“What’s Cooking” in Victor’s Kitchen

I have something to share with you. I don’t want to hear any excuses. I want you to go to your kitchen and cook this recipe – Fish Curry. It is simple and taste delicious. Spicy, sourish and really yummy. It takes only 20 minutes to cook because fish cooks very quickly. A very simple reason why I cooked fish tonight. My dearest neighbour, Helen, dropped in yesterday afternoon. Brought some fresh shark’s meat  - flakes in nice filleted chunky pieces. So fresh. Just caught by her husband, Ted and another neighbour, Sam that he goes fishing at 3am each morning! I said once to him that I would love to come along. But, imagine waking up at 2:30am in the freezing cold Tasmania weather! No, thanks.

Anyway, she brought this beautiful fish meat. I could not resist but make my fish curry. It needs a firm fish and flake does a good job in curry. I will say it again. It is simple so I expect you to try it. Even if you are an average cook. So take out that pan of yours, go and buy yourself a nice white firm fish and try out this recipe.

I had my fish curry accompanied with 2 pieces of Ayam Goreng, and turmeric coconut rice. If you are interested in my Ayam Goreng recipe, click here. And, turmeric coconut rice – sorry, it was cooked by my partner. He never share his recipes with me!

Now, tell me. At home, who usually does the cooking. You or your significant other? Or do you usually cook together? My partner never likes me near the kitchen when he cooks. And, guess what? When I cook, it is perfectly fine for him to walk around the kitchen. Also, I have to wash up! Yes, I am the living and breathing home “dish washer”. I will stack my dishes to the top. That I am the only one that knows which piece to remove first. I will say to him to not touch my dishes! Because they are stack up so delicately that they need to be removed from the last piece that was placed last.

Oh, I don’t have a dishwasher. Never had one in my life.

This photo is from tonight’s washing – result of cooking 2 dishes. Imagine how my dishes will stack up if I had to wash after making 3 or more dishes! Do you have a dishwasher at home? Do you use it?

Sorry, I digress so much. You must be dying to know my secret recipe. Well, not far to go. I like to keep you in a bit of suspense for a few more minutes. Maybe because I just had a glass of wine. I am no good in drinking. My partner and friends call me a bloody cheap date! But, also because I have been working so hard today.

I have been in the garage for 4 hours, sorting out the garage. Oh, my partner helped as well. And, we only managed to clear and sort half of our stuffs in there! It is a double door garage. I have stuffs from the restaurant that I sold 2 years ago, and a household full of stuffs from a self contained cottage when we moved to Tasmania. Six years now. They are still in there! Do you ever clean up your garage? I guess we have to do that at some point in time. And, hope to make some money out of the rubbish which to others are treasures. By the way, if you are local and looking for good cafe tables and chairs, let me know.

Rita! Rita! If you are reading this post, would you please put in your brief announcement section for sale in good condition – quality cafe wooden chairs and tables with adjustable feet. Thanks.

Alright! Alright! I know. I am about to loose you and your interest in this post. Sorry. Okay, make a guess what goes into making my homemade spice paste. Look at the picture below. Make a guess before you continue reading.

Spice paste’s ingredient:

1 red onion

1 thumb size ginger

4 cloves garlic

10 dried chilies

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

Blend the above ingredients until smooth.

So, did you get it right? It is that simple.

Next, how do you cook the fish? Again, it is very, very simple. And doesn’t take much time. So no excuse not to try it.

To cook the fish curry, first stir fry the spice ingredients in some hot oil in the saucepan until fragrant. Add a cup of turmeric juice and 2 teaspoons sugar. Toss in some curry leaves. Simmer. Then toss in fish fillets and some tomatoes. Simmer in gentle heat until fish is cooked.

If you are game enough, why not cook Ayam Goreng on the other stove?

If I may say, they both looks so so good. And, so so delicious! Well, I could not wait any longer. So I had to eat and taste those 2 dishes first. My partner was busy downloading CDs to his iPOD. I was not going to wait for him. So I plated the dishes with a small serve of leftover turmeric coconut rice.

A closer look. Can you taste them? Well, I can. Slurp. Slurp. They are very delicious. Definitely restaurant quality. My partner said, “Umm…very good! I will pay to eat these at a restaurant!” LOL! Thanks, mate!

