pickle sisters

cake off!

2010-02-07T01:34:00.001+11:00

From left to right: Moroccan orange cake, Chocolate cake, english lemon tea cake.
Courtesy of Emma.

redesign

2009-12-03T12:39:00.002+11:00

Hello world!!!

Erm.

Not much cooking going on, but yesterday I had an amazing Japanese meal with fried chicken, scallops, eggplant and lotus root, slathered with lots of grated daikon. It was tender and juicy and divine.

Am currently on the look out for cake recipes with chocolate and lemon... for a special occasion...

Slow down, danger ahead

2008-08-24T14:40:00.002+10:00

Sometimes life throws you a couple of curveballs, and it can feel like you've been bounced around a few times too many. I've had a minor life changing moment a few weeks ago, with life holding up a massive stop sign. The realisation that I've been running on empty for too long, trying to keep going while my petrol gauge flashes empty. So I've been trying to slow down to avoid a crash, and catching the flu proved to be a good thing, because I've had to take the weekend off work. It also means having the weekend to rest and not worry about the time or being somewhere five minutes ago, which is an absolute luxury, like 300 threadcount linen. Meals have been simple and sparse, I just don't have the energy to plan ahead. So mostly leftover staples like fried rice, soups, both Asian and Western. I had a really good home-made minestrone at a cafe, so soup for the week ahead is going to be minestrone. I'm not going to bother with a recipe this time because it is quite straight forward, so just a list of the veggies I'm using (again the leftovers and ungainly) - cauliflower, carrot, celery, zucchini, roast garlic (for the flu), pumpkin or sweet potato, finished with a can of beans and tomatoes.

Not too cold for salad

2008-08-10T18:59:00.002+10:00

With 4 degree nights and 14 degree days, it isn't the right season for salad yet, but I do miss crispy leaves of rocket, spinach and cos.

Japanese inspired salad

Tofu - marinated in tamari, dark sweet soy sauce and mirin and then grilled or fried
Sliced orange sweet potato - grilled
Mixed leaves
1 cucumber - sliced
Wedges of tomato or baby tomatoes

Dressing
1 part tamari/soy sauce
2 parts brown rice vinegar
1 part toasted sesame oil

Garnish with fried breadcrumbs. I used multigrain breadcrumbs which are uneven and have more texture. Toasted sesame seeds would work as well.

perfect popcorn

2008-06-03T14:46:00.002+10:00

It's been a while. I've been cooking - carefully thought out meals one or two days a week, rough one-dish meals rest of the week, which is the story of my life really. (which is another story on the main blog)

But for the moment, here is how to make perfect popcorn as taught to me by Cat.
1 cheap saucepan with lid. You want something that heats up fast. No fancy heavy bottomed cast iron rubbish.
Enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan.
Just enough popcorn to to form 1 layer at the bottom of the pan.
Toss the corn in the oil for a bit and turn on the flames.
I think you can take it off the heat when the popping is fast and furious, and just when it starts to slow down.
A pinch of salt is enough. Heh.

When I've tried to do it before Cat's wonderful advice, I've put too little oil and too much corn, the result - uneven burnt popcorn. I can't believe it's so easy.

praawwnn on the baarbieee?

2008-03-08T17:12:00.002+11:00

Last year I was quite excited to get back to Oz, to my little kitchen, and start making yummy meals. This year, argh, it feels like a drag to get back into the swing of things. I've been surviving on one-dish meals and eating out (thanks to the generosity of friends). Definitely feeling like I'm lacking in inspiration. I guess everyone goes through patches.

I did try to make a triumphant return with what I thought was going to be a fab salad - first step fry little bits of bacon, add in some baby octopus (you can chop these up to make them a managable mouth-size). While that is sizzling, assemble sliced fresh mango, cucumber, tomato, lettuce, olives. The dressing is lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, salt, olive oil (my ex housemate used to say EVO, like it was the name of a car, which it is). Plonk the cooked octopus and bacon and all the juices on top of the salad. It was almost complete as I went to sprinkle some pepper as a finishing touch as the whole bottletop came loose.....

It was a very peppery salad. Cue Marlon Brando saying "I could have been a contender."

Which reminds me of people who write short stories (memoirs) only six words long...

cooking by zen

2008-02-14T12:43:00.002+11:00

I had a craving for crispy onions, the garnish you find on top of certain foods, so I decided to fry up a batch yesterday. Mum always said that this is one of the "examination dishes" for any new bride entering the household, because it shows your skill with the knife (all the slices have to be even, although you can cheat with a grater), your skill with the wok (can't let them burn), and patience (from peeling the onions till the end takes at least half an hour, depending on how fast you can peel). Unfortunately, onions make me cry so I did resort to closing my eyes and cutting by feel, hoping that I wasn't going to lose any skin or fingers. It went well, pictures to come, and I was getting the rest of dinner ready when my tap came loose and the water came gushing straight out, soaking everything in the kitchen within a 3m radius, including me. At least I know where my water mains was, so I dashed down, winner of the wet t shirt contest Feb 2008, secretly grateful it wasn't winter, screwed it shut and returned to mop up the mess. My landlord is a really sweet guy and he came over later to fix the tap so everything worked out in the end. Hopefully the weather will be nice and hot in the next few days so the carpet dries out...

Back with biscuits

2008-01-26T01:12:00.000+11:00

It is ironic that for my first real food post since summer holidays (and my first post for 2008) I have chosen a fiendishly difficult biscuit to make.

It is called kueh bangkit, a traditional biscuit the nonyas make for Chinese New Year. Biscuit making is normally a family affair, the mother (or in law), daughters, sisters etc. This is because it is a lot (no kidding) of work. If chocolate chip cookies are the equivalent of a stroll in the park, kueh bangkit is juggling firesticks and riding a unicyle, backwards. We made just one type of biscuit and it took 3 of us (mom, my aunt bonnie below and me) from 10am to 730pm, when the last tray came out of the oven.

