Clam Chowder

They say when the moon is full- it is the best time to purchase crabs & clams. It is the time when these scrumptious creatures are meaty. I was at the market a few days ago and i saw fresh clams..remembering that it was a full moon the previous night..with the sight of the peeping clams from their shells..seemed as though they are waving at me..calling me.. come.. its time.. ;)



 

To make clam chowder, you'll need:



1kg of clams, 1 chad potato, 1/2 carrot, 1/2 Australian white onion, 1/2 celery, 1/2 packet of cooking cream, olive oil, 100gm of salted butter, frshly crushed black pepper, a few sprigs of fresh italian parsley & thyme, 1 1/2 tbs of flour, clam juice & chicken stock & salt.

Note: 1 whole yellow onion can be used as substitude for Australian White onion.

 

Method:

1. Dice potato, carrot, onion in small cubes.

2. In a pot of boiling water, put in clams in a few minutes. Once the shells begin to open slightly- toss the clams and save one cup of the juice.

3. In a medium heat pan, pour in olive oil and melt half of the butter. Add the onions and cook until transculent.

4. Add the potato & carrot and saute them till they are tender.

5. Pour in the clam juice and chicken stock and let it simmer for a few minutes.

6. Let it cool for a while - pour everything into a blender. Blend it till it becomes smooth. Put aside.

7. In a small pot, melt the remaining butter and whisk in the flour. Cook over very low heat and stir constantly till the flour becomes slightly golden.

 

 

8. Whisk in the blended ingredients constantly. Simmer for a few minutes and pour in cooking cream and stir. Add in the clams and celery.

9. Heat gently for a few minutes and sprinkle in chopped parsley and thyme as well as black pepper.

10. Serve hot with oven toasted baguette with butter.

 

 

~ bon appetit ~

 



 

Nyonya Herb Rice Salad.. Nasi Ulam Nyonya

Ulam... as Malays refer to an assortment of edible plant shoots, leaves, flowers and roots eaten raw. There many versions of nasi ulam.. varies according to region.. I remember my mom used to make nasi ulam with various shoots, leaves that may reached up to 14 types of ulam. However.. living in Penang nowadays particularly in the island- the supplies of various ulam is quite scarce.. to have an assortment up to 14 types of ulaman could be quite a challenging task to look for it. Apart from Malays, in Penang itself.. the Nyonyas have their version of Nasi Ulam which i really like and the assortment of ulaman needed for this dish is less than the Malay Nasi Ulam.

The original version of Nyonya Nasi Ulam is to assemble everything including the sambal & toasted grated coconut. I noticed that in assembling everything together- the dish will turn out soggy and it wont last long. To have a dry & fluffy nasi ulam, i prefer mixing the ulaman with the rice and serve them with the sambal & toasted grated coconut. This dish is best eaten with boiled salted egg and prawn crackers..  :)

Ingredients:

Part 1:

Part 1 consists of 4 shallots, 1/2 big red onion, 1 garlic, 1/2 ginger torch, 2 lemon grass, 2cm young ginger, 1.5 cm young galangal, 1.5cm tumeric root. Slice shallots, garlic, ginger torch, ginger, galangal, tumeric root thinly. Chop lemon grass finely & Dice the onion.

 

Part 2:
 



Part 2 consist of 6 types of ulam - 1 tumeric leaves, about 20 leaves kesom leaves, 4 kaduk leaves, 3 lime kaffir leaves, 6 cekur leaves, 1/2 cup of grated coconut toasted and sambal belacan.
There are various ways of making sambal belacan - and mine is a combo of 2 types of chillies - red chilly and the cili padi, shrimp paste, tamarind pulp, brown sugar & salt :

 

Part 3:



Wash 1 1/2 cup of rice and cook in a cooker after adding in 1/2 tsp of tumeric powder. Once cooked, set aside to let it cool.

Part 4:



Part 4 consists of a piece of fried salted mergui / kurau, 3 tbsp of fried salted prawns and a few chunks of fried stringray meat. I choose stingray meat as it has no fishy smell when it is fried.

