Greetings

Emma has been really getting into the spirit of Christmas - pants or no pants.

And in the blink of an eye, it's December already. I have these posts in my head - scattered sentences that sound good, that need effort to string together. This post is a mishmash of all the stuff I’ve been dreaming about, actually doing, or have done.

Does it happen to you too? These days I start off a post, my mind wanders, and then I lose sight of what I wanted to say in the first place.

I've noticed shortness in my attention span that's surely becoming more and more acute. It almost definitely stems from my very undisciplined (read: far too much) use of my mobile devices (turns out, I’m hardly unique). Honestly, I love Facebook and Instagram too much to disconnect completely, but I do recognize that I need to change it up.

I am looking forward to a good 3 weeks off. And this time, I do NOT have a looming intense workshop to trouble me when I return. Instead I have a feisty, attention seeking 10 month old.

So, in the spirit of more than just unplugging, but to create rather than consume, below is a list of things I plan to do during my time off:

1) Prep my homemade Christmas gifts. Salted caramel, chocolate crackle cookies, roasted nuts, vanilla pound cake are some of the things on my to-make list this year.

2) Tend to my garden. I want to pay a visit to some nurseries. No major purchases except soil and what I need to replace my dead herbs, repot with new soil. We also just got our contractor to build raised beds behind our house, and I intend to plant low-maintenance Pandan and lemongrass there.

3) Catch up on reading. I want to finish All The Light We Cannot See (on the list of NY Times’ Best Books of 2014, for goodness sake).

4) Finish watching this. Lately I've been a bit obsessed with alternate history novels. I’ve gone through phases of Spain (as in the country); South American history specifically on the war on drugs and American interference; Slavery/Women’s rights; Medieval England (OK, just the Matthew Shardlake books really); Living, eating and cooking in Paris/France (Julia Child's My Life in France has out to be one of my absolute favorite books. I loaned it to Francophile friend and we’re planning our imaginary French countryside roadtrip; French parenting, and ugh, grisly true crime.

With alternate history, it started with CJ Sansom’s Dominion (which stemmed off the Shardlake series), followed quickly by Robert Harris’ Fatherland. I have to say, I have yet to find a book that really satisfies with a story. Loved the dark, gloomy setting and the atmosphere of fear and oppression that Sansom conjured (just as good as his Medieval England settings in his Shardlake series), but the story was nowhere as good. Fatherland was disappointing to me – I hate books with half-cooked endings. I want to know exactly what happened! I want you to tell me, author! 

The Man in The High Castle, which is based on the book of the same name, has been gripping from the get go. In fact I’m seriously torn with wanting to read the book (and end up not enjoying the series as much), or just watch the series and not knowing what comes next (FYI, I read Game of Thrones when I was still in university, and knew about the Red Wedding/The Mountain slaying Oberyn Martell in the duel years ago. And the HBO series still doesn’t live up to my imagination).

5) Get fitter. I haven't worked out for (I think) 3 months, and while the weight gain has been minimal, I hate the way my body feels, the lethargy and stiffness that I didn't have with regular exercise. Take walks (with Emma), swim (take Emma for swim lessons), and (if I'm being ambitious) go for a yoga class or two.

A few other notes:

- One of my favorite columnists writes an unique gift guidecolumn. Instead of the usual tie/sweater/scented candle, he gives recommendations on charities/causes to give to, a chance to make a difference in this world. In this world of corruption and scams, one of my general concerns when it comes to charity is of course whether my money will be put to good use. With the credibility of his work and the NY Times behind him, Mr. Kristof’s list is probably what you want to refer to if you seek to do more than a little good this festive season. I will be donating to TrickleUp. The downside to this is that you have to donate in US dollars – but even 20 dollars goes a long way here.

- In light of this miserable state of our economy (and country as a whole, really), I’ve scaled back on the purchases this year. Usually I’d be going crazy at Zara (I love their Fall/Winter collections), ordering presents for my brothers and cousins online, falling for all the prettily packaged cookies/chocolates at Jaya Grocer. None of that this year. The only goodies I bought was a tartan skirt (been wanting to recreate this look for a long time) and a pair of Silpat non-stick baking sheets for baking cookies (from Amazon – super fast delivery and still cheaper than local retail. Highly recommended). With Emma around, I guess I also want to make sure we focus on experiences. I play calming, jazzy Christmas carols near bedtime, put up decorations around the house, and even messed around with local “pine” tree branches and leaves in an attempt to create something handmade. Boo and Emma got super excited and decided to hijack the effort, but of course. Really, it is little moments like these I need to cherish.

An attempt at frugal Christmas decorating, with 2 rather unhelpful elves

- We’re still throwing our annual Christmas party with colleagues this year though, and I’ve finally decided to take the plunge and roast my own turkey, which is half the price of buying a ready-made one. I made AK drive me to 3 grocery stores to see what was available (local organic – looked a bit skinny/wiry to me; American Halal – “preserved” in some kind of broth-salt mixture so not suited for the dry brine I intend to do; and the generic American one that comes in sizes ranging from 5 to 7+ kilos). I settled on a good ol’ generic American one that came in at 5.5 kilos. She’s thawing in the fridge as I type. I did a trial run with chicken, and intend to scale up the recipe for the turkey. It was really good with this (in my brother’s words when I sent my family photos of it) malnourished looking organic chicken, so I have high hopes.

