When I first read Gastronaut's account of his fabulous dinner at Red Star, I was filled with fascination, and curiosity to try the dishes he enjoyed. My friend Andrew must have felt the same, because he met up with the restaurant owner and their master chef to arrange a similar dinner which will turn out to be the best meal of this year. Granted, we are only in our first month, but I doubt that anything else will top this experience. My only regret was that I forgot to bring a camera, so all I have to share are the images from my mobile phone. I posted the pictures on Instagram as I took them, and the "likes" came in fast and furious. Enjoy!

The restaurant is huge, and the decor largely unchanged since it was opened decades ago. No black plastic chandeliers or artfully lit mirrors, but lots of carved murals, rosewood fixtures and, for our dinner, they brought out their special gold serving ware that are embellished with carved dragons and phoenixes. Sharks fin made a nomimal appearance as Osmanthus Fin, I remember eating this when I was very little. You take a bit of the scrambled egg mixture topped with fin and wrap it in a crunchy cos lettuce leaf. Fun and delicious.

I loved these. Crab meat, liver and pork. It's like a super-deluxe scotch egg, minus the egg white. We had some magnificient wines to go along with our food, and this was just perfect to accompany them.

A river carp, complete with dorsal fin and whiskers (one missing because I clumsily swept it aside). So artfully composed we didn't want to eat it, and when we did, we realised that there was no fish inside., instead there were strips of ham, slices of roast ducks, chunks of chickens and slivers of mushroom.

This was the most stunning dish of the evening. A whole chicken, deboned, gutted, and stuffed with bird's nest, then double boiled. A dish to excite the most jaded palate.

Served in two parts. The first bowl with quail egg to bind the bird's nest.I had two because husband doesn't like bird's nest. In a way, I am glad I have the Instagram filter, it really shows the mood and opulence. 

Another double helping of bird's nest. The broth was light and clean, pairing elegantly with the tender bird's nest. Truly luxurious, and probably much nicer than having a shot of Botox.

Most of us only know bird's nest cooked into a sweet soup, but someone at our table reminisced that when she was a little girl, this dish would be served at very special occasions, like her grandfather's birthday banquet.

 

Suckling pig. The skin was beautifully thin and crackly-crisp. The meat underneath was perfectly cooked too.

Another favourite at the table. A whole duck deboned and stuffed with glutinous rice and then deep-fried. The rice was meltingly rich with hints of dried shrimps and a beguiling, mellow sweetness from the duck juices.

There was also a 2kg soon hock fish, and this- braised, stuffed sea cucumbers. Husband loves sea cucumbers, so I gave him my portion. He said it was very delicious. The final course of fish- braised beehoon was very good too.

So I didn't think I could manage desserts, but this was what was rolled out on a trolley. Water chestnut ingots and a kueh straight from my home economics textbook- ondeh ondeh.

I loved the ondeh-ondeh so much I ate two pieces. The kueh had more sweet potato than flour, unlike so many commercial versions which inverses the ratio so much it has conditioned consumers to think that that is the norm. One bite and the warm gula melaka syrup oozes out for a satisfying sweet treat. 

Most of the recipes are multi-stepped and labour intensive, not really feasible in today's restaurants' high wage/labour crunch environment. Only a few people know how to cook these, or are willing to.  . Much as I am wary of romanticzising the past, regretfully, we will not have much chance to repeat the experience. Today most Chinese restaurants seem to think it's okay to fob off customers with  (mostly synthetic) truffle oil and foie gras of dubious provenance and call them luxury dishes. A bit sad really. What we had was more heartfelt, a glimpse of the delicious past and a rare treat. I will remember it always.

Both are by the same author. Instead of reading the mathematics modelling guide I bought at the same bookstore (Popular), I tore through these two mystery novels overnight. 

