Category Archives: chinese & asian

Relish Hong Kong Food Fun Moments on 20Jan2016

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#1 samgyaetang 参鸡汤

#1 samgyaetang 参鸡汤

6 of us had a lot of fun in hong kong 10-14.1.2016. ^^

weather was good to us except for rain on the first evening & second morning (so we had a leisurely dimsum breakfast at tao heung mongkok 稻香旺角).

great hikes & walks at cheung chau, dragon’s back, peak circle walk & lamma island, and we had excellent food at daipaidongs and the tao heung group restaurants, a fairer price restaurant chain.

our only bad & forgettable meal was when we kena waylaid into the wrong tai yun 泰源??(we think).

6 homecooked dishes + 1 dessert

6 homecooked dishes + 1 dessert

so, coming back, naturally i went about recreating several great dishes we had in hong kong (see above menu).

6 homecooked dishes + 1 dessert

6 homecooked dishes + 1 dessert

& here they are (above photo..the rice came later, not in photo).

#1 samgyaetang 参鸡汤

#1 samgyaetang 参鸡汤

my chicken soup was very tasty (though maybe still not as intense as the wonderful glutinous stuffed chicken soup we had at tao hueng tsimshatsui) & chicken very tender as my friends noted.

i stuffed the chicken with 3 tbsp glutinous rice (soaked in water for 1 hr according to one internet samgyaetang recipe), 3 cloves garlic & 3 dried red dates, sliced ginger, 2 spring onions.

i boiled the small 1kg chicken with chicken stock i made the day before, added 3 more red dates & sliced ginger & spring onions, salt (to taste) & boiled medium for 45mins, then turned over medium low for 30mins.

seems that the glutinous rice in the recipe was too little, would have been better with more so texture of soup will be better. will try 1/2 cup next time.

#2 black bean sauce bittergourd with fake kurobuta回锅猪项肉豆屎苦瓜

#2 black bean sauce bittergourd with fake kurobuta回锅猪项肉豆屎苦瓜

we had black bean sauce bittergourd with kurobuta at the accidental find yue bo 鱼宝食馆.

it was very good. 🙂

i used a cheap marbled pork collar to fake the kurobuta. i put it in 90degC oven for 2 hrs to convert the tough connective tissues to flavourful gelatine, then added it to the black beans bittergourd dish like a double-cooked pork 回锅肉.

my friends liked this dish very much. firstly the bittergourd had the special flavour but not bitter as i brined it with sugar the day before & the black beans & slow braise made it very tender & tasty, and the pork collar was excellent, flavourful & tender.

#3 pork + liver sausage fried kailan 腊味芥兰

#3 pork + liver sausage fried kailan 腊味芥兰

i had the pork + liver sausage fried kailan 腊味芥兰 for the first time at fu kee 富记粥品.

so i decided to buy some fairly good pork & liver sausage, steamed them & then fried & added chicken stock to bring out the 腊味 flavours then added the kailand stems & leaves & later oyster sauce & corflour the usual way.

i think my version was as good today maybe better than fu kee 富记粥品’s 腊味芥兰, very flavourful indeed.

#4 dried mustard leaves belly pork 梅菜扣肉

#4 dried mustard leaves belly pork 梅菜扣肉

we did not have 梅菜扣肉  in hong kong. this my first try & in any case a good opportunity to get friends to try..it was very well done. ^^

i varied a 梅菜扣肉 recipe i read on internet.

i placed the belly pork in a 90degC oven for 2 hrs (together with my pork collar to save electricity), instead of boiling it in water for 35mins according to the recipe.

i then seared the skin & sides & added 1/2tbsp dark sauce to coat the belly pork. & sliced the belly pork when cool.

then i melted 1 tbsp sugar, added 1 tbsp oil & fried the 梅菜 & added 1/2cup chicken stock.

then i placed the 梅菜 on the sliced belly pork & placed in the steam oven for 75mins.

the 梅菜 was just perfect, texture, colour, taste, everything & the belly pork 扣肉excellent, so tender & tasty! ^^

#5 salted fish minced pork 咸鱼饼

#5 salted fish minced pork 咸鱼饼

salted fish minced pork 咸鱼饼 was another great dish we had at yue bo 鱼宝食馆.

the salted fish minced pork 咸鱼饼 was good, as usual.

today i experimented 1/2 on belly pork (which was sous vide at 90degC for 2hrs) & lean pork..turned out they tasted quite the same. my friends couldn’t really tell. me too. 🙂

#6 steamed minced garlic prawn rice 蒜蓉鲜虾蒸饭

#6 steamed minced garlic prawn rice 蒜蓉鲜虾蒸饭

the lotus leaf steamed minced garlic prawn rice 蒜蓉鲜虾蒸荷叶饭 was another great dish at yue bo 鱼宝食馆

#6 steamed minced garlic prawn rice 蒜蓉鲜虾蒸饭

#6 steamed minced garlic prawn rice 蒜蓉鲜虾蒸饭

this one though i had some difficulty getting it right!

i used chicken stock to cook the rice in the rice cooker.

then i added some soy sauce mix (similar to those used for fun cheong & also for adding to rice) & added to the cooked rice.

& i had lots of minced garlic.

still the taste was not comparable to the one prepared by yue bo 鱼宝食馆

#7 lotus seeds ginkyo nuts mango cheng chow 白果莲子芒果凉粉

#7 lotus seeds ginkyo nuts mango cheng chow 白果莲子芒果凉粉

& we also had wonderful dessert at Hoe Kee dessert 浩记甜品馆.

#7 lotus seeds ginkyo nuts mango cheng chow 白果莲子芒果凉粉

#7 lotus seeds ginkyo nuts mango cheng chow 白果莲子芒果凉粉

of course i won’t try to make the almond paste 杏仁糊，walnut paste 核桃糊, black sesame paste 芝麻糊 etc。

but lotus seeds mango cheng chow 莲子芒果凉粉is something i can do.

i cooked 1 packet of lotus seeds 莲子 & 1 packet of ginkyo nuts白果 with 4 tbsp brown sugar & reduced.

i let it lightly boiled for 1.5hrs to 2hrs, a friend brought the mangoes, so it was just an assembly of the 莲子白果 on the mangoes & cheng chow 凉粉.

lunch was a display of all the food we liked & enjoyed while in hong kong (except the 梅菜扣肉 dish). it was wonderful to be able to relish the fun food moments in hong kong.

c.h.e.f andy

A 9-course All-Vietnamese New Year Eve Dinner on 31Dec2015

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all vietnamese dinner spread-serving table2

all vietnamese dinner spread-serving table

had a wonderful family homecooked Vietnamese dinner on 31.12.2015 to round out 2015 & welcome the new year 2016! ^^

getting ready for dinner

getting ready for dinner

we were in hoi an, hanoi & halong bay last week 21-27dec2015, having lots of tasty Vietnamese bites in local restaurants, in the streets & also jolly good fare on board indochina junk luxury cruise dragon legends 1.

all vietnamese dinner spread

all vietnamese dinner spread

so i did a 10-course dinner with 9 vietnamese dishes + tiramisu to relish the vietnamese fare & family moments we enjoyed together. we had 9pax including our helper, 3 children & their friends. 🙂

everyone enjoyed the food very much….we had a great evening…after dinner we watched star wars episodes 1 & 3, in my view both episodes were much better than episode 7 – the force awakens. 🙂

bun cha - vietnamese chargrilled pork on beehoon

#1 bun cha – vietnamese chargrilled pork on beehoon

one defining vietnamese cuisine to be found anywhere is the streets, local eats & restaurants is bun cha, or vietnamese chargrilled pork (or meatballs) served with beehoon.

