Claypot Rice

Oh my god. I found a gem recipe. You MUST make this, no joke. It is really as good as the ones found behind the backlanes of Kuala Lumpur with throngs of customers sitting at the pathway - with no care in the world except for this hot bowl of claypot infront of them. To this, I must thank Lily´s Wai Sek Hong whom shared us this wonderful recipe. It was so good that I made two batches, and had been eating them back to back two days in a row for lunch and dinner!

Do try :-)

Here´s her recipe

• 2 cups rice, washed and drained
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 2 chicken drumsticks cut into pieces (bone in chicken pieces can also be used)
• 5 Chinese mushrooms, soaked, cut into half
• 1 Chinese sausage, sliced
• 1 ½ cm thick salted fish, sliced thinly, fried till crispy
• 1 tbsp black soya sauce
• 4 tbsp garlic oil

Marinade:

• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
• 1 tsp of ginger juice (grated a knob of ginger and squeeze)
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• ½ tsp pepper
• ½ tsp sugar
• ½ tbsp corn flour

Garnishing

• Spring onion chopped

Method

1. Mix chicken, mushrooms with marinade and ginger, season for 30 minutes.
2. Put rice and chicken stock into a clay pot, cover and bring to boil lower fire and cook with low heat till holes are formed on top. (About 15 minutes)
3. Spread marinated chickens and mushrooms, Chinese sausage on top, cover and cook with low heat till rice is dry and chicken pieces are cooked (another 15 minutes). Remove from fire.
4. Sprinkle salted fish on top, cover and leave to stand for 10 minutes till rice is dry and fluffy.
5. Before serving, sprinkle spring onion , black soya sauce and garlic oil, mix in to combine toppings and rice.

Charming Guesthouse in Embassy Row, Stockholm

update on 31 July 2009 : payment transfered made hence, this place is 100% ours ... woOT!

Finally, we found the perfect place to stay for our upcoming holiday in Sweden! It was no easy fit right from the start but at last, we had chosen a charming Bed & Breakfast in the Embassy area of Stockholm to rest our body. Actually, we did not have much choice. The boathouse is available but it just insane to stay four nights inside this small cabin room during summer hence that was axed. We than firmed up the B&B right next to Royal Palace in Gamla Stan since the location is superb but they told us its fully booked LAST MINUTE. So, this is the one. Finally. All we need to do now is making a deposit payment for the 900 Sek per night stay (circa 85 Euro) - which we will do tonight and its all ours. OURS.

I hope nothing unpredictable happen again, because I really do like this charming place. Wish us luck!

Chanterelle Mushroom Crepe

Not again. I am not in the mood to write anything lengthy but still wanna share with you guys the photos and recipe I´ve put together last week. Office room is still in a mess, and so is my head up there. I promise it won´t be any long :-)

Here´s the recipe for the crepe

1. Mix in one cup of flour and 2 tablespoon of corn flour (the yellow type) with roughly 250 ml water (am sorry I cannot recall how much water I´ve poured in).
2. Add the water and mix it thoroughly until you get a runny batter consistency. It should be able to swirl around your pancake pan easily to form a circle. Add a dash of salt.
3. Use a blender or hand-mixer for a few minutes to get rid of all the lumps.
4. Heat your pancake pan.
5. Pour some oil onto a kitchen towel and smear your pancake pan thoroughly with it.
6. Pour the pancake batter in the middle (about 3-4 tablespoon) and spread the batter by either swirling the pan or using a spoon to spread them in circles.
7. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn them over to cook for another 2 minutes. Set aside.

Here´s the recipe for Chanterelle Mushroom Sauce

• Heat up a pan with 2 tablespoon olive oil under medium heat. Add in 3 cloves of chopped garlic. Stir for a minute.
• Add in 150 grams of chanterelle mushroom (chopped up) and stir for about 2-3 minutes.
• Season with salt and pepper. Let it cook for another 2 minutes, letting the mushroom grow darker in colour.
• Add half cup of cream in and mix well. Serve them with lots of chopped parsley on top of the crepe. Done.

