Seared Pork & Ginger Dumplings with Mapo Sauce

So for a while now I've been toying around with making some chilli oil dumplings. I love that peppery warmth that comes from chilli oil that coats your tongue in a delicious heat. But i also wanted to try something a little bit new, not the stock standard chilli oil dumplings. How to take it up a notch? Add Mapo!

I was surprised how well this dish worked; i would make a very impressive plate at a one of those trendy new small plate bars. The freshness inside the dumpling (with the ginger and water chestnuts) does not get tainted by the mapo and there are two distinct flavours happening here.

Pork Sang Choy Bao

I remember the first time i had this dish... we were at our local Chinese restaurant, a daggy little place in Ringwood. But i loved it. The food was actually quite good, and it was one place we went quite often with extended family to celebrate birthdays and the like. Normally the presence of three children ensured the ordering of such staple fares as honey chicken and sweet and sour pork. As my tastes matured i became a devotee of the crystal prawns. But when my mother ordered the 'pork in lettuce cup' I, and my siblings, were mortified! "You mean to tell us you wasted one dish on LETTUCE???" raced through our heads.

Thankfully, the dish came out, and we were instantly converted. My favorite part of this dish is the contract in textures, which can come from a variety of sauces. The slight chewiness of the ground meat, the crisp crunch of the water chestnuts, the unctuous stickiness of the hoisin. This version is not the most regal one out there, but it stays relatively true to my first taste of the dish at Ringwood Chinese Restaurant.

One change i made: replacing the fried noodles on which the pork mixture sits, with fresh bean sprouts.

Lamb Shank & Pearl Barley Soup

Soup soup soup! Dear god how many soups can i cook? From Wikipedia;


"Soup is a food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavor is extracted, forming a broth."

enough said. This is my weekly soup recipe! The rich fat from the lamb shanks gives this soup it's delicious mouth feel, and yet it is also nutritious and healthy, abounding with vegetables. Light enough for the beginning of spring, but warming enough for the lagging winter chill.

BBQ Assam Prawn

Yesterday in Australia it was Fathers' Day and this year, having moved back home with my parents to a much larger kitchen i was able to help cook a feast for dinner that day. I went for a Malaysian theme and with my mother providing a chicken satay and my sister providing a beef rendang (both of which were magnificent) i decided to try my hand at some Nonya cuisine, as well as the obligatory KL Hokkien Mee.

Assam prawn, from what i gather is a Nonya dish of tamarind and soy marinated shrimp, normally wok fried though sometimes there appears to be some variation in recipe. I decided to grill my prawns on the BBQ, considering the amazing size of the ones i managed to get my hands on!

The BBQing of the assam prawn had it's pro's and con's. The tamarind was much less present as the sauce was not made to cling to the prawn. On the other hand it made for a much drier dish, more perfect for the appetizer purpose i had for it. The sourness of the tamarind is tempered by the sugar and dissipates with the fiery breath of the grill.

Wonton Soup

On my first overseas trip, i visited Hong Kong with my dad, and was delighted to discover the world of dumplings. Xiao long bao, har gow, siu mai... the list went on, but one of my favorite dishes grew to become wonton soup: a beautiful light chicken broth, bobbing with succulent wontons.

Here in Melbourne the quality of wonton soup, and in particular the wontons themselves, varies considerably. This recipe, which i have tweaked from an original by one of my favorite foodblogs, Rasa Malaysia, uses only prawns and no pork in the wontons, for a wonderfully crunchy burst of flavour contained in the little parcels. I was particularly proud of the broth as well, which came out magically similar to the ones i had tasted in Hong Kong.

Middle Eastern Lemon & Chickpea Soup

In the search for my weekly soup to cook and take to work, i seem to be making soups of less and less ingredients! This one is very simply flavored, with the impact of the lemon zest and juice taking it to a different level. The spinach is integral in filling out the dish and providing a textural difference.

Broccoli Soup with Chevre

After a couple of luxurious soups for my weekly lunches i decided to cut back, go back to basics, and make a nice, healthy soup for this week's lunches. But... well i couldn't help myself.

Don't get me wrong, this soup REALLY is as simple as they come. Excluding salt and water, this soup is comprised of just two ingredients: broccoli and goats cheese.

Chevre is the French word for goat, and logically, chevre refers in Australia as a type of goats cheese. Rich and creamy, ash covered chevre adds a very distinct note to this dish and is available at any good delicatessen.

This dish is derived from a youtube video i watched from the venerable and terrifying Gordon Ramsey. His logic is sound: why should a broccoli soup need to be tainted and overdone with stocks and creams? He lets the broccoli speak to itself, and the goatiness of the cheese come through as a faint flavor throughout. I agree- to a point. This soup is a wonderful starter or palate cleanser, but it lacks the 'oomph' required to be a main course.

