Double Bean Salad

Chickpeas are one of the best things for you because of its ultra-high fibre content and it tastes great too. I had to make myself a quick packed lunch today for school and when I found a can of chickpeas in the pantry, a bean salad was the obvious option. This recipe is quick and simple and it tastes absolutely great!

Double Bean Salad

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas

100g skinny runner beans (regular is fine too)

3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

cracked black pepper

Method

Rinse and drain chickpeas and put into a bowl

Boil runner beans and cut them into centimeter long pieces

Combine the two beans along with the vinegar

Season with black pepper to taste

Great as a side dish or an appetizer, this salad is a breeze to make and will no doubt satisfy those tastebuds!

Cinnamon Spiced Brownies

I think one of my favourite comfort foods of all time would have to be brownies. Every since I was little, a neighbour from a few floors down in my condominium block would bake a small batch of rich chocolate brownies for my brother and I. Back then, I never knew exactly what it was that I was eating but it didn't matter - all that mattered was that it tasted good. For some reason, in the school that I am in, brownies are a big deal.

When I used to live in Sydney a few years ago, it was always cakes or cookies that made their way to bakesales. At times we would see students walk around with giant Freddo Frogs of Caramel Koalas to raise money instead. But brownies never made it into the process of money-raising. However, here in Singapore, bakesales are almost synonomous with brownies.

There is something about the dense, chocolatey and fudgy characteristic of brownies that is just so appealing. Slightly sticky yet yeilding crumbs. Rich and comforting, though not cloyingly so. Brownies are the ultimate, I think, in delivering that satisfaction for chocolate.

Last wednesday was a friend's birthday and I decided to bake some brownies for her. I had initially thought of baking her cinnamon rolls because cinnamon rolls are one of the things she really likes as well. But bread baking requires time - time I did not have. So, the only way to go is, obviously, adding a little cinnamon into a basic brownie recipe to create that exotic spicy flavour.

Cinnamon Spiced Brownies

Ingredients

140g unsalted butter

200g brown sugar

95g unsweetened cocoa

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs, cold

65g all purpose flour

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

Preheat the oven to 170ْC and line an 8-inch baking pan with greaseproof paper

Mix butter, salt, sugar and cocoa in a bowl and over a pan of simmering water

Stir mixture until butter has completely melted and it is just hot enough to touch

Remove bowl from pan and let cool until warm

Stir in vanilla and eggs, one at a time, beating vigorously after each addition

Stir until batter looks shiny and thick

In a separate bowl, sift together flour and cinnamon

Add the flour mixture to the batter and stir until flour is no longer visible

Beat batter vigorously for 40 quick strokes before pouring into pan

Bake for 25 mins or until toothpick comes out with a few crumbs still attached

Let cool completely before cutting into 16 pieces

These brownies were really good. The cinnamon provided a very nice twist to the regular brownies which is nice when the regular browies are all you see nowadays. I hope my dear friend loved eating them as I loved baking them. Happy Birthday!

Tim Tams - Classic Dark

I hardly eat bitcuits because they really are quite bad for you. By the time you've had enough to fill you up, you feel quite sick in the stomach and you find yourself hungry again soon after. Its not a very economical snack. But when I do nibble on some biscuits, I almost always choose Tim Tams - the pride and joy of Australia.

Tim Tams are known arguably the best chocolate biscuits around (one could even say the best biscuits around). They consist of a thick layer of chocolate cream sandwiched between two layers of chocolate biscuits that is then all dunked and smothered in a layer of chocolate. Thats three layers of chocolate, three layers of comfort - three layers of heaven. In a given supermarket, you would always find a wide range of varieties of Tim Tams - original (milk chocoltae), classic dark, double coat and caramel with more exotic ones as well like black forest and tia maria. *sigh* Tim Tams are one of the things I miss most in Australia.

The pack of "Classis Dark" Tim Tams has been lying untouched in my fridge for quite a while now so I figured that if noone was going to eat them, I will. I mean really, all the sacrifices I make. But one can can never say that they have had a Tim Tam if they haven't had a "Tim Tam Slam" as well. The procedure is really quite simple. Take a small bite out of 2 diagonally opposite corners, stick one end of the Tim Tam into a hot drink (i.e. coffee, tea, hot chocolate, or just hot milk), put the other bitten end in your mouth, and suck as if the Tim Tam were a straw. The hot liquid melts the biscuit and cream filling slowly while the chocolate coating helps keep the biscuit together. Before the biscuit disintegrates into a clumpy mess in your drink, eat it! Trust me on this - it is amazing.

Although Tim Tams are not a rarity in Singapore's supermarkets, the only ones they stock are the Original and maybe the Double Coat variety. Well, it just looks like the next time I find time to make a trip to Sydney, I'm going to have to load up!