Frugal turkey trial run: Test roasting a chicken

Dry-Brined Roast Chicken

Ingredients

1 organic chicken, around 1.5 kg

A few sprigs of rosemary (4 – 5)

A small bunch of thyme (around 8 stalks)

Sea Salt (I used pink Himalayan)

A few slices of butter (cut from a stick)

What I served with:

4 potatoes, cut into chunks (around 4 per potato)

1 large onion, quartered

A few garlic cloves, unpeeled

The day before you want to roast the chicken, rinse the chicken with hot water and pat it dry. Rub a few tablespoons of salt into the skin of the chicken – really get onto every surface you can, erm, reach. Leave the chicken overnight in the fridge (uncovered, this really important) to dry out.

Take the chicken out of the fridge a good hour before you start roasting. Pull the leaves off the rosemary stalks, leaving a few to stuff into the bird. Same with the thyme. With your fingers, gently lift the skin of the chicken off the breast, taking care not to tear the skin. Insert the rosemary and thyme leaves and slices of butter, using your fingers to push the herbs and butter further “in”. Place chicken on the bed you’ve made of it out of onions, garlic and and potatoes in the roasting tin.

Preheat oven to 220 deg C.

Place roasting tin in the oven, close the door, then turn the temperature down to 180 deg C. Roast for about 45 minutes to an hour. After 45 minutes, test for doneness – juices should run clear or temperature of the chicken at the thighs should be above 80 deg C.

Let the chicken rest, around 20 minutes before serving (tearing into it) with the roasted root veg, which should be nice and sticky and caramelized. 

My mum's Awesome Chicken Wings

The most awesome recipe for the most addictive wings, courtesy of my culinary genius mum.

It all started when my dad, anxious about his upcoming stint alone when I deliver (my mum plans to come stay with us for one month once baby is born), decided that he absolutely needed an air fryer to cook meals for himself while my mum's away.

So of course they got one pronto, and mum started experimenting with it. We tried air frying potato chips (they turn soggy very fast once out the fryer), and my mum also tried frying some other stuff.

The other day she sent me a picture of the wings she made and they looked so good, I thought of re-creating them for our Christmas gathering. And they were such a hit - the first item to finish (well after the guacamole)! And the guests sang praises of them. My only regret is I didn't make more.



Gotta love her

As you can see she didn't really give precise measurements. I took note of what I used and how much, so here goes:

Recipe for 20 wings

20 chicken wings (with drummets)
A little peanut oil

Marinade:
-  1 cup light soy sauce
-  3-4 large shallots, peeled, quartered and crushed lightly
-  6 large cloves garlic, peeled and crushed lightly
- 3 tbsp worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp each garlic and onion powders
- 4 tbsp soft brown sugar

Pat dry the wings. Combine the marinade ingredients in a ziploc bag large enough to fit all the wings, else divide into 2 bags. Marinate the wings overnight, refridgerated

Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Remove the wings from the marinade and let them sit and come to room temperature, about 30minutes. Pat them dry again with paper towels. You will need a roasting pan with a rack. Line the pan with foil (trust me you will want to do this as the sugar in the marinade will be your undoing), place the rack on, place the wings on the rack.

Roast for 20-30 minutes. I removed them after 20 minutes and re-arranged then to ensure each wing was sufficiently golden/dark brown and glossy.




Don't you wish???

 

Celebration!!

It's December, my favourite time of the year!

I bought a large tree (after, like 3 trips to 3 different malls), and went for (I'd like to believe) a silver, gold and winter theme with icicles, silver balls and translucent angel wings. Unfortunately I broke 2 icicles, and the weekly maid another 3 :(. Note to self: Perhaps it's not such a good idea to buy glass ornaments. Next year will get another set of lights and more ornaments, so the tree doesn's look so bald.

We hosted a Christmas gathering amongst colleagues/friends, with a heated gift exchange that included steals and bargains, and then played Taboo.

I ordered a turkey from Hank's Fine Foods. Ordering was a bit of a hassle in the beginning, but the turkey turned out pretty good actually - moist and tasty white meat! Such a rarity. I made my own mushroom gravy to go with as well - pretty easy. Caramelize chopped onions, then add chopped mushrooms (I used portabellos and brown mushrooms) and saute. I soaked dried porcini in hot water, then strained the mushroom liquid and finely sliced in the porcini for extra umph. Grate in a clove of garlic, leave to simmer for 20 minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Voila.

Some other things I made:

- My guacamole, which our prep crew took to snacking on before the party started, and finished waaay too early. I should've made more! Next time next time.

- Mushroom pasta. Saute sliced brown and portabello mushrooms in olive oil, add chopped garlic. Let the mushrooms cook down. Add cooked pasta and a bit of the pasta water. I used about 5 cups of sliced mushrooms to one 400 g packet of spaghetthi. Toss over low heat, then add lots of freshly grated parmesan. I used my large oval Le Creuset to cook the mushrooms and toss the pasta with, and then as a serving vessel. Just before serving, sprinkle with freshky chopped parsley.

