October 2008 ~ Teczcape-An Escape to Food

Buttered Mushrooms with Onion and Herbs

Anyone dislikes mushrooms over here ? Ever since I started buying and using fresh mushrooms in my cooking when I was in the United States, I find it hard to resist fresh mushrooms while I was in Taiwan or now when I'm back in Singapore. Not as if I have not eaten fresh mushrooms before since birth in Singapore. It's just that my association with mushrooms when I was younger was either dried shitake mushrooms or canned button mushrooms. Dried shitake mushrooms are still good for flavoring broths and braising with chicken while canned mushrooms can really come in handy when putting up a dish such as Mui Fan or Braised Noodles or when you really do not have the time to wipe-clean the mushrooms and slice or cut them.

Food in Colors - October 2008 is BROWN and what's better than MUSHROOMS to show off this color. Fresh mushrooms are really what I love when I cook pasta and stir-frys.

Buttered Mushrooms with Onion and Herbs
Ingredients:
some butter, olive oil, 1 red onion thinly sliced, fresh mushrooms(I used a mixture of white and brown), oregano, salt, freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Butter and oil saute pan
2. Add red onions and saute till soft, dash some salt
3. Add in mushrooms and saute till onions caramelize and mushrooms turn soft
4. Add in freshly ground black pepper and herbs

Tag: mushrooms, buttered mushrooms

How to make shrimps and prawns curl

Remember those curly shrimps in my fried rice fit for the "emperor" ? I'll hand over the trick for these lovely curlies. Click for bigger picture!

When you slit the shrimps to de-vein, do not cut through to the other side so that you can keep one whole shrimp intact. Then, cut a little opening at the other side of the head-end so that the tail-end of the shrimp can be slipped in?! Errrr...did I sound confusing ? Woops...

Also read how I "fork" the scallions, or....tips for cutting onions to increase sweetness.

Tag: shrimps, prawns

Chicken Macaroni Soup - comfort when the world goes Holy Dow!

Holy Cow! If you have read the crisis and turmoil in the media (all kinds) everyday since last month, I bet you would not want to hear another Holy Dow in my blog. So how about...

Holy Macaroni,
This is one comfort food for me;
Carrots and celery do some trick,
There is no secret and hidden tip.

Look at the colors...or does the sound of chicken macaroni tempt you enough ? I totally enjoy homemade chicken macaroni. Whenever I cook this, I can see the smile on my other half. Though he has limited ability over Mandarin (Chinese language), I will still hear him say "Yes ...就是这个味 - this is THE TASTE!" ...then *silent*....except for the chomp chomp chomp I hear for the rest of the meal. We are easy people to satisfy...you know :D

Chicken macaroni soup
Ingredients:
- Any chicken parts you prefer (except the head and buttocks!)
-3-5 stalks from a bunch of celery, washed and sliced
-0.75lbs baby carrot, washed and cut into halves
-dried mushrooms, soaked in water to clean; then chopped to pieces
- 1 small knob (3-4cm) of ginger, cut into half
-water (adjust accordingly)
-1 cup chicken broth(option: since you will be boiling chicken in water too - you will be cooking your own broth too)
-pinch of salt, to taste
-dash of pepper, to taste
-drops of sesame oil
-cilantro and red chili, sliced to garnish
- fried shallots for garnish if you have
-vegetables such as bok choy as side dish

Directions:
1.Boil the chicken in water for ~15-30mins (depending on size of chicken used) with celery, carrots, ginger and mushrooms, till chicken is cooked through. Add salt to taste in the process
2.Remove boiled chicken from pot, to cool. When cooled, shred the chicken, set aside (the unused shredded chicken, keep in fridge or freezer for future use)
3.Throw the chicken rib/bones back into the pot of warm soup, dash in some white pepper, stir and mix well
4.Meanwhile, cook macaroni in boiling water according to package instructions, shd be about 10mins or less
5.When ready to serve, heat up the pot of soup and ladle flavorful soup of celery, carrots and mushrooms over the macaroni, top with shredded chicken
6.Garnish with cilantro and red chili

P.S. If you wish to have more vegetables, you can add any seasonable leafy greens (bok choy, you cai, chinese spinach) to the chicken macaroni soup as the side.

