Mum's Steamed Crab with Glutinous Rice

While everyone had loads of delicious Butterball Turkey, (this year's turkey was really tender!--from Cold Storage) Blackforest Ham, 240 days aged Roast Beef, Leg of Lamb, (generously sponsored by our loving Uncle :P) Mixed Salads, Jamie's Corn Soup, Jamie's Mashed Potato etc etc.. (and not to forget Jamie's really awesome Tiramisu!!) Mum made Steamed Crab with Glutinous Rice specially for Grandma this Christmas!

The crab was specially selected by the fishmonger, who claimed that the crab was 'neither male nor female', but the roe is the best.. and true enough! The meat was succulent and the roe, aplenty and deliciously sinful!

Merry Christmas, everyone! :D

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Grilled Rack of Lamb

What I grilled on the eve of Christmas Eve! These were small, but so tender and delicious! I got this rack of lamb from Meidi-ya Supermarket, and it is claimed to be 8 months old.

Only seasoned with salt this time, as I didn't have time to prepare a marinade or basting liquid. *Don't you love those grill marks?* :D



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First Makan Session at Buono Pizzar Bar

My very first Makan Session with makansutra forum kakis at Buono Pizza Bar and Ristorante! Many thanks to Uncle Eslim for organising this makan session, and Uncle TTC, Ivan and everyone else for giving me and Mum such a warm welcome! :D

Assorted Pizzas
Loved the aromatic mushrooms on the thin-crust pizza. Quote Jeremy: There's always room for pizza! :P


Seafood Soup
Tomato-based seafood soup with a fresh prawn, some squid rings, a mussel and clams. Served with a slice of toast at the side.


Baby Spinach Salad with Feta Cheese, Mushrooms, Cherry tomatoes and Winagrette


Mediterranean Salad with Chicken, Eggplant, Bell peppers, Onions and Winagrette


Penne with Spinach, Home-made Sausages and Saffron
Mum was so happy she made a better choice of the Penne...Hur hur! Jeremy loved the sausages.


Seafood Ravioli
The sauce was tangy and decent (though it reminded me of the seafood soup), but we didn't quite like the filling.


Lamb in Red Wine and Rosemary Sauce
When it came out, everyone went "Horrors! The huge serving!" We thought it was pretty good; I didn't mind grabbing it and eating like a carnivore. Despite our tummies, we relished this course. :P


Semifreddo Italian Ice Cream Yoghurt (blueberry)
Everyone agreed the mango was better than the blueberry, and tiramisu couldn't make it. According to Jeremy, we have two stomachs: One for food, the other for desserts. According to Mum, we have three stomachs: One for food, one for desserts and one for wine.

I learnt to appreciate the aroma of wine last night, and I could still remember the dessert wine with rose petals which Mum absolutely loved. Picked up a few beefy tricks from Ivan, experimented with food photography, slept really late too! (HAHA!) Thanks for an enjoyable night, makankakis!

P.s. Hungrybear: Wish you were here! :)

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Mum's Indian Curry Chicken

My first daring attempt to tackle Mum's Indian Curry Chicken! (I can't tolerate spice very well) And may I say... I LOVED IT!

Mum used only the wing and thigh parts, and the tomatoes added a sweet-sour twist to the palate. It turned out, the only gripe everyone had (but me) was... it wasn't spicy enough! :P

Mum's Indian Curry Chicken Recipe

To be prepared before cooking
Ingredients
Dry Chilli (Mum suggests the ones from China)
A little Cooking Oil
Coriander Seeds

Method
1. Clean the chilli with a slightly damp cloth; do not wet.
2. Cut into half. Seeds need not be removed.
3. Fry the chilli in a little oil, DO NOT BURN!

4. Wash coriander seeds, then let dry.
5. Fry the seeds without oil. (roasting)
6. Grind Chilli and Coriander Seeds separately. Set aside to be used later.

Seasoning for Chicken
Ingredients
3 Tbsp Ground Chilli Powder (made as above)
1 and 1/2 Tbsp Ground Coriander Powder (made as above)
1 slice of ginger, diced
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
Salt to taste
1 chicken, chopped into bite-size pieces
10 shallots

Method
1. Cut 10 shallots longitudinal-wise; slightly thick. (Knife perpendicular to two ends)
2. Mix the Chicken pieces with the Ground Chilli Powder, Ground Coriander Powder, Diced Ginger, Mustard Seeds, Turmeric Powder, 10 Shallots and Salt.
3. Leave in the fridge overnight.

