Coconut Club, Singapore

Tags

brunch, coconut club, dinner, lunch, nasi lemak, nostalgic, restaurant review, singapore, singapore restaurants

Hands down, the best nasi lemak in Singapore. It’s comparable if not better than the famed Village Park nasi lemak in KL, by virtue of its superior fried chicken and convenient location, nestled within Ann Siang hill. I would, however, give Village Park the edge for its sambal.

The coconut club adopts a no straw policy. A minor inconvenience that’s for sure but I believe it’s a good notion, whether or not they’re trying to skimp on the cost of plastic straws.

You’re given a basic nasi lemak option and the option of jazzing it up with additional items like more egg, extra chicken and the such. I can’t quite remember the drinks unfortunately, although I most likely went for the Milo. Nasi Lemak and Milo, what a winning combination!

I greedily opted for an extra fried egg and almost regretted it when the food arrived. Portions are generous when it comes to their exceptional nasi lemak, not that I’m complaining at all as I love my food.

The fried eggs are nicely browned just around the edges and yolks ooze a perfect molten gold. Fried chicken is seasoned well and manages to be a tantalizing crisp golden brown on the outside and all tender juiciness on the inside. Even the ikan bilis is crisp and crackling perfect, nudging away every memory of stale, chewy ikan bilis in lesser eateries. And what is nasi lemak without the full monty ? There’s a generous helping of peanuts and the usual side of cucumbers to help combat the spice of some very delightful sambal. It can get a tad spicy, so fair warning.

We ended the meal with a bowl of chendol each. The shaved ice is so fine it tastes like it belongs in the acclaimed powder snows of Niseko. However, I tend to mix my chendol up and stir it into a soup before I eat it, so the texture was unfortunately lost on me. I would have preferred more gula melaka and other toppings but this was a decent go.

One of my favourite haunts these days, should I decide to let loose and go on a binge!

4.5/5 for the nasi lemak!

Address: 6 Ann Siang Hill, Singapore 069787

Ryunabe, Niseko, Hokkaido

Tags

Chinese, dinner, healthy, Hokkaido, hot pot, japan, japanese, niseko, Niseko restaurants, restaurant review

I’m not the biggest fan of hot pot. One has to brave steam, heat, slippery floors and distasteful arrays of unappetizing raw meat with platters of bland looking vegetables upon entering a typical hot pot restaurant. If that wasn’t enough, you’re served with broth that tastes exactly like boiled water and you’re expected to cook the said raw meats and vegetables in this sorry excuse of a broth.

I’ve been to Hai Di Lao, and thankfully had a better experience, what with the waitresses cooking the food for you and you’re given the option of much tastier soups. The meats and Co, however, still have much room for improvement.

I was therefore pleasantly surprised when we stumbled upon this place (ok fine, in all transparency, I stalked friends who were also in Niseko).

The broths offered looked and sounded extraordinary; thick fish soup with Hokkaido milk, fish maw and chicken broth and lastly a seafood and tomato soup base. A far cry from the feeble broths offered elsewhere at other hot pot restaurants that pale to near invisibility when compared to this. Ryunabe is unfortunately also very expensive, so we chose to only focus on the hot pot and ignored the sashimi/alcohol.

The dips and condiments were satisfactory as well, spicy chopped chili, sesame sauce, chopped raw garlic and spring onions. After dithering for a bit between the fish soup and chicken soup we settled on the latter.

Behold!

Just look at that soup! It certainly tastes like proper rich Cantonese soup that is topped up again and again whenever required. I would have been content with just the soup alone.

But then the meats arrived, beautifully marbled and precisely fanned out on pretty plates, each with a little piece of paper containing cooking instructions down to the very second of cooking.

Meats of the highest quality I’ve ever seen in a hot pot place. With the exception of some top notch shabu restaurants of course but I think I would prefer Ryunabe still for its delicious soup bases. Shabu broths tends to consist of either water or a thin subtle broth of dashi, so clearly Ryunabe scores higher in the soup base department.

The non beef items included pork slices, fresh, rosy pink fish, some dumplings and a bowl of beautifully arranged vegetables.

Almost forgot the udon, by which time we were stuffed and could not quite finish it. Even in food comatose mode we could tell the the udon is better than most. Everything on the table was top notch, perhaps the dumplings were average but that’s the only exception.

The waitress topped up our soup at least 5 times, not because it all evaporated and dried out, but because we kept drinking it by the bowlfuls. It was that good.