If we were seriously baking, it may be twice that quantity that plus pineapple tarts, love letters and other goodies. The nonyas are very bitchy people and they are always talking about who made the best biscuits this year and other family gossip.

Before you can get to the final product, which is meant to melt in your mouth by the way, you have to start the day by frying flour (try saying that 5 times, really really fast). Mom says this is the hardest part, if you don't do it right your biscuits turn out like rocks. I would disagree, I think every stage is tricky. I burnt the flour once before I got it right (and got flour everywhere, even in my hair).

Thankfully, my mom doesn't rap knuckles with a wooden spoon, unlike what her mom used to do to her when she got it wrong. My grandmother was not born a nonya (she married in) so she actually didn't know any recipes. And nonyas are very proud people, so they would never share their recipes with you. Apparently, my grandma ran a tontine and a nonya lady owed her a lot of money, so she had no choice but to teach my grandma her closely-guarded secrets. I was chuffed to discover that these biscuits had such a history but my aunt told me that our recipe is a more recent one her friend taught her, and the family has adopted it because it was easier.

Easier??? I can't imagine how much more work my grandmother's recipe would involve.

Then we had to squeeze grated coconut for milk, which is really time consuming but you do get nice smooth hands after, possibly because of the coconut oils. It smells and tastes amazing fresh, much better than the antiseptic stuff you get in cans.

Making the dough is intimidating at first, you have to mix a sticky, almost liquid dough with the flour until you get something you can roll out. Cutting out the biscuits is the easiest part, then you have to decorate them with sesame seeds and it is off to the oven. The last thing you want to do is burn them, after having spent so much effort already. Now repeat 306 times. And then it is time to pack your lovely biscuits in jars. Phew. My dad suggested I make them for sale in Melbourne. I shot him a dirty look and said, shouldn't I be studying?

The kitchen still smells sweet, coconut milk and pandan leaves.

in hiberation

2007-12-11T18:51:00.000+11:00

Gone shopping. Will blog after x'mas. Take care folks.

tourists are weird, taking pictures of food

2007-11-29T12:38:00.000+11:00

Food I ate in china. Breakfast was generally white porridge with lots of pickles, which I love.
And general tip - ask for less oil and salt. The local Chinese palate does favour a heavy hand.

Over an unremarkable dish of xiao long bao (steam dumplings filled with soup - ideally the skin should be translucent and just thick enough to prevent the soup from leaking out), it turns out that the best xiao long bao is in singapore and it is on my list of things to eat...

glutinous rice pudding - finally

2007-11-26T15:38:00.001+11:00

This is the very last of the second batch of glutinous rice pudding I made, it almost never made it as a photo. The smiley face of coconut milk is an accident. It is not traditional to put dried longans in it, but my mom and my grandmother have been doing it for ages, so this is the version I like best. As it is a family recipe I am reluctant to put it up here, but email me personally if you want to know what's in it.

Spicy noodle soup. As you can see from the notes on the table, this was exam time. I cheat by using tomyam paste from a jar. Don't tell anyone.

Just returned yesterday from 2 weeks in China, at least half was spent eating vegetarian food (not by choice). I did end up singing the meat song - which has only one word and goes like this meat meat meat meat meat meat (to the tune of any song). Thankfully, Xiamen is a food paradise not for vegetarians and you'll be glad to know that my Mandarin is at least good enough to avoid the stalls selling dog soup.

Will blog once I've organised pictures.

making the most of leftovers

2007-11-11T10:09:00.000+11:00

Spent my second last night in melbourne making fried rice and having a few friends over, there was champagne flowing, so all in all it was a good night. However, there are still leftovers so tonight is going to be fried rice night part deux.

Been listening to heaps of bossa nova music... it is good dinner party music, although I much prefer to cook to Al Green. One of my favourite albums is the Antonio Carlos Jobim Songbook, which the very first boy I dated introduced me to, back when I was 19. I lost the boy after a couple of months, but I still have the album.

I have time to cook, just no time to take pictures

2007-11-01T13:47:00.000+11:00

I was going to post about making black glutinous rice pudding, or pulot hitam, but it got eaten before I remembered to take pictures. Then today, as post-exam relief, I made chocolate raisin oat cookies and discovered something else I took pictures of a month ago but forgot. Scones with homemade jam and cream. (Don't worry, the scones are not a month old, they've long since been eaten.)

Strawberry jam
1 punnet strawberries - this is a great way to use up overripe strawberries. Cook in a saucepan over a tiny flame with no water as the strawberries will become watery with cooking. Add honey or rice malt to sweeten at the end. Most of the time strawberries are quite sour.

Scottish Scones (from orangette)

½ c milk (I think I used non dairy milk)
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ stick (2 ounces) unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
3 Tbs sugar
raisins, orange peel

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.(220C)

Beat together the milk and the egg and then set aside. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Rub the butter into the flour mixture, working until you have no lumps bigger than a pea. Add the sugar and whatever additions you choose, and stir or toss to mix. Pour the wet ingredients into the dries, reserving just a tad of the milk-egg mixture to use as a glaze. Bring dough together gently with a wooden spoon.

Turn dough out onto a clean counter and knead it no more than 12 times. [Apparently, twelve is the magic number here; surpass it at your own risk.] Pat dough into a round approximately ½-inch thick, and cut into 8 or 12 wedges. Place on an ungreased baking sheet or a Silpat, if you have one. Using a pastry brush, glaze wedges.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack.

And for the chocolate chip oatmeal raisin cookies, I made them the same way I did with the soy cornflake cookies, but replacing the soy flakes with rolled oats.

