Father's Day Dinner and some Ottolenghi Goodness

Chicken with cardamom rice

Mmm... don't you just love a big comforting pot of chicken and rice? It's my dad's favourite dish, so for Father's Day this year, I decided to make him a dinner with Ottolenghi's chicken with cardamom rice as the central dish. I chose some other recipes from Jerusalem as accompaniments, with a simple Donna Hay crème caramel for dessert. (His other favourite!)

A Father's Day Dinner for Four

Butternut squash and tahini spread

Crudités‎, garlic pide, za'atar pide

Na'ama's fattoush

Chicken with cardamom rice

Crème caramel

All the savoury recipes in this menu come from the gorgeous book Jerusalem, however, many of the recipes from the book seem to have been pretty widely published over the net - by bloggers, in newspapers, on forums and so on. (For whatever reason, authors Yotam and Sami don't seem bothered by it - and as far as I can tell, it doesn't seem to have dented their immense popularity! If anything, I think it's helped spread the word.) Having not made any adaptations to their recipes on this occasion, I won't be publishing them myself here, but I've included links to the recipes in the menu above, for your reference. However, I can highly highly recommend purchasing a copy of the book for yourself - it's brilliant!

Let's take a look at the meal.

Butternut squash and tahini spread, peeled Dutch carrots, radishes

The butternut squash and tahini spread sounded like it would be right up my alley, but I found it unrelentingly dense and cement-like, despite my trying to slacken the mixture with extra yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil and water. I love the idea of starting a meal with a vegetable dip with vegetable crudités though, but next time I think I'll try one of their hummus or eggplant dip recipes.

Garlic pide, za'atar pide

Don't panic - I didn't bake the bread myself, this time! I just bought some Turkish bread at the supermarket, drizzled it with olive oil and za'atar and heated it through in the oven. I also picked up a loaf of that fantastically garlicky Afghani bread (I can't remember the brand, but they seem to sell them at larger supermarkets and are very large ovals of thin bread, with lots of oil and a strong garlicky aroma that always escapes the plastic bag in which it is held.) Love it.

Na'ama's fattoush, before dressing

Na'ama's fattoush is Sami's mother's recipe, and although I was worried a salad containing bread and a yogurt dressing would be very rich, it was actually wonderfully refreshing. I loved the fresh crunch of the cucumber, tomato, radish and red onion, against the soft bread and creamy yogurt.

Na'ama's fattoush, with dressing and sumac

And here's the chicken!

Chicken with cardamom rice

It was a little more work than my usual family favourite: Nigella's saffron-scented chicken pilaf, and there were quite a few more ingredients, but it was so worth it! All the different spices (cardamom, cloves, cinnamon) and herbs (dill, coriander, parsley) create such complex and unusual layers of flavour, and cooking the chicken on the bone makes the rice extra tasty. I had been a bit nervous that the chicken wouldn't cook through, or that the rice would burn, but I followed the directions exactly, and both the chicken pieces and rice were cooked perfectly. Most importantly, Dad loved it, and kept on picking at it straight out of the pot as the evening went on.

Crème caramel

I had made the crème caramels earlier that day, and unmoulded them to serve. As you can see, they were a bit messy (I just ran a knife around the side of the ramekins and tipped them out into shallow bowls - but think I should have dipped them in hot water first, to loosen the caramel from the bottom and sides). My dad didn't seem to mind though - yay! They were really creamy, with a great bitter edge from the caramel. (I used vanilla beans, because I love them, and everyone seems to think it's a treat seeing vanilla bean flecks). I used a Donna Hay recipe for the crème caramels (recipe here) - her über-styled food photography really gets on my nerves, but I can't deny that she has good recipes for the basics and classics.

For me, the most impressive dish was, surprisingly, the salad! I loved the refreshing yet comforting fattoush so much that I made it again a few days later for a midweek dinner. This time, I made it with turkey & courgette burgers with spring onion and cumin (also from Jerusalem) and some mashed sweet potato and butternut squash. So fantastic! And it made fab leftovers for workday lunches too - bonus!

Na'ama's fattoush, sweet potato and pumpkin mash, turkey and zucchini burgers

Turkey and zucchini burgers, Na'ama's fattoush, mashed sweet potato and butternut squash

Chicken with cardamom rice

Mmm... don't you just love a big comforting pot of chicken and rice? It's my dad's favourite dish, so for Father's Day this year, I decided to make him a dinner with Ottolenghi's chicken with cardamom rice as the central dish. I chose some other recipes from Jerusalem as accompaniments, with a simple Donna Hay crème caramel for dessert. (His other favourite!)

A Father's Day Dinner for Four

Butternut squash and tahini spread

Crudités‎, garlic pide, za'atar pide

Na'ama's fattoush

Chicken with cardamom rice

Crème caramel

All the savoury recipes in this menu come from the gorgeous book Jerusalem, however, many of the recipes from the book seem to have been pretty widely published over the net - by bloggers, in newspapers, on forums and so on. (For whatever reason, authors Yotam and Sami don't seem bothered by it - and as far as I can tell, it doesn't seem to have dented their immense popularity! If anything, I think it's helped spread the word.) Having not made any adaptations to their recipes on this occasion, I won't be publishing them myself here, but I've included links to the recipes in the menu above, for your reference. However, I can highly highly recommend purchasing a copy of the book for yourself - it's brilliant!

Let's take a look at the meal.

Butternut squash and tahini spread, peeled Dutch carrots, radishes

The butternut squash and tahini spread sounded like it would be right up my alley, but I found it unrelentingly dense and cement-like, despite my trying to slacken the mixture with extra yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil and water. I love the idea of starting a meal with a vegetable dip with vegetable crudités though, but next time I think I'll try one of their hummus or eggplant dip recipes.

Garlic pide, za'atar pide

Don't panic - I didn't bake the bread myself, this time! I just bought some Turkish bread at the supermarket, drizzled it with olive oil and za'atar and heated it through in the oven. I also picked up a loaf of that fantastically garlicky Afghani bread (I can't remember the brand, but they seem to sell them at larger supermarkets and are very large ovals of thin bread, with lots of oil and a strong garlicky aroma that always escapes the plastic bag in which it is held.) Love it.

Na'ama's fattoush, before dressing

Na'ama's fattoush is Sami's mother's recipe, and although I was worried a salad containing bread and a yogurt dressing would be very rich, it was actually wonderfully refreshing. I loved the fresh crunch of the cucumber, tomato, radish and red onion, against the soft bread and creamy yogurt.

Na'ama's fattoush, with dressing and sumac

And here's the chicken!

Chicken with cardamom rice

It was a little more work than my usual family favourite: Nigella's saffron-scented chicken pilaf, and there were quite a few more ingredients, but it was so worth it! All the different spices (cardamom, cloves, cinnamon) and herbs (dill, coriander, parsley) create such complex and unusual layers of flavour, and cooking the chicken on the bone makes the rice extra tasty. I had been a bit nervous that the chicken wouldn't cook through, or that the rice would burn, but I followed the directions exactly, and both the chicken pieces and rice were cooked perfectly. Most importantly, Dad loved it, and kept on picking at it straight out of the pot as the evening went on.

Crème caramel

I had made the crème caramels earlier that day, and unmoulded them to serve. As you can see, they were a bit messy (I just ran a knife around the side of the ramekins and tipped them out into shallow bowls - but think I should have dipped them in hot water first, to loosen the caramel from the bottom and sides). My dad didn't seem to mind though - yay! They were really creamy, with a great bitter edge from the caramel. (I used vanilla beans, because I love them, and everyone seems to think it's a treat seeing vanilla bean flecks). I used a Donna Hay recipe for the crème caramels (recipe here) - her über-styled food photography really gets on my nerves, but I can't deny that she has good recipes for the basics and classics.

For me, the most impressive dish was, surprisingly, the salad! I loved the refreshing yet comforting fattoush so much that I made it again a few days later for a midweek dinner. This time, I made it with turkey & courgette burgers with spring onion and cumin (also from Jerusalem) and some mashed sweet potato and butternut squash. So fantastic! And it made fab leftovers for workday lunches too - bonus!

Na'ama's fattoush, sweet potato and pumpkin mash, turkey and zucchini burgers

Turkey and zucchini burgers, Na'ama's fattoush, mashed sweet potato and butternut squash

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Chicken with Black Bean Chipotle Chili and Rice

Chicken with Black Bean Chipotle Chili and Rice

This is one of my son's preferred comfort food meals. There are no worries about throwing out leftovers with this delicious dinner, the resident teenage appetites have even been known to warm this up for breakfast the next morning.

When serving both meat eaters and vegetarians for dinner, this is also a very useful dish because the chili is essentially vegetarian anyway and except for the last of the cooking time it does not come into contact with the roasted chicken pieces. It's therefore very easy to separate as many servings of the chili as necessary before pouring the remainder over the chicken for the meat eaters. Recipes like this make it so simple to navigate such different dietary restrictions... and deliciously so too.

Chicken with Black Bean Chipotle Chili and Rice

Recipe by Barry C. Parsons

Simply roasted chicken pieces simmered in spicy black bean chipotle chili and served over plain rice. A great comfort food meal.

Prep time: Approximately 15 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total time: 1 1/2 hours
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients

• One whole, 3 lb chicken, cut in individual pieces
• salt and pepper to season
• Aprox. 1 tbsp chili powder to season the chicken
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 medium red onion, finely diced
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 4 cups canned diced tomatoes
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 cup frozen sweet corn
• 1 large can black beans, rinsed
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 3 tbsp molasses or 4 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp gground chipotle powder (or more to taste)
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp salt

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Season the chicken pieces with sat and pepper and sprinkle with chili powder.
3. Roast for 45 minutes on a baking sheet. Don't crowd the pieces too closely, there should be space between them.
4. In a large pot heat the olive oil over medium heat.
5. Add the garlic and red onion and cook until the onions soften.
6. Add all of the remaining ingredients and simmer slowly for about 45 minutes.
7. Transfer the roasted chicken pieces to a large casserole dish or roasting pan. Pour the cooked chili over the chicken, cover and return to the oven for 20-30 minutes.
8. Serve over plain steamed rice.