- My mum's awesome chicken wings, which is the subject of another post. They went down so fast I didn't even get to eat any!

- Early grey jelly with oranges and pomengrenate seeds

- Fudgy brownies using my favourite recipe

Some lessons I learnt on hosting:-

1) Get friends involved. We had one friend who was a general helper, helping to chop, slice, basically do anything I wanted doing. Another friend made his delicious rocket and avocado salad with olive and balsamic dressing, and artfully arranged the crudites in glass jars you see below. Yet another guy offered to make his Mojitos (virgin ones for me and another pregnant guest), which got the party started pretty nicely. You don't have to do it all yourself - and since our friends were guests as well, there was plenty of joking and mingling way before the party even started proper.

2) Prep as much as you can beforehand - I sliced my mushrooms, marinated my wings and made the gravy the night before. I also made desserts the night before. The day itself - roasted the wings, made the pasta and guacamole. With my friends around to lend a hand, this was easy and we had plenty of time to drink mojitos and snack on aforementioned chips and guacamole before everyone else arrived.

3) More is better than less! I would've liked to make more pasta, more guacamole, more wings - they went down so fast! And maybe order a ham. Again, something to keep in mind for next year

All in all, it was a good night. I know hosting something of the like is going to be a challenge next year with the baby and everything, but I'd love to make it an annual tradition. We'll see.

My precious gifts under my gold and silver tree - Boo's like, "Whatcha doin under MY tree??"

Turkey and "stuffing" from Hank's, homemade mushtoom gravy (in the large glass bowl), salad and mushroom pasta (left, partly visible only)

Our staircase - note that my Yogja skull has his Santa hat on!

Turkey from Hank's Fine foods - surprisingly tasty white meat. I would order this again.

The most artfully arranged crudites by our friend (veggies to be eaten with bought cheese dips), homemade guacamole with corn chips.

Mushroom Pasta

Boo staking his place under the tree again

Group photo of the night

Miri Memories, and Sarawak Laksa

Current Obsession: Eating Asia.

 

Reading Robin Eackhart's writing makes me nostalgic for Miri and its humble vibrancy. The daily tamu's (markets), where they sell everything from live fish, sago worms, mud crabs, crocodile-skin fruit, where I used to buy rambutans by the tonne (I exaggerate of course).

 

I have of course come to realize, cooped here in my big city, how much more I miss Miri than having to drive only 5 minutes to and from work every day.

 

I miss the tamu's, where were weather-beaten little old ladies sell handwoven baskets and traditionaly beaded Christmas ornaments.

 

Where the locals' favourite vegetables grow wild (midin or jungle fern) - stuff that grew in the drains and ditches.

 

I used to love the dependencies (and respect) the locals had on the wild, the rusticity of it all - we had neighbours who kept chickens and slaughtered them for food. We must have been the only family that didn't have a small vegetable patch in our garden. A monitor lizard and catfish lived in the neighbourhood drains (we occassionaly saw the big guy swim languidly by - but he never bothered us). It was an almost daily even to spot electric blue kingfishers sometimes. And - oh, Miri didn't have crows, it had storks! Pure white birds everywhere. Sometimes we even spotted a hornbill or two.

 

I wish I captured more of the local wildlife and lifestyles, in words and photos.

 

The fact that I would spot men with nets and rods harvesting krill and catching mudcrabs and catfish on my drive home, where the ground is so fertile it's easy to live off the land. Where they warn you about crocodiles in the local park lake.

 

I loved it all, I confess. I loved our kindly neighbours, the gentle Sarawakian spirit, the muhibbah-ness of the place - where, truly, people of all races and religions live in harmony.

 

I also loved Sarawak Laksa - white rice noodles in a sour, coconut-milk broth flavoured with the essence of prawns and jazzed up with chilli and lime. Garnishes are strips of egg omelette, strips of poached chicken breast, prawns, beansprouts and coriander. It is about the only Sarawakian food I really miss. I could do without kolok mee (kinda like wan tan mee without the wan tan, hence loses its point), red wine mee sua or wild boar (Sarawakians are obsessed with wild boar, I don't know why).

 

And since my pregnancy cravings are hitting me full on, I decided I had to make my own version. I needed a good supply!

 

I researched online and to my surprise, there isn't a real recipe for the Sarawak laksa spice paste. Apparently it's a closely guarded secret, and even the manufacturers are few and between. Oh when will they sell a Sarawak-laksa flavoured instant noodle??

 

So the paste had to be bought - good thing a friend was visiting Miri and so I got him to get me two packs. 1 pack feeds about 6. The rest of the recipe was gleaned from here and here. I decided that mine would be kinda a hybrid of both.

 

We invited AK's parents and my youngest brother over for dinner, and it went down pretty well, I have to say. My brother kept saying how much he loved it, and my in-laws told me to open a stall :P. The recipe below fed the five of us pretty generously, with enough leftover gravy for another 2 servings the day after - just nice for AK and I. I think a repeat is definitely in order!

 

 

Notes:

- I was pretty generous with the prawns - you can use smaller prawns and reduce the amount.

- You can also use thick coconut milk, or add more milk if you like a richer gravy. Reduce the gravy further if you plan to do so, so as not to dilute the taste too much).

