11-11-11 Mission: 6 girls, a Cook-Off … and the Winner is …

In hindsight, life seemed like a bed of roses until a virus crushed our beds. It has been 8 long roller-coaster months (and counting??) of anxiety, akin to a Mother carrying a child in her belly. My beloved late Mum used to say with precision, “I carried you for 9 months 10 days”. Does that mean there’s hope after Christmas? In 2021….?

It’s a long dark tunnel we’re travelling in, but I have to believe there’s redemption in the darkest of circumstances.

Guess what? I’m going to paint the tunnel with the colours of the Rainbow! We need happy stories more than ever in this oppressively bleak moments.

Shall we play a game then?

Ready?

It was Sunday, 11th Oct. G, the last person I know in our group chat who would be sharing photos of food dishes, suddenly bombarded our chat group with her amazing platters. She confessed, “I really wanted something that reminds me of home kopitiam food”. 5 other charbors couldn’t agree more especially so when G is now with 2. Et voilà! 😉)

The prolonged lockdown or house-confinement has magically transformed many noob cooks to unsung heroes with their unimaginable sleight-of-hands in the kitchen. Colourful platters were virtually shared. THAT is the Rainbow I was referring to.

C: I miss Yong Tau Fu and Pan Mee
G: We should all come up with ideas on what Asian food challenge to cook next
A: Good idea!
D: I’m in! O, you’re also included in the challenge, ya 😉
X: OK. Let’s do it but first I need to buy Kway Teow 😅

And then, silence prevailed for a few days and suddenly, one message popped up in our group chat. X texted, “The best 007 has left us” *sob*

From Food to Bond. Very intriguing combo, indeed. Ha ha ha …

Set!

Wait a minute! Was it not exactly 5 years ago today when 6 girls met in Antwerp, had Cantonese-style yin yang rice noodles at Da Jia Le and coming out of the cinema humming to the tune of Sam Smith’s Writing on the Wall (aka Spectre with Daniel Craig as 007)?

Well, well, well…. History has repeated itself, albeit in an extraordinarily different way. On this 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th hour, 6 “Bond” charbors could not meet physically, but shared their moments virtually, a reminder of the delectable lunch they had in Antwerp on 11th November, 2015

And so the story goes … 5 very determined ladies showed off their take on a noodle dish (with a story to tell) that any 007 would swoon over. But little did they know that their dishes would be judged from North, South, East and West by the mysterious “M”

Go!!

5 entries were submitted, in no particular order …

Huh? It didn’t add up innit? There’re 6 charbors, but only 5 entries? Hmmmmm where’s entry number 6??

Well, somebody had to play “M” and that’s moi! Sorry, charbors 😜

While the 5 “Bond” girls slogged away with their prized platter, the mysterious “M” carried out a secret Mission. She had to pick the winning platter.

Which of the “Bond” girls won, you think?

Drum roll please….. and the winner is …..

Damn, that’s NOT easy. “M” knows the girls too well. Not fair lah! So the mysterious “M” called upon 18 Secret Agents from Europe, Asia, North America and Oceania to co-judge the winning plate.

Drum roll (again) please…
And the WINNER is …

Erm … hidden in the comments from the 18 judges, hereunder …

Can you decipher? 🧐🤔

“All look so yummy, how to judge? Especially when they are dished up differently”
“See photos only and not tasting, difficult lah. Maybe it doesn’t look nice but taste nice?”
“If I’m not saying right, no hard feelings ok. It’s just the presentation”
“Well, if you ask me to judge on which dish I’ll go and grab first based on the look, I would say this picture.  Based on presentation, I would say the top right photo.  Looks clean and decent”
“How the dish is presented, can be deceiving.  Let me taste all first, lah …”
“I feel that I must have a criteria to judge”
“I am sure many will choose their favourite dishes”
“I base my judgement on photo presentation”
“I’m not a very noodle person”
“Oh dear, I’m very bad at this.. ”
“I don’t really like all the wet, wet noodles. Only the curly kolo mee”
“This one is always my favourite”
“I ranked them in order of how they looked and the seasonings in the noodles”
“Give me 1 and 2 anytime. Yum “
“How to judge? In terms of presentation or which one looks appetizing?”
“I’m not a good cook so I really can’t decide.  All looked yummy. Anyway, the best is the 1st photo”
“Wait, since this is based on presentation only, I will have to look closer.”
“The plating for E is not pretty, but I bet the bee hoon and pork tasted superb”
“This plate is missing some greens, otherwise, it will be my no 1”
“Dry mee always comes first for me, except laksa ”
“I prefer bee hoon, mee pok, finer and thinner type noodles”
“If this was kway teow, automatically no 1”

