I Hit Pause: Minced Turkey Padprik Fried Rice

I didn’t think I was still traumatised by my burnt leg accident or that I would be. I had been back in the kitchen countless times and even after I came back from the A&E. But after I wrote Truth and reading it over and over again, I felt that Belle was right. I wrote it when I had been off my painkillers and that I am no longer in pain. Reading truth made me relived those painful moments and made me recalled every thoughts that I had then.

Last night, I felt terrified to even enter my kitchen. Everywhere I looked at reminded me of that day. I was even shaking when I grabbed the wok to make scramble egg last night (yes another Tuesday- another dirty pan and another time when I had to resort to my wok- this time it was 1am) it all seemed like a déjà vu to me.

Then I thought to myself, Probably this was what I needed, a closure… A confession! An acknowledgement that I failed myself in order for me to truly pick myself up once again.

For dinner tonight, after surviving on yoghurt and granola for the past few days, I decided to make minced Turkey padprik fried rice. This is a healthier version, the meat to rice ratio is higher, so arguably low carbs and full of vegetables. Ingredients are as following:

11/2 cups of cooked rice
4 Red Chillies (only because my red chillies will expire soon) -£0.60 (Tesco)
500G Minced Turkey – £2.45 (Tesco)
Tesco Carrot, Cauliflower and Brocolli – £1.10 (Tesco) – Cut it into smaller pieces
3 Tbs of Chilli Sauce
3 Tbs of Tomato Sauce
3 Tbs of Oyster Sauce
2 Onions (Sliced)
1 Tbs of Crushed Chillies (only because I like my dish spicier)
Salt for seasoning
Some Lettuce as a garnish

Methods:
Heat a tablespoon of oil on to pan/ wok, when the pan/ wok is warm add in onions and then add in carrots, cauliflower and broccoli. When the onions and vege soften add in oyster sauce, chilli sauce, tomato sauce and crushed chillies.

Leave it for 10 mins on medium heat.

Add in the minced Turkey, mix all the ingredients together, add in salt to season the meat.

Make sure that the minced Turkey is almost cooked before adding in the rice.

As it is already late at night and I don’t have any kafir lime leaves, I didn’t add it to the dish. To my horror I didn’t have garlic either and didn’t want to add garlic powder instead.

It is really easy but at the same time flavourful. Enjoy!!!

Saw it on TV, and can’t stop thinking about it!: Ramen Burger

Everyone around me knows that I watch a lot of cooking shows from Masterchef UK now on to Masterchef US, My Kitchen Rules Australia to MKR New Zealand, Chopped, Top Chef, all of the Heston Series and more recently, Jamie’s Comfort Food, Knife Fight and Snack Off. On top of that, I read about food during my free time and check out recipes to find inspiration as well as to learn about more cooking techniques.

So, couple of weeks back while eating dinner, I decided to watch the latest episode of Snack Off. I told Darren that Snack Off is probably the equivalent of Keeping up with the Kardashians with the exception that it is for food. One probably won’t learn a lot about food, but still it is good entertainment after a long day. I must admit that I kept watching it because of Chrissy Teigen- she’s just so sexually inappropriate on the show- it is fun to watch! For the second round, the mystery ingredient was Ramen. Derek who aced the first round made Ramen Burger. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to it at first because it is after all snack off and not masterchef etc, but what changed was the fact that during deliberation, Jason Quinn criticised on the level of creativity involved since the picture of a Ramen Burger is on the set of Snack Off. There I thought to myself ‘If there is a picture of it, it must have been done before!’

It didn’t take long to find out that it is a legit thing, with the help of my friend, Google of course. I saved a picture of it and showed it to Darren and Olly. I told Darren that if it takes less than 30 minutes for a non professional cook to manage a Ramen Burger, I can do so- especially given that I don’t have any time constraint. I kept thinking about the Ramen Burger and immediately thought about Paul- he will definitely jump over the thought of having a Ramen Burger. Paul loves ramen and grilling- in fact, if he is at home, I doubt there is anything else in his ‘dinner vocabulary’ other than Grilling. I then went to sleep.

When I woke up, my hand couldn’t stop researching on how to make a Ramen Burger. However, most of the recipes seems to be tackling the Ramen Burger as if it is simply a normal burger with  the exception of using a Ramen Bun. I on the other hand is still keen to keep the integrity of the Ramen- as much as I can but at the same time at the lowest cost I could. I then began my day while eating my lovely granola parfait breakfast, researching on how to make Ramen broth. An article that I read suggested using pork bones and the bones are then to be boiled for 20 hours (Well, I dont have that much time to spare but to an extend I do have some time to partake in slow cooking process).

