best for meatballs

Long grain rice: This type of rice includes American long-grain white and brown rice, Basmati rice, and Jasmine rice, and produces distinct firm grains that stay fluffy

Egg: This will be the binding agent that holds everything in shape

Parsley: Adds balance to this savory dish and brightens the flavor

Onion: The onion gives the meatballs a cleaner taste

Garlic Powder: This powder has a slightly sweeter taste than fresh garlic

Paprika: Colorful Spice derived from ground peppers gives these meatballs their stand out flavor

Pepper: Add to taste

Salt – Adding salt to your food will enhance the other flavors

Condensed tomato soup: Using this in both the meatball and the sauce gives the tomato texture consistency

Water: Used to thin out the sauce

Worcestershire sauce: Made from a base of vinegar, which gives it a bit of a tangy flavor, this sauce adds both sweet and savory tastes to the sauce

Combine ingredients: In a medium sized bowl combine meat, rice, egg, parsley, onion, garlic powder, paprika, pepper, salt and 1/4 cup tomato soup. Mix thoroughly and shape into about 20 meatballs and place in a skillet.

Mix Sauce: Mix together remaining soup, water and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over meatballs.

Bring to a boil: Once the sauce is bubbling reduce the heat. Cover and simmer for about 35-40 minutes stirring often.

Serve with rice and vegetables

Audrey's Curry Laksa

Mrs. Kerr's Fish Curry

Amanda: COCONUT RICE, MINCE BALL CURRY & DEVIL CHUTNEY

COCONUT RICE

Serves 6

1 pack of coconut milk diluted with water to get 4 cups of milk or 1 fresh coconut grated and milk extracted to get 4 cups of diluted milk 2 cups of Raw Rice or Basmati Rice

½ teaspoon tumeric powder or a few strands of saffron

Salt to taste

4 tablespoons butter or ghee

3 cloves, 3 cardamoms, 3 pieces of cinnamon

Heat ghee in a large vessel or Rice cooker and fry the spices for a few minutes. Add the washed rice, salt, tumeric and 4 cups of coconut milk and cook till the rice is done.

MINCE BALL CURRY

Serves 6

Ingredients; For the Curry

3 large onions chopped

1 sprig curry leaves

3 teaspoons chilly powder

1 ½ teaspoons coriander powder

3 teaspoons ginger garlic paste

3 big tomatoes pureed

½ cup ground coconut paste

1 teaspoon spice powder or garam masala

Salt to taste

3 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon coriander leaves chopped finely for garnishing

½ teaspoon tumeric powder

Ingredients for the Mince Balls (Kofta)

½ kg minced meat beef or mutton (fine mince)

½ teaspoon spice powder

3 green chilies chopped

A small bunch of coriander leaves chopped finely

Salt to taste

½ teaspoon tumeric powder

Heat oil in a large pan and fry the onions till golden brown .Add the ginger garlic paste and the curry leaves and fry for some time. Now add the chilly powder, coriander powder, spice powder or garam masala powder, tumeric powder and coconut and fry for a few minutes till the oil separates from the masala. Now add the tomato juice and salt and simmer for some time. Add sufficient water and bring to boil. Meanwhile mix the spice powder, salt, chopped green chilies, tumeric powder and coriander leaves with the mince and form into small balls. When the curry is boiling slowly drop in the mince balls carefully one by one. Simmer on slow heat for 20 minutes till the balls are cooked and the gravy is not too thick. Serve hot with Coconut Rice and Devil Chutney.

DEVIL CHUTNEY (HELL’S FLAME CHUTNEY)

Devil Chutney is a fiery red chutney . Its bright red colour often leads people to think that is very pungent and spicy, when actually it is sweetish and only slightly pungent The vinegar and sugar react with the onion and red chilly to produce the bright red colour. It is also known as HELL FIRE OR HELL’S FLAME CHUTNEY due to its vivid colour.

2 medium size onions chopped roughly

2 red chillies 2 teaspoons sugar

A pinch of salt

2 tablespoons vinegar

Grind all the above ingredients together till smooth. If chutney is too thick add a little more vinegar. Serve with Coconut Rice

Recipe courtesy of Bridget Kumar: http://anglo-indianfood.blogspot.com/

Miss Portia: Classic Spaghetti Bolognese

Miss Prato: Chocolate Cake!

