Tom Yum stuffed Calamari

Tom Yum-stuffed calamari

Alright folks, this is going to be a quick post to assure you that I am still alive and causing havoc in my lab. Hahaha. Recently, Harris Farm Market opened up a store near me and upon checking it out one night I was overjoyed to find a fresh seafood market that featured awesome goodness like sashimi-grade fishes, sea urchin, lots of fresh whole fishes and all those yummy goodness that I could only dream of finding in the usual supermarkets.

This week I made Tom Yum Stuffed Calamari and it's dead easy to make!

Assam Laksa

Kiki's Assam Laksa

Hello all! It's been a while since my last post and believe me I have been brewing ideas for the next post, this post. I was inspired by an episode of Poh's show that featured Thai cuisine. In that show, a visiting chef made curry paste from scratch. That, combined with the increasingly limited space in my bar fridge (as a result of ever growing number of jars) pushes me to embark on my new experiment: Assam Laksa!

Potato & seafood curries

Rice and two curries

One thing that I miss about Brisbane is the food. Sure it's not as deeply populated by little exotic food corners as Sydney or Melbourne but it is my second home. There's this great restaurant that serves Malaysian and Singaporean fares called Little Singapore. Little Singapore started off in a little shop in Sunnybank's Market Square (before the square burnt down a few years ago) but since the opening, business has been thriving and they now have a branch in the city. My absolute favourite from this place is the butter chicken, which is deep fried chicken chunks accompanied by... wait for it... crispy curry leaves. Yeah, those green goodness rocked my world. Anyway, so when I saw curry leaves in the market the other day, I knew I had to have them despite not having any real plan on what to make. I'm sure they taste great with anything.

Smoked salmon & dill roll

I had inheritted a whole block of smoked salmon from Tassal at the Sydney good food and wine show. A block of salmon, can I say that? Smoked salmon is hardly a staple pantry ingredient but with this quantity around, I feel that I have the privillige to exhaust every known recipe without fear, but when it comes to naming names... what exactly could I do with smoked salmon apart from old bagel, cream cheese and smoked salmon? Or Salmon tossed around in salad, or pasta dish? For once, I put on my eye cover, resist the temptation of Google search and hey, what about an sushi like egg roll with salmon and its classic best friend dill and cream cheese? Alright so that took a little bit more than just voila, I meditated over lunch. It helps that I have a tonne of eggs that I want to get rid of and I'm attempting another go at making creme caramel.

Shio Saba

Hi everyone, I am back from my PhD-induced blogger coma. All is well again for the time being, the sun is shining, although this scenery is far from the current reality of Sydney's winter rain. Yup, t'is the season of thick coat, funky winter boots, gorgeous scarfs and wintery food. I'm itching to make my own minestrone soup with some serious tomatoes and legumes, and depending on how chirpy I feel, maybe even celery (uggghhh).

Bubur Ikan Sudirman (Fish porridge a la Sudirman)

Bubur ikan Sudirman

Winter has precipitated over the Southern hemisphere. It's cold, it's dry and the the sound that of the wind blowing through the thin opening of the window into my kitchen moans for something to soothe and bring home the warmth. In my family, there's no comfort food like porridge.

Grilled honey and miso salmon & steamed frittata

Steamed spinach and baby tomato frittata

Back to Earth, back to Sydney and back to the reality that Australia is in the middle of a recession. Apart from that, I just got two lotus shaped sauce dishes from Japan city (on special!! :D) that look so pretty when teamed up with sake cups so I need an excuse to parade it.

Grilled honey and miso salmon & steamed frittata

I heart dill

I have a new favourite herb. It's dill!! I found this while walking around in a local grocery store. Just yesterday my sister bought dill aiolli at the Woolworth food dome at the Easter Show and it's fantastic!

Eat! 吃飯! Makan! Manger!

“There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home” sings Dorothy while she clicks her red heels together. I love fairy tales but I have to say that although I agree, there are some places that come close to it, food wise at least. I spent the weekend in a Sydney suburb that is healthily populated by Indonesian restaurants, Kingsford, and indulged in really homey food in Ayam Goreng 99 and Ratu Sari. Every so often, refreshment like this comes with inspiration.

Barramundi with cracked sea salt and sesame oil

I came away from this weekend with a pantry full of assortments of chili sauces (email me if you would like some recommendations) and a whole barramundi fish. I met a very nice Indonesian guy who works in a fish monger in East Garden and instead of selling me yesterday’s catch of ikan kembung (yellow tail) or mackerels (I wanted to make shio saba), he recommended a fresh barramundi fish. I love this kind of service where a vendor would explain his/her products. I came away with a bag of fish roe too. At home, my mom likes to cook a fish called “B-K” (which I deeply believe is mackerel) and often on the same meal she’d have deep fried fish roes from the same fish. They sort of look like sausage and it’s delicious. After I moved to Sydney, I discovered a Korean restaurant that does fish roe soup with tofu in the city and I love it so much I want to make it myself! And so I did, or attempted to.

