Shepherd's Pie @ my way

Hi my dear readers, how are you doing and how do you spend the whole last week? Me?! I'm quite busy with the daily routine and I've been out for almost the whole week for some personal stuffs. Back home to my kitchen, found my old oven has almost dying after accompanied me for all these years. Guess I got to look for a new one now. Any suggestions?

Meanwhile I'm using the portable air cooker for my daily recipes. Still can be done for those simple ones. 

Here, the 1st from the portable air cooker, Shepherd's Pie for our Festive dinner (Mid Autumn Festival) few days ago. Still goes well, and it did not dissapoint me...:) I did twist and turn the recipe to suite my taste, and I love it!

Ingredients:

2 tbsps olive oil

1 large onions (chopped)

1 carrot, finely diced

some green beans (as desire)

250g minced lamb ( I used the Australian Lamb)

1 tbsp dried thyme

1 tbsp dried bazil leafs

5 tbsps tomato paste

2 tbsps brown sugar

a pinch of salt

Marinate Ingredients:

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

2 tbsps A1 steak sauce

a little black pepper

a little salt and sugar

* marinate the minced lamb with the sauces above for at least 2 hours.

Topping:

600g fluffy potatoes, peeled and quartered

30g butter

1/3 cup fresh milk

a dash of black pepper

~ Steamed the quartered potatotoes for about 5-10 minutes or until potatoes are soft. 

~ Transfered softened potatoes into a tray, add in milk, butter and pepper and mash until smooth and fluffy.

~ Set aside.

Method:

~ Preheat wok and add in 2 tbsps olive oil, saute the chopped onions till fragnant.

~ Add in marinated meat, at medium heat stir fry awhile. Then add in the rest of the ingredients into the meat and keep stirring for few minutes. If the tomato paste is too sour, may add some sugar to adjust the sweetness. Total cook time is about 15-20 minutes.

~ Transfer the meat to a 1.25 litre overproof casserole dish.

~ Preheat oven to moderate 180'C.

~ Spoon the mashed potatoes evenly over the meat and fluff up into peaks with a fork.

~ Bake for about35-40 minutes, or until the top is golden.

Serve hot with a glass of red wine, the wine really brings out the dish quite well.
This was my 1st attempt making a Shepherd's Pie, and i'm very satisfied with the outcome!
I will definitely put this recipe in my top list menu...hehe!

Happy Baking!

Simple Belacan Chilli Paste

Still early, and i'm not tired to go to bed yet.....so i just open my fridge and check out what i have inside. Checked through it and found a packet of belacan powder and some chillies in there.
Mmmm....Chilli Belacan! That comes to my mind.
One of my friend has been asking me to cook this for her quite some time ago. She loves chilli alot, the spice....:) She tasted long time ago when i made this for our gathering, bet she still remember the taste...heehee!

Its very simple, all u need are this four ingredients....Chillies (Dried and fresh- all blended into paste) Of course you can add some chilli padi if you want it more spicy. Then the rest of the ingredients are minced shallots, minced garlic and belacan powder.
Just stir fry the shallots and garlic till fragnant then add in the belacan powder and chilli paste.
At low fire, stir-fry for about 10 minutes....and its done!
The portion of the ingredients..?! I don't really measure it, it just goes to your own preference.

Simple and nice! I always have this chili with my fried mee-hoon or mee. Now when i'm posting it, makes me want to taste it immediately...haha! For friends out there who loves chillies....this is definetely a paste you cannot miss!