Kitchen Talk

By the way, what did you do over the weekend? Anything interesting? How about sharing with me?

For me – not a whole lot yesterday. Just watched DVDs. One of them was so so bad – “Anti Christ” with William Dafoe. I could not believed a couple of scenes which probably should be an X-rated scenes. But, scary enough for me. The other DVD – “Van Diemen’s Land”. I didn’t like the second one that much, but based on a true convict story. Had a fabulous dinner cooked by my partner – turmeric coconut rice with Butter Chicken Curry and Shredded Spicy Beef.

Today, we were busy sorting our garage! That was really hard work. But, we have procrastinated for 6 years! Long enough. Fortunately tomorrow is a public holiday.

Of course, I was online every now and then checking on blogs, twitter and local news.

Would you call this an eventful weekend? Probably not.

Oh, I did removed the “For Sale” sign off our property. Not sure about selling the place anymore. Not unless someone offer a price so good that we cannot resist. May stay here for a couple more years. Look what a beautiful weather with sunny blue sky can do to a person’s mood.

Cheerios!

I need to wash the remaining dishes my partner just left behind.

“What’s Cooking” in Victor’s Kitchen

Good morning, y’all! It is a nice cold morning here in beautiful Wattle Grove, Tasmania. About 8 degree Celsius for a summer morning in early February! Just 2 days ago, it was a hot 32 degree Celsius.

I had a day off yesterday. This coming Monday is a public holiday – Hobart Regatta Day. So, a nice long 4 days weekend for me! I went and bought 2 free range whole chicken, basils and a bunch of spring onions yesterday. I was inspired by a fellow food blogger who lives in America. I frequently check his blog here. I was interested in his latest recipes on Lao Grilled Lemongrass Spicy Chicken and the simple technique of making an appetizing “Lao Jeow”.

When I got home yesterday with my little grocery. I removed the other ingredients from my refrigerator and cupboards – onions, chilies, garlic, eggplant, turmeric powder, chili powder, cumin powder, sea salt, fish sauce, a lime, . Went into my garden – got 2 stalks of lemongrass and some tomatoes. Placed everything on the kitchen bench.

The two free range chickens – one was poached for stock and chicken rice. See my earlier post here. The other chicken I cut into 12 smaller pieces with skins and bones intact. Half of them I marinated for grilled spicy chicken. The other half I marinated for ayam goreng, also featured in an earlier post here.

I followed the cooking technique of Mr Dallas’s Lao grilled chicken, but invented my own version to give it a slight Malaysian twist.

First, I chopped 2 lemongrass stalks (from my garden), 3 small onions (from my garden) and 4 cloves of garlic. Placed the chopped ingredients in a mortar and pestle.

Pounded into a medium coarse texture. Added 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon turmeric powder and 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder. Then gently pounded the dry and wet ingredients together into a nice consistency texture.

Marinated chicken pieces with the spice pastes and leave in the refrigerator for 4-6 hours, until ready to cook.

When ready to cook, removed the marinated chicken pieces from the refrigerator. Placed on a tray and drizzle with a bit of extra virgin olive oil. I grilled the chicken at 200 degree for 30 minutes. My partner thought it was a bit too long. So next time I will grill for a shorter period.

I made a vegetarian spicy salad type dish to accompany the grilled chicken. Again, I adopted Mr Dallas cooking technique in making his traditional Lao Jeow, gave it a bit of Salsa twist because of the ingredients available to me at the time.

I chopped about 8 stalks of spring onions into halves and used the bottom sections, 1 red onion into halves, threw in a bunch of chilies (a mix of homegrown red, green and yellow that I have frozen in the chilled compartment from last summer), and eggplants sliced lengthwise. Placed all the ingredients in a tray and drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil.

Oh, then I decided to add some homegrown tomatoes! Last minute decision. Do you do that as well? Like thinking to yourself, and then decide to add another ingredient just to see how that affect the outcome of your creation.

Grilled the tray of fresh ingredients in the oven with a temperature of 200 degree for 15 minutes. Maybe I should have grilled a bit longer for a more dryer texture and grilled flavour.

