Fig Fondue

Mushroom and Thyme Bruscetta with Poached Egg

2014-08-10T19:10:00.003+08:00

Sunday dinner is always a tough one. On the one hand, I want to eat something hearty because it's Sunday(!) and you just need that comforting end to the weekend, but on the other hand, I'm at the edge of feeling guilty from the weekend binge and/or motivated about ~~(possibly)~~ re-starting my gym routine the next day.

Whether or not I make it back to the gym again this week is a question to answer next weekend, but until then, here's a very simple, but flavorful take on bruschetta--yes, as a main course. The serving size suggested below will leave you full to the top. Although I did manage to squeeze in a massive mug of coffee and a chocolate biscuit for dessert as well.

Once again, laziness and lack of good lighting means that I didn't get a decent picture of the meal, but the one above looks pretty much like it should, unless you're creative, in which case it might look like this:

Good god, I hope not.

Any way, here goes.

Serves: 1-3

depending on whether you serve it as an appetizer or main course.

Ingredients:

1 ciabatta roll, or baguette, or similar, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp butter
200g seasonal large mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2-2/3 tsp dried thyme, powdered
Salt/Pepper
2 medium eggs, poached (here's how to do it)

Method:

Grill or toast bread slices for roughly 2 minutes until lightly browned on both sides with a good bit of a crunch. Lightly rub the raw garlic clove on the bread. Raw garlic is strong, so unless you want horrible breath, don't overdo it.
Heat oil and margarine in a pan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, thyme, salt and pepper to taste. If you're using oyster mushrooms with shitake or button mushrooms, put in the latter a minute or so before the oyster mushrooms. Fry until the mushrooms are tender but still retain their shape (4-5 minutes).
Meanwhile, poach the egg. Sous-vide technique is best, but you can just as well use the age-old technique of adding vinegar to boiling water, then swirling the water with a spoon to create a whirlpool. Crack the egg slowly into the middle of the whirlpool and simmer for 4 minutes. Carefully remove with a slotted spoon.
To serve, lay out the toasted bread in a circle on a flat tray. Pour out mushroom mix in the middle, topped with the poached egg. If you prefer to be neat, do it like it's done in the 1st photo. I prefer messy antipesto presentation. It's more fun. Just don't be as messy as the 2nd pic.

5 Minute French Toast

2014-08-10T12:04:00.000+08:00

I was very hungry this morning and completely and utterly sick of eating toast, jam, peanut butter and/or cereal for breakfast. Solution? French toast! But who wants to go through all that hassle? Well, tried out this quick and simple way of making it and it was as good as anything I've ever eaten.

Could it be improved? Yes--with cinnamon and nutmeg added to the liquid mix, but that would make it all too Christmassy. It's good as it is without these ingredients..

No picture of what I made ~~because I'm lazy~~, but here's a photo of a cat eating French Toast instead, because...cat! And also because the internet doesn't need more pictures of battered bread with syrup.

Now, I prefer if the bread is a couple days old and hard to start with because it has a certain texture which I happen to like, but anything goes, really. I highly recommend against soft Asian bread, though, unless you like mushy textures.

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

1 large egg
1/3 cup skimmed or whole milk
1 pinch salt
1 tsp sugar (optional)
1 pinch cinnamon (optional)
1 pinch nutmeg (optional)
3-4 slices of bread
Butter or margarine
Maple or regular golden syrup

Method:

Beat the egg, milk, salt, and optional ingredients together in a wide-mouthed dish.
Melt a bit of butter over medium-high heat in a frying pan--enough to coat the surface of the pan. As it's melting, dip a slice of bread in the liquid mix. Let it soak the mix for a few seconds (and no more!) on each side.
Into the pan with the bread! Cook until golden brown on both sides.
Repeat Step 2 with the rest of the bread. Serve with maple or golden syrup, and if you like, a bit of butter or margarine.

Mango Salsa

2013-05-25T22:43:00.000+08:00

I hate falling behind on my updating this blog, but as I've said many times before, life sometimes just gets in the way. Though I still carry a considerable passion for food, cooking sometimes just seems to take a little too much energy, especially after a difficult or busy week at work. Well, not all cooking. New things. I've eaten plenty of home-cooked meals in the past few months--to the point of having to occupy an additional inch or so of the sofa now, in fact. I just haven't had the time to look through recipe books to find something new that I wanted to cook.

But that's okay. There are plenty of old, tried and tested recipes in my head that I still haven't posted here so at least they're new for the blog. Like this delicious mango salsa.

Now, most of the time, people just add a bit of onion and tomato and call it mango salsa, but I find that the slightly spicy flavours of the peppers, chili, and coriander actually compliment the sweetness of the mango a considerable lot. The lime is a must, as well!

So without further ado, here is the recipe!

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)

3 medium mangos, diced
1 red pepper, diced
4-5 Thai red chilies, finely chopped
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 tbs coriander, chopped finely
Juice of 1-1.5 lime(s)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Guess how easy it is--yup, mix it all up and you're good to go! Goes fantastically well when wrapped in a tortilla with slices of salt/pepper marinated grilled chicken. Try a lime and onion marinade for the chicken too!

Soy Milk

2013-01-27T23:13:00.000+08:00

A couple of months back, I made a bit of a failed attempt at cooking some Chinese food. I think I became really moody because things didn't go as well as I'd expected, because I never really managed to finish making everything I had planned on the menu. One of these things was soybean milk.

In fact, I've been meaning to make soy milk ever since I bought a blender that came with a special attachment to make it. The attachment is just a wire mesh cylinder that fits right on top of the blender's blades. You put your beans inside the mesh with lots and lots of water, start the blender and wait until the beans turn to mush and you get some fresh and yummy soymilk!

Well, it's not that easy. There's still a couple more steps involved after this process to make it taste less like cardboard and more like the soy milk from your average hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Hong Kong. Supposedly one of these steps also involves adding pandan leaves, but since I have no idea what that is, I didn't bother; it still tasted just as it's supposed to. It's also very very cheap to make as just a handful of beans can give you enough milk for a couple of days!

Ingredients

1 handful soybeans, hydrated overnight
Water, lots of it
Sugar, to taste

Directions

Make sure the soybeans have been fully hydrated. An overnight bath with lots of water will do them well.
Add 1/4 cup of beans with 3-4 cups of water inside the soybean milk-making attachment in a blender. If you don't have this attachment, add the beans straight into the blender with water. Blitz away until the beans are crushed and the water turns nice and milky white.
Use a cheese cloth to strain away the liquid into a container. Strain through the cheese cloth a couple more times until you're left with a soft and silky jug of liquid.
Transfer the liquid to a pan and add sugar to taste. Stir to dissolve the sugar as you bring the pan to a boil. This is apparently where you'd add pandan leaves, but I didn't.
Let the milk cook for a while to get rid of the bitterness, but keep stirring. And it's done! You can drink it warm, at room temperature, cold, in coffee, tea, or whatever. I prefer it when it's been in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Fettucini Alfredo

2013-01-27T22:36:00.000+08:00

Who doesn't love a serving of possibly one of the simplest, creamiest, heaviest, heartiest, but utterly delicious pasta dishes? Well if you say you don't like it, you're probably lying to yourself or you aren't human.

