Curry Laksa

Curry Laksa is another one of my favourite dishes that I like to introduce to you.

Curry Laksa

Curry Laksa (in many places referred to simply as “laksa”) is a coconut-based curry soup. The main ingredients for most versions of curry laksa include tofu puffs, fish sticks, shrimps and cockles. Chicken is often used instead of shrimp. Laksa is commonly served with a spoonful of sambal chilli paste and is traditionally garnished with Vietnamese coriander, or laksa leaf, which is known in Malaysia as 'Daun Kesum'.

Curry Laksa Recipe (Serves 6)

Rempah Paste:

• 20 Asian shallots
• 10 cloves garlic
• 10 dried chillies, soaked in warm water
• 10 fresh red chillies
• 2 tsp toasted belacan
• 3 tbsp dried shrimps, soaked in warm water
• 6 candlenuts (buah keras)
• 3 tbsp curry powder

• 5 tbsp oil
• 3 stalks lemon grass, bruised
• 3 sprigs curry leaves
• 1 litre chicken stock
• 1 litre thick coconut milk
• salt to taste
• 200 g tofu puffs, cut into halves
• 300 g bean sprouts, blanched
• 3 hard boiled eggs, halved
• 2 pieces fried fish cakes, sliced
• 12 large cooked king prawns
• 12 seared fresh scallops
• 600 g rice vermicelli noodle (Bee Hoon), blanched

Method

1. To make Rempah Paste: Mix all ingredients and pound into a paste with mortal and pestle , blender or food processor.
2. Heat up oil in a soup pot, saute rempah paste, lemon grass and curry leave until fragrant.
3. Add chicken stock and bring to boil.
4. Lower heat and leave to simmer for about 10-15 minutes.
5. Add thick coconut milk and bring to a boil again, stirring all the time to prevent it from curdling.
6. Add tofu puffs and bring to a boil. Add salt to taste.
7. To serve: Divide rice vermicelli noodle and bean sprouts into individual bowls. Spread prawns, scallops, eggs and fish cake on top. Pour curry gravy and tofu puffs over and serve immediately.

Chicken Marengo

Chicken Marengo

Chicken Marengo takes its name from the battle of Marengo in 1800, when Napoleon defeated the Austrians. The original version, improvised on the battlefield by Napoleon's chef, was made with a chicken, tomatoes, eggs, crayfish, garlic, and a splash of brandy from the General's flash.

Chicken Marengo Recipe (Serves 4)

(Adapted from Mary Berry's Complete Cook Book)

Ingredients

• 30 g (1 oz) butter
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1.5 kg (3 lb) chicken, cut into 8 serving pieces
• 6 shallots
• 30 g (1 oz) plain flour
• 300 ml (1/2 pint) dry white wine
• 150 ml (1/4 pint) chicken stock
• 1 x 400 g (13 oz) can chopped tomatoes
• 250 g (8 oz) button mushrooms
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 parsley sprig
• 1 thyme sprig
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and black pepper
• 250 g (8 oz) cooked peeled prawns
• chopped parsley to garnish

Method

1. Melt the butter with the oil in a large flameproof casserole. when the butter is foaming, add the chicken pieces, and cook for 10-12 minutes until browned all over. Lift out and drain.
2. Add the shallots, and cook over a high heat for about 8 minutes until browned all over. Life out and drain on paper towels.
3. Spoon off all but 1 tbsp of the fat from the casserole. Add the flour, and cook, stirring for 3-5 minutes until lightly browned. Lower the heat, and blend in the wine and stock, stirring until well combined. Add the tomatoes, mushrooms, tomato puree, garlic, parsley, thyme, bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Return the shallots and chicken to the casserole, and bring to a boil. Cover and cook in a preheated oven at 180C (350F) for 1 hour or until the chicken is almost tender. Stir in the prawns, and return to the oven for 10 minutes. Garnish each serving with chopped parsley and serve at once.

Indonesian Butter Prawn

Indonesian Butter Prawn

If you are wondering what are the couscous-like golden roes surrounding the prawns, they are made of egg yolks and butter by using a very simple but unique technique.

It's traditional to serve the prawns with head and shell on but you can leave them out if you prefer not to have them on the serving plate.

Indonesian Butter Prawn Recipe (Serves 4)

Ingredients

• 500 g large king prawns, devein
• 2 tbsp corn flour
• 250 g butter or margarine
• 2 eggs + 5 egg yolks, beaten
• 2 stalks curry leaves
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 4 bird's eye chillies
• 1 tbsp evaporated milk

Method

1. Heat butter or margarine in wok.
2. Stir in beaten egg mixture slowly with a hand whisk and keep stirring until they separated into tiny roes and golden brown.
3. Add in curry leaves, curry powder, bird's eye chillies and evaporated milk and stir fry until fragrant.
4. Remove and drain.
5. Coat prawns with cornflour and deep fry in hot oil until cooked. Drain.
6. Pour the prawns and egg mixture back into the wok. Stir fry until they are well mixed and serve immediately.

