The Cooking Ninja

4 months have passed since we moved into our new house and it's beginning to look more and more like home. Off with the old wallpaper (in most of the rooms, the wallpaper have been there for 4 decades!), a fresh coat of paint... voilà: it looks a whole lot prettier and modern. All this is possible due to relentless effort of my parents-in-law, without them, it would have taken us a lot longer to get the house looking like home. THANK YOU Michèle & Patrick for all that you have done for us.

Early this week we hosted a lovely Canadian couple who were here to visit Michèle & Patrick. With so many people around the house, it was la fête (a party) for Little One. Basked in the adoration limelight of everyone, she shines like a true star and charmed the Canadian couple (needless to say, the grandparents are already under her spell). Since this couple had been to Singapore before, I decided to cook curry - something local for them.

Mom's Chicken Curry

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (peel off most of the skin and chopped into pieces)
• 350 g shallots or white onions (approx.)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 6 or 7 stalks lemon grass (white part only - sliced)
• 1 or 2 pieces candle nuts
• 3 or 4 slices galangal
• 1 thumb size ginger
• 3 or 4 tbsp meat curry powder or curry powder
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 green cardamoms
• 1 star anise (big)
• 3 cloves
• a bunch of curry leaves (fresh or dried)
• 400 ml coconut milk
• 600 ml milk (approx.)
• salt or light soya sauce for seasoning
• oil

Directions

1. Put shallots, garlic, lemon grass, candle nuts, galangal & ginger in the food processor and grind it into a fine paste.
2. Mix the curry powder well into the paste.
3. Heat the wok with some oil till hot. Stir-fry the cinnamon stick, cardamons, star anise and cloves for a minute or so.
4. Stir in the paste and stir-fry it till fragrant.
5. Add in the chicken pieces. Stir and coat the chicken pieces with the curry paste.
6. Pour in the milk, coconut milk and curry leaves. Stir till blend with the chicken pieces and paste. (Add more milk if you feel the gravy is too thick or little.)
7. Season it with salt or light soya sauce to your liking and check the spiciness. If it is not spicy to your taste, add another spoonful of curry powder.
8. Bring it to a boil, then lower the fire to let it simmer for half an hour.
9. Serve it with rice or a loaf of French bread.

Conclusion

Mmm...yummy. It really DOES tastes like the curry I have back home, so I guess this is a success. I had prepared a tiramusi for dessert, but it was a tough sell after everybody had gotten a second (and for some even third) portion of the curry.

I hate cold weather especially when it's windy. Nantes has lots of these cold icy breeze that could even wake up a drunk from his drunken stupor. Brrr! I also hate it when it drizzles (it rains a lot here, coastal area and all that) - it's really no fun walking outside in the rain, with the cold icy wind blowing the rain at your face not just in one direction but at every angle - rendering your umbrella useless. Each time I step out of this house into the the cold is another step backward towards the healing process of my rather bad flu. I have more or less my voice back though it sounds more of a croak than a feminine voice, but am still coughing. For a food lover, it's an horrible condition as much of the taste of everything I eat gets lost.

Since my other half has been sick for awhile too, we haven't had much energy nor desire to cook anything fancy. We have been living on easy and quick to make food like roast beef, fish cakes, pasta and wraps. Ooh I love these wraps. They are so versatile, easy and quick to dish up. All you need is a few pieces of tortilla, some salad, avocado, corns, cheese, mayonnaise or any other dressing, meat - can be white or red or even smoked etc. Just put them all together and fold it up bottom first then sides ... voilà a nice wrap - nutritious and filling, a nice change from the usual sandwiches and salad. A whole, healthy meal in itself. Just leave it to your imagination to do your wrap.

For us, we like to do a chicken wrap with pan fried chicken coated with garam marsala, with some salad, cheese, corns and mayonnaise. Does anyone has good ideas of stuff to put in there?

Haven't been feeling that well for the past few days, and I'm so not inspired to cook at all. However we were left with a packet of chicken in our fridge that needed to be cooked as it was expiring today. Pierre was craving for breaded chicken and I decided to spice up the usual way we do it. The result of this experiment is surprising good, while staying simple.

Aromatic Spicy Breaded Chicken

Ingredients

• chicken breast
• garam marsala
• chili powder
• 1 egg (beaten with salt & pepper)
• bread crumbs

Directions

1. Cut the chicken breast into smaller pieces if necessary. Tenderize it with the back of your knife.
2. Season the pieces with salt. Mix the garam marsala with some chili powder (adjust the spiciness according to your liking) and coat the chicken with it.
3. Dip each piece with the beaten egg and coat it with the bread crumbs. Set it aside.
4. Heat the pan with oil till it is hot. Pan fry the chicken pieces till it is brown and drain it on paper towel.
5. Serve it warm.