 

Here's my version of the recipe:

 

Laksa gravy:

1 packet "Eagle Brand" Sarawak Laksa spice paste (300g)
700g large prawns. Remove the heads, peel and devein them. Reserve the heads and shells.
2 bonesless and skinless chicken breasts
2 litres chicken stock (I used water and a generous few dashes of concentrate)
300 ml coconut milk

 

Condiments:

4 eggs, beaten with a little soy sauce

4 cups beansprouts, tailed
Enough rice noodles (beehoon) for 6 persons
2-3 sprigs coriander, chopped

 

To serve with:

sambal belachan
lime halves

To make the gravy, bring the chicken stock to a boil. Add the chicken breasts, lower the heat to a gentle simmer and poach the breasts until cooked (about 15 minutes).

 

Remove the breasts. Once cooled, shred them using 2 forks (or your hands). Set aside - this is to be a condiment.

 

Bring the stock back to the boil. Meanwhile, heat a pan with a little oil. Fry the reserved prawn shells and heads until caramelized. Add this mixture (make sure you get all that orange prawn-infused oil into the pot) to the stock. Add the spice mix and lower the heat. Simmer for an hour.

 

Blend up the soup (I highly recommend using an immersion blender, this saves the trouble of emptying hot soup into a blender in batches - because I doubt any blender is large enough to accomodate a large pot of gravy). Strain the gravy into another pot and keep warm. Before serving, bring back to a boil and add the coconut milk.  Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

 

Make a thin omelette from the eggs (I had to do 2 omelettes as I wanted them thin and my pan wasn't that big).

 

Before serving, poach the peeled prawns in the laksa gravy (about 5 minutes) until cooked. Blanch the noodles (1-2 minutes) and the beansprouts (30 seconds) separately.

 

To serve, let people help themselves to noodles, beansprouts, omelette strips, chicken strips and prawns. Ladle the hot gravy over. Garnish with coriander. Add sambal and lime to increase spice and sourness levels accordingly.

 

 

Ham and Any-Veggie Soup

Pregnancy gets me all wired up weird. All I wanna eat is spicy (and sometimes) sour stuff - I have been having the maddest cravings for Sarawak Laksa - and my tastebuds seem extremely sensitive to anything too sweet.

So I hardly want to eat the desserts/cookies I used to want to - which is fine, really. But even fruit tastes sickeningly sweet sometimes.

Which is no good, of course - if there are three main pieces of advice I take the most seriously about pregnancy, they are - exercise/stay fit, stay happy and stress-free and eat lots of fruits and vegetables.

I am a huge fusspot when it comes to veggies. I often don't order them, or refuse to eat a lot when someones else does - because too many places use excess oil, or I just don't like the taste. So I ate lots of fruit.

But now that fruit can be a real turnoff sometimes, I was feeling somewhat anxious that I was not providing my little jelly bean enough nutrition (yes, I hope it's a her).

Well - you know how it is - if you can't find what you want when you want to order/buy it, then you just gotta make it yourself.

This is a ham-flavoured vegetable soup, inspired (somewhat) by this recipe. For a meatless version one could always use parmesan cheese to add a little more flavour.

The vegetables are just what I could find in my nearby Jaya Grocer - organic carrots, celery and french beans, onions and fennel went into the soup. I also got very cheap ham chips from there. I made a big batch for consumption throughout the week (plan got a little thwarted when I had to travel on business). Everytime I reheated the soup I also added (organic) spinach leaves for a further veggie boost. oh, and I also threw in a can of pinto beans, but that didn't work out so well - the grainy texture of the beans kinda took away from the crunch of the veggies.

My guess is that this recipe adapts to whatever mild-flavoured produce you can find in your local grocery - cauliflower, green cabbage, even some fresh button mushrooms maybe.

In fact, it's hardly a recipe - just cube up the aromatics - onion, celery, carrots - and slice the fennel into rings. Get the bacon and ham going with a little oil in a big heavy-bottomed pot. Stir the mixture every now and then until the bacon renders its fat. Add the aromatics, and a pinch of salt. Stir to coat with all that bacon and ham fat. Reduce heat to low, cover and let it all sweat and for the vegetables to release their sweetness. Stir often to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom and burns. Cover with water/chicken/vegetable stock (I used water and added a few dashes of chicken stock concentrate). Bring to the boil, add the drained beans and sliced French beans. Cook until the veggies are still crisp and retain some of their bite. Salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving, add the spinach and cook just enough to wilt the leaves.

I like mine with lots freshly ground black pepper and spinach, and for AK I grate a little parmesan over as well.

When AK first saw what I made he expressed disappointment that I was making a "plain" soup. Then he promptly slurped down 3 bowls. Hmph.

 

Super-easy soup for the soul/sick

What I made for AK, when he caught the flu. The fella has just returned from too much sun, booze and partying in Phuket and of course, fell sick as soon as he touched down.

It's really easy - I threw everything together on a weekday night. Oh, and I think not using my hands to roll out the balls, and using an ice cream scoop to form them and drop them in the soup (with that sweeping thingy attached) yielded a very tender chicken dumpling. Not pretty for sure, but surprisingly tender.

