Autumn Days

Spicy Fish Head Stew

For squeamish readers, please look away. Fish head is my favorite part of the fish to eat and I admit I can be pretty bizarre in my choice of food! In Asia and especially at banquet dinners or restaurants, it is not unusual to see a plate of chicken, duck, fish or even suckling pig served with their heads sitting on the plate. I rather not have the others present but a fish served without a fish head is simply a joke to me.

I normally get salmon head in the Asian groceries and sometimes in my local grocery too! It is very meaty and I always ask that the head be cut divided and cleaned as it is impossible for me to do it in my own kitchen and frankly speaking, I don't like doing it! I used to cook it with tamarind and lots of ginger to get rid of the fishy smell but it seems that Curry is not a very big fan of tamarind and its tartness.

Perhaps I am inspired by those kimchi stew that I always see in Korean dramas, on how the actors slurp from their earthen pot, piping hot and spicy and their satisfied looks with their puffing and panting, I wanted to make something similar too. It was raining the whole day and I was going to cook something hot and spicy to warm my soul and appetite. And I am sure Curry will be very happy too!

For this dish, I used only chilli powder with lime juice to create the stew soup. I think Thai style fish head dish would have included fresh chillis and also dried chillis with tamarind but I was ready to create something more similar to the Korean Kimchi stew version, where the soup base is more of a light broth consistency rather than sauce or gravy like and with a brazen red color, signalling spiciness awaiting to burn your lips! And this dish must be served piping hot with rice or else the effect of the spiciness is not that good.

Ingredients :

1 Salmon Fish head (around 1.5lbs)

1/4 cut of a radish (appx 10oz)

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 knob of ginger, sliced

2 small red shallots, sliced

4 stalks of scallion, white part sliced & green part, cut thinly and diagonally

2 tbsp red chilli powder

1 tbsp sugar

1-1/2 cup water

Juice of 1 lime

salt

Method:

1. Cut the radish thinly into sticks.


2. Heat 2 tbsp cooking oil in a saute pan. Add in the ginger, garlic, white part of scallion and shallot. Saute for 30 seconds. Add in the salmon head and stir to blend in . Let sit for 2 mins on medium heat and turn the salmon head around.


3. Sprinkle in the chilli powder. Add in the lime juice. Sprinkle in the sugar and stir to blend. Add in water and half of the radish sticks. Close lid and let simmer on low fire for 15 to 20 minutes, till the fish eyes are opaque. Stir in some salt.


4. Garnish with the sliced scallion and remaining radish sticks. Serve hot.

Serves : 2 persons

Pumpkin Mousse Cake

The last cake I made was in spring and with the autumn here, I am eager to try my hands on it again. Not that I have any preference to which type of baked goods but making a cake is more of a feat to me and I don't have many people to share an 8 inch round cake and Curry is more of a buttery tart and pie person and of course Missy E wishes she can eat all the cakes in the world but overeating one is never a good idea.

I am a big fan of all type squash and I grew up with it when my mum would fry it soft but not mushy with the dried shrimps and garlic. The most similar type of squash in taste and texture that I get here is the butternut squash and I cook it the same way. However, Curry is the opposite who thinks pumpkins and squash are a bit mushy for his palate and I think most men do too. I would love to bake a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving but first I have to make him practise eating this pumpkin mousse cake first!

As I have no idea on how to really cut up a whole pumpkin and wouldn't want to do it, I used canned pumpkin for this mousse cake. Straight out from the can, it tasted like a pumpkin, earthy and heavy but not sweet. For 1 cup of this mashed pumpkin, I added 1/2 cup of sugar. As I am a die hard fan of all things mini and cute, I used a mini heart shaped pan which has 12 sections with detachable bottoms, which is a must for mousse cakes. I guess I would have to use the whole can of pumpkin if I was to make a usual size cake. But for a start, I will do it small. Alot of work but worth it.

For the base, I made an ordinary genoise cake. Perhaps this is the first time I got to beat the eggs to triple the volume with the KitchenAid mixer, the sponge really baked beautifully. Initially I wanted to put some red streaks coloring into the sponge cake itself to reflect the autumn color but I forgot about it once the batter was already in the oven. The addition of jellied lingonberry jam was an afterthought and luckily, it turned out nice. As the mini pans were small, approximately 3 inches each if not less, it was quite difficult to estimate on how much batter should I scoop into each. I filled each to 1/2 full and true that the beating of the eggs was very successful this time, the sponge cake rose high and mighty during the baking! So I had to do the extra work of releasing each and every one to cut the sizes to 1/2 as to make space for the pumpkin mousse which is to fill the top part.

I added some gelatin to the red jam and spread a thin layer on each of the sponge cake. The Pumpkin mousse was made by first cooking the mashed pumpkin with the sugar till dissolved and gelatin was added immediately and the mixture left to cool to room temperature. I omitted the addition of the usual nutmeg as I don't like the smell it gives to pumpkin pies. I whipped up 1 cup of heavy cream and slowly folded it into the pumpkin mixture. With a zip lock bag, I piped the pumpkin mousse into the 12 sections of sponge cake and tap the pan to release any air pockets and the mousse levels itself without the need of further manual spreading. Then, I just let them stabilize and set in the refrigerator for 2 hours. This cake can be served cold straight out of the refrigerator and the mousse will be firmer then. If served at room temperature, you will feel the creaminess of the pumpkin mousse and the sponge base is softer. I sprinkled some powdered sugar on top before serving. Perhaps there was no eggs added to the mousse, it is not custardy smooth on the appearance. But that is pumpkin and squash to me, wild and rugged from the fields and robust in taste on the plate. Curry had one and so far, no comment yet but at least he gobbled one up less than 30 seconds. Pumpkin pie.... I will have a chance!

