5 Ways to Eat Healthy

We all want to stay healthy but do we actually act for it? Increasingly, it is undeniable that one of the key factory to stay healthy is to eat healthy. There are a lot of misperceptions of healthy eating, i.e. this beverage is low in sugar because i don't feel it it sweet, Im a vegan because it is healthier than eating meat ...etc.  Well, I can tell you above is not 100% correct, read the 5 ways from below to find out why and how can we eat healthier. 

1. No Processed Food/Beverages

Nuggets, sausages, meat balls, fish cakes, carbonated drinks, concentrated juice...  these are all foods that you can see in the supermarket. Why they are there? Because it is 'cheap, easy and tasty'. Im not saying whatever listed above are 100% processed but if you see a sausage has no flaky fiber (cooked meat) in it, then it is almost certain that it is processed food. So why no process food? Because you are not eating/drinking what you paid for. Example: concentrated juice, it is all nothing but approved artificial colourant, juicy flavour and preservative. Well maybe few drops of real juicy (so that they can claim in the packaging "contain real fruit juice"). And these chemicals are all unnecessary by our body and in fact, no good to it, so why we want to buy them when we have choice?

2. Read the Label

We all have taste memory in our mind. Each time we eat, unconsciously we store the taste into our mind. So when we describe something is sweet or not, we will just compare it with the taste memory. That is not very correct and scientific because it is just mere descriptive words. When we buy from supermarket, almost all packaged foods/beverages are labeled. There are possibilities that a beverage contains 11g sugar per 100ml taste less sweet compare to another with just 6g per 100ml. So always read the labels to understand what you are actually buying.  Also in the ingredient list, if you see a lot of component with chemical names, don't buy it. Never buy those with the ingredients that you don't know. 

3. Eat Whole Food

Whole food means it is unprocessed and or maybe processed as little as possible. A very simple way to distinguish the difference between processed and whole food is by the look: If you can't tell what it is on your plate, don't eat it. A chicken nugget should be made of chicken meat not mixture of carcass, skins, flour and other disgusting stuffs. A fruit juice should be just juice as main contain. Whole food is all natural food and not only it means no added chemicals but also it means no harm to our body. 

4. A Balanced Diet

There are 6 major classes of nutrients: carbohydrates, fats, minerals, protein, vitamins, fibers, and water. A balanced diet means you eat all 6 classes in a proportional way. A very simple guide is using the Food Pyramids, i.e. you should more vegetables than meat...etc. But most people think that by eating only vegetable, they will be healthier. Put a side the cooking method, as mentioned, a healthy diet it's a balanced diet. By eating only vegetables, one actually restricts themselves by taking in only certain classes of nutrients and ignore others hence not a balanced diet. Example: Proteins (amino acids) are the building blocks of our body, especially muscle and other body tissues and it is mainly come from meat/poultry, eggs and dairy. Although certain type of vegetable do contains protein like Tofu (soybean product) but its only contains 2.3g of protein every 1 oz. While there are 10g of protein in every 1oz of chicken breast. 

5. Homemade Meals

This is kind of like summary of all above points: We are in control of what to put into our body. It is sort of an ultimate way to ensure the food are at the healthiest level as it can be because and most importantly, we have the option to choose what to be added and what not. And by that way, we can be worry free from preservative, colourant, flavouring and other nasty chemicals. 

Having said all above, maybe one might claims that it is difficult to avoid processed foods and to cook at home in modern life. What i want to share lastly in this post is a classic phrase by a French physiologist in 1826: "Tell me what you eat and i will tell you what you are". 

Homemade Pasta with Mince Pork, Onion, Carrot and Tomato Topping

My very first pasta dish :)

I was actually intended to cook the classic Bolognese sauce for my first ever home made pasta (find out how to make Super Easy Homemade Pasta, click here) but soon after i think it should be my own style of pasta topping to commemorate my very first experience. Because i'm actually preparing this dish for a dinner with my nieces and nephews, so i think it should be something sweet and sour. I know the kids will love this contrasting flavour :)

And so i started to draw out the ingredient list and the cooking procedure in mind. Below are the ingredients (4 pax):

1. Sweet Onion (white colour) .............. 4, cut into 1cm dice
2. Carrot ................................................ 1, Julianne  about an inch long
3. Tomato .............................................. 4, cut into 1cm cube
4. Garlic ...............................................  8 cloves, roughly chopped
5. Minced Lean Pork ............................ 400 g
6. Water ................................................ 400 ml
7. Oil, preferred plant base..................... ??
8. Bay leaf ............................................. 1
9. Dried Rosemary ................................ 1 teaspoon
10. Dried Thymes ................................... 1 teaspoon
11. Parsley ............................................... liking amount, chopped 
12. Seasoning (salt and pepper) ............... liking amount
13. Brown Sugar ..................................... just a pinch 

Prep Time: 15 min, Cook Time 15 min. 

