Pussy Pictures: Sooky and Cantik

Sooky and Cantik just couldn't resist posing for me.....they look much better with the GF1.

Sooky

My Beautiful Cantik - butter wouldn't melt in her mouth

Cantik looking garang....about to pounce on Handsome

Sooky sniffing out dinner

Handsome wouldn't pose for me and ran off whenever I pointed the camera at him.....sigh.

Aroy Thai at Funan Digital Mall

I love Thai Food. In fact BH and I do an annual visit to BKK just to eat. It is probably one of the few cuisines that I will pay for, Japanese food being the other. 

About 20 years ago, my parents and I discovered Aroy Thai along East Road. The food has remained consistently good and is good honest Thai food with strong flavours. Decades later, Aroy Thai still delivers home-style Thai dishes made with a lot of heart. If you are after authentic Thai food and don't have the time to travel to BKK, Aroy Thai is a safe bet.

I  picked up my camera (which I am having a great time playing with) from Peninsula Shopping Centre and together with C my friend, we headed to Aroy Thai for a delightful lunch. You will see the pictures which were taken with my new camera (of course I could not wait to use it).  

I have to admit that I am not terribly adventurous as I definitely belong to the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" school of thought. In fact when I dine at Aroy Thai, I don't even need the menu. I will invariably order the Pla Duk Foo (Cat Fish with Mango Salad), Fish Cakes, Olive Rice, Tom Yum Goong and Grilled Pork. However, since I was with C, I managed to try 2 new dishes which were very interesting despite both of them being salads (hahahaha).

One of them as shown below, was the lemongrass salad. This was C's suggestion and I have to say I will have to rethink my ordering at Aroy Thai now. This salad was made with finely chopped lemongrass, shallots, toasted grated coconut, cashews, fried small dried prawns which you heaped onto lettuce leaves, wrapped into a parcel and ate. The explosion of sweet, rich coconut, tangy and salty was just delightful. The piquant nature of this salad of course meant that you could eat many of those little parcels without feeling quite full. Very more-ish and I think I ate about 8 of those parcels.....poor C didn't get a chance to eat much of it.

Lemongrass Salad

Olive Rice

Basil Fried Pork

Wing Bean Salad

We also tried the Wing Bean Salad which was Wing Beans with a coconut cream dressing and some prawns. Again, an excellent choice and cut through the rich Olive Rice. It was the perfect complement to the Basil Fried Pork. I must have crunched my way through three quarters of that Wing Bean salad. The textural contrast of the Wing Beans and the strong flavours of the coconut cream dressing and grated coconut made this my favourite dish. I am definitely ordering this dish again!

I would rate Aroy Thai 8/10/. I love eating there and now, with C's input and suggestions, I will be back again very soon with BH to try new dishes!

Mee Pok @ Bedok South Road Blk 16

Hock Seng Choon Fish Ball Kway Teow @ Bedok South Road Blk 16

You must think I am a mee pok fanatic. Well I am somewhat. I had breakfast with the parentals on Sunday morning and they wanted to have the porridge from that market. I DO NOT like porridge and the only time I eat porridge is when I am on death's door. Or had the most horrible case of food poisoning.

I did my usual walkabout to see what was available. My favourite Hill Street Char Kway Teow was not ready yet so I had to settle for something else. There was a long queue for bak chor mee, a new stall, and this one seemed to have a lot of endorsements from TV shows. But I am normally sceptical of such endorsements when they are for another stall i.e. this looked like a franchise. So I didn't bother to waste my time queuing.

But the interesting result of this new bak chor mee stall at the market was that Hock Seng Choon Fish Ball Kway Teow had almost no queue. This stall used to have a queue of at least 10 people every time I was at the market. Obviously business has been affected by the competition. I took the opportunity to sample this mee pok which my mother had been raving about. I ordered the $3 portion of noodles as I was ravenous after my run.