Presto Pasta Night back to Ruth this week and I'm glad to be shooting for this round.

Tag: macaroni, chicken macaroni

Deep-Fried Fish Skin 炸鱼皮

How about some fish chips for you? These are Deep Fried Fish Skin! Yes, skin only.

In Hong Kong, some of the fishball/fishcake noodle stores serve deep fried fish skins, and you can actually enjoy these fish "chips" with the noodle soups :)

Tag: fish skin, Hong Kong eating

Claypot Rice with Beef and Egg - Wing Hop Shing in Hong Kong

What do you think an old and chipped-off-the-edge clay pot will do ?

The BEST beef rice EVER!

The same eatery where we had the corned beef sandwich, Wing Hop Shing Restaurant - 永和成茶餐厅 is famous for its Claypot Rice with Beef and Egg as well. Looks like this place is good for its beefy stuff.

They serve the beef rice in clay pot with the raw egg cracked on top. With the heat of the beef, rice and claypot, you mix-in the egg with the beef and rice (as shown). Mix well, and voila!

*Taken few months back while in Hong Kong

Wing Hop Shing Restaurant - 永和成茶餐厅
G/F, 113-115 Jervois Street, Sheung Wan

Tag: claypot rice, Hong Kong eating

Egg and Shrimp Fried Rice - fit for an emperor as it has Emperor Vegetables!

OK. NO rice cooker meals for now. I'm just doing what most people do with leftover rice (or I call it a "purposed" leftover) . I cooked twice the amount of rice in the rice cooker one day, consumed one half as-is with dishes such as Spicy Beef with Mushrooms, Three-Cup Chicken or Chinese Steamed Fish; and the other half - I kept it in the fridge for fried rice the next day. Yay, FRIED RICE in a pan...alas, and not FRIED RICE in a rice cooker.

Fried Rice that comes with egg, shrimp and THIS MYSTERIOUS VEGETABLE which I am sharing with Weekend Herb Blogging over at Amy and Jonny of We Are Never Full this week.

A hiatus from Weekend Herb Blogging ever since some of my last WHB sessions. That's because I have been using the common vegetables and herbs in my cooking and have not seen any interesting that I could tell you about. But now, I'm ready to.

I used to think that these vegetables are the adult-/overgrown- version of pea-sprouts since in Chinese, we call it 帝王苗 (pronounced di wang miao) meaning Emperor Vegetable and it has the character "苗" (pronounced miao) in it, meaning "sprouts". That brought the confusion. And apparently, this vegetable is not a version of pea sprout. It is a perennial vine vegetable. After much research in the Net, I managed to find the English name for it - Basella Alba. A distinct feature of this vegetable is the succulent mucilage (alike okra or ladies fingers) and this mucilage is thought to remove mucus and toxins from the body. The plant is also a rich source of chlorophyll (did The Incredible Hulk eat this? :P ).

Egg and Shrimp Fried Rice with Basella Alba (Emperor Vegetable)
Ingredients:
Basella Alba, shrimps, eggs, red chili, ginger, oyster sauce, soy sauce, leftover cold rice

Directions:
Fry the Basella Alba
1. In lightly oiled pan, fry ginger and red chili, then add in the vegetable, add ~1tsp oyster sauce
2. When vegetable is cooked to tender (yet not overcooked to limpy), set aside.

Fry the other ingredients and rice
3. In the same pan, add in some oil, then add in eggs to scramble it. Before the eggs are cooked, add in shrimps and rice and fry the rice (make sure mixed well with eggs and shrimps) at medium heat (Note: at low heat, the rice tends to stick to the pan).
4. Add in soy sauce, and pepper to taste

5. When fried rice is ready, you can add in the vegetables (and mix well). Note: Make sure you don't add all the gravy of the vegetables in there. Add in some gravy but not all. The rice will just absorb some moisture and flavor of the vegetable, yet not turn wet and soggy

Want some ?