Steps:

1. Drizzle enough amount of oil into a hot sauce pan 
2. Sautee sweet onion until slightly brown (that's when you smell the aroma)
3. Add in the chopped garlic and turn around to mix well 
4. Toss in the minced lean pork and continue sautee. You will want to squash the pork during the sautee so it wont end up in big lump (look ugly)
5. Until lightly brown add in the carrot and stir fry for another 2-3 min
6. Add in the cubed tomato and herbs then add in the water. 
7. Bring to gentle shimmer for 10 min (for all flavours to marry each other)
8. Lastly season with salt, brown sugar and freshly ground black pepper. 

I like to cook pasta and the topping sauce side by side so that i can end up with freshly cooked food to serve those i care. With the pasta cooked on 1 stove, just bring them onto a plate and top it with the sauce. Finally garnish with the chopped parsley. I'd say this is a very appetizing pasta dish because of the topping are made from the sourish tomato and sweet base carrot and onion. And to make it sparks, herbs are added too to increase the depth of the flavours. Not to forget the minced pork to make it a really hearty topping :P   The kids like it very much and so do i  <3 

Super Easy Homemade Pasta

Im always a fan of noodle/pasta and all of their variations. Basically if i have choice, i will not go for rice, cant be held but don't know why :P  From my previous post of "The Making of Egg Noodle (of Wantan Mee)" click here to read, im really surprised that it is relatively easy to make fresh noodle/pasta at home. So i decided to make one myself, the very first dough in my life. 

Because this is my first time, so i went through several recipes over the net and also consulted my aunties for inspiration. Finally in the end, i've made up my mind to stick to the basic of the basic: egg and flour. YES, you read it right, only egg and flour nothing else. Will it really work? I was skeptical really, in my mind. 

I then gather the necessary utensil/ingredient and the list is per below (for 4 pax):

1. Egg ........................................... 6 pcs
2. All Purpose Flour ..................... 600 ml (add if needed)
3. Rolling Pin ................................ 1 unit
4. Mixing Bowl ............................. 1 unit
5. Measuring Cup .......................... 1 unit 
6. Fork ........................................... 1 unit 
7. Scrapper ..................................... 1 unit
8. Cling Film .................................. 1 roll

Before everything start, make sure all are wipe clean and then pour the flour into the mixing bowl. You want to reserve some for later when kneading. I actually find it is easier to start it in the mixing bowl because especially for first timer like me, i worried if for whatever reason the flour will just 'spill' all around.  So you make a well in the center of the flour in the mixing bowl, and then add in all eggs. Poke the yorks with fork and slowly whisk the eggs to the flour around. A bit at a time, until all flour are mixed with the eggs. ADD more flour if you the dough is watery (always do NOT follow the recipe 100%).

Until you feel it is not sticky, take the dough out and start the kneading on the work top (sprinkle some flour to prevent stick). Kneading is all about pushing, squeezing, re-shape by hand and repeat the same. During the process, the gluten develop and that is why you will find it harder and harder to knead but just do it until you have a smooth none sticky surface (around 30 minutes for above quantity). 

Wrap it in the cling film and put it into the fridge for another 30 minutes (prevent moisture lose). Let it rest after the hard exercises. After that take out and start rolling. 

For me this is the hardest part because i decided to do it by hand. Basically you just need to roll it thin enough and then cut it to desired width. Sprinkle flour to prevent the pasta stick together. If you find it is hard to roll, you can actually divided the dough into manageable size before start rolling. Cover the rest of the dough with damp cloth while rolling other. 

