Meet Down Under's most popular food blogger, her dog and a new cookbook

Nagi Maehashi is the voice, cook and photographer behind RecipeTin Eats, an Australian food site with 5-million followers. With her much-loved dog Dozer, her official food tester, Maehashi has captured the market with her recipes and it's easy to see why — they are easy, quick and so inspiring you just want to get into the kitchen. They also offer a quick solution to that what's for dinner question and almost 90% of the 140-million visitors to her site each year are doing just that, searching for ideas. Following on from that success, she recently published her first cookbook, RecipeTin Eats: Dinner, in which she has curated the most popular ideas from her site. Here, we share five.

MEET NAGI MAEHASHI

On the day I launched my recipe website, I had just two visitors — my mum and myself. Last year, it was viewed more than 335-million times.

Here’s my story ...

Eight years ago, I was a finance girl, tottering around the city in suits and stilettos, working long hours and climbing the corporate ladder.

Today, I am the voice, cook, photographer and videographer of RecipeTin Eats, a website where I share recipes accompanied by photos and video tutorials. I also run a philanthropic division called RecipeTin Meals, where I have a team making meals for the vulnerable in our community.

How did a corporate lass end up in this position? 

Leaving corporate to start a food blog?

Everyone thought I was crazy when I ditched the security of an office job to start a food blog. And I often make jokes about it being a midlife crisis.

But here’s the truth. It had always been my dream to build something of my own and choosing to start a recipe website as my new venture was a considered, well-thought-out decision.

I did my research. I had a business plan. I tested the waters. I came up with ways to differentiate myself. I identified my strengths and weaknesses. I even prepared financial projections!

That might all sound very official and like I had a team of consultants to rely on, but nothing could be further from the truth. It was me, Dozer and a second-hand $250 camera.

And I worked hard, harder than I ever have in my life, teaching myself food photography, learning how to build a website, how to navigate social media, how to monetise my website.

And of course, cooking. Cooking, cooking, cooking, to come up with recipes to share.

A really boring story of growth. In the last 12 months there have been over 335-million views of my website and I have more than 4.6-million followers on Instagram and Facebook.

I wish I had an amazing story to accompany what I realise is pretty big and rapid growth. But I don’t. It’s boring.

I simply focused on creating great recipes, written well, which work as promised, accompanied by good photos and, these days, a tutorial video. I did this quietly and consistently for years, steering clear of “clickbait” and not worrying about “going viral” like many other bloggers.

As I built up my stable of recipes, I slowly gained the trust of readers, who then became regulars. And from there it was like a snowball effect. Word began to spread about RecipeTin Eats and that “cute dog of hers”, through word of mouth and social media.

And that, my friends, is the thoroughly unexciting way I grew my readership — simply through publishing recipes that work. I told you it was a boring story.

However, it brings me to something important you should know about me ...

I am irrationally obsessive about ensuring my recipes work.

Recipes that don’t work are a pet peeve of mine. I hate wasting time, I hate wasting money and I hate wasting food.

And the thought of you wasting your money because my recipes don’t work? That feeds my fear.

If you are wondering if this obsession stems from a poor upbringing, you would be right.

But you probably haven’t guessed that it’s also fuelled by messages I receive from readers. Like the one in Ghana who told me meat was a once-a-month luxury and how much it meant knowing they could rely on my recipes. And the reader who asked me to help choose a recipe for what ended up being the last meal for her terminally ill husband. Yup. Brings me to tears.

So yes, I am probably a little too obsessive about testing my recipes but I hope I never change. The record is 89 times, for My Perfect Vanilla Cake, featured here. Roast duck was tested more than 30 times, but I wasn’t comfortable enough with it, so it was removed from the cookbook. Beef Wellington, the most iconic recipe in this book, was tested more than 35 times.

This is what drives me.

Having covered the serious side of what I do, fundamentally, the thing that drives me and what I love the most about what I do is creating and sharing recipes that taste so great they make you do a happy dance.

It makes me smile when I see feedback from a reader, pumped because they nailed a cake they thought was beyond them. I feel honoured when people choose to make my turkey for their Christmas centrepiece.

