Home Made Bread Crumbs

So a few days ago I made a booboo on the bread. And after leaving it overnight the crust has hardened into a rock like texture and the insides are now dry and somewhat stale. Since it's not edible as a breakfast bread, I'll make the best out of it by using it as bread crumbs. The dryness actually is essential for bread crumbs as it may be harder to crisp soggy bread.

So in to the food mixer blender attachment it goes to break it down. This is also the first time I'm using a blender, ever. And the results don't look too pleasing. Somehow there were still a number of mid to large pieces left. Oh well, I suppose that's what you get from not using a dedicated machine.

Next I threw it on a pan of oil and pan-fried it. The key is to constantly move it around so it doesn't burn. Put it on low heat so the bread will dry up and turn brown. But as you can see below, the bigger crumbs have not turned brown as I couldn't get them to the heat on the pan since the smaller ones just filled the bottom.

To test whether they are good, I whipped up a quick lunch of spaghetti and bratwurst mixed with the bread crumbs. Because the bread had garlic in it, it brought the aromatic taste to the pasta as well. Ok not too bad, the bread crumbs do bring a different texture sense to the pasta dish. Yes it'll do fine as a ingredient of sorts for a salad. Yeah for not wasting food!

Keeping Supermarket Bought Basil Leaves Fresh

Recently we bought basil leaves from the supermarket for thai green curry. It was a huge pack and we only managed to use a tiny bit. We thought we could store it in the fridge but lo and behold, it started turning black after a week. Hmmm that's such a waste of an ingredient and money. So came the question on how others store their basil. I'm sure most folks wouldn't use a whole bunch of it in a week just because the supermarkets sell them in a pack.

As usual the answers is just a search away with Doctor Google. There were many articles and website advising the storage methods. And after skimming through a few, the similar ideas to store basil are:

1) It should be kept in room temperature

2) Keep away from the sun

3) Leave them in a vase of water, changing it everyday or two

4) Should be able to keep for about a fortnight

5) Roots and buds might grow

There are also a few on how to freeze basil leaves but I have to pass as the freezer is already full. So there, now I must try the vase with water the next time we buy basil. Will update on the results!

Instant Thai Green Curry

We chanced upon this truly delectable instant pre-prepared green curry soup at the supermarket. All you had to do is add in the seafood, meats, fresh basil and lime leaves, and a touch of chopped chilli for that spicy oomph. Its so simple and easy to prepare, one pot for a meal. We stocked up a few packets of the soup hehe.

It now gets me thinking how easy it is to 'cook' Thai. Suppose we open our own Thai food restaurant someday? Heh, nah ... too much effort to the other menu items. Plus I'll be constantly tearing trying to cut the onions and chillies. No thank you sir.

Lentils, Not Our Favourite Food

There were several recipes in Gordon's cookbook which calls for lentils. Honestly I thought it was a type of vegetable when I first saw the word. It's not something you normally eat in Asia. And it is hard to find too, I managed to find a pack at the organic, aka expensive, aisle at Cold Storage.

It taste like salty green beans, and are hard to cook through. Maybe I was doing it wrong but I find it baffling that some of them are not cooked after an hour in the pot. I should have substitute it with rice or pasta. Oh well, I suppose there is no harm trying new stuff once in awhile.

Sauces Fantasy

I've always been one for the sauces, especially when it comes to eating western.  A piece of fillet is a piece of fillet. A strip of sirloin is a strip of sirloin. Its the seasoning, the marinate and the serving sauce that really brings out the favour of the meats and fish. Some would argue that having just the meat is the best way to taste it. Yes I would agree if this was in a western country where the meats are fresh from the farm. But in Singapore where everything is imported frozen ... nah.

I remember asking for more mushroom sauces on my sirloin beef or more of the white mayo for my surf and turf. Funny thing was, I never bothered with Asian sauces. I think asian cuisine are already coated with too much sauce, and most of them are starchy and sticky ... not really my taste. So as I picked up some of the simpler recipes from the cookbooks, my eyes tend to gravitate towards the sauces preparation steps. I somehow perk up when it comes to making my own sauce.

