Rempah Udang

Since getting home from our two month escapade, I've been cooking far more often than when I had a regular job - double the joy there. It is truly blissful to feel inspired to cook fish head curry simply after seeing a really handsome piece of fish head, AND have the luxury of time to do it that very day. Or to be able to take all afternoon making prawn mee even though a good bowl is just a few minutes away. 

Since I left my job, many have asked me how I have been occupying myself. I suppose this curiosity is natural, since I used to spend a good 50 - 60 hours a week at work. The best part of having all that time is that I now have the time and energy to reconnect with old friends, and deepen relationships with people who matter. How better to start than with my own family. 

One of the items on my to-do list, crafted when I was still in Australia, was to finally attempt Rempah Udang. Spending an entire afternoon doing that with my mother was exactly how I envisioned my first foray into Rempah Udang to go. 

Using my trusty go-to Peranakan cookbook by Philip Chia, we mixed, chopped, pounded, steamed, fried, and rolled our way to many irregularly shaped and sized banana leaf parcels of glutinous rice and dried shrimp deliciousness. It was also a great learning process for my mum and I as we got better with each new parcel we created. We found it a real challenge to ensure there was just the right amount of glutinous rice (read: not too much)  and dried shrimp (read: as much as possible), while still ensuring the shrimp was fully encased in the glutinous rice. We might need a few more rounds to nail this, but it was certainly good enough to give away to friends and family. But the best part of it all really, was spending all afternoon in the kitchen with my mum, the way we used to do when I was just a wee girl helping her prepare the Saturday dinner. 

Rempah Udang

Makes about 30 parcels

(Recipe from Peranakan Heritage Cooking, comments in italics mine)

Ingredients

Banana leaves as needed 

(I bought $1 worth and it was more than enough)

Dried bunga telang

(These are flowers to dye the glutinous rice blue, but they are more for its aesthetic value. I omitted them since they are quite difficult, but not impossible, to find.)

Water as needed

600g white glutinous rice, soaked for 4 hours

250ml coconut milk 

1/2 teaspoon salt

60 bamboo cocktail sticks

200g dried shrimp, rinsed and drained

4cm bulbous end of lemongrass

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

200g shallots, peeled

2cm knob of tumeric, peeled (or 1 tsp ground tumeric)

2 tablespoon cooking oil

2-3 tablespoons dried chilli paste (see recipe below)

100g grated skinned coconut

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon sugar

Method

Wipe banana leaves clean, scald in hot water or over an open flame to soften the leaves and prevent them from tearing when folded. Cut to obtain about 30 square sheets, each at least 9cm x 9cm. (You may want to cut them only when you are rolling them, so that you can adjust the size of each sheet to your preference.)

Place dried bunga telang in a bowl with 100ml of water. Leave to soak for about 15 minutes or longer if you want a deeper blue. Strain to obtain water for colouring. 

Rinse and strain the glutinous rice. Place on a steaming tray. Mix coconut milk with 50ml of water and salt. (The recipe called for 100ml of water, but the glutinous rice was more stodgy than I would have liked it.) Pour over glutinous rice. Using a teaspoon, drop spoonfuls of blue colouring randomly on rice to colour it in patches.

Steam rice for about 45 minutes or until rice is tender and cooked. Set aside to cool. While rice is cooling, prepare filling.

Heat a wok and dry-fry dried shrimp until fragrant. Leave to cool, then grind until fine using a mortar and pestle or blender. 

Using a mortar and pestle or blender, grind lemongrass, garlic, shallots and tumeric into a paste. (For all my pounding needs, the Ultrapride does a fine job.)

Heat oil in a wok and add ground mixture and dried chilli paste. Stir-fry until fragrant. Add ground dried shrimp and grated coconut. Stir-fry until golden brown. Add salt and sugar.

To make parcels, spoon 2 tablespoons of cooked glutinous rice on a banana leaf square and press it down lightly. Spoon enough filling in a line along the middle of the rice, then roll banana leaf up neatly to get a cylindrical parcel. Secure open ends with cocktail sticks. Repeat until ingredients are used up. 

Grill parcels for 1-2 minutes or until leaves are lightly browned just before serving.

(For chilli paste: soak dried chillies in hot water for 30-45 minutes, drain well and grind finely into a paste.)

Tender Tentacles

The other is simply boiled and served with a gentle squeeze of lemon. This was not the first time I tried the recipe for Galician Octopus, and it was even more delicious than I remembered it to be. Soft, tender octopus with just the right amount of bounce in its meat; tossed through a scrumptiously tangy and sweet dressing; what's not to love?

I made a little extra and spooned it over cruncy baby spinach, but alas it was still not enough to satiate my guests. They wanted more! They wanted bread to soak up all the juices!
The recipe for the dressing is reminiscent of the usual salad dressing I concoct for lazy/fat nights. But who would have known that jazzing it up with some smoked paprika and thinly sliced red onions would have made that much of a difference?

I'm adding red onions to my list of staples!

Crowd Pleasers

I used to keep a kitchen diary, a little book where I would take down recipes that I've tried and that worked. I'd start one, then start hunting high and low for it, with only a handful of recipes into the book. I've been through journals of all shapes, sizes and colours before I decided that I'd stop wasting my time with this truly vicious cycle.

If I still kept one of my kitchen diaries, this recipe for tomato tart would definitely be penned into the book. Although it wouldn't be much of a recipe as much as it would be a quick jotting down of 'Slow-roasted tomatoes, Caramelised onions, Char-grilled peppers and Puff Pastry/Table Water crackers/Anything nice and crunchy'.

It started out simply with just a fascination for this recipe that turned juicy, and mildly tart tomatoes into intensely sweet nibbles. So I started adding them to burgers, soups, canapes, and salads. Wherever I thought it wouldn't look out of place, it was always there to lend a hand.

Over time, I developed a similarly strong liking for slowly caramelised onions. Leaving onions to sweat in its own juices, waiting for it to turn a slight shade of brown and melt into utterly sweet tenderness is always a painful test of patience.

And then came char-grilled peppers. The first time I encountered these gems was, and I feel my face flush even as I'm typing this, through one of Jamie Oliver's cooking shows. I'm a not-so-secret fan of his, and am a sob-show when watching his TV series - school dinners. In his usual 'bim-bam-slam' style, he threw a couple of peppers onto an open fire on the stove and watched it turn totally black. He then left them to sweat in brown paper bags, then peeled off their skins, leaving behind soft, juicy, peppery flesh.

I was intrigued by the process, and didn't wait long to try it on my own, only to realise that I had been missing out on something so great for all 20 over years of my life. My love story with peppers started then.