Method:
1. Wash all the ulam, wipe them clean. Roll up all the ulaman into one neat roll and slice them very thinly.

2. Toast grate coconut till golden brown:

Let it cool and put it in a processor - blend it till it is finely chopped

3. To make the sambal, soak the tamarind pulp in a small amount of water and mash the pulp into water to make a thick tamarind paste. Put in the chillies, shrimp paste, brown sugar, salt and tamarind juice in a food processor and blend till it's quite fine:

4. In a mincer / food processor, blend the fish, salted fish and dried prawns separately:

5. In a large bowl, mix the part 1, 2 (EXclude sambal & grated coconut) and 4 well:

6. Mix in rice bit by bit till all are mixed well. Serve with boil salted egg & prawn crackers.

Bon Appetite. :)

~ this recipe was featured on Asian Food Channel (Official) fb page on 2 October 2012:
https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/media/set/?set=a.431829733522961.92911.230144587024811&type=1

Pek-nga: Coconut Pancake

Pek-nga.. it's a term for a pancake-like dish filled with fresh grated coconut. Pek-nga is a well-known dish for almost every Malay household in northern part of Malaysia particularly in areas of Penang & Kedah. This dish for me actually- is often a routine at home especially when my mom has leftover fish curry. It's sort of a comfort food for me.. particularly in the morning and this would definately make a fullfilling evening snacks besides the usual menu- curry puffs & tea. Some may prefer to make them with a small amount of grated coconut. But - as for me.. i like it more..as it will make it crispy & creamy  :)

 

Ingredients:

1 egg ( gred B )

a few sprigs of spring onion (sliced thinly)

1 1/2 cup of flour
3/4 pack of full cream milk (200ml)
1 tbspn oil
salt
200gm fresh grated coconut

Method:
1. Combine flour, spring onion, salt, egg, milk & salt in a bowl. Mix well.

2. Put in grated coconut. Stir evenly.
3. Heat the pan and scoop the mixture with a ladle and level the pancake mix wth a spoon.

4. Cook each side till it is done.
5. Serve hot with fish head curry.
Bon Appetite. :)

Stuffed Chicken Breast

A visit to my friend's house has inspired me this dish.. It is very easy to make and a delicious way to cook breast meat.



Ingredients:
6 slices of streaky beef.
3 large boned chicken keel / 6 pieces of chicken breast
1/4 cup shredded mozarella
1/4 cup shredded matured cheddar
1/4 cup choppe italian parsley
sea salt
pepper
olive oil
a few sprigs of thyme

Method:
1. Combine all the cheeses and parsley in a bowl.
2. Rinse and pat dry chicken. Seasoned chicken with sea salt & pepper.
3. With a knife, from the side cut the meat across and sprinkle the cheeses.


4. Roll the chicken meat covering the cheese filling.

5. With a slice of streaky beef, roll around the meat.

6. Brush each roll with olive oil and thyme.

7. Arrange these chicken rolls on an oven-proof dish and bake in 220 degree Celcius oven for about 10 minutes.
8. Once done, cut the rolls into slices and serve with salad.

~ bon appetite ~

Lemon grass Rice

Living on a busy schedule - even on Sundays- has definately changed the way i prepare meals. This version of lemon grass rice only requires a few ingredients and a few minutes to prepare. I prefer to use jasmine fragrance rice as it tastes better with this recipe.

 

Ingredients:

3 cups of jasmine fragrance rice

3 lemon grass (smash/bruise the stalks with the back of yr cleaver)

a handful of coriander leaves (chopped)

1 tbsp ghee

1/4 cup of cooking oil

1tsp sea salt

1 big red onion & 5 shallots ( slice thinly, fry till golden & crispy)

 

Method:

1. Heat oil & ghee in a pot and fry lemon grass till fragrance.

2. Pour in rice and water (measured according to the volume of rice).

3. Put in sea salt & taste ( it should taste slightly salty)

4. Cook the rice with medium heat / in a rice cooker till done.

5. Once done - sprinkle chopped coriander and fried crispy onions & shallots.

6. Serve hot with dry squid sweet fried sambal, omelette and slices cucumber.

 

