Mackerel lemon curry noodle

 

Mackerel lemon curry noodle

 

I used left over cooked mackerel to make the dish, but can use smoke mackerel too. Mild curry with warming spicy note and fresh lemony flavor that goes well with oily fish.

1. Take mackerel off bones, dry cook at medium heat in its own oil to dry and firm the texture.

2. Sweat garlic, onion and ginger until fragrant, add curry powder then coconut milk, cabbage, carrot and lemon zest, bring to boil and season with salt and sugar.

3. Add noodle of your choice and when ready, add juice of a lemon and mix in mackerel.

Baked lamb leg

Te Mana lamb, after searing

Friends gave me a lamb leg from New Zealand, a special breed and raised grazing on chicory, providing more protein than grass and the meat has higher level of Omega 3.

Baked lamb leg with rosemary and garlic

I noticed that it is indeed a very meaty leg at 1.5kg, without the shank part, and thus need longer cooking than normal. I cook it in the traditional way with rosemary and garlic. Found the meat very tender, fiber dense like tenderloin, very tasty.

Baked lamb leg

1. Season with salt and white pepper for a day.

2. Sear in a pan to brown all surfaces.

3. Spread a mixture of crushed garlic, chopped rosemary, olive oil and salt all over, wrap up in baking paper then aluminum foil.

4. Bake at 180˚C for 75minutes, rest for another 20 minutes.

Drunken pork in Mala sauce

Modification of a traditional dish prepared by my mother in winter months in the old days. Basically preserving pork left behind after a festive meal in wine, it can stay like that for a while in the fridge.

Drunken pork in Mala sauce

1. Cook a piece of 5cm wide pork belly in water until just cooked, I like to cook it in a soup hence not wasting any nutrients.

2. When cool, cut into 1/2 cm slices, season with salt and white pepper for a couple of hours.

3. Add fragrance liqueur, Shaoxin wine, whisky, brandy etc to moisten, rest for another few hours.

4. Arrange on a plate, sprinkle crushed roasted peanut mixed with finely grounded Sichuan pepper and brown sugar on top.

Nyonya cuisine in Penang, Malaysia

A cuisine created to serve important Chinese, Malay, Thai and British visitors in the old days, done to show off cooking skills and knowledge of all 4 styles of cooking. It could be a curry dish but if serve to British, the spicy hot chili will not be used. Best to try in restaurant in heritage building, for the overall atmosphere.  

Seven Terraces, Kebaya Dining Room

starters at Kebaya Dining Room

Main courses at at Kebaya Dining Room

Nyonya Private Kitchen

Nyonya Private Kitchen

  

Nyonya Private Kitchen

Nyonya Private Kitchen

Nyonya Private Kitchen

Penang, Malaysia 4 days visits

George Town, the biggest city on Penang, is one of two UNESCO towns in Malaysia, definitely worth a short stay to appreciate the history.

Traditional buildings

George Town traditional buildings

The old centre of George Town are lined with rows of over 100 years old 2 floors buildings, very long with a narrow front. These are mostly built by Chinese who immigrated here to work and their descendants have eventually earned enough to build their family home in the British colonial period. 

George Town traditional buildings

They developed their Nyonya culture, being a fusion of Chinese British Malay and Thai influences.
As the buildings are long and narrow, there is always a courtyard in the middle to bring in light and improves air flow. A lot of them are in very poor state and badly need attention.

The Blue Mansion

Those that are well renovated are mostly tourist shops, restaurants or hotels.
A number can be visited like The Blue Mansion, a boutique hotel with a restaurant, a nice treat from eating in the small eateries in the street.

The Blue Mansion

There is a Nyonya street map to show key buildings, shops, restaurants and cake shops.

Street art

street art

A few years ago a Lithuanian artist started painting in the street, of local people and animals. 

street art

The paintings are lively and quickly become a tourist attraction, even some shops has created paintings nearby to increase tourist traffic.

street art

It is essential to get a Map of street arts to easily locate them.

Outdoor visits - Penang hill, Entopia butterfly farm

Penang Hill Camopy walk

Penang Hill Swing

Penang Hill Crest Circuit

In George Town, by 10am, it becomes hot and humid, making walking around in town quite exhausting. It is nice to be able to escape to the hills to walk around in cooler conditions.

Penang Entopia butterfly garden

Penang Entopia butterfly garden

Penang Entopia butterfly garden

Penang Entopia butterfly garden

Sticky rice and almond flour cake with date paste

After making sticky rice flour cake with date paste a couple of times and being well received, it is time to modify the recipe according to my imagined possible improvements. 

Sticky rice and almond flour cake with date paste

In this recipe I substituted 1/3 of sticky rice flour with almond flour, making the finished texture less sticky. Also change from using boiling water to boiling coconut cream, the extra oil makes the dough much easier to handle and produce a softer cake, the coconut fragrance and flavor is minimal, with date still the focus.

100gm sticky rice flour

50gm almond flour

150gm coconut cream

date paste

Same procedures as in previous recipe.

Easy shellfish meal

This year the fish market has good supply of shellfish, my favorite. As I like their texture and the mild Umami natural flavor, cooking is on the minimum. Which make it easy to prepare for gathering, each course come slowly, accompanied by white wine or sake, to be enjoyed slowly so that there is ample time for talking and reflecting on the idea exchanged.   