Chicken with Black Bean Chipotle Chili and Rice

This is one of my son's preferred comfort food meals. There are no worries about throwing out leftovers with this delicious dinner, the resident teenage appetites have even been known to warm this up for breakfast the next morning.

When serving both meat eaters and vegetarians for dinner, this is also a very useful dish because the chili is essentially vegetarian anyway and except for the last of the cooking time it does not come into contact with the roasted chicken pieces. It's therefore very easy to separate as many servings of the chili as necessary before pouring the remainder over the chicken for the meat eaters. Recipes like this make it so simple to navigate such different dietary restrictions... and deliciously so too.

Chicken with Black Bean Chipotle Chili and Rice

Recipe by Barry C. Parsons

Simply roasted chicken pieces simmered in spicy black bean chipotle chili and served over plain rice. A great comfort food meal.

Prep time: Approximately 15 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total time: 1 1/2 hours
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients

• One whole, 3 lb chicken, cut in individual pieces
• salt and pepper to season
• Aprox. 1 tbsp chili powder to season the chicken
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 medium red onion, finely diced
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 4 cups canned diced tomatoes
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 cup frozen sweet corn
• 1 large can black beans, rinsed
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 3 tbsp molasses or 4 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp gground chipotle powder (or more to taste)
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp salt

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Season the chicken pieces with sat and pepper and sprinkle with chili powder.
3. Roast for 45 minutes on a baking sheet. Don't crowd the pieces too closely, there should be space between them.
4. In a large pot heat the olive oil over medium heat.
5. Add the garlic and red onion and cook until the onions soften.
6. Add all of the remaining ingredients and simmer slowly for about 45 minutes.
7. Transfer the roasted chicken pieces to a large casserole dish or roasting pan. Pour the cooked chili over the chicken, cover and return to the oven for 20-30 minutes.
8. Serve over plain steamed rice.

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Chilli Beef on Rice

Chilli Beef on Rice

So... "weather". Am I right guys? It suddenly got cold and rainy again this week, and I wanted something comforting and warming for dinner. I was also feeling a bit fluey and rundown, so certainly did not want to be going out to the supermarket after I got home from work. I had peas and minced beef in the freezer, and a whole lotta Chinese sauces in the pantry. And bang, dinner was born.

During the day, I had the idea of flavouring the minced beef with my beloved Sichuanese chilli bean sauce, (although I know Fuchsia Dunlop would say the Cantonese Lee Kum Kee brand is terribly inauthentic), but wasn't quite sure what proportions to use, or what other flavourings I'd need. Then I remembered that Nigella has a recipe for Korean keema in Kitchen - minced turkey, cooked with Korean gochujang chilli sauce and other flavourings, and I thought that would be a good place to start. (Incidentally, I've never tried gochujang but if it has, as Nigella says, "a liquorice intensity", I assume that I wouldn't like it, hehe.)

Chilli Bean Sauce, Shao Hsing rice wine, soy sauce, marinating minced beef

I used Nigella's proportions of sauce flavourings, replacing her gochujang with my Sichuanese chilli sauce and reducing the soy (undersalted food can be adjusted, oversalted food is a waste). I also (obviously) used minced beef instead of the minced turkey she suggests. I used a red onion instead of spring onions, as I didn't have any to hand, and at the end of cooking I added black vinegar to balance the flavours, and added potato flour to give the sauce a lovely glossy thickness.

Caramelising onions

I was so pleased with this dinner - the sauce had a gentle warm spiciness, with a nice touch of slightly crisp caramelization on the mince from the honey in the sauce. It's also a bonus, in terms of the comfort factor, if you can eat dinner with just a spoon. It also only took about half an hour, from start to finish, including cooking the rice. Comforting spicy deliciousness in record time. Win!

Chilli beef on rice

Chilli Beef on Rice
Recipe adapted from Nigella's Korean Keema, from Kitchen

Ingredients
2 tablespoons Sichuanese chilli bean sauce (Toban Djan)
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons Chinese rice wine (Shao Hsing)
250 grams minced beef
125 grams frozen peas
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1/2 a red onion, finely sliced
4 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon potato flour
1/2 teaspoon Chinkiang black vinegar

Method
Whisk together the chilli bean sauce, soy sauce, honey and 1 tablespoon of the rice wine. Mix this sauce through the minced beef and allow to marinate while you continue with the recipe.
Place the frozen peas into a sieve, and pour hot water from the kettle over them to defrost.
Heat the oil in a wok or saucepan, then add the red onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden brown. Tip in the defrosted peas and stir to combine.
Add the minced beef and all the sauce to the pan, stirring to break up the meat. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the beef is cooked through.
Place the 4 tablespoons water, remaining 2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine and potato flour into the bowl that was holding the beef. Whisk to combine and then pour into the pan. Stir through, and allow to cook for a further minute or so, until the sauce is thickened and glossy. Off the heat, stir in the black vinegar.
Serve with steamed rice.
Serves 2 -3

Chilli Beef on Rice

So... "weather". Am I right guys? It suddenly got cold and rainy again this week, and I wanted something comforting and warming for dinner. I was also feeling a bit fluey and rundown, so certainly did not want to be going out to the supermarket after I got home from work. I had peas and minced beef in the freezer, and a whole lotta Chinese sauces in the pantry. And bang, dinner was born.

During the day, I had the idea of flavouring the minced beef with my beloved Sichuanese chilli bean sauce, (although I know Fuchsia Dunlop would say the Cantonese Lee Kum Kee brand is terribly inauthentic), but wasn't quite sure what proportions to use, or what other flavourings I'd need. Then I remembered that Nigella has a recipe for Korean keema in Kitchen - minced turkey, cooked with Korean gochujang chilli sauce and other flavourings, and I thought that would be a good place to start. (Incidentally, I've never tried gochujang but if it has, as Nigella says, "a liquorice intensity", I assume that I wouldn't like it, hehe.)

Chilli Bean Sauce, Shao Hsing rice wine, soy sauce, marinating minced beef

I used Nigella's proportions of sauce flavourings, replacing her gochujang with my Sichuanese chilli sauce and reducing the soy (undersalted food can be adjusted, oversalted food is a waste). I also (obviously) used minced beef instead of the minced turkey she suggests. I used a red onion instead of spring onions, as I didn't have any to hand, and at the end of cooking I added black vinegar to balance the flavours, and added potato flour to give the sauce a lovely glossy thickness.

Caramelising onions

I was so pleased with this dinner - the sauce had a gentle warm spiciness, with a nice touch of slightly crisp caramelization on the mince from the honey in the sauce. It's also a bonus, in terms of the comfort factor, if you can eat dinner with just a spoon. It also only took about half an hour, from start to finish, including cooking the rice. Comforting spicy deliciousness in record time. Win!

Chilli beef on rice

Chilli Beef on Rice
Recipe adapted from Nigella's Korean Keema, from Kitchen

Ingredients
2 tablespoons Sichuanese chilli bean sauce (Toban Djan)
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons Chinese rice wine (Shao Hsing)
250 grams minced beef
125 grams frozen peas
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1/2 a red onion, finely sliced
4 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon potato flour
1/2 teaspoon Chinkiang black vinegar

Method
Whisk together the chilli bean sauce, soy sauce, honey and 1 tablespoon of the rice wine. Mix this sauce through the minced beef and allow to marinate while you continue with the recipe.
Place the frozen peas into a sieve, and pour hot water from the kettle over them to defrost.
Heat the oil in a wok or saucepan, then add the red onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden brown. Tip in the defrosted peas and stir to combine.
Add the minced beef and all the sauce to the pan, stirring to break up the meat. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the beef is cooked through.
Place the 4 tablespoons water, remaining 2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine and potato flour into the bowl that was holding the beef. Whisk to combine and then pour into the pan. Stir through, and allow to cook for a further minute or so, until the sauce is thickened and glossy. Off the heat, stir in the black vinegar.
Serve with steamed rice.
Serves 2 -3

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Taiwanese Meat Sauce on Rice

Taiwanese Meat Sauce on Rice with rice-cooked eggplant, gai laan and soy egg

I don't know about you, but I'm always on the lookout for easy meals to add to my weeknight repertoire, and I found a new dish to try on a lunch break last week. I'd ducked into Taiwan Cafe on Swanston street for a quick lunch on a very cold day, and I ordered a bowl of that Taiwanese classic, meat sauce on rice (with a soy egg, of course!), and a hot cup of Hong Kong milk tea.  

Taiwanese meat sauce on rice with soy egg and Hong Kong milk tea, at Taiwan Cafe on Swanston Street

It was my first time trying it - normally I go for braised beef soup at Taiwanese places - and I really loved it! It was incredibly comforting, and very tasty. Looking at the dish, it didn't seem like it would be that hard to cook at home, so I googled it, found out that it was actually very easy, and made it for dinner that weekend!

Being a classic recipe, there are as many versions as there are people who cook it, but a common theme is that minced meat is slowly simmered in a mixture of soy sauce and other aromatics, and that it starts with a base of crisp fried shallots. (Most recipes I've seen say to cook the shallots yourself, although I have seen others that suggest starting with a packet of those crisp fried shallots that you can get at Asian grocers).

Ingredients

Pork is classic, but I used beef mince on this occasion, because I happened to have it on hand. Same deal with the red onion - I used that instead of shallots because I always seem to have a few knocking about.

Here are the onions, browning away. Make sure you cook them until really good and brown, as you can really taste it in the finished product. 

Browning onions

There is a high ratio of liquid to meat, and the sauce takes about the same amount of time to cook as it does to cook soy eggs, so it makes sense to chuck it all in together. (I love soy eggs, but it always seems wasteful to use so much soy sauce just to simmer a couple of eggs - it felt much less extravagant cooking the eggs and meat together in the sauce!) I only did two eggs as there were two of us eating that night, but the recipe makes enough meat sauce to serve four people, so in my recipe below I've suggested doing four eggs.

