Malaysian Vegetable Curry (Sayur Lodeh)

Sayur lodeh is a vegetable curry commonly found in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. The version I grew up with contains cabbage, eggplant, long beans, deep-fried tofu (and sometimes tofu puffs) and glass noodles. I made this for lunch today and it turned out perfect (really!) and so I decided to post the recipe here in case I forget how to replicate the dish next time. Cooking is a bit of trial and error sometimes, especially with Asian cooking. I think I've got the recipe down as accurately as I can, and it's super duper delicious with rice (or even on its own).

Roast Chicken with Creamy Parsley and Fondant Potatoes

I purchased Gary Mehigan's new book "Favourites" a couple of weeks ago during his book-signing at Costco. I love that he has put together his all-time favourite recipes in one book, because honestly, there are way too many recipes out there that I would love to try. I may be dreaming of cooking chilli crab one minute and baking kouign amann the next, and sometimes I just end up making more that I can fit leftovers in the fridge.

So far, I've attempted two recipes from the book. One is the XO sauce, which is utterly, utterly delicious. I was a little skeptical about making a big batch of it, but I'm so glad I did because it means I can eat more of it with more of everything! The other recipe that tempted my tastebuds was the Creamy Parsley and Nutmeg, which I found a little unusual yet intriguing with the combination of parsley and cream. A little like creamed spinach, but with a herby taste, I suppose? It turned out to be one of the most amazing things I've ever made with parsley. It's luxuriously rich and creamy, and the added sweetness from the shallots makes this so tasty that I couldn't stop eating it out of the pan (I was just checking for seasoning, really). In his book, Gary recommends serving it with a roast chook or rib of beef. I've been cooking a lot of red meat lately, specifically pork belly and pork shoulder (see my previous post on Korean Pulled Pork Burgers), so I settled on a recipe for roast chicken from Gary's other book (under Lantern Cookery Classics). The recipe is also available on the Penguin/Lantern website.

Creamy parsley and nutmeg

It's wonderful how the simplest recipe for roast chicken can yield the most satisfying results. A testament to how good it is, is when my 6-year old takes a bite and her face just lights up as she goes "Mmmmm..." before she reaches for another mouthful. It's really just chicken stuffed with thyme, garlic and lemon, but I guess it's the technique and method of cooking it that makes the difference. Also important is to make sure you use good quality, corn-fed, free-range chicken. I find that La Ionica (chemical and hormone free) chickens are really good too, which we always use when making our best ever Hainanese chicken rice.

Pulled Pork Burger with Spicy Mayo and Korean Slaw

 

This started with a craving for a Korean-style slaw with a spicy gochujang dressing. Gochujang (as many of you might be familiar with) is a Korean red pepper paste that are sold in tubs and come in varying degrees of "heat". You can usually tell by the number of chillies on the label. I chose one with 3 chillies I think, as these things can pack quite a punch in terms of heat and intensity of flavour. So, I was wondering what would go with Korean slaw, and thought of bo ssam (Korean boiled pork belly with lettuce wraps). I found David Chang's bo ssam recipe using pork shoulder/butt and decided to turn that into a pulled pork burger with Korean slaw. And what's a burger without mayonnaise, especially a spicy gochujang mayonnaise? And to top it off (no pun intended), I baked these wonderful buttermilk buns (or brioche) which were moist, tender and didn't fall apart like most buns do when you're halfway through a burger.

 

 

Korean food doesn't just stop at Korean Fried Chicken and Korean hotpot. Give these a go at your next party. They don't require much preparation (the buns are relatively easy too) and will feed an army or two. Moreover, you can make the slaw one day ahead, which allows the cabbage to absorb the tangy, spicy and sweet flavours from the dressing. Oh, and that slow-roasted pork? Amazing.

Börek or Burek (with spinach and cheese)

 

So, I'm not an expert on Burek, nor do I know enough about its cultural background and history to be able to give an accurate account of how it originated. I'm thinking Wikipedia should be fairly reliable, and therefore I quote a few sections from it which provide some insight into this delicious filled pastry.