Cooking
Ingredients
Marinated Chicken Pieces (as prepared above)
5 shallots
Cooking Oil
1 to 2 Tomatoes
2 stalks of whole Green Chilli
5 stalks of Curry Leaves

Method
1. Cut 5 shallots transverse-section into thin slices. (Knife parallel to two ends)
2. Heat the oil in a wok, then add the 5 shallots and fry until fragrant and slightly brown.
3. Add marinated chicken pieces and fry on medium fire.
4. When chicken is about 1/2 cooked, add Tomatoes, Green Chillies, Curry Leaves and 1/2 cup water.
5. If the chicken appears too dry, add 1/2 cup water each time. (Do not add too much)
7. When chicken is cooked, remove from heat and serve.

*Please adjust the ingredients according to taste and level of spiciness! ;)

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Experiment: Mentaiko Spaghetti 明太子スパゲチ

I recently got introduced to Japanese-influenced Italian dishes, such as Tofu Mentai and Mentaiko Spaghetti, so I decided to try my own! Here's how I made my Mentaiko Spaghetti!

Here's the Mentaiko before opening the sac! I used one sac for a serving of two.



Using Chubby Hubby's recipe as a basic guide, it turned out pretty good even though I substituted butter with chicken fat and left out the wine.

XY's Mentaiko Spaghetti Recipe
Serves 2

Ingredients
1 Sac Fresh Mentaiko
3 Tbsp Chicken Fat (less sat. fat than butter)
5 Tbsp Chicken Bones Stock (according to taste for smoothness of sauce)
1/2 Medium Onion
1/2 Tbsp Light Cream
2 Tsp Japanese Mayonnaise
Roasted Nori strips (for garnish)

2 servings of Spaghetti
Cooking Oil
Pinch of Salt

Method
1. First, cook the pasta. Boil a pot of water and add a little oil and salt. When it boils vigorously, add the uncooked pasta.

2. Let the pasta cook until al-dente. You can pick up a strand to test whether it is ready. Make a note of the timing so you can refer to it again next time.

3. When the pasta is ready, simply drain the water and let it rest for a while.

For the Sauce:
1. Carefully cut open Mentaiko sac and scoop out the Mentaiko with a metal spoon into a small bowl.

2. Blend the Onion slightly to get a thick paste.

3. Heat a pot on medium fire and add Chicken Fat. When it has heated up, add a little less than all of the onion paste you made and stir fry until fragrant.

4. Raise the fire to medium-high. Now add the stock and stir a while longer until it starts to be reduced.

5. Turn heat off and add Cream, Mentaiko and Mayonnaise. Stir well so everything is mixed.

6. To serve, simply heat up a pan and add the pasta and sauce. Stir and mix well then put it on a plate. Garnish with some Roasted Nori strips and serve it while it's hot!

Enjoy! :)

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The Hairy Crab Season's Here!

'Tis the season to be jolly... for it's hairy crab season again! I'm not exactly crazy for this expensive delicacy, but I have to admit the roe is really good.

To quote TTC, “农历八月挑雌蟹，九月过后选雄蟹”, meaning you should choose female crabs in the Eight Month and male crabs from the Ninth Month onwards (Lunar Calendar). The one in the picture is a female. You can tell from the underbelly; if it's shaped like a triangle, it's male. If it's more rounded, it's female.



Mum purchased 4 crabs from Capital Restaurant and steamed this herself at home. The deeper red roe is hard and dry. The yellow-orange soft roe is the more delicious roe, being softer and more aromatic. (:

Capitol Restaurant
Bukit Pasoh Shop Houses
44 Bukit Pasoh Road (S)089857

P.S. The gills (shown in the second picture) aren't edible, but not poisonous either.

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Blog's back online again! :D

Sorry for the long hiatus, everyone! Had Science Attachment programme after Chinese O Levels, but now I'm back online with lots of pictures to make up for it! Meanwhile, here's Mum's experiment: Red Yeast Pork Belly! :p

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Mum's Tigerskin Omelette!!

Awesome stripey "tigerskin" pattern on this omelette, huh? This is another one of Mum's groovy experiments. There are prawns, cai poh and long beans inside!