I was impressed. VERY impressed. The fish balls, according to my mother who was doing a running commentary as I was eating, are handmade by them. Delightfully bouncy, smooth and yet sufficiently fishy unlike many of the commercially produced fishballs which are devoid of any fish taste. The noodles were perfectly cooked, and I noticed the guy actually rinsing the mee pok in cold water first then blanching them and then rinsing them once again in cold water.

The chilli sauce was perfect and possibly the best chilli I have had with mee pok in a long long time. Too many hawkers don't make their own chilli but I definitely picked up unusual flavours with this chilli which I would associate with a home made secret recipe chilli. It was spicy and had punch AND it wasn't dumbed down. Big flavours that were perfectly balanced with the lard, soy sauce and ketchup. I would rate it a 8/10.

Mee Pok and Carrot Cake @ Bedok Interchange

Teo's Noodles @ Bedok Interchange Food Centre

Song Zhou Carrot Cake @ Bedok Interchange Food Centre

In what is becoming a weekly ritual which BH and I love, we spend Saturday mornings sampling the delights of Singaporean Hawker Food. On this Saturday, we had friends coming over for lunch AND dinner and I needed to get some supplies from the supermarket. So we killed two birds with one stone and had brekkie at Bedok Interchange and did a supermarket shop after that.

I queued up for the carrot cake from Song Zhou, which took about 15 mins, and ordered $3 worth of the dark carrot cake. I like the carrot cake from Song Zhou although he doesn't make his own carrot cake. The tastiness dish is solely reliant on his skills on frying the yummy morsels of carbohydrates in oil. What I like about it is, he takes the time to cut up the pieces of carrot cake into small enough pieces so that each little nugget is coated in that savoury mix of light soy sauce and dark sweet caramel sauce. AND he uses lots of eggs. So each mouthful of carrot cake is a delightful delish mix of eggy carrot cake bits. When eaten hot, it can't be beat. I would give it a 8/10. I have never tried the white carrot cake which I hear is the true test of a good carrot cake, so perhaps next time I will.

Before I stood in the queue for the carrot, I maximised my time by first ordering the Mee Pok from Teo's Noodles. There was a 20 min wait so by the time I got my carrot cake, my mee pok was ready! What I love about this stall is that the lady who takes the orders and manages the "front of house" is perhaps the NICEST, FRIENDLIEST Hawker I have ever met. And that includes my time as a hawker at Maxwell Food Centre. She was able to give me an accurate estimate as to how long the noodles would take, was friendly, polite and extremely personable. I love ordering from her! If there was the opposite of a Hawker Nazi, she would be the embodiment of that. She should get an award for being the "Friendliest Hawker in Singapore".

Now back to the noodles. They were not bad. But not mind blowing. The noodles were well cooked, al dente, and not starchy. The fish balls were ok, not fantastic though and rather run of the mill. The chilli was also ok and not great. So overall, the various components of the mee pok were ok but not outstanding. I would give it a 6/10. If you are at Bedok Interchange and would like a bowl of mee pok, I would suggest them but I wouldn't drive there for them. But then again if you didn't give them a try, you wouldn't get the great service from the front-of-house auntie and see her sunny bright smile!

Hae Mee Inspired Prawn Spaghetti

My Hae Mee Inspired Prawn Spaghetti

I was reading a post by blogger Only Slightly Pretentious Food on Prawn Oil and was inspired to make a batch of said oil for my own purposes. Being like all kaypoh cooks, I mixed things up a little to make it a little more interesting. Instead of using a typical sofritto or mire poix, which is celery, onion, carrot and thyme - and cooking it together with the prawn heads and shells till the prawn flavours are infused into the oil, I decided on a Singaporean Hae Mee-ish mix of spices and herbs.

I used the shells and heads from a kilo of prawns and cooked it with 2 red onions, 4 cloves of garlic, 2 stalks of lemongrass, 1 star anise, 3 cloves, 3 chilli padi and 1 carrot for 4 hours. The resulting oil was fragrant and redolent of a rich hae mee stock.

