Spaghetti With Creamy Garlic Prawns

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This one is for the serious aromatic lovers - garlic, leek and parsley- this recipe has it all in generous portions.

I am thankful that I am not allergic to to any of the aromatic vegetables. I have a colleague in Italy who is allergic to garlic and I don't know how he overcome meal time challenges at one of the gastronomic capitals of the world. I imagine it to be pure torture.
I am also fortunate that I happen to love the distinctively pungent aromas of wonderful herbs and vegetables such as garlic, parsley, coriander, celery etc. I well up in frustration when friends I dine with reject herbs with a strong smell. I try hard to be tolerant but it will always remain beyond my comprehension.

In a world laden with processed food and additives, garlics boost our immunity and minimise heart ailments. Leek on the other hand,is a great source of fibre and has laxative, antiseptic and anti-arthritic properties.




Cooking a recipe like this will have all your neighbours thinking that you are a great cook. The aroma is intoxicating and evokes imagery of sizzling gourmet food. It doesn't hurt when the recipe is really easy to manage.
So who's afraid of the aromatics???


Spaghetti With Creamy Garlic Prawns
Recipe:

2 tbsp Olive oil
16 Raw medium size prawns, shelled and deveined
30g Leek chopped
40g Garlic, minced
1/2tsp Chilli flakes
125ml Dry white wine
50ml Cream
250g Spaghetti
3 tbsp Chopped flat leave parsley

Method :

1. Season prawns with salt. Heat half the oil in a frying pan and prawns to the pan and cook at high heat for 2-3 mins or until cooked. Remove from the pan, cover and keep warm.

2. Start cooking pasta in a large saucepan of boiling water until al dente. (I used tagliatelle which required me to cook for 12mins hence I start early here)

3.Heat the remaining oil in the same pan, add the leek and cook, stirring over medium heat for 2-3 mins or until softened. Add the garlic and chilli flakes and stir for 1 mins.

4. Pour in the wine and simmer for 4 mins or until reduced. Add the cream and simmer for 3 mins or until just thickened.

5. The pasta should be ready and drained by now.

6. Stir parsley into the sauce and season with salt to taste. Return drained pasta into the pan and stir to coat.

7. Divide among serving bowls and top with prawns.

Seafood Rice Congee

When I was younger, Chinese New Year holidays was exceptional, quite unlike the other festivals or public holidays that we knew. For one thing, we got to wear new clothes (yes, it was a big deal. We never used to buy new clothes all the time like the way we do now) , feast on goodies like barbequed minced meat, love letters and pineapple tarts which would only be available during Chinese New Year.  Of greater impact was the fact that all shops would be closed for almost 2 weeks. The whole city came to a standstill - roads were deserted, shop fronts were shut. Competent housewives, gripped by a sense of urgency and panic,  would have stocked up their fridge with enough food ingredients to feed the family for almost 2 weeks.

Things are markedly different now. Business earnings take precedence over traditional observation. Major supermarkets now remain opened throughout the holiday period. Hence there is less need to hoard over food stuff.... the disappearing sense of panic to some extent, diluted the buzzing excitement that we used to feel during the festival.

Despite today's convenience, food still remains abundant in households. In my family, we find ourselves staring at gargantuan portion of white rice, chicken, roast duck and various types of seafood like prawns, crab meat, fish maw and scallops.

Last year, I cooked this fish maw soup with the left overs in the fridge.  This year, I choose to throw these ingredients into a light and comforting rice soup.

Soupy and easily digested, this is a perfect one dish meal to atone for the gluttony we have been indulging in over the past few days.

Simple to make but still big on flavours.

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Seafood Rice Congee
Recipe :

4                   Diced scallops
4                   Prawns, shelled and deveined
1 tbsp           Oil
500ml           Chicken stock
200g             Cooked rice
Dash             Salt
Dash             Sugar
Dash             Sesame oil
Dash             Huatiao chinese cooking wine

100g             Cooked Crab meat
2 tsp             Chopped coriander stems
1                  Piece of fish maw, soaked and cut into strips
10                Thin slices of abalone

Marinade
1                   Egg white
1/4 tsp          Salt
1/4 tsp          Sugar
Dash            Sesame oil
3 tsp             Corn flour

Garnish
Chopped spring onion
Crisp fried shallots

Method :

1. Combine scallops, prawns together with Marinade and marinate for 1 hour.
2. In a pot, heat up some water and poach (1) for 20 seconds. Set aside.
3. Heat up a wok and add oil. Fry cooked rice for 1 minute and add chicken stock. Add seasoning.
4. Continue to heat rice and stock until soup starts to boil. Add coriander stem. Add (2) and heat until boiling.
5. Ladle rice soup into serving bowl and garnish with spring onion and fried shallots. 