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Tomato

I've added a new Category called *FoodScoop, where I will post some food facts starting with the humble Tomato!

I got these beauties from Sixth Avenue Cold Storage! Very juicy and not the slightest bit acidic! The less red/orange ones are usually rather tasteless. These are On-Vine Tomatoes, the ones you see in the local supermarket are usually plucked before they are fully ripe, then ripened artificially with ethylene.

I also love Japanese Momotaro Tomatoes, but they're really expensive... I like them chilled and eaten raw, as an appetizer or dessert. Cherry Tomatoes may be sweet or sour, depending on the quality and specie, but the recent stock of yellow cherry tomatoes proved to be delightfully sweet! (:

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Mum's Experiments: Char Siu Baby Pork Ribs

Yet another one of Mum's recipes: Char Siu Baby Kurobuta Pork Ribs!

Mum managed to get some baby Kurobuta pork ribs from the market when they were testing the market. She marinated the pork with Char Siu sauce and a little Red Yeast for added sweetness. We used the ever-versatile Turbo Cooker to roast! YUMS!



When it came out hot from the Turbo, I was the privileged one to taste-test it first! It was so tender!! It was really juicy and had just the right "bite" to it! Unfortunately, the marinade was slightly overwhelming, and I couldn't taste the juices of the meat. I suggested that instead of a heavier marinade, a simple salt-pepper-garlic seasoning would be just sufficient. (:



My biggest gripe was that there is just too little meat to relish! Aww..! :P

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Mum's Recipes: Red Yeast Chicken

One of our usual home food: Chicken in Red Yeast Gravy (红糟)! My favourite part is the knuckle (pictured in the centre!) Another great accompaniment to rice!

Recipe from Mum:

Ingredients:
Sesame Oil
Cooking Oil
Light Soy Sauce
Ginger Juice
8-10 cloves Garlic
2 - 3 Tbsp Fermented Red Yeast Paste
Red Wine/Cooking Sherry
Salt to Taste

Method:

1. Season chicken meat with sesame oil, a dash of light soy sauce and ginger juice. Keep in the fridge for a few hours.

2. Add 1 part cooking oil and 1 part sesame oil to wok, crush 8 to 10 whole cloves of garlic (lightly smash, do not chop).

3. Fry Red Yeast Paste over slow fire until fragrant (around 3 minutes).

4. Add chicken and stir-fry.

5. Add Red Wine/Cooking Sherry and a little water if it gets too sticky.

6. Simmer over slow fire until chicken is cooked.

7. Add salt to taste.

Note: It's a good idea to taste the Red Yeast Paste before adding salt because some brands of paste can be extremely salty. We bought ours here from:

Foo Chow Fishball Noodles
33/35 Sultan Gate
Kampong Glam Conservation Area

p.s. I love their Foo Chow Fishballs and Wanton (燕皮) too!

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Dong Dae Mun Korean Street Snacks

Dong Dae Mun is a kiosk chain selling Korean Street Snacks like Jumbo Sausages, Korean Rice Cakes, Meat Balls on Skewers, Grilled Chicken and Beef Skewers with Hot Sauce and Crispy Chicken Skewers. Here's what we tried from the kiosk at Junction 8's basement.

(Left to Right) Meat Balls, Crispy Chicken, Pork and Chicken Skewers

The food's quite novel, but you must eat it immediately! It turned hard and unappetising after we brought it home. The Jumbo Sausages were so tempting, but a voice reminded me of an equally jumbo amount of sodium. :(

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Cooking Guide for Nintendo DS

Oh this isn't an advertisement (although I admit I am an NDS and Wii fan), but I came across this quirky software for the Nintendo DS that looks really interesting. PS: watch out for the "Hainanese Chicken Rice" recipe!! :D

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Mum's Experiments: Crispy Seafood Noodle (Sheng Mian)

I love Crispy Hong Kong Noodle with Gravy (Sheng Mian 生面)! The crispy bits are the best, but the noodles with the gravy are tasty! The noodle is crowned with a treasure trove of goodies: Sotong, Prawns, Mushrooms, Sliced Pork and Veggies! Delicious!!

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Fun with Origami: Yaki-Nori Style!