I cooked the prawns off in about a table spoon of olive oil, added 1 clove of minced garlic and 1 chilli padi.and cooked it till fragrant. Tossed in the cooked spaghetti, splashed in some white wine and let the alcohol cook off, seasoned with salt and pepper. Took the pan off the heat and added a tablespoon of lime juice and a knob of butter which melted into the hot pasta.

I also drizzled a tablespoon of the prawn oil onto the pasta and mixed the pasta thoroughly through the resulting sauce. As I had been rendering lard for my kitchen, I had some crispy lard bits left over -the perfect topping for my hae mee-inspired prawn spaghetti.

I am not ashamed to say that I finished that large bowl of pasta by myself. The smoky lard bits were crunchy and the perfect accompaniment to the sweet juicy prawn nuggets. If I were to make this dish again, I would probably add some slices of my 5 Spice Roast Pork.  

Pizza @ Home

Pizza Dough Proofing

I love to eat pizza and I love to make pizza. I had to make my own pizza about 6 years ago because I found the local pizza scene in Singapore sorely lacking. Pizza Hut, Dominos, Pizza Rite and etc, in my opinion, are not pizzas.

I had done my annual trip back to Sydney in 2004 and had a great pizza at Mario's. The crust was light and airy, tasty, and had a crunch. The toppings were simple and did not overwhelm the crust. In short, it was a great pizza and a tough act to follow. Having eaten Mario's pizza, I just could not eat what was available in Singapore then.

However, as most home cooks know, pizza is pretty hard to replicate at home without blowing up your oven. Extremely high temperatures are required, 350 degrees celcius, so that the pizza crust can cook in 2 mins or less. The crust should rise quickly so that there are beautiful air bubbles in the crust, with a slightly charred pizza bottom. I had to make MANY pizzas at home before finally coming across Peter Reinhart's fantastic book American Pie which gave many tips and pointers. He suggested using a baking stone heated in the oven for an hour in order to get the nice charred crispy pizza bottom. Of course in Singapore, 6 years ago, I could not find such a stone. So I had to improvise and used a clay pot dish which was cheap (cost only $4) and was made of the same porous ceramic material. Peter Reinhart's book was also very informative about using a slow ferment method (i.e. in the fridge) to develop flavour in the crust. So that was what I did for the last 5 years, satisfying many people in the process.

That all changed this year when BH bought me the Heston Blumenthal's book, In Search of Perfection. In that book, we tried the Roast Beef Recipe (more on that in another post when I get my Dry Aging Technology Kit Woohoo!). But most recently, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and try the pizza recipe. It is a little more complicated, as with most of Blumenthal's recipes, but well worth the effort. A pre-ferment was required and something called Malt Syrup was needed for both the pre-ferment and dough. I couldn't find Malt Syrup so I just used Maltose which I could find in local food stores.

Additionally, Blumenthal advises heating your cast iron pan over high heat for 20 mins then popping your pizza dough onto it, toppings and cheese and then cooking in preheated oven (highest temp-which is 250 degrees celcius for my home oven) for 90 secs.

I loved the result as did my guests (hence the lack of photographs). The crust was light, airy and had the slight crunch and as the dough had not been fermenting for too long (only the pre-ferment for flavour), you didn't get that yeasty smell and taste which can result from over-fermenting. The only problem I had was that the dough was a little dry. I shall add an extra gramme of water for the pre-ferment and dough the next time round.

I made a Rendang Pizza, Bacon and Cheese, and a Pork Vindaloo Pizza. Not exactly neapolitan but exactly the way I like it!

Why I don't eat in Fine Dining Restaurants

My friend D is an epicurean and real food lover who travels extensively and thinks nothing of hopping to Brussels to enjoy her favourite beers and food while en route to Paris. When in Singapore, she loves her local fare, ice cream and pizza. She has her own blog where she writes about her latest adventures, food or otherwise. 