Fresh pasta cook faster than the dried. But the rule of thumb of cooking always applies: the bigger the object, the longer time needed to cook. It should be somewhere around 3-5mins depending on the thickness and width. So it is advisable to try it before taking out from the salted boiling water. And done the home made pasta :) 

Make sure you read my next post for the Delicious Mince Pork, Carrot and Onion Pasta Sauce (click here) for the perfect pasta meal which is suitable for all ages :) 

Eggs and flour in the mixing bowl

Slowly whisk the eggs with flour. Bit by bit. 

After 30 minute of kneading. 

Dough wrapped in cling film.

After 30 minute resting in the fridge. See any different?

First rolling. Look like a map to me .... LOL  :P

Penang Wantan Mee: My Recommendation Part 1

Follow up with the earlier post about the making of egg noodles for the all famous Wantan Mee (click here for the post). This time, let see how various hawker put them in use. Introducing here are 8 different stalls of Wantan mee across Penang Island. Lets see what makes some really good business and vice versa. 

If you can remember from the earlier post, we discussed about how ingredients can make a whole different of texture, colour and taste of mee (noodle) itself. As it is carries more than, well i'd say 70% of the entire ingredients, so the quality of the noodle will be one of the key factors to decide if the Wantan Mee is a good one or bad. 2 more general factors are the "other ingredients" like "the Wantan itself, the CharSiew (Barbecue Pork), some greens and also the gravy/soup. 

So lets see what i actually look for for my perfect bowl of Wantan Mee. Im a Cantonese, so under the influence of Hong Kong Wonton Noodle, my ideal type of Wantan Mee must has springy noodle but not to the extend like chewing rubber. An open secret for making springy noodle is simply knead it with attention and love. Kneading (squashing, stretching, pulling, reshaping) develops the gluten within the flour mixture and because each match of raw flour comes in different quality, so by hand and love, it will always be a consistent quality because of timing adjustment. Adding Borax (硼砂) into the dough can actually increase the springiness but again, we should be talking about all natural ingredients. Moreover, it has been identified this chemical, is harmful to our health, so why risk?

By the name, another very important ingredient is the Wantan (Chine Dumpling). Many often confuse the Wantan vs. Sui Jiao. In general, Wantan is in ball shape while the Sui Jiao is in half round shape. I believe Wantan is originated from Hong Kong style of Wonton Noodle while the Sui Jiao is from mainland China. Supposedly Wantan is be filled with ONLY fresh prawn while Sui Jiao is mainly minced pork. But due to pricing issue, i cant find (so far) any Wantan in Penang is using the original recipe but mostly using pork (lower cost). See how the good old original recipe is diminishing?   :( While because Sui Jiao always served as side, so it sometimes consist of prawn in the minced pork (charge higher price). 

Other common ingredients like Char Siew (BBQ Pork), boiled Choy Sam and pickled green chilli can also be found in typical Penang style Wantan Mee. Not only the filling of the wantan is no longer original but also in most of the cases, the Char Siew is seen as the main topping. To make it a beautiful word, i call it localisation. Some other examples include, but not limit to: Fried Wantan, sambal (blended chilli with other aromatic veg like garlic, onnion ..etc). As for this part, i have no specific requirement as long as Char Siew is good and the Choy Sam is cooked. Note: I think it is interesting to create another topic about Recipe: Originality vs. Localisation/Reinvented. 

As on the gravy side, very often in Penang, you will see Wantan Mee covered in thick black sauce that mixed from dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil and other seasonings. I think it is the hokkean style (correct me if im wrong). The cantonese style is using the broth from shitake mushroom and it is often found watery and lighter in colour. I prefer the clearer gravy because the thick one will cover the flavour of the noodle, most of the time, cover the stench of nasty chemicals like: lye (for yellowish colour) and borax (for springiness of noodle) too. A clear gravy on the other hand, if formulated correctly, will binds all flavours of all ingredients, making every type to compliment each other. A key point to any cooking to make a good tasty dish. 

There are other factors too will affect the experience like bowl or plate, ceramic, paper or plastic. Let's dont talk further but to see the 3 Wantan Mee in Penang I recommend for this round:

(1) 高佬 (鸿记) 云吞面 in Yi Garden, Lorong Selamat.
Served in bowl and the wantans are hiding underneath the noodle:
a traditional Cantonese way of presentation. 

(2) 佳记巧手云吞面 in Kheng Pin Cafe, Jalan Penang. The shitake
mushroom broth taste really good and with the varieties of
toppings, I can finish it in no time. 