I love hearing how people put together full-blown menus from my recipes for special occasions — starters, mains, sides and dessert. Or how they won the local chilli contest or how their brownies were the first to go at the school bake sale.

I’ve truly put my heart and soul into this cookbook. Literally, my blood, sweat and tears.

I hope you enjoy it — and cook a lot of the recipes.

Nagi xx

RecipeTin Eats: Dinner by Nagi Maehashi

Published by Pan Macmillan

R640

CHORIZO POTATO STEW-SOUP

There’s chorizo in it. That’s all you need to know!

Serves: 4 to 5 | Prep: 10 minutes | Cook: 25 minutes

Is it a stew? A soup? All I know is that something so easy has no business being this tasty. Deeply smoky with chorizo and paprika, this hearty little flavour rocket also involves barely any chopping!

1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to serve

500g chorizo, sliced 1cm thick

2 rosemary sprigs

3 garlic cloves, finely minced

1 red onion, cut into 2cm squares

1 red capsicum (pepper), cut into 2cm squares

1 tbsp (15ml) smoked paprika

400g baby potatoes, cut into 1.5cm cubes

2 x 400g cans crushed tomatoes

2½ cups (625ml) low-salt chicken stock

½ tsp (2.5ml) cooking salt

½ tsp (2.5ml) black pepper

1. Cook chorizo — Heat the oil in a large pot over high heat. Cook the chorizo with the rosemary until golden, about 5 minutes.

2. Cook vegetables — Add the garlic, onion and capsicum. Cook for 2 minutes or until the onion is softened (but not floppy). Add the paprika and cook for 1 minute. Add the potato and stir to coat in the tasty flavours.

3. Simmer — Add the tomatoes, stock, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat slightly to medium so it’s bubbling. Cover with a lid, then cook for 20 minutes or until the potato is soft and the sauce has thickened.

4. Serve — Ladle into bowls, drizzle with olive oil and serve with bread on the side for dunking!

Notes:

1. Other smoked sausages (or a plant-based sausage) will also work great here.
2. Substitute fresh rosemary with 1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves.
3. Smoked paprika adds a great smoky flavour to the dish, but can be substituted with ordinary paprika. Avoid hot paprika unless you want it spicy!

Leftovers:

Fridge 4 days, freezer 3 months.

CRISPY KOREAN PANCAKES

Ohhhhh, they’re just so good! I can’t stop eating these.

Serves: 2 (makes 3 pancakes) | Prep: 20 minutes | Cook: 15 minutes

Fun to make, delicious to eat! Cold soda water is the trick for these addictively crispy Korean pancakes. I’ve made them vegetarian because if anyone can get me excited about a meat-free dinner, it’s the Koreans! But you can absolutely add animal protein if you wish. Either drape finely sliced raw meat across the surface or add quick-cooking seafood like calamari and chopped prawns. The dipping sauce is a must. Don’t even think about downgrading to plain soy sauce!

6 tbsp (90ml) canola oil

1 small courgette, cut into 5 x 0.4cm matchsticks

1 small carrot, peeled, grated using a box grater

¼ cup (30g) trimmed and sliced (3mm thick) green beans

2 spring onions, 2 stems, cut into 13cm lengths (you need 9 pieces)

1½ tsp (7.5ml) deseeded and finely minced long red chilli (optional)

Dipping Sauce

1 tbsp (15ml) light soy sauce (or all-purpose soy sauce)

1 tbsp (15ml) rice vinegar

1 tbsp (15ml) water

½ tsp (2.5ml) white sugar

½ tsp (2.5ml) sesame oil

½ tsp (2.5ml) red chilli flakes, preferably Korean (optional)

½ tsp (2.5ml) white sesame seeds

Pancake Batter

1 cup (150g) cake wheat flour

1 tbsp (15ml) cornflour

½ tsp (2.5ml) each garlic powder and onion powder

¾ tsp cooking salt

1 cup + 1 tbsp (265ml) fridge-cold soda water

1. Preheat the oven to 120°C (100°C fan-forced). Place a wire rack on a baking tray. This is to keep the cooked pancakes warm and crispy.

