Curry Laksa

My BSF leader loves almost anything Asian; everytime we meet, we have something Asian, Sushi, Chinese, etc. She's so Asian that she can speak Japanese, use chopsticks better than some of us, visited more Asian countries than us Asians. She's so Asian...well you get the picture. She moved interstate just before Christmas, and I promised to cook her a Malaysian meal when she returns for a visit. What's more Malaysian than a bowl of curry laksa? =) Fellowship and sharing over a good bowl of curry laksa never tasted so good. =P

I've always loved curry laksas, it's one of my favourite foods. It's one of my must haves every time I'm at home. I made my laksa as close as possible to the way the hawkers make it in the coffee shops and served it with the ingredients I love.

The verdict : Everyone who ate it loved it. The both of us had it for dinner and lunch the next day, my guinea pig had it for lunch one day, and I invited another friend for dinner of curry laksa another day. As you can imagine, the yield was quite large. I made everything by just estimating the amount of each ingredient, didn't measure quatity. It's really up to you how much of each ingredient you want to add in, add in more of what you love! =)

I shall get the food junkie to write up a review =)

Curry Laksa (serves many)

1.5 litres chicken stock

1 packet of curry laksa paste

15 fried bean curd (tofu pok)

250 ml coconut milk

200 g long beans

1 piece of fish cake (sliced)

100 g bean sprouts

3 chicken thigh fillets

Hokkien noodles

Rice vermicelli (beehoon)

Add the curry laksa paste to the boiling chicken stock to make laksa soup

Marinate the sliced chicken thigh fillets in some soy sauce and salt

Wash the bean sprouts, and long beans

Cut long beans into approximately 1 inch pieces

Soak the fried bean curd in hot water to remove excess oil

Cut the fried bean curd into halves

Add in coconut milk and fried bean curd into the laksa soup

Blanch long beans, chicken thigh fillets and fishcake in the soup and set aside

In a separate pot, boil some water

Blanch bean sprouts for approximately 30 seconds, remove from water

Blanch the rice vermicelli for about 1-2 minutes and remove from water

Blanch hokkien noodles for about 2-2.5 minutes and remove from water

To serve

In a bowl, put some Hokkien noodles and rice vermicelli (amount depends on how big an appetite you have) as well as a few slices of fish cake, long beans, bean sprouts, and chicken. Scoop soup into bowl

Garnish with fried shallots (optional)

Elevator Encounter

I was stuck in the lift. I was trying to get to the ground floor of my apartment to head to work. I got in, the door shut, and the lift didn’t move. That was it. I panicked a little, thinking if I should press the alarm button for help, but my pride didn’t allow me to. What if the solution was just to press the “open door” button? I’ll look like a dork.

So, I scanned my key pass, pressed all the buttons, some lit up, but the lift didn’t budge. That was it. I thought I was going to be stuck there forever. Then I remembered the TV shows, where the hunky firemen would pry open the lift doors and save the people. I’ve got no muscles, but I tried to pry open the door, it’s a lot harder than it looks. Instead, it clipped my thumb in between and the doors and reset the lift and down it went.

I was late for work. I told my team leader that I was stuck in the lift. His response? “Oh, that’s a new one. People usually say their bus was late”

Hyde Park Tavern

A few of us went to the Hyde Park Tavern for dinner. With the word Tavern in the name, I thought that it would be one of the old stone buildings with the old pub feel. It was instead a new modern looking place with nice clean lines to its interior.

The dips and starters we ordered. I loved the beetroot dip.

Never been a fan of beetroot, but I think I want to learn to make the dip! The assortment of starters wasn't too bad, but some items like the bocconcini had the texture of a rubber ball whilst not having any flavours. Olives on the other hand, is an acquired taste, and its definately not a taste that I've acquired yet. The other starters were just meatballs, salt and pepper squid and chorizos.

The wine that Uncle Lim brought along.

I remember that it wasn't too spicy, but there was still a hint of pepper to the taste as with all Shiraz. It was quite smooth, not too dry. Not exactly a wine connoisseur, I don't think I'm doing too much justice to the wine with my description. =P

My main, Wagyu beef with roasted potatoes. I've heard so much about the Wagyu beef and how tender it is. We were joking that it'd even fall apart by just us looking at the piece of beef, or not needing a knife to cut it.

I was so hungry that I thought I could eat a horse, and therefore I ordered the beef.

I was famished by the time it arrived and I stuck my fork and knife into the meat, and it felt as tough I had to saw through the meat. It was certainly not as tender as I expected it to be. I was rather disappointed. The halloumi cheese on top of the beef was quite tasty, with a chewy feel to it.

We then proceeded to a friend's house nearby to play Wii, which was absolutely fun! My arm hurt so much the day after from playing the "running" game. That's just a picture of how unfit I am, but then again, the Wii games emphasize the use of all the muscles that we don't usually use.

For dessert, we had a homemade blackforest cake, made by one of our friends. Looks like a molten chocolate mountain, but it was absolutely decadent. Warm melted chocolate on a rich chocolate cake and pitted cherries...oooh...the calories on my hips!!! =(

Pesto Penne Pasta - Review

I know it’s been a LONG time since my pasta post, and here is the long awaited and not to mention overdue review by the Food Junkie. My many thousand apologies!!!!

Disclaimer: I couldn’t help the presentation. There was no other option besides the plastic container. How else would you pack food? Otherwise, I think I fared pretty well! =)

· Presentation: 1/5
It came in an unsightly plastic container

· Fragrance: 3/5
The pesto smell came to the fore, as did the chorizos; overall a little subdued

· Taste: 4/5
The paste tasted just like what I would expect of a pesto; nice gentle herby notes around the strong fragrances of chorizos & SD tomatoes

· Mouth-feel: 3.5/5
I love the way it moves about ever so stickily… good mixture of various textures

· After Thoughts: …gimme more!!

