Don’t be daunted by the length of its name, it’s actually an extremely easy dish. Almost no cooking required!

My clothes are out in the garden, neatly hung up on the washing line. The sun comes and goes in intervals. The DHL guy has picked up my parcel and the customs form was no trouble at all. What does this mean? Free time to prepare a cracking lunch and catch the last bits of Market Kitchen and Kylie Kwong’s My China on UKTV Food. Pure heaven.

Great to unwind. Who says you can’t unwind in the day?

Just yesterday, Mrs Alex asked about my novel and how it’s getting on. I’ve got a lot of support from the pals with regards to my literary project but it seems it’s still in its pants stage. Sorry guys. I’m working at it Manuscripts will definitely be sent out to you lot when it’s done but for now it’s quite difficult to explain what it’s all about, the style, the plot because it’s an unfinished work. Don’t you get that? Finding yourself at a loss for words when you’re trying to formulate a ‘form’ for something ‘unformed’?

I almost have a rule for not talking about incomplete works, but that comes off at times as seeming rather arrogant, distant or rude. Bad habit I think. I remember how I found myself nearly dumb when I tried to describe a work-in-progress fashion plate or abstract composition of a painting for specific art projects of mine. Nonetheless, I do love it when I can’t describe it or control it myself. It feels as though what I give birth to (not physically) has a life of its own and I’m a mere medium for something cool. It makes it as organic as real birth like how I’ve got a life of my own separate from my birth parents.

My o my, do I sound self-centred or what? A second look at what I just wrote defines me as a little crazy, confused, mentally unsound?

Well that’s a bit of my life as it is now.

Did a little shopping and bought my first SUMMER STRAW STETSON. O yes indeed. Sun, watch out. Diva’s gonna take you on. Got some other knicky-knacky bits too, another man-sized white shirt to add to my collection of white shirts, Abercrombies, Lacoste and Ralph Lauren (I know I know, call me a poser but I do love the shirts these guys make). Just something about shirts that are so perfect for every day wear with a skirt, shorts, jeans or going smart.

I didn’t bother doing much with either recipe because I thought the ingredients on their own were good and fresh enough to have it as it is. Fuss free, simple and delicious. Also, all that feasting has resulted in bloatedness and sluggishness. Time for some proper food to sort me out.

This recipe is good for 1.

Lightly Smoked Salmon with Dill & Allspice Couscous Crust
Ingredients

1 lightly smoked salmon steak
1/4 cup couscous
pinch of garlic flakes
1/4 tsp hot chili powder
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp dill
salt for seasoning
olive oil
boiling water

Preheat oven to 180d Celsius.
Grease a baking tray. Coat smoked steak in olive oil.
Mix spices, garlic flakes and dill into the dry couscous in a bowl. Pour hot water into the bowl until it just covers the couscous, about half a cm above the surface. Cover and let it steam and cook for a few minutes.
Remove cover, using a fork, fluff up the couscous.
Season the salmon steak. Then, layer the couscous over the top and press to form a neat crust on top.

Leave to bake in the oven for 15-20min.

Tomato, Mozzarella & Kiwi Salad
Ingredients

1 large tomato, sliced
1 green kiwi, skinned and sliced
1/2 a mozzarella, sliced
sprinkling of dried/fresh basil leaves
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
a few drops of balsamic vinegar

Prepare a little dressing by mixing the oil and balsamic vinegar together. Layer out the tomato, kiwi and mozzarella any way you like it. Sprinkle basil over it, followed by the dressing.

I know it’s not cool to post about mundane things or unremarkable dishes. And this isn’t just an excuse to post but after surfing the net and bouncing through foodblogs, I realized that there are a number of people who’ve created fantastic fried rice dishes and yet a number who are quite troubled when it comes to finding the perfect fried rice recipe.

As boring as fried rice may sound, it is quintessential ‘fast food’ and also therefore, sometimes lacking in flavour if not cooked right. Born in Singapore - the land of fried rice - I suppose you can say I was exposed to some of the best plates of rice ever. But equipped with a rather dead tongue, I have no idea how to recreate those flavours and it is also unfortunate that I haven’t got a wonder cook somewhere in the family (ok I do, but you know what I mean by wonder cook when I say wonder cook) to pass down a secret recipe. I bring good tidings, however, and that is that I’ve come close to the ultimate plate of fried rice I used to have in school.