We sobered up as we got the bill though, but absolutely no regrets, it was a terrific meal. Garlic and all.

They also deliver and set up a hot pot meal for you to enjoy in the comfort of your apartment if you wish. After a long day on the slopes it does sound tempting indeed.

191-22 AZA YAMADA, KUTCHAN-CHO, ABUTA-GUN, HOKKAIDO.

Restaurant Phone : (+81)0136-555-304

Reservation Tel: (+81)0136-555-304 & (+81)090-5953-5168

Whole Roast Chicken and Roast Chicken Thighs

Tags

baste, butter, celery, chicken, chicken thighs, compound butter, dinner, easy, easy meals, easy preparation, french cut, garlic, mains, onion, oven, oven roast, protein, quick preparation, roast chicken, roast chicken thighs, rosemary, thyme, western, whole, whole roast chicken

Roast chicken dinner for the family! There’s nothing quite like a full roast at the dining table… and no, Nandos and Kenny Rogers do not count. Roasting a whole chicken (or just the thighs as I will show later on in this post) is actually easier than one would think.

Fresh out of the oven and piping hot, it releases a perfumed steam as you cut into the juicy roast. Absolutely divine.
My shopping haul XD. So without further ado, the ingredients:-

Ingredients (for just 1 roast chicken, you can double it if your family is as greedy as mine)

• 1.7kg whole chicken
• 25g salted butter, softened
• 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary (or whichever herbs you prefer)
• 1 tsp chopped fresh thmye
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 medium white onion
• 1 stalk of celery of around 10 inches, chopped into large sections (optional)
• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary
• salt
• black pepper

Instructions

In a small bowl, combine the butter, chopped thyme, rosemary and garlic to form the compound herb butter.
  To prep the chicken, remove feet, giblets, head, neck and internal organs. Give the chicken a rinse and then pat it dry with some paper towels.
Gently separate the skin from the meat of the breast and spread the herb butter on the meat underneat the skin. If you can get to it, try to spread it onto a part of the thighs as well. Take the remaining butter and rub the skin (do it as gently as possible so the skin does not break. It is very important to keep the skin intact and whole). Rub some salt and black pepper onto the entire surface of the chicken, including the cavity of the chicken. If you’re prepping the chicken the night before, cover the chicken with cling wrap and refrigerate it. Some would condone leaving the chicken uncovered for crispier skin but I just can’t bear the thought of food exposed in the fridge!

Take the chicken out of the fridge an hour before cooking. This makes for tender chicken and even cooking throughout the bird.
  Stuff the cavity with the onion, celery and 1 sprig each of the thyme and rosemary. Here I had stuffed a lemon into the chicken but I’d much prefer the onion and celery option.
Scatter the remaining herbs on top and it’s good to go into the oven!  
Into the oven they go at 205 degrees celsius.   Roast for around 1.5 hours, basting the chicken in its own juices every half an hour.
And there you have it,  a hearty roast chicken that’s ready to be eaten with a variety of side dishes, as can be seen in the picture below!   Roasted some vegetables (recipe to come), made some mushroom soup, lobster pasta, cauliflower cheese (recipe to come) and pomme puree (recipe to come) as well as gravy to go with the chicken.

My sister also made some excellent focaccia bread to go with aged balsamic vinegar. I’m going to nick the recipe off her as well!
  Complete roast chicken dinner.

Roast Chicken Thighs

This is a good alternative when cooking for 1-2 people or if you simply prefer the thigh meat.  Clean the chicken and pat dry. You can use the chicken straight away but I prefer to make it look … somewhat more posh and french.   With reference to the above picture, I cut around the bone near the end of the drumstick. What happens is that I cut through the tendons and sinew (as seen in the top chicken). Remove visible tendons (they’re tough to eat). After which I proceeded to remove all skin, bone and cartilage from the bone end of the chicken, thus resulting the the chicken on the bottom of the picture. All cleaned up at the end.Chicken quarters cleaned up french style.

Make the compound butter (same as that used in the whole roast chicken recipe)

  Smear the compound butter under the skin as evenly as you can.

Tempt the dog (dog doesn’t seem tempted at all).Place the chicken into the oven preheated at 205 degrees celsius (ignore the 190 degrees seen in the picture) for about an hour or until juices run clear and the skin is golden brown in colour. Don’t forget to baste the juices onto the chicken, a couple of times will do I should think.

