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. :)

Corned Beef Hash ..?

I went to the Philippinnes for the first time just before Chinese New Year. There was a production start up at an important new account and I had to go to lend support. Despite all the kidnapping tales and stories about rifles-armed gurkhas guarding factories, I actually found myself looking forward to my first trip to Manila. Long before I had any idea that the new account would commercialise in Manila, I had known exactly what I wanted from Manila - Tabang Talangka- the famous crab fat/crab roe that I had first read about at Chubby Hubby's guest blog by Amy Ma.

Hence, when my trip was set to take place, I contacted Trissa for advice on where to eat and what to buy when I am in Manila. I touched down in Manila at about 4pm and had a business appointment at 7pm. The hour or so in between, I headed straight to the nearest super market.

Priority was of course, the Crab Fat- which I got but as I browsed through the aisles, I started to understand a little about the Filipinos' eating preferences. One particular section I lingered over for a long time were the shelves for Corned Beef...
I was in awe. It was clear, Filipinos love corned beef. Unlike in Singapore, where we probably will get 2, at most 3 brands of corned beef at the supermarket - they devote a whole aisle to Corned beef - of different brands, different packing sizes and different forms. What first lured me into the aisle was the tiny 100g corned beef cans - smaller than our smallest sardine cans, they were selling for S$0.50 (which is US$0.35). I thought the small packing was brilliant as it is extremely convenient for quick snacks or one to two person. Then, they have Corned beef chunks, corned beef flakes and corned beef in extra long shreds... I was dazzled... For fun, I bought 2 tiny cans of flaked CB and a mid sized can in extra long shreds.

When I got back and shared my observation with my Philippinno HR director, he affirmed my observation and told me the tiny cans are convenient for snacking  and that I can mix them with egg white and make corned beef hash.. There were no directions but I wondered about his suggestion. When I googled on corned beef hash, I did not come across any recipes that are made by pan frying CB with egg white. Instead, there are many recipes that called for corned beef to be cooked with onions, potatoes, tomatoes etc. Filipino versions almost always serve these with rice - and very often, you find this topped with an egg either poached or fried and almost always with a runny yolk.

Hence, armed with these impressions, I set out to experiment without following any recipes in particular... and with that, I have consumed my first mini can of flaky corned beef... and... whisper whisper, corned beef hash tastes amazingly good with rice - I was rather taken by suprise.



Recipe :

Ingredients

1x 100g can of corned beef flakes
1/2 onion,diced
2 cloves garlic
1 egg
1/2 bowl cooked white rice
1 medium sized potato

Method:

1. I peeled and shredded the potato into ribbon shreds with my Microplane Ribbon cheese grater. Many recipes used diced potatoes. Soak shredded potato in salt water.

When ready to cook, drain potato and squeeze dry.

2. In a hot frying pan add oil and fry onion and garlic quickly. Add corned beef and continue to fry. Add potato and mix well in the frying pan. Flatten 'hash' into a flat pancake. Let pancake fry to brown and crisp texture.

3. Lay this on white rice. Separately, fry an egg to set egg white. Egg yolk should remain runny. Top this on the Corned Beef Hash.

* There is already too much seasoning in the corned beef, hence I did not have to add any more salt. However, I believe a little pepper would work well.

Post Cards From Paris - Part 2

Continuing from where we left off in part 1...  As you would recall, I had some difficulty finding E Dehillerin and it was while I was walking around aimlessly that I spotted La Bovida which was about 200m from E Dehillerin. Shopping at Dehillerin is an amazing experience, because it makes you feel like you are part of the industry, almost... just almost at the same level as the professionals in the circle. The store was dusty and most things are displayed for your view only. Prices were not displayed hence, every time you see something, you have to approach the boisterous shopkeeper to ask for the price. Upon confirming your intention to purchase it, he will scribble your order down on a piece of paper and send someone to get it for you from the warehouse.

La Bovida, on the other hand is a more modern set up. It is what you would describe as a kitchen ware boutique. The variety of products is no doubt smaller but they do have some interesting products that I found to be reasonably priced. I got 3 mini Le Creuset casseroles which I honestly love to death now. 2 of them were mat black and I got an additional beige coloured one.



