​This is one of easiest and quickest soups I make.

The first time I made it and told my family it was Asian flavoured, they were a little unsure of what to expect, as my chicken noodle soups are usually Croatian in flavour. But after one spoonful, they loved it. It is not intense in flavour, it's actually has a delicate lovely flavour.

With the chicken, I add what I have, sometimes it legs, sometimes thighs, sometimes marylands or wings.

If you forget to take the corn out of the freezer, still add it, just when you do crank up the heat to high, so it comes back to a simmer faster, then reduce it back down once it has.

The egg, I love egg in soups, it acts like additional noodles, now the recipe says 3 eggs, but I sometimes add 4 as my family love it.

With the pasta I use spaghetti or linguine. Now my spaghetti cooks in 11 minutes so the soup is timed to this pasta. If your pasta cooks in less time, add it in a little later, for instance when you add the chicken, so you don't have overcooked pasta.

The original recipe adds 2 tablespoons of cornflour mixed with 1/4 cup water and adds it when you add the soy sauce, I left it out, as I just don't think it needs it, but you can try it if you like. I think it will make it gluggy.

This is a beautiful soup, that is quick and easy to make and something you really need to try.

​Recipe adapted from www.bhg.com.au/

Serves 4

Stock:
2-3 chicken legs
1 large brown onion, quartered
1 carrot, peeled
3 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon vegeta
1 teaspoon whole peppercorns

50ml extra virgin olive oil
50g butter
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves finely sliced
6cm piece ginger, peeled, julienned and finely diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stick celery, diced
1 cup frozen corn
150g spaghetti, snapped into pieces
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 eggs, lightly whisked
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Coriander sprigs, to serve


Take the corn out of the freezer, 30 minutes before you need it. You don't want it frozen as it will drop the temperature of the stock too much if it goes in completely frozen.
​
Put chicken legs, onion, carrot, garlic, vegeta and peppercorns in a large saucepan. Cover with cold water. Set saucepan over medium heat and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes. Carefully strain mixture into a jug, reserving chicken. Set aside.

Put a medium saucepan over medium heat, then add oil and butter. Add ginger, onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add carrot and celery and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add reserved stock and pasta. Bring to a simmer and cook for 6 minutes. 

Shred meat from chicken legs, add to saucepan with the corn and simmer for 3 minutes. Add soy sauce and now pour a thin stream of egg into the middle of the whirlpool as you slowly swirl the egg into the soup. This is how you get that pretty egg drop effect. Simmer, stirring, for 2 minutes to thicken. 

Stir in sesame oil, taste for seasoning and serve topped with fresh coriander leaves. 

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/chicken-egg-drop-noodle-soup.html 
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​​​​​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​​Cheats Pizzette in my house means I don't feel like cooking and dinner (or lunch) today is using up leftover bread and cleaning out the fridge night. While I make the sauce, my husband is the person who usually checks what we have in the fridge and starts chopping things up. Then everyone makes their own personal pizzette, with whatever flavours they feel like.

The toppings are truly whatever you feel like eating that you have on hand. Measurements are not really important.

I tend to use day old or two day old bread as that is what I usually have in the house, and at that stage isn't too hard. If your bread rolls are stale, and you need to soften them a bit, once you cut the rolls in half horizontally, dampen the cut side of the bread rolls with water, then if your rolls are thick, flatten them with the palm of your hand before you continue with the recipe, if your rolls are thin, no need to flatten them..

This tomato sauce is my kids favourite I make it for my homemade pizzas and my kids will eat it straight from the pot or just dip bread into it.

With the water for the tomato sauce, I always pour this in my tomato tins first to get all the tomato out of the tins before I add it to the sauce.

I actually prefer this to pizza, hope when you try it, you do to.