Karen: Flaky Pastry Pesto Chicken!

Gow Family: Coffee and Walnut Cake

Ms. Victoria: Jewish Spiced Honey Cake

I have gorwn up with many traditions in my family, one of my favourite cakes is the Jewish Spiced Honey cake which is rich and dark with honey and either tea or coffee to give it depth. This cake is traditionally eaten at Rosh Hashona which is the Jewish New Year, it's purpose.....to sweeten the year ahead. Delicious with a cuppa.Better two days after baking, if it survives!

Mrs. Kubiak: Lemon Slice

Miss Viola: Family sauce making & Nonna's Crostoli

Mrs. Harper: Magical Chicken Soup

My mums 83rd Birthday in December 2020 with some of the extended family.

Favourite Recipe

This is the magical soup I made my dad during his battle with cancer. I would make a big pot and my whole family would enjoy it, especially my dad.

Magical Chicken Soup (Serves 4-5)

1 small organic chicken (2-3lb/1-1½ kg), any giblets removed

2 leeks, darkest third cut off, rinsed under running water (peeling the outer leaves apart) to remove any grit; then coarsely chopped

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped

2 ribs organic celery (non-organic celery may contain pesticide residues), coarsely chopped

1 large chunk of fresh ginger root (1-1½ inch/3-4 cm), coarsely sliced

3 cloves garlic, chopped

½ tsp thyme

1 bay leaf

10fl oz/1 ¼ cups/300ml strong green tea

3.5oz/⅔ cup/100g green peas (fresh or frozen)

1 cup thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms

1 head bok choi, green portions finely shredded

½ cup peas (fresh or frozen)

3-4 tbsp cooked rice (optional)

1-2 tbsp lemon juice,

a drizzle of Thai fish sauce (optional)

3 tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro (coriander) or parsley

salt & freshly ground black pepper

Wash the chicken inside and out and place in a large cooking pot with a lid. Sprinkle the chopped leeks, carrots, onion, celery and ginger around the chicken along with bay leaf, thyme and a table-spoon of lemon juice. Fill the pot with just enough cold water to barely cover the chicken. Bring to the boil, skim off any foam that may rise to the surface, cover and simmer on lowest setting for 1½ hours.

When the chicken is cooked through, lift it out of the broth and set aside to cool on a plate. Pour the broth through a fine-meshed strainer or cheese cloth into another large pot and discard the vegetables. If you want to drink just the broth, season it now with salt, pepper, fish sauce (if desired), lemon juice and add a small sprinkling of chopped cilantro or parsley. (You can shred the chicken meat and freeze it for later use in a salad or soup.)

If you want a more sustaining soup, bring the both back to a simmer and add sliced shiitake mush-rooms; cook around 5 minutes until they begin to soften. While the mushrooms are cooking, remove the chicken skin, shred one or both chicken breasts (depending on how much meat you want) and refrigerate or freeze the rest of the meat for another meal.

Add shredded meat, finely sliced bok choi, peas, cooked rice (if using) and green tea to the broth and cook 1-2 minutes until the bok choi is soft but still retains its bright green color.

Season to taste with pepper, salt, fish sauce (if desired) and lemon juice. Sprinkle with cilantro (coriander) or parsley and serve immediately.

Thanh: Pho!

Traditional Vietnamese beef pho

INGREDIENTS

1L (4 cups) beef stock

5cm piece of ginger, halved

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, sliced

3 star anise

2 cinnamon quills, lightly crushed

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1/3 cup (80ml) fish sauce

350g flat rice noodles

350g beef fillet, thinly sliced

2 long red chillies, sliced

125g bean sprouts

A handful of basil

A handful of mint

A handful of coriander leaves

6 spring onions, thinly sliced

1. Place the stock in a large saucepan with the ginger, onion, garlic, star anise, cinnamon, sugar, fish sauce and 1L (4 cups) water. Bring to the boil and simmer over medium-low heat for 20 minutes. Strain, discarding solids.

2. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to the packet instructions and drain well

3. To serve, divide the noodles among 4 bowls and top with the sliced beef. Ladle over the hot stock, then top with the chilli, bean sprouts, basil, mint, coriander and spring onion.

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