There are few times when I’ve had Ramen. I am not one to be fond of soup noodles. The first time was in Korea (weird enough), once in Malaysia and more recently yet frequently at Shoryu London with my bestfriend, Belle. Ramen at Shoryu is simply delightful. It is packed with flavours that I sometimes do dream about it.  I can still remember the taste of the broth at the back of my head- flavour of bone, meat fat, garlic and ginger. In one of the episode of Masterchef US, I recalled when the contestants had to cook pho during their pressure test and Gordon Ramsay mentioned that with Asian broth the trick is to add layers and layers of flavours to the broth as time passes by. I knew from the start that I simply had to make the broth as a side sauce. I also recalled a creamier sauce and I thought to myself- ah perfect! I could attempt this, cook the broth down so that it will have a thick consistency and this could be my interpretation of mayo.

Staying true to the concept of my blog which is living on a budget – I only used ribs, garlic and ginger to make my broth. I only needed a bowl of the broth for this meal. Using the three ingredients as the first layer allows me to create a tom kha soup. As I am not using a lot of meat to make my broth plus shorter amount of time used and from my understanding, the creamy tonkatsu broth is actually formed from meat fat, I used coconut milk for creamy texture (any Japanese will definitely roll their eyes on me, SORRY!!!! Probably I was thinking of a way to kill two birds with one stone, plus I was cautious when I added the coconut milk as not to overpower the taste of the meat). 

For an authentic ramen broth, please visit: http://norecipes.com/tonkotsu-ramen-recipe/

Broth Method:

Blend 5 cm of ginger and a whole bulb of garlic, saute the blended mix, add in ribs and add water enough to cover the ribs.

Cook it at low heat and when the broth simmers then add in coconut milk. Keep it at a low heat, add salt as the time passes by. I left it for 5 hours.

After 5 hours, I removed all of the ribs and huge portion of the broth. I then cranked up the heat to medium and cook down the broth.

Tom Kha method:

After I removed a huge portion of the broth and ribs, I add in lemongrass, blended finger chillies (10-12) and lime juice (I used 2 lime). It is hard to find galangal in Sheffield anyway and I didn’t have lime leaves in hand. I cook this at low heat for another hour.

It cost me: £5.59 to make the broth and £2 more to make a tom kha soup with ribs.

I then kept thinking about what will I be served if I am having Ramen at shoryu- Somehow I am keen on making beef patties. In Jamie’s comfort food, he mentioned that the tricks of making burger, although he grilled it outdoor and I only have a grilling pan/ oven grill, I am still very much optimistic that I will make it – all that was required was 200grams of ground chuck and that was it (other recipes calls for the use of eggs to combine the meat etc.) I season the meat and as informed make a loose patty so that this will allow room for the fat to melt in between. Bought the ground chuck for £1.10 (200grams at the local butcher nearby).

Jamie’s Burger: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS99Hu94dFM

I am allergic to mustard and because this will be an Asian burger, I decided to make a teriyaki sauce to coat one side of the patty with. I added 1 tablespoon of soya sauce, 1 tablespoon of mirin, 1 tablespoon of cooking sake and 1 tablespoon of honey- ingredients that I already have at home.

A burger is not complete without the vegetable condiments. I couldn’t find lettuce at tesco but saw chinese leaves for £1 so I decided to make Asian slaw. I added one tablespoon of sesame oil, two tablespoons of siracha chilli sauce and one tablespoon of white wine vinegar. I also added onions and chillies (cut diagonally).

Now, lets not forget about the Ramen ‘bun’…it cost £0.42 at Wading to buy a pack of Nissin instant Ramen noodles (probably cheaper elsewhere but I wasn’t bothered to walk around today).

So what I gathered from recipes that I can find online is to blanch the noodles, add the seasoning, add eggs and shape the noodles in a circle form.

I didn’t want to use the seasoning, seeing that it is unhealthy and im sure my ‘mayo’ will add the Ramen flavour. So, instead, I added salt and garlic powder to the ramen the same time when I added eggs. I left it in the fridge for 30 minutes or so. IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO COVER THE BOTTOM OF THE CIRCLE FORM AND ALSO TO MAKE SURE THAT IT IS ABSOLUTELY COMPACT- So press it down!

The result is as the following:

Enjoy!!!!

Ghosts of Childhood Pasts (2): King Prawn in Sambal Sauce

Recently, I came across an interesting photo- article, A 4-Year-Old Girl’s Honest Reactions To Some Of The World’s Fanciest Food. I couldn’t help myself from salivating whenever I look at all the pictures in the article, and lets not forget on how the description of each dishes didn’t make it any easier either. However, when I contrasted my reaction with the reaction as provided by the little girl, I then began to wonder; at what age did we start to develop a more sophisticated palette or even at what age did we become more concern on what we eat- what influenced our decision in terms of the food that we like and the food that we don’t and also the type of cuisine that we enjoy the most?

