Risotto & Dessert

It time for a break from Chinese food for dinner. Hence on Friday night, I decided to cook mushroom and pancetta risotto for dinner served with the baby carrot that I had bought earlier from the farmer's market.

Since risotto is something that does not need much preparations, I decided to make dessert to go with the dinner. My partner suggested to make some steam puddings. Therefore, it's my responsibility to find a recipe of steam puddings. I was searching high and low for the steam puddings recipe through the Cuisine Magazine that my partner had collected since May 2006. After spending an hour looking through all the magazine, I managed to find 2 puddings recipes which were coconut bread pudding with fresh pineapple & mango puree, and date & ginger stickies.

Between the two recipes, the bread pudding is a steam pudding and meanwhile the date & ginger pudding needs to be baked. My partner preferred to have date & ginger stickies this time. Hence I am off to the nearby supermarket to buy the ingredients needed.

Preparation of the pudding was very easy and takes about 20 - 30 minutes only. Then you just bake it in the preheated oven for another 15 - 25 minutes. And it's ready to be served. I served the pudding with some berries coulis which provides some sourness taste to compliment the sweet pudding. The pudding turns out to be a very delicious and not very sweet to my liking.

Date & Ginger Stickies (Recipe from Cuisine Magazine)

Serves: 12

Ingredients:

60g butter, plus extra for the tin

200g dates, chopped into small pieces

3/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 cups boiling water

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup golden syrup

2 eggs

1 teaspoon banilla essence

1 1/3 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

50g crystallised ginger, finely chopped

Methods:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degree Celcius fanbake.

2. Butter 12 small muffin tins with a little extra butter.

3. Put the butter, dates, baking soda and water in a large bowl.

4. Soak this mixture for a couple of minutes. The mix in the sugar and golden syrup.

5. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla then fold in the sifted flour and baking powder.

6. Mix in the ginger.

7. Pour the mixtures into the muffin tins to about 2/3 full.

8. Bake for about 15 - 25 minutes or until the cakes feel firm in the center.

9. To check whether the cakes is fully cooked or not, insert in a skewer in the center and if it comes out clean, it means it's fully cooked.

10. To serve warm, heat up the puddings in the microwave for 20 seconds.

Polar Blast hits New Zealand

It's already the mid month of August, which means the winter season is almost to an end. However, this week there's another polar blast that hits New Zealand causing heavy snow falls across the country.

According to the local newspaper article,New Zealand Herald, it is one in 50 year event and warned that it could last for a several more days. Even some parts of Auckland may have snow falls.

So far, I have not seen any snow in Auckland, but this morning there's hail around the area where I lived. Hail don't happens often. It come and go very fast, maybe in just 1 - 2 minutes. Previously hail does happen in sometime last month, but I missed the chance to take a photo of it. Hence this morning, I quickly grab the camera and opened the room's window took some photos of the hail that happened outside our house through the cold blast.

Once I opened the window, I managed to see a group of hail on top of the roof just outside my room. Quickly I snapped a photo of it.

Then looking down, I saw my car also being scattered with hail on it, and quite a few sits on top of the screen viper.

The hail stones don't last for long as the rain and sun actually melted it away very quickly.

Today is definately a cold day. While I am typing this blog, I can feel that all my fingers are freezing and I definately in need of a glove for now.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

In a day where I don't have to cook for dinner as my partner and I will be having the leftover food from the accumulation of 2 days dinner, I took the opportunity to bake a pandan chiffon cake.

It is my first time baking it. While I was at home, my mum used to bake orange chiffon cake quite often. Meanwhile I am the usual one who was helping to extract the orange juice for my mum baking.

I personally enjoyed eating chiffon cake and I can have 2 -3 pieces each time. Also in my opinion, it's the easiest cake to bake after all. Besides, my partner had always been waiting for me to bake it since the first time I mentioned it.

Therefore, on Wednesday, I decided it's time for me to bake pandan chiffon cake.

It took me some time to extract the pandan juice from the frozen pandan leaves. (Only frozen pandan leaves are available in New Zealand) After an hour plus of the preparations, it is time to set the pandan chiffon cake into the oven.

Once it was set into the oven, I kept peeping it with my finger crossed hoping that it will be successful. And after about 40 minutes, it is proven that I had successfully baked a pandan chiffon cake. It looks and taste nice though minus the pandan flavours. Perhaps the pandan juice were too diluted or I may need pandan essence to further enhance the flavour. However, I am very satisfied with the results that I had.