Vegetarian Curry Laksa - Guest Post @ Notabilia

Those who have been reading my blog may be aware that I have a sister who decided to become a vegetarian when she came back from her first trip to India some 10 years ago. The family was initially shocked by her sudden conversion and I admit at one point, I had wondered if she had been hypnotised and  brain washed by some religious cult group in India.... As time went by, she continued to stick to her conviction and we came to accept her choice and stopped questioning her. Although, at times, I have to admit she still gets on my nerves when she righteously suggests that I should do all my baking with molasses and wholewheat flour... Anyway... so when Pooja of Notabilia contacted me to ask if I could do a local vegetarian dish for her blog, I was not altogether at a loss because eating out with my vegetarian sister has exposed me to a myriad of local dishes from vegetarian indian 'mutton' dum briyani to vegetarian 'minced meat' noodles to vegetarian curry 'fish head'... yes, it is definitely much more interesting to be a vegetarian here in Singapore.

Laksa is easily my favourite local dish. Filled with rich, beautiful spices and spiked with coconut milk, this curry laksa (to differentiate it more the more tangy Penang Assam Laksa) , has remained the favourite noodle dish of many here. Hop over to Notabilia to find out how my vegetarian version turns out. 

Beaufort Mac And Cheese & A Le Creuset Giveaway

When the team from the newly branded Wayfair on-line store (previously CSN) offered to do a giveaway collaboration, it was easy for me to decide on the Le Creuset mini cocottes. For those who are not familiar, Wayfair is possibly one of the largest home-stuff on-line store that sells everything from Toy Boxes to furniture to kitchen ware.

Some of you may already know about my weakness for Le Creuset cocottes. I first fell in love with Le Creuset 2 years ago when I was taking a short break in Paris. Since then, I have already accumulated 10 cocottes (my last count :) ) of various sizes in my kitchen. Apart from their outstanding functionality, their seasonal colour collections also have the ability to make me irrational at the store.

These stone ware mini cocottes are easier to store and are great for serving and baking. Giving pizazz to the everyday Mac and Cheese is easy by baking them in these individual portion cocottes.
Of course, Mac and Cheese, as the name implies is all about the cheese. I further glam'd up the dish by working with some French Beaufort cheese. The Beaufort is a sharp flavour cheese that is similar to the Gruyere. Produced in the Beaufort region in the French Alps, I was first introduced to its distinctive flavours in Europe a few years ago. It melts easily and blends well with the Mascarpone and heavy cream that I used for this recipe.

If you are not able to get Beaufort, fret not, replace with Gruyere or your favourite cheese. Le Creuset's Mini Cocotte cookbook recommends the use of equal parts of Gorgonzola, Fontina and Parmesan.
Totally easy to prepare and quite easily the favourite household comfort food for the cold/cool season.

Wayfair will be giving away 4 mini stoneware cocottes at Køkken. (Closed on 11th December 2011)
To be eligible for the giveaway, please ensure you do the following : (Giveaway is opened to US and Canada residents only)

1. Leave a comment on this post. (make sure your contact can be traced from the comment)

Add extra comments to improve your chances of winning by doing the following : 

1. Like Køkken on Facebook and come back to this post to leave an extra comment to inform that you have done so.
2. Like Wayfair on Facebook and come back to this post to leave an extra comment to inform that you have done so.
3. Follow @Køkken69 on Twitter and tweet the following message. Come back to this post to leave an extra comment to inform that you have done so.
I just entered to win a set of 4 mini @LeCreuset cocottes hosted by @Kokken69!  Enter here : bit.ly/teUhSW lockerz.com/s/161922307
The Giveaway will end on 11th Dec 11:59pm  EST and results will be announced on 13th Dec. Good luck! 



