Asia - Retro Food For Modern Times

02
Nov
2016

Turning Japanese – 1989 Japanese Snack Plate

categories: Chicken & Poultry, Japan, Prawns, Radish, Snacks

Konichiwa dear people o’ the Internet.

Today we are exploring the first part of a two-part series taken from the pages of Vogue Entertaining October / November 1989 with a gorgeous Japanese snack plate.

On the plate today we have Japanese Fried Chicken, Prawn Canapé’s, Radish Canapés, edamame beans, wasabi and mayo! This is so pretty, perfect for a Spring brunch!

The magazine comes from a time when ingenious recipes and inventive ideas may have involved giving your guests a bowl of roses to munch on. Yummy!

Roses aside, we are putting some Spring flavours in full bloom on today’s Japanese snack plate. Just as an aside though, guess which day the J key on my laptop decided to break, meaning it had to be hit about four times harder than all the other keys. The sound track for the writing of this post was tap, tap, tap THUMP tap, tap, tap THUMP.

Minor typing difficulties aside, lets turn our attention to some hors d’œuvres for our Japanese snack plate.

Japanese Stuffed Radishes

Could not be simpler and the crunchy peppery radish is delicious with the salty punch of the caviar. Simply slice your radish down the middle of the stem, then scoop out a small hollow in your radish and fill with caviar. I think nowadays if you were making this you would use tobiko instead of normal caviar but maybe that was readily available in 1989. Come to think of it, I have no idea if it is readily available now!

Stuffed Prawns

Pardon me for having two things stuffed with caviar in this post but seeing as I had to buy it specially, I wanted to get some bang for my buck. Also, if it was good enough for Vogue Entertaining in 1989 its good enough for me!

This is also very tasty with this time a contrast between the sweet prawn meat and the salty caviar. Add a dob of pungent wasabi and some creamy mayo and you have perfection! The original recipe had the prawn heads left on. I took mine off. I just think it is easier to eat with head and shells gone.

It is important to skewer the prawns so they stay straight.

To make these you will need:

12 medium green king prawns
2 tsp salt
25g black caviar

Place a satay stick through the body of each prawn to keep it straight. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Drop the prawns in and cook for 3-5 minutes. Remove from the water and leave to cool.

Remove the satay sticks and remove the heads and shells, leaving the tail. Split the prawns down the back with a sharp knife and remove the digestive tracts. Fill the tract cavity with a little caviar. Repeat.

Soy and Ginger Edamame (loosely adapted from A Moveable Feast by Katy Holder)

These are not from Vogue Entertaining Oct /November 1989 but make a tasty and colourful addition to the snack plate.

200g edamame in pods
1/2 tbsp Japanese rice vinegar
1/2 tbsp light olive oil
1/2 tbsp mirin
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp grated ginger
pinch of sugar

Cook the edamame in boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain and refresh under cold water. Pop the beans from their pods. Combine all the other ingredients in a bowl, stirring well to dissolve the sugar. Pour over the edamame and sit for at least an hour to let the flavours absorb. Strain and add to the plate.

Japanese Fried Chicken

I did not make this for the snack plate. We had it for dinner the night before but I made extra so we could have it on the plate. This is so good. Huh…it’s fried chicken, like it was ever going to be bad! This was great hot from the fryer in the evening and also super eaten cold the next day – it was not too greasy like a lot of fried chicken as leftovers and still quite crispy, although it is not a thick southern style coating.

Here’s the recipe!

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Japanese Fried Chicken

Print Recipe

A delicious Japanese take on fried chicken

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

500g chicken breast meat, skin on
3 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
1 spring onion chopped finely
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp Japanese soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1 tsp wasabi paste
1 small dried chilli, chopped
pinch of black pepper
1 egg white, lightly beaten
2/3 cup cornflour
vegetable oil for deep frying
Mayonnaise, wasabi to serve

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Instructions

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces.
Make a marinade of the ginger, garlic, spring onion, sesame oil, soy sauce, mirin, pepper and chilli.
Marinate the chicken for at least 1 1/2 hours.
Mix eggwhite and cornflour well.
Add the chicken and marinate.
Heat the oil.
Deep-fry spoonfuls of the chicken mixture until golden brown.
Drain onto crushed kitchen paper and keep hot whilst the rest of the mixture is cooked.
To serve, spread on platter with dobs of mayo and wasabi

That’s it from me, have a great week!

