Easy Bouillabaisse

Ingredients (serves 4):

16 mussels

12 prawns

400g white fish fillet (cut into chunks)

2 large squid

1 medium white radish

2 carrots

4 stalks of celery

1 large onion

2 large tomatos

5 cloves of garlic (crushed)

500ml fish stock

a pinch of saffron threads

half teaspoon of fennel seeds

3 bay leaves

4 tbsp finely chopped parsley

olive oil

Method:

1. Trim sharp ends off prawns. Bring a saucepan of water to boil and throw in the prawns for 2 minutes. Drain and put aside.

2. Dice carrot, celery, radish and tomato.

3. Heat olive oil in a large pot and throw in the garlic. Stir in the carrot, celery and radish and cook until radish turns translucent.

4. Add tomatoes and cook for a few more minutes before pouring in fish stock with saffron, fennel seeds, bay leaves and chopped parsley.

5. Bring to a boil and allow it to simmer gently for 10 minutes.

6. Add seafood and cook for another 10 minutes.

7. If you like, you can add some salt although that is usually unnecessary. Transfer to soup bowl and serve while hot.

Creamed Cod Roe and Black Truffle Rice Noodles

Ingredients:

Flat rice noodles

Creamed roe (I used Abba Kalles from Ikea)

Olive oil

Grated black truffle

Hot water

Method:

1. Rehydrate and separate rice noodles in hot water for 10 seconds. Drain and cool.

2. In a bowl, mix creamed roe with olive oil. Mixture should look clumpy. Add some hot water and watch it emulsify into a creamy mixture.

3. Add mixture to rice noodles and toss well.

4. Sprinkle black truffle and serve.

Part 1:

Right this moment, I am sitting in a train from Gold Coast to Brisbane airport, going through my photos and the meals I’ve had in the last four days. I’ve done almost six meals a day, most I’m ashamed to even talk about.

She's forever stunning

First day in Australia was in Sydney in my old apartment, and kid you not, I actually ran my fingers along the stove and felt nostalgic. My first meal in Sydney was wanton noodles at Laksa House in Queen Victoria Building. I remembered when I first moved to Sydney, finding Laksa House was like meeting an old friend again. They make laksa (not very authentic but good enough when you are desperate), nasi lemak (coconut rice) and a wide mish-mash of Chinese-Malay dishes.

Wonton Noodles @ Laksa House

After 8 hours of travelling from 32 degrees celcius to 13 degrees, a bowl of hot salty wanton noodles is perfect! I brought my mates to the harbour and had my regular gelato on a cone. Dinner was at Mohr Fish on Devonshire Street and it was so good to meet old friends again.

I had the monkfish, which was so drenched in tomato it was a tough fish to photograph. $20 for a piece of cooked fish in a takeout shop – it was enjoyable but reminded me how expensive dinner can get in Sydney.

Monkfish

Old mates, good mates

William, my friend and ex-boss of Mahjong Room restaurant in Sydney invited me to his place for brunch. The weather was perfect and we had our meal at his gorgeous balcony. Brunch was toasted prosciutto and smoked salmon fingers, chirozo soup, cherry pistachio crumbles and strudel. It was exactly what I miss about Sydney – simple comfort mains with mind-blowing dessert, bright sun on your face and amazing company.

Will's to die for kitchen and never-ending dining table

Best lunch is simple with lots of sunlight, and good company

My next meal would be eight hours later in the Gold Coast. It was a nightmare getting to the Sunshine State this time round, no thanks to Tiger Airways for mucking up my flights. I was so hungry I went through my entire meal without taking a photo.

Breakfast the next day was typically Aussie – toast, bacon and eggs. Singapore has plenty of restaurants for amazing meals but we simply do not have a brekkie culture. Ok, we do, but hawker centres are too noisy, dirty and hot, and there are no cafes in the suburbs.

Aussie Brekkie

Dinner was $9 steak, great to fill you up when on a budget, and really decent too. After dinner, I bought three bags of beef jerky from the night market at Surfer’s, which I am happily and illegally gnawing on right now as I am typing this on the train.

I get back to Sydney at 8pm and if time permits, I really want to have dinner in Mahjong Room tonight. Meanwhile, I’m going to stop typing here and get started on this book I found for 5 bucks – The Little Book of the Sea – Food and Drink by Lorenz Schroter. Stay tuned for Part II!

Little book, big humour

Inspired by the heat, I thought I’d go with the flow and make something tropical and ‘heaty’ for dinner. Considering how detoxified we (at home) have been with all the sweating, I threw every healthy cooking habit out of the window just for the night and indulged in this duo of insanely rich and saturated treats.