The Verdict

The dish will obviously not win any cooking championship, but it's a quick and tasty way to prepare chicken. The addition of garam massala and chili gives a nice twist to the recipe.

Notes

Make your own bread crumbs by grating your old dried-out bread (well duh! but it is actually a lot better than the crumbs-in-a-box I've been buying before).

We have been craving to go for some spicy food at our favourite Indian restaurant for more than a month, however the thought of dinning in a restaurant with our active and curious 1 year old is enough to dampen our desire. Even in a kid friendly environment, our little Miss Curious will start squirming in her seat within 30 minutes and want to walk around the restaurant, check out the people, the tables and what is on them. So in the end, we decided to cook an Indian meal ourselves. Pierre picked this Moghul-Style chicken out of all the curry dishes for it's use of saffron, and of course the fact that we have never tried it before!

Moghlai Cuisine originates from the kitchens of the the Mogul Empire. This cuisine, influenced by Middle-Eastern cuisine, is predominantly found in Nothern-India and many of the dishes carry over some of its dishes names: kofta, kebabs, pulao, etc. It's usually quite spicy like other Indian Cuisines, but has its own distinct aromas and taste - something I found out by cooking this dish.

This is my very first entry to this month 'Think Spice...Think Saffron' - a monthly spice event host by Sunita's World.

Moghlai Murgh

(taken from Indian - Shehzad Husain & Rafi Fernandez)

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 4 chicken breasts
• 6 tbsp ghee or butter
• 1 large onion (finely chopped)
• 1 fresh ginger -5 cm or 2" long (finely crushed)
• 4 cloves garlic (finely crushed)
• 4 cloves
• 4 green cardamon pods
• 1 cinnamon stick - 5 cm or 2" long
• 2 bay leaves
• 15 - 20 strands saffron
• 150 ml or 2/3 cup natural plain yogurt
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 5 tbsp double or heavy cream
• 50 g or ½ cup ground almonds
• garam masala

Directions

1. Coat the chicken with a little garam masala.
2. Lightly beat the eggs with salt and pepper and then brush the chicken with it.
3. Heat the ghee or butter in frying pan and fry the chicken. Remove and keep warm.
4. With the same ghee or butter, fry the chopped onions, crushed ginger, garlic, cloves, cardamons, cinnamon and bay leaves until the onions turn golden. Remove the pan from heat and let it cool a little.
5. Beat the yogurt with 1 tsp cornflour. Add the saffron and the beaten yogurt to the onions and spices. Mix it well to prevent the yogurt from curdling.
6. Put the pan back to the heat, season it with salt, add in the chicken with its juices (if any) and gently cook until the chicken is tender.
7. Just before serving, fold in the cream and ground almonds.
8. Serve hot.

The Verdict

Saffron is crucial to the flavour of this dish and we can distinctively smell and taste it. It is creamy, nutty with the dominant parfum of saffron. The chicken pieces were very tender and tasty with the garam masala. Although there is no chilli in the recipe, we could feel a very light spiciness (that's the garam massala). I love the whole dish so much that I couldn't get enough of the chicken and its creamy sauce - definitely something I'll cook again!

Quenelle [kuh-NEHL] are a culinary specialty of Lyon, France: a light, delicate small oval shaped dumpling made of seasoned, minced or ground fish or white meat bound with panada which are gently poached in stock or water. Quenelles are usually served with a rich sauce and can be used as a first course, main course or garnish.

The first quenelles I tasted were home-made by Michèle, in fact, I was there when she made them. After eating hers, I was spoiled for life: each time we buy them prepackaged, I keep comparing them with hers. The industrial ones are mainly made up of flour more than meat, they are more compact and dense, and one can taste the difference immediately.

Quenelles de volaille

(Michèle's recipe)

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Quenelles

• 200 g chicken meat
• 55 g old bread
• 3 tbsp milk
• 300 ml liquid cream aka crème flurette (very cold)
• 1 egg
• a dash of nutmeg
• salt & pepper

Béchamel Sauce

• 30 g plain flour
• 30 g butter or margarine
• ½ litre milk
• salt & pepper

Directions

Béchamel sauce (prepare once the quenelles are cooked)

1. Melt the butter in a sauce pan at medium heat. Make sure that the butter doesn't turn brown.
2. Add the flour into the melted butter and stir it vigorously with a whisk. Continue to stir vigorously until you obtain a mousse like mixture.
3. Stir in the milk a little at a time (make sure it's well incorporated), vigorously to avoid getting lumps. When about half the milk is in, switch to a balloon whisk and start adding large amounts of milk instead, but always whisking briskly. Your reward will be a smooth, glossy, creamy sauce.
4. Whisk it until it thickens, then turn the heat down to its lowest setting.
5. Season it with salt and pepper.
6. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes (whisk it from time to time) and then remove from heat.

