2018 celebrations 11pax RI bros home dinner

made 11pax 2018 year end dinner for RI bros this evening on 27.12.2018-

Menu

1 chicken rice
2 1/2 braised duck
3 braised pig trotters
4 claypot liver
5 white belly pork
6 steamed salted fish minced pork
7 steamed nonya sauce tilapia
8 salted egg bittergourd
9 fried kang kong
10 fried manila clams
11 tofu cheesecake

CCG brought 汤圆..HK brought 2 mumm champagne
TKF brought a red…WL brought haagen dazz ice creams
TCH brought strawberries ….HAB brought very sweet longans

#1 白斩鸡chicken rice & #2 braised 1/2 duck

my 白斩鸡 chicken rice chicken very good standard now better than most outside. and i also made good chilli and a very good drizzling sauce.

so chicken was nothing less than excellent, but the rice today not that great..not sure why. the guys said it was ok, but of course it was distinctly not as good as before when the fragrant was so evident even before you ate it.

braised duck i had not made for many years. but today’s was excellent as well. i served 1/2 and kept 1/2 for next day dinner at my in laws place (& it was just as excellent everyone loved it just that 1/2duck was a bit little).

#3 white belly pork

i did a very good white belly pork this evening.

as i had braised hock & trotters i decided to have a different serving just plain boiled belly pork in chicken broth.

the texture was very good, taste wise of course it did not have the intensity of the braised meat, but like the 白斩鸡 chicken rice chicken, it was perfect with the chicken rice chilli.

#4 braised pork trotters

i somehow managed to forget to serve the braised hock and trotters though it was in the kitchen the whole time, until we all finished the dinner.

anyway the guys decided to just ate it, so we finished about 3/4, and CL packet home the remaining 1/4.

CK took the cabbage which was used to shield the bottom from getting burnt. braising turned connective tissues and released the flavours to very tasty collagen which was starchy, and will sticked and burnt when reheat so i placed a few cabbage before reheating to serve, and the cabbage became very tasty with the infused braises.

#5 steamed salted fish minced pork

today i made steamed minced pork with salted fish, a very traditional dish served in many zi char. quite shiok!

#6 steamed tilapia with gimson nonya sauce

my steam oven went on strike, failed on me, so i had to replate the 2 tilapia and steamed eahc separately 8 mins.

this dish is always delightful with the gimson nonya sauce. made a cheap fish with mud taste quite exquisite, as the meat was fresh and smooth and few bones and the tangy taste of the sauce combined well with the hk steam flavourful light soy sauce.

#7 claypot liver

claypot liver i seldom cook. everyone loved it. i use one and a half pieces becos i did not want to crowd the dish. after that i cooked the other 1/2 piece as the guys quite happy to have it.

#8 fried manila clams lala

the lala manila clams very good. i cooked with curry leaves and oyster sauce, and a bit of stock. timing/texture was perfect but it was easy in any case, just cover, make sure opens up and don’t overcook.

#9 fried kang kong

fried kang kong as usual..just oyster sauce, do not add water…very nice & fragrant.

#10 salted egg bittergourd

and today’s salted egg bittergourd very good.

i fried the salted egg and bittergourd first, and set aside. when serving i fried 3 eggs, let them firmed with a tasty fried layer, then added back the bittergourd and folded the fried egg over and mized. very nicely done today. ^^

tang yuan 汤圆

tang yuan 汤圆

tang yuan 汤圆

CCG brought nice tang yuan 汤圆, some with ginger sauce, some with peanut soup.

we split among the 11 of us.

#11 tofu cheesecake

tofu cheesecake

i made tofu cheese cake.

this evening it was excellent! i didn’t do this for last few years and the one i did on christmas eve was not so good. base was too thin as a different brand of digestive had different weight and 7 pieces was not the right amount, so this evening i used 9 pieces.

this time it was perfect, thicker just right base and a good mild tangy sweet smooth cake.

strawberries

longans

rock melon

haagen dazs

haagen dazs

2018 celebrations 11pax RI bros home dinner dishes

and we adjourned to the tv room for karaoke, and had fruits and ice creams. HCK the standout cantonese & chinese crooner…

a fun evening for all and a wonderful time with RI bros to celebrate 2018 and to welcome the new year.