Meat sauce and eggs

I wanted to sneak in some extra vegetables, so cooked a baby eggplant with the rice in my rice cooker, fan wu cai style. I also, separately, boiled a few stems of Chinese broccoli to go with! (Both are totally optional though!)

Eggplant and rice in rice cooker

And that was it! It's a delicious, low-effort dinner. From start to finish it takes about an hour, but you're only actually working for less than half that time - for most of it the meat sauce is simmering away and the rice is cooking without your intervention. Definitely a contender for weeknight meals!

Here's an alternative idea for presentation, which I did with the leftovers for lunch the next day - mixing the meat sauce through the rice and piling it up on a plate. (I've only ever seen the meat sauce served on rice in restaurants here, but got the idea from Tiny Urban Kitchen).

Alternative presentation

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I do!

Taiwanese Meat Sauce on Rice with Soy Eggs
Sarah's version of a classic recipe, adapted mainly from Tiny Urban Kitchen

Ingredients
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
250 grams minced beef or pork
2 cups water
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
Optional: 1 baby or Lebanese eggplant, 4 stems of Chinese broccoli
2 spring onions, finely chopped, to garnish

Method
Hardboil the eggs, then peel and set aside.
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and add the finely chopped red onion. Cook over a medium high heat until well browned.
Add the minced meat, stirring well to break it up. Cook until the meat has lost most of its pink colour. Pour in the water, soy sauce, sugar, five-spice and rice wine and stir to combine. Bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer. Place the hardboiled eggs into the sauce and allow everything to cook, with the pot partially covered, for 45 minutes. Stir every now and then to make sure the eggs turn around evenly in the sauce.
Cook the rice while the meat sauce is simmering. If you'd like to have eggplant, slice the eggplant in half lengthwise and layer it on top of the rice and water before cooking it as usual.
If you'd like to have Chinese broccoli, then cook it just before the rice and meat are ready. Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil. Add a teaspoon of vegetable oil and a teaspoon of salt, then cook the broccoli for 2-3 minutes before draining.
To serve, scoop the rice into four serving bowls and use a slotted spoon or small sieve to scoop out the meat and spoon it over the rice. (There will be a lot of liquid, but that can remain in the saucepan). Arrange the eggs, eggplant and Chinese broccoli over each bowl. Garnish generously with spring onions to serve.
Serves 4

Taiwanese Meat Sauce on Rice with rice-cooked eggplant, gai laan and soy egg

I don't know about you, but I'm always on the lookout for easy meals to add to my weeknight repertoire, and I found a new dish to try on a lunch break last week. I'd ducked into Taiwan Cafe on Swanston street for a quick lunch on a very cold day, and I ordered a bowl of that Taiwanese classic, meat sauce on rice (with a soy egg, of course!), and a hot cup of Hong Kong milk tea.  

Taiwanese meat sauce on rice with soy egg and Hong Kong milk tea, at Taiwan Cafe on Swanston Street

It was my first time trying it - normally I go for braised beef soup at Taiwanese places - and I really loved it! It was incredibly comforting, and very tasty. Looking at the dish, it didn't seem like it would be that hard to cook at home, so I googled it, found out that it was actually very easy, and made it for dinner that weekend!

Being a classic recipe, there are as many versions as there are people who cook it, but a common theme is that minced meat is slowly simmered in a mixture of soy sauce and other aromatics, and that it starts with a base of crisp fried shallots. (Most recipes I've seen say to cook the shallots yourself, although I have seen others that suggest starting with a packet of those crisp fried shallots that you can get at Asian grocers).

Ingredients

Pork is classic, but I used beef mince on this occasion, because I happened to have it on hand. Same deal with the red onion - I used that instead of shallots because I always seem to have a few knocking about.

Here are the onions, browning away. Make sure you cook them until really good and brown, as you can really taste it in the finished product. 

Browning onions

There is a high ratio of liquid to meat, and the sauce takes about the same amount of time to cook as it does to cook soy eggs, so it makes sense to chuck it all in together. (I love soy eggs, but it always seems wasteful to use so much soy sauce just to simmer a couple of eggs - it felt much less extravagant cooking the eggs and meat together in the sauce!) I only did two eggs as there were two of us eating that night, but the recipe makes enough meat sauce to serve four people, so in my recipe below I've suggested doing four eggs.

Meat sauce and eggs

I wanted to sneak in some extra vegetables, so cooked a baby eggplant with the rice in my rice cooker, fan wu cai style. I also, separately, boiled a few stems of Chinese broccoli to go with! (Both are totally optional though!)

Eggplant and rice in rice cooker

And that was it! It's a delicious, low-effort dinner. From start to finish it takes about an hour, but you're only actually working for less than half that time - for most of it the meat sauce is simmering away and the rice is cooking without your intervention. Definitely a contender for weeknight meals!

Here's an alternative idea for presentation, which I did with the leftovers for lunch the next day - mixing the meat sauce through the rice and piling it up on a plate. (I've only ever seen the meat sauce served on rice in restaurants here, but got the idea from Tiny Urban Kitchen).

Alternative presentation

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I do!

Taiwanese Meat Sauce on Rice with Soy Eggs
Sarah's version of a classic recipe, adapted mainly from Tiny Urban Kitchen

Ingredients
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
250 grams minced beef or pork
2 cups water
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
Optional: 1 baby or Lebanese eggplant, 4 stems of Chinese broccoli
2 spring onions, finely chopped, to garnish

Method
Hardboil the eggs, then peel and set aside.
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and add the finely chopped red onion. Cook over a medium high heat until well browned.
Add the minced meat, stirring well to break it up. Cook until the meat has lost most of its pink colour. Pour in the water, soy sauce, sugar, five-spice and rice wine and stir to combine. Bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer. Place the hardboiled eggs into the sauce and allow everything to cook, with the pot partially covered, for 45 minutes. Stir every now and then to make sure the eggs turn around evenly in the sauce.
Cook the rice while the meat sauce is simmering. If you'd like to have eggplant, slice the eggplant in half lengthwise and layer it on top of the rice and water before cooking it as usual.
If you'd like to have Chinese broccoli, then cook it just before the rice and meat are ready. Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil. Add a teaspoon of vegetable oil and a teaspoon of salt, then cook the broccoli for 2-3 minutes before draining.
To serve, scoop the rice into four serving bowls and use a slotted spoon or small sieve to scoop out the meat and spoon it over the rice. (There will be a lot of liquid, but that can remain in the saucepan). Arrange the eggs, eggplant and Chinese broccoli over each bowl. Garnish generously with spring onions to serve.
Serves 4

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Low Fat Turkey Sausage and Brown Rice

Low Fat Turkey Sausage and Brown Rice

As a terrific weekday meal, this recipe ticks all the right boxes. It is quick, easy, nutritious, delicious and economical. You can use whatever sausage you like but this time we chose a low fat turkey Italian variety that added lots of flavor to this dish. It is also fantastic with Chorizo sausage if you can find it. The recipe is little more than stir frying the sausage, chopping the vegetables and throwing all the ingredients in one pot to simmer for 15-20 minutes until the rice is cooked. The spices in this dish can easily be adjusted to taste, so please feel free to cut the spice amounts down to suit your taste...or ramp up the heat if that's how you like it. It's one of the tastiest no-fuss meals you will have this week for sure.

Serves 4-6


1 lb low fat turkey sausage meat
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves minced garlic
1 medium red onion
2 finely chopped celery stalks
1 finely diced carrot
1 bell pepper diced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper.
1 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tbsp chili
1 tbsp chipotle powder
2 tbsp smoked paprika
3 cups canned diced tomatoes
1 tbsp scotch bonnet sauce or hot sauce (optional)
2 cups low sodium vegetable or chicken broth
1 cup brown rice

In a covered wok or a dutch oven brown the sausage in the olive oil. Add the garlic and onions and stir fry for a couple of minutes until the onions begin to soften. Add all of the other ingredients except for the rice and bring to a boil. Add the rice and turn the heat down to a slow simmer. Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes until the rice is tender. Serve with a sprinkle of chopped fresh cilantro.

Low Fat Turkey Sausage and Brown Rice

As a terrific weekday meal, this recipe ticks all the right boxes. It is quick, easy, nutritious, delicious and economical. You can use whatever sausage you like but this time we chose a low fat turkey Italian variety that added lots of flavor to this dish. It is also fantastic with Chorizo sausage if you can find it. The recipe is little more than stir frying the sausage, chopping the vegetables and throwing all the ingredients in one pot to simmer for 15-20 minutes until the rice is cooked. The spices in this dish can easily be adjusted to taste, so please feel free to cut the spice amounts down to suit your taste...or ramp up the heat if that's how you like it. It's one of the tastiest no-fuss meals you will have this week for sure.

Serves 4-6


1 lb low fat turkey sausage meat
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves minced garlic
1 medium red onion
2 finely chopped celery stalks
1 finely diced carrot
1 bell pepper diced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper.
1 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tbsp chili
1 tbsp chipotle powder
2 tbsp smoked paprika
3 cups canned diced tomatoes
1 tbsp scotch bonnet sauce or hot sauce (optional)
2 cups low sodium vegetable or chicken broth
1 cup brown rice

In a covered wok or a dutch oven brown the sausage in the olive oil. Add the garlic and onions and stir fry for a couple of minutes until the onions begin to soften. Add all of the other ingredients except for the rice and bring to a boil. Add the rice and turn the heat down to a slow simmer. Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes until the rice is tender. Serve with a sprinkle of chopped fresh cilantro.