Her biggest grouse about restaurants in Singapore is that they all seem to get stuck in a rut and some dishes are just DONE TO DEATH. And that is the reason why I don't like to eat in fine dining restaurants in Singapore. Why should I part with my hard earned moolah to eat in a restaurant when I could easily cook them at home. And what is worst these "popular" dishes are copied and replicated in almost all the fine dining establishments in Singapore. What are these dishes you may ask?

Here they are:

Mushroom Cappuccino or cream of mushroom soup
Foie Gras
Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks
Miso Cod
Molten Chocolate Cake

You could crack open ANY menu in Singapore and I could pretty much guarantee you that you would be able to find these dishes in some incarnation. They may be given fancier names with extravagant descriptions but honestly, they are just more of the same old same old.

I wonder, is it a case of demand for the ordinary by the customer or that chefs in Singapore are so creatively challenged that they can't produce new and exciting flavours?

Nantsuttei Ramen

Char Siu Ramen

Dragon Ramen

BH had a day off and decided to have a leisurely day in town. I had meetings till 630pm and would be in town so I suggested that we eat out and try the Thai Food at Kaima which I had read a lot about. However, after making those plans, I realised that Kaima is closed on Mondays! DOH!

So I had to consult my black book (moleskine journal of places I would like to eat at and recipes) and we decided to have ramen at Nantsuttei Ramen. BH being the porkstar, of course had the Char Siu Ramen and me the Spice Star, had the Dragon Ramen.

The Dragon Ramen was really good. It had a spicy pork mince, a slice of char siu, bean sprouts, ramen and that rich umami-tasting stock. It must have been made by slowly boiling collagen rich pork bones and cartilage because every mouthful of that rich stock just swirled and coated every taste bud in my mouth. It was milky and hearty, and in my opinion better than any chicken soup. If you had a cold and had a bowlful of that stock - you would be all better by the time you slurped the last bit of soup. The Char Siu was soft and well braised but my only beef (pork) with it was that it was a little lacking in flavour.

Many a time, a dish is let down by a single detail and other times, a dish is made extraordinary because attention has been paid to that detail. In the case of Nantsuttei Ramen, it was the Bean Sprouts that made it sublime. They were small juicy and crunchy. Cooked to perfection, they provided a nice textural contrast to the soft meat and creamy soup, but weren't too raw. In fact they were a little sweet and you could find me trawling the bottom of my bowl for those little sprouty gems. I would like to know where they get their bean sprouts from because they would be perfect for my tau gay salad!

As both BH and I are greedy guzzlers......we also ordered the Gyoza. And at the risk of sounding like a raving sycophant - OMG, they were good!!!!! The gyoza skins were thin and light, the pork mince was juicy, the gyoza were lightly fried. Perfect!

Nantsuttei Ramen embodies all that is right about a good restaurant. They do Ramen well, VERY WELL, and they keep their selection tight. 5 kinds of Ramen and 1 side dish which is Gyoza. They don't sell tonkatsu, sushi and any other kinds of Japanese Food. So if you have a yen (sorry I couldn't resist) for excellent ramen, then trot on down to Nantsuttei Ramen. Best to get there early because the small unpretentious place filled up very quickly after 630pm.

I would rate it a 9/10.

Nantsuttei Ramen
Address: 9 Raffles Boulevard #P3-06 Parco Marina Bay, Millenia Walk Singapore

Tel: +65 6337 7166

PS. I paid for my meal.

Weekend Breakfast at High Street Tai Hwa Bak Chor Mee

Remember how I said we would try to find a better Bak Chor Mee? Well BH and I decided to have Bak Chor Mee again on Saturday morning. I used to work at Bestway Building 7 years ago and remembered the Bak Chor Mee there to be really good. Unlike the Hill Street Tai Hwa Bak Chor Mee, you don't have to queue for 20 mins for your fix and parking is a breeze at the Bestway Building Carpark on a Saturday morning.

