Miso Glazed Chicken Breast

(serves 2)
This is a great recipe that turns something healthy but boring like chicken breasts into something exciting and exotic. Miso with honey is great as a glaze and it also lets you stick on a layer of sesame seeds to provide that crispy crunch. Together they compensate for chicken breasts’ lack of skin. The recipe also comes with its own side dish which provides something wet to go with each mouthful of chicken.      

Ingredients

1. Chicken Breast (2 large halves)
2. Potato (1 large)
3. Onion (1)
4. Garlic (2 cloves)
5. Miso
6. White Sesame Seeds
7. Sesame Oil
8. Mustard
9. Brandy
10. Chicken Stock Cube

Preparation 

1. Brine 2 large chicken breast halves for. For information on brining chicken, refer to this page.
2. Make a marinade out of 1T sesame oil, 2t miso, 1t honey and 1t brandy.
3. Flush the brined breasts with water and marinate them in the marinade.
4. Dissolve a chicken stock cube into 1 cup of hot water.
5. Cut an onion into half rings and a large potato into 1/3 inch cubes. Pan fry the onion and potatoes in a few T of vegetable oil on low heat until the onion begins to get translucent.
6. Add the chicken stock to the pan together with 2t of crushed garlic,1t mustard and 0.5t of sugar. Continue to simmer on low until the pan is almost but not quite dry and drizzle on 1T of sesame oil, then turn off the fire.
7. The simmering will take some time so in the meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180^oC (350^oF)
8. Grease a baking tray and position the chicken breasts in the centre of the tray. Spoon some left over marinade onto the chicken, carefully making sure none drips onto the tray. Sprinkle on 4T of white sesame seeds. Spoon a second round of marinade onto the chicken. Add any left over marinade into the simmering pan.
9. Place the chicken in the oven for 13 minutes. If your chicken breasts are big, increase the cooking time by a further 2 minutes. In any case, when you notice that the chicken is beginning to shrink, remove it from the oven immediately.
10. Serve the chicken breast using the onion and potatoes as a bed. Pour any drippings onto the plate as well, but not over the chicken.

Notes

• The beauty here is that the miso marinade allows the sesame seeds to stick to the chicken while the sesame seeds allow a second round of marinade to go onto the chicken.
• You can also cook this in a toaster oven. Its less powerful so you should cook the chicken breasts for 10 minutes at 150^oC followed by another 10 min at 200^oC. 
• For information on Miso, refer to this page.
• I cooked the carrots in the picture separately, so that’s why there is no mention of carrots in the recipe.

 

Candied Yam in Ginger Syrup

(serves 2-3)
Candied Yam in Ginger Syrup. This is a East meets West fusion dessert inspired by the rustic Chinese dessert ‘Sweet Potato Sugar Soup’ that pairs the spicy bite of ginger with the texture and sweetness of yam. The beauty of my recipe is there are no timing issues, as the yam and syrup are cooked seperately. Thus the yam will be exactly as soft as it should be, the ginger flavoured syrup will be as thick and as sweet as it needs. Pretty much this is a recipe that can’t go wrong.    

Ingredients

1. Yam (300g)
2. Ginger (50g)
3. Butter (10g)
4. Muscovado Sugar (4T)
5. Cinnamon Powder
6. Rum
7. Vanilla Ice Cream

Preparation 

1. Peel 300g of yam and cut them into half inch cubes. At the same time peel 50g of ginger and cut this into thin long slices easily distinguishable from the yam cubes. For this recipe, the older the ginger the better.
2. Place the yam and ginger into a pot and add water till everything is submerged. Simmer covered for half an hour (start counting from when the water boils).
3. Pour out the yam stock into a container. Pick out the ginger pieces and discard them. Arrange the yam cubes onto the tray of a toaster oven.
4. Cut several thin slices of butter and plop these over the yam cubes. Toast the yam cubes for 15 minutes. You should end up with buttery yam cubes which are firm on the outside, but still moist and soft on the inside.
5. While the yam is toasting, pour the yam stock back into the pot. Add 5T of muscovado sugar, 2T of rum and boil the stock down til it is a thin runny syrup (remember it will thicken further when it cools).  Recombine the yam with the syrup and refrigerate before serving.
6. Dust each serving generously with cinnamon powder. I would normally add a scoop of mascarpone or vanilla ice cream with each serving.  