When I first started cooking, it was a pure coincidence- I was 16 then. As I have mentioned, my mum wasn’t very keen on the idea of me cooking. My mum herself doesn’t cook. It wasn’t even because of my rebellious nature that I learnt to cook but because at that time in life I was simply bored of the food served in my high school canteen and therefore I joined the hospitality club. ‘You’ll get free lunch every other Thursdays’. Who would have thought, this simple phrase as uttered by my friend Liz was what that woken the ‘crazy for cooking’ beast, otherwise buried in me. As it turned out, the ratio in between male and female students that joined the club was imbalance. The club was predominantly joined by male students- not a surprise there. Somehow, the supervisors for the club thought that I’ve cooked at home when all I ever did was sit in front of my grandma or aunt while they were preparing/ cooking.

The first dish that I made was chicken padprik. Although padprik is often associated with Thai cuisine but because of the proximity in between Thailand and the northern part of Malaysia, Thai food is synonymous with Malaysian food. However, I must admit that the Malaysian padprik is only an interpretation of the Thai padprik and both are very distinctive. Out of all the South East Asian countries, Malaysian cuisine share the most similarities with Indonesian food. As for Singapore, I believe that the country simply select the best dishes from Malaysia, add both soya sauce and curry powder and call it ‘Singaporean food’. (Way to avoid ‘food plagiarism’ LOOLLL)

One of the most famous Malaysian dish is sambal. David asked me last night, what sauce is that? If I inform him that it is made by combining chilli paste and onion blended with garlic and ginger, I doubt he can imagine the flavour. Instead I told him that it is similar to tomato passata but instead of using tomatoes, I used chillies. HAAA!

Sambal is actually the melody to every Nasi Lemak and in fact the pride & joy of every Malays. For those who haven’t heard of Nasi Lemak, it is the Malaysian equivalent to English breakfast or Dim Sum (YES, WE EAT RICE FOR BREAKFAST- Not just a normal rice but coconut rice!) . If anyone is to try out Nasi Lemak when visiting Malaysia, some of the restaurants do offer Nasi Lemak but opt for Nasi Lemak as sold by hawkers/ street food vendors. They sell it every morning, probably up until 11am. You will then get to choose from a variation of sambals- squid sambal, liver sambal, anchovies sambal, prawn sambal, chicken sambal, cockles sambal etc. It is definitely authentic but could be a bit spicy for those who can’t handle heat. The price can range from as cheap as probably £0.60 to £1.50.

As I have mentioned in my previous post, my first experiment with making sambal was not as smooth sailing as I wished it would have been. I didn’t even know how to make chilli paste and I didn’t know then the correct ratio in between the onion mix and the chilli paste. However, all that changed in the first year of my PhD, Ikhwan and the gang often invited me to their apartment on Friday night. Arvindd and Ikhwan will be sweating away in order to serve us Nasi Lemak. Arvindd was always in charge of making sambal, Ikhwan was in charge of the fried chicken, as for the coconut rice and other condiments- these are probably team effort between Jinn, Robyn, Joule and Ashwin- although hardly Ashwin! Ikhwan left in my second year so the Nasi Lemak Friday night ended and Arvindd left in my third year. In my second year, I invited friends over for my birthday celebration, it was the night before which soon changed my sambal learning process. Arvindd came over to teach me the techniques of making a perfect sambal. ‘I cant believe an Indian person had to teach a Malay girl on how to make sambal!’– he commented. Ever since then, I had been making sambal on my own- without even having to look at the recipe. I have even made variations of sambal (not in terms of the protein but the cooking techniques)- goreng berlada, sambal without using shrimp paste and sambal using shrimp paste.

For dinner last night, I made King Prawn Sambal. I figured this time around, I’d give my shrimp paste a rest and truthfully I wanted to make Goreng Berlada King Prawn but somehow blended the chillies rather finely and I knew that any hope of making a goreng berlada would end up as a disaster. I fried the king prawn separately in order to avoid overcooking the prawn.

Ingredients:
I used 30 Dried Chillies (only because I have used the dried chillies before and it is not spicy- becareful with the type of dried chillies used, some might be spicier than the other). I suggest using 15 dried chillies first, soak it in boiled water, keep changing the water until the dried chillies soften and then blend it- make sure that the chilli paste is of a thick consistency. Then repeat this process for the other 15 dried chillies (you can keep the chilli paste for up to 5 days max).

1 Red Onions (or 5 shallots), 4 Garlic and 3cm of ginger- blend together and again, make sure that it is of a thick consistency.

500 grams of king prawns

First Time Purchasing from Simmonite

Tumeric powder

Tamarind Paste/ Juice

Sugar and Salt.

Method:
Marinate the king prawn with tumeric powder and salt, set aside.

Ingredients: King Prawns marinated in Tumeric Powder, Chilli Paste and Onion Mix

Heat up 2 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan, sauté the onion mix until it changes to a darker colour. Add in the chilli paste and mix together until the mix turn into a dark red colour.

Add in 2 tablespoons of tamarind paste and some salt. Taste it.

Tips: If the sauce taste predominantly of chillies, keep adding tamarind paste. If it ended with a sour taste, add in salt. If it is too spicy, add in sugar or onions and cook the onions down.

Fry the marinated king prawn and mix it with the sauce.