East and West New Kitchen Gadget

The wait is finally over.

While I lament over why both my 20kg parcel arrived separately (one arrived two days ago while the other arrived today) although I´d sent them at the same time, I was very please to find out that all the items in the box were intact and untouched by the customs. Apart from tonnes of old photos, nic-nacs here and there, I manage to pack along a brand new pasta machine, a small pestle and mortar set, claypot and my old cake stand. Right away, I´ve put two of the items here to good use :-) Wanna take a guess which one?

Stockholm, Sweden Holiday 2009

As I am writing this, a few things are being finalised.

We will be flying to Stockholm on September 5th and returning back to earth on 9th! Get this people ... STOCKHOLMMM ... woohoo!

Though we´ve got our flights booked and paid, we are still searching for the most perfect place to rest our body by end of the day. And OMG ... there are an amazing array of accomodation choices here. Though that is good news, sleeping here is not exactly cheap. Good thing is Swedish are very organise and clean people so, there is no worry over cleanliness of the acccomodation. But on the price, well, this is Europe after all. There are some not too bad boutique hotels and chain hotels in the city. However, the allure of staying in something a bit more unconventional seems to attract me more. I guess we already know how a Hilton or a Holiday Inn is like. So far, I found a few interesting alternative and it is a fight between a boat hostel docked right in the middle of the city (that is the plus point, but con is that, there´s no window as its a cabin), modern apartment with full kitchen facilities and some with WIFI, Swedish style B&B (quite charming, this one) and get this ... a warehouse turn into a guesthouse located right next to the Royal Palace!

Tough choice! No wonder I´ve been getting headache lately :-)

Confiture de Prunes

I´ve made my first bottle of confiture, jam or marmalade (as some calls it) three days ago, and you know what? It is not rocket science as I thought it would be! I started off with half kilo of Johannesberry, freshly bought from the market. Got them smashed up, cooked, strained the pulp away and later, recooking again before adding the pectin. By the end of it however, I was left with a little over a bottle of these crimson red jelly only, and knowing how spread hungry both of us are with our bread and toast, it would probably last us no longer than a week.

Not feeling satisfied with the amount, but partly due to the fact that it is ohhh-soooo-easssyyyy-to-do, something more delicious, more wicked and lipsmacking paved its way to my little pot soon after. I must thank Hubby for reminding me that we´ve got a two year old preserve sitting in one corner of our kitchen. But really, I thought it was such a waste to use up a TWO YEAR OLD preserve initially whereby fresh plums are in season for purchase every where. But the moment Hub held the open jar to my nose, I was SOLD! So much for wanting to roast some delicious meat to go with the plum preserve, well, that has to wait for another two years AT least.

So here it is, the recipe which I think will be the most time consuming in this blog because you need to preserve the plum for two years first :-P (kidding! I mean the part that you can still make a mean Confiture de Prunes). Do try with fresh plums because I think plums are just one of those wonderful, gifted fruit to mankind which releases this powerful aroma as you cook them. Also it sure is a wonderful alternative to your regular strawberries or orange marmalade, no? Here goes ...

1. Sterilise jars and lid in boiling water. Set aside to dry.
2. Wash and half approximately 1 kg of plums. Remove the seeds.
3. Pour half cup of water into a large pot under medium heat. Add the plums in, along with 600 grams of white sugar.
4. With a masher, roughly mash up the plum in the pot while its being cooked. Cook until the plum turns soft and darker in shade.
5. Add juice of half lemon in as well as the pectin. Please refer dosage according to manufacturer´s guide for pectin. Let the pectin incorporate well and bring it to a boil. Boil hard for one minute.
6. To test for thickness, use a metal spoon which had been sitting in a glass of ice water - spoon the confiture mix and let it cool to room temperature on the spoon. If it thickens up to the consistency you desire, it is then done. If not, mix a little more pectin and bring it to a boil again for one minute.
7. Spoon two tablespoon of the confiture into jars. Let it cool. Pour the rest in after a few minutes.
8. If you intend to keep the confiture for long, pour a tablespoon of brandy into the jar once the confiture had cooled off. Seal tightly.

