My favourite ready to cook exotic Asian spicy sauces and curry

Exotic Asian cooking sauces in a convenient pack - have you tried and tested them all? They are Godsend to aspiring, busy, modern cooks who like to replicate traditional dishes without the fuss.

Prima Taste saves lots of time and the hard work of preparing classic Singapore/ Malaysian cuisines from scratch, yet upholds consistent quality and authenticity. The best in the range are Chicken Rice and Nonya Laksa (coconut and mint without curry powder). Other sauces that are outstanding are Chilli Crab, Sayur Lodeh, Hokkien Mee and Mee Siam.

For spicy foods, Brahims is a well established brand for the fastidous and cost conscious. The best in this line are assam pedas (sour curry for seafood) and rendang (dry meat curry).

Teans (masterchef Tian in Chinese) is well known for its Curry Chicken. It is concentrated and aromatic but in general, the sauces produced under this line tend to be too spicy for the liking of some foreign palates.

For basic curry paste, Mae Ploy red curry is a versatile base for cooking a wide variety of spicy Southeast Asian dishes. You only need 100 g or less for a pot of curry, so chill the remainder for future use.

Panthai Norasing is a reputable brand name known for high quality products in the Thai culinary scene. However, some of the sauces are rather pricey. My favourites are the salty yellow beans and roast chilli paste in soya oil.

Gimson nonya curry chilli paste is very useful for whipping up many northern Malaysian dishes such as tangy fish laksa, seafood and rojak (salad). It contains torch ginger and Vietnamese mint which are difficult to obtain outside tropical Asian countries but are essential ingredients to impart a uniquely Penang taste. Gimson has ventured into other product lines but they are not to my liking.

As Asian cuisine gains greater popularity in all parts of the world, many pseudo sauces have emerged to tap the growing market. Many brands who claim to be "nonya" do not do justice to the original dishes as they fail to capture the sophisticated and subtle flavours.

Let me know if you have more recommendations to add to this list.

All time favourite Thai foods - repertoire from the Chinese Thai cuisine

Did you know that some of your favourite Thai dishes such as cashew nut chicken, spicy fish cake, pandan leaf chicken, steam fish, noodle stir fry and noodle soups have originated from Sino-Thai recipes?


http://thaieasyrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/12/thai-chinese-cuisine.html

Philippine Adobo Chicken and Pork - fusion Spanish Chinese Filipino dish

Most of us would have Filipino acquaintances or colleagues given that the Philippines is among the world's largest exporter of labour.

Chicken and/or Pork Adobo is a signature Filipino national dish that has gained popularity worldwide. As in most Philippine food, adobo meat is a fusion of Chinese, Malay, Spanish and American tastes.

Meaning of Adobo : adobo comes from the old Spanish word for marinade and seasoning, the first step to churning out flavoursome food.

Marinate 1/2 kg of meat in light soy sauce, vinegar and pepper. Traditionally, meat should be pan fried before transferring it into a pot for stewing.

To make a complete one dish meal with vegetables, add potato and carrot cubes. This version is especially popular in the provinces.

Top the sizzled meat with one or two cloves of roasted garlic and bay leaves.

Bring it to the boil. Add sugar and salt to taste. Simmer for another 5 - 10 minutes.

Serve with rice or bread.

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Cool sweet compote of snow fungus, almond, pear and dates

A mildly sweet therapeutic dessert made of natural ingredients which can be eaten hot or cold. Perfect for summer time.

Bring five cups of water to the boil. Put in the bitter almond seed (kernel of apricot).

Add pre-soaked 1 cup of white snow fungus (and optional : washed barley) and to continue to boil.

Optional ingredients are red dates (stone removed and sliced). If using honey yellow dates (cube shaped), mash and boil for a longer time compared to red dates.

Sweeten with rock sugar or brown sugar.

Add sliced Asian pear before serving.

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Spicy Tropical Fried Rice - Sambal Nasi Goreng

Ten Secret steps to frying grainy and tasty rice, a cut above the rest :

1. Cook rice with less water so that the grains do not stick together or becomes mushy when you fluff or fry the rice later.

2. Cook rice at least 2 hours in advance or overnight and store in the fridge using a non-metallic bowl (not the frying pan).

3. Marinate rice with some salt and pepper about 10 minutes before frying.

4. Ensure that the frying pan is sufficient deep so that the contents do not spill over.

5. The pan must be well oiled, not too oily to make the rice soggy but enough to prevent the rice from sticking together and to the bottom.

6. Frying chopped onion and garlic before putting in thinly sliced meat ingredients, diced carrot, mushroom slices, medium prawns (shelled and deveined) and rice will enhance the fragrance of the dish.