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Power Salad

I know that if you read my blog a lot, you might somehow get the impression that I'm constantly in the kitchen, whipping up tasty treats and elaborate dinner parties on the weekend, and virtuously making and bringing my lunches to work during the week. And you know what, that can be the case... sometimes. But we all get into little ruts sometimes, and often when I do one of these posts on healthy food, it's after a week of lazily failing to plan my meals, resorting to sad little tins of tuna and rice for lunch and (gasp!) oven chips for dinner.

I whipped up this salad last week, when I felt like I needed a kickstart to get back into the swing of bringing lunch to work. I love a good grain salad, and made it up using different bit and pieces I had in the pantry and fridge. I started off with a base of red rice and quinoa (like Ottolenghi's red rice and quinoa salad), adding crunch in the form of toasted mixed seeds and crunchy sprouts (like Jill Dupleix's Greens and Grains), sweetness in the form of currants, and raw snowpeas and chopped parsley for greenery. For extra deliciousness, I topped it with marinated feta to serve. 

When making it up, I knew it would be healthy and nourishing, but I didn't realise just how fantastic it would taste. There's something about the mix of textures that is just so compulsive! I ate quite a bit of it when making it (in the name of "taste-testing", you understand), and shared it with one of my coworkers, who totally loved it and wolfed down a massive bowl of it in no time at all - I guess you can make friends with salad!

I named this salad Power Salad, in honour of the fact that it's full of protein, thanks to the quinoa, mixed seeds and crunchy sprouts, but also because making it powerfully got me out of a lazy little food rut. I hope it can do the same for you.

Power Salad

An original recipe by Sarah Cooks

Ingredients

1 cup red rice

1 cup white quinoa

4 tablespoons mixed seeds (e.g. pepitas, sunflower seeds, pine nuts)

3 spring onions, finely sliced

The juice of one lemon

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or to taste)

1 handful snowpeas, trimmed and finely sliced

200 grams crunchy sprouts (e.g. a mix of sprouted chickpeas, lentils etc)

2 tablespoons currants

Small handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 tin marinated feta 

Method

Add the red rice and 2 1/4 cups water to a small saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to the lowest possible, clamp on the lid and allow to cook for 20-30 minutes, until the water is absorbed and the rice is cooked. Tip onto a wide flat plate to cool.

Cook and cool the quinoa in the same way, using only 2 cups water, and letting it cook for 10-15 minutes.

While the grains are cooking, you can get on with the rest of the salad. 

Toast the mixed seeds in a dry frying pan until lightly brown and aromatic. Set aside.

Get out a large mixing bowl, and add the spring onions, lemon juice, olive oil, snowpeas, sprouts, currants and toasted seeds. Tip in the cooked red rice, quinoa and parsley, and stir with a fork to mix. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, top with marinated feta and dig in!

Makes enough for 4 lunches

I know that if you read my blog a lot, you might somehow get the impression that I'm constantly in the kitchen, whipping up tasty treats and elaborate dinner parties on the weekend, and virtuously making and bringing my lunches to work during the week. And you know what, that can be the case... sometimes. But we all get into little ruts sometimes, and often when I do one of these posts on healthy food, it's after a week of lazily failing to plan my meals, resorting to sad little tins of tuna and rice for lunch and (gasp!) oven chips for dinner.

I whipped up this salad last week, when I felt like I needed a kickstart to get back into the swing of bringing lunch to work. I love a good grain salad, and made it up using different bit and pieces I had in the pantry and fridge. I started off with a base of red rice and quinoa (like Ottolenghi's red rice and quinoa salad), adding crunch in the form of toasted mixed seeds and crunchy sprouts (like Jill Dupleix's Greens and Grains), sweetness in the form of currants, and raw snowpeas and chopped parsley for greenery. For extra deliciousness, I topped it with marinated feta to serve. 

When making it up, I knew it would be healthy and nourishing, but I didn't realise just how fantastic it would taste. There's something about the mix of textures that is just so compulsive! I ate quite a bit of it when making it (in the name of "taste-testing", you understand), and shared it with one of my coworkers, who totally loved it and wolfed down a massive bowl of it in no time at all - I guess you can make friends with salad!

I named this salad Power Salad, in honour of the fact that it's full of protein, thanks to the quinoa, mixed seeds and crunchy sprouts, but also because making it powerfully got me out of a lazy little food rut. I hope it can do the same for you.

Power Salad

An original recipe by Sarah Cooks

Ingredients

1 cup red rice

1 cup white quinoa

4 tablespoons mixed seeds (e.g. pepitas, sunflower seeds, pine nuts)

3 spring onions, finely sliced

The juice of one lemon

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or to taste)

1 handful snowpeas, trimmed and finely sliced

200 grams crunchy sprouts (e.g. a mix of sprouted chickpeas, lentils etc)

2 tablespoons currants

Small handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 tin marinated feta 

Method

Add the red rice and 2 1/4 cups water to a small saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to the lowest possible, clamp on the lid and allow to cook for 20-30 minutes, until the water is absorbed and the rice is cooked. Tip onto a wide flat plate to cool.

Cook and cool the quinoa in the same way, using only 2 cups water, and letting it cook for 10-15 minutes.

While the grains are cooking, you can get on with the rest of the salad. 

Toast the mixed seeds in a dry frying pan until lightly brown and aromatic. Set aside.

Get out a large mixing bowl, and add the spring onions, lemon juice, olive oil, snowpeas, sprouts, currants and toasted seeds. Tip in the cooked red rice, quinoa and parsley, and stir with a fork to mix. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, top with marinated feta and dig in!

Makes enough for 4 lunches

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Asian Sesame Rice

Asian sesame rice is so incredibly fragrant and delicious. From the moment the jasmine rice comes to a boil the nutty aroma permeates your senses. Once the sesame oil touches the steaming rice, the air is filled with a dynamic nutty aroma. All of this is building up to the pure satisfaction of diving into a bowl of this fabulous rice. You are going to love it.

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Asian sesame rice is so incredibly fragrant and delicious. From the moment the jasmine rice comes to a boil the nutty aroma permeates your senses. Once the sesame oil touches the steaming rice, the air is filled with a dynamic nutty aroma. All of this is building up to the pure satisfaction of diving into a bowl of this fabulous rice. You are going to love it.

Continue Reading »

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

My love affair with Sichuan Food

...or "Why Fuchsia Dunlop is a Legend"

So if you've been with my blog for a while, or following me on Twitter or Instagram, I'm sure you will have noticed that I'm totally loving cooking Sichuan food right now, thanks to the wonderful recipes and books of one Fuchsia Dunlop.

My love of Sichuan food started with a visit to Spice Temple in Sydney two years ago, followed by many visits to the Melbourne Spice Temple after they opened here. (We've literally been seven times... eep!) I quickly developed a taste for those flavours I associate with Sichuan cookery: the fiery chilli, the sharp vinegar, the tangy and numbing Sichuan peppercorns, so strong that one bite overwhelms your whole mouth. There have also been visits to Dainty Sichuan (wasn't too impressed but perhaps we didn't order the right dishes), many plates of mapo tofu and gong bao chicken from Best Food Gallery in Box Hill, and endless bowls of dan dan mien from Dumpling King in Doncaster Shoppingtown. (Don't be fooled by the food court location - Dumpling King is pure awesome and their chilli oil is serious stuff. Love it!)

However, I never really thought of Sichuan food as something that I could cook at home - I'd always assumed the ingredients were too exotic, the techniques too difficult. Indeed, prior to this recent infatuation with Sichuan cookery, I practically never cooked Chinese food at all, leaving it to the professionals (and of course, my mum!) However, having said that, let me clarify that Sichuan food and the type of Chinese food that my family cooks are vastly different. Even though my family is ethnically Chinese, it's been at least four generations since any of us actually stepped foot in China*. Our "Chinese" cuisine is Nyonya, that of the Chinese population of Malaysia - characterised by such wonderful ingredients as pork, five-spice powder, coconut milk and sambal blachan. (Anyway, I think my ancestors' roots are in Fukien, so, you know, there's even less of a personal connection with the Sichuan region).

What I'm trying to say is that Sichuan cuisine is just as exotic to me as any other foreign cuisine - French, Mexican, Ethiopian, whatever - and I wouldn't want to imply that any shared ethnicity or ancestry confers "expert" status on my part. (What kind of loser would do that? Hehehe.) I've been having a ball discovering this wonderful cuisine, and hope to inspire you to give it a go too.

A few months ago, Sandra bought me a copy of Fuchsia Dunlop's Sichuan Cookery. (Awww!) At the time, we had no idea who Fuchsia Dunlop was, and I must admit I was a bit skeptical about a Chinese cookbook written by an Englishwoman ("angmor" as we say in Hokkien, "gwailo" for you Canto-speakers). The only other Chinese cookbooks written by angmor that I'd ever seen were tacky things from the 80's, with choice phrases like: "With their subtle Oriental flavouring, there seems no end to the imaginative recipes the Chinese can conjure up with poultry". Blergh!

But it took no time at all to see that Fuschia Dunlop means serious business - fluent in Mandarin, the first Westerner to train at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine - she's more Chinese than me! Importantly, her recipes are fantastic and her writing style is engaging. Super respect!

It was an absolute revelation** to realise that the flavours I enjoyed so much at restaurants were easy to recreate at home. Just a few simple ingredients like toban djan (Sichuanese Chilli bean paste), Chinkiang black vinegar, and Sichuan peppercorns really transformed my cooking. And happily, they are all easily available from Chinese grocery stores here in Melbourne. Even though the sauces and pastes that we get here tend to be mass-produced, often by non-Sichuanese companies - e.g. the ubiquitous Lee Kum Kee that makes toban djan is actually a Cantonese company - I love the taste, and that's good enough for me.

Just last week, I got FD's latest book, Every Grain of Rice, which focuses on simple Chinese homecooking (and isn't limited to Sichuan). It's absolutely gorgeous and I cannot recommend it highly enough! Whilst both books contain excellent recipes, I'm finding that Every Grain of Rice is even more inviting than  Sichuan Cookery, thanks to the fact that it's set out very clearly, with generally one recipe per page and an accompanying picture. My copy of  Sichuan Cookery is a text-heavy affair, with recipes running one after the other (rather than one per page). There's also only a small number of pictures, all clumped together in central sections, making it difficult to see what relates to what and necessitating much flicking back and forth when cooking.

