Ultimate Foodies Bloggers Challenge

Congratulations to Senor Pablo and his team for organising & hosting a magnificent event at his residence yesterday and thank you for giving us an arena to showcase our home recipes to everyone there. I look forward to buying the book and already have had a request from a reader who lives in Canada to reserve a copy (and sign!) it for her. *thank you*

(Photo by: Pablo)

And a HUGE thank you to everyone who voted for me!! My two winning dishes..

2nd prize - Roasted Garlic and Anchovy Dip (Photo by: Marul)

9th prize - Chinese Chicken Salad

These two recipes will be published in the Ultimate Foodie Bloggers Cookbook so don't forget to buy the book as soon as it is released - 100% of the proceeds goes to charity.

Congratulations to all the other winners as well and it was a pleasure to meet all of you yesterday... :-)

Chung / Ko Chung / Ba Chang

Mr Ab & A's dear mumsie & Jeed's MIL, gave me & my family some chungs for the forthcoming festival. I took one with me to the office for breakfast this morning. 2 minutes in the microwave with a tiny sprinkling of water over the leaves.....


Have a look! Aren't they lovely? Flavourful glutinous rice, a meaty piece of chicken, dried mushroom, dried prawn, salted egg yolk and chestnut. The portion was absolutely correct too for a not too heavy breakfast. I was so happy as it kept me going until dinner (yes, I am on yet another diet)..

Thank you, Auntie, for always thinking of me. Your Ba Chang is deelicious!!

More from here and here..



It's absolutely halal as well. Isn't this a lovely way to share a traditional Chinese festival?

p.s. A.... my sis and her hub enjoyed the chung too and asked me to thank your mumsie on their behalf..

Healthy Dinner

Here is someone's healthy dinner tonight - mixed grains & rice, with tomatoes and lean chicken. With cucumbers.. and chorizo. Eat with chilli oil.

Roast Chicken, Mashed Potatoes & Sauteed Mushrooms

Last night's dinner for the kids.

Garlic sauteed mushrooms with a little dollop of mayonnaise.

Roast chicken with caramelised onions.


Creamy Mashed Potatoes with Mushrooms, Onions AND cheese. (This is Mark's creation).

Vegs Stir-fry

2 types of vegetables I made recently.

Last week.

Cauliflower, oyster mushrooms, carrot, dried shiitake mushrooms and almonds.

Tonight - mangetout, carrots, red peppers, brocolli, wood's ear, baby corn, almonds and tinned button mushrooms. Stirfry with garlic, light soy, white pepper and oyster sauce.

Basic Batter

For Katia who left a message on the tag board, here is the recipe for a basic batter - you can use this for fish, bananas, yam, pumpkin, squid or prawns, or other kinds of vegetables such as onion, egg plant, etc.

- 2 cups of self raising flour
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
- salt & white pepper
- water
- 3 small ice-cubes
- 1 teaspoon oil

Just mix together until lump free and a thick batter is formed.

If you are rushed for time, omit ice-cubes and oil.

Deep Fried Mushrooms

Deep Fried Mushrooms.

It makes me happy when I get asked to cook a particular something for my kids - Mark asked for this yesterday and luckily, SS had some firm, fresh, and uncompletely unbruised white mushrooms on their shelves. I removed the stalks and fried them separately. They were delicious too! The dip was a simple one of grated garlic, mayonnaise and spring onions. Would have been better if I added tomato & chilli sauce but I did not have them in the fridge.

I used 1.5 tubs of mushrooms (each costing approx $3.20) - it's so cheap and easy to make this at home - restaurants charge up to $8 for a plate of 6 pcs with a tiny salad garnish on the side. The oil can be re-used once so there is not too much wastage.

Bobby Chinn

What's better than getting up close and personal with a celebrity chef and having his undivided time for half an hour prior to the cooking demo this afternoon?
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Coming this close to his tools of the trade and having him explain each and every item to all of us!!!

I thought this was the best part of the entire afternoon and I am so glad I asked him to show us his tools.