And so the Mother-of-all-tarts was born. For convenience, it was named a tomato tart. It wouldn't have been as much a mouthful as a slow-roasted-tomato-and-caramelised-onions-and-char-grilled-peppers-tart. Even Tomato, Onion and Peppers Tart sounded too complicated for my mind to wrap around.

Something crunchy or flaky, like puff pastry, rolled out and punched out with cookie cutters then baked blind, provides much needed texture to the combination of all three ingredients above. And they never fail to be crowd pleasers. Even my brother who, like me, never fancied onions or peppers, would make exceptions for these bite-sized canapes.

The making of each of these components (tomatoes, onions, peppers) requires a lot of eye-balling. With just a little practice and perhaps some luck for good measure, you'll master it really quickly!

Links for recipes:
Slow-roasted tomatoes
Caramelised onions (I'd sometimes add white wine and/or sugar)
Char-grilled peppers

Kim Bak Soon

If not for my younger cousin who has a liking for all things Korean, and has just returned from an exchange programme in Seoul, I would never have thought of preparing kimchi (Korean appetisers usually served in tiny portions at the beginning of every meal) or anything from that land of abusive girlfriends and chauvinistic men.


Like a fish out of water, I scrutinised every item on the shelves in the Korean mini-mart baffled by the unfamiliar strokes, trying to find for Jajangmyeon noodles and other things like Shin Kimchi or the hot, red pepper powder that I'm certain has another tongue-twisting Korean name for it.

Surprisingly however, the preparation in the kitchen is not as complicating as shopping for the ingredients. It was terribly easy once all the ingredients were at hand. To make Bak Choi Kimchi it was just a matter of soaking the vegetables in brine and rinsing it before mixing it with the homemade Kimchi paste that was put together in a flash the blender. Other Kimchi-s such as the Poggi Kimchi (Napa cabbage) or the Kaktugi (Radish) followed almost the same steps.


Making the Kimchi Jeon (Kimchi pancake) or Pa Jeon (Seafood pancake) was even more brainless. Flour, egg, water, whisk, add filling, fry! According to my little cousin, only the most sour type of Kimchi that is generally used for cooking and not eating (very much like cooking chocolate vs. eating chocolate) should be used for the Kimchi Jeon. Unfortunately there was no Shin Kimchi in the mini-mart, but I settled for what the store owner pointed to as the more sour version of all the kimchi-s she had.


Our Kimchi Jeon turning out hilariously thick as I had poured too much batter into the tiny frying pan, resulting in it having nowhere else to run but upwards. But it was still incredibly tasty and satisfying. The kimchi provided enough saltiness to allow it to subsist without the usual accompaniment of light soy sauce.










Being adventurous and perhaps overly ambitious, we also made JaJangMyeon (Zha Jiang Mian, Black Bean Paste Noodles) and rice balls using recipes from my latest cookbook purchase: 'Discovering Korean Cuisine - Recipes from the Best Korean Restaurants in LA'. We also made pork nuggets using a recipe my cousin picked up from Seoul.


The following morning I decided I'd use some leftover cooked crabmeat to make a Pa Jeon. I added sliced squid rings and fresh prawns and attained a more delicate tasting pancake whose flavours were accentuated with a touch of light soy sauce.


If I had known it'd be so easy, I would have started much, much earlier. Of course, now the problem would be figuring out which of the 20 varieties of roasted, seasoned seaweed staring at me blankly in the mini-mart the recipe is asking for! And if I can single-handedly finish all the kimchi my cousin and I made that is now sitting pretty in huge containers in the fridge, I will turn into what my brother calls 'Kim Bak Soon'. Very bak (meaty) indeed. If anyone would like to challenge how one can get bak purely on vegetables alone, one look at my perfectly rotund bunny who eats hay, hay and more hay, should put an end to that conversation.

D.I.Y.

I'm so terribly ashamed of myself. That for as long as I have not blogged, I have not touched a pan, or a whisk. Nor the pale yellow skin of a bulb of fresh, raw garlic. Or heard the sizzle of the garlic as it touches gently heated olive oil.

In the past few weeks, when people talked about food, my eyes didn't sparkle the way they usually would have. Even more blasphemous, I caught myself, on multiple occasions during lunch, buying a tuna sandwich that was evidently hastily put together a good 4 hours ago, rather than queueing up for a delicious bowl of Wanton Noodles at the store next door. Of course, that tuna sandwich would not be able to fill me up, and I would resort to crackers or biscuits at half-hourly intervals.

Each weekend was burnt paying back my sleep debt that I had accumulated at an alarming rate through the week. I spent my few waking hours putting some food into my tummy just so that I would not be disturbed by a growling tummy while I was asleep.

I wasn't sulking my days away of course, but I must admit rather embarrassingly that my kitchen apron has been very much neglected. Of course, this blog included.

I have however, much fodder to last me a couple of blog entries to come, just simply no time to blog about it. And so it is, that I am at my desk now, taking a much needed break while waiting for my bosses to reply my emails, blogging about homemade ricotta cheese.

Making cheese is possibly among the ranks of making ice-cream for most people - incredulously impossible. Yet both are, like the violin or the guitar, so deceptively simple to pick up, though perhaps difficult to master. While I approached the recipe that I had spotted in Donna Hay's magazine on making my own ricotta cheese with much trepidation, I am extremely delighted to report that it is incredibly simple.

My friends who had arrived early for a party, were eager beavers and asked to help. So they got into an assembly line to dish out little table water crackers of homemade ricotta cheese, oven roasted tomatoes soaked in olive oil (yes, the same ones from the previous post), diced ham and parsley. Season and serve, tres simple.

It helped that the ricotta cheese could be made up to a week in advance so I didn't have to worry about the ricotta cheese draining in time for the finger food to be served. A word of warning however, is that starting out with just a little milk will yield a pathetically measley portion of ricotta cheese. So be daring and just pour the whole darned carton of fresh milk in!

Ricotta

Makes 1 1/4 cups (287g)

Donna Hay Issue 35

Ingredients

6 cups (48 fl oz) full cream milk

2 tbspns white vinegar

Method

Place milk and a candy thermometer in a saucepan over medium heat and heat to 80 degrees celcius.

Remove from heat, add vinegar and allow to sit for 5 minutes or until curds form.

Line a colander with fine muslin and place over a deep bowl.

Use a slotted spoon to carefully spoon the curds into the colander.*

Allow to drain for 5 minutes.

(I improvised with some coffee machine filter paper instead.)

Spoon the ricotta into a glass or ceramic dish and loosely cover with plastic wrap.

Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

* The reason the curds need to be carefully spooned is to ensure they hold their shape. Pouring the curds straight into the colander will result in the cheese becoming dry and grainy.

In The Mood For Food

I go stark raving 'mad' when surrounded by cookbooks. That just means I often prance excitedly towards the cookbook sections in Borders and Kinokuniya like a kid going to a candy store. I slowly scan through the sections, picking up new books that catch my eye or cookbooks by the latest chef-in-the-rage. My recent purchase is a bright pink cookbook with some really pretty pastel pink motifs sprawling over the hardcover.

While the colour caught my eye, the way the cookbook was organised kept my attention and kept me flipping through. It was organised according to our emotions. Lazy days, indulgent days, days you want to show off, days you just feel like something quick and casual, days when you want something soothing or comforting, or days when you feel you could do with a few pounds fewer.

In line with my mood for the weekend, and in preparation for a dinner with a couple of old friends, I chose some simple and comforting dishes from Jo Pratt's "In the Mood For Food". I didn't think fancy-schmancy food would fit the bill. I was thinking plenty of cheese, ham, butter and cream. I felt like something thick, smooth and chunky. And so it was that in my semi-lazy, I-want-to-let-my-hair-down-and-relax sort of mood, I chose a couple of easy recipes to play around with.


Sheepishly, I have to admit that while I initially balked at the recipe that used canned tomato soup to make, well, tomato soup, I still went ahead with it anyway. I was feeling incredibly lazy obviously. And my excuse was, well, I didn't have any. The recipe did however, come with some 'croque-monsieur croutons', which are ham and cheese sandwiches, toasted and sliced into little cubes. They were easy to prepare, cute, and easy to pop into your mouth. They didn't really go with the tomato soup the way normal croutons do but were great finger food anyway.

Mini Pot Pie Duo

For the mains, I copped out again and used store-bought frozen puff pastry to make mini pot pies. A Chicken and Leek Pot Pie recipe in the book called out to me while finding for a simple main course. I was worried however, that all that chicken, ham and cream would be too heavy. So instead of making one pie for each person, I broke that into 2 mini pies. I filled the other with a lighter tomato-based vegetable stew with smoked salmon bits and peas.

It was simply improvised from one of Jamie Oliver's recipes for a cauliflower dish. It just took plenty of peeled and chopped tomato chunks, onions, garlic and of course cauliflower florets. If I didn't have a clue about what order the ingredients should be put into the pot and for how long, and just added them altogether at once, I'm pretty sure simmering it until the cauliflower softens would still have yielded a pretty yummy vegetable stew to top off with a puff-pastry cover. In the end, the cauliflower with smoked salmon won the chicken and leek hands down.

And to end off on a sweet note, I flagged the crumble recipe. If there's ONE do-able dessert I had to recommend for people who feel instantly uncomfortable holding a whisk, it would have to be the crumble. Although Jo Pratt's crumble recipe didn't yield the kind of pastry I was looking forward to - buttery, literally crumbly and light - at least it satiated my sweet tooth. Replacing the mixed berries, I diced a punnet of strawberries and halved a big handful of grapes for a still luxurious and comforting dessert.

From Jo Pratt's In The Mood For Food
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 slices of white bread (brioche, if available)
butter
100g gruyere cheese (I tended towards mozarella), finely grated
2 thin slices of ham
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil

Method
Butter both sides of all bread slices and scatter half of the cheese over two of them.
Lay ham on top, scatter over the remaining cheese.
Add a twist of black pepper, top with remaining bread and press down firmly.

Heat a good drizzle of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
Place sandwiches in the pan.
Leave for 1 or 2 minutes until th base is golden and the cheese is starting to melt.
Turn over and cook for a further minute, or until golden.
Remove from pan and leave to cool for 5 mins to make the croque-monsieurs easier to cut into cubes.

French from French

I can still remember the huge relief I felt when I wrote the very last word, for my very last exam paper in University. I remember the lightness of being I enjoyed, walking back from the exam hall to my hostel. Despite all that happiness of having finished studying for good, and despite the fact that the past 15 years of my life had been just for that one scroll, I didn't attend my very own graduation ceremony for my 15 seconds of fame. As it was held in UK and it would have been astronomical to pay for my parents' tickets over and attending the ceremony without them would have been a little pointless.

So perhaps to make up for it a little in some warped way, I've been attending all my close girl friends' graduation ceremonies. Of course, being the photo-geek, I had been tasked to be the official photographer for the day. Not that I'm complaining, really. It gives me something to do while the star of the day relishes in her accomplishment, finding more similarly accomplished friends to take photos with.

Prawn Cocktail Salad

As Addy and her other half had their commencements (convocation, graduation, tomayto, tomahto) over the weekend, we decided that we'd get Val and partner together as well for a dinner celebration. Though it was also an excuse for me to stop thinking about work, which was mighty effective!




Admittedly, I had half a mind to call it off because I was simply knackered from fighting fire the entire week before. However, looking at Addy's beaming face, and Val's expectant face as we talked about dinner (in particular her DIY Creme Brulee), I could not bear to.


Despite sleeping late the night before, I rose early and headed to Cold Storage to stock up on ingredients for the French themed dinner. I conveniently picked a few easy recipes from Damien Pignolet's French to attempt for the very first time. While that made me feel a little apprehensive, I decided to just have absolutely faith in the recipes which have not failed me so far.


So for starters, the simplest of all entree recipes in the book was a prawn cocktail salad. With two extra set of hands, it was a tremendous breeze to make. I prepared the Marie-Rose sauce an hour in advance, had my girlfriends boil, peel and refrigerate the prawns, thinly slice the crisp and cold iceberg lettuce, then assemble. This whole thing ran on autopilot while I took my time arranging the bread bowl and prepping the mise en place for the second course.

While whipping up the Marie-Rose sauce (think Hollandaise sauce with tomato puree), my surprise turned to slow horror as the more olive oil I drizzled in, the thicker and more firm the supposed sauce became. I should have stopped at 100ml, but carried on like a girl whose fingers had been burnt from too many wrong decisions based on gut-instinct.

Besides that though, it was mostly 'to taste', to which I responded by being a little heavy handed on the salt since it was meant to go with plenty of finely sliced lettuce. Super refreshing, with a hint of the earthiness and almost floral scent of tarragon, and a cinch to prepare. Perfect to start off dinner parties on the right footing.

Pictured rather fuzzily here would be our second course of pasta. I had intended to make Grilled Duck Breasts but had problems finding for duck breasts sold by itself. It seems I have to buy entire ducks to get their breasts (heh) at NTUC/Cold Storage/Sheng Siong. So I gave up and switched to the easiest of all dishes - pasta.