Tag: vegetable, Basella Alba,fried rice

Lemongrass Steamed Fish with Ginger, Cilantro and Green Onions

Teach a Man to Fish is the blog event that taught me a lot about sustainable seafood. How I wish Singapore could educate consumers about seafood around the Asia region since some of Singapore's fish imports come from neighboring Asian countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia.

If there were a similar pocket seafood guide like the one from Monterey Bay Aquarium, I would... and could use it when I buy seafood in supermarkets here.

If you could get a red snapper to cook your fish dish today, a good alternative would be a red snapper from the Northwest Hawaiian Islands and avoid those from US Gulf of Mexico and Main Hawaiian Islands.

No more "Ifs".

With good quality fresh seafood, I go for minimal cooking. Lightly grilled, simply baked or easily steamed. And I usually don't deep fry a fresh fish unless it is called for.

Lemongrass Steamed Red Snapper
Ingredients:
snapper fillet rubbed with salt and pepper and drizzle of cooking wine and soy sauce; and these herbs - lemongrass, cilranto, green onion, ginger, red chili; and silken tofu cubes (optional)

Directions:
With the lightly seasoned fish, place in steamer with the herbs and tofu and steam about 8 mins.

Did you remember my participation in the same event the previous year?

If you got yourself some Best Choice seafood today, you could try one of these Fish recipes:
Steamed Toman(snakehead) fillet with Ginger and Green Onions
Steamed Cod Fish Rolls
Pan Fried Snapper in Soy Sauce and Ginger
Tandoori Tilapia
Steamed Halibut with Tofu, Shallots and Cilantro

Tag: steamed fish, lemograss steamed fish

Corned Beef and Egg Sandwich - Wing Hop Shing, Hong Kong

The Beef Sandwich is highly recommended in this place in Hong Kong.

Specifically, it's the Corned Beef and Egg Sandwich.

Living up to its name...

Corned beef and onions scrambled with egg

The Yun Yong Milk Tea is aromatic and does not leave a bitter aftertaste

*Visited earlier this year, 2008
Wing Hop Shing Restaurant - 永和成茶餐厅
ADDRESS: G/F, 113-115 Jervois Street, Sheung Wan

More Hong Kong Eating here.

Tag: corned beef, sandwich, Hong Kong eating

New York Times, then Malay Mail. Yipee! OK. Enough "self-pimping".

Curious about The Food Escapist ? That's me, Tigerfish from Teczcape - An Escape to Food. ^o^

Thanks Gabey, from Malay Mail, for the interview. I do hope "Tigerfish" made it - as an interesting feature to the Malaysian readers out there. I tend to think I am much a boring person most of the times.

I hope my Californian friends, Singaporean friends and readers all over the world who come by my blog, get to know a little more about me.

Well, my real name has already been revealed earlier. What?! You did not know ? Check the NY Times link to find out if you have missed it. Some of my readers were so sharp to get my name right there!

And now, the "motivation" behind my un-catchy and drab blog name which does not spell any recipes, cooking, cuisine, culinary, delicious eating, yum factor...so to speak. Check that out!

What's next? Am I going to tell you why I am Tigerfish ? Nah, I hope that does not happen. I am still the shy Tigerfish, you know *wink*

Shrimps and eggs - an idea gets sensational here!

I don't deal with flour but that does not mean I cannot buy cute cookie cutters :)

October's Monthly Mingle on Sensational Sides will be hosted by Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. I am going to work on a tasty time-saver side-dish - it's for you...so that you can have more time for other preparations (eg. cooking THE jaw-dropping, drool-worthy main dish, shopping for gifts, wrapping gifts etc.) for Thanksgiving and Christmas. But I assure you, your guests will still be dropping their jaws, and drooling much when they see this! Surprise them!

If one picture tells it all, you know how easy it can be. And if one picture tells it all, you know how delectable it can be.