There really isn't much that needs to be said about this other than the fact that I highly recommend using double or heavy cream instead of single cream for the pasta. It results in a thicker sauce, but one which just makes you want to cuddle up in bed with a teddy bear and a huge smile (in other words, its yummy to the Y).

It makes for a great side or a mains, and goes well with sauteed garlic shrimp or chicken breast, or just some steamed veggies like broccoli or asparagus (perhaps with a hint of a balsamic reduction sauce?). Apologies for the crappiness of the photo--only had a phone camera at hand at the time.

Buon appetito!

Ingredients (Serves 2)

250g dry fettuccine pasta
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shaved or grated
1/4 cup double (or heavy) cream
1 pinch black pepper
1 pinch nutmeg

Directions

Cook fettuccine in a large pot of unsalted water.
In another pan over low heat, melt the butter. Add in the cream as the butter melts. Stir continuously to combine the two. Do not turn off the heat!
When the pasta is cooked (al dente, preferably), lift it out with tongs and transfer it right into the cream sauce while it's dripping wet.
Increase the heat to medium and swirl the pasta around in the sauce until it's all combined.
Add half of the cheese and keep swirling the pasta until it's coated with the cheese. If needed, add a couple of tablespoons of pasta water to thin the sauce. Add the rest of the cheese and repeat this step.
Serve immediately with a dash of black pepper and nutmeg sprinkled on top, and with some grilled or steamed veggies on the side. Sauteed and grilled meats work well too!

Kerala Kozhi Eshstu (Kerala Chicken Stew)

2013-01-27T20:42:00.001+08:00

One of my favourite presents from this past Christmas was a book on Indian recipes. I love home-cooked Indian food, but I've never had the confidence to try and cook it at home. With this simple and easy to follow book, however, I really have no excuse now.

Though I can't remember the name of the book (I'm too lazy to go look for it), I especially like the fact that it offers a wide variety of recipes from all over India that cannot commonly be found in Indian restaurants. The recipes are generally more home-friendly, as well, and are not very heavy (again, unlike most of the Mughlai food served in the restaurants).

This recipe, particularly, is very light and versatile. It's fresh and fruity enough to be good for a summer or spring lunch, but it also has chili and garlic to add enough of a heartiness for a chilly winter or autumn 'eve. All in all, it instantly received our seal of approval at home.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

2 green finger chilies, roughly chopped (+ 1 for garnish)
1/8 tsp turmeric
1/8 tsp ground coriander
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger, grated (+1/2 tsp for garnish)
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp cooking oil (e.g. grapeseed)
2-3 curry leaves
1-2 cloves
1 small onion, thinly sliced
500g chicken drumsticks (or thighs), skinned and pricked
100ml coconut milk

Directions

Crush the chilies, turmeric, coriander, cinnamon, ginger, garlic, and 1 tbsp oil together with a mortar and pestle. Add 1-2 tbsp cold water and mix together to make a coarse paste. Alternatively, use a blender for this step.
Heat the remaining oil over medium heat in a pot. Add curry leaves, cloves and the onion. Fry for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.
Add in the paste. Fry for another minute.
Reduce the heat to a medium-low. Add in the chicken and fry for around 10 minutes or until the chicken is partially cooked and golden brown.
Rinse out the left-over contents of the mortar (or blender) with 100ml of cold water. Add them to the pot.
Add in the coconut milk. Mix the ingredients in the pot well.
Once the contents start to boil a little, lower the heat, cover the pot, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the chicken is tender and cooked.
Garnish with chopped green chilies, raw ginger (if you like), and serve hot with lemon rice, appam, or even pita bread.

Lamb Stew with Christmas Spices

2012-12-26T23:53:00.000+08:00

Planning for Christmas dinner in Hong Kong, especially in my dorm-like kitchen, is always a bit of a headache seeing as there is a chronic shortage of ovens in this city! On top of this, my little shelf-oven decided to commit suicide (probably because of the dread of being overworked at Christmas), so I really had to be creative in what to cook.

I wasn't worried about the sides as much--the buttered baby potatoes from last year (with slight modifications with more butter and parsley) would suffice. But even though the lazily cooked slab of beef (a,k.a. steak with red wine sauce) from last year was super yum, I needed something that was a bit more adventurous.

Enter this fabulous lamb stew with Christmas spices. The original recipe was posted on BBC's Good Food website. I was a little skeptical when I first read it because it looked way too simple for a Christmas meal, but it was a HUGE and pleasant surprise! There definitely needed to be a few modifications based on equipment and taste: I don't have a dutch oven, for instance, so I had to make do by cooking for a longer time in a stew pot, and I suppose I could've been less stingy with the meat because it ran out so quickly! Definitely recommend adding more meat and making sure that there's more gravy when serving because IT IS DELICIOUS and will leave people licking their fingers and begging for more. Plus, it'll leave your entire house smelling like Christmas.

Ingredients (Serves 2, but really just 1.5)

1/2 white onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, sliced
2 cm fresh root ginger, shredded (with a peeler, for example)
1 tbsp olive oil
270g organic lean lamb neck fillet, cut into bitesize chunks
1/2 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
1 cardamom pod
1 pinch of ground saffron
1 small bay leaf
1/4 tsp coriander seed powder
1/2 tbsp ground almonds
300-600ml low-sodium beef stock
6 dried apricots
Salt, to taste

Directions

Fry onions, garlic, and half of the ginger in oil on medium heat for about 15 minutes or until the onions start to brown.
Add lamb and the remaining ginger to the pot and stir-fry till the lamb is browned on all sides.
Add all spices (cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, saffron, bay leaf, and coriander seed powder). Cook for a minute to release their flavours.
Add almonds and 300ml of beef stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Compensate for water-loss by adding in more beef stock or water, as per taste. Take this time to also season with salt according to taste.
Add apricots and simmer for a further 15 minutes or until the lamb is tender. Add more water if the sauce becomes too thick.
Serve piping hot with fresh french bread and a side of buttered baby potatoes.

Tomato Spaghetti Soup

2012-10-21T21:11:00.001+08:00

The supermarkets in Hong Kong have been marking the end of summer and beginning of autumn by selling copious loads of lush red tomatoes. As the weather's beginning to cool here, this is the perfect time for some warm soups. Put two and two together, and you know what's coming!