Getting into the lift with him. (hehe).

Pot Roast Guinea Fowl

Our friends S&H gave us two guinea fowls when they came over for the Peking Duck dinner. The fowls are from McFarm. I've never cooked this myself before, however Wm has cooked ginger wine with them and herb tonic soup too.

So here we go - 2 whole bulbs garlic, 15 shallots, 2 large onions and 4 bay leaves. Clean/trim the birds, there's quite a lot of fat under the skin. One was left whole, the other halved.

Here I've dusted the fowls with salt, black pepper and flour. I browned them thoroughly on my steak pan. The aromatics were browned separately in my dutch oven.

We interrupt this collage of photos to show a bored little girl playing outside in the rain, she added washing liquid to the tiled floor to create a slippery surface.

Next, the two half fowls were browned. I dusted rosemary and thyme onto the birds too. You want high enough heat to brown the skins but not hot enough to burn the oil so be a little careful, keep your eye on the flames and adjust accordingly.

The nicely browned skins will give so much flavour. Add the birds to the dutch oven, add more rosemary, thyme and dried parsley. I should really be using fresh herbs but oh well.

Then a good half bottle of white. Reduce reduce reduce, at this point I was really really torn - recipe books dictate adding a good quality stock you here - but it's a Sunday, I'm not going to make any - no thank you. SO. I had to reach for the Bisto jar - a tablespoon or so of chicken Bisto was added. eeeksss... But I wanted a rich slurpy gravy so don't shoot me.

No water was added at all - it was supposed to be a pot roast. Put lid on and simmer slowly. I added a tankard of red after an hour.

The birds needed almost 2.5 hours of cooking time to tenderise and soften them. But look at the gravy at the end - it was thick, shiny and so rich and flavourful.... (I was a bit caught up reading naughty bidarlah's blog, I almost forgot to take the pan off the fire).

Overall, I thought it was good, the meat was dark and falling off the bone; however breast meat was dry - did I make the dreaded mistake of overcooking to beyond redemption?

Some of us had rice.

And some had garlic pasta.

I really like looking at food posts with lots of pics but I must admit I have overdone it slightly here. hehe - I hope you enjoy them nonetheless :D

Irish Coffee

NON-HALAL POST

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How to make Irish Coffee at home.

Whip some pouring cream to soft peak consistency. For further excitement, add dash of whisky and little soft brown sugar to cream before whisking. Do not overwhisk! At best, the cream will become too stiff and at worst, a runny mess.

Put metal spoons into Irish Coffee glasses. This will stop glasses from cracking when boiling hot water is added to coffee granules. (Note: I bought these glasses from Yaohan at Seri Complex all those years ago, they have been used numerous times and so far I'm so glad they have been no cracks at all, I still have all 8 pieces). I guess you can warm the glasses in hot water too if you wanted too.

Add instant coffee and whisky into glasses, with some sugar. I'm using a 12 year old aged Dewar's...... Omit sugar for people who do not like sugar but personally I find a little improves the overall taste.

Add just boiled water. Quick stir.

Top with soft cream drizzled over the back of a spoon. You need a bit of practice for this. If you do this carefully, the cream will not sink to the bottom of the glass but will rest on the surface of the coffee creating a soft, creamy, fluffy layer.

Do not mix cream into coffee but sip through it.

Of course, omit alcohol if you wish.

There you are, if you've had this in a restaurant and paid $15 - $18 for a glass, try this at home. Use cheaper whisky like Red Label :-) for a more economical version.

p.s I don't know much but I know it is completely wrong to use the squirty 'cream' from a spray can for this recipe.

Porridge

Down with flu all week, I've hardly entered the kitchen but let me share some porridge pics with you. This porridge was made from a roast duck carcass. I added dried scallops & oysters and moss for extra taste and served up with century and salted eggs, fried shallots, ginger slices, soy sauce, white pepper and sesame oil.

Do leave me a note if you love porridge too :-)