Even though this blog is mainly about my love of all things cakey, occasionally it’s nice to throw in the odd savoury recipe too.

• Heat the ghee in a large, heavy based pan. Add the onions and cook over a medium heat, stirring now and then until they are soft and a light brown.

• Put the tomatoes, water, ginger and garlic into a liquidizer and blend until smooth. Remove the fried onions with a slotted spoon, add them to the paste and blend briefly until smooth.

• Add the prawns and the puree to the ghee left in the pan and add the salt. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the prawns are cooked and the sauce is hot. 

• Stir in the turmeric, chilli powder, cumin, paprika and ground coriander and continue to cook for 5 minutes. Add chillies and once cooked stir in the fresh coriander and garam masala. 

• Serve with rice, naan bread or whatever takes your fancy.  

Disclaimer: I was sent this wok to review. All comments and opinions are my own.

• Preheat the oven to 160C (fan)/180C

• Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin

• Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth

• Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake for 18-20mins until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Keep an eye on it though, it could be ready after 15mins.

• Place on a wire rack to cool.

• In a deep, heavy bottomed pan add the water, sugar and golden syrup. Stir until combined and then boil over a medium heat until the temperature reaches 170C on a sugar thermometer.

 

• Once it reaches that temp take it off the heat immediately. Don't just turn off the ring, put the pan on an unused ring on the cooker.

• While that pan is boiling away gently heat the cream until its warm but not bubbling.

• Once the sugar mix has reached 170 pour the cream into the pan but take care as it is VERY hot and will bubble up for a few seconds. Keep stirring until it’s all combined and you will have a yummy looking but very hot pan of caramel.

• Now pour all the mixture into a measuring jug and then pour half of that back into the pan. Add the chocolate into the mix in the pan and stir until the chocolate melts.

 

• If you have a mixer pour this into the bowl, start whisking on a low speed and add the butter to it.

• Turn up the speed and keep mixing until the bowl is cool to the touch. This can take about 5mins but don't leave it unattended incase your mixer decides to move across the counter.

• If you don't have a mixer you will need to do all of this with an electric whisk, it will take longer and cause some arm ache!

• While the mixer is doing its thing go back to the leftover jug of caramel and add the salt to it and give it a mix.

• Leave in on the side to cool and once cool add more salt a wee bit at a time if you find you would like it saltier. Remember you can always add but not take away!

• Once the bowl of the chocolate caramel ganache is cool to the touch pop it in the fridge for about 30mins.

I can't believe it has been a month since our trip to Berlin and a month since Himself proposed!!! These past few weeks have gone by in a blink of an eye and I have been fully embracing my inner Bridezilla while researching venues. We are going to visit some when we are back home at the end of October (yes it will be back in Ireland eeep!) and I am so excited!!!

Anyway, enough of me going on about wedding stuff! I thought I would share some pics of the wonderful baked treats and delights that we sampled in Berlin. There was this amazing chocolate shop called Fassbender & Rausch and oh my god it was out of this world. It really is in a league of it's own. I have never been anywhere like it before and I could happily have spent hours in there. Unfortunately we didn't venture up to the cafe upstairs as we had already stopped for coffee and cake but if we ever go back that will be my first port of call!

There were lots of famous landmarks made out of chocolate on display and the detail on them was just stunning. The desserts were amazing too. I had a white chocolate and raspberry dessert and oh my, it was divine. They boxed it up beautifully and I enjoyed it later on that evening back at the hotel.

All this talk of it now is really making me want some chocolate!

Brandenburg Gate in chocolate

The Reichstag in chocolate

The TV Tower in chocolate

The dessert I bought - heavenly!

The prices we so cheap for such brilliant quality.

The dessert counter

Really wanted to buy this one too but I was good and stuck with one dessert.

Another Monday has arrived and another meal plan. We pretty much stuck to last week's plan but apart from Thursday where I had to work late and ended up picking up a pizza on the way back home.

Im getting my head round this whole low carb diet that Himself is doing and I'm finding I'm reducing how many carbs I usually eat too. I still love my pasta and spuds but sometimes it feels like a bit of a faff when it's just for me. I do wish I liked salad though and then we could eat exactly the same thing but I can't stand the stuff. I do love a nice hot meal so salad is just meh...

So this week the plan is:

Monday - baked sea bass with roasted veg
Tuesday - spicy pork and rice/salad for Him (this meal really has become a midweek staple. It's so quick and easy to make and there is always leftovers for lunch the next day).
Wednesday - Szechuan beef with peppers and rice/salad
Thursday - Im meeting the bestie for dinner as a late birthday celebration for her so He will prob have a chicken salad
Friday - Prawn curry
Saturday - once again will prob be a bit of experimenting in the kitchen
Sunday - Roast


I will be linking this post up over on Mrs M's blog so make sure you have a nosey and what everyone else is up to.

Have a lovely week xxx

Take cookies for example, I don't know about you but you can't beat a really good chewy chocolatey cookie straight from the oven. I found this recipe online but it it didn't have enough chocolate in it so I reduced the flour content and added some more cocoa. I think next time I will add more cocoa to it but that's personal preference. I also had some Tate and Lyle golden syrup caster sugar in the cupboard that I got in my goody bag from the Leeds Bake Off that I had yet to try out so this seemed like the perfect recipe to try it on. If you don't have that soft light brown sugar will work just as well.

Ingredients:
125g butter, softened
225g golden syrup caster sugar or soft light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g self-raising flour
30g cocoa
1/2 tbsp milk (only if you find the mixture is a bit too tough and dry)
200g chocolate chips (I used 100g milk and 100g dark)
Makes 24ish (depends on how much cookie dough you munch on before it makes its way into the oven!)

• Preheat the oven to 180C/170C fan

• Cream the butter and sugar 

 

• Beat the egg in a small dish and add the vanilla extract.

• Sift in the flour, add the eggy vanilla mixture and the chocoloate chips and mix together. 

 

• Roll into balls (about a heaped teaspoon of cookie dough) that are a wee bit smaller than a golf ball and space well apart on a baking sheet that has been lined with baking parchment. I used a yorkshire pudding tray and yes this will take a lot longer cos I could only bake in batches of 4 but it stopped the cookies spreading together.

• Bake for 10 mins and using a palette knife carefully place on a cooling rack. They will still be soft but will firm up while cooling.

And that's it - easy chocolate chewy cookies!