Cut the grilled ingredients into smaller sections. Placed in mortar and pestle and pound all ingredients coarsely, except grilled eggplant. The eggplants I shredded the flesh from skin. Then chopped skins into smaller bite pieces. Set the eggplants in a big bowl.

Add 2 tablespoons fish sauce, a sprinkle of sea salt and a squeezed of one fresh lime. Mixed well into the ingredients. Removed into the big bowl of chopped eggplants. Mixed through. It is now ready to serve.

Yes, dinner is almost ready. Just need to be plated.

Here it is. Grilled Spicy Chicken with Spiced eggplant Salsa garnished with finely sliced sweet basil leaves and Steamed Jasmine Rice.

The grilled chicken was aromatic with a nice crispy crunch on the skin filled with lemongrass flavour. The meat inside was tender and moist. The eggplant salsa had a nice texture with interesting mixture of flavours.

We both enjoyed the meal. Thanks, Mr Dallas for the inspiration.

So, if you are looking for something to cook this weekend. Why not try the above recipes. You will enjoy them as much as we did.

Happy eating.

“What’s Cooking” in Victor’s Kitchen

Leftover. How many of you will have a leftover?

What will you do with your leftover food? Will you threat them as scrap and put in the bin? Or, feed to your pet? Or will you put in a plate or bowl and glad wrapped, then put in the fridge?

I never throw my leftover food. I will save them for tomorrow and the next few days. I will pack in a tupperware container for lunch in the office the next day. I will reheat them for dinner. Or, I will create something out of them so it will be a new dish.

I remember growing up in Penang – when I was a boy, my parents will buy “Chai Boey” (in Hokkien, which literally translate into English as “Vegetable Tail”!) to accompany mum’s other home cooked dish. “Chai Boey” is a dish where all leftover food unsold in previous day are mixed in a big pot and slowly cooked with “Kiam Chai” or chinese preserved mustard greens and some dried chilies. The dish is salty, spicy with multi layers of flavours and textures. It is very addictive and I can never get enough of it. Always want more. The principle behind “Chai Boey” is never waste your food.

On our way home today from work – an hour drive, 60 km away. The weather was still good. It was hot, about 25 degree Celsius. My partner asked, “What are we having for dinner?”

I said, “Leftover”

“WHAT?” he asked.

“Leftover balls!”

“Got 7 balls. How many do you want?”

“Two is enough” he said.

“Okay, you can have two balls!”

“How are you going to cook them” he asked.

“Some noodles.  In soup”

“No! I want my stir fry” he said

“You can fry yourself!” I said.

That was our little conversation all the way home. The rest of our trip was a quiet drive, taking in the beautiful scenery of remote country side Tasmania.

When we got home, I ransacked the fridge and cupboard. Took out a pot, filled with water. Put on high heat on the stove to boil. Removed the leftovers – a bowl of balls in broth, a bowl of stir fry pork meat with puff tofu and shredded cabbages, a packet of dry vermicelli noodle and a bowl of ginger, spring onion dipping sauce.

I reheat the bowl of balls in broth on medium heat. And, the bowl of pork meat in a saucepan with 2 scoops of the ball’s broth. Covered and reheat in medium heat. Then I filled a bowl with tap water and soaked the dry vermicelli to loosen the noodles. Removed and put in boiling water, which I have heated earlier. The noodles were then drained and rinsed in cold water and set aside.

Next I heated a frying pan. Poured some olive oil. Tossed in the noodles and mixed through with the bowl of leftover ginger and spring onion sauce. Tossed in leftover pork meats. Mixed through. Then served in a bowl with some of the balls on top, with a small teaspoon of sambal oelek.

There is some leftover from the leftovers. So I scooped the rest into a tupperware container for lunch at work tomorrow. This is the tail end of my foodtrail of leftovers.

Flashback to the last couple of days.

1. Minced pork balls with shiitake mushrooms, ginger, spring onions, preserved mustard greens.

2. Slowly poached in home made chicken consomme from the previous night.

3. Served in a small bowl with chinese cabbage and broth.

4. Oven baked pork leg with plums. My partner cooked this for our neighbour. Served in plum jus. There was so much leftover meats – that I sliced into small bite pieces and stir fry with puffed tofu and chinese cabbages.