(Image from goodreads site)

I started with The Devotion of Suspect X, because this was the book that made him famous as a thriller/suspense/whodunnit writer. The crime happens early in the book, and we get to know who is the culprit, but it's what follows that grips the reader. Don't start, you won't be able to stop.

(Image from Janet Reid website)

Like the first book, this story is set in Tokyo. There is also a murder, and we kind of know who is the murderer, so we just have to figure it out. The bookstores try to sell  him as a Japanese Stieg Larsson which it isn't really, not even 10% of, he's more like Agatha Christie actually; nevertheless just enjoy it as a quick and satisfying read.

Happy 2013 to all my readers. I wish that you will fulfil all your dreams and aspirations, as well as enjoy lots of wonderful meals with your loved ones.

December 2012 whizzed by, didn't it? School was out, and during my time that meant that my parents could ship me off to my grandparents' house in Salak South New Village.

New Villages are unique to Malaysia. Banish any thoughts of idyllic Downton Abbey setting, and cast your mind back to somewhat turbulent times in the post-war period in Malaysia. Communism was the ideological enemy, and the British colonial government declared a period of Emergency to fight the threat. Many Chinese were forcibly moved from rural villages into New Village settlements located near or along roadsites so as to isolate them from Communist influences.

My father, a young man then, as soon as he was able to save enough money, found some builders to make a simple single-storey house in one of these settlements on the fringe of the capital. There dwelled my father's family for years and years, until the grandchildren are grown and moved out with their own families. The house was basic, with plumbing and electricity, but my aunt used chopped wood for her cooking. Chickens and the occasional ducks or geese ran about the compound which was dotted with trees like the jackfruit which gave big but not particularly fragrant or sweet fruits from time to time; other neighbours had bigger orchards with rambutans (rife with giant black ants and ferocious red species), mangoes or even better, durians. Every school holidays, we would stay about a month at this house. We spent a lot of time outdoors with our cousins, making sand sculptures, torturing those ants, fighting, making up stories, and looking forward to the ice cream seller coming by on his bicycle. The cartoons came on the telly at about 5 pm, that's when we returned to the house. If it rained, we read, I went through my father's and aunts' books, there were not many, but the collection was quite ecletic, and there was also a huge collection of black and white photographs to pore over. We didn't have many toys, in fact, hardly any, nor any computers, mobile phones or iPads. Just whatever amusement we could rustle up ourselves, like dressing up or play-acting. No adult supervision, everyone was busy doing something, as long as we didn't get hurt or start a fire, nobody minded what we were up to.

In contrast, my daughter's holiday was turbo-charged. She had to go back to school for ballet practice twice a week, on other days she had tuition and art or piano lessons. We went prawning, rock-climbing, shopping, play-dating, and baked a lot. Sometimes, I let her zombie-fy herself with cartoons, but on the whole, her holiday was nowhere as carefree as mine was. It's the same story with my nieces and nephews. So much so that we all wanted to take a break from our holidays. We, as in my brother and us, decided to go for a short trip to Hong Kong. 4 children under the age of 10, and 7 adults including my parents. I felt like a tour operator, escorting our motley bunch to various destinations. We had a great time, but it was also a bit tiring.

One of the most memorable meals we enjoyed was dinner at the Manor Seafood Restaurant at 440 Jaffe Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong (+852 2836 9999). I had emailed my friend,  Susan Jung for advice on where to eat, and she also helped us make reservations and pre-ordered some dishes. She has a new cookbook out too, go buy it quickly.

The restaurant looks like it has been there forever. The manager, Wendy, was very helpful and friendly. Our first pre-order came. Suckling pig. My father remarked that it looked rather big for a piglet, and before I had time to think about it, the kids had helped to hoover up all that lovely skin/crackling. Accompanied with discs of pliable wheat pancakes and hoisin sauce, it made a deliciously crispy and savoury start to our meal. The carcass was chopped up and yielded a lot of meat to make a separate dish.

