The Cooking Ninja

There are 2 exciting things happening in my life right now. Firstly, I'm flying to London this Friday for my very first Food Bloggers Connect conference, meeting fellow bloggers that I have met through blogging, via Facebook and Twitter. The response to this meeting is tremendous, far more than we expected, with 70 confirmed attendees from all over the world. We are going to have lots of fun exchanging knowledge, getting to know each other and rock the house down that day. We are all so excited about it and counting down each day on Twitter. LOL!

Now other fantastic thing that happened to me is I finally made a friend, Sharon, in Clermont-Ferrand. Hard as it is for many of you to believe, but it has been a long and tiring journey for me trying make new friends and have some sort of social life in this new city for the past 2 years. It all happened last Wednesday when we stopped at KFC for lunch (the usual Wednesday routine) so that we can eat while Little One can play at the big playground with other kids there. All of sudden I heard a young woman with a very familiar accent talking to her son. I told Pierre that I wasn't sure if she was from Singapore or from Malaysia. Pierre was very excited for me (knowing that I have been very lonely here and missing friends) and coaxed me to speak to that young lady right away. I was kind of hesitant at first (after being rejected by people so many times, my skin has gone thin), then I plucked up courage and approached her... funnily, she made a move towards me at the same time. Turned out she has been living here for almost 3 years now and she, like me, thought she is the only Singaporean in this city. LOL! It was a blessing meeting her. I'm grateful to Sharon for introducing me to her weekly meeting with a group of lovely ladies (mainly wives of Michelin's expatriates), her child's playgroup as well as introducing me to courses at AVF (Accueil des villes Francaises) where I'm learning silk painting together with her. Thank you Sharon for your friendship, kindness and generosity.

The following recipe is a representative of what life has presented me at this moment - aromatic, sometimes tangy but the right amount of spiciness to keep me on my toes.

Balti Chicken

(taken from Indian - Shehzad Husain & Rafi Fernandez)

Ingredients

• 1½ kg (3 lb) chicken (skinned & cut into 8 pieces)
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 medium onions (sliced)
• 3 medium tomatoes (halved & sliced)
• 2.5 cm (1") cinnamon stick
• 2 large black cardamons
• 4 black peppercorns
• ½ tsp black cumin seeds
• 1 tsp ginger pulp
• 1 tsp garlic pulp
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp natural (plain) yogurt
• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander/cilantro (chopped)
• 2 fresh green chilli (chopped - I only used 1)

Drections

1. Heat oil in wok or a deep round bottomed frying pan (skillet), stir-fry sliced onions until they are golden brown.
2. Add in the tomatoes and stir well.
3. Add the cinnamon stick, cardamons, peppercorns, black cumin seeds, ginger, garlic, garam masala, chilli powder and salt. Lower the heat and stir-fry for about 3 - 5 minutes.
4. Add the chicken pieces, making sure that the pieces are well mixed and coated with the spices. Stir-fry for at least 7 minutes or until the spice mixture has completely penetrated the chicken pieces.
5. Stir in the yogurt and mix well.
6. Lower the heat and cover. Cook it gently for 15 minutes.
7. Give it a stir once or twice to avoid food sticking to the bottom of the pan.
8. Finally add the lemon juice, fresh coriander (cilantro) and green chillies. Make sure it is well mixed.
9. Serve at once with plain rice.

The Verdict

It was so aromatic while I was cooking it that it perfumed the whole house with it's aroma making everyone hungry and drooling, especially me. I personally love this dish - tangy, tint of spiciness, full of flavour and so are the chicken pieces.

Pierre finds it a bit too sour for him while I find it just right so I would suggest to add only 2 tbsp of lemon juice first and adjust the last tablesppon of lemon juice to your taste.

Notes

As I didn't have black cumin seeds nor black cardamom pods, I just use the normal cumin seeds and green cardamom that I have in my pantry. From what I understand, the difference in flavour is barely noticeable.

Cooking the chicken pieces with bones makes a dish more flavourful, however you can replace it with boneless and cubed chicken. In this case, the reduce the cooking time for step 4.

There are a few desserts on my blog that I completely conjured in my head like the Chocolate Pear Cake, Coconut-Choc Scrolls, Coconut Chocolate Nut Cookies or the Carrot-Zucchini Cake etc. This new recipe is no exception. It all started with an innocent picture in a magazine of a layered apple slices, and from there it slowly brewed and ballooned into an extremely sinful fantasy... the urges grew stronger and yearning for that biteful of aromatic apples basked in spices, craddled in drooling buttery biscuit pie crust with to-die-for caramel walnut toppings became so real that I could almost savour it.

My attempts to make this tart was thwarted a few times... Somehow the apples always ended up eaten as an every day fruit as we either had other desserts lined up or over indulged during lunch. Finally the occasion came not once but twice. I made my first trial tart with Pierre as my ardent & willing taster. I was a bit nervous as it was my first attempt at making a caramelized walnut topping and frankly, I had no idea how to make one and neither did my mom-in-law. She suggested that maybe I stir the walnuts into the caramel. Well, that didn't went down quite as I expected. In trying to get the walnuts coated with caramel like I had in my head, I ended up with a big lump of un-spreadable caramelized walnut. AAAAHHH!

