The Sugar Bar

Ever since I was able to begin helping my mother in the kitchen, rather than simply prancing around in a frilly apron and getting to lick the spoon, I was taught that the preparation of a dish was more about what it did for the person eating it than the effort and thought that went into preparing it. Of course dishes have their own significance, whether it is for festive reasons or for chasing away bad luck for the new year. But, with my Chinese background, it has come to my understanding that every dish is created for the person eating it for a particular reason – to bring happiness, to clear excess air, to cleanse the system after festive eating, to improve blood circulation, to bring radiance to the skin and brightness to the eye, etc. Eating isn’t great because it’s necessary for survival. It isn’t amazing because it’s just scrumptious. It’s marvellous because it’s so clever.

Nothing goes into a dish for no reason. And so, with this mentality in mind, I whipped this up for lunch. After weeks of poor nutrition and sloppy eating, I wanted to make something that would fill me up, be healthy enough, have sufficient amount of protein and vitamins in it, cleanse and cut through all that grease in my system and have a comforting warm broth to chase away the wintry cold. Ochazuke is usually made with leftover rice, just like chahan or egg fried rice. Nothing goes to waste in winter! Get a bowl of rice, top it with whatever you fancy and pour hot green tea over it. Delicious and ready in a flash. Not to forget, it’s good for you. Genius, isn’t it?

Although this dish is very simple, I hear what makes it so good is using good quality ingredients for toppings. I think my efforts came to a B+, good enough for me really! What would make it so much better would be a couple more exciting toppings like umeboshi and some furikake. Despite that, my ochazuke was still utterly comforting and healing. Delicately flavoured and very visually appealing in my opinion. When I make this again, I hope to use grilled eel for the topping as I bet that would make the broth taste insanely good! If you’re wondering what sort of green tea I’ve used, it’s a 旨み濃いめ緑茶: a blend of sencha (煎茶), karigane (かりがね) and matcha (抹茶).

This recipe is good for 1. I highly recommend not being lazy and warming your bowl in the oven before serving, as this makes eating it twice as good!

Ochazuke (お茶漬け)
Ingredients

75g Japanese rice
about 150ml water, for cooking
1/2 tbs black sesame seeds
1/2 tbs white sesame seeds
4-5 sheets of nori seaweed
pinch of salt/ajinomoto (optional)
1 cup prepared green tea

Wash rice. Soak the rice in water for 20 minutes. Wash and drain. Rinse well. Add rice to the prepared water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Then cover and let simmer for 10 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed. Remove from heat and let sit covered for 25 minutes.

Once ready to serve, prepare the green tea of choice. Remember not to use boiling water. Follow the instructions on the packet. Transfer rice to a deep bowl. Top the rice with sesame seeds and seaweed. You can vary your toppings. I’ve kept it simple, clean and easy. Place prepared meat on top and sprinkle with salt. Pour the hot tea over the meat, until it just covers the rice. Serve.

Yakitori (焼き鳥 やきとり)
Ingredients

1 chicken thigh/breast
1-3 spring onions
2 tbs sake
3 tbs dark soy sauce (I’ve used normal soy)
1 tbs mirin
1/2 tbs sugar
about 3-4 short wooden skewers

Some recipes have you mix the ingredients together to form a sauce and then boil it so it thickens. You can get yakitori sauce in a bottle as well. But I’ve decided to go for just basting the chicken as it is with a thin sauce since this will go with the ochazuke rather than plain white rice. I didn’t want it to get really saucy and messy since the whole point of the dish is something tasty but clean. I didn’t want the sauce to affect the broth of the ochazuke.

Chop up the spring onions into 1.5 inches long, keeping the white bit from above the roots to about halfway up the green leaves. I find this bit to be the most flavourful. Chop up the chicken into nice bite sizes. Alternating chicken meat with spring onion, skewer them.

Set the grill to about 190d Celsius. Brush and drizzle the prepared yakitori sauce over the skewers and place under the grill. Brush on the sauce every 3 minutes or so. Once the top side is nicely brown, flip over the skewers and baste with the sauce. Repeat the basting process until the skewered meat is cooked through and the chicken is nicely brown. This should take about 20-25 minutes to cook. If you prefer not to cook them under a grill, cooking them over a bbq should be pretty good too.

