adventures in the kitchen
26/08/2009
I got a bunch of tea from AL a couple of months ago, and decided I was going to start cooking with tea, because if I was going to drink it, it’d take me forever to finish it.
Last week I started with something simple: tea eggs. We used to get them at pasar malams – KF could get a couple of those, and I’d get my colourful steamed bowl kuehs. Ahh, I miss that. Anyway, the tea eggs turned out well. Was a simple recipe, and I had a decent black tea for it.
This week I got more adventurous and decided on chicken + tea soup. It didn’t turn out too badly from the looks of things. Here are the recipes, try at your own risk. Don’t come crying that you don’t like it, or that it gave you the runs. I expect you to exercise common sense while cooking, and if you can’t you shouldn’t be in a room with sharp implements, open flames or appliances to begin with.
Chicken and Tea Soup
1/2 chicken breast
1/2 carrot
1 tablespoon green oolong (I used an Anxi Jade Guanyin)
4 slices of ginger
2 stalks pandan leaf
1 l of water
Bring water to boil, put everything in, and turn the heat down. Add salt to taste. Simmer on low heat for 40 mins. If you don’t, your tea will cook and make your soup bitter. Not my fault! But I suppose it’s not something a few cubes of rock sugar can’t fix. Theoretically.
Well, to make my chicken go further, I took the cooked breast out, pulled off the meat and tried to make some version of the chicken salad I’ve been ordering at Vietnamese restaurants.
Chicken Salad with Lime-Sesame Dressing
1/3 cup cooked chicken breast, pulled or sliced in thin strips
1 cup (about a quarter of a) sugar loaf cabbage, thinly sliced
a handful of cilantro aka coriander
1/3 cup apple, julienned (optional)
Dressing:
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
3 tablespoons lime juice (I used kaffir lime from AL)
Mix dressing thorougly, and drizzle over vegetables and chicken. Toss and serve.
Apparently 1/2 a chicken breast is a lot of meat! It was probably 350-400g, so I had tons of meat left over despite making my salad (and my salad was pretty much dominated by chicken) so I tried this recipe that was sent to me by Allrecipe: Satay Chicken Pizza. Incidentally I also happened to have Gado Gado sauce ready in the fridge from an attempt at tauhu goreng and Pita bread from AL! Talk about timely. Pizza wasn’t too bad, but KF was complaining it was hard to eat. He insists I put the stuffing in the pocket the next time. So I guess it’ll be Satay Chicken Pockets next time round.
Next week: possibly tea poached fish. Hmmmmmm…
another culinary adventure
13/08/2009
Ever since Shienny boy put those pictures of his rendition of the cult classic – Prawn Mee – up, I’ve been inspired to try it myself. Not his Penang version, but the Singaporean version. It’s not a national issue. He says it’s all in the chilli. And since I’m not a big fan of that, I’ll make do with the version we have at home. The hard boiled egg though, seems like a good idea, so I might knick that.
Last year my sister-in-law very thoughtfully gifted me with The New Mrs Lee’s Cookbook (Vols 1 and 2) for my birthday. They sat prettily on my bookshelf for almost a year (in their shrinkwrap no less) before the search for a winning Prawn Noodle recipe made me check them out tonight. They didn’t disappoint. Well, at least Vol 2 didn’t.
A bit about The New Mrs Lee’s Cookbook(s). They were written, I suppose, over many years, many years ago by Mrs Lee Chin Koon. Hence the Mrs Lee. Before I opened the books from the shrinkwrap I was wondering just what made Mrs Lee and her recipes so special. I mean, I love Mrs Wee’s cooking, so I suppose if I wrote out my mom’s recipes and her very detailed instructions, Mrs Wee’s Cooking Guides for Dummies might be a hit! Anyway. In Vol 1, I found a sweet and heartwarming foreword written by Mr Wee. Mr Wee who? Well, no less than Kim Wee. So I’m thinking, Mrs Lee must be something, since that Mr Wee likes her enough to write her preface not once, but twice! Once for the original Cookbook, and then again for the version updated by Mrs Lee’s granddaughter. With me so far?
Here I am, wondering. Lee is a common surname in Singapore, but it’s by no means a common surname in Singapore. But I toss it to the back of my mind. After all, they can’t be everywhere, can they?
Evidently, they are. For the foreword for The New Mrs Lee’s Cookbook Vol 2 is written by no less than the MM himself. I have to say, the dude has a way with words I have the utmost respect for. He’s succinct, and puts across with such silent lucidity (while 298th grade writers like me rip off cheesy titles off old Queensryche songs). And since this is the best foreword I’ve read in a looonnng while (most times I don’t even read those things cos they take up 25% of the freaking book – yes, I’m a rebel) here’s an excerpt:
My mother loved good food and liked to cook for her children. [...]