Bon Bon Chicken (Chinese Szechwan)

My mood to blog spiraled down as fast as the stock market for the past 2 weeks. While everyone was talking about the economic meltdown, I was having a stamina meltdown! The lazy bug is always lurking inside of me and it kind of spread its wings and I added the excuse that Curry was out of town and I need not do anything fancy and rather watch repeated episodes of Lost and got Lost literally!

Well, after feeding on the same type of lunch and dinner for 5 days and Missy E starting to whine "AGAIN" & "AGAIN", I went back to my cookbooks. Flipping through everything, I only found one thing I wanted to make and it is this funny named dish called 'Bon Bon Chicken'. And frankly speaking, I should have picked another simpler one to make as this dish was quite alot of work and by the end of the day, I was exhausted, or maybe lazy again!

I first tasted this dish in Hong Kong 10 years ago. As they said, Hong Kong has the best Chinese eateries of all ethnicities and I agree. I like this dish at room temperature rather than cold as normally served in the restaurants. This dish is all about its sesame paste sauce that is drizzled sparingly over a bed of shredded chicken meat sitting on a pile of rice flat noodle. The sesame taste is very strong but very good to eat as it smells nutty and rich over the bland noodle and complements the chicken shreds well. Instead of vegetable salad, I will opt for this dish served with blanched shredded cabbage leaves on the side. The labor intensive parts are the shredding of the chicken and grinding of the toasted sesame seeds. Sesame paste is available at Asian stores and the Mediterranean Tahini is quite similar in taste. The rice flat noodle is normally called Rice stick, and a product from Vietnam or Thailand. I guess any type of noodle can be substituted as long as it doesn't have any taste of its own. One thing I am not sure is why the name is called "Bon Bon" or translated literally into Chinese "Bun Bun Tzi". And since it is a Sichuan dish, chilli oil is actually drizzled onto the dish too but I have to omit it as my kids and I cannot take chilli, although Curry would love it very much.

Ingredients:

A) Sesame Paste
3 tbsp white sesame seeds
2 tbsp water

1 tbsp oil

B) Chicken & Noodle

2 large chicken thigh meat with drumsticks attached & Skin removed

150 gm rice stick

1 tbsp chinese cooking wine
1 tsp Kosher salt
1- 1/2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
10 napa cabbage leaves (with white stalk part removed and all rolled up and chiffon cut to thin strands)

Method:

1. Heat the sesame seeds in a frying pan without added oil. Turn on slow medium heat and when they are slightly browned, remove from heat and process or ground with mortar & pestle till paste form. Add in the water and oil and stir to combine well. Keep in refrigerator till ready to use.


2. Clean the chicken thighs, apply the cooking wine and salt and steam for 15 to 20 minutes on medium heat till cooked thoroughly. Remove and let cool completely before shredding.


3. Boil water and cook the rice sticks till soft, approximately 10 mins. Drain water and rinse under running cold water. Drain in colander.


4. Boil water and blanch the napa cabbage leaves for 10 seconds. Remove and drain.


5. Arrange the rice stick on plate and next the chicken meat.


6. Add the soy sauce, vinegar and sugar into the sesame paste and stir to thin consistency. Taste first prior to drizzling on the chicken. If required, more of the 3 ingredients may be added.


7. Arrange the cabbage leaves to make a nice presentation. Alternatively use cucumber.

Serves 2 to 3 persons

October Bento Days (1)

After a whole week of laziness and cold mornings to sleep in, I finally gained my strength to wake up early again to do the Bentos. And luckily I have a human alarm Clock, made by me and named Prince D or else I will be sleeping Beauty OR Beast everyday! I was so ready to do my first October Bento and when I reached into the refrigerator, I noticed something amiss! Where the hell was it..... that overnight bowl of beef stew with infused meat and lovely carrots & potatoes? That beef stew that I saved from Sunday night so that I don't have to labor over the pots & stove this morning! That particular bowl of beef stew that I skipped last night just for this morning's Bento! And so I sniffed around and smelled beef stew in the microwave oven. Nothing in there. And I realised, the microwave was beeping late last night when I was already up in bed..... oh goodness! Curry has eaten his today's Lunch last night..... very late night supper snack!

Sometimes you meant well, people just have to screw it up for you! I had nothing in hand now and yet I was already up, might as well make something. As I am sure Curry will say that he is overstuffed from last night, I made him a Snack Bento box instead and with not much idea on a cold early morning, I opened a can of baby corns and cut up some enoki mushrooms. Pan fried them a bit and threw in some kimchi. And I was proud that I still went on and made some simple sushi rolls for him! Half way I was thinking... huh... this is love eh.....the married way? You lucky man, Curry!

As rushed things never come out good, so were my sushi. The shapes were not very uniform. I just made the simple omelet and turkey ham for fillings. And along the way, I ate my breakfast too, the odds and ends of the sushi rolls. As we have perhaps 30 apples sitting around from the picking on Sunday, I cut up half a Fuji and a Gala for the fruit box. Next time I know better to hide leftovers tight and sealed!

Autumn's Beauty