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14
Jun
2016

REPOST FROM 2014 – Adam’s Big Pot

categories: Adam's Big Pot, Asia, Calamari, Squid, Tasty Reads

“I hope somewhere in this book there is a dish or two that you choose to serve to your family. Something that gets asked for again and again, and each time you make it, it becomes a little more your own. Then one day, years from now, when the people you cooked for have left and live their lives and come back to visit, you make that meal for them again. And that’s what makes them feel like they’re home” Adam Liaw, Adam’s Big Pot

Okay. Now that there’s not a dry eye in the house we’ll talk Tasty Reads.

Our latest theme has been Asian food and I kind of lucked out in that I already owned one of of the book choices, the absolute classic Charmaine Solomon’s Complete Asian Cookbook. But ‘s that’s not what we’re going to talk about today. Because, on high recommendation, I bought Adam’s Big Pot.

For those of you who have not heard of him, Adam Liaw was the winner or runner up or something in Master Chef a few years ago. But you don’t need to know that. What you do need to know is that apart from his annoying man-bun, Adam Liaw is immensely likeable.

I on the other hand am not intensely likeable, in fact, I am a contrarian at best and part of my reason for choosing this book was to take it down, It was SO highly recommended I thought there was no way it could live up to the expectations that had been set.

I stand corrected.

This book is AWESOME.

I have not been so excited about a Tasty Reads book since Persiana – only 17 recipes to go after I totally botched the baklava on the weekend. But we’re not here to talk about my cooking disasters.

OK, fine, seeing as you insist. I overcooked the sugar syrup so when I poured it over the pastry it set like toffee so the top of the baklava is tooth breakingly hard and the bottom is as dry as dust. My fault entirely, because after cooking the syrup for the requisite amount of time I thought it looked too watery. And because having made Baklava precisely…let me see…never before, I considered myself a bit smarter than the recipe. (Sigh, eyeroll, face palm).

But lets not focus on the bad, let’s talk about why I am excited by this book!

Adam’s Big Pot – Highlights

This is a very good primer in Asian food, lots of counties are represented – Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam, India. A great variety without being too daunting.
There are lots of super photos
Adam’s descriptions of each recipe are great
He’s not too prissy – he offers lots of alternatives – eg if you don’t have a master stock handy, use chicken.
His tips are great
The book is beautifully presented
The meals are quick, easy and approachable
Cooking from this book is like cooking with an old friend. He’s just so damn likeable!
The food is super delicious. I have only made one thing I didn’t like (see Dishes Made below).

Adam’s Big Pot – Weaknesses

I feel like I’m being super picky here but you know, just so you know this isn’t paid for by Adam or anything (ha! I wish!).

If you were utterly unfamiliar with Asian cooking and you wanted to try a lot of the recipes in here you may have to buy a lot of ingredients that you may not use again if you did not love the dish and / or they may make you break out into hives (see below).
I think the Bits and Pieces section which is the very first in the book and contains the recipes for the curry pastes, the stocks and all the other base ingredients would have been better placed at the end of the book.
No bread! No roti, chapati, naan or paratha! I would have LOVED at least one bread recipe in here!

Adam’s Big Pot – What I’ve Cooked

Carrot and Cumber Som Tam.

So good. This is Adam’s version of my favourite, green papaya salad. Lovely, fragrant, spicy, fresh.

Tuna Takaki Salad.

Just divine!

Tuna, Corn And Avocado Salad

This is on high lunch rotation! I have made it pretty much every week since finding this recipe. The recipe calls for raw corn, I have used tinned and leftover grilled corn. All super.

Chicken and Cashew Nuts

Something in this recipe made me break out into a horrible rash and massive hives. I suspect it was the dark soy sauce because it was the only thing I have not used before. This probably says more about the excitability of my skin than a real flaw with the recipe because the fussiest eater in the world was perfectly fine. He had seconds and took it to work the next day.

