u m a m i

Going coconuts

                        

I am going through a coconut phase. Everytime I pass by the coconut sellers at Tekka I am intrigued by the customers who buy just the grated white coconut meat. One of the sellers told me the white meat is more tender and sweeter, and is commonly used for making sweets and kuehs.

By coincidence husband was complaining about the lack of cookies at home. Naturally I thought of making coconut biscuits. There's plenty of raisins and chocolate in the pantry so these were thrown in too. The coconut made the cookies delightfully chewy, MIL and husband loved them especially when accompanied with some good coffee.

Coconut, Raisin and Chocolate cookies

200g flour- sifted

100g sugar

100g butter

Pinch salt

2 egg yolks

1 lightly beaten egg for glazing

80g raisins- optional dousing with alcohol of choice. I used Cointreau and rum.

1 cup dessicated coconut

1/2 cup chocolate- chopped

1. Mix the coconut with 1/2 tbsp sugar. Set aside

2. Rub in butter and flour till it looks like breadcrumbs

3. Add the sugar and egg yolks. Mix and knead till everything comes together.

4. Add the rest of the ingredients. The dough is now very sticky- put in the freezer for 15 minutes before any further handling.

5. Roll out little balls onto a greased baking sheet and flatten with thumb. Glaze. Bake at 190 C for 15 minutes.

Coconut Leche Flan Part II

                           

It bothered me slightly quite a lot that the flan we made last week was a pallid yellow colour when the magazine picture showed the end result looking bronzed and caramelly. I could not rest easy until I make it better so this morning I drove to Tekka Market and bought some fresh coconuts and eggs. This time we were successful, yay!, what we did differently:

1. adding more of the caramel to the santan mixture rather than letting most of it coat the bottom of the dish; about 60% for the dish, 40% for the santan.
2. Substituting the white sugar with 30g brown sugar and 30g gula melaka
3. using a hot water bath instead of lukewarm ( silly of me now that I know this should be the way, but one can only learn from one's mistakes I suppose)

The gula melaka didn't dissolve easily so I had to use a handheld mixer but other than this minor glitch the making was fairly effortless. The final product turned out a more pleasing shade and was just as luscious, but it was also sweeter than I liked so next time we'll have to use less sugars.

Coconut Leche Flan

                   

What is better than leche flan, the favourite creme caramel dessert of the Phillipines? Why it would be coconut leche flan of course.

I've tried previous versions of leche flans made with condensed milk and/or evaporated milk (usually the whole can is used!), and came away disappointed and sometimes a little sick of their overt richness and toothachey sweetness. But last week I came across a santan-based recipe in a back issue of Flavours (September-October 2005) magazine, and was intrigued enough to put grated coconut on the marketing list this morning.

This is a very rich dessert, it is basically egg yolks, sugar and santan, but the result makes a a worthwhile indulgence. The flan turned out gorgeously silky and custardlike with a slightly crunchy coconutty caramelised skin- this alone was worth the 500ml of thick santan! It is also not too sweet, as usual we added more citrus rind than the recipe called for which gave it a welcome piquancy. We didn't have the brown sugar that the recipe called for, and used a pale brown sugar instead, next time I'll try to find some dark Filipino sugar for a deeper smoky flavour.

Coconut Leche Flan

150g brown sugar

60ml water

500ml thick santan

6 egg yolks

4 egg whites, lightly beaten

60g sugar

pinch salt

1 tsp grated lemon rind

1. Make caramel with brown sugar and water. Coat dish with 3/4 of caramel.

2. Stir santan into remaining caramel and cook over low heat for 1 minute.

3. Mix yolks and whites, stir in rest of ingredients including the santan-caramel mixture. Mix and strain into dish.

4. Bake in a water bath at 150 C for 90 minutes. Then put under grill at 220 C until the surface browns and sizzle.

I ate my flan with the remaining few drops of iichiko yuzu liquer. This is a really delicious citrus liquer that was available at Isetan supermarket but I discovered it really late and only managed to buy the last bottle. There would be more stocks arriving soon I hope, but in the meantime, Isetan also carries ume liquer from the same brand that is very lovely to drink- I find the plum within more tasty (no bitter aftertaste) than the Choya version and what's more it is also considerably cheaper.

Thanks to all of you for your kind wishes during my liquid diet phase.