Anyway, I've kept y'all reading long enough. Let's look at what I've been cooking over these past months! I've mentioned a couple of these dishes previously, but never in a dedicated Fuchsia Dunlop post, so please forgive the slight repetition. I'm sure you'll also notice a vast improvement in my skills from beginning to the present, hehe.

April 2012: Steamed buns with spicy beansprout stuffing - dou ya bao zi

Steamed buns with spicy beansprout stuffing - Dou Ya Bao Zi
(Sichuan Cookery)

A spicy, meaty yeasted bun, flavoured with spicy toban djan paste. I tend to use FD's bao zi dough and seasonings as a base, adapting the filling ingredients as I like - this time I used chicken and shiitake mushrooms as a filling, steamed some, and fried others potsticker style because crunchy yeasty dough is The Best. (Previously mentioned in this post.)

April 2012: Pock-marked Mother Chen's beancurd - Ma Po Dou Fu

Pock-marked Mother Chen's beancurd - Ma Po Dou Fu
(Sichuan Cookery)

I know, classic restaurant dish - but so easy to make at home and incredibly tasty. (Side note: I find it interesting how she translates it into "Pock-marked Mother Chen's beancurd" for the British audience, whereas here I think this dish would be easily recognisable by its Chinese name).

April 2012: Gong Bao chicken with peanuts - Gong Bao Ji Ding

Gong Bao chicken with peanuts - Gong Bao Ji Ding
(Sichuan Cookery & Every Grain of Rice)

Another restaurant dish. The beans aren't in the recipe but I desperately felt like some greens that night.

Dinner Combinations

After getting into Chinese cookery with the recipes you see above, I started wanting to cook in a more "Chinese" style - by which I mean making a few different dishes with rice. I tried this particular combo for the first time in July, and loved it so much that it is now my standard combo when I feel like cooking Chinese. Pan-fried dumplings, stir-fried mixed mushrooms and stir fried greens, varying the greens and dumplings depending on my mood. 

First attempt - July 2012: Chilli pork potsticker dumplings, stir-fried mixed mushrooms, stir-fried choy sum with chilli and Sichuan pepper

Chilli pork potsticker dumplings
Stir-fried mixed mushrooms - shan zhen hui
Stir-fried water spinach with chilli and Sichuan pepper - qiang kong xin cai
(Sichuan Cookery)

For the dumplings, I used the spicy bao zi filling you saw above (pork and beanshoots this time), wrapped them in store-bought wonton wrappers and cooked them potsticker style. The greens were choy sum (sadly I couldn't find water spinach), stir fried with some dried chilli and whole Sichuan peppercorns. And as you can see, I only used ordinary button mushrooms, but they still tasted fantastic - the key is stir-frying them in a little chicken or pork fat, to give them a wonderful richness.

Second attempt - August 2012: Pot-sticker dumplings with chicken stock, stir-fried gai laan with Sichuan pepper and chilli, stir-fried mixed mushrooms, chicken with chillies

Pot-sticker dumplings with chicken stock - ji zhi guo tie
Stir-fried mixed mushrooms - shan zhen hui
Stir-fried water spinach with chilli and Sichuan pepper - qiang kong xin cai
Chicken with chillies - la zi ji
(Sichuan Cookery)

Key differences this night: 

- dumpling skin made from scratch and I followed an exact recipe for the filling,

- gai laan instead of choy sum,

- funky Asian mushrooms instead of button,

- and I made a chicken dish as well! 

Fuchsia's dumpling skin recipe is really easy and has such good results! I still think I need to work on my dumpling-folding technique though - lots more practice in the future! The chicken with chillies was very tasty - but I don't think it's worth the effort to deep-fry the chicken pieces before stir frying them. Next time I'd just stir-fry them and let them cook a little longer.

I also used this combo for a fab lunch party I hosted last week - exciting, my first time cooking Chinese food for friends! - but as this post is already super long, I'll save that for next time.

And now we get to the Every Grain of Rice recipes...

September 2012: Egg-fried rice - Dan chao fan

Egg-fried rice - Dan chao fan
(Every Grain of Rice)

You don't really need a recipe for egg-fried rice, but it was good to have a reminder. I made this with leftovers from our lunch party, and bulked out the rice by adding leftover slices of roast pork and mixed mushrooms.

September 2012: Vegetarian 'Gong Bao chicken' - Gong bao ji ding (su)

Vegetarian 'Gong Bao' Chicken - Gong bao ji ding (su)
(Every Grain of Rice)

In this version, the traditional chicken is replaced with diced portobello mushrooms, marinated in salt and potato flour. The mushrooms provide a toothsome texture, and this version is just as spicy and satisfying as the chicken one.

And finally (yes, we're getting there...)

September 2012: Clay bowl chicken - bo bo ji

Clay bowl chicken - bo bo ji
(Every Grain of Rice)

I can't tell you how much I love this dish. It's just beanshoot and cold poached chicken, topped with peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, coriander, spring onions, and a fiery, gloopy mixture of different sauces, sesame paste and chilli oil. It is so incredibly delicious, super easy, and really addictive. It's also good heated up and served with rice, which is how I enjoyed leftovers at work for the next few days.

So, some questions for you guys: What are your favourite Sichuan dishes, either to cook at home or to eat at restaurants? Have you ever been pleasantly surprised by a new cookbook? What new cuisines have you discovered lately?

*I did go to China once; through Shanghai Airport on a three-hour stopover on my way home from Europe for a family emergency. I don't speak Mandarin and everything there felt so different, so bizarre, and I felt completely out of place - definitely a foreigner. I hope to visit China again under happier circumstances.

**I know that the word "revelation" is grossly overused in food writing, most often to refer to a dish that simply tastes good. However, here I mean it literally: whereas I'd previously thought of Sichuan food as purely within the domain of restaurants, it was suddenly revealed to me that it's easy to cook at home.

...or "Why Fuchsia Dunlop is a Legend"

So if you've been with my blog for a while, or following me on Twitter or Instagram, I'm sure you will have noticed that I'm totally loving cooking Sichuan food right now, thanks to the wonderful recipes and books of one Fuchsia Dunlop.

My love of Sichuan food started with a visit to Spice Temple in Sydney two years ago, followed by many visits to the Melbourne Spice Temple after they opened here. (We've literally been seven times... eep!) I quickly developed a taste for those flavours I associate with Sichuan cookery: the fiery chilli, the sharp vinegar, the tangy and numbing Sichuan peppercorns, so strong that one bite overwhelms your whole mouth. There have also been visits to Dainty Sichuan (wasn't too impressed but perhaps we didn't order the right dishes), many plates of mapo tofu and gong bao chicken from Best Food Gallery in Box Hill, and endless bowls of dan dan mien from Dumpling King in Doncaster Shoppingtown. (Don't be fooled by the food court location - Dumpling King is pure awesome and their chilli oil is serious stuff. Love it!)

However, I never really thought of Sichuan food as something that I could cook at home - I'd always assumed the ingredients were too exotic, the techniques too difficult. Indeed, prior to this recent infatuation with Sichuan cookery, I practically never cooked Chinese food at all, leaving it to the professionals (and of course, my mum!) However, having said that, let me clarify that Sichuan food and the type of Chinese food that my family cooks are vastly different. Even though my family is ethnically Chinese, it's been at least four generations since any of us actually stepped foot in China*. Our "Chinese" cuisine is Nyonya, that of the Chinese population of Malaysia - characterised by such wonderful ingredients as pork, five-spice powder, coconut milk and sambal blachan. (Anyway, I think my ancestors' roots are in Fukien, so, you know, there's even less of a personal connection with the Sichuan region).

What I'm trying to say is that Sichuan cuisine is just as exotic to me as any other foreign cuisine - French, Mexican, Ethiopian, whatever - and I wouldn't want to imply that any shared ethnicity or ancestry confers "expert" status on my part. (What kind of loser would do that? Hehehe.) I've been having a ball discovering this wonderful cuisine, and hope to inspire you to give it a go too.

A few months ago, Sandra bought me a copy of Fuchsia Dunlop's Sichuan Cookery. (Awww!) At the time, we had no idea who Fuchsia Dunlop was, and I must admit I was a bit skeptical about a Chinese cookbook written by an Englishwoman ("angmor" as we say in Hokkien, "gwailo" for you Canto-speakers). The only other Chinese cookbooks written by angmor that I'd ever seen were tacky things from the 80's, with choice phrases like: "With their subtle Oriental flavouring, there seems no end to the imaginative recipes the Chinese can conjure up with poultry". Blergh!

But it took no time at all to see that Fuschia Dunlop means serious business - fluent in Mandarin, the first Westerner to train at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine - she's more Chinese than me! Importantly, her recipes are fantastic and her writing style is engaging. Super respect!

It was an absolute revelation** to realise that the flavours I enjoyed so much at restaurants were easy to recreate at home. Just a few simple ingredients like toban djan (Sichuanese Chilli bean paste), Chinkiang black vinegar, and Sichuan peppercorns really transformed my cooking. And happily, they are all easily available from Chinese grocery stores here in Melbourne. Even though the sauces and pastes that we get here tend to be mass-produced, often by non-Sichuanese companies - e.g. the ubiquitous Lee Kum Kee that makes toban djan is actually a Cantonese company - I love the taste, and that's good enough for me.

Just last week, I got FD's latest book, Every Grain of Rice, which focuses on simple Chinese homecooking (and isn't limited to Sichuan). It's absolutely gorgeous and I cannot recommend it highly enough! Whilst both books contain excellent recipes, I'm finding that Every Grain of Rice is even more inviting than  Sichuan Cookery, thanks to the fact that it's set out very clearly, with generally one recipe per page and an accompanying picture. My copy of  Sichuan Cookery is a text-heavy affair, with recipes running one after the other (rather than one per page). There's also only a small number of pictures, all clumped together in central sections, making it difficult to see what relates to what and necessitating much flicking back and forth when cooking.