Recipe : (adapted from Le Creuset's Mini Cocotte)
450g/4 cups                 Macaroni
20g  /1/2 stick              Butter
150g/1/2 cupe              Heavy whipping cream
150g/ 6oz                    Beaufort Cheese (you can replace with 50g/2oz each of Gorgonzola, Fontina and    
                                    Paremsan)
100g/ 1/2cup               Mascarpone Cheese
50g / 2oz                     Chopped Walnuts
Salt & Pepper    


Method :
1. Preheat oven to 220C/ 430F.
2. Lightly butter the 4 mini cocottes
3. Part cook the macaroni in salted boiling water for 3-4mins. Do not cook through. Pass the pasta under cold running water to stop them from further cooking. Add a few drops of oil to prevent them from sticking together.
4. Melt the butter in a small heavy saucepan. Add the cream and all the cheese. Stir until all the cheese has melted. Add salt and pepper to season. Add the chopped walnuts. 
5. Add the cooked macaroni into the cheese sauce and divide into the 4 mini cocottes. Sprinkle with some Beaufor/ Parmesan cheese. Bake for 10 to 15 mins until the tops are golden brown and a crust forms. Take the cocottes out of the oven and let them rest for 5 mins before serving.

Seafood and Asparagus Risotto

I have finally jumped on the FaceBook bandwagon... Follow me at FB...








I had some vague idea about Risotto. Somewhere in the back of my mind is a dusty impression of some recipe I had read somewhere... an impression that involves the cook standing over the stove stirring non-stop and at some point, adding white wine. Then came Hell's Kitchen's superimposing impression of Gordon Ramsay sending back plates of sub-par risottos cooked by the contestants...

When I came across Bill Granger's Crab and Asparagus Risotto in his bright and breezy Bills Food, I decided it is time for me to cook my first Risotto. This recipe does not call for white wine and works with a simple list of ingredients. In retrospect, if this is a representative recipe of Risotto, then, it is actually quite simple to prepare - all one needs is alot of patience.

Throughout the preparation, I was able to keep my work bench quite bare and clutter free... the first sign of a simple recipe. If you have 30 mins to stand in front of the stove and stir patiently, you will be rewarded with a wholesome, tasty one dish meal.

I used Canaroli Rice which absorbed the stock well to yield a nice creamy risotto.  In addition to the crab meat, I had also added in some fresh scallops and dried scallops to intensify the flavour.
More hands-on in its preparation than the Chinese congee/rice porridge, the risotto tastes richer and more creamy than the former. Just like the Chinese congee, this is best served while it is hot. By the time I finished photographing the plated portion, it had cooled down and turned somewhat cakey. (kuih like) I had to add more stock and heat it up again.

With a whole kilo worth of Canaroli Rice sitting in my pantry now, this will not be the last time you see a Risotto recipe on this blog...:)

XO Sauce Stir Fried Loh Shu Fun / Mee Tai Mak

Mee Tai Mak/ Bee Tai Mak is one of the many forms of rice noodles that we eat in Asia. Very much like a shorter and more wriggly cousin of the Japanese Udon, the cantonese name of this noodle (Loh Shu Fun) literally translates to mean Rat's Noodle. Not too difficult to understand for the tapering shape of the noodle does somewhat reminds one of the wriggly tip of a rat's tail...

Interestingly though, I had always referred to the noodle as Mee Tai Mak/ Bee Tai Mak when I was growing up. It was only until when I was much older , a widely reported outbreak of food poisoning in Malaysia exposed me to the more colourful ratty term. The food poisoning was traced back to a batch of contaminated Mee Tai Mak. The papers were rife with reports and stories of how people would fall sick after they ate Lou Shu Fun..( the pronounciation of the term can also be interpreted as  rat's powder / rat's poison). I was dumbfounded when I read the reports and started to ask my friends why on earth would those people in Malaysia want to eat Rat Poison??  Only then, did I learn that the Rat Poison was actually Mee Tai Mak...

I was invited to join a bloggers' gathering last weekend. Initiated by ZY of Baking Library, it was a small gathering among some of the Singapore food bloggers whom I have come to know over the last 2 years. I knew I had to bring a savoury dish for the event (I brought Mee Rebus for our first gathering last year) as most of the others I knew would be bringing sweet treats.


Fried with XO sauce and prawns, this is a relatively easy dish to prepare. However, dishes like these (as is true for most Chinese dishes) would taste best when cooked over strong heat. The Mee Tai Mak especially needs to be tossed very quickly over high heat to prevent it from turning soggy and mushy over prolong stir frying. Hence what I did was, I first poached the noodles in boiling water for 5 seconds before frying them quickly in small batches over very high heat in my wok. As a result, I had to divide and fry my potluck portion into 3 lots.
If you are only cooking for a small family at home, this is definitely more manageable - just make sure the wok is very hot.