Dainty treats

2007-10-25T18:10:00.000+10:00

I've always been a fan of middle eastern desserts, no matter how sweet they are, but these are an exception. Ghouraiba is simply a dainty biscuit perfumed with cardamom and rosewater and they were meant to last me through the exam period but it looks like I will be baking again. They are just small enough for you to have two without feeling greedy, the perfect size to serve guests alongside tea or coffee. Additionally, I put crushed walnuts in the mix but if you want to be traditional, use crushed pistachios.

GHOURAIBA

2/3 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup ground almonds
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon rose water
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease cookie sheets and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar.
(Note: I was lazy so I melted the butter and sugar over a low flame and the biscuits still turned out fine.)

Whisk together flour, ground nuts and cardamom. Add flour mixture to butter in thirds, mixing well after each addition. Stir in rose water.

Shape into balls the size of large marbles.

Bake for about 10 minutes. Cool for 2-3 minutes and roll in powdered sugar.

Carrot salad

2007-10-18T09:40:00.000+10:00

I was treating mr-embarrassed-about-saying-the-word-tart (osteo rawks) and I'm just used to feeding people who come to the house (standard greeting in Singapore: Hi how are you? Have you eaten?) so I made this carrot salad from Claudia Roden. I really liked it, it's a keeper.

Depending on how many you are cooking for, this serves 2 -3 as a side dish.
half a carrot, cut into matchsticks
1 small apple, matchsticks (her recipe didn't have apple but I just bought a huge bag so am trying to use them. Apple lends a sweetness that is not in the original)
1 teasp ground cumin
2 tiny cloves of garlic minced
mint leaves
salt to taste
a squeeze of lemon juice, like from a quarter or half a lemon (I added this to the apples so they wouldn't change colour)
1 tablespoon of olive oil ( I used sesame cos I already had olive oil in a tabouli type salad)

Fry the garlic in oil till fragrant, then toss in the carrots and cumin. You don't want to cook them fully, sort of half cooked so that they are still crunchy. Turn off the fire and add in the apples, mint leaves, lemon juice and salt. You can serve it warm or cold.

dumpling party

2007-09-25T22:57:00.000+10:00

I guess the wisdom of having already turned 30 is that you don't have to get drunk at your own party and you can organise something more sedate, like making dumplings. Getting a good party going is like getting a fire started, you need to give it enough fuel at the start, fan it so that it gets just enough oxygen, so I was too busy getting soup ready and serving snacks (and drinking beer) to take any more photos. Take my word for it, it was a good party, maybe a bit too much work to do it all again (and a big thank you to all the friends who came early to help out, contributed extra stools and chairs, and without which the party would have been impossible).

salty bread and salty tears

2007-09-18T20:31:00.000+10:00

You know the feeling when you go back to a favourite food place but it is no longer there? Or perhaps it is there but the cook has changed and it tastes different...
a much more eloquent account of that here.

There must be an elegant way to say this in French, like how esprit de l'escalier (French for spirit of the escalator) refers to a witty comeback that only occurs to you when its too late.

2007-09-08T09:25:00.000+10:00

September is a time for birthdays and this weekend is particularly busy - have a picnic in the afternoon and then late night drinks for another friend, plus a third friend is celebrating his at a guy club late late late into the night (don't think I will be going for that one).

So in the same order, happy birthday to Lachlan, Catherine and Jeff. May the coming year be better than before (and definitely better than my shitty run of luck last week). And a happy belated to Shravan, who I dobbed that it was his birthday yesterday and he had to do 25 rolls during training, the poor chap. Ah well, it was funny.

Mum is visiting, so I haven't been cooking but I whipped out this trusty tofu dish when I volunteered to cook for one night last week.

Ma po tofu
(It means pocked marked tofu dish, not sure why. This is a vegetarian adaptation of the one in Fuchsia Dunlop's book)

Chopped garlic 2-3 cloves
sliced cloud ear fungus (soaked)
chopped carrot
chopped caulifower
chopped spring onion
about half a block of tofu, cubes
2 tablespoons of sesame oil

Fry in wok. Add a couple of spoons of stock or water till the veggies are cooked.

For the sauce
1 teaspoon of salted black beans, crushed
3 tablespoons of chili bean sauce (you can get this in a bottle at most asian shops)
1 tablespoon of black chinese vinegar (this is the equivalent of chinese balsamic vinegar, it is more mellow than rice vinegar)
soy sauce to taste if it is not salty enough

Add sauce to stir fry, toss for a minute or so and it should be done.

sundays are for soup

2007-08-12T19:24:00.000+10:00

In the orange corner, we have day-old sweet potato, parsnip and rosemary soup. I wasn't going to make a creamy soup until I smelt one of my neighbours making potato soup... I couldn't resist.

In the green corner is the beginnings of another soup. I've been craving a spicy korean hotpot soup, which actually comes in a tetrapack, but the shop that stocks it is a million miles away (okay, boxhill, but it is out of my way). So I am improvising with hatcho miso and some chilli paste. Not sure what the results will be.

You can never have too much soup in winter (even though the flowers say spring is finally here).

sweet potato, parsnip and rosemary soup
Qualities are for 2 - 3 serves.

A 5 inch length of sweet potato, diameter is about 8cm. You can also use regular potato, about 3. Chopped.
4inch length of parsnip
2 sprigs of rosemary
half an onion

Fry everything lightly in 2 tbsp olive oil, add about 2 bowls of water when it is sizzling. Let it cook over a low flame for at least 30min. Blend. Salt to taste. Because I am trying to go dairy free at the moment (except for yoghurt), I haven't added any cream or milk but you could.

little green giants

2007-08-02T12:55:00.000+10:00

Last year I grew cabbages, this year, looking at the price of veges, I decided to grow broccoli. Organic broc goes for $8 to $10 per kg. It took forever to grow, at least 3 months from seedings, and they are still pretty tiny. Then again, I am growing them in an overcrowded recycled styrofoam fruit box, so I guess I can't expect giants. I'll just eaten the last of my store-bought broccoli, so I'll probably harvest a few of my own in a week, so that the rest have a bit more room to grow.