Penne with Salami, Olives, Basil and Capsicum

So this is the second recipe i've cooked in Ringwood, and this time the core reason behind cooking was simple: my mum wrote 'pasta with salami and olives etc' on the fridge whiteboard. So there wasn't much leeway tonight! Nonetheless i've cooked it anyway, to fairly decent familial reviews.

Ingredients (serves 3)

• 4 cups penne pasta
• 1 tomato
• 1 red capsicum
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 1 medium onion
• 1 handful black olives
• 75gm salami
• 1 handful fresh basil leaves
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed

Method

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Drain and set aside. 
Dice the tomato flesh, onion and capsicum

Slice the salami into long thin strips

Pitt the olives and cut into small pieces.
Heat a medium saucepan over low-medium heat and then add the olive oil
Add the onions and garlic and saute until soft, careful not to colour the onions

Raise the heat to medium-high
Add the salami and cook for a further 3 minutes. 
Add the tomatoes, olives and capsicum and cook for a further 1 minute.

Pour the sauce over the pasta and season with salt and pepper.
Throw in the basil and toss the pasta through.

Serve with freshly grated parmesan on the side.

Corn Chowder

As the cold weather sets in i've been getting a bit sick of tabbouleh for lunch- not to mention the rigmarole of waking up every morning and cutting up parsley, cucumber, garlic and tomatoes, and not forgetting to soak the bourghul the night before. No more!!

Instead, it's time to move to soup. I hope to bring one soup recipe to the table each week (to cater to my lunches) for the foreseeable future. Oh soup, how do i express your many virtues? Soups tend to be cheap, and you can use alot of scraps in them. Pureed soups freeze quite well, and there are countless variations and recipes, not to mention using your own creativity. And finally, soups can incorporate a lot of vegetables, so they're good for you too.

First up: corn chowder.  A chowder is a soup which has been thickened using flour.

Serves 4 as a meal, 8 as a starter. Cost me about $8 to make.

Pappardelle with Cos Lettuce, Peas and Prosciutto

 Pappardelle seems to be back in vogue again, and it's unusual that it's current reputation as an elegant pasta is quite converse to it's rustic appeal a decade or so ago. Also in vogue is the cooking of lettuce, which provides a taste almost like a mustardy spinach, to a dish. So i suppose this dish is very much a 'fad' dish; but that's not to say that at the same time it's not very very tasty.

As i couldn't find fresh pappardelle at the market i purchased fresh Lasagne sheets and cut them into 3cm thick ribbons which provides the same end result. Also, if you don't have a reputable grocer, don't use fresh peas: the frozen ones will be better, and cost a 10th of the price.

Chilled Tomato & Bread Soup Cordoba Style

Some of the greatest foods are born of simplicity and that is what i love about the Movida cookbook. Movida owner Frank Camorra talks of the heart of spanish cuisine, and every recipe i have cooked has focused around bringing out the true essence in one or two core ingredients. To that extent i think of his restaurants, i would probably prefer the lower keyed taverna style Movida Next Door, over the opulent dishes of Movida itself.

This is yet another recipe i have lifted from Movida's cookbook: and this time, i have not played one bit with the recipe (except to halve it so i'm not eating it for the next 6 months). I can tell this soup is best made in the summer when tomatoes are at their best; do not skimp, and ensure you use fresh, vine ripened tomatoes. And don't use Wonder White bread!

Chong Yao Beng (Spring Onion Pancake)

Crisp and crunch on the outside, firm and chewy on the inside, and completely permeated with the taste of scallions, chong yao beng are a delicious snack of just a few ingredients. And i LOVE spring onions. Essentially a fried unleavened flat bread filled with spring onions, they are easy to make, and the result is very satisfying! There's a few different ways to make these, but below is the simplest.

Aburi Wagyu with Radish & Ginger Fuzz and Crisp Garlic

This week on a business trip i went to a Japanese restaurant in Brisbane called Sono. The food there was absolutely amazing! One of the dishes they had was aburi wagyu, an unusual almost tataki style dish, but the resultant flavour was very different. This recipe began as an attempt to replicate that dish, but finding no example recipes online, i decided to make it my own with the addition of rice and a much fresher mixture on top of the wagyu. I'm pretty proud of the results!!

Ingredients

• About 100gm wagyu fillet
• 1 cup sushi rice
• 2 cloves garlic
• 5 small radishes
• 1 2 inch knob ginger
• 3 tbsp light soy
• 1 lemon
• 4 tbsp mirin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 spring onions, slivered

Method

Rinse the sushi rice and cook with 1 cup water over low heat until water has evaporated.

Lay the sushi rice out on a plate to cool.

Combine the 3 tbsp mirin with the salt and sugar and heat until dissolved together.

Sprinkle the mirin mixture over the rice and carefully toss. Set aside

Heat a frying pan to high heat with no oil.

Sear the outside of the wagyu fillet for 30 seconds on each side and then transfer to fridge immediately to halt cooking process.

Finely grate the radishes with 1/2 clove garlic and 1/2 inch of ginger. 