The staff at La Bovida were friendly and helpful but it was at KitchenBazaar the next day that I had the most delightful shopping experience. (for some reason, the webpage does not work, Chic Cityrats has a better picture of the shop)

I was on my way to see the Eiffel Tower which was a 7 mins walk from the hotel I was staying at when I got lured into the KitchenBazaar.





 KitchenBazaar has a network of shops spread around France. This is again a more modern kitchen specialist with more user friendly gadgets that we will generally find useful and practical in our kitchen. You will also be able to find interesting little knick knacks that you can wow your guests with at your house party. They also have the prettiest Le Creuset Mini Casserole Set that comes in Mauve, Purple and Pink. I almost wanted to buy these but restrained myself as I had already purchased 3 the day earlier at La Bovida. (Warning, be very careful when you shop for kitchen supplies. Make sure you have enough luggage allowance at the airport - I almost busted my limit and had to remove stuff from my check in luggage!)
It was at the store that I met 2 of the most friendly store managers , Matteo and Florence. Florence does not speak English and it was Matteo who manages another store at rue Croix des Petits Champs(10mins walk from La Bovida)  that shared with me alot of valuable information about the kitchen supplies scene.

Interestingly, the main kitchen supply stores are all located within a radius of 300m from each other at La Halles. Dehillerin is 100m from La Bovida while Mora and A Simon are just across the street from La Bovida and Kitchenbazaar is another 10mins walk from La Bovida. It's crazy - almost like going on a kitchen supplies shopping binge. The reason for the concentration of these shops at La Halle is because the area used to be a big fresh produce wholesale market. Resturants and smaller grocery shops will come to La Halle to procure their supplies. As such, dotted around its peripheral are amazing restuarants as well as restuarant supplies wholesalers. The market has since be moved out of La Halles but some very good resaturants and wholesaler stores still remain. I was really lucky when Matteo had offered to buy me lunch at one of these restaurants in the area.




This is a quaint but cosy little restaurant situated opposite the KitchenBazaar store at Rue Croix des Petits Champs which incidentally,is a really pretty neighbourhood. I loved its 'restaurant-in-a-hole' atmosphere which makes it really endearing. I was also told that the sexy Italian actress, Monica Bellucii lives in the neighbourhood with her director husband and frequents the restuarant quite regularly.


Matteo and Chef
Matteo is very familiar with everyone at the restaurant so it was fun. I even got to go into the kitchen. I was suprised that it was so small (smaller than my own kitchen!) but with 3 chefs working there, they were turning out  200 meals every day. For the longest time, I have been complaining about the size of my own kitchen - it was really a humbling experience.



I had the house special Beef Tartare for lunch. This is actually ground raw beef and I know there are many people out there who feel queasy about it. I've had Beef Tartare before - always at very good French Restaurants in Asia. I have been told by my French colleague that it is not easy to make a good Beef Tartare. First of all, the beef needs to be of top quality and the way you season and prepare it is also of utmost importance lest they turn out mushy and 'raw'.  The beef tartare I had at this restaurant was actually very good. It was cut coarser than what I've had before but the meat was so tender and seasoned so well that you forget you are eating raw beef.

This was my second visit to Paris - the first time was a whirlwind 1.5 days. This second trip was another 2 days 'by the way' kind of arrangement. I have not been to the Louvre or the Eiffel Tower. L had teased me that that's because I had all my priorities mixed up - that I should see the sights first, then buy stuff, then have lunch with stranger....(strictly in that order. Of course the last one is never to be encouraged). However, I have enjoyed myself most thoroughly though it was wretched that I had to lug back so many things - definitely not a chic traveller.

Directions:
For those who are eager to check out the Kitchen Supply scene, please check out the links provided above. I encourage you to start at E Dehillerin. The easiest way is probably to take the subway Line 4 to Eteinne Marcel . Along Rue Eteinne Marcel, look for the big post office and walk towards the general direction of Rue Montmarte. At the junction of Rue Montmarte, make a left turn and you should see E-Dehillerin at the corner. La Bovida is just at the intersection of Rue Montmarte and Rue Eteinne Marcel.