That’s it! Oh and if you have spare sprigs of herbs, go ahead and arrange them onto the completed dish for decoration.

Lobster glass noodle soup with shaoxing wine.

Tags

big head prawn, big head prawn noodle soup, Chinese, chinese lettuce, chinese soup, chinese soup noodles, coriander, dinner, easy meals, glass noodles, healthy, Home Cooking, huatiao, large prawns, lobster, lobster glass noodle, lobster glass noodle soup, lobster noodle, lobster noodle soup, lunch, Noodles, One bowl meal, prawns, seafood, sesame oil, shaoxing wine, Soup, South East Asian, stew, wine broth, wine soup

Here is the second half of the lobster (first half of which went to making the lobster pasta) and the easier recipe of the two. The original version called for fresh river prawns/big head prawns but since I had the lobster, I figured I could use that instead and add in some large prawns as a bonus. Since there is no recipe that I could refer to online I tried to recreate the taste the best I could remember. Turns out I’m actually quite satisfied with the results! Now without further ado, the recipe:-

Ingredients (4 pax)

• 1/2 lobster
• 6 large prawns (in my first attempt I used 3, but the attempt with 6 prawns tasted better)
• 1 inch ginger, sliced
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp minced onion
• 1/2 cup Shaoxing wine (maybe a dash more if you like)
• 5 cups chicken stock
• Chinese lettuce (I used a quarter of a head), cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 150g Glass noodles
• Spring onions chopped into large three inch sections.
• Coriander for garnish
• Finely chopped spring onions for garnish
• salt

The array of ingredientsGlass noodlesLarge lobster.

So we shall start with the prawns. De-shell all the prawns and set the shells/heads aside. Do NOT throw them away! Then devein them and cut each prawn into three sections.Size of the prawn heads and my hand, just for comparison. Lots of flavour in those prawn heads! 

Cut the lobster into half. If the lobster is as spiny as this one, do use a towel and be very careful when handling it. A pair of strong kitchen scissors would be a great help here.

More pictures of the lobster… as you can probably tell, I’ve added pictures from a second lobster noodle attempt into the mix. The second lobster looked way fresher and more succulent with its firmer white flesh and golden globules.

When you’ve managed to cut the lobster into half lengthwise, chop the tail into three parts and dig out some of the flesh from the head (I forgot to do that here) and set that aside with the prawns. Leave the orange/golden stuff behind.

Heat up some oil in a large pot and fry the ginger, garlic and onions until the onions are translucent and the aroma of the ginger comes out. It helps to crush the ginger before or during this step.Add the prawn shells and fry until half cooked (almost that coral colour they become when they’re fully cooked) before adding the lobster head to the pot.Continue frying for a minute or so, adding a little oil if it gets too dry. Then add the shaoxing wine to soak up all that flavour that’s coming from the prawn shells and lobster head. I actually would have liked to add another half cup of shaoxing wine but I was worried my family may not like the taste so I stuck with half a cup, but go ahead and use that extra half a cup if you like. 

Add the stock and simmer for around 15 minutes before turning off the heat. Cover the pot with its respective lid and leave it for perhaps an hour.

Then, remove the prawn shells from the stock (if you had a strainer bag in the first place, use it to hold the prawn shells because it can be a chore to pick them out from the soup).

Toss in the lobster and prawn meat that was set aside earlier, along with the spring onion sections, lettuce and glass noodles. The reason why we cook the shells and the meat separately is so that we can extract the most flavour out of the seafood from the shells without overcooking the meat, which is only added at the end. If you were to cook the meat right at the start, you’re going to end up with some very hard, overcooked and dry chunks of prawn/lobster which is such a waste of good seafood.

Place the lid back on and bring the soup to a boil.

Add the sesame oil at the end and season with salt. Top with chopped spring onions and coriander. Easy peasy!

Hoedeopbap again!

Tags

dinner, easy recipe, healthy, hoedeopbap, hotate, hwedeopbap, koream sashimi salad, lunch, One bowl meal, quick meal, sake, salad, salmon, sashimi, scallops

Bought some really fresh, plump salmon sashimi and some scallop as well. Thought I’d just quickly whip up some hoedeopbap (Korean sashimi salad) to go with some freshly cooked rice. Rice is one of my guilty pleasures and I try not to have carbs at night but I couldn’t resist… yet again T___T

Here’s the link to the initial post I did up on Hoedeopbap. I just changed some of the vegetables and type of fish according to the ingredients that I have on hand. The one thing that doesn’t change is the sauce. Also, I managed to get hold of Korean perilla leaves (kkaenip)! It was so difficult to find in Singapore, so I was shocked when I came across it by accident in a korean grocery store in Kuala Lumpur. I quickly snapped up 3 packs of it!