c.h.e.f andy

christmas eve dinner dishes

wife organised a christmas eve dinner. E could not make it, so we had 8pax including aunty bes on 24.12.2018. ^^

menu-

1 pumpkin rocket salad
2 wife’s crayfish pasta
3 beer can chicken 
4 grilled snapper
5 herb crusted rack of lamb
6 wife’s grilled vegetables
7 pangrilled vegetables

daughter organised a gift exchange. she let us draw a no. earlier. it happened that i drew my wife’s no. and she drew mine. i not into buying christmas gift. buy a gift for my wife that’s quite fine..zalora to the rescue! haha! ^^

christmas eve dinner dishes

this evening wife made some dishes herself.

i made a pumpkin rocket salad. the children loved the salad.

wife’s crayfish pasta

her famous crayfish pasta.

crayfish very fresh and creamy tomato sauce nicely done. aunty bes prepared the capeillini. it was slightly overdone. later the children took the tagliatelle i made which were al dente for the crayfish pasta, so i didn’t make my tagliatelle dish…:-)

sliced ham

the ham which came in a hamper was quite nice, but not much taker. so i took a few pieces.

grilled sweet potatoes

wife bought sweet potatoes from red mart and i bought the purple ones from sheng shiong (japanese sweet potatoes from vietnam???)..

mine was 1/2 the price at S$3/kg and it was really quite nice. but the expensive ones were softer and nicer.

grilled sweet corn

grilled sweet corn always nice.

pan-grilled brussel sprouts

and we all loved brussel sprouts.

grilled vegetables

i also made some pan=grilled vegetables – red & yellow peppers and zucchini. and wife did the portobello mushrooms.

beer can chicken

beer can chicken

beer can chicken

i made again the beer can chicken.

it was just as lovely as what i made few evenings ago for my RI makan group friends. chicken was tender, moist, sweet and flavourful, and grilled skin specially a nice flavour.

rack of lamb

i also made a lamb rack this evening.

this rack was frenched but not denuded, so i had to cut away lots of fats.

it was very well cleaned so no much gamey taste.

browned rack of lamb

i charred it on the pan before putting on the herb crust.

herb crusted rack of lamb

lamb crusted and ready for grill 22mins at 210degC for medium rare.

herb crusted rack of lamb

we ate the lamb forgot to take photos. lol!

grilled snapper

grilled snapper

today the grilled fish didn’t come out so well. the oven was different one so timing and temperature somehow did not produce the same effect…

marinade was nice. i flamed the fish, and we took the top part which was quite nice. the part nearer the bones were not cooked through so i left it in the oven.

grilled snapper

& it actually came out very nicely bbq, and very flavourful…

christmas eve dinner dishes

so, a very enjoyable family dinner and as good food as eating out really. and after dinner we took photos around the christmas tree and shared the presents.

a memorable & close family evening together. ^^

c.h.e.f andy

hk string noodles 

cooked beef ball noodles for wife.

beef balls from my relatives in shantou..my bro & sil visited them earlier this month dec2018, and brought back many vacuum packs.

hk string noodles 

noodles the excellent hk type and prawn flavoured..really good.

china beef balls and tsuyu sauce soba soup 

i use tsuyu which basically is used in soba soup, plus some mirin.

so no effort no need to prepare stock for soup, can basically cook right away like preparing instant noodles.

hk string noodles 

this hk noodles really stringy, totally qq, and i added the crispy haebeehiam chilli which is “dem” nice! ^^

hk string noodles with beef balls 

wife enjoyed the simple noodle meal.

i did not eat. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

13pax makan group

pete in town again. i think this 3rd time he visited singapore from london, missing his RI bros. 🙂

i made 13pax Christmas makan group dinner on 20.12.2018. ^^

suresh came at 10.30pm after 3 dinner functions at gardens by the bay & MBS. he told me not to prepare food for him.🙂

pete brought excellent 10yr pot & too much cheese!

CCG brought nice grapes, cherries and strawberries

Menu

1 pumpkin rocket salad
2 beer can chicken
3 crackling german knuckles
4 flamed red wine belly pork
5 slow braised beef short ribs
6 baked/grilled whole red snapper with own tomato herb marinade (1st time)
7 grilled vegetables
8 vongole linguine
9 tagliatelle fruiti mare
10 funghi risotto

the bros brought all the crisps, wine etc

CL showed his flying with geese & kilimanjaro summit videos & our london/wales arsenal stadium & abba videos

homegourmet dinner dishes

i made 10 dishes. happy to report they were all good! lol! ^^

today about the only time i was late with the dishes.

all because stupid apple qcd wheelock queue system. i guess unavoidable. my appointment at 1pm and 1 finished at 3pm (just as well i arranged to have lunch with OPS bros, don’t have to wait around).