5. Ginger and spring onion dipping sauce. Made from finely chopped ginger, spring onion with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. I used the sauce for chicken rice with a bit of chili sauce, light soy sauce and sesame oil. There was half a cup of leftover which I used to flavour my vermicelli noodle in tonight’s leftover creation.

I have used up all my leftovers from the last few days.

The cycle repeats – grocery shopping, cook new dishes, reuse leftovers until the last bit of leftovers are used up.

Never let your food go to waste.

Not even a grain of rice on the plate. My mum would repeatedly said to me when I was young. Never leave a grain of rice on the plate or I will marry a girl with pimples! Now that I reflect back to what she had said. It was funny and ridiculous. I believed her so much that I did my best not to leave a grain of rice on my plate. But, I never did marry a beautiful girl with perfect face! Or did I

So, what is your view of eating leftover food? Is there anything wrong with eating leftovers?

“Weekend Foodtrail” – Red Velvet Lounge

Last night my partner and I met a fellow food blogger, Rita’s Bite, for dinner at the Red Velvet Lounge in Cygnet. The last time we caught up with her was at our first food bloggers lunch at our place. That was in November 2009. We like “Rita’s Bite” – not because she blogs, but because she is passionate about the local food industry in Tasmania. And, most recently she will be starting a new job teaching hospitality at Elizabeth College. We wish her well in her next challenge and chapter of her life.

We arrived at RVL at 7pm sharp for our table. We eat at RVL quite frequently and know almost all the staff working there. I saw Cat and said “hello” to her. She greeted me. Then, told me “you and Jana were in my dream!” Jana works for Steve Cumper – head chef, restauranteur, manager and owner of RVL, and a blogger of “Hobart Food For Thoughts”. Jana has recently graduated from her apprenticeship as a chef.

As we walked to our table, number 10, our friend arrived. We sat down. Cat brought the menu and a bottle of water. I asked her about her dream. Nothing too nightmarish I said. She laughed. She said in her dream – both Jana and I were living in separate houses but in the same street that she was planning to buy. Very strange indeed. Poor Cat. She probably has been living and breathing at RVL for too long that her customer and colleague now appear in her sleep! Steve, if you are reading this. I think Cat needs a break.

I looked around. Not that I have never been to RVL. I was interested to see how many tables were occupied. There were 3 other tables – 2 tables of 4 and a table of 3. But within 15 minutes the entire restaurant was full. I was very happy to see the place completely full. The girls, Cat and Imka, were the only front of staff working. The service was good. They were both friendly and interacted very well with the customers. We felt relaxed at our table.

Fifteen minutes had passed. We still haven’t read our menu. We were too busy chatting away – catching up with the latest news on either side of our fences. My partner, Reb of the “Gutter Trash” and “Rita’s Bite” seem to get along very well. They are both quite out spoken and opinionated. I sat and listened intensely. Imka came to our table again – to check if we were ready to order. Naturally we were not because we were playing catch-up on latest news – anything from local politics to restaurants, food and TV programs, chefs, reviewers etc.

Another 10 minutes had passed. We read the menu. The saganaki of tongola capris stood out, so did slow roasted leg of lamb and masterstock chicken. We looked at each other. Asked what each had chosen. I went with crisp duck egg for starter and masterstock chicken as main. My partner chose saganaki of tongola capris as starter and slow roasted lamb for main. “Rita’s Bite” went for preserved albacore tuna for starter and slow roasted lamb for main. We were all satisfied with our selection.

White we waited for our entree, we continue to talk. Seems like we have not stopped talking since we sat at the table. Have you ever felt that, maybe a moment of silence at the table will be good? Probably not. Otherwise, what is the point of coming out to eat? And, catch up with friends? May as well stay home. A restaurant with no noise is a boring place with no soul.

Our starter soon arrived. First was my crisp duck egg, then it was my partner’s saganaki and “Rita’s Bite” tuna. Steve Cumper gave us a complimentary cured huon salmon to share. When each of the dish was placed on our table, we were so pleased with our choices and gave an approving smile. Took our camera out and started snapping the beautifully presented plate.