The Humble, Addictive Bratkartofeln

It is amazing what time can really do to beautify this blog.

I am recently getting the hang of spending more quality time daily browsing throught the internet and blog sites for yummy recipes and later storming up the kitchen with experiments. Hubby was a bit concern initially if I´d get bored at home, now that I am not attending school anymore and not working as well. But I told hub, trust me ... my days had never been so filled up. So much so that some days, I have neglected housework after getting myself too engrossed in beautifying my blog :-)

One of the things I have been doing a lot lately is read. Nothing too heavy, but pure Chic Read by authors such as Sophia Kinsella, Meg Cabot etc. Its light and I feel, it fits the summer weather here perfectly. Something about light reading in between all the housework, blogging, a glass of wine or juice concoction, strawberries and light bite that screams indulgence. Yeah, it surely feels so. Apart from carting back lots of books (actually not so many, about 3-4 at one time), I chance upon a lovely german cookbook called Die Lieblingsgerichte der Deutschen, literarily translated to mean German´s Favourite Dishes. It is one of those hardcover cookbook you don´t mind having on your coffee table to drool over again, and again. The pictures are amazing, but what I really like about it was the fact that all the ingredients are easily accessable. Not to mention that the recipes are homely and easy to follow too. Even for german beginner reader like me.

So far, I have tried a few recipes and they have all turned out well! But for today, I´d like to share you this simple recipe which I find you can easily replicate at home with a few staple product. It is perfect for a quick bite, as a side dish to your main western dish or even a star on its own. It is also quite a good looking dish and is super tasty :-) Tasty to the point that I nearly finished hubby´s portion all to myself (gulp! and you know how much I try to stay away from potatoes) ... but yeah, the potatoes are really delicious from all the bacon bit coating and all. So, do try!

Here´s the recipe to Bratkartofeln (German Roast Potatoes)

• Heat the pan with 2 - 3 tablespoon of oil under medium heat. In goes the onions (between 1 or 2) and sautee them till its soft.
• Next, place in all the sliced potatoes (about 1 cm thick) and bacon bits (100 grams) and cook until it is slightly browned.
• Occassionally, add more oil to the pan. Stir the ingredients well to avoid them from burning.
• Season them with salt and pepper. And just before serving, sprinkle them with lots of chopped parsley. Done.

Grilled + Braised Pork Shoulder

Despite the chaos in our kitchen during preparation of hub´s birthday cake + dinner last week, I managed to squeeze in time for food photography. The photos turned out horrendous as always and in midst of it, was wondering when my digital will give way so that I have the excuse to go get myself a SLR. But soon after, I discovered some new tricks with our photo manipulation software, making the photo´s a bit more acceptable looking and hence the whole episode of SLR dream going down the drain again

Back to the food ... the idea of cooking Pork Shoulder did worry me a little that morning. As I remembered them, the meat can get quite tough if not cook properly. This section of meat cut as one knows it, has more muscles, hence ... Also, I am no expert in cooking meat and the only lesson I learned are from our daily fixation of Das Perfekt Dinner, a local program here where five individuals take turn to host dinner in return of winning a price. Grilling meat is the name of the game in this show and I thought I´d just duplicate what I saw. Easy?

Well ... pretty much so.

Here´s what I did ...

1. Choose a pork shoulder fillet of not thicker than 1 cm. Since pork shoulder has lots of muscle veins around, you do not want to chew thru your meal with a thick slab.
2. Give it a sprinkle with a good quality salt and some pepper.
3. Heat up the pan up, pour some oil in and set it to brown for about 3 minutes each side. The juices from the meat will start coming out and what I like doing is saving the juices in a separate bowl while still basking the meat with oil in the pan. In this way, the meat browns up nicely.
4. Next, place the meat on a baking dish. In goes the juices along and water (enough to cover all the meat) and one chopped up onion.
5. Cover the dish with aluminium foil tightly and let it braised for 1 1/2 whole hour at 100C.
6. For the sauce, strain the leftover juices out from the dish once done. Pour them into a sauce pot and mix in some flour to thicken them. Season them according to taste.