My prize: the korean perilla leaf in all its glory

And the rest is just arranging the salad so it looks pretty 😉

Mix it up well and good.

Devour!

❤

White truffle series part 1: Garlic soy lamb with white truffles

Tags

aluminium foil, baked, dinner, easy lamb recipe, easy meals, easy meat recipe, easy recipe, garlic, lamb, mains, meat, soy sauce, truffle lamb, truffle oil, truffles, white winter truffles

This is a super easy recipe, all you need is a rack of lamb, some chopped up garlic, soy sauce and some white pepper. And then you shove it in the oven. I used to make this in university when I could spare the money for some lamb meat (definitely did not fancify it with truffles back then!), and I ate it with rice. It made for a really satisfying meal!

This time around I made the dish again along with my other truffle themed dishes:-

Top left; uni mixed with sushi rice topped with ikura, truffles and more uni

Centre: Sea bream/tai sashimi with chopped canned black summer truffles in truffle oil, fleur de sel and shaved white truffles. I’ve made this before with black winter truffles

Bottom right: Garlic soy lamb with white truffles

Bottom left: Uni sushi with truffles, japanese mayonnaise, chives and white truffles

Here are a couple more pictures of the sashimi, won’t be doing up recipe posts on it as I’ve done it before:

(Yes, I bought a mountain of uni in honour of the white truffle! Hello cholesterol!)

Ingredients for the trio of truffle carpaccio dish (yeah well it was supposed to be a carpaccio but truth be told I bought it as sashimi)

Chopped canned black truffles

Here’s a peak of the monster white truffle…

Ingredients (for 1 pax):

(Please ignore the ice wine, balsamic vinegar and honey that’s in the photo… I had initially wanted to make a separate sauce for the lamb but I found that the sauce from the lamb after cooking was more than sufficient!)

• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small rack of lamb, around 200g with the bone – this was a really small rack of lamb, thus only feeds one person
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• white pepper to taste
• 1 tsp white truffle oil (optional)
• white truffle shavings to top (optional)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius
• Place the room temperature lamb in a sheet of aluminium foil large enough to entirely wrap the lamb.
• Rub in the soy sauce, minced soy sauce and a dash of white pepper into the lamb

• Place 1 tbsp of water into the sheet before wrapping up the lamb.
• Place the lamb in the oven for about 35 minutes for a pink centre (you can adjust the temperature slightly higher and/or leave it in the oven for longer if you like it well done)
• Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes at room temperature.
• Shave white truffles over the top and serve

mmmmm…

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London

Tags

british food, dinner, dinner by heston, dinner by heston blumenthal, england, english restaurant, fat duck, historical, historically inspired, london, restaurant review

Apparently this is a restaurant that requires 2 months of advance booking -____-“. It is tucked away at the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge, London so it’s not as far off central London as Heston’s other famed restaurant, the Fat Duck. Dinner by Heston has a very British focus to its food, it is indeed pretty interesting to see all the historically inspired British dishes. Anyway, here’s a siege of photos of just the menu. 

And they even included the sources of origins of all the items on the menu. Pretty neat.

I totally regret not trying the British Cheese T___T I love my cheese!! I was lucky… the dishes I chose turned out to be pretty good. My mom didn’t have such luck though, somehow her orders weren’t very good.

For the appetizer, I chose “meat fruit”. I really loved this! It is a very airy, fluffy and light but yet rich chicken liver and foie gras parfait, made to look like a mandarin orange. I’m not sure whether the “orange skin” was meant to be eaten so I just scraped out the insides and enjoyed them on the thick slab of toasted bread. An ingenious and clever presentation which does not lack in flavour at all.

Just look at that!!!

Here’s what the others ordered for their appetizers. Unfortunately I don’t remember what they are, except for the … questionable lobster and cucumber soup.

As above, said questionable lobster and cucumber soup. It somehow manages to be a salad and a soup at the same time. The green soup is served cold and is poured around the salad. I tried a little and didn’t like it. I thought that the soup and the salad did not blend well together and the soup is too grassy for my liking. I prefer my soups hot -__-

My main course, the Black foot pork chop. This was delicious. I had expected it to be on the dry side, since pork chops tend to be quite lean but this was a thick, very tender pork chop. Some of this is probably attributed to the fact that it is not cooked all the way through.