Prawn Korma Curry

I used ready made korma paste to cook this curry. Korma curry is a very mild Indian curry, the paste is flavoured by dessicated coconut and coriander. It blends very well with seafood and vegetables. I like to add cherry tomatoes during the cooking process to add the extra sweet and sourness.

Prawn Korma Curry (Serve 6-8)

Ingredients

• 20 large King prawns, shelled, deveined with tails on
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 medium (300g) onions, chopped
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) korma curry paste (I use Patak brand)
• 1 cup (250 ml) cream
• 1 cup (250 ml) water
• 250 g green bean, halved
• 250 g cherry tomatoes
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Method

1. Heat oil in large pan, add onion, cook, stirring, until onions are just tender. Add paste, cook, stirring, 1 minute.
2. Add cream and water, simmer, covered, until just below boiling point.
3. Add bean, coriander and tomato, simmer, covered, about 7 minutes.
4. Add prawn, stir gently, continue to simmer for a further 3 minutes or until prawn is cooked.

Singapore Chilli Crabs Prawns

If you are a foodie and you live in Australia, you will know about the current popular TV series "Masterchef Australia "on Channel 10 - the country's biggest and toughest amateur cooking competition. If you are not here, you still can watch the shown episodes on the Official MasterChef Australia website.

You must be wondering what this dish having to do with "MasterChef Australia"?

Firstly, I have to rant. Please excuse me, but I have to do it! Why do they need to show MasterChef Australia at the time slot of 7 pm daily??????? They don't think about us: The Mums!!! 7 pm -8 pm is the busiest time for us. Dinner time, cleaning after dinner mess time, bath time, changing to PJs time, story time, bed time, making sure their school bag is ready for school the following day time. GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Thank goodness I can catch up all the episodes on their official website. Although I am not totally up to date, at least I won't miss out on any episode.

As I was watching the first episode, when one of the top 20 contestants Lucas Parson, an ex professional golfer who has played with Tiger Woods and who currently owns a coffee shop, impressed the judges by cooking his favourite dish "Singapore Chilli Mud Crab", I thought, "It's been a while since I cooked this dish."

Lucas steamed his mud crab, but the traditional way to prepare this popular dish is to coat the crab in flour and deep fry it in hot oil. This cooking process is to enable the thick eggy sauce to cling to the floury layer of the crab shell, so you can lick the sauce off the shell before continuing the treasure hunting to find the crab meat.

When judge Matt Preston questioned Lucas about one of the ingredients in her dish, "Tomato sauce from the bottle?", Lucas answered, "Yes, from the bottle, can't get the sauce right without it". Matt nodded with approval. Lucas and Matt were absolutely right! That's the 'SECRET' of this Singapore Chilli Crab dish. It's the bottled tomato sauce (we actually use Tomato Ketchup in Malaysia, it's thicker and sweeter) and also.... the Maggi Chilli sauce (the Malaysian version, quite close to Australian Maggi Sweet Chilli sauce but not exactly the same).

Note: In Australia, we call this dish "Singapore Chilli Crab" but back in Malaysia, we call it "Sweet and Sour Chilli Crab".

Mr J is too lazy to eat crab (unless it is peeled) and it's no fun to eat the whole crab by myself. "Good food needs good company" is my motto. I thought "Why don't I replace the crab with prawns so we can still enjoy mopping up the sauce with soft white bread?"

There are many different recipes for Singapore Chilli Crab, but the basic ingredients and cooking methods are the same. You can deep fry or steam your crab. You can adjust the ingredients to suit your taste (more sweet, less sour, more spicy, less garlicky....). This dish is very versatile and that's the fun part about cooking. Don't stick to the recipe 100%. Get hold of the basic recipe and be brave, be adventurous to play with the ingredients. A good example is when Lucas mentioned lime and palm sugar as some of the ingredients in his sauce. Traditionally we use rice wine vinegar and sugar. That's the concept.

I don't pretend this is the most authentic or the best tasting recipe. But this is how we like it. If you want a quick fix of Singapore Chilli crab or prawns or squids at home, this is a quick and easy recipe to get your hands on.

Singapore Chilli Prawns Recipe

Ingredients:

• 20 large king prawns, shelled, deveined, scored on back
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp chopped ginger
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 2 chilli, seed removed and finely chopped
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 4 tbsp Tomato sauce (I use Heinz Tomato Ketcup)
• 2 tbsp Maggi Sweet Chilli Sauce
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp cornflour

Method:

1. Mix tomato sauce, sweet chili sauce, water, lime juice and corn flour in a bowl.
2. Add 1 tbsp oil in a wok or pan, fry garlic, ginger, chilli and onion until fragrant.
3. add prawn and give it a good stir.
4. Add the sauce mixture and bring it to a boil.
5. Quickly stir in lightly beaten egg and continue stirring until egg is well mixed and cooked, about 1 minute.
6. Remove and serve immediately with steamed rice.
7. Mop the leftover sauce from the plate with soft white bread.