Unfortunately, I have not taken a picture of “Rita’s Bite” tuna and my partner’s saganaki. I thought I did. But I must have used “Rita’s Bite” camera to snap their two entrees. I am not sure why I have not use my own camera. I think I may have said to “Rita’s Bite” that I was not planning to write a review of Steve’s food. Steve is a friend and a very nice friend. I love his food and just want to enjoy them. Not to critic them. I am not a food critic or reviewer like those in flashy magazines or newspapers. But, “Rita’s Bite” encourages me on. That I should write this post. That I have written previous posts on RVL, but only making a referral to the place, not dissecting Steve’s dishes. So this is a personal account of my night at RVL. If you are going to read on – please do so. You may or may not agree with me. You are entitle to your own opinion.

Crisp Duck Egg, Asparagus, Smoked Wagyu Beef

The crisp duck egg was served on top of a thinly sliced smoked wagyu beef and asparagus, sprinkled with parmesan and pangrattato crumbs. The duck egg was crisp on the outside with thick runny yolk on the inside. Visually it was an interesting plated dish. The runny yolk blended nicely with the smoked beef and asparagus with a bit of strong parmesan cheesy after taste in my palate.

Cured Huon Salmon

The photo was not very clear. I hope “Rita’s Bite” will put a post on our dinner at RVL. Hopefully she has better photos to share of this and the other two entrees that we had. I am a big lover of Tasmanian salmon. This was a complimentary dish from the kitchen. Local cured salmon with fresh locally farmed wasabi served on top of a wasabi leaf. A delicate and refreshing entree with a tint of sweetness and saltiness. There was a good balance of plentiful finely diced salmon, red capsicum, red onions and chopped coriander in a wasabi dressing. The wasabi was finely shaved from a fresh wasabi root. I love wasabi, especially those that delivers a good punch to my sinus. My partner refers eating wasabi similar to eating a hot English mustard. But, unfortunately my partner and I both agree that there was not much wasabi in this dish, which was the essence of the dish. The dish itself was a beautiful salad-y summery dish. Maybe I should have asked for more shaved wasabi. Like in Asian food – a bit more chili and spicy please.

Slow roasted lamb

Both my partner and “Rita’s Bite” had the lamb dish for main. The leg of lamb was slowly cooked and served on top of harissa chickpeas, Ashgrove fetta, diced watermelon, mint salad and garnished with thinly sliced red onions and fresh coriander leafs. The slightly spicy and smokiness of harissa sauce chickpea combined well with the little crumbs of fetta and minty flavour of fresh mints. Chunky diced fresh watermelon gave the dish a nice sweet and summer feeling. This dish would have been perfect if the lamb was not a bit too dry. It has a full body all round flavour.

Masterstock Chicken

I had to order this dish. Almost every chefs (and mostly Chinese) have their own “secret” masterstock version. It is almost like a sacred and well guarded secret recipe. Maybe there should be a battle of “Masterstock” recipe to determine who reign the supreme. It is the mother of all stock that is very versatile and use as a base stock to make many great dishes in Chinese restaurants. So for me to find this dish on Steve’s menu at RVL was like finding a hidden treasure chest in a sacred ground. The chicken was slowly cooked in Steve’s masterstock for a very long time to soak in all the beautiful, complex flavour and smell that went into making the stock. The chicken was served with shiitake mushrooms and sweet rice. Garnished with pickled cucumber and peeled orange skin soaked in masterstock. The chicken was very tender and succulent. It fell apart easily from the bone. It was soft. There was no firmness in the meat. It basically melt in my mouth complemented with the complex masterstock flavour. I love it. It reminds me of eating a slow cooked claypot chicken in Chinese medicinal herbs broth, cooked for many many hours. It is not easy to create a good Masterstock, but Steve has nailed it in this dish. He is certainly the Master of Masterstock in the Huon Valley.

By this time, we were full to the brim. The main was always a generous serving size at RVL. But  we had to order a couple of desserts to share. We had to. They sounded so delicious in the menu.

Frozen Chocolate Parfait

This was an absolutely stunning dessert! It was very delicious. It was a frozen chocolate parfait – firm, very smooth and rich with lots of chocolate flavour. It was served with orange curd, chocolate cake crumbs and orange treacle. The orange curd and treacle were sweet and refreshing, and mixed very well with the chocolate crumbs. I ate most of it. Love it.