A year ago, my niece, Shermay Lee, updated my mother’s cookbook and called it The New Mrs Lee’s Cookbook Vol. 1: Nonya Cuisine. It won an international award.
She has invited me to dinner at her cooking school in Chip Bee Gardens. Her dishes evoked memories of my mother’s food. But either with age my palate has become dulled and jaded, or the ingredients are no longer the same; in my memory, my mother’s dishes were better. However, for those who have never tasted my mother’s cooking, Shermay’s will be the next best available.
So, what did we learn from that last paragraph? That the pen is mightier than the sword or, as it were, the chopper. And that the way to a man’s heart is to cook exactly like his mom.
So wish me luck, for tomorrow I will embark on a new culinary adventure. To Kitchen Stadium and beyond!
thinking ahead
10/08/2009
For some strange reason, I come up with my best quips in the shower. Maybe it’s the privacy, maybe it’s the running water. I enjoy shower time immensely, though it’s less beckoning in winter. But hey, this is shower season and I’m loving it.
I think I’ve been fortunate enough most of my life to have avoided many losses in life, but since everyone has an expiry date, the frequency will no doubt begin to increase. It’s just the way it’s set up. Anyhow, since I’m not sure where or when it’ll hit, and seeing as to how much I like my sense of humour, here’s my epitaph.
Online all the time.
Except when I’m not. Like now.
Getting no where, fast.
Even managed to stick in one of my favourite 5 syllable sentences. 
Neato.
Happy 7-8-9!
06/08/2009
To all at home! It comes once a millenia, though it’s not more special than 6-7-8 or 1-2-3, but it’s cute.
It’s the reason why 6 is afraid of 7.
And strangely, my brother got the joke. 
definition
02/08/2009
We’ve been watching a lot of Kimura Takuya serials lately – though KF likes Hero, I prefer Engine and Pride. I like Pride because the actress in it is kinda cute, she looks like a bunny. In the serial, Kimura’s character refers to her as “a woman from the last century”.
They wear the cutest knits too! Sometimes I end up ogling at the scarves they wear.
It seems like a common theme, and I’ve seen it in other serials too, women hoping to marry someone well-to-do, stable; with a big fat wedding featuring an equally big fat dress and a nice house and car. I suppose if I grew up and lived in a culture where I’m expected to play a support role all my life, if I’m supposed to be the second language, I’d have aspirations like that too.
Fortunately, I grew up in a fairly 21st century culture, I was given the same opportunities as my fellow men. I’m a first language. I don’t have to step behind any man, nor skirt around their egos because I’m expected to. I’m thankful for that.
To say it doesn’t make me chill to the bones when I see yet-another-sappy-wedding-video is a lie. To say that I’m not put off by the whole from-this-moment or my-dreams-came-true-because-of-you themes is a complete fabrication of the truth. Yeah, it’s a celebration, and yeah everyone should be entitled to shout it from the mountaintops if they wished. And yes, your friends are happy for you, and yes, we’ll be happy to have dinner. But please. Don’t milk something just cos it has nipples. Spare your similarly-educated friends. It’s bad enough they had to pay a dinner where they didn’t get to choose the menu, listen to the relatives they don’t really care for, and be subjected to music your over-enthusiastic friends and family claim they’ll provide for your guests. And just when they think it’s over, you bombard them with a nice little video of the who thing (once again, with feeling, soppy music and slow-mo!). Yeah, they’ve always the choice to disregard it.
But hey. Take a step back. Aren’t we Asian? Don’t we inherently have the ability to realise when we’re getting fleeced for services we don’t need? Aren’t we the hardnosed negotiators who go to third world countries and bargain with street vendors over cents?!
I’m not saying I’ve never enjoyed weddings. On the contrary, there were a few which I’ve enjoyed immensely. Just not the cookie cutter from this moment ones. I like the every damn moment ones. The one where the best man makes inappropriate references to the groom’s previous marriage in his speech, or the one where a drunken relative whacks the groom on the back repeatedly, excitedly, winking and making references to the afterdinner party, or the one where the bride and groom’s mothers exchange dagger filled looks at each other over dinner.
Maybe I’m just old and sour. Like a prune. Maybe I’m just tired of the Hollywood ending. Maybe I’m just annoyed that we’re still looking for that perfect perfect happy ending when things have only just started!
Whatever it is. You’re a first language dammit, refuse to be relegated to once in a lifetime, or once a year.
Is all I’m saying.