East-West Quick-N-Easy Chicken Soup Recipe

Serves 4 persons, or 2 persons over 2 meals with rice or noodles.

1 large carrot, or 2 small
1 celery stalk
1 yellow onion
3 tbsp dried goji berries
7 - 8 pieces dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in 2 cups hot water
Chicken stock concentrate
Seasonings - salt/soy sauce, white pepper
500 g minced chicken
2 - 3 tbsp oats, ground in the food processor
1 egg
2 1" knobs of ginger White pepper


Soak the dried shiitakes in hot water for 10 - 15 minutes. 
For the chicken dumplings, mix the ground oats, minced chicken, egg, 2 tbsp soy sauce.
Grate one of the knobs of ginger into the mixture. Mix only to incorporate everything, adding more oats if the mixture is too damp.
Place the mixture in the fridge.
Finely dice carrot(s), celery and onion, and finely slice the ginger.
Heat up a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat in enameled cast-iron pot, add the sofrito of diced vegetables and a dash of salt/soy sauce. The salt element prevents the veggies from browning.
Soften the diced vegetables in the heat.
Add 2 cups of hot water and a few dashes of chicken stock concentrate.
Drain your now-rehydrated shiitakes. Strain the soaking liquid to remove any grit.
Add the shiitakes, their soaking liquid and the goji berries to the mixture.
Bring the soup up to the boil again, and drop scoops of the chicken mix in (I used an ice cream scoop).
Season to taste, and simmer for another 10 minutes. Check and see if the chicken is cooked.


 

Quesadillas, and what to do with leftovers

A great way to use leftovers.

For dinner the other day, I spread leftover guacamole I had made earlier onto onion and chive tortilla wraps, and piled on crispy bacon bits (crisped bacon rashers in the oven, drain and scissor into strips), leftover grilled chicken from a nearby Peruvian restaurant, and mozarella cheese. Heat up a nonstick pan (dry, no oil), fold the tortillas into half and grill until the cheese melts, pressing down the quesadillas to make sure you have a nice flat piece.

Late night noshing

Slowly but surely, I am getting back into my cooking groove.

There's so many things I want to do! So many links I've bookmarked, so many lists I've made, so much to get done.

I haven't finished unpacking - we decided on our built-ins so late that now we have to wait until the Eid season is over for our carpenter to come and install our wardrobe and dry kitchen. So my clothes and part of my kitchen items lie in boxes still.

Also, work has been craaaazy. It's coming to the end of a 3-week slog-fest, and this is on top of the last of the reno craziness and unpacking and sorting. I've lost weight and the bags under my eyes will need some time to disappear. But we've moved in! And last week was my big workshop, and I think my efforts paid off.

Now I am in a sort of recovery mode. Taking things a little slower, a little easier.

Things I need to continue - unpacking, and putting stuff where they belong. Work, it has its highs and lows but it doesn't end.

Things I need to start doing again - exercise. It has taken a 2-month backseat and the momentum is too big. Sigh. I've been making a pathetic efforts - a bit of sun salutations but I really need to get my a** moving again.

Things I want to do: Cook! Garden! Lie in bed all day, take long morning walks. Plant herbs, make ice-cream, make my own cleaning solutions. Throw out all my unused junk. Try to live a little more simply.

Anyways, I had a good weekend for once. We stayed home mostly, and watched Zero Dark Thirty on Saturday night instead of traipsing down to some mall for dinner and a movie with friends. I made guacamole, which went down very well.

Here's my recipe, which was more than enough for two with a bag of corn chips:-

I don't use tomatoes for two reasons - I hate them, and Emily doesn't as well. Oh, and I used a bit of soy. I know it sounds weird, but I was tasting and tasting the mixture with salt and felt that it lacked something - a savoury roundness. So I tried mixing it a bit of soy sauce, and it worked a real treat. By all means omit it, but, if I may suggest, try it with a small batch and see what happens...........

Twisted Guacamole

2 ripe avocadoes (firm but slightly yielding to the touch)

1/2 cup cilantro (before chopping) stems and leaves

1/2 clove garlic

2 spring onions

1 bird's eye chilli (this is all I had), deseeded

Juice of 2 - 3 small limes, or to taste

Sea salt, and a little soy sauce (I swear this is not a typo nor hoax)

Finely chop up the cilantro stems and leaves. Scoop the avocado into a bowl large enough to mix everything in. Grate the garlic finely into the avocado mix, add chopped cilantro. Finely slice the chilli (and I mean finely, they should be threads of chilli)and spring onions into the mix. Using a fork, mash the avocado up, mixing in the other stuff as well. Squeeze in the lime juice and add the salt. Taste and adjust seasonings (add the soy last) as you see fit.

Where the heart is (and baked eggs)

We've moved in! So our built ins are not ready yet, and we still need to buy a new sofa and a mattress, but the wet kitchen is more than functional, so armed with my microwave convection oven, and the plethora of imported produce one can find in the Klang valley, it was more than easy to whip something up.

Finally we're here. No more early morning meetings with contractors, shopping frenzies, thronging psycho home fairs and stressing. Sure, there's still work to be done, but now that we've moved in, the sense of urgency is very much reduced. Now I just have to re-establish my fitness routine (haven't properly worked out in more than a month), just to make it complete.