This dish was an instant hit, so good we promptly ordered another portion. Oysters cooked in a claypot with ginger and spring onions. The oysters were plump and juicy and very sweet inside, but their skin had a gorgeous aroma from some wok-searing that intensified all the flavours further. It's such a simple and classic dish, but done very well.

We had more food. Vegetables and noodles, but not too much, because we were saving room in our stomachs for these gems. Golden Coin Chicken or Gum Cheen Gai. In between the pancake discs, the chef layers charsiu, roasted pork fat (yes, pure fat), chicken liver and taro. It was almost like a mille-feuille because there seemed to be two layers of taro, or maybe two layers of fat, they both looked very similar when we dissected the confection, but I didn't examine too closely. Very rich, very intense, and so good you will think about it for days and days after. The liver was done just right, not under nor overcooked, its flavours coming to the forefront despite the formidable tastes of the pork fat and charsiu, with the taro somehow bridging all the flavours and textures together. It was a very satisfying meal, the restaurant offered complimentary desserts but we didn't feel the need for even that.

I love restaurants like this. Old school, but in a class of its own. Thanks Susan! It's a great recommendation.

 

Ten years ago, it was hard to find organic food in Singapore. These days, organic products are easily available in supermarkets and specialty stores. My favourite supplier is Zenxin Organic Food. They have their own organic-certified farms in Malaysia, and whatever they don't grow, they source from other countries to complete their product range. In the beginning, we used their delivery service but now that the Cold Storage supermarkets have been allocating more space for their products, it is convenient for me to pop in to my neighbourhood store about 2-3 times a week to get my supplies. 

Ceri is the Product Manager for their Singapore store. When I sent a general e-mail enquiry to Zenxin for my first delivery, she replied immediately, the time was about 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning! She is great at customer service, very knowledgeable and passionate about her products,  and responds to feedbacks and queries efficiently. In person, she is warm and approachable, and always seem to be bursting with energy and good vibrations whenever we talk or meet.

Yesterday morning I finally made my way to their shop at the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre with V and a friend.  Ceri was in the store, and as it was nearly lunch time, she started making some lunch at their demonstration counter, using vegetables which are not pretty enough to sell but still good enough to eat. She used a Thermomix to make carrot soup for staff lunch. I have never seen a Thermomix in action before, this super all-in-one machine that weighs ingredients, whizzes them like a powerful food processor and then cooks the food.

Garlic and onions ready to be chopped really finely.

Ceri poured in some olive oil and the machine sautees the aromatics. In the meantime, she dropped potatoes through the top opening.

Carrots and about 2 L of water next, plus seasonings. The Thermomix cooks the soup while we shopped.

We sampled some soup. The texture was very fine and smooth, did not require passing through a sieve. It was delicious and satisfying, V loved it so much she scraped the bowl clean. The Thermomix is a nice machine. It doesn't occupy much foot print, the food processor is very powerful, the cooking efficient and there wasn't much clean-up to do after. I do not need another kitchen equipment, but if I was, I would consider getting one.

It was an enjoyable shopping experience, being able to browse and learn at the same time. I planned the trip because I wanted to buy some products which are not so amply stocked at the supermarkets, like dried fruits, flours, nuts, whole grains and miso pastes. Besides Ceri, the other staff are lovely too, always ready with suggestions and advice. It was a bit of drive to get there, but shoppers can apply for a membership card and get an instant 10% discount on their purchase. I'll certainly go back again.

 

 

 

 

 

Last weekend I hosted a Tupperware party. It was my first time, yet there was a strong feeling of deja-vu, because I remember attending such parties when I was a child. The best ones involved lots of layered multi-coloured jellies and fluorescent popsicles made with Tang and Ribena.

Our palates though, has since outgrown such innocent treats, something else is called for. I made some vanilla cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, those went down well with the adults and  children alike. For something savory, I turned to my helper. She suggested cucur udang, bite-sized prawn and vegetable fritters. It was too delicious, and were all too quickly eaten up. Here's how to do it. 

