Impatience can cost you

Don’t you hate it when someone rings the door bell continuously and when you rush out, the person  is already getting ready to “cabut” (leave)? ARRG!! I shouted for him to come back and told him that he had to allow time for old people to respond lah. Instead of giving me a smile or acknowledging what I told him, he stared at me as if I was an alien, or perhaps he thought this old aunty was talking too much and was wasting more of his time? His stare told me to hurry up and sign the receipt. I felt like being naughty. LOL!Know what I did? As I was taking my own sweet time signing the receipt, I gave him some advice. I told him that old people's hand shakes a lot so cannot be fast and I also have to take time to think what my identity card number is. So he has got to be patient. I could see his face by then, it was soooo looong that it could have almost touched the ground. He had no choice but to keep silent and wait patiently. I guess he wished he had not hurried me in the first place. Hopefully, this guy learned not be so impatient and realised he did not save anytime by being so. On the contrary, he had wasted more time setting off this long winded, slow moving Aunty Lucy. LOL! 

Let me make a confession. I used to be a very impatient person myself but as I grow older and wiser, I have improved because I learned that impatience can cost me.

In the past, I often tried to engage in more activities in the allotted time than I could handle. By the same token, I did not allocate enough time for the things that needed to be done. I did not like to wait for things to materialize so I failed to spend adequate preparations to have a satisfactory result. I got upset easily if things did not happen soon enough. When I got impatient, usually, I appeared curt, abrupt, hasty, and presumptuous when I spoke. Due to my impatience, it appeared to others that I was impolite and not a nice person to be around. Not a good way to win friends.

So, to be patient is definitely a better choice in life. Due to my being patient that day wondering how to use up the "hitam masak" paste given to me by my good friend, Arthur of Still Crazy All These Years when I went to Sibu few months ago, I took time  to carefully look through what ingredients I had on hand and came up with a delicious fusion dish for lunch. This resulting dish satisfied both Asian and Western paletes so Quay Lo and I were happy. With a little more patience, I managed to take some nice photos of the dish to share with you. Being patient does draw positive energy and emit the same, agree?

Saffron Risotto with chirizo and hitam masak prawns

This dish is featured on Asian Food Channel (Official) Facebook page on 10th Octobeer 2012

Ingredients:

1 box instant saffron risotto

4 chorizo

1 medium onion, sliced

6 medium prawns, deveined and remove shells

1 heaping tablespoon hitam masak paste, 
1/2 tbs for marinate prawns

Stir fry vegetables of your choice

Method:

Marinate the prawns with 1/2 table spoon ofr hitam masak paste for 1/2 hour in the refrigerator. To make the Risotto, follow the instruction on the box.  Pot some holes in the chirizos and fry till cooked. Heat the wok with 1 table spoonful of oil. Add onion and fry till translucent. Add hitam masak paste and stir well with the onions till fragrance.  Add prawns and stir fry till cooked. Add cooked risotto, fried chirizo, hitam masak prawns and stir fried vegetable to the serving plate and serve immediately.

Seafood Risotto Saffron with lemon grass sauce - Featured in Group Recipes

It is very difficult to get pre-packaged Risotto Saffron in my country.  In fact one year ago, there was none.  We have to buy it either from Thailand or Singapore.  I was so delighted to find them in our local supermarkets nowadays. Best of all, they are available in the supermarket near my home now. 

I have made Risotto the traditional way many time so I wanted to try something new.  I had some sole fillet and mixed seafood ready so I decided to try using lemon grass sauce for the risotto and see what’s the result.  Well, as expected it tasted good, the sauce complimented the fish and the seafood very well.  My hubby is always the one who will let me know if my recipes works.  As he is a very good cook himself and have tasted food all over the world, I can tell this must be delicious when he finished everything on the plate. LOL!

Serving: 2

Ingredients:

1 box of pre-packaged 250gm Risotto Ponto Saffron (I like to use the brand: GALLO)

1 250gm packet of frozen mixed seafood.

300 gm sole fillet

1 tb olive oil

3 cheery tomato

2 pieces sliced lemon rind

Ingredients for lemon grass sauce:

6 shallots

½ head garlic

1 stalk lemon grass (serai)
1/2 ts oysters sauce
1/2 ts sugar
1/4 cube chicken bullion

Method:

Preparation for sauce:

Dice lemon grass, sliced shallots and garlic and pound till very fine in pastel and mortar.  Add oyster sauce, chicken stock and sugar and mix well.  Scoop up 1 table spoon to marinate the sole fillet for about 15 mins.  Heat sauce pan with oil and add balance of mixture and sauté till fragrant. Turn off heat. Side the pan aside.

Preparation of the Rissoto Ponto Saffron:

Just follow the instructions on the box. Have the risotto cooked and set aside.

Preparation of the Sole fillet and seafood:

Cut sole fillet into 1 in by 2 ins and 2 cm thick pieces. Brush small amount of butter on frying pan and brown each side about 3 mins a side and put them aside on a plate. Heat olive oil and add lemon grass sauce, add mixed seafood and stir fry for 3 mins.  Add  in cooked risotto and mix well. Finally add the cooked sole fillet and transfer to serving plate and decorate the plate with cherry tomato and lemon rind. I serve this with a bowl of mints leave and egg soup and freshly baked baguettes.