I came across this recipe while flicking through an old cookbook. While the original called for orzo, I had forgotten that I'd run out and so when I got back home from the market, I had to stand around the kitchen counter for a solid five minutes trying to snap dried spaghetti strands into orzo sized chunks. Not quite the same thing, but good enough nonetheless!

The soup was very light and perfect for this time of the year. Definitely something that I will make again.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 celery stick, finely chopped
2 large tomatoes
750 ml vegetable stock
100g broken spaghetti (about 1” long pieces)
3-4 tbsp chopped parsley leaves
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Fry the chopped onion and celery in a saucepan using 1 tbsp olive oil until soft.
To peel the tomatoes, score a cross on their base with a knife and put them in hot water for 1 min. Then, transfer them into a pot of cold water and remove the skin--it should easily come off.
Halve the tomatoes and remove the seeds. Coarsely chop the remaining flesh.
Transfer the tomatoes to the pan with onions and celery.
Add vegetable stock and spaghetti and bring into a gentle boil. Cook for about 10 mins.
Season as per taste, and add parsley. Cook for another minute before serving.

Khoresht Gheimeh (Persian Stew with Beef and Split Peas) - Redone

2012-10-09T13:39:00.001+08:00

It's been a while since I made any hearty stews at home, and though there are tonnes to choose from, nothing says warm comfort like Gheimeh (though Fesenjoon is pretty close too). I might not have mentioned but Gheimeh is a Persian stew that goes back to ancient times. Even before tomatoes were introduced to the Persian empire, people were making this stew with saffron to add the reddish tinge that this soup is famous for. What I definitely know is that it's absolutely delicious, though I do have to emphasize that this is not a recipe for a summer's day because of its warmth. Cool autumn weather like that of this past weekend though, was perfect for this stew.

After uploading the original recipe to the blog, I tried making Gheimeh again a couple of months ago for a pot-luck. Unfortunately, instead of using the original recipe, I thought I would experiment with Batmanglij's recipe in her cookbook New Food of Life. Weirdly, she uses copious amounts of fresh orange zest and limu-omani (Persian dried lime) that make the stew very very bitter and leave a strange taste lingering in your mouth.

After trying her recipe out, I had to try and make it using my original recipe again, just to remind myself how good it actually is if made correctly. Thankfully, I succeeded! I did make a couple of positive changes (inspired by Batmanglij) to the original recipe, which explains why I'm posting it again here.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

200g beef, diced
1 large red onion, grated
1 large potato, cut in thick matchsticks
1/2 cup yellow split peas, soaked
2 tbsp tomato paste
5 tbsp grapeseed (or other cooking) oil
2 tbsp lime juice
1 limu omani (Persian dried lime; optional)
3/4 tbsp turmeric
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a frying pan. Add onions, turmeric and a little salt. Fry until onions are caramelized (completely browned; approximately 15 minutes).
Add in the beef. Stir fry for 5 minutes or until the beef is slightly cooked.
Add tomato paste to the pan and heat for a minute. Add in 2 cups of boiling water and heat through, stirring occassionally.
Transfer to a stew pot along with two more cups of boiling water. Cover and simmer on low heat for 45 minutes. You may need to add more water occassionally to compensate for water loss.
Meanwhile, boil some water in the frying pan. Add the split peas and cook for 20 minutes or until al dente. Drain and reserve the split peas.
Add lime juice and the split peas to the stew, and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Cover and simmer for a further 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in the frying pan. Add the potatoes, along with a sprinkle of turmeric and salt, and pan fry them until golden. Reserve until ready to serve.
Make holes with a sharp knife in the limu-omani before adding it to the stew pot. Cover and cook for a final 15 minutes.
Serve the stew with the pan-fried potatoes, along with garlic-infused cous cous or saffron-flavoured rice.

Chicken Kebab with Yogurt Sauce

2012-09-20T00:12:00.001+08:00

Yogurt is turning out to be quite the cooking staple at home these days. Well not really; this is only the second dish that I've cooked with yogurt in it, and probably the third or fourth that I've ever tasted in my life. I'm used to eating yogurt as a side complement to a main course, or as breakfast or that quick snack between meals, but using it in a heated sauce just never occurred to me, or at least I never tried it. After the success of my Lebanese Meatballs in Yogurt Sauce, though, I had to go back and try again!

Of all things, I'm so proud of my ever-improving grilling skills. The chicken, thanks to the marinade, but also to my gorgeous new griddle, was very delicious! It tasted light with just enough charred flavour from the hot griddle, and was so juicy in the middle. Thinking about it is making me hungry again even though I just ate a huge bowl of sichuan noodles!

Improvements? Can't think of any except in technique. Initially, I just took the chicken chunks out of the marinade and immediately put them on the griddle, which obviously led to a thick layer of carbon forming at the base of the griddle as the yogurt quickly burnt away. This can be easily sorted by making sure that you shake off the lose marinade before sticking it on to the pan.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

300 ml (3/4 carton) Yogurt
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp chopped Oregano
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
1 tbsp chopped parsley
½ tbsp dried or 1 tbsp fresh tarragon
250g chicken breast, cut into 1” cubes
Juice of ½ lemon
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Directions

Mix yogurt with herbs, garlic, lemon juice and salt and pepper in a small bowl.
Add in the chicken cubes and make sure they are completely doused by the marinade. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and let it rest in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight.
Brush a griddle pan with olive oil and put it on high heat until it’s very hot.
Reduce heat to medium-high. Place the chicken cubes on the griddle and cook each side for at least 3 mins or until it’s halfway cooked. Turn and repeat until the chicken is thoroughly cooked. You may need to wipe off the burnt yogurt marinade from the pan or the chicken cubes when you turn the meat.
Pour the remaining marinade in a saucepan and heat it gently over low heat. Stir continuously to avoid the yogurt from splitting.
Remove from heat after a few mins and use as a sauce for the kebab. This dish goes very well with saffron rice or cous cous.

Lebanese Beef Meatballs in Yogurt Sauce

2012-09-08T23:37:00.001+08:00

So, once again it's been a while since I updated this blog. There's just been too much happening these days as I try and settle into my work/study role this semester. It's not that I've stopped cooking, but rather than my lack of free time has only allowed me to cook up simple things that are already posted on this blog. The only thing worthy of mention from my cooking adventures lately is that the marinara sauce from my spaghetti and meatballs recipe is amazing on its own without the meatballs. It especially makes for a great light lunch.

Instead of going back to those recipes today, I felt like eating something different. I initially thought about making Persian okra stew, but as I'm trying to stay away from acidic food this week, I had to give up that thought (plus, there wasn't any okra available at the supermarket today). Instead, I went with this Lebanese beef meatballs in yogurt sauce recipe.

At first, the idea of meatballs cooked in yogurt sounded really weird to me, but the dish was very tasty and perfect for the heat of the summer as it was very refreshing and cooling. The meatballs could definitely have been better (see improvement suggestions below), but other than that, it's definitely something I can't wait to make again!