Name Unknown. Located in 铭园咖啡馆 within Sunway Tunas in Bayan
Lepas. Served in bowl (my fav), this Wantan Mee is packed with sesame
oil aroma and the proportion of each ingredients are just nice. 

Located within 77 Food Yard in Pulau Tikus, this Wantan Mee is
packed with Char Siew. 

Wantan Mee in Kuta Bali Farlim. A decent Wantan Mee

Another decent Wantan Mee in Goodal Cafe, Tg Tokong. 

In Kafe Sri Nibong, Bayan Lepas. Can you see the soft and flabby noodle?

In Sin Kim San Cafe, another bad example of Wantan Mee

That's it for this round. I think im gonna stop eating Wantan Mee for a while :P   Let me know what you want me to recommend and i will try to make it happen. Good night. 

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Eighty Eight Restaurant Reviewed

Articles and posts from Trip Advisors and Facebook generally has an excellent review for this restaurant run by a young chef aged 26. From the pictures i've seen i agree the type of dishes and the presentation offered is rather rare in Penang thus i decided to give it a try as my Bday Dinner. 

The restaurant is named after the birth year of the chef cum owner. 

The restaurant is easy to find as it is just located right next to Kelawai Road and with a bright orange colour signboard, it is hard to miss. Carpark is limited, advise to come before 6:45pm. The girl asked if we have made reservation and were politely seated after we said no. Changed 2 tables (arrangement mistake and faulty light) but i think these small problem until i read the menu. 

4 lots available in front of the restaurant

I mean i knew this will be a pricey restaurant but now reading the full menu and seat inside i feel something wrong. The price is definitely on high side but the environment is rather cheapo. The wooden dining chairs are at the lowest range. So i made a new expectation: The foods must be outstanding to compensate with the interior decoration. Don't judge the book by its cover right?

Very minimum setting and simple furniture. 

We ordered Assorted Veg Soup, Vongole Al Pepe (boiled clam), Iberico Belly (pork belly), Chicken Paprika and 2 glasses filtered water. within 5 minutes, we were served a pcs of bread each side with caramelised butter as spread and a pcs of watermelon with some kind of topping. 

Clockwise from top left: The watermelon 'opener'; rocket leafs;
backed potato and shallots; mixed greens

The bread was good alone but the butter spread was just so so. Combining the hot bread in oily spread, it was just a big contrast when chewing the cold juicy watermelon. A plus point :P Soon after we finished this refreshing combo, the soup was served. 

Assorted Veg Soup. A blended soup good in flavour but ruined by the oil.

I particularly like the depth of flavour of this soup. Blended with variety of veg, the texture is equally good. Extra care must be taken when blending and maybe they filtered the soup too. However, the good flavour was messed up by the olive oil drizzled on top as garnish. Upon mixing up the olive oil, the taste is murky to me.  

Vongole Al Pepe. Like the freshness of the clam and the cherry tomato really add points to the broth. Thumbs up. 

The clam was served almost immediately after we finished the soup. Boiled in broth and wine and garnished with chopped parsley and chilli flakes. The clam was good and we actually finished this dish to the its last drop with happy face. And that left us a high expectation for the upcoming main course. 

Iberico Belly. Very pleasant looking dish but too bad. Its like a hot appetiser for me. 

I was told the pork belly was replaced from Germany's (RM 50) to Spain's (RM 78) for an unknown reason but i think it is worth to try so i ordered and i was immediately stunned when it was served! The dish was beautifully presented, a very elegant dish. But i think you also see the problem, RM 78 for 5 pcs of pork belly?!?!   More that 80% of each pcs was FAT ??  Are you serious ?!?!?!  I seriously think this is an appetiser because this has nothing to fill up my stomach even though 2 side dishes were served together.  Sous Vide can only save the texture/moisture by not overcooking the belly but because those were almost all fat, thus it is i think it is used in wrong place. In lay man term, the belly melted in mouth, great !!  (well, it is all fat what do you expect?)

Chicken Paprika. Nothing special to be highlighted except it is
being cook Sous Vide (i suppose)

Another main course we ordered was Chicken Paprika. I believe it was cooked by the same method so the texture is rather special compare to other's in the market. Garnished with drizzled olive oil and sprinklers of paprika, this chicken breast dish was sided with rocket leaf in oil and balsamic vinegar. The inside of the meat was somehow moist but it is obvious the outside was overcooked. Dried. Not too bad, chew with the accompanied salad will be ok. 