Fried King Prawns

I had my King Prawn sambal with blanched samphire for added salty flavour and for crunchy texture.

King Prawn Sambal with Samphire

I already have most of the ingredients except for the tamarind paste and king prawn. The tamarind paste costs £1.40 at WaDing and I probably made the worst decision to buy King Prawn from Simmonite which costs me £9 for 12 pieces. The samphire on the other hand only costs me £1 per pack which is an absolute bargain in comparison to Waitrose. In fact, in Sheffield it is almost impossible to buy Samphire- they don’t sell it in Sainsbury’s/ Tesco close to where I live and Waitrose is just out of reach. Lets not forget the ‘WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT’ look whenever I ask the assistants at Sainsburys. The dish will last me for good 3 servings so that should cost £3.80 per serving.

My Perfect Remedy: Rendang Dinding Sandwich

Yesterday I spent an hour or two persuading SOMEONE to go to the gym and then reality hits me… I haven’t even worked out in a while to the point that I have no clue where my shorts are. I had been cooking, travelling, backpacking, hitch-hiking friends, sleeping on friends’ couches or even moving from my bed to my couch and then back to bed from couch– all of which signalled that no attention has been paid on working out. Has not even been doing yoga/ zumba at home let alone visit Gemma at A Pole New Adventure on Carver Street (Sorry HUN!!!!Had been such a BUM). My only version of living healthily these days is probably the transformation from drinking redbull on a daily basis, eating crisps or chocolates with lack of sleep- walking around like a zombie to munching on granolas, cooking and resting.

Personally, there is nothing wrong with dining out and there are restaurants which offer healthy selections. However, at the same time we don’t have direct control with the production of the food and therefore we won’t know what is added. This was wisely brought up by my friend, Haz who is the producer for Oklat Mico. He commented that, with a lot of establishments’ being proud on using organic ingredients, but how are we to know that these ingredients are indeed organic and the food is healthy for us, afterall there could be a mismatch in between what customers have in mind and also the method by which restaurants are trying to maximise their profit margin!

It didn’t click until later on that possibly, the ingredients could be organic-freshly delivered every morning-but won’t that be expensive at the same time? Not to forget, what about the amount of salt used, what about the beef/chicken/veg stocks- are they artificial or are they freshly made and what about the use of flavourings/ MSG to enhance the taste?

It is still fresh in mind, the memory of the ‘EXTREMELY SALTY’ Paella that I had at Pollen Street Social sometime either last year or two years ago on Valentine’s Day– that was horrifying. The servers only apologised but didn’t offer to do anything about it either- questionable service provided by a one Michelin Star restaurant!

Another example is Mori– I never knew how to describe it- sometimes even referred to it as a ‘classy’ takeaway. Mori Shops are usually located at high end London areas such as St John’s Wood, Kings Road, Fenchurch Street, Marylebone High Street and Park Royal. Yes they do serve sushi which is indeed healthy- but also left to be displayed on the fridge throughout the whole day for a significant price to be paid. On top of that, their hot dishes such as miso marinated salmon; chicken teriyaki etc. can’t be freshly made. The turnaround time in between ordering and being served is so short that I doubt that either meal was cooked on the spot- if they did I really would love to learn on how to. For some of the dishes, to run a takeaway like establishment, I understand that the meal cannot be cooked on the spot but when it requires grilling- I just don’t see the reason on why they shouldn’t. As I thought about it, I became more curious- were these dishes frozen- when was it prepared, what sort of flavourings that were used etc., why a less classy sister- YOUMESUSHI provide customers with the option to purchase made by order sushi and why can’t Mori do the same, afterall Mori is more expensive than YOUMESUSHI! Yes it is safe to say that I won’t be dining out for awhile!

Anyway, for last night’s dinner I decided to make a sandwich because, after all, bread contains the least amount of calories. On my previous post, I mentioned that my dream will be to open a sandwich shop. It will not be any ordinary sandwich; the fillings will be westernised-Asian cuisine. Truthfully, this rendang dinding filling was my starting point. Of course, Malaysian staple is rice or in fact this is the same for most part of Asia. The difference is in terms of the types of grain used- Sushi rice for Japan, Basmati rice for India and Jasmine rice for Thailand etc. However, in Malaysia there are three main races- Malay, Indian and Chinese. Oh let’s not forget the ones we call ‘Mamak’. From my understanding, they are off the combination of Malay and Indian, often from the northern part of Malaysia such as Penang, Kedah and Perlis (mostly Penang!). In Malaysia, Mamak stalls/ restaurants offer variations of high calories-unhealthy breads such as Roti Canai, Roti Telur (Egg Bread), Roti Sardin (Sardin Bread) and so on. So even if bread isn’t a staple for us unlike French with their baguette or Italians with their Pizza, Ciabatta or even Focaccia, bread does play some role in our food culture.

