No-Bake Jelly-yoghurt cheesecake

 A colleague asked me if nooknosh was still being updated.

I said no. But in my mind, over the years, I had been thinking that some receipes should have been uploaded here.

Anyway, fast forward to 2025.. back in the magic kitchen in England..

Here we go. A receipe which I’m sure I will attempt soon…

I do like jelly cheesecake. Every time I go past a jelly hearts outlet, I have to give myself a reason not to buy.

No bake cheesecake. It’s really not that difficult to make. Diane makes them for our gatherings. Perhaps if I succeed, and pass my own test, I could share these.

This picture shows jelly liquid with lemon peel in it. Jelly crystals with no sugar. Agar would probably work too. Or gelatine. 

On the right is the ‘biscuit base’ all crushed up packed together on the base of a Pyrex dish.  Use your imagination how you want the base. Bit of oat biscuit. Bit of digestive. Bit of chocolate bicky. Bit of crunch … add a little bit of sugar. It’s actually about maybe 6 pieces of bickies crushed up with a stone pestle in a bag, with ginger powder. A 1 cm slice of unsalted butter went on top and into the microwave in bursts of 1 min to melt it. That kind of keeps the crumbs together  as they are packed and squeezed. Traditional methods, no magic there.

Then there is the soft cheese and the Greek yoghurt. Not Greek-style yoghurt but proper Greek yoghurt. Big difference.

500g of yoghurt and 200g of cheese.

The jelly powder with water,  lemon peel, was heated, stirred and dissolved. 

Cheese poured into the jelly pitcher jar, mushed up a bit.

Yoghurt poured into the jelly jar and whisked with a $2 whisk from Daiso.

Texture changes as the whole thing is mixed together because the jelly will cool some  and cause the mixture to thicken abit. If it’s too thick, can add some squeezed lemon juice.

Stir in the juice well, you don’t really want it tooooo runny either, so just do the agar-ation thing.

After you think it looks good, just pour the mixture over the biscuit. Use a spatula to scrape the pitcher so that nothing is wasted. 

Most likely it will now look like this. Just bump the tray on the table a bit so you get a flat surface.

Cover with cling film then chill it in the fridge. And you’re done.

If adventurous or need a variation, can pre-cut some colourful jelly into cubes, and mix them into the top layer. 

Or maybe sprinkle some cocoa and chili flakes. 

Or maybe after this is set, then pour another layer of jelly on top and wait for that to set into a 3 layer dessert. Then we could give jelly hearts a run for their money.

Credit to the noshlette for the foundations of the receipe and her hubby as the test subject over the years.

Nosh Lab : Cari de poulet (comme à la Réunion)

Cari Poulet - a dish from Reunion Island
Bastardised by me on account I served it with bread!
Traditionally it is served with rice.

Obviously I'm still cooking , although I haven't blogged about my foodie venturings in a while. So much to eat and so little time to write about it! Anyway, the picture above is of Cari Poulet which is a bit of a culinary adventure for me in creole cooking courtesy of my •❤• Angel.

Ingredients: 

Chicken (I used 3 leg portions)

Tomatoes (I used what I had but I'd estimate about 6 medium salad tomatoes to make about a cup in measurement)

Onion (1 large brown onion, thinly sliced)

Garlic (aprox. 2-3 cloves which might be too garlicky for some - do to taste)

Thyme

Tumeric

Fresh Ginger (aprox. 1 inch)

3 Cloves Garlic

Fresh black pepper

Sea Salt

Honestly, this organised ingredients pic is only for the blog.
I'm never this neat actually cooking. Maybe that's why I never blog!
Clockwise left to right : Garlic + Ginger, Tumeric, Thyme ( I used dried but I think fresh would have made a more authentic dish - Angel says use 2 sprigs) , Salt + Pepper, 1 Clove.

So the funny thing about this dish is I've never tasted the actual thing and a lot of the nuances of actually cooking it, is an educated guess on my part. This is my interpretation based on the recipe that was shared with me. I made it because I had most of the ingredients to hand and said I would!
It's surprisingly good for its simplicity.

Method :

In a pestle, pound ginger, garlic, salt and pepper

Pound to a paste  
Basically so there aren't any huge lumpy bits of spice

Slice onion thinly - Angel's top tip (and I quote) 
" ... so that the onion melts"

I was told in the authentic dish they are fond of using small tomatoes.
I had an assortment so I basically cut them up about the same size ie. halves and quarters.

