Good Taste - Sweet & Sour Eggs

Hmm, I was going to post a recipe from every Good Taste magazine since I started my subscription, you may have noticed that I haven't done that. I actually hadn't realised that I wasn't cooking from them until I was going through the stack of magazines building up on my coffee table. They are filled with good food and I have good intentions of making things but just never seem to get them made, exactly what I was doing with delicious magazine before I started my blog. I admit to being rather lazy with cooking lately or should I say that I have been making rather boring things, nothing worth photographing and blogging about. 

I have marked several things that I would like to make from this issue. The first is Cauliflower steaks with olive and herb salsa. The cauliflower is cut into thick slices, browned in a pan and then finished off in the oven. The salsa is made from green olives, oil, lemon juice, capers, parsley and oregano. I would make with kalamata olives but that is only because I really don't like green olives. I think this would be perfect with roast chicken. 

A nice quick lunch or dinner could be made from the Baked spinach & cheese mushrooms. They look to be quick, easy and tasty. They are a bit light on the vegetables, just the mushroom and spinach, so serving with salad or some extra veg would be a good idea. Another quick meal would be the African vegetable stew with sweet potato & peanuts, using curry powder and coconut milk for the flavour and creaminess. Again it is a bit light on the vegetables although it does include carrot, celery & spinach as well as the pumpkin. I am sure that I could pack a few extras in there. 

What I ended up making was the Sweet & sour eggs. I wasn't exactly sure about the combination but wow, it was so good. There was a nice hit of heat, I was a bit on the conservative side but could have added more, The sour of the tamarind and the sweet of the sugar were just perfect. Pairing all of that with fried eggs was fabulous. I made it for breakfast yesterday but I easily could have made it for lunch or dinner. I just had it on its own but if I was to have it for lunch or dinner it would probably need to be served with something else, I am not sure what that would be though. It might go well with some sort of rice thing. I will definitely be making these again. 

Sweet & Sour Eggs

125 ml peanut oil (I used grapeseed) 

6 eggs 

1 brown onion

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp sambal oelek

1/2 c water

1 tbsp brown sugar 

1 tsp tamarind puree

2 dried bay leaves 

White pepper 

Heat oil in wok. Crack in egg and fry until starting to brown and turn cooking for 30 sec, remove and cook remaining eggs. 

Add onion, cook stirring until colouring then add garlic and sambal and stir to combine. Add water, sugar, tamarind and bay leaves and boil. Return eggs to the wok and simmer until it starts to thicken. Season. 

Tamarind glazed pork

So I have been meaning to make this for two days. I got the pork out of the freezer on Sunday. Oh, well it is made now and the pork was still fine when I went to use it. I am very pleased with how it turned out. I pretty much just went by feel so I will try and write down what I did. 

Tamarind Glazed Pork 

4 pork belly rashers (or spare ribs as they are also called in Australia)

Piece of tamarind paste about 3 cm square

Zest & juice of 1 lime

2 cloves garlic, crushed 

1 - 2 tsp sambal olek (or to taste) 

2 tsp soy sauce 

1 - 2 tbsp brown sugar (palm sugar would be better but I didn't have any)

Tear up tamarind paste and place in a small dish and cover with warm water (I probably added 1/3 - 1/2 c water). Let soak 10 minutes then stir well. Strain through a fine sieve to remove seeds & pulp. Make sure to stir it around and press through well. 

Place tamarind, lime zest & juice, garlic, sambal olek, soy sauce and sugar in a small pot over a medium heat. Bring to the boil and simmer until it has reduced by at least half and thickened. 

Heat grill, place pork rashers on a rack with a foil lined tray underneath. Brush half glaze over one side of the rashers and cook under the grill until browned, about 5 - 7 minutes. Turn over and brush with remaining glaze. Place under grill again and cook for a further 5 - 7 minutes or until cooked through and nicely browned. 

Serve with rice and steamed greens.