I then recalled the time when I was younger, if my aunt made rendang or sambal for dinner, I would then have sandwich with rendang or sambal as my filling for breakfast the very next day. As previously mentioned, I had been championing ‘my sandwich shop’ fantasy to my friends, but this morning David then alerted me on this article which felt like a slap on to my face. The article was on ‘How Britain is Committing Crimes Against International Cuisine’ To be honest some of the filling do not make sense- lasagne sandwich (Really Tesco?!) and apparently paella sandwich. A paella sandwich will be the equivalent of making a ‘nasi goreng’ sandwich and a lasagne sandwich will be similar to a ‘mee goreng’ sandwich. THAT IS INDEED A CRIME. Although, the rebellious part of me went ‘WHAT WOULD HESTON DO?’.

But then again, if I included or forgot about one or two ingredients when I am cooking, my mum will already be next to me giving her disapproving face– let alone informing her that I will do such a thing to any of the Malaysian dishes (Oh and FYI, my mum does not cook AT ALL!). So, in contrast, for my vision, I will try to retain the traditional value of each dishes, only choose dishes that can be eaten with breads or as with my Malaysian Deconstructured Stuffed Omelette- to still keep the identity and integrity of it- with the exception on how it is presented. I didn’t alter the dish drastically but at the same time, the combination of the ingredients had been perfected over time (to be fair I did start cooking Malaysian food since I was 16- so it has been 12 years now and I think it is time to be inventive, or in my very own wishy washy philosophical artistic way- TIME FOR THE WORLD TO DECHIPER MY VOICE VIA FOOD!!).

On top of that, upon receiving a bad news from home, I needed a healthier version of a comfort food- NO MORE TESCO SAUSAGES PLEASE! Although my choice of making Rendang Dinding is debatable because of the amount of cholesterol that is often associated with beef- BUT HEY I HAD MOSTLY BEEN CONSUMING WHITE MEAT so my body needed some sense of balance. Plus my justification was that I didn’t use any artificial beef stock (no cubes/ oxo etc.) and I didn’t even use any salt, just the soya sauce used to marinate the beef- probably a lot of people out there will be cringing, but I can assure you that the level of salt contained in soya sauce is more than enough to create such dramatic flavour. Other than that, as per mum’s great advice, I used a lot of ginger and garlic.

Ingredients (For 4 Servings):
700 grams of stewing beef (cubed) – bought from the Asian grocery store £4.60
Ginger (a thumb is enough but I am on my high ginger intake regime so I used approximately 60g) – £0.60
Garlic- Half a bulb
2 Onions (one to be blended and one to be added to the sauce)
Chilli Paste (couldn’t find my dried chillies, so added 2 tablespoons of chilli powder with boiled water instead to make a chilli paste)
Soya Sauce (enough to marinate the beef)
Brown Sugar
Tamarind juice
White Bread and low fat butter (In my case I needed to get rid of the bread as it was expiring!)
Salad of your choice as garnish- (I have a bad habit of eating raw vegetables so I added raw cabbage and raw carrots for added texture/ crunch).

Methods:
Add beef into a pot and fill it with just enough amount of water to cover it. Let the water boil and remove the beef but keep the water.

Beef Stock- Ish

Boiled Beef

When the beef has cooled down, find a meat mullet and mullet the beef- this is to create a shredded texture. Marinate the beef with soya sauce (for every tablespoon of soya sauce used, add half a tablespoon of brown sugar- otherwise use sweet soya sauce). Fry the marinated beef and put it aside.

Beef Marinated with Soya Sauce and Sugar

Blend ginger with onion (Make sure that it is of a thick consistency- if I have lemongrass in hand I would have blended it together, but I didn’t have any).

The Usual Suspect for Rendang Dinding

Sauté the ginger and onion mix on the same frying pan. Add in the chilli paste. Add the beef and mix it together. Add the water used to boil the beef depending on your preference for the sauce. I also added a whole onion on to the sauce and cook it down.

Onions

Taste, add tamarind juice and soya sauce as per required.

For the bread, I cut them into circles, spread it with low fat butter and grill it for 2-3 minutes.

Bread, Buttered and Grilled

I then garnished the sandwich with raw carrots and cabbages.

Rendang Dinding Sandwich

In the end, I only spent £1.40 per serving for this dish as I already have most of the ingredients. It might sound a bit tricky but you will get used to it and it is really simple :D! It is also good as finger food or as a snack! ENJOY!!!

Independence Day Meal: Malaysian Deconstructed Stuffed Omelette

So today Malaysia celebrate its 57th Independence Day. So in order to commemorate such remarkable moment, I decided to make a Malaysian dish for dinner.

In the beginning I wanted to make beef rendang- but somehow along the way had headache and decided to make something simpler. I’ve always informed my friend that if I wanted to own a business, without a doubt it will be a sandwich shop. My idea had always been to modernised/ westernised South East Asian cuisine.