“Looks delish ‘cause of the veg, fresh coriander, crispy shallots and meat”
“I like bee hoon with bean sprouts, carrots, omelette strips, spring onions or chives for colours”
“Looks delish, but noodle looks bland”
“This colour is not enticing. Meat looks ok but again the presentation and colour not attractive”
“My ranking depends on the season. In these cold days, I would say …”
“Looks like Thai dish, interesting!”
“Cantonese kway teow! My favourite!”
“3rd picture looks like dry foochow noodle? Looks great! Sweet black sauce, yums!”
“Toppings look amazing, but noodles look plain”
“Minus points for no greens. Noodles look too plain but meat looks perfectly cooked”
“This looks ok, but too dry and colour not attractive”

By the way, did you manage to de-crypt the winner and the winning entry? 🧐
For now, my lips are sealed …🤐

As a bonus, 2 early birds sent the Mysterious “M” the best virtual desserts ever imaginable. Both entries deserved the highest accolades. Without being able to taste the desserts de facto, M made the conclusive decision that both plates were EQUAL winners. Period!

The journey of Life is a perfectly surprising CIRCLE; you never know when the BEST PART comes back to you because the end of one journey is the beginning of the next. We are all connected in the great circle of life – FRIENDS!

The magic of the the 11th day of the 11th month was re-visited when 5 girls sent their VIRTUAL LOVE in sync 💞

Well, it takes a virus to bring us back together, stronger than ever before 💪

Stay safe and take care

Virtual hugs 🤗

The Battle Of The Prawns: 2 recipes from 2 Cookbooks #thermomix

A normal Saturday lunch in my household is usually a quick and hassle-free one, using available ingredients in my kitchen larder, fridge and freezer.

Last Saturday, however, my fridge was unusually, bare. I had a few stalks of spring onions, with parts of the greens turning brown, two small carrots, a green chilli and 8 small witloofs (Belgian endives) that I bought the previous week or two. Okay, veg was taken care of. Now, the protein. I walked down the basement where the freezer stands under the stairs. I started rummaging the compartments of the freezer for any interesting proteins that caught my eye.

Bingo!

I found not one, but two!! ‘Hidden’ somewhere in one of the freezer compartments, were 2 packets of prawns; one, with shells intact, and another, without. That was a gem of a find, I must say. I must have bought excess packets of prawns when I had friends over for a Laksa feast not too long ago.

Nope, I was not going to make Laksa again, so I had to put on my thinking cap. The first thing that came to my mind was curried prawns, but that would be too boring as I have cooked that on several occasions. Furthermore, I was missing some vital ingredients, so definitely no curry prawns 🙂

The Books That Saved My Day

As a matter of fact, I did not have to look far at all. In March, I had placed orders for 2 Thermomix Cookbooks. I had wanted to order more books, but due to the exorbitant shipping costs from Asia to Europe, I had to weigh my priorities. I contacted the “Suppliers” who immediately sent snapshots of the Table of Contents of a few Cookbooks. I was in love with 2 of the Cookbooks! “I just got to have them!” . Some friends wanted to know why I needed to buy the Cookbooks when I can already cook most of the Malaysian dishes. Erm …. Some dishes typical to West Malaysians are only starting to gain popularity in Sarawak and Sabah. When I was a kid growing up in Kuching, chwee kueh, pan mee, otak-otak, pulut tai tai, lo mai gai, lu rou fan, etc were unheard of. I grew up eating dishes I knew best : kolo mee, midin, mani chai, kueh chap, umai, kompia, kampua mee, Sarawak laksa, manok pansoh, terung dayak, ka chang ma, belacan beehoon, teh C special, linut, tomato kway teow, tumpik, kek lapis Sarawak … Well, I am pretty certain these dishes were unknown to our West Malaysian friends a decade or two ago, too. When I had my first taste of pan mee and chwee kueh in Belgium some 3 years ago, prepared by a friend who hails from KL, I could not get enough of those dishes, id est, if I’m craving for them, I’ve got to cook them myself. Likewise, after a long and hard day at work, I get home feeling like a ton of bricks raining on me. Then I would need something quick, fresh and nourishing and the pre-defined steps in the TM Cookbook is an absolute blessing. 

