Chocolate Tart & Tandoori Kebabs!

I know I haven't posted anything for a while, but it's the holidays and all my routines are stuffed up because im too busy sleeping in and eating junk. Oh well! My Mum decided to invite my uncle over for dinner, and  used it as an excuse to do a lot of cooking. She asked me to help make a desert and some kebabs she chose, so for the desert I found a lovely-looking chocolate tart. Both of these recipes are from Coles magazines, the August issue (tart) and the September/October issue (kebabs). The kebabs are dead easy, but the tart is a little more challenging (well, for me anyway)

CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY TART
Ingredients
- 250g packet of Arnott's Choc Ripple Biscuits
- 125g of butter, melted
- 250g of dark eating chocolate, chopped
- 1/3 of a cup of thickened cream
- 125g butter, extra, chopped
- 2 eggs (all of the inside of the egg, obviously)
- 3 egg yolks (the orange bits, in case you forget!)
- 1/3 of a cup of caster sugar
- 2 tablespoons of strawberry jam (try to make sure it doesn't have too many chunks in it)
- 250g of strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced

How To Make It
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 160 degrees Celsius for fan-forced ovens
2. Grease a 24cm (base measurement) loose-based fluted tart tin, and then place on a baking tray (Mum gave me a flan tin and said 'it's the same thing!)
3.Process biscuits in a food processor until finely crushed (be careful with those food processors, I cut my finger on the blades!)
4. Add melted butter and process to combine
5. Transfer to prepared tin and use a spatula to spread and press over the base and side (it said to use a spatula, but I just used the back of a spoon)
6. Chill for 30 minutes (which should be enough time to do everything else)
7. Place chocolate, cream and extra butter in a medium saucepan
8. Stir over low heat for 2 minutes, or until the chocolate melts (keep stirring the chocolate or it will stick to the bottom of the saucepan)
9. Cool for 5 minutes
10. Meanwhile, use an electric mixer to beat the eggs, egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl for 3 minutes or until thick and creamy
11. Gradually beat the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture
12. Pour into the biscuit base
13. Bake for 15 minutes, or until filling is just set (even though that part seemed the easiest, it was the part that I stuffed up the most. My tart was in the oven for 40 minutes, instead of 15. But that may have been because it was on the bottom shelf and was sharing the oven with a big pot of curry)
14. Cool for 15 minutes, and then chill for 2 hours or until firm.
15. Place jam in a small heatproof jug/bowl with 2 teaspoons of water (this step can be done just before you take the tart out of the fridge, or whilst it is in the fridge. If you do it while the tart is in the fridge, make sure you reheat the jam to make it liquidy again)
16. Microwave in high for 20 seconds or until jam melts(i just realised that i didn't add any water. Whoops!)
17. Strain and cool for 2 minutes
18. Arrange strawberry slices on tart, and brush with jam

Ended up better than I expected!!!!

So the tart wasn't as hard as i thought it would be, and there were quite a few mistakes, along with some blood loss, but it ended up really well, and everyone enjoyed it, I think!

TANDOORI CHICKEN SKEWERS WITH HERB DIP & PICKLED ONIONS

Ingredients

- 1 small red onion, very thinly sliced

- 1 1/2 tablespoons of lime juice

- 1 1/3 cups of light Greek yoghurt

- 2 tablespoons of Tandoori Paste

- 1 kg of chicken thigh, trimmed and cut into 3cm pieces (3cm? does it matter? probably)

- 1 cup of coriander sprigs

- 1/4 of a cup of mint leaves

- 2 garlic cloves, crushed

- 1 long green chilli, chopped

How To Make It

1. Place onion and 2 teaspoons of lime juice in a glass bowl (make sure it is glass, otherwise it is bad for the pickling process)

2. Season with salt and then cover and stand for an hour

3. Meanwhile, combine 1 cup of the yoghurt and all the Tandoori paste in a large bowl

4. Add chicken and toss to coat (I really enjoyed 'tossing' the chicken)

5. Thread onto skewers, and place in the fridge to marinate for at least 15 minutes

6. Process the coriander, mint, garlic, chilli and remaining lime juice in s food processor until smooth ( mum did this part because i was trying not to bleed into the food)

7. Heat a barbecue or chargrill on medium

8. Cook chicken, turning, for 10 minutes or until cooked and lightly charred 

9. Serve with dip and onion

The skewers were beautiful and were my favourite bit of dinner, if I say so myself :)

Enjoy!