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)

300g minced beef
1 small white onion, chopped finely
1 tbsp coriander, chopped
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp dried dill
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup plain yogurt
½ tsp corn starch
½ tsp plain flour
½ tsp cumin seeds
Salt and pepper

Directions

In a bowl, mix ground beef, onion, dill, ground cumin and ground cardamom.
Make a meatball out of every tablespoon-worth of the mixture.
Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Fry the meatballs until all sides are brown. Transfer meatballs to absorbent paper towels.
Dissolve corn starch and plain flour in 2 tbsp water and add to the yogurt in a saucepan. Whisk the mixture until smooth. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring continuously.
Add meatballs to the yogurt mixture and simmer for a further 5 minutes.
Add cumin seeds, coriander, salt and pepper. Simmer for another 3 minutes. Serve with pita bread or cous cous.

Suggested Improvements

Salt and pepper need to be added to the meatballs as they were quite bland on their own.
The meatballs were quite tough. Adding breadcrumbs or bulgar wheat to the mixture might help their texture. Cooking them directly in the yogurt sauce rather than frying might also help.

Torshi Mango (Persian Mango Pickle)

2012-08-05T23:30:00.000+08:00

I have a weird lust for sour food; anything ranging from citrus to fruit lather appeals to me! Among all things sour, though, pickles stand high up for me as they are highly adaptable and easy to keep. They also go well with all sorts of stews, especially with those that have beef or lamb in them.

Now that it's summer and there's an abundance of mangoes in Asia, I thought of making this spicy (and sour!) pickle to complement many of the dishes I've tried making like gheimeh, fesenjan, and torshe kebab.

And it's worth mentioning here that a couple good things about this pickle is that it can be consumed just one day after canning, and that if mangoes are not in season or if you simply don't like mangoes, you can easily replace them with other fruits like kiwis.

Here's how it's done:

Ingredients

4 mangoes, peeled and diced
2.5 cups, white vinegar
5 tbsp tamarind sauce
2 tbsp lemon juice
5 dried chili peppers
5 cloves garlic
1 tsp ground angelica (golpar; optional)
1 tsp nigela seeds
1 tbsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp salt

Directions

Pour the lemon juice on mangoes and set aside for at least 1 hour.
Bring the vinegar to a boil in a pan. Add garlic and tamarind sauce, and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add in the spices and simmer for another 5 minutes.
Finally, add in the mangoes and simmer for 1 minute.
Pour the mixture in a clean glass jar. It can be eaten the day after, but it's better to age it for one month.

Eggplant Pesto

2012-07-30T23:52:00.001+08:00

Pesto is probably one of my favourite things to make on any given day of the week. It's easy to make and full of so much flavour that it's really hard not to fall in love with every batch you make. On top of that, if you make it fresh and skip out on a lot of oil, it can be pretty healthy, too.

Over the past few weeks, I've been grating so many sundried tomatoes together to make pesto, that I felt that it was time for a bit of a change in flavour. Herbs, of course, are a bit difficult to come across at the local supermarket in Hong Kong, so the basil version was out too. Instead, I thought I'd run a bit of an experiment and turn one of my favourite veggies (eggplant!) into one of my favourite dishes.

The pesto was a bit wet and gooey because of the water in the eggplant, but it really didn't bother me. The overall taste was very fresh and light, just like it should've been. I can't wait to go back for more! In fact, I saved some to do just that later in the week.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

1 medium asian eggplant
1/4 cup sundried tomtoes
1/4 cup basil
1/3 cup walnuts
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Char-grill the eggplant over an open stove-top flame until its skin turns black and the flesh becomes soft. Allow to cool, then peel and set aside.
In a food processor, add sundried tomatoes, basil, and walnuts. Pulse a few times until they crumble, but still retain some texture.
Add the eggplant and olive oil. Pulse a few more times until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
Serve with pasta, or eat it on toast!

Loobia Polo (Persian Green Bean Pilaf)

2012-07-30T00:44:00.000+08:00

A lot of Persian food that I've made so far looks like it would be served on festive occassions or in restaurants; I mean Fesenjoon, for example, takes around six hours on the stove to cook to its traditional quality! So what do Persians eat at home when they are in a hurry and simply don't feel like waiting for hours until their Fesenjoon or Ghormeh Sabzi is stewed through?

Sure, a good Persian cook needs to plan well in advance to be able to serve the food on time (unlike me?) but there are many other simple and quick options available for a nice and light dinner, too. Here's one of those recipes for a quickfix that might come in handy when you're busy or just don't feel like concocting complicated things... or when you have an exam or thesis writing to do (boo!) ;)

The pilaf, or "coloured rice" as it's called in Persian, can be made year round. If you freeze the sauce in advance, it can also be made in less than 20 minutes. The sauce is pretty versatile, too: some people, for example, replace the beans with diced fried potatoes and call it Estanboli (Istanbul Pilaf). Others prefer to use chopped pieces of beef instead of ground meat to get more texture; it's also more traditional, but won't be as homogeneous a mix as this version. Either way, it's yummy.

Oh and it goes well with Mast-o-Khiar, or Doogh.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

100g green beans
1 cup Basmati rice, soaked in 2 cups of water for 2 hours
1 medium onion, grated
3 tbsp tomato paste
150g ground beef
2 tbsp cooking oil
2 tsp turmeric
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Boil 2 cups of water in a saucepan. In the meantime, cut the tails off the beans before chopping them into 2cm long pieces.
Add beans to the water, along with 1 tsp salt. Cook until beans become completely soft, around 20 mins. Drain and reserve.
Heat oil in a skillet over low heat. Add onions and turmeric, and fry until onions become light brown in colour.
Add ground beef to the onions and fry over medium heat until it changes colour.
Add in green beans to the mix. Stir for 5 mins.
Lower the heat. Dissolve the tomato paste in a cup of boiling water and pour it over the beef mixture. Stir through until the water evaporates. Add salt and pepper to taste, and turn off the heat when most of the water has evaporated, leaving a paste-like consistency behind. Reserve for later use or freeze to store.
Transfer the rice and water to a pan and heat over medium-high until the water boils.
When the water is reduced by half, stir in the sauce in batches. Remember the rice should still have enough water or else it will become difficult to mix in the sauce.
Wrap the lid of the pan in a towel and cover the pan. Reduce heat to medium low and let the rice steam for 20 minutes or so. If you'd like to have a thicker rice crust, steam for another 10 minutes.

And it's as easy as that!

Fennel Seed Squash

2012-07-04T18:08:00.002+08:00

The past couple of weeks have been a little crazy with deadlines to meet, conferences to attend and write papers for, and just the general start-of-summer holiday craziness. Sure, as a postgraduate student you never have holidays anyway, but thinking that the holiday season is starting at least helps to calm your tired brain down a bit haha.

