Yum Yum Tom Yum

I was in Phuket last week for a meeting. Hotel food in the Patong area were so so. At the end of the 3-day meeting, I had requested Sandy, the local guide, to bring us to a good restaurant serving authentic Thai seafood. She recommended Danang Restaurant at Chao Fah Road, which is along the Charong Beach. Now Danang is a restaurant that is patronised mostly by the locals unlike the restaurants in the Patong area, which serves the tourists mainly. So the price was reasonable and the food really authentic unlike the watered-down versions we had earlier in the week.

We had the most incredible S$110 meal that fed the five of us ladies silly.

Best ever Seafood Tom Yum, chockful of prawns, mussels, flower crabs, fish, squids and abalone mushrooms. The soup has a lovely tang and was spicy enough to make your scalp sweat.

Giant Spicy Tiger Prawns the length of your palms, with a sauce so good that makes you go for a second and third helping of rice.


Fresh and sweet Steamed Fish in Lemon Sauce.

Fresh Oysters twice the size of your sauce plate and harvested off the Andaman Sea. As it was so big, I had to take three bites as I cannot slurp it down as with a normal oyster. It was super-delicious and had a 'crunch' to it. The Thais served them with seven kinds of condiments ~ fried shallots, chilli sauce, fine salt, sweet & spicy chilli/bean paste, garlic slivers, prik nam-phla and lime wedge. You add a little bit of each condiment to eat with the oyster.



Mud Crab with Tang Hoon. Springy mungbean vermcelli that has soaked in all the goodness and flavors of the crabs.

The ubiquitous Pineapple Rice.

We also had two different types of stir-fried vegetables, fresh coconuts all round and another round of fresh lime juice to douse the fire at the end of the meal.

Ummh...Danang will now be in my highly recommended list of restaurants.

Takoyaki

It has been almost a year since I last used this Takoyaki Hotplate, which was a present from my brother after one of his trips to Tokyo. After receiving this new toy, I had agreed to help Joanne to buy one should my brother visit Tokyo again. That was almost a year back.

My brother did not forget! Just two weeks ago, he lugged back another Takoyaki Hotplate for Joanne. It was also a reminder that I have left my own hotplate sitting forlornly in the cupboard, out of sight, out of mind. Having used it only twice previously, I thought it was high time I made some Takoyakis (is there a plural form for takoyaki???)again.

The Takoyaki batter cooking in the hotplate.


After turning them over


Served with Japanese mayonnaise, Otafuko sauce and Bonito flakes. Oishi.

It's Blooming Roses

Tried my hands at making roses out of sugarpaste. There is much room for improvement though. I have to roll the paste thinner and learn to overlap the petals at the right position. Now, my rose seems to be lopsided because the petals are concentrated on one side. Nevertheless, I am quite pleased with the results.

Drying the centre buds.


I tried dusting the pink rose on the right with some shimmer dust but instead of creating an overall sheen, what I got were patchy petals.


Back view of the sepals.


A bouquet of roses

Chilled Pork & Cucumber Rolls

Last Saturday, I attended yet another gathering organized by members of the Imperial Kitchen forum. As usual, each one of us brought a dish to share. My contribution, Chilled Pork and Cucumber Rolls, served with a sweet, piquant dip.


Chilled Pork & Cucumber Rolls

Ingredients:
Lean pork
Cucumbers

Sauce:
1/4 cup Char Siew Sauce
1 tbsp hot broad bean paste
2 cloves garlics - chopped finely
3-4 tbsp sugar
1/8 cup Worcestershire Sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sweet Thai chilli sauce
2 tbsp lemon juice
Toasted sesame seeds for garnishing

Method:
1) Slice pork thinly into strips approximately 4cm x 8cm wide.
2) Bring a pot of water to rolling boil and cook the pork slices in batches.
3) Run the cooked pork slices in cold water, drain well and chill in the fridge till required.
4) Mix all sauce ingredients together and chill in the fridge.
5) Using a vegetable slicer, slice the cucumbers very thinly lengthwise. Place on a napkin-lined plate to absorb any water.

Assembly:
Place a slice of pork on the cucumber.


Roll tightly and secure with a toothpick.


3) Chill all rolls in the fridge.
4) Dip into the sauce just before serving.