Strawberry Soup

We ordered this dessert because we were not sure what to expect of it. It sounded different. Strawberry soup, poached meringue, strawberry fool. There were lots of sliced strawberries swimming in the sweet sugary strawberry soup. The poached meringue was delicious. It was not a bad dessert with an interesting twist.

It was a very good night and enjoyable dinner at RVL. Needless to say, we will be back again and again. RVL provides a nice, casual and comfortable place to dine in with great food and great service.

Oh, and thanks for the beautiful sourdough bread with black sesame seeds. I had a few slices this morning. Nice and toasty flavour on the crust and soft on the inside. Thanks, Steve.

“What’s Cooking” in Victor’s Kitchen

The other day when I was at the supermarket, I was thinking to myself if I should buy some pork mince. I had a look at the pre-packed 500 gm of pork mince. It has an expiry date of the next day. I have already picked a free range whole chicken and some king prawns. Then I thought to myself, will I cook the pork mince on the same night if I were to buy it. I could not make up my mind. So I browsed a few shelves further down, and saw some chicken mince which has a longer expiry date. So I got hold of a pre-packed 500 gm of chicken mince. I was thinking maybe I can use half of the mince to make some spring rolls, and the other half some dumplings.

I usually do my grocery at lunch time. When I get back to the office, I put my perishable produces in the office’s fridge. I will then write myself a sticky note and paste on my monitor to remind myself. Otherwise I may forget. I have done that before, and worse if that is on a Friday for the weekend cooking.

When I got home with my grocery, I sorted them between to use now and some into the fridge. At this time, I may or still may not know what I was going to cook. In this case, my chicken mince. I found some carrots and cabbage in my fridge compartment which I removed and put on the bench. I noticed I had thawed some chicken thigh a couple of days ago. I removed that as well. By now, I had the whole chicken, some thawed chicken fillets, chicken mince, king prawns, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, spring onions, fresh chilies, frozen peas on my bench. Yes, lots of chicken!

For the whole range chicken – I poached in a stockpot with some salt, sugar, spring onions (white section). The by-products of the stock will be used for noodle soup and congee. The poached chicken will be used for my partner’s lunch in the office and some will be used in my chicken congee.

The thawed chicken pieces were cut into smaller pieces and marinated in turmeric powder with a bit of salt. They will be used in a simple chicken curry with small diced potatoes and thawed peas as the base ingredient for my curry puff. I have some puff pastry in the freezer. I have never make a curry puff before. So this will be my first. I have not referred to any recipe on this – so I can invent my own. This will be my own invention test. The pressure is on. Hope it works.

The king prawns, which I bought 12 pieces for a finger-licking pre-dinner meal was a quick stir fry in a hot wok with spring onions and ginger in a mixture of light and dark soy sauce.  You can add some chopped garlic for a bit of garlicky flavour. I added a freshly chopped red chili and some cracked black pepper to spice up the dish. The prawns must be dark with an almost smoky flavour. The dish is very simple and fast to make. And, tastes delicious. Make sure you lick all your fingers. You can wash the smell off in a bowl of water with freshly sliced lemon.

By the time I finished cooking the above 3 dishes, I had a change of heart on how I wanted to use the chicken mince for that night’s dinner. I need to turnaround a quick and yet good dish for both my partner and myself. So I ruled out the spring rolls and dumplings. They are both fiddly and require some folding of the dough. I opted for a stir fry chicken mince with some finely diced vegetables type combination. So I looked through my cupboards and found a small can of water chestnut, sweet corns, some fresh carrots and chinese shiitake mushrooms, and some dried noodle. I diced up everything to about the same size for consistency, look and texture of the chicken mince dish. Another invention – spur of the moment. I don’t have a name for the dish.

I asked my partner what I should call it.

He said, “how about stir fry chicken mince?”

That sounds boring and plain. I said.

“how about Chicken ala Supreme?”

He laughed and said, “that is really stupid!”

But, that is the sort of name you would see in a country style chinese restaurant – some silly and stupid name like that.

So, what do you think? Any name for my newly invented dish?