"Börek (also burek and other variants) is a family of baked or fried filled pastries made of a thin flaky dough known as phyllo (or yufka). It can be filled with cheese, minced meat, or vegetables. Most probably invented in what is now Modern Turkey, in the Anatolian Provinces of the Ottoman Empire in its early era, to become a popular element of Ottoman cuisine.

Börek is also very popular in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, especially in North Africa and throughout the Balkans. The Northern Slavic cuisines, historically developed by people living in close contact with the Turkic peoples of Asia and Europe, also feature derivatives of the börek. Börek is also part of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish traditions. They have been enthusiastically adopted by the Ottoman Jewish communities, and have been described, along with boyos de pan and bulemas, as forming "the trio of preeminent Ottoman Jewish pastries".

Börek has its origins in the Turkish cuisine (cf. Baklava) and is one of its most significant and, in fact, ancient elements of the Turkish cuisine, having been developed by the Turks of Central Asia before their westward migration to Anatolia.

Börek in Turkish language refers to any dish made with yufka. The name comes from the Turkic root bur- 'to twist', (similar to Serbian word savijača (from savijati - to twist) which also describes a layered dough dish)."

 

Alright! Now that we've gotten our history lesson out of the way, it's time to make some Burek. Whenever I discover a new favourite food, my first instinct is to look for the recipe and attempt it at home. I love a good challenge. Some may think it's strange, but I used to look forward to exams when I was in school. It bore different consequences of course, but was a challenge nonetheless.

Thai Roast Duck Salad

 

So, I googled "game meat" and according to Wikipedia, "Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game animals are also hunted for sport". I never knew that duck was considered game until someone told me that it is not commonly served or eaten in the United States for that very reason. Well, it makes sense now that I recall seeing duck hunting on TV (specifically the old Looney Tunes cartoons featuring Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck - rings a bell?). Maybe because I've grown up eating a lot of Chinese roast duck (and Peking duck during special occasions), and so I can't say that it tastes gamey at all. Or maybe duck just tastes best when it's roasted until the fat has rendered and the skin's gone all thin and crispy. The only thing I don't like about duck is that it's really boney and fatty. If you buy half a roast duck, you'd end up with half of it being bones and fat. The meat and skin however is very tasty. If you've watched the "roast duck seller" chop up a roast duck before, you might notice how he tips out the juices from the cavity and reserves them, probably to make the duck sauce or gravy. It's so good over steamed white rice.

Baked Kale Chips

There's been all this hype over kale chips, and how they taste like potato chips, except that they are loaded with vitamins and minerals. I finally bought some kale from the supermarket last Sunday and was pretty excited to make these. It's really easy. Roughly tear up the kale into pieces, and then wash and dry them thoroughly. Lay them out on a baking tray lined with baking paper, drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch salt. Be careful not to put too much oil or salt, because the kale will shrink to a quarter of its size and you don't want to end up with oily salty kale chips (now how did I know that?). Bake them in the oven at 180C (350F) for 20 minutes, turning once halfway through. They will be turn translucent and crispy, and they really taste almost like potato chips! And totally guilt-free!

PS: These make a good substitute for crispy seaweed, the Japanese or Korean type that comes in individual packs and taste so umami with flakes of MSG all over. I reckon these kale chips would be great as a topping for noodle soups, or even crumbled over some pasta.

Mutter Paneer (Peas and Cottage Cheese)

Mutter paneer is a popular North Indian dish consisting of paneer (cottage cheese) and peas (mutter) cooked in a spiced tomato-based gravy, and it tastes fantastic especially when eaten with boiled basmati rice. I enjoy the paneer for its "bitey" texture that can be described as almost "meaty", and all of this combined together makes a delicious meal that can be quite addictive. I must admit I wasn't really a fan of paneer nor vegetarian food right up till middle of last year when I had some friends visiting from India and we frequented a few Indian restaurants. What an eye-opener it was for me. Indian vegetarian cuisine wasn't just all about peas and lentils, but very much about spices, colours, textures and exotic flavours.