Heat in a frying pan over very low heat, being careful not to brown, until some of the spiciness has left.

Set aside for later.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a saucepan.

Finely slice the remaining garlic clove and fry until golden, then transfer to a paper towel.

Pare off a slice of the lemon's peel and 'fillet' out any of the white as below.

Thinly slice the peel into long thin strips.

Wet hands and shape rice into small logs and place on serving plate.

Very thinly slice the wagyu fillet diagonally.

Layer the wagyu on top of the rice pieces.

Top the wagyu with a small amount of the ginger and radish fuzz. 

Top the fuzz with 2 thin slices of the lemon peel.

Top with slivered spring onions and a slice of the fried garlic

Serve with ponzu sauce.

Ponzu Sauce

Finely grate the remaining ginger.

Combine the soy, 1 tbsp mirin, and 1 tbsp of the lemon juice in a cup.

Press the ginger in a sieve over the cup to extract 1 tsp of ginger 'juice'.

Mix together and pour into serving dishes.

Flamenquin

How come i had never heard of these before??? These are the best racion!! Think about it. Spanish jamon and manchego sheeps cheese wrapped up in pork and then crumbed and fried? Hangover heaven!! Alas i did not have the heart to make these when i was actually hungover (pizza pockets are much easier to er heat, admittedly). Trust me, two is enough per person.

PS Check out the amazing plates my parents got me for my birthday!! (The black one at the end)

Ingredients (makes 8)

• 4 pork loin steaks (probably about 80 grams each)
• 1 slice of jamon cut about 5mm thick and cut into 8 strips
  
• 1 slice of manchego sheeps cheese or other hard sheeps chease, again about 5mm thick and cut into 8 strips
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs (japanese bread crumps available from the deli)
• Flour for coating
• Thyme
• Salt
• Oil for frying. 

Method

Place the each pork steak between 2 pieces of cling wrap and bash the heck out of it with a mallet until you get an even 5mm thickness across. Cut each piece into 2 strips.

Place 1 piece of jamon and 1 piece of cheese onto each pork fillet, sprinkle with thyme.

Roll up each pork piece with the cheese and jamon inside like a cigar.

Lightly whisk the eggs and place the eggs, breadcrumbs and flour is separate bowls.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Dip each piece into flour, then egg, then roll in breadcrumbs.

Bring oil to heat in a saucepan and test heat with a piece of bread. We want the bread to take 30 seconds to go golden.

When ready, add the flamenquins 2 or 3 at a time and cook until golden brown.

Transfer the flamenquin when cooked to a baking tray, and when all ready, put in the oven for 5 minutes.

Scoff scoff scoff whilst hot. Goes great with an aioli dipping sauce.

Chilled Almond Soup with Grape Granita

My lovely sister got me the Movida cookbook for my birthday, and this is the first recipe that i have made from it. I think it's also the first cold soup that i've ever had. I had no idea how the ingredients were going to combine, but it looks like i realise why Movida is so popular. Everything in this soup is very well balanced and it makes a great, refreshing palate cleanser that is very light but full of clean flavors.

Ingredients:
Granita
250gm red grapes
1 cup water
100gm castor sugar

Almond Soup
150gm blanched almonds
1 2cm thick slice day old bread, crusts removed
1 tablespoon aioli (can be purchased at a specialty deli, or its quite easy to make which i did!)
450ml chilled water
Salt
1 clove garlic, crushed

Method
Granita
Remove the grapes from their stalks and process into a puree in a blender
Pass the pureed grapes through a sieve.

Heat the water and sugar together in a saucapan to a boil and then simmer until reduced by 1/3
Add the sugar syrup to the grape mix and pour both into a container for the freezer.
Every 3 hours, break up the granita with a fork. When it begins to completely set, you can form the flurry ice crystals by raking a fork up and down it.
Done!

Almond Soup
Cover the blanched almonds in water overnight.
Soak the bread in water for 1 hour.

Drain the almonds and bread and transfer to a blender or food processor with garlic and process into a puree.
Slowly add the chilled water whilst continuing to blend. Should take about 3 minutes in total.
Pass this 'almond milk' through a fine sieve.

Place the aioli into a large bowl and slowly add the almond milk, whisking constantly.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve, loosely fill the serving glasses with 2-3 heaped tablespoons of the granita.

Pour in the almond soup, approximately an equal amount to the granita.
Enjoy.

$5 meals - Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup

When i was little, my mum used to make me this soup. It was my favorite food, and when my birthday came around, and she asked me what i would like to eat on the day, it was often chicken and sweetcorn soup! Hers tastes so much better than the Chinese take-away variety, and doesn't have that sickly thickness that those soups seem to have. I've stuck pretty closely to the way that i think mum makes it, but i've omitted the ham (i forgot to buy it!). To add an extra dimension, add about 100gm of chopped up smoked ham to the soup at the start.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• 1L reduced salt chicken stock
• 500gm chicken fillets, skinless
• 3 scallions, thinly chopped
  