Now here is where a good non stick pan is essential.  
Brown off the chicken in a hot non stick skillet

This is done by dry frying (not adding anything else)  on a high heat - Here you can see I used a splatter guard because the chicken skin will eventually produce quite a bit of oil on its own. 
(aprox. 5-10 mins)

Then to ensure that the chicken is moist, cover  to cook via steaming 
(aprox. 5 mins -10 mins) 

When skin is a golden brown and meat is part cook,  
add onions and continue to cook gently

As the onions begin to become softer and more translucent,
add the pounded paste of salt + pepper + garlic + ginger

Follow on with the rest of the dry spices ie. Tumeric + Thyme + Clove
Gently cooking and mixing till everything in the skillet is a lovely golden tumeric colour

Continue to saute gently as you add your tomatoes...
(Which just means to stir and turn your chicken + onions + spices + tomatoes 
while the dish is on a medium - low  heat) 

To break down and finish cooking the ingredients through,
turn heat down to low, cover pan and simmer. 
(aprox. 15 minutes)

Here you can see that the chicken is cooked through 
(comes away from the bone around the cartilage)
The tomatoes have broken down to form a liquor with the rest of the pan juices.
The actual dish I'm told is relatively dry - so all I did was reduce the liquid in half by cooking uncovered. 

Finally, I added a chilli (sliced into so that the heat is infused in the last stage of cooking)
and garnished the dish with sliced spring onions

20 seconds later  - this was all that was left
(Ok ... I exagerate but it was GOOD and it went FAST)
Angel thinks I'm heathen because I served it with bread. I know.. it's sacrilege !

Nosh Lab : Chicken Rogan Josh.

Unfortunately I haven't got any pictures of the product as it was just too yummy that we chowed down before I even got the chance to reach for a snap... I served it with roti prata which you can buy in frozen foods at an asian/chinese markets. I find it works well with pita or nan bread too.

Chicken Rogan Josh

6 Chicken Pieces (I used thighs with skin)

1tsp Butter

1/2 Chicken stock cube

Spices (To blend the following or pound to a paste):
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of Black Pepper
2 tsp Ground Cumin
3 tsp Garam Masala
2 tsp Ground Coriander Powder
2 tsp Chilli Powder
2 tsp Tumeric Powder
3 Garlic cloves
Half small brown onion
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 inch ginger
3-4 fresh green finger chilli

Fresh Corriander
Fresh or Tinned Whole Tomatoes (Quatered)
Sliced Mushrooms

Additional Spices : (optional)
Whole cloves 3-4
Cinnamon stick
Star Anise
3 pods Cardamom



Method :
Season Chicken pieces with salt and pepper and using a hot non stick pan, fry chicken skin side down - till skin turns slightly brown. Cool and remove skins. Drain most of the oil/fat that remains from cooking the chicken away but allowing about a tsp or so to remain.

Fry off spice paste in remaining oil till aromatic and add butter and pre-browned chicken.
Add chicken stock cube and 1/2 pint of tap water and bring to a boil - Reduce heat and either simmer for further 2 hours or use thermal pot. Towards the end of cooking time, add tomatoes and fresh coriander - and remainder of optional spices = simmer a further 5-10 minutes seasoning to taste.

Serve hot with side of Nan or Pita Bread.

Nosh Recipes: Nasi Bryani

Nosh Lab: Creating the Super Ché

Nosh Log : Delish Japanese Bento in a Singaporean Food Court

Nosh Log: Saboche

Vietnamese food will never be the same again

This is where it all happens





My favourite dessert






it's the water chestnut super che
(but apparently there's condensed milk in it)




DIY Rice paper roll
(totally memorable unlikely suspects, starfruit, and raw banana slices, including skin)

Do you know the Muffin Man...?

These muffins are based on a Banana Butterscotch Cake recipe that I tried yesterday and they came out perfect! The recipe comes from a Guardian supplemental on Baking which I've hoarded since last year.

I altered the recipe only slightly, using unrefined sugar (light brown moscavado) and reducing the quantity as I don't really like terribly sweet cakes. I used plain greek yoghurt in the recipe and find that it works well for a lot of cream substitutions and has a better texture than plain yoghurt which tends to be quite liquid. I also added a pinch of salt and used a lot more bananas as we had a whole comb around the house that wasn't being eaten in a hurry. The silicone cupcake "Tins" were from Daiso at SGD$2 per pair - Bargain! (Wish I'd bought more!)