My throat and mouth feels a lot better now, it still hurts to swallow but the pain is about 15% compared to its most severe. I can eat more than congee and chawan mushi now. Well, last night I couldn't resist and choked down a few spoonfuls of rice with gravy and the afterpain was not as bad as before. Emboldened, I decided to go shopping... Kinokuniya is having a 20% sale for members this week... and for supper, I ate thosai! Just as well, tonight is makan night with my friends and I am so going to devour those crabs.

Oh yeah, we're back in business.

Liquid diet

                               

Two days ago I was enjoying a lunch with my colleague in a coffee shop, we ate bamboo pot rice, very nice it was too. Today the only solid food I can swallow is watery congee. 

It started with husband. Over the weekend he developed a high fever, sore throat and body aches. When most of the symptoms receded on Monday rashes appeared on his hand. The doctors (I did not want to believe the first one) said it was Hand Food Mouth Disease.

And guess what? It is moderately contagious, and adults can get it too, not just children. The same disease pattern happened to me, only my sore throat is definitely more severe than husband's. Right now  my throat feels like it has been slashed in a million places, it hurts to even swallow saliva.

But everyone says to drink as much fluids as possible! Is it possible? Plain water hurts. Orange juice stings. Warm water with salt is fine too but I don't really need the additional salt. Tamarind juice with salt used to work for me before, this time it is too astringent. The most bearable option is barley water, its slight mucilaginous texture slides soothingly over the inflammed tonsils. This morning, for breakfast, I blended ice, yoghurt and maple syrup together, the numbing iciness a welcome relief.

There is also good old chicken soup, but I consider that as food. On its own, or used as a base for congee, or poured over cooked rice, it slurps up good. Tomorrow is marketing day, maybe we can get some pork bones to make pork bone soup.....

Chicken with red wine lees

                              

When ttc gave me a jar of his home-made red wine lees (sediment from wine fermentation), I was not too appreciative. I had eaten the Hakka/ Hockchew specialty dish of chicken stewed with this ingredient before and found it off-puttingly pungent, harsh and generally bad-tasting. But my friend fermented the lees himself, a tedious and notoriously fickle process that comes with not a few arcane superstitions. If not done right, the lees will spoil or taste foul. This batch it seemed was OK. He was convinced that I will like it, so I took it home, and major sceptic that I was, soon forgot about it until a few days ago when I was clearing the fridge. As ttc was coming to dinner that evening, I asked the domestic to check with him again how to use the lees, as it would be a little embarrassing for me to admit that I had clean forgotten his intructions.

Just to make sure we wouldn't forget the recipe in a hurry, we made the dish for Sunday lunch and, well, good golly ms molly, it turned out really sedap. Not in the least pungent, the lees imparted a distinctly subtle but full-bodied winey flavour which permeated deeply into the chicken. The stewing liquid made a thick, super-shiok umamilicious gravy that was insanely good with rice. Afterwards the body felt tipsy relaxed and warm, an unexpected but very pleasant surprise indeed.

There is about half a jar of lees left, enough to make another round. Can't wait....

Chicken with Red Wine Lees

1/2 Chicken- cut into pieces

Red wine lees

Knob of ginger- julliened

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 cup water

1. Marinate the chicken with the ~ 3 tbsp red wine lees for 30 minutes.

2. Fry the ginger slices till fragrant.

3. Add the chicken with its marinade to the ginger and cook till the chicken is lightly browned.

4. Add the oyster sauce and water, cook until the sauce is thickened and the chicken cooks through.

Taste Paradise

My friend eslim has a knack for finding good places to eat. When he sends out invitations to dinner nobody in their right mind would decline. And so it was that a small but expectant group made our way to Chinatown a few evenings ago for another memorable night of fabulous feasting. And drinking, it goes without saying that dinner would be accompanied with endless flow of good wines that people keep for such occasions.

                          

Taste Paradise is located in Mosque St, parking is hard to find but there is a valet parking service. The interior is all modern black and browns with soft flattering lighting. The service staff were obliging and flexible, and the kitchen responded gamely to our challenge to plan personalised menu on the spot, bringing out the dishes at intervals (mostly) suited to our drinking.