Recipe adapted from www.sbs.com.au/food

Tomato Sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove crushed garlic
2 x 400g tin diced tomatoes
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper, to taste
extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

6 bread rolls, sliced in half horizontally

Toppings we used:
ham
prosciutto
salami
olives
jar artichoke hearts
anchovies
fresh and jar red capsicums
capers
sliced onion
chopped or thinly sliced garlic
fresh prawns
fresh basil
dried oregano
feta
havarti
mozzarella
bocconcini
freshly grated parmesan or pecorino

​Make the tomato sauce: In a medium saucepan over medium heat add the olive oil and garlic, sauté 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add in the diced tomatoes, water and sugar, season with salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until thickened to your liking. Drizzle in a little extra virgin olive oil once it's done. 

Line a baking tray or two with baking paper. Preheat oven to 230C/210C fan forced.
 
Place bread rolls, cut side up on your prepared baking trays.
​
Now place some sauce on each bread half and top with whatever you like. For example I made mine with defrosted raw prawns (I always have them in the freezer) and garlic, I added Bulgarian sheep feta cheese. I added a little sauce on top to. Then drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil on top.

Here you add sauce on the bread, then top with whatever you feel like eating. If you want to top with a fresh cheese, like bocconcini or fresh mozzarella, add it in the last 5 minutes of baking.

​Bake for 15 minutes or until cooked to your liking.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/cheats-pizzette.html 
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​​​​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​Every St Patrick's Day I have to cook something Irish. Last year I made a Cabbage and Bacon Soup and my cake was a Chocolate Guinness Cake which we all loved, this year I made Sausage Rolls with Homemade Puff Pastry and this Apple Crumble Cake.

This cake is delicious, the base is a beautiful cinnamon scented soft tea cake. The tea cake is topped with thinly sliced granny smith apples and it is topped with a delicious crunchy streusel topping. This cake is just delightful, the streusel topping makes you think you are eating a pie.

I use a springform tin as I have one at home and it does make it easier to take the cake out of the tin, but if you haven't got one, you can bake it in a normal round tin.

If you want cup measures you can go onto the original recipe, there you will find US cup and tablespoon measures. I personally prefer cooking in grams and millilitres, as it is more reliable, for instance the original recipe states 3 tablespoons of milk, in Australia 3 tablespoons would 60ml, in the US 3 tablespoons is 45ml.

When making the streusel topping, if your butter softens too much before you get the right texture. Just pop it in the fridge, then keep rubbing it in once the butter has firmed up again.

This is a simple tea cake that is absolutely delicious, you really need to give it a try.

​Recipe adapted from www.biggerbolderbaking.com/

Serves 8-10

Streusel Topping:
​105g plain flour
21g rolled oats
115g caster sugar
pinch salt
85g unsalted butter

Cake: 
115g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
115g caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
177g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
​1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
45ml milk
3 granny smith apples, peeled and sliced thin

To serve, vanilla ice cream, optional
​
Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C fan forced.

Butter and line with baking paper a 22cm round springform tin. Set aside.
​

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, oats, sugar, and salt. Next rub in the cold butter until fully incorporated and you've reached the texture of coarse breadcrumbs. Set aside in the fridge while you make the cake.
​

Cream the butter and the sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy.

Next, add in the vanilla then beat in the eggs one at a time.

In a separate medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder cinnamon, and salt.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet along with the milk.

Once the batter has formed, transfer it to the prepared cake pan, gently spreading it out. Now lay on the sliced apples, making sure they are arranged in one even layer, slightly overlapping.

Cover the apples with all the streusel topping.

Bake for roughly 65 minutes, or until the top is golden brown all over and crisp.

Remove from the oven and allow cooling slightly before turning out of the tin.

When ready to serve, dust the cake with icing sugar. Slice and serve.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/irish-apple-crumble-cake.html 
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​Dandelion, some see a weed, some see a wish, I see a salad.

A lot of people would look at this salad and think yuck, you're eating a weed, but in the past, this is what people did in European countries like Croatia or Italy or Switzerland just to name a few, they would eat things grown in nature. Past generations would know what can be eaten and what could not be eaten. My husband recalls his mother sending him out into the bush to gather dandelion leaves for a salad. His family still go into the bushes to gather different herbs, leaves, asparagus, whatever is in season.