Notes

• If you don’thave muscovado sugar, you can substitute demerara sugar. Don’t use those brown crystal sugars which are nothing more than refined white sugar dyed brown, or you won’t get the taste of caramel. 
• If you like your desserts less sweet, use 3T of sugar, but be forewarned, you will end up with less syrup. If you like things sweet, using 5T of sugar is no problem.
• This recipe is perfectly scalable; you you can just double or triple the quantities. If you are scaling up or if you don’t have a toaster oven, simply roast the yam in your oven.

 

Tuna Tartare with Scallion

(serves 3, or 6 mini portions, or 9 canapes)
This tartare recipe using raw tuna and scallion is a nice fusion cuisine appetizer of my own creation. It merges the Western concept of marinated chopped raw meat with Japanese sushi where raw fish is sometimes served with scallion. I have 2 secrets to making raw tuna delicious.  Firstly, adding cooked tuna to your tartare gives it the right bite and texture. Secondly, a creamy frosting made with caramelized scallion and turmeric provides the right balance for the dish. 

Ingredients

1. Fresh Tuna Fillet (160g)
2. Chopped Scallion (1/3 cup)
3. Mascarpone (60g)
4. White Bread (2 slices)
5. Turmeric 
6. Hon Dashi Pellets
7. Sesame Oil
8. Port
9. French Mustard

Preparation 

1. Dissolve 0/5t of Hon Dashi Pellets in 5T of hot water to make some concentrated tuna stock. Allow to cool.
2. Julienne your scallion (aka spring onion) into very fine rings. You are only using the bottom quarter of each scallion stalk, which is the fleshy light green to white part, so keep this in mind when you are buying the scallion. You can keep the leafy part for decoration if you like.
3. Cut the tuna into small cubes and then proceed to chop it into a coarse mince. You want to get it down to the level where there are no large chunks but you can still make out individual pieces of fish instead of just mush. At this point reserve 1/4 of the tuna for cooking. Add 1/3 of the julienned scallion to the remaining tuna and finish off with one last round of chopping to mix them properly.
4. In a bowl, stir together 2T sesame oil with 1t mustard, 1t port, 0.5t fined ground black pepper and a pinch of salt. Marinate the tuna scallion mince in this and then keep it covered with cling film in the fridge.
5. Stir the reserved portion of the tuna into the cold tuna stock. This will stop it from clumping together when it is cooked.
6. Fire up a frying pan with a few T of oil. Use a high flame. When the pan is hot, add the ‘wet’ tuna and stir fry. Press down with a spatula to break up the clumps as much as possible. When all the liquid has dried up and the tuna starts to brown, scoop out the tuna and allow it to cool. Mix the cooked tuna into the raw tuna after it has cooled.
7. In the same pan, fry the remaining scallion on low heat in a few T of oil. When the scallion starts to caramelize a bit, turn off the heat but leave the scallion in the pan for a further 3 minutes so it can continue to brown. Finally, add 60g of mascarpone (1/4 of a small tub) followed by 0.5t turmeric and a pinch of salt. Stir till everything is evenly mixed and allow to cool in the fridge, also covered with cling film.
8. Cut each slice of bread into 3 pieces and grill them in the toaster oven till they are somewhat burnt. Use a knife to scrape away the burnt layer and corners. This will give you a thin hard toast that can support the wet tuna. The scrapings can also be used for decoration if you like.
9. Plate the tartare, the scallion cream at the last possible moment so everything remains cold. You can either arrange everything on the toast as I have done above, or leave that to your guests. 

Notes

• The most important thing to ensure is you have sushi grade tuna, you are after all eating this raw. The translucent bright red cut (Maguro) is sufficient, there is no need to splurge on the fatty belly fillet (Toro).
• The proper way to hand-mince tuna: use a heavy un-serrated knife. Repeatedly hammer down lightly on the tuna with the blade from left to right and then fold the tuna over on itself. Repeat, but at right angles to the first round of chopping. Repeat a couple of times.
• Bread does not cut well after it is toasted so you won’t be able to use a regular toaster. Use the grill in your regular oven if you don’t have a toaster oven. You could also use commercially sold Melba toast I suppose.
• You may also consider layering the tatare and scallion cream in a small glass, with the toast plunged in like a straw.
• If you don’t have Hon Dashi, just make the stock the hard way, by boiling tuna and the left over leafy part of the scallion in salted water.    