Traditionally, the general belief is that pork has to be 100% cooked. No such thing as medium well done or medium. 100%. However, in recent years, the safe cooking temperature for pork has been lowered from having an internal temperature of 160 degree Farenheit to 145 degrees.

I’m still not very convinced that it is supposed to look this pink though:-

Despite my queasiness at the possibility of undercooked pork, it was delicious. Tender, melt in the mouth and so juicy. Perhaps this is what beef-eaters look for in their steak, I’ll never know T____T I’m just glad I could satisfy my meat cravings! While I don’t remember what the sides were, I do remember that I polished off the entire plate, obviously thoroughly enjoying my main course.

My sister ordered the chicken. I’m not sure what the cooking method was for this chicken but it rendered the chicken so flavourful and moist. Definitely another thumbs up on this dish.

My mom ordered the codfish. She didn’t like it and I completely understood why when I took a bite. The fish had a fishy smell to it and was a tad slimy. Not what I expect from a 1 Michelin star restaurant. When the waitresses asked how our food was (they do that SO OFTEN during the meal! It’s annoying!) she just gave a weak “uhh it’s ok” hahaha! Her face was all twisted during the meal it would have been funny if we weren’t expecting so much from this restaurant.

Dessert next! Now this is where Dinner truly deserves its Michelin star! Indeed their desserts are spectacular. Even my mom, who loves her Chinese food, raved about their desserts.

The Taffety tart topped with Vanilla ice cream had very very subtle hints of rose, and was beautifully crumbly, making for a very pleasant eating with the apples. Not sure if I tasted any fennel but who cares, it was good.

If the waitress had not recommended the Tipsy cake, I would never have ordered it. This was by far hands down the best dish of the night. It is moist, with a generous amount of whiskey, tapered down by the sweetness of the pineapple and the cake itself. So very fragrant, aromatic and hearty. Comfort food worthy ;D

Tarte of Strawberries. It wasn’t too bad but it was overshadowed by the maddeningly delicious Tipsy cake. All I remember about it was the sorbet. The strawberry sorbet showcased the strawberry fruit in a pure and concise manner. Just all about the strawberry, which is what made it so memorable.

We ended off with a complimentary chocolate dip which I gave to my mom since she had so much difficulty with her appetizer and her main course.

Overall, mixed response la I have to say. My mom’s food really wasn’t very good, whereas mine was great. I also wished that the waiters/waitresses didn’t keep asking us how the food was, it really stressed me out. I just want to have a quiet meal and am content to just chatter among ourselves. I guess the only time when I welcome chatter is with the chef. I might come back here again, but not if the queue is 2 months long.

ADDRESS

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park

66 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7LA

View Google Map

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park

Dinner Reservation Line

T – +44(0)20 7201 3833

E – molon-dinnerhb@mohg.com

OPENING TIMES

Monday – Sunday

Lunch12:00pm – 2:30pm

Dinner6:30pm – 10:30pm

Spicy and Sour Szechuan Pork glass noodles

Tags

Chinese, dinner, glass noodles, hot and spicy noodles, lunch, ma la, Noodles, pork, sichuan, sichuan glass noodles, sichuan hot and sour noodles, sichuan peppercorns, sweet and sour, szechuan, szechuan peppercorns, vinegar, zhejiang vinegar

Spicy and Sour Szechuan Pork glass Noodles

Back at Warwick I ate a lot of junk food. By junk food I mean instant noodles and pre-frozen meals. There’s one particular type of instant noodles that I used to love, some sort of Szechuan spicy glass noodles in numbing, vinegary soup and peanuts. I used to add lots of bacon to it, a sinful, spicy bowl on a cold winter day.

I don’t know where I can find this particular brand of instant noodles anymore so I searched online to see if there’s a recipe that comes close to the description of “Szechuan, spicy, numbing and sour” and I was pleased to come across this recipe ;D I adapted it slightly, not much change, and I loved the result! I must say though that there’s quite a bit of seasoning that goes into the noodles.