 

Pav Bhaji (Bread and vegetables)

 

My Indian friends from work threw a little Diwali party at their apartment last Friday, and I must say it was a very enjoyable evening, with good food, great company and lots of dancing. Moreover, it's hard not to fall in love with the phenomenal view from the balcony of the 33rd floor apartment right in the heart of Sydney. Dinner was a wonderful spread of  home-cooked vegetarian dishes, including pasta, salad and this delicious dish called pav bhaji. Pav (pronounced "pau" as in char siew pau) is equivalent to bun/bread, and bhaji refers to a vegetable dish. Apparently (or so internet sources say), pav bhaji is a popular Indian streetfood snack that originated in Marathi cuisine. It is basically a dish of mashed vegetables cooked in spices, and served with fried buttered pav. This dish uses loads of butter, which explains why it tastes so good. The bhaji is also topped with chopped onions, coriander and a splash of lemon juice which lifts the flavours in the dish.

Asparagus and Prawn Stir-fry

 

 

Asparagus and Prawn Stir-fry

 

Ingredients

 

1 tbsp vegetable/peanut oil

2 cloves garlic, sliced/chopped

200g prawns, peeled, deveined and tails intact

2 bundles asparagus, woody ends snapped off, halved crossways

2-3 bird's eye chillies, sliced

 

Sauce:

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp palm sugar (or to taste)

1 tbsp Thai sweet chilli sauce

3 tbsp water

 

Method

 

Heat oil in a wok on high heat. Add the garlic, followed by the prawns. Let the prawns cook on one side, then flip them over to cook the other side. When the prawns are almost cooked, remove and transfer them to a plate and leave the oil in the wok. Next, add the asparagus to the wok and fry for 30 seconds, then push them aside. Add the chillies and pour the sauce ingredients down the side of the wok into the centre and bring to a boil. Toss the prawns in with the asparagus and sauce, and stir-fry briefly until everything is well coated, and sauce is slightly reduced. Turn off the heat and transfer to a serving plate. Serve with steamed jasmine rice.

Snow Peas and Asparagus in Oyster Sauce

In my previous post (Grilled Beef with Charred Tomato and Chilli Sauce), I wrote about my visit to Sailors Thai where I had the luxury of savouring an array of creative and exotic Thai dishes and was simply enamoured by the overall gastronomic experience. I attempted to make a mental note of how each dish tasted so that I could recreate the same at home if I ever had a craving for it. And so, this post features a very simple recipe for delicious stir-fried vegetables in oyster sauce. In the menu, it was actually stated as "stir fried broccolini and sugar snap peas with oyster sauce", but they looked more like asparagus than broccolini, and so I've used asparagus in my recipe here. How timely it was that Ms AC received a bag of snow peas from her neighbour who just harvested them from the backyard, and she brought some to the office for me!

Malai Kofta with Roasted Capsicum

 

I first tried malai kofta at this Indian restaurant called Curry at the Rocks in Sydney, and was pleasantly surprised at how delicious it was, given that I'm not a big fan of vegetarian-type dishes. My colleague who introduced this dish to me explained that malai koftas are deep-fried potato balls served in a creamy sauce prepared from boiled milk, spices and fresh cream. The first thought that came to me was "I have to make this at home!", and so I looked up some recipes on the internet to get an idea of the basic ingredients that went into this dish. The koftas are usually made with mashed potato and paneer (an Indian cottage cheese) which are formed into balls and deep-fried until they form a crisp layer. The sauce predominantly comprises tomatoes and cream, but I decided to substitute part of the tomatoes with roasted red peppers instead.

Crispy Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Maple Pecan Dressing

Brussel sprouts are DELICIOUS! I just thought I should mention that first before you skip this post. I can count on one hand the number of times I've eaten them, and it's just one of those vegetables that I just don't think about, and is easy to miss at the vegetable section of the supermarket because they don't sell a lot of them. They are also seasonal and are usually available around autumn to early winter in Australia. We were hunting high and low for brussel sprouts last December as we wanted to serve them for Christmas lunch, but they weren't in season then.  And so, when I came across them a few weeks ago at the supermarket, I was thrilled and grabbed a pack immediately.

Almost Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad

Even though I've only had Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad once in my life (and many years ago), I will always remember it as being one of the tastiest salads I've had. I'm no salad lover, which is why the crunchy toasted almond flakes and crispy noodles really did it for me, not to mention the deep-fried chicken tenders scattered over the top of the salad which made it a complete and satisfying meal. The "oriental" dressing was fantastic, although at the time, I was more focused on enjoying my meal rather than trying to analyse and figure out the components of the dressing.