Breakfast today - baked eggs. So easy - I used lamb merguez sausages that I cut up and browned in a hot pan and placed in an ovenproof dish. Broke 3 eggs over, a teeny splash of milk and chopped chives. I didn't salt the eggs - the sausages are tasty/savoury enough to carry the dish.

Boo making himself at home.

A touch of luxe for breakfast

Freshly cured bacon and fried kampung eggs, both purchases from Ben's Independent Grocer's, a food mart unlike any other. Oh, and the eggs are topped with a generous sprinkle of Dean and Deluca's heady truffle salt, my only souvenir from Qatar.

Oven omelette

I previously mentioned that, given that I have a little over a month left here, I decided not to refill my cooking gas tank. But I still have most of my meals at home - using my trusty electrical appliances - kettle, microwave, toaster oven. I'll admit - a lot of it is heating up fried chicken and fishballs bought from the deli counters of supermarkets and instant noodles. But I make do.

Today, since i had a bit more time, I tore up a piece of aluminium foil, placed it in my trusty Indian copper platter and smeared a little oil all over it. I diced up an onion and tossed it in the oil with a little Maggie seasoning and placed it in the oven toaster with dial up to 12 minutes. Meanwhile I broke 2 eggs in a bowl, grated in a clove of garlic and some ginger. Since I had some mozarella I tossed a couple of slices in too. Tossed in a very finely sliced bird's eye chilli too, and whisked it all up with a fork. I opened the toaster door to the sweet smell of my onions caramellizing and a nice sizzling sound. I poured the contents of the bowl over the onions and closed the door. By the time the timer rang, I had a nice little frittata ready.

Voila, dinner.



Weekend Brekkie - Steamed eggs and tofu

It's not often that I crave something not sweet for breakfast. But this weekend called for something light and healthy, like congee or something. Something zen.

A pack of silken tofu, eggs, some spring onions and you got yourself a steamed egg breakfast bowl. It's  simple to make, comforting to eat.

Crack an egg into a ramekin or microwave-safe dish. Add half a block of silken tofu. Using a single chopstick (don't use a fork and you'll be aerating the mixture, something you don't want as the mixture will not be as smooth), stir the mixture to break the two up and combine them. Snip 2 spring onions in. Season with a little soy and cracked black pepper. Stir again.

Microwave on high for 3 minutes. Eat while it's still steaming hot.

On a side note, I decided not to buy another cylinder of cooking gas and see how I can get by without the stove for the next few weeks. I have my microwave, my kettle, my oven and a toaster. Let's see how it goes.

Dhal with egg and spinach

I have to say, I have been pretty delinquent in feeding myself these past 2 weeks. Too much travel (Qatar, KL, Miri, Bintulu), too much time spent in airports, and overall sheer exhaustion. Couple that with some crazy times at work, and I have reverted back to my old instant noodles-or-oatmeal for lunch/dinner habits. The good news, though, is that my constant travel has yielded something fruitful - we finally decided on a house. A basic one that had us sweating when we handed over the earnest deposit, and then excited when we started dreaming of renovation and decoration.

Anyway, this is something I made a few weeks back, before the start of all the craziness and I had the time and energy to cook something for myself. Simple, hearty and warming dhal, bulked up with egg and spinach when reheated for lunch or dinner.

This recipe is from my old standby, 5 Spices 50 Dishes, by Ruta Kahate. One basically simmers split moong dhal (red lentils) with ginger, then make a tadka (spice mix) with coriander, cumin, garlic and "burnt" onions. I find that this tastes a lot better the next day, after the flavours are given a chance to meld and mature.

Everyday Yellow Dal

1 cup yellow split peas, soaked in cold water for 1 hour
3 cups water
1 large tomato (about 8 ounces), cut into 8 wedges
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 medium red onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
5 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon coriander seeds, finely ground
3/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup minced cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt

1) Drain the dal (split peas) and place in a large saucepan.
2) Add the fresh water and tomato and bring to a boil.
3) Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until the peas are tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
4) Pick out any tomato skins and whisk the dal to emulsify it. Keep warm over low heat.
5) Make the tadka: Heat the oil in a medium skillet over high heat.
6) When the oil beings to smoke, add the cumin seeds, covering the pan with a lid or splatter screen.
7) After the seeds have stopped sputtering, add the onion and garlic and sauté over medium heat until most of the onion has turned dark brown, about 5 minutes. Add the coriander, turmeric, and cayenne, stir, and pour the onion mixture over the dal. Add the cilantro, butter, and salt to the dal and simmer for another 5 minutes. Serve hot.Serves 4.

While traditionally one should eat this with bread or rice, accompanied by a few more dishes, I simply top my dhal with some wilted spinach and a poached egg, throw in the frozen spinach and break an egg over before reheating it in the microwave.

A cheesy makeover

I feel that I must first apologise for the title. But it really does fit the bill. :)

Bedtime, with Nigella Kitchen and a big fat furry purring bundle of contentment next to me. Yes I read cookbooks in bed. One of my many simple pleasures in life, and Nigella's books make for particularly dreamy bedtime reading.