I must have spoken about this briefly once in my Chahan with Shiitake Mushrooms, Greens & Chives post; mainly, about the use of preserved salted fish to flavour the rice, often cooked with a range of vegetables and a combination of cha siew or Chinese roast pork and crispy roasted pork belly. This plate of meaty wonder is then served with loads of fresh, crisp lettuce slices and a fried egg, with the yoke just cooked so its still molten and melty in the middle.

Using the same concept of a flavour booster (the salted fish) and a main meat (pork) and a topping of lettuce, I’ve come close in areas of taste to the hawker fried rice of my childhood. It may not compare in terms of authenticity or ratings but it’s pretty damn good if I can say so myself. What I’ve done, however, is switch around the booster and the main meat, using seafood as the main meat and pork as the flavour booster.

Intrigued?

Smoked pancetta or smoked bacon bits can be used but I find pancetta, cooked alongside chopped garlic in a pan of mild-flavoured oil, such as sunflower oil, infuses more un-overpowering flavour into it than bacon. You may think otherwise, and choose to stick with bacon, that’s fine really. I can never be made to choose which is better anyway because I love pancetta with equal fervour as I do bacon. The prawns act as great absorbers of grease as well if you find pork too oily a meat. Prawns add a great sweetness to the dish and I would highly recommend it over other seafood like squid and fish.

Although the key ingredient here is pancetta, the fish sauce I believe was the second star of the day. Having a beautiful flavour and completely different taste to Chinese soy sauce or Japanese shoyu, it melts wonderfully into the rice, marries the king prawns and gives this fried rice a backbone!

King Prawn Pancetta Fried Rice
Ingredients

1/4 cup long grain white rice/basmati rice
1/2 cup water, for cooking the rice
1/3 cup lettuce, sliced
1/3 cup king prawns, shelled and deveined
2 slices smoked pancetta
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tsp fish sauce
sprinkling of dried oregano
pepper, for seasoning
mild tasting vegetable oil, for frying

In a saucepan, cook the rice in measured amount of water.

In a large frying pan, heat the oil. Add chopped garlic and pancetta and fry together to flavour the oil. Next add the king prawns and fry till it gets a lovely golden brown near crisp outer layer.
Once the rice is cooked, add to the frying pan with the lettuce. Fry till the rice loses most of its moistness. Toss rice with fish sauce, seasoning and oregano as you fry.

Once done, serve on its own or with your favourite vegetable dishes.

**Disclaimer: THIS IS REALLY PANNA NOTTA.

I’ve been wanting to make panna cotta for ages! Cream on its own is fantastic. Cooked, set, sweetened cream is miles better. Honest and uncomplicated, accompanied with the fresh taste and flavour of berries of your choice, sometimes chocolate or caramel sauce, panna cotta is one of those things you can never get enough of.

I know every one has their own cravings (they’re terrible things to predict in advance so I write them down as and when they come to me) and list of recipes they plan to complete. I am hardly that organised so I usually forget my cravings (unless, as said before, I write them down somewhere but most of the time I end up losing these scraps of paper) which is honestly a bad thing since I want to remember them and then satisfy them. This was put on hold for a very long time, until now. And according to popular theories, the longer you frustrate your desires, if not denied for too long, the final satisfaction will be double the pleasure. The only problem with mine was it didn’t set too well probably because I didn’t use enough gelatin sheets. Or maybe because I’d melted my panna cottas by accident whilst letting them sit in boiling water for near a minute. Who does that?! Thereafter, I had to place them back in the fridge but its setting qualities had been all ruined by then.

Runny, depressed and messy panna cotta.

100% disappointment. At least for me.

Others who tasted it said it was one of the best things I’ve made with the perfect melt-in-your-mouth moment. I was completely bummed out by the looks of it.

This makes 4-6 servings.

Vanilla Panna Cotta & Blueberry Sauce
Ingredients

4 tbsp caster sugar
300ml double cream
300ml milk
1 vanilla pod
170g mascarpone
4 gelatin sheets (I recommend increasing this to maybe 5)
sunflower oil, for greasing glasses

For the blueberry sauce:
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tbs morello cherry cordial
1 punnet blueberries

Cook the cream, milk, sugar in a heavy-based saucepan over medium to low fire. Add the vanilla bean and simmer on low for 5-6 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean. Split the bean, scrape the seeds out and add them to the cooking cream. Return the bean back into the cream and let simmer for another 2 minutes.

In a bowl of cold water, soak the gelatin sheets till soft and bouncy.