Pandan Chiffon Cake Recipe

Makes: 2 x 18" cake tin

Ingredients A
8 egg yolks
60 grams castor sugar
140 grams self raising flour
4 tablespoons pandan juice
6 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Ingredients B
8 egg whites
140 grams castor sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar



Methods:
1. Separate the egg yolks and egg whites into two different mixing bowls.
2. Add in the sugar (from ingredients A) into the egg yolk and whisk with hand.
3. Then add in the pandan juice, olive oil and vanilla essence (ingredients A) into the mixtures and mix it well.
4. Lastly add in the self raising flour into the mixtures and mixed it to become a smooth batter and leave it aside.
5. Beat the egg whites using a mixer until it is foamy.
6. Add in cream of tartar and mix well.
7. Gradually, add in the sugar and mix well.
8. Beat the egg white mixtures until it is white, stiff and shining.
9. Preheat oven at 175 degree Celsius.
10. Slowly add in the egg whites mixtures into the egg yolks mixtures. Gently fold it in using a spatula. Mix it well.
11. Pour the mixtures into the cake tin and bake it for about 40 minutes or until it is brown.
12. Once the cake is done, topple the cake upside down to cool.

3-Cups Chicken & Stir Fried Brocollini for Dinner

Tuesday was another night where I have to prepare the dinner again. Looking through the recipe book and websites, I had come to a decision to cook 3-cups chicken with the 2 boneless thighs that I had bought earlier.

This dish suppose to be cooked using a claypot, but I used only an ordinary cooking pot to cook it. This dish turns out to taste a little like a hokkien dish called "muar eu kay" which literrally means sesame oil chicken. Before cooking the chicken, I marinated the chicken with some baking soda powder for 10 minutes before cooking to keep the chicken meat soft, tender and smooth.

Meanwhile, the vegetables for the dinner was brocollini. Instead of just steaming it, I stir fried it with some dry scallops.

And at the same time, I also prepared "tong sui" (sweet chinese dessert) for after dinner. I prepared a "lor han quo 罗汉果" (also known as Buddha's fruit/ monk fruit) with dried longan and snow fungus.

Deep fried red kumara was a thing that my partner had prepared to go with the dessert.

It turns out to be a very full and satisfying dinner to myself and my partner.

Lor Han Quo, Dried Longan and Snow Fungus Sweet Dessert Recipe

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 pcs of lor han quo 罗汉果

1 pcs of dried snow fungus

2 handful of dried longan

4 pcs of dried honey dates

About 1 litres of water

6 teaspoons of dark molasses sugar

Method:

1. Boil the water.

2. Wash the lor han quo and crush it. Then put the whole fruit (with the skin on) into the boiling water.

3. Also add in the dried longan and boil for about 30 minutes.

4. Then add in the dark molasses sugar and boil for about 10 minutes.

5. Rinse through the snow fungus and remove the core of the fungus. Cut it into bite pieces.

6. Lastly add in the snow fungus and boil for another 10 minutes and it is ready to be served.

Dry Bak Kut Teh

It's my turn to do the cooking for this coming 2 months as my partner's mum is back to her hometown. Before that, I had been wondering what should I be cooking for dinner. Till yesterday, I decided to cook a Klang version of dry bak kut teh.

In Malaysia, especially my hometown in Klang, bak kut teh is almost available at every corner and every hour (from morning till evening). Malaysians have the choice of having bak kut teh for breakfast, lunch, dinner or even supper. One of my ex-Executive Director always having bak kut teh for breakfast as it is one of his favourite. I remembered I did join him a few times for breakfast. 

Bak Kut Teh (肉骨茶), is literally translated as "Pork Bone Tea" in hokkien dialect. According to Wikipedia, Bak kut teh was introduced to Malaya in the 19th century by Chinese coolies and workers of Hokkien origin. The dish is reported to supplement the meagre diet of port coolies and as a tonic to boost their health.

There are a few different version of bak kut teh. The Hokkiens' version uses dark soy sauce which is why the soup base is darker in colour as compared to the Teochews version. which is lighter in colour with more peppery taste. Apart from that, in around 1996, another Hokkien's version of bak kut teh was being introduced, which are famously known as the dry version of bak kut teh.

The dry version of bak kut teh flavour is totally different as compared to the soup version. The dry version of bak kut teh is being cooked with additional ingredients such as okra/ lady fingers, dried chilies and dry squids, which resulted to a more tangier and sharper taste.

In Klang, there are lots of famous bak kut teh places that you can visit in Klang. And I would recommend you to a few places below which I personally find it very tasty as compared to the rest.

• Lai Choon, located in Jalan Pekan Baru, Klang
• Mo Sang Kor, located in Pandamaran
• Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh (also famously known as under the bridge), located in Pork Klang
• Ah Tao Seafood Bak Kut Teh, located in Teluk Pulai

After doing some surfing, there's a few reviews on the restaurant mentioned above that you can also read through by clicking on the link above.

For my dry version of bak kut teh, I served it with some Chinese cruller (油条) and stir fried cos lettuce with fermented bean curd (豆腐乳) as the side. Meanwhile for my rice, I garnished it with some deep fried shallot and some cut spring onion/ corriander garnish for the soup broth.

Below are my "Dry Bak Kut Teh" Recipe for your reference. Hope you will enjoy eating it.

