A dish born of not having a crucial ingredient

We have a Kamias tree in our garden. It bears fruit throughout the year. The Kamias tree is called cucumber or sorrel tree in English. Its fruit is used both for cooking and traditional medicine. Kamias fruit is very sour so it is often used to make chutney or sauces for meat or fish dishes. I love the dish my mum cooks with it.  She stir fries thinly sliced kamias fruit with sliced pork and fermented soy bean paste all balanced out with garlic and sugar. I usually end up eating an extra serving when she makes  it. It is so aromatic that one can be forgiven for failing to resist. 

The dish I am sharing with you today is a bit of a happy accident born of not having "buah cermai" (Malay gooseberry) at hand. For this chef inspired dish it is a critical ingredient. These greenish, yellowish little fruits grow in clusters. Like kamias fruit, they taste rather sour too.

The following recipe is inspired by Chef Malcom Goh's Crispy Skin Salmon with buah cermai. As I did not have buah cermai in stock, I made my version of Crispy Salmon with kamias fruit instead. I am very happy with how it turned out because it is a pretty dish and had a slight umami taste experience. My Quay Lo is not a big fan of the aqua-culture salmon we get here. As a sport fisherman in the U.S. he always caught wild salmon which he prefers. On the other hand,  I am not a big fan of cooked salmon, preferring the sashimi style of serving it. However, we both agree we are happy to have a way to prepare the salmon that we both like.

Crispy Skin Salmon with kamias compote

Inspired by Chef Malcom Goh - Back to the Streets on AFC

This dish was featured in Asian Food Channel (Official) Facebook Page 

on 8th November 2012

Ingredients:

2 x 100gms salmon fillet

Method:

Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Pan fry in a pan with some corn oil skin side first on low heat. Once the fish is cooked three quarters though, using the change of colour on the flesh as your indication, turn over the fish and allow to cook on the other side for 10 more seconds. Remove the salmon and allow to rest.

kamias compote ingredients:

50gms kamias, diced

1 nos tomato, remove seeds and diced

2 nos sliced shallots

¼ cup fennel, diced

1 chilli padi, finely diced 

2 tbsp sugar

100ml water

40 gms butter

½ tsp salt

1 stalk serai (lemon grass) pounded

½ tsp roux

1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

bean sprouts shoots for garnishing

Method:

Boil water and sugar till sugar is completely dissolved. Add in tomato, shallots, kamias, lemon grass and chilli padi and let it simmer till kamias is soften. Add in butter and salt and mix well and let it simmer for another 5 minutes on low heat. Add in diced fennel and simmer till fennel is translucent. Add ½ tsp roux to thicken the sauce. Lastly add in the toasted sesame and place it on the serving plate. Put the piece of salmon on top of the sauce and garnish with bean sprouts shoots. Serve with freshly baked baguette and a green of your choice.

Pasta Kerabu by Frozen Wings

The first friend that I approach to do a guest post for me was Lena of Frozen Wings. I am very grateful that she agreed to do this for me while I take a vacation back in USA to visit with our family there. For those who has not visited Lena's blog yet, you don't know what you have missed. There are so many yummy food photos and wonderful recipes, some are original and only Lena can come up with. For those who are a regular readers of her blog, I don't think I need to do much introduction, do I? Like me, you would have subscribed to her posts so that you will not even miss one.

Here is a guest post from Lena of Frozen Wings and after reading it, see if you can resist to not check her out.

 

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Hi, a happy day to all! I guess most of you are already aware that quay po is away on vacation and yet you guys are dropping by to read, so many thanks! I'm Lena and I blog at frozen wings. Just like many of you here, I'm also a keen  reader of quay po cooks but she knows that i'm always late to her blog and will try to catch up with her posts whenever i can. I enjoy reading her stories, see what she has been cooking and always feasting my eyes looking at all the beautiful food photos and of course it brings nourishment to my eyes too looking at those so called 'eye candies'! Arhahahaha! Quay po, thanks very much for inviting me to do a guest post for you.

When i first received the invitation from quay po , i was excited but on the other hand, i was feeling a little nervous too cos then i had to figure out what to cook..well, i think it's pretty normal to be at that state when you're cooking for someone's blog and not our own. At that time, i was actually had in mind of making Bee Hoon Kerabu ( Rice Vermicelli Salad) at my own blog so i thought maybe i can save that for later and make a Pasta Kerabu for the guest post. Kerabu is a mixture of vegetables in Malay language, i myself would also consider it as a salad and the use of ingredients in kerabu dishes are mainly favoured by the malays and also chinese such as lemongrass, shallots, torch gingerbud, lime juice to name a few. There is no heavy cooking required in this dish. After cooking the pasta, the rest is just mixing it in into the pasta..err..unless you think cooking the pasta is heavy job, then you can forget about making this dish. haha! No doubt the bee hoon  kerabu is more popular and common compared to a pasta kerabu, i thought i just want to make a little twist to the traditional ones just like some may like a fried spaghetti or a tom yum pasta. You can always use bee hoon if you do not prefer pasta.