Tandoori Chicken

Starting with homemade tandoori paste! I was RIDICULOUSLY proud of myself for making this. Who makes their own tandoori paste? Isn’t that what supermarkets are for? But it was so easy to do. I will never buy it again! And you know, seeing as I am Ms Allergic to the World, the more things I can control in my diet the better!

And then the chicken:

Salt and Pepper Squid

I love squid. The Fussiest Eater in the World will, however, not touch it with a ten-foot barge pole. So, I quite often make it for one. Adam’s recipe is so quick to cook, it is a great after-work meal for one or many! It’s also why I bought rings instead of tubes – easier to control portions.

I also had absolutely no idea that Salt and Pepper Squid was not a thing everywhere.

Adam says

“You could argue that salt and pepper squid is Australia’s national dish. It’s universally loved and you can buy it in just about any pub, Vietnamese, Thai or Chinese restaurant or Italian café around the country. On top of that, it’s not commonly found in any other country. It’s a truly homegrown favourite”

So, here it is rest of the world. What are you waiting for? Make this tonight. And thank me later!

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Salt & Pepper Squid

Print Recipe

A super quick, easy and delicious dish from Adam’s Big Pot.

Author: Adam Liaw

Ingredients

Scale

2 litres peanut oil for deep frying
500g squid tubes, cleaned (or rings)
3 tbsp rice flour or cornflour (cornstarch)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 bird’s eye chilli, thinly sliced
2 spring onions, trimmed and sliced
1 tsp salt flakes
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Coriander leave, lemon wedges and aioli to serve

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Instructions

Heat the oil to 200C in a wok or large saucepan.
Cut down one side of the squid tubes and open them flat. Lightly score the surface in a cross -hatch pattern, cut into bite sized triangles and toss in the flour.
Shake off excess flour an deep fry the squid din batches ffpr about a minute per batch or until just cooked and lightly golden.
Drain well.
Remove the oil, leaving about a tbsp in the wok. Heat the wok over medium heat and add the garlic, chilli and spring onion.
Toss in the wok for about a minute, or until the ingredients are lightly browned.
Add the squid and toss constantly scattering with the salt and pepper.
Remove the squid from the wok, scatter with coriander leaves and serve with lemon wedges and aioli.

What to cook Next?

I have some of the tandoori paste left so it would be sensible to make the tandoori chicken again. And the naan and the rojak I made from the Charmaine book when I made the tandoori chicken were super and the flavours went really well together.

However, with so many other delicious recipes still left to cook, including:

Prawn and Grapefruit Salad
Tom Yum Fried Rice
Kuku Paka which is an African chicken curry
Whiting With Nori Butter
Tiger Skinned Chicken
Baked Thai Fish Cakes
Canonigo which is a Filipino desert made from meringue, orange custard and caramel

D0 you cook Asian at home? What is your Asian favourite cuisine? What is your favourite Asian recipe? You know I’m nosy and love to know your business so please leave comments!

Anyhoo, I’ve loved cooking from this book and I’m awarding it Five Golden Rings of Squiddy Delciousness!

Let’s see if the rest of the Tasty Reads crew agrees!

Have a great week!

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09
Jan
2016

Frikkadels – The Danish Girl Goes To Sri Lanka

categories: Books, Dill, Minced Beef, Movies, Sri Lanka

I am reading The Danish Girl for book club. I am not that far into the book – so there are no spoilers here for anyone who may be concerned but there was a part very early in the book that blew my teeny mind and most likely not at all for the any of the reasons you might be thinking!

Here is the passage:

Even with his eyes closed, standing shirtless in front of his wife felt obscene. It felt as if she’s caught him doing something he had promised he would avoid – not like adultery, but more like resuming a bad habit he’d given his word he would quit, like drinking aquavit in the canal bars of Christianshavn or eating frikadeller in bed”

– David Ebershoff, The Danish Girl

In Sri Lankan Burgher cooking, we have a delicious meatball called a Frikkadel. The name was too similar to the frickadeller found in The Danish Girl for me not to undertake some extensive research. (Otherwise known as googling the word Frikadeller.) And yes, they are pretty much one and the same.