Briefly roasted tomatoes (to the point of bursting, but not quite) with a small bottle of anchovies, some basil and plenty of portobello and white button mushrooms. Bucatini (long, tubular spaghetti) was introduced to me by my brother, and was disturbingly fun to eat. The cooking time is reduced, and when al-dente it is almost spongy. Val suggested (jokingly I assume) that if we ate bucatini the Japanese way (by slurping your noodle as loud as possible), we might end up whistling.

We then had stuffed (with pistou) tuna with potato and caper salad. I would never have made pistou before, but had a change of heart ever since the Pestle and Mortar class I attended at the National Museum just a few days before, that deserves an entire post in itself. It really was gratifying at the end of it, and surprisingly painless. And it has gotten me eyeing a certain mortar and pestle by now.

The tuna and potato with caper salad was a light interlude before the DIY Creme Brulee was brought out. May I just say at this point how absolutely fun it was, to let everyone torch their own! Not many of my friends have ever held a torch in their lives or even heard of the word 'caramelise'. So to have fine sugar crystals melt, bubble and morph into amber syrup then harden into a delicate, stained glass hiding some rich custard beneath, was a first for them. Served with a choice of vanilla or chai tea ice cream, it was a memorable finish to our dinner.

From the previous two tries, this version of creme brulee was a vast improvement. I got the recipe off the Baking and Pastry book from the Culinary Institute of America, that involved some stovetop cooking as well. But there's still plenty of room for improvement. While it was now soft, and virtually falling apart on the spoon, it was rich and thick. What I have been trying to achieve is something resembling a milk jelly - soft, light and incredibly smooth. I have a feeling I will need the help of some gelatin to achieve this effect, or using milk to replace some of the cream I used. My quest shall carry on!

Prawn Cocktail Salad
Adapted from French - Damien Pignolet
Serves 6

Ingredients
24 medium prawns (1.2 kg)
1/2 an iceberg lettuce, washed and sliced thinly (keep chilled)
6 lemon cheeks (chilled and sliced just before serving)

For Marie-Rose sauce
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped into 4 parts
1 tsp dijon mustard
salt
2 egg yolks
100ml olive oil
lemon juice
1 tsp tomato puree
1 knife tip cayenne pepper
1-2 tbspn chopped tarragon leaves

Method
Place half the prawns in boiling water for a few minutes or until it turns entirely pink.
Immediately remove from water and dunk in ice water.
Repeat for the other half.
Peel the shells off the prawns, leaving the tails intact.
Devein, cover and chill in fridge.

Rub garlic cloves around the inside of a bowl.
Whisk mustard, egg yolks and a pinch of salt together.
Drizzle in olive oil in a thin stream while whisking vigorously.
Add tomato puree, cayenne pepper and lemon juice (to taste).
Season with more salt if necessary.
If too thick, dilute with some water or chicken stock, 1 tsp at a time.
Add 1 tbspn tarragon leaves and chill sauce.
Just before serving, add additional 1 tbspn tarragon leaves.

To serve:
Fill a glass with lettuce.
Dip 3 prawns in Marie-Rose sauce and lay on top of lettuce, then top off with one unadorned prawn.
Add one lemon cheek to each glass and serve.

Cooking from Europe

Mozzarella and Prosciutto

The joy of meeting people who are just as crazy about cooking as you are (though I think I am pretty mild) is just impossible to describe. Most of the times, I try to hold my tongue when in fact I wish I could share my excitement at having perfected Creme Brulee (which by the way I haven't, but have to by Sunday), or at having discovered this fantastic waffle recipe that beats any waffle I've ever eaten. That is because I would then very uncontrollably launch into a high-pitched speech on the technicalities of cooking or how I so feliticiously decided on giving the recipe a go.

But to meet someone who doesn't only indulge me by listening intently to my every word, but also tell me that he has been trying various egg tart recipes for the past five days? Now that's seriously insane. Insanely wonderful.

To meet another who gets just about as excited as I am about cooking, and mulls over the potluck theme as long as I do just adds to my happiness. Then bringing these two individuals, GM and P, together and inviting a spunky old friend, SY, at a tiny potluck made for such an enjoyable dinner. This is the precise dinner I referred to in my previous post. The one that was so long, but too short. That knocked me out till the next day when I was meant to shave.

SY and I looking really blur, literally. Courtesy of P.

After much ding-donging back and forth through emails and sms-es (did I mention we were all a little crazy about cooking?), we finally settled on cooking from a single continent. This would give us plenty of leeway to get creative. I decided that SY would do the starter since she is possibly nowhere near as manic about cooking as the other three of us are, though always game to try the latest kid on the block.

It was incredibly heartening to know that since SY returned from US, she had not stepped into the kitchen. And that her first time handling real food, was for us! As she stepped through the door, she bore luscious balls of buffalo mozzarella (alliteration on the wrong words!) and paper thin prosciutto. The combination of which brought back beautiful memories of Rome where I had tucked into a platter of prosciutto wrapped mozzarella. If I'm not wrong, it was drizzled with some olive oil and sprinkled with a special combination of herbs her mom had.

Glorious Moussaka

P decided on a Moussaka, most closely associated with the Greeks or Turks. Moussaka always has eggplant but may contain almost anything else imaginable. The Moussaka P concocted by bringing two recipes together had pork mince, egg plant, onions (all the crying was worth it), tomatoes, yogurt, eggs and cheese. As the sauce bubbled away and spilled over the deep dish in the oven, I couldn't wait to work through the crisp top layer to the soft and oozy mince at the bottom.

Paella with Prawns, Chorizo , Red Peppers and Peas

I'm sure GM hummed and hawed as long as I did to choose what to cook for the dinner. He finally settled on Paella (Spain), for which he used a recipe from America's Test Kitchen (the irony!). This website is pretty cool though, and suits GM's style of cooking to the T. Like a science experiment, he would go through the recipes and stick to the recipe as closely as is humanly and financially possible. So even though I had a paella-like pan that would have passed off almost perfectly as a paella pan, he chose to use my Staub cast-iron dutch oven instead simply because the recipe said so.

Perhaps it was because he used the Dutch Oven or perhaps it was just the recipe. A crunchy layer of paella formed at the bottom of the cocotte, just like what you would find at the bottom of your traditional claypot rice. I really enjoyed that part the best, and found out that GM had to put it over the stove for a little just before serving in order to achieve that effect. So having the patience to allow your food as much time it needs to blossom definitely pays off.

