Guacamole - Chunky

My first attempt to Guacamole made from scratch..not too bad, but I would have liked it less watery and less raw onion flavour (Tip next time: Use more avocado, ONLY use solid part of tomatoes to avoid wet guacamole, use half a red onion only).

This is great if you like avocados. It is really healthy too. Dipping sauce for your friday night nachos or spread on your tortillas, with some melted cheese and grilled chicken slices...yummers..

All you will need are:
3-4 ripe avocados
1 tomato, deseed
half a red onion, finely diced
bell pepper, finely chopped
jalapenos, finely chopped
coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 lime
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
*optional: 1 garlic clove, minced; few drops of tobasco sauce

Instruction:

1. Scoop avocado into a medium size bowl. Mash well.
2. Add all other ingredients and mix well. Squeeze lime juice and add olive oil, season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish if you like.
3. Tip: if you dont like it chunky, finely chop all ingredient or grind them in a food processor. To ensure that Guacamole does not turn brown too quickly, add a whole avocado seed into the mix.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: easy peasy

Home-made Pepperoni Pizza Recipe

Ingredients (2 portion):
A)To make Dough
300 g wheat flour
1.5 tsp yeast
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1.5 tbsp olive oil
180 ml warm water

B)To make pizza sauce
300g crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp olive oil
1 big onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
2 tbsp tomatoe puree
salt and pepper to taste

C)Toppings
grated cheese, Mozarella cheese
mushroom
pepperoni slices
onions, sliced
jalapeno (optional)
olives
bell pepper
olive oil
etc

Instructions:
A) To make Pizza dough

1. sieve flour into a large bowl, then add salt, sugar and yeast, mix well. Make a cavity in the center of bowl.. pour in olive oil and then warm water slowly.
2. mix well and knead until a smooth ball of dough. place in a clean empty medium sized bowl and cling wrap/cover with damp cloth.
3. set it aside for about 2 hours/ until dough has risen twice its original size
4. dust working surface with flour. split dough into two halves. Use rolling pin to roll out pizza dough into a thing, round pizza base.
   
5. Use a fork and gently pierce holes onto the surface of dough, then flip it over and place it on a baking tray.

B) To make Pizza sauce

1. heat a sauce pan and melt in butter and olive oil. Add in onions and stir until translucent.
   
2. add in crushed tomatoes and puree, stirr well.
   
3. add the others : oregano, basil, salt, pepper, garlic. Let simmer for about 10 minutes on low heat.
4. remove from sauce pan and let cool before using on pizza

C) Decorating your pizza

1. spread pizza sauce unto pizza dough. placed all ingredients (C) evenly, and drizzle a little olive oil all over. Then cover with cheese.
   
2. In a preheated oven at 210 degrees, bake for approximately 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Voila, ready to be served =)

prep time : 3 hours
Difficulty level : easy-moderate

No-Bake Cheese Cake Recipe

When you feel like having a snack, like say a cheesecake, and you dont know much about baking (like me) here's a simple basic 'no-bake' cheesecake recipe you can follow.

Ingredients (20cm baking tray):
1 package Soft Cream Cheese (Philadelphia)
1/2 pack of McVites Digestives biscuits (1 whole pack for thicker crust, as in picture)
150g butter, softened
250g whipped cream
lemon
vanilla essence
2 1/2 tbsp gelatin powder
1 tbsp sugar

Instructions:

1. Blend/ finely crush biscuits and add soft butter. Mix thoroughly and firmly fill bottom of tray (making sure it's compact, avoiding air pockets - brittle cake)
2. Beat the cream cheese, whipped cream and sugar together. Add 1-2 drop of vanilla essence.
   
3. Dissolve gelatine with 3-5 tbsp warm water. Add into cheese mixture and continue beating.
4. Add 2 tbsp lemon juice and some grated lemon zest. Pour mixture onto biscuit layer.
   
5. Chill in fridge for a couple of hours. Voila, best served chill.

*optional: you may top the cake with blueberries/strawberries/ raspberries.

Prep Time: ~30 minutes
Difficulty level : Easy