The Cooking Ninja

After a few days of rain, we finally see some sunshine in this area ...wohoo! Mr Sun, have I told you lately how much I love and miss you? But as luck would have it my way, I was struck down by gastro (gastric flu) yesterday while the sun was screaming for me to come out and play. Fortunately for me, Little One woke up late yesterday and we were able to send her to day care centre to play with other children for 4 hours while mommy had a little rest on the couch with in-between trips to the throne. I honestly don't know how I got it. Everyone in this household is 100% fit while I was the only one struck down by it - we all ate the same food quand même. Well, in a way thank goodness Little One didn't get this... no, I don't want to go down that lane now that she is totally toilet trained. Anyway, today I'm feeling slightly better and hopefully when I've fully recovered from it, Mr Sun will still be shining out there for me. Keep my fingers cross.

A week ago, my MIL asked me to make a dessert to go with our lunch that day. I couldn't decide what to make but in the end, those aging bananas on table won the day. I decided to use the banana muffins recipe to make this as a cake instead. For this, I decided to add in an extra egg - just to see how it will turn out.

Recipe taken from : banana muffins with a slight modification : 3 medium eggs and 3 medium sized bananas. Bake it in a round 20 cm diameter cake pan for 45 minutes at 190°C (350°C - gas mark 4).

The Verdict

So what's the difference between the original recipe and modified version? All I can say is that : It's more moist, soft,and full of banana flavour than the muffins. The cake seems to stick more together in texture - that's the best I can describe it. Delicious! By dinner time, only a quarter of the cake was all it left. It stayed moist and soft even the next day. I will definitely bake this again. It's simple and easy to make.

Yesterday afternoon I learned from my cousin that my 2^nd auntie had been admitted to the hospital in serious condition. I was quite saddened by the news and was hoping and praying that she would somehow pull through this for I looked forward to seeing her again during next Chinese New Year and also for my Little One to get to know her. Today I was shocked to learn that she has passed away at 3am this morning at age 77. Although I did not know my aunt very well, I have very fond memories of her. As she aged, she looked like a carbon copy of my grandmother. I'm so glad I got to see her during last Chinese New Year and was able to introduce to her my daughter. You see, I hadn't been back in Singapore for CNY since 2001 as all the CNY dates falls during school term. I shall miss visiting her next year.

Back to the kitchen. I had 3 very ripe bananas sitting on my kitchen counter for some time and decided to turn them into either cakes or muffins till I came across this delicious recipe from fellow blogger Little Corner of Mine yesterday who got the original recipe from Amanda. I have modified the version slightly to add some spices and increase the quanity. Steaming pastries, rather than baking them in a oven, is somewhat uncommon, but it's regularly done in Asia.

Steam Banana Muffins

Ingredients

• 3 very ripe medium-size bananas (mashed)
• 3 eggs
• 150 g sugar (white or brown or a mixed of both)
• 225 g self raising flour
• ¼ tsp baking powder (approx.)
• 112 ml vegetable oil like sunflower or canola
• 2 dashes cinnamon and nutmeg powder
• a bit of vanilla essence

Directions

1. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg together.
2. Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence until it is creamy and fluffy.
3. Mix in the mashed banana until it is combined.
4. Gently fold in the sifted flour mixture and then fold in the oil until combined.
5. Pour the batter into the muffin pan lined with muffin cups.
6. Steam over high heat for 15 minutes or till an inserted skewer comes out clean.
7. Serve it warm or room temperature.

The Verdict

It is truly delicious - flavourful, dense yet light, soft, fluffy and moist. The muffins look very much like Chinese steam cake or kueh but who cares if it doesn't look as good as the baked ones ! It's the taste that matters the most, right.

Frankly I love both versions - be it steamed or baked. But I have to say that the steamed version does taste slightly different than those baked ones. In what sense, I don't know.

Store the rest of the muffins in the fridge and heat them in a steamer for a couple of minutes before serving.

Notes

Some readers in Amanda's blog have replaced oil with butter and they said the results are equally delicious. But probably not as healty.

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.

Chili con carne seems to have almost a cult following in the US, and of course especially in Texas. In France however, chili is mostly found in the form of cheap canned food, and is as spicy as some baby powdered milk. This has gotten Pierre interested into cooking some of his own. His recipe is far from the canonical form (which supposedly doesn't include any veggie but kidney beans) but it's easy to make and tasty.

