Salty Rice (Kiam Png - 咸饭)

After a whole week of obligational McDonalds meal, I was really craving for a simple and light dish.  I remember when I was young, my mum used to hold 2 jobs at one point of time and sometimes she didn't have time to cook so she'll do a one pot dish.  I didn't use to like it very much as I love variety, but over the years I grew to love this simple dish.

I was contemplating if I should blog about this dish as it's really really simple.  I decided to do it the minute I opened the rice pot and smell the familiar fragrance of this simple dish.  So the photos taken today are using Iphone. :P

Ingredients (Serves 2)

1/2 a Chicken (Preferably free range chicken aka Kampong chicken)
5-6 long beans
1/2 a cabbage
dried anchovies (Optional, i didn't add this today)

Cut chicken into pieces
Marinate chicken with salt and let it sit for an hour. (optionally you can also add some sesame oil and chinese rice wine to the marinate)  I went for the simplest way, just salt.
Cut long beans into 2 inch length
Cut cabbage into bite size squares
Wash rice
Use a little lesser water for the rice then usual as the vegetables and chicken have lots of water in them.

Put vegetables and cabbage in the pot.  Sprinkle a pinch of salt, mix well.

Lay the chicken pieces on top of the rice and vegetales.  That way the essence from the chicken will go into the rice as you cook. And you won't wash off too much of the marinate in the rice water too.

Serve with some sambal chilli or just cut chilli with soy sauce.

Bon Appetit

Monica Eng

Singapore

Salmon gnocchi bake recipe

I was bored today and i wanted to do something quick so I decided to make gnocchi and salmon in the oven

Ingredients

500gr packet fresh gnocchi (you can make them yourself but you can also find fresh gnocchi at the supermarket)
25gr butter
1 small leek, thickly sliced
200gr cream cheese
2 tbs tomato puree
1 or 2 tsp dried chili flakes (put as much as you want)
Zest of Lemon
a handful of parsley
150gr salmon fillet, chopped into small pieces

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Bring a pan of lightly salted water to the boil. Add the gnocchi and cook for 1-2 minutes, until cooked. (The gnocchi will float to the surface when they are ready.) Drain and reserve 250ml of the cooking water. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a wide, deep frying pan and gently fry the leek for 3-4 minutes, until soft. Stir in the cream cheese, tomato puree, chili flakes, lemon zest, parsley and reserved water (not a lot, until it covers your ingredients), until the cheese has melted and everything is combined. Adjust the seasoning.

Add the gnocchi and salmon to the frying pan and stir to coat. Spoon into a deep dish and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden on top. You can serve it with a slice of lemon if you want.

Inspired from delicious magazine

Enjoy!!
Mary Savvidou
Cyprus

Reviews 1 - Kuzina Athens

Me and Marilena visited Athens last weekend and we went to eat at the Kuzina Restaurant. It was my boyfriend's idea and it was a lovely idea indeed. Most of the dishes are variations of the traditional Greek cuisine and some are influenced mostly from East Asia.

The restaurant is located at Thissio, a really busy street opposite Acropolis. If you find a table at the roof you will enjoy a really amazing view.

We ordered:

cured octopus with fennel shavings
calamari with ginger sesame oil and chili
crab cakes with spicy aioli sauce
risotto with pumpkin charred corn goat cheese and saffron
pork roasted in the oven for 12 hours with lime basil and a pineapple
dumplings filled with feta cheese mousse and served with pomegranate sauce

Sorry about the photos. I had my small camera with me and i forgot to take photos of all the dishes because i was enjoying the food soooo much :)

the calamari:





and this was my favorite, dumplings filled with feta cheese mousse and served with pomr grande sauce. The taste was really amazing.




It was an interesting experience for us, so if you are in Athens, pay it a visit.

You can find more information on their website

Apple Pork Rib Soup & Braised Sesame & Ginger Chicken

I'm making 2 dishes today as a really good friend of mine, Bryan is coming over for dinner and Soup would not be enough. :P

Are you feeling under the weather lately?  Perhaps having a persistent cough that is not going away.  Well, then you HAVE TO try the Apple Pork Rib soup.  The secret ingredient for this soup is Chinese southern sweet almond  (南杏).  It is said to be soothing for your lungs.