Anyway, with Pierre's stamp of approval, I made a 2^nd one for my in-laws who were coming for lunch the following day. This time around, I got my caramelized walnut topping right. Bless my mother-in-law who, upon seeing me struggling with the apple slices, taught me the correct way of doing it like the professionals. I can't believe everything was going so beautifully well that day. I was so proud of myself. The oven beeped and my tart was all ready for its photo session before being devoured. Unfortunately for us, that day happened to be cloudy all day long. Pierre decided to place the tart on our kitchen window sill to have better lighting with Mom-in-law worrying that Pierre might accidentally drop the tart while taking the pictures. And me, menacing that I'll have his head if he dropped my gorgeous work of art. Phew! All went well and Pierre proudly told his mom that her worries were totally unfounded when suddenly, before our eyes, the tart slipped out of his hand ....SPLAT! 2 floors down, it became part of our garden's decoration and bird food. The horrified look on Pierre's face when the tart took a suicide plunge was PRICELESS! The scene was too hilarious to begin with... any upset thoughts flew out of the window. Pierre kept apologizing to me while Mom-in-law and I couldn't stop laughing. All was not totally lost, mom-in-law managed to salvage a bit of the tart from our garden floor. LOL! No, you can stop your wild imagination right there, there weren't any extra ingredient on our plate.

I'm sharing my beautiful broken tart with Meeta for her Monthly Mingle 'Brunch'.

Caramelized Walnut Apple Tart

Ingredients

Pie Crust

• 2 cups (200 grams) of graham biscuits/gingersnaps or milk biscuits
• 1/4 cup (40 grams) granulated white sugar
• 1/2 cup (114 grams) salted butter, melted

Pie Fillings

• 6 - 8 apples (peeled & cored)
• brown sugar
• ground cinnamon & nutmeg
• walnuts (roughly chopped)

Caramel

• sugar
• water
• about 2 tbsp salted butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 180°C (350°F - gas mark 4 ).
2. Break up the biscuits into pieces, process it together with sugar until it's crumbly. Add melted butter and pulse it a few times until all is well mixed.
3. Press a few tablespoonful of the crumbs evenly over the bottom of the springform pan. Turn pan on the side and press about 3 cm up the sides of the springform pan. Cover and refrigerate it while you prepare the filling.
4. Peel, cut into half and cored the apples. To keep the apples from turning brown, dip them in a bowl of lightly salted water.
5. Cut the sides off (set aside) and sliced the apples vertically. Hold it between your hands and gently spread it with your thumb.
6. Place it clockwise on the bottom of the pan. Continue spreading sliced apples from the outer circle to inner circle. Fill the center circle with cut off sides of the apples.
7. Sprinkle a dash of ground cinnamon, nutmeg and some brown sugar on top of the apple slices.
8. Place the next round of apple slices anti-clockwise. Repeat step 5 - 7 until all apples are done.
9. Sprinkle roughly chopped walnuts on top of apple slices (enough to cover the surface), pour caramel sauce over the walnuts.
10. Bake pie loosely covered with aluminum foil at 180°C (350°F - gas mark 4) for 30 minutes and uncovered for 10 - 15 minutes.

Making the caramel

1. Prepare this only after you have done up your pie as caramel sauce hardens up quickly when cooled.
2. Put some sugar and enough water to wet the sugar in a small pot and heat it up on medium heat.
3. Sugar will dissolves and when it turned into bubbling brown and golden, turn off the heat.
4. Quickly stir in the salted butter until combined.

The Verdict

It's so sinfully good and decadent. How can I described it? Every bite is filled with aromatic, spice basked apples with salty sweet crunchy caramelized walnuts together with the butter biscuit crust - awesome combination. Best of all, it's not overly sweet. Pierre said it's the best apple tart I ever made. LOL! This desert also proves that salted butter rules

Notes

You can replace the biscuit pie crust with pâte brisée (short pastry crust) instead. Either you blind bake the crust or bake it at 210°C for 10 minutes, then lower it to 180°C.

For the caramelized walnut toppings, don't make the same mistake as I did, went walnut crazy and totally filled up every space available on the pie. LOL! Just enough to cover the pie is fine, more than that will be overkill.

The number of layers of apple slices in the pie is up to your discretion. For us, 3 layers high is just the right combination. If you are doing a mix of apples and pears, make sure that the pears aren't too ripe as they have high water content and will turn your pie filling mushy.

This is part 4 (the last challenge) of Daring Cooks' November Challenge hosted by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen.

Now I'm making Nigiri sushi - the type of sushi most often made in sushi bars. Nigirizushi (hand-formed sushi) is made of an oblong mound of sushi rice which is pressed between the palms of the hands, usually smeared with a bit of wasabi on top and with a topping drap over it. Typical nigiri sushi toppings are salmon, red tuna or seafood. Certain toppings are bound to the rice with a thin strip of nori like tamago (sweet egg), crab meat, etc.

Gunkanmaki(warship roll) is a special type of nigirizushi: an oval, hand-formed clump of sushi rice like nigirizushi but with a strip of "nori" wrapped around it to form a vessel that is filled with some soft, loose or fine-chopped toppings like roe, natto, oysters, sea urchin, corn with mayonnaise, and quail eggs. It is customary to make nigiri sushi in pairs, so make two of each variety.

Nigiri Sushi

Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus 1¾ hours to make the sushi rice
Serve : 14 to 16 pieces of sushi

Ingredients

• 2 cups prepared sushi rice
• 8 pairs of assorted toppings (fish, prawns, cucumber, avocado, ham, etc)
• 1 tablespoon Wasabi or any other paste to adhere to topping
• Thin strips of nori or vegetables (for tying topping on)

Directions

1. Please wash your hands before handling sushi rice to avoid any risk of contamination.
2. Moisten hands with vinegared water to prevent rice from sticking to hands.
3. To form nigiri sushi, scoop a small amount (about 2 tbs) of rice with your index and middle finger of your right hand and place it in your cupped left palm. Place your right index and middle finger on top of rice and press lightly to form the shape.
4. Use the fingers and thumb of your right hand to form it into a long, narrow mound (about 2« x 1» wide) in your cupped palm.
5. Press enough to make the rice hold firmly together. Place the nigiri on a damp cutting board flat side down. Don't put the sushi too close to each other or else they'll stick to each other. Cover the sushi with plastic wrap if you are not using it immediately. They'll keep at room temperature (not the refrigerator) for several hours.
6. Smear a bit of wasabi on top of the rice and place the topping piece on it. Depending on type of topping used, you may need to press the topping down lightly with your fingers and adjust the shape of the rice accordingly to form a nigiri sushi. If you are using loose toppings like fish roe, place a strip of nori (higher than the rice) around the nigiri to form a 'battleship' sushi. Fill your toppings into the cavity that the nori forms.
7. Garnish as desired and use strips of nori (or vegetable) to tie the topping to the nigiri if needed.