The dish was stir fried with garlic and flavoured with light soy sauce, oyster sauce, black vinegar, chinese cooking wine, sesame oil, chili oil, salt, sugar and ground pepper.

I served the dish with some noodle (dry style) and garnish with chopped spring onions and dried shallots.

The beauty about this base ingredient – “chicken ala supreme” – is that it is a very versatile dish. It can be served in different ways. There was so much leftover. Imagine 500 gm chicken mince with all the small diced vegetables.

The next day, I packed some leftover with steamed rice. When I had it at work, the taste triggered a sensation in my mind with tiny molecular cells jumping up and down in my brain with great delights and satisfaction. Screaming out loud in my brain that I had to try the dish on a bowl of soup. What a great idea I thought to myself.

So I tried the base ingredient on a bowl of soup. The chicken consomme that I made on a previous night. I added some dried garlic in the soup, chinese mustard green, chopped spring onions and pickled ginger on top. It was superb! The soup mixed with the chicken mince sauce transformed the soup into an adventure of sweet and salty flavour with a twist of spicyness and sourness.

Weekend chat in my Kitchen.

Do you have a dream? I mean, do you dream of going to space one day? Something far reaching than our normal, daily monotonous life.

Well, I dreamed up a list of 10 things I like to do before I die. Almost 10. I ran out of idea after the seventh down my list. That was a few days leading to 2009 NYE. I sat in my room in front of my MacBook. I asked myself – I am turning 50 years in 2 years. What have I achieved in my life? What do I want to do before I die? Some very heavy stuffs, right? I asked my partner the same question. But, little did I know that he will put a post on his blog! Now it has become public.

I like to think that we all have a dream – a dream that hopefully one day will come true. It gives us some hope and reasons to live. Top on my dream list is to write my own book, which I have started compiling in the last 2 weeks. It is about my journey through life of food, cooking and travel. In my list, I also dream of having my own little culinary and heritage private tour business – on the rich and colourful history, food and culture of Penang.

What about yourself? Have you thought about what you like to do before you die? Oops, pardon me for being so upfront. It is a question which most people prefer not to think about.

Have a great weekend!

“What’s Cooking” in Victor’s Kitchen

Yes, it is. My mum’s Ayam Goreng. Well, almost. I applied my own style and a slight variation. My partner was happy with the dish. So was I, for a first attempt. However, I would have prefer more spice in the chicken. So next time, I will add a bit more curry powder. Ayam goreng is one of those dish that has a few variations, adjust to individual taste. “Ayam Goreng” is a Malay word. “Ayam” refers to chicken, and “goreng” refers to frying. So it is a fried chicken dish – Malaysian style.

I had the following homegrown ingredients which I used in this dish – small red onions and tomatoes. The spring onions were used in a different dish. I also used my own homegrown curry leaves, featured in a previous post.

I used a free range chicken – half a chicken, cut into small pieces. Then marinated in 2 tablespoons curry powder, a pinch of salt and white pepper, 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce and 1 tablespoon light soy sauce. Then covered in glad wrap and left in the fridge to marinate. I was going to use it the next day for dinner, but our neighbour who lives in Dandenong and has a lovely house further up our hill, invited us for dinner. So the chicken was left in the fridge for 2 nights. It did no harm to the meat. I think it made the meat more tender and tastier.

Next I fried the chicken until they were nicely cooked and browned. I then drained the excess oil on a couple of absorbent kitchen paper towels.

While the kitchen paper towels were soaking up the excess oil from the chicken, I peeled the onion’s skin and chopped the onions into halves. Next I removed curry leaves from its sprig and soaked some tamarind pulp in water to extract the juice.

Now that I had everything prepared, I was ready for the final step of this dish. I heated a saucepan with some oil. Tossed in the onions and curry leaves. Stir fried until fragrant. Then added some tamarind juice and the chicken. Simmered the chicken for a few minutes.

Finally, I plated my dish on some chilled shredded iceberg lettuce and diced some homegrown tomatoes.

My version:

And, my mum’s version:

Which version is the best? I like to be bias and say it was mine. But, the truth is mum’s Ayam Goreng is still the best.

Hope you enjoy this recipe.