Knowing this also helped to fill a gap in my knowledge about these meatballs. I have long wondered why they are flavoured with dill which is not used that much in Sri Lankan cooking. But it is used a lot in Scandinavian Cooking. Mystery solved!

I cooked some ages ago and never got around to posting them so here are my Friikkadels.

Sri Lankans would not normally eat frikkadels in bed but they would be quite commonly handed around at a drinks party as a “short eat” which is what we call finger food.

Here is the “official” description from the delightful ( but totally demented) Daily News Cookbook, a bastian of Sri Lankan Cooking.

“The term “short eats” was originally used to describe the dainty sandwiches, dry cheese or other savoury biscuits, potato chips and miniature sausages accompanying the drinks at sherry or cocktail parties which usually began at six o’clock in the evening and lasted for a couple of hours at the most….

The chief requisite of short eats is that should appeal to the eye as well as the palate; but they must also be easy to eat – that is, small enough to be conveyed to the mouth with the fingers or, at the most, a small wooden pick”

My frikkadels were eaten as short eats with a dollop of date and tamarind chutney and a garnish of coriander. However, the best, best, best way to eat your frikkadels – better than a short eat or even in bed is as part of a lampries.

Part of a what you ask? One day, when I have an infinite amount of time on my hands I will make one for you. And your minds will be blown by the awesome deliciousness of them. It’s unlikely to happen in the foreseeable purely because of the seven billion things that need to be included. For the lampries is a little pack of many items of Sri Lankan delciousness. Traditionally this would be cooked and served in banana leaves but nowadays alfoil is also used. The lampries contains:

Ghee rice
Lampries Curry – made with chicken, lamb beef and pork. I know it sounds mental but it’s so good!
Frikkadels
Brinjal Pahi – which is an eggplant pickle
Coconut Sambal
Prawn Blachang – which is a dried prawn pickle type thing. Ish.

Now do you see why I will most likely never make this myself? Not only do you need to have all of those things. But they all have about twenty ingredients each. To make lampries tis a labour of love. Which is why we buy them frozen. The best are straight from the kitchen of a little old Sri Lankan lady. Next best is from your local Sri Lankan cafe or restaurant.

And here is one that I ate at The Dutch Burgher Union when we were in Sri Lanka last year:

My favourite way of eating a lampries is to eat one of the frikkadels first. Then the rest. Then the second frikkadel as the very last thing. Kind of like the cherry on the top!

Frikkadels came to Sri Lanka from the Dutch who borrowed them from the Danes. There is also a South African version also via the Dutch. Frikkadels can also be found in many other countries of Northern Europe. This is certainly the little meatball that could!

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Frikkadels

Print Recipe

Delicious Sri Lankan /Dutch / Danish meatballs

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

500g minced beef – do not use the leanest type, you need a higher fat content to keep the frikkadels moist
1 large red onion, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
a piece of ginger about the same size as the clove of garlic, grated
1 tsp black pepper
juice of 1 lime
a large pinch of ground cloves
a pinch of cinnamon
a pinch of grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 sprigs of dill, finely chopped
2 eggs
1 cup of bread crumbs for coating
Oil for frying, ideally coconut but peanut will do

Optional Ingredients

Lime wedges to serve.
Coriander leaves to serve
Chutney or sweet chilli sauce to serve

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Separate the eggs.
Mix the minced (ground) beef, onions, ginger, garlic, pepper, lime juice, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg dill and salt thoroughly with the egg yolks.
Form into balls the size of large marbles.
Beat the whites of the eggs with a fork just enough to break them up but without frothing.
Dip the balls into the eggs whites then roll in the crumbs so they are well coated.
Heat the oil in a deep pan until boiling then fry the frikkadels a few at a time.
When cooked through they should be crisp on the outside and juicy on the inside.
Keep hot, draining on kitchen paper.
Serve with a wedge of lime, chutney or as part of a lampries.