Note:
1) In place of lemon juice, you can use plum sauce.
2) Choose medium sized cucumbers. Avoid cucumbers that are too fat as the core will be thick and too seedy.
3) Slice on one side of the cucumbers till you reach the core, stop and then continue slicing from the other side. You do not want slices of cucumber with too many seeds on it.

Two Cakes

The first, a Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, was made specially for Leana who loaned me her winter coat recently.

The cake was to be decorated with walnut halves and miniature sugarpaste carrots which I made the previous evening. The sugarpaste carrots were added just before photo-taking. As I was taking the photo, I noticed that they started to slide down the cream cheese frosting, leaving behind a trial of unsightly green and orange.

I had no choice but to do some quick rescue work. I removed the carrots, scrapped out the stained portion of frosting, and then patched up the holes with whatever frostings I could scrap out of the mixing bowl. It was fortunate that I have some leftover roasted walnut halves and in the end, I had to use them to hide the repaired area.

Lesson learnt ~ sugarpaste are not buddies with cream cheese (oily?). Next time, use marzipan carrots instead!

Here is the Carrot Cake with the original design:


After the rescue work:

The carrots that never got to see the day!


The second cake which I baked was a Butter Cake that was studded with canned logans and dried logans. The two contrasting texture of logan makes for a very interesting cake. The canned logans were crunchy and juicy, while the reconstituted dried logans were soft and chewy. I will definitely bake this again as it is a nice departure from the usual raisin butter cake.

Toss For Good Luck

It was the last day of the Chinese New Year yesterday and we had our traditional Yue Sheng (Raw Fish Salad) Party at home.

As there are always so many of us, we will usually just throw a piece of new and cleaned plastic sheet over the entire dining table to be used like a giant serving platter. All the veggies will be piled onto the plastic sheet and we would all just toss away for good luck amidst loud shouts of 'Fatt Ah' (Cantonese for Prosperity).

Last year, we had shaped the salad into the outline of the Singapore island.

This year, being the Year of the Golden Pig, we decided to shape the salad into the Chinese character 'Zhu', which means Pig.

The salad, before adding the condiments.


With the condiments scattered all over the character. We added a heart outline to the character as the 15th day is also believed to be a Valentine day of sort whereby, if an unmarried lady were to toss a mandarin orange into a river, she will be blessed with a spouse quickly.


Ready! Set! Go! We have to hold up the sides of the plastic sheet to prevent the 25 overly enthusiatic diners from tossing the salad onto the floor.


Tossed and ready to be eaten.


And after the salad, a nice bowl of Abalone & Chicken Shreds Porridge.

Missing in Action

I have been MIA for the past month and I thank my supporters for emailing to check what is happening. I have been kept rather busy at work and have been working late quite frequently too. So by the time I reached home, I want nothing more than to slump myself on the sofa.

Anyway, I was away in Shanghai for a few days in late January for some company training and my Shanghai colleagues hosted me to a most wonderful dinner at the Xiao Nan Kuo, which is located just next to the Pearl Tower. Business in the restaurant was very brisk but the service staff were still attentive and quick to respond. I really enjoyed every single dish served and I was particulary intrigued by the Glutinuous Rice Stuffed Lotus Root. Coincidentally, just a couple of days before leaving for Shanghai,I saw this recipe while browsing through a cookbook at a bookstore and I remembered asking myself then how would this dish taste? I never imagine that it would taste so good. The lotus root has been boiled long enough to be soft while still retaining it's bite and the starchy glutinous rice gave it a nice contrast. Drenched with a sweet syrup flavored with Osmanthus, it was really an awesome combination. Strangely, instead of being served as a dessert, it was served as part of several appetisers that included Duck's Tongue, Drunken Chicken, Braised Tofu with Peanuts and preggy Fried Fish which is different from the Japanese Shishamo.

(Opps pardon me! I had completely forgotten to adjust the camera to suit the indoor lighting condition and my first few photos turned out with a yellow tinge)

Duck's Tongue, Braised Tofu with Peanuts, Fried Fish, Drunken Chicken


Some of the other dishes served following the appetisers:

Fried River Shrimps, Tofu with Roe of Hairy Crab, Saute Beef Slices


Sweet Sour Squirrel Fish, Fresh & Preserved Pork Soup with Bamboo Shoot, Grandmother's Braised Belly Pork


Minced Vegetables with Bamboo Shoots, Spring Onion Pancakes, Red Bean Puree with Glutinuous Riceballs


I also had the chance to try some streetside food:

Xiao Long Bao, Shanghai Meen Chang Kueh with Crispy Sugar Crust, Assorted Sweet Cakes & Ba Bao Rice.


