Dining Out and a Dastardly Bug

April 14, 2011Asian, Dinner, Lunchbarramundi, blogger, chatswood, chicken, food, hunter, malaysian, octopus, pad, postaweek2011, sydney, thai, wynyardMJyummymunch

Hey everyone! I hope you’re all doing good. It’s been HECTIC! Absolutely! I haven’t really had the chance to whip up some magic in the kitchen as our little one has started day care and has unfortunately, caught the “childcare bug” which she has passed on to her mummy and daddy.

Like my drawing of teddy?

So I have been under the weather these past couple of weeks. We are also in the middle of packing for our move at the end of the month. Not to mention I am also a working mum and all :p You know, as a busy mum…

Whilst I haven’t been able to cook up a storm in the kitchen, the hubby and I have been dining out which to us would be like rekindling those romantic days of yore. Ahhh. Anyhoo, here are some of what we’ve been chowing down on.

Grilled Barramundi - Fish Feast Grill, Westfield Chatswood.

Grilled Baby Octopus – Fish Feast Grill, Westfield Chatswood. Very yummy and tasty.

Nasi Goreng with Chicken Satay – Lee’s Malaysian, Hunter St. Sydney. The chicken was a bit dry but the satay sauce and rice were tops! We went there on a Wednesday night and service was a little slow even though there were very few diners.

Beef Rendang – Lee’s Malaysian, Hunter St. Sydney. Spicy but I love how the meat just falls apart!

Wonton Noodle Soup – Lee’s Malaysian, Hunter St. Sydney. Not usually served with egg noodles as we had this especially ordered for our daughter. She wanted noodle soup but then she fell asleep in her stroller LOL

Sizzling Chicken with Rice $10.90 – Noodle Mee, Wynyard Station Walkthrough, Sydney. This was quite spicy but not sure if it’s because my husband ordered it that way. Tasty and surprisingly filling.

Pad Thai Lover, Prawn $9.90 – Noodle Mee, Wynyard Station Walkthrough, Sydney. My daughter attacking my food! This was really yummy. I think it’s the best pad thai I’ve had in a while, but hey that’s just me. Remember, this is coming back from a stomach bug where I was avoiding food at all costs. I think everything tasted really good after that. LOL!

Pad Thai Lover, Prawn $9.90 – Noodle Mee, Wynyard Station Walkthrough, Sydney.

Until next post, take care.

Chicken Pasta Soup

March 30, 2011Chicken, Dinner, Filipinoblogger, bread, chicken, dinner, food, pasta, postaweek2011, recipe, sopas, soup, sydneyMJyummymunch

Hello good people! So it’s not quite winter but the cold Sydney mornings and nights are certainly upon us. I can’t believe how quickly the cold came to us these last few days. I have to say, I love it. Love it! Love it! Love it! Hot sticky, stinky summer doesn’t quite do it for me. I’m a winter kind of girl, so I say bring on the cold weather!

With the type of weather we’ve been having, I thought to make some comforting chicken pasta soup for dinner. Since my last three posts have been Filipino dishes (Biko, Brazo de Mercedes and Chicken Afritaada), I thought I would give this soup a Filipino twist.

What’s the twist? Well, it’s no big deal really. It’s got evaporated milk and a little bit of fish sauce… Milk and FISH SAUCE? On chicken soup? Crazy! But it’s good. This is my all time favourite soup ever and a it’s a favourite of my daughter too. Plus, you really don’t need an excuse to be sick to have this type of chicken soup

I remember as a young girl, it used to always put a smile on my face when my grandmother and my mother cooked this for us.

Chicken Pasta Soup (Chicken Sopas)

1 kg of chicken wings/drummettes
2 litres of water
1 large onion (diced)
2 medium carrots (diced or cut thinly)
375 ml of evaporated milk
250g small shells pasta (or elbow pasta which is what we use traditionally)
3 to 4 chicken stock cubes
1/2 tsp of pepper
3 to 4 Tbsp of fish sauce (you can omit this if you don’t like fish sauce, and use salt instead to taste)

In a large pot, add the 2 litres of water and boil the chicken until cooked making sure to skim the fat of the stock. Once chicken has cooked, take out from the pot and boil the pasta in the chicken stock. Add a little more water if need be. While the pasta is cooking and once the chicken has cooled, begin to shred the chicken off the bone and set aside. Once the pasta has become al dente, add the onions and carrots. Cook for a minute or two and then lower the heat to about medium. Throw in the shredded chicken, evaporated milk, chicken stock cubes and pepper. Cook for a further 5-10 minutes and stir gently. Add the fish sauce or salt to taste.

