Belachan!!

My belachan jar is almost empty so it's time to fill it up. 

I hope none of my angmoh neighbours fainted from the smell. 

I sliced the belachan block and seared it over charcoal fire till its dark damp brown colour turned into a dry shade of dark ochre. After that I moved the pieces into my hot pan and continued stirring them around till they crumbled and resemble sand. *Ensure fire is not too hot or the belachan will burn and become bitter.

Just keep stirring until it's all dried up and let it cool before jarring it. This will keep indefinitely in the fridge!

Gosh, I think the house still smells like belachan..!!

Sambal sotong.

Long Beans and Potatoe curry

Both dishes were cooked with the same spice paste. I blended chilli, shallots, young ginger, garlic, belachan and some buah keras.

For the squid dish I added assam paste (just the water) and for the curry, SANTAN :)

I'm really enjoying recreating all the Peranakan dishes and curries that I miss from my childhood. Hopefully I will have more time to try my hand at more complicated dishes soon.

New Year, New Adventures!!

Happy Lunar New Year!!

2011 is turning out pretty interesting for me in the kitchen so far. It's been great experimenting with home made sambals and chilli pastes and I am looking forward to trying out more varieties and hopefully to also learn how our grandparents did what they did best in their days.. CHARCOAL cooking!

It has been really hectic with the pineapple tart experimentation and getting everything in order for the Chinese New Year celebration but all that has come to an end. It's time for me to sit and write and catalog.

For the first time in my life, I made pineapple tarts.
It was an interesting experience and even more intriguing to discover the 1'001 recipes available from anywhere and everywhere! So many to choose from, so I just hantam one and fumbled my way from there.

At the end of the day, I realised that we all have our own pre-conceived taste of what the perfect pineapple tart should be.

To me these were perfect!

And I realised it wasn't the ingredients but the method on how you handle the pastry dough before baking. I am finally able to make my tarts from now on and it's really easy.

Let me know if anyone is interested in the method or recipe..

Ange's Christmas Menu

I have finalized what I will be preparing this Christmas! It's been three years since I last threw home cooked dinner party. I hope I still got what it takes plus I have never cooked up a storm in this kitchen so let's hope my oven and stove don't disappoint me :)

Hors d'Oeuvres :

- Petite Surprise [Quail Eggs + Caviar]

- Warm Cherry [Cherry Tomatoes wrapped in Bacon]

Salad :

- Home Made Caesar

Starch :

- Potato Rojak

- Pasta-a-Must?

Mains :

- Turkey

- Ham

- Beef

**Haven't decided on how I'm gonna marinade

them just yet. Haha.

Dessert :

- Mini cupcakes

- Gingerbread Men!!

Simply Lazy

Baked beans cooked with Eggs and stir-fried French Beans
with Prawns

*Prawns will taste better if you marinade it before

cooking. Just salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar.

Blueberry Muffin/Cupcake

Made them yesterday.

No cake mixer required. Everything done manually

with a balloon whisk. Will post up recipe soon.

It looks pretty gross huh.. but you have to try to

make them at home and tell me what you think!

150ml Natural Yogurt

3 large Eggs

1tsp Vanilla Essence

240g Self Raising Flour

175g caster Sugar

1tsp Baking Powder

175g Butter - melted

200g Raisins or Fresh Blueberries

Pre-heat oven: 190deg Celcius

1) Mix all the RED ingredients together.

2) Combine all the BLUE ingredients in a LARGE bowl.

3) Pour RED mixture into BLUE and mix well.

4) Add in melted butter. Mix well.

5) Quick mix of the raisins or berries.

Bake for about 12 minutes. It's better to do a visual gauge

yourself as different ovens may result in different baking

time required.

Variations:

I removed 100g of flour and replaced with 200g of chopped nuts.

Lotus Root Soup

As usual, one of my lazy soups..

Pork ribs

Lotus root

Carrots

Honey dates

Dried oysters

A small piece of Ginger

and WATER

Salt to taste

Put all ingredients in a pot and bring to boil on high heat

then let simmer under slow fire for about an hour.

Greens

These are some of Aden's favourite dishes. I say favourite because he will climb himself onto the dining bench and help himself to them.

Sweet Peas with Garlic - really simple to prepare

Okra with Dried Shrimp - a bit tricky to ensure it's not all gooey and slimy

*The trick here is to ensure you have sufficient oil in the wok and not to over-cook the okra.

Spinach in Milk broth - I read somewhere that milk aids in the absorption of iron.

*This dish is just simply yummy on it's own as the milky gravy goes really well with spinach.

I find that using tomatoes as an ingredient when steaming

fish will take away the "fishy" smell that some of us find

hard to tolerate..

The photo on top right is actually "bak eew". Aden loves it.

Well, I do too but have to watch how much I consume unlike

Aden who eats it like keropok!

Aden loves broccoli and as of late he has taken a great

fancy to prawns as well. So this is something I end

up cooking every week. Lucky it's easy to cook :)

A Lazy Breakfast

This is so simple to make. I prefer thick slices of bread from

any bakery, spread some butter [just a little] and slap on the

cheese followed by a lovely fresh from the stove sunny side up!

You've got carbo, calcium, protein and a happy belly..

p.s. No seasoning required

Faux Pas Peranakan cuisine

Simple and hopefully tasty :)

Top Left: [fake] Acar Fish
Top Right: Tau Eew Bak

Bottom Left: Bittergourd with Minced Pork and Black Bean paste

Bottom Right: My dinner for tonight

All done within an hour except the tau eew bak which I started

stewing since this afternoon.