Quenelles

1. Mince the chicken meat in a food processor, add the egg and pulse it.
2. Add the liquid cream bit by bit (in 5 steps) - each time, mix it for about 6 or 8 seconds.
3. Pour 3 tbsp of milk onto the old bread and microwave it for a few seconds.
4. Add in the old bread. Season it with salt, pepper and nutmeg and pulse it briefly one last time.
5. Chill the paste for an hour or more. This makes the paste easier to handle later on.
6. Shape the quenelles using 2 soup spoon. Take the second spoon out of some hot water and invert it over the first to shape the quenelle. Do not press the spoons together: merely shape the quenelle.
7. Poach them gently in a pot of salted water near to boiling point (but not boiling !). Cook them for 6 to 8 minutes.
8. Remove them with slotted spoon and set it in a baking dish.
9. Pour the béchamel sauce over the quenelles and sprinkle some grated cheese on top.
10. Use your oven top grill to bake the dish for about 10 minutes or until cheese is grilled.
11. Serve hot

The Verdict

It was lovely : soft, dense yet light, with a clear chicken flavour. I personally think the ones made by Michèle tasted better but my sister-in-law and Pierre first exclamation upon tasting mine was that they were even better. They definitely trumped industrial ones (duh!).

Notes

I made the béchemal sauce after I have cooked all the quenelles as it's quick to make and poured the hot sauce over the quenelles.

You can prepare the quenelles paste earlier and keep it in the refrigerator till it's time to cook them.

We haven't had curry for a quite some time now... so I decided to cook something different. I have been wanting to try my hands at cooking green curry for years, well, ever since I got this cook book from my ex colleague but I never really dared to try it... when I see the (long) list of ingredients - I usually chicken out. So this time, I was determined to do it and satisfy my hunger pangs for green curry.

In Thai cuisine, curries are a paste used in meat, fish or vegetable dishes. They use local ingredients such as chili peppers, Kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, Galangal and coconut milk, and as a result tend to be more aromatic than Indian curries. Thai curries are often described by colour; red curries use red chilis while green curries use green chilis, and yellow is closer to the Indian one.

Home-made curry pastes have of course more flavour than prepackaged. As such I decided to make my own paste and write this recipe is in two parts: first the green curry paste itself, then the Green Chicken Curry.

Green Curry Paste

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 2 tsp dried shrimp paste (pâte de crevette)
• 8 large fresh green chillies, roughly chopped
• 1 cup French shallots, chopped
• 5 cm fresh galangal (peeled and pounded or chopped)
• 12 small cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cup fresh coriander, chopped
• 6 kaffir lime leaves (feuilles de Combava), chopped
• 3 stems lemon grass (citronnelle), white part only - finely chopped
• 2 tsp grated lime rind
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp oil

Directions

1. Place the coriander and cumin seeds in a dry frying pan and heat for 2-3 minutes, shaking the pan constantly.
2. Place the roasted spices and peppercorns in a mortar and pestle or clean coffee grinder and work them until they are finely ground.
3. Wrap the shrimp paste in a small amount of foil and cook under a hot grill for 2-3 minutes, turning the package twice.
4. Process the grounded spices and shrimp paste in a food processor for 5 seconds. Add the remaining ingredients and process for 20 seconds at a time, scrapping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula each time, until the mixture forms a smooth paste.
5. You'll get approximately 1 cup of curry paste.

Note

Fresh green curry paste will keep for up to 3 weeks in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Alternatively, place tablespoonful in an ice-cube tray, cover and freeze for several hours; then store the cubes in a freezer bag and use them when required. Allow to defrost for 30 minutes at room temperature before using. Frozen paste will keep for up to 4 months.

For this paste, I didn't have coriander nor cumin seeds, so I used grounded ones instead - the same for the black pepper. I also run out of French shallots so I used 2 French shallots and 1 medium size onion. As for the green chillies, I used only 4 as you can see they are extremely big. If you are not used to spiciness, use 6 instead of 8 and also remove the inside core to lessen the spiciness.

I also couldn't find kaffir leaves so I substituted them with 1 tbsp of kaffir lime zests (equals to about 6 kaffir leaves). Another alternative is to use 1 tbsp of lime zests. Note that fresh Kaffir leaves can be frozen, while dried leaves are much less flavourful, so use twice as many as the recipe calls for if you're substituting them for fresh leaves.

