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, my mom's Nonya Chicken Curry (who learned it from my grandma) - a Peranarakan Cuisine.

Nyonya Chicken Curry

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (peel off most of the skin and chopped into pieces)
• 350 g shallots (approx.) or 1½ white onions
• 4 cloves garlic
• 6 or 7 stalks lemon grass (white part only - sliced)
• 1 or 2 pieces candle nuts
• 3 or 4 slices galangal (blue ginger)
• 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)
• 2 - 3 potatoes (cut into 4)
• 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. Add in the potatoes.
8. 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.
9. Bring it to a boil, then lower the fire to let it simmer for half an hour.
10. 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.

Notes

If you can't find galangal (blue ginger) in your area, substitute it with another stalk of lemongrass. As for candle nuts, you can replace it with either raw cashew nuts or macadamia nuts or blanched almonds.

This is one of my favourite childhood desserts. In the old days whenever my mom wanted to make this, she would ask us to help her dig out the cassava roots. This was always such a fun field trip even though it is just behind our 'kampong' (village) house. Which child wouldn't want to play with dirt and digging up earth, pulling out the plant roots, chopping up the plant and replanting them after that? I remember that I kept asking my mom frequently about when could we dig up the roots again after replanting it. Then my mom would send us to hunt for a coconut (there used to be lots of coconut trees in front of our kampong house) and start shredding the coconut flesh using the old fashion method (ie. sitting on a long wooden bench with a metal spike at the end). It was such a fun and learning activity that I wish I could do it nowadays with my Little One.

Cassava or tapioca plant or yuca (most people associate it with tapioca flour) is a tall plant that can reach up to 15 feet sometimes. They survive not only very well in dry season (with high humidity) but also in poor soil conditions. Cassava can be easily propagated by cutting the stems into sections and just planting them into the soil before the wet season. Their leaves can be eaten cooked however they are very toxic raw. My mom used to cook these leaves in spicy coconut milk base. As for their tuberous roots, we usually boil them and eat them as they are (without any seasoning) or make them into desserts.

This is my entry for this Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Lia from Swirling Notions.

Coconut Cassava (Tapioca) Dessert

Ingredients

• 1 cassava root (peeled)
• ½ fresh coconut (shredded)
• sugar
• salt

Directions

1. Cut the peeled cassava or tapioca roots into medium-sized pieces and put them into a non-stick pan or wok filled with some water.
2. Boil them covered until they are cooked. Make sure that the water cooking the cassava do not dry out before they are cooked or else they will be burnt. Fill in a bit of water if needed.
3. Cut them into small triangles or cubes and put them aside in a bowl or salad bowl.
4. Add the shredded coconut, some sugar and salt to the cassava pieces and mix them till combined. Taste to see if the seasoning is to your liking and adjust it accordingly.
5. Serve at room temperature or cold.

Conclusions

I do not know how to really describe this taste but I'll do my best! The combination of flavours is balanced and one doesn't overwhelm the other. With each bite, you have the natural fragrance and taste of cassava and at the same time, fragrant sweet & salty taste of fresh shredded coconut blend together.

Notes

This dessert is best eaten on the day that it is made.

Since we touched down in Singapore, we have been eating non stop - be it home-cooked or coffee shops and Chinese new year goodies. It seems like Little One has a real adventurous taste buds. She practically eats whatever we give her and more. For example (might not be surprising for local children): fish balls, char siew, seaweed soup, peanut soup (she loves the peanuts), mee goreng, prawn mee, deep fried chicken wings, fish ball noodles, mee robus (even when it is spicy), bak kwa (BBQ pork), kueh pie ti (she even dipped the cups in chili sauce and ate it even though it was spicy, and after she had a big gulp of water to cool her palate, went back for more.). She loves cookies or tarts like: kueh bolu, pineapple tarts, love letters cookies etc. Every day she would grab one of the New Year goodies tin and go around the house asking anyone who would open it for her. If one refused her, no problem: this enterprising little lady would get a different tin and try again till she found someone in this household who would give her the cookie. hahaha ... kudos for her determination and persistence.