How about a bowl of steaming hot Ba Bao Porridge for about S$0.20?


By the way, I liked the lotus root so much that I recreated this dish when I got back to Singapore.
(L)The one which I made, (R) The one served in the restaurant


The roots are stuffed with glutinuous rice.


The "end caps" are secured with toothpicks to prevent the rice from dropping out during the boiling process.


After boiling in syrup.


Chilled and sliced for serving.

Here's me, after a satisfying dinner, posing in front of the Pearl Tower.


Some of the goodies which I brought back from Shanghai: Duck's Tongue, Duck's Wing, Candied Hawthorn, Porkballs, Minature Candied Walnuts.....and when I saw the Yoghurt Flavored and Corn Flavored Rabbit Sweets, I could not resist the temptation.



For the Chinese New Year, I did not managed to do any baking as I had to use whatever available time left to carry out the spring cleaning. However, I did managed to steam some nice Koi-shaped Sweet Glutinuous Cake (Nien Gao) as gifts for friends and relatives. I lost count of the number of fishes I have steamed. Perhaps a dozen?






And for guests visiting during the new year, they were served pan-fried HongKong Style Radish Cakes.

If you have been visiting my blog you would have noticed that I have not been updating it as much as before.

Lately, my work has been keeping me very busy during the day and by the time I reached home, I am brain dead. I am still baking though, and I am still trying out new recipes about 2 or 3 times a week as this has always been my way of relieving stress. It is just that I have not been taking pictures of them or uploading them to the blog. Hopefully thing will return to normalcy for me and I can start to blog actively again.

Here is a roundup of some of the stuff that I have made the past week.

Special Chocolate Cake. This is one of my favorite no fail recipe taken from the Australian Women's Weekly and of which I have been using for years. It is easy to do, tastes rich and stays moist up to three days. I did not take a picture but it looks similar to the Cherry Chocolate Cake below minus the cherries.
Here is the recipe for my colleague Sharon who requested for it and for also for Annie from RH:

Special Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
500ml water
660gm caster sugar
35g cocoa powder
250g butter, chopped
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
450g self-raising flour
4 eggs, lightly beaten

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 175 degree C.
2) Grease a 10" x 13" cake tin and line base with baking paper.
3) Combine water, sugar, cocoa powder, bicarbonate soda and butter in a pot and heat without boiling till sugar is dissolved.
4) Increase heat and bring to a boil and then simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.
5) Transfer to mixing bowl and leave to cool till lukewarm.
6) Stir in sifted flour and eggs and beat till mixture is smooth.
7) Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick/skewer in the centre of the cake. Cake is done when no crumbs sticks to the skewer.
8) Cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool.

During the weekend, I tried a Steamed White Radish Cake taken from another blog. The ratio of radish versus rice flour/water initially scared me. I was apprehensive as to how the cake will turn out. Surprisingly, it was very good. It was robust, full of flavor and it tasted even better when lightly pan-fried. However, due to the large amount of white radish used, there was a tinge of bitterness in it. I made note on my recipe card that when making this cake again, I must squeeze out some of the radish juice to reduce the bitterness.

From the same blog, I tried a very innovative pseudo Tiramisu cake made from Cocoa Puff biscuits. You add cream, which have first been mixed with rum and vanilla essence, to the layers of cocoa puff biscuits. Then you top with more cream, some cocktail fruits and set the top with jelly.


The original recipe calls for Alsa Gulaman, a quick setting crystal jelly popular in the Philippines. I supposed I could find this at Lucky Plaza which is a haven for Filipino food products but I was too impatient to wait till my next trip into town. Since I do not have this on hand, I had substituted it with instant jelly dissolved in cranberry juice. It tasted real good. The biscuits have soften to a stage that it tasted like a rum soaked sponge and because I have added some Cheesecake candy oil to the cream, I feel as though I am biting into a cream cheese concoction..

This last cake, a Cherry Chocolate Cake is a bonus because I have been begging this lady for the recipe for the longest time. She had refused to impart the recipe to me and preferring to make me one each time she visits. However I think my patience paid off after all these years of nagging and bugging her. She finally relented but not without making me promise not to share the recipe. I just love the moist and chocolately flavor of the cake and juiciness that comes from the cherries. Yum!