Oriental Salad Dressings

Sick of the same old boring bottled dressings like Thousand Island, Ranch (still my favourite though) or honey mustard? Why not try these simple yet tasty dressings that you can whip up in a jiffy, with minimal mess! Some are Oriental inspired, and guaranteed to give your tastebuds a vacation from bottled dressings!

1) Honey mustard
Ok I admit isn't new, nor is it oriental but I like it anyway, and it beats anything that comes out of a bottle.
- Combine 2 tbls honey (use flavoured ones like manuka for a change!), 1 tsp mustard with a drizzle of olive oil and whisk.
- Goes well with any garden salad.
2) Chilli udang floss (fancy name for 'chilli prawn floss')
- I use the bottled floss but if you are lucky enough to get hold of the real deal Teochew favourite, it makes all the difference! As a substitute, chicken floss will do too, just add some sambal if you have it for the extra spicyness.
- Goes well with steamed beans and carrots
- Fresh from my recent Bangkok trip, I topped this off with bits of crispy sweet and spicy cuttlefish (the snack).

3) Honey Wasabe
Japanese inspired and something I tasted once, so I experimented until I got the ingredients and proportions
- Combine 2 tbls honey, 1 tbl sesame seed oil, 1 tbl Japanese soya sauce and 1 tsp wasabe. Whisk. (Add more of the honey or wasabe to your own taste preference)
- Goes well with garden salad or other 'Japanese' ingredients like cooked inoki mushroom, crabstick and Japanese cucumber.
4) Tofu and century egg salad
This is actually a starter in Shanghai food, again, I experimented till I got the ingredients and proportions to my taste
- 1 packet of silken toufu, cubed (drain away the water); combine with 1 cubed century egg, and add 2 tsp of sesame oil. Combine well but be careful not to break up the toufu until it becomes messy.
- Best served chilled
5) Japanese cucumber salad
Another starter in Shanghai food which I experimented until I managed to replicate the taste
- Combine 2 tsp sesame oil with 1 clove of crushed garlic and microwave on high for 15 seconds (cover so that it does not splatter) Toss well with 1 Japanese cucumber, sliced
- Best served chilled

6) Thai chilli and soya dip
Another Thai-inspired recipe, this can be used either as a dipping sauce or as a dressing. This is my favourite brand of chilli flakes, found in selected supermakets.
- It goes best with a few sprinkles into 1 tbsp of nom pla (Thai fish sauce) or normal Chinese dark soya sauce (if you don't like the fishy smell), and diluted with 1 tbsp of water
- Serve with steamed brocolli

Involtini with Castagne + Prosciutto

Recently I've been watching Cable with a vengence in order make as much out of my 3 mth subscription as possible. I've discovered another delightful celebrity chef, David Rocco and his "Dolce Vita" series. Nothing much written on his website about his profile, but as much as I can figure, he seems to speak with a strong American accent and also speaks fluent Italian (which he obviously is) and he's doing the show out of Italy, showing people around Italy and its local cuisine. Each episode, he'll attempt to recreate some of the dishes and 'dishes' out important titbits on Italian cuisine - the way it's meant to be cooked and eaten!

Got inspired by tonight's episode and this receipe. To translate, it has to do with pan fried rolled beef with chestnut stuffing. Going to be lazy and just copy and paste, but here's the original link.

Ingredients (serves 4)
9oz beef (250g), cut into 4 thin slices
24 chestnuts, boiled and peeled
4 cooked ham slices (prosciutto cotto)
1 onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to season
2 cups white wine, (480ml)
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (60ml)
Sprig of rosemary

Method
Involtini can be made with almost any ingredients that work well together - turkey, cheese, spinach. This particular recipe is great in the fall when chestnuts are in season.
* Have your butcher provide you with 4 large thin slices of beef.
*Lay slices of beef flat on a worktable and put a slice of ham on each. Place 3-4 chestnuts on each ham. Salt and pepper.
*Roll each slice of beef and secure with toothpicks.
*Heat extra virgin olive oil in a large pan.
*Add onions and sprig of rosemary.
*Sear beef on all sides. Add wine and cook for a few minutes on medium heat. (this makes the sauce) Salt to season.
*Add remaining chestnuts to the pan, breaking up some of the chestnut to thicken the sauce. Let sauce reduce.
*Remove from heat and let rest for a few minutes with the lid on.
*Serve warm.