Ingredients: 3 types of vegetables, prawns de-shelled, cleaned and cut up into 2-3 pieces, tempura flour, 1 egg, salt, pepper and red chilli powder. Choose vegetables that would retain crispness  but not leach water when cooked e.g. french beans, cabbage, carrots.

Grate the carrots and cabbage, and cut the beans into little discs.

Season the prawns.

Toss the vegetables to mix, and season with chilli pepper, salt and pepper to taste.

Break the egg into the vegetable mix and stir it in.

Add the tempura flour. When I asked her, "how much?" She replied, "until it becomes sticky." Start with 3 heaped tablespoons and mix, until the vegetables are just about held together. She used about 5 tablespoons in the end, and did not need to add any water to loosen the mix.

The batter should look like coleslaw. Add the prawns last. Use hands to shape each fritter, ensuring that each piece has at least a good-sized piece of juicy, succulent prawns. Deep fry, drain and serve. Test the first piece to ensure correct seasoning, batter thickness etc. Can be held in a 50 C oven for a couple of hours before serving.

 

Last week I received an email from the digital marketing agency of Raffles Medical Group. They are running RMG Smart Subs on Facebook, in which participants submit recipes of festive treat with healthy substitutions. I thought it was a worthwhile cause to be involved in, so here is my effort- home made mince pies.

I first made mince pies when I was a student in London. Back then all we had to was to roll out frozen store-bought pastries and fill them with jarred mincemeat and we were perfectly happy to eat them throughout the festive season. These days, perhaps inspired by the marvelous TV series The Great British Bake Off, I prefer making my baked treats from scratch. Home made would also mean a product  free of unnecessary additives and preservatives, so it is a good start. Wherever possible I used organic ingredients, their nutritional values may not be higher than non-organic, but if it means we lessen our exposure to pesticides, fungicides and other nasty chemicals, it is worth the switch.

The recipe for the pastry came straight from the superstar baker Paul Hollywood published this week in the Guardian feature Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood's Christmas baking recipes. I didn't make any substitutions to the pastry as baking requires precision. The almond pastry comes together quite easily but it is extremely soft, and really needed to be properly chilled. The dough was still quite floppy when rolled out, even on a Silpat sheet, so my shells didn't turn out pretty. Still, my daughter and nephew pronounced the pastry as "good". Definitely no soggy bottoms. The almonds gave it a nice crisp texture and nutty finish.

The healthy part came mainly from the mince. I got the rough recipe from my third sister, who bakes them for sale every year.  Put fresh and dried fruit in roughly equal proportions. I peeled and chopped 3 red apples and eye-balled the other half in whatever dried fruit I had at home, which were raisins (green and dark), cranberries, wild blueberries and pineapple. Juice of 6 oranges and their pulp but not the zest as I was using normal oranges. Store-bought orange juice would do as well. For flavouring I put in a stick of cinammon, ground 2 cardamons and grated some nutmeg in as well as threw in 2 teaspoons of candied peel (could have made that myself but I was so short of time). The whole mix was cooked down on a medium fire until the apple softened and the liquid absorbed into all the fruits. To add sweetness to all the tart fruits, I used gula melaka, the caramelly palm sugar rounded the flavours nicely without being cloying, add 2-3 teaspoons to start with, and adjust accordingly.


The mince smelled wonderfully of Christmas as it cooked. When done, scoop into a wide bowl (to cool faster) and add chopped almonds and zest from some organic limes I had in the fridge. Also a generous glug of brandy. This recipe deviates slightly from traditional versions, which calls for suet, or kidney fat, an ingredient that is decidedly unwieldy and quite unhealthy.

To assemble, cut out rings of the rolled dough using 9 cm rings, lay them in a muffin or bun tin. They can be topped with a round of dough and sealed up, or left quite open with just a star-shaped topped, which I prefer as I like more fruit than pastry in each bite. Glaze with milk wash or egg (I prefer milk as there is less wastage), sprinkle with a little castor sugar and bake till golden brown in 180C.

