My Cooking
Braised Pork with Udon Noodles & Spring onion & Black Vinegar Dressing
Serve6
What is it about braised pork? I love it but I guess it is because I grew up with it. In Filipino cooking, braised pork is a norm, like in adobo or sinigang, a dish cooked in tangy clear broth seasoned with tamarind juice, a dish so clean in flavours, light and not too “porky”. Seriously, you can braise pork and drink the juice!?!? Think about it, you wouldn’t drink the juice off a roast pork now would you?
One of the best things to eat is a Filipino chicken Adobo! Adobo is as Filipino as it can get, it’s like the curry is as Indian as it gets and tacos are as Mexican as it can get. If you ask “Filo’s” what a typical Filo dish would be, most will say Adobo. Teamed with garlic fried rice, all you’ll need is warm weather and straw hutts and you’ll think you were in the Philippines.
Continue reading “Adobo – WARNING once you start eating this, you won’t be able to stop……………”
Making “roti” bread is still definitely an art. Like the ancient art of noodle pulling, roti’s have that sense professionalism about it, that sense of mastery. We as chef’s learn our trade through years of practice and experience. For all you young wannabe chefs out there, there are no short cuts what so ever, not even winning Master Chef will get you any where near some ones ability who has been cooking for many years, not in the commercial world!
Continue reading “Cooking Lesson from Sri Lanka – How to make Roti Bread”
Laksa
What can I say about this wonderful, coconutty, spicy broth of goodness? Teamed with wonderful garnishes such as yellow egg noodle, chicken, prawns, tofu, bean sprouts and plenty of fresh Asian herbs, it’s a heart warmer in winter and so easy to make in large quantities for when the friends drop by or to have for lunch the next day, after all the flavour only gets better the next day. Make a large batch of the paste and freeze it, in readiness for next time, either way it’s a non-complicated dish loved by every one.
Photo by Jun Pang
For the Paste
What the paste looks like with the rest of the ingredients
250 gr Candle Nuts
8 Large Brown Onions – peeled and quartered
250 gr Garlic – peeled
½ cup Dry Shrimp Paste (Belacan) – wrapped in foil and toasted on dry pan
2 cups Large Dry Chilli – deseeded and reconstituted in warm water
300 gr Galangal – roughly peeled and cut into 2cm pieces
60 gr Fresh Turmeric (or dried) – cut into smaller pieces
For the Broth
10 Cans Coconut Milk
5 litres Chicken Stock
8 Lemon Grass – stems removed and stalks bruised
10 Lime Leaves
500 ml Tamarind Water
100 ml Fish Sauce (Nam Pla)
100 gr Coriander Seeds – toasted and finely ground
For the Garnish
Hokkien Noodle
Bean Sprout
Prawns – cooked & shelled preferably
Fired Tofu Puffs – cut in halves
Chicken Breast – par steamed/boiled and cut or stripped into “chopstick” friendly sizes
Coriander Leaves
Laksa Mint
Thai Basil
Method
This tells us that the natural sugars in the ingredients used are caramelising, taking over from the raw pungent smell. This also indicates correct doneness of the paste.
This recipe makes around 5 litres of laksa, enough to freeze in smaller batches for next time. Its is also worth noting that the paste can be prepared and frozen for long periods of time, which also makes cooking a delicious meal seem easy.
Photo by Jun Pang
Belacan – is a common ingredient in Asian cooking especially in South East Asia. Made from tiny little shrimp which has been fermented, dried and formed into little blocks for sale. It has many names, like ngapi, terasi and in Filipino, it’s called bagoong! Belecan is dried and to make it a little more falvoursome, you toast it first on a hot surface, usually wrapped in foil to avoid the smell being so bad!
One type of Belacan wrapping
Belacan toasted in foil in a dry pan until change in colour – Warning very smelly
Galangal – is part of the ginger family. It is woody in texture and you must use a sharp knife to use it. It has a “pine” smell and flavour. Used in mostly in curries and sauces, predominantly in In Thai, Vietnamese and in Malaysian cooking.
Candle Nuts – Used mainly in Indonesian and Malaysian cuisine. High in oils, it is used to thicken sauces/soups. They are round in colour and are similar to a macadamia nut (as in Australia) and usually used as a substitute for when candle nuts are not available.
Tamarind Water – sold commercially in bottles, it is tamarind pulp soaked in water and the juice squeezed out to get tamarind water. Usually used to season food to add the tangy, earthy and zesty flavour to a dish. In this case it helps to soften or cut through the richness in the coconut cream.
Tamarind Water
Fish Sauce – a pungent, fishy smelling golden brown liquid made from fermented fish. It is used in South East Asian cooking for seasoning or as part of an ingredient in dipping sauces which imparts the umami flavour due to the high glutamate content . It is known by many different names such as patis (Philippines), nam pla (Thai) and many more, with each Asian country having their own version
One type of fish sauce, Golden Boy Brand is my favourite to use in curries
Filipino’s call it “lugaw” but most people know it as “congee”
It is by far the easiest thing to cook and it was definitely one of the first things I picked just by watching my mum and my grandma cook this dish. It is a dish that my mum cooks on a cold winter’s day, especially for lunch. It’s filling, tasty and it warms the body really quickly. Traditionally the Chinese have this as a breakfast meal. As the name translates to rice porridge, it’s usually served plain with condiments like soy sauce, spring onion, ginger and steamed chicken. Brilliant way to start the day!
New York (part three)
So we’re on the final few days in New York and the fun bits are yet to come.
First we had lunch at place called Chipotle, a Mexican fast food restaurant like no Aussies have ever seen before. I have been in search of a few ideas for a lunch concept and the idea I had in mind was some where business people can come in, spend 10 minutes max in the restaurant and leave with a fresh product that will satisfy a large cross section of people, from the health conscious eater to the indulgent eater. Chipotle was excellent. We arrived just before the lunch rush. As you enter, there seemed to be an expectation that people who go into this restaurant knew exactly what to do and it was obvious we didn’t. We lined up and as we got closer to the counter, the menus we had been staring at still made little sense to us so as we have done before, we followed what the people before us did.
New York (part two)
So we were in on the third day in New York by now. We left the hotel early and as usual we caught the train to Central Station. New York Central Station is a landmark , much visited by the tourists, so being a tourist we headed that way.
New York (part one)
The title alone looks exciting right! Just reading that gets a lot of people excited and rightfully so. New York is one hell of place!
I organised this trip right on the 11th hour. My good friend was going to be there and she knows New York really well and my mum and dad were going to be there to celebrate my mum’s 60th birthday which meant that that my sister was also going to the States to meet up with them, seeing she lived close by and to give my parents the opportunity to see their grand children and for me to hug my niece and nephew. This was enough reason to convince me to go to NYC.