Right, so having been so busy, I haven't really had much time to spend in the kitchen, but I really felt like eating something simple rather than canteen food this evening. I searched through my fridge and realized that there was a bit of butternut squash in there, and so I put together this very simple Indian-inspired Fennel Seed Squash dish. It's quick and easy to make and tastes great if you like that strong taste of fennel seed. I should also say here that I highly recommend keeping the squash or pumpkin skin on because it'll give it that extra bit of crunch that cooked squash lacks on its own.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

1 tbs fennel seeds
1/2 butternut squash (or pumpkin or similar), chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp garam masala
1.5 tbs oil
1/4 tsp crushed dry kaffir lime leaves (garnish)

Directions

Heat oil over medium-low heat in a frying pan. Add fennel seeds and lightly fry for a few seconds until fragrant.
Add bite-sized pieces of squash to the pan, along with a bit of salt, turmeric, and garam masala. Stir through to coat the squash with the spices.
Add a tablespoon of water to the pan, cover, and lower heat. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until the squash becomes fork-tender. Careful not to overcook it or it will turn into mush.
Add the juice of half a lemon. Stir-fry for a few seconds to evaporate the rest of the water and to give the squash a bit of a crisp texture.
Garnish with the kaffir lime leaves and serve with chapatti, pita, or just plain ole sandwich bread.

Travels, Typhoons and Papers, Oh My!

2012-07-01T16:34:00.003+08:00

This past week or so has been full of travels, typhoons, conference paper writing, conferences, and an incredible amount of heat that's keeping me out of the kitchen. Thankfully, my busy schedule ends in around a week, so there will be more posts of some yummy adventures!

Watch this space! :)

Gajar ka Murabba (Indian Sweet Carrot Preserve): Strange, but Delicious!

2012-06-20T14:15:00.000+08:00

Murabba is probably the ugliest name one could have given to their dish. The mere sound of it makes me cringe or want to make fun of things. Despite the hideousness of the name, and the weird concept of carrot jam/preserve, though, it's probably one of my favourite childhood snacks. I can't quite remember what time of the year my mum used to make this, but I do remember the jars of carrot, apple and gooseberry preserves she would cook and place on shelves to marinade while I looked wide-eyed at them hoping they would be ready to eat soon!

The name Murabba is Arabic in its origins, though the snack (or jam, or desert, depending on where it's consumed) is popular throughout northern South Asia and the Persian Gulf. Naturally, there are many varieties of the dish that use different fruits, rose water and other flavourings, but the Indian one seems to be the most basic, using only carrots, sugar, and water. I tried to tszuj it up a little with a tiny splash of rose water and some cardamom: the cardamom added some amazingness to it, but the rose water, not so much. I'll still try making a Persian version that uses a lot of rose water at some point, though.

I should also add that this version was made in a bit of a hurry. To make it properly, you're supposed to let the carrots marinade in sugar overnight, and cook them the following morning in the juices that come out while marinading. As I don't cook on the weekdays usually, I had to adapt to a one-day version by doing what's in the directions below. The result wasn't great at first, I thought, but after letting it rest for a day, it tastes great! No wonder my mum kept it on the shelf for a few days before letting me touch them. And surely, a couple more days later, it became absolutely perfect, albeit a little less sweet than what I remember because I just chose not to use as much sugar for health's sake. It's pretty too!

Ingredients

1 kg carrots, cut into thick matchsticks
2 cups sugar
5 cardamom pods, crushed (optional)
1 tbs vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp rose water (optional)
Water

Directions

Boil water with vinegar and salt over medium-high heat.
Add carrots and blanch for 5 minutes under they're slightly soft and cooked. Drain water and reserve. I recommend reserving some of the water for making the syrup in the next step too, but I forgot to do it this time.
In the same pot, add 2 cups of water and sugar, and heat heat until all the sugar dissolves.
Add carrots back into the pot along with the cardamom and rosewater if desired. Reduce heat to medium and cook for approximately 40 minutes until the syrup takes a one-string consistency, i.e. if you dip and pull a spoon out, a thick, unbroken, string of syrup drips into the pot, like diluted honey.
Turn off the heat and let it cool a bit. If you notice the sugar crystallizing, you've evaporated too much water, so just add in a bit of boiling water to compensate for the loss. Mix together to dissolve the sugar, and let it rest.
Once it's cool, place it in a jar and let it marinade and preserve for a couple of days.

Let me know what you think!

Arroz con Pollo (Mexican Rice with Chicken)

2012-06-18T17:59:00.000+08:00

Keeping with the Mexican cooking theme this past weekend, I looked through a tonne of recipes to see what I could make for lunch. Mexican cuisine is very versatile and full of choices, but a lot of the dishes require ingredients that aren't easy to find in Hong Kong. The cheese and oil content in the standard recipes for quesadillas, enchiladas, and empanadas, etc. sort of scared my dieting-self, as well.

Eventually, I ran across a recipe for Pollo Encacahuatado (Chicken with Peanut Sauce). It looked fairly simple, but I was craving something that would be full of colour and flavour, and the Encacahuatado looked a little to the bland side. After more searching and looking through recommendations, though, I came across this easy to make Paella-like Arroz con Pollo (Rice with Chicken), popular pretty much throughout Latin America, at least according to some not-very-credible sources.

This recipe was supposedly handed down from generation to generation, so I thought, why not! It's pretty easy to make, as well, and full of the flavour I wanted, but I wish I'd used chicken thighs instead of the breast because all the frying and boiling made it more stiff and dry than I generally like my chicken. The chicken could also have been marinated with red peppers and lime for a little while for that extra kick. In fact, my experience cooking (Hong Kong) chicken pretty much always says that without marinating or stewing for hours on end, it will always come out dry and bland. The rice, on the other hand, was great, though could definitely use more spice.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 chicken breasts
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
1/2 medium red pepper
1 cup basmati rice
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp red chili flakes
1/8 tsp paprika
1 tsp saffron, crushed
2-3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup water
Salt to taste

Directions

In a non-stick pan (with a lid), heat 1 tbs olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken (skin or presentation side down), until golden brown, for about 5 minutes. Turn, and cook the other side for 3 minutes until golden brown and the chicken is 3/4 cooked. Remove from pan and reserve.
Heat 1/2 tbs oil in the pan and add onions. Cook until translucent.
Add garlic, and cook until fragrant.
Add tomatoes and the red bell pepper, and glaze the pan by scraping up any bits of chicken fat stuck to the bottom with the tomatoes' juices.
Add cumin, turmeric, paprika, chili powder, saffron, salt, and rice. Stir them through the tomato mix.
Place chicken on top of the rice and pour in two cups of chicken stock to cover the rice. Bring the pot to a simmer, then reduce heat to low.
Cover, and cook for about 45 minutes until the rice is tender. You may need to add more stock or boiling water if the rice becomes too dry before cooking thoroughly.
Check that the salt is to taste and serve warm!