When the Cookbooks arrived in April (different delivery dates), I was over the moon. I have tried a few of the dishes already from both books. Last Saturday, I picked out one dish from each Cookbook. With two 500g-packet of frozen prawns ready to be consumed, I went straight to the Seafood section of the Cookbooks for some inspiration.

There were a few prawn dishes in the Cookbooks, but those 2 recipes caught my attention. I had all the ingredients, or almost! They are ridiculously simple to make, but will they taste ridiculously awesome?

Let’s find out …

From the Daily Asian Cookbook (DAC), I chose Crispy Stir Fried Prawns, pg 69

From Annie Xavier’s TM Cooks, You Relax (vol 1), I chose Tamarind Prawn, pg 54

The Battle of the Prawns. Bring ‘em on …!!

The DAC came with a cook chip, which made cooking a breeze. For the Crispy Stir Fried Prawns, I used the prawns with shells intact (without heads, though). I thawed both packs of prawns until it’s manageable to de-vein the shelled ones. The peeled prawns were all clean and good to go.

By the way, I followed the recipe from the DAC to a tee,

And here’s the result …

For the Tamarind Prawns, I had to modify Annie’s recipe a bit as her recipe calls for 250g prawns with shells and heads intact, while I had a 500g–pack of peeled and de-veined prawns. I did not double the other ingredients either, as I know doubling the measurement of sugar, for instance would result in a way-too-sweet dish, which will not be appetizing at all. I used dark brown sugar, by the way. I also used the sweet type of dark soy sauce, hence, I had to adjust the taste as I went along.  On the other hand, I used concentrated cooking tamarind  while balancing the sweet and sour flavor that I really wanted in the end.

And here’s the result, although not as dark as Annie’s version.

I garnished the prawns with some left-over spring onions and one thinly sliced green chillies.

My Verdict?

I followed both recipes using almost exactly the same ingredients with small modifications to the quantity according to desired taste. My family loves seafood, hence, serving prawns to them was not an issue. 

Now the taste test. I steamed Jasmine rice to go with the prawn dishes. I also cooked Belgian endives with carrot using the DAC recipe for Stir-fried cabbage with carrot.

After some munching, there was total silence….

I asked the guys which prawn dish was their favourite.

This?

Or this?

Annie’s tamarind prawn has a darker colour. I’m guessing that she used the saltier version of dark soy sauce. I did not have that soy sauce. Instead, I used the Thai version of dark soy sauce, which is similar to the Indonesian kicap manis. In order not to end up with an overly sweet dish, I had to adjust the amount of the soy sauce. My dish ended up quite saucy which went well with the plain steamed rice, so no complaints there. I also like my dish with a bit of heat, hence, the garnishing of the green chillies was Da Bomb!

The dishes were placed next to each other on the dining table. Like holding a pair of L-shaped metal dowsing rod, both my boys pointed their fingers in opposite direction to the platters infront of them at the same time, meaning, the guys had absolutely no preference to dish A or dish B. 