Plain chili is actually quite healthy (if you don't indulge into the cheese, cream or guacamole extra). The beans in particular are full of qualities: they are rich in fibers, iron, proteins and vitamins, while of course low on fat and sugar like other veggies. As they absorb the flavours well and are slow to cook, they are ideal for stews.

This is my contribution to this week's Weekend Herb Blogging (a weekly event) hosted by Truffle from What's on my plate.

Chili Corn Carne

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 onions (thinly diced)
• 2 tomatoes (cubed )
• 350 g ground beef
• 250 g dried red beans
• 200 ml of tomato puree
• some tsp of chili con carne spices (according to your taste)
• chili powder for extra hotness (optional - spice it up to your liking )

Directions

1. Soak the kidney beans in cold water for 12 hours or overnight - this is a MUST or else the beans will take a very very long time to cook.
2. Cook the beans in a pot of boiling salted water for about 1 and 1/2 hour. Drain and set aside.
3. Fry the chopped onions in a large and deep pan with a bit of olive oil until they are soft.
4. Add ground beef and cubed tomatoes.
5. Once the beef is cooked, add in tomato puree, chili con carne spices and salt to your liking. If it is not spicy enough to your taste, sprinkle some chili powder for the extra kick.
6. Lastly add in the cooked beans. Mix it well and voilà.

The Verdict

I love Pierre's version. It has an equal amount of meat and beans, great flavour and a nice spicy kick. Best of all, it's not swimming in a pool of sauce. Most of the chili con carne that I had in Tex-Mex restaurants here have either way too much beans (the amount of beef inside the bowl is so pitiful.) or way too much sauce like soup.

Notes

You could skip the onions and cubed tomatoes and still get a decent dish, but the onions add a nice sweetness, while the tomato cubes compensate for the tomato puree dull flavor (well, unless you make your own puree of course). It's better to use ground beef that is not too lean (Pierre buys some with 15% fat) as fat contributes to flavor (much to the chagrin of everyone who's on diet).

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!

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.

Many years ago a friend of mine highly recommended me this cook book by Mrs Lee Chin Koon (the mother of Singapore's Prime Minister Mentor Mr Lee Kuan Yew). She found the instructions to be very easy to follow and had already tried out a few of the recipes with delicious results. While I was tempted to go straight to the nearest book store to pick it up, I realized that it would end up sitting on the shelf like a white elephant for years: my mom reigns over the kitchen and is a great cook...

Funnily enough, I came upon this book by chance while on vacation in Singapore recently and immediately bought it without hesitation. Out of the many delicious recipes to try out, I opted for a beef rendang: it's really one of my favourite dishes!

For those unfamiliar with this fine delicacy, Beef Rendang is very popular in Malaysia and Singapore - traditionally prepared by the Malay community during festive occasions. The recipe originates from Padang in West Sumatra, hence the name Nasi Padang which is sometimes used as well.

Beef Rendang

(taken from The New Mrs. Lee's Cookbook: Nonya Cuisine)

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 600 g beef shin
• 500 g grated coconut
• 1 rounded tbsp tamarind (asam) pulp
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt

Paste

• 4 slices galangal
• 4 slices ginger
• 4 cloves garlic
• 15 dried chillies or 2 tbsp pounded red chillies
• 1 stalk lemon grass
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin

Directions

Paste

1. Soak the dried chillies for the paste in hot water. Deseed them and roughly chop the soaked dried chilies (use a lot less if you are not used to spiciness).
2. Peel and roughly slice the galangal, ginger and garlic.
3. Pound/blend them together with the coriander powder and cumin. Add the peeled and bruised lemon grass last (use the white portion only).

Cooking the rendang

1. Slice the beef into big or small pieces depending on your preference.
2. Peel and slice the onion. Set aside.
3. Prepare the coconut milk using 570 ml water.
4. 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.
5. Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to boil then simmer uncovered until the sauce has reduced by half. Cover and simmer for 30 mins until the meat is tender.

The Verdict

The sauce was awesome and tasted as good as I was hoping, but I can't say the same for the beef: it was unfortunately very tough. It seems that I don't have much luck in cooking beef: every time I cook some, the meat never turns out tender. When we are having steak, it's Pierre who cooks it but I so wanted to eat beef rendang. Michèle loved this dish even though my beef was tough. She suggested that I use the normal beef next time as the beef shin takes a long long time to cook for it to be tender. Most likely I didn't cook the meat long enough (that's Michèle's opinion too). If the meat is cooked correctly, it should falls apart and melt in your mouth.