Some tips not found on the website:
1) The chestnuts can be roasted first, giving it a nice toasty flavour, or steamed, giving it a smoother and more moist feel.
2) Instead of beef, other meat like chicken, veal or pork can also be used.
3) Use whatever is in season, so if chestnuts aren't and they're not fresh, you can stuff with things like cheese or spinach.
I'm wondering though - how come white wine? Weren't we always told by conventional wisdom that beef goes with red wine? Altho recently some wine experts have been telling us that's all hogwash, if we want to eat fish with a red then go ahead (except some seafood and red wine together produce a metallic taste in the mouth)

Trifle

I love Jaime Oliver! (Actually, no, I don't, but it's a great catchy way to start a blog entry :D)

Having the prvilege of cable TV and a day off recently, I managed to catch one episode recently. Gosh has he put on weight! Marriage and fatherhood does agree with him, or perhaps it's the 'hazard' of the job from all the food.

He did this really simple yet funky British desert which I couldn't really catch the name of, but which sounded like truffles. (thks Mags for pointing out that it should be 'trifle'! What struck me was how easy it is to do (provided you live in Britian!) since its only assembly required, yet turns out so 'posh'! Here it is, to the best of my memory.

Ingredients
1) Packet of ready jello. Here Jaime used red jello for the nice colour contrast with the custard. [apparently you can get these in Brit supermarkets but I can't find them here :( ]
2) Canned custard [again, ode to Brit supermarkets! :( ]
3) 1 Chocolate bar
4) Canned mandarins
5) Sponge cake
6) Alcohol (something that goes well, say rum, brandy, kahlua, tia maria or Bailey's?)

Method
[While us poor sods who don't have access to ready-made jello and custard have to prepare the things from scratch, the rest of the world can get on with the assembly of the receipe.]

1) Take the sponge cake, cut it up into cubes. Bring out 4 serving glasses (chilled preferably) and rrange them at the botom of the glass. Pour over a tsp of your chosen alcohol, or more if you like! Press down to let it soap up the alcohol.
2) Pour the ready jello into a bowl and roughly chop it up with a knife.
3) Spoon on the jello on top of the soaked sponge.
4) Pour on a layer of custard to cover the jello.
5) Continue alternating the layers until you fill the glass.
6 Lay the chocolate bar smooth side up on the countertop. Using a knife, hold the sharp edge and run the knife along the chocolate bar, towards you (basically a scraping action but be careful!) Place shavings artistically on top of dessert.
7)Top off with some slides of tinned mandarins.
8)Serve immediately with fresh sprigs of mint if you have them.

And Jaime has a website and blog and here's some interesting info on trifle,

Soft boiled eggs

Over the years, I've experimented a lot with soft boiled eggs. How do you get them just right - when the whites are no longer clear but have turned white yet it's still runny, and when the yolk is still in it sac, but still nice and runny when u bite into it? More importantly, how do places like Ya Kun and Killiney do it, with probably 100% success every time? (there has to be some consistency otherwise how to sell? They can't be breaking open every egg to check!) I admit I've even sneaked a peek behind to counter to see how they do it. I only saw huge vats of hot water with eggs soaking inside!

There are 2 methods, thanks to my favourite chef - Delia Smith.

1) The first involves starting with cold eggs in hot water. The eggs are put directly into simmering water, and letting it boil on high for just a min, then turning off and flame. Cover and let it sit for about 6 minutes and its done.

2) The second involves putting eggs into cold water, and then boiling the whole thing. Once it starts to boil, let it boil for no more than 3 minutes.

Honestly, getting eggs of the right consistency are never easy. It depends on the size of the egg, the size of the pot and even the type of water (hard water or soft water). It even depends on how many eggs you attempt to cook at once!

Delia's recipe works for Delia because UK eggs are much larger than our own. They have hard water too. When I try her methods, I find that the whites are no longer clear but are still runny, however, the yolk hardens and becomes squidy rather than runny. Urk, will I never get it right?