bun cha - vietnamese chargrilled pork on beehoon

#1 bun cha – vietnamese chargrilled pork on beehoon

i did this very well this evening.

vietnamese chargrilled pork for bun cha

#1 vietnamese chargrilled pork for bun cha

my vietnamese chargrilled pork was exquisite this evening! ^^

grilled prawns for bun cha

#1 grilled prawns for bun cha

my daughter don’t like porky taste, so i did a grilled prawns for her. 🙂

aromatics - basil, mint, coriander & lime leaves

aromatics – basil, mint, coriander & lime leaves

a very important ingredient for bun cha & many vietnamese dishes (like pho) is aromatics. for this evening i had basil, mint, coriander & lime leaves. 🙂

bun cha - vietnamese chargrilled pork on beehoon

#1 bun cha – vietnamese chargrilled pork on beehoon

everyone loved the bun cha! 🙂

it’s as good as the bun cha we had at morning glory hoi an & at siagon baguette central mall singapore but we prefer grilled pork collar to meat balls.

about same as the bun cha at mrs pho.

sotong salad

#2 sotong salad

& i made a nice salad, using julienned carrots, daikon (radish), japanese cucumber.

for both bun cha & the sotong salad, a key ingredient is the mixing sauce, which i made with chicken stock, fish sauce, vinegar, a little sugar.

other than commonplace bun cha which is outright vietnamese, many of the “vietnamese” dishes we had were on the luxury cruise.

quite a few were actually chinese dishes & not particularly impressive.

several though had nice lemongrass & herb seasoning & aroma, plus the refreshing salads & very good egg spinach soup. don’t know how vietnamese they were, but i was aiming to reproduce these to relish our vietnam moments. ^^

lemongrass BBQ snapper

#3 lemongrass BBQ snapper

my lemongrass BBQ snapper turned out beautifully, lightly yet distinctly lemongrass scented. quite exquisite. 🙂

lemongrass BBQ chicken wings

#4 lemongrass BBQ chicken wings

the lemongrass BBQ chicken wing likewise was very tasty & different because of the lemongrass. & very tender inside the charred skin. 🙂

flamed 1 hr 70degC sous vide flat squid

#5 flamed 1 hr 70degC sous vide flat squid

same with the squid. i only do slow braising for 1 hr in a 70degC oven & flamed it afterwards, and the taste & texture were both perfect. my children love this dish. 🙂

thai yellow curry for flat squid

#5 thai yellow curry for flat squid

especially when served with the thai yellow curry, a variation of my grilled chicken thighs with thai yellow curry dip.

i created that after having a very nice grilled chicken green curry fried rice at busaba shoreditch london.

my dry wok prawns has been consistently excellent. this time though it was not so successful.

reason is that lemongrass marinate in the chiller does not work. prawns needed to be ultra fresh so i should have just fried in lemongrass & ginger instead of marinating in the chiller.

grilled pork ribs

#7 grilled pork ribs

grilled pork ribs was perfect in texture but seasoning a bit off today.

the best egg spinach soup

#8 the best egg spinach soup

my egg spinach soup was pure perfection. i used mixed chicken stock & fish stock becos they were there & need to be used. it was better than the very good soup we had on the dragon legend cruise.

com chien - vietnamese fried rice

#9 com chien – vietnamese fried rice

my com chien – vietnamese fried rice was passable. still tasty & rice not mushy & separate grains but somehow it was quite different from the excellent com chien we had on dragon legend cruise.

not sure why? their rice felt like baked rice & very tasty.

tiramisu was good but the usual.

all vietnamese dinner spread

all vietnamese dinner spread

we had a marvellous dinner. great family time.

beehoon, chragrilled pork & grilled prawns

#1 beehoon, chragrilled pork & grilled prawns

for bun cha, i cooked beehoon al dente.

chargrilled pork collar was marinated in chiller for 2 days, then fried in butter on high heat.

grilled prawns for bun cha

#1 grilled prawns for bun cha

i had grilled prawns in place of pork for eldest daughter. 🙂

aromatics - basil, mint, coriander & lime leaves

#1 aromatics – basil, mint, coriander & lime leaves

& lots of aromatics  – basil, mint, coriander & lime leaves. 🙂

aromatics - basil, mint, coriander & lime leaves

#1 aromatics – basil, mint, coriander & lime leaves

lots!

browned shallots

#1 & #8 browned shallots

& browned shallots which was also good for the soup. 🙂

steamed squid for salad

#2 steamed squid for salad

sotong salad

#2 sotong salad

sotong salad

#2 sotong salad

sotong was steamed & cut in rings & carrots, daikon (radish) & japanese cucumbers were julienned. plus sliced yellow onions.

lemongrass BBQ snapper

#4 lemongrass BBQ snapper

i tried the lemongrass dry marinade on snapper as i wanted a fish with firmer meat. came out beautifully! 🙂

lemongrass BBQ snapper+flamed sous vide squid

#5 & #6 lemongrass BBQ snapper+flamed sous vide squid

i used a flat squid which is thicker as i wanted that feel.

flamed 1 hr 70degC sous vide flat squid

#5 flamed 1 hr 70degC sous vide flat squid

i “sous vide” it at 70degC for 1 hr in oven in lemongrass marinade in a sealed oven dish so it won’t dry out.

then i flamed with a kitchen torche & the result was simply perfect! excellent taste & texture! 🙂

grilled pork ribs

#6 grilled pork ribs

i did my slow oven braising 90degC for 6hrs. texture was perfect but today the marinade was not that great!

lemongrass BBQ chicken wings

#3 lemongrass BBQ chicken wings

lemongrass BBQ chicken wings

#3 lemongrass BBQ chicken wings

chicken wings were great!

com chien - vietnamese fried rice

#9 com chien – vietnamese fried rice

com chien much to be improved la. 🙂

the simplest dish is the hardest to make, as always an universal truth! 🙂

it’s a memorable evening with family, with the excitement of replicating some dishes we enjoyed in vietnam.

c.h.e.f andy

 

Immense Thrill & Satisfaction – Homecooked 15 Teochew Muay Dishes for 9pax RI Friends’ Lunch on 28Oct2015

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did 15 teochew muay dishes for my friends on 28.10.2015. ^^

gave me immense thrill & satisfaction.

teochew muay dishes are supposed to be cheap food (indeed mostly cheap ingredients). but most teochew muay are not cheap, mostly overcharged for quite poor quality food.

recently my friends & i had been trying out 2 excellent teochew muay places that are truly “cheap & good”

  1. shi le yuan 实叻圆糜 at red hill market &
  2. ye shanghai at bukit merah view

i like both places. ^^

spread of 16 teochew muay dishes

spread of 15 teochew muay dishes

anyway i got inspired to try out teochew muay dishes.

for this lunch i put out 15 teochew muay dishes + 1 banoffee (banana toffee) cake.

spread of 16 teochew muay dishes

spread of 15 teochew muay dishes

the few new dishes included stewed cabbage, stir-fried egg plants, spicy black beans bitter gourd, spicy bean sauce sting ray. all these dishes i recently practiced once or twice. the dish that i did for the first time today was the spicy black beans minced pork. & it was pretty good leh! 🙂

friend's

friend’s “famous” sio bak烧肉

a friend brought his famous” sio bak烧肉. i did not put out all as we had a lot of dishes, so i was enjoying the remaining very much afterwards. it was really good – the texture & flavours were just “oomph”, though today the crispy skin was  not his usual standard.

my most popular dish was the #1 stir-fried manila clams with curry leaves!

everyone loved this, so no. 1 hands down! 🙂

the #7 steamed yellow croaker 小黄鱼 was a top dish for many friends.

this is a variation of the hk steamed style. i think light soy sauce is excellent for steaming fish, very pleasant taste. anyway i did a variation using tsuyu, mirin & olive oil.

fish was so fresh of course, and fine tasting texture, and the sauce was just awesome!