7. Maintain a medium temperature. Too low a heat will render the meat ingredients undercooked and the rice too soft. Overheating will cause the rice to stick on the pan and gives out a burning smell. Burnt rice look unappetizing. A little fiery taste is nice but it should not be excessive.

8. Put in beaten egg last after the rice has been well fried and coated with oil. Make a well in the centre, slow cook the egg till slightly opaque and mix it gradually and evenly with the rest of the rice combo.

9. Blanched baby peas should be added and stirred quickly just before serving.

10. Top with sliced fresh spring onion and fried shallot.

Spicy rice mix (a more flavoursome alternative to soy sauce and oyster sauce) :

- Use a good brand of nasi goreng sauce such as "Kokita" if you don't want to make your own sauce by grinding dried and fresh chillies, onion, lemongrass, galangal, ginger and shrimp paste.

- Bonus : add in spicy or prior fried anchovy for the superb and extraordinary taste.

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References : Paella, Spanish seafood rice http://homecooksecrets.blogspot.com/2009/01/spanish-paella-seafood-rice.html

Fried rice noodles : http://homecooksecrets.blogspot.com/2009/10/stir-fried-rice-noodle-intact-char-been.html

Fish with vegetables - fennel, capers, melon, fruits

Fish does not always have to be deep fried and eaten with chips, plainly poached or simmered in soup.

Fennel

Fish slices can be stir fried or steamed with fresh fennel, oil (light olive or sesame). Not only does fennel neutralise any fishy smell or taste, its exotic aroma is appealing but not over the top. Half a fennel is enough to cook one tail fillet of fish.

Dill (shoots), fennel seeds or powdered fennel could be used as a marinade for fish before frying, adding sophistication to an otherwise simple dish.

Fresh fennel makes are refreshing salad with citrus fruits and herbs. http://ausletters.blogspot.com/2009/11/seasonal-vegetables-from-down-under.html

Capers

Fish tastes good with tangy tinge. Throw in a handful of capers to steam fish or garnish over cream sauce for fried fish.

Preserved plum in brine

Also known as wet sour plum (as opposed to dried version which is eaten with wine or as a snack to soothe the throat). Crush and remove the stone. Spread over fish and steam with ginger slices and a dash of cooking white wine or Shaoxing wine. Season with warm soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil and garlic oil. Thisis a typical Chaozhou dish which hailed from southern China.
Remember : ensure that only very fresh fish is used for steaming because this method of cooking reveals all the goodness but also exposes the shortcomings of fish that is not up to scratch.

Lime and Chilli sauce

Mix fish sauce with brown sugar till well combined. (About 2 TBS of fish sauce to 1 TBS of sugar). Squeeze half a Thai green lime juice and mix with the sauce. Add 1/4 tsp of crushed chilli and mix well. Use as marinade to steam fish or dressing for fish salad with mango slices.

Melon and Tofu

The bones and head of larger fishes need not be discarded as they serve as a base for delicious vegetable stews. The fish meat close to the bone is especially tasty too. If the fish store has just deboned fishes into fillet, they are more than happy to sell you the bones for a song.

Grill on medium low the fish bone and hairy melon wedges (in separate trays lined with baking paper) in the oven lightly sprayed oil. Alternatively, sear in on high heat in a heavy and deep skillet or pan. Fry two cloves of cleaned garlic with skin intact till golden brown. Stir fry carrot slices or cubes till slightly cooked but still firm. Pour fish stock into the pan and bring to the boil. Meanwhile, season with pepper, a dash of oyster sauce and soy sauce or fish sauce. Add a knob of bashed ginger.

Add the grilled fish and melon. Cover and bring to a brief boil. Add deep fried tofu puff (from chilled section of Asian supermarket). Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes.



Do be very careful when eating fish bone stews as there could be smaller and chipped bones.

More on cooking seafood : http://homecooksecrets.blogspot.com/2009/04/seafood-secret-of-balancing-and.html

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Best cookware for frying eggs - comparison and preferences

Cast iron wok or frying pans are the superior cookware for frying food. Despite it's humble appearance, the cast iron utensils ensure that heat is conducted to the food instantly and produce the best intended results. Best for frying sunny side up. The only issue some may have is that you need to use a bit more oil and heat it up before putting the food in.

I have recently discovered that the Korean marble frying pan which is touted as the cookware for cooking meat and seafood in its own oil and juices, is great for cooking omelette as well.

They are better than teflon coated non-stick pans that yield undercooked results that is lacking in fire or oumph.

European tech sandwich alloy cookware such as Scanpan and Swiss Diamond are good for searing, general frying and stewing. However, they are not very suitable for frying eggs because of the even heat distribution which tends to cause the omelette to stick and break up easily.

My verdict : Korean stone frying pan which costs USD25 produces the best results and is easy to maintain.