Asian Style Beef Pie

The weather forgot to be winter for a week, but the cold is back with a vengeance.
So another little tummy warmer for the family dinner or smart enough for entertaining casually.
This is not strictly a pie nor Asian except for the Thai spices. The flavours are subtle and the pie is quite rich, with the addition of the pureed sweet potato. You could always use pastry or another variety of potato as an alternative.
It can be totally made with the inclusion of the topping and sit waiting to pop into the oven to warm through half an hour before serving. Delicious and easy.

1 kilo beef chuck cubed
Rylstone olive oil
2 onions chopped finely
2 carrots sliced and quartered
2 cloves garlic crushed
1tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons fish sauce
3 teaspoons palm sugar
1 large red chilli or 2 small very finely chopped.
750 ml beef stock
2 shallots

2 large sweet potato or 500 gram
large knob butter
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons crushed ginger
large knob butter
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons crushed ginger
3 tablespoons toasted chopped pecans ( optional )

 Drizzle beef with oil and brown in a casserole dish in two or three batches over a med heat.
Add the carrots onions and garlic and fry gently for a couple of minutes stirring it through the beef.
Add the stock, soy sauce, fish sauce,  palm sugar and chilli and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for one and half hours. Add chopped spring onions just before serving.
Steam sweet potato and mix through butter and milk with the crushed ginger. Add the pecans last if using.
Divide the mixture into four ovenproof ramekins and top with the sweet potato and warm in a moderate oven for about half an hour.
Serve with steamed Asian greens.

Chilli Chicken Soup

This soup is a meal in its self. It makes a large quantity and is better the next day. For those of you who were ardent fans of Seinfeld, you may remember the Soup Nazi. A New York soup stand vendor who had people queuing for his fabulous food. However he was a cantankerous man and refused to serve anyone who annoyed him or didn't follow the ordering procedure and he frequently ejected people from the queue. This character and his soup were the inspiration for this recipe. It is almost like a Mexican minestrone, rich and hearty. I always serve it with a big dollop of sour cream, some fresh coriander and corn chips.



2 onions
4 cloves garlic
4 chicken breasts (you could also use a ready cooked chicken )
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
2 carrots peeled and cut in discs and cut again in half
1 small capsicum, diced
1 can kidney beans
1 can corn kernels or 1cup of frozen kernels
2 tins tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock
10 cups water
 freshly chopped coriander
freshly chopped parsley
1 1/2 tablespoons ground chilli or fresh chillies
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
canola oil

Fry the chopped onions and garlic in a little oil, till opaque. Remove and in the same pot saute the chicken pieces until cooked. Chop the chicken and return to the pot, with the onions and garlic. Add the stock and all of the other chopped ingredients. Add as much chilli as you think you would like, but I use at least 2.
Bring the pot to the boil and turn down and simmer for 2-3 hours. Stir the pot at least every 20 minutes, to stop the chicken catching on the bottom of the pot. The soup will reduce, thicken and become dark
when it is done. Serve it with a sour cream, chopped coriander and a side of corn chips.

Beef and Guiness Pie

Now the weather is getting a little cooler we tend to think of warming meals. The great Aussie beef pie comes to mind always a favourite and staple at any sporting match and hopefully on a grander scale at the kitchen table. There are some really good pies out there to buy moist fabulous fillings.
Byron Gourmet Pie company makes a delicious pie with fillings like Mexican, Ratatouille  Thai Chicken and of course a Steak. Not being readily available at the time,  I decided to make my own variety. Seriously you can really put any filling into a pie. For some reason everyone loves a meal in pastry and you can make it look very smart with little decorations on the pie top.  Don't fret about the pastry these are easy ! A ramekin with a pastry lid. This recipe made 4 pies, but make more of the meat mixture and keep for another meal. This is very hearty and has a rich luscious sauce. The meat is very tender, helped along by the Guinness !

