u m a m i

Pasta Ambrosia

Tuesday nights is when I make dinner for husband. Usually I have only 30 minutes to cook something from scratch. For the past few weeks we've been having variations of this idiot-proof but oh-so-deliciouso dish of pasta with prawns and vegetables. It is so quick and simple it may not qualify as a recipe. The most critical ingredient is the ambrosial juices that collects when the prawns are steamed.

Ingredients

10 medium size prawns, cleaned but not deshelled or beheaded.
1 medium sized carrot, peeled and cubed
Some green stalky vegetables e.g. asparagus or French beans, cubed.
Pasta, preferably in a round shape and sized like the vegetables.
1 pc of anchovy preserved in olive oil, mashed (optional)

Method

1. Place the prawns in a shallow (not flat) dish. Steam over very high heat for 8-10 minutes ( I use a wok) Cool it slightly and remove the shell, little legs and head. Cut each prawn into 2-3 chunks. Set aside. Now, the liquid that collects in the dish- Do not discard, pour into a bowl and also set aside.
2. While the prawns are cooking, do the vegetables. In a separate pot of boiling water, cook the carrots and beans until tender but still crunchy and sweet, about 3-4 minutes. Scoop the vegetables with a slotted spoon and set aside. Don't discard the water yet.
3. In the same boiling water, cook the pasta till it is as al dente as you like. Drain the cooked pasta and discard the water. If not using the pasta immediately, make sure to leave a bit of the cooking liquid in the pasta to stop it from sticking.
4. Pour the prawn juices from step 1 into the now empty saucepan. Bring it to the boil, add half a cup of water and the mashed anchovy, if using. Return the cooked prawns, pasta and vegetables to the pot. Stir to mix through. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Variations:
1. Creamy: Stir through two tablespoons of creme fraiche before serving.
2. Green: Add freshly chopped herbs.
3. Smoky: Sprinkle some paprika
4. Spicy: Chilli flakes
5. Chinese: Omit anchovy. Sprinkle with Chinese parsley and fried shallots.

Old Cucumber Tea

The weather has been freakishly hot lately, and when it gets hot, Chinese households would cook "cooling" foods like bittergourd, cucumbers, barley and cabbages. As opposed to "heaty" foods like chilli, barbequed meats, mutton or even durian, which warms up the system and are more suitable for winter or rainy weather eating.

Our current favourite cooling food is what I call Old Cucumber Tea. It is not really a food or a tea, but I call it so because I like to drink it out of my favourite tea mug. The cucumber kind of dissolves in the soup leaving silky strands, and the taste is light and sweet. The recipe is not mine, it came from a Chinese herbal cookbook I was browsing in Popular bookstore a few Sundays ago. I confess that I did not actually buy the book because this was the only recipe that interested me and I am not familiar with most of the herbs. I felt that it would be too extravagant to buy a book just because of one recipe, so I memorised the recipe instead.

It is really simple to make, using kitchen standbys like Chinese red dates and rock sugar. Yields about 4 mugs of tea.

Ingredients:

1 old cucumber
10 red dates, pitted
1 pc rock sugar
5 mugs water

Method:

1. Scrub the skin of the cucumber but do not peel. Cut the cucumber lengthwise and remove the seeds with a knife or metal spoon. Then cut the cucumber into fairly big chunks
2. Put the cucumber and water into a pot and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 45 minutes on moderately low heat.
3. Add the sugar and red dates. Simmer on low heat for a further 30 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

Dumplings Galore

I did not participate in the latest IMBB project because I've been a lazy monster. But many people have, and here are the results.

Now, what's for lunch?

Thanying Restaurant

It was easy to decide what to have for lunch yesterday. It had to be something that goes well with rice. The last rice meal I had was the Nasi Padang lunch on Tuesday. To last from Tuesday afternoon till Sunday afternoon without rice is not easy for me. Not that I was in any way deprived, because I was eating other good things too, like sumiyaki at Shun Juu, breads fixes at Cedele and terrific tandoori at Andhra Spices. Hmm, there was also that carb-free dinner of cabbage wrapped around steamed chicken and cauliflower, very dreary that was. The thing is, my body needs rice at least 2 times a week, otherwise I will get very cranky. Rice is the perfect starch choice for spicy food, and since this week we've already had Malay and Indian, the next obvious candidate must be Thai.

