The Recipes I’m Always Asked For

Whenever I’m called on to “bring a plate” to a get-together (with something yummy on it to share – I’m told it’s a uniquely Australian saying), I tend to make one of the following dishes:

• Cheese Ball (a great entree);
• Brown Rice Salad (for mains);
• Microwave Caramel Tart (dessert).

All of them are simple to make, and don’t require long hours in the kitchen, which makes them winners in my book.

But it seems they are also real winners with others, as I always get asked for the recipes!

I’m all about making life easier for myself, so I thought I’d share the recipes here – that way, in future I can just answer those questions with the link to this blog post 😉 .

Cheese Ball

We used to have Friday morning teas in my office, back in the day – BC (before children!). One of the other ladies often made this, and I’m so glad I got the recipe off her as I still use it regularly, 25 years later!

Ingredients:

• 250g cream cheese
• 250g grated cheese
• chopped shallots or onion
• chopped ham
• paprika

Method: 

Mix all ingredients and shape into a ball. Sprinkle with a generous coating of paprika, before refrigerating for at least two hours. Serve with Jatz savoury crackers or similar.

Brown Rice Salad

I got this recipe from a lady at church, about ten years ago. I think she originally called it a “green rice salad”, but it uses brown rice, so that’s the name I always use – though it probably doesn’t sound as appetising. Don’t be fooled – it tastes amazing!

It’s my usual “go-to” dish for BBQs – and I always get heaps of compliments on it. In fact Mr 24 loves it so much he insists I make it just for us occasionally, instead of always taking it to share with others!

It’s a simple recipe, the main thing is to remember to allow at least half an hour for the rice to cook.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups brown rice, cooked
• chopped shallots – about 1/4 cup
• 1 red capsicum, diced finely
• 1 cup currants
• 1 cup roasted cashews (or pecans), chopped
• 1 cup roasted sunflower seeds
• about 1/4 cup ABC Kecap Manis sweet soy sauce (look for it in the Asian ingredients aisle at your supermarket). I’ve tried other brands of sweet soy sauce but they’re just not the same.

Method:

Combine all ingredients except for about 1 tablespoon of shallots, and mix well. Garnish with remaining shallots, refrigerate until ready to serve. If anything, this dish tastes even better the next day, it’s like the flavour has had time to develop.

Microwave Caramel Tart

This recipe also dates back to those Friday morning teas many years ago. My boss used to get his wife to make a caramel tart, we were all incredibly impressed – surely that would be a long and complicated process? Then we found out she made the caramel in the microwave and it took just 5 minutes – and we were even more impressed!

Ingredients:

• 1 tin sweetened condensed milk
• 60g butter
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 tablesp golden syrup
• tart shell

Method:

Combine all ingredients (except tart shell!) in a microwave jug, and mix well. Cook in microwave on high for five minutes. IMPORTANT: you MUST stop the microwave and stir the caramel mix once every minute – otherwise it will boil over, leaving you with a sticky, sweet mess. Pour into tart shell and cool in fridge for a couple of hours.

I sometimes make individual caramel tarts, by putting butternut or gingernut cookies into a cupcake pan, heating them up for a couple of minutes in the oven, and gently pressing them into a concave shape before filling with caramel.

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Come to think of it, it’s interesting that all three of these dishes are ones that I gleaned from friends, rather than from recipe books.

What are the recipes that you always get asked for – and did you get them from friends or recipe books?!