Ingredients for Apple Soup

Apples about 5 (Cut and remove core)
Pork ribs
Pork Marrow bones
Chinese Southern Sweet Almonds
Salt

Ingredients for Braised Sesame & ginger Chicken

1 whole chicken
1 small can of button mushroom
2 carrots
Thumb size of Ginger (sliced)
3 garlic
Dark Soy sauce (You can use oyster sauce instead too if you don't like the black look of this dish)
Sesame Oil
Sugar
Chinese rice wine
Water

How to make Apple Pork Rib Soup

Soak pork ribs/bones in water to remove blood

Cut apples into chunks, remove core

Put everything in a pot, add water and BOIL on low for at least 3 hours till all the flavour is in the soup and the pork bones are so soft the flesh falls off the bones.

How to make Braised Sesame & Ginger chicken

Slice Ginger and chop up garlic, Cut chicken into small pieces with bones on.  Cut carrots into bite size pieces

In a pot, add Sesame oil, heat it.

Throw in Slice ginger and garlic, Stir fry till fragrant.

Add in chicken, stir fry till almost cooked and covered with sesame oil.

Add in Carrots and mushroom.  Simmer for 2 mins

Add in dark soy sauce, enough to coat all the ingredients in the pot.  Not too much as it will be too salty.

Let it simmer for 1/2 hour, Lid on.  Stir it occasionally to ensure all the chicken pieces are covered evenly with dark soy sauce.

Add some water.  Depends on how much gravy you want.  Sprinkle in some sugar.  Close lid and simmer for another 1/2 hour.

Before serving add a dash of chinese rice wine.  Simmer for 5mins.

Serve both dishes with  a  hot bowl of Rice.

Bon Appetit

Monica Eng

Singapore

Fried "Hey Bee Hiam" Flat rice noodles aka Fried Spicy Dried Shrimp Noodles

This is another recipe that I used to love so much which my mum made.  I believe it's of Penang origin.

"Hey Bee Hiam" direct translates to Spicy dried Shrimps.  It's a kind of condiment that you can use for almost anything.  I use it for frying noodles, rice, vegetables or just eating it with plain rice porridge.  I love it on hot toast too.  It's one of the most versatile condiment that I know.

As always, recipes from my mother does not come with exact measurements.  You're free to use as much as you like, and keep the balance in the fridge,  how much chilli, salt, sugar or shrimp you use really depend on how spicy, sweet or salty you want it.

Ingredients for "Hey Bee Hiam"

Dried Shrimps aka "Hey Bee"
Shallots
Chilli
Chilli padi - Bird's eye chilli (Add this if you want it to be spicier)
Sugar
Salt

Ingredients for noodles

Lean Pork slice
Choy Sum or bean sprouts
Fish Cake
Flat rice noodles
"Hey Bee Hiam"

Method for cooking "Hey Bee Hiam"

Soak dried shrimps in water for about 30mins.

Peel shallots, soak in salt water to prevent tearing.

Cut up chilli padi and chilli

Blend ingredients together (U can use a pestle and mortar if you have the energy)

Add oil in wok, heat.  You'll need quite a bit of oil as the flossy dried shrimps absorb them up really fast.
 

Pour all ingredients into wok and stir fry on low fire.  Keep stirring as it gets burned quite fast.

Add salt to taste.

When the colour of the mixture darkens, add sugar.

Keep stir frying till it's kinda dark orange in colour.   Scoop it up and set aside.

When it's ready the fragrance is really strong.  That's how you tell.  The smell kinda change after some time of frying.


Method for frying the noodles

In the clean wok, add oil.  Heat.

Add Pork to stir fry till it's almost cooked.  Add Fish Cake

Add "Hey Bee Hiam"

Mix them evenly, add some water cover, Simmer for a while.

Add vegetables (Cut choy sum thick stem to small pieces) , Mix them evenly.  Cover for a little while till vege is cooked.

Add Flat rice noodles and fry everything evenly.  Make sure the noodles are well coated with "Hey Bee Hiam"

Add soy sauce to taste if it's not salty enough.

Keep stirring to prevent noodles from getting burned.

Serve with some extra sprinkle of "hey bee hiam" on the noodle

Bon Appetit

Monica Eng

Singapore

Apple Crumble... (literally crumbles...)

My mum loves cooking and baking and she used to bake alot when I was younger.  We didn't have any electric mixer during those days and she used to hand beat her cake batters.  And I remembered how much I loved the sound of hand mixed batters.  And I look forward to it all the time.