Today unfortunately we are very reliant on supermarkets, but what happens when the supermarkets have shortages, like we have seen over the past few years.

Growing your own food is so important, my husband luckily enjoys gardening and we eat food from our garden all year round. The dandelion we eat is grown in the garden for eating, it is not just picked off my lawn. 

Dandelion has a slight bitter flavour, the younger it is, the less bitter. When you pair it with potatoes, egg and bacon, this flavour combination for me is amazing. I truly love this salad.

This salad you can serve as a side dish with a barbecue, but I like to have it as a meal also.

Here is something different, you may like to try, I find it delicious, hope you do to.

​Serves 2

2 potatoes, peeled, cut into bite sized chucks
​100g dandelion leaves
2 hard boiled eggs, peeled, quartered
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bacon rasher, diced
Extra virgin olive oil, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste


Place potato in cold, salted water. Bring to the boil, cook for 5 minutes.

In the meantime, cut the dandelion leaves into bite sized pieces, or you can shred it. Add to the potatoes, continue cooking until the potatoes are cooked. Drain.

Place the eggs in cold water, bring to the boil, simmer 4-5 minutes. I like the yolk to be set, but not completely hard boiled.

​Add the olive oil to a frying pan, add the bacon and fry until the bacon is nearly crispy, I don't actually like crispy bacon, so I stop before it's crispy.

In a bowl add the potatoes and dandelion, the fried bacon and your eggs. Season with salt and pepper, then add about 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Give the salad a toss, mashing some of the potatoes while tossing, leaving some potatoes into smaller chunks, add more oil, if needed. You want to taste the oil in the salad, but not saturate the salad.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/dandelion-leaves-potato-egg-and-bacon-salad.html 
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​​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​OMG these sausage rolls are delicious. I have for the first time ever made rough puff pastry and it's so easy to make and the result is fabulous. These sausage rolls are delicious.

The first sign they would be great was the aroma wafting through the house as they were baking, it was so good. Then after the first bite I knew these were going to be made in my house again and again.

I'm usually disappointed with store bought puff pastry as it is tasteless really, bit cardboardy. Except for the Careme brand, which I love, but one sheet will cost around $12, which is really expensive. Here you will have for a fraction of the cost and with very little effort, the best puff pastry you have ever had.

This easy shortcut Puff Pastry is also called rough puff pastry, flakey pastry, or blitz pastry.

​The secret to this pastry is grated frozen butter! The colder the butter, the better! The frozen butter is what makes the flakey layers happen, it's brilliant. Also you need everything to be cold to yield great pastry, so feel free to put the bowl of flour and knife in the fridge to chill. I need to try this pastry for my pies.

I've added the original recipe video link so you can actually see how easy the pastry is to make
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vppSli6ProI&t=2s

For fresh breadcrumbs, just blitz up some white bread in the food processor. I used a soft ciabatta here and blitzed the crust also. If your bread has a hard crust, remove it and blitz the softer middle.

For the sausages I use what I like to eat, and that is plain thin Italian pork sausages, I really don't like too many other sausages.

This recipe really is easy to make and you will have the best sausage rolls you have ever had.

​Recipe adapted from www.biggerbolderbaking.com/ 

Makes 20 pieces

450g plain Italian sausages, remove casings
1 large egg
1 small onion , finely diced
¾ cup (35g) fresh breadcrumbs
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper

Puff Pastry
198g butter, frozen
120-150 ml ice water
15 ml lemon juice
2 ⅓ cups (325g) plain flour
⅙ teaspoon salt
Egg wash


​Place your butter in the freezer for a minimum of 2 hours, but preferably overnight.

Now make the pastry: In a jug, mix together your water and lemon juice and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt.  

On the larger side of a grater, grate the frozen butter directly into the flour mix. Stir the butter into the flour with a knife, so the flour gently coats the butter. 