1 kilo chuck steak
2 cups beef stock
400 ml of Guinness beer
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic crushed
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons plain flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
fresh thyme
salt and pepper
1 egg
1 packet frozen puff pastry
4 x 250 ml ramekins


Chop the steak into cubes. Place into a plastic bag with the flour and shake until the meat is totally covered in flour. Heat the olive oil in a large casserole dish and brown the meat. Remove from the pan.
Fry the onion and garlic until translucent. Return the meat to the pan with the stock, beer, tomatoes,

sugar, thyme salt and pepper. Make sure the meat is covered with the liquid, and the pot has a lid on it.
Simmer on the stove top, for approximately 2 hours. The sauce will be really rich and glossy. Stir the meat every 20 minutes to stop it catching on the bottom.
When cooked set aside to cool. This step can be done well ahead.
Remove the frozen pastry from the freezer and let thaw. It is easier to work with if it is still slightly frozen.
Cut a piece of pastry about an inch bigger all round than the ramekin, and grease the edge of the dish.
Place equal amounts of the meet mixture into the dishes and cover with the pastry lid, pressing it firmly into the edge of the dish, with the flat side of a fork prongs. Make a small air hole in the lid, brush with beaten egg and place on a tray in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes or until pastry is puffed and golden. Warning they are very hot so let them sit awhile before serving or warn your guests !
I served them with some ginger sweet potato mash and some cherry tomatoes cooked gently in balsamic vinegar in a frypan on top of the stove. Garlic beans would be lovely as well.

Beef Braised in Coconut Milk

Oh the weather is so cold and miserable at the moment, it is winter after all. The season to stay in doors and cook steaming pots of tasty warming meals. For me these days are perfect for  a slow cooked dish , filling the house with beautiful cooking aromas. So many to choose from, but today I have chosen a dish that is a curry, a beef rendang  it is a relatively dry curry, Indonesian in origin.  Don't let the list of ingredients put you off. Once prepared, sit down and snuggle under a rug, read a book, watch a movie or do some sewing, bliss! Oh you do have to get up and give it a stir every so often !


1 Kilo Beef shoulder, blade or gravy beef

Spice Mix

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 large  french shallots peeled and finely sliced ( you can use onion if you wish )

8 large garlic cloves peeled and chopped

30 grams turmeric fresh if available otherwise a tablespoon of turmeric powder

35 grams of ginger peeled and chopped

35 grams of galangal (this looks a bit like ginger and is available at any good fruit and vegetable shops

35 grams of candlenut ( substitute Brazil nuts if unavailable ) roasted and chopped

3-4 fresh large red  chillies  halved sliced  and seeded ( the dish does require chillies you can use approx 100 gram less or more depending on your tastes)

3/4 teaspoons crushed black pepper

2 lemongrass stalks peeled and finely chopped
3 kaffir lime leaves bruised
3 curry leaves bruised
800 mls  of coconut milk or  2 large tins
800 mls of beef or chicken stock
Note you can use all coconut milk if you wish which is more the tradition but I do find it a little too rich so use half and half. If using all coconut milk it will evaporate faster than half milk and half stock, so you may want to reduce the amount of stock. You can also cook on the stove top for a little longer to reduce the liquid.

Chop the beef into 2-5 approx cm cubes and set aside.
Prepare the spice mix. You can use a mortar and pestle or a food processor, if you have one, otherwise just chop all the ingredients, don't have to be too fine, leaving lemongrass, lime leaves and curry leaves out.
Use a heavy braising or casserole pot, and fry off the spice mix until fragrant and darker in colour. Add half the coconut milk and slowly bring to a simmer. Add the chopped lemongrass, and bruised lime and curry leaves, then your beef cubes to the pot . Simmer gently for a couple of minutes before adding the stock and remaining coconut milk. Cover with lid and place in a slow oven 160 for approx 2 hours, or until the meat is very tender and most of the liquid absorbed.
If the meat is not tender enough but the liquid is absorbed you can continue to cook adding small amounts of coconut milk, on the stove top.
Serve in bowls with steamed rice, yoghurt, a beautiful chutney like Baxters Mango maybe some lime pickle and garnish with some shredded lime leaves or fresh chilli.