I am especially inspired by one of the chapters in Kitchen, entitled "Cook It Better", where she describes her inability to throw anything away. There are recipes here for stale bread (Panzanella, bread pudding), vegetable odds and ends (throw them into a green curry), subpar strawberries (make crumble). I especially enjoyed her describing "making a banoffee cheesecake rise out of the sad ashes of a blackening bunch of bananas." You just can't fault the woman, outrageous as the stuff she says.

So of course I was inspired. And good thing too.

I had, in a spate of bad judgement, bought myself a pack of processed cheese slices thinking that hey, I could make a solo meal by slapping a conveniently pre-sliced, calcium-fortified piece on a tortilla, pop it in the oven and hey, dinner.

Not so. I had to force myself to finish my first attempt. And then I vowed to buy those blocks next time.

So what to do with the rest of the vile-tasting cheese? I fretted about it and resigned myself to conveniently forgetting about the rest of those horrid slices. Until I read this. I am a big fan of the blog - a lot of the posts are about buying, cooking and showcasing local Filipino produce. Plus I love breakfast. I read this post, and yes my friends, this I would do. I would pay homage to Nigella and throw more ingredients at my unwanted one and crackers will emerge. How glorious.

I set to work. Since the flavour of my cheese was quite horrid, I threw in curry powder (4 teaspoons), turmeric powder (2 teaspoons), Maggie seasoning (about 1/2 a teaspoon), and garlic powder (2 teaspoons). And I also subbed a combination of all purpose flour and ground oat bran for whole wheat flour. To top the crackers, I sprinkled some with chilli flakes, others I cracked black pepper over.

Lo and behold, they came out more than edible. Addictive almost, with the curry and garlic and chilli all contributing to a complex, deeply savoury flavour. I am rather pleased, I must say. I'm sure Nigella would approve.

White bean and spinach soup

My dears, I guess you could say that I have been settling into a routine. At least, food-wise.This weekend was spent in very similar fashion to last week's. Cleaning, laundry and cooking what will be my meals over the next few days.This week it's a super-healthy soup. Super-easy it was too - brown a few cubes of ham in a few glugs of olive oil, after which soften some onions over low heat. Make sure the onions cooks down and turn slightly golden, for maximum flavour. Grate a clove of garlic in, and a few shakes of dried oregano and pepper. Hold the salt for now. Add a can of beans, drained. Cover with water. Add a few tablespoons of shaved parmesan and a few drops of chicken stock concentrate. Taste for seasoning and adjust. Bring to a boil, the turn down the heat and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes.

Oh, and it's better to do all of the above the day or the night before you want to eat. This tasted so much better after spending the night in the fridge. Stir in as much spinach as you want in the last minute of reheating the soup. I like lots.

The picture above. I don't know what set him off - the smell of garlic, the additional strips of chicken I pan-fried (because I gotta have my meat), but Boo Boo was super curious about the soup. He usually doesn't bother about my food, or turns away after the first sniff of instant noodles/pasta/apples. But with the stew he kept hovering around and sniffing at the plate while I tried to get a photo. I finally had no choice but to shove him off the table. I guess he knows a good thing when he sees it.

Homemade Black Pepper Sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce
Dash of Maggie Seasoning
2 tsps dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 Oxo beef stock cube
1/2 cup milk
Pinch of sea salt

2 Spanish onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, grated
1/2 inch knob of ginger, grated

Heat up a little olive oil and sweat the onions with the salt sprinkled in over low heat, about ten minutes, stirring occasionally. You want them translucent and soft, not caramelised. Add the garlic and ginger and stir for a minute.

While the onions are cooking, grind your peppercorns with the beef stock cube in either a spice grinder or pestle and mortar.

Add the rest of the seasonings to the onion-garlic-ginger mixture, then add a little water to get everything going. Add the milk last, taste for seasoning.

I simmered strips of chicken breast in this, then stirred in some (pre-cooked) whole wheat penne and spinach leaves.

This makes enough to sauce about 300 grams of pasta and 3 boneless chicken beasts - as in my meals for the next few days.

Teriyaki Hamburgers

AK loves burgers, and I've been making my own for some time now. I've learnt a couple of neat tricks by now, e.g. some freshly ground coriander can surprisingly uplift a couple of ounces of ground beef, that bacon fat can make it practically orgasmic - I kid you not, try it yourself. That all that machine ground meat can never beat lovingly hand-minced (unfortunately, sigh).


I discovered a Japanese version of the burger when I purchased Harumi Kurihara's Harumi's Japanese Home Cooking at one of Amazon's online sales months ago, but never got round trying it until last weekend. You basically use a mixture of beef and pork, raw onions (I normally soften mine first, preferably in the aforementioned bacon fat), and - the Japanese touch here - homemade teriyaki sauce. It just so happenned that I have a bottle of mirin I bought from yonks back that I intended to use to make katsudon. However the recipe intimated me so much (read it here) - all that deep frying and timing etc etc that I never got around to trying it out.