The meat turned out tender and yummy, amidst lighter in colour but its okay.

Juk + Pajeon Invasion

Help! I think I need serious intervention this week by you people. This korean red pepper paste I´ve carted all the way back from KL had been invading our tiny kitchen for the past week! How boring can my life get - I mean, I am suppose to be a food blogger, right? Experimenting new style and new flavour is suppose to be what food bloggers do, right? But how come, I am simply so, so, soooo contented with this magical paste lying preciously inside our fridge? I care to explain. This sauce is anything but boring - (read) it is totally lipsmacking. I have been slapping a tablespoon or two into whatever I can get my hands on while cooking. The taste of this Korean Red Pepper Paste can get very deep (depends how much you slap onto your dish) and comes with tint of spiciness. Knowing me, spicy is my middle name! I have done it all with the sauce. From mild to generous dosage of this wonder paste into fried rice, porridge, noodles, meat, vegetables and fish even. Trust me, it surely does liven up the dish especially when paired with good old spring onion sprinkle and sesame seed which korean dishes are so famous for.

Here´s two korean dishes I have been eating frequently for the past week. While the Juk (rice porridge) showned here clearly were cooked without the red paste that I have been so go-go-ga-ga over, I had them with Pajeon - which is a famous Korean Onion Pancake which one can find in every nook and corner of Korea (at least that was what I read). But on lazy days when all I needed was do some blogging, while the pot of Juk is simmering away in the kitchen and don´t have the mood to further heat up the pan for accopanying dish, I would no doubt flavour my Juk with the magic paste :-)

Here´s the Juk recipe

1. Wash 1/2 cup of chinese rice in a pot of water until you get rid of all the murky colour water. Than fill up the pot with 1 litre of water. Let it boil for roughly 10 minutes under low heat or until the water is almost dried up. At this stage, add another litre of water.
2. Add chopped carrots (from 1/2 carrots) and chopped spring onion (from 3-4 stalks). Season with vegetable seasoning (about 1 tablespoon), a bit of salt and pepper to taste.
3. Let it cook further for another 10 minutes. Check if the Juk looked a bit mashed up, instead of still grainy. If it still does, add more water and let it slow boil further until the grain breaks up.
4. Before serving, drizzle over some sesame oil and sesame seeds.

Here´s the Panjeon recipe

1. Mix together flour (1 cup), water (1 cup), red pepper paste (2 tablespoon, mix them well with a tablespoon of hot water), egg (1 egg, lightly beaten) bit by bit, making sure to beat out any lumps – this should be only a tiny bit thicker than thin pancake batter as you will still need the mixture to spread out on the frying pan, so add more water or flour accordingly.
2. Add the chopped spring onions (1 large bunch and chopped up to 2 inch length), then mix thoroughly to incorporate all ingredients evenly.
3. Heat a frying pan and add some oil, when it’s nice and hot, ladle a big spoonful into the pan. You want this to be about 4-5mm thick, any thicker and it won’t cook through well. Fry until the batter is half-cooked on top and the bottom is nice and crisp and golden.
4. Carefully flip over and fry other side till golden, then remove from heat and drain on paper towels. Oil frying pan and repeat with remaining batter. Done.

Grilled Wild Salmon with Green Curry Spinach Sauce

Some fusion combination works magically, while some confuse the hell out of your tastebud. Thankfully this wonderful recipe from Closet Cooking worked magically like my Thomas Sabo charm - even on a dark, greyish, depressing, never ending rainy day.

Urggg ... Rain, rain, go away ... come again another day!