The Verdict

Now that I know the right way to make the nigiri form, making it is as easy as 1-2-3. I love making my own nigiri sushi for my family and friends.

Please be careful when spreading a bit of wasabi, be sure to use only a tiny bit. I made the mistake of thinking I have smeared only a small amount when in fact it set Pierre's nostril spitting fire.

Notes

When using raw fish or raw meat, always ask your fishmonger or butcher for advice and tell them that you are going to eat it raw. If in doubt, don't use. You can purchase flash-frozen sashimi grade fish which is guaranteed to be free of all parasites. Sashimi grade fish should have a clean cool smell, if it smells fishy it is a sign that the fish is old and cannot be used. Consumption of raw fish is not advisable for pregnant women and young children.

For the toppings, try tuna, red sea bream (red snapper), yellowtail or salmon. Use cooked shrimp or crab, other type of cooked meat can also be used. You can use any vegetable you wish like asparagus, carrot, avocado, cucumber, shiitake mushroom, tofu, thin sliced egg omelette, etc. To hold them in place, tie it with a thin (1/4» or 6mm) strip of nori wrapped around the whole sushi.

Cooked sushi rice can be placed in plastic bags and frozen for 3 months, microwave when needed.

Conserve the leftover nori (seaweed sheets) in a tightly sealed plastic bag and use it within a few months. It can also be stored in the freezer. Nori will deteriorate if left out of its sealed package. If you can't find nori in your area, you can substitute it with thin cooked egg omelette cut to same size as a nori sheet (7 inches by 8 inches or 17.5cm x 20cm).

Here are some informative resources :

• Step by Step pictures how to shape nigiri sushi
• A video clip on making nigiri sushi
• How to buy and slice fish for nigiri sushi.

This is part 3 of Daring Cooks' November Challenge hosted by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen.

Now onward to making a Spiral Sushi Roll - similar to makizushi but with 2 sheets of nori joined together at the end edge, and filled with 6 different types of fillings.

Spiral Sushi Roll

Preparation time: 15 minutes, plus 1¾ hours to make the sushi rice
Yield: One Roll, cut into 8 pieces

Ingredients

• 2½ cups prepared sushi rice
• 2 sheets of toasted nori, each sized 7»x8» (17.5cmx20cm)
• Six assorted fillings, each filling should be the size of a pencil and compliment each other
• Vinegared Water (½ cup water combined with a dash of rice vinegar)

Directions

1. Join 2 sheets of nori by moistening the adjacent edges and overlapping them about ½ inch (12mm).
2. Place this double sheet shiny side down on a bamboo mat, part of the nori will extend beyond the mat.
3. Moisten fingers in the bowl of vinegared water and place 2½ cups of rice on the nori. Gently rake your fingertips across grains to spread rice evenly, leaving ¼ inch (6mm) nori showing on the both ends of the sheet. Do not mash or squash the rice onto the nori. The rice should appear loosely packed and be evenly distributed over the entire sheet, you should be able to see the nori sheet in a few places.
4. Using your fingers, form six grooves (in the same direction that you will be rolling the mat) at even intervals across the bed of rice. Make the first groove about 2 inches (50 mm) from the edge of the nori sheet. Form the grooves by gently pushing the rice away, leave a loose layer of rice in the bottom of the grooves. Level the areas between the grooves where you have pushed the rice.
5. Place your fillings in the grooves. Fill the grooves a little higher than the surrounding rice bed.
6. Roll the sushi up from the edge closest to you, this will form a spiral pattern of nori, rice and fillings inside the roll.
7. Slice into 8 pieces with a very sharp wet knife, wiping the blade with a damp cloth after each cut.
8. Place the pieces on a platter and garnish.

The Verdict

The spiral roll is truly beautiful and it reminds me of a colourful snail shell. I love the taste of different ingredients in it that compliments each other in every bite. It's remarkably easy to do. The only complaint I had from Pierre is that the roll is too big and couldn't fit into his mouth in a single bite. (and since he has such a big mouth that is certainly a valid objection )

Notes

Make each groove about a finger-width wide (they will hold about 1-2 tablespoons of filling). Use fillings that compliment each other and are highly coloured. Use parboiled vegetables cut into strips, seafood, left over eel, smoked fish or chicken, whole cooked beans, edible flowers etc....

Always dampen your knife with a moist lint-free towel before every cut as this prevents the sushi rice from sticking to your knife.

When using raw fish or raw meat, always ask your fishmonger or butcher for advice and tell them that you are going to eat it raw. If in doubt, don't use. You can purchase flash-frozen sashimi grade fish which is guaranteed to be free of all parasites. Sashimi grade fish should have a clean cool smell, if it smells fishy it is a sign that the fish is old and cannot be used. Consumption of raw fish is not advisable for pregnant women and young children.

If you don't have the bamboo mat, cut out a thin magazine to size and wrapped in plastic wrap or a few layers of parchment paper to a square of about 25 cm (10 inches).

Cooked sushi rice can be placed in plastic bags and frozen for 3 months, microwave when needed.