Today, I hit on a winning formula, also based on my tiny pot (diameter no more than 1 hand span)

1) Fill pot with enough water to cover eggs 3/4 way. I used 4 eggs. (when the water boils, by magic, it expands and covers the tops of the eggs)
2) Boil the water with the eggs on medium heat. Give the eggs a jiggle to turn them around halfway (to evenly cook) Turn off flame after 10 minutes (ie from the time u start the fire, not from the time the water starts to boil). Leave to stand for 15 minutes.
3) Remove eggs from pot and soak eggs in cold water to stop the cooking process.
4) Crack open and serve with 1 tsp dark soya sauce for every 2 eggs, and plenty of white pepper.

Heaven!

But if all this is too much trouble, just buy the plastic contraption where boiling water is poured into the top-most container, and the water drips out slowly into the bottom container. Takes damn long (at least 20 mins) but the contraption is cheap, and eggs come out perfect almost 100% of the time!

Fine beans

I came across these beans in a restaurant here some time back. I had never seen them before in my life, but they were very nice. They're smaller and thinner than French beans, and they're sweeter and crunchier too.

Came across a recipe in the papers introducing these beans. They're called "Fine Beans" from Kenya, and they're only available in certain supermarkets.

How to cook them? I'm not exactly sure, but since the restaurant cooked them simply, ie just steaming them, I did the same.

The result wasn't so great - I over-steamed them (about 11 mins) :( I think next time, about 5-7 mins sld suffice.

Brown rice

My organisation has litle 'communities of interest' set up by people who share a common interest to come together and further their interest. Recently, this lady in my office starting eating healthily in a bid to lose weight and for general well-being. She went full time into brown rice and started to gather a following. She decided to set up a brown rice COI.

One of the 'activities' of this COI was to cook brown rice for everyone for lunch, and everyone brings their own food as they share lunch together. Last week, I walked in on the pantry when the rice was cooking and my, I was pleasantly surprised by the fragrance of the rice that whafted out from the pantry. It smelt like baking bread!

Piqued, I decided to ask her for some brown rice cooking tips. I have heard horror stories about cooking brown rice, like how it takes a zillion hours to cook and needs a specific amount of water. None of the 'hand' or 'finger' method of measuring water here!

Here are some tips she shared. Firstly, she recommended using the old fashioned electric rice cooker (the idiot kind), rather than those expensive new- fangled Japanese 'fuzzy logic' rice cookers. The former takes a lot less time to cook any form of rice, and it's also easier to clean up afterwards. Secondly, she said that eating brown rice is more filling than eating white rice, so this helps you to cut down on your portions. This is supposed to be why it is the weight-watchers' answer to GI and a lower carb diet. Lastly, she drew up a chart of recommended water to rice to serving proportions. Here it is:

She recommended Songhe brand, saying that the rice has been washed once before, so when you rinse the rice, it's cleaner. Thus, you only need to rinse the rice once. She has also tried Pineapple brand, which is totally unprocessed. The rice is thus dirtier and requires that you rinse it more than once. However, this may appeal to people who believe that less processing is more 'organic'.
So now it's my turn. I've just brought my first bag of brown rice and I'm raring to go. Altho some people seem to have 'problems' eating brown rice e.g. they'll mix it with white rice, or first-timers find that it over stimulates their bowel movements, this isn't the first time I've tried it. Mom and Gran experimented with replacing white rice with brown rice in our diet many years back. I don't exactly know why they abandoned their attempts, but I'm willing to give it a shot again, if only just to enjoy the beautiful aroma whafting through my kitchen as the rice cooks!

All Taste BBQ chicken

It's the start of Jun! Yes, it's that time of year we traditionally associate with holidays - when kids are let out of school, and when the weather is hot, warm and sticky. What better time than to haul out the barbi - except for our friends Down Under of course! :P

This recipe is a favourite of mine - it's so simple, yet has never failed to impress, and has people coming back for more. I adapted it from Brit telly and also one of those recipe labels from Sainsbury's (I miss them :( ). I call it 'all taste' because it comprises all the taste your tongue can distinguish - sweet, sour, salty, spicy and bitter! (less so but it's still there)

Ingredients
1 packet of frozen chicken (preferably wings and drumlets), thawed
4 tbls dark soya sauce
4 tbls light soya sauce
4 tbls chilli sauce
4 tbls honey
4 tbls lemon (or lime) juice
zest of 1 lemon (or lime)
3 tsps mustard

Method
1) In a big bowl, mix together all the ingredients. Here is the secret - taste the concoction! Adjust sweetness, sourness, saltiness, spicyness to taste.
2) Put chicken in the bowl. Mix well. 2nd secret - marinate overnight!
3) Drain well and reserve the marinade as a dipping sauce, making sure to microwave on high to cook well before serving.
4) Cook the chicken - either on the barbi or bake lay flat on a baking sheet and bake at 200 degrees C for 20 mins or until cooked.
5) Serve!