I don't usually eat Thai food because I don't know any place that does it well. It is always very hit and miss, and in the end, we usually end up at either Thanying or YingThai which to me represent the best of the whole sorry bunch ( like they say in Singapore Idol). But our last dinner at YingThai was very lacklustre, so that left Thanying, which specialises in Royal Thai cooking. Royal Thai food, as I understand it, is more refined and the recipes are more complicated and/or extravagant than the usual Thai fare. I don't seriously believe what I've been eating at Thanying qualifies as Royal, but the food is in general, better than most other Thai restaurants here. They've been around for about a decade, and have a track record for decent cooking. The royal tag also guaranteed that the bill will be equally royal. Thanying easily qualifies as the most expensive Thai restaurant in Singapore. Our bill for lunch for two people, at the Amara hotel outlet, of mango salad, fish maw soup, tom yam soup, spicy prawns, red roast duck curry, rice and dessert (no drinks) came up to a kingly $113 after taxes, and seasoned eater-out that I am, the bill still managed to surprise me. There, gripe over, we now move on to the food.

A good start. The fish maw soup is my favourite version in Singapore and Malaysia; they piled on the fish maw and crabmeat and go easy on the starch and the soup stock was very robust and flavourful.

The prawns cooked in a dreamy creamy messy spicy gravy is also another old favourite, satisfying the old rice-buds. See what I mean about my sceptiscm that here we were getting the real deal on the 'royal cuisine' part, the presentation of this dish cannot make it ( local phrase to mean that something is not up to par).

The other dishes didn't come out too well. The roast duck in red curry had an off-taste perhaps from over-handling of the coconut milk. The mango salad was lacking in taste dimensions, it was mostly sweet and salty with a little nuttiness from the toasted coconut. No tang, no heat. Seems to me the cooking at Thanying has been toned down a lot, especially the heat level, I remember my tongue burning in agony from previous visits and really missed this sensation yesterday. I was not looking for pain per se, but expect my Thai food to be more exciting, the flavours and tastes to be more pronounced and balanced. Instead, I got the impression that the standard of cooking here has gone down a few notches. They were impressive in their first few years, now I would rate them as just acceptable.

But no matter, it all sorts itself out in the end. Most people look forward to eating at Thanying for one very good reason, and that is their dessert buffet ($7 per person). Custards, steamed tapioca, candied banana, tar-ko, agar-agars and the sweetest fruits of the season make up a beautiful spread and provides a delightful finish to the meal. I couldn't exactly make out what the sweets were made up of, but it was mostly enjoyable. My favourite was the one in the centre, the custard was light, moist and pleasantly eggy with a caramelly tone. Perhaps at my next visit, I could just eat the desserts.

Thanying
175 Tanjong Pagar Rd. Amara Hotel 2F
2622 4688

Johore Bahru II

Walking around Pelangi, we came across a corner coffeeshop that serves Hakka food. I wish I can recall the name, but it was something generic like Restoran Hakka. At one end of the coffeeshop two ladies were stuffing yong-tau-foo. Trays of stuffed bittergourd, beancurd skin and tofu was laid around the table. The ladies chatted while they worked with a steady and practiced rhythm.

I don't know about you, but if I see stuff being made right in front of me, I have to try it. So even though we had already had breakfast, we ordered a few pieces. I was slightly disappointed with this dish, the stuffing included too much fatty pork for my liking. That granny had me fooled.

I was also wondering if they do a good version of Abacus Seeds. Abacus is what our grandfathers used to do their calculations. in the days before the electronic pocket calculator was invented. The Hakka dish of Abacus seeds refers to pillowy little dumplings made with flour and cooked mashed yam that looks like abacus beads. Done right, they are soft yet chewy, with the distinct taste and powdery texture of yam. It is very time-consuming to make, and most shop-bought versions would have very little yam in the dough. The beads are usually stirfried with a simple sauce of minced garlic, pork, dried shrimps and Shitake mushrooms. The version here was not too bad, I could definitely taste the yam, and the sauce was tasty enough. It would be hard to find a better version of it in any hawker centres or restaurants in Singapore.