Fish roe soup with miso and kochujang

Tonight I married Indonesian cuisine with Chinese with a touch of Korean. I’d credit Korean cuisine more but I’m afraid I might not do it justice with my lack of knowledge on how to cook proper Korean food. This will have to do for the moment.

Ikan bakar sambal terasi

For the love of chili, I’ve spread a healthy dose of sambal terasi on top of the grilled fish. Can I just say, it…. Is…. Divine…. As always, rice as our humble but delicious and nutritious staple stays in the background; nevertheless a meal is not and never can be defined as a meal without its presence.

Atap-seng, South-East Asian umeboshi

You may notice this pickled plum in the background as a garnish to my fish. This is sort of like the Japanese umeboshi. I was over the moon when I found this in a Thai grocery. Back in grade 6, my friends Elvinta, Elinda, Juliarosi and I used to make our ways to my aunt’s place before, in the middle of and after after-school tutorial to satisfy our thirst for a pickled we so fondly called “atap-seng” in the local Chinese dialect. I believe “atap” is the name of the fruit while “seng” means sour and over the years, the product had disappeared from the shelves of supermarkets, home stores and “warung”. You cannot imagine my joy when I found this stuff here in Sydney. Compared to umeboshi, it’s far more powerful in salt and the bite. If you pick it with your chopstick, the brine tracing the chopsticks is enough to make your whole face pucker.

Salt-rubbed ocean trout

I was inspired by the salmon posted in Curiously Ravenous. The other night I came home from work with an almost-obsessive-like determination to cook up a storm. The bread from my previous post were the result of the cooking fever as were the potato salad and a turnip and carrot stew in dashi stock (not shown). God forgive me for I skinned my vegetables, threw away the water in which I boiled them, mashed them and mixed them with copious amount of mayonaise and sodium.

In the picture is salt rubbed ocean trout that I left overnight before grilling, seaweed salad, potato salad and shredded eggs, which usually comes as a obligatory side dish in nasi kuning, nasi uduk, nasi tumpeng and all sorts of nasi dishes (nasi means rice in Indonesian). It was a delicious satisfying meal that was just right. (^-^)

In awe of the phantom

I went to watch The Phantom of the Opera last night with my friend, Silvia. When I heard last year about it coming to town I was enthusiastically determined that I would go and see it, but as time went, I decided against it especially with the ticket so expensive. I justified my decision by the thought that the show was overrated, until guilt got the better of me (of cancelling... again...).

As I entered into the dark theater, the stage was dull, dull and dark, but not for long. It began with an auction that I could barely recall from the movie and then the chandelier took flight and the stage was unmasked. I was terrified by the blasting organ music and horrified of the golden colored ornaments that framed the stage (strange inexplicable childhood phobia), but awe took over. Oh the music was wonderful and Anthony Warlow had played the phantom so so well that I couldn't help but feel disturbed by his eerie peculiarity, sympathize with his struggle, weep at the recognition of myself in his fallen quest. Amidst this collection of feelings, I realized that no one is made of just one substance. The phantom is not purely evil, just misunderstood... which led me to buy Wicked - The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, a book on which the musical Wicked (currently playing in Melbourne) is based.

I'm obsessed with making bento these past couple of days and pictured is the ones I made today: grilled salmon marinated in my kecap manis mix, steamed bokchoy on a bed of steamed rice.

nyam nyam nyam

If there is a food that I hold dear to my heart, dearer than bacon, it would be salmon, simply grilled with a sprinkle of salt. You don’t even need oil for this fantastic source of protein for there between the threads of protein lies precious goodness of unsaturated fatty acids.

something fishy

this is called baramundi something something.

just kidding.

je vous présente "miso-lime sauce over garlic panfried baramundi with sides of lime potato and baconed green beans". i've been thinking about sauces a lot lately though it has very bad effect on my expanding waistline. i've been eating a lot since i came back from my trip. *sigh*

so what's in the sauce? i've given away my secret to a friend who inspired this recipe so i may as well give it out. in the sauce is mayonaisse, sesame oil, chinese cooking wine, whole grain mustard, lime juice and miso paste. i used it to cover the fish while reserving the rest for later. as for the potato, it's quite simply boiled briefly... in snobby term, it's blanche (hehe) then panfried with my favourite garlic infused oil with a dash of curry powder, finely chopped shallots and mild chilli and of course the main theme.. generous shower of lime juice. the bean is quite simple.. blanche, then toss quickly over heat with caramelized diced bacon and garlic. the fish is also panfried and later, while the pan is still hot and containing the juice from the fish, i poured the reserved sauce over quickly.. quickly... aw the sauce is breaking!!! stir-stir-stir and pour over the fish and potato.

cut 2 slices of thin sourdough bread (not shown here) to mop the sauce with as a finishing touch. cubes of cucumber (also not shown here) also does wonder to contrast the heavy taste of potato, fish and sauce. the lime is simply simply sublime. excuse me if i'm biased in judgement over my own food.

anti social

for the anti-social in all of us:
pan fried black sesame crusted ocean trout on a bed of spaghetti.
who says cooking for one isn't fun?