Notes

I can't get any freshly grated coconut here so I replace it with 750 ml of can coconut milk.

Pierre (who likes cooking too, but not all day) bought this new Indian cookbook because it's 1) simple with short cooking instructions 2) easily obtainable ingredients 3) and requires a limited number of them. This is in contrast to our other main Indian cookbook which has authentic but complicated recipe with authentic - and as such hard to find - ingredients. However as simple the recipes were, the new book ended up like many of those books, sitting on the shelf neglected. But as I was browsing through my little library the other day, it practically jumped out in front of me shouting 'Me! Me! Me!' (the poor little thing ).

Prawns in coconut gravy

(taken from Bôllyfood by Marie-Laure Tombini)

Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 15 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 250 g cooked prawns
• 1 onion (sliced thinly)
• ½ yellow or green bell pepper (cut into small cubes)
• ½ tsp fresh ginger (grated)
• 1 clove garlic (pulped)
• 1 tbsp coriander (chopped)
• ½ tbsp turmeric
• 10 cl or 100 ml coconut milk
• 2 tbsp oil
• salt

Directions

1. Peel the prawns, keeping the tail part.
2. Heat oil in a preheated wok or pan, sauté the onions till soft.
3. Add in the garlic, ginger, bell pepper, coriander and turmeric. Let it cook for about 5 minutes.
4. Throw in the prawns and make sure it is well incorporate with the spice mixture before pouring in the coconut milk.
5. Season it with salt and let it cook for about 3 or 4 minutes.
6. Serve it hot with plain rice.

The Verdict

This dish is actually flavourful and tasty. I was pretty much taken by surprised, as I tend to be doubtful of "simplified" cooking. The prawns and the coconut milk give it a tint of sweetness. It's also a nice surprising change from spicy ones we usually have, and as such it's a good recipe for those who can't take spicy food or have young children.

A few years back, I couldn't understand why my mom (who has been cooking for the family for over 40 years) lamented how she was cooking the same old thing every day. She felt as if she had exhausted all the recipes she inherited from my grandmother or had came up by herself. And just when we were expecting her to give in to 'da bao' (take out), she would surprise us with some of her delicious dishes.

Now that I have started cooking for my own little family, I finally understand what my mom was going through. There are days when I'm full of cooking ideas and there are days when my brain just draw a blank and I feel doomed to redo the same stuff over and over. This was one of those days. But here came my prince charming to the rescue once again. Pierre picked up one of our Indian cook book and found this lovely dish.

Grilled (Broiled) Prawns

(taken from Indian - Shehzad Husain & Rafi Fernandez)

Ingredients

• 18 large cooked prawns or shrimp
• 1 fresh green chili (sliced)
• 1 tomato (sliced)
• 1 small onion (cut into rings)
• lemon wedges

Marinate

• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp garlic pulp
• 1½ tsp soft light brown sugar
• 3 tbsp corn oil
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander/cilantro (chopped)

Directions

1. Peel and rinse the prawns gently under cold water. Slit the back of each prawn to open out into a butterfly shape.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients of the marinate and mix them well together.
3. Add the prawns to the spice mixture, making sure they are well coated and let it marinate for about 1 hour.
4. On a flameproof dish, place the green chili, tomato slices and onion rings. Then add the prawn mixture and cook under a very hot preheated grill (broiler) for about 10 to 15 minutes, basting it frequently with a brush.
5. Serve immediately, garnished with lemon wedges.

The Verdict

I was rather skeptical at first about how this dish would turn out (we didn't have a broiler or a grill) and it didn't look exactly like the picture in the book. Boy, was I very pleasantly surprised by how good it turned out: very aromatic with just the right sourish tint and a slight biting taste lingering in your mouth after each bite. It was neither too spicy nor too sourish. All the spices blended in well with the prawns. Rice and prawns were gone by end of dinner

Note

I've substituted cooked prawns with raw ones, used my frozen green chili and sunflower oil instead of corn. I have poured the whole prawn mixture into the pan as the recipe wasn't clear if I'm supposed to place only the marinated prawns onto the pan or the whole thing including the marinated sauce. In the end, I had to scoop out some of the sauce as it was way too watery.

Don't know what to do with the extra chili or lemon grass you have in hand? Freeze them and just take out whatever quantity you need later. This was the advise from the owner of my local Asian shop.