Shrimp with Egg/"I-HEART-Shrimp" recipe
Ingredients: Medium/large shrimp dabbed dry, seasoned with pepper, sliced to half (but not completely separated, tip of shrimp intact - refer to pictures), eggs, cilantro, soy sauce/salt and pepper for the egg, black pepper

Directions:
1. Whisk the eggs with some soy sauce/salt and pepper
2. In a oiled large area flat pan, place the shrimps around the pan, making sure they are not too close one another. When one side of shrimp is lightly browned(hear sizzles), flip the shrimps over to cook the other side
3. Pour the whisked eggs gently around the pan so that it fills the empty spaces within the shrimps
4. Add cilantro leaf near each shrimp on the egg. Give a gentle press (using flat turnover ladle) over the entire egg with shrimp and cilantro
5. Cut out each egg (with shrimp + cilantro) using a cookie cutter and serve.
Option: I enjoyed mine with mango salsa. It goes really well! You could just have coarsely ground black pepper sprinkled on it if you really want it easier.

Similar idea from the spinach omelette "cookie" - remember ?

Other shrimp-worthy sides and snacks:
Shrimp Toasts, Shrimp Squares
Bread Crusted Shrimp Rolls
Nori/Seaweed Shrimps

This side dish goes well with mango salsa. My recipe for mango-kiwi salsa here.

Tag: omelette, shrimp omelette, shrimps, snacks, party food

Tea for cleaning utensils - Hong Kong

Washing utensils such as chopsticks in hot tea is quite a usual practice in some older cafes of Hong Kong. Sometimes, we are really not sure if we should drink the tea or use it to clean/"sterilize" the utensils. After several observations of locals doing the cleaning/"sterilizing", we reckon that was the thing to do... .... .... .....or not ?

*Taken few months back in Hong Kong

Pumpkins - not a fan of pumpkins but fan of Fall/Autumn

Fall is here! But I am not in California to enjoy it. :(
I totally adore autumn colors and the cooling trend it brings to California.

So many pumpkins !

Giant pumpkin at 1223 lbs !

Many many pumpkins...

More pumpkins...

These were taken two years ago. This year's Half Moon Bay Art And Pumpkin Festival is on 18-19 Oct 2008.

Tag: pumpkins

Chicken Apple Curry - Potatoes for me, please...

Now that I am somewhere nearer the equator, I definitely miss the four Seasons - Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer. I can neither buy them nor import them :( It is officially Fall/Autumn in the US. How about some mild spicy curry with some APPLES to celebrate Autumn and its colors ? I adore the colors of golden hue during Fall/Autumn in California (miss it so much...) and the cooling temperature it brings along.

I like potatoes in my chicken curry. If you think it is too much "starch", here's what you can try. The healthy but not-as-nice version. Apples, yes. Hahaha....AP-POOLS...as how some kids pronounced it. This is a bookmarked recipe from a Chinese TV cooking show (in Taiwan). I'm trying it for Bookmark Recipes, hosting baton is back to the creator/host Ruth's Kitchen Experiments this week.

I cooked this one day...for the reason that I had apples and no potatoes at that time. This dish obviously targeted at young kids since apples will bring some sweetness and a little (really a little) tangy factor into an otherwise spicy dish.

Hmmm....don't kids like potatoes? Maybe it was the parents' idea to sneak in apples into a kid's dish. I don't know since I don't cook for kids. I'm just trying to say...if I were a kid, I would like potatoes in my chicken curry, please.

But this sure look like potatoes in curry...

Chicken and Apple Curry
Ingredients:
6-9 small chicken drummets; apples, cubed; 1 medium onion sliced; 2tbsp curry powder

Directions:
1. In a lightly oiled pan, saute the onions till they soften
2. Add in chicken and curry powder, mix well
3. Add in chicken stock or water and simmer the entire mixture for 10mins till chicken is cooked
4. Add in apples the last, mix well and allow simmer for 3-5mins.
5. Serve

Tag: apple, curry