 

Chinese Style Beef Strogonoff

(serves 3)
This is a fusion version of the Russian classic Beef Stroganoff. The beef is marinated in the Chinese Style using bicarbonate of soda, leaving it extremely tender. You won’t be needing a nicely marbled piece of Wagyu beef for this recipe and more importantly there is no chance to overcook it. When married with the rich taste of sour cream, the end result is a fusion of Eastern and Western (actually East meets Eastern Europe) cuisine.     

Ingredients

1. Beef Fillet (400g)
2. Brown Mushrooms (150g)
3. Onion (1)
4. Sour Cream (1/3 cup)
5. Oxo Beef Stock Cube (1)
6. Balsamic Vinegar
7. Bicarbonate of Soda
8. Corn Starch
9. Coriander Seed Powder
10. Soya Sauce
11. Brandy
12. Vegetable Oil

Preparation 

1. Cut the beef fillet into slices which are as thin as you can manage manually. Cut across the grain where possible.
2. Mix the marinate as follows: 1/3 cup water, 1T soya sauce, 2t corn starch, 1t sugar, 1t coriander seed powder, 0.5t bicarbonate of soda, 0.5t salt. Mix the meat in the marinade well and leave it for 2 or more hours. It may appear watery at first but all the liquid will be adsorbed by the meat over time.
3. Its now 2 or more hours later. Add 2T or balsamic vinegar to the meet and mix well. You should see some small bubbles as the bicarbonate reacts with the vinegar. This is normal.
4. Cut your onion into half rings and the mushrooms into thick slices.
5. Disolve one beef cube in 1/3 cup of hot water in a large bowl.
6. Pan fry the onions with a dash of oil for about 3 minutes on low heat. Add the mushrooms and continue stir frying till the mushrooms begin to soften. Empty the contents of the pan into the beef stock. 
7. Put a generous amount of oil into the pan and turn the heat to high. At the same time mix 1T of oil into the marinated meat. When the pan is searing hot, sautée the meat. Make sure both sides of each piece of meat has time on the pan. When no part of the meat’s surface appears uncooked anymore, pour in the stock, onions and mushrooms.
8. Continue on high heat till the liquid is reduced to 1/3 its original volume, it shouldn’t take long. Add 1/3 cup of sour cream. Simmer on low heat for a further minute before adding 3T of brandy and turning the fire off. Add salt if you fancy, but taste it first. 
9. Plate with either buttered fettucine or buttered rice, and sprinkle on some black pepper after plating.

Notes

• If you wish to marinate the meat ahead of time, remember that you can’t leave the meat overnight without first adding the vinegar. After doing so, you can even refreeze the marinated meat.
• If your knife skills are lacking, there are two ways you can get around this. Either have your beef semi-frozen before you begin slicing, or cut slightly thicker pieces and flatten them with a meat mallet.
• If you wish to understand more about the effect of bicarbonate of soda on meat, please refer to this post.
• In some places (like Brazil or Hong Kong) you’ll encounter versions which use heavy cream instead of sour cream. Add 2T of HP sauce to the heavy cream to cook this version.

 

Capellini with Sakura Shrimp

(serves 8 as an appetizer, or 4 as a main course)
This was my first successful attempt at an Angel Hair dish. It is surprisingly heavy for a pasta dish, and is ideally served as a starter in half-portions. The philadelphia cream cheese was the ‘missing ingredient’ that took me quite a bit of trial and error to discover. It somehow blends with and takes the edge off the anchovy flavour, creating a really unique taste for the dish.