Gnocchi is originated from Italy. This one is just disappointing.

Finished everything ordered but i felt like i havent eaten anything. Thus i topped up with Gnocchi in pesto sauce (if my memory serves well). And i can only say that this was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Heavily salted and i think the same too for the MSG. By the time i finished it, i too finished 2 full glass of water.....  :S

So below is the rating:

(-1 = no good; 0 = neutral; 1 = good)

Food Presentation = 1

Taste/Texture = 0

Service = 0

Price/Value = -1

Overall Atmosphere = 0

TOTAL SCORE = 0, WILL NOT BE BACK AGAIN. 

The Verdict: Like i mentioned in my earlier post (here), cooking is not only ingredient and technique, the most important part is the 'heart'. It is ok to charge pricey and nothing wrong to present in a beautiful way but a 5 pcs of pork belly (more than 80% is fat) cannot be treated as main course. Every ingredients put onto the plate must be complimenting each other but not vice versa. Lastly, before everything out from the kitchen, the chef in charge must taste himself as the last guard for quality. And if they did on the Gnocchi, i can only say the food of this restaurant does not suitable to me even it is covered under very beautiful skin. 

Useful tips:

(1) Make reservation and go early

(2) No need to be very formal even some claimed it is a 'fine dining' restaurant. 

Other Pictures:

Look at the amount of fats. 

The Gnocchi was finished with 2 full glass of water. 

The bill. 

The Making of Egg Noodle (of Wantan Mee)

Visited a noodle factory and found out how ingredients affect the colour and texture of the food. In this post, Im going to differentiate the noodle that we see almost every where anytime, used for the all famous Wantan Mee a.k.a. Wonton Mee or in Chinese 云吞面. Beware though some people may find below informations irritating or perhaps disgusting but this is just the fact so proceed with caution or leave now. 

A Penang style Wantan Mee served in ceramic bowl. 

Dated back to ancient China where noodle was created, this everyday delicacy has since began famous all over. Even Marco Polo the Italian merchant traveller brought back this creation and eventually become the world famous pasta today. Noodle is accepted by all because of its content: flour and egg, which is carbohydrate and protein that provide energies to our daily need. We feel full eating noodle, that is why it is still remain as the primary energy source for some people today. 

Understanding the basic of noodle, how these two simple humble ingredients yield different texture, aroma and colour of noodle? Well it will not be obvious if it is just by two ingredients alone, let's see the comparison picture i took below:

Freshly made this morning. What is the different you see?

That's right, the one in the left side is greenish while the right one is yellowish. What i know from the manager, there is no colouring added to either type. The colour difference comes from the ratio of eggs to the flour. The greenish one was made with "all eggs" ratio while the yellowish one has chemical added. WHY?

The roles of the egg are to bind the flour together and give 'eggy flavour' to the noodle once cooked. However eggs are relatively expansive in noodle making industry, the more eggs added means the higher the unit cost of the noodle. The yellowish one is made with lesser egg to flour ratio and thus in order to bind the flour together to ensure the noodle will not 'disintegrate" while cooking in boiling water, lye (contains largely potassium carbonate), a.k.a alkaline water (鹼水) is added. 

The cooked noodle. The 'all eggs' remained greenish while the one
with chemical added became brighter.

After brought them from the factory i headed home and cooked them directly to taste if there is any difference in texture. Both boiled for 60 sec and submerged in room temperature water for 10 sec and then into hot water again for 5 sec then tasting time. The all egg formula is significantly MORE SPRINGY than its counter part. Binded by the chemical, i actually spilled the other out after 3 chews. Why i have to eat a noodle added (im not sure should i use the term 'loaded') with chemicals and still not good in texture? 

Ops, forget to mention an important point. Prior to cooking i actually smelled both noodles (my habit to understand the ingredients and yes i must confess here that i did it on the fish i cooked earlier and i almost vomit). It is very clear that with the all egg formula noodle, i smell very strong raw egg stench while the other one is pungent chemicals.