Overall, I think my efforts were met with reasonable success... good enough to open shop? Maybe but I am still not consistent from batch to batch and I wouldn't want to stand in front of a blasting hot wok the whole day... :)


Recipe :

Mee Tai Mak               200g  (enough for 2)

Prawns                        6 -8 medium to large size prawns, shelled and deveined.
Spring Onion              4 stalks, chopped
Chili Padi                    Chopped finely. (you can also replace with sambal chili paste)
Bean Sprouts              50g (poached for 10 seconds in boiling water. For this post, I ran out of bean
                                   sprouts, so I omitted them)

Eggs                           2, beaten
Oil                              1 tbsp

Seasoning
XO Sauce                   1 tbsp
Oyster Sauce              1 tbsp
Sugar                          1/2 tbsp
Light Soya Sauce       1 tbsp
Dark Soya Sauce        1/2 tsp
Sesame Oil                  1/2 tsp
White Pepper               Dash
(For those who prefer a stronger taste, the seasoning portion can be increased in proportion)

Method :

1. Poach Mee Tai Mak in boiling water for 5 seconds, remove from water with a slotted spoon and set aside. (do not over cook Mee Tai Mak)

2. Heat up the wok until smoking. Add 1 tbsp oil and add beaten eggs. When eggs just begin to set, scramble with frying ladle and add Mee Tai Mak, Prawns, Spring Onion, Bean sprouts and seasoning.

3. Fry until prawns are cooked. (turns pink)

4. Dish out the noodles and garnish with more chopped spring onions and sesame seed (optional). Serve immediately while hot.

Radish Cake with Seafood and XO Sauce

It took my 2 weeks' business travel to pry me away from my cookies. Taking a break sometimes, opens up the mind for new stimulation. The stimuli for this post came in the form of an amazing XO Sauce I found in Taiwan. Unlike the supermarket versions that we get here, this is chock full of precious flavourful ingredients such as dried whole baby scallops (not the shreds we normally get), dried whole shrimps garlic and chilli . The bottles of XO sauce we normally get in Singapore are expensive and for most of them, the solids would only constitute 50% of the bottle, the rest being made up of a mild chilli oil. With this Taiwanese XO sauce, the hefty bottle was packed almost to the brim with the precious ingredients. Sold at 250NT (about US$8) for a substantial 500g bottle, this is what I would consider great value for money!  This would definitely be on my replenish list when I return to Taiwan next time.
For those who do not have access to this, fret not, head over to Trissa's or Pickyin's blog to learn how to make this sauce from scratch.

There are a million ways to use the XO sauce. It is completely addictive when eaten on its own with steamed white rice, brown rice or glutinous rice. When you are in a hurry, it can be used to toss with noodles or spaghetti. It is also a great stir fry seasoning for vegetables or meat.

Here, I have chosen to use the sauce with the very tasty Hong Kong style Radish Cake. Commonly offered at Yum Cha (dim sum), the Hong Kong style Radish Cake is a steamed rice cake filled with bits of chinese sausage, dried shrimps and shitake mushroom. This can be eaten on its own or more commonly, pan fried to crisp up the skin. In the recent years, restaurants here have started to stir fry these with XO sauce, seafood and bean sprouts... a la Chai Tau Kuey.


I got the recipe from Celebrity Chef Sam Leong's 'A Taste Of Home' . However, I do suspect that there is a typo in the recipe. Instead of Rice flour, the book had asked for Glutinous rice flour. I had to throw out a batch and replace the glutinous flour with Rice flour. Also, whenever I steam rice cakes at home, I make sure that I 'pre-cook' my flour prior to steaming the liquid batter. This can either be done by mixing very hot water into the flour mixture or stirring the flour batter over low heat to thicken it up before steaming. Most recipes may just call for steaming the liquid batter directly over boiling water but I find this impractical for house cooks like us. Our stoves will never be able to generate the kind of heat intensity to cook the rice cake through.


So, if you've enjoyed this dish at Dim Sum restaurants, you can now replicate this at home now.... and eat to your heart's content!