Ingredients

1. Anchovies in Oil (50g)
2. White Wine (1/3 cup)
3. Salmon fillet (100g)
4. Sakura Shrimp (6T)
5. No. 1 Capellini (250g)
6. Cream (1/3 cup)
7. Cream Cheese (2T)
8. Chopped Parsley (1T)

Preparation

1. Boil 2 cups of water in a saucepan for the stock. Throw salmon in and cook for 10 min. Turn off heat and remove the fish from stock. Mash with a spoon to detect and remove any bones.
2. Mash the anchovies in its own oil all and fry in a pan together with 4T of olive oil. When hot, throw in the salmon pieces. Stir fry with a wooden spoon and make sure all the salmon is thoroughly flaked and browned, then add the white wine as a deglaze.
3. When the pan begins to dry, add the cream and 1 cup of fish stock just after turning heat off. Add 0.5t sugar and 2T of (Philadelphia) cream cheese.
4. Boil a pot of water with a pinch of salt and a dash of olive oil. Place the capellini into the water for two minutes and not a second more. Drain immediately. It should still be semi hard.
5. Lightly toast the Sakura in a toaster oven while the pasta is cooking and leave them inside the oven after the timer goes to keep them warm.
6. While the pasta was cooking, you should reheat the salmon sauce. Immediately upon draining, stir fry the capellini for an additional minute in the sauce where the pasta should soak up most of the liquid. Turn heat off and mix in an additional 4T of olive oil and 1T of finely chopped parsley.
7. Using a large fork, twirl the capellini on to the serving plates. Sprinkle the Sakura and black pepper as a final garnishing before serving. Serve immediately.

Notes

• This is a re-post using a name that is more easily searchable.
• If you don’t know what Sakura Shrimp are, click on the link.
• I like to use salmon head instead of salmon fillet, which imparts more flavour to the stock. In an emergency, you can use canned salmon too.
• Use only No. 1 capellini as No. 2 is too thick for this recipe. (i.e. No.1 = Angel Hair). Capellini is notoriously difficult to work with as it becomes mushy for 100 different reasons. Its extremely small diameter ( i.e. large surface area to volume ratio) makes it soggy very quickly if a water or cream based sauce is used. Oil on the other hand, locks out additional moisture and keeps the pasta springy, so it is my belief that Capellini can only ever be served with an oil based sauce.

 

Pork Sausage Pasta

(serves 3-4)
This is my own creation, a hybrid pasta dish I concocted on one day when one person wanted to eat Szechuan food and another Italian cuisine. The key ingredients of its ragut sauce are minced pork, aubergine(eggplant) and paprika. It is living proof you don’t need anything more than normal everyday ingredients to make fantastic tasting food.

 

Ingredients

1. Pork Sausages (350g)
2. Aubergine a.k.a. Eggplant (1)
3. Chardonnay (1 cup)
4. Penne (2.5 cups)
5. Garlic crushed (3t)
6. Corn Flour
7. Paprika
8. Cognac

Preparation

1. Deskin your sausages by cutting them in half lengthwise and peeling off the membranes. Soak the filling in 1 cup of white wine.  If you are using fresh sausages, you should also sprinkle on 1t of corn flour before adding the wine but if you’re using frozen (but defrosted) breakfast pork sausages they should have enough flour in them already. Knead to break up the clumps and allow to sit while you proceed with the next steps.
2. Put a pot of water with a pinch of salt and dash of olive oil to boil for the pasta and crush 3t of garlic.
3. In the meanwhile, cut the auberine into one inch cylinders. Slice each cylinder further into about 10 segments, leaving some of the skin attached to each piece.
4. In a pan, stir fry the auberine on high heat  in 2T of olive oil. When the auberine starts to brown, add the crushed garlic. After a further minute pour in the pork cum wine.
5. Continue to smash clumps of meat while the wine boils down.  At half volume, reduce heat and sprinkle in 3t of paprika and 1t of sugar. Then spoon out 8T of the sauce into a bowl. Add 1t cognac to the reserved sauce if you want an extra punch.
6. Continue to apply low heat to the meat sauce until the pan is almost dry. In the meantime place your penne into the pot of boiling water.
7. When the pasta is semi-soft, drain and mix the pasta with the meat in the pan. Drizzle on 4T of olive oil and turn the heat to high again. Stir fry for two minutes or so until the penne is al dente.
8. After removing from heat but while still in the pan, pour in the reserved sauce and toss. Try for taste. You shouldn’t need to add salt as sausages are usually well salted, but that depends on the make.
9. On the plates garnish with black pepper, chilli flakes and/or a sprinkle of more paprika.