We both had the $4 portions of mee pok. It was the right mix of vinegar, lard, chilli and soy. And this uncle takes the time to work his magic. He refuses to be hurried and takes about 7mins to cook each bowl of Bak Chor Mee. He also rinses his noodles after cooking, thus removing the starchiness which is essential in pasta cooking but a no-no in traditional chinese noodles. The liver was cooked to perfection as was the lean pork. I personally found the portion of noodles just right but carb lovers with heart appetites might find the portion too small especially for $4. Especially those from the quantity over quality school of thought.

My only grouse would be that my noodles were a tad undercooked. I felt that it needed about 20 secs more.....but on the whole an excellent balance of all the flavours found in Bak Chor Mee: tangy, spicy, rich, porky, springy noodles. I would rate it a 9/10.

Cheok Kee Duck Rice @ East Coast Lagoon

I had had a long hard day of work and was driving home along the East Coast Parkway and decided to have dinner before heading home to crash. And I figured as I was so close to the East Coast Lagoon Food Centre, I might as well turn off and grab a quick bite.

As you all know, there are loads of "world famous in Singapore only" hawker stalls at the East Coast Lagoon Food Centre. The fried Hokkien Mee, Beef Noodles, Wanton Mee, and etc etc.

I decided that I was in the mood for Duck Rice which happens to be Cheok Kee Duck Rice. They have countless endorsements from TV shows and print media on their stall front and invariably have a queue of patient Singaporeans waiting for their food.

I am a big protein person so I always augment my order with Tau Kwa, Gian (kidneys I think) and Braised Egg. The plate you see above was so fully loaded, he needed to use a larger plate. Yes, I am THAT greedy and hungry for protein. It was very reasonably priced at $5 and I loaded my plate with the sng nee chilli (sourish watery garlic chilli) and the hotter chilli paste.

I am not sure if the cook was having an off day or if the standards have dropped since I last ate there. The duck was dry and tough, almost as if the cook had not braised it for a sufficient period of time. Same for the braised kidneys. I was disappointed with the treatment of the meat protein and the rice wasn't great either. Not much taste nor flavour. The gravy was also lackluster and actually rather blah. Both chillis were also flat and one dimensional. I could only taste the sour from the sng nee and that was all. No chilli heat and definitely no added dimensions from spices and herbs. The tau kwa, however, was the star on the plate. Soft and smooth, it had not been over cooked and was fresh. A delight and frankly the only good thing on the plate.

Overall, it was a disappointing plate and left me somewhat dissatisfied and wanting more. It did not brighten what had been generally a very bad day. :(

I would rate it 6/10.

Mooncakes from Marina Bay Sands

I had a long meeting today at Marina Bay Sands and got as a "reward" (meaning I didn't pay for the mooncakes) a totally cool box of mooncakes from Sweet Spot @ Marina Bay Sands. The packaging is extremely innovative - it is a tower with 4 individual compartments and of course 4 mooncakes.  I brought it back to the office for everyone to enjoy. For now, no one is eating them, but I have broken my less sugar rule and had half a mooncake. Eeep *sheepish*

How did the mooncakes taste? I am normally a Tai Chong Kok fan and buy my mooncakes from there. But I have to say I did enjoy this mooncake. Not too sweet and the lotus seed paste was smooth and luxuriant. The only fault I had was that it could have been a little more caramelly (if there such a word), toastier in the finish. The salted egg yolk was crumbly, unctuously rich and the perfect foil to the sweet lotus seed paste.

I would rate it a 8/10. Good stuff.

Madam Tan's Nasi Lemak rated 2.5 pairs chopsticks by Makansutra

When I cracked open the latest Makansutra 2011 and read that we had been awarded 2.5 chopsticks (Divine) for our Nasi Lemak, I could not help but feel a little twinge of bittersweetness. As a cook and the creative force behind the food, this was definitely validation of all the hard work put into creating a Nasi Lemak which was delicious and 'lemak' enough. But having decided to close the business and to re-think the format of Madam Tan's for the future, I did feel a little nostalgic for the little hawker stall in Maxwell Food Centre which we (my fantastic family and I) kept going for the better part of 14 months.