Since I was making fish these few days, the first I tried was a vinaigrette. I never figured vinaigrette was this easy to make. 4 parts olive oil, 1 part white wine vinegar. Hmm it's that easy? Add in mustard, fried onions, chopped spring onions and whatnot to layer a further favour. Wow ... now I have a good sauce for fish!

My First Oven - Tefal Uno XL OF1802

I've never used a oven before. There never was one at Hillview and mum and dad didn't even have a microwave till a few years ago after I've moved out. An oven always seemed like a 'luxury' item for a typical Chinese home. So when we renovated our new place, we didn't set up a build-in oven cabinet in the kitchen design. It seemed impractical to have a white elephant appliance at that time since we thought we weren't likely to be cooking much.

But as we started cooking on the weekends and surfing the web for recipes, an oven became something we miss. Most recipes we find includes an oven baking process and without one we were handicapped. And with a new design idea of a kitchen trolley, the space for an oven suddenly materialised.

So next came the research phase for an oven. There sure are a lot of brands out there. And they don't come cheap. Well I suppose if we were to use it regularly, the cost is going to justify itself. I mean, imagine baking your own double chocolate muffin ... now that's something I've been dreaming of doing for sometime now.

Eventually we decided upon Tefal's mid range ovens and went ahead with the Uno XL. *smile I've started to dream of the days where I can make delicious cakes and pastries with the oven. Now I just need to buckle down and start experimenting with the different techniques of baking. Oh and invest in baking tools as I go along. So look forward to more cooking pictures on the blog!

Fish Paste Brinjal in Oyster Sauce

This was a weekend of cooking as Meimei was sick. It gave me the impetus to finally put on a chef's hat and start my culinary cooking journey.

Yesterday I cooked fish soup, teriyaki gindara and red grouper, and threw together a fresh salad for vege intake. Today I went with one of the favourites in Mama's repertoire. I've been meaning to cook this for the last year.

We bought the brinjal and fish paste a few months ago but wasted it eventually as we didn't get to cooking it. We threw the ingredients after they went bad after a month.

We didn't make the same wasteful attempt this time. Today we made a wonderful batch of fish paste bringjal in oyster sauce. The salty paste eaten together with the sweet and fullness of the brinjal is really something to savour. I have to declare that it was success on the first try.

Cooking - Teriyaki Gindara

The first time Meimei cooked this, I discovered that we could do as good as any Japanese restaurant. I'm glad Meimei is ok to have this, she never has fish as she doesn't like the bones. It's such a simple dish to make, yet so satisfying.

I tried doing the same on a red grouper but it wasn't as nice. Grouper is better steamed. I'll try that next time.

Ingredients

Cod Fish - Choose the white ones

Teriyaki Sause

Preparation

Rub cod fish with salt

Pour 2 tablespoon of teriyaki and add a little water

Heat pan and throw in fish

Pour sause onto fish

Fish Soup

The cantonese make mean soup. Period.

Although Mama is not a born cantonese, but being married to one and living in Hong Kong for several years helped to hone her skills. And she is one amazing cook, I tease her sometimes that she could open her own restaurant and be the chief chef.

Now back to the soup. I love her fish soup. Its the real deal, cooked milky with fish bones and sweeten with tomatoes, white radish, apples and pears. We need to try our hand at this one day so we can make this often on weekends when Mama is not in town. One bowl of this and I can float in the air!

Ingredients
Ang Ko Li / 红鲷 / Red Snapper Fish Bone
Fresh Tomatoes or White Radish
Red Dates
Apple or Pear
Parsley
Onion
Ginger

Preparation
Wash the Ang Ko Li in hot water
Wok Fry with ginger till it turns yellow and crisp
Turn on large fire and pour in hot water
Let it boil till water turns milky
Transfer to soup pot and continue to boil
Put tomato in hot water to remove skin
Throw in the tomato, red dates, apple or pear, parsley, onion radish etc
Boil to serve