                                    

All the dishes were well executed and well varied in styles, modern chinese fusion would be the way to describe most of them. The amuse bouche of succulent fresh prawns vying with bright tasting kiwi sauce was an indicator of things to come. Prime ingredients, focussed flavours, technically perfect cooking and just the right dash of creativity, and a long way from boring boiled prawns with gloopy mayonaisse.

                 

The first dish was duo of sweet crunchy prawns paired with pan fried foie gras, personally I did not like the thin batter that coated the liver. It may have made it easier for the cook but the floury skin was an unnecessary distraction. Next, an exotic soup of hasma with seafood, which we improved on with generous splashings of shaoxing wine. Hasma, as eslim gleefully tells people, is the fallopian tubes of a type of frog. Moving on, silky cod with a subtle honey sauce, flawless, and set off beautifully with tokibo and ebiko. Lamb racks panfried with lily bulbs was so well marinated and tender it was almost like bak-kwa. And fall-off-the-bone pork ribs in a finger-licking fruity red glaze. Some dishes tend towards the sweet side but pleasantly so.

                         

The basics dishes were, if anything, even more impressive than the fusion dishes. Sauteed asparagus with fresh scallops was my favourite dish, well-woked with a welcome but unexpected spicy kick. Mee sua simply sauteed with onions, a dish that could turn out so horribly wrong in less expert hands, was just about perfect.

                                          

We finished with a dessert of dragonfruit cubes with grass jelly, aloe vera and a granny smith sorbet, light and soothing to end our evening of indulgence.

Here is the indulgent part:

                            

                            

                           

                                 

By the time we left, the streets were quiet. Even the car valets have gone home, which meant, for us at least, that parking was free!

Taste Paradise, 48-49 Mosque Street, Tel: 6226-2959

Tenshin Tempura

                   

My mum's brother, i.e. my second uncle, is a long-time connoisseur of Japanese cuisine. As far back as twenty five years ago, long before the concept of supermarket sushi, he introduced my mum to Japanese food; I still remember mummy recounting her horror at the sight of him eating raw fish, 'like worms" were her exact words. Fast forward 15 years, and I was newly installed in Singapore, my aunt and uncle treated me to a fabulous feast at Keyaki. At the same time, they also presented me with a box of Uncle Miki cheesecake, for which aunt and my cousins had queued patiently for almost an hour. Those were the days.

More recently, when my mum comes to town, uncle will treat her to a nice Japanese meal, but I could not usually join them, usually because of work. This time though, I got lucky. My aunt suggested lunch at a place that serves only tempura, and she was not sure if we were OK with that. I asked her if she was talking about Tenshin, yes she said. Whew, I've heard about Tenshin, where they treat tempura like sashimi, every thing of premium grade and whopping prices to match. Of course I indicated frantically to mum  that she should accept the invitation on all our behalf.

                        

The space is small, a brief glance told me there may be just seating enough for 30 people at the most. The ambience was soothing and the decor elegant in restrained Japanese style, i.e. subtle yet expensive. The staff were very sweet and graciously let me take photographs when my aunt suggested the idea.

                        

We didn't see the a la carte menu, the set menus looked very reasonable and my aunt assured us the meals were very filling. Everyone chose the lowest priced set ($30+++), my uncle also added an order for uni tempura.

The salad came first. It looked quite nondescript but after a few bites, I became quite taken with it. The dressing was light and citrusy, but the toppings were actually bits of tempura-ed vegetables like lotus roots and yam. These were excellent salad toppings, light, tasty and crunchy. So halfway through I decided to take a pretty picture of it.

                        

Soon the tempura was served. Well, there was also a bowl of  rice, a serving of  miso soup (high grade stuff), and fresh home-made pickles, but the point was these tempura. The set came with prawn, fish,  mushrooms and assorted vegetables. Not a lot of food but more than adequate amount. The mushrooms and the sweet potatoes were my favourite but everything else was extraordinarily good too. The batter was light and teeth-shattering crisp, hardly any trace of oil detected or tasted. Uncle said they use a very special oil, but I was too busy fiddling with my camera to find out more. Everyone else was eating in deep silence and appreciation of the fine food. I can't believe I am so impressed with tempura but there we go, this was a class act. 

                        

The uni tempura came. Again, the little seaweed rolls look like green bolsters, nothing very special. But OMG, one bite and as the roll burst with ultra-fresh uni, I became an instant convert. Pure orgasm, no other ways to describe it. The rolls were filled generously with to-die-for sea urchin roe, another plus point. I don't know the prices but I am making a wild guess that each roll could be equal to or nearly equal to the cost of one lunch set, based on the quantity of uni and the expertise with which they are cooked.