Why not try some at your next party? Or in a lampries? Or even in bed?

The Danish Girl does not open here until the end of the month. Have any of you seen it? What did you think?

Have a fabulous week!

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27
May
2014

Lets Get Chatty…Chatti Pathiri that is (Daring Kitchen)

categories: Chicken & Poultry, Chickpeas, Coriander, Curry, Daring Kitchen, India, Sambol

Here is something you don’t know about me.

You know how some people step up and excel under pressure? I’m not one of them. I warp. I buckle. I crumple and fold. When the going gets tough you can usually find me sobbing in a corner. And one of the things that really fazes me is cooking for other people – not so much for dinners but a bake sale? Guaranteed disaster. Last time? Yes, that was me running into the 7-11 well after midnight, (after the first four attempts at cupcakes had failed) wild eyed, smeared with flour and frosting and slightly twitchy. “Where’s your cake mix? I need a box of cake mix. And I need it now!!!!” I was like a demented Betty Crocker junkie desperate for my fix…..

Chatting Pathiri

Sigh.

The April Daring Cooks Challenge was brought to us by Joanne from What’s On The List. She taught us all about Pathiri and challenged us to create our own version of this inspirational Indian dish!

Challenge was right, I felt the first stirrings of panic rising even as I read the recipe….

So, let’s take a step back before I start hyperventilating (again) and look at this dish called Chatti Pathiri. For those of you, who, like me had never heard of Chatti Pathiri, the best way to explain is that it’s kinda, sorta like an Indian Lasagne where crepes step in for the pasta sheet and, in my case a spicy chicken and chickpea curry acts as the filling.

Yeah, you heard it….yummy, yummy crepes and delicious chicken and chickpea curry. And after you layer these two bits of deliciosuness, you slather them in coconut milk and bake it all together. And mark my words….It’s all good.

So why the fear? Why the cold hand of dread on my spine I hear you ask? Not because of the recipe, that was awesome!!! But because I kind of know Joanne. She reads this. She comments. She’s a lovely, friendly delightful person. And she has entrusted me (and yes, ok thousands of other people on the Daring Kitchen) with a recipe that is obviously very special to her.

And what if I took her delicious recipe and totally screwed it up?

Arrrgggghhhhhh!!!

The pressure….

(I know. Such a Drama Queen. Feel free to roll your eyes. I would be.)

Luckily for me, Joanne’s recipe proved to be idiot proof!!! And super delicious!!!! You can find it here.

I added a little bit more chilli and a can of chickpeas into the chicken mix but apart from that I used Joanne’s recipe as is.

I served my version of Chatti Pathiri with a coconut and coriander sambol and some cherry tomatoes drizzled with a little bit of pomegranate molasses.

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Coriander and Coconut Sambol

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A spicy and refreshing side dish, perfect for eating with your Chatti Pathiri or any other indian dish

Prep Time: 15
Total Time: 15

Ingredients

Scale

3 tbsp coriander leaves
75g coconut (freshly grated is best, I used dessicated)
3 green chillies, deseeded
1 clove of garlic
2.5 cm piece of ginger
2 tsp mint leaves
1 tsp sugar
Salt and freshly squeezed lime juice to taste

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Instructions

Place all ingredients, except lime and salt in a food processor and process until finely chopped.
Add salt and lime juice to taste.
Serve as an accompaniment to curries

Nutrition

Serving Size: 4

The sambol will last in the fridge for about a week if you seal it up. Which is perfect because the Chatti Pathiri is also pretty good reheated on the second day!!!

Joanne, if you’re reading this, thank you very much for the recipe. I loved making it and I loved eating it even more. I hope I have done your recipe and you proud!!!

If this has piqued your interest in Pathiri and /or you would like to see how other Daring Kitchen members interpreted the challenge, you can see some of the completed dishes on Joanne’s blog here.

Or just head over and have a read, you won’t be disappointed!