Aden will have steam minced pork + egg and spinach. His dinner

is not posted here cause it's still in the steamer. Hope I remember

to photograph it before it goes into his tummy :)

Felt like having some red meat tonight since I might be going

vegetarian for the weekend, so here is my dinner for the day.

I seared the lamb chops on all sides before putting them in the

oven. Laid a bed of shredded onions and whole peeled garlic

on the casserole so that it can absorb all the nice lamb juices

[and fats] which I will later use to make the gravy for the mash.

Top Left: Cream of Broccoli in the making..

Top Right: My messy pot of mash..

Lower Left: Seared lamb before grilling..

Lower Right: Lamb after grilling but not yet ready for eating..

Hope I don't forget to take photos of the final product tonight.

The onions and garlic from the casserole being reduced to

gravy consistency for my mash.

Dang! Forgot to photograph the soup!! I knew I forgot

something!! Duh!

Tonight's dinner. Actually there is also the cabbage and

radish soup but no chance to take photo of it yet. Maybe later

on before dinner.

Creme Caramel [sh*t, forgot to take photos!!]

1cup [250ml] milk

1 1/2cup [375ml] cream

3/4cup [165g] caster sugar

3/4cup [180ml] water

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

1/2cup [110g] caster sugar, extra

Bring milk and cream to boil. Cover and remove from heat. Stand for 20 minutes.

Combine sugar and water, stir over low heat without boiling until sugar is dissolved.

Bring to boil uncovered without stirring until brown.

Remove from heat and pour into moulds/holders.

Let it set.

Combine eggs, yolks and extra sugar in a bowl.

Whisk until combined.

Add in milk+cream mixture.

Pour into moulds/holders containing caramelized sugar.

Steam on slow fire for about 30 minutes.

It's ready when there is no more liquid egg mixture in the moulds.

Refrigerate.

Calamari

Squid

Oil for deep frying

2 medium fresh chillies, sliced

1 cup coriander leaves

1/2cup plain flour

2tsp sea salt flakes

1tsp ground pepper

Clean and prepare squid.

Heat oil in a large wok.

Deep fry chillies until softened; Remove and drain on kitchen paper.

Deep fry coriander for a few seconds; Remove and drain on kitchen paper.

Combine flour, salt and pepper in a bowl.

Toss squid into flour. Shake away excess.

Deep fry squid in batches until just browned and tender; Drain on kitchen paper.

Sprinkle with chilli and coriander before serving.

Serve immediately.

steamed Threadfin Ange's-Cantonese style

and

Stir-fried prawns with Chinese wine and Bitter gourd

Panfried Red Garoupa for Aden's lunch. Fish bones that I boiled to make fish broth which I can use for tonight's steam Threadfin [Ma-Yau-Yee]. Leftover broth can be kept in the fridge for another day's use.

Braised scallops on a bed of spinach drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette and Buffalo Mozarella paired with vine ripen tomatoes.

Simple. Refreshing. Healthy. Nutritious.

Wow. I think pressure cooking the stew is a much better option than slow cooking it on the stove for hours. The stew is delicious!!

I was so excited when I got up this morning. I was so eager to taste the stew to see if it was better than my previous attempt. When I opened the lid of the pressure cooker I was a little bit horrified. Everything looked sort of curdled and dark. Oh oh. So I gently heated it up on a slow fire and once it started to simmer I added in the sautéed onions and mushrooms. I left the fire just long enough to sweat the onions and mushrooms out a bit [just to remove the chill] and Voilà!!

The house smell yummylicious tonight. The aroma is seeping into the bedroom unfortunately and it's making me hungry but the stew is not quite ready yet. It's still being "pressured" on my stove! Julia said to leave it in the oven for 3 to 4 hours until meat is tender. As much as I wish I could, sadly power/electricity in Singapore is kinda costly. So no can do with oven unless I get myself a gas oven.. hmm, tempting, but I think better not lah. New kitchen already such a challenge to stow all existing gadgets, how to add more? Sigh. Wish I had my grandma's kitchen.

Anyway I followed every other step as closely as I could and instead of 3 to 4 hours in the oven, the stew has been pressured for about an hour now and I just turned off the flame so I can hit the sack as soon as I finish blogging. Will check on it tomorrow when I'm up. The meat should be just right I believe. Will let you know then.

Been a long day. Hope my little one lets me sleep well tonight.

Julia Child's Boeuf à la Bourguignonne

Boeuf à la Bourguignonne in a Singaporean HDB kitchen

Now we're talking.

How many of us average Asians actually have the "ka-chang" used by Julia Child for her cooking and as much as would love to own every single pan, pot, ladle, and etc. I think it would cost me a fortune not to mention having to buy a bigger home with a bigger kitchen to accommodate them all! So instead of just drooling over her recipes and wishing that I had the right utensils to create her dishes, I decided to do it my way. So it's Ange's Way or No Way right?

I have so far attempted to cook her famous Boeuf à la Bourguignonne, Tarragon Chicken, Sautéed Mushrooms and Sautéed Onions. So far so good but as I've mentioned before, I cheated all the way. It's not by choice that I cheated ok. At least my "guinea pigs" finished all the food and no one had to run off to the toilet to puke it out and no one complained of tummy discomfort the next day. Haha.

Once again I am attempting the Boeuf à la Bourguignonne but in a more prepared and professional way; Will cheat less [I hope] as I am more aware of what and what not to do. Also got most of the steps in my head which makes it so much easier to cook. How in the world does one cook and refer to the book which has the font of a romance novel. And her recipe book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" comes in a paperback with really thin pagers. So if you flip the pages with grimy hands.. gone lah!

Will continue tonight once my little imp is off to Dreamland. It's just not possible to do anything with him and his curious fingers touching EVERYTHING around the house!