Pierre also has been enjoying the different Asian food offered locally but the other day he told me that he is really tired of it after getting some for every single meal... He just needs to recharge his taste buds and digestive system with some good old steak or any type of western food. He said to me 'Please, for a change, anything western food will do - be it Greek, Italian or even a fast food joint. I just can't stomach another Asian meal, no offense.' hehehe So yesterday evening we headed down town for some Italian meal. During the MRT train ride, he suddenly said this to me 'I don't know how you managed to stomach French food every day for the past 6 years. If it were me, I would have puked long time ago.' Me: 'Now you know how I felt and the sacrifices I made for you'

The first restaurant that we went to pig out is of course non other than a dim sum restaurant (we have been yearning dim sum for a year) located in Toa Payoh called Fortunate Restaurant. The restaurant is very spacious and the service is fast and courteous. The dim sum range is rather wide - from the usual dim sum fare to some originals created by their house chef. The dim sums are delicious and are served piping hot from a traditional push cart. The only pet peeve I have is that they charged us S$2.00 for a small plate of peanuts (we thought it was on the house since they brought it as soon as we sat, till we saw it on the bill).

The 2^nd restaurant that we checked out is Shahi Maharani, located at Raffles City Shopping Centre. This rather high-end restaurant offers not only excellent Northern Indian cuisine, it's service is also impeccable and efficient. That day, they had a promotion on lunch buffet for S$ 20++ - a price which I think was a good value for money given the quality and choice of food and service. However in the evening, they only offer à la carte and each dish is about S$20.00 +/-. They also have live Indian instrumental music in the evening. I highly recommend anyone to dine there.

The 3^rd restaurant we went to was Prego, a rather chic Italian restaurant. The service was efficient. Price wise : the prices for the antipasti are rather steep (for example: Calamari Fritti - S$26.00 but the portion is more of a main meal than an entrée and a plate of Ceasar salad costs S$18.00). Food wise: only excellent quality - the calamari were crispy on the outside without too much batter and tender on the inside. The seafood pasta that I ordered were superbly done - the prawns were so fresh and cooked just right. However the lobster pasta was a bit of a let down. Overall we had a great dinning experience. Just be prepared to fork out about S$80.00 per person for a 3 course meal excluding drinks.

We may be expanding sideways but we are definitely not yet done with our makan (eating) journey in Singapore. More adventures to come soon ... so stay tuned.

Craving ... a wonderful feeling to have when you can satisfy that but a torture when you can't. I have had this huge craving for Assam fish for quite a long time now which I had been trying to put out of my mind, without much success (like me trying to lose weight - I only ended gaining more instead of losing ). Fish is not my specialty - as you all remember the last time when I tried cooking fish, it didn't turned out quite right. So I try to avoid cooking anything that has scales and swim...but darn it, this Assam Fish soon started to even haunt me in my sleep - yes, I dreamt that I was happily slurping up the sauce and relishing on the fish! So I said to myself "come on, are you going to let a dead fish intimidate you for the rest of your life. A cooking ninja would never cower from a challenge." So I got 3 lovely fish the next day for dinner. First I gave my fishes a royal treatment - frontal and back massage with salt, then I had a little pep talk with them. I looked at them right into their eyes (not easy when they have one on each side) and said "Ok fish, I'm going to give you a nice aromatic spa treatment of lemon grass, galangal & other spices right now and you are going to come out smelling so good and tasting so sweet."

Assam Fish

Ingredients

• 3 mackerel
• 5 tbsp paste from Mom's Chili Prawns
• 1 rounded tbsp tamarind (asam) pulp
• water
• sugar
• salt or light soya sauce

Directions

1. Clean the fish and season it with salt or light soya sauce.
2. Prepare the tamarind marinade: soak the tamarind pulp in 120 ml of warm water for 5 minutes. Squeeze the seeds and fiber with your fingers to extract as much juice and flavor as possible. Strain and discard fibers.
3. Heat wok with oil till hot, stir-fry the chili paste for a minute medium heat till fragrant.
4. Add water to the paste, stir to mix it well.
5. Stir in the tamarind juice (according to your taste of sourness).
6. Season it with light soya sauce or salt and a little bit of sugar .
7. Put in the fish to cook when you are about ready to serve dinner. This is to avoid overcooking the fish. The fish is cooked once its eyes popped.
8. Serve it with rice and a plate of vegetables by the side.