Beef Teriyaki with grilled Bananas

Continuing on the experiment in cooking with fruits, I bought some bananas today. Never been a fan of bananas, esp when it comes to anything with banana essence. Blech! However, I thought of how people bake bananas (eg banana bread, toffee banana) and an idea struck. The outcome - the pleasant taste of roasted bananas, caramelised and brown on the outside, warm and soft on the inside!

Ingredients
2 beef steaks
2 tsbp dark soya sauce
1 tbsp light soya sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp sherry/Japanese mirin (cooking wine) if you have it. I use Chinese rice wine, works just as well
freshly milled pepper
1 banana, sliced into thick chunks
Vegetables that can be roasted or grilled e.g. capsicums

Method
1) To make the teriyaki sauce, pour together the soya sauces, wine and brown sugar into a bowl. Microwave for 15 seconds until sugar dissolves.
2) Steep the beef in the mixture and leave to marinate. Add pepper.
3) Grease a baking dish and lay the beef and vegetables on top. Grill on high heat.
4) Put the vegetables and banana into the leftover marinate.
5) Halfway thru the grilling time, add the vegetables and banana and turn the meat over.
6) Serve.

Baked Chicken with Grapes

Recipe courtesy of Mags. Cooking with fruits isn't a new idea, but the trick is in finding fruits that cook well (don't end up in a mess) and also which blend well with the food in question. For instance, tried and tested combinations would include pineapples and pork, apples and pork, cranberry and turkey.

Ingredients
1 chicken, chopped into 8 pieces
small bunch of grapes
1 tbsp tarragon, chopped
1 tbsp sage, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
butter
cooking oil

Method
1) Marinate chicken with salt, pepper, tarragon and sage.
2) Brown the chopped chicken in a pan with the cooking oil.
3) Transfer the chicken and left over oil into a baking dish.
4) Squeeze the juice of a few grapes all over the chicken and stir in.
5) Add a few grapes (still on the vine) to the pan.
6) Dot butter all over the chicken and grapes.
7) Bake at 160 degrees for 40 mins, turning over halfway and basting.

No oil arrabiata

Traditional arrabiata in my mind always comes about too oily and too fiery. I'm really not a fan of oily stuff, and it's always hard to get the proportions of oil right.

However, last week, I came across a particularly tomoto-ey version by CBTL, with a nice tomato-based sauce and served with nice chorizo sausages for that smokey taste - hey why not!

Here's my recreation, made slightly sweeter cos B doesn't like sour stuff (ie he hates tomatoes) and also less spicy for me. I added barley because I usually find my sauces too thin - the barley gave the sauce a good 'saucy' consistency, and the barley texture gave it a nice mealy texture. The bonus was that in the tomato base, the texture and feel made it taste like baked beans! Keep it overnight and see how the sausages and barley bloats up!
Ingredients (Serves 3)
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 can water
1 packet (about 10) chicken franks sausages (or chorizos if you have them), cut into chunks
3 tbls chopped garlic
3 tbls chilli flakes (more if you dare!)
1 tbls chopped onions
2 tbls barley
3 tbls ketchup
1 tsp granulated chicken stock (I use the squeezy packets so it's simplier)
4 tsp sugar
Grated black pepper
Oregano or Basil
2 tbls Olive oil
Pasta for 3
Grated parmesan

Method
1. Saute onions and olive oil. Add garlic but do not brown the garlic.
2. Saute the chicken franks.
3. Add the chilli flakes and stir fry briefly.
4. Pour in the canned tomatoes. Stir. Using the same can, fill up with water and pour into the pot.
5. Add the barley.
6. Season with oregano or basil, black pepper, tomato sauce and chicken stock.
7. Leave to simmer for 20 minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary. Usually the chicken franks add enough salt to the sauce for me.
8. Cook pasta as per instructions on the packet.
9. Serve with grated parmesan.