So now we know that with the all egg formula, we have better consistency in colour, eggy aroma before and after cook and more springy texture after cook. will we still choose the one with lye added? The cost per unit for the all egg formula is just at RM 0.50 while the other one is at RM 0.30. The choice is ours. (Note: To see how this noodle transform into one of the most acceptable hawker food in Penang, please click here)

Below is the process of making the egg noodle

Mixing Machine: Pouring eggs into flour. Pay attention to the dough below

Pressing Machine: Roller press the dough into long sheet

Another roller machine with flour pouring on top of the long sheet

Resting. Will go through a slicing machine for final shape: noodle

                         

5 Tips to Make life Easier in Kitchen

Kitchen should be a fun place in the house because it is here where the foods are created for the joy of the entire family, or simply your beloved one. So we all deserve a better life working in the kitchen and Im going to show you my 5 tips to make life easier when you are cooking.

Before that, why cook in the first place when you can easily dine out to save all the troubles? For me, cooking is an expression of how much you care about those who going to eat your food. From the moment you select the ingredients in the market, you want only the best available to be eaten and in the kitchen, you watch and stir every defined interval to ensure the food don't get burn and lastly you taste the food to ensure the seasoning is correctly added.  So having an loving heart, that right, is the first ever ingredient for a perfect cooking. And for those eat the food, will sure feel the warmth. So after the first ingredients, lets see below the 5 tips for a easy peasy cooking session:

1) Plan the flow before cook

Regardless you are serving a 3 course meal or a simple stir fry noodle, it is always good to plan for the sequences, i.e. if you going to serve a blanched vegetable and stir fry pork fillet, it is always good to blanch the veg first because you just need to drain away the water and can immediately start the stir fry (share pot/wok means 1 less to wash later one).  Also if you want 2 separate components to be cooked in about the same time, i.e. white butter sauce and searing a fish fillet, start the one need longer time first on 1 stove, and when you are about to finish the 2nd, the first will be read and both will be serving hot together. So by proper planning, you already prevented half of the possible mess :P

2) 1 in 1 out air flow 

If you are cooking in totally open space, ignore this. Im talking about the vapour, smell of cooking, airborne oil particles. The most common misperception of preventing the spread of these gases are to open all doors/windows while cooking. This is not right. By opening doors and windows, you are actually creating a multiple air flow and that means NO direction will the gases goes and worse, it will just go anywhere it can goes. The correct way is to have ONLY 1 IN and 1 OUT whenever possible. the 1 out, if available, is always the suction fan above the stove and then open 1 door/window only while cooking.   This way, the air will always be extracted OUT by the fan and the only one opening will be the IN flow of fresh air to the kitchen. That means no smell/oil particles will be escape to other part of the house.

3) Sharp Knife

I cannot stress more how important to have a sharp knife at all time when cooking. Not only it will make life easier but also its a safety pre-caution must be made. When cutting, especially rounded and smooth surface like halfed onion, the possibility of the knife getting slipped over and maybe cut your finger is extremely high if your knife is blunt.  Time needed will be longer and the food after cut will not be neat too if it is a blunt knife. The best way to ensure the knife is sharp always is just to grind it for 30 seconds everytime before you start cutting. See below for how to sharpen a knife

4) Knife Skill

Having a sharp knife now is time to have a correct knife skill. I never cut myself after cooking for so many years because i use certain techniques to ensure my fingers/nails are safe while cutting. The key is to curl all your fingers towards your palm while holding the object on 1 hand while the other, of cause holding a knife, get the knife touching the curled fingers while cutting. So you always have a feeling about the knife touching your fingers and this way you will build a feeling eventually for perfecting the cutting skills. See from below for my all time idol Mr. Jamie Olive how he teaches the knife skill

5) Preparing all ingredients before turn on the stove

When in the TV programs, we often see chefs doing the cutting and cooking at the same time and it look so easy watching them doing so. Please do not follow them because they are professional and everything are well prepared for them to perform in the show. In reality, it is always best to get all ingredients ready. Final check with the recipe or run through a mock cook in your mind looking at all ingredients if necessary. This way will ensure you won't end up in messy situation while in cooking.