Conserve the leftover nori (seaweed sheets) in a tightly sealed plastic bag and use it within a few months. It can also be stored in the freezer. Nori will deteriorate if left out of its sealed package. If you can't find nori in your area, you can substitute it with thin cooked egg omelette cut to same size as a nori sheet. (17.5 cm x 20 cm or 7 inches by 8 inches).

This is part 2 of Daring Cooks' November Challenge hosts by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen.

Today I'm going to make a lady Dragon Roll dressed in fresh slices of salmon. It is a westernised version of Uramaki called 'Dragon roll (often also referred as Caterpillar roll), rice on the outside and the nori (seaweed sheet) on the inside. The filling in the centre surrounded is by nori which is usually a thick slice of grilled eel and cucumber, then a layer of rice on the outside wrapped with thinly sliced avocado. Why is it called Dragon Roll? Simply because the green layers of the avocado resembles the scales of a dragon!

Dragon Rolls (Caterpillar Rolls)

Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus 1¾ hours to make the sushi rice
Yield: 2 inside-out (uramaki) sushi rolls

Ingredients

• 2 cups prepared sushi rice
• 1 sheet dried seaweed sheets
• ½ Japanese cucumber or normal cucumber
• Fresh salmon (sliced thinly if possible)
• 1 avocado (sliced)
• Vinegared Water (½ cup water combined with a dash of rice vinegar)
• 2 tbsp fish roe (optional)

Directions

1. Peel, remove core and cut cucumber into strips ¼" (6mm) x 7" (175mm) long, then salt, rinse & pat dry the strips.
2. Slice across against grain, thin pieces of fresh salmon and set aside.
3. Halve, pit and peel the avocado. Cut the avocado halves into thin slices.
4. Re-toast the nori sheet over a gas stove on low flame for 5 to 10 seconds.
5. Place a sheet of nori shiny side down on bamboo mat, lengthwise, on the edge the bamboo mat.
6. Moisten lightly your hands in the bowl of vinegared water.
7. Place one cup of rice on the nori and gently rake your fingertips across grains to spread rice evenly. Do not mash or squash the rice onto the nori, the rice should appear loosely packed and evenly distributed over the entire sheet, you should be able to see the nori sheet in a few places.
8. Place a plastic sheet over it. Place a bamboo mat on top of it. Turn the rice-covered nori over (so the bare nori is now on top) and place on the edge of the mat closest to you. Remove the other bamboo mat.
9. Arrange 1 cucumber strip across the length of the nori, not quite centred on it but a little closer to you. Place some avocado sticks next to it and spread some fish roe next to the avocado sticks.
10. Lift the edge of the mat closest to you with both hands, keeping your fingertips over the fillings, and roll the mat and its contents until the edge of the mat touches straight down on the nori, enclosing the fillings completely. Lift up the edge of the mat you're holding, and continue rolling the inside-out roll away from you until it's sealed. Tug at the mat to tighten the seal. If the rice doesn't quite close the roll add more rice in the gap and re-roll using the mat to completely cover the inside-out roll.
11. Arrange the salmon slices on top to cover the entire roll. Lay the plastic wrap mat over it and squeeze very gently to shape the roll.
12. Leave the plastic wrap over the roll. Slice the roll into 6-8 equal, bite-sized pieces, wiping your knife with a damp towel before each slice. Discard the plastic wrap. Repeat the above to make one more roll.
13. Arrange the cut pieces on a serving plate with the sauces so the finished dish appears as a dragon breathing fire and flames (or a caterpillar with many legs).

The Verdict

Nothing beats making your own rolls. It's both a lot of fun to prepare them (you can invite friends and family to participate) and they just taste so good!

The above is just one of the combination you can do. Feel free to replace salmon with avocado, smoked salmon, ham or whatever you fancy. Do the same with the fillings. Let your imagination and creativity do the work.

Notes

When using raw fish or raw meat, always ask your fishmonger or butcher for advice and tell them that you are going to eat it raw. If in doubt, don't use. You can purchase flash-frozen sashimi grade fish which is guaranteed to be free of all parasites. Sashimi grade fish should have a clean cool smell, if it smells fishy it is a sign that the fish is old and cannot be used. Consumption of raw fish is not advisable for pregnant women and young children.

Don't make the most common mistake of putting too much filling in your roll. Golden rule is less is more when it comes to making sushi as it is easier to roll an under-filled roll than an over-filled roll.

Always dampen your knife with a moist lint-free towel before every cut as this prevents the sushi rice from sticking to your knife.

If you don't have a bamboo mat, cut out a thin magazine to size and wrapped in plastic wrap or a few layers of parchment paper cut to a square of about 25 cm. (10 inches)

Conserve the leftover nori (seaweed sheets) in a tightly sealed plastic bag and use it within a few months. It can also be stored in the freezer. Nori will deteriorate if left out of its sealed package. If you can't find nori in your area, you can substitute it with thin cooked egg omelette cut to same size as a nori sheet. (7 inches by 8 inches or 17.5cm x 20cm)

After months of hesitating to join Daring Cooks, I decided to take the plunge. I'm excited but at the same time scared - what if I can't meet up the challenges?

For my first Daring Cooks Challenge (the November 2009 one is brought to you by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen), we are asked to make sushi from scratch. Lucky me, I love sushi!