Another big welcome to another pickle sister, the person who gave me the idea for the title of this blog, Mon. Mon is an amazing and inspiring cook and will be posting soon!

Recycling

2007-07-17T15:18:00.000+10:00

I bought gluten free soy flakes, apricot and almond flavour, but what it really tasted like was cardboard. Maybe the manufacturers anticipated this, as they had 3 recipes on the box. Thankfully the cookie recipie is much better than the flakes.

Soyflake cookies ( I suppose you can use any type of cereal that you don't want to eat)

3 tbs butter, melted

2 tbs honey, 2 tbs maple syrup , 2 tbs brown sugar but I used 7 tbs brown sugar

1 egg, lightly whisked

Add sugar/syrup to melted honey. Stir in egg. Then add

2 cups flakes

1 cup flour

Any additional almond/fruit/chocolate

Make into cookie shape. They don’t expand by much. Bake 20 min or golden brown in oven preheated to 160C. It says you can make 20 cookies. The first time I tried it my cookies were bite sized so I had more than 20, this time I got 15 bigger cookies. You'll figure it out.

cooking for two

2007-07-11T14:43:00.000+10:00

What does love taste like?

Like bacon apparently.

Joe is very fond of bacon, and even more so of the double smoked pancetta I get from my regular butcher down the road. This Serbian couple set up shop 45 years ago and the smoked stuff is to die for. Fried till crisy or just to flavour a soup, both work.

We have also eaten many pizzas, souvlakis, desserts (my killer chocolate and pear muffin), hot chocolates. Joe reckons nothing is better than the Lambs outlet in Northcote for souvlakis, and as for pizzas, the $4 dinner special at the Lucky Coq can't be beat.

For a treat, he made his signature buttered prawns, only this time he added dried coconut and fried it in oil, instead of butter.

He was meant to fly off on Sunday night, the plane had technical difficulties - they had to reboot the flight computer and it still didn't work. So thank you malaysian airlines, for all the wrong reasons, for giving us an extra 60 hours together.

fancy apple pie

2007-06-24T22:52:00.000+10:00

I know someone who is embarrassed about saying the word tart in public, even though we are referring to pastries and not the other kind. Anyway this is a tarte tartin, or fancy french apple pie. It came from here and tastes best freshly baked. I could have let it caramelise a bit more but I was late for meeting someone (not the mr-embarrassed-about-saying-the-word-tart) for lunch.

The trickiest bit is flipping the tart out of the pan, which is why this picture was taken over the sink.

Also made a great breakfast - lentils, sliced grapefuit and yoghurt over toast but it doesn't photograph as well as it tastes.

And most recently, baked cherry and chocolate muffins, which both joe and I agree is a keeper. This recipe is not exact, because I don't use measures, so feel free to modify it. It is based on a recipe for friands.

1 and 1/2cups almond meal
1/2 cup wheat or spelt flour
2-3 tablespoons baking powder
125-150g butter, melted over the stove
2 eggs or 3 small ones. You are actually meant to use 5 whites if this was a traditional friand recipe but I hate to waste 5 yolks.
Fresh cherries - pitted. Watch the squirting juice.
2/3 of a 200g block of cooking chocolate, dark or milk if you like.
1/2 cup milk or juice
1 to 1 and1/2 cups sugar - i used a mix of icing and regular sugar.
vanilla essence
dash of port or sweet alcohol

Mix all the powders in a bowl. Add in melted butter, and let it cool before adding eggs otherwise they will curdle. Add in the liquids till you get a good batter consistency, and more milk/juice if needed. Stir in the cherries and chocolate. I think you will get 6- 9 muffins with this, and don't fill the muffins all the way to the top, cos they will rise and leak all over the tray.

what do you eat in a week?

2007-06-09T10:53:00.000+10:00

what the world eats in a week - time photo essay. Check out the amount of packaging in the developed world! Then again, I rather have tim tams than boiled fresh sheep soup... maybe lentil would be fine...

you can't say no to chocolate cake

2007-05-19T00:21:00.000+10:00

4 great cake recipies at the age website.

frittata

2007-05-17T23:04:00.000+10:00

I tried out this recipie

Zucchini-and-Pecorino Frittata
Adapted slightly from Torakris’ recipe on eGullet

3 Tbs olive oil
1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1-1 ½ lb zucchini, thinly sliced into half-circles
2 Tbs fresh basil, chopped
6 large eggs (preferably free-range, please)
S & P
½ cup good-quality Pecorino Romano, grated

In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat 2 Tbs olive oil over medium heat. Sauté onions until wilted, about 5 minutes. Add zucchini and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 10 minutes. Add basil and remove from heat. Drain in colander.

Crack eggs into a medium bowl and whisk with a fork. Add salt and pepper and cheese, stirring to mix. Add zucchini and onion and stir to mix evenly.

Heat remaining Tbs oil over medium heat. Add egg mixture, using fork to distribute evenly over pan. Reduce heat to low and cook until set, 12 to 15 minutes or so. Remove from heat and slide frittata onto a large plate. Place skillet over plate, and invert frittata back into skillet. Cook a few minutes more. Invert frittata onto plate to serve. Eat at room temperature or cold. Serves 6-8 as a first course or 4 as a main dish.