I know it's not polite to play with your food, but sometimes it's ok to have... just a little fun. (:

Fold a Bento Box with Yaki-Nori and add rice in!




Or even the popular Traditional Crane!!



Do you think even this is possible? ;)

...Try it yourself!

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Mum's Experiments: Crispy Noodle Pancake

Yet another of Mum's Experiments: Crispy Noodle Pancake! It had loads of hidden goodies inside: Mushrooms, Sliced Pork, Bean Sprouts and Wood Ear Fungus! They are smacked inside a huge cake of crispy noodles fried until brown!

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Mum's Experiments: Sweet Vinegar Chicken with Dates

Another yummy experiment by Mum after watching the cooking programme! It had red dates and mushrooms (the ones that look like potato wedges!) too.

It is sweet with just a hint of tangy sour from the vinegar. Goes really well with rice or porridge.

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DIY: Surf 'n Turf Kushiyaki

I love all things grilled, especially flame-grilled or charcoal-grilled meats and carbs. Kushiyaki is the Japanese rendition of our Singaporean Satay, which is charcoal-grilled meats and other food on skewers or bamboo sticks.

At Japanese restaurants you can sometimes get awesome cuts and grades of meat. My favourites are the beef karubi and tongue (gyu tan). Every kushiyaki chef also takes pride in his "Tare" (タレ) marinade. For premium marbled beef, just a sprinkle of sea salt is sufficient! The only thing we can't emulate at home is the charcoal grill so we had to use a hot pan instead.

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Mum's Steamed Herbal Chicken Wings

Mum also tried making some Herbal Chicken Wings for dinner. It had Dang Gui (Chinese Angelica Root) and Gou Qi Zi (Wolfberries). This was really fragrant, and all the essence of the chicken seeped into the herbal soup, making the stock golden in colour!

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Mum's Experiments: Crispy Fried Chicken

Remember my 50-50 Fried Chicken experiment a couple months ago? Mum decided to try out her own Crispy Fried Chicken after watching a demonstration on TV.

The trick was to coat the chicken meat in lightly salted water overnight (in the fridge), although other recipes say in milk and lemon juice. Mum used Sweet Potato flour for the batter.

Woah! It was really good! The chicken was so juicy, it squirted out in a bite! The batter, though a little bland, was really crispy. A little too crunchy, but it became much better after adding a little water into the batter. HAHA, take that, KFC!!! >:P

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Home-Cooked: Unagi Don

While at Isetan @ Scotts, we also picked up one serving of Unagi! This is already grilled and packed, ready to eat. Just pop it in the toaster or microwave oven to heat it up. When choosing Unagi, look out for the fatter, meatier ones.

This sure is comfort food! It comes with a packet of "herbal pepper spice" and Unagi sauce. Just add a drop of that sauce and mix it with the rice. I also drizzled some roasted Nori on top. This went really well with some hot "home-made" Miso Soup using just a dash of Less Salt Miso Paste! After eating the Unagi Don, down it with a cup of hot Miso Soup and your stomach feels so warm and fuzzy! (:



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MarketWatch: Isetan Umaimono Fair

I recently went to Isetan Umaimono Fair @ Scotts, and found some interesting goodies! There were refreshing Fruit Juices (do try the peach and grape!), succulent Mentaiko, delicious Udon and Soba, crispy and chewy Ijima Shoten (Fried Squid) and yummy Sardine Ball soup!

This is Multi-coloured Kelp, which I made into a chilled salad with Wakame.



The Udon and Soba is really good! They have a Wakame version of the Udon too! (It is green in colour because they added Wakame powder)

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Uncle's Birthday: Satsuma Shochu Dining and Bar

August is a festive month of Birthdays! Singapore, Mum and Uncle! We had a birthday at Satsuma Shochu Dining and Bar at Gallery Hotel. Sorry for the lack of photos; the lighting was very dim and it was hard to take decent shots.


This is the Tuna Salad, the tuna is lightly seared on the outside, so it's still raw inside. As much as I love Japanese foods, I'm still not used to raw fish and sashimi. :X But this was quite nice and the dressing was very appetising.

Their Sumiyaki items are also quite good; I simply love charcoal-grilled food! This one is Shittake Mushroom Stuffed with Chicken. We also tried Ox Tongue, Chicken Yakitori, Oyster Rolls, Foie Gras, Silver Cod and Enoki Mushroom wrapped with Bacon.