Apple Crumble is one of the things she baked often.  It was also one of the first thing I learnt from her.  She never had a fixed recipe, everything was an estimation.  And as usual she'd make too much pie crust and crumble, she'd remix them together and let me shape my own cookies with the left over dough and I had lotsa fun doing it.

I do not have measurements for the recipe below as how much you use really depends on how big your baking tray is.

Ingredients for crust


Flour
Butter (salted)  - I used a bar here
Milk
A little salt


Ingredients for crumble

Flour
Butter (1/2)
Sugar
Ground almond

Ingredients for apple filling

10 Green apples (Again depends on how big/deep your pie tray is)
Sultanas (I prefer yellow)
Sugar
optional (Cinnamon stick)

Making the Pie filling

Wash apple, Skin them and soak in salt water to prevent it from oxydising

Skin and remove core of apple, cut them into slices

Drain the apple slices, add in sultanas and marinate it with sugar and 2 sticks of cinnamon (Cinnamon is optional)

Leave it for 30mins - 1hour

Making the Crumble

Add salt and butter to flour, rub in ingredients till it resemble bread crumbs.  Add milk, form a dough.

Roll dough out and adjust it into the buttered pie tray.

Making the Crumble

Pour flour, sugar, ground almond and butter into a bowl

Rub-in ingredients till it resemble bread crumbs.  Use finger tips as you do not want the butter to melt too much.

Preheat oven at 170 degree celsius

Lay the marinated apple slices and sultanas without the water nicely on top of the pie base.

Sprinkle Crumble on top of apples

Bake for 30mins at 150 degree celsius

Then another 30mins at 170 degree celsius.

I used too much butter for the crust today and my apple crumble came out really crumbly.....But taste good still!  Well anything with THAT much butter taste good!!  :D

Bon appetit

Monica Eng

Singpore

Fettuccine with Feta cheese, Ouzo and Prawns

Hey :)

My friend Marilena came over so that we can make the second pasta recipe as promised in my previous post. We decided that we wanted to use prawns and ouzo. Ouzo is really sweet so we wanted something salty to balance the flavor. We thought that feta cheese will help us achieve that.

Ouzo (ούζο) is an anise-flavored aperitif that is widely consumed in Greece and Cyprus. Similar aperitifs include Oghi from Armenia and among Western Armenians, pastis (France), arak (from the Levant) and raki (from Turkey) although, in Greece, raki is generally not anise-flavored. Its aniseed flavor is also similar to the anise-flavored liqueurs of sambuca (Italy) and patxaran (Bilbao, Spain) and the stronger spirits of absinthe (France) and a variation of Mastiha (Chios, Greece). It can be consumed neat or mixed with water. (wikipedia)

Feta (Greek: φέτα) is a brined curd cheese traditionally made in Greece. Feta is an aged crumbly cheese, commonly produced in blocks, and has a slightly grainy texture. It is used as a table cheese, as well as in salads (e.g the Greek salad), pastries and in baking, notably in the popular phyllo-based dishes spanakopita ("spinach pie") and tyropita ("cheese pie") and combined with olive oil and vegetables. It can also be served cooked or grilled, as part of a sandwich or as a salty alternative to other cheeses in a variety of dishes.

According to the relevant EU legislation, only those cheeses produced in a traditional way in some areas of Greece (mainland and the island of Lesvos), and made from sheep's milk, or from a mixture of sheep's and goats’ milk (up to 30%) of the same area, may bear the name "feta".
However, similar white brined cheeses (often called 'white cheese' in various languages) are found in the eastern Mediterranean and around the Black Sea. Similar white cheeses produced outside the EU are often made partly or wholly of cow's milk, and they are sometimes called 'feta'. (wikipedia)


Ingredients:
Serves 4

1 pack of Fettuccine
1 kg King Prawns
Oil
150 ml Ouzo
150 ml Fresh Creme
Feta Cheese
Vegetable stock
2 Tomatoes
2 Onions
White Pepper
Salt if necessary

Method:

Cook the paste as indicated.
Wash the Prawns really well and remove their intestines
Cut the onions and tomatoes into small pieces and put them in a pan with some oil and cook until soft.
Add the Prawns in the pan and cook until they become pink
Add the Ouzo and leave it to boil.
When the liquid is almost gone, add the Vegetable stock and the fresh creme
When it starts to boil add the pepper and the feta cheese in small pieces until it melts
Leave it until the sauce becomes thick
Taste it and add some salt if you think it needs it
Add some parsley if you want after its done








Enjoy!!!
Mary
Cyprus
xxx