Add in about 120ml of water and lemon juice mixture, holding a little back just in case you don’t need it all. Bring your pastry together gently to form a ball. You want to add just enough water to bring the pastry together. Too much water will not yield you a flakey dough. And do not knead the dough, just bring it together.

When the dough comes together, wrap it in cling film and place it in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.   

Preheat the oven to 190°C/170C fan forced and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix together the sausage, egg, onion, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. Set aside.

On a lightly-floured surface, roll out the puff pastry into roughly a 30 x 35 cm rectangle.

Cut the pastry sheet in half lengthwise so that you have two 15 x 35 cm strips of dough.

Divide the sausage filling mixture in half. For each piece of dough, form half of the filling into a log that runs the length of the rectangles. Brush the edges of the pastry with egg wash.

Wrap the dough over the filling and shape into a log. Place the roll seam side down, making sure the pastry has joined.

Cut each log into pieces, about 4cm long and place seam side down on your prepared baking sheet. You will yield around 20 sausage rolls.

Brush with the egg wash and bake for 35-40 minutes, until puffed and golden brown.

​​Let cool for 15 minutes before serving. Serve with tomato sauce.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/sausage-rolls-with-homemade-puff-pastry.html 
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​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​Whenever I see really big heads of cabbage I immediately think sauerkraut, we love it in our house. So the other day when I went to my local greengrocer, the cabbages were huge and only $2.99, so I bought two heads, that will be enough to make quite a few meals for us.

This recipe is really easy, I got it from a Polish lady I follow since we did of eating around the world adventure in Poland, I'll actually add the link to a video here she made of her making sauerkraut so you can see how she did it.

Now my background is Croatian and we make it the same way. This recipe is a simple version of just cabbage and salt. My husband would add bay leaves and peppercorns to his sauerkraut, but I've kept it simple as you always add other flavours to the sauerkraut when you cook it. The only thing I would sometimes add is for every 1kg cabbage, you can shred in 1 carrot, it adds a great colour, but I only do this sometimes.

The secret to this recipe, which isn't actually a secret, is for every 1kg of shredded cabbage, you add 1 tablespoon sea salt (do not use iodised salt), that's it, that's the recipe. So you can make a small quantity or a large quantity, my two heads of cabbage gave me 6kg of shredded cabbage, so I needed 6 tablespoons of salt. I like to work in small batches, so I shred 1kg cabbage add 1 tablespoon of salt, continue with the recipe, then start on the next 1kg of cabbage.

Sauerkraut is very versatile in our house, my husband eats it straight from the jar, or if he's in the mood will dress it and make it a salad. When I cook with it, I make Jota (a sauerkraut soup), I Roast Pork Belly with it, I add shredded cabbage to my pot when I make Sarma from whole cabbage leaves, I use it when I make my Bigos Stew, I saute it with tomato paste and kielbasa sausages or fresh pork belly like my mum used to do. We always have a jar in the fridge, it's great because it lasts about 6 months in the fridge, though it never lasts long in my house.

If you want to make it so it can be kept out of the fridge, the original recipe writer says to place the sauerkraut in smaller sanitized jars, making sure there is enough brine to cover (to make more brine, dissolve 1 tablespoon of salt in 1 quart of water and top up each jar). Place jars in a large pot, add water to just below the lid. Bring water to boil and simmer on low for 25 - 30 minutes. Remove and cool. Jars can now be stored unrefrigerated. 

So next time you see a large head of cabbage, or you just want to make a small batch, here is a simple, sauerkraut recipe for you to try.

Recipe adapted from www.polishyourkitchen.com/ 

​A glass pickling jar, I use a large cookie jar with a lid
1 kg Shredded cabbage
1 carrot, shredded, optional
1 tablespoon sea salt
Make sure your pickling jar is sterilised.
​
Place a large glass or plastic bowl on your kitchen scales, set it to zero.