2. Dipping sauce — Mix the ingredients in a small jug until the sugar dissolves. Transfer to a small sauce dish.

3. Batter — Whisk together the flour, cornflour, garlic powder, onion powder and salt in a medium bowl. Mix in the soda water with a whisk until barely incorporated — some small flour lumps are fine. The batter should be thin enough so it can spread into a thinnish pancake (loosen with more water if needed).

4. Make pancakes — Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a medium non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat until you see wisps of smoke. Ladle in one-third of the batter (the oil should sizzle!) and swirl to spread into an 18cm wide, fairly thin pancake. Sprinkle the surface with about ⅓ cup (combined) courgette, carrot and beans. Press three spring onion stems on the surface, then drizzle over a little batter (to help adhere when flipped). Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of chilli (if using), then immediately reduce the heat to medium.

Cook for 2½ minutes, lifting the pancake once and tilting the pan to spread oil under it, until the underside has deep golden, crispy patches. Flip and cook the other side for 1½ minutes, pressing down lightly (this side won’t go crispy)

5. Transfer the pancake to the rack, green onions facing up, then place in the oven to keep warm. Cook the remaining pancakes, heating 2 tablespoons of oil for each.

Serve — Cut each pancake into 9 or 12 pieces. Serve with the dipping sauce.

Notes:

1. If you skimp on the oil you will deprive yourself of crispiness. Don’t do it. Nobody wants a soggy Korean pancake!
2. Substitute vegetables with finely sliced vegetables of choice, such as cabbage, asparagus, capsicum (pepper), spinach and kale.
3. Cold soda water makes the pancake crispier. Fridge-cold tap or sparkling water can be substituted, but the pancakes won’t stay crispy for as long.
4. Overmixing the batter causes dense pancakes. Small flour lumps will cook out.
5. Korean pancakes are crispy on the underside and edges, but the surface is not that crispy.

Leftovers: Fridge 3 days, but will lose crispiness.

BUTTER CHICKEN

Extravagantly flavoured fall-apart chicken — my kind of food!

Serves: 5 | Prep: 15 minutes + 3 to 24 hours marinating | Cook: 25 minutes

Butter chicken is by far the most loved curry recipe on my website. It’s easy to see why. We all can’t get enough of that silky and buttery sauce tinged with tomato and soft spices, and because it’s not at all spicy, it’s one that everyone can enjoy. Happily, butter chicken is also a total breeze to make at home. The only thing you’ll be chopping is the chook and it’s pretty much impossible to mess up. Give this a go and I promise it’ll be on regular rotation.

750g chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2.5cm pieces

2 tbsp (30g) ghee (or unsalted butter)

1 cup (260g) tomato passata

1 cup (250ml) thickened cream

1 tbsp (15ml) white sugar

1¼ tsp cooking salt

Marinade

½ tsp (2.5ml) chilli powder

1 tsp (5ml) ground turmeric

1 tsp (5ml) ground cumin

2 tsp (10ml) garam masala

1 tbsp (15ml) freshly grated ginger

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

1 tbsp (15ml) lemon juice

½ cup (130g) plain yoghurt

Garnish (optional)

Coriander leaves

Optional blitz — For an extra-smooth sauce, combine the marinade ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. I do this when I’m making it for guests.

1. Marinate chicken — Mix the marinade ingredients with the chicken in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 3 hours, up to 24 hours.

2. Cook chicken — Melt and heat the ghee over high heat in a large non-stick frying pan. Take the chicken out of the marinade, but do not wipe the excess marinade off the chicken and reserve the dregs left in the bowl. Place the chicken in the pan and cook for around 3 minutes, stirring, or until the chicken is white all over (it won’t go brown).

3. Make sauce — Add the tomato passata, cream, sugar and salt. Also scrape in any remaining marinade left in the bowl. Stir to combine, then turn the heat down to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Do a taste test to see if it needs more salt.