Anyway, I've kept y'all reading long enough. Let's look at what I've been cooking over these past months! I've mentioned a couple of these dishes previously, but never in a dedicated Fuchsia Dunlop post, so please forgive the slight repetition. I'm sure you'll also notice a vast improvement in my skills from beginning to the present, hehe.

April 2012: Steamed buns with spicy beansprout stuffing - dou ya bao zi

Steamed buns with spicy beansprout stuffing - Dou Ya Bao Zi
(Sichuan Cookery)

A spicy, meaty yeasted bun, flavoured with spicy toban djan paste. I tend to use FD's bao zi dough and seasonings as a base, adapting the filling ingredients as I like - this time I used chicken and shiitake mushrooms as a filling, steamed some, and fried others potsticker style because crunchy yeasty dough is The Best. (Previously mentioned in this post.)

April 2012: Pock-marked Mother Chen's beancurd - Ma Po Dou Fu

Pock-marked Mother Chen's beancurd - Ma Po Dou Fu
(Sichuan Cookery)

I know, classic restaurant dish - but so easy to make at home and incredibly tasty. (Side note: I find it interesting how she translates it into "Pock-marked Mother Chen's beancurd" for the British audience, whereas here I think this dish would be easily recognisable by its Chinese name).

April 2012: Gong Bao chicken with peanuts - Gong Bao Ji Ding

Gong Bao chicken with peanuts - Gong Bao Ji Ding
(Sichuan Cookery & Every Grain of Rice)

Another restaurant dish. The beans aren't in the recipe but I desperately felt like some greens that night.

Dinner Combinations

After getting into Chinese cookery with the recipes you see above, I started wanting to cook in a more "Chinese" style - by which I mean making a few different dishes with rice. I tried this particular combo for the first time in July, and loved it so much that it is now my standard combo when I feel like cooking Chinese. Pan-fried dumplings, stir-fried mixed mushrooms and stir fried greens, varying the greens and dumplings depending on my mood. 

First attempt - July 2012: Chilli pork potsticker dumplings, stir-fried mixed mushrooms, stir-fried choy sum with chilli and Sichuan pepper

Chilli pork potsticker dumplings
Stir-fried mixed mushrooms - shan zhen hui
Stir-fried water spinach with chilli and Sichuan pepper - qiang kong xin cai
(Sichuan Cookery)

For the dumplings, I used the spicy bao zi filling you saw above (pork and beanshoots this time), wrapped them in store-bought wonton wrappers and cooked them potsticker style. The greens were choy sum (sadly I couldn't find water spinach), stir fried with some dried chilli and whole Sichuan peppercorns. And as you can see, I only used ordinary button mushrooms, but they still tasted fantastic - the key is stir-frying them in a little chicken or pork fat, to give them a wonderful richness.

Second attempt - August 2012: Pot-sticker dumplings with chicken stock, stir-fried gai laan with Sichuan pepper and chilli, stir-fried mixed mushrooms, chicken with chillies

Pot-sticker dumplings with chicken stock - ji zhi guo tie
Stir-fried mixed mushrooms - shan zhen hui
Stir-fried water spinach with chilli and Sichuan pepper - qiang kong xin cai
Chicken with chillies - la zi ji
(Sichuan Cookery)

Key differences this night: 

- dumpling skin made from scratch and I followed an exact recipe for the filling,

- gai laan instead of choy sum,

- funky Asian mushrooms instead of button,

- and I made a chicken dish as well! 

Fuchsia's dumpling skin recipe is really easy and has such good results! I still think I need to work on my dumpling-folding technique though - lots more practice in the future! The chicken with chillies was very tasty - but I don't think it's worth the effort to deep-fry the chicken pieces before stir frying them. Next time I'd just stir-fry them and let them cook a little longer.

I also used this combo for a fab lunch party I hosted last week - exciting, my first time cooking Chinese food for friends! - but as this post is already super long, I'll save that for next time.

And now we get to the Every Grain of Rice recipes...

September 2012: Egg-fried rice - Dan chao fan

Egg-fried rice - Dan chao fan
(Every Grain of Rice)

You don't really need a recipe for egg-fried rice, but it was good to have a reminder. I made this with leftovers from our lunch party, and bulked out the rice by adding leftover slices of roast pork and mixed mushrooms.

September 2012: Vegetarian 'Gong Bao chicken' - Gong bao ji ding (su)

Vegetarian 'Gong Bao' Chicken - Gong bao ji ding (su)
(Every Grain of Rice)

In this version, the traditional chicken is replaced with diced portobello mushrooms, marinated in salt and potato flour. The mushrooms provide a toothsome texture, and this version is just as spicy and satisfying as the chicken one.

And finally (yes, we're getting there...)

September 2012: Clay bowl chicken - bo bo ji

Clay bowl chicken - bo bo ji
(Every Grain of Rice)

I can't tell you how much I love this dish. It's just beanshoot and cold poached chicken, topped with peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, coriander, spring onions, and a fiery, gloopy mixture of different sauces, sesame paste and chilli oil. It is so incredibly delicious, super easy, and really addictive. It's also good heated up and served with rice, which is how I enjoyed leftovers at work for the next few days.

So, some questions for you guys: What are your favourite Sichuan dishes, either to cook at home or to eat at restaurants? Have you ever been pleasantly surprised by a new cookbook? What new cuisines have you discovered lately?

*I did go to China once; through Shanghai Airport on a three-hour stopover on my way home from Europe for a family emergency. I don't speak Mandarin and everything there felt so different, so bizarre, and I felt completely out of place - definitely a foreigner. I hope to visit China again under happier circumstances.

**I know that the word "revelation" is grossly overused in food writing, most often to refer to a dish that simply tastes good. However, here I mean it literally: whereas I'd previously thought of Sichuan food as purely within the domain of restaurants, it was suddenly revealed to me that it's easy to cook at home.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Copycat Chipotle Cilantro Lime Rice

We really don't eat out much, but when we do and we have something that we really enjoy, I love to create my own version at home. Last winter my sister-in-law and her kids came over for a visit while they were in town. We ended up getting dinner from Chipotle. The food was really great, but when I tried the Cilantro Lime Rice, I knew there were so many possibilities for this dish. So, I decided to create my own delicious version. It is truly amazing.

Continue Reading »

We really don't eat out much, but when we do and we have something that we really enjoy, I love to create my own version at home. Last winter my sister-in-law and her kids came over for a visit while they were in town. We ended up getting dinner from Chipotle. The food was really great, but when I tried the Cilantro Lime Rice, I knew there were so many possibilities for this dish. So, I decided to create my own delicious version. It is truly amazing.

Continue Reading »

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Lamb Dinner

We hosted a fun, small dinner party for four on the Sunday night of the Queen's Birthday weekend - at first we were all planning to go out for dinner, but seeing how bitterly cold it's been lately, we thought it would be better to stay in and cook.  Cheaper than going out and much, much warmer!

A Sprightly Lamb Dinner for 4

Grilled Lamb Backstrap with Herb Sauce

Roasted Eggplant with Saffron Yogurt

Lebanese-Style Green Beans with Tomato

Tzatziki

Saffron-Scented Pilaf

One plate

I came up with a vaguely Middle Eastern menu, (or the "Maha style of food", as my friend Adri put it), based around the lamb backstrap.  I'd never previously cooked with it before, but had wanted to try it for a while - I always love the look of them at my local butcher, all lined up in gleaming, easy to carve slabs - and with this dinner party I finally had an excuse to buy some.  "Backstrap" seems to be a uniquely Australian nomenclature; none of my British or American cookbooks make any mention of it.  However, it's a very popular ingredient in Aussie recipes, and, for example, Taste.com.au, Donna Hay and the Women's Weekly all seem to feature backstraps regularly.  After a bit of quick online research, I'm pretty sure that they're called "lamb loins" in the UK / USA.  Basically, it's a relatively large, long, lean piece of meat, cut from the back of the animal, and is larger than the teensy-weensy lamb tenderloins.  (There's an excellent diagram here, from Crimson Cow.com.au, which should make everything a lot clearer.  The backstrap is labelled as "trim lamb eye of loin").

Let's look at each of the dishes in a bit more detail:

Grilled Lamb Backstrap with Herb Sauce

The lamb recipe is based upon the "marinated rack of lamb with coriander and honey" from the first Ottolenghi cookbook, but obviously replacing the rack of lamb with backstraps.  (I have made it once before, and the flavour is gorgeous!)  The lamb straps / loins are marinated overnight in a pungent herby mixture, and briefly grilled on each side, before being sliced thinly into lovely rare rags.  The recipe does seem to make quite a bit of marinade, but it doesn't go to waste - you simmer the marinade while the lamb is cooking and it becomes a fabulous sauce.  (No photo of it because, despite tasting wonderful, it turned out a rather alarming shade of khaki).

Grilled Eggplant with Saffron Yogurt

Another recipe from the Ottolenghi cookbook, this grilled eggplant is one of my favourites, and one that I often whip out for entertaining.  I've made it so many times that I can now make it on easy autopilot.  You simply grill, fry or roast slices of eggplant in olive oil, allow them to cool and arrange them on a plate, before strewing over toasted pine nuts, basil leaves and pomegranate seeds.  Preparing the saffron yogurt is just a matter of stirring together some Greek yogurt, minced garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and a few saffron threads softened in a little warm water.  I find that it's a recipe that doesn't require fastidious weights and measurements, but if cooking that way makes you feel more comfortable, then definitely check out the fabulous cookbook!  I've been meaning to make this with the eggplant cut into chunks or wedges, as per the original recipe, for more mushy deliciousness, but I can't go past the prettiness of the concentric circle arrangement!

