Baked

Halibut Fillet with Asian Salmon Sauce

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Halibut Fillet with Asian Salmon Sauce

This is a recipe that I picked up on Asian Food Channel and I thought it was a fantastic idea to present it this way. The halibut fillet was topped with an Asian Salmon Sauce which I thought looked really delightful and tasty.

Ingredients like lemon grass, shredded kaffir lime leaves sautéed with shallots and garlic, and then blended with Thai sweet chilli sauce really adds flavours to the salmon to form a pate. Yes, we are blending the salmon fish together to make the fish paste, kind of like making an otah otah and then layering it on top of another fish.

If you can’t find halibut at your local Asian supermarket you can substitute it with the Basa Bocourti Fish. If you don’t have either, any dory fillet also can.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 piece Halibut Fillet (alternatively you could also use the Basa Bocourti Fish, a Mekong River Catfish)
1 piece Salmon Fillet (cut into pieces to be blended)
2 stalks Lemon Grass
3 pieces of Kaffir Lime Leaves
2 bulbs of Shallots (small red onions also can)
3 cloves of Garlic (crushed)
3 tbsp Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce
100 ml Heavy Cream (aka cooking cream)
Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Lemon wedge (a squish just before serving, optional)

Method

1. Chop the shallots. Crush the garlic. Then sauté in the pan with 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add a little salt to prevent the ingredients from burning. Salt helps to extract moisture from the ingredients.

2. Shred the lower ends of the lemon grass (about 1/3) and you may discard the rest. The flavour is strongest near the bottom. Shred the kaffir lime leaves and add the ingredients into the pan and continue frying.

3. After the flavours of the ingredients are blended, reserve aside. Chop the salmon into pieces. Place in blender/food processor. Add Thai sweet chilli sauce. Add heavy cream. Then add the sautéed ingredients and blend till well mixed. Adjust the textures accordingly with the heavy cream, if you need more liquid depending on the size of your salmon fillet. It should be an orangy hue like otah otah.

4. Season the halibut fillet with salt and black pepper. Spread the salmon pate on the top of the halibut fillet and then cut them up into squares. Arrange the squares on a baking tray and bake them at 180 degrees for about 6 minutes. Serve with a squish of lemon if you like.

Bon Appetit!

Milk-Fed Dutch Veal Chop

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Milk-Fed Dutch Veal Chop

It was my birthday the other day. Yup! Your uncle is one year older. But my name’s not bob. Anyway, as per our family custom if you could call it that, my wife brought me out for a date. It’s been a white since our last date, so I am pretty stoked.

We went for a really nice breakfast at my favourite breakfast place. And then we caught a movie, “The Avengers – Age of Ultron“. Verdict? Three letters. CMI. It was kind of disappointing for me.

The interesting thing was while we were on our way there, someone tapped me on the shoulders and said “Happy Birthday!“. It was a nice surprise and gesture. I asked my friend where he was off to and he hurriedly said “Luke’s Oyster blah and Chop House” and that he was working there. In my heart I was like “Wow“. And before we knew it, he disappeared into the shopping mall.

So I turned to my wife and suggested that we went to that place for lunch and guess what?! She had already pre-booked Luke’s Oyster Bar and Chop House for my surprise birthday lunch. You can imagine the grin on my face and I almost did a dance where I was standing.

Interestingly the entrance to the restaurant was hidden and had looked like the wall of the ladies department store at Robinsons, Hereen. It was nondescript to say the least and nobody would have guessed that there was a restaurant tucked away.

We ordered a whole bunch of stuff which I don’t care to mention, but my birthday main course worked the magic for me. It was nicely cooked to a medium rare. The meat was a bright pink throughout, the fat attached at the end was delicious and complemented the chop. Tender, succulent, delicious. I literally ran out of words in my mind as I chow down the chop, slice by slice.

The anchovy marmite butter was simply genius. There was no trace of it, but it smothered the entire veal chop and basically saturated and set the tone from the first cut. Even the Merlot that I had paled in comparison and in my opinion didn’t match up to the meat. A Shiraz would have been nice, but with another movie to attend to, I wasn’t about to down an entire bottle over lunch.

Simple, yet perfectly done. I would come again, just for the veal chop. I would bear with everything else just to chow down that chop. Of course we waved to my friend, but we didn’t want to disturb him. And I guess he didn’t want to disturb us. A waitress stood nearby and attended to our meals. Yes it was that kind of a place.