Pesto Penne Pasta

I was at a work training which was held at one of the hotels nearby and they served up some really yummy pasta and potato salads. The pasta was quite a yummy surprise for me because it was a pesto pasta which I've never been a fan of. In fact, I've never even liked the strong taste or smell of basil. So, I tried to replicate it by making everything from scratch (except the pasta). I made everything up as I went along. In my opinion, I think it was really good! I think I came quite close to replicating the hotel's. I just have to wait for my guinea pig's critique. =)

This dish combines the wonderful flavours basil and sundried tomatoes. The sausages give a meaty flavour to the dish. Great as a main or cold salad for a barbacue on a warm summer's day.

I used Penne instead of spaghetti or fettucine because I find that sauces simply slide of the latter. Spirali is also a good option.

Pesto Pasta (serves 4-5)

375g Penne pasta

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion

2 chorizos

250 g mushrooms

100g sun dried tomatoes

4-5 heaped tbsp of pesto (see below)

grated Parmasen
salt and pepper

Slice the sausages, mushrooms and onions

Cut the sundried tomatoes into two if the pieces are too big

Boil pasta until only almost al-dente and drain

(the heat from frying will cook the pasta further)

Heat up pan and fry onions for half a minute and add sliced sausages

Allow the sausages to fry in its own oil

Add mushrooms and fry until a little soft

Add the drained pasta and sun dried tomatoes

Reduce heat, add in pesto, salt and pepper to taste

Fry until well combined

Remove from heat and add grated Parmasen just before serving (optional)

Serve warm or cold

I started off by making my own pesto, and I almost was on the verge of buying the bottled ones from the store because I don't have a food processor which I can leave the cover open whilst it's running, and pine nuts are too expensive and doesn't have a distinctive taste.

Simple Basil Pesto

1 1/2 cups of Basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup toasted almonds
A pinch of salt and pepper

Wash the basil leaves, and coarsely cut them
Peel the garlic cloves.
Blend all the ingredients together
Use the pulse function to achieve a coarse blend

Keeps in the fridge for about a week or months in the freezer

Biscotti Bricks

Part of my experiment for my baking project coming up soon, I attempted making some biscottis which literally mean "twice baked". Apparently, biscottis keep well for a long time and used to be taken as food ration by soldiers and explorers.

It certainly isn't the easiest "quick mix and pour" type of recipe around. There are afew steps to it, and I think the mixture is alittle tempremental. It turned out okay.

It was full of flavour, and not being too sure of how REAL biscotti should taste like, I bought a piece from the local Italian cafe (just to have a taste) and asked my workmates to taste and give me their opinions (of course, identifying both of it only as 1 and 2). They liked mine better! It was quite amusing watching my friends trying to bite off a chunk of it and I was afraid of it breaking their teeth. Honestly, I thought that it should have been alittle softer, but was told that's how it's meant to be.

Nevertheless, I think flavour was yummy and a refreshing, compliments the warm weather with it's zesty zing. But then again, I'm probably alittle biased ;-)

My pastime..

Whilst chatting with my friend on msn, we came up with this grand idea of coming up with a topic to write about and we’d both write and post it. No competition, just for fun, and also to see our different point of views. So exciting! She came up with the first topic. Pastimes. Sounds like a primary school composition topic, but it’s just something to get us warmed up with, and to get the ball rolling I guess.

I’ve liked one thing, which is cooking as well as baking, and this has stayed with me for the longest time. Many pastimes have just come and gone so very swiftly. The inspiration for me comes from the pictures I see in food magazines or recipe books. I’m such a sucker for good photography. And if the recipe doesn’t come with a picture, I’d imagine the look of it as well as the taste. My friend once said that I’d attempt the most laborious dishes, like the time when it took me 3 hours to cook dinner when she thought she could eat within one hour. =)

With cooking, I just love the way each ingredient has it’s own flavour, but when combined with the rest, develops a wonderful taste or aroma, or how a single ingredient gives a whole new dimension to the taste. And most of all, I get to eat it all up! However, cooking wasn’t a skill I picked up until I came to Australia. Back then I couldn’t even boil rice! Equipped with no skills, I had to improvise and create dishes for my meals being away from home. I’ve now learnt to enjoy it a lot more than it just being a chore.

When I was a kid, I used to love it when my mum takes the cake mixer out, to make a cake, or cookies. I would sit by the kitchen counter and help her pour ingredients in, like one egg at a time, or scoop the flour in for as she is folds the mixture. I never attempted a full recipe because she said that folding the mixture is a delicate process, and it can make or break the whole recipe. So all I did was watch.

One day, I was alittle more gutsy, pulled out her recipe books when she was at work, and wanted to attempt a butter cookie recipe, but to my horror, the word ‘fold’ was in it. I went ahead and attempted it, tried folding as well. And it came out perfect! I love how the first time I attempted my apple pie, and I weaved the top instead of the plain flat cover. It was really REALLY time consuming, but I felt so rewarded when it was ready to eat! It may sound funny, but it’s so exhilarating when I find a recipe that interests me, and my heart beats faster when I start on it! =)

Sadly, however, I don’t have too much time or energy on my hands to try too many new things, so it’s just the once in a while attempts, but there will still be attempts, and when there are none, I'll be going through recipe after recipe...=)

P.S. I played cooking Mama on the Nintendo Wii over the weekend...apparently i don't cook too well on that. My pasta in squid ink apparently looked like Hokkien mee. =P