Speaking of rain, is it raining hard at your part of the world? It surely is here. And without much warning too. Just yesterday while at the library picking up some delicious looking German Cooking and Torte Bake book, I almost got myself drenched. Well, I said almost because I was lucky enough to step out from the library door few minutes late. I had eariler witness the oncoming of grey clouds through the surrounding windows, and figured that I better get my butt out quickly for 1) I was definately not dressed for rain 2) nor was I carrying an umbrella with me 3) I came with my trusted bicycle 4) I had lots of books with me! The moment I step out and about to reach out for the padlock of my bicycle, it came rushing down mercilessly while I witness a poor mother and daughter scrambled to their feet to get shelter right across me. I spent the next half hour scrolling the coffee table book I´d just borrowed right outside the library and what a good way to past time really. Within minutes, the rain miracalously stopped and the sun came out :-)

I took a long route back home bypassing the shopping streets and cafes after much contemplatation. The other route is much closer, but it is a bare street with nothing but trees. I figured that the long route would serve me better just in case if it pours again and I would have shelter to run too! It did not pour as anticipated but I did not regret taking up the long route at all. The one thing I notice while passing by the main strasse is, everyone was spotting a jolly good mood with a big grin on their face! The cafes were suddenly packed to the brim - even the secluded one, hidden in one corner. I gathered that it must be the sun, and the smell of fresh rain that came pouring earlier. Upon reaching home, I could not help noticing that our garden bloom looking so bright and cheery - just like what I´d witness in the street earlier and quickly retrieve this two wonderful bloom from my flower archive to be posted along this dish here. Don´t you think they look so good side by side?

The first thing I did after unpacking my books was hit the kitchen. I was starving from all the book carrying (I borrowed 10!), the cycling-walking-cycling combo and two toast breakfast. I felt like I could eat a horse and needed some heat after the downpour too.

Here´s the recipe (which I´d modified a little)

• 1 piece of 150 grams Wild Salmon
• 1 onion, sliced
• 3 cups of Spinach
• 1 potato, skin peeled and sliced thinly
• 1 teaspoon Green Curry paste
• 1/2 water
• 3 tablespoon coconut milk
• 3 tablespoon yellow curry powder
• Salt and Pepper for taste
• Oil

Method

1. Grill the Wild Salmon in a non-stick wok for about 3-4 minutes each side. Cover them with a wok cover if needed.
2. Next, pour a little oil into the pan and place in the onions and potatoes. Let it cook for two minutes, or until a bit golden.
3. In goes the spinach and the rest of the ingredients. Mix them well. Let it simmer until it thickens.
4. Dish out the Green Curry Spinach on a platter, and than the Wild Salmon served on top. Done.

Italian Potato Croquette

Hub was kinda surprise when I asked him to pick up a packet of potatoes last weekend from the grocery store. I had in the past told him that I am banning potato from my diet after experiencing weight gain right after a potato dinner! I do love potatoes, in many ways. I grew up eating lots of fries during Mcdonalds take out (perhaps it is the reason why I was so round). I also love them stewed in chinese dishes and curries or having them baked, in soups and whatever method you can think of. To me, you will not go wrong with a potato in any dish because it absorbs every flavour you cook them with, or even good on its own.

This dish was inspired by David Rocco´s Dolce Vita. Do you still remember him? He is the grinny canadian guy whom leaved for Italy with his cute wife to shot this wonderful, cool cooking program while touring around the country. Watching the program really does make me wanna take the first train connection to the South, really ... and bask in the mediterranean sun, sea and all. Back to his program, he made this wonderful italian style croquette which looked so tempting that I just had to put aside my i-do-not-touch-potato-attitute.

And I had no regrets at all for it turned out really, really yummy ... nothing like the ones we get from frozen department or other homemade ones I´d tried. I think the parmesan cheese and parsley were really a wonderful touch to this simple croquette and I do urge you to try! The other thing that really stood out was how fresh the potato taste were and its because I was fortunate to have a pack of the 1st german potato harvest for this year with us. The only thing I find difficult was frying them. I did not want to use so much oil frying them and than having to figure what to do with the reused oil - hence only pouring a cup in the wok to get it sizzling. And naturally, there were some hit and miss part, some parts browned and some parts still light .. but I figured, this is how a homemade potato croquette should look like!

