Dragon Fruit Cheese Cake - No bake

Dragon fruit also known as pitaya is full of antioxidant and best eaten chilled. The fuchsia thin rind envelopes the large mass of lightly fragranced sweet white, red or pinkish pulp and small edible black seeds. Taste the unique blend of dragon fruit with cheese with the accompanying recipe.

1 dragon fruit

Base:
230g chocolate biscuits
30g melted butter
1 1/2 tbsp warm water

Cheese filling:
250g cream cheese, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla essence
100g sweetened condensed milk
100g full cream milk
1/2 cup lemon juice

Mix together:
2 tsp gelatin
1/3 cup hot water

Red colouring

Pulse together biscuits, melted butter and warm water to crumbs. Press biscuit crumbs into a 16cm springform baking tin and chill in the fridge. For cheese filling, beat all ingredients till smooth. Put in a drop of colouring and swirl for marble effect. Place half of cut dragon fruit on the base and pour cheese mixture over it. Put one or two drops of colouring on top of the cake. Swirl it to get a star effect. Chill it for 4 hours in the fridge. Serve cheese cake with the remaining dragon fruit.

Spicy Mackerel Flakes

This Thai inspired spicy dish goes well with rice or bread. Make ahead and keep in the fridge. Serve chilled or heated up.

100ml coconut milk or evaporated milk
12 fresh chillies, pound finely
1 kg mackerel
300g prawns
1 stalk lemongrass
20 shallots
6 kaffir lime leaves
6 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp condensed milk

Steam mackerel remove head and bones then flake the fish. Finely shred lemongras (white part only), shallots and kaffir lime leaves. Heat some oil and fry chillies, shallots and lemongrass until aromatic. Season with salt and sugar. Add in prawns and fish and fry till prawns are cooked. Add in both milk, kaffir lime leaves and cook till heated through. Turn off fire and mix in lime juice.

Beans and Tofu Soup

This meat free soup has a wonderful sweet and earthy taste of beans, mushrooms and tofu.

Soak 100g of mixed dried beans (I use Green Love brand which softens very fast) for an hour. Bring six rice bowls of water to a boil and add in the beans, 3 chinese mushrooms or shitaki and a bunch of enoki mushrooms, 6 pitted red dates and stock cube (ikan bilis). Boil for an hour or until beans are soft. Add in 1pc of cut tofu cubes and switch off fire. Season with salt and garnish with coriander.