A healthy homecooked lunch

I decided to cook my lunch today and matched plain rice with two dishes for a balanced meal. I attempted to cook Chicken in Soy Sauce in order to reproduce my mum's dish. She used to make it for me when I was young. I used drumlets for convenience but had to experiment with ingredients to get the gravy correct. I marinated the chicken in oyster sauce and teriyaki sauce. Then I boiled the chicken in a gravy made from sugar, dark soy sauce, dried thyme and oyster sauce. I thickened the gravy with cornflour. It was not too bad but of course, it was not the exact replica.

I then made Asparagus Soup. I added bay leaves, ginger, dried scallops and fresh squid to get the flavour, before adding asparagus and wolf berries to it. It was not too bad but I think I had to simmer it for a longer time in order to make it 'perkat' or thick.

Upon eating the meal, I felt as if I was brought back in time. I finished every drop of the gravy and ate every edible bit of the chicken. The soup was good too. The only thing is that the thyme and bay leaves were intense in flavour and covered up the rest of the flavours.

Unusual food

Pig's brains is one of the foods offered in Singapore. I remember that I used to eat it when I was a child, as my mum had told me that it would make me cleverer. It tastes rather fine actually, somewhat like chicken liver.

Pan Pacific Hotel is offering durian puree as a topping for scones. It probably wants to imbue this traditional English biscuit with an Asian flavour. This new combination does not sound too bad, actually. Lemon curd is another of the toppings offered. I tried it for the first time, with wholemeal bread. It is not too sweet and absolutely delicious. It is a luxury to me though, because it is so expensive and exclusive.

A chocolate buffet is nothing people have not heard of, and the most famous one is at Fullerton Hotel. I had gone for a chocolate buffet a long time back, and it hugely contributed to my present minimal liking for chocolate. Now, Carlton Hotel has come up with a durian buffet. Wow, that takes the cake man! My mum would have loved this. She is the most passionate durian-lover in the family :) What will the epicurean industry come up with next, I wonder? :D

Durian is being experimented with in dishes like Peking Duck and Baked Rice. Perhaps the durian puree replaces the plum sauce in the crepe. Though it seems to be suitable for the dish, using it is rather ill-fitting, from my point of view. Durian in the rice, as a substitute for cheese, is also bizarre to contemplate. It is no wonder that it could not complement the rice.

Spice Peranakan has a new dish on its menu: Chinchalok Omelette. This sounds rather interesting actually. Instead of normal fillings like Onion, Mushroom, Ham and Chai Poh, this is an innovative filling. It gives an Asian twist to a typically Western dish. If more could have been used though, it would have been good. It is only discernible when the omelette is eaten on its own, according to Wong Ah Yoke. Then again, chinchalok is an ingredient that few people are used to eating due to its strong taste.

Some more unusual food are: Bacon Ice-cream, Garlic Ice-cream, French toast Ice- cream, Chocolate Mayonnaise, Chocolate Beer and Beer Ice-cream.

House of Soto as featured in the current issue of 8 Days magazine

It has a signature dish of Soto Mee Ayam which is topped with pieces of Fried Spring Roll filled with bee hoon. It sure does sound bizarre. I initially thought they were Fried Dough Fritters, which do not look as bizarre.

It also offers another dish: Beef in Buah Keluak Soup. As a true-blue Nonya, I am deeply offended by this, actually. Buah Keluak is usually cooked with chicken and to make it as a soup dish is to undermine its true usage, I feel. It is a plagiarism-gone-wrong of the original dish of Ayam Buah Kelauk.

Plans for the next cookout

Potato and Carrot Soup(done)
Chicken Cordon Bleu
Lime Fruit Jelly

Ayam-wan Kepiting

No-bake Blueberry Tarts(done)

Ham Rosti
Chicken in Maple Syrup with Rosemary and Thyme
Rissoles
Sweet Potato Balls

A week of guinea pigs

I cooked for a few friends of mine but sad to say, I had to eliminate some on my list, due to my leg condition. I cooked for Gen Sausage in Tomato Sauce, Onion Omelette and Fried Chicken Wings. The review was that she loved the sausages, the egg was waxy-looking, as I had fried it for too long a time, and the chicken wings were oily as I saw her try to rub oil off. I decided to cook Japanese Rice instead but I guess she wasn't used to it. For dessert, it was Sara Lee's Apple Pie with berries as garnishing. She liked the blackberries and the pie was warm from the oven.

Cheryl had it bad though. I decided to cook noodles instead, accompanied by Tuna Cakes, Chicken in Black Bean Sauce and Seaweed Soup. The food grew cold as we started our meal late. The noodles became dry and stuck together. Thank goodness I reheated the soup and it softened the noodles. The Tuna was obviously not nice as it was cold. The chicken dish was fine but I did not add enough water and so it was a little salty. There was not much soup left after reheating. The redeeming factor was my Lime Fruit Jelly which had set perfectly. She enjoyed it. My student Huijie had the better lot as I toasted the Tuna before letting her try. She liked it. :D

Minglong was next. I cooked rice, Seared Scallops, Korean-style Beef with Asparagus, Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce and Miso Soup. The scallops were a little salty, the beef was good :D, the satay too and the soup was a little salty. He found the Apple Pie all right.

One of my best friends came for dinner. I put less salt on the scallops but he found it fishy. He liked the beef which was cooked Teriyaki-style and with Yellow Peppers instead. He thought the Prawn Cakes were Salmon Cakes and he liked the Tofu with Mushroom and Cucumber Soup, which I had added Dried Thyme to. I cooked Minced Chicken in Soya Sauce, to reproduce what my mum had cooked for me when I was young. The taste was rather authentic but I put in too much dark sauce. I had Starfruit and Berries for dessert. The Starfruit had turned brown as I had not added salt to prevent it. He liked the raspberries as I do. They are sweeter.

Meifen requested for Nonya food and so I cooked Sambal Squid, Chicken in Korean-style Sauce, Cucumber in Dried Shrimp Blachan, Teriyaki Chicken Wings, Potato and Carrot Soup, and rice. I made Strawberry Fruit Jelly for dessert.The squid was good as I had used Prima Taste's Nonya Sambal, which is very authentic in terms of true Nonya cuisine. However, I had cut the squid into too small pieces and having left the dish out for a while, the squid became hard. The first chicken dish was good. I could really taste the ginger included in the sauce while the wings became oily after being left out for a while. Toasting them before I ate them for dinner, made them taste way better. The vegetable dish surprisingly received a good review, and I did this from scratch. :D The soup was really good, close to the exact taste that my mum's version was. I used chicken cubes for the stock, added button mushrooms and dried herbs though. My student liked it too, even though I felt it was a little salty. The dessert was good and had no added sugar. :)

I used pre-packaged sauces and marinades to cook, for convenience, and the results weren't too bad. :) I decided to start much earlier than my previous attempts, as I have a time management problem when it comes to cooking. I have made some of my guests wait for me. However, the disadvantage is that the food grows cold as a result. Sigh.

Big breakfast at Cafe Cartel with Di and Theodore

My order. It was filling and good!









The guys' order. They each ordered one of this set. The pancakes look fluffy and the sausages look more well-grilled than the ones above. :S







Hot Chocolate: mmm....

Zhou's Kitchen at Square 2

Sakura Chicken: chicken in a fragrant rose-tinged sauce. Love it!