So, here´s the recipe

• 6 large potatoes, peeled, slice to small pieces and cooked them in a pot of water for 20 minutes (or until it is fully cooked)
• When its fully cooked, set aside to cool.
• Mash the potatoes to almost fine texture, leaving a tiny winy bit of pieces and place in salt and pepper to taste, a handful of italian parsley, parmesan cheese shaves and an egg to bind them all together. Mix the mixture with your hand.
• Divide them into portions you desire and shape them into the oblong shape as shown. If you like them sinful, you can even slide in the middle a slice of mozarella before closing the croquette together. This is the original recipe, but since I did not have mozarella at hand, I had to skip this out.
• At this time, bring your wok out and heat them up with oil. Prepare your kitchen towels for draining.
• Drop them croquette into egg yolk mixture and coat them thoroughly with breadcrumbs. Shape the croquette one more time if needed as it tends to get out of shape quickly.
• In goes the croquette for frying, roughly about 2 minutes each side or until it is golden in colour. Done.

Serve them while its hot. While my hub love to eat them as it is, I simply love them with a kick from Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce! Yum!

Baked Camembert with Rasberry Sauce

Sometimes I cheat. But it is with no regret that store bought Baked Camembert taste as good as the real thing served in restaurants. The only thing scary about it is the colour of the crust, which sort of make you question how much food colouring goes into them. But to compensate for the inadequency on my part - making the baked camembert part I mean and it is by any mean not easy at all of which both occassion had been watching in horror how the cheese started leaking out from its mold to the hot oil around it - I made a really good rasberry sauce to go with it and it simple the easiest thing to do to spring up your baked cheese platter. The saltiness of the cheese and the sweet tanginess of the rasberries married well of course, and end of the day, my belly could not thank me enough.

No recipe for this post because there really isn´t any, really but for the heck of keeping my blog alive, and trust me ... I have been slacking a lot (no inspiration, inadequate natural light etc) ... I wanna wish you guys a happy weekend :-)

Cilio Cocktail Shaker and Pitü Muddler

The old shaker finally rest in peace from all the shaking, so time to get a new one :-) We wanted something solid that can last for years, perform the job and importantly does not come with hefty price tag (this cost us 18Euro) and yet, does not compromise on quality. And we found it at Cilio. They have really nice stuff there, do check it out! In addition, we grabbed a muddler from a brand called Pitu and couldn´t be more please. With this tool, I can now make a mean mojito with the abundance of mint from Mama´s garden!

Pad Kaprao Challenge for Jules

I wanted to blog a normal blog for this entry, but thought of a dear friend whom had just relocated. He is none other than Jules but I presume he will have to change the blog title soon (or have you created a new Abu Dhabi blog - Jules???). Like me, he is a Malaysian, born and breed there and loved Malaysian and South East Asian cuisine. Whenever I read a post of him travelling to Thailand, this Pad Kaprao dish seems to be the default dish he orders and I assume it is one of his favourite? Anyway, I would like to post him a challenge. A challenge for him to get cooking in the kitchen as I have never come across him cooking (only eating) and hey, as a foodie - that is so not happening man.

Easy Peasy Recipe and Method (for 2 person)

1. Heat the wok until the surface is smoking hot. In goes 2-3 tablespoon oil.
2. Put in chopped garlic (2 cloves), chopped onion (1/2) and dried chillies (soaked, drained and chopped to small pieces). You need about 2-3 large ones, pending how spicy you can take and stir a while till fragrant (about 2 - 3 minutes)
3. Next, toss in the minced pork meat (about 200 grams) together with Dark Soya Sauce (1 tablespoon), Soya Sauce (1 tablespoon), Fish Sauce (2 tablespoon) and a bit of water (1/3 cup). Stir them well or until the minced pork is thoroughly cooked.
4. Lastly, toss in a large handful of Basil Leave to fragrant up the dish and season them with pepper for taste.
5. Transfer to a serving dish when the Basil Leave are wilted nicely, or spoon directly over individual plates of plain steamed rice.

Good luck Jules! *grin*