Whenever I inform anyone this, they would raise their eyebrow or even their facial expression would change drastically and think that I must be joking. In fact, a very close friend of mine made fun of my idea and he was so fixated on suggesting what I should be doing- none of which was related to opening a sandwich shop, most of his ideas were based on bars- either it should be an Irish Bar or a Russian Bar. ‘Something with a theme’ he said. When I explained that I am not interested to open a bar and it is to serve food- he then went on to ask if I wanted to open a Slavic restaurant- YUP! That was definitely painful- the conversation definitely didn’t end well.

On a general level, I don’t blame my friends, I mean why would one study up to PhD level and decided to just open a sandwich shop. My parents would definitely think that I must have lost my mind and lets not forget that they won’t be very pleased with my idea to westernised Malaysian cuisine either. My family is a bit on the traditional side, they believe in protecting the integrity of our culture- I don’t disagree with them. I think from my own point of view- I wanted to incorporate my Malaysian upbringing and my experience living in the UK- I mean, I aim to retain the luxurious flavours of Asian cuisine- but what I would definitely change is in terms of how meat is cooked. For instance, medium rare for beef- Asians in general don’t really care about how their meat is cooked and for most dishes the meat is cooked together rather than prepared differently.

So today, I decided to make my very own interpretation of Malaysian ‘stuffed omelette’ or otherwise known as ‘telur bungkus’. I am recreating this dish so that it will look like a de-constructed layered omelette sandwich rather than looking like a wrap or stuffed omelette as it usually is. Other than that, I needed to get rid of my eggs. For this meal, I only spent £1.47. The Asian grocery store sells minced chicken and I only needed 400 grams- cost £1.30. I already have frozen peas so I bought a fresh carrot for £0.17.

Ingredients:

400 grams of minced chicken (or minced beef/ lamb),A cup of mixed vegetables, 1 onion (diced), 4 garlic (roughly chopped), 1 red chilli (diagonally sliced), 1 finger chilli (diagonally sliced), 2 eggs, Salt and Pepper, 2 tablespoons of Chilli Sauce, 2 tablespoons of Ketchup, 2 tablespoons of Oyster Sauce, 1 teaspoon of Fish Sauce and 2 tablespoons of Light Soya Sauce.

Colours 

Method:

Heat a tablespoon of oil, fry the onion and garlic (but becareful not to burn them). If using frozen mixed vegetables add this in the end, otherwise add in the diced carrots and fry it together with the onion and garlic. Add in chilli sauce, ketchup, oyster sauce, fish sauce and the light soya sauce. Add in the minced meat- when the meat is almost done, add in the frozen mixed vegetables. Season with salt and pepper as required. Set it Aside.

The Making of A Deconstructed Stuffed Omelette

Mix eggs, salt and pepper together- fry it the same as you would fry an omelette. Remove it and drain any remaining oil from the omelette using kitchen towel. Find a round surface, cut the omelette into a small round shape. Layer the omelette and the minced meat mix alternately.

Enjoy :D!!! Happy 57th  Independence Day Malaysia!!!

Malaysian De-constructed Stuffed Omelette

 

Chicken Wings Two Ways in Ginger Sauce

This is the first season that I started watching Masterchef USA (for the lack of other ongoing cooking shows- but what a wonderful coincidence!), my bet is either on Leslie or Courtney. Although if Ahran successfully make a comeback- I won’t shy away from her! Shocking that Cutter managed to stay in the competition for this long (how is that even possible?).

So two weeks back, we saw Daniel Mcguffey eliminated from the competition, Chicken Wings sent him and Jamie to the pressure test and subsequently it was to Cheese Soufflé that he admitted defeat. In the beginning, I was rooting for him but somehow the level of testosterone and his declining performance makes him really really unattractive to be rooting for. I don’t even get why he was seen praying not to get Chicken Wings-does it not make the journey better when you are given a somewhat tricky part of a chicken? I love chicken wings- I will never shy away from it- if anything I will shy away from chicken breast- I find it so blablabla (BORING).

I recalled Gordon Ramsay saying that no one would be very pleased to cook with Chicken Wings and the fact that it is almost impossible to turn chicken wings into a main course. Joe Bastianich and Graham Elliot then commented on the lack of experience both Daniel and Jamie have which would hinder them from coming up with making chicken lollipops. Honestly, that was the first time that I had ever heard of chicken lollipops and in fact only today I hit Google to find out what it is. I’m not one to have crazy knives skills, but this is definitely something I will work on in the future. So for those of you who is eager to make chicken lollipops, this link is very helpful:

Chicken Lollipops

I haven’t been feeling well for the past few days, on my old blog, I provided the recipe for http://chicgeeknpetite.com/2014/03/02/day-636-a-healthy-body-a-healthy-mind-confinement-steamed-chicken/ which my mum taught me. She always stresses on the importance of using a lot of garlic and ginger- apparently one will get better instantly. So this time around, due to my eagerness to make a dish featuring chicken wings- I not only decided to make two preparations for it but also to pair both with ginger sauce.

