Beef and Mushroom Pie

 

Thanks to my best friends who gave Westfield/Myer vouchers as my birthday presents. I spent some of the amount to buy this pie maker. It is called Pie Magic 4 by Sunbeam and costs $69.95 in Myer (came with a recipe book).  When I saw it in the store, I knew that I wanted it so much since Thu loves eating pies and I always oppose the idea of buying pies from supermarkets or any bakery shops. Why?!? The reasons are stated in the nutrition information. I also want to make my own apple pies one day. 

I just made 17 beef and mushroom pies today. I planned to freeze most of them for our busy days, when pies and fresh salad will be our dinner. I was very surprised with the results. We both really liked these homemade pies. The pie crust was also perfect. For those who like pies, I strongly recommend this pie maker. It made the best pies I've ever had in my first attempt of using it.

Recipe that I tried: Aussie Bushman's Pies from page 14 in Pie Magic 4 recipe book. Delicious!! I doubled the amount of mushrooms and didn't add water since mushrooms were juicy enough for the pie filling.

Ingredients (for 4 pies):

• 200 g beef round steak, diced
• 200 g flat mushrooms, sliced
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbs plain flour
• 1 tsp beef stock powder
• 1/4 tsp ground blackpepper
• olive oil
• a pinch of salt
• 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• shortcrust pastry for the pie base
• puff pastry for pie top

Preparations:

Prepare the pie filling: toss steak in combined flour, stock powder and pepper. Heat oil in a wok, cook steak and onion until browned.

Add mushrooms and worcestershire sauce. Simmer until mushroom is cooked (approx. 7 mins).

Prepare pie base: Using the pie base cutter provided, cut each pie base from the shortcrust pastry. Using both hands, overlap the pastry slits by approx. 1.5 cm.

Prepare pie top: Using the pie top cutter provided, cut each top from the puff pastry. Arrange the pie parts in the pie maker. Leave it closed for about 8 mins. All done!!

 

Serve the pie with fresh salad and tomato sauce. If you make some extras, you can keep the remaining pies in freezer for up to 2 months.

 

Bakmie Goreng (Indonesian Fried Noodle)

This food reminds me of my childhood in Indonesia. Most birthday parties that I went always served bakmie goreng. Noodle is a sign of long life and hence, every birthday party must have noodles!

I cooked bakmie goreng to celebrate Thu's birthday. It was his first experience of my bakmie goreng as we usually order this dish in Indonesian restaurants. I was pleased with the result and will definitely make it again, especially for someone's birthday!


Ingredients:

• 1 bulb garlic (peeled and crushed)
• 2 eggs (scrambled)
• 10 beefballs (cut in half)
  
• 3 chicken thigh fillets (cut in strips)
• half bunch choy sum (cut to medium strips)
  
• 1 pack Hokkien Noodle
• salt & pepper
  
• 2 tbs sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
• 1 tsp garlic chilli sauce (sambal bawang)
• fried shallot (bawang goreng) to garnish
  

Preparations:

• Blanch hokkien noodles in boiling water until they are well-separated. Drain and run in cold water for 1 minute to avoid noodles get too soft.
  
• Scramble the egg and put them aside.
• Stir fry crushed garlic until they turn slightly golden. Add chicken thigh strips, a pinch of salt and pepper. Keep stir-frying until chicken is fully cooked.

• Add choy sum, beefball, and garlic chilli sauce. Keep mixing. When the veggies are cooked, add hokkien noodle and sweet soy sauce, a pinch of salt (based on your taste). Mix until the colour is uniform.

• Add scrambled egg. Mix and it is ready to serve. Garnish with fried shallots.