Johore Bahru I

One evening in Singapore.....
umami: I'm bored. Let's go to JB (Johore Bahru) this Sunday.
husband: What's there to do over there?
umami: Eat, shop, hey, you can buy pirated VCDs.
husband: OK lah, but we'll go in your car.
umami: Hmm, why can't we go in your car?
husband: Your car is old and small, no one would want to steal it.

Singaporeans love to visit the neighbouring Malaysian city of JB. The Malaysian ringgit is weaker, which means that most things seem cheaper to bargain-crazy Singaporeans. Singaporeans visit JB not only for shopping and eating, they go to get their cars fixed, their clothes tailored, their sore muscles massaged and their face lifted. They continue to visit, even as the newspapers continue to flash stories of Singaporeans in JB being robbed or murdered. I am a Malaysian but JB remains alien to me and I've never fancied going there for fun, until two weeks ago, when I suddenly felt like taking my passport for a ride across the Causeway. In case anyone cared, we were not robbed or molested, but JB drivers gave me quite a few scares. When they want to switch lanes, they just turn their car 90 degrees into the millimetre-gap in between two cars and they will drive right in. So in JB, when the driver has the left or right indicator lights on, it means "I want to get into your lane. Now", not " Excuse me, may I?"

husband: What is good to eat in JB?
umami: I don't know. But it will definitely taste better than Singapore food.
husband: Sure or not?
umami: hmmmpff.

Actually, I was not very sure, but I figured that JB is very much like KL, and if we just look for a residential neighbourhood we can eat where the locals do. So we drove to Pelangi, and driving around, we saw a busy wet market, a good sign I thought. Driving on, we saw this coffeeshop selling fishballs and yong tau-foo, just the type of food that husband likes. Yong-tau-foo is a catch-all term for vegetables stuffed with fish paste. We parked and walked in. There is air-conditioned seating inside, and the breakfast/ brunch crowd were happily tucking in.

We started with a bowl of curry fishball noodles. The fishball with hor-fun in curry soup brings me right back to my childhood, when my aunt used to tar-pow (takeaway) curry noodles for me when she went to the wet market. The curry soup is mildly spicy and creamy, it is one of those things that Singaporeans don't understand, and no, it is not the same as laksa gravy. The fishballs were fresh and springy, not as good as husband's, but quite excellent.

The yong-tau-foo was stuffed with generous amounts of fishpaste, and the ones wrapped in bean curd skin were my favourite. Konlo hor-fun Malaysian style, i.e, with black soya sauce and plenty of crispy pork lard.

That was our breakfast. Husband conceded that the food in JB seems to taste better. But, he noted, better was not the same as cheaper. Our noodles was priced at RM 6 a bowl which is about the same as the price of a bowl of noodle in Singapore. Still, it was worth the trip out, and his VCDs were beckoning.

Chia's Vegetable Supply

Last Sunday, I was at KK Market (aka Tekka) and happened across a greengrocers called Chia's Vegetables Supply. In addition to the usual kailan and chye sim, they stock exotic vegetables that are more likely to be found at gourmet supermarkets like brussels sprouts, matsusake mushrooms, baby spinach, as well as herbs like rosemary and thyme. Prices are cheaper than what supermarkets would charge. Mr Chia rings up purchases with possibly the only cash register in the entire market. There is music too, chosen by the son Victor Chia and I have to say, bossa nova was the last thing I expected to hear at a wet market in Singapore. That is, if one can hear the music at all, because the Chias have many customers, and it can get noisy. Go early if possible.

Chia's Vegetable Supply
Blk 665, Buffalo Road
KK Market
#01-201
Singapore 210665
Tel: 62944901
Mobile: 9731 9743 (Victor Chia)

Ban Heong Seng Restaurant

What's up with the wheelbarrow? Patience please, I will explain.

A long time ago in China, a beggar managed to obtain a chicken. But he did not have a cooking vessel. He wrapped the chicken, feathers and all, in some mud. He also dug a hole in the ground and started a fire in it, probably with straw or hay. The mud-covered chicken was then thrown into the fire to cook. A few hours later, he dug up the chicken, cracked the mud shell and voila, Beggar Chicken! An ingenious cooking method, the chicken emerged juicy and tender, and as a bonus, the feathers came off easily too.