Some dishes below to choose from, depending on what is best in the market.

Squid noodle in clam ginger soup

Squid noodle in clam ginger soup

Blanch a dozen of clams in just enough to cover water, season with ginger and spring onion, pick out immediately when open and keep the broth. 

Blanch for a couple of seconds squid tubes and legs to harden. Being a bit firmer, it is easier to slice the body thinly.

Just before serving, reheat the broth, warm up legs and place in individual bowls, then place all squid noodles in a sieve and sink into the broth for a couple of seconds, separate into the bowls, add some broth into each bowl and garnish with spring onion.

Cuttlefish in ginger spring onion sauce

Cuttlefish in ginger spring onion sauce

Blanch cuttlefish body in boiling water for 5 seconds, legs, cut up into segments for 10 seconds, they are still raw and transparent inside, overcooking will make cuttlefish very tough.

Grate a little ginger, cut up spring onion finely, season with salt and olive oil, mix with cuttlefish.

abalone with Duxelle

Lobster or abalone with Duxelle

I like to use mushroom as a side dish to go with shellfish, like lobster, scallop and abalone, so that they don't look lonely on a plate, and the mild savory flavor of mushroom will not mask the mild sweetness of shellfish.

Cut brown mushroom or shitake mushroom, red onion into small pieces, slow cook in oil until water evaporated, season with salt. Cut kaffir lime leave finely, mix with Duxelle or sprinkle on dish later. 

Lobster with Duxelle

Blanch small lobster in boiling water for 1 minute, remove from heat and wait for another 2 minutes, so that the centre is still raw and transparent. Cut into slices.

For abalone, blanch in boiling water for 30 seconds, trim the frilly black edges, cut into thin slices.

Place Duxelle in the center of plate and arrange lobster/abalone slices around.

baked Flower crab

Baked crab

Both Flower crab (lovely fully sweet flesh) and 3 dots crab loaded with fat (good Umami taste) are in season. For medium size crab, bake at 200˚C for 15 minutes, small size ones for 12 minutes.

While baking crab, a simple salad of lettuce and sliced apple can be served to clear the palette.

Chrysanthemum lettuce 苘蒿 with aged tofu 腐乳 sauce

I like the flavor of chrysanthemum lettuce, much more character than normal lettuce. Adding sliced apple which is the seasonal fruit now, gives crunch, colour and juiciness to the dish. I simply mix with a dressing of aged tofu, sesame oil and sugar, delicious.

Chrysanthemum lettuce with aged tofu sauce

Chef table, Convention Centre

When I am back in Hong Kong, I usually only eat Asian food, for a change, a good gourmet change. 

A friend organised a New Year celebration dinner at Convention Centre, in a private room with wonderful sea view, near the buffet restaurant at 4/f.

salad and mushroom

The 5 courses meal was prepared by head chef Bo, a young Danish/Hong Kong man with very good skill, flavor palette and excellent presentation. There are lot of ingredients and work on each dish, down to every dot on the plate is a surprise for the senses.  

seafood lobster and crab

ravioli with duck confit

Wagyu beef loin and rib

mousse and fruit dessert

Crab

Walked round the local market to see what is available at the fish stalls, got stopped and informed of the newly arrived 3 dots crab full of crab fat. They are a little bit small but looks good, can see the orange oil through the shell. 

3 Dots crabs with crab fat

Simply baked for 12 minutes at 200˚C, the crab fat is rich in flavor and flesh sweet and firm, a good treat.

Sticky rice flour cake with red date paste

Sticky rice flour cake with red date paste

The interest to make red date paste originated from the wish to eat this delicious traditional dessert, naturally sweet and fragrant from red date, chewy from sticky rice flour.

150gm sticky rice flour

135gm boiling water

10gm olive oil

red date paste

Sticky rice flour cake with red date paste, before cooking

1. Pour boiling water into sticky rice flour and oil, mix well with wooden spoon, and gradually form into a dough.

2. Divide into 8 portions, form round balls, flatten, add red date paste and form round dumpling then flatten.

Sticky rice flour cake with red date paste

3. In a non-stick pan with a little oil, sear both sides until slightly golden. Serve warm.

Red date paste

red date paste

Chinese red date is a sweet and fragrant dried fruit, used a lot in healthy soup to promote circulation. Red date paste is a good filling for sweet dessert, but is relatively hard to find as there is a lot of work to remove the skin and stone.

I bought some extra large red dates and immediately made me think of making this paste. 

red date

After reading up on the internet, I decided to try this following method, modified and simplified. I did not add oil in the paste as I like it less heavy:

peeled cooked red date

1. Cover red date 2/3 with water, bring to boil and simmer for an hour, turning regularly to soften the skin, until most water evaporated.

2. When cool enough to handle, peel skin and remove stone. 

cooked red date peeled and stone removed

3. Put back into the pot with any remaining cooking water, press to form a paste, colour will darken in the process. 

4. If the paste is too wet, dry cook in a non-stick pan until dry enough to use. Keep in the fridge and use within a few days.