Sausage and Kale Pasta

Cooking oil - the fuel to our food. What type of cooking oil(s) are you using? Again, I am referring to "cooking" oil - so let's not talk about extra virgin olive oil typically used for dressing salads, or maybe marinating, sometimes that finishing touch to a completed dish.

To be more specific, what type of oil do you use for sauteeing or stir-frying or even deep-frying?

Butter. Olive oil. Canola Oil. Grapeseed oil. Coconut Oil.

I only came to think about this since I was going to buy a new bottle of cooking oil as the bottle of canola oil ran out in my kitchen.


Back to the dish for today which is German-style brawurst sausages and kale combined in a somewhat Italian-style pasta dish. The salty, sometimes spicy sausage balances well with the slight bitterness in kale. A little fat from the brawurst sausage was rendered out for cooking in this case. Animal fats (considered bad fats) is not exactly healthy but as I don't often cook with sausages, I will save myself from the fussy squeal.

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Sambal Green Beans & Nasi Lemak

What makes a Nasi Lemak your Nasi Lemak? What makes it work for you?


Some say it is the coconut rice. Fail the coconut rice and fail Nasi Lemak. Or is it the sambal chili? Oh yes, it is the sambal chili! Imagine Nasi Lemak without chili? A deal-breaker for me.


What makes Nasi Lemak? It is the ikan bilis and peanuts!


It is the cucumber! It is the egg! and for the egg - will it be hard-boiled? fried egg? sunny-side up?

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Milkfish (and Belly) Porridge in Tainan, Taiwan 虱目魚粥

I usually like my rice porridge or congee more soupy than thick and starchy. How about you? So between Cantonese porridge in which the rice is boiled longer then cooked down with the soup broth or water to a thick and smooth consistency; versus Hokkien-style (also Teochew-style) porridge in which rice grains in the porridge are soft yet intact (you still have to bite and chew on the rice) with visible rice grains and brothy soup distinctly separated in that same bowl of porridge yielding a typically more soupy/watery porridge, I tend to choose the latter.

Milkfish belly porridge, @ 阿星咸粥

Hokkien-style porridge may be cooked in two ways - either soup is directed ladled over cooked rice 泡饭/饭汤 or the rice grains are cooked with a high proportion of fluid (water or broth) till the grains absorb broth flavors. I prefer the latter.

It is my first time trying milkfish porridge 虱目魚粥 and this has by far become my favorite Tainan or Taiwan dish or snack (breakfast). I enjoy it very much, perhaps because I have always enjoyed Hokkien-style porridge.

Milkfish belly porridge, seafood combination porridge, and pan-fried milkfish belly, @阿堂咸粥

A lot of milkfish porridge stalls in Tainan open really early, as early as 5.30am (some even open 24 hours!). The locals and early-birds sure have a good breakfast before they start their day.

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Chicken and Asparagus En-Papillote

Other than using whole-grain Dijon mustard for these baked-in-the-oven grilled chicken wings, whole grain mustard can also be used to flavor the chicken in this Chicken and Asparagus En Papillote.


As you all know by now, I am a believer in En-Papillote a.k.a parchment cooking - fish, chicken or even vegetables on their own as it is ultimate fuss-free cooking, with no dishes to wash at all! except for the fork and knife, perhaps?

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Kimchi Noodles with Bean Sprouts, Mushrooms and Leafy Greens

With these green noodles (noodles made from leaves of the Moroheiya plant) bought from the Japanese supermarket Mitsuwa, I made Kimchi Noodles again.


Moroheiya is highly nutritious and contains beta-carotene, iron, calcium, Vitamin C and Vitamin K. I have not tried it fresh as a vegetable before and hope to some day.

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Milkfish, Awa, Ikan Bandeng, Bangus, 虱目魚

Milkfish (虱目魚 pronounced Si Mu Yu) is a southern Taiwanese specialty. Some popular Taiwanese milkfish dishes include milkfish (and milkfish belly) rice-porridge (虱目魚粥, 虱目魚肚粥），pan-fried milkfish belly （煎 虱目魚肚） and fishballs made from milkfish （虱目魚丸). Have you tried this fish before?

Top left: Milkfish belly porridge; top right: seafood combination porridge, bottom right: fried milkfish belly

If you are hearing about milkfish for the first time just like me, you may want to know more about this fish. It is also known as Awa - in Hawaii, Ikan Bandeng in Indonesia, Bangus in Philippines. I am not quite sure the method of preparation for milkfish in these countries, but I surely like how the Taiwanese prepares them, incorporating de-boned milkfish into a Hokkien-style rice-porridge. I have actually seen whole milkfish being sold in the Asian supermarket - 99 Ranch, in California, USA; however, I don't think I know how to de-bone this notoriously boney fish that is said to have more than 100 to almost over 200 fish bones!