By the way, i just received a text message from Quay Po saying that she may need to extend her vacation in the states, she's having a wonderful time in her cowgirl outfit riding horses and catching butterflies in the park with her quay lo and may need me to blogsit here for a little while..believe me? no? Have a good week, everyone!

This one is with sambal, the one at the back is without.

Recipe

Ingredients

150gms angel hair pasta

chicken breast meat 180gm or more, steamed and shredded ( reserve the stock)

2 torchginger bud, sliced thinly

4 pieces kaffir lime leaves, thinly sliced

7 onions, sliced

1 stem lemongrass, white parts only

1 small bunch of mint leaves

8-9 tbsp calamansi lime juice

1.5 tbsp fish sauce

hot chilli paste /sambal belachan/ chilli flakes - optional

Method:

1. Cook the angel pasta according to the packet instructions, drain and set aside.  I cooked mine for about 3-4 minutes.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the pasta with the rest of the ingredients and taste. You may want to add in more lime juice

if you prefer it to a little more sour and or additional fish sauce. If it's a little dry, you can add in the stock from the steamed chicken.

You can also save some sliced torch gingerbud, lemongrass and some onione for top garnishing.   

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.

I am not a Foodie, I am a Food Blogger

Have you seen penne casserole with sambal belacan tomato sauce and served with chilli padi?  That is the beauty of fusion food. My Quay Lo made this penne casserole with my sambal belacan tomato sauce and served it with chilli padi for me!  Even when we dine out at restaurants that serve Western cuisine, I am not shy to ask for chilli padi or even sambal belacan. I have received a blank look on some of the waiters or waitresses’ face but I don’t care what they think about me, I still want my chilli padi or sambal belacan! When I am lucky, some waiters or waitresses were kind enough to get the chilli padi or sambal belachan from the cafe or Chinese Restaurant in the hotel for me.  In that sense, Quay Po can never said to be a real foodie. To me, real foodies have brains in their taste buds. Normally, when they eat, they don’t add something like sauces that changes the taste of a dish. They are also very objective and won't let their judgement of food served to be influenced by how many Michelin stars a restaurant has, or how famous the celebrity chef is in the kitchen. From an article I have read, the author (forgot his name) said:

"Real foodies:
 don't indulge in pretentious smiles and nod bullshit based on how much something costs versus how it tastes.

Even when they are eating at a high end restaurant, they are objective about what is good versus what is mediocre rather than letting social halo effects override their biological response.

Don't eat at a restaurant primarily for the purpose of posting gastro vanity pictures just to show that they have been there.

Experiment with a lot of different places and foods from different cultures and geographies to develop a well calibrated sense of taste.

Pay very little attention to the service, decor or food presentation at a restaurant and emphasize food quality above everything else. They can appreciate good food at even a hole in the wall restaurant.

Don't eat at a restaurant out of obsessive compulsive completionism to be able to write an online review.

While I am not a foodie per se,  I do know if fusion food is done well.  Fusion cuisine truly can be excellent and innovative. Good fusion cuisine combines ingredients and cooking techniques from several cultures and creates a new fresh dish, even if the dish is simple like the one below that Quay Lo and I made together. All cultures have their own culinary traditions, and combining these cooking traditions can result in breath taking dishes. Fusion in the new modern cities of Asia is almost in a class of its own. Some of these creations, by bold and adventurous chefs, can be quite complex.  Still, somehow, I feel like Quay Lo and I are "down in the trenches" of this movement and doing so with simple dishes.

Fusion Penne Casserole

This recipe was featured on The Asian Food Channel (Official) 

Facebook page on 6 December 2012

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups uncooked penne pasta

½ cup Quay Po fusion tomato sauce

2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup grated Romano cheese

Method:

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta; toss with Quay Po fusion tomato sauce. Spoon the mixture into a greased 2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with cheeses. Cover and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 15-20 minutes longer or until heated through. 

Quay Po fusion tomato sauce 

(click on the pic to get the recipe)

Ciabatta pizza and the Half Chinese Quay Lo

This is actually a recipe that I never thought of blogging but my Quay Lo said I should share this with my readers and my blogger friends because he said the ciabatta pizza is very delicious.  He thought my fusion pomodoro sauce was very tasty and can be used as a sauce for many other dishes like pasta dishes, seafood, or even poultry and meat.  I told him an Italian chef would ban me for adding sambal belachan to the pomodoro sauce and using it with Italian cuisine.  LOL! 