Recipe : (Adapted from Sam Leong's A Taste Of Home)

Prawns                 8 medium, peeled
Cooking Oil          1 Tbsp
Bean Sprouts        100g, Blanched. (don't need to be too precise, I think I only used 50g)
Chinese Chives      100g (Kuchai, I used a few sprigs.Add according to your liking)
Spring Onions        100g (same as above)
Eggs                       2 Beaten

Radish Cake
Cooking Oil           1 tbsp
Dried prawns         1 tbsp (soaked in water for 10mins, then minced)
Chinese Sausage    20g     (minced)
Dried Shitake Mushroom   2 pieces (soaked in water for 10mins, then minced)
Water                    500ml
Rice Flour              75g
Potato Starch         20g
Corn Starch           20g
White Radish         100g (shredded and squeezed dry)
Sugar                     1/2 Tbsp
Salt                        1/2 tsp

Seasoning
Water                   4 tbsp
XO Sauce            1 Tbsp
Oyster Sauce        1/2 tsp
Sugar                    1/8 tsp
Dark soy sauce      a dash
Sesame Oil            a dash
Chinese Cooking Wine a dash

Method :
1. Prepare Radish Cake : Heat 1 tbsp of cooking oil in a wok. Fry dried shrimps, Chinese Sausage and mushroom until fragrant. Ladle out and set aside.
2. Mix 250ml water with Rice flour, Corn flour and Potato Starch flour and set aside.
3. Place remaining 250 ml water in a pot with shredded radish. Bring to boil. Add in sugar and salt seasoning.  Pour boiling mixture into flour mixture in (2).
4. Stir well. Return mixture into pot. Heat over low heat and stir continuously. Once mixture starts to thicken a little add in (1).
5. Continue stirring until mixture becomes almost pasty.
6. Pour mixture into an oiled 21 cm square tin.
7. Steam over vigorously boiling water for 35mins.
8. Cool down completely (refrigerating over night if possible). (Rice cake will still be soft after steaming. Do not try to cut)
9. Cut Radish Cake into small squares. Heat some oil in a frying pan. Sear cake over high heat to crisp the surface.
10. In a hot wok, heat oil . Add bean sprouts, chives and spring onion. Stir fry briefly, then add eggs and cook until just beginning to set.
11. Add radish cake and ingredients for seasoning. Fry until fragrant and egg is cooked. Dish out and serve hot.

Ginger Scallion Beef With Noodles 姜葱牛肉捞面

If a woman's eternal woe is having a closet full of clothes with nothing wear, I think a home cook's eternal woe is having a fridge full of food and not knowing what to eat....
I visit food blogs for many reasons but 2 of the fundamental ones are to search for recipes and for inspiration and reminders on what to eat and where to eat. Ellie's post on Ginger Scallion Beef 2 days ago was a timely reminder of what a great tasting dish this is. The craving set in instantly and as luck had it, I actually had all the ingredients in my fridge.

I used to cook this dish quite regularly and I don't follow any recipe for it. I had always taken a Chinese Cooking 101 approach when I made this. Seasoning was standard with soya sauce(both dark and light soya sauce), a pinch of sugar and a dash of pepper. The basic approach is always to season with the components that give colour and taste first, leave it to marinate and infuse before adding corn flour and oil... followed by a little water to keep it moist during cooking.

This beef dish is perfect with steaming white rice but I decided to serve this with tossed egg noodles. I simply cooked dried egg noodles (if you can get your hands on fresh wonton noodles, that would even be better) in water, drained off the water and toss it in a little oyster sauce, light soya sauce, pepper and sesame oil.

Fast, easy, nutritious and totally tasty. Who needs instant noodles or Mac Donalds?


Recipe :

I don't follow a recipe but for those who needs some guideline, please hop over to Almost Bourdain. :)

Su Jae Bee - Korean Style Mee Hoon Kueh

I know many envy me when they hear that I get to travel to Korea for business. My response is usually more lukewarm. I am not a star struck fan of Korean Dramas - I have probably only watched one Korean drama over the last 2 years. The smooth faced actors and actresses are all perfectly beautiful but I have trouble differentiating them.  I also have to admit that I am not crazy over kimchi - apart from the spicy pickled cabbage, all other kimchi are either too cold, too sour or too bland for my liking. I do gush over the latest paper thin LED panels from LG and Samsung and while these are usually the reasons for my work-related visits to Korea, they have little relevance when I wander around Seoul for leisure.

What I do get out of every Korean trip are humbling experiences and a mega dose of appreciation for what we have here at home.