Thinly slice some of the cabbage or shred on a mandoline, add 1kg to your bowl. Grate the carrot, if using, on the largest side of a box grater, add it to your bowl, now add the salt. Mix and massage/scrunch the cabbage until it produces some juice.
Place in your clean pickling jar and push down with force to make sure cabbage is covered with brine. Continue this process until you use up all of the shredded cabbage and carrots.

When you are done, you need to have about 3-4cm of space at the top of your jar. Place a large snap lock bag into the jar. Pour cold tap water into the bag, you want the water to act as a weight pushing the cabbage down and bring the brine juices up. If you don't do this, your cabbage can go bad. Seal the bag shut properly, you don't want this water seeping into your cabbage. Cover the jar with your lid.

Place a clean kitchen towel or two over the jar. Place on the kitchen counter for 10 days.
After the third day, with the handle of a wooden spoon, poke holes in the cabbage to release gas. If there is excess water forming on top, remove it. This water will rise and seep out of your jar at times if you have too much. There needs to be enough just to cover the cabbage. Reserve brine and use to replenish, if needed. Cabbage will be ready when it becomes translucent. It should be deliciously tangy and crunchy.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/homemade-sauerkraut.html 
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​This is a great midweek meal idea. It's quick and easy to make and tastes so good.

The flavour combination here is amazing. The marinated chicken with the capsicum and onion, with the avocado and sour cream and pico de gallo and fresh coriander, it not only looks delicious, it is delicious.

I tend to serve things on the table individually and everyone just makes their own with the flavours that they like.

This is a great midweek meal idea that we love and I know you will to.

Recipe adapted from cafedelites.com/

Serves 6

​2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
​2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2-1 teaspoon chili powder, to taste
1 tablespoon fresh chopped coriander
800g chicken thighs, skinless and boneless
3 large capsicums, cut into strips (I use green, red and yellow)
1 red onion thinly sliced

Pico de gallo:
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, diced
1/2 small white onion, diced
1/4 cup coarsely chopped coriander
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeño chillies, finely chopped

1 avocado, sliced or mashed, to serve
sour cream, to serve
flour or corn tortillas, to serve
fresh coriander leaves, to serve


Make the pico de gallo:  combine all ingredients in a bowl and set aside for flavours to develop.
​
In a large shallow bowl, combine lime juice, oil, garlic, cumin, salt, chili and coriander; mix together. Add the chicken thighs, let marinate on your kitchen bench for 30 minutes.
​
Heat a large frying pan on medium-high heat until smoking. Add a drizzle of oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Sear the chicken on both sides until golden, charred and cooked right through (about 6 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of your fillets). I like to put a lid on it once I have flipped the chicken over, cook for 5 minutes covered, then uncover for the last minute. Transfer chicken to a warm plate, loosely tent with foil, set aside while you continue with the recipe. 

Add the capsicums and onions to the pan (drizzle with a little extra oil, if needed), and cook until the onion is soft and the peppers are slightly charred and cooked to your liking, about 6-8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Slice chicken into strips, add it to the capsicum mix. Serve with warmed tortillas, chopped coriander, sliced avocado, sour cream and pico de gallo.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/easy-chicken-fajitas.html
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​I love quick and easy dinners, the kind that in about 30 minutes you can have dinner on the table, with minimal effort and it looks and tastes amazing. 

The flavour combination here is amazing. The beef with the capsicum and onion, with the avocado and sour cream and pico de gallo and fresh coriander, it not only looks delicious, it is delicious.

I tend to serve things on the table individually and everyone just makes their own with the flavours that they like.

Make sure to take the steaks out of the refrigerator one hour before you need to cook them, it just makes cooking them better if they are not fridge cold.

This is a great midweek meal idea that we love and I know you will to.

​Recipe adapted from damndelicious.net/

Serves 4-6

2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
3 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
800g rump steak
2½ tablespoons canola oil, divided
2 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into strips
1 large red onion, cut into wedges

Pico de gallo:
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, diced
1/2 small white onion, diced
1/4 cup coarsely chopped coriander
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeño chillies, finely chopped

1 avocado, sliced or mashed, to serve
sour cream, to serve
flour or corn tortillas, to serve
fresh coriander leaves, to serve


Make the pico de gallo:  combine all ingredients in a bowl and set aside for flavours to develop.
​
In a small bowl, combine chili powder, cumin, paprika, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Season steak with chili powder mixture.