Tzatziki

A basic tzatziki: Greek yogurt, grated cucumber, finely chopped mint, minced garlic and lemon juice, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.  Unlike last time, I didn't bother to strain the yogurt, so it was more liquid than last time, but the flavour certainly didn't suffer for it.

Saffron Scented Pilaf

Our carby accompaniment for the meal was a nut-studded, saffron-scented rice pilaf.  (Nigella's saffron scented chicken pilaf, minus the chicken - the original recipe comes from Forever Summer, and is also available on Nigella's website).  This is absolutely one of my favourite dishes of all time, with or without the chicken, and I've been making it since before I started blogging in 2004.  Can you believe it!  (Blogged once, here).

Lebanese-Style Green Beans in Tomato

Finally, I made some Lebanese-style green beans, cooked in tomatoes until very soft.  It's such a great flavour combination, and I love well-cooked green beans, as opposed to when they're bright green and squeaky.  (They're probably healthier that way but let's not worry about that now, hehe).  I've included my version of this classic recipe, below, as it differs quite a bit from tradition - I've seen a recipe that only uses one tomato per 500 grams of beans, but I love sauce, so I use a whole tin of tomatoes per 300 grams.  Vary the amount of beans depending on how saucy you like it - as indicated in the recipe, I think between 300-500 grams is about right, but go according to your own preference.

*****

There seemed to be a good amount of food - I'd been tempted to add another dip, like hummus (you know, similar to Nigella's seared lamb with hummus from How to Eat), or a green salad, but I think that would have been overkill.  It turned out to be a well balanced meal, with enough of a variety of tastes to provide interest, but all remaining within the same register to form a cohesive menu.

I didn't make a dessert on this occasion - I think after all the restaurant meals and birthdays and trips over the past few months, I really just wanted a (relatively) light meal.  We did, however, break up Leicester after dinner and eat him with coffee.  If I hadn't been feeling so restrained, I think perhaps a plate of baklava would have been a good dessert.  (Or any of Nigella's many middle-eastern inspired desserts - there are quite a few in Forever Summer - Arabian pancakes with orange flower syrup, anybody?).

The cooking was easy too - I did the shopping the day before, and only started cooking at about four-thirty for a six-thirty start, with a couple of glasses of wine and gossip with friends in between!  Not too shabby!  

Lebanese-Style Green Beans
Sarah's version of a classic recipe

Ingredients

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tbs olive oil

300-500g green beans, topped and tailed

1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste (optional)

Method

Heat the oil in a saucepan.  Add the chopped onion and cook for 10 minutes or so, until softened and lightly golden brown. Add in the green beans and stir to coat in the oniony oil.  Leave to cook for 5 minutes (10 if they were frozen).  Stir in the chopped tomatoes and simmer, half covered, for 30 minutes or so, until the sauce is thick and the beans are nice and soft.  Add allspice and cayenne pepper.  Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Serves 4-6 as an accompaniment

We hosted a fun, small dinner party for four on the Sunday night of the Queen's Birthday weekend - at first we were all planning to go out for dinner, but seeing how bitterly cold it's been lately, we thought it would be better to stay in and cook.  Cheaper than going out and much, much warmer!

A Sprightly Lamb Dinner for 4

Grilled Lamb Backstrap with Herb Sauce

Roasted Eggplant with Saffron Yogurt

Lebanese-Style Green Beans with Tomato

Tzatziki

Saffron-Scented Pilaf

One plate

I came up with a vaguely Middle Eastern menu, (or the "Maha style of food", as my friend Adri put it), based around the lamb backstrap.  I'd never previously cooked with it before, but had wanted to try it for a while - I always love the look of them at my local butcher, all lined up in gleaming, easy to carve slabs - and with this dinner party I finally had an excuse to buy some.  "Backstrap" seems to be a uniquely Australian nomenclature; none of my British or American cookbooks make any mention of it.  However, it's a very popular ingredient in Aussie recipes, and, for example, Taste.com.au, Donna Hay and the Women's Weekly all seem to feature backstraps regularly.  After a bit of quick online research, I'm pretty sure that they're called "lamb loins" in the UK / USA.  Basically, it's a relatively large, long, lean piece of meat, cut from the back of the animal, and is larger than the teensy-weensy lamb tenderloins.  (There's an excellent diagram here, from Crimson Cow.com.au, which should make everything a lot clearer.  The backstrap is labelled as "trim lamb eye of loin").

Let's look at each of the dishes in a bit more detail:

Grilled Lamb Backstrap with Herb Sauce

The lamb recipe is based upon the "marinated rack of lamb with coriander and honey" from the first Ottolenghi cookbook, but obviously replacing the rack of lamb with backstraps.  (I have made it once before, and the flavour is gorgeous!)  The lamb straps / loins are marinated overnight in a pungent herby mixture, and briefly grilled on each side, before being sliced thinly into lovely rare rags.  The recipe does seem to make quite a bit of marinade, but it doesn't go to waste - you simmer the marinade while the lamb is cooking and it becomes a fabulous sauce.  (No photo of it because, despite tasting wonderful, it turned out a rather alarming shade of khaki).

Grilled Eggplant with Saffron Yogurt

Another recipe from the Ottolenghi cookbook, this grilled eggplant is one of my favourites, and one that I often whip out for entertaining.  I've made it so many times that I can now make it on easy autopilot.  You simply grill, fry or roast slices of eggplant in olive oil, allow them to cool and arrange them on a plate, before strewing over toasted pine nuts, basil leaves and pomegranate seeds.  Preparing the saffron yogurt is just a matter of stirring together some Greek yogurt, minced garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and a few saffron threads softened in a little warm water.  I find that it's a recipe that doesn't require fastidious weights and measurements, but if cooking that way makes you feel more comfortable, then definitely check out the fabulous cookbook!  I've been meaning to make this with the eggplant cut into chunks or wedges, as per the original recipe, for more mushy deliciousness, but I can't go past the prettiness of the concentric circle arrangement!

Tzatziki

A basic tzatziki: Greek yogurt, grated cucumber, finely chopped mint, minced garlic and lemon juice, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.  Unlike last time, I didn't bother to strain the yogurt, so it was more liquid than last time, but the flavour certainly didn't suffer for it.

Saffron Scented Pilaf

Our carby accompaniment for the meal was a nut-studded, saffron-scented rice pilaf.  (Nigella's saffron scented chicken pilaf, minus the chicken - the original recipe comes from Forever Summer, and is also available on Nigella's website).  This is absolutely one of my favourite dishes of all time, with or without the chicken, and I've been making it since before I started blogging in 2004.  Can you believe it!  (Blogged once, here).

Lebanese-Style Green Beans in Tomato

Finally, I made some Lebanese-style green beans, cooked in tomatoes until very soft.  It's such a great flavour combination, and I love well-cooked green beans, as opposed to when they're bright green and squeaky.  (They're probably healthier that way but let's not worry about that now, hehe).  I've included my version of this classic recipe, below, as it differs quite a bit from tradition - I've seen a recipe that only uses one tomato per 500 grams of beans, but I love sauce, so I use a whole tin of tomatoes per 300 grams.  Vary the amount of beans depending on how saucy you like it - as indicated in the recipe, I think between 300-500 grams is about right, but go according to your own preference.

*****

There seemed to be a good amount of food - I'd been tempted to add another dip, like hummus (you know, similar to Nigella's seared lamb with hummus from How to Eat), or a green salad, but I think that would have been overkill.  It turned out to be a well balanced meal, with enough of a variety of tastes to provide interest, but all remaining within the same register to form a cohesive menu.

I didn't make a dessert on this occasion - I think after all the restaurant meals and birthdays and trips over the past few months, I really just wanted a (relatively) light meal.  We did, however, break up Leicester after dinner and eat him with coffee.  If I hadn't been feeling so restrained, I think perhaps a plate of baklava would have been a good dessert.  (Or any of Nigella's many middle-eastern inspired desserts - there are quite a few in Forever Summer - Arabian pancakes with orange flower syrup, anybody?).

The cooking was easy too - I did the shopping the day before, and only started cooking at about four-thirty for a six-thirty start, with a couple of glasses of wine and gossip with friends in between!  Not too shabby!  

Lebanese-Style Green Beans
Sarah's version of a classic recipe

Ingredients

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tbs olive oil

300-500g green beans, topped and tailed

1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste (optional)

Method

Heat the oil in a saucepan.  Add the chopped onion and cook for 10 minutes or so, until softened and lightly golden brown. Add in the green beans and stir to coat in the oniony oil.  Leave to cook for 5 minutes (10 if they were frozen).  Stir in the chopped tomatoes and simmer, half covered, for 30 minutes or so, until the sauce is thick and the beans are nice and soft.  Add allspice and cayenne pepper.  Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Serves 4-6 as an accompaniment

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Penang 2012: Kopitiams and Hawker Food

Today's post is about kopitiams and hawker food!

I don't intend this as a definitive guide on the best hawker food in Penang - how much work and time would that take! - but merely wanted to show you my favourite places that we visited.  I would have loved to have explored more places, but we were only in Penang for six days, and two of those days were spent at a resort.  (It's a tough life!)

We stayed with my Aunty Rosie, a true Penangite through and through, and she and her lovely friends hosted us and drove us around.  Penang people eat often, they eat a lot, and they are very fussy and vocal about their food!  We were so lucky to have locals to show us where the good places were!

If, like me, you're really serious about your food, I would recommend avoiding tourist magnets like the stalls in Batu Ferringhi or the big hawker centre on Gurney Drive.  (The latter was once very famous, but isn't as good now as it used to be - as my dad would say, it has jato standard.)  Although having said that, I wouldn't get too precious about it - I really think that any hawker center or kopitiam will give you a good feed at bargain basement prices.


Goodall Cafe
Gottlieb Road (Cnr Scott Road)
George Town
Penang 10350
Malaysia

Goodall Cafe is, without a doubt, my favourite hawker centre in Penang.  We came here one night when Pulau Tikus was all rained out and we were in the mood for satay.

