wife’s quinoa pumpkin tofu

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 pantry some years back), and addition of quinoa gave it more texture & some savoury touch.

wife’s pumpkin tofu salad

we bought the red quinoa (pronounced “keen-wah”) in london (son ordered it on amazon.com).

wash the quinoa & sieve in a fine strainer, boil in water with some salt (2cups water to 1 cup quinoa) for about 15mins, drain & then let in sit in the hot saucepan for 15mins to dry it out.

add some sea salt afterwards to taste.

wife’s pumpkin tofu salad

sprinkle sea salt & 1 tbsp olive oil & roast a 1/4 pumpkin in a preheated 205degC for about 20mins.

pumpkin tofu rockets salad

fry the tofu in olive oil all round till slight brown. set aside to cool & cut to small 1 cm cubes.

wife’s quinoa pumpkin tofu

wife’s quinoa pumpkin tofu

i season the quinoa, pumpkin, tofu mixture with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic, sea salt & honey (or agave nectar) mix, and toss the rockets separately also with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic, sea salt to taste before adding to the salad when serving the meal.

c.h.e.f andy

headcheese terrine on 5.8.2015

i tried a ter kar tan (pork trotters jelly) 猪脚冻once. it did not turned out too good.

what are important-

1. the flavour of the sauce that makes up the gelatine jelly
2. the taste & texture of the meat
3. the jelly holds together & don’t melt too quickly.

at the first try, the pig trotters meat texture was ok. the flavour of the sauce was not tasty enough, and the jelly melts rather quickly.

headcheese terrine on 5.8.2015

i am not particularly motivated to do ter kar tan (pork trotters jelly) 猪脚冻.

but for a recent very enjoyable 12pax 12-course dinner for my friends on 5.8.2015, i was going to try out the ragout of pig’s ears on toast inspired dinner by heston blumenthal, so i bought 1/2 a pig’s head which came with 1 ear for S$4 at sheng shiong.

i varied my usual kueh chap braising sauce recipe & added 1 cup of red wine. i used the slow crockpot roast method (starting from cold on low heat) for the 1/2head+ear i bought from sheng shiong, and texture for the pig’s head was perfect in about 6 hrs, very tender & gelatinous.

i cut the pig’s head into small chunks about 5cm pieces & lay the bottom of a long plastic container. i mixed & dissolved 2 tsp gelatine powder in the braising sauce while it was still hot, and added to the container when cool. i left it in the fridge overnight. when the pig’s head terrine 猪头冻 was set. i scrapped away the top layer of fat. cut into slices to serve.

ter kar tan 猪脚冻 on 26.8.2015

i tried the same recipe on pig trotters to the same effect. however there was too much meat so the overall effect of the terrine was not as good as the pig’s head terrine 猪头冻。

looking at the photos of ter kar tan (pork trotters jelly) 猪脚冻 in restaurants like say-

• chui huay lim’s ter kar tan
• ah orh’s ter kar tan

i see theirs’ a lighter colour & had more pig’s skin than meat, more like a 猪皮冻.

so what i will do if i cook this dish again (not too often), i will –

1. reduce the dark sauce or 1 tbsp or not at all (replaced by light soy sauce to taste)
2. add pig’s skin if using pig trotters

c.h.e.f andy

Ingredients:

• 500g pig head meat
• 100g pig ear

OR

• pig trotters + pig skin or belly pork (use the skin)

braising sauce

• 0 -1 tbsp dark sauce
• 5-6 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp zhengjiang black vinegar
• 1 tbsp heap sugar
• 1 cinnamon bark
• 2 star anise
• 1 bulb peeled garlic
• 3cm sliced ginger
• 1 tsp 5-spice powder
• water to cover meat

Directions:

1. mix the braising sauce.
2. scald the pig head after cleaning (use a large kitchen knife to scrap off hair from the belly & face) to remove the scums. place pig head & ear in the crockpot, add the braising sauce to cover the meat completely, then turn on low & braise for about 6hrs. you can also use a meat thermometer. set it at 83degC. the mild low temperature braising results in a gentler, moist & tender meat.
3. cut the pig’s head into small chunks about 5cm pieces & lay the bottom of a long plastic container. mix & dissolve 2 tsp gelatine powder in the braising sauce while it was still hot, and add to the container when cool.
4. leave in the fridge overnight. when the pig’s head terrine 猪头冻 is set,scrap away the top layer of fat. cut into slices to serve.

pig’s ear ragout served on toast

first came across this dish (this preparation) at the fabulous lunch at dinner by heston bluemnthal in london on 15.5.2015.

ragout of pig’s ear @ dinner by heston blumenthal

& it was an outstanding dish. the pigs ear gelatinous texture was exquisite & the sauce & flavours in this preparation was simply special. 🙂

it was robust but very tasty & also not satiating as expected. 🙂

pig’s ear of course is a fairly common chinese & teochew dish, and i have done braised pig’s ears couple times eg a very good kueh chap lunch for my friends on 4.8.2014.

pig’s ear ragout served on toast

i did not have heston blumenthal’s recipe, so i basically used my kueh chap braised pig’s ears recipe & added 1 cup of red wine. ^^

pig’s ear ragout served on toast

my dish looks nothing like the very fine dining dish at dinner by heston blumenthal of course.

still, it was a very tasty dish & excellent as a tapas or served as a appetizer platter for a course dinner, which i did recently at a very enjoyable 12pax 12-course homecooked dinner for my friends on 5.8.2015.

i varied my usual kueh chap braising sauce recipe & added 1 cup of red wine. i used the slow crockpot roast method (starting from cold on low heat) for the 1/2head+ear i bought from sheng shiong, and texture was perfect in about 6 hrs.

for the pig’s ear ragout, i took out the ear & minced/chopped it, took out some sauce & heat the minced pig’s ear & reduced the sauce.

flavour was excellent & the gelatinous texture was just wonderful!

i do not really see this dish though as a full appetizer dish though for my dinners, so it is not worthwhile to be more elaborate. instead i was already making the head cheese terrine with the same preparation, and the pig’s ear ragout was part of the appetizer platter & i used ordinary plain bread toasted in a desktop oven & cut into tiny 6cmx6cm pieces so diners can scoop just small amount of pig’s ears ragout & try a very small tasting portion. my friends though ended up making more toasted bread for themselves & finished up the ragout.

c.h.e.f andy

Ingredients:

• 500g pig head meat
• 100g pig ear

braising sauce

• 2 – 3 tbsp dark sauce
• 4 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp zhengjiang black vinegar
• 1 tbsp heap sugar
• 1 cinnamon bark
• 2 star anise
• 1 bulb peeled garlic
• 3cm sliced ginger
• 1 tsp 5-pice powder
• water to cover meat

Directions:

1. mix the braising sauce.
2.  scalding the pig head after cleaning (use a large kitchen knife to scrap off hair from the belly & face) to remove the scums. place pig head & ear in the crockpot, add the braising sauce to cover the meat completely, then turn on low & braise for about 6hrs. you can also use a meat thermometer. set it at 83degC. the mild low temperature braising results in a gentler, moist & tender meat.
3. take out the pig’s ear & minced/chopped it, take out some sauce & heat the minced pig’s ear & reduced the sauce.
4. put the pig’s ear ragout in a ramekin. when serving, cover with kitchen towel & heat for 30s in microwave.
5. toast 2 white bread in a toaster, cut away the ends & cut each slice into 4 pieces. serve the ragout on the bread.

thai yellow curry grilled chicken thighs

i was motivated to try this thai dry yellow curry grilled chicken after my son introduced me to the excellent busaba grilled chicken green curry fried rice.

it was so lemak, intense & flavourful.

dancing chef thai red & yellow readymix curries

i went to look for thai readymix curries & bought the “dancing chef” at sheng shiong.

son was back for summer break & asked why i used yellow instead of green curry.

i tried green but it was more suited for the usual thai green curry chicken, the soupy dish. red curry was spicy & excellent. i used it for my thai red curry sotong, more of a drinkable gravy.

i find the yellow curry most suited for dry curry, like a sauce dip. it was excellent with the grilled chicken especially with sweet yellow onions, very intense, sweet & lemak.

thai yellow curry grilled chicken thighs

for the grilled chicken, i cut & deboned chicken thighs. i seasoned with fish sauce & white pepper. then i placed the chicken skin down on a non-stick pan with just a little butter on medium heat (more fat will render out of the chicken). then i covered & turned heat down. it would take a while to cook the chicken, turned over when brown (maybe about 5 mins on each side).

thai yellow curry chicken (on 25.7.2015)

for my daughter’s recent party for 30pax+, i made 6 thighs & they disappeared in no time.^^

thai yellow curry chicken (on 25.7.2015)

for the curry, i cut 1/2 large onions, fried in the pan with just bit of chicken oil & added 2 tsp thai yellow curry powder & 3 tbsp coconut milk. i added 3 tbsp chicken stock & reduced.

i must say this is such a wonderful dish, very flavourful curry especially with the onions & tasty chicken.

c.h.e.f andy

jap miso salmon

i do a very good nobu miso cod.

after some experimenting, i came up with a good recipe also for oven grilled miso salmon belly.

some months back, wife bought japanese miso salmon (some with mentaiko) at isetan hokkaido fair. at the time i decided to try to replicate the japanese styled miso salmon.

& so i made a miso salmon, the best i have made..after a few tries, it’s now nearly perfected. wife said same as those bought from japan & from isetan..almost, i guess..^^

the key about the japanese marinated salmon (which i really like) & are often included in bentos at railway stations in japan, is that it is dry, texture is firm & very flavourful! 🙂

miso salmon

to recreate this, i marinated 300g salmon with 1 tbsp (heap) miso, 1tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp sake, 1 tbsp brown sugar. then put on a rack in the fridge (or chiller compartment) for 2days. then i put in 55degC oven for 3hrs.  then 20mins in aluminium foil tabletop oven 250degC (include 5mins open foil to grill skin),

the idea was to dry out the salmon & marinade. this is only major difference from my usual miso salmon preparation. because i see the miso salmon or mentaiko salmon in Japan were all dryer preparation.

with this preparation, my miso salmon was almost same as those we bought in Japan. a lot cheaper, haha!^^

lunch

we had this for a simple family lunch at the time (apr2015).

and also at a 19pax homecooked dinner for my RI friends on 24.4.2015.

it is different style from the miso salmon belly which is also very good. i like both, and both can be taken with japanese gohan (rice).

c.h.e.f andy