#5 teochew chilled mullet

#5 teochew chilled mullet

the #5 teochew chilled mullet was as good as any of the teochew muay stalls or bakuteh stalls that sell chilled mullet (like lau ah tee).

one differentiation was that i steamed with the scales on, so that the skin came out easily with the scales, whereas many of the teochew muay stalls here steamed w/o the scales & that makes it difficult to tear the skin when it is chilled.

#6 teochew chilled sotong - sotong texture was superb!

#6 teochew chilled sotong – sotong texture was superb!

the #6 teochew chilled sotong texture today was superb! & so sweet.

tau jeon (for chilled mullet), kik you (for chilled sotong) & the braising sauce

tau jeon (for chilled mullet), kik you (for chilled sotong) & the braising sauce

especially when taken with the condiments. 🙂

the #2 pig head jelly 猪头冻 today was awesome, my best so far! absolutely good restaurant standard. ^^

the braising sauce jelly was so tasting, the clear light colour with fat removed was just perfect, and the texture of the pig’s heat meat was perfect too, great bite! well nearly the standard of chui huay lim!

#3 braised belly pork #4 braised pig head meat, pig's ears & jowl meat

#3 braised belly pork #4 braised pig head meat, pig’s ears & jowl meat

my braised meats this time was also my best, even better than my last very good kueh chap standard! 🙂

the braising sauce was so flavourful (i will post another recipe update later), and the meat texture were just incredible, tender yet crunchy with nice bite.

my helper’s＃8 salted fish minced pork 咸鱼饼 was a hit with many friends too.

and it is also one of my perennial favourites.

many liked the #9 steamed egg with minced pork too!

they all liked the light soft yet not watery texture, and the taste too.

#10 spicy black beans minced pork

#10 spicy black beans minced pork

and this was my very first #10 spicy black beans minced pork. 🙂

taste was good. look wise a bit drier & not as oily & reddish as the one at shi le yuan. i will try out a bit more to see which is the best way.

i cooked this #11 spicy bean sauce sting ray with salted veg recently for my family dinner on 24.10.2015, so this the second time.

i think colours, flavours wise was pretty ok, but not among the most popular dishes for my friends.

the #12 spicy black beans bittergourd i think was really very good standard. 🙂

tasty, very slight bitter taste enhanced by the slight salty & spicy black bean sauce.

& my friends all loved the #13 stewed cabbage! ^^

it was so sweet & tasty with the reduced stock & still crunchy not overcooked.

#14 sitr-fried egg plants

#14 sitr-fried egg plants

the #14 sitr-fried egg plants was a tasty dish, but not so wow for me.

somehow not the ye shanghai style i was trying to achieve. 🙂

must try again see how they do this.

#15

#15 “shatin” chicken congee

this was not quite yet the keung kee chicken congee standard

still congee was very good, very tasty & smooth. 🙂

and of course we ended with a nice cake.

actually friends bought a cake also, so we had 2 cakes. 🙂

very nice cake, not too sweet, nice biscuit base, bananas & light whipped cream.

we all had a wonderful lunch & a swell time together among old friends! ^^

c.h.e.f andy

17 Courses of Delectable Dishes for 16pax Homecooked Dinner on 26Aug2015

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#1 friend's 清汤牛腩 - my favourite

#1 friend’s 清汤牛腩 – my favourite

had an exciting evening with my friends on 26.8.2015. ^^

we had 16pax. i planned to serve asian dishes mainly buffet style, and a pasta, beef & lamb dish during the course of dinner. 🙂

a friend brought 清汤牛腩. it was my favourite for the evening. i had a good beef brisket noodles at imperial treasure nanbei few days back on 23.8.2015, one of the few authentic ones. still, that was a bit more beefy. i personally prefer this 清汤牛腩 style. sometimes homecook is the best! ^^

my wife could not join dinner this evening. she organised the quinoa pumpkin tofu salad for me & i mixed in the rockets when serving (so that rockets would not be soggy).

everyone loved the salad. 🙂

i did the spanish omelette. did not do this a the longest time & recently revived it when i served a 10-course vegetarian dinner for 8px for my niece’s birthday.

this was a very popular dish among my diners.

i recently tried out a new preparation for cooking char siew & maybe found the right combination to reproduce easily very flavourful & tender, moist char siew. it is also easy to do, just put on a rack in a preheated oven for 20mins.

& it worked well, very tasty, well charred & quite tender inside. the ends were a bit harder than what i made previously because this roll of pork collar was thinner, so need to adjust the timing say to 18mins for thinner rolls.

i made a  ter kar tan 猪脚冻. it was a bit meaty & not as good as my head cheese terrine 猪头冻, but still a friend who cooked this also thought it was very good. i think the taste was good, i should use either pig’s head meat or a lot of pig skin as pig’s trotter is overly meaty & heavy. & the colour should be lighter, means less or no dark sauce.

my chicken ballotine was very good today, mostly finished.

the thai yellow curry grilled chicken thighs were very good.

there was a bit left though, and when i heat the curry sauce in the microwave & applied it to the cold chicken the next day, for me it was still excellent. 🙂

the thai red curry sotong (squid) was just as lovely. it’s a bit spicier & very good with the rice.

i did the vietnamese chargrilled pork collar w/o the beehoon, just with pickled carrots & peanuts. i tried it after cooking. it was very tasty. i think it was just as good as what i had at mrs pho recently. i think better actually.

but for this evening, maybe there were too much food, it was only 1/2 taken.

#10 braised belly pork & bits of some unused trotter

#10 braised belly pork & bits of some unused trotter

the braised belly pork was done together with the ter kar tan 猪脚冻, so it was just a small portion. the braise was very tasty & the texture of the belly pork was superb by those who take belly pork. nothing was left.

#1 friend's 清汤牛腩 - my favourite

#1 friend’s 清汤牛腩 – my favourite

the friend made 3kg of beef briskets & tendons. so i guess we did have a lot of food.

i am not complaining as this was my favourite dish for the evening. 🙂

#1 friend's 清汤牛腩 - my favourite

#1 friend’s 清汤牛腩 – my favourite

there was some leftover, so i ate the next day & enjoyed it just as much.

#11 helper's spicy black bean sauce pork ribs

#11 helper’s spicy black bean sauce pork ribs

my helper made the spicy black beans pork ribs. it was braised in the pan & then steamed in the steam oven. very tender & great sauce & flavours. it’s one of my perennial favourites. not much left afterwards.