Pour, close till golden brown and serve.

As for my little contribution, I took the easy way out and prepared all the ingredients one would need for some DIY Belgian Waffles. Waffle batter, check. Salted Caramel Sauce, check. Strawberries and Balsamic Vinegar, check. Vanilla Ice Cream, check. And I am not tooting my own horn, but I've really never tasted any waffle as good as that. It was so crisp on the outside (partly because it was eaten straight out of the waffle pan), and incredibly light and airy inside.

Drizzle Salted Caramel, top with ice cream and tuck in.

Certainly helped that the caramel was smooth and not too sweet, that the strawberry sauce was chunky with a slight tang, and that the vanilla ice cream was rich, smooth and delicious. The accompaniments just had to be prepared a day in advance, and the waffle batter in the morning. This would leave you plenty of time to go for a leisurely swim, shine your silverware, set the table and enjoy the rest of the evening.

While scanning the web for waffle recipes, I could not find one that would promise light, crisp waffles. That is until I decided to google yeasted waffles. Deeply embedded in one of the nooks of my brain sat 'yeasted waffles = crisp waffles'. So when I read this article, I couldn't wait to jump straight into it. Though it is a little time consuming, I swear it is worth it. At this time, I am not inclined to attempt any other waffle recipes but this one, over and over and over again.

For Yeasted Waffles click here.

Dinner Munching (Part I) - The Butcher

I had been trying to arrange for dinner among a group of 3 of my SC/NJ friends and it was starting to feel like it would never happen because schedules kept clashing. When a date was finally settled for more than a month away, I filed it away in my organiser and started planning for it only a week before by looking through cookbooks and food blogs.

However, the actual cooking started only on Saturday morning (the dinner was scheduled for that night). The early start gave me plenty of allowance to do my tasks leisurely without breaking out into as much as a sweat, except perhaps on my walk to the supermarket under the glaring hot sun. I chose relatively easy dishes that could either be prepared in advance or would require only a few minutes of flash frying. It definitely helped that I had a stash of sausages from the Swiss Butchery, hidden in my refrigerator, calling out to me.

On my way home from Phoon Huat to replenish my baking supplies at Chip Bee Gardens earlier in the week, I popped into The Butcher just to have a look see (as I always do whenever I'm in the vicinity). I emerged $18 poorer and 9 sausages heavier (hardly surprising, really). My family had been savouring them slowly and purposefully. The favourite was the Moroccan Lamb, followed by the Mexican Jalapeno Pork, Pork with Black Pepper and Coriander, then the Beef and Guiness. The Mexican one was unexpectedly very spicy, but popular nonetheless.

For the dinner, inspired by one of Donna Hay magazine's recipes for a Chorizo, Chickpea and Cous Cous salad, I made a Sausage, Broad Beans (it was meant to be chickpeas too, but I accidentally opened the wrong can), and Cous Cous salad. As you can imagine, very little effort was required.

3 minutes for the cous cous to cook and get fluffed up (with olive oil, lemon juice and salt). Less than 10 minutes for the sausages to cook through and get sliced. 1 minute for a can of broad beans or chickpeas to be opened (or much less if you have a very good can opener). 4 minutes for the four fried quail eggs (optional). Put them all together with some basil and they're ready for the table and for any highly discriminating palate.

I have always been of the opinion that it's hard to go wrong with a dish that involves sausages. Furthermore, these gourmet sausages from The Butcher are delicious by themself. This cous cous 'salad' should convince anyone to have a stash of sausages, a bottle of cous cous and a can of chickpeas at your disposal all year round. Particularly handy for last minute dinners, which seem to be happening to me pretty often recently.

I was told that Tuesdays at The Butcher are Sausage Days where you get half kg worth of sausages free with ever 1kg of sausage purchased. But they're not open on Labour Day, so pop by the following week if you want to make use of the offer! 1.5 kg might sound like helluva lot, but I assure you that sausages as good as this never last very long.

Polenta and Onion Relish

When people gather for many rounds of mahjong, food is usually one of the last thing on their minds. Perhaps this isn't true for some of you, but for my relatives and my mum, they would skip mealtimes if only hunger did not bug them enough to make them slightly distracted. I typically do not cook for my mum and her mahjong kakis if I can help it. But if I do, I would work out something terribly simple, that can be eaten from a bowl and with just a spoon.

So when my mum had a mahjong session yesterday, polenta came to mind. I had a bag of polenta sitting around my shelves just screaming to be slowly simmered into a creamy, corny mush. So I did just that, and made a pot of beef stew as well as some roasted vegetables to go with it. Unfortunately, I had grossly overestimated the amount of polenta that I needed, and ended up with an entire tray worth of polenta.

I find that the best way to save extra polenta is to spread it out on a tray, let it cool, harden, then slice it into 2 cm thick pieces. These can be fried with a little olive oil or frozen for future frying. Fried polenta becomes gratifyingly crisp, with incredibly soft middles. Arguably, they are better than their more viscous predecessors.

For a quick dinner tonight, I chose to cube and fry them in a touch of olive oil. Some halved white button mushrooms, a scoop of onion relish, a sprinkle of dried parsley and a splash of white wine vinegar later, I was stuffing myself with spoonfuls of this very, very comforting dish.

The great thing about this meal is that it can be prepared in a flash, on any worn-out weeknight of yours, when the last thing on your mind is having to wait for your onions to caramelise, or your polenta to soften. Just a little planning beforehand, and some leisurely cooking during the weekend, and you'd have created many instant 'TV-dinners' for whenever you really need it.

Happiness is...

... this.

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And being incredibly contented. To me, contentment is ranked way up there, together with confidence as an attractive.... trait? Characteristic? Knowing my own greedy desires, I never thought there would come a day when I would actually be wholly contented with my life. There's usually always something I'm hankering after, or lusting for. There's usually always something I feel would make me a lot happier if I had or could achieve.

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But I found that ever since I started work in Feb, I've been slowly engulfed by this warm feeling of joyousness... and contentment. There's nothing more I could ask for in life, nothing more I would need in order to be happy because I was already happy. Work is great (the dynamics in the office is fantastic and tremendously welcoming), my extra-curricular activities are thriving, my family is doing better than before. And very importantly, I felt like my friendships were all thriving. I may not have been able to stay as connected to every single friend I've made, but I have definitely been trying for the ones that matter a lot to me.