Best served warm, with some coffee or brandy for the adults. My daughter loves these pies, but her cousins did complain of some tartness, which was alleviated by a light dusting of icing sugar. I still have quite a bit of mince in the fridge, might pair that with a sweet crust pastry next time.

 

This is Bendemeer estate. It is looking quite spiffy after some painting and upgrading. We usually park in the public carpark in front and walk through the common corridors of this apartment block (29) to the Bendemeer Market and Food Centre.

 

The main reason is Yong Xiang Carrot Cake, at #01-35. On weekends they sell other stuff like Teochew dumplings but I am only interested in their fried carrot cake. This stall has been around forever, I first ate here about 15 years ago. The same duo runs it, I am not sure if they are brother and sister or husband and wife. The lady does the frying and the man in the blue striped t-shirt takes order and collects payment. In the older days he delivered orders to customers' tables but now it is self-service only. It was difficult to get an unobstructed image because there is always a crowd of people waiting for their food.

Simple menu. I wouldn't bother with adding prawns. In my opinion, some hawker dishes like fried kway teow and fried carrot cake  are not improved from adding fancy ingredients because their main flavours come from aromatics like garlic and more importantly, the smokiness imparted by the intense heat of wok frying (wok hei); the prawns would even add unnecessary moisture which interferes in the searing process that makes the cake surfaces a bit charred and extra tasty.

Practice makes perfect. The carrot cake pieces are not mushed up untidily, many pieces remain  whole, the way husband likes it, and are delicious eaten on their own, yet there are also enough of the smaller flavour-packed pieces that I prefer. All tossed up with plenty of preserved radish (i.e. the "carrot"), garlic and scrambled egg pieces in a hot pan together with sweet dark sauce and chilli paste. The end result is not too sweet, very savoury, aromatic and mildly spicy. A great breakfast especially for weekend brunches, I love to accompany it with a mug of hot, milky tea.

This neighbourhood is not terribly affluent, made up of mostly elderly folks and households living in one-bedroom HDB flats. Prices remain quite reasonable, especially at this dessert stall, where most items come in at the $1.50 mark.

Not too bad eh?

Two Sundays ago, we had a small birthday celebration for V. Just family and some friends. On the morning itself I woke up in a bit of a panic,counting off all the tasks still left undone- including making fish fingers from scratch- and for a minute, I did regret not calling in the caterers.  Too late for that though, and at least we had a big pot of boeuf bourguignon sitting in the fridge. Which I had cooked with husband, the day before.

Actually, boeuf bourguignon has always been husband's specialty dish, he makes it about 3-4 times a year or for parties, and it is about the only beef dish we eat at home. He uses a recipe from a thick book with yellowing pages. I had never made boeuf bourguignon from this recipe before, so was curious to see it. First printed in 1976, the recipe pages are preceded by sections on seasonal produce, refridgeration, nutritional information and pictures of cows and lambs with the relevant cuts of meats. Recipes are charmingly old fashioned and surprisingly brief yet instructive, with cute icons to indicate if they are economical or expensive, easy or hard, and even if they are suitable for parties, prep and cooking time, plus caloric count. Caloric counts were big in the eighties, seem so quaint now.

Boeuf bourguigon comes in at 740 calories, I believe this is equivalent to a plate of char kway teow. The reason became clear when I read the ingredient list. 200g of lard and 100g of butter to 1.6kg of beef!  I always have butter in the freezer but no way was I using so much of my precious stash, and in the end we got away with using a good glug of canola oil and about 30g of butter for 3 kgs of beef (combination of stewing beef and shin, from Huber's Butchery). He pinched half the bacon that I bought for another dish I was making, forcing me to supplement that dish with ham.. but that is another story.