#12 helper's sambal sauce seabass - this everyone's favourite

#12 helper’s sambal sauce seabass – this everyone’s favourite

my helper’s sambal sauce seabass was another dish that was everyone’s favourite. seabass has a slight mud taste & powdery texture, but with the sambal sauce, it was a very appetizing dish. nothing left.

#13 helper's blanched hk kailan with shitake

#13 helper’s blanched hk kailan with shitake

likewise the blanched hk kailan with shitake.

it was time for the pasta, beef & lamb dishes. my friends were all very full so we decided to forgo the pink sauce prawn pasta dish.

my tagliata was just simply fabulous. it was sooooo much better than the ones we had the other evening at the zafferano wine dinner, and haha i will say it again!^^ all my friends at zafferano were here this evening anyway. 🙂

& the pistachio crusted rack of lamb. everyone just loved it! those who eat lamb anyway.

actually we had the lamb at foc the next, and that lamb was a bit more tender than mine, but my lamb was a lot tastier. 🙂 also my pistachio crust was so good it was all mobbed up!

#16 queenie brought chempedak cake from singapore swimming club - very nice

#16 another friend brought chempedak cake from singapore swimming club – very nice

another friend brought a chempedak cake. i like the intense chempedak flavour. it’s a cake i like but won’t take often.

the banoffee (banana toffee) cake was a bit of a failure. the whipping cream was frozen & i heat it up just so lightly, a cardinal sin of laziness. should have just waited for it to get back to room temperature. it did not whipped well & caked up when set.

fortunately the cake itself was quite excellent & many friends liked it. it is indeed a very good combination of texture & taste, banana & toffee. i used very small amount of caramel so it was not too sweet.

it was a very fun get-together. i enjoyed doing all the dishes, and i also had my friend’s excellent beef briskets & my helper’s nice dishes.

c.h.e.f andy

10-course Homecooked Vegetarian Dinner for 8pax on 17Aug2015

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made a 10-course vegetarian dinner for 8pax on 17.8.2015. ^^

it was a belated birthday for my niece who is a buddhist & vegetarian. it’s also the first time i planned & executed vegetarian dishes. 🙂

my niece & her husband are ovo-lacto vegetarians, which means they can take eggs & dairy products like milk, butter & cheese. they are also not strict vegetarians, but they will abstain & avoid meats if they can, and take only the vegetables if it comes with the meat. i like the practical, unassuming, unimposing approach.

but i wanted to do a all-vegtarian course dinner for them. for me that was quite exciting & fun to do. 🙂

for me, my interest was not about mock meats or fusion, just to make something that taste good & look good. & if they are not the usual run-of-the-mill chinese stir-fried vegetables and incorporates some non-chinese styles or good matching of taste, texture or presentation, then so much the better! 🙂

#1 first course was a spanish omelette. it’s a really simple dish.  just 2 eggs, 1.5 sliced large potatoes & 1/2 sliced yellow onions. the ingredients were already vegetarian. i just have to light soy sauce instead of fish sauce for the egg. this dish is also perfect as a tapas, a small bite, for a multi-course meal, so quite nicely each had a good slice of omelette.

#2 wife’s quinoa pumpkin tofu salad is always a great accompaniment for my dinners. the pumpkin & tofu with rockets made a very good salad on its own (wife made this after a lunch at marmalade some years back), and addition of quinoa gave it more texture & some savoury touch. 🙂

#3 shallow fried silken tofu in spinach veloute.

i created this dish (flamed squid in spinach veloute) from looking at a photo (w/o the chance to taste the dish) at porthminster cafe at st ives in cornwall, england. it was an excellent dish & i served it at 12-course dinner for 12pax 2 weeks ago.

this time for vegetarian dish i replaced the squid by a shallow fried silken tofu, so that the texture was crispy outside & soft inside. not a flamed (torched) squid but still very nice! 🙂

#4 for soup, i made a cream of carrot soup. this was tasty & smooth & very popular & everyone had a second helping & finished all the soup.

i used 1.5 large carrots, but also 1 red pepper, 1 stalk leek, 1 small yellow onions & vegetable stock which i prepared the night before. & about 4 tablespoon of cream. its a similar recipe for all my creamy soup.

#5 this the first time i attempted spaghetti alla nerano (zucchini pasta). we first tried this in fresco & cummino in milan & this was 1 of the best vegetarian pasta i had, though i like funghi pasta equally. 🙂

i followed an internet recipe, & blended 1/2 yellow zucchini with some onions after softening them in olive oil. i added some butter when tossing the pasta to give it more body.

it was a very good pasta, al dente & tasty. everyone liked it. son said more parmesan shavings would be good. i think overall it can be improved. for now i would prefer my fungi pasta over this, maybe just slightly.

#6 steamed egg plant with peas & onion sauce

my sis & i had a nice daipaidong 大排档 dinner at 富记大排档tai wai where they served an entire steamed eggplant in minced meat & onion sauce. i had recreated this & made a much better tasting one by adding oyster sauce to balance off the tomato sauce.

for the vegetarian take, i cannot use oyster sauce so only light soy sauce + tsuyu sauce, and i replaced the minced meat with frozen peas i bought from sheng shiong.

the presentation can be improved. the key to this dish is the texture of the eggplant, which has to be just cooked & not mushy. i cut it with kitchen sears (scissors) & if it were mushy it would not hold up. 🙂 the pea onions sauce with corn flour was pretty tasty too.

#7 the egg fried rice was basic, no “wow” dish, but it was good accompaniment for the last 3 dishes – steamed egg plant, thai red curry & the brocoli with cauliflower.

it had good “wok hae”, individually rice grains “tioc tioc” we say in teochew, quite good la. 🙂

#8 the thai red curry vegetables was a variation of my thai red curry sotong (squid) which i served for the 30+pax lunch party for my daughter last month.

i just replaced the sotong by vegetables. i had potato, egg plant, onions, yellow pepper, tomato. for me, a non vegetarian, it was no comparison with the red curry sotong of course but still an excellenty flavoured curry dish.

#9 brocoli with cauliflower

#9 brocoli with cauliflower

#9 the 3rd dish to be eaten with the egg fried rice was brocoli with cauliflower. i actually asked if the guys wanted eat or they were full..haha! ^^

#9 brocoli with cauliflower

#9 brocoli with cauliflower

my wife, daughter, everyone wanted it. my son said there is no discussion. 🙂

#10 i made a banoffee (banana toffee) cake for dessert. we have been having tiramisu & tofu cheese cake so i wanted a change from usual.

it was a really nice cake. a great combination of flavours – very nice biscuit base, a thin tasty layer of caramel so not too sweet & nice whipped cream topped with chocolate shavings.

D-24 durian...also had 2x maoshanwang durians (forgot to take photo)

D-24 durian…also had 2x maoshanwang durians (forgot to take photo)

and we had D-24 & maoshanwang 猫山王 durians!

D-24 durian...also had 2x maoshanwang durians (forgot to take photo)

D-24 durian…also had 2x maoshanwang durians (forgot to take photo)

an excellent finish to the 10-course vegetarian dinner. i forgot to take photos of the maoshanwang durians though. ate too fast! haha! ^^

c.h.e.f andy

Scrumptious Homecooked Lunch for 30+pax on 25Jul2015

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youngest daughter was celebrating an important occasion & invited 30 friends to the house on 25.7.2015.^^

we had a really wonderfully scrumptious family-cooked lunch for her friends.

we did 13 delectable dishes!^^

& her friend made a professional pastry chef standard 2-tier cake. 🙂

wife's PIMMS

wife’s PIMMS cocktail

wife also made a PIMMS cocktail!^^

wife's PIMMS

wife’s PIMMS cocktail

i cannot hold liquor but i liked it very much & took maybe 5 or 6 cups & a bit drunk afterwards. 🙂

#1 wife made a lovely pumpkin tofu salad, something she picked up from marmalade after dining there. 🙂

#2 i did a vietnamese chargrilled pork cold beehoon. 🙂

we recently had this dish at mrs pho. i would think that my version was just as good. 🙂

#3 & i made a chicken ballotine.

#3 i steamed the first batch of 2 for 15mins. it was slight overdone.

the second batch i reduced to 12mins. & this was quite perfect! tender, juicy, flavourful.^^

helper's chicken nuggets

#4 helper’s chicken nuggets

#4 my helper did the chicken nuggets. pretty good too. 🙂

helper's deepfried chicken wings

#5 helper’s deepfried chicken wings

#5 & her chicken wings are a perennial favourite. 🙂

#6 i did a thai red curry sotong.

this the first time i cooked this dish. i fried in butter the sotong (squid) like i did for my flamed squid in spinanch veloute, but w/o flaming it (too tedious for quantity for 30+pax!). i tasted the sotong & it was excellent. i made the red curry gravy using the dancing chef’s ready mix with some cut yellow onions. the curry was just superb, so the combination was just crazy, a clear winner!^^

#7 for the chicken thigh, i pan-grilled on a very hot stainless steel pan. it was perfect, and daughters’ friends walloped the 6 pieces of deboned thighs from 3 chicken in double quick time. 🙂

unlike the red curry dish, for this yellow curry, i made it as a sauce similar to busaba’s to-die-for grilled chicken green curry fried rice.^^

there was actually an egg fried rice dish (which was also pretty good) to accompany the thai chicken & sotong curries but i did not have a photo.

#8 wife made an excellent creamy tomato pasta. she usually use crayfish from chinatown & for me it’s the best pasta ever.

this time, we could not get crayfish at chinatown so she used large prawns as proxy. 🙂

helper's sausage pasta

#9 helper’s sausage pasta

#9 & my helper made her crowd favourite cheese sausage spaghetti.

the whole family like this & all my children’s friends who came to the house previously all enjoyed this pasta by my helper. 🙂

#10 i made an excellent squid ink spaghetti this time, no errors, no horrors, no misses, simply fabulous, par excellence!

very nicely creamy, i added butter (only when tossing with fire off! – you don’t want to boil the butter).^^

& fantastic colour, al dente pasta & irresistible squid ink flavour with wonderful chicken stock & squid.

#11 & the tagliata di manzo had my daughter’s friends swooning & asking for more.

in the end i cooked a second portion, total 4x300g = 1.2kg of 150D grain-fed black angus ribeye.

birthday cake

birthday cake

daughter’s friend made her a totally professional pastry chef standard 2-tier cake.

birthday cake

birthday cake

plus lemon tarts & also cup cakes. every cake item was just fabulous! 🙂

#12 i made my usual tiramisu.

it was as good as ever. daughter’s friends finished an entire tub. ^^ i had a spare tub though. there was too much cake already so we saved that.

& my daughter arranged a photo booth which was a lot of fun, & her friends came in all kinds of costumes.

the photo booth guy just finished national service & is going to london for further studies. that’s what young people do a lot these days, with internet & social media offering excellent reach, connectivity & empowerment! 🙂

what a simply incredible, most enjoyable & memorable occasion to be savoured.

c.h.e.f andy

Wonderful Memorable Homecooked 19pax Dinner Get-together on 24Apr2015

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had a most wonderful & memorable homecooked dinner get-together on 24apr2015.

a most fun part was the interactivity & excitement with several friends bringing their dishes, from morocan salmon, hummus, biscotti, konnyaku to tofu cheese cake & ma hua 麻花 airflow from tianjin.^^

a friend even set up a separate whatsapp chat (so as not to bore the rest of dinner friends with cooking talk). 🙂

it was just wonderful. excluding bread, humus, ma hua, fruits, konnyaku, biscotti, we had 14 dishes (12+2 desserts). 🙂

bread, hummus, carrot sticks

bread, hummus, carrot sticks

because a friend was bringing hummus, that motivated me to do a onion sunflower seed bread. i didn’t realise i had walnut (was searching for it) for walnut bread, so settled with sunflower seeds.^^

onion sunflower seed bread

onion sunflower seed bread

the laughable thing was after looking at several online recipes i decided hack just used the ariston oven bread function & recipe. of course i tried the recipe once. dough was too sticky & too much salt & i added too much browned onions.

for the actual day, the bread was quite perfect. all the friends like it. crisp not hard outside & fluffy well-risen inside. for the recipe, i used 600g plain flour, 3 packets yeast (33g) dissolved in 1 cup (240ml) warm water, & 1 tsp salt. 🙂

carrot sticks

carrot sticks

leck san's chickpea+avocado hummus leck san's chickpea hummus

my friend made excellent chickpea hummus, and the green coloured one she added avocado. i think it was new to her too, so there was a lot of fun doing this dinner for all our good RI friends.

ma hua - 天津麻花

ma hua – 天津麻花

a friend was with her students in tianjin for some exchange programs & brought back ma hua 麻花. i finished them the next day, pretty good, not sickeningly sweet like the malaysian ones.

pumpkin tofu

#1 pumpkin tofu

pumpkin tofu rockets salad

#1 – pumpkin tofu rockets salad

#1 my wife made a pumpkin tofu salad. this a wonderful salad she made after some lunch at marmalade.^^

#2 i have made tagliata di manzo (sliced beef) many times. it is a common italian dish. i had it at capri, and many time at fresco & cimmino at milan.^^

the angus ribeye was pan-grilled, charred to produce the maillard reaction to impart the flavours & nicely medium rare. 🙂

#3 teriyaki cod was excellent this evening, many commented melt in the mouth goodness.^^

i used my own teriyaki sauce recipe, this time adding 1 tsp of miso. miso cures the cod & give a firmer, less flaky texture.

friend's morocan baked salmon

#4 friend’s morocan baked salmon

Mahen's morocan baked salmon Mahen's morocan baked salmon4 Mahen's morocan baked salmon2 Mahen's condiments - lemon and Chinese chives.

#4 a friend made a very nice morocan baked salmon with pistachios & ritz biscuits, and condiments of chives & lemon. it was also his first time. for me, this was a lot of fun & buzz.^^

#5 i made a chilli crab capellini (angel hair pasta). i had the sauce made the day before, taste was not ideal & i made some adjustments on the day. it turned out quite perfect, an excellent chilli crab sauce & after pasta & prawns were added, the capellini soaked up the flavours remarkably & was very well infused with the shellfish flavours (from prawn heads & shells, and w/o crab). 🙂

& very important pasta was al dente!

#6 i made an excellent very tasty squid ink sauce & a friend came to the kitchen to help out & tasted the sauce. it was superb with a nice chilli padi spike.

unfortunately, after adding linguine, sauce looked low & i made the cardinal mistake of adding some water. did a rescue by removing the pasta & ingredients (so as not to overcook) & reducing the sauce. still when plating though sauce was sufficiently dark colour & slight creamy producing good texture feel on pasta, the top less coated linguine looked off in colour.

fortunately taste wise it was very good. i guess could have been better.

#7 i think my 白斩鸡 – poached chicken was very near perfect, certainly better than most chicken rice out there!

& today i made an excellent chicken rice. as a friend commented, he could smell the very fragrant rice as it was brought to the table!

i browned some shallots in chicken fat (this was a key) & added cut ginger. the other key was a very intense chicken bone soup for cooking the rice. the soup came from making the chicken & adding the bones after i deboned the chicken & boiled for >2hrs.

& i made the chilli sauce & ginger sauce that everyone loved.

Leck San's acahr Leck San's achar2

a friend brought excellent achar, just the right appetising condiments for the chicken rice.

jap miso salmon

#8 jap miso salmon

#8 the jap miso salmon was done like the japanese bento style.

i didn’t have the recipe so experimented myself. i marinated with miso etc & dried it in the fridge for 2 days then 3hrs at 55degC to dry it further. after that it was 15mins in foil+10mins open in tabletop electric oven at 250degC.

i would say result was almost same as the bento salmon & those we brought back from japan. it was best served on japanese rice don with tamago but will do for the chicken rice.

spicy pork ribs

#9 spicy pork ribs

my helper’s spicy pork ribs was also a perennial favourite. 🙂

#10 蒜泥白肉 was a favourite for many. very tender melt in the mouth belly pork (about 5 hrs on crockpot at low fully immersed) & flavourful sichuan chilli sauce.

#11 dry wok prawns was 1 of my standard dish. this time though i did not dry the prawns enough before adding to the wok so it became a bit wet. prawns was fresh & sweet but the charred bbq flavours were missing. some hits & some misses.

romaine lettuce

#12 romaine lettuce

#12 & my helper’s romaine lettuce, complemented the pumpkin salad & good counterpoint to the meat dishes.

#13 a friend brought a tofu cheese cake. i took the cake & taste was pretty good. unfortunately the gelatine he used seemed to be weaker concentration than the ones i got from phono huat. so though he used the same recipe, the cake did not hold. it was a waste really for the effort but i guess doing it was a fun thing we all shared.^^

$14 i did my usual tiramisu & i added quite a good dose of brandy which my friends love. it was good as usual.

friend's jackfruit

friend’s jackfruit

friend's grapes

friend’s grapes

2 friends brought jackfruit & grapes to round off the dinner.

friend's konnyaku

friend’s konnyaku

friend's biscotti

friend’s biscotti

the friend who brought hummus also did 2 very nice petite fours – a konnyaku jelly & biscotti.

it was an evening of fellowship & sharing, a lot of fun, catching up & sharing good food together.^^

c.h.e.f andy

Shiok Home Lunch for 9pax Friends on 9Mar2015

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did an interesting & fun 9pax lunch for my RI friends on 9.3.2015. ^^

this time i did –

  1. “hong lim FC curry chicken noodles”
  2. chilli crab angel hair w/o crab
  3. crabless beehoon (with prawns & large oysters)
  4. a char siew pork neck & curry miso belly pork (both first try)
achar

achar

a friend brought very nice appetising achar made by his m-i-l.

i started the 2 dishes – crabless beehoon & chilli crab angel hair pasta when all my friends arrived at 1pm+.

all the ingredients were ready, so i just fried chopped shallots, garlic, chilli padi & sliced ginger to get a fragrant aroma then added & fried the beehoon which were softened in water. i then added the intense prawn stock & prawns (with shell) & the chinese cabbage & reduced under high fire. i added oyster sauce & corn flour & when almost done, i added the large oysters & some cooked prawns (shelled) which i had earlier fried in butter. voila!^^

it was delicious! the beehoon was well infused with very intense shellfish stock. prawns & oysters were plump & tasty. 🙂

chilli crab angel hair pasta was the easiest to do. i had earlier browned some garlic cloves in olive oil, & so emptied these to the pan. then i added the prepared chilli crab sauce & brought to boil (i was distracted & forgot to add an egg which is standard for chilli crab). then i added the angel hair & same pre butter-fried prawns, off the fire & tossed. then topped with fresh basil front he garden. that’s all to it!^^

the angel hair was great in soaking up the chilli crab sauce. my friends liked this dish a lot. 🙂

for the “hong lim FC curry chicken noodles”, this had to be served last. first its stronger taste would mask the other 2 dishes. second, it has to be served hot in individual bowls – would be completely cold after all the group photos etc.

1 of the key ingredient was the poached chicken 白斩鸡. & my was really good, among the best.^^

noodles, fishcake,bean sprouts

noodles, fishcake,bean sprouts

curry for curry chicken noodles

curry for curry chicken noodles

the curry was more difficult, but on this second try, i think it was quite close to the real thing.

i am benchmarking hong lim FC ah heng curry chicken noodles. i have to say between the 2, i will still go for ah heng’s, but mine was pretty close la… 🙂

my close friend’s brother just started a prawn noodle stall Why Eat Har last week, and some of us had already tried it.

i was sharing that it was such a difficult thing to achieve. for me, his prawn noodles was already among the best & serving in large volume to paying customers, but for me, i can get close to ah heng’s curry chicken noodles but still not quite!

char siew was 1st time using pork neck & also this preparation. char siew sauce was the same recipe i used previously but i used slow cooking for 8 hrs in the oven (at 90degC for 2 hrs and 80degC for 6hrs), then browned slightly at 250degC for 15mins.

char siew was flavourful & tender. many friends did like the taste, but i felt it was not anywhere near a good quality char siew, so i may experiment a bit more with it.

curry miso belly pork

curry miso belly pork

curry miso belly pork

curry miso belly pork

the curry miso belly pork was edible but many things were wrong with it. i made a very good curry miso lamb recently (1st try) so had wanted to experiment on belly pork.  for the lamb i added stock & vegetables & the result was like a casserole, very flavourful, tender & moist. but i decided to do this using just the dry rub. the result was the skin was tough not quite edible & the curry taste was too strong & not moderated with the miso & vegetable sweetness. got to rework this.

strawberries

strawberries

we had my usual tofu cheese cake which everyone loved, and strawberries brought by our usual strawberry supplier.

c.h.e.f andy

Fun 14pax RI Friends & Spouses Homecooked Dinner on 18Dec2014

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invited my regular group of RI friends (this time with spouses) for a homecooked dinner on 18.12.2014.  we had 14pax = 5 couples + 4 guys. 🙂

i prepared mostly pre-cooked food that could be served buffet style, so we could all sit down & enjoy the food & conversation together. 🙂

planning was important. i intended several items which i cooked/made final preparations only when all the guests arrived – tagliata di manzo (angus striploin steak), dry wok prawns, pumpkin salad, fried rice.

in the end timing was quite well managed for dry wok prawns & fried rice. for the salad & the rockets/cherry tomatoes bed for tagliata di manzo, they were done too early & the rockets were soggy (unlike my recent lunch which the pumpkin salad & the rocket bed for tagliata di manzo were quite perfect).

#1 pumpkin tofu salad

#1 pumpkin tofu salad

#1 my wife’s pumpkin tofu salad was an excellent dish when i served during the recent lunch.

this time it was a bit lacklustre. seasoning with sea salt, olive oil & balsamic were done too early. somehow pumpkin was not as sweet.

#2 beer can chicken was good as usual – tender, moist, tasty. 🙂

＃3 oven grilled miso salmon belly had been a favourite with my family (& friends also during recent lunches), and again a favourite this evening. 🙂

#4 teriyaki cod was good as cod goes. i made it very much less sweet & healthier (no sugar only mirin this time).

#5 the 6hr “sous vide” miso lamb shoulder chop was ok, very tender, with strong lamb flavours nicely masked by miso.

#6 tagliata di manzo (using angus striploin). the bed of rockets & cherry tomatoes were mixed too early so a bit soggy.

steak was medium rare & flavourful, but i was slightly distracted & the charring was somewhat insufficient to produce good enough mallard reaction. also the angus striploin, unlike ribeye, had a bit of tendon, not so ideal.

#7 spicy belly pork 蒜泥白肉 was simply wonderful. it was slow-braised using cold crockpot on low almost 6 hrs to 79degC. belly was very tender & the sichuan 麻辣 chilli mix was excellent. 🙂

#8 my dry wok prawns is of consistent good standard, charred & flavourful, taste of chilli padi & fish sauce.

#9 my spicy seafood fried rice will never get to crystal jade standard, but it is also consistently good, nice wok hae & flavours with lots of prawns & squid.

#10 stir-fried romaine lettuce

#10 stir-fried romaine lettuce

my helper cooked the romaine lettuce, one of our favourite vegetable dish.

#11 chocolate ganache vanilla banana cake

#11 chocolate ganache vanilla banana cake

a friend brought a #11 chocolate ganache vanilla banana cake.

#11 chocolate ganache vanilla banana cake

#11 chocolate ganache vanilla banana cake

#11 chocolate ganache vanilla banana cake

#11 chocolate ganache vanilla banana cake

it was a lovely 2-layer vanilla cake with banana in between & covered with chocolate ganache – a really standout first attempt by him! 🙂

#12 my no-bake tiramisu is now another crowd favourite. it was 1 of the easiest dessert to make.

healthy peanut candy

#13 healthy peanut candy

a friend brought a #13 healthy peanut candy (held together by maltose instead of unhealthy sugar), it was nice.

i had a #14 pumpkin cheese cake on standby. i sensed that the friends wanted to try, so it was served & we managed to finish 1/2 the cake. it was ok but not as good as the pumpkin cheese cake we had for our recent lunch which was really good.

c.h.e.f andy

RI V.S.O.P. (Very Special Old Pals) 11pax Homecooked Lunch on 15Oct2014

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crackling roast belly pork

crackling roast belly pork

had a homecooked 11pax lunch for my RI buddies on 15.10.2014. the last we had was a 10pax kueh chap lunch on 17.9.2014. 🙂

& this lunch highlights-

1. sio bak (crackling belly pork) from a friend
2. “tunglok” big prawn noodles (in golden broth)
3. vietnamese street food – chargrilled pork neck with cold beehoon & fish sauce (forgot my mint leaves & basil leaves)
4. banoffee pie (very 1st try)

crackling roast belly pork

crackling roast belly pork

like the last time, a friend brought his 成名 renown supergood sio bak (crackling roast belly pork) – this time the crackling was less than the last. i told him he made me gave up on sio bak & saved me from a lifetime of unfulfilled tedium (making sio bak unsuccessfully)..haha! 🙂

my motto – why try so hard when someone can do better? just invite him to bring lor! 🙂

阳春面 - a cheap flat chinese noodle

阳春面 – a cheap flat chinese noodle

dry wok chilli garlic prawns

dry wok chilli garlic prawns

big prawn noodles in golden broth – this should be served last in a course dinner, before dessert. lately i decided to try to serve all the food buffet style instead of as a course meal. it is not always possible but many dishes can be adapted. as this has to be served hot, we took this first dish first. 🙂

tunglok lobster ramen - 龙虾焖拉面

tunglok lobster ramen – 龙虾焖拉面

the key was the golden broth. it was my own recipe emulating the lobster noodles at tunglok (above). 🙂

from the feedback everyone loved this dish.

the 1/2 poached chicken – 白斩鸡 & saliva chicken – 口水鸡 were now a standard dish. it was easy, require little effort to make, and both were very tasty.  i brined the chicken in sugar & salt for 48hrs before poaching on the day.

miso salmon belly

miso salmon belly

miso salmon belly

miso salmon belly

miso salmon belly was another new experiment.  i created this new miso marinade recipe & was not sure if i would serve it for lunch. it turned out to be an excellent dish. my wife brought some to office for her packed lunch & all her colleagues liked it. & all my friends at lunch liked it! 🙂

V.S.O.P. = Very Special Old Pals...hahaha!

V.S.O.P. = Very Special Old Pals…hahaha!

a friend brought V.S.O.P. = Very Special Old Pals…hahaha! 🙂

could not quite make the connection lunch & V.S.O.P. so had to assume he went everywhere with one. haha! 🙂

vietnamese chargrilled pork neck with cold beehoon. i did this the second time. first was for 3-4pax, so this first time for 11pax.

i bought mint but forgot to serve both the mint & my homegrown basil!

& i forgot to make the all important fish sauce mix beforehand to serve together, so had to make 1 batch then a second batch while having lunch.

anyway the guys all liked it. although our self-proclaimed vietnam expert was actually clueless when it came to assembling the dish. haha! 🙂 this a dish that you feast on sitting on a very low stool next to a very clean vietnam street vendor!

garlic fried romaine lettuce

garlic fried romaine lettuce

my help made a nice garlic fried romain lettuce which everyone liked.

the banoffee (banana toffee) pie was the very first virgin attempt!

the guys walloped the whole cake, though a few including me, felt it was kind of sweet though ok to eat. anyway i made another one the next day with 1/2 the toffee & 50% more bananas, & it was an excellent very well balanced cake. 🙂

post event leftovers - chargrilled pork neck beehoon

post event leftovers – chargrilled pork neck beehoon

口水鸡阳春面

口水鸡阳春面

i had just a little leftovers, so i made myself dinner with the chargrilled pork & the saliva chicken with 阳春面. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Fun & Satisfying Homecooked 13-course Dinner for 15pax on 3Oct2014

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had a very s  satisfying homecooked dinner last evening on 3.10.2014. 🙂

while i really enjoy cooking for my family & friends even if there is considerable effort (& a close friend said exactly what it felt like – he really enjoyed it so he did not see it as effort), the point is how to plan the dishes & keep improving to manage the dinner smoothly & achieve best results with least effort. this is also part of the fun. 🙂

i decided to follow a friend’s lead to serve all dishes pre-cooked or served at the start buffet style instead of course by course (i enjoyed the delicious food at 4 of his makan sessions, most recently at a scrumptious homechef mooncake dinner on 8.9.2014).

it is quite important actually not to be disrupted from dinner conversation even though going into the kitchen to cook every course does have its own satisfaction. 🙂 i may even try that for my monterosso seafood risotto, lobster pasta. for king prawn ramen in golden sauce etc which are best served in individual portions, it seems best still to serve them course by course. so i do those for smaller sit down dinners. 🙂

#1 poached chicken

#1 poached chicken

#1 poached chicken – i brined in sugar & salt for 48hrs which made it tasty & moist & then 10mins simmered & 20-25mins poached, then cold water. this a crowd favourite with many supporters. 🙂

#2 braised pig trotters & #3 braised belly pork – i did them together using the cold crockpot method & set meat thermometer to 82degC. this would take about 5hrs, gentle slow & low temperature braising. i did this 1 day before. both were tender, gelatinous but still firm. i prefer this firmer texture.