Ingredients (recipe taken and adapted from http://tofoodwithluv.blogspot.sg)

• 150g sliced pork tenderloin (or minced pork if you prefer it)
• 80g glass noodles
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 1/2 cups chinese cabbage, cut into 1.5″ x 1.5″ squares
• Oil for frying

• 1 tbsp chilli powder (or more)
• 1 tbsp chilli oil (“la yu”)
• 1/2 tsp chilli bean paste (“Douban Jiang”)
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp chicken stock powder
• 1/3 cup water
• 2-3 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1/4 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp finely ground toasted Szechuan peppercorns/ or about 3-4 kernels crushed whole Szechuan peppercorn (or more if you like that numbing taste)
• 1 spring onion, sliced
• A handful of Chinese coriander/cilantro for topping

• Marinade:
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 1 tbsp water

Method

1. Marinade the pork and set aside for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, cook noodles in boiling water for 10 minutes or until cooked. Rinse under cold running water for a minute until all the starch is gone. Leave it to sit in a bowl of iced water so the strands don’t stick.
2. Heat up 1 tbsp oil in a wok and brown the meat, if you are using minced meat, break it up as you go along. Push the meat aside and add 1 1/2 tbsp oil. Fry the garlic and ginger, then add the chilli powder, chilli oil and chilli bean paste. Fry for about a minute, then mix through with the pork.
3. Add the soy, wine, sugar, vinegars, chicken stock powder and water. Bring to a boil and simmer 1-2 minutes until the sauce is slightly reduced. Add sesame oil, Szechuan pepper and turn off the heat.
4. Toss the blanched vegetables and cooked noodles in the sauce until it’s thoroughly incorporated and transfer to a serving dish. Top with some chopped spring onions and cilantro.

Kimchi Bibim Guksu (Spicy cold noodles with kimchi)

Tags

bibim guksu, cold noodles, dinner, fast meals, gochujang, kimchi, kimchi bibim guksu, Korean, lunch, mains, Noodles, perilla, quick meals, sesame, sesame oil, shiso, spicy, spicy cold noodles

I’m a big fan of Korean dramas and variety shows (I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before). I blame it on those very shows that I’m getting fatter by the day. They make Korean food look so sooooo appetizing! These are one of the dishes that I saw on the telly sometime back. It sounded and looked good… cold kimchi noodles.

After a bit of research, I decided to try the recipe from Korean Bapsang (website below). Her stuff is what you’d call “daebak” (awesome). Her food photos and recipes seem pretty and easy to follow so I made the noodles a few months ago with the recipe. It was good! Totally would make this again. Cold, sour rounded by some sweetness, and a little spice. And kimchi always makes everything taste better.

http://www.koreanbapsang.com/2011/07/kimchi-bibim-guksu-spicy-cold-noodles.html#.Ug-0fhYqS0s

Speaking about spice, I ordered this dish today at a Korean restaurant. All I can say is that I must have downed a whole jug of iced water after a few bites. I’m a person that would sprinkle chilli flakes liberally all over my food and use chilli padi soy sauce as a favourite condiment so I don’t think my spice tolerance is that low. But I really couldn’t enjoy the noodles, it being so spicy! So if you’re not a fan of spicy food, you can adjust the level of gochujang to suit your preferences (this recipe isn’t that spicy in any case).

Secondly, on my recent trip to Japan, I frequented a korean restaurant in Takashimaya, Tokyo (I really liked it!) and made a discovery. In all my posts on Korean food so far I’ve been referring to shiso/Japanese perilla leaves as the Korean perilla leaf. When I tried the real Korean perilla leaf I was taken aback. I absolutely had no idea that they were so different! As wikipedia clarifies:

“The flavor is distinct from Japanese perilla, and the leaf appearance is different, as well – larger, rounder, flatter, with a less serrated edge, and often a violet coloring on the reverse side.”

Well that explains why the leaf was so large. So now, I’m on a mission to find Korean perilla leaves in Singapore ;p

Ingredients (2 pax); recipe from Korean Bapsang

• 8 – 10 ounces somyeon (somen) noodles
• 1 cup thinly sliced kimchi (fully fermented)
• 1/4 cup juice from kimchi (use a little more soy sauce and vinegar if unavailable)
• 1 tablespoon Korean red chili pepper paste, gochujang (adjust to taste)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup (use honey or more sugar if unavailable)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons rice or apple vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• Optional garnish:
• 4 perilla leaves, kkaennip, thinly sliced (my pictures show the Japanese perilla leaves/shiso leaves)
• (or cucumber or lettuce, thinly sliced)

Cooking instructions

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil while preparing the kimchi sauce.

Thinly slice the kimchi and place it in a medium size bowl. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and mix well.