First to prepare was braised pork belly. I think every traditional Chinese family has their own secret braising recipe and since I’m revealing this recipe here, I can tell you this is not our secret but something I put together in the supermarket. The key to delicious Chinese styled braised pork belly is in the sauce. It has to be a stock potent enough to infuse flavours into the pork belly, but yet not too strong if you decide to drink it.

It is crucial to blanch the pork belly in boiling water for a few minutes to clean it well. The braising stock consisted of pandan leaves, cinnamon, ginger, black rice vinegar, mirin, soy sauce, rice wine and candied melons. The pot was covered and simmered for 90 minutes and the result was braised belly that was firm to hold but soft enough to melt in the mouth. They were served on boiled beans and paired with freshly roasted chestnuts.

This next dish I am proud to share with you because it is the marriage of two kings. The king of fruits – durian, with the king of Asian food – fried rice. I know some people avoid durians like the plague (even my spell-check is not acknowledging  it’s existence!), or even go to the extent of describing it as smelly socks and all I can say to that is ‘too bad’.

I don’t know who invented the durian fried rice but just in case you read this, thank you! For you durian-phobic folks, you’d be glad to know that cooking durian removes most of its ‘stench’. To get delicious fried rice, which means every grain of rice has to be oiled and coated with flavour, and to not having to use a gallon of oil, use leftover rice. Otherwise, allow the cooked rice to cool completely before stir-frying them.

Braised Pork Belly

Ingredients (serves 4):

500g pork belly

1/2 cup black rice vinegar

1/2 cup mirin

1/2 cup rice wine

50 ml light soy sauce

50 ml dark soy sauce

2 sticks of cinnamon

7 thick slices of ginger

10 candied melons

a bunch of pandan leaves

3 cups of cooked French beans

9 roasted chestnuts (peeled)

Method:

Bring a pot of water to boil.

Blanch pork belly in boiling water for 3 minute, drain and wash clean.

Add everything (except beans and chestnut) into a pot.

If pork belly is not fully submerged, add just enough water.

Slowly bring to a boil, then simmer for 90 minutes with pot covered.

Carefully remove pork belly from pot and cut into 3 equal portions.

Place each portion on equal amount of French beans and garnish with 3 chestnuts.

Drizzle braising sauce all over and serve.

Durian Fried Rice

Ingredients (serves 4):

4 cups of leftover white long grained rice

3 eggs (beaten)

1.5 cups chopped luncheon meat

flesh of 5 seeds of durian

100g pork fat

2 tbsp fish sauce

1/2 cup chopped spring onion

1 tbsp chopped garlic.

pepper

Method:

Heat wok and add pork fat. Cook until fat is fully rendered.

Stir fry garlic and luncheon meat in pork fat until lightly browned.

Add rice and fry until it is evenly coated with lard.

Pour egg all over rice and continue stir-frying until egg is cooked.

Add durian, fish sauce and pepper and continue cooking for another 3 mins.

Turn off flame and mix in spring onion.

This is a simple dish, but very presentable and full of contrasting flavours. The venison cubes were marinated in black truffle oil, salt and pepper and pan seared. The quick curry sauce used yoghurt, milk, curry powder, carrots, gotu kola leaves and Indian goosberry. Dill garnish sharpens the flavour even further.

Pan Seared Venison with Curried Puffed Rice Risotto

Ingredients (for 1):

150 g venison steak (cubed)

1 Indian gooseberry (sliced thinly)

a handful of chopped gotu kola

half a cup of puffed rice

1 large carrot (peeled and chopped to cubes)

1 heaped tbsp curry powder

2 heaped tbsp strained yoghurt

80 ml fresh milk

1 tsp black truffle oil

olive oil

salt and pepper

Dill for garnishing

Method:

Boil carrots until soft and put aside.

Marinate venison with salt, pepper and black truffle oil.

Oil a hot pan with olive oil and cook venison until almost well done.

Transfer to a plate and prepare curry while the venison rest at room temperature.

Add more olive oil to the same pan over medium heat.

Add curry powder and cook for a few minutes.

Add carrots, gotu kola, Indian gooseberry and mix well.

Add yoghurt and milk and simmer for five minutes. Add more milk if curry is too dry.

Season with salt and pepper, mix in puffed rice and transfer to a plate.

Serve venison on the curry and garnish with chopped dill.

Like in Chinatown and Arab Street, shophouses are everywhere but the Indian influence to the architecture is evident. Walk down the streets and you’ll smell flowers and see colours everywhere.

A shop selling thousands of hand-made garlands of flowers. Most will probably end up as offerings to deities or used as scrunchies to scent the hair.