If you don’t want to use too much stock cubes, you can also add about a tablespoon of butter into the mix.

Serve and have with your favourite crunchy bread. I just toasted a couple of sliced bread and dipped it in the soup!

Happy eating.

Biko (Sticky Rice Cake)

March 24, 2011Asian, Dessert, Filipinobiko, blogger, brown sugar, dessert, Filipino, food, latik, postaweek2011, recipe, rice, sticky, sydneyMJyummymunch

Hey guys, I hope you’re all having a good week so far. It’s been a really hectic week for us and the next few weeks will also be a busy one.

I’ve been meaning to make this dessert for some time now, but because of the busy schedule my husband and I were on, I couldn’t really spend too much time in the kitchen. Also, we had to keep our kitchen in tip-top shape the last 5 weeks for open house inspections. I’m so glad that’s all over now (successfully sold our house on auction on the weekend!). So on Sunday, after much wait, I finally got the chance to make this dessert.

Biko is a sticky rice cake that is made with coconut milk, brown sugar (or dark palm sugar) and of course, sticky rice. It’s a popular dessert in the Philippines and commonly sold by street vendors or at the markets. I remember as a young girl selling biko outside my aunties shop, I used to get in so much trouble because I lied about selling them, I actually ate them instead. Anyway, that was in the past…

Let’s get on with it, here’s the recipe…

3x 400ml coconut cream or milk
2 cups sticky rice
1 3/4 cups of water
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt (optional)

What you need to do…

1. Cook rice in rice cooker or large pot- so add your rice and water then cook. While rice is cooking, in a large non-stick pan or sauce pan, mix 2x 400ml coconut cream or milk, brown sugar and/or salt. Cook in a medium to high heat and stir constantly until it becomes thick and creamy. May take up to about 15 minutes to thicken.

2. Bring coconut cream/milk to boil. Rice should be cooked at this point, so add rice into the mixture.

3. Lower the heat (low to medium) and mix the rice with the coconut cream/milk mixture until it becomes thick but not dry. This could take between 5-10 mins.

4. Transfer the biko into a serving dish (even better if you line the dish with banana leaves- oh the nostalgia!).

Notice how my rice doesn’t quite look cooked? That’s because it’s not! Silly me didn’t leave it in the cooker long enough. I suggest to leave it in the cooker for another 10 minutes or just add a bit more water. Don’t add anymore than 2 cups of water as it could make your rice mushy in the process.

Now, you’re probably wondering “what in the world is that brown thing on top?”. Well, it’s called ‘Latik’. Latik is made from coconut milk/cream that has been reduced and dried. The oil separates from the milk and heat eventually browns the curds. Doesn’t sound good, but trust me, it’s nice… really It’s the most common topping that we use for desserts back home and it’s very easy to make.

Just place the remaining 400ml of coconut cream or milk in a hot pan and bring it to boil. Once it boils, stir constantly until it’s reduced and the oil separates from the milk. Lower heat to medium.

Mix until the curd browns and then turn off heat. I left mine a tad longer (tsk tsk tsk) hence, the darker colour.

Score the biko and sprinkle the latik on top. If you like South-East Asian desserts, then chances are you’ll probably like this type dessert. The combination of sweet, savoury and bitter are in this dessert. I find that this is best to eat while warm so it can be refrigerated and microwaved warm.

I think next time I might try this with warm coconut cream drizzled on top. Happy eating and have a good weekend Now off to secure that apartment I’ve been eyeing for the last 5 weeks hehehe

Brazo de Mercedes (Sweet Custard filled Meringue)

March 17, 2011Dessert, Featured Recipe, Filipinoblogger, brazo de mercedes, custard, dessert, eggs, food, meringue, postaweek2011, recipe, sydneyMJyummymunch

Brazo de Mercedes is a classic Filipino dessert and a favourite at Filipino parties. Brazo de Mercedes literally translates to “Mercedes Arms”, perhaps due to its elongated and arm like appearance. This dessert is also known as a Creme-filled Log Cake and mostly made of eggs and sugar, sugar and more sugar!

