Doesn't TaZte Like Chicken

Location: My tiny kitchen

A plate of Yeung Chow Fried Rice with the classic ingredients: BBQ pork, shrimp, peas and egg. There is so much ingredient that I can hardly see the rice.

One of the best ways to understand someone is by watching how they do a task, and I always learn a lot about someone when I watch them cook. Recipes are often written with room for imagination, and it’s rare to find two persons interpret a recipe in exactly the same way. Fried rice is one of those recipes that can be easily changed to suit individual preferences, and I have noticed people who are alike tend to cook fried rice in a similar way.

My brother and I both love cooking fried rice. He loves salmon and one day he created a delicious fried rice using salmon. He used so much salmon in the fried rice that even he laughed and said “I’m making fried salmon, not fried rice.”. We both like things in abundant; we are the type of people who like a lot of fillings in a sandwich and we refuse to eat sandwiches with “empty corners” – when the four corners have little or almost no filling.

Just as we thought everybody should be like us, liking fried rice with a lot of ingredients, we met a friend who is the opposite. When he tried my sandwiche, he took out the extra ham and cheese. When he tried my fried rice, he picked out the extra shrimps, BBQ pork and peas. He likes to keep things simple in life. He’s the type of guy who is happy with a TV at home and never considers building a home theater. He is a die-hard believer of “less is more”.

It’s funny how our personalities make who we are. When I was small, I always thought what I like is what everyone likes. After all, who doesn’t like fried rice that has lots of things in it? One of the best things I like about cooking, which might also explain why I’m also so crazy about it, is to understand different tastes and create dishes that satisfy different tastes. Having said that though, I still think my friend is somewhat strange.

To make my loaded version of Yeung Chow fried rice, you will need:

- 1 1/2 cup of diced BBQ pork
- 1 1/2 cup of cooked small shrimps
- 1 cup of green peas
- 2 eggs
- 4 bowls of cooked rice (to see how rice should be prepared, read Portebella mushroom fried rice)
- 1/2 cup of diced green onion
- Soy sauce
- Freshly ground pepper

In a non stick pan over high heat, stir fry BBQ pork for a minute.

Add in shrimp and stir fry quickly.

Add in green peas and freshly ground pepper, stir fry for a minute. Put all ingredients into a bowl

Put 2 tbsp of oil in the pan. Put 2 bowls of rice into the pan. Using a spatula, gently loosen up the rice. Turn the heat to medium and fry the rice until each grain is separated. Turn the heat to high and crack an egg in the middle of the rice. Very quickly, scramble the egg and mix it into the rice. Stir fry the rice until the egg has been cooked, about 1 minute. Put 3 tbsp of soy sauce in the middle of the rice and mix the soy sauce into the rice.

Put half of the shrimps, BBQ pork and peas into the rice. Stir fry until the ingredients and rice are mixed well together. Turn off the heat when done and mix in half of the green onion.

Repeat with the second batch and you are done.

How do you like your fried rice to be made?

Location: My tiny kitchen
Original recipe taken from epicurious

In addition to L’s deliciously moist chocolate cake that I wrote about earlier, L also has an easy strawberry cake recipe. I’m now calling L the “cake diva” as she always has wonderful and easy-to-make cake recipes. Like the chocolate cake recipe, this strawberry cake took almost no time to make at all.

I was a little disappointed on how my strawberry cake turned out though; it wasn’t as moist as it should be. I brought a piece for L to try and we both agreed the texture should be more fluffy and moist. Regardless, I will try this recipe again because L’s fluffy version proves that this recipe does work.

The cake is baked between two layers of sticky and sweet strawberry sauce. To make the strawberry sauce, you will need:

- 3 cups of chopped fresh strawberries
- 1/3 cup of sugar
- 1/4 cup of water
- 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

Heat oven to 400F. Butter a 9” square glass baking dish.

Put 2 cups of strawberries, cornstarch, sugar and water into a quart pan. Cook the strawberries over medium heat until they are soften and reduced to a sauce. Stir occasionally. This takes about 20 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 cup of strawberry into the sauce at the end. Let the sauce to cool to room temperature.

To make the cake, you will need:

- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and sugar in a bowl.

In another bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, melted butter and vanilla extract.

Mix the dry and wet ingredients together until just combined. Be careful not to over mix; otherwise, the cake will turn out tough. I suspect I over mixed my batter and my cake turned out a little too dense than I would like it to be.

Pour half of the strawberry sauce into the bottom of the glass dish. Spoon the cake batter on top of the sauce. Pour the remaining strawberry sauce on top of the batter. At this stage the cake batter looks very wet and L and I both thought it would never get baked! When we saw the cake rose in the oven, we knew we didn’t have to worry.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean after it is inserted into the cake.

This is one of the easiest cake recipe I have tried. I like how fast all ingredients can be put together. I can bake this cake right after dinner and when it is baked, it’s just the right time for dessert.

Location: Singapore

Author: My Husband

For our friend headed to Singapore soon, here’s the post I promised – a small sampling of our favourite hawker dishes. Since we don’t live in Singapore, I don’t know the locations of the “famous” hawker stalls that sell these dishes, so perhaps some of our Singaporean readers (few though you may be ) can chip in with their recommendations?

Yes, there is a HUGE amount of variety when it comes to hawker fare; the dishes described here are but the tip of the proverbial iceberg that is hawker food in Singapore. S, my best advice is to stop and taste everything that looks appealing to you. But remember to pace yourself…

Murtabak. This is a super-sized roti prata with meat filling. The hawker used twice the amount of dough of a typical prata to make this; filled with your choice of meat, onion, and eggs, it is fried on a big griddle until it is nice and crispy. This was served with a bowl of curry for dipping. This is tasty stuff, but be that as it may, I have never been able to finish one of these by myself.

Fried Hokkien “Mee” (noodles). There was an interesting discussion on ChowTimes about this dish, but the consensus is that the Singaporean version (as opposed to the Malaysian one) isn’t cooked with a dark sauce. This version had plenty of ‘wok hei’ and was sufficiently “prawn-y”. Remember to ask for the sambal chilli as it provides the dish with a nice kick.

Do not forget the satay.

Chai Tow Kway. The locals refer to it as carrot cake, but obviously, it isn’t carrot cake in the North American sense. This can be cooked with or without the dark sweet soy. This is really very similar to the Cantonese 蘿蔔糕 , but cut into pieces and pan fried over high heat. This was one of my favourite dishes growing up, and even now, I make it a point to eat it more than once when I’m visiting.

Orh Jian. This is a wonderfully greasy fried oyster omelette. Eggs and oysters are combined with a binding agent (usually a slurry of potato flour) then fried in a huge pan until a nice crispy crust forms. The vinegary chilli sauce that accompanies this dish is important for (i) cutting the greasiness and (ii) giving it a nice heat – ask for more if you like.

Hainanese chicken rice. OK – it IS weird to just order the rice without the chicken. But Christina likes free range chicken and doesn’t think much of the “tofu” chicken that is so prevalent in Singapore. But the rice by itself is fantastic. Aromatic and flavourful, each grain is distinct and al dente.

Teh Tarik. This is a strong tea – flavoured with both condensed AND evaporated milk – that involves a degree of showmanship to prepare. The tea is first mixed with the milk, and then poured between two containers to (i) cool it down (ii) aerate it for a smoother texture. The showmanship comes into play when the hawker gradually increases the distance between the two containers during the pours, thus giving the impression that the liquid is being “pulled” between them.

Ice kachang. Shaved ice, red bean paste, and a black jello like substance(涼粉). The ice is drizzled with various coloured syrups and gula melaka. Gula melaka, which I had referenced here, gives this dessert a smokey, coconutty flavour that elevates the taste of simple shaved ice into the flavours of haute cuisine. Superb stuff.

Chendol. Like ice kachang, except with the addition of coconut milk and the little green jellies. The version shown here is served in a bowl, but this is usually served in a cup. It is yet another wonderfully refreshing dessert with which to fight the Singaporean heat.

There are many many other dishes that I haven’t described, but consider the above a preview for your trip, S. I’ll continue with a sampling of street snacks for my next post.