It worked fine, until the part I had to flip it. Fine, I didn't use a plate, I tried to flip it in the pan. It got stuck, so I ended up with omelette, which is what a frittata is anyway.

the morning after

2007-05-05T12:16:00.001+10:00

brown rice with veggies in a tahini and white miso sauce. say ahhhh.
recommended when you've had too much red wine the night before.

quinoa is my favourite thing right now, it is so crunchy when cooked with brown rice. I haven't done it any other way yet, let me know if you have a recipe to share.

lentils

2007-04-25T21:54:00.000+10:00

This was inspired by something that my friend Cat made. It's got lentils, beetroot and olives to give it a bit of salt. Cat's version had beetroot, lentils and feta, served with a refreshing vinaigrette. Both taste great.

Cook beetroot in a little water or oil. I prefer oil for flavour and it means that the pot won't dry up. When they are soft, add in cooked lentils and olives. My only regret is the olives are tiny and pitted, so you really have to be careful not to break any teeth. If I made it again, I would use pitted olives.

2007-04-17T23:34:00.000+10:00

I love breakfast, the thought of what to make, satisfaction of eating leisurely, which is rare. Of course, some mornings it is as simple as cornflakes and out of the house. Today is not a school day, so I had time for avocado, lemon, olive oil and yoghurt on toast. With tea. ( I had breakfast in the city on the weekend, and was inspired by their menu, but the yoghurt is my extra.)

Great designs for breakfast.

burger queen

2007-04-09T13:38:00.000+10:00

It's a song by placebo btw.

I made burgers over the long weekend, thinking it would last me through the week. Ha ha. I had friends over for dinner, gave some away and ate the last four for lunch today. All gone now.

Burgers are a great way to get rid of leftovers. These are veggie ones. You need a mix of mashy and chunky. The mashy ingredients (tofu, blended chickpea, potato, pumpkin, rice) are to give bulk and help the burger stick together, and the chunky ingredients (onions, carrots, broccoli, leeks) lend bite.

Cook the mashy ingredients and smoosh them up. Chop the chunky ingredients in tiny bits and fry them. Mix the 2 and add seasoning - salt, italian herbs, or go asian, kafir lime, chili, coriander. I underseasoned mine, but I guess you can afford to make them more salty, depending if you are serving them with a sauce or not.

Form into patties and dust with flour (or an egg batter). Deep or shallow fry.

Eat plain, or with ketchup/sweet chilli sauce. Lingams (malaysia boleh!) I had some chopped up preserved lemon with mine. It went very well, which makes me think of making chickpea patties with chopped up preserved lemon next time.

easter is time for chocolate

2007-04-03T16:48:00.000+10:00

It must be the hormones or subliminal advertising - have been craving chocolate this week. Made friand/muffin/madalines. Not sure what they should be called, but I was aiming for chocolate cakey thingy with pear bits in the middle. I was tempted to add the first chilli from my new chilli plant, but thought better of it.

The smell of chocolate and baking, Van Morrison on the ipod, made me feel good, especially now that winter is on its way (It won't get past 24C this week).

Iggy Pop, who turns 60 in April, tells Spin: "To feel good when I was 21, all I had to do was to smoke a joint. Now I have to turn off my phones, do tai chi for an hour, drink a strong cup of coffee and stay away from bad people, so I can feel good for an hour or two - knowing [that] when it ends, I'm gonna feel like the miserable 59-year-old fuck that I actually am."

waste not

2007-03-26T21:03:00.000+10:00

Searching the net for what to do with my radish leaves. Was initally thinking of making a pickle but after washing and sorting, the leaves turned out to be quite tender (despite a week in the fridge) so may end up stir frying like this:

The chopped daikon radish leaves turned into this dish to accompany boiled rice.Quickly fry the leaves in a little oil and season with some soy sauce,sugar and sesame oil.Add dried bonito flakes and sesame seeds and serve.So dangerously delicious that you could fill up on plain rice!

But I stumbled across what looks like a fab food blog, just hungry, that looks at japanese recipes and is not in japanese. Their pickles look amazing...

tooooofuuuu

2007-03-22T15:21:00.000+11:00

An attempt at my grandmother's sweet black pork, minestrone soup last sunday and today's lunch - cold tofu, stewed pumpkin and lightly sauteed veggies. The weather has turned hot (33C) again, so cold tofu is wonderful. The last week in the kitchen has been productive - made a brilliant fig and ginger cake because i keep reading these fig tart recipies but I am too lazy to make pastry from scratch.

cold tofu
a block of tofu, pre cooked and chilled or there are some that you can eat right out of the packet.

sauce
ginger
shallots (I didn't have any)
spring onion

In a teeny saucepan, stir fry the above with toasted sesame oil. Add soya sauce or shoyu, mirin or sake. Garnish with coriander leaves, sesame seeds. This is the Japanese version, for a sort of Shanghai version add a good glug of black vinegar.

2007-03-12T23:00:00.000+11:00

The green stuff - kale on toast with mushies

The peach stuff - peaches from the neighbour's garden. Not exactly the same as a stolen serville orange from a monastery, these were hanging over the fence. Sweeter than they look, and organic to boot (I had to make a worm homeless).

The wine stuff: Decided to try and make spag with mussels and white wine. Was amazed how much it tasted like something you ordered at a restaurant despite how easy it was to make. Only trouble was it was too salty - and I didn't put any salt in! It might have been the bacon, or just the saltiness of the mussels.

Fresh mussels - they are tiny, so allocate 10-15 mussels per person.
Wash them, scrub the shells, cut the beards. Chuck them in a pot with a bit of oil, garlic and white wine to cover. Don't be stingy with the wine, cos you get to use it as a stock. Steam for 5 min, or until they open. I shelled all of mine as it is easier to eat but you can leave them on for effect. Strain the stock and add it to the pasta later. It can be quite salty so you may have to dilute it. Or serve it as a mussel soup.

Cook the pasta.