My priority was to visit this vegetable store for their wide range of cheap exotic vegetables. I found the gotu kola (centella) I wanted and also irresistibly picked up some Indian gooseberry, baby cucumbers and sweet basil. There were a few vegetables I couldn’t identify and the helpers spoke no english but luck was with me because I found the same vegetables with english translation on the label in a nearby supermarket.

Jewellery is such a big part of the Indian culture and gold is king. The bigger, flashier, shinier, the better.

A jewellery shop run by Chinese, filled with Indian men, and not a single woman in sight. Lucky wives, or vain men?

You’ll find makeshift stalls selling chilled drinks everywhere and seeing one is like seeing an oasis in the sweltering heat.

Or perhaps you’d prefer a freshly opened coconut? Just be careful not to stand too near the men unless you fancy splinters of coconut husk all over your face.

Indian sweets are amazing. They are chock full of ingredients your nutritionist warns you about but I’m sure when you are not looking, your nutritionist will steal a bite. They are loaded with ghee, sugar, milk, nuts, oil and all. Some are deep fried and some poached in syrup. Why did I forget to buy a piece???

I had an amazing day out by myself and felt like a child again among the colours and scent, herbs and sweets, flowers and people. So I did buy a few things, and made myself a salad with them when I got home. This salad is NOT for everyone. Raw centella taste very green and bitter so if you don’t have a herbivore’s tongue, avoid it.

This is the tiniest cucumber I’ve ever seen and I bought a bag of it. They’re very crunchy but also slightly bitter and taste a little like grass.

This salad contained everything I bought today: baby cucumbers, gotu kola, sweet basil, yellow sultanas and puffed rice. I tossed it in olive oil with curry powder and Himalayan rock salt.

The salad was served on a slice of rye bread with a generous scoop of Turkish yoghurt, which really helped mellowed much of the bitterness. I found the Turkish yoghurt in the Indian supermarket and I am now a fan. It’s got the consistency of cream cheese, but is really smooth and sweet. What a lovely way to end the day.

Before I proceed, I have to add that I’ve discovered photomatix and HDR photography and together with my new Pentax K-r, life suddenly seems more vivid! This is a shot of the waterway in MBS inspired by Venice.

Yu Cuisine looks nothing like a restaurant from the outside. The first time I walked past it, I seriously thought it was some cyber-aged gallery or a jewellery shop. Large plush crystal encrusted chairs with metallic silver tables against a backdrop of glittering crystals and electro blue paint, you wouldn’t guess it would be a Chinese restaurant until you see the larger than life fish tanks.

We ordered the 8 course set ($248)  for six people, although there were only four of us. It’s great because I get second helpings.

The moment you take your seat, a plate of fried salmon skin appears on the table. This is a delightful change from the usual peanuts or pickles. They’re crispy but not oily at all.

The first dish is – make a guess what that is? Take a bite and make a guess again. You’d never guess it’s tomato and it tastes nothing like tomatoes. They taste like sweet melons with peanut butter and cream. I am going to buy myself a pound of cherry tomatoes and figure out how to make it.

The roast pork is not the best I’ve had, but nevertheless is still good. Crackling is well, crackling and the pork is lean but juicy.

I must admit the whole point of returning to this restaurant today was to have the steamed catfish but alas, it was sold out! We opted for the thai-styled deep fried fish and holy moly, I’ve never seen fish served like this. The butterfly-ed grouper (I think) was crisped to perfection and covered with an avalanche of deep fried lemon grass. The presentation alone was worth the visit, but I still need to go back for the steamed catfish again.

Lobster + rice + puffed rice + amazing broth = luxury comfort food. I am salivating again. The best lobster congee I’ve ever had.

The salted egg custard bun today wasn’t as nice as last week. This was a slight disappointment but I was still happy with them.

One of the weirdest thing the Chinese eat is braised sea cucumber. I’m not particularly obsessed with them but I think anything that looks strange is worth a try at least once. Sea cucumbers don’t exactly have a distinct taste so eating them is all about the sauce they were braised in. Great sauce imho.

Once again, I had a well-fed Saturday night and I do recommend that you give this place a try. Dear manager of Yu Cuisine, please somehow stumble onto my blog, read this post, and send me a voucher to return to your restaurant again because I really need to have that catfish.

Although they’re small, they’re rather sturdy little fishes and you really can’t go wrong nor make a mess with them. Most smelts end up floured and deep fried like whitebait but where’s the challenge in that?

I melted some mozzarella cheese, pinched up a long string, and rolled it around the smelt. During cooking, the cheese would melt and brown, coating the fish and making sure none of the seasoning falls off.