Both dishes were equally scrumptious. One was sweet and sour. I added green chillies to unite the trinity of flavours as well as for colour. At first I thought 12 garlic cloves were a lot for 250 g prawns (see, it’s not possible to double the quantity of garlic with my 500 g prawns! Important is to use your intuition and creativity), but I’m certain Annie knows what she’s talking about. We absolutely LOVE the garlicky taste, which was not too overpowering as the garlics were crushed/ bruised and not finely chopped.  After all, the dish is called Tamarind Prawns and not Garlic Prawns 😉

The other dish was lightly savoury with a hint of heat coming from the dried chillies.  The guided cooking for the crispy stir fried prawns was spot on where taste, timing and texture were concerned. Maybe next time, I will increase the quantity of dried chillies 🙂 

Guess what? I have bookmarked both the recipes and have classified them as “Tried and Tested” 

 

Blessed Pentecost!

Cheers!

Stuffed Baked Aubergines and Bell Peppers (#thermomix)

Fruit for Thought

What would you do if you have too much aubergine, bell pepper and tomato in your fridge? I had a bountiful of each waiting eagerly for me to consume them, as it had been almost a week since I bought the fruits. Yes, scientifically speaking aubergines, capsicums, courgettes and tomatoes are FRUITS and not vegetables, because they have seeds! I was planning to make a quick one-dish meal one weekend. First off, I was thinking of making ratatouille, but that would be too boring. Furthermore, I live with 3 carnivores and a no-meat dish would not entice them at all.

So I scurried to a nearby supermarket and bought 2 extra ingredients. Chicken and grated cheese.

I knew I would come up with a winning dish *wink* 

This!

Mmmm….does this not look tasty and festive at the same time?

A Frugal Regal Meal

I love the colours and more so, knowing how healthy the dish was, plus how economical I could put all the ingredients together for a top notch meal. Gosh, I may sound somewhat cocky, but I can’t help it, because it’s true *wink* 

I have adapted only some of the steps from the Thermomix BCB, while the rest are pure common sense, guestimation and creative thinking 😉

Ingredients A

• Aubergines or egg plants, halved lengthwise 
• Capsicums or bell peppers, halved

Ingredient B

• 600 g water

Ingredients C

• 550 g chicken breasts, diced

Ingredients D

• 30 g shallots
• 10 g garlic 

Ingredient E

• 10 g EVOO

Ingredients F

• 10 g fresh herbs (mint, basil, spring onion, etc)
• 1 tsp dried herb (thyme)
• 1 heap tsp homemade vegetable stock paste
• Freshly milled black pepper
• 150 g tomato, de-seeded 

Ingredient G

• 100 g bread (grate in dry TM bowl at 7 sec/ sp 10)

Ingredient H

• Grated cheese

Method

1. Arrange A in Varoma dish and tray with cut-side down. Place B in TM bowl. Steam A as per instruction in the BCB. Remove water from the TM bowl. Using a tsp or Tbsp, scoop out the pulp of the aubergines. Chop roughly. Set aside.
2. Add D in mixing bowl. Blend for 3 sec/ sp 5.5. Add E and sauté for 3 mins/ 100 C/ sp 2
3. Place the chopped pulp of the aubergines, C, F and G. Cook for 15 mins/ 120C/ R/ spoon. Season to taste.
4. Fill the shells with the cooked stuffing, cut-side up on a baking tray. Drizzle H liberally on each stuffed shell.
5. Bake at pre-heated oven for 35 to 40 mins or until the cheese has melted and turned a lovely golden brown.

This dish goes very well with baked new potatoes or potato wedges. Makes one awesome complete meal 😀

My Verdict?

To be honest, my other half does not like to consume store-bought ground meat. He says there’s too much fat and other-god-knows-what things mixed in the meat. I agreed with him on that, so I made this healthier version of stuffed aubergines and bell peppers. He could not believe I home-ground the meat in my thermie 😉

By the way, this was not the first time I made this dish. I have used store-bought ground meat before and they tasted great, too. The fact that I used lean chicken breast meat and home-ground them, made the whole dish lighter and healthier. Hubby was euphoric over the dish. And my boys? They eat anything that aren’t sloppy looking and with meat. Lol!

The best thing about this dish is, you can use almost any fruit or vegetable that you can scoop out the flesh to make a cavity. Courgettes or zucchinis are great. So are squashes, but the steaming and baking time need to be adjusted.

Will I make this again? You bet! Over and over again. Anytime, because …. It’s cheap. It’s tasty. It’s colourful. It’s healthy. It’s easy!