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In case I get misconstrued, I must clarify that it is not in my intention to brag, but merely to share. I feel like happiness is bursting at my seams. Emanating from my pores. Once in a while, I would actually catch my colleagues' attention with a cheerful 'Sarah' or 'Parvee', and give them a huge grin just to let some of my happiness out and to spread the joy. Just like the children in the photo, I am loving my life and I hope that whoever you are, reading this, can always feel this way too (if not more).

My mum rightly said that my family will only get to enjoy my cooking when I get inspired. The weekend was a great time to get inspired, especially after flipping through the gorgeous food photography in Donna Hay's March issue, because I had plenty of time to act on it. While I may not have used any recipe from the magazine for the dinner I planned for my family, it did effectively lure me into the kitchen. I was happy, and wanted to make sure my family was too, by making sure they had happy bellies first. So I got my brother into the kitchen with me and set to work on the various interesting (or easy) recipes I picked out.

From Gordon Ramsey's Secrets, I found two dishes that I decided to combine - Herbed Cauliflower Puree and Caramelised Baby Onions. When I chose the recipes, I already pictured how it would be plated. And to add some crunch as well as colour to the dish, I threw in some french beans. They all went well together, the creamy and smooth cauliflower puree with the tender, sweet and slightly tangy pink baby onions, and the crunchy buttered beans.

The best sounds I heard that night were the murmurs of pleasure especially with the first mouthful of onion and cauliflower. Perhaps not a common pairing, but definitely one that works. And actually way too easy to put together than it might look!

Puree of Cauliflower Scented with Herbs

Taken from Gordon Ramsay's Secrets (serves 4)

Ingredients

1 medium cauliflower, 300 ml milk, 1 small bay leaf, 1 sprig of thyme, sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

Trim cauliflower, discarding leaves, and cut into florets.

Place in saucepan with milk, herbs and 1/2 tsp salt.

Bring to boil, cover and simmer gently for about 12-15 mins until cauliflower is very tender.

Drain the cauliflower, discard the herbs and reserve the milk.

Whiz florets in a blender until very smooth, adding enough of the reserved milk to give a very creamy consistency (you'll have to scrape down the sides a couple of times to get it moving).

You may need to blend the mixture for up to 5 minutes to achieve a really smooth, silky texture.

Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding a little pepper if required. Serve piping hot!

Caramelised Pink Baby Onions

Adapted from Gordon Ramsay's Secrets (serves 4-6)

Ingredients

100 g butter, 250 g baby onions or small shallots (peeled), few sprigs of thyme, 1/2 tsp sugar,

3 tbspns of juice from bottled beetroot, 100 ml chicken stock, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Heat butter in large saute pan, adding baby onions/shallots with thyme and sugar when it starts to foam.

Cook for 5 mins until lightly caramelised (should turn translucent and slightly brown), seasoning with salt and pepper as they cook.

Add beetroot juice and stock, bring to boil then cook uncovered for a further 5 mins, stirring occasionally until onions are just tender but still retain a bite.

Transfer onions to a dish and bubble up the pan juices until reduced to a syrupy glaze.

Return onions to the pan to heat through and coat in glaze.

Discard thyme and serve.

Post-CNY

Chinese New Year is long over, but my CNY decorations are still up. I've had little time to do any proper cleaning up and tidying. The past week was tough to get through as I was down with a mean bug but still had to trudge to work. It wasn't even because I had downright evil bosses. On the contrary, they were extremely sympathetic. But I had a report to submit and a responsibility that I should not shirk from.

Thankfully though, I have a grandma who is merely a S$2.80 cab ride away from work, who would wrap me up in her many quilts and blankets, and have a bowl of warm unsweetened oats ready for me after my short nap. Ah, bliss. Bliss is also being able to rest through the entire weekend to rest and fully recuperate.

To celebrate my recovery, and break my weeklong diet of soft foods, I decided to pull out a precious stash of potstickers from the freezer. This was something that I made during one of the CNY dinners for a couple of my dad's longtime friends, alongside a couple of other Chinese dishes. As I had planned to make a ton of these, just making the potstickers alone took up a good couple of hours even using my pasta maker to trim some preparation time off.

You could say I've come very far when it comes to potstickers. The first time I tried making potstickers, I was in UK and sorely missing chinese food. I then made it again for 'Operation Stella', but with little (or no) improvement because when in UK, any kind of dumpling is better than none at all. Plus, I knew that my dear friends PJ, Fel and Stella weren't going to regurgitate the potstickers and denounce our friendship even if I had really made some really inedible ones.

But when back home, and when satiating a potsticker craving is as easy as taking a trip into Chinatown, it isn't enough to make them from scratch and have them look 'a little like' potstickers and taste 'something like' potstickers. They damn well better please the eye and the palate as the real thing. And who else to seek advice from than from one of the masters of perfection herself, J. She doesn't always post up recipes, but when she does, one can rest assured that every single step is accounted for. My experience when following her advice for making macarons is surely proof in itself.

While putting my absolute trust in her recipes and advice, I still had to put the first few potstickers I folded to the test. Most importantly, for my parents to give the go ahead. Thankfully I did so as the potstickers benefitted from a finer, more delicate skin as they would thicken slightly upon cooking.

And I just couldn't resist creating a variation of a potsticker using some crinkle cookie-cutters. Placing a mound of filling in the middle of the cut-out dough, I folded the skin into half, encasing the filling and pressed the edges together, making sure that the crinkles matched. I then pulled the two tips of the semi-circle together and pressed them together to make a dumpling that resembles a baby's bonnet. Cooking method and timing do not differ.

Three Courses from Cocina Nueva (Part 1) - The Palate Teaser

Due to some bad organisation, I managed to put myself in a position where I had to cook for two whole days in a row. The morning after a multi-course, multi-dish, multi-hands dinner for seven, I was to get up to wash the leftover dishes, napkins, tablemats, wine glasses and still decide what to cook for a lunch with Val and Addy+Derrick, and then prepare dinner for my family. 9am came and went, and I was still stuck in lala-land where dishwashers surrounded me, automatic chicken wing deboners existed and I had my very own Kitchen-Aid Electric Mixer (I'm still saving, slowly but surely).

I did however manage to drag myself away from my dream and quickly give the home a wipe-up by 1015. However, I was still looking through the cookbooks for an idea of what to make. Obviously I was finding for those fuss-free ones with few ingredients and even fewer steps. I decided to use recipes from Cocina Nueva: The New Spanish Kitchen by Jane Lawson, and try my hand at something new - Spanish food. The vibe I got from the cookbook was something laid-back, fun, yet gorgeous and extremely satisfying for the tummy and especially the palate. And the food photography is something that makes me aspire to greater heights, that is if write ups like this isn't inspiring (or embarassing) enough.