Serves: 4

Soup Broth Ingredients:

2 pack of prepacked bak kut teh spices (recommending Tean's Gourmet brand)

500g pork belly

300g pork ribs

400g canned mushrooms (whole)

12 pcs deep fried beancurd (also known as tau fu pok ,豆腐卜/ 豆腐泡, in hokkien dialect)

2 pcs whole garlics

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons wolfberries

Preparations:

1. Boiled a pot of about 1.5 litre water.

2. Add in the 2 prepacked bak kut teh spices into the boiled water and simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Using another new pot, boiled another half pot of water. Then use the boiled water to boiled all the pork belly and pork ribs for about 5 minutes. (This method is to remove all the unwanted smell from the pork and also the bubbles that it will create.)

4. Then, add in all the pork belly, pork ribs, wolfberries, salt and dark soy sauce and simmer for about 40 minutes.

5. Add in deep fried beancurd and canned mushrooms into the soup. Simmer for another 15-20 minutes.

Dry Version Ingredient:

10 pcs dried chilies

2 pcs birds eye chilies

8 pcs okra/ lady fingers (depending on the size and your preference)

Handful of dried squid (also known as jiu hu in hokkien dialect)

3 tablespoons dark soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon of salt

500ml of bak kut teh soup broth

Preparations:

1. Remove all the pork belly and pork ribs from the soup broth.

2. Rinse the dry squid with water.

3. Heat the claypot with some oil.

4. Fry the dry squid until it is fragrant.

5. Then add in the dry chilies and bird eye chilies. Fry until it is fragrant.

6. Add in all the porks into the claypot.

7. Then add in dark soy sauce, salt and about 500ml of the soup broth into the claypot.

8. Simmered it until it is almost dry, then add in okra and stir fry till it's cooked.

9. Serve with rice and the soup broth together.

Sansui Japanese Cuisine & Bar

I am back again to Sansui Japanese Cuisine & Bar after our first memorable experience there. You can read my first experience that I had blogged earlier here.

This time we were back again on our second visit. This time instead of ordering the dinner set, we ordered from the ala-carte menu. By this way, we were able to try out the different things that are available from the menu.

We ordered an appetizer which was the deep fried fish bone. So far, this is the only Japanese restaurant which serves this type of appetizer. As according to my partner, this brings him back the memory of his time when he travelled to Japan. Because this was one of the appetizer that he enjoyed back then in Japan. By just looking at the photo below, you can imagine how crunchy it is. Every bite of the fish bone will produce the crunchy sound (krop-krop-krop).

Then we ordered a healthy seaweed salad. In the seaweed salad, there's a few variety of different seaweed were being added in. Some were red in color, some were dark green and some were light green.

Next to come was the homemade pot stickers dumpling which is also known as the gyoza.

We tried another type of sushi this time, which was the California roll. It was being served in a platter plate that provides 9 little squares. There were 8 pieces of sushi, and the balance of 1 little square is being used to accommodate the pickled gingers and wasabi. This presentation is indeed very creative!

Then it comes the sukiyaki hot pot. This sukiyaki hot pot contains some beef, vermicelli, tofu and garnished with some spring onion and carrot.

And last dish to arrive was the lightly manuka chip smoked Aoraki salmon. This dish arrived with a little bowl cover. Inside the bowl were full of the manuka chip smoked whereby the salmon fish being infused with. Once you remove the bowl cover, the smoke were being released. However, once you put the salmon into your mouth, you will be able to taste the manuka chip smoke.

We had both the sukiyaki and lightly manuka chip smoked Aoraki salmon with rice as our mains.

By the time we had finished all our food, our tummies were fully filled as well. Therefore, we give the dessert a miss this time. Besides, we had tried most of their dessert during our first visit.

Sansui Japanese Cuisine & Bar

Swanson Street

Auckland

Phone: 09 377 1347

Website: http://www.sansuinz.com/

Mentatz

Walking around the city wondering what will be our lunch for that day as we had already decided to have Japanese for dinner later. My partner suggested us to walk around Lorne Street to see if there's anything interesting as there's a few little restaurants/ cafe around.

As we walked past, we thought we shall try out korean at one of the restaurant. But we were quite hesistated to go in as there isn't any crowd around, as we thought it may not be as nice. Hence we further our walk down and ended up having Japanese again for lunch at Mentatz. However, it will be quite different with the dinner that we wanted to have as Mentatz specializes in tonkatsu ramen.

Since Mentatz specializes in tonkatsu ramen, we both ordered ourselves a bowl of ramen to try it out. I had ordered myself a spicy miso based broth ramen with pork cutlets. I can't recall what is the name of the dish already. Meanwhile for my partner, he ordered a tonkatsu ramen.

We were both impressed by the freshness of the ramen and the broth. It is definately a good lunch during the winter.

As according to the Japanese Restaurant booklet that I had gotten earlier, it mentioned that you can get your noodles done to your own liking: medium, well-cooked, etc. Besides, Mentatz provides patrons with the very Japanese custom of kaedama: if you've brought appretite to spare with you, finish your first lot of noodles and - leaving the broth still in your bowl - utter the magic words, "Kaedama kudasai", and you will be provided with another serving of noodles for the reasonable price of $1.50.

Mentatz Japanese Restaurant
28 Lorne Street,
Auckland

Tel: 09 357 0960