However, I do not have any regrets and look forward to the future where I am sure we will see a cooler incarnation of Madam Tan's that will serve up the same (if not better) yummy food in a chillout bistro. We will have great food, great service and of course the BEST beers to go with all that great food.


Thanks for all your support and I can't wait to serve all of you again at Madam Tan's!

Pork Stew by any other name

If you didn't know before, you would know now, BH and I are the biggest pork fans. We love our pork. Be it fried, steamed, braised, roasted....ribs, belly, leg, loin. You get the idea.

I came across a recipe for Pork Vindaloo on Cooks Illustrated and decided to give it whirl. It was really easy and took about 30 mins prep time and 2 hours in the oven to cook. I have posted the recipe here for anyone who wants to give it a try.

It was AMAZING. Tender, aromatic and so so so tasty. The spices were subtle but fragrant and gave this Pork Stew the most delicate layering of flavours. We had it on Friday with rice and on Saturday with Spaghetti. It is really versatile and I can imagine it making a baked rice with it. I half expected it to have very strong curry flavours because it was called a Vindaloo, but it wasn't.

The only change I made in the recipe is that I used whole spices. I used 4 whole cloves and 3 whole cardamom pods. I also swapped out the cayenne and sweet paprika for 1 tbs of chilli powder for extra kick.

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated Published January 2, 2008.   Web Exclusive.

Ingredients

1	3-pound boneless pork butt (Boston butt) (see related Ask Cook's), trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
3	tablespoons vegetable oil
3	medium onions , chopped coarse (about 5 cups)
9	medium garlic cloves , minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 3 tablespoons)
3	tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1	tablespoon chilli powder
3/4	teaspoon ground cumin
1/2	teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4	teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4	teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2	cups low-sodium chicken broth
1	(14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
2	tablespoons red wine vinegar
1	tablespoon mustard seeds
2	bay leaves
1	teaspoon sugar
1/4	cup minced fresh cilantro leaves

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Season meat generously with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in large ovenproof Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering, about 2 minutes. Add half of meat to pot so that individual pieces are close together but not touching. Cook, not moving pieces until sides touching pot are well browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Using tongs, turn each piece and continue cooking until most sides are well browned, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer meat to medium bowl, add another tablespoon oil to pot, and swirl to coat pan bottom. Brown remaining meat; transfer meat to bowl and set aside.
2. Reduce heat to medium, add remaining tablespoon oil to empty Dutch oven, and swirl to coat pan bottom. Add onions and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring frequently and vigorously, scraping bottom of pot with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits, until onions have softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add flour, paprika, cumin, cardamom, cayenne, and cloves. Stir until onions are evenly coated and fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Gradually add broth, scraping pan bottom and edges with wooden spoon to loosen remaining browned bits and dissolve flour. Add tomatoes, vinegar, mustard seeds, bay leaves, and sugar and bring to simmer. Add browned pork and accumulated juices, submerging meat under liquid. Return to simmer, cover, and place in oven. Cook for 2 hours.
4. Remove pot from oven. If serving immediately, spoon off any accumulated fat at surface. (Stew can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days. Spoon off congealed fat and bring back to simmer over medium-low heat.) Remove bay leaves, stir in cilantro, and adjust seasonings. Serve immediately.
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The Roti Prata Paradox and Sin Ming Roti Prata

Weekend brekkie is always filled with possibilities. Today we decided to go for a carb laden, oily high calorie roti prata. I had read about Sin Ming Roti Prata online and decided to give it a try.

Most prata places in Singapore can't seem to get it right. Most of them have a really delicious light flakey prata only to ruin it with a terrible curry. Others have a divine curry only to serve a cold, rubbery prata that would be a complete waste of calories. I call it the Roti Prata Paradox. Much like The Café paradox (more on that later).

Ok, back to the roti prata at Sin Ming Roti Prata. This guy's prata is great! Delicious, light and not too oily. If I could only eat this prata with my own curry, I would be a happy camper. However, that is not the case and I had to eat this divine prata with the curry served. The problem with the curry? Is it watery, too spicy, tasteless or salty? 

It is too sweet. So sweet that one might think that you were eating a dessert. This curry was so sweet and bad, that it ruined that light crispy prata for me. I would have to rate it a 4/10. Yep, it is THAT bad. You may think I have unrealistically high expectations where curries are concerned, but let me tell you, I think that the fish curry at Jalan Kayu Roti Prata is delicious. Lemak, rich and spicy without being too overpowering. Alas, their pratas are fried ahead of time, and by the time you get to them, they are rubbery and tasteless. So can anyone tell me where I can get a great flakey hot prata served with a decent curry?

What is The Café paradox? Why is it that you can't seem to get a decent cup of coffee with your food? Or vice versa? Few places seem able to make a decent latte without making a big song and dance about it. You can only get good coffee if you go to small dedicated coffee bars which serve TERRIBLE food. Soggy sandwiches, stale cake or cold pizza slices. Likewise, cafés that have decent food can't seem to make a good cup of coffee. What's up guys? It's not rocket science, if you are a café, you are EXPECTED to provide good coffee and decent cafe fare (sandwiches, cake and pizza).

Popiah @ Newton

I tried the famous popiah Bee Heng at #01-12 Newton Circus Hawker Centre but couldn't take a picture of it because it was a takeaway. This is the hawker that insists that you buy a minimum of two popiah (total $3.60). He was featured in the Straits Times Sunday as being a hawker nazi.

I thought that was pretty funny.

The popiah is not bad, the filling is quite tasty but a little too sweet. I also prefer popiah which has bamboo shoots mixed in. He had the usual crunchy fried dough pieces for texture, hard boiled egg, a sliver of prawn, and chilli and garlic. I would rate it a 7/10. Okay but not mind blowing. But I give a 10/10 for balls and gumption for making Singaporeans spend at least $3.60 at his stall. hahahahahaha

House @ Barracks

A friend who is based in Shanghai returned for a flying visit and we all decided on tea at House. I have never been there so it was a great opportunity to try a new place at Dempsey.

I was kind of hungry so I decided to have a pasta dish, I had the Prawn Capellini (at least I think it was called that). It was pretty good, the pasta was al dente, and the cook uses a Asian style prawn stock to infuse extra flavour into the pasta. I also asked for more spiciness and they were very accommodating to drop some chilli padi into the pasta. Overall, a good effort, and I finished all of the pasta on my plate. I would rate it 8/10.

My friends also ordered the skinny pizza. Maybe I am a pizza purist but I don't understand the concept of the skinny pizza. They had the veggie skinny pizza and it was a variety of grilled veggies on a cracker like crust. But my problem with this pizza was twofold. Not only was it vegetarian, (my friends know me as being rabidly carnivorous) but they loaded so many grilled veggies on the cracker crust, that by the time they were halfway through the pizza, the cracker crust had become very soggy and floppy. My other beef was also the liberal use of peppers. I absolutely LOATHE peppers, whether they be red, green or yellow. It looked so unappetizing, I decided to skip the skinny pizza completely.

My friend SA, wanted the Tiffin punch which is a signature cocktail at House. I normally don't do cocktails (being a beer, whiskey, champagne, wine kinda girl) but she is a very persuasive sales person, so we shared the punch which serves 4. It was surprisingly good and I would recommend it to someone who wants a refreshing afternoon or brunch cocktail to chase that hangover away.

My only grouse (besides the skinny pizza aka not a real pizza) was that I didn't see that they serve two of my favourite beers, Triple Karmeliet and Kwak, because they didn't list it on the alcoholic menu but only wrote it on the specials menu board (which I didn't see as my back was facing it).

Lamb chops finally

I finally got a picture of the lamb chops. But I'm a terrible photographer. BH's plates are kinda horrendous too.

Oops I did it again

Sorry folks. We just couldn't help it. Scarfed down the sausages, scrambled eggs, and roesti before I could take a picture.

I loved the roesti as did BH. Here's the recipe (adapted from cooks illustrated) for those we want to give a try.

3-4 yukon gold or granola potatoes, peeled and grated using biggest hole on box grater
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon corn flour
1/2 teaspoon white pepper (I prefer white cos it looks less like burnt charcoal bits)
Unsalted butter

Rinse grated potatoes and drain in colander. Use a clean wash cloth and squeeze out liquid from the grated potato.

Add salt and cornflour and combine well.

If you have a tiny one-egg frying pan, you can use that and fry up 3 mini roesti cakes. Or if using a regular fry pan, just one large roesti. Heat pan over medium high heat, place 2 tbs of butter in pan, and wait for butter to stop foaming.

Even out the grated potato mix in pan till it forms a cake. Let it cook for 5min or till golden brown. Flip it onto a plate, repeat with butter on pan, and slide roesti onto pan with cooked side up. Fry for another 5 mins.

Slide out onto chopping board, cut and serve with full fat sour cream and chopped chives. Yum.

We had a great breakfast today. Hope you did too!

Weekend Brekkie

Since re-entering the corporate fold, I have begun to enjoy my weekends once again. And one of the luxuries of having the weekend to yourself is a delicious leisurely breakfast.

Last Saturday, BH and I woke only at 7am, lazed around in bed and only got to breakfast at about 930am. Bliss. We chowed down on Seng Kee Bak Chor Mee at 316 Changi Road. It was a good Bak Chor Mee and satisfied BH's extremely finicky palate.

We also had some kind of a crispy pork side dish, which was good but not orgasmically good. I fancied that the noodles were a little starchy (i.e. weren't rinsed in cold water sufficiently) and that there wasn't enough vinegar. On the whole, it was a decent bowl of Bak Chor Mee because of the ample pork mince, pork slices, and stewed mushrooms (which leads me to suspect that was how BH's chiam chwee was satisfied). If I had to rate it, I would rate it 8/10.

I am sure that there is a better Bak Chor Mee out there and I think BH and I will not rest till we find it.

Tomorrow, we will have breakfast at home. We are going to have a nice big artery clogging fry up. Loads of animal fat! Sausages, Homemade Bacon, Scrambled Eggs, Homemade Roesti with Sour Cream.

I will post the pictures tomorrow. Hope I don't forget to take them before we devour it.

Lamb Shoulder Chops Recipe

I know that I should take pretty pictures of the food that I have cooked in order to make my blog attractive.

However, in this instance, the chops were so quickly eaten by BH and me, I didn't get a chance to take a nice food porn photo. Not that I could anyway with my blackberry camera. It would probably be overexposed.

Anyway, BH and I enjoyed the lamb so much, and it was so easy to make, I thought I would share the recipe.

Easy Lamb Chops

4 Lamb Shoulder Chops with bone in (should be at least 250 grammes each)
2 tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar
1 tablespoon of honey
1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon of dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
6 cloves of garlic smashed
2 tablespoons of lime juice

Mix the above in a heavy duty freezer bag and push out all air from bag. Store in fridge for at least 2 hours and flip over mid way to ensure even distribution of marinade.

Remove from fridge and allow to come to room temperature.

At this point, I whipped out my blow torch and seared those suckers good. Till I got a nice browning on the meat surface. Popped them into a broiler at 125 degrees centigrade and cooked them for 10 mins (pink) and 15 mins (well done). If you don't have a torch, then just pan fry them at very high heat on each side for a min and then pop into broiler or oven.

Serve with steamed veggies or fries or a rosti or even pasta.

A fuss free dinner for two!

Nasi Lemak

And the one dish I will NOT blog about will be Nasi Lemak because I reckon I will be unduly biased. :)

Bribes!

Yes you read it right. For the first ten followers of my blog, you will get some of Madam Tan's Sambal Belachan. Email me at madamtans@gmail.com so that we can arrange for you to pick up your chilli.