In a seperate pan, heat garlic, bacon, freshly cut parsley or celery leaves. Stir in the cooked pasta, cooked mussels and a bit of the stock. You can grate parmesan over to serve.

kale is kool

2007-03-04T10:54:00.000+11:00

I went to the shops near by to get some salad, but I walked out with a lot more, as you can see. I love kale, so when I saw this I had to pick it up... and guess the price. Just $1.99... for the whole thing! How not to buy?

I've never seen anything so huge. So it's not organic, but until Australia goes nuclear, I think everything is safe.

Of course, part of the unwritten price is the stares I got from everyone on the walk home. It even came in handy as an umbrella as the sun was pretty hot.

But what is more disappointing is that no one seems to know what it is or what to do with it.
The only other person who might appreciate kale as much as I do is up in Darwin on holiday, so it looks I might have to embark on a kale show-n-tell.

It's got a nice green taste like kailan or chye sim, and the texture is similar to cabbage or broccoli leaves.

Anyhow, here are a couple of good ideas:
kale with chickpeas and lemon juice
done like spinach on toast

You can also make a mean minestrone with the stalks for stock and the leaves in place of cabbage.

back in action

2007-02-26T22:28:00.000+11:00

Yes, I am back in Melbourne and back at the stove too. Dinner was lightly-fried marinated tofu (kecap manis and mirin), corn and celery soup and a cabbage, yellow zucchini, carrot garlic stir-fry. Make sure you have some liquid like water or rice wine and a tight lid, cos the cabbage needs to cook but without becoming soggy.

In the 72 hours I've been back, my fridge is full again. I've made hommus, a salty miso pickle from daikon leaves (they broke off), and a pumpkin and chicken stew (the chicken was frozen from before I left - don't worry, am sure it is safe to eat).

Now off to a different diet - vegging out with the oscars. George Clooney is as hot as ever. I am always concerned that one day, he will do a Cary Grant and my dreams will be shattered.

valentine's day

2007-02-19T13:48:00.000+11:00

Had a cold ice lemon tea at the new-old colbar. It was going to be torn down but enough people protested so they still tore it down but rebuilt it plank by plank 200m away. In fact, the new location is even better because you look out onto greenery instead of the highway. (btw the old site is now a new highway - very hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy)

After lunch and fresh beers at a microbrewery, a movie, we ended up eating durians in geyland. I'm not sure if there is a glut now, but that little wonder cost us $2, and it was both creamy and bitter.

Island Creamery

2007-02-08T20:46:00.000+11:00

This has got to be the best local ice-cream place in Singapore (that I know of). Half the price of haagen daz and twice as nice. I'm a sucker for new places and besides haagen daz is really expensive - the last I checked, it was almost $20 for a sundae with 2 scoops of ice cream and more whipped cream than actual ingredients.

Island creamery has local flavours like teh tarik (frothy milk tea), pulot hitam (glutinous red rice dessert with coconut), chendol (another coconut dessert drink), horlicks etc. Each scoop is $2.50, compared with $4 or more you pay at other chains.

It is on the way home from work, and I've resisted its charms for the last two months, but faced with impending return, I've decided to heck it and savour.

I tried black sesame ice cream today - the ice cream is crumbly and soft, very unlike gelato which feels stickier. I've also tried pineapple tart last year, and that was nice too. I really want to go back and sample the flavour pear sake..... it has two of my favourite things in it! And they claim no preservatives or eggs are used in all their flavours.

You can read a review by another blogger here and a comparism between scoop shops here.

Dinner options - there seems to be an interesting Japanese western place just next door, and a more posh french restaurant up the road. Or there is always Adam Road hawker centre a 3 min walk away.

loyalty

2007-02-03T16:30:00.000+11:00

I've been eating at the same chicken rice stall in my market for at least 15 years. The rice portions have gotten bigger but prices are still the same ($2) and they still use the same yellow-green plates. The lady at the stall has seen me grow up, and I've seen her change as well, from a young girl to someone with less spring in her step, someone who looks tired.

I remember the neighbouring stall too, it was run by an old couple that served zi char (mixed dishes, freshly made) and his sweet and sour fish rocked. Sometimes, the flames from his wok rose above his stall, like serious flambe. I never figured out what dish he was making at the time. The couple sold off their stall when the market was being renovated.

Business isn't so good these days, partly because there are a lot of new chicken rice stalls. There are long queues just two doors away, a new hainanese boneless chicken rice stall, I guess boneless is a big draw, but they only serve the white steamed chicken.

To be fair, the stall I go to doesn't serve the best chicken rice, it is a bit dry, but I can't really try the other stall and not feel guilty, especially since the lady will definitely see me in the queue. Yes, I could get someone to ta pao (order takeaway) the boneless version for me, but what if I really really like it? Then I'm doubly screwed.

Joe has a favourite coffeeshop in the East, and there is also a very good chicken rice chain next door. We can only eat there in the day, when the coffeeshop is not open, for the same reason - he doesn't want to disappoint the coffeeshop auntie by walking there but eating at the other side.

My regular stall is Own Kee Chicken Rice, at Ghim Moh Market, and you can't miss the other chicken rice stall.

and if you're in Singapore, Team Williams just told me about this local food delivery service. Sorry, they don't deliver overseas.

Ack

2007-01-22T08:45:00.000+11:00

Have just realised that I am getting older - not as much energy when exercising and alcohol tolerance has plummeted. I think my birthday drinks record was an anomaly. Having chucked most of lunch and the six G&Ts I had at the office party, I am now somewhere between hungry and queasy. Since I am at work, I can only fantasise about what I would like to eat right now.

1) Clear chicken soup.
2) Prata.
3) Slices of bacon.
4) Orange juice.

On a more serious note, am considering abandoning the demon drink, which is something I would have never have said last year. Not giving it up completely, but sticking to a 3 drink limit, which will be good for both my wallet and my liver.