Other dishes include Hiyashi Momotaro, Sashimi Moraiwase, Cheese Mentaiko Tofu, Mentai (Spicy Cod Roe) Spaghetti, Dried Fugu (Puffer Fish) and Shishamo Ten. The Mentai Spaghetti was, albeit on the salty side, unique and delicious. The Cheese Mentaiko Tofu was an interesting combination which blew me away with its incredible smoothness! The Shishamo Ten was very crispy and full of eggs, too bad they had only 1 serving left so I could only have 1 fish. :( This was my first time eating Fugu! Not bad; tasted chewy and savoury like Bak Kwa! :P



And of course, for dessert, we had Birthday Cake! Cousin Jamie made Carrot Cake that night, while we also had this Tiramisu Cake from Sweet Secrets the day before! (:

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Mum's Birthday: Shabu-shabu and Cheescake!

Wednesday was Mum's Birthday, so we celebrated by having a delicious Shabu-shabu (シャブシャブ) dinner at home. Just dip the thinly sliced beef in the hotpot for a few seconds' and it's ready to eat! The soup base is made from Konbu 昆布 , White Radish and Assorted Mushrooms. Besides beef and pork slices, we also had some Beancurd, Glass Noodles, Veggies, Kelp, Assorted Balls including Hakka Beef Balls.

And for desert, we had Japanese Cheesecake from Uncle Miki @ Liang Court! Yummy! (:



Happy Birthday, Mummy! :D

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DIY: Kurobuta Teppanyaki

Whilst eating around Orchard yesterday, we decided to look around Isetan especially since they had a Nigiwai Japanese fair going on currently. The Shittake Mushrooms blew me and Mum away-- Juicy, Aromatic and full of Umami. And that wasn't the only reason it blew us away; the price tag did as well. :P I also discovered a little gem: カゴメ野菜生活100 Kagome 100% Fruit and Vegetable Juice I tried the Pink Version, and it was really surprisingly delicious! Without salt, sugar or sweeteners, it still tasted sweet and delightful! Tasted a little like berry yoghurt juice; this drink gets a two thumbs up from a Anti-Veggie teen like me! :P

Anyway, you came here to look at Kurobuta Teppanyaki, so here it is:

I was surprised when I saw this on sale at Isetan-- It looked uncannily like... BEEF! Kurobuta refers to meat from the Berkshire Pig, and you can get them from US, Taiwan and Japan. This one came from US. I marinated it in a little Tare, and sizzled it on a hotplate.



This was so good! It had a good bite to it, yet not tough, and went very well with fluffy white rice! Very flavourful, and though rather oily, this kind of fat is the epitome of guilty pleasure! :P

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Dining Out: Disappointing Dim Sum at Orchard

At first I wanted to eat dim sum at Junction 8's Crystal Jade, since it was just a MRT stop away. Instead, Dad wanted to eat somewhere with the traditional dim sum "push-cart", so we ended up at Xin Fu Yin Cha Fortunate Restaurant joint in the Orchard area. Sadly, the food was very disappointing, and there wasn't even any push cart.

The sauces and gravy (especially for the Sheng Mian we ordered) were too starchy and had lumps of starch. Mum told this to the waitress but she didn't seem to respond at all.



The Har Gao was probably one of the better dim sum, though the skin could be improved.



Oh well, but we discovered a little small place selling handmade Xiao Long Bao and Jiao Zi. The lady actually makes the Xiao Long Bao at the window for passers-by to see. They looked really good, and meat filling was generous! Too bad I didn't get to try it. It's loated near the Dim Sum Restaurant at International Building.

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Mum's Recipe: Chilli Crab

Here's Mum's very own rendition of the Chilli Crab! It's the dry version, without the spicy gravy, but fried with egg, onions and chilli. This was really, really fragrant, and not too spicy!

I suggested making it less dry and adding tung hoon (mung bean vermicelli) to fry and soak up all the lovely aroma. I think it's be delicious! :P



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Happy 43rd Birthday Singapore!!

What better way to celebrate Singapore's 43rd Birthday than a dedicated blog post to the oh-so-famous Chilli Crab? It is a must-try Singaporean delicacy, and was featured as the star dish of Singapore's Food Festival 2007.

Happy 43rd Birthday, Singapore! (:

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