The ingredients are as following(for 3 People):

Tesco Everyday Value British Chicken Wings 980G- £2.41

Tesco Ginger 125G – use all and it should be grated- £0.99

A whole bulb of Garlic, to be finely sliced- £0.30

2 Red Chillies, diagonally sliced- £0.60

2 Finger Chillies, diagonally sliced- £0.90

3 Brown Onions, finely sliced- £1.00

4 tablespoons of Tesco Ingredient Oyster Sauce- £1.89

4 tablespoons of Amoy Light Soy Sauce- £1.19

2 glasses of water

2 tablespoons of Tesco Dark Soft Brown Sugar- £1.49

(Note: I didn’t get my chillies from Tesco but instead got it from an Asian Grocery shop- both the finger chillies and the red chillies cost me £0.60 and I didn’t have to buy the sauces as well as the brown sugar, but for a fair idea on how much it will cost in total per serving, the prices for the three ingredients were taken into consideration)

Total Cost Per Serving-4 pieces of chicken wings each: £3.59

Methods:

The wings were divided equally, one portion to be grilled and another portion to be slow cooked.

For the portion to be grilled, I marinated it with half of the grated ginger, 2 tablespoons of light soya sauce and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar.

For the portion to be slow cooked, I marinated the chicken wings only with soya sauce and half portion of the grated ginger.

When both portions were marinated, I then stored it inside the fridge for at least an hour (can be marinated for up to 24 hours).

After an hour, I then removed only the portion to be slow cooked from the fridge while I waited for my oven grill to be heated to high heat (I tested it on my griddle pan- but it is definitely better to use the oven. This is as to ensure that the chicken wings are cooked thoroughly- or probably I just haven’t mastered the art of using a griddle pan).

I heated a tablespoon of olive oil on my sauce pan and when the oil heated (on medium heat), I added all the garlic onto the pan (becareful so as the garlic will not be burnt).

I then added the chicken, skin side down to get a nice colour. I mixed and sautéed both the garlic and the chicken until all water residues dried up. I then added the oyster sauce, the remaining marinate and water. 2 glasses of water is just an estimation- it should cover the chicken wings just about enough otherwise the wings won’t cook thoroughly and it will not at the same time take longer for the sauce to thicken.

I then waited until the water boiled. After that, I immediately reduced the heat to low heat, added onions and both types of chillies. I left it to cook for at least 30 minutes.

Halfway through the 30 minutes mark, I placed the chicken wings to be grilled into the oven, this time skin side up. I grilled it for 7.5 minutes each side.

I served the chicken wings with rice and sweet potatoes crisps.

Grilled Chicken Wings

Three Ways of Salmon- My Body is a Wonderland

It is such a cold and lazy morning today. After what felt like the craziest week, I decided to give my body the detox that it deserves. I am planning on recreating three salmon meals that I had made before. Eating salmon, however for some reason seems a bit of a luxury rather than the type of food that can be associated with living on a budget. Even the concept of eating healthily in itself can be costly, that is to say, in contrast, a ready made frozen fish fingers could cost as cheap as £0.60 but of course, with no true value in terms of nutrition provided.

So for today, my main star for both breakfast and lunch will be the Tesco Smoked Salmon Slices 100G. At the moment, it is on offer at 2 for £6, otherwise it costs £3.50 for each packet (offer is until 16th September). A packet of the smoked salmon is more than enough to serve for two people.

For breakfast, my smoked salmon will be accompanied with scrambled eggs and a grilled brioche. I still have 2 eggs left from last night. So apart from the smoked salmon, the only other ingredients that I had to spend on is the Cafe Continental 10 Milk Brioche Rolls which costs £1.20. I only used 2 brioche rolls per serving. I cut the brioche into two and grilled them (somehow this summer, a lot of grilling has been happening in my kitchen- but also another reason is because I don’t own a bread toaster LOOLLL). The charred taste on a rather buttery brioche is a good mix of a sweet buttery and slight bitter- but crispy. It adds texture to the dish.

The meal ended up costing me £1.74 per serving (£2.04 if I had to purchase eggs).

My recipe for scrambled eggs is simple:

Combine 2 eggs in a bowl, use a fork to mix it, add just-enough milk for taste and season with salt and pepper. Put the bowl on top of a pan full of hot boiling water. This will ensure that the eggs will not be overcooked. Sometimes if I have parmesan cheese around, I would add it to my scramble eggs- but I am really determine to keep it healthy today!

Smoked Salmon with Scrambled Egg and Toasted Brioche

For lunch, this is my version of salad- I will be making Smoked Salmon with Grilled Asparagus, Grilled Chestnut Mushrooms and Roasted Sweet Potatoes. Tesco Asparagus Bundles 250G is also on offer at 3 for £4, otherwise it costs £1.65 per packet. The Tesco nearby my house didn’t sell any sweet potatoes so I had to go to Sainsbury’s. It costs £1.25 for a kg, I only bought three pieces and used one for this meal. So for this meal, it worked out to have cost me approximately £0.41. Tesco Chestnut Mushrooms 250G costs £1 and I probably only used half of it. So in the end, for this meal, it worked out to cost me £3.74. 