Notes

• If you are not into pork, this recipe works very well using bratwurst sausages.
• If you absolutely cannot have even a bit of spicyness, use 3t of oregano instead of 3t parika. Then it’ll be fully Italian instead of part-Szechuan.
• I would advise against noodle type pasta as the clumpy pork is best eaten with a spoon. Besides penne, the better pasta options are conchiglie, farfalle and rotini.

 

Braised Beef Ribs, in Guinness

(serves 4)
Stout is a good braising beverage because of its rich nutty taste and all the nourishing grains that goes into each pint of it. I experimented with all kinds of flavours to partner stout before I settled on soya sauce. I don’t know if its because both are black, but they match well, resulting in a East-meets-West braised rib recipe, with hints of Korean cuisine and Pub food.

 nb. No reason why you can’t use pork ribs instead of beef ribs if you so desire.

.

Ingredients

1. Beef Ribs (1000g)
2. Guinness Stout (1 can)
3. Leek (chopped, 1.5 cups)
4. Carrot (1 large)
5. Garlic (12 cloves)
6. Oxo Beef Cube (1)
7. Flour
8. Honey
9. Dark Soya Sauce
10. French Mustard
11. Cardamon
12. Tarragon

Preparation

1. Start by cutting your carrots into thick discs and diagonally slicing your leek into half rings. Peel the garlic into individual cloves.
2. There is no need for marination. Just trim off any large chunks of fat and then dredge your raw ribs through a few T of flour containing a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
3. Using a frying pan, sear your ribs in a few T of oil until they are brown on all sides to seal in juices. You should do them a few at a time, without crowding the pan. Arrange the seared beef in a pyrex or casserole dish as shown below.
4. In the same pan, without washing it, stir fry your leek in a few T of oil on low heat. When the leek softens, turn up the heat and add your can of stout. Make some beef stock using half a cup of hot water and an Oxo cube, and add that in as well.
5. Preheat your oven to 160^oC (320^oF),
6. Continue to simmer until the volume of your braising sauce is reduced by a third. Turn off the heat and finish off the sauce by mixing in 4T of Dark soya sauce, 2t (heaping) of honey, 1t of cardamon, 1t black pepper,  1T of tarragon.
7. Arrange the carrots and garlic between the ribs and pour your braising sauce over the ribs, making sure the ribs are fully covered. It’s ok if some of the vegetables stick out. Seal the top of your baking vessel snugly with aluminium foil. If it has a cover, use it. Do not poke breathing holes into the foil.
8. Bake for 1.5 to 2 hours depending on how chunky your ribs are. Remove from the oven and pour all the liquid, plus what is left of the leeks, into a glass or porcelain container.
9. Place the ribs and carrots back in the oven without any cover for a further 10 minutes to dry out.
10. Skim away as much of the oil from the gravy as you can and then pour the remainder into a gravy boat. Add 1t each of honey and French mustard and mix well.
11. The ribs can be served with a healthy dose of soft staple food. Rice, mashed potatoes and polenta are the ones I usually serve with these ribs.

Notes

• There is dark soya sauce and light soya sauce. This recipe requires the dark variety which is normally used for margination. Japanese soya sauce is ok but you shouldn’t use Chinese light soya sauce which is normally used for seasoning and dipping.
• The height and size of the baking dish is important and you should pick one which is tall enough to prevent liquid from boiling over. It must also be big enough to accommodate the ribs without stacking them.
• Don’t skip the flour. It makes its easier to seal the meat when you are browning it and it also adds some body to your final sauce.
• You may choose to take out the carrots for the final 10 minutes of baking if you like them soft.
• If you find that all the liquid has boiled off skip step 9 and instead remove all the solids from the baking vessel and add some hot water and scrape the container to create the gravy.
• For BBQs, bake for just 1 hour and then finish off the cooking over the BBQ fire. The ribs will be too soft for BBQ if you cook them for the full period.
• If you don’t have cardamon, try using nutmeg instead.

 

Angel Hair Nippon-ara

This post has been reposted here under a new name.