~ bon appetite ~

French Onion Soup

Onion Soup... i remembered how i used to wonder how does onion soup taste like.. kept on thinking how does one simply make soup out of only loads of onions!! Then.. there came the day.. i had my first taste of onion soup @ TGIF.. and i was blown away..amazed.. for an Asian like me.. this is totally new.. I been wanting to make this dish.. but couldn't find the time.. but- one thing that made me find the time and make it for real! ...and that is..Australian Big White Onions! It was on sale @ Tesco at almost 80% off! My version of French Onion Soup uses worchestershire sauce substituting wine that i found in most onion soup recipe..

... some of the ingredients i used ..


Ingredients:
1 Australian Big White Onion- thinly sliced
2 Big Yellow Onion - thinly sliced
1 garlic - minced
Olive oil
1 tsp brown sugar
1 liter of beef stock / 1 cube Knorr's Beef Stock
sea salt
pepper
1 bay leaf
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
1 - 2 tbsp worchestershire sauce ( to your liking)
slices of toasted baguette or any white bread toasted.
4 -5 slices of gruyere
grated parmesan

Method:
1. Pour olive oil in a pot and in low medium heat- saute the onions. This may take 20 minutes.
2. As the onions sweat, put into brown sugar. This will help the onion to caramalised.
3. When the onions turn brown, pour in beef stock, worchestershire sauce, put in bay leaf and thyme.
4. Let it simmer untill the onions are well dissolved.
5. Strain the soup into an oven proof bowl.
6. Cover the surface of the soup with toasted bread.
7. Sprinkle on top of the bread with gruyere and parmesan.
8. Broil the soup in a preheated the oven at 220 Celcius for 10 minutes or untill the cheese melted and slightly brown. Serve immediately.

saute the onions in a low medium heat.



                                    brown, caramalised onion

cover surface of the soup with toasted bread and sprinkle with gruyere and parmesan.

~ French Onion Soup ~

Beef rissole with quinoa and cranberry radish salad

.. While browsing around the organic section, i spotted a few types of grains that look interesting.. I begin to wonder how they taste like - so i purchased 2 types of them..

Black quinoa & Pearl Quinoa

Quinoa... - known as the mother of grain by the Incas. One thing i love about this type of grain is that they are gluten free and are an excellent source of iron. Such a grain will definately make a great side dish..

Oppss... got carried away there.. well- the dish that i'm going to share today is beef rissole -one of my all-time favourite. Since it is a weekday.. I just need some shortcuts for dish. After ramaging through my boxes of seasonings.. I found a packet of McCormick Hickory Smoked seasoning mix.. ho ho.. there- that's my shortcut ;)

 

Lets start with the ingredients needed for beef rissoles:

800gm minced meat 

2 eggs- beaten

1 big yellow onion - chopped

1 medium carrot - diced/gated

1/4 japanese breadcrumb 

1 tbsp tomato sauce

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp mixed herbs - i use fresh chopped thyme, rosemary & oregano

1/2 McCormick Hickory Smoked seasoning                                                                               



  Method:

1. Combine all the ingredients and make into patties.

2. Heat the pan and cook the patties until brown and transfer to a plate.

 

To prepare quinoa- simply pour a cup of pearl quinoa and 2 tbsp of black quinoa into a pot. Pour 3/4 cup of water, salt, pepper and 30gm of butter. Cover the lid and cook the grain the same way rice is cooked. The quinoa is done when it is fluffy and soft.. observed the changes in the shape of the grains.

 

Another side dish that goes really well with beef rissoles and quinoa is cranberry radish salad:

Ingredients:

Lemon juice from 1/2 lemon

1 big yellow onion (julienne)

a handful of dried cranberries (chopped)

5 radish - thinly sliced

sugar

sea salt

olive oil

 

Method:

1.Combine all the ingredients into a bowl and serve.

 



.. serve beef rissole on a bed of micro cilantro and quinoa & cranberry radish salad..