For both the Asparagus and the Mushroom, I season it with dashes of olive oil and sea salt. I then started by grilling the Mushroom first as it will take more time and at the same time the residue from the juice will add flavour to the asparagus. Meanwhile, for the sweet potatoes- I brush it with some olive oil, season with salt- then put it in a pre-heated oven (220 Degrees) for 15 minutes (depending on the thickness of the sweet potatoes when you slice it- I happen to like mine very much crisp like- so they are rather thin and therefore take shorter time to cook).

Smoked Salmon with Grilled Asparagus, Grilled Chestnut Mushroom and Roasted Sweet Potatoes

For dinner, I will be making my Thai Asian Style Grilled Salmon to be accompanied with a bowl of jasmine rice and grilled asparagus.

For Four Servings, the ingredients are:

2 Packets of Tesco 2 Boneless Salmon Fillets 220G – £4.00 per packet (2 for £7.00); Tesco Ginger 125G (only use half and the ginger is to be chopped)- £0.99; 1 Red Chilli, chopped- £0.60; 2 tbsp of chopped fresh Coriander– £0.70, 2 tbsp of Amoy Dark Soy Sauce – £1.19, 2 tbsp of Amoy Light Soy Sauce– £1.19, 2 tbsp of Tesco Everyday Value Clear Honey– £0.99; salt for seasoning.

The Cost per Serving is £3.17.

Combine all other ingredients in a bowl and mix it well. Then add salmon into the bowl and marinate for 30 minutes- 1 hour. Preheat grill pan to high heat, grill salmon skin side down. When salmon is halfway cook, carefully turn it around. It should take only 5-7 minutes for the salmon to cook.

The Simple Yet Flavourful Solution

So this morning, I almost didn’t make it for my coach back to Sheffield. I was crashing at a friend’s house since my bestfriend has a rule on me having to find an alternative solution if I am coming back home past 12 am- it make sense, in order for me to get into her apartment I would have to wake everyone up. I must have set five alarms and must have deleted all of it. Luckily, I managed to wake up at 9.40 am which gave me sometime albeit still in a rush- with the slight delay on Hammersmith & City line (and lets not forget with a massive hangover)- I made it to my bestfriend’s place by 10.10 am.

When I saw her (she was working at home today), I told her that I wasn’t able to spend a lot of time talking to her etc. since I had to ‘rush pack’ my suitcases and proceeded almost instantly to Victoria Coach Station. By the time I left hers it was 10.30am (yes, I didn’t get to shower but managed to take some ibuprofen before I left). I made it to the coach station by 11am and my megabus to Sheffield was at 11.30am. It did give me some room to breathe.

The journey wasn’t as smooth as it should have been- traffic congestion on M1 which ended up with the journey delayed by 51minutes. By the time I reached my apartment- I was so knackered and was not really up for any extreme culinary adventure. In the end, I decided to cook fried rice which I had freshly invented- coriander shrimp paste, anchovies fried rice. The ingredients are as following:

Ingredients (For 4 People):

2 Bowls of Boiled Rice- At least cooked overnight or left to cool at room temperature for an hour or so.

4 Eggs (Tesco Minimum box of 6- £0.89)

Birds Eye Garden Peas 400G (only use a cup) – £1.60

Tesco Anchovy Fillets In Olive Oil 100G – £1.69

2 Tesco Brown Onions Loose Onion (1 Onion- Sliced finely and 1 Onion – Roughly Chopped) – £0.16 (each)

4-8 Tesco Finger Chillies – de-seeded (4 for mild spice, 6 for spicy, 8 for extremely spicy) – £0.90

2 tablespoons of light soya sauce

1 tablespoon of fish sauce- £1.39

1 tablespoon of olive oil

A handful of fresh Tesco Coriander (leaves and stem) – £0.70

1 tablespoon of Seasoned Pioneers Thai Shrimp Paste – £1.99

4 cloves of Tesco Garlic Each – £0.30

(Total Cost for Ingredients Minus Olive Oil and Light Soya Sauce= £9.78)

Cost per Serving: £2.45

Methods:

Blend together 1 onion- roughly chopped, bird chillies, 2 tablespoons of light soya sauce, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, a handful of fresh coriander, 1 tablespoon of shrimp paste and 4 cloves of garlic– add water when necessary while maintaining a thick consistency of the paste- the colour might be a bit off-putting but the smell and the taste is spectacular (put it aside for the time being).

Mix three eggs in a bowl- as if you are making scramble eggs, but remember to season with salt and pepper! Heat up oil in a wok and fry the eggs. Put it aside.

Sauté the blended mix and then add in the finely sliced onions, anchovies and peas. After 5 mins or when the onions soften, add in the boiled rice and the scramble eggs. Mix everything together. Add in few dashes of dark soya sauce, Season with salt.

Fry an egg just as a condiment.

The result is as following: