Duck in Orange Sauce

This vietnamese dish (as demonstrated by Rick Stein on tv) is sweet, spicy and fragrant..absolutely yummy! After carefully watching Mr Stein make the dish (thank goodness for recorded tv!) and noting down the ingredients, I then went grocery shopping sans the shopping list, smart!! So my version was missing lemon grass and spring onions! But still a good dish served with steamed rice.

The spices - Chilli padi, Palm Sugar, Ginger, Garlic, Star Anise. Missing is the lemon grass and spring onions!

Ham Chim Peang

I tried making Ham Chim Peang over the weekend. A starter dough is required for this and this means I had to start 2 days before the weekend arrived. Having not made starter doughs before I was not sure what it was supposed to look or smell like so lots of peeking under the cover and sniffing before the 2 days were up!

On the weekend, I made up the dough and all was well until the last stage. The oil-saving switch in my brain kicked in and I used just an inch of oil to fry the batter. Now to get the Ham Chim Peng to puff-up, one needs to use a flip and turn technique but because the oil was not enough it was not a great success even though I had reduced the size.

Since it will be a while before I attempt this (oil saving switch is still on),I decided to post it anyway!

Paella

Recently the international market came to town and I finally had the chance to try authentic Paella, the non seafood version that is. It was really nice and since we also bought some chorizo from the market, I could try to recreate the dish at home, below is the result using Delia Smith's recipe without the seafood.

Crunchy Oat Raisin Cookies

Moreish crunchy oat cookies studded with raisins. This is a quick recipe with no need for refrigeration which is usual when making cookies. However, this round was not quick for me as the mixer had broken down a while back and has yet to be replaced so I had to cream the butter and sugar the old fashioned way with a wooden spoon and lots of determination!

Homestyle Chicken Stew

I call this dish homestyle because it reminds me of the chicken stew that one of my mum's eurasian friend taught her to make. Ironically, it was one of my least favourite dish then! My version is a cross between a recipe I found from an eurasion cookbook and what I could recall of my mum's dish.

Red Pepper Basil Tart

This is a vegetarian tart that is just right for a light dinner. The filling is made of roasted red peppers and loads of chopped fresh basil, very aromatic! The crust is also not without it's own special twist which is chopped olives. Yummy!

Char Bee Hoon (Fried Vermicelli)

First of all, I say bee hoon and not mee hoon because I'm hokkien and stuck in my ways. So Char Bee Hoon, let me count the ways --> 50 sen bee hoon or poor man's char bee hoon, bee hoon lam th'ng from Tanjung Bunga market, mee hoon goreng (red sambal variety), mee hoon goreng malaysian thai style, mee hoon goreng indian style and on and on and on....but the best ever fried bee hoon is the one from my primary school canteen with the curry mee sauce poured over, whoever was the genius that started it??

Below 'leftover' char bee hoon, made with left over pork ribs!

Hokkien Char

Hokkien Char or Hokkien style fried noodles like its counterpart the Sar Hor Fun is a popular supper dish though available for lunch or dinner. In the good old days when I was a kid, I remember watching my Ah Kong (grandfather) dissappearing into the night with only the glow of his torchlight (the long metal type that takes the huge batteries??) visible to buy this very supper.

Smoked Salmon and Fennel Sandwich

Not asian but really yummy so I decided to post it. This is an open sandwich of fennel with smoked salmon on toasted ciabatta. Very simple and easy supper for lazy days. I don't normally eat smoked salmon as I deemed it not quite cooked! Yes, I'm one of those who wouldn't touch sashimi with a barge pole. But this one, I can eat if I keep distracting my mind with happy thoughts!