And speaking of reading, I joined the Goodreads Food and Fiction book. And here’s another thing you may not know about me – my first venture into blogging was trying to match food to the books I was reading. It’s an idea I return to every now and again and I may start adding in one or two of those in the not too distant. In the meantime, if, like me you love food and you love fiction…the Goodreads group may be something for you! You can find a link over on the right.

Have a great week!!!!

And if you want to get chatty, leave a comment!!!!

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10
Mar
2014

Thursday Night Noodles (Spice Peddler)

categories: Asia, Balinese Spice Rub, Noodles, Spice Peddler, Vegetables

For me, Thursday is that day….

You know the day…its when all the vegetables that you bought on the weekend start to look a little drab and tired.

Plus you’re starting to run a bit low and really just have bits and pieces left over from the things you have made in the week. A few beans, a small wedge of cabbage, a measly carrot….

Well here is my new standby which not only gets rid of all of those oddment vegetables but looks pretty, smells great, takes no time to prepare and tastes fab.u.lous.

World, meet my Thursday Night Noodles.

We had our first taste of these with some delicious confit duck breast but you could equally have a salmon filet, a chicken breast, some prawns, some steak or marinated tofu or you know what? The noodles are super tasty just as is.

The recipe is one that you can flex as you want. I had cabbage, carrots, red onion, coriander and snow peas and mushrooms. But you can throw in any veg you have.

I used the super yum Spice Peddler Balinese Spice Rub as my spice blend – the mix of white and black peppercorns, nutmeg, lemongrass, garlic, sugar, turmeric, sesame, onion, chilli,ea sea salt, galangal, ginger and mace is the perfect match for the South East Asian flavours I wanted this dish to have.

As in all great standby’s you can vary this in as many ways as you have imagination – the mix of veg, the spice blend, the type of noodles, the protein…use what you have; smoke ’em if you got ’em!

Speaking of which…am I ever going to be over this song? Apparently not.

So summer, so fun!

I’m going to be spending my week shakin’ it like a bad girl; have a great week whatever you do!

Oh I’ve started using the Ziplist recipe software. It should make it much easier for you to print, save and shop for the tasty delights you find on here. Use it now and make the noodles tonight…whatever night it is!

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Thursday Night Noodles (Spice Peddler)

Print Recipe

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 2 1x

Ingredients

Scale

2–3 handfuls of chopped vegetables. I used cabbage, carrot, snowpeas, onion, mushrooms
1 tbsp peanut oil
1 heaped tsp Spice Peddler Balinese Spice Rub (or other South East Asian Curry paste or powder.
2 tsp Chilli Jam (optional)
1 packet Hokkien noodles
1/2 can coconut milk
Coriander, lime, chopped peanuts, chopped chilli to garnish
2 Confit duck breast or protein or your choice (optional)

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Instructions

Cook your protein of choice. About 10 minutes before that is done begin the noodles.
Heat the oil in a wok. Add the spice mix and stir for a minute until fragrant.
Add the chilli jam and the vegetables and stir until the vegetables start to soften.
Pour boiling water over the noodles to soften.
Drain after 5 minutes.
Add coconut milk to the vegetables and heat through.
Add the noodles and stir through.
Place the noodles on the plate, top with your protein.
Garnish with coriander, lime peanuts and chilli as desired.

Category: Asia

Japanese Stuffed Radishes

Stuffed Prawns

Soy and Ginger Edamame (loosely adapted from A Moveable Feast by Katy Holder)

Japanese Fried Chicken

Japanese Fried Chicken

Ingredients

Instructions

Adam’s Big Pot – Highlights

Adam’s Big Pot – Weaknesses

Adam’s Big Pot – What I’ve Cooked

Carrot and Cumber Som Tam.

Tuna Takaki Salad.

Tuna, Corn And Avocado Salad

Chicken and Cashew Nuts

Tandoori Chicken

Salt and Pepper Squid

Salt & Pepper Squid

Ingredients

Instructions

What to cook Next?

Frikkadels

Ingredients

Optional Ingredients

Instructions

Coriander and Coconut Sambol

Ingredients

Instructions

Nutrition

Thursday Night Noodles (Spice Peddler)

Ingredients

Instructions