As mentioned earlier, cooking should be fun and can be as easy as 1 2 3, at least for me, if following the above tips. Looking forward to writing more tips in the coming days, meanwhile, enjoy cooking :)

Filet de Sole en Papillote - My first attempt

I was first came across this technique from Laura Calder's TV show and i was immediately attracted by this simple to cook and yet incredibly delicious dish. "Filet de Sole" in French means fish filet and "en Papillote" means in parchment paper a.k.a. baking/greasy paper. The main concept of this technique is to capture the moisture within the paper while cooking, and the result should be a moistly cooked fish. But there are several catches during the process which i discovered during my try, lets go through it one by one below:

Vege base of carrot, celery, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper, generous
 amount of either grape seed oil or olive oil

First thing to do is to roughly cut the desire vegetables to serve as a base to the fish fillet. Do pick large vegetable like above, or something like cucumber, leek, onion, or any root veg. Reason is because they do not wilt easily while steaming within the paper later on. Here is the trick: the cutting size should depend on the estimated cooking time of the fish, you want both fish and veg just nicely cooked.

Crimson Snapper a.k.a. "Ang Sai". You can practically use any fishes in
any sizes available as long as it is fresh but because i need it as a shared
dish so i use this big one. 

After cutting, on a large pcs of parchment paper, lay over the cuts, herbs (i should have used fresh one) and season and then put on the fish. Some like skin on some does not, so its your choice but one thing for sure, if you don't have fresh fish, please do NOT, do NOT try this technique because this is ought to be a light taste dish, any stench from a rotten fish will definitely ruin everything. 

Season the filet with salt, freshly ground black pepper, lemon zest (i did
it in wrong way cz i sliced too deep into the skin). We need
ONLY the yellow part of the skin not the white part!!

Season the fish. On principle you can use any herbs but because this is my first time so i keep it a simple seasoning. I will try something fancier next time like fennel seed, fresh dill. After the seasoning, i squeezed a halfed lemon onto the fish, just to ensure there is 'no' fishy smell (i'm not a fish guy). So when everything is done, time to 'packing'. 

I used 3 pcs of baking papers. One at the bottom so the whole pack can
be easily taken out after cooked. 

Cover the layers with another big pcs of baking paper and make a fold starting from any corner and then fold OVER the previous one and continue. You should end up with coming back to the very first fold but before ending the fold, pour in few splashes of white wine. No worry about the alcohol as it will be evaporated during the cooking process leaving nothing but the aroma itself to steam the fish. You may use a paper clip to help for a better fold along the way. i used four of them as the fish was too large. So next time, buy a 2 feet wide baking paper and cut them into square, if you can get the fish size right in the center of the paper, you will end of with a perfect round pack after folding. Try it and you will know what i mean.

Into the oven 200 degree Celcius convection over, pre-heat for 5 min before

i used a convection oven with top and bottom heating elements on. As you can see from the picture above, there has no direct fire towards the ingredients so while heating up, the wine will be boiling and the vapour created will steam the fish. So why fish over the veg? this is to ensure the top and bottom of the fish will get the SAME heating temperature for a uniform texture. Imagine if you put the veg on top of the fish and whats underneath is the tray. Tray will have higher temperature than vapour so the bottom size of the fish will be overcooked but the time you see the fish is cooked (on top). So the veg base below is to prevent the fish from overcook.

Final presentation: cut open the baking paper on the table and the released
steam/aroma will be a wow factor for the diners. 

For this 6/8" thick fish, the cooking time was 18 minutes at 200 degree Celcius (pre-heat for 5min). When you take out the tray from the oven, the whole packing should be bloated (folds are good). Gently slice the packing onto a serving plate. Beware of the juice inside from spilling out. Cut open the paper to release the steam within as part of the presentation and done.

Few more words:   I knew i will need around 20min to 'bake' this big fillet and thus i cut the veg into a relatively large size but i was wrong. They were not thoroughly cooked to the desired texture, i.e still got the crunchiness... zzz    However on the fish, it was PERFECTLY cooked. Fluffy, succulent and balanced of flavours between the added and the original.  Im glad that Mr. and Mrs. Lor actually finished it given than this is a new flavour that they never tried before.  In my next attempt, i will julienne celery, leek and carrot and give it a quick sauté and then get a smaller fish, i.e. mackerel around half and inch thick for around 10 min cooking time. I think it this combination will be good for individual serving. Stay tuned :)

Lunar New Year Special

Lunar New Year (LNY) a.k.a. 农历新年 is the biggest festival in all Chinese's calendar. Regardless where you work, no matter what you do, it is the obligation and tradition to go back to the hometown and spend a few days with the family. So feast become a must. This year i gained 4kgs after just 6 days of eating but i don't really few upset because whats more important than having meals with family? Read more below on what my LNY 2014 was all about :)

Reunion Dinner:

Ate before the 1st day of the Lunar New Year, all family member must come back to home, regardless where we make our living.  One of the most typical style is to have it in steamboat. Less preparation works needed and all can have a longer time to talk about while eating. 