Green Chicken Curry

(taken from Thai Cooking)

Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking: 25 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1-2 tbsp green curry paste
• 1½ cups or 375 ml coconut milk
• ½ cup or 125 ml water
• 500 g chicken thigh, fillets (cut into bite-sized pieces)
• 100 g green beans (cut into short pieces)
• 6 kaffir lime leaves (feuilles de Combava)
• 1 tbsp fish sauce (nuoc-mâm)
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tsp finely grated lime rind
• 2 tsp soft brown sugar
• ¼ cup fresh coriander

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a wok or a heavy-based pan. Add onions and green curry paste to the wok and cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly.
2. Add the coconut milk and water to the wok and bring to boil.
3. Add the chicken pieces, beans and kaffir lime leaves to the wok; stir to combine.
4. Simmer, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
5. Add the fish sauce, lime juice and rind, and brown sugar to the wok; stir to combine.
6. Sprinkle with fresh coriander leaves just before serving. Serve with steamed rice.

The Verdict

I didn't know what to expect actually, while cooking this curry, the aroma of kaffir lime and coconut flavour filled the whole house... very delightful and mouthwatering.

The chicken curry turned out pretty delicious I must say (a pat on my own back). For the first time, I'm actually satisfied with my own curry. The verdict from Pierre : Nice, fragrant. He likes it. It is spicy but not overly spicy.

I must say that although the long list of ingredients to make this curry (especially the green curry paste) looks daunting, it is rather simple, just put everything into the food processor and let it do the work for you.

Note

Chicken thigh fillets are sweet in flavour and a very good texture for curries. You can use breast fillets instead if you prefer. Do not overcook fillets or they will be tough.

I replaced kaffir leaves and lime zests with kaffir lime zests like I did with my paste. Trying not to waste, I used the kaffir lime juice instead of lime. And I used brown sugar instead of soft brown sugar (I didn't have any of that in my cupboard).

Many of the above ingredients can be tricky to find in western countries, but I have had good success finding them in local Asian groceries.

I haven't been cooking much after I got pregnant - the hectic schedule of university studies and being a new mummy left me too tired at the end of the day to even cook ... so Pierre has been the kitchen chef for the past 2 years. I promised him that once my exams are over, I will take over the wok and cook whatever he desires and fancy. So here we are.

Yesterday we had some guests over for dinner and I asked Pierre what he would like for dinner ... Being an Indian food lover, he immediately took out the Indian cook book that I got him 2 Christmas ago and picked out this :

Balti Butter Chicken

(taken from Indian - Shehzad Husain & Rafi Fernandez)

Serves : 4 - 6

Ingredients

• 150 ml or 2/3 cups Natural (plain) yogurt
• 50 g or ½ cups Ground almonds
• 1½ tsp Chilli powder
• ¼ tsp Crushed bay leaves (Laurier)
• ¼ tsp Ground cloves
• ¼ tsp Ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp Garam masala
• 4 Green cardamom pods
• 1 tsp Ginger pulp
• 1 tsp Garlic pulp
• 1¼ tsp salt
• 1 kg or 6½ cups Chicken, skinned, bonned & cubed
• 75 g or 6 tbsp Butter
• 1 tbsp Corn oil
• 2 medium Onions - sliced
• 2 tbsp Fresh coriander - chopped (cilantro)
• 4 tbsp Single (light) cream
• Coriander sprigs

Directions

1. Put the yogurt, ground almonds, all the dry spices, ginger, garlic, tomatoes and salt into a bowl and mix them together.
2. Put the chicken into a large bowl, pour the yogurt mixture over it and mix.
3. Melt together the butter and oil in a medium karachi or wok.
4. Add the onions and fry for about 3 minutes.
5. Add chicken mixture and stir-fry for 7-10 minutes.
6. Stir in about half of the coriander (cilantro) and mix well.
7. Add the cream and stir in well.
8. Bring to boil and then remove from heat.
9. Serve garnished with the remaining chopped coriander (cilantro).

The Verdict

Surprisingly, it turned out rather delicious. It has an interesting mix of creamy aromatic spice flavour with a tint of piquant for the kick. The coriander enhance gently the flavour. My guests loved it as well, judging by the second - and third - helping till the pot was empty. Pierre likes it very much, noting that it leaves a tint of spiciness at the end of each mouthful without the lingering burning sensation of a spicy curry.

Initially I had my doubts over the final result because of my slight adaptation of the recipe - I used fresh tomatoes and bay leaves. And I blended the yogurt mixture by mistake instead of mixing it because the recipe stated "blend together thoroughly".

Note

For an even richer and creamier flavour, substitute natural (plain) yogurt with Greek-style yogurt.