The Verdict

I was so darn excited that I managed to get my assam fish right and it tastes just like my mom's version (well, I still think mom's cook the best Assam fish). The sauce is very aromatic - the mackerel heightens the flavour of the sauce - great tasting of the spices mix with a spicy tint and a slight sourness - taste just right and it really opens up one's appetite. I love topping my rice with the sauce. My sister-in-law loves it, Pierre was less enthusiastic as he is not a big fan of fish to begin with.

Note

I usually can make a big bowl of the paste, fry them till fragrant and then keep them in the refrigerator for later use. It comes in very handy when I have to do a last minute dinner entertainment. All I need to do is just defrost and the paste is ready.

I recently learned another new trick from my local Asian store lady - you can actually store the unused portion of galangal by slicing them into pieces, freeze them, then put them all in a plastic bag in the freezer. When in need, just take out the number of pieces you need for cooking.

The marvelous thing about living in the house of a great cook is you get delicious meals 365 days (obviously). However the danger is that you risk being spoiled for life regarding food - Asian food in my case - with the permanent tendency of comparing the dishes you eat outside to those at home. Now, who's this great chef I'm talking about? No, no, it's not Pierre - well he is a great chef in certain domain... which I won't tell you. Yes, the great chef of wok: my dear old mom. My friends are so used to hearing me complaining about the plate of chicken curry or chili prawns that I'm eating at the hawker center (aka Singaporean food court) being not as good as my mom's. They would their shake their head and smile... until I invited them over for lunch or dinner for some chili crabs or pineapple prawns. Even till today, whenever we talk about food, they will reminisce about my mom's cooking and will always ask me when am I going to invite them over for lunch again Some of them even offer to buy and pay for the groceries and food if my mom can whip up those delicious prawns and crabs for them again.

I have to admit that I have taken my mom' cooking for granted while I was living with her. To me, from a child's point of view, my mom will live forever (silly thinking isn't it) and she's never old. It's only in my late 20s that I looked at my mom closely one day and realized suddenly that she isn't getting any younger, and if I don't spend quality time with her, one day she might not be there anymore and I'll regret it for the rest of my life. It was then that I got to really appreciate every little things she does for me. My sis and I tried to learn cooking from her and to relieve her of that job so that she can relax and enjoy her old age... but my mom is stubborn: it's her kitchen and she kicks us out of it whenever we try to help her. She always says that we are giving her more work to do (messing up her kitchen) than helping and it would take her twice as long to cook than usual with us around.

But now that I'm living abroad with my own family, I have a chance to try out her recipe in my own kitchen Trying to cook my mom's recipes is not that easy because she's from the "old school" and takes no measurement at all. And being two continents apart doesn't help either, as 'about the size of the small bowl we have in the kitchen' isn't a very helpful information. Over time I still got my way around some recipes, such as the following which I did for my Peruvian and French friends this week.

Mom's Chilli Prawns

Ingredients

• 1 kg prawns (peeled, left with tail)
• light soya sauce

Paste

• 330 g shallots or onions (approximately)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 5 stalks lemon grass (use only the white part, sliced)
• 2 pieces candle nuts
• 4 slices galangal
• 2 to 3 tbsp fish curry powder
• sugar, salt or light soya sauce

Directions

1. Paste: Grind/pound the shallots, garlic, lemon grass, galangal and candle nuts together to a fine paste. Mix the paste with the curry powder and set aside.
2. Heat the wok over a high flame until very hot. Add oil. Stir-fry the paste for about a minute. Lower the flame, then fry for another 2 minutes.
3. Add the prawns and stir-fry for a minute.
4. Sprinkle a bit of water, season it with a bit of sugar and light soya sauce or salt (to your taste) and stir it now and then till prawns are cooked.
5. Serve it hot with steamed rice.

The Conclusion

Mmm...yummy... almost as good as my mom's (that's my own opinion) Pierre loves it so did my friends ... they were quite amazed by the flavour of it, slightly bitter, sweet and spicy at the same time.

Notes

Candlenut can be found in Southeast-Asian markets. You can substitute it with macadamia nuts or Brazil nuts (these are three times as large as candlenuts, so use fewer) or raw cashews (two cashews for every candlenut) or blanched almonds (two almonds for every candlenut).

If you don't have fish curry powder, you can just simply add chili powder (in lesser quantity of course) or grind dried chilis (deseed) together with the paste, it still taste delicious.