HAPPY HALLOWEEN !

The Great Pumpkin is gonna be so sore at me. I seem to have eaten all of my pumpkins and left none to carve and welcome halloween in. 

Shhh…don’t tell him what this is …. it’s a pumpkin in its halloween costume…yeah…that’s it.

They’re getting really good at make-up and their costumes these days, don’t ya think? Great disguise!

Anyway…have a Happy Halloween y’all !!

Enjoy the season with it’s wonderful gorgeous colours which we (in this part of the world) can only visualise unless somebody forgets to water their garden.

Pan Seared Salmon with Passionfruit & Capers Sauce

Right.

So I’m up to my eyeballs in passionfruit. 

I’m good. Can’t seem to get tired of those fragrant things. Just bored of eating them the same way. Besides turning them into jam (Wanna see? Here.), I’ve made them into drinks, used them in cakes, desserts … notice something? It’s always a sweet. 

Then this afternoon, I was browsing at the grocers wondering what’s for dinner. Friend suggested salmon. And so, “bwwiiing!!”, went the lightbulb that is my noggin’.

Why not a savoury?

It’s always been a lemon and dill sauce for salmon….something contrasty to the rich, oily fish.

Passionfruit? Yessss….

Didn’t want a rich, cloying sauce. Figured I’d go with something lighter … more refreshing …. more, um, lazy. 

So here goes. Tell me if you like it. I did! 

As always, my portions are small. Double up or triplify (new word, my friends call it Pinglish) if you like. Adjust the ingredients to suit your palate.

INGREDIENTS

Salmon fillets

1 tbs butter

1 tbs grape seed oil 

salt

freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1 heaped tbs capers, rinsed, drained and coarsely chopped

pulp of one large passionfruit

1 tsp honey (or to taste)

METHOD

Season salmon with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Heat the butter and oil in a pan.

Pan sear the salmon, skin side down. Using a spatula, press lightly on salmon so that it doesn’t curl.

When skin is crisp (about 2-3 mins), flip and sear other side til it’s done to your liking.

Remove from pan and let rest.

Meanwhile, stir together yogurt, chopped capers, passionfruit pulp and honey.

Glop over salmon and enjoy!

Passionately Yours ... and mine

This is such a lovely and delicious way to eat passionfruit, I just had to share it. It’s so simple, many may have already tried it this way but I’ve only had my eyes and tastebuds tantalised at a Malay-Indonesian restaurant about a year ago. 

Recently, there have been a variety of passionfruit in the grocers and I had to try them all out. And with this really bad flu I’ve caught, it’s also a great excuse to medicate myself with it. Yes, with natural cures. I’m totally sensitive to drugs. 

INGREDIENTS

All varieties of passionfruit

All kinds of honey

METHOD

Cut fruit in half.

Drizzle honey on top.

Scoop and eat.

Cut another fruit into half.

Drizzle honey on top.

Scoop and eat.

Cut another ….. you get the idea.

Pumpkin Rice

~Pumpkin, Pumpkin,

Round and fat.

Harvest time is coming.

Yum, yum, yum.

That is that!~

I have the sniffles and I think it’s pumpkin fever. Incurable. I die happy.

I found this recipe on a fellow blogger’s site. It caught my eye. And why not? It’s got pumpkin in it.

Hers is a loaded version. You can check it out here.

I just made a simpler one since I’ll be having kung pao chicken on the side. Altho this turned out scrumplicious, basmati rice would be a better choice as it's less fluffy and with a springier bite. 

It’s so appetising! Good even on its own. Thanks Phong Hong!

I’m gonna be making this very often and with different variations.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup jasmine rice, rinsed and drained

1 Chinese sausage, thinly sliced (or substitute with any meat of your choice)

1 cup diced pumpkin

2 tbs dried shrimp, soaked, drained and coarsely chopped

1 small onion, coarsely chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 cups chicken / vegetable stock

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbs oil

Chopped scallions

METHOD

Heat oil. Sauté the garlic and the dried shrimp.

When it’s fragrant, toss in chopped onion, pumpkin, sliced Chinese sausage and ground cinnamon. Stir it around until onions are soft.

Turn off the heat and mix in the rice. Coat evenly.

Transfer into a microwave safe bowl and add in the stock.

(Same method as how I cooked rice before. Alternatively, you can also plonk it into a rice cooker if you have one).

Cook uncovered on high for 10 mins.

Sprinkle chopped scallions just before serving.

Chocolate Chips Pumpkin Cake

It’s pumpkin season again. 

I love pumpkins. I used to go crazy thinking of unconventional things to make, cook, bake with pumpkins. 

Crazy moments: 

~ Fried Pumpkin Indian Style

~ Pumpkin Roasted Duck Steamed Kuih

~ Pumpkin Tomato Soup Chicken

~ Pseudo-Chinese Pastry

There must be over a hundred varieties out there. We get a good variety from the local grocers. And to mess about with, I wouldn’t even bother getting expensive imported ones. Our local variety is good enough …. similar to the winter squash, Linus’ pumpkin patch types, the one Cinderella took to the ball and forgot to come back before her curfew and lost her shoe (definitely pretty ill-fitting shoe, I must say, and probably had one too many margaritas … you really have to read between the lines of those fairy tales to get the gist of the saucy substance of what the author is actually trying to say but could not due to childrens’ story books bylaws or whatnots).

Anyway, enjoy this while pumpkin is still in season or just freeze mashed pumpkin and you can have it all year through! 

Oh …. before I go mess about some more ….

For those who do not want to use canned pumpkin puree, you can prepare your own very easily.

Just get rid of the hard skin and seeds. Cut into large chunks and steam them for a few minutes (you can tell when they’re soft. The colour turns a darker orange). 

And, in this recipe, I did not mash the pumpkin too fine (I did call it mash and not puree). It’s good either way. I kinda like the speckled orange look.

(This cake is a combination of recipes. So if anyone feels that this originated from yours, please let me know. I’ll add a link and your cake pic to this). 

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 cup mashed pumpkin
1/2 cup (4oz) butter, melted
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

METHOD

Preheat oven to 170ºC.
Generously butter a 9”X5”X3” loaf pan or three 6”X3”X2” mini loaf pans.
Combine flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Mix well.
In a separate mixing bowl, beat eggs.
Add pumpkin, melted butter, and milk. Mix well.
Combine wet ingredients with the dry and mix.

Fold in chocolate chips.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan/pans. 

Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Remove cake from pan and cool on a wire rack.