Chocolate-dipped Strawberries

If you love Strawberries AND chocolate, you have to make these yourselves. It looks delicious, tastes amazing, and sOOO much fun to make. It's pretty easy....although it does require some tidious steps. It's basically a fruit fondue that you can do with grapes, apples, or bananas. It reminds me of school days, during school fairs where there will be stalls selling choc-dipped apples and marshmallows everywhere... So here's what you'll need:

Ingredients :
Baking chocolate bar ( I prefer going for the dark chocolate, slightly bitter sweet)
Fruits

Instructions:

1. You'll need to wash the fresh fruits thoroughly and then air dry them or pat dry with kitchen towels.
2. Bring a small pot of water to simmer on low-medium heat. Place a glass bowl over it, making sure it sits perfectly well on top of the pot, and the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water surface.
   
3. Once chocolate melts, you can start coating the fruits. (IMPORTANT: the fruit has to be absolutely dry when dipping into the chocolate sauce, as any moisture would turn chocolate grainy, and it would not give the fruits a shiny smooth coating)
4. Gently swirl fruit until excess chocolate is dripped off the fruit, then gently place it on a plate and cool it in the refrigerator for approx 30 minutes.
   
5. Best eaten within 24 hours.

Difficulty level: easy

Time : 1 hour

Oven-Baked Curry Puffs Recipe

Recently had cravings for some curry puffs.....and making these reminded me of the good ol' times on Samada Street, Melbourne with my dear friend Sam, how we used to make them together in our tiny little kitchen =) This recipe happens to be a cheat since i didnt make the puff pastry on my own (used the ready made ones from the frozen section at Coop, heh)....but you could probably easily make them your own if you want to. But to make the fillings here's what I used:

Ingredients:
Chicken (diced; omitted if vegetarian version preferred)
Oil for frying
half cup water
Peas
Potatoes (diced, pre-boiled)
Onions (finely diced)
Curry mixture (3 tbsp curry powder + 1 tsp tumeric powder + 1tsp chili powder + salt and pepper to taste + half tsp sugar)
Hard boiled eggs (diced, generously sized)

Instructions to make fillings:

1. Heat oil in a sauce pan. Add in onions and stir till brown then add in curry mix.
2. Stir fry curry mix until fragrant (about 2 minutes, on medium heat).
3. Add in meat, potatoes and peas. Stir in a little while then add water. Lower heat and let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes until mixture is mushy.
4. When folding in fillings into pastry, add in pieces of eggs to give it extra texture and taste.
5. Place puffs on baking paper, brush a little egg wash to give them colour. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 150 degrees (oh dont forget to preheat oven first )

Bon appetit!

Difficulty level : moderate

Time : 1.5- 2 hours