Note: If you are interested in Lucas Parson's Chilli Mud Crab recipe. Someone from the MasterChef forum has managed to get his actual recipe from his wife (Apparently his recipe printed on Sydney's Sunday Telegraph newspaper is incorrect). Here is the recipe:

Lucas Parson's Singapore Chilli Mud Crab Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 Cooked Mud Crab
• Salt, coriander leaves and lime wedges to serve

Chilli Base:

• 2-2.5 fresh small red chillies, coarsely chopped
• 2 large cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
• 10g piece of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
• ¼ cup peanut oil

Chilli Sauce:

• 300ml canned tomato paste
• 30g coarsely grated palm sugar dissolved in 75ml warm water
• Juice of 2 limes
• ¼ cup tomato sauce
• ¾-1 tbsp black bean sauce

Method

1. For chilli base, place chilli, garlic and ginger in a mortar and, using a pestle, pound to a paste, then add ¾ -1 tbsp peanut oil and combine well.
2. For chilli sauce, place ingredients in a bowl and stir until well combined.
3. Prepare crabs by lifting tail flap, then, using fingers, ease off the back shell. Remove and discard the gills, liver and brain matter and rinse crab well and, using a cleaver or heavy knife, cut crab into 6 pieces. Heat remaining peanut oil in a wok until hot and smoking, add crab and cook for 30 seconds, stirring continuously, add chilli base and stir for 30 seconds, then add chilli sauce and cook for 5 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
4. To serve, arrange crab in a large bowl, then pour over sauce scatter with coriander leaves and serve with lime wedges.

I will give this recipe a try soon although I am very sceptical about the awful lot of 300ml tomato paste! p/s where is the egg???

Spaghetti Marinara with Garlic and White Wine Sauce

Every evening it's the same dreaded question: What's For Dinner? This may be fine for a lazy evening dinner.

Spaghetti Marinara with Garlic and White Wine Sauce Recipe (Serves 4)

Ingredients

• 500 g Spaghetti
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 large garlic clove, crushed
• 125 ml dry white wine
• 375 g marinara seafood mix (fish, squid, prawns, and mussels)
• 4 tbsp chopped parsley
• Grated Parmesan cheese

Method

1. Cook the spaghetti in a large saucepan of boiling salted water for 8 - 10 minutes until just tender.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion and garlic, and cook gently, stirring occasionally, for 3-5 minutes until softened but not coloured.
3. Pour in the white wine and boil to reduced the liquid in the saucepan to about 2 tbsp, stirring constantly. Add the seafood mix and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add half of the parsley and heat through.
4. Drain the spaghetti thoroughly, and add to the seafood mixture, stirring well to combine. Season with salt and black pepper to taste, and serve at once, sprinkle Parmesan cheese and garnished with the remaining chopped parsley.

French Garlic Prawns

French, prawns, garlic, olive oil, butter, parsley..... what a delightful combination.

This dish is not for the faint hearted with the artery-clogging amount of butter and olive oil.

This is also not a dish that you want to cook for your date. And if you are dating Edward Cullen, he will "love" you for the smell of garlic on your breath! :p

There is this little gem hiding in the quiet suburb of Balgowlah, a well guarded secret among the locals - Chez Maurice Et Linda. A French bistro. Not far from the famous Manly beach.

Speaking of Manly Beach, did I tell you that I spotted Bridget Marquardt from The Girls of The Playboy Mansion shooting her travel show - Bridget's Sexiest Beaches - at Manly Beach a few months ago? In case if you were wondering..... YES, she was wearing bikinis :)

I was only 2" away from her when she walked past me and I had no idea who she was. Not until another beach goer asked the camera crews, "Is she Bridget?" that I realised she was 'The Bridget'. I should have known.... She was wearing a PINK Juicy Couture beach robe after they wrapped up the shot, although not as PINK as the sweater Bill Granger wore when he appeared on MasterChef Australia yesterday.

Back to the restaurant - Chez Maurice Et Linda. Lovely little French Bistro. Classic French fair. Their garlic prawn dish is to die for. I have always wanted to cook it at home but not until I have found a recipe from The Food of France Cook Book that is close enough to reassemble the original dish.

French Garlic Prawns Recipe

(Adapted from The Food of France)

Ingredients

• 24 large prawns
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1-2 small red chillies, very finely chopped
• 250 ml olive oil
• 60 g butter
• 2 tbps chopped parsley

Method

1. Peel and devein the prawns, leaving the tails intact.
2. Preheat the oven to 220C (425F). Sprinkle the garlic and chilli into four cast iron or gratin dishes. Divide the oil and butter among the dishes.
3. Put the dishes on a baking tray in the oven and heat for about 6 minutes, or until the butter has melted.
4. Divide the prawns among the dishes (put them in carefully, without splashing yourself with hot oil) and bake for about 7 minutes, or until the prawns are pink and tender.
5. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately with crusty bread.