Have a fruitful mid-week!
Cheers!

Tom Yum Goong (Fragrant Prawn Broth): The way I like it with no sugar added and celebrating my 1st year anniversary with my TM5 #thermomix

1st November this year fell on a Tuesday. I could have made a bridge for a longer “weekend”, but could not due to my workload at work 😦

I was glad to break off work for that one day that week for a yearly family reunion, hosted by one of my SIL’s. While driving to my SIL’s, we stopped at a friend’s house. I received a text message from F that she was giving away some of her ‘harvests’ in her garden. 

Guess what? I hand-picked the chillies in her garden. They were so, very, very fresh! She wanted only the red ones, so I helped myself to the green chillies. I didn’t mind the ‘raw version’ at all, because I knew if I left the chillies wrapped in absorbent paper in the lower drawer of the fridge, the chillies would ripen. 

And I was right!

10 days later, some of the birds’ eye chillies had turned to a lovely bright orange-crimson colour. And I knew exactly where some of the chillies would end up into 😉

Thai Chef vs Me

There was one Wednesday that I took a day off and brought my 2 sons out for lunch (Note, both boys had half-day school / Univ on a Wednesday). We went to a Thai resto near our place. 

For starter, I ordered Tom Yum Goong (TYG) for us. It was a good TYG, but I missed that Oomph in their soup. It was a wee bit too lame. 

Saturday came, and TYG was in the pipeline for our lunch menu.

So here it was, my version vs the Thai Chef’s. 

And not only that, I made my TYG in my thermomix! 

To be honest, I could eat my TYG all day without anything else that day, because it had been a while since I last made the soup! I looked back at a post I wrote; it was in March this year when I had friends over. You can read it all … Here 🙂

Because I love bold-tasting soups, I thought of a way to totally infuse the aromatics in the soup first before proceeding further. Be warned! It’s a highly seasoned soup that hits the palate and warms the heart without burning, if you know what I meant 😉

(Note: This is my own recipe using my preferred method – tried and tested – after a few trials and errors).  

Please be aware that some measurements are not given as only you will know how much or how little you want to put in the dish. Remember, “Ut quod ali cibus est aliis fuat acre venenum” or what is food for one man may be bitter poison to others. 

Ingredients A

• 2 cm piece galangal
• 1 shallot
• 1 lemongrass
• 2 coriander roots

Ingredient B

• 5 g cooking oil / coconut oil

Ingredient C

• 1,500 g water

Ingredients D

• Lemongrass, bruised and halved
• Shallots, halved 
• Galangal, sliced
• Bird’s eye chillies, lightly bruised
• Kaffir lime leaves, lightly bruised with the fingers

Ingredients E

• Fish sauce, to taste
• Homemade chilli paste, eyeball for colour, taste and flavour
• Salt, to taste 

Ingredients F

• Prawns, shelled 
• Mushrooms, sliced 

Ingredient G

• Lime juice, to taste
• Cherry tomatoes, halved or whole

Ingredient H

• Fresh coriander 

Steps –

• Place A in the TM bowl. Grind 5 sec/ sp 10  * 2

• Add B. Sauté for 3 mins/100C/ sp 2 
• Place D in SB and add C. Cook for 15 mins/ 120C/ sp1

• Remove the SB and tip the aromatics in a bowl. Set aside for garnish later.

• Transfer F in the SB. Cook for 4 mins/120C/ sp 1 or until the prawns are cooked. 

• Remove the SB and set aside the cooked prawns, mushrooms, etc
• Add E. Cook further for 5 mins/ 120C/ sp 2

• Add G. Stir for 1 min/ R/ spoon. 
• Assemble a serving bowl with prawns, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, some slices of galangal, bird’s eye chillies, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves. Garnish with H.
• Done!

Happy 1st Anniversary!

I made the TYG to go with my Nasi Ulam and baked spiced chicken. Our Saturday lunch was the bomb, by the way, with full-blown explosion of flavours. Yup, my kind of food 🙂

There’s no better way to celebrate my first year anniversary of owning the thermomix than sharing with you some of the dishes I have conjured the past 12 months using my most used kitchen gadget today!