Milkfish has good nutritional value - very high in niacin and Vitamin B12, high in phosphorus, high in selenium, high in vitamin B6. Similar to other oily fish e.g. sardines and salmon, milkfish is also rich in omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) - "nutrients" for the brain. However, since it is high in purine, gout sufferers should mind their intake of this fish.

Tag: milkfish

An Escape to Food on Facebook

Daikon (Radish) Cake with Eggs 萝卜糕炒蛋

One way to add more bulk to daikon/radish cake is to fry them up with eggs! Sound too familiar? This is almost like fried carrot cake that is very popular in Singapore. Well, the idea is similar but in this case, a simplified version at home, using pieces of daikon cake and scrambling some eggs into it.


There are no leftovers whenever we order pan-fried radish cake Lok Bak Ko in dim-sum restaurants. Lok Bak Ko is one of my favorite dim-sum dish/snack items so no Lok Bak Ko is ever left un-eaten in dim-sum eateries unless they are some pieces that have turned sour (yes, I have been served sour Lok Bak Ko that has turned bad and it REALLY sucks!).

However, if you really do have odd pieces left, just cut them to smaller bite-size pieces and fry them with egg.

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Rice-Cooker Nasi Lemak Rice 电锅椰浆饭

Consider it lucky for being successful in my first attempt cooking Nasi Lemak rice using Tatung indirect-heat rice cooker - 大同电锅. In case you are puzzled by this "luck" remark, I am saying that because cooking the perfect Nasi Lemak rice is already tricky with the ratio of coconut cream/milk to water to rice, now played up by what is used to cook the rice.


Even when tasked with the routine regular chore of cooking plain rice - the ratio of water to rice usually needs to be adjusted accordingly to either cooking the rice over the stove or in the rice cooker (and different types of rice cooker). In this case, it is not a fuzzy logic rice cooker, or the traditional direct heat but an indirect heat rice cooker.


Now, to cook coconut-flavored rice, it is also not just playing the water and rice ratio but another third variable (ingredient) being involved: coconut cream/milk. The ratio of coconut milk to water to rice has to be more precise as using too much coconut milk and water may render the rice too wet and sticky.  Moreover, there is also this tricky business of using coconut cream or coconut milk and even in this case, light coconut milk.

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Maitake Mushroom Flatbread Pizza 舞菇比萨饼

The series of flatbread pizza continues...


After an earlier trial with artichoke hearts, pea and corn lavash bread pizza, today's version plays on something more "exotic" - how does Maitake Mushroom Pizza sound? Maitake mushroom is known for its cancer-fighting properties like many other mushrooms. Besides being rich in potassium, Vitamin D, Vitamin B2 and amino acid, it is also a good source of protein and imparts umami flavors to many dishes.

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Carrots and Egg Omelette 红萝卜炒蛋

Other than roasting carrots, stir-frying carrots and perhaps making a pureed all-carrot soup in which carrot shines as a main ingredient (not just a subset ingredient of a dish), this everyday ingredient can also make an omelette taste all natural sweet in an entirely savory dish. Delicious! I have done Daikon Omelette previously and the sweetness does not come close. Thanks to sweet grated carrots!


Watch how a professional chef cook a fluffy delicious carrot omelette. If you notice, the Chinese-style omelette resembles a frittata - the egg is golden brown on the outside with crisp edges; a little different from the Western-style breakfast omelette which is usually more moist throughout.

Note: Two dishes are showcased in this video (Carrot Omelette and Shrimps Asparagus Stir-Fry)

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Grilled Salmon Belly 烤三文鱼肚腩肉

While this is my first post on salmon belly, it is definitely not my first time enjoying this "delicacy". As salmon belly has a oilier texture than salmon fillets, it is really hard to overcook this part of the fish and especially easy to cook on the grill. If you are into crispy salmon skin whenever salmon fillets are pan-seared or when salmon-collars are grilled, then you will enjoy salmon belly on the grill even better.

Salmon Belly with Saba (Mackerel) Fillets, and Vegetable (Zucchini, Bell Pepper, Pineapple) Skewers

Though I usually buy salmon fillets, Alaskan wild (frozen, vacuum-packed in individual packages), the salmon belly here is the farmed version. Farmed salmon is often claimed to be a less-preferred source of salmon as they are often raised in crowded fish pens, treated with antibiotics when infected by any disease, and depending on the variety and the meal they are fed, may have higher levels of PCBs (Source: Eatingwell.com).

However, I have also heard another source (from America Test Kitchen) that as wild salmon does not have a controlled environment, some wild varieties tested actually contain very high levels of PCBs due to the nature of the waters they are swimming in.

Do you buy wild salmon or farmed salmon?


Salmon Belly (left), Saba-Mackerel Fillets (right)

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