Family Reunion Dinner, 2 nights before LNY. Brothers back from China and
this year we had 1 big table for the adults and 1 small table for the kids. It is
obvious the family size has grown :P

On top of having own family reunion dinner, we too go to the Reunion dinner in our grandma's (Mrs. Lor's side) place. This is where we need to eat in batch, because there is only 1 table but serving 35 people. Someone asked why not do it in a bigger house, my answer: because this is where grandma lives and where we (me and my cousins) grew up. We have a lot of memory in this place. To ease grandma, we had it in potluck way. I was SO lucky to represent my family to cook 1 dish for this year's dinner. Although it is western style (Red wine pork stew), but thankfully my cousins all like it... except some old folks :P

Grandma usually prepare the all-die-for soup (see where the spoon on), roast
chicken, pork. My stew is right below the soup, see the big carrot. Thankfully,
it is finished. I think most of them accepted the new flavour into the annual
dinner :P 

Open House:

Most of the eateries, hawkers were closed for business during the LNY. So Mrs. Lor usually stock up ingredients for the coming open house where relatives will be visiting on the 2nd day. It was a lunch for 55 pax. Mr. and Mrs. Lor cooked most of the dishes which most are the recipe of my grandmom (Mr. Lor's side). Dish like duck braised in ginger gravy, pork knuckle braised in dark vinegar. All time consuming but very very tasty dish and only once per year.

Clockwise from the logo: Pork Knuckle Braised in Dark Vinegar, Stir Fried
Curry Prawn,  Duck Braised in Ginger Gravy, Stir Fried Sea Cucumber/Pork
Stomach/Sea Asparagus/Broccoli, Stir Fried Veggie.

My contribution to this open house feast was the Stir Fried Spaghetti.
Not a good one from my average because i never mass cooked.
But i know where went wrong already. will improve it next year :P

On the 3rd day it was also a regular event that we will go to my aunt's open house. Her dishes were mainly curry themed. I like to go there not only because of the spicy foods but because of finger/junk foods prepared by her and her daughter in law, i.e. the home-made FRIED BUD MUSROOM (芽姑), so specially i need to write it in Chinese :P  Because her's were thick cut so it is totally different from what we normally can buy from market. Also their Kuih Seri Muka, Pineapple Tart....oh... so lethally delicious !!!!

These curry/spice themed dishes were good but still i prefer her finger/junk
food more :P One special highlight though, the Stir Fried Spiced Sausage (on
the top right corner) she created this year. Fried with dried chilli infused oil,  you can imagine how heaty it will be :P 

Dine Out:

On day 4 onwards, most of the restaurants resumed business and its time to housewife to have a rest and eat out. Most restaurant will roll out special LNY dishes and we had a few of them:

Counter clockwise from top left, Braise Dried Oyster/DriedScallop, 

Fried 3 Happiness (crab meat roll, chives crackling, stuffed squid)

Also another special dine out dish worth to write up here is the Lou Sang (捞生). It us usually served in the 7th day of the LNY but now it is available throughout the new year season. The dish is made with several colourful ingredients and all will have to stir it with chopstick. The stirring of this dish symbolising 捞到风生水起，步步高升 (stir until better and better, stir until everything turns good). Regardless of whether or not this is true, one thing for sure, stirring it together with friends and family is fun :)

The Lou Sang Dish before 'messed up'. For video, please go to my
Instagram: Maxmax5ig 

Now that everyone has back to position for the routine for living but im sure everyone of us has had some good memory of these year's LNY. One particular highlight we all enjoyed with was the formation of the next generation. They are big enough now (4-10 yo) to play alone and run where and there with minimum care/attention needed. And i guess this is what make the LNY gathering so precious except the foods :) 

Other Pictures:

Secret Recipe of Mr. Lor: Kampong Chicken Baked on top of Salts served in the reunion dinner :)

Nephews

Super cute nephew

Sister in law and the golden grandson

The male part of the next generation playing card games on the 2nd day open house.