Now I must admit it’s not the easiest dessert to make and will take practice. It took me about 2 attempts to get the right mixture for the meringue and another couple of attempts at baking the meringue without burning it (and the baking paper!).

Most people will likely eat the filling but some will eat the meringue as the filling can get quite sweet. As for me, well, I’ll have both meringue and custard and will go back for 2nd’s, 3rd’s and 4th’s.

I really love how the meringue has that “melt in your mouth” quality and it has a pretty well-balanced sweetness to it. Of course, if you’re going to make this at home, you can always adjust the sweetness.

I found this recipe from Panlasang Pinoy. Check out the video tutorial too (if you can’t understand, you can just follow the written procedure)

What you’ll need:

10 eggs (whites and yolks separated)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup caster sugar

200g condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla essence

icing sugar

That’s it.

Now….

What you need to do:

1. In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine egg whites and cream of tartar then whisk until soft peaks form. Once formed, add caster sugar in small quantities and whisk until stiff peaks forms.

2. Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees celsius then line and grease a large cookie tray (or large, shallow roasting pan) with baking paper. Pour meringue on the tray and spread evenly using a spatula. You can create lines on the meringue by running a fork or serrated knife on top. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the top of the meringue is lightly browned.

3. While meringue is baking, make the custard. In a saucepan or pan, combine the egg yolks (whisk first) and condensed milk then gently mix them together. Apply to a low to medium heat and keep stirring.

4. Add vanilla essence and stir until it forms a paste like texture. Take out from heat and set aside to cool.

5. Take meringue out from oven once baked and set aside to cool.

6. Dust the top of the meringue with icing sugar and cover it with baking paper. Place a clean cookie tray on top of the baking paper and flip the meringue.

7. Gently peel off the baking paper. Spread the custard filling evenly on the meringue and then begin to gently roll the meringue from end to end. Hopefully, you should end up with something that looks like this:

Notes:

- The original recipe calls for 395g of condensed milk. I have used 200g instead to lessen the sweetness.
- Grease your baking paper well before you pour the meringue mix. I did not get to do it properly. Some bits of paper were still stuck to the meringue.
- This dessert doesn’t keep for very long and will begin to shrink and might even collapse so consume (of course share!) on the same day or refrigerate and finish the next day.
- If you don’t have another tray to assist with flipping the meringue, you can also use a clean kitchen towel. Place a large clean kitchen towel or two on a clean, large flat surface. Cover the kitchen towel with baking paper then gently flip the meringue on top of the baking paper.

Ahh… yummy, egg-y, custard-y, meringue-y goodness

Happy eating!

Chicken Afritada (Tomato Base Braised Chicken)

March 11, 2011Chicken, Dinner, Filipinoafritada, blogger, braise, chicken, dinner, food, paste, postaweek2011, recipe, stew, sydney, tomatoMJyummymunch

If there’s one Filipino food I love that is tomato based, it’s chicken afritada. It’s a simple, comforting dish cooked by stewing chicken in a tomato based sauce. I absolutely love it. It has a nice savoury taste to it – a bit sour, sweet and salty. This dish can also be made with pork although the more popular version is chicken.

Ingredients

1kg chicken thigh fillets
3 skinless hot dogs/frankfurts (cut diagonally in small pieces)
1 whole onion (roughly chopped)
1 clove garlic (crushed)
3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 1/2 tsp sugar
140g tomato paste (I did not use all of it)
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
3 medium carrots (chopped)
4-5 medium potatoes (quartered lenghthwise)
1 whole red capsicum (roughly chopped)
1 cup of frozen peas
salt (optional)
oil for frying

Method

In a hot large pot or large heavy pan, heat oil and lightly brown the chicken. Set chicken aside once done. In the same pot/pan, sautee the garlic and onions. Once onions have become transparent, add the hot dogs and fry until browned. Add all the chicken back in the pot/pan and quickly mix through. Throw in the bay leaves, pepper and sugar. Quickly mix through then add the tomato paste and chicken stock. Mix then cover with lid. Lower the heat to medium then leave for about 10 minutes. Add the potatoes and carrots and then give them a mix and once again, leave covered for another 5-8 minutes or until the potatoes are soft (not mashed). Lower the heat to medium to low and then add to the mix the capsicums and peas and leave for about 5 minutes. Season with salt (optional – as chicken stock already adds a bit of salt into the dish).

Turn off heat and serve with steamed rice.