Heat a griddle, or cast iron or heavy based non stick frying pan over high heat until hot.

Brush steak with 1 tablespoon canola oil. Place the steak on the hot griddle (or in the hot pan) and cook for 2 minutes on each side (this does depend on the thickness of your steak). Let rest 5 minutes.
​
Add bell peppers and onion to grill, add remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil; season with salt and pepper, to taste, and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 6-8 minutes.

Thinly slice steak against the grain and serve with bell peppers and onion, tortillas, pico de gallo, avocado, sour cream and fresh coriander leaves.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/easy-steak-fajitas.html 
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​I love a pretty cocktail and this one is so pretty.

​​Recipe adapted from the Family Circle 'Cocktails and Party Drinks' Cookbook

Makes 1

Ice cubes
45ml gin
30ml lemon juice
dash Grenadine
10ml sugar syrup
Soda water, to top up
​

Half fill an old fashioned glass with ice. Add the gin, lemon juice, grenadine and sugar syrup, then top up with soda water.

​Garnish with a cocktail umbrella.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/gin-sling.html 
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​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​I've left the name on this one in Croatian as I like it, so I didn't want to change it, but this is basically a beef and pea soup/stew with dumplings. Croatians love to eat with a spoon, soups and stews are cooked all year round. It might by a heatwave outside, but a soup is cooked. 

Now I have been making this dish for years, but I could never get the dumplings perfect, until now. These were perfect. You mix the ingredients for the dumplings together until you get a thick pancake batter kind of consistency. Not too thick that it's a dough, but not too liquid where you can't pick it up with a spoon. Next time I make it, I'll measure the water for you.

The rest of the dish is easy to make, the flavours work well together.

I recently watched a video with someone making it using pork instead, I'm going to try that one day soon, just for a change.

This is something my husband particularly loves as this is the kind of food his mum makes, but I am happy to say my whole family loves it to.

​Recipe adapted from Jela za Sve Prigode by Vesna Pavicic

2 tablespoons sunflower oil
2 onions, diced
​700g chuck steak, diced, bite sized
 3 carrots, diced
1/4 cup chopped parsley
500g frozen peas
1 teaspoon vegeta
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
200ml white wine
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons plain flour

Njoklice:
200g plain flour
2 eggs
 tablespoon sunflower oil
salt, to taste
water, as needed


Add oil to a large saucepan, place over a medium high heat, add onions and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Increase the heat to high, add in the meat, stir well to combine and continue to sauté a further 10 minutes, decrease the heat back to medium high if catching too much.

Now add in the carrots and parsley, stir through. Add in one litre of water, stir, cover with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add in the peas, vegeta, paprika, season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add in one litre of water, mix. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Mix the tomato paste in 2 cups water. Mix the flour in 1/4 cup water, make sure there are no lumps of flour, add both the tomato paste and flour mixtures to the beef mixture along with the wine and another 2 cups water. Simmer 45 minutes. If you need to add water as it is thicker than you want it to be add more water.

Meanwhile make your noklice: In a bowl add the flour, eggs, oil and salt. Give it a mix. Now add in 2 tablespoons of water, mix. Keeping adding water a tablespoon at a time until you get a smooth thick pancake batter consistency. Set aside, until needed

​After the 45 minutes of cooking time has passed, add in the noklice. Place a spoon into your hot stew, this will stop the batter sticking to your spoon. When it is hot, use the spoon to cut the dough near the edge of the dough. Try and keep them the same size for even cooking, this comes with practice.

​Drop the dough into the stew by putting the dough and spoon into the simmering stew, the dough will slide off and this way the spoon stays hot, repeat until all the dough is used up, simmer for about 10 minutes or until the noklice are cooked through.
Serve hot.

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