loyalty

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.