Hiatus

Not because I’m abandoning the blog. It’s just that with my recent projects and travelling, I didn't manage find much time to cook.

But I do get reminders.

The place I’m staying in Bangkok, during my business trip. And it comes with a full functioning kitchen.

Drawer #1

Drawer #2

Drawer #3

I love that colander.

Basic plates and all.

And lobsters.

Saw that in the Sukumvit Soi24 Seafood Market. But I didn’t cook it myself la. It was an interesting seafood market, where you buy your life seafood and get it cooked in the restaurant. And it’s funded through ‘entertainment claims’.

Seafood Porridge

I’ve got this cook book entitled ‘bowl food’. One of my all time favourites, it features meals in a bowl. Comforting and one go kind of meals. And nothing is more comforting to me, than a bowl of porridge during those rainy days.

So, a quick boil of the stock using, 2 cloves of garlic, dried cuttle fish and a thumb-cut size of ginger. Once the stock is ready, add in 2 cups of rice. I use Thai-fragrant rice, with their higher starch content and the fragrance  it’s perfect for porridge.

Add in dash of sesame oil, salt, pepper and fish sauce to taste. Once you get the right porridge consistency, add in fresh prawns and pomfret.

Corn Soup

Since I had some leftovers of corns and carrots, I decided to make a simple clear soup.

Stock made of pork ribs, dried cuttlefish and garlic.

Once the stock is ready, add in corns and carrots.

A dash of sesame oil, and rice wine then salt and pepper to taste. This is really easy. Try it.

chick and veg

 

Sunday sunday,

A mixture of carrots, broccoli, baby corns and tomatoes. Like how i always stir fry my veges, I would give a quick blanch on those ‘crunchies’; everything except the tomatoes. A 2-3 minutes blanch then let them cool under running water. The gives then crisp and soft texture.

Heat up work, fry teeny bit of ginger and garlic. Put un the tomatoes, and then the rest of the vegetables. A dash of fish sauce and half a teaspoon of oyster sauce. A dash of pepper.

That’s for the side kick, and now the  for the main:Lightly fry some cinnamon, star anise and cloves then sauté the mashed ginger, garlic, shallots and turmeric. Add some curry leaves then the curry paste. Fry till reddish and oily then add the chicken. Turn to medium heat and keep stirring. Add enough water to cover the chicken and throw in the potatoes. Let it simmer. 30 minutes later, add some yogurt (i use yogurt instead of coconut milk). Cook to your preferred consistency. Salt, pepper to taste.

Happy Sunday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wake me up, before you go go

Sunday morning.

I love Sundays, watching  CSI  re-runs back to back . And to make it even more comforting.  A nice, warm, comfort TV meals.

So I decided to cook, ‘Tau Yiu Bak’

Literally it means soy sauce meat.

I marinate some pork shoulder meat cut into chunks, with sugar, salt, pepper, clove, soy sauce, sesame oil. and Saoxing wine. Let it rest while I soak some mushrooms, muk-yee fungus.

Clean up half of a whole garlic, and a thumb size of ginger I prepare few half boiled eggs.

And then make myself coffee to continue watching CSI.

You start to cook, when you feel it. No rush in preparing meals, and so I cook some rice, and start to heat up the stew pot. A drizzle of cooking oil and sesame oil, fry the ginger and the garlic lightly. Then brown the pork, both sides. Add in the mushrooms and the muk-yee fungus, give it a good stir and add in the balance of the earlier marinade. A good drizzle of more Shaoxing, some dried oyster and a bowl of water. Let it cook gentle over low-medium heat for the next 45 minutes. Add in peeled hardboiled eggs. Then, add sugar, salt, pepper and oyster sauce to taste.

Serve it with white rice and sit continue watching TV.

Bread

The ingredients:

700gm of flour

1 packet of instant yeast

100gm of sugar ( i use brown sugar)

1 teaspooon of salt

1 egg

400 ml water

70gm butter / shortening

50 ml milk

150 gm of mix fruits

Step 1: Sieve flour and mix well with the yeast and add in the water.  It’s going to be messy and wet and after mixing/kneading it let it rest for about 10 minutes.

Step 2: Add in sugar, salt, egg,  butter and milk. Mix them well and let it rest for another 20 minutes.

Step 3: Add in the mix fruits, and by now it should have risen up nicely. Feel free to apply the punch technique.

 

You can weigh about 50gm and set em on the baking tray, otherwise I just freehand-rustically throw in unevenly on a greased tray.

Let it rest another 15-20 minutes, milk glaze it then bake for 170’c 45 minutes. If the top starts to turn too brown, cover loosely with aluminium foil.

Happy breading

I’m pretending it’s summer

Yeah with the strawberries I got from the flea market @ the curve, and few tips from Bernie, here it goes.

- puff pastry

- mascarpone cheese

- heavy cream

- sugar

- lemon zest

- vanilla essence

A 3 simple step:

Step 1: Roll the puff pastry thinly and lay e’m on a baking tray. Poke randomly with a fork. Pop it into a pre-heated oven on 210’c for about 20 minutes or till golden crisp. Let it rest on the cooling rack.

Step 2: Whip the heavy cream with sugar still it’s whipped up and fold in the mascarpone cheese, add in zest from a lemon and vanilla essence. Spread  the cream onto the pastry once it has cool down.

Step 3: Lay those strawberries and some icing sugar. And EAT.