After a bit of researches, I found that the traditional form of sushi is fermented fish and rice, preserved with salt. The fermentation of fished and rice produce vinegar which breaks the fish down into amino acids. This results in 1 of 5 basic tastes (along with sweet, salty, etc.) called umami in Japanese (a.k.a. glutamates). Narezushi, the oldest form of sushi in Japan, still resembles closely to this process and it has evolved into Oshizushi, and finally Edomae Nigirizushi to which the world knows today as Sushi

Although sushi in various forms has been around for fourteen centuries, the modern version was invented in Japan by Hanaya Yohei (1799-1858) at the end of Edo period in Edo. An early form of fast food where a 'hand-formed' sliced fresh fish and vinegared rice ball could be eaten with one's hand on roadside or in a theatre. This sushi was known as Edomae zushi because it used freshly caught fish in the Edo-mae (Edo Bay or Tokyo Bay). Nowadays, sushi is made with various seafood, meats and vegetables, raw and cooked.

There are 4 parts in this challenge and I will show you how to make each of this in separate posts for easy reference:

1. Making proper sushi rice with home-made sushi vinegar
2. Dragon Sushi Roll - a covered inside-out rice roll with a tasty surprise filling
3. Spiral Sushi - a nori-coated rice roll which reveals a decorative pattern when cut
4. Nigiri Sushi - hand-shaped rice rolls with toppings

It's really fun making your own sushi. I challenge you to do make some! But first, let's learn how to make Sushi Rice, the process is somewhat long but not as complex as it looks.

Sushi rice

Total Preparation time: 1¾ hours

• Rinsing & draining rice: 35 minutes
• Soaking rice: 30 minutes
• Cooking and steaming time: 25 minutes
• Finishing the rice: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 2½ cups short grain (round rice) or Japanese rice
• 2½ cups water
• 3 inch square dashi konbu (or kombu - dried kelp seaweed) wipe with a damp cloth to remove white powder & cut a few slits in the sides of the kelp to help release its flavours - OPTIONAL
• 2½ tsp sake (Japanese rice wine - don't use cooking sake) - OPTIONAL

Sushi vinegar dressing

• 5 tbsp rice vinegar
• 5 tsp sugar
• 1¼ tsp salt

Directions

1. Swirl rice gently in a bowl of water, drain, repeat 3-4 times until water is nearly clear. Don't crush the rice in your hands or against the side of the bowl as dry rice is very brittle.
2. Gently place rice into a strainer and drain well for 30 minutes.
3. Place the rice in a heavy medium pot with a tight fitting lid (if you have a loose fitting lid use a piece of aluminum foil to make the seal tight).
4. Add 2½ cups of water and the dashi konbu (if you are using. This is optional.).
5. Set the rice aside to soak for 30 minutes, during this time prepare the sushi rice dressing.
6. After 30 minutes of soaking add sake (if using, again optional) to the rice.
7. Bring the rice to the boil. Then reduce heat to the lowest setting and simmer, covered for 12-15 minutes. Do not remove the lid during this process.
8. Turn off heat. Let stand with the lid on, 10-15 minutes. Do not peek inside the pot or remove the lid. During this time the rice is steaming which completes the cooking process.

Preparing the Rice Vinegar Dressing

1. Combine the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small pot.
2. Heat on low setting. Stir until the mixture is clear and the sugar and salt have dissolved.
3. Set aside at room temperature to cool until the rice is cooked.

Turning out the rice

1. Lightly moisten a flat thin wooden spatula or spoon and a large shallow flat-bottomed ceramic, plastic or glass dish. Do not use metallic objects as vinegar reacts to it and will produce sour and bitter sushi rice.
2. Remove the dashi konbu (kelp) from the cooked rice (if you added it).
3. Use the spatula to gently loosen the rice and tip the rice pot over the dish, gently letting the rice fall in one central heap. This is to avoid damaging the rice grains.
4. Slowly evenly pour the cooled sushi vinegar over the hot rice by dripping it on the spatula.
5. Using the spatula, gently spread the rice into a thin, even layer using a 45° cutting motion to break up any lumps and to separate the rice. Don't stir or mash rice.
6. After the rice is spread out, start turning it over gently, in small portions, using a cutting action, allowing steam to escape, for about a minute.
7. Continue turning over the rice, but now start fanning (using a piece of stiff cardboard or fan) the rice vigorously as you do so. Don't flip the rice into the air. Continue to gently slice, lift and turn the rice occasionally, for 10 minutes. Cooling the rice using a fan gives good flavour, texture and a high-gloss sheen to the rice. The vinegar dressing will be absorbed by the hot rice.
8. Stop fanning when there's no more visible steam, and all the vinegar dressing has been adsorbed and the rice is shiny.
9. Your sushi rice is ready to be used.

The Verdict

The rice turned out perfect and deliciously good. It's worth making your own sushi vingear as you will taste a big difference. (I did not add sake or dashi konbu to my rice)

Sushi is easy and cheap to make at home. Best of all, you do not need to use any special equipment to make this and it is fun to make together with family and friends.

Notes

To maximize your time in preparing sushi, prepare your rice vinegar dressing, sushi fillings and toppings while rice is draining and soaking.

If you cannot get sushi Rice, replace it with short (round or pearl) or medium grain rice. Do not use Arborio, long-grain, or parboiled white rice.

For rice vinegar, make sure there is no salt or sugar added in it. You can substitute it with apple cider vinegar, and if you don't have apple cider vinegar, use mild white wine vinegar or mild red wine vinegar. Do not use normal white vinegar - it's too harsh.

Dashi konbu - or ( dashi kombu) - dried kelp, it looks like broad, leathery, wrinkly greenish ribbon often coated with a white powder. The darker green the leaves, the better the quality of kelp. Dashi konbu adds a refreshing light ocean taste to sushi rice.

Keeping the rice moist

Cover with a damp, lint free cloth to prevent the rice from drying out while preparing your sushi meal. Do not store sushi rice in the refrigerator. Leave it on the counter covered at room temperature. Sushi rice is best used when it is at room temperature. Cooked sushi rice can be placed in plastic bags and frozen for 3 months, microwave when needed.