Remove from saucepan of cream from heat. Using a metal whisk, whisk in the mascarpone cheese until smooth. Whisk the gelatin sheets in next.

Using some oil, brush the insides of glasses. Pour cooked cream into the glasses. Let the glasses cool for a little in room temperature then transfer to fridge to let set for at least 3 hours.

For the blueberry sauce:
Over low fire, dissolve the sugar into the water. Add the blueberries and crush some of them into the sugar mixture. Add the cordial and let this simmer and reduce till it thickens to desired consistency. Serve with panna cotta. YUM.

Although it’s technically our summer holiday, I’ve been busy. And no, it isn’t just socializing. It’s about packing, buying presents, shopping for themed party costumes, sorting out next year’s rent and planning moving logistics. It’s slightly crazy and ‘eating’ away at my time for cooking and baking. But then again, I did spend the whole of last week FEASTING. And by feasting I really mean gorging myself on bbq after bbq, pizza express, Strada at The Mailbox, loads of gelati from Morelli’s, that kinda thing. Unfortunately, all that fantastic indulgence has resulted in a pot belly and a lack of posts on my blog.

Due to the parties and other preoccupations such as learning to deejay from Alex (as if I really did learn), nearly crashing his Ferrari laptop, sunbathing, playing pseudo volleyball,etc. I have not been catching up enough with the food blogosphere. Lots of catching up to do indeed.

I have received a couple of emails about the Beauty and the Feast. Again, thank you all who participated. I’ll think about whether I’ll continue the challenge. I’m not too sure about it as it was pretty much a once-off thing. Let me know what you think and I’ll see how it goes, depending on the response.

Trying to do quickcook meals is the new cool and highly essential when you can hardly find time to sleep and housekeep because of a busy schedule. So here’s a post dedicated to Japan’s fast food! At least I think it is since I used to see boxes of yakisoba loads at train stations for quick takeaways and in my mind, that’s definitely ‘fast’ food.
I love yakisoba. Tasty and really quick to make. The sauce is really the essential bit that marries everything together. If I’m not wrong, yakisoba sauce is quite easy to find pre-made in bottles. I looked through some recipes online for yakisoba sauce and they required oyster sauce which gives fantastic flavour. I’m sure you can find vegetarian oyster sauces made with, what was it, mushrooms? But I’m not too sure if it’ll taste exactly the same as the real thing. Doubt it. I’ve chose to go for a vegetarian yakisoba sauce, not because I’m iffy with oyster sauce. I love it! But I don’t have any in my pantry. I haven’t really tried to make traditional yakisoba by using all the right ingredients but have instead thrown it all together with what I have lying around and that’s bordering on rotten.

Don’t be put off by the name ebi sakamushi either. It is so simple and flavourful and hardly requires any thinking. It is basically sake-steamed prawns. You can use drinking or cooking sake. Either way it gives off a lovely smell and infuses the prawns in a sweetness, enhancing its naturally sweet flesh with tinges of malty rice flavour as well. I really like this and makes a great appetizer too. I placed the prawns in paper nut cups and popped them into a bamboo steamer which made them easy to serve out onto individual plates. This also helped the prawns to cook in their own juice without the sake flowing away.

Here’s a recipe that yields 2-3 servings.

Vegetarian Yakisoba with Ebi Sakamushi
Ingredients

2 tied portions of soba noodles
1/2 cup sliced cabbage
1/2 cup thinly sliced green peppers
1/4 cup thinly sliced carrots
2 small onions, sliced

For the vegetarian yakisoba sauce:
1/4 cup shoyu
80ml rice vinegar
3 tbs mirin
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
3 heaped tsp sugar

For ebi sakamushi:
1/2 cup large king prawns
2 tbs sake

To prepare the sauce first, whisk all ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

Now cook the noodles in hot water. Once cooked, run under cold water and set aside. You can leave them soaked in cold water to prevent them from sticking.

Heat some oil in a large frying pan. Golden brown the onions, then add all the vegetables and stirfry. Next, add the soba noodles and the yakisoba sauce. Fry until all the sauce has been absorbed into the noodles. It might get a little sticky due to the sugar caramelizing but that’s fine. If you prefer not to have your noodles uber sauced-up, you can use about 2/3 of the prepared sauce and fry on high heat.

For the ebi sakamushi, simply place prawns in nut cups and pour the sake over the prawns into the cup. Steam until prawns are cooked through and bright pink.

Serve noodles with sesame seeds, gari pickles (optional) and the prawns on the side.