4. Serve — Garnish with coriander leaves (if using). Serve over basmati rice with naan bread or no-fry pappadums on the side for slopping! Add a side of cucumber chunks tossed with minted yoghurt sauce.

Notes:

1. Chicken thighs work best as they stay tender and juicy. However, chicken breasts will also work.
2. Substitute passata with canned crushed tomatoes, preferably puréed smooth with a stick blender (blend in the can, but cover the mouth of the can with your hand).
3. If you use low-fat cream the sauce will lack the creamy mouthfeel you know and love about butter chicken.
4. No-fry pappadums: Place store-bought raw pappadums in the microwave around the edge of the turntable. Microwave for 45 seconds to 1 minute on high, or until they puff up. Transfer to a bowl and repeat as desired. They will crisp up when they cool!

Leftovers: Fridge 4 days. Not suitable for freezing.

THREE-MINUTE DOUBLE SMASH BURGERS

Wait — you’ve never had a smash burger?

Serves: 2 | Prep: 5 minutes | Cook: 10 minutes

Smashing mince into a wafer-like patty not only cooks it faster, it’s an express ticket to flavour. Crispy, charred burger edges plus dinner in 10 minutes flat? It’s why it’s a total thing!

PS I’m greedy, so I made these double burgers. You don’t have to be greedy.

Oil spray

500g beef mince

½ tsp each cooking salt and black pepper

2 tbsp canola oil

4 slices Swiss cheese (or your choice)

Burger

2 brioche buns, split

2 tbsp salted butter

Ketchup

1½ cups (90g) shredded iceberg lettuce

1 tomato, cut into 5mm slices

¼ red onion, very finely sliced

Pickles of choice, sliced

Mustard

Locate a smashing tool. A heavy frying pan or pot is best — something sturdy enough to press down hard to flatten the beef. Spray the base lightly with oil.

Beef balls — Loosely shape four mounds with the beef mince — no need to roll balls, just gather and press the beef together. Sprinkle the top of the mounds with half the salt and pepper.

Preheat your oven grill to medium-high, then lightly toast the cut surface of the buns for 3 minutes.

Open the windows! Then heat a large cast-iron frying pan over high heat until it is screaming hot and smoking.

Smash ’em! — Add half the oil, then place two of the beef mounds, salted-side down, in the frying pan. Smash them down really hard by pressing on them with the second pan (or your chosen smashing tool) to form thin patties around 5mm. The edges will split and be craggy, which is exactly what you want as they go crispy. It’s the best!

Cook 90 seconds — Sprinkle the surface of the patties with half the remaining salt and pepper, then leave the patties to cook undisturbed for 90 seconds — they will shrink and get thicker. Flip the patties, place a slice of cheese on each, then cook for another 90 seconds.

Rest and repeat — Transfer to a plate, then repeat with remaining two mounds.

Assemble and serve — Butter the buns and assemble as you wish. Here’s my order — bun, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, onion, burger with cheese, pickle, mustard, lid. Eat and be happy!

Notes:

1. Great with chuck or standard beef mince from grocery stores. But for a truly top-shelf burger, ask your butcher for a 50/50 chuck/brisket blend with 20% fat.
2. Don’t let anyone (including me) tell you what you should or should not have on your burger! These are just suggestions.
3. You need to use a cast-iron frying pan for this. Do not use a non-stick frying pan or you will destroy the coating. If you don’t have a frying pan large enough to fit four burgers (I don’t), cook two at a time (it’s OK if they jam up against each other a bit). They cook so quickly, you can assemble the first burger as you cook the other patties.

Leftovers: Fridge 4 days, freezer 3 months.

MY PERFECT VANILLA CAKE

“Plush” is the best word to describe this gorgeous cake!

Serves 12 | Prep: 20 minutes + 15 minutes cooling | Cook: 35 minutes 

This recipe has rocketed into the top 10 on my website since I published it two years ago and has stayed there ever since. It's a classic vanilla butter cake, but with Japanese techniques applied to produce the moistest and softest cake you've ever eaten. It's a true professional bakery-quality cake, which also stays fresh for 4 days — unheard of. This cake is the ultimate blank canvas for your cake-making imagination: from layer cakes to birthday cakes, Victoria sponge to strawberry shortcake ... the possibilities are endless.

Batter

2 cups (300g) cake wheat flour

2½ tsp (12.5ml) baking powder

¼ tsp cooking salt

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1½ cups (300g) caster sugar

115g unsalted butter, cut into 1.5cm cubes

1 cup (250ml) full-fat milk

3 tsp (15ml) vanilla extract

3 tsp (15ml) canola oil

Frosting

Buttercream frosting of your choice or whipped cream and berries/jam

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced) for 20 minutes before starting the batter. Place the shelf in the middle of the oven. Grease two 20cm cake tins with butter, then line with baking paper.

2. Dry ingredients — Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

3. Fluff eggs — Beat the eggs for 30 seconds on medium-high (speed 6 of 10) in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or use a hand-held electric beater. With the beaters still going, slowly pour the sugar in over 45 seconds, then beat for 7 minutes on high (speed 8) or until tripled in volume and white in colour.

4. Heat butter and milk — While the egg is beating, place the butter and milk in a heatproof jug and microwave for 2 minutes on high to melt the butter (or use the stove). Do not let the milk bubble and boil (foaming is OK).

5. Add dry ingredients — When the egg is whipped, scatter one-third of the flour mixture across the surface, then beat on speed 1 for 5 seconds. Add half the remaining flour mixture, then mix again for 5 seconds. Add the remaining flour, then mix for 5—10 seconds until the flour is just mixed in. Once you can’t see any flour, stop straight away.

6. Hot milk mixture — Pour the hot milk mixture, vanilla and oil into the now-empty flour bowl. Add about 1½ cups of the egg mixture (no need to be exact) into the hot milk mixture, then use a whisk to mix until smooth — you can be vigorous. It will be foamy.

7. Combine batter — Turn the beaters back on to the lowest speed (speed 1), then slowly pour the hot milk mixture back into the egg mixture over 15 seconds, then turn the beaters off.

8. Finish batter — Scrape down the side and base of the bowl and beat on speed 1 for 10 seconds — the batter should now be smooth and pourable.

9. Bake — Pour the batter into the prepared tins. Bang each cake tin on the counter three times to knock out any large bubbles. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

10. Cool — Remove the cakes from the oven. Cool in the tins for 15 minutes, then gently turn out onto wire racks. If using as layer cakes, cool upside down — the slight dome will flatten perfectly. Level cake = neat layers.

11. Decorate and serve — Decorate with the frosting of your choice or cream and fresh berries or jam. Though honestly, the cake is so moist, you can eat it plain.

Notes:

1. Dead baking powder is a common baking fail — expiry dates on jars are misleading.
2. Normal white sugar works fine too, but you may get some tiny brown spots on the base (larger grains don’t dissolve as well).
3. Use the best vanilla extract you can afford for great vanilla flavour. Give imitation vanilla essence a miss.
4. Canola can be replaced with vegetable or grapeseed oil, or other neutral-flavoured oil.
5. It’s best to use a tin without a loose base as the batter is quite thin, so there may be slight leakage. If you only have a springform tin, plug the crack with softened butter. Other cake tin sizes: three 20cm cake tins — 23 minutes; two 23cm cake tins — 27 minutes; three 23cm cake tins — 20 minutes; two 15cm cake tins — halve the recipe, 25 minutes’ bake time; 12-cup (3-litre) Bundt tin (grease and dust with flour) — bake 1 hour; 23 x 33cm rectangular tin — 30 minutes.

For cupcakes, halve the batch of batter, line a 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake liners. Fill the holes two-thirds of the way (no more) and bake for 22 minutes.

Leftovers: Store unfrosted cake in an airtight container in a cool pantry. It will stay near-fresh for 5 days, which is a special feature of this cake. Or freeze for 3 months. If decorated with cream or buttercream-based frosting, it should be kept in the fridge. Always bring the cake to room temperature before serving.