                        

Dessert. Mango sorbet, again, stellar. The sorbet was not even very sweet, welcomingly, it was a little tart and very icy, very refreshing. They changed the tea to a lighter green tea and we sat back  in contentment, barely remembering to thank our aunt and uncle.

We left with very good impression. Husband is already making plans to return.

                        

Tenshin Tempura

3rd Floor, Regent Hotel

Cuscaden Road

Tags: tenshin

tempura

Presents!

                        

Last weekend I was visited by my mum, aunt L and my two youngest sisters. There were lots of presents, but only two were food related.

C has finished her MSF sting in Guangxi and will return to London this week. She was very pleased to see me, and probably glad to unload her present of a tin of foie gras which has travelled with her from London to Paris, Beijing, Guangxi, Guangzhou, KL and now Singapore. Only trouble is, I am not as enamoured of foie gras as I was 5 years ago, yes it is possible to be less than excited about it, and have not actually cooked with it before. What do I do with it? Can I just open it and use it as a spread? It is a problem, a good problem, but a problem nonetheless, and if any of you have a good recipe to share, please let me know.

Next to the foie gras though, is something that is more straightforward. It was not actually intended for me, it was part of her provisions for her stay in Guangxi which is not exactly teeming with gourmet supermarkets. C has broken into it, but knowing how much I loved this particular olive oil she left her bottle with me. She gets it from the Italian delicatessen near her flat; the very unfashionable North London town where we lived, East Finchley, boasts only Budgens as its local supermarket but is blessed with a good representation of independent retailers like butchers, grocers, bakers and fishmongers. For years C has been bringing back the olive oil and balsamic vinegar from this deli, the same place I went everyday during my last holiday there, for a capuccino and the papers before taking the tube into town.

The Seggiano olive oil from Tuscany is very fresh and intensely fruity, but unlike other olive oils, the dominant fruit is strangely enough, banana. There is a hint of other fruits in it too, maybe some apricots and oh yes, olives too, but it is the bananas aroma that is most noticeable. This oil eats like a wine, and is crazy delicious with bread. I have been eating it every excuse I can get, in salads and loads more bread, we ran out of bread on May Day and I had to send husband out to get some more.

If you see a bottle, do get one, it is a very good thing.

How to cook claypot rice?

Like an expert that is?

One of the best thing we ate last week was claypot rice at Old Mother Hen's in Geylang. The rice was cooked perfectly to a crisp at the bottom with a  lingering charcoal smokiness. This version had a slight HK twist which is the addition of salted egg yolks, together with the salted fish and lap-cheong they ensured that each bite of rice is marvelously meaty and salty and rich. I liked too that the chicken pieces were well marinated and tender but not coated in slimy starch.

Another good thing then was the fact that the claypot rice is cooked in front of the restaurant, in plain sight of everyone walking by. This unusual placing probably helps to entice hesitant patrons inside, but to curious cooks like me it was time to pick up some tips.  Someone places an order and the cook starts the process.

                            

First, rice is cooked from scratch by boiling it with water in a covered claypot over a gas stove. Notice the fire is not particularly strong. It looks almost cooked after about 15 minutes. (Do not adjust your screen, the rice looks blurred because of the steam that arises from its surface).

                            

The stuff that enriches and flavours and add depth are added next. Study the beautiful (and beautifully large) egg yolk and not-too-fatty lap-cheong. The fire is again, not too strong.

                            

When the rice is cooked and the good stuff on top is steamed through the pot is tilted. This assists evaporation of excess water and begins the process of forming delicious rice crust.

                                              

More tilting and turning and drying. This time the pot gets transferred to a slow-burning charcoal stove. More waiting, claypot rice cannot be rushed.

                                             

Even the top layer is not spared. The entire pot is inverted for a final roasting.

                                             

Before serving, the rice is swirled with dark soya sauce, shallot oil and a final scatter of spring onions. There you have it. It takes about 20 minutes to cook, but the result is definitely worth the long wait.

Old Mother Hen Traditional Herbal Soup Restaurant

136 Sims Avenue (between Lorongs 17 & 19)