As all of you already know, Pierre and I love Indian food, besides cooking some at home, we frequent a lot of Indian restaurants too. The menus always have a lot of unfamilliar words that we can only understand thanks to the provided translation. As I was writing this post, I decided to do some search on what those we see most often mean.

Here is what I found: Batak (duck), Chingri (shrimps), Gosht (meat - invariably lamb), Jingha (prawn), Kofta (meat balls), Murgh (chicken), Nargis (boiled egg), Paneer (cheese), Bhindi (okra, ladies' fingers), Dall (lentils), Ghobi (cauliflower), Kumbi (mushrooms), Matar (peas), Saag (spinach); and "Aloo Gosht" means Potatoes with Meat. And this is what is simmering in our pot today.

It all started on twitter with a group of wonderful and good food blogging friends. We were twittering about food (what else) and such when I kept seeing the word 'Ghost' popping up. Whenever Jamie and Deeba mentioned about Jamie's Aloo Gosht, they would joke about Meeta seeing ghost when having this dish. Now that piqued my ninja curiosity wondering if Meeta really had some ghostly encounter with this dish. To my great disappointment, it was nothing of the kind. LOL! You see, Meeta was trying to compliment Jamie on her recent Aloo Gosht dish when she accidently typed Aloo Ghost instead, causing Jamie and Deeba teased her non stop about it. To be honest, I never really made the connection between gosht and ghost until Meeta let me in on the joke. It was then that I took a double look at the word 'GOSHT' - LOL. So here we are, I made our very own Aloo Ghost, oops, I mean Gosht.

The below recipe is a slightly modified version from the original version by Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking on Jamie's blog, Lifesafeast.

Aloo Gosht - Delhi-styled lamb cooked with potatoes

Ingredients

• 7 tbsp vegetable oil
• 175 g onions (finely chopped)
• 1 fresh green chili (seeded and chopped)
• 5 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• 1 thumb size ginger (finely chopped)
• 1 kg lamb shoulder (cut into large cubes & keep the bone)
• 350 g tomatoes (peeled and chopped, juices reserved with the tomatoes) or 1 can tomatoes
• 1 tbs ground cumin
• 2 tsps ground coriander
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsps salt
• 500 g potatoes, peeled and cut in half
• a bunch of coriander (roughly chopped)
• 600 ml water

Directions

1. Heat up a large, heavy bottomed pan or wok with 7 tbsp of oil over heat high. When the oil is hot, stir fry the onions until golden brown.
2. Add in green chilli, ginger and garlic in the pot and stir fry for a few minute.
3. Mix in the cumin, coriander powder, turmeric, chilli, making sure it is well combined.
4. Add the chunks of lamb including the bones (if any) to the pot making sure it is coated with above mixture. Stir it for about 5 minutes.
5. Pour the chopped tomatoes (or a can of tomatoes), chopped fresh coriander & water and season it with salt. Stir to blend all in and bring it to a boil, sauce should thickened.
6. Reduce heat to low and let it simmer partially covered for 1 hour or so. Add more water if you find it too concentrated.
7. Add the potatoes and cook uncovered for 30 minutes or until soft. Check seasoning to taste before serving.
8. Serve hot with rice

The Verdict

It's savory and very aromatic with just a teasing tint of spiciness in each spoonful. The meat is very tender. It's also a bit soupy and the broth is lightly tangy. My mom-in-law finds it very refreshing and umpf! A wonderful dish to have on a cold day!

Notes

In my above recipe I have reduced the quantity of water from the original recipe of 900 ml as I find my dish was way too soupy (very thin broth) to my liking and I had to simmer it uncovered for a long time to reduce water. I find that it is better to add less water first and dilute it later to your preference if one finds it too concentrated.

If you are using normal pot to cook the above recipe, cook step 5 until oil separates from the sauce and sauce thickens. However if you are using a non-stick wok or pot, oil will not separate from sauce.

If you have some very firm potatoes, you may let potatoes simmer together with the rest of the ingredients for an hour or so. As for me, the normal potatoes I had in my pantry just simply melt to pieces at the end of an hour or so of simmering.

Adjust the spiciness according to your taste. Omit the green chili totally if you can't take spiciness, but put more if you like it hot as I made it mild for my family. The chili powder I use in all my recipes is from grounded dried chilli. I understand that there are different version of chili powder available - some are a blend of chili with other spices.

The good thing about having your own cooking blog is that you can quickly refer to certain recipes without having to flip to through your notes, cookbooks or surf the internet just to find that recipe. Having said that, my little family has finally had enough of me cooking the same old dishes from my blog, delicious as they may be... getting BORING, BORING, BORING!

Now cooking for my household isn't that easy too... hubby likes spicy food, is a sauce person, doesn't quite like fish with bones or crab (too much work to eat), is not a vegetable or soup person, etc. His loves meat and is a difficult man to cook for. Whereas Little One & I are the opposite, we like soup, vegetables, fish etc, however Little One can be equally difficult to cook for too. She loves pasta and rice. You would think 'oh that's easy then, just cook any meal that has pasta or rice.' Wrong! Mademoiselle has her days - good days, she eats everything presented to her, difficult days (which is often the case now) - she picks out everything off her rice or pasta and simply happily just eat plain rice or pasta with cheese much to my chagrin. And getting her to eat meat is another story - it's like serving her poison. She shows a clear sign she isn't a meat person since she was a baby.