Page 58 of Baking from theguardian supplement of the year (Nov. 2007)
Butterscotch Banana Cake

250g caster sugar
250g banana flesh chopped into 2cm pieces
1tbsp unsalted butter
2tsp vanilla extract
175ml sunflower oil
2 large eggs
150g plain flour
75g spelt, rye or wholemeal flour
2 level tsp mixed spice*
2 level tsp baking powder
1/2 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
50 ml plain yoghurt

(Transcribed and slightly short-handed recipe method)
Butter 20cm square tin lined with non-stick baking paper at the base.
Tip 150g caster sugar into fry pan with 25 ml water and bring to boil cooking till reddish caramel is formed. Add banana, butter and vanilla, simmering till banana breaks up in the caramel and the mixture thickens.

Spoon on to plate and leave to cool. Beat remaining 100g sugar with the oil and eggs till thick and slightly aerated, then beat in bananas and yoghurt. Sift the flours, baking powder, spice and soda together two - three times (throwing the bran back in), then fold this through the banana mixture.

Spoon mixure into the tin, heat the oven to 180C (160C for fan assisted) and bake for about 50 minutes or until inserted skewer comes out clean.


Noshlette notes
I used a small non-stick fry pan and left the ingredients to cool in the pan itself. 100g of sugar in the caramel and 50 g with the eggs works just as well. (Almost reducing sugar in recipe by 100g! However bear in mind I used a lot more ripe bananas which were already sweet by themselves)
*mixed spice is basically a blend of corriander powder, cinnamon powder, nutmeg and ginger.

this is real

The inspiration for this... was a meal from the salad bar at Ponderosa's many years ago. many many choices for salad. and then there was Ice Cream.

Fresh sliced button mushrooms and vanilla icecream.
Mushroom feels like the texture of marshmallow but the sweetness is from the icecream. Best if it's got vanilla pod bits in the ice cream. Chunky, or sliced. Maybe nicer chunky.

The nooks of deboning a drumstick

This is the way we debone our drumstick...




so you can stuff it with stuff :



like so :



and then you get this :)

Wow a New Post!

So it occurs to me that I really really should update this blog ;-)

(And I do!)

Just been going over foodie pics on my desktop to see whatelse I should write about next (I should really write that I'm getting my kitchen overhauled!)

Found this one which I thought was pretty good to post ;-)



Is it any wonder why Thai food tastes so good?

first chips

fan cooked.
in the spanking brand new oven
in the spanking new kitchen.

the ultimate carrot cake - pic

the original ultimate carrot cake.

Nosh Recipes : Ultimate Carrot Cake ala Tropicale - Version 1.0

It's an adaptation of Aunty RW's recipe and still a work in progress but we have pics!
I call it Carrot Cake ala Tropicale because it contains pineapple which is a rather pleasing addition to your usual version. Here I've omitted the nuts because our family aren't big on cooked nuts - but I think a sprinkling of chopped pistachios with the icing might be something to try in version 1.1

Ingredients list for carrot cake
Aprox. half kilo carrots (cleaned and finely grated)
300 gms self rising flour
250 gms moscavado/brown sugar (however I think that molasses/dark brown cane sugar will make a better product)
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon powder
twist of nutmeg
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil ( or here they have product made from vegetable oil that has a buttery taste and I would recommend that as an alternative)
2tsp vanilla essence
150 gms canned pineapple chunks chopped (although in here I've used dry which I would not recommend as it is terribly fibrous)
1/2 cup raisins/sultanas (depending on how much you like the stuff or how fruity you wish to make your cake really)
Optional 80g. walnuts/peacans (as per aunty's recipe)

Ingredients list for cream cheese frosting*
*To make frosting simply whisk together all the following ingredients
1 tub 200gms Philadelphia light spreadable cheese (or equivalent)
200gms icing sugar
50gms butter
zest from 1/2 lemon

Method
I tend to mix all the wet ingredients together first before adding in the dry. Therefore mix carrots, pineapple chunks, raisins and sugar together first.
Then, add the 4 eggs, oil and vanilla essence till well integrated.

Then begin sifting in the dry ingredients i.e. In sieve, place together the self raising flour, salt and cinnamon powder introducing this into the wet ingredients by sifting and folding in.













Finally, add a twist of nutmeg to the mix and stir in; then transfer cake batter to a baking tin lined with buttered grease proof paper. Bake in a moderately hot oven (aprox. 200 - 220 degrees Celsius) for 20-30 minutes. To check if cooked through, pierce center of cake with a bamboo skewer. If the cake is ready, the skewer should come away clean. If otherwise, replace cake in oven and bake an additional 5-10 minutes and repeat the test.

Empty cake onto a cooling rack when removed from the oven and remove grease proof paper.

To finish, flip cooled cake over and cover with cream cheese frosting. Place in fridge to set icing and voila - perfect cake to go with your next coffee break!