Well, I thought that the sauce would definitely appeal to the Asian palate more than the Western, but then my Quay Lo disagreed. He thinks Westerners will like it too. He pointed out that the dried shrimp is rather like anchovies, with the same flavor boosting quality. He also pointed out that many Westerners like chili, and spicy dishes. I did not argue with him but quietly I said to myself,  you are already half Chinese so you should not be so sure about that.  This reminded me of what our Hong Kong Chinese friend said about my Quay Lo many years ago, after uttering something not so nice about Quay Los in general.  He said that Quay Los are very calculative people, especially Americans, because when it comes to paying for any food bills, they will pay for their share only and seldom insist on paying the whole bill. Then he quickly added "Your Quay Lo is different, he is already half Chinese.”  Of course, this was after his wife kicked him under the table. Maybe he also quickly remembered that my husband and I were hosting the lavish dinner we were in the midst of at the time. But, honestly I think he felt free to speak openly, and was at ease with us, and only afterwards realized he was at risk of being misunderstood. I would not disagree with his assessment that my Quay Lo is half Chinese though, because as much as my Quay Lo teases me for being “Chintzy” ( e.g. for saving up nice wrapping paper or plastic ice cream tubs or bargaining for the best price for my purchases, etc.) , I find that he has picked up quite a lot of my “Chintzyness” lately. I half suspect that one reason he likes these quick and easy half pizza/half sandwiches is that they are far easier on the budget than sending out for pizza delivered. Of course, they are delicious also. No wonder he said to me the other day “Lucy, you are a great trainer.” WOW!

Ciabatta pizza

Ingredients:

2 ciabatta bread, halved

1 boneless chicken breast, poached in chicken stock and roughly shredded

½ C black olive, thinly sliced

1 C sliced mushroom, sautéed in butter

2 C mozzarella grated cheese

1 C pamersan grated cheese
1 sun dried tomato, thinly sliced

fusion tomato base sauce (please see recipe below)

Method for assembling the pizza:

Lay the bread on the baking pan. Layer with fusion tomato base sauce, the amount is up to individual preference.  Add a layer of mozzarella cheese. Add chicken meat, black olive and mushroom. Topped with parmesan cheese. Bake at 220 degrees C for 20 mins or till cheese are melted and slightly brown.

Fusion pomodoro sauce

Ingredients:

(A)

2 tbs olive oil or butter as preferred

6 roma plum tomatoes, cut into small pieces

1 medium onion, chopped

5  bibs garlic, cut into thin sliced

2 tbs chopped parsley

1 C basil leaves

1 tin 6 oz. plum tomatoes

2 tbs tomato paste

(B)

1 tsp kosher salt (adjust to individual taste)

1 tsp sugar (adjust to individual taste)

½ tsp ground black pepper

2 level tsp sambal belachan (click here for recipe) (optional)

2 tsp Maggie chicken stock (without MSG, adjust to individual taste)

Method to prepare the sauce:

Heat olive oil or butter in pan.  Add chopped onion and stir fry till slightly translucent and add sliced garlic. Stir fry till fragrant. Add cut tomatoes, parsley and basil leaves and mixed well with onion and garlic. When the tomatoes become a little soft, add the tin of plum tomatoes and break them up with your ladle. Add (B) and turn down heat to low and let it simmer for 30 mins.  


You can save the balance of the sauce to about a week for future use.


I shared this recipe at Miz Helen's Country Cottage - Full Plate Thursday.

Crispy Cod Fish with Mango & Sweet Chilli sauce - FOODBUZZ TOP 9 & featured in Group Recipes

Largely adapted from Chef Sam Leong’s recipe

Do not underestimate this simple recipe. Before I submitted this dish to my food critic, I ate my share in the kitchen. So, do I need to elaborate further how delectable this is?

Serving: 2

Ingredients:

2 pc 100 gm cod fillet

Tapioca flour

Cooking oil for deep frying

Thai sweet chilli sauce (easily available at any supermarket)

Garnish:

10 gm green mango, julienned

5 gm carrot, julienned

2 stalks mint leaf

Method:

Score fish fillet diagonally and repeat in the opposite direction, leaving the skin to hold the resulting cubes together. Dust fillet with tapioca flour. Heat oil for deep frying and deep fry the fish fillet until skin turns crisp and golden brown. Drain and place on serving plate. Spoon some sweet chilli sauce over the fish fillet. Garnish with mint leaf, mango and carrot and serve.

Note : You must eat the fish together with the mango and carrot with each bite to get the intended taste for this dish.

Fried Tomatoes and eggs

The first time Mum made this dish for me when I was a little girl, I did not really like it .  I find that eggs and tomatoes are rather odd combination. As I grew older, I like it better.  However, during the time when I had absolutely no interest in cooking, this is one of my favorite dish to cook when I have to.  It is so simple to cook, cannot go wrong with the taste and looks pretty.  If I am not mistaken it is a very popular dish in all the non expensive restaurants in Beijing, China.  This is supposed to be a Chinese dish but you can turn it into a Western dish by adding Cheese.

Fried Tomatoes and eggs

Ingredients

4 tomatoes (sliced) (Try using plum tomatoes, it taste much better)

3 eggs

3 bibs chopped garlic

2 tb vegetable oil

Salt & white pepper to taste

Spring Onion (diced)

Method

Beat the eggs and throw about one third of the garlic (chopped up small) into the beaten egg with a dash of salt. Heat up 1 table spoon of  oil and add the eggs.  Stir till it is almost cooked but not dry, and take it out of the pan again. Heat up another table spoon of oil and add tomatoes and fry them with the garlic until it is soft. Add cooked eggs back in, and fry it for a few more minutes.  Add salt and white pepper to taste. Garnish with spring onion.