Beggar chicken can be found in some restaurants. The process remains the same, mud is now substituted with clay, salt or bread dough; these material gets heated through and acts as an oven, roasting the meat and preserving the juices. The chicken would be de-feathered, cleaned, and wrapped in paper or aluminium foil together with special herbs, and then encased in the clay etc. Then they will cook the whole thing in a very hot oven, but some places, like Ban Heong Seng Restaurant remains very traditional and their oven is very grounded, as can be seen below. The trough is filled with hot clay and ashes, and inside this oven was our dinner order of Beggar Chicken, Beggar Pork Ribs and Beggar Glutinous Rice. The food needs many hours in this oven, so orders have to be made the day before. One cannot simply walk in and order a Beggar Chicken here.

When the dish is cooked, in the restaurants the waiters may present the dish and make a show of cracking the shell and the whole table swoons at the fantastic aroma that escapes. At the Ban Heong Seng, their workers are more down-to-earth. They use a shovel to scoop out the packages and bring them to our table in a wheelbarrow. The clay is half-knocked, half-crumbled away to reveal the aluminium parcels which were then brought into their kitchen for plating.

Our group of five, including an American visitor, enjoyed a rustic dinner one balmy weeknight. The chicken was tender and well infused with the tastes of wolfberries and other Chinese herbs like tang-kwei and yuk-chuk that had been stuffed in its cavity. The pork ribs were cooked till they melted in the mouth. I loved the glutinous rice cooked with little bits of dried shrimps and dried mushroom; there were some crunchy crispy bits of rice too! There was a vegetable dish and another special dish, what I call Magic Fish. A whole fish had its flesh removed to make fish cakes, and the cakes were reshaped to resemble a (erm) fish. What is amazing is the skin on the reformed fish, it looks like real fish skin, and the restaurant confirmed it is real fish skin, but we cannot figure out how they got the fish skin to fuse on? Very puzzling.

This restaurant is not found in the guide books. It is not even in Singapore. We drove across the Causeway into Johore Bahru in Malaysia. It is a house located in a quiet housing estate, this house looks very ordinary and nondescript. It does not have a signboard, the only clue that gives it away is the tables laid for dinner in the front yard. Open for dinner and lunch (updated 10 August 2004). We ate out in front, where they also grow their ginger plants and pandan bushes in the rather untidy garden. We could see the family relaxing and watching Singapore soap operas on the telly in the dining room. We were also welcome to wander into the kitchen and take photographs of their oven. The people who run the place are very friendly and accommodating. There is nothing in Singapore that comes close to it, unless someone digs up their landscaped garden and replaces it with a brick trough.

Ban Heong Seng Restaurant

Johor Bahru:
34B, Jalan Skudai, Batu 3 1/4
Off Tahar, 80200 Johor Bahru
Tel: 07-2375194
Mobile: 016-7571887

Kuala Lumpur:
446, Batu 71/2, Jalan Ulu Klang
68000 Selangor (Near Zoo Negara)
Tel: 03-41068698
Mobile: 016-3932632

Trailer

What are these girls doing? Answers in the next few days....

rFAFi -the entries

rFAFi in case it is not clear by now, stands for Reader's Funky Appliance Fiesta. On 1st August we shared and posted on our favourite funky or unusual kitchen equipment, gadget or appliance. A hearty Thank You to all who participated in this project. I was delighted to receive your emails and thoroughly enjoyed the pictures and stories.

The first to email me was Anthony of spiceblog, who inspired this celebration. He shares with us his 70's cordless foundue pot and an appropriately coloured shirt.

Santos of scentofgreenbananas makes her daily brew with her electric coffeemaker namesake.

And Alice of My Adventures in the Breadbox started her blog in time to tell us about her favourite breadbox. Welcome to the food blogging community Alice!

What goes well with bread? Jam, of course. Let's visit Cathy's My Little Kitchen and say hello to her Pinnochio funnel.

Finally, the one that started it all- my Mother-In-Law's 70's blender joins the line-up.

I am thinking of organising another rFAFi in December, so we can show-and-tell our Christmas presents. It is not such a long way away, we can start making lists. If you think it is a good idea, do let me know, and spread the word around. I only realised today that not many readers were aware of rFAFi, I will make more of an effort to publiscise the next event.