They were lightly coated in a mixture of garlic powder, dried coriander, chilli flakes, parsley, sage, oregano and salt. They cook on a really hot pan with olive oil, 40 seconds on each side. Just before serving, grate some truffles over them or drizzle with truffle oil.

They’re really good and flavoursome but this will probably be the last time I cook smelt because the tiny bones bother me a lot. I’ve had my fill of fish today although I am still thinking of the steamed silver catfish I had last week in a restaurant. It was the best fish ever with amazing texture that literally melts in your mouth. I’m hounding my folks to go this weekend and I promise pictures, and perhaps a recipe.

Photo credit: MBS

The ship-like roof top of the hotel is called the Sky Park where it has a fantastic pool, if not for the horrible morning crowd.

It was a really cloudy morning and not to mention a little hazy but nevertheless, the view from the top was still stunning.

Sky Park at night

My friend mentioned on Facebook that he would love to have a croquembouche for his birthday so how can the best friend say no? After 5 hours in the kitchen the night before, I successfully made a ‘croquembouche’ which looked more like something from Hansel and Gretel.

I undercooked the first batch of profiteroles and they collapsed after cooling and so I ended up using them as decorative ‘wheels’. The base was Devil’s food cake with orange royal icing. To create the tower, I covered a cardboard box with parchment paper, coated it with dark chocolate and stuck it into the middle of the cake. I then used the leftover icing to adhere whatever I could find in the kitchen onto the tower. My idea was to create a ‘croquembouch’ that is full of party flavours that people can pick and nibble from throughout the night.

Pressed rice is made by stuffing long grained rice in leaves and boiling them till they expand and become compressed. If wrapped with banana leave like this picture, it’s called lontong and it’s Indonesian styled. If wrapped in woven palm leaves into a cuboid shape, it’s called a ketupat (Malay). Either way, they produce really yummy aromatic rice cakes.

To make the coating for the lontong, stir fry grated coconut in a wok until it turns brown and crisp. It should take about 15 minutes and you have to constantly flip it about to prevent it from burning.

Once they are nicely browned, remove them from heat and keep it aside. Clean the wok and heat up some peanut oil. Add shrimp paste, minced shallot, ginger, lemongrass, tumeric and galangal. Cook it for a bit then add finely chopped oven roasted peanuts. Mix well and add enough coconut milk until it forms a lovely paste. Chop the lontong into bite sized pieces and add them in.

They’re really yummy and because they’re so dense, a few pieces will fill you up really quickly!

The moment I saw these lovely green lipped mussels, I knew immediately how I should cook them. New Zealand green lipped mussels are not only delicious, they are high in anti-inflammatory omega 3 fatty acids and are also the most sustainable and eco-friendly choice of seafood. A few mussels provides you with about 1000 mg of essential fatty acids – that’s 1 pill capsule less to consume!

Making the coconut mussel soup was really easy. Boil a pot of water, throw in lime leaves, crushed lemongrass, one green bird eye chilli (more if you like it spicy) and a lot of lime juice. Let the flavours infuse for 5 minutes, then throw in chopped baby corn, straw mushrooms and the mussels. Boil for 5 minutes, and add coconut milk. Cook for another five minutes and voila! Quick and easy Thai-styled mussel soup.

Sprouts on Tamari Rice Cakes

An easy and attractive pea sprouts salad with guacamole on tamari garlic rice cakes.I found these very yummy rice cakes by Mitoku and found them to be perfect as a base for a salad. You can use any rice or corn cakes, but I really recommend that you try Mitoku’s.

Scoop a ripe avocado into a food processor and add some olive oil, lemon juice, black pepper, sea salt and a pinch of parsley. Mix and put aside.

Wash and drain the pea sprouts. You can also use watercress. Pea sprouts are not only dense in nutrients, they help to chelate and remove heavy metals and toxins from your body. Slice some red onion thinly.

To assemble, scoop some guacamole onto a rice cake and press a handful of sprouts onto it. Layer some baiye tofu and red onion, add a drizzle of olive oil and it’s done.  Baiye tofu is compressed bean curd that’s been rolled into thin sheets and folded so when you cut them, they look like linguine. If you can’t find them, you can simply do thin slices of bean curd.

Lotus Root Salad

Japanese styled salad with lotus root, enoki mushrooms, Japanese cucumber, arame and nori seaweed.

To prepare lotus root, wash and remove any mud residue. Peel outer skin using potato peeler and slice them evenly. Immediately soak the lotus root in salt water to prevent discoloration.

In your salad bowl, mix lotus root with sliced cucumbers, and chopped enoki mushrooms. Add boiled arame seaweed and nori flakes. The salad dressing is a mixture of sesame seed oil, soy sauce, wasabi and mirin. Toss salad and sprinkle black sesame seeds over before serving.