Wok Fried Manila Clams 香锅炒蛤蜊

oct2015 update – i have done this dish a few times now. the best rendition was when i did a 9pax teochew muay lunch for my friends on 28.10.2015 (top photo).

wok fried mango clams

wok fried manila clams 香锅炒蛤蜊

wife went to chinatown today & bought S$6/kg manila clams, a kind of soft-shell clams or steamers.

manila clams are much lighter & tastier than the hard shell littleneck clams (the usual lala) though some called manila clams lala also. so even though they cost higher per kg, you actually get your money’s worth.

wok fried mango clams

wok fried manila clams 香锅炒蛤蜊

for today i fried it with butter, chilli padi, curry leaves, orange zest, sliced ginger, white wine, oyster sauce + corn flour on high fire.

need to drain (keep sauce) so as not to overcook clams, return sauce to pan to thicken, then return clams to coat with sauce for few seconds.

this time, the result was a super nice wok-fried manila clams – 特好吃香锅蛤蜊。。。

i was thinking probably need not mix the 2 styles also-

i can try the usual butter, chilli padi, orange zest, ginger & white wine which is my usual preparation for mussel pot or clams & mussels for pasta & risotto.

or i can do the curry leaves, chilli padi, sliced ginger, oyster sauce, corn flour good for toa tao & clams the asian style.

this time though the mixture of taste was quite excellent. everyone enjoyed the dish. ^^

stir-fry manila clams 16.10.2015

stir-fried manila clams with curry leaves – 16.10.2015

stir-fry manila clams 16.10.2015(3)

stir-fried manila clams with curry leaves – 16.10.2015 

subsequently, i did this dish a few times, and they were consistently good.

the best was still that shown in the top photo!

c.h.e.f andy

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Deconstructed Strawberry Cheese Cake – Soooo Delicious!

deconstructed strawberry cheese cake

deconstructed strawberry cheese cake

deconstructed strawberry cheese cake

deconstructed strawberry cheese cake @ relish gardens

revisiting the deconstructed strawberry cheese cake @ relish gardens earlier on 1.12.2014 very much piqued my interest to give it a go.

the presentation & especially the taste was great! (above photo). i did not have any recipe & searching the internet did not yield much results. anyhow i make a good pumpkin cheese cake & figure i can do it with strawberries w/o much difficulty.

the end result was pretty good (see top photo). my biscuit crust was excellent, cripsy, tasty. cream & strawberries were great too. the cake though was much below the very tasty & better textured cake relish had.

strawberry cheese cake

strawberry cheese cake

strawberry cheese cake

strawberry cheese cake

strawberry cheese cake

strawberry cheese cake

strawberry cheese cake

strawberry cheese cake

to experiment, i started with the full (not deconstructed) version.

i tasted caramel & nuts in relish’s version, so i added 50g caramel (leftover from making my banoffee cake) & about 50g cashew nut mill (baked crispy 2mins+ in microwave then pounded in a mortar) to 7 digestive biscuits (105g) & 60g butter.

i blended 200g of strawberries, 250 cream cheese & 100ml of whipped cream with 3 tablespoon brown sugar.

I first baked the biscuit crust for 15mins in a preheated 180degC oven, & left it for another 30mins to dry out & become crispy. then i poured the cake mixture into the springform cake tin & baked for 30mins.

i let the cake cool & then topped it with 200ml whipped cream with 1 teaspoon brown sugar & 1 teaspoon vanilla essence.

result was above.

caramel cashew nut digestive biscuit base

caramel cashew nut digestive biscuit base

caramel cashew nut digestive biscuit base

caramel cashew nut digestive biscuit base

caramel cashew nut digestive biscuit base

caramel cashew nut digestive biscuit base

for the deconstructed version, i did the same thing & left the biscuit crust in the fridge overnight & break it into bite-size cookie pieces next day. they were delicious, nutty & caramel flavoured. ^^

strawberry cheese cake

strawberry cheese cake

strawberry cheese cake

strawberry cheese cake

i baked the cake mix separately in a baking dish. the cake mix tasted great before the baking, but the texture & taste was quite far from the excellent cake i had at relish.

my thoughts are to increase the whipped cream to 200ml, reduce the strawberries to 120g, and reduce baking time to 15mins.

whipped cream

whipped cream

strawberries

strawberries

i made 200ml whipped cream separately.

& served another 250g cut strawberries.

deconstructed strawberry cheese cake

deconstructed strawberry cheese cake

deconstructed strawberry cheese cake

deconstructed strawberry cheese cake

for assembly of the deconstructed cake, it was straight forward.

everyone D-I-Y & added their own caramel nut biscuits, strawberry cake & topped with whipped cream & strawberries. it was really delicious!

but, it can be improved.

c.h.e.f andy

Great Cuppa @ Dutch Colony Pasarbella on 26Dec2014

flat white small - S$4.50

flat white small – S$4.50

family decided to go out for a cuppa on 26.12.2014.

ducth colony @ pasarbella

ducth colony @ pasarbella

grandstand at turf club road is nearby. we decided to go to the dutch colony @ pasarbella. it’s quite a hip joint, nice cosy place, great ambience. 🙂

banana cake with cream cheese

banana cake with cream cheese

banana cake with cream cheese

banana cake with cream cheese

flat white large - S$5.50

flat white large – S$5.50

i don’t go out for coffee often. the last time i had a nice cuppa with wife was at chye seng huat at tyrewhitt road on 17.9.2014.

i have a good coffee machine at home & recently i ordered 8x1kg caffe aurora from qbfood (it’s like 40% the price of lavazza coffee from culina! mostly when i had coffee outside it would be the “kopi-c go song tilok” aka kopitiam kind. ^^

we had flat whites & the children had some banana cake. like chye seng huat the coffee here was quite good. flavour was great, frothed milk was velvety smooth & combined well with the coffee. this reminded me also of the nice cuppa i had in london with my son-

at monmouth cafe in covent gardens on 22.8.2014, and

at melrose & morgan during our walk along regent’s canal to primrose hill on 24.8.2014.

the 2 in london were much better but that could also be the colder weather & we were doing a bit of walking & the mood was right & perfect for a cuppa.

by comparison i feel chye seng huat is better but really not by much. CSH place is cool but dutch colony is nearer if i really want to place with good coffee to chill.

c.h.e.f andy