Making my own teriyaki sauce, on the other hand, was super easy and dare I say, much cheaper than buying my own chemical-laded version - although having said that, the soy sauce I used probably contained a preservative or two. Two-thirds soy and one-third mirin. Add a bit of sugar and rice wine vinegar to taste (I used about a teaspoon to make one cup of teriyaki). I also threw in a clove of garlic (slightly crushed) and grated in some ginger. This sauce, as Harumi says, can be used to marinate meats and seafood, stir fry veggies, basically your all-round hero. I modified her recipe slightly, incorporating a little of the teriyaki into the burgers instead of just salt - just to echo the sauce and amplify the Japanese tinge.

The burgers were accompanied by (as Harumi recommended) plain boiled potatoes and carrots microwaved in butter and salt. Everything is topped with spoonfuls of the delicous teriyaki sauce. We did find the potatoes slightly too bland for our liking though. So for our dinner (i.e. burger round #2 - I made enough for 2 meals) I roasted them a la Nigella, parboiled and tossed around in flour then roasted in preheated oil over high heat for the ultimate potato experience (golden and crunchy on the outside, creamy within).

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

For perfectly good reasons, I try to avoid deep frying as much as possible. The mess, the oil splashed on skin and countertops, the waste of the oil, and of course, ALL THOSE CALORIES.

But as soon as I laid eyes on this recipe, I gave in.

And I'm glad I did. I halved the recipe, more or less, for three drumticks for AK and 2 chicken breasts for myself. I didn't have buttermilk or seasoned salt, so I used milk with the juice of a lime stirred in, and for the salt I used instead sea salt, garlic powder and cayenne. Lots of freshly ground black pepper ground in too, I think, is essential.

We ate our fried chicken, juices dripping down our chins, teeth crunching into the crispy skin, with simply steamed baby corn cobs, watching Law and Order: SVU. Perfect.

My First Baguette

Well, my house, my clothes and even my cat are covered in flour, my oven and my cast iron pan need a good scrubbing (I used it in lieau of a baking stone).

But I am super pleased. Crusty, tasty baguettes with a mild sourdough flavour (thanks so overnight fermentation) with crispy crusts.

My Mum's Spaghetti Bolognaise (for the tomato haters out there)

I love pasta.

I hate tomatoes.

Maybe it's because I have never tried to find a good one, or the quality of tomatoes that we get here. I seriously cannot remember a time when I ever tasted tomato and liked it. Too sour, too sweet, too slimy. Even sun dried tomatoes taste like prunes to me (sorry). Maybe one day, inspired by Gwyneth Paltrow and Skye Gyngell, I will slow-roast a few in the hopes of changing my mind. Surely so many people must be right? But for now, it's no surprise that I shun ordering tomato-based pasta dishes when we eat out. My favourite eat-out pasta dish is actually a Thai crabmeat pasta at the Delicious restaurants (one of my favourite places to eat out in KL by the way). Redolent with chilli, ginger flower, lemongrass, coriander and crab. Best. Idea. Ever. Another of my favourites is a black pepper seafood fettucine at a local (Mirian) joint. Maybe it's my very Asian palate.

Back to Bolognaise.

My mum came up with this genius recipe, which takes about 20 minutes from start to finish, tastes like a dream (to me at least, and all of my brothers and cousins and aunties and uncles). Nowadays I tend to cook a big pot of it on weeknights, dreaming of home and family. I have adapted it slightly from by adding a beef stock cube. Otherwise, it is as she makes it. And while purists might find what I am about to recommend an absolute travesty, I'll have you know that everyone who has tried it has loved it. I have yet to find one person who will not wolf this down. And it's so damn convenient to make. The only fresh ingredients are onions and the beef (oops, not sure if that's good or bad). So, for all those similarly Asian palates and busy folk out there, and also for those (there must be some, right?) tomato-haters out there, here goes:

450g long pasta of choice (spaghetti, tagliatelli or fettucine, not angel hair)

For the Bolognaise:

1 packet Maggie Bolognaise sauce mix
1 cup of pre-made cream of mushroom soup (I use a pack of the single serving stuff that makes 1 mug of soup and added water), or 1/3 cup concentrated soup
250g ground beef
2 large yellow onions, diced
4 fat cloves of garlic, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 mild beef stock cube
1 tbsp dried oregano


Handful button mushrooms (fresh or canned, I usually use canned)

Optional - 1 green bell pepper (cut into chunks), and parmesan cheese

For the sauce - in a heavy based pot, soften the diced onions in the oil and a pinch of salt for a good 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir until it releases its fragrance. If using the peppers (I usually don't - a single green pepper costs 5 bucks in this neck of the woods). Add the mushrooms and stir.

I like to brown the meat separately in another frying pan (in a dash of oil, over high heat until really brown), then add it to the onion mixture, but mum just dumps it into the same pot. Either way, they both work. Add the oregano, Maggie mix, the soup, and top up with about 400 mls of water. Crumble in the stock cube. Simmer for a further 15 - 20 minutes. Grind in some black pepper and (maybe) a bit of sugar to taste.

Cook your pasta as per the instructions on the pack. Drain and add to the sauce, stir for about 2 minutes to allow the pasta to soak up the gravy.

Serve with freshly grated parmesan (a sliver of so-called integrity in this canned, pre-mixed-profuse recipe as I cannot stand the canned parmesan flakes - they smell and taste like puke. See, I have standards :)).

Serves four, or in our case, two, twice.