And as they say, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words‘ …

IMPORTANT NOTICE : Please be aware that I’m neither a Consultant/ Advisor nor an employee of Thermomix.  I am NOT paid anything from any parties. I just happened to own a thermomix and love doing what I’m doing and will continue doing so. 

Happy Mid-Week ya’ll!

Cheers!

Foolproof Homemade Oven-Baked Whole Chicken … Eureka!

The rotisserie whole chickens looked so tempting. Every Wednesday evening while driving home from work, I would drive past the mobile food truck on the N2 road from Brussels to Leuven.

I could smell the roasted chicken smoke whiffing past my nostrils through the vents of my car somewhere! It’s oh so tempting. 

I just had to stop. 

So one Wednesday evening, I stopped and walked towards the food truck.

There was only one guy manning the truck that evening. I pointed to the chicken I wanted and some baked potatoes. The guy then packed the roasted bird in a microwaveable paper bag, and a separate bag for the potatoes.

I was pretty certain my guys at home would be beaming with delight from what I had just bought.

BUT … Most unfortunately what you see is not what you get!  The chicken was juiceless and shrivelled when I carved the meat. No doubt it was cooked through, but the taste was rather bland. I suspected only salt, pepper and paprika powder were used to season the chicken. To add salt to injury, the potatoes were swimming in buckets of dripping! Urgh!

Hubby had his last words, “Don’t buy this chicken any more!”

I Did It My Way …!

Okay, I did not buy the rotisserie whole chicken anymore from the food truck, but we have had some form of rotisserie whole chicken at home, done my way *big smile*

Oh by the way, I had been fiddling with the flavours of the chicken and I have found the right one, me thinks!

I oven-baked this whole chicken last Sunday and my family of 4 finished the entire bird and licked our platters clean!

This simple lunch was a keeper. It was hassle-free. While waiting for the chicken and potatoes to cook in the oven, I prepared a simple and quick salad. I had the most idle Sunday ever. Yay!

Eureka! 

Here’s how I did it. 

First of all, pre-heat the oven at 190 degrees Celsius.

Rinse and pat dry 1 whole chicken weighing at least 1.5kg. Set the chicken aside to room temperature for at least half an hour.

In a clean bowl, mix together your favourite dry herbs and spices, sea salt and freshly-milled black pepper. The choice is endless, so don’t be shy. Stir well to combine.

Meanwhile, stuff the cavity of the chicken with 4 cloves garlic, 1 lemon or lime (halved), 1 onion (quartered), a few slices of ginger and fresh rosemary. Tie the legs together and tuck the wings under the chicken. This is the trick to keep the chicken sappy AND tasty from inception to end. *wink*

Next, drizzle some olive oil over the chicken and transfer the homemade rub mixture all over the chicken. Then comes the most therapeutic part … massage the chicken thoroughly with the rub mixture making sure every nook and cranny of the bird is being swaddled completely.

Finally, transfer the chicken, breast-side up onto a baking tray, lined with (olive) oiled and seasoned potatoes and/ or root vegetables, onions, garlics and fresh rosemary.

Bake the chicken for 1 hour 30 minutes in the pre-heated oven at 190 deg C. Remove the chicken from the oven and let it rest for at least 15 minutes before carving. 

The chicken may look dry at the first instant, but trust me, the meat is cooked through perfectly and is as juicy and succulent as ever!

By the way, I have oven-baked whole chicken a few times already. I discovered that baking at the right temperature and timing  are paramount execution in getting the best equilibrium.  Believe you me, I have had a few charred experiences. It was only by several trials and errors that I can finally say, Eureka!



My Verdict? 

Well, I will definitely not buy the rotisserie chicken from the food truck anymore, that’s for sure! 

What can I say, nothing beats homemade cooking any day, any time. Simple as that!

A word of caution though, this foolproof baking is in accordance to the type of oven I own. You may have a different oven than mine, hence, the temperature and timing may or may not differ. And I did mention that it was by several trials and errors that I finally got the bird cooked right, my way *wink*

Have a great week ahead!

Cheers!