Cooking up a storm

2007-01-11T10:42:00.000+11:00

Boredom + american food overload = inspiration to cook up a storm.

I actually baked some muffins AGAIN, and made curry, chili chicken, garlic prawns and chives and sauteed mushrooms.

To mark this amazing event (erh... I ain't likely to cook again like this when I get back home to Sg)

Here are a couple of recipes:

Curry:
Okay, hands up - who thinks pre packaged curry sucks? I do.
But here are the secret tips to make that premix taste totally authentic.

If you have curry and chili powder, GREAT, if not, and you're stuck with premixes like me, here's what I do:

Step 1:
Blend 5 shallots and 5 candlenuts - candlenuts not available? Subsitute with macadamia nuts or, in a pinch, cashews/pinenuts/peanuts. Three or four cashews will be equivalent to one candlenut... so adjust as necessary. Consistency should be really smooth, like paste.

Dump premix in pot, add the step 1 blend, add a wee bit more oil, and if you can some chili powder/cayenne whatever, if you like it a bit spicier.

Step 2:
Fry up this stuff until the oil starts oozing out again and it doesn't taste of raw nuts and shallots. Add two star anises, half a cinnamon stick and cardamom if you can find it. Some curry leaves too if you have some on hand.

Step 3:
Dump in some cut up chicken thighs, drumsticks and wings. Try not to use breast - cos you will be boiling and boiling the curry - the breasts come out totally dry and icky. Fry in the curry paste for about 3 to five minutes.

Step 4:
Add water till the chicken is just covered. Let it boil. About 15 minutes later - add some peeled, cut up potatoes.

Step 5:
After boiling for about 20 minutes or so, taste it. Add as much coconut milk as you like. Usually I use about 1/4 of the can... so keep tasting and adding the milk, don't dump all in at a shot. I don't like my curries too lemak, but its up to you.

Let it bubble on fairly low heat. And then, if you can, leave it alone for one night. I don't quite know why curry tastes better when it's left overnight but it does.

Each morning/night, boil up the curry - yes, till you see popping bubbles - this keeps it from going sour. If its too thick after you've left it in the pot for some time, add a wee bit of water.

Wontons:
Got some wonton skins on hand?
Mince up some prawns, and either some chicken/pork (one breast or one pork chop will be plenty). Mix together and add stuff you like, spring onions perhaps? Salt it a little and add a bit of pepper.

Stuff tiny bit into wonton - like less than 1/2 a teaspoon, fold it up anyway you want, and deep fry em. Tip: Try to flatten the meat out a bit - if the ball of stuffing is too tightly packed together, the wonton might become charcoal and yet the middle of the ball is not cooked. Hot oil is essential but not tooo hot.

garlic prawn and chives:

Step 1:
Scald the chopped chives in salted boiling water

Step 2:
Plonk in at least 4 tablespoons butter - yes I know, sinful... but so good.
Add about an entire clove of garlic, which has been minced. I like plenty of garlic in mine.

Step 3:
Sautee garlic for a while, then add in the prawns (which should be deveined.

Step 4:
Remove prawns after they curl up. Dump in chives and mix with the garlic butter remnants in pan. Salt to taste.

Step 5:
Return the prawns and serve up!

Njoy!

Gnat

2007-01-02T12:17:00.000+11:00

Just finished this book, and also bought the Kitchen Diaries by the same author - which is a record of what he ate for a year, plus recipies of course. Toast is a different sort of book, more memoir, unless you really want to assemble food from packets and tins (it was the 60s). The chapters are organised by food items, many of them sweet treats, and it is a rather sad book of his childhood. His mum is a bad cook who often burnt toast, but it is still the "best toast in the world''. After she dies, his dad remarries their cleaning woman (so much for The sound of Music - remarriage for the kids is not as easy as these films make out). So even though the house is filled with the smell of ham steaks and pies, it is the loneliness that comes through most.

pulau ubin

2006-12-15T20:45:00.000+11:00

Butter prawns, courtesy of the seafood restaurant on Pulau Ubin, this tiny island off Singapore that is famed for its rustic appeal. Unfortunately, it is only a matter of time before the authorities decide to give it an upgrading, when the whole stuck-in-the-50s thing is part of its charm.

Joe makes good butter prawns, and he is much better at deep frying then I am. The secret is lots and lots of butter. And curry leaves.

And we actually saw this bird, but it flew off before I could reach for my camera so I took a pic of the poster instead.

smelly smells

2006-12-07T08:15:00.000+11:00

What's the worst smell you've ever encountered in something that is meant to be eaten? Durian, some say is the worst, but the truly evil smell is burped-up durian, which goes on for up to a whole day after you've eaten it.

Nay, what is truly evil for me is the smell of sour preserved plum (called sing buay). I always have to hold my nose when I walk past a shop selling preserved things that claim to be edible. It's not the sharpness of vinegar, which I can handle, but the sickly sweetness that accompanies it. Some people love it, or eat it to keep seasickness at bay. I smell it, it makes me retch even if I am not sick.

Last night I had to cope with the smell of sing buay and smelly cheese in an air-conditioned apartment. The smelly cheese was a supersoft liquid you had to eat with a spoon, a souvenir from portugal. The port however made up for it.

Japanese Tuna appetiser

I tasted this over a sake reunion with my philosophy classmates along with fried leatherjacket (recommended by the auntie) which tasted like sweet dried cuttlefish. Very good with drinks.

So I haven't made the appetiser yet but I think this is how they do it.

canned tuna - plain flavour in spring water
finely shredded carrot
toasted sesame seeds
tiny flakes of nori seaweed (this wasn't in the original but I can't see why it couldn't work)

Mix the above with
sesame oil
shoyu or soya sauce
mirin
and sugar to taste

It is meant to be salty-sweet.