Earlier this week, one of my mates said to me, “I’ve just realized how funny you are. Every damn thing you say is Facebook quote-worthy.”

Obviously flattered, the topic of the worthiness of my witty banter soon passed and things got right down and dirty – the topic of food, chocolate, Sunday roast and Christmas mince pies. Indeed, I am often less bothered about what I say really than the yummy concoctions I put in my mouth. I mean, I get totally psyched about that!

One good thing about my pals and I are that we are easily teased by food. Apart from friendship, this is the strong bond that brings us lot together. Think of us as a Knighthood of Glorified & Appreciative Eaters, if you like. So anyway, everyone got properly jittery when Starbucks released their Christmas red cups, considering the fact that among us we have people who have either worked/works at Starbucks and/or are just generally unadulterated Starbucks junkies (and unafraid to admit that we are). So, still satiated and buzzing from an afternoon Christmas special drink (with the roof of my mouth tingling a little from burning it on a dark cherry mocha), feeling nice and toasty in my new slipper socks as my room is slowly infused with the scent of burning mulled wine candles, I plot my Sunday lunch.

And blimey, was this Sunday lunch very brilliant on the flavours! Just last week, I’d popped two beautiful pork steaks into the freezer in an effort to save them for a time when I was better prepared ingredient and energy wise. Today was just the perfect day for tasty steaks and what better to pair pork than with apples? The advent of winter also means making use of wintry flavours in fruit and nuts. Instead of chomping on that next bar of Aero chocolate, I was beyond delighted to deck myself in my black sugarbar apron and get working within the comforts of a heated home on a hearty meal.

I found an interesting recipe on goodtoknow.co.uk incorporating Chinese ingredients for a pork marinade. I was a little worried on how that might work with a fruit risotto but my fears were put to rest once I put a fork of meat to mouth. The flavours were gorgeous! Chinese 5 spice and the garlic was just wonderful, making the meat so juicy and succulent with a nice lacing of oriental sweetness. I adore this marinade and highly recommend it. In fact, I’m hoping to use this recipe again next week for another friend of mine, in hopes of wowing his socks off and showing him what a stunning cook I am. Actually, it’s also because I owe him a meal after he whipped me up some amazing chicken fajitas about 2 weeks ago. This man, I swear, is some sort of god of fajitas.

The apple risotto too was quite amazing. Word of advice, don’t pick sweet apples such as Royal Gala or Pink Lady. As much as these apples are tasty and beautiful to look at, I find that choosing a rather tart apple like Braeburn or maybe even a Cox just perfect, especially since it’ll go well with a dash of white wine.

This recipe serves 2.

Pan-Seared Pork Steak on Apple & Pecan Risotto
Ingredients

For the marinade & pork steaks:
(adapted from goodtoknow.co.uk)
2 fresh pork steaks
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs brown sugar
1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice
1/2 clove garlic, very finely chopped
1/2 tbs olive oil
1/2 tbs toasted sesame oil
sprinkle of dried thyme

For the Apple & Pecan Risotto:
150g Italian arborio rice
about 400ml vegetable stock
1/4 cup dry white wine
40g salted butter
1 shallot, chopped
30-40g grated parmesan
1 red apple (I’ve used a Braeburn), chopped into small cubes
1/3 cup whole pecans, toasted and roughly chopped
sprinkle of dried thyme
freshly ground black pepper, for seasoning

In a small bowl, mix together ingredients for the marinade. Place pork steaks in a large plate and pour marinade over the tops of the steaks. Rub gently into the steaks, flip over and cover the clean sides with marinade. Make sure to pat the chopped ginger in the marinade onto the steaks. Cover plate tightly with clingwrap and let sit in the refrigerator overnight or for at least an hour.