Add the noodles to the pot of boiling water. Cook the noodles according to the package instructions (3 – 4 minutes).

Prepare a bowl of iced water to dip the noodles into. The recipe in Korean Bapsang calls for cold water, however if it is not cold enough the noodles could get soggy quite easily. So just in case, just use iced water.

Drain the noodles quickly and shock in iced water to stop the cooking. Drain and rinse in cold water again. Repeat until the noodles become cold. Drain well.

Here’s the fun part! Throw your cold noodles into the sauce mixture and toss so that the sauce coats the noodles evenly. Try not to over-handle the noodles with utensils or you could get mashed noodles. Not yummy. Use your wrist to toss the noodles in the bowl and use chopsticks to further mix the noodles.

Dish into a serving bowl and top with (Korean) perilla leaves. I thought Japanese ones worked just as well.

Perfect dish for a hot day!

Uni cream pasta (Sea Urchin)

Tags

angel hair, butter, chives, cream, cream pasta, dinner, fusion, ikura, lunch, mains, Noodles, parmesan cheese, Pasta, prawns, salmon roe, sea urchin, shrimp, sinful, uni, uni cream pasta, uni pasta

Sea urchin roe is one of my favourite sashimi! So rich and creamy and briny <3. I tried  sea urchin pasta for the first time in Japan a few years back and it was amazing as well. And of course I had to try to make it myself, but I always feel heartsick at the thought of throwing all the expensive uni into pasta when I can just have it as sashimi and savour every single bit of it. That’s why on my first attempt at uni pasta, I just used a few bits (see the following 3 pictures).

I probably used a quarter of the package of uni. The box of uni in itself is already really small, so the uni flavour in the pasta wasn’t as prominent as I would have liked it. But the pictures were way better as I took them during the daytime, whereas my 2nd attempt photos were dependent on dim lighting =(.

Pleased to say that on the 2nd attempt, the pasta came out creamier and more luscious! I sacrificed the whole box this time… just for myself *guilt*. I also omitted the seaweed as it got in the way of the flavour of the pasta. It goes better with mentaiko pasta I think.

The recipe was adapted from http://www.eataduckimust.com/uni-pasta

Ingredients (For 1 greedy person)

• 1/2 cup thickened cream (the original recipe calls for 1 cup cream per person, you could just adjust accordingly. I’m just trying to make myself feel less guilty)
• 3 prawns shelled and deveined with tails on (Reserve the prawn shells and heads)
• 20g butter
• 1 package uni (sea urchin)
• 1 chilli padi, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 egg yolk
• chives for garnishing
• handful of parmesan cheese
• Angel hair/instant cook spaghetti or other pasta noodle of your choice
• Ikura (as much as you like)

• Melt the butter over low heat and add the prawn heads/shells in. Crush the prawn heads so that all the flavour comes out into the butter. Take the pan off the heat so that the butter doesn’t brown and continue crushing the shells.

• Pour the butter and shells into a sieve and squeeze out all the juices/butter into another pan (you’ll use this pan to make the cream sauce)

• Meanwhile, sear the prawns and set aside

• Throw in the chilli padi and the minced garlic into the pan with the prawn head butter and fry until the garlic turns golden. If you like, you can also add a little more butter.
• Add in the cream and bring to a simmer before switching it off. Don’t boil the cream.
• When the cream has cooled a little, pour into a blender. Your cream shouldn’t be hot as this would cook the uni and scramble the egg later. The uni needs to be soft, raw and creamy while the egg yolk needs to be silky.
• Save a few pieces of the uni for garnishing, and add the rest to the cream.

• Blend the uni and cream (just need to give it a few pulses) and pour the mixture back into the pan.
• Add the beaten egg yolk and stir it in.

• Add a tablespoon or so of parmesan cheese into the cream and heat the mixture up again (I’m guestimating here, adapt to your own tastes ;p) . Taste it and season with some salt. (I didn’t put pepper as I thought it might overpower the uni)
• Add in the freshly cooked pasta and mix it into the sauce. If you have strong wrists, toss the lot to combine.

• Dish out the pasta onto a serving plate, top with the prawns, raw uni, some chives, a bit more cheese and as much ikura as you like~

So silky and creamy and decadent 😉

Now that I’ve seen the amount of sea urchin, prawn head brains and cream that went into the dish, my heart is starting to palpitate at the sheer amount of cholesterol that went into this meal ;(

To the gym!