You must be wondering how do we ever come to a compromise on our palate - well, apparently hubby and baby share a common love for PIZZA! Any mention of that send both of them into a joyful pizza dance, but not so for me. Since it's 2 vs 1 - I'm out voted. LOL! Both love cakes and cookies, a true blessing for me since I love to bake. I have to say in regards to bakeries, she's a true Daddy's girl for she has the same possessiveness about her sweets just like her papa. Just this evening, she told everyone at the table (grandparents included) not to touch her cake as it is only reserves for little ones like her, and if any adults eat it, it will make them sick to their stomach. LOL!

So what binds hubby and I? Love for spices and spiciness. Little One has been prepared and trained for it since the day she entered our lives. And apparently she loves it too for I had 9 months of pure bliss savouring all sorts of spicy food. Once she started on solids, now and then we sneaked some spicy food on her plate without her knowledge. From experience, we found that once she knows it is spicy, she won't touch it or she will spit it out even though it is not that spicy. However there are times when she sees us tugging in our spicy food with such sheer delight that rouse her curiosity and she asks for bite, just like tonight's dinner. At first she was hesitant, but encouraged and coaxed by me, she gave it a try. Much to her own surprise and ours, she loved it and even asked for some on her rice. Now that's my true little ninja spirit.

Hot Chicken Curry

(taken from Indian - Shehzad Husain & Rafi Fernandez)

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp corn oil
• ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds
• ¼ tsp onion seeds
• 2 medium onions (chopped)
• ½ tsp garlic pulp
• ½ tsp ginger pulp
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 400 g (14 oz) canned tomatoes
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 350 g chicken meat (cubed)
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander/cilantro (chopped)
• 3 fresh green chilli (cut into chunks), I only used 1.
• ½ red bell pepper (cut into chunks)
• ½ green bell pepper (cut into chunks)

Directions

1. Heat oil in a medium wok, fry the fenugreek and onion seeds until they turn a bit darker.
2. Add the chopped onions, garlic and ginger and stir-fry for about 5 minutes until onions turn golden brown. Lower heat to very low.
3. In the meantime, mix the ground coriander, chilli powder, salt, tomatoes & lemon juice together in a big bowl.
4. Pour this mixture into the wok and turn the heat to medium. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes.
5. Add the chicken pieces and stir-fry for 5 - 7 minutes.
6. Add the fresh coriander (cilantro), green chillies, red and green bell peppers.
7. Lower the heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes covered or until bell peppers and chicken are cooked.
8. Serve hot with plain basmati rice or chapatis.

The Verdict

This is not a "curry" in the sense that most western people think of it: there's no curry powder inside and it doesn't have the characteristic flavor. This is however a very aromatic and spicy dish and is definitely one of my favorite Indian recipe. It's also quite healthy as you can see from the ingredients - low fat and veggies but definitely not bland Everyone loves it, especially hubby who isn't a vegetable person.

Notes

I used normal vegetable oil and omitted onion seeds in above recipe as I couldn't find it anywhere in town. And also I only put 1 green chili, it's already a bit spicy so if you can't take spiciness, it's better to totally leave out the green chillies.

Little One is now almost 3 and 1/2 years old. What a difference a year makes! Now she is talking non-stop at times, singing to her heart content when she wakes up in the morning until she reaches school. Holding a conversation with her is quite amusing - the things she thinks and says. Just eavesdropping on her imaginary conversation with her dolls or teddy or toy phone is enough to make you double up with laughter.

Like every first time mother, I was very protective with her at the beginning. Luckily for me, I have a wonderful mother-in-law who reminds me now and then to let go and let my kid explore, be adventurous, basically let her grow and blossom. It was my mom-in-law who let her wash her first dishes together with her, her first stir-fry on wok standing on a chair next to a stove so proud of herself, taught her how to crack an egg properly, let her help to make an apple tart, showing her how to pick mushrooms, picking berries and apples with no worms in it, collecting walnuts etc. Watching my mom-in-law and my daughter doing things together makes me marvel at her ever patience. That really humbled me and made me resolved to be more patient as well.

Baking with kids isn't the easiest thing to do and lots of patience is required. Obviously you have to be prepared for messiness, flour and sugar all over the place, bits of egg shells in the batter etc. Only do this with them when you have the time at hand. Please note that I made the madeleines with Little One using Method 1.

Since my daughter can't really recognize numbers yet, I get her to participate by letting her scoop the flour & sugar, putting it the weighing scale bowl, letting her cut & weight the butter too (but some of it ended in her stomach instead). She's also getting good at zesting a lemon. I think the part she loves most is cracking the eggs and she did a very good job indeed (no egg shell bits in the batter, yay!).

Now that she is bigger and stronger, I was able to let her hold the hand-held electric whisk on her own and beat the batter all by herself. Any attempts on my part to help her is met with a scowl. LOL! Once the batter is ready, she buttered the little cups using a pastry brush.

As she is still a little bit too young to scoop and put the batter properly on a madeleine tray by herself without having batter all over the place, I took charge of a small spoonful of batter and let her drop it into the madeleine cups. Then in they went into the oven. This was so much fun! I look forward to another baking session with her.

Madeleines (Lemon Flavoured)

Ingredients

• 200 g plain flour
• 200 g sugar
• 1 pkt baking powder (11 g)
• 150 g softened butter
• 6 eggs
• zests of 1 lemon

Directions

Method 1

1. Preheat oven at 200°C ( 400°F - gas mark 6).
2. Mix plain flour and baking powder together in a bowl and set aside.
3. In a big bowl, whisk sugar and softened butter until light and fluffy.
4. Incorporate the eggs one by one, making sure egg is combined with batter before adding the next.
5. Add in the lemon zests.
6. Stir in flour and mix until combined.
7. Coat madeleine tray well with butter using a pastry brush.
8. Scoop a table spoonful (not a big one) of batter and fill it into each mould. Doesn't need to spread it out, it will level itself in the oven.
9. Bake it for about 10 minutes or until the madelines are golden brown and a small mount appears on top.