Rain!

Luckily, Goodall has some undercover seating.

Goodall Cafe Hawker Stalls

I don't remember exact prices for these, but they were all around the RM3 mark. Damn cheap man!

Aunty Janet's Curry Mee

Sandra's Char Kway Teow, no seafood, no bak yuu po

Fellow Malaysians, you know that every time you go home, you have that one night where you go nuts with food, practically inhaling bowls and bowls of noodles, sticks of satay, drinks and sweets?  This was that night for me.  Generally, I can't eat that much in the heat, but somehow, I managed here!  One bowl assam laksa, one plate char kway teow, one glass milo peng, lots of satay and a banana roti!

Assam Laksa

Satay: pork, chicken, mutton

Char Kway Teow including prawns and clams, plus bak yuu po

I requested extra bak yuu po on my Char Kway Teow.  Known locally as "cholesterol pills", bak yuu po are little pieces of lard, fried until extra crispy.  (You can see one piece at the front of the picture, on the rim of the plate).  I'd never had it before, but had heard so much hype about it, and really wanted to try!

Aunty: Waah, you dare take bak yuu po?
Me: Well, on holiday one, so can lah!

The char kway teow stall at Goodall doesn't add any bak yuu po unless you request it specifically, as it's quite expensive and they only have a "limited" supply.  (Hence the lack of any bak yuu po on Sandra's plate, above).  I even offered to pay a bit extra for a more generous serving, and they refused.  Booo!  I loved the crunchy little nuggets of porky goodness!  Probably a good thing that I live an eight-hour flight from Penang, so I can't eat it too often.

An insider's tip from one of my aunties: the wan tan mee stall on Jalan Johor, opporiste the Penang Police Station and the Penang Buddhism association is apparently very generous with their bak yuu po.  I didn't get a chance to visit whilst on my trip, so go with my blessing.

Below is, perhaps, the most delicious roti-based food I have ever eaten: banana roti!  Make sure you ask them to fry it extra crispy, for extra deliciousness.  Even banana-hater Sandra liked this one.  Tropical banana varieties seem so much sweeter and lovelier than our Aussie ones.

Banana roti - extra crispy

Kedai Kopi Kheng Pin
Penang Road (Cnr Sri Bahari Road)
George Town
Penang 10000
Malaysia


This kopitiam, I'm told, does one of the best chicken rices in town.  I'm also told that the chicken rice lady can be a little snobbish, but don't let that put you off!

Kheng Pin

The chicken rice lady

"Extra chili will be charged"

There is also a stall here famous for its fritters.  (And don't forget, in these kopitiams each of the stalls are owned and run independently).  Below we have fried tofu squares, prawn fritters and, my favourite, LOH BAK!

Fried deliciousness: fried tofu, prawn fritters, loh bak

And here is the famous, fabulous, chicken rice:

Chicken rice, kopi peng

This was just gorgeous: the chicken was so tender and the rice was infused with rich chickeny flavour.  (I always moisten my rice with extra chicken soup - just wonderful).

There's a char kway teow stall here, run by a lady.  No idea why, but it seems that normally char kway teow friers are men.  Reprezent!  We didn't get a chance to try her char kway teow, but let's hope she is more generous with the bak yuu po than Goodall Cafe, hehehe.

Char Kway Teow lady

New World Park
10 Swatow Lane
George Town
Penang 10050
Malaysia

I must admit I was a little suspicious of the shiny and modern New World Park, but what happened is that a number of streetside hawker stalls were collected and moved into the one place - including the well-regarded ais kachang stall!

After a long, hot and sweaty day of wandering through Penang's heritage buildings, we were in desperate need of iced refreshment.  Here's my ais kacang: shaved ice, rose syrup, grass jelly, beans, and slightly salty sweet corn.  It's an unusual combo, but all too perfect for the heat.

(According to the wikipedia entry, "Nowadays, ais kacang is mostly known as 'ABC' (acronym for Air Batu Campur, literally meaning "mixed Ice")" - what rubbish!  As far as I'm concerned, Ais Kacang is simply Ais Kacang!!

Ais Kachang

Less adventurous, but equally refreshing is the cendol: shaved ice with evaporated milk, gula melaka (brown sugar syrup), beans, and little green jelly noodles made of rice flour.

Cendol

What are your favourite kopitiams and hawker stalls in Penang?

This is the second post in my series: 2012 Trip to Penang.

Today's post is about kopitiams and hawker food!

I don't intend this as a definitive guide on the best hawker food in Penang - how much work and time would that take! - but merely wanted to show you my favourite places that we visited.  I would have loved to have explored more places, but we were only in Penang for six days, and two of those days were spent at a resort.  (It's a tough life!)

We stayed with my Aunty Rosie, a true Penangite through and through, and she and her lovely friends hosted us and drove us around.  Penang people eat often, they eat a lot, and they are very fussy and vocal about their food!  We were so lucky to have locals to show us where the good places were!

If, like me, you're really serious about your food, I would recommend avoiding tourist magnets like the stalls in Batu Ferringhi or the big hawker centre on Gurney Drive.  (The latter was once very famous, but isn't as good now as it used to be - as my dad would say, it has jato standard.)  Although having said that, I wouldn't get too precious about it - I really think that any hawker center or kopitiam will give you a good feed at bargain basement prices.


Goodall Cafe
Gottlieb Road (Cnr Scott Road)
George Town
Penang 10350
Malaysia

Goodall Cafe is, without a doubt, my favourite hawker centre in Penang.  We came here one night when Pulau Tikus was all rained out and we were in the mood for satay.

Rain!

Luckily, Goodall has some undercover seating.

Goodall Cafe Hawker Stalls

I don't remember exact prices for these, but they were all around the RM3 mark. Damn cheap man!

Aunty Janet's Curry Mee

Sandra's Char Kway Teow, no seafood, no bak yuu po

Fellow Malaysians, you know that every time you go home, you have that one night where you go nuts with food, practically inhaling bowls and bowls of noodles, sticks of satay, drinks and sweets?  This was that night for me.  Generally, I can't eat that much in the heat, but somehow, I managed here!  One bowl assam laksa, one plate char kway teow, one glass milo peng, lots of satay and a banana roti!

Assam Laksa

Satay: pork, chicken, mutton

Char Kway Teow including prawns and clams, plus bak yuu po

I requested extra bak yuu po on my Char Kway Teow.  Known locally as "cholesterol pills", bak yuu po are little pieces of lard, fried until extra crispy.  (You can see one piece at the front of the picture, on the rim of the plate).  I'd never had it before, but had heard so much hype about it, and really wanted to try!

Aunty: Waah, you dare take bak yuu po?
Me: Well, on holiday one, so can lah!

The char kway teow stall at Goodall doesn't add any bak yuu po unless you request it specifically, as it's quite expensive and they only have a "limited" supply.  (Hence the lack of any bak yuu po on Sandra's plate, above).  I even offered to pay a bit extra for a more generous serving, and they refused.  Booo!  I loved the crunchy little nuggets of porky goodness!  Probably a good thing that I live an eight-hour flight from Penang, so I can't eat it too often.

An insider's tip from one of my aunties: the wan tan mee stall on Jalan Johor, opporiste the Penang Police Station and the Penang Buddhism association is apparently very generous with their bak yuu po.  I didn't get a chance to visit whilst on my trip, so go with my blessing.

Below is, perhaps, the most delicious roti-based food I have ever eaten: banana roti!  Make sure you ask them to fry it extra crispy, for extra deliciousness.  Even banana-hater Sandra liked this one.  Tropical banana varieties seem so much sweeter and lovelier than our Aussie ones.

Banana roti - extra crispy

Kedai Kopi Kheng Pin
Penang Road (Cnr Sri Bahari Road)
George Town
Penang 10000
Malaysia


This kopitiam, I'm told, does one of the best chicken rices in town.  I'm also told that the chicken rice lady can be a little snobbish, but don't let that put you off!

Kheng Pin

The chicken rice lady

"Extra chili will be charged"

There is also a stall here famous for its fritters.  (And don't forget, in these kopitiams each of the stalls are owned and run independently).  Below we have fried tofu squares, prawn fritters and, my favourite, LOH BAK!

Fried deliciousness: fried tofu, prawn fritters, loh bak

And here is the famous, fabulous, chicken rice:

Chicken rice, kopi peng

This was just gorgeous: the chicken was so tender and the rice was infused with rich chickeny flavour.  (I always moisten my rice with extra chicken soup - just wonderful).

There's a char kway teow stall here, run by a lady.  No idea why, but it seems that normally char kway teow friers are men.  Reprezent!  We didn't get a chance to try her char kway teow, but let's hope she is more generous with the bak yuu po than Goodall Cafe, hehehe.

Char Kway Teow lady

New World Park
10 Swatow Lane
George Town
Penang 10050
Malaysia

I must admit I was a little suspicious of the shiny and modern New World Park, but what happened is that a number of streetside hawker stalls were collected and moved into the one place - including the well-regarded ais kachang stall!

After a long, hot and sweaty day of wandering through Penang's heritage buildings, we were in desperate need of iced refreshment.  Here's my ais kacang: shaved ice, rose syrup, grass jelly, beans, and slightly salty sweet corn.  It's an unusual combo, but all too perfect for the heat.

(According to the wikipedia entry, "Nowadays, ais kacang is mostly known as 'ABC' (acronym for Air Batu Campur, literally meaning "mixed Ice")" - what rubbish!  As far as I'm concerned, Ais Kacang is simply Ais Kacang!!

Ais Kachang

Less adventurous, but equally refreshing is the cendol: shaved ice with evaporated milk, gula melaka (brown sugar syrup), beans, and little green jelly noodles made of rice flour.

Cendol

What are your favourite kopitiams and hawker stalls in Penang?

This is the second post in my series: 2012 Trip to Penang.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad