These who love eating Chinese, Japanese and Korean food will find this familiar. The modest but delicious fried pancake have different names and may be filled with different ingredients but it basically consist of julienned vegetables, sometimes with a little meat, and batter as a binder.
Don't want to carve a pumpkin for Halloween? How about a papaya? I guess it is due to my dislike for washing dishes that I have always been attracted to recipes which use the ingredient as a serving bowl like wintermelon or pumpkin soup, pineapple rice, watermelon fruit cocktail or orange jelly. Here is another one that I like, dessert soup served in a papaya bowl.
When I first read about IMBB 9 at An Obession With Food , my first reaction was "huh, terrine?! I have never made a terrine in my life!" After a little more reading up, I realised I have, I just did not know that fruits and gelatine desserts can be counted as terrines.
I have wanted to make liver pâté but after the pig trotters in aspic fiasco, I need to cook something my family will eat and they are not big fans of liver. Not all of them are keen on cheeses so those beautifully layered terrines filled with mozzarella and feta are out too. In the end, I have gone back to my roots and came up with a Chinese style terrine that should please those picky people at home.
While I am not on Atkins or any other no carbs diet, generally I do not eat any carbohydrates for dinner. The only time I give in to temptation at home and eat rice is when there are sweet and sour dishes. You just cannot eat sweet and sour without rice. They are such a perfect combination.
My first IMBB! I am so excited to be taking part. For the uninitiated, IMBB is short for Is My Blog Burining?, a wonderful monthly event started by Alberto of Il Forno where bloggers will post recipes based on a common theme. This time round, the 8th edition of IMBB is hosted by Donna of There's a Chef in My Kitchen and the theme is a recipe featuring wine or spirits as the central component.
I decided that my first contribution be a chinese dish using Shaoxing rice wine, a traditional chinese wine made in Shaoxing, China. It is noted for its yellow colour, mellow fragrance and taste. As Keith Floyd had said in Floyd Uncorked, if the wine is not good enough to drink, it is not good enough to cook with. So for this IMBB, I am using my dad's five year vintage "Huadiao" which is a variety of Shaoxing wine. He does not know that his precious wine has been used to cook chicken and I will appreciate it very much that it remains a secret between me and anyone reading this : P
Back in my uni days when I was living on my own...ah the good old days of being a student. Anyway, back in those carefree days, I used to make this simple chicken dish which I shall now call "university days chicken" : marinade boneless chicken thigh with oyster sauce, soy sauce and honey. The marinated chicken can then be pan fried or roasted. It's delicious and so easy to make. I can eat the chicken with rice or noodles, add some green leafy veg and that's a complete meal. The chicken can also be added to salad or used as a sandwich filling.
Fast forward to present day Singapore where due to the blasted bird flu outbreak in our neighbouring countries, there is no fresh chicken and we have to rely on frozen chicken, mostly from Brazil! Now, call me a snob but I find these Brazilian frozen chicken absolutely tasteless and no good for steaming or stir frying or soup. A chicken dish using strong flavoured marinates will be more forgiving. That's when I thought of the chicken I used to make back when I was studying.
The water chestnut is one of my favourite vegetable. It is a tuber that resembles a chestnut in color and shape. In Mandarin, we call it "ma ti", horse's hoof.
Recent Comments