Method 2

1. Preheat oven at 200°C ( 400°F - gas mark 6).
2. Separate the egg yolks and white and set aside.
3. Mix plain flour and 1½ tsp baking powder together in a bowl and set aside.
4. In a big bowl, mix sugar and softened butter together.
5. Incorporate the eggs one by one, making sure egg is combined with batter before adding the next. Whisk the batter until it is light and creamy.
6. Add in the lemon zests and the flour. Mix until combined.
7. Beat egg white until stiff peaks formed and it stick to the bowl when held upside down.
8. Delicately incorporate the stiff egg white into the batter.
9. Coat madeleine tray well with butter using a pastry brush.
10. Scoop a table spoonful (not a big one) of batter and fill it into each mould. Doesn't need to spread it out, it will level itself in the oven.
11. Bake it for about 10 minutes or until the madelines are golden brown and a small mount appears on top.

The Verdict

The madeleines are very fluffy and moist on the inside with light crunchy coating on the outside when it is freshly out of the oven. They smells heavenly and taste likewise - just a light tint of lemon flavour and not too sweet. Delicious with tea. They still taste great the next day - it remains soft and moist on the inside, however the surface has lost its crunchy coating. Not only it is 100% better than those I bought from the store, it is also very easy and quick to whip up.

Both methods are good although I find the 2nd method is a little bit more compact than Method 1. Pierre, hubby, however didn't find any difference between the 2 methods. Well, if you ever try both methods, do drop me a line and let me know what you think.

Notes

Baking time of the above madeleines depends on how hot is your oven and how big is your madeleine mould. Initially I tried baking it at 15 minutes as per cooking instructions but found my 1^st batch was way too brown at this duration and had to adjust the timings to fit my oven. I would suggest to first try it at 10 minutes, if your madeleines aren't golden brown, let it bake for another 2 minutes or so.

One of the nicest things about living in France (as opposed to my equatorial Singapore) is not just the 4 seasons but the food that come -and go- with them: fruits, mushrooms of course but also cheese or seafood. As we enter Autumn (or are supposed to, as temperature went from a nice 22°C to 11°C in 48h), we have apples, pears and walnuts and chestnuts falling from trees everywhere in the countryside. One simply can't resist stopping the car to pick them up on the road. Not to pick them up seems like such a waste of food from mother nature.

Two weekends ago, we (parents-in-law, Little One and I) went walnut pickings at the nearby fields of my in-laws mountain house. We were pleasantly greeted by a herd of cows and calves. At first they were minding their own business, but after a while they got curious at our presence on their territory, looking at us wondering what were we doing bending and picking stuff on the ground. I for one got excited and pointed the cows to Little One, prompting her to wave and holler a 'mooo' greetings to the cows and calves.

As we moved further into the fields, the cows decided to follow us up close - pretty cute. I was kinda scared as these cows have long spiky horns but my parents-in-law assured me that they are nice and harmless animals. I watched in fear as one cow moved right next to my mom-in-law who just waved her finger 'No, no' telling it not to come so close to her. Amazingly then the cow moved a few steps back from my mom-in-law! I was truly floored. As we moved on, the cows followed us nonchalantly behind us, every pair of eyes were on us, on our movements... gave me the goose bumps like they were seizing the chance to pounce on us unsuspectingly. Knowing that cows are way more likely to be eaten by humans than the opposite wasn't quite enough to make me comfortable about being around such big horned animals.

Luckily for me, Little One was a good distraction... picking walnuts became sort of a treasure hunt for her, her exclamation of sheer delight at spotting one was very amusing, some went into the pails, a few were kept in her pocket as prized treasure to show to her papa later. Suddenly Little One spotted a cow hovering over our pail of nuts, went close to it, shaking her little finger: 'No, no ... it's not for you. Go away.' However the cow couldn't care less and continued eying at those delicious nuts, Little One started to growl like a little courageous lion cub to frighten it away to no avail. LOL! It was quite a funny scene of David & Goliath. Harmless as the cows may be, they do have those pair of menacing looking horns and could easily flick Little One with it. Father-in-law took caution, shooed the cow away and told Little One not to get too close to them. With both pails filled to the rim with a little mount of pyramid, we had to sadly leave the rest of the nuts on the ground and said 'Goodbye, till we meet again' to our companions. What wonderful and fruitful afternoon we had! Wish I had thought of bringing my camera along. Oh well, perhaps I'll have another opportunity.

Walnut-Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

• 85 g sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 7 egg whites
• 85 g butter (melted)
• 50 g plain flour
• 150 g walnuts (chopped, not too finely)
• 50 g dark chocolate
• 20 g liquid cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 170°C ( 325°F - gas mark 3).
2. Mix egg yolks and sugar, then add in melted butter. Whisk until combined.
3. Add in plain flour, stir until combined.
4. Add in chopped walnuts
5. Beat egg white until very stiff peaks.
6. Delicately incorporate the stiff egg white into the batter.
7. Pour the batter into a well greased round baking tin.
8. Bake it for about 40 minutes or until the tooth pick comes out clean and let it cool completely.
9. With a baking brush, coat the cake with chocolate ganache.
10. Let it chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
11. You can serve it with crème anglaise.

Making Chocolate ganache

1. Bring cream to a boil and then stir in dark chocolate until combined.
2. Let it cool to obtain a ganache.

The Verdict

This cake is very light, moist and the nutty flavour is heighten by the chocolate ganache. We ate this with crème anglais - it was good but we felt that it sort of bland out the flavour of this nutty cake instead of heightening it, so maybe you can forget about this addition. This cake is not very sweet so if you do leave out the crème anglais, please increase the amount of sugar added to the cake.