Let me know what you think!

Huevos Rancheros (Mexican Ranch Eggs)

2012-06-17T22:14:00.001+08:00

Last week, a friend of mine proposed that we give each other a random ingredient that has to highlight in a dish--as Master Chef kind-of inspiration for deciding what to cook, so to speak. My first challenge was to find something that features eggs. I thought about it for a while, but since I was going to go with a Mexican cooking theme for this weekend's lunch, I thought I might as well make Huevos Rancheros (Ranch Eggs or Country-Style Eggs) for breakfast.

The dish looks fairly simple, with a fried egg and tomato-chili salsa nestled on a tortilla, but it's full of flavour! Only problem was that as I've never made Mexican food before, and have only ever eaten at Tex-Mex restaurants at best, so I'm not really the best judge as far as authenticity goes. Who cares about authenticity, though, when something tastes so wonderfully good, and especially when it's so simple to make, right?

I honestly can't say that the eggs were the highlight of the dish as they were supposed to be; the sauce quite clearly stole the show, but the eggs, especially with its runny yolk added a much welcome creamy undertone to the sauce. Instead of using corn tortillas, I also bought the wheat flour variety simply because they're a bit more versatile as leftovers. There still was a bit of a corn-like sweetness in them, though, that complimented the rest of the flavours. All in all, definitely something I would make again, but perhaps with roasted tomatoes, instead.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

2 medium eggs
1 can cooked plum tomatoes
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 large green chili, seeded and diced
1 tbs coriander, chopped
2 soft wheat flour tortillas
1/8 tsp ground cumin powder
1/8 tsp red chilli powder
2 tsp margarine
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat 1 tsp oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Lightly toast a tortilla in the oil for a little less than 30 seconds on either side. Set aside and repeat with the other tortilla. Keep warm for later.
In the same pan, heat 1 tbs oil and add onions. Saute until translucent.
Add tomatoes, including the juices from the can. Smash tomatoes down with the back of a spoon.
Add green chilis, coriander, red chili powder, and cumin powder. Stir through.
Bring the sauce to a simmer, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 10 minutes.
Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer sauce to a bowl and set aside.
Lightly rinse the frying pan and dry with a paper towel. Melt half a teaspoon of margarine. Crack an egg on top and fry on medium-low until the eggs are cooked through.
To serve, quickly warm the tortillas if needed and add the sauce and eggs on top.

Let me know what you think!

Summer Chickpea Salad

2012-06-10T22:24:00.000+08:00

I had a massive hamburger for lunch today at the SeaFront, while out in Stanley. I'd planned on going for some good ole fish n' chips at the restaurant (they do them perfectly), but had a change of heart at the last minute. I'm glad I did, too, because the hamburger was juicy and perfect! As I was taking a break from my diet today, I added in a bit of frozen yogurt at the end of the meal to, which meant that I was stuffed up too my neck by the time dinner time rolled around.

Thinking about a light last minute dinner, I remembered that I had some soaked and cooked chickpeas leftover from making Punjabi Chole yesterday. The Chole weren't all that successful, but the chickpeas were cooked to a perfect point where they still had a crunch while being soft enough to eat; they were perfect, I thought, for a salad. So! Thank's to the awesomeness that is my 3G network, I looked up Jaime Oliver's Summer Chickpea Salad recipe while at the supermarket and decided to go with it. Unfortunately, they were out of mint, but the salad turned out to be perfect even without it.

I ended up eating it with Baba Ghanoush (Lebanese Eggplant Dip), a bit of lavash bread, and best of all (surprisingly) with some roasted papadum! It was a random decision, but tasted like Masala Papad, only tonnes better. All in all, I'm much satisfied and not at all guilty about binging this afternoon after having such a light dinner.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

1 small red onion, sliced finely
3 small red Thai chilies, sliced finely
2 small red tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 lemon
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1.5 cups (or 1 large can) chickpeas, drained
1/4 cup basil leaves, finely chopped
2 tbs feta cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Combine the onion, chilies and tomatoes in a bowl.
Squeeze the juice of a lemon on top, and add olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste and mix well.
Heat the chickpeas briefly in a microwave just to warm them up a little.
Add 90-percent of the chickpeas to the bowl with the vegetables.
Mash the leftover 10-percent and add them to the bowl. These add a much welcome creaminess to the salad. Mix well and set aside for 20 minutes to marinade.
Before serving, check to make sure seasoning is according to taste. Add basil leaves and mix through.
Crumble feta on top, and you're done!

Reflections from a novice cook, half a year on

2012-06-08T02:51:00.001+08:00

I just watched the film Julie and Julia after many months of meaning to do so. The film is not without its artistic flaws, but what an incredibly simple, yet inspirational story! I would be lying if I didn't say that I was perhaps also digging for similarities between the characters and I, especially with my newly found passion in cookery. It's been quite a strange journey: just seven months or so ago, I was far from being comfortable to even call myself a cook. Perhaps, I would've been confident enough to say that I could make a select few dishes from a particular sort of cuisine (say Persian or Italian). Today, though, after initially starting with some basic just-add-water pancakes, I can most-confidently claim that I can cook up an excellent Coq au Vin or Dolmeh Felfel along with many other healthy international dishes. And all of that from a tiny, ill-equipped, college kitchen.

Cooking has served to do more than simply boost my confidence, though. It has made our apartment a real home and brought our little family here even closer than before. No matter how bad a week may be, I know that at the end of the week, we'll end up making something wonderful that will, at least momentarily, melt away our concerns. Even when the result is not too great, the process of going through a recipe and learning what has or has not worked well is often sufficient to satisfy me. Cooking, in other words, has almost become a sanctuary for me. To quote Julie, "I love that after a day when nothing is sure... you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will be thick. It's such a comfort."

No-Bake Tah-chin e Morgh (Persian Upside Down Layered Saffron Rice & Chicken Casserole)

2012-06-05T21:20:00.001+08:00

Persian cuisine is one of the least advertised among its other middle-eastern competitors. I've always wondered why that is. I even have some theories, but I have to say that whatever the reason, it's really a bit of shame that there's not more of it out there! The food may generally be a bit heavy as I mentioned in the last post, but it doesn't take much for a home cook to turn all the delicious (and very fragrant) stews into healthy dishes for everyday consumption.

One thing that many people who have a limited exposure to Persian food say is that some of the dishes look like cakes; usually they're talking about rice and the many different kinds of pilaf. The idea for this last weekend's dish also came from a random conversation I had with a Malaysia-based couchsurfer from Poland at my university (in Hong Kong--globalization, eat my heart out!). While eating her slice of watermelon, she quite fiercely tried to remember the name of some food her Persian flatmate had made the other day: "It's an inverted cake, you know... with saffron, and chicken, and a thick... thick and almost burnt crust." And I had to think: Tahchin Morgh this weekend, it is!

Anyway, the whole week I was thinking about the term "cake" that she used. It made me giggle for some reason hehe. I myself have only known the dish by its original name, but by doing a bit of recipe hunting, I realized that many people also call it pudding, casserole, and a whole bunch of random names. They're all different perspectives for looking at the same dish!

Many people make this layered cake without barberries (sacrilege!), but I thought it might also go well with the chicken and saffron, so I added it; and I was right! How could I not be when the same combination is fabulous in Zereshk Polo ba Morgh (Chicken and Barberry Pilaf)! And well, since barberries are part of the signature of this blog, I have an excuse to douse my food with them (ha!). Anywho, I'm very proud that my "cake" came out of the pot as it was supposed to, in one piece with all the layers firmly adhered together. Given another chance though, I'd have lessened the final cooking time to 20 minutes as I think the longer cooking time just evaporates the water in yoghurt and makes the food become a bit dry.

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)

1½ cups basmati rice, washed and soaked for 30 mins
½ lb chicken breast, cut into 1" stripes
1 medium onion, cut into 6-8 pieces
1 tbsp turmeric
½ tsp saffron, ground and soaked in 1 tbsp boiling water
1 carton yoghurt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup dried barberries, washed (optional)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (2 tsp for barberries optional)
1 tbsp sugar, dissolved in 2 tbsp hot water (only for barberries; optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Parboil the rice with 4 cups of water for about 15 minutes. Drain water and reserve rice.
Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine the chicken, onion, turmeric, and salt and pepper to taste. Add 3 cups of water and simmer for around 30 minutes.
Remove chicken from broth. Reserve both chicken and broth separately.
In a bowl, whisk together the yoghurt, eggs, and saffron water, so that the mixture becomes a bright sunshine yellow.
Back in the pan, fry the barberries with olive oil on low heat for less than a minute. Pour in the sugar syrup and stir for another minute or two. Drain excess water and reserve barberries.
Tah-chin is a layered cake, so to form the layers, start by heating 1 tbsp olive oil in a nonstick saucepan on low heat. Pour in 1 ladle of the yoghurt mixture, followed by a thin layer of rice. Cover this layer with another layer of the yoghurt mixture, then some barberries, chicken, yoghurt mixture, rice, and so on until you've used up all your ingredients. End by pouring a few tablespoons of the turmeric-scented chicken broth on the rice and sealing the cake with a final layer of the yoghurt mix.
Cover the pan with its lid wrapped in a towel. Cook on low heat for about 30 minutes.
Remove from heat. Cool down the sides of the pan with cold running water. This will help the rice cake to shrink a bit more so that it can slide right out of the pan.
To serve, place the serving plate, face down, on top of the pan. Flip the pan up-side down with the plate still held in place tightly. Carefully lift the pan to reveal a gorgeous layer of crisp rice encasing the soft interior. If done right, the cake should be sitting on the plate intact! Sprinkle with some more barberries, or a garnish of your liking, and you're done!

Torshe Kabab (Persian Sour Chicken Stew)

2012-06-03T17:49:00.002+08:00

In the past week, I've had a weird craving for sour food. Shuffling through my memory, I came across this simple dish I made a long time ago called Torshe Kabab. This particular dish, though, is cooked only in northern Iran and should not be confused with Kabab Torsh which is a style of grilled beef. In fact, because its primarily stewed, I don't even understand why they call it kabab to start with?!

Any way, as with most Persian food, there was only one problem: excessive use of oil for frying ingredients before Stewing. This is a nightmare for fans of Persian cuisine in general, but especially for those who are on low-calorie diets or whom want to stick to healthy lifestyles. So, thinking critically about the recipe, I decided to modify it a bit. I cut down on the oil by frying less and using water to replace oil in some parts (shallow blanching/ steaming, so to speak).

The technique is simple: when frying eggplants, for example, use a maximum of a tablespoon of oil in a hot frying pan. Sear both sides of the eggplants with the hot oil. When the oil is all sucked in by the eggplant, add 1/4 cup of water and cover the pot. Occassionally, add more water to compensate for evaporation. This way, you'll get a nice sear on surfaces without the need to saturate the eggplant with oil. In the end, you'll find that cooking with water also makes the eggplant very soft and juicy--perfect for this dish.

The overall result was some great tender chicken in a thick sauce, with no extra layer of oil floating on the plate. The lack of use of oil didn't compromise the flavour at all (note that, ye Persians who insist that such is impossible!) There was an added bonus to cutting down on the oil: it was extremely easy to wash all the dishes after finishing the food! hehe

Ingredients (Serves 2)

3 chicken drumsticks
2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut into long chips
1 large eggplant, peeled and cut into palm size pieces
1 medium onion, cut into 6-8 pieces
4 tbsp tomato paste
3 limes' juice
1 tbsp turmeric
3-4 tbsp cooking oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan. Fry each side of the chicken drumsticks for about 3 minutes, or until golden.
Put the chicken and onions in a saucepan. Add 4 cups of water, 2 tsp turmeric, and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add tomato paste and simmer, covered, for another 20 minutes.
Remove the onion chunks and add lime juice.
Meanwhile, fry the eggplants with 1 tbsp oil. To reduce the oil take up, you can sprinkle a pinch of salt on cut eggplants and leave them for at least 15 mins so that their moisture comes out.
When the oil is all sucked up by the eggplants, add 1 cup of water (in 4-5 batches) and cover. Repeat a few times if the water evaporates, until the eggplants are soft and cooked through.
Combine the potatoes with 1 tsp turmeric and a maximum of 2 tbsp oil. Cook until potatoes are crisp and golden, but cooked through.
Add the fried eggplants and potatoes to the sauce and simmer for another 10 minutes. Serve hot with cous cous (or rice).

Soupe à L'ail (French Garlic Soup)

2012-05-31T21:29:00.001+08:00

I have to confess that my favourite part of any meal is the soup. Though it may sound like a lame excuse, but because it's so easy to make (and eat), it's perfect for a lazy person such as myself hehe

Considering that I just got through making the two-day long Coq au Vin (Chicken with Red Wine Sauce), I can't really call myself lazy. After getting bored of watching the chicken stew on the stove for ages, though, I decided to cook up this simple soup. Of course, seeing as the main course was going to be a French classic, the soup had to be too! At least that's the logic I worked with at the time in order to narrow my choices down a bit. Plus, as this soup only uses pantry essentials as ingredients, it's perfect for a last minute addition.

When you first read the ingredients, the soup sounds a little disgusting: chicken broth, a handful of garlic cloves and beaten egg. These ingredients don't necessarily seem to go together in principal, but they actually do. Even with so much garlic, the soup is light to the taste and complemented the light garlic tones in the Coq au Vin. Unfortunately, maybe because we added too much broth, it wasn't as creamy as it could be, but the bit of stale bread topped with melted cheese (a stolen technique from rural Switzerland, no less!) added just that extra something the it needed.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

4 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 bouquet garni (bay leaf, tarragon, parsley, basil, thyme-savory, rosemary)
1 medium egg, white and yolk separated and lightly whisked
2 slices stale baguette, toasted
1 tbsp parmesan reggiano, grated
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Bring the broth to a boil over medium heat.
Add in the garlic, bouquet garni, and simmer on medium-low heat for 20 minutes.
Take the bouquet garni out, and add in the egg white. Stir vigorously to break down the whites into small chunks as they begin to set. Remove soup from heat and cool slightly.
In a small bowl, combine the beaten egg yolk with a few spoons of the warm soup. Keep whisking as you add the soup to make sure that the egg does not scramble. Add more soup by the spoon until the egg seems to be heated through. Combine this mixture with the rest of the soup.
Add salt and pepper to taste, and reheat if necessary.
To serve, place a piece of toasted french bread at the bottom of a bowl. Sprinkle a bit of cheese on top and microwave for a few seconds until the cheese melts. Pour on the soup, and garnish with a bit of parsley.

Coq au Vin Rouge (Chicken in Red Wine Sauce)

2012-05-28T19:10:00.000+08:00

Each week, for the past 6 months or so, I've been focusing on concocting easy meals that can be made in "a less than equipped college kitchen" as the sub-header of this blog goes. After making the ever so complex Dolmeh Felfel (Stuffed Capsicums) last week, I wondered if I can try to attack more recipes that are supposedly difficult, but can be made in a kitchen with just a pot and a frying pan or so.

While searching for recipes, I came across the French classic, Coq au Vin (Rooster with Wine). It's something I've loved nomming on for a whole age, but after looking at the recipes, I knew that this could be something I could challenge myself with.

The recipe, especially the one I used from Epicurious (based on Julia Child's version), is undeniably one of the hardest things I've worked with, but as the pictures show, I managed to pull it together just fine without the use of a hoard of utensils as recommended by Epicurious. I took away a bunch of the butter and substituted it with grape seed oil so as to make it slightly healthier, as well; this didn't have a significant impact on the taste either, at least as far as I can remember the taste of a homemade version of the dish. Also, I found that Epicurious' recipe asked for a very high heat that kept burning my chicken and vegetables. I would recommend lowering the flame, especially when the chicken is stewing as this will help to make it more tender as well.

For the sake of the faint-hearted and easily discouraged folk like me, I should note here too that you shouldn't worry if the marinade smells horrendous! When I took the chicken out of the fridge after it had been there for a day, I swear that the smell made me think of two-day old garbage cans. I had used fresh vegetables, so this really confused me, but I decided to carry on. I'm glad I did, because about half way through cooking, all the actual flavours came out and all became well again! The final result, in fact, was a spoon-tender chicken with a sweet, yet slightly sour, grape-y sauce that we couldn't get enough of; every last dredge of the sauce, as a matter of fact, was scraped up with bread, so all in all, it was a massive success! Despite the long time it takes to make, and the stress it induces for a novice cook such as myself, it's definitely worth the effort!

Here's my version of the recipe--

Ingredients (Serves 2)

Marinade

1/2 bottle red wine (I used Chateau L'Intendant's Bordeaux 2010)
1 medium onion, sliced
1 celery stalk, sliced
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 chicken drumsticks

Stew

1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 bacon strips
1.5 tbs all-purpose flour
1 large shallot, chopped
1 large garlic clove, chopped
2 thyme-savoury sprigs
2 parsley sprigs
1 bay leaf
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 tbs cooking oil
150g oyster mushrooms
4 pearl onions, or boiling onions, peeled
1/2 brown onion, chopped in large chunks

Directions

Boil all marinade ingredients, except chicken, over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and cool completely before placing marinade into the fridge for one to two hours. This will make sure that the chicken doesn't cook in warm marinade.
Place chicken pieces in the marinade; stir to coat pieces completely.
Cover with cling-wrap and refrigerate for one day, turning chicken occasionally.
On the next day, pat dry chicken with some paper towels to drain off excess marinade.
Strain marinade; reserve the liquid and vegetables separately.
In a stew pot that can hold all the chicken drumsticks in a single layer, heat 1/2 tbs of oil over medium-high heat.
Add bacon and sauté until crisp and brown. Remove and reserve bacon for later use.
Reduce heat to low. Add chicken to the bacon fat, skin-side down, and sauté until brown for approximately 5-8 minutes per side. Remove and reserve chicken for later use.
Add vegetables reserved from the marinade to the pot. Sauté until brown. This can be difficult to see because of the colour of the wine; cook until you can smell the onions and then some, making sure that the vegetables don't burn. This should take around 10 minutes.
Mix in flour and stir for a couple of minutes.
Gradually, whisk in the reserved marinade liquid making sure no lumps form. Bring the sauce to a boil, continuing to whisk every so often. Cook for around 2 minutes or until sauce thickens.
Add shallots, garlic, herbs, and broth. Stir through.
Return chicken to the pot, arranging it skin side up in a single layer.
Bring the sauce to a simmer. Cover and cook for around 30 minutes, occasionally basting the chicken with the sauce. Move the chicken occassionally to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom, as well. If the sauce reduces too much, add a bit of boiling water to compensate.
Turn chicken over. Cover again and cook for 15 more minutes or until the chicken becomes spoon-tender.
While the chicken is stewing, heat 1tbs cooking oil in a frying pan over medium-heat.
Add mushrooms and sauté them until tender. Transfer them from the pan and reserve for later use.
In the same pan, heat another tablespoon of oil and add the pickling and chopped brown onions. Sauté until they begin to brown. Remove them from the pan and reserve for later use as well.
After chicken is cooked through and tender, take it out yet again. Strain the sauce from the pot to the pan, pressing on the vegetables to extract all the sauce. Discard the solids.
Bring sauce to a simmer, scraping and deglazing the pan.
Return sauce to the pot and add the lightly browned onions. Bring to a simmer over low heat. Cover and cook until onions are almost tender, around 8 minutes. Add boiling water if the sauce has reduced too much.
Add mushrooms and bacon to the pot. Cover and simmer until onions become very tender, after around 8 minutes.
Season sauce with salt and pepper according to taste.
Return chicken to sauce and warm for a few minutes.
Serve by spooning sauce and vegetables over chicken. Garnish with parsley. Goes great with untoasted French bread, wild mushroom couscous or parsleyed baby potatoes.