Roasted Pork Belly

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Roasted Pork Belly

If you like your kitchen to be smoking with delicious fumes, then this is the recipe for you. Contrary to what most cooks would have you believe, this is one recipe that requires you to have a huge exhaust or a airy kitchen. Yup, it’s gonna get real smoky indeed.

I am making roasted pork belly today and it is the easiest recipe in the world to do (I know I say this is easy and that is easy a lot, but it’s true!). There is no mystery about this seemingly difficult dish. All you need are the right ingredients, an oven or even the humble air fryer (which I don’t really recommend) and you are all ready to do this.

When it is done, you will get a kitchen full of smoke and a delicious crackling roasted pork belly or sio bak, and you will love it. Here’s how to make magic happen.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 piece slab of fresh Pork Belly (usually the butcher would have already cut the portion out for display)
Five Spice Powder
Shao Xin Hua Tiao Jiu
White Pepper Powder
Coarse Sea Salt

Method

1. Rub the Shao Xin Hua Tiao Jiu all over the underside of the pork belly. Be generous. Then rub a generous helping of white pepper on the same side. Don’t be stingy. Then rub the five spice powder onto the same side and make it generous as well. Lastly rub the sea salt (generously) on that same side. A lot of cooks suggest that you poke the skin with a sharp fork or sharp skewers. I think it is optional.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees. Place the marinated meat on a wire rack and the rack on a tray. Then place the pork belly into the oven and bake for 50 minutes. By the time it is nearly done, your kitchen should be covered in smoke. Make sure your exhaust is turned to full power.

3. Take the nicely roasted pork belly out to rest. Then with a sharp knife, slice and enjoy the cackle of crispy skin.

Bon Appetit!

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Ingredients

Chocolate Cookies

Ho Sim Lang

Chocolate Cookies

I have never baked chocolate cookies in my whole life, but I decided that I would try out a recipe from some generic US website and see how I can make it my own.

Cookies by right should be sweet, these ones that I made using the US website were a little too sweet like the Subway Cookies. I prefer them less sweet, so I will perhaps reduce the castor sugar by half in my next attempt. Also, I made the mistake of getting chocolate from Cold Storage. The problem is the descriptions of the cooking chocolates that they sold at the supermarket was written as Chocolate Chips. I thought they were until I opened them up for use. They were Chocolate Kisses that was for melting and for use in cooking. Not quite what I wanted.

Phoon Huat is still the best. At least can see what it is that I am buying, and everything in that shop is for baking. Anyway, I made these chocolate cookies following the US website’s cookie recipe and I think it rocks, except that it is a little too sweet for my liking. That said, you might like it. Enjoy.

 

Recipe:

Ingredients:

1. 1 block 250 grams SCS butter (salted)
2. 1 cup brown sugar (Billington’s from NTUC)
3. 1 cup castor sugar
4. 1 teaspoon baking powder
5. 2 teaspoons hot water
6. 2 eggs (Large ones)
7. 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8. 2 cups chocolate kisses (Cooking Chocolate from Cold Storage)
9. 3 cups all purpose flour (Plain Flour from NTUC)

Method:

1. Cream butter, brown sugar and castor sugar
2. Mix baking powder in a bowl with hot water, then pour into mixture, mix at low speed.
3. Add one egg, mix then add the other egg, mix.
4. Add vanilla extract, then mix.
5. Add all purpose flour.
6. Add chocolate chips, then mix.
7. Oven at 180 degrees pre-heated.
8. Place the cookie mixture in dollops on baking tray lined with baking sheet.
9. Bake cookies for 10 minutes. Take out and let it cool.

Happy Baking!

Rotimatic c bo (Musing)

 

Ho Sim Lang

 

Rotimatic c bo (Musing)

This is the invention that I have been waiting for all my life and it is finally here. The Rotimatic. The name in and of itself already conjures images of freshly baked unleavened breads in the comforts of your igloo. Yes, it is possible to use the Rotimatic in an igloo, that’s if you have a power-socket built in. Power-sockets aside, this is one mean unleavened bread machine. The prata man would be proud. So the machine does exactly what it says it would do, and that’s to make roti (unleavened bread).

I can’t imagine why would anyone want to create a machine like this, unless they are catering to the second most eaten food in the world next to rice. Of course the market potential in India alone would be phenomenal and more than reason enough to market and produce for. But these guys are probably eyeing a worldwide market takeover of epic proportions. They want to overtake the rice cooker. And from the looks of it, they just might be able to take up some market share and pinch the rice cooker manufacturers where it hurts.

