Day 174 : Christmas Eve Dinner (6) Vanilla Cheesecake

Vanilla Cheesecake 

with Hobnob's Cracker Crust and Blueberries

Best served after overnight refrigeration.

by Carol & Justine :D

Carol and Justine are attempting to bake 

their first cheesecake.

Ingredients

1 packet of Hobnob's Oatmeal Biscuits

1.5 tbs of butter (softened)

750 g cream cheese

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 tbs vanilla essence

230 g sour cream

4 eggs

1. Pre-Heat oven to 175 degrees C.

2. Crumble the oatmeal biscuits with a potato masher. 

Use your fingers to crush it further to a finer texture.

 3. Butter the cake pan. Make a flat base with the crushed crumbs.

The crumb-base should look compact and sealed-in.

 I didn't know the cream cheese comes in this form.

Did you?

4. We haven't got an electric mixer. So, let's put the hands to work. :D

Beat the cream cheese until it is smooth.

5. Add the condensed milk, eggs, sour cream and vanilla essence.

Whip and beat in the mixture until it combines well.

Taking turns to whip the cream mixture.

Almost there ...

Continue to whip it until it is very very very smooth, says Justine.

6. Pour the mixture into the cake pan.

7. Bake for 45 minutes.

Let it cool. Then refrigerate.

7. Carol ties a red ribbon at the bottom of the cake

and scatter blueberries over the top.

Yayyy ... Cake time!!! :D

The cheesecake tastes oh-so-very good. Literally melts in the mouth.

The blueberries give it a refreshing twist. The texture is cheesecake-perfect! 

Everyone is enjoying their cake. :D 

Do join us ... :D

Day 174 : Christmas Eve Dinner (4) Salad Delight

SALAD DELIGHT

Here's our Christmas Eve Dinner Dish No. 4. 

A very simple side salad.

Cut half a grapefruit into bite size.

Romaine lettuce, red peppers, green peppers, 

tomatoes, carrots, olives and grapefruit.

Found a can of sweet corn in the cabinet.

Squeeze lemon juice over. 

Add your favourite dressing.

I'm adding a Japanese salad dressing here.

Toss Toss Toss.

Fresh and crisp. :D

CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER 

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Day 174 : Christmas Eve Dinner (3) Pilau Rice

PILAU RICE

1. Saute shallots 

directly in the pressure cooker pot. 

Drop a dollop of butter.

2. Add spices.

star anise, cumin, cardamons and cloves.

3. Add basmati rice grains.

Saute for a minute or two.

Add seasalt.

Add filtered water.

Close the lid and allow the pressure cooker 

to transform the grains. :D

The rice should be ready in 20 minutes or so. 

The rice is absolutely fluffy and tasty.

It goes very well with the lamb curry.

LAMB CURRY

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Day 174 : Christmas Eve Dinner (2) Lamb Curry

LAMB CURRY 
with SOUR CREAM

Bryan is preparing his famous lamb curry with the pressure cooker. We will have the lamb curry with pilau rice. This time, he's gonna add sour cream instead of yogurt.

3 Simple Steps :

1. Saute garlic and shallots.

2. Pressure-cook lamb.

3. Pressure-cook lamb and potatoes.

Spices from top (clockwise) : curry powder, cardamons, cloves, biji galangal, 

star anise, jintan manis (aniseed), jintan putih (cumin), cinnamon stick and peppercorns.

  

Chop lamb into cubies.

Marinate with curry powder, seasalt and pepper. 

We marinate at noon, and cook in the evening.

Other ingredients: garlic, shallots, ginger, tomatoes, 

curry leaves and lemon grass.

1. Saute garlic and shallots.

Add the spices and continue frying.

The aroma is simply amazing!

Add the lamb. Add water.

Add lemon grass. Add curry leaves.
Add seasalt.

2. Pressure-cook the lamb.


Add blended garlic-shallots-ginger.
Close lid. Allow the pressure cooker 
to do its magic.

When the red button drops, open lid.
Add fresh milk. Add potatoes.

Give it a stir.

3. Pressure-cook lamb and potatoes.

Add tomatoes. Add red chilly. 

Add mint leaves.

Close lid and allow pressure cooker 

to cook a second round.

The lamb will be tender since it is pressure-cooked twice, 

whilst the potatoes will be just nice and not mushy.

When the red button drops, remove the lid ...

Add sour cream. Stir to mix.

Ooh, the lamb is amazingly tender,

 the potatoes are soft and creamy.

Totally out of this world! 

CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER

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Day 174 : Christmas Eve Dinner (1) Roast Chicken

ROAST CHICKEN

Today is Christmas Eve.

We are going to prepare some simple dishes for dinner this evening. The first is Roast Chicken. 

We checked the internet for JULIA CHILD's roast chicken recipe. 

By the way, just to let you know that, it is the movie Julie & Julia (Child) that inspired me to blog about dinner. :D

Anyway, with the basic instructions in mind, we are going to be adventurous today. We will improvise as we go along. Nothing can go wrong today. 

It's Christmas Eve! There's magic in the air. :D 

3 Simple Steps :

1. Stuff the Chicken.

2. Season the Chicken.

3. Prepare the Vegetables.

 

1. Stuff the Chicken.

Clean the chicken. Inside and out.

Rub the body with garlic.

Take a fork and pierce through the body 

of the chicken to allow the marinate 

to seep through and make it better tasting.

About 50 stabs or thereabouts. Just stab stab stab the chicken all over, 

but don't get carried away.

Stuff about 10 cloves of smashed garlic 

(with skin) in the chicken.

Stuff apple mint leaves.

Julia Child's recipe says THYME, but we only have APPLE MINT. 

We shall stray carefully away. Besides, we think mint would do

a good job in keeping the insides smelling fresh anyway.

Squeeze half a lemon over and after that ...

... stuff it in the chicken.

2. Season the Chicken.

Sprinkle black pepper and

drop a few dollops of creamy butter.

Add organic shoyu.

What would Julia Child say to this? :D

Add organic black sauce.

Sprinkle thyme herbs.

Add a teaspoon of honey.

Sprinkle seasalt. 

Rub the seasonings in with your clean hands.

Ah, now for the magic of Christmas...

Let's add some brandy ...

I am seasoning the chicken way before dinner time at noon.

I'm storing it in the fridge, covered with a cling foil, 

until about 6 pm to roast.

3. Prepare the Vegetables.

Our daughter Justine shaved about 20 

water chestnuts while watching TV.

Prepare a nice bed of onion rings 

and carrots on an oven tray.

Roughly arrange cubes of potatoes around the tray. 

Place oyster mushrooms in the middle 

as a soft cushion for the chicken.

Pile the water chestnuts on.

Place the chicken on the bed.

Pour a large mug of mushroom stock (no MSG) over.

Bird's eye view.

Our family loves potatoes as You can see ...

Decorate with carrots and cherry tomatoes.

IN THE OVEN

Pop the chicken into your pre-heated oven. 

Roasting time : About 1 hour 15 minutes.

Temperature : 220 degrees C for 15 minutes.

Turn down to 200 degrees C 

and continue roasting for an hour.

Meanwhile, blanch some broccoli and set aside. 

Bon Appetite!!!

Turn off the oven heat when the timer rings. 

I am leaving the chicken in the oven for 

another 20 minutes or so to brown 

it a little bit more.

Remove the chicken from the oven

and arrange the broccoli around it. 

I forgot to pierce the chicken with a fork 

to check whether the juice runs clear. 

Thankfully, the chicken turned out perfect. 

That's the MAGIC of Christmas! :D

 

CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER 

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