i had to go sheng shiong to buy lala for vongole linguine so got home 4pm -ish. even with the best planning & scheduling, still tight to get all dishes ready by 7pm.

late so late lor…no stresses la…

#1 pumpkin rocket salad

CCG helped me with tossing the pumpkin salad. he was great help throughout the dinner.

salad can only toss when serving, otherwise rockets will lock soft & wilted when soaked in olive oil etc for too long. for some reason it appeared that way, so i added more rockets and tossed again. and it was good.

they all loved the salad, commented many times over…

#2 beer can chicken

#2 beer can chicken

my beer can chicken now very good standard, very flavourful.

i recently picked up a new marinade recipe for chicken using lime and olive oil etc, so i had the chicken marinated in the fridge overnight..it is kind of brining..will do a recipe 2.0 later.

the same tender & moist chicken including breast meat, and very “pang” & flavourful now with the new marinade.

#3 red wine belly pork

#3 flamed red wine belly pork

#3 flamed red wine belly pork

did a flamed red wine belly pork. i created this dish after a lunch at foc.

not as good as when i did with mash and kale previously, nevertheless a very good dish.

the belly pork texture was tender but could have been more tender. the flamed bbq flavours were good.

#4 german knuckles

#4 german knuckles

the crackling german knuckles was pretty good though not my best.

i had it really crackling previously. today some parts crackling not as good.

the meat was tender & tasty, so that was good!

#5 grilled red snapper in ginger herb sauce

#5 grilled red snapper in ginger herb sauce

the baked/grilled red snapper was a new experiment.

i had a “large” 800g red snapper. the marinade was new, and also i have not done this grilling whole fish western style previously.

the fish was good, tasty and met fresh and tender…i can certainly improve on the grilling though. this time i used flaming to give it more “pengkang” look & flavours.

i had a second fish, a seabass with intention to use another marinade, but didn’t have time to prepare it. lol! 🙂

#6 slow braised boneless beef short ribs

the slow braised boneless beef short ribs was another new adventure.

i did an experiment on a 200g cut but this was like 1.2kg piece. 🙂

slow braised boneless beef short ribs

CCG could see i was quite pleased with the texture and taste.

it was very tender piece and also very tasty..i am not fully satisfied though as it was still quite far from the flavourful braised beef at akira back or at halia. maybe i will experiment with boned short ribs instead.

#7 grilled vegetables

#7 grilled vegetables

i actually had plans for grilled sweet potatoes, sweet corn and potatoes. those would take 30mins in the oven, but i just didn’t have time to do.

the grilled vegetables were very good – red & yellow peppers, zucchini and portobello mushrooms. CL especially liked the portobello mushrooms. 🙂

#8 tagliatelle fruit mare

the pasta this evening were all fabulous!

that’s the going standard for my pastas these days, perfect al dente & very tasty sauce fully infused.

#8 tagliatelle fruit mare

#8 tagliatelle fruit mare

& of the fruiti mare also, the prawns & sotong were just the right texture, succulent and tasty.

YF mentioned that the squid were so large pieces here, you have to fish around for them when you eat outside. not exactly la…must bring YF to nice italian restaurants in singapore…there are now too many…

#9 vongole linguine

#9 vongole linguine

#9 vongole linguine

the vongole linguine was very good too, same al dente and la la done just right perfect texture…

for vongole i did not use chicken stock so just white wine reduction. i asked my friends which pasta they prefered. they like both as vongole had its unique taste which i did not want to overwhelm with stock, but i guess overall, fruit mare was tastier but different.

funghi risotto

funghi risotto

i liked the funghi risotto this evening. i had not done this for a really long time, like a few years.

it was perfectly al dente. the mushroom flavours were intense and tasty. everyone liked the risotto except SCG and Kiok preferred softer more cooked rice. SCG has lactose intolerance so someone suggested and i did a small portion w/o butter. rest of us all like the one with butter.

CCG brought cherries strawberries

CCG brought cherries strawberries

CCG brought grapes

CCG brought sweet strawberries, large and sweet cherries and grapes.

pete brought excellent pot

pete brought excellent 10yr pot to go with cheese.

pete brought cheese

petes cheese platter

petes cheese platter

not so many cheese takers among our group. i cut 1/2 but it was much already.

i enjoyed the cheese and the pot too, but really i could only take a few sips.

funghi risotto

we gathered after dinner for the fruits, cheese & pot, and CL shared with us photos of his conquest of kilimanjaro (a true feat at our age), and his other treat of flying with geese in southern france.

we had a wonderful time together…pete is off to myanmar and we will meet for makan when he returned.

c.h.e.f andy