So by 1130am, I reached home with my groceries and set to work. I had planned a small appetiser, a simple DIY/watch-while-I-cook main-course, followed by a slice of cake. By the time I had prepped the ingredients for the main-course and put the cake into the oven, my first guests had arrived and the appetiser was shelved. But a main-course and a dessert for four, in under 1.5 hours was still no mean feat. I did however, get down to making the shelved appetiser at night for my family. No point letting some defrosted tentacled friends go to waste, right?

One of the first dishes that caught my eye in that book was for Galician Octopus. It promised tender baby octopi simmered for at least half an hour then flavoured with a tangy and smoky olive oil dressing. What's not to love? I truly adore (eating) our tentacled friends, but have always hated it when not done right and turn into ridiculously chewy and indigestible monsters. I have been advised by friends, cookbooks and the 'fishmonger' behind the counter at Greenwood Fish Market and Bistro, to cook the baby octopi either very quickly or for a very long time. True enough, these beautiful purple babies softened after half an hour of simmering.

As the baby octopi that I bought came cleaned and gutted, that cut the preparation time in half. Other than leaving the octopi to simmer for half an hour or more, the dressing took just a few scoops, pinches and bashes (of garlic) to put together.

Adjustments:

-Though I tripled the amount of baby octopi in the recipe, I only doubled the amount of olive oil used since a little actually goes quite a long way.

-I also substituted some of the lemon juice and zest with mandarin orange juice and zest, and that mellowed the dressing a little.

-The local supermarket stocked none of that Italian parsley, so a handful of cilantro did the job for me. Just as well since I really prefer cilantro.

My parents were quite taken aback by how deceptively tasty the dish was and how tender the octopi were. I guess they've had their fair share of horrible experiences with rubbery octopi. I simply love the dressing as well and can imagine it being used with salad or to drizzle over pan-fried salmon. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge and added cold (together with the leftover sauce) to a leafy green salad as a refreshing wake-me-up dish. They are still tender but has more of a spring and a bite to it. Still, no ridiculous amount of chewing will be needed, really.

Coming up next: What I served at lunch...

Galician Octopus

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

500g baby octopus or 350g cleaned baby octopus

2 tbspn sherry vinegar

80ml extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp smoked sweet paprika

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tsp grated lemon zest (I substituted half with mandarin orange zest)

1 tbspn lemon juice (I substituted half with mandarin orange juice)

3 tbspns sherry vinegar

1/2 red (or white) onion, cut into thin wedges (these were quickly blanched in with the octopi for a while just before serving)

1 large handful flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, roughly chopped

Method

Put baby octopi in a saucepan of cold water with sherry vinegar and bring to boil.

Immediately reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 30 mins or under octopi are very tender.

Drain well.

Mix the oil, paprika, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice and extra sherry vinegar then toss through the warm octopi along with the onion.

Leave to cool for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Toss through the parsley, season to taste and serve.

Dip it in

I've been incredibly busy this past week (what's new?) with dinner parties and gatherings in our newly redecorated home. Though I should really qualify that statement by saying that only the living and dining room has been massively changed while the rooms have remained exactly the way they were.

Of course it goes without saying that I would never let a bout of redecoration pass without having it sweep its magic through the kitchen as well. Little demolition was done, the kitchen has been well equipped with more shelves, a foldable table giving me the much needed extra working space for plating during service, and most notably among others, a reasonably priced oven that works like a dream. Actually it is possible that compared to my two-in-1 microwave cum convection oven, anything would be a dream to work with.

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For the group of girlfriends who have stuck with me since the days I donned my blue uniform and white bolero, I had planned my most elaborate dinner party to date. I sent out e-invites, named the party a 'NewMas' (go figure) Celebration Dinner and gave it a Kim Gek theme that only SCGS girls would appreciate. Thankfully, Addy volunteered her help and the party went smoothly - it had better be considering that we spent three days prepping for it. I hardly even broke out in a sweat, except when having to crank the pasta machine, and we had a couple of hours before guests were due to arrive for us to freshen up, pour ourselves a glass of sparkling white wine with strawberry puree each and indulge in some chin-wag.

Thinking back to the same gathering the previous year, I still marvel at how I survived. An incredibly ambitious menu with no help at all and little preparation before the day itself was a sure-fire route to failure. My girlfriends were being overly kind when they talked about how the Chestnut Ravioli was great. Yeah sure, if you happen to love extremely chewy, thick and irregularly shaped ravioli skins. They are really such dears.

In any case, Addy was such a blessing to have with me in the kitchen and absolutely conscientious in every task she carried out. Without her, I would probably have grown a whole tuft of white hair as a result of the dinner. The only pity is that I lost the SD card that I used to take photos of some of the food. I really hope they are not at the mercy of Moka's digestive juices at this very moment. Perhaps then it is fate that I am not meant to have a pictorial log of what we managed to serve our 5 beautiful girlfriends that night.

The Menu

Roasted Tomato Soup with Basil Foam and Slow Roasted Tomatoes (a tried and tested recipe that I knew would not fail me)

Beetroot Pasta with Beef Stew

Truffle Risotto

Red-Wine Poached Pears with Homemade Cream Cheese Ice Cream, Pink Meringue finger and Chocolate Canele

Fleisher Family Hornchen Cookies and Pink Meringue Kisses (to doggie bag home)

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A more recent dinner was a countdown dinner that my family decided to throw for my extended family. A couple of families were missing, making the crowd very manageable. It was also turned into a potluck just to make administration and preparation a little less hellish for us.

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A few days before THE night, my brother and I mulled over the few cookbooks that I have, to choose an appetiser and a main to prepare. He seemed extremely excitable while talking to me about what we could or should do, creating a mild lovely tingly sensation in my heart as I adore talking to people about food and even more so my very own brother. (A short digression - he has requested that I teach him how to bake buns, poach eggs and make a hollandaise sauce tomorrow just so that he can prepare his very own eggs benedict!)

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On THE morning, we went to Tekka Market together to purchase fresh herbs, vegetables (from Chia's veg supply, where else?) and meat then went home immediately to begin the preparation. While I had expected his help in the kitchen, remembering how thrilled he seemed while talking to me about possible dishes to prepare, I had NONE on the day itself. Granted, he had his room to tidy, but so did I! Anyway, I somehow managed everything alone and fell even more deeply in love with my new simple oven that I would never have been able to survive the day without.

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I had made the Oolong Tea Steeped Pork Belly, that is yet another tried and tested crowd pleaser, along with a variety of dips for bread and table water crackers, and more Fleisher Family Hornchen Cookies to doggie bag home. I am a little (understatement!) embarassed to admit that I cheated a little by buying a bottle of cheese dip instead of melting my own cheese.