I am not sure how many of us out there still remember that under all that shiny veneer, South Korea is a country that has only recently just walked out of poverty. Through sheer determination and will, they have propelled the nation to become a formidable player in just about every market they participate in. When the Korean war ended in the 1950s and possibly until the early 1970's, South Korea was actually poorer than their North Korean counter parts.

My colleague who is of the same age as I am, remembers that when he was in elementary school in the early 1980s, fruits like bananas, pineapples and oranges were luxury items. My colleague had told me how he and his friends would look on with envy when a kid from a rich family bring a banana to school for snack.  I had my first Mac Donalds in Singapore when I was about 8 or 9 years old. My Korean colleague could not afford to eat Mac Donalds until he was 20.  Another colleague recalled how he would rummage through garbage bins at the American Naval base for discarded copies of Playboy magazines so that he could sell them off in the black market for pocket money. I am in awe because these stories were typically what we would hear from our parents' or grandparents' generation - when these experiences come from your own peers,they have a strangely sobering effect. When one couples these with the country's amazing rate of growth and stellar achievement in such a short time, one cannot help but be immensely humbled.

South Korea will continue to forge ahead to refine their craft but if you look under the veneer that is presented to the world now, you will immediately see elements of their more humble beginnings. They are every where. Food experience is one of the most obvious. I recalled how when I had my first Bibimpap (stone bowl rice) in Korea, I had felt grossly let down and unsatisfied. The Bibimpap I used to have outside Korea was always fulfilling with colourful vegetables and generous portion of beef. For that first Bibimpap in Korea,I recalled turning over the contents in my bowl to see if the beef was hidden any where under the vegetables... there was probably about a teaspoon of minced meat in that bowl... The famous Jajangmyon (soy paste noodle) , served with a thick soy paste sauce of onions,carrots and potatoes comes in strangely huge portion in Korea, with enough noodles to feed a hungry labourer. My colleague told me Koreans will generally finish eating these in 10 seconds and return back to work again. The famous Korean barbeque is still considered a luxury for most Koreans and most would only limit themselves to pork barbeque. The beef barbeque is reserved for the most important guests. I also recall how I had to get used to the fact that most normal restuarants only serve one specialty dish. Do not expect to see a menu with a selection of meat, seafood, dessert etc. If you have problem with any particular type of food, make sure you voice out otherwise, you will have nothing else to eat at that restaurant. I was once taken to a restuarant that only served beef tripe soup. I ended up nibbling on kimchi for that lunch.


During my trip there last week, my colleague took me to a very popular restuarant that sells Su Jae Bee - for all I can tell, this is just like our Mee Hoon Kueh - pinched flour dough cooked in a rich flavourful anchovy broth. A restaurant with a humble setting, this serves only Su Jae Bee and some starchy potato pancake. The handful of dishes offered were written on the wall,complete with price indication. On a cold chilly night, this was the perfect comfort food. I was inspired upon my first sip of the broth. I knew I could replicate this quite reasonably. The flour dough which was tender, thin and smooth was the thing that intimidated me. As I watched the cooks work effortlesly at stretching and pinching the dough behind the kitchen counter, I knew this is no easy feat. They have mastered the dough so well, this has to be the key differentiating factor that sets them apart. I had eaten similar Mee Hoon Kueh before in Singapore but I had never quite liked them because these were thicker and tougher than the Su Jae Bee I had at this restuarant. There is very little else in the bowl other than pieces of flour, a few forlorn pieces of dried shrimps, shredded cabbage and potatoes. Another humble, unpretentious high carb, energy giving dish, which my colleague told me became popular when the Korean war ended and the Americans came in bearing gifts in the form of sacks of wheat flour.

The experience had been so memorable that this became the first dish I wanted to cook when I touched down in Singapore. Forget about DaChangJin (大常今)... nobody eats like that in Korea. Everyday Korean food is conservative, humble, honest and comforting. I  prepared the broth with the large anchovies and dried clams I bought in Korea. I knew I would never be able to replicate the texture of the flour dough on my own. With the aid of my pasta maker, I then tried to get this as thin as I could ( a little thicker than pasta noodles) before cutting them up into pieces. Suprisingly, it turned out really good. My Su Jae Bee is not as spectacular as the one I ate in Korea but is good enough for me to be proud of myself :)... I had another 5 minutes genius moment...:)


Recipe :

Soup Base
1 liter          Water
50g             Dried anchovies, washed.
30g             Dried clams,washed.
20g             Dried scallops.