Here’s a rather sexy video of the Rotimatic in action. Try not to drool.

If you stayed all the way to the end of the video, good for you. I gave up when the lady came on to give the pep talk. If you know where I can get my hands on one, please let me know.

Coq Au Vin (Chicken and Wine)

Ho Sim Lang

Coq Au Vin (Chicken and Wine)

 

 

Coq Au Vin (Chicken and Wine)

This is a French classic that I have always watched Anthony Bourdain time and again prepare in his usual haphazard manner on board a boat floating in the middle of nowhere. It was in one of his shows, I think either No Reservations or Parts Unknown. I can’t remember.

Anyway, so I decided that I would scour the web for the best Coq Au Vin recipe that I can find and finally decided to try this particular one on YouTube.

I think the recipe rocks.

Here’s the YouTube video link in case you want to try.

If you’re thinking of doing it, then here’s a localised recipe that you can try based on the YouTube video.

 

Recipe

Ingredients

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

100 grams Streaky Bacon

4 Chicken Drums with Thighs

1 Yellow Onion

2 Carrots

2 Punnets of White Button Mushrooms

6 cloves of Garlic

Half Bottle of Red Wine

1 packet of Fresh Thyme

1 Cup of Chicken Stock

1 Tbsp of Plain Flour

1 Tbsp of Butter

Sea Salt

Black Pepper

Method:
1. Add olive oil into an oven safe pot or Dutch oven as the video suggests, but any pot that can be placed in an oven is good enough, no need to buy that expensive pot. Of course, if you have that pot, then it is good because cooking in it will make your meals taste fantastic. Well, I don’t know actually.
2. Slice the Streaky Bacon into small pieces and then fry the bacon in the pot over medium heat. Fry until bacon is crispy and the oil has been infused with the saltiness of the bacon.
3. Turn off the fire and remove the bacon with a slotted spoon or in my case, I used a wire mesh scoop. You can use anything actually as long as you can separate the bacon from the oil in the pot.
4. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, and as soon as you have done that, quickly place the chicken pieces into the pot to fry. Do this until the chicken pieces are gold brown and crispy.
5. Once the chicken pieces are browned, take them out and place aside.
6. Dice the yellow onion and then fry it in the pot at medium heat. Then chop the carrots into one inch pieces and add to the pot to cook as well.  Add the quartered mushrooms into the pot. Then smash 6 cloves of garlic and add into the pot to fry.
7. Pour in half a bottle of red wine. You can use any type of red wine. I use Cabernet Sauvignon.
8. Add back in the bacon bits. Stir thoroughly.
9. Now add the chicken pieces back into the stew. Add the whole packet of Thyme and drizzle in the cup of chicken stock.
10. Pre-heat your oven to fan mode at 180 degrees. Then place the entire pot into the oven with lid on and bake for 45 minutes.
11. After 45 minutes, take the pot out and continue to cook under medium heat and pour the beurre manie paste into the stew. This will thicken the stew a little into a sauce.
12. Preparing the Beurre Manie is simple. It is actually a combination of 1 Tbsp plain flour and 1 Tbsp butter. Simple. Stir the two ingredients into a paste and it is ready to be mixed.
13. Serve with toasted baguette.
Bon Appetit!

 

Salt Baked Cod

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Salt Baked Cod

Preparing lunch for myself today on a lazy Saturday. I love lazy Saturdays. No need to think about too many things and only focus on what I love to do. Nothing beats cooking something new and adding it into my recipe listing.

My wife needs to rush some work, so I guess I will just have to chow down all that cod *grin*. I got a few bones leftover after feeding baby with the meat, and it’s gonna taste lovely baked with extra Virginia olive oil and sea salt. Simple and delicious. Finish off with a squeeze of lemon. I think it will be superb. A nice lunch.

What are you having for lunch today?

Recipe – serving for two

Ingredients

Cod steak

Extra Virginia olive oil

Sea salt

Lemon

Method

1. Preheat oven (fan mode with top heating) to 200 degrees.

2. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over cod steaks and sprinkle some sea salt. Cod tends to be quite yummy as is already so just a little salt will be sufficient.

3. Bake the cod for 15 minutes and finish off with a squeeze of lemon before serving.

That’s it.

Bon Appetit!