#4 盐水鸭 – i applied a dry brine seasoning rub & put in chiller for for 48hrs (main condiment is sichuan spicy chilli sauce). cooking method same as poached chicken, but 15mins simmered & 30mins poached. duck was tender & tasty but i felt the 风味 taste was not pronouced enough like last time.

＃5 蒜泥白肉 – i got the pork a day before dinner so only brined 24hrs. used the same cold crockpot method to produce a very gentle braise using chicken stock from the poached chicken. this one again many supporters.

#6 6hr "sous vide" miso lamb shoulder

#6 6hr “sous vide” miso lamb shoulder

#6 6hr “sous vide” miso lamb shoulder – more or less perfected this dish. the miso tempered the strong gamey taste & 90degC was apparently the optimum temperature to break down collagen (tough connective tissues) to tasty gelatine, so a very tasty, tender dish. 🙂

1 friend said she especially liked the dish. another mentioned it was a bit sweet. i would probably reduce the sweetness in the miso marinade a bit.

#7 peanut carrots pig trotter soup

#7 peanut carrots pig trotter soup

#7 peanut carrots pig trotter soup

#7 peanut carrots pig trotter soup

#7 peanut carrots pig trotter soup – peanut porkrib soup is a common nice lie tong 例汤. i preferred to do my pig trotters w/o bones & the toe ends so i used those leftovers for the soup, which worked perfectly & added a gelatine texture to the soup. i added some carrots & also as the amount of soup was not enough for 15pax & i did not want to dilute the soup (better not enough soup than enough diluted soup), the chicken stock came to rescue. this i added & the soup tasted quite perfect for me. 🙂

so it was kind of a planned & orderly execution. braised pig trotters & belly pork i did 1 day before, and the leftover pig trotter bones & tips I made soup 1 day before. this freed up the crockpot for the 蒜泥白肉 on the day. chicken & duck were brined 48hrs before & an easy 10mins+20mins for chicken & 15mins+30mins for 1/2duck simmered + poached. miso lamb was marinated 3days before & just gone into oven for 6hrs on dinner day.

easy eh? 🙂

i only had to do the seafood fried rice & wok grilled prawns, nearer dinner time.

i cooked the rice in rice cooker in the morning (forgot to do day before), & i fried the rice with the sichuan spicy chilli early.

about 1 hr (530pm) before dinner at 630pm, i fried in butter the small prawns & squid. when 90% guests arrived, i heat the fried rice & seafood in the wok together, & i did the dry wok king prawns with ginger, garlic, chilli padi & fish sauce. so every dish was ready to serve together. 🙂

#10 sambal seabass

#10 sambal seabass

#11 poached hk kailan with shitake

#11 poached hk kailan with shitake

aunty bes did the #10 sambal seabass & #11 poached hk kailan with shitake. everyone loved the fish. 1 friend commented the kailan was so vibrant in colour. kailan was poached & usually looked greener.

& everyone loved the tofu cheese cake & tiramisu. i did them 1 day before. 1 friend said the dessert topped everything. 🙂

1 friend would be celebrating her birthday few days later, so i asked another to bring a candle (i did not have one) & used the tofu cheese cake as the birthday cake. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Kueh Chap Homecooked Lunch for 10pax Friends on 17Sep2014

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braised belly pork, pig ears & ter tau bak

braised belly pork, pig ears & ter tau bak

i have been applying the pot roast method using a crockpot (slow cooker) to produce very tender & moist & more gentle slow-braised meats. 🙂

i tried it very successfully on 蒜泥白肉, spicy garlic pork, and i used it once also to make a good braised belly pork, pig ears & ter tau bak (猪头肉).

for this 10pax lunch for my friends on 17.9.2014, i added braised pork trotters & also kampong chicken.

the gentle braising started with a cold crockpot on low & took about 4-5hrs to produce the very tender & still firm texture (“kar kar”) which i prefer over the more overcooked soft texture. i was able to reproduce the same tasty braising sauce. see the detail steps in the recipe here.

tau kua, tau pok, lor nerng

tau kua, tau pok, lor nerng

i used the braising sauce for the tau kua & lor nerng (braised egg) to infuse the flavours. i cheated for the tau pok & added water to dilute the braise as tau pok absorbs too much & i won’t have any sauce left for the “kueh chap”. 🙂

big intestines

big intestines

ter kar (pork trotters)

ter kar (pork trotters)

i braised the ter kar (pork trotters) separately by the same method, and took out some braising sauce to do the big intestines separately.

the big intestines from sheng shiong were already cleaned but i could not take the risk so i washed them thoroughly then rubbed with flour and salt & turned inside out. of course all the meats were scalded with boiling water to remove the scums before braising.

getting feedback from the friends –

  1. they all felt the dishes (belly pork, ear, pig head meat & trotter) were all quite ok comparable with good hawkers, both taste & texture.
  2. one mentioned that the intestines were good w/o the odour (even though it was still a strong tasting dish) and good texture.
  3. another didn’t think the intestine was as good as these were the thicker-walled tua terng tau (大肠头) whereas usually the ones outside were the thinner walled type. it’s just that on this day sheng shiong did not have the thinner walled type. 😦
  4. & of course they all noted as i did that i added the braising sauce to the trotters & big intestines but forgot to add to the 2 large plates of belly pork/ear/pig head meat & tua kua/tau pok/lor nerng. that would have enhanced the flavours. the braising sauce were used up after diluting for the “kueh chap” which i used hor fun to substitute as i could not get the flat sheet kueh chap. one thought the kueh chap sauce was a bit sweet though it was ok for me.
  5. one friend missed the “crunchy” birth intestines (生肠) i made last time. this time round sheng shiong did not have 生肠 so bought large intestines instead. not quite the same i guess. 🙂
  6. & i thought my pig trotters was almost the standard of 幸福潮州小食 pig trotter at whampoa, and much better than the han jia bakuteh pig trotters at east coast lagoon food village.
poached kampong chicken

poached kampong chicken

i was confident of my poached kampong chicken, which was tender, moist & sweet.

excellent crackling belly pork (shio bak)

excellent crackling belly pork (shio bak)

excellent crackling belly pork (shio bak)

excellent crackling belly pork (shio bak)

a friend brought 1kg of shi0 bak (roast belly pork). it was really good. just look at the crackling skin + the really nice meat layers colour. texture & taste was excellent. this motivated me to want to try again to do this difficult roast pork dish. 🙂

garlic brocoli

garlic brocoli

my helper did a garlic broccoli everyone liked it!

the lunch spread

the lunch spread

the lunch spread

the lunch spread

i experimented on a slow braised beef briskets & ribs with daikon (radish) & carrots but it was not good & we did not take photos. i will give it another try again, having thought about how i can do it differently & hopefully better. 🙂

tiramisu

tiramisu

tiramisu was a crowd favourite. one friend had 3 helpings and all enjoyed this light & very flavourful tiramisu recipe.

c.h.e.f andy