Vegetables
2                Potates, peeled and diced
1                Stem of Kailan, sliced. (I had wanted to use Zucchini but could not find it at the supermarket)
1/2             Stem of leek, thinly sliced.

Dough
250g          Plain flour
1tbsp         Corn flour
Salt            Pinch
1/2             Egg
1/2 - 1cup  Water

Method :
Dough
1. Place flour and corn flour in a mixing bowl. Form a well in the center of the bowl and add rest of ingredients in the center of the bowl (do not add all water at one time. Adjust accordingly during kneading).
Mix to form a dough. Knead dough on the lightly floured board until smooth.

2. Place dough in a zip lock bag and refrigerate over night.
3. Lightly flour dough ( divide dough into 2-3 manageable portions) and roll out a few times using a pasta maker at setting (1).  Finally, roll out dough at setting (5). Using a knife. cut dough sheets into small pieces lightly flour dough pieces on a tray to prevent them from sticking to each other. Cover tray with a wet towel to prevent them from drying out.

Note : step 3 should be done when soup is ready.

Soup :
1. Boil Anchovies, dried clams and scallops in water over medium heat for about an hour.Season with a dash of pepper and salt.
2. Strain away solids and retain the clear broth.
3. Heat clear broth to boiling. Add more dried clams, potatoes, Kailan stem and cook until potatoes are slightly soft.
4. Continue to boil the broth, add in dough pieces and continue to cook until the dough pieces are cooked. Add sliced leek. Simmer for 3 minutes.
5. Dish out into bowl. Add a drizzle of sesame oil, a generous dash of black peper (important) , a little seaweed and eat while hot.

Chestnut Rice - My Version Of The Kurigohan

In perennial sunny Singapore,we don't get to witness the wonders of changing seasons. We miss out the thrills of watching leaves budding from bare branches, the harvesting of raspberries followed by strawberries and blueberries(not sure if I get the sequence right)in spring, the abundance of stone fruits and grapes in summer and the dawning of figs,chestnuts and clementines in winter... As I do get to travel quite extensively for work all over Asia, I have become quite accustomed to ask my colleagues 'what is in season now?'. As such, I have programmed at the back of my mind... to look out for Alfonso Mangoes in India in April- May, Strawberries in Japan/Korea in January, Peaches and grapes in Japan/Korea in August.

Then of course, we are lucky to be in the 'middle' of the globe - hence when the northern hemisphere starts to bundle up for winter, Australia and New Zealand wake up to pour in their vibrant spring/summer crop for us to enjoy... So now, it is Strawberries bumper time, thanks to imports from Australia!

It was more than a week ago before I left for Sydney that I spotted these plump and beautiful chestnuts from Japan. They have been left in the fridge all this while and I knew that I cannot afford to dither any longer, lest they all start to perish away. I chose to use them for a basic dish that I felt would least alter the taste of the chestnuts. Kurigohan or Chestnut rice is a simple Japanese rice dish that is simply seasoned and cooked with chestnut. I had wanted this to be a simple one pot dish for dinner and decided to add a little more flavour to it by mixing in some deep fried silver fish.


My Japanese friends would probably reprimand me for contaminating the simple sweet taste of the Kurigohan with shots of strong flavour from the silver fish but for my Singaporean taste buds, the combination worked out well and I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner...



(Roasting chestnuts though, was not fun. I did not know when to take the chestnut out of the oven and once it was out, I burnt my fingers trying to peel off the shell.... I would just use ready cooked chestnuts when I cook this next time...)



Recipe :

Silver Fish 100g (Deep fried in oil until golden brown.Drain)
Chestnut 300g
Japanese short grain rice 320g(I used short-grained brown rice)
Short grain glutinous rice 150g (soaked in water overnight)
Dark Soy Sauce 2 Tbsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Mirin 2 Tbsp

Dashi Stock 500ml

Preparation :

1. Use a knife, etch a cross on the flat portion of the chestnut.Roast chestnut in oven at 220C for 20 mins with etched face up. When roasted, the etched lines will split and 'flower'.

Peel off the shell while the chestnuts are still hot.

2. Wash short grained rice and glutinous rice over running water. Place rice in a rice cooker. Add dashi,soya sauce,salt and mirin. Add roasted chestnut and cook in rice cooker until done.

3. Before serving, sprinkle with sesame seeds (typically, black sesame seeds are used, I used white sesame seeds).

4. Serve with a spoonful of crispy silver fish.