From top: Pomodoro, Pesto and Tomato Chilli Jam

That aside, the dips were each well received and no clear favourite stood out. I presented a rather effortless Rosemary and Thyme Pomodoro Sauce (that got my dad's vote), a strong Pesto Sauce (my mum loved this) and a Tomato Chilli Jam (my brother and I enjoyed this the most)alongside the Roasted Garlic Cheese Sauce. Breads were purchased from Simply Bread, and Corduroy and Finch at 6th Avenue along Bukit Timah Road and everyone loved them.

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The Tomato Chilli Jam was almost as effortless as the Pomodoro to create. All you need is a good blender, the few simple ingredients and a pot, and you're good to go. I'm really glad I made quite a fair bit of each such that we had some leftover to enjoy the next day. This recipe was taken from The Cook's Book under the 'Flavourings' section contributed by Peter Gordon from New Zealand. I only suggest being a little less generous with the sugar if it is used as a dip, and perhaps even as a jam for your morning breakfast. Peter Gordon also recommends this as an accompaniment to 'roast lamb or pork, used to glaze a filet of fish under the grill, or in a sandwich of goat's cheese, rocket and avocado'.

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The night was fun, clowning around with my cousins and doing the customary exchange of well-wishes with all my relatives at midnight after the loud counting down. But due to my perpetual activity through the night, I had little time to reflect on the year that had just past. It is only now in my quiet room (other than the incessant whirring coming from my laptop), at 536am on the second day of the year, that I have begun thinking albeit in my half-conscious state.

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THE PAST YEAR saw me finally attain the paper that I had been working towards for the past 15 years of my life. It was a little anti-climatic though, since I did not attend the ceremony that would give me my five seconds of fame, but that does not discount the significance of the slip.

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In my personal state of affairs, I had gone through major upheavals. Departing from close friends I had lived with so closely in UK for the past three years while being finally reunited with those back in Singapore. Getting to know an amazingly talented, personable and overly generous couple.

The couple of work experiences that I had gone through taught me much, made life a more interesting and allowed me to meet people I would otherwise probably have never been able to get to know personally.

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On the homefront, I now have an additional member of the family called Moka, who has also adopted some very amusing nicknames such as Fei Zai (fat boy), but the winner has got to be 'Chief Shitting Bull' courtesy of my dad. The home is now a joy to come home to, and the kitchen very welcoming to cook in unlike before. My family has definitely come together a little closer as a result of the concerted effort, though that is not to say we made it through without some healthy argument. My cousins have also all bonded through a Big 81st Birthday Bash that we threw for our dear grandmother, slideshow, red and gold decorations and the whole works.

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The year has definitely been thoroughly eventful, and I can only hope that this spanking new year will be just as fulfilling. Already, the first day of the year started out on the right foot when I spotted a pair of rainbows in Clementi while I was walking towards the MRT station. I marvelled at it for the little while that I could afford without being late for my appointment, felt the ends of my lips curl upwards and a sense of peace settle over me.

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And here is the first recipe of the year:

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Tomato Chilli Jam

Makes about 500g

Ingredients

500g very ripe tomatoes

2 thumbs of fresh ginger, roughly chopped

3 tbsp nampla (fish sauce)

4 fresh serrano or other red chillies, finely sliced

4 garlic cloves, finely sliced

300g caster sugar (I used 250g)

100ml red wine or cider vinegar

Method

Blend half the tomatoes, the ginger, and fish sauce until smooth.

Chop the remaining tomatoes into 1cm dice.

Put all ingredients in a deep pan and bring to boil, stirring frequently.

Once mixture boils, reduce heat to a simmer for 30-40 mins, skimming off any foam during this time and stirring every few minutes.

Jam is ready when it thickens and becomes glossy.

If left to cook and poured into sterilized glass jars, they can keep in the refrigerator for 2 months.

Rice and Veggie

Vinaigrettes made with balsamic vinegar, raspberry vinegar, truffle-infused vinegar, fig vinegar, quince vinegar...... you name it, I've tried it. Well, almost. Sadly, my family has gotten terribly tired of these salad dressings, especially when I tried comparing the subtle flavours of the various vinegars through vinaigrettes by making a whole range of them for just one dinner.

Thankfully (for my family), I had gotten tired of them as well and was searching for a different kind of salad. Enough of leafy greens or bitter (but nice) reds. A certain Sesame Chicken and Noodle Salad in The Cook's Book, contributed by Christine Manfield, attracted me enough (food porn WORKS) to make me stop, drink in the picture and savour the recipe. I attempted the salad but chose to substitute the noodles with julienned carrots in light of the risotto I was preparing as well.

It was exactly what I was looking for - aromatic, refreshing, piquant and slightly spicy.

In fact, it was a great prelude to my very simple main course of risotto served with a garlic and saffron aioli. This was taken from a recipe by Anderson Ho in Menu Degustation, of a squid ink risotto served with saffron aioli. Omitting the squid ink in order to accomodate a friend with a rather conservative palate, I created a plain risotto perfumed by the lightest hint of lemon zest. Both risotto and aioli complimented each other, but the aioli might be a little too strong on the garlic for people who are not fans (like me) of that pale yellow bulb. Otherwise, the tangy yet earthy flavour of the aioli helped relieve some of the risotto's weight on the palate.

Sesame Dressing for Salad (of Shredded Chicken, Noodles and Cucumbers)

Adapted from The Cook's Book

Makes about 180ml of salad dressing

Ingredients

3 tbspn sesame seeds

1/4 Sichuan peppercorns, dry-roasted and ground

4 garlic cloves

2 tsp chopped fresh ginger

1 tsp chilli paste or sambal

2 tbspn vegetable oil

2 tbspn light soy sauce

1 tbspn fish sauce

1 tbspn Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry

1 tbspn Chinese black vinegar

1 tbspn caster sugar

100 ml chicken stock

Method

Process all ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Spoon dressing over salad and serve.

Saffron Aioli

For 200g Risotto

Ingredients

1 g saffron

20ml white wine vinegar

20g peeled and finely chopped garlic

2 egg yolks

1 tsp dijon mustard

200ml olive oil

Method

Soak saffron in vinegar to bleach for 30 minutes.

Remove saffron and keep aside.

Whisk vinegar with garlic, egg yolk and dijon mustard together vigorously.

Add saffron.

Pour in olive oil by the trickle to incorporate.

Season to taste.

Garnish risotto with a dollop of aioli and shaved parmesan cheese.