Sunomono with Cucumber and Wakame

If food blogging never existed, I'm sure I'd be cooking soy-braised pork belly and chicken, carrot and potato soup for dinner everyday. Those were the few dishes I used to cook back when I was sharing an apartment with friends during college days, when it didn't make sense to stock up the pantry with so many ingredients if I was only cooking for myself (we never shared cooking because our class timetables were quite different, plus I wasn't too confident about my cooking at the time, and neither were they!). I even remember the first cookbook I bought, something along the lines of Step by Step Chinese Cooking. I tried cooking pork rashers with black bean sauce once (before I moved in with my friends) and forgot to open the windows. When my landlady came home to an apartment smelling heavily of garlic and pork, she dashed across the room, opened the balcony doors, ran out and and let out a scream ten floors down the building, gasping for air as though the room was filled with toxic gas. She was also vegetarian, so perhaps that partly explains the dramatic outburst. After that incident, I never cooked pork rashers with black bean sauce again. Not even after moving out six months later.

Clear Cabbage and Carrot Soup

This is a very simple soup made from chicken stock, cabbage and carrots that I love having next to my plate of rice and accompanying dishes (especially stir-fries and deep-fried foods). The cabbage and onions add sweetness and flavour to the soup, making it very tasty indeed. You can boil some chicken bones (wing tips are good) to make the stock, or use instant chicken stock. I used a mix of both as I didn't have enough chicken bones to make up the soup.

Quick and Easy: Broccoli with Garlic and Nori

Z loves broccoli and he also loves seaweed and crispy fried garlic. Here's the perfect combination that is so quick and really easy to prepare. All you need to do is blanch some broccoli in salted boiling water for 3-4 minutes until you are able to just pierce through it with a fork. Drain and rinse the broccoli under cold running water. Place broccoli in a serving dish and set aside. 

Tauhu Goreng (Deep-fried Beancurd in Spicy Sauce)

Deep-fried tofu with a sweet and spicy sauce on a bed of shredded cucumber, garnished with plenty of ground peanuts

Today, I am sharing a recipe (that my mum just taught me) for one of my favourite Malaysian childhood dishes - "Tauhu Goreng", which literally means Fried Tofu. It is most delicious when the tofu is served piping hot with a sweet and spicy sauce, and lots of ground peanuts. Try to make your own deep-fried tofu as the texture is much better than commercially prepared ones.

Kakiage Don (Mixed Tempura on Rice)

Kakiage Don (drizzled with kabayaki sauce)

 

Kakiage is a type of tempura where a mixture of vegetables (often onions, carrot and burdock) are cut into thin strips and tossed together in a light tempura batter, then deep-fried to form a loose cluster of vegetable fritters. I haven't had kakiage in a long time and was thrilled when I saw that my friend Nami had posted a recipe for it on her website, Just One Cookbook.

Crispy Eggplant with Black Beans and XO Sauce

I'm really excited to share this fantastic eggplant recipe with you today! This was inspired by my sister's favourite eggplant dish from one of the Hongkong-style restaurants in Sydney, and is absolutely delicious. One bite into that golden shell of crisp tempura-style batter reveals a soft and silky eggplant filling that is so light it simply melts in your mouth. Then, you get these bits of savoury black beans and the spiciness of the XO sauce that melds together in your mouth with the creamy eggplant. These are so addictive (and deceptively filling on the tummy as well, as I discovered many eggplants later).

Chicken Sautéed with Cheese and Milk, and Crispy Potatoes with Rosemary and Seasalt

Every few weeks, we will make a trip to the local library with the family, where the kids will entertain themselves at the children's section, and I will head to the shelves where all the cookbooks are. The collection of cookbooks is pretty small, and I usually end up borrowing the same ones again if I happen to like the recipes. One of them is Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros, which has an adorable photograph of a pair of red leather Mary Janes on the front cover. I like it that it has recipes with interesting-sounding names, and most of the recipes are simple and easy to follow, using only a handful of ingredients. There was a recipe for chicken sauteed with cheese and milk which has caught my eye a number of times, and I guess partly because the book usually opens up to that page when I'm flipping through it.