2006-12-04T13:54:00.000+11:00

I did a stupid stupid thing - forgot my camera charger. Until I figure a way to get it back, there will be no pictures.

Anyway, I haven't been cooking. Too many invites, too many activities.

Had a ginger beer the other night - beer brewed with essence of ginger, lemongrass etc at a microbrewery. It was drinkable, but you can't beat the freshness of german brewed beer. Das Good.

New day, new country

2006-11-26T15:03:00.001+11:00

My last meal in melbourne: fried egg, carrot and salad sandwich (the bread is pumpkin sourdough from the organic bakery down the road). All leftovers, the last stragglers in the fridge. It looked very photogenic, but my camera was packed.

My first meal in singapore: roti prata (egg, onion) at an all-night kopitiam in Bedok, not far from the airport.

Since then, I've had a fabulous duck soup cooked by my grandma - a clear soup with duck bones and salted vegetables. She cooks it in a large steel pot, the type they use for curries and the meat is so soft that it melts...

Until I learn how to make that, here's a salad. A standard aussie salad, which becomes more exotic (and expensive to get ingredients - check out the price of feta) in singapore.

Feta
Olives
Cherry tomatoes, or chopped
Salad greens (goodbye my beautiful garden, I miss you)
Juice of 1 lemon, and the rind for extra lemoniness
salt
olive oil

What me cook?

2006-11-21T04:43:00.000+11:00

On the express invite of Wy, here I am writing on a food blog!

But wait, me? cook? Huh?

For those who are... ahem... unfamiliar with our hijinks, my name is Nat; and Wy and I have been pals for keryonks.

And most of my friends will normally recoil in sheer surprise and horror at the thought of me cooking, but I have had to learn real quick in the last few months - since I abandoned job, home and family to be here in the US of A with the hubby for a year - and you just have to ahem learn and improvise.

Food - what can I say. It's tied up with our most intimate memories, scrunching down on buah keluak for instance sends me back to the reunion dinners of my childhood where the entire extended family would gather in this tiny flat at Circuit Road; so tiny that we'd take turns at eating from the kitchen table and a few uncles and aunts would always be standing on the periphery munching on some snack like crab legs or ngioh hiangs, while waiting their turn.
Porridge brings back memories of being feebly sick in bed, and pepper crabs brings back the time me and my philo mates went to the crab Nazi in East Coast Road.

I'll post what recipes I'm improvising from this little midwest town but don't expect them to be any good - well, as good as mother's anyway.

My mom and dad just arrived from Sg for a visit, I whipped up brunch (noodles and ahem, luncheon meat cos that's all I have on hand), and they ate three bites and said "erh enough"... obviously, I have *not* arrived in the world of nonya cooks yet.

Okay, post again soon.
Today, I need to bring mom and dad shopping.

*groan*

Nat

Next stop morocco

2006-11-20T18:36:00.000+11:00

I've just bought a new book. Will only have time to explore it next year, but it looks promising.

So much for a recipe a week, I've made a couple of things this week, but no photographs remain.
- tried brownies, but I think I need to undercook them more. I added even more chunks of chocolate so that they would melt on first bite. Unfortunately it only works straight out of the oven, not after a few days.
- oregano pesto. A friend had too much herb, so I chunked it in the blender with salt, olive oil, cashews and parmesan. It was very strong, almost peppery. I'm taking a bottle home the next time I make it.
- thinly sliced radish with avocado and crushed peanuts. Dressing umeboshi vinegar, or a salty vinegar.

Cue the quiche

2006-11-13T19:20:00.000+11:00

I was so excited about creating this new blog that it kept me up all night but now I can't quite remember what I wanted to say. Oh yes, happy birthday Joe!

Inspiration always hits when you are meant to be doing something else (like study).

So I guess introductions are in order - I write another blog, but this is to be the food blog. I was a student, flirted with journalism, now am a student again, and hopefully will turn out to be a decent osteopath.

The title of this blog comes from a conversation last night with my dear friend Mon, who is a brilliant, brilliant cook in her own right. Many thanks also to mum, who is always holding court in the kitchen at home and when she comes over to visit. She would probably faint if she read this, because she is firmly anti-sugar, anti-dairy. If that's the equivalent of being mature and grown up, I'm still at the teenager stage, enjoying my new-found freedom and oven, not sure how to say no to a goodnight kiss from a handsome stranger - in this case the milkman.

I hope to post once a week, sometimes just a link (because all cooks borrow) but today it will be something I've made.

Quiche

My very first housemate in Melbourne, Nick, is a keen baker and collector of cookbooks. This came from one of his but I can't remember which one now.

For the crust, two parts flour to one part butter. A pinch of salt and some herbs if you like. I used tarragon because it was the first bottle I found. But on the net I found another recipe for butterless crust which I've tried, using 1 1/2 cups flour (i used spelt and wholewheat) to 1/2 cup vegetable oil. It's worked very well, so I think I will be using this from now on.

Process or rub in till you get a dough which you are meant to roll out. Because I am lazy, I pour the crumbs into the tray and squish them together till they resemble a dough. You get a more even texture if you can be bothered to roll.

The filling is the easy part. You don't have to put salt if what you are using is already salted. I used leftover chicken sausage, leeks, asparagus and parmesan but put anything you want - tomatoes, smoked salmon, tuna, ham, leeks - and pour in a mixture of two eggs beaten with 1 cup cream. I had to put three because my eggs were tiny as. Bake in preheated oven for 30 min @ 375F or till the top is golden.

To serve with a salad - lettuce from my garden, radishes, carrots. I was going to put in avocado but unfortunately it had gone over to the dark side. Dressing - mustard, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Let the salad sit in the dressing for 30 mins before so that it comes together.

Eat and try to save some for lunch tomorrow (or for a nice friend). Serves 2 to 3.