For the risotto, make sure you start on it about 10-15minutes before pan-searing the steaks as this will take about 5-7minutes to cook completely.
Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add the risotto rice and fry for about 2 minutes. Add the shallots and fry a little longer. Ladle about 2 ladles of vegetable stock into the saucepan, lower heat and let simmer. The arborio rice will slowly absorb the liquids in and be careful to only add a ladle of stock each time, stirring now and again as the rice cooks – you can add liquid to risotto but not take it out!
When all the liquid is nearly absorbed, add another ladle and continue this cooking process. This will take about 10-15minutes to cook. Once the risotto rice is cooked through, add the white wine and stir. Once the consistency of the risotto has reached the desired thickness, remove from heat and add 1/2 the prepared grated parmesan, thyme, apples and pecan. Stir with a quick and firm hand until all the ingredients have just come together.
Add the rest of the grated parmesan, saving a tiny bit for sprinkling over the tops. Season with black pepper if needed.

For the pork steaks, preheat the oven to 200d Celsius and prepare a hot frying pan. The pan has got to be very hot but not overly hot. Grease lightly with cooking spray. Remove steaks from refrigerator.
Place steaks on hot frying pan and let sear for about 7 seconds (you will have to judge this by eye). With a pair of tongs or a spatula, flip the steaks quickly to sear the other side for another 7 seconds. Now remove and place on a grill, then slide into the oven to cook for about 5 minutes. Once cooked, serve quick on a bed of apple & pecan risotto with a sprinkle of grated parmesan.

Me: You only turn 21 once.
D.: No. YOU’ve turned 21 three times. That’s mental!

I’ve turned 21 three times now: a pre-birthday bash, the official birthday, and a belated birthday. Can safely say I’m very fortunate, very loved and very honoured. Multiple celebrations are way too cool and have imprinted my 21st very deeply in my memory now.

I’d like to thank all my mates for all the effort (time and money) they’ve put in, Ted Baker, my liver and Birmingham’s good side. I think some tried really hard to make me forget about personal troubles. A home-baked chocolate cake, party hats, giant balloons in your face, and shiny birthday banners — the perfect cure to anything!

As our tastebuds were getting a little bored from the usual Italian fare, The Oriental was the restaurant of choice for the night. Situated by the wharf in The Mailbox, it was quite decadently decorated with a great ambience and very kind and attentive staff. We probably went a little too far with the starters and very many bottles of wine, such that the main course was a bit of a challenge when they were finally set down on the table. Our table was very taken with the wonderful menu. Spoilt for choice. I highly recommend going onto their website first if you intend to pop in for a visit as it is so extensive and varied over Thai, Malay and Chinese cuisine, you won’t be able to figure out what you want only after about 30minutes I reckon!

Not to worry, however, since major drool-age pushed us into ordering quicker than you can say ‘quick’. I was so hungry at that point my ribs were hurting. Not to mention I had been battered the night before, my feet were aching, my knee was scabby from falling over because of my new ALDO heels. What else? None of us had really eaten all day. Wonderful! Peking duck pancakes, a Thai platter of starters, wine and a Singapore Sling. Then, plates of Cointreau Flambéd Red Snapper arrived, a Sweet Orange Duck, Pork with Ginger & Spring Onion, Sweet & Sour Chicken, not forgetting some noodles and the ever-lovable egg fried rice.

By the end of the meal, I was zinging with joy – never feeling so happy and relaxed. Despite all that food I’d eaten, I was literally bouncing off the ground with each step. Walking down the canal towards Brindleyplace to meet the rest of the gang for drinks, I suppose we were the loudest, jolliest and craziest group of people. Next thing we know, Steph’s practically ordering us to pull a Thriller pose in front of some random Thriller posters. No problem there, as you can see.

Last stop, Brindleyplace. Got into Pitcher & Piano without an ID. How? you ask. Simply flashed my ’21′ badge after my mate had explained it was my party and got an ‘ok’ and a smile from the burly bouncer. Everyone’s awfully nice and understanding when you’re 21. Geee. I think everyone in the bar was tolerating these crazy yellow balloons as well. It was hilarious.

Great banter. Many rounds of gin & tonic, B55 and Screaming Orgasms (a chocolate alcoholic cocktail) and the night rounded up very pleasantly. Woke up the next morning, surprisingly, with not the faintest throb of a headache! But feeling knackered, Steph and I pulled through and trudged to uni to spend 4 hours in the library slogging hard at a desk. The magic of the night had worn off a little but with the massive number of photos we’d taken that night on 2 cameras, I’m relieved to know it’s all preserved in them. Best night of my life.