Other ingredients were small onions, carrots, and mushrooms. We were supposed to make a bouquet garni of mixed herbs, but I only put in the thyme during the cooking and sprinkled chopped parsley just before serving. The beef was marinated in a whole bottle of good red wine; the author recommended adding the carrots and onions into the bowl as well, but I decided against it as I didn't see the point.

First thing to do was to brown the bacon and render the fat out in the mixture of oil and butter. The crisped bacon pieces were scooped out, and then each piece of meat was seared individually. There was a crazy amount of oil spitting and spluttering since the meat was scooped out from the wine bath before touching hot fat, so I wore gloves to do the job.

The onions were next, they got tossed in the fat briefly while I scraped the bottom of the pot of as much of the fond (browned bits) as possible. The beef went back into the pot, and was sprinkled with 4 tablespoons of flour (recipe called for 8, but we preferred a thinner gravy) then we poured  the wine plus enough water to cover most of the meat, and the bunch of thyme jammed into the middle of the pot. Brought to boil, then lowered heat and simmered for 3-4 hours on low heat. Carrots in for another 45 mins, followed by mushrooms for 30 mins. At this stage it can be served, we kept it overnight which improved the flavour further. 

There is no picture of the finished dish as I was too busy and distracted. Everyone loved it, even the leftovers were packed as takeaway for someone's supper. The meat was tender, the vegetables still whole and succulent, and the gravy very flavourful without being greasy. All in, a reliable crowd-pleaser in any cook's repertoire.The French would serve it with boiled potatoes or tagliatelle pasta, but Asian palates would prefer to accompany with some steamed white rice.

 

 

 

At the corner of Eng Hoon St and Tiong Poh Rd, is an old-fashioned coffeeshop. Prime position is occupied by a yong tau foo stall. Available in "dry" or soup version, the only noodle option is beehoon.  The soup is worth trying, because the broth is light yet flavourful, if a bit on the salty side. The stuffed beancurd skin pieces are delicious, pliant and nicely spongy from bobbing about for a while in the big vat of soup. The fillings are not too floury, and taste of fish and a bit of pork (I am guessing). Fishballs are good too, sweet and bouncy. The best item is the rectangle of fresh tofu, smooth with a clear tofu flavour.

Last Saturday I was at United Square. At the fountain deck basement, I bought some clothes from a temporary stall run by two sisters; the two ladies were very warm and friendly and we soon got chatting comfortably. One of them, Mdm Cindy Ng, told me that her daughter is launching a new bookazine in November, and kindly gave me a copy.

be movement is a bookazine, I am not sure what that means but holding it, it feels as solid as a book and the content is made up of articles written in a magazine style, by people as diverse as entrepreneurs, musicians and reporters, and published at regular intervals like, well, magazines. 

The stories are not your typical magazine fluff, but are thoughtful and well written, many from a first-person narrative or in interview format. They inspire, affirm, or challenge one's self, yet without being preachy or earnest. Cindy was very excited to inform me that Noam Chomsky contributed an article, but that was actually not something positive for me, because Noam Chomsky writes serious books that my husband reads and then regurgitates to me in order to "internalise" them. Fortunately,  I am happy to report that the article, with the ponderous title of "Academic Freedom and the Corporatization of Universities", was quite readable even for someone with my low attention span. I have not finished reading the entire thing, but have been dipping into it in between appointments or daily tasks; it is better this way, the stories are best savoured one at a time.

be movement is magazine that I would not hesitate to reach out for the next time I see it in a bookstore. Its entire worthy content is also printed on lovely, thick paper, with nice fonts and stunning photography.  The social enterprise spirit behind it is, certainly, very admirable too.

Another feature to note- there are no advertisements, which sounds incredibly brave to me. It retails in Singapore for $18.90.  Alternatively, mobile subscriptions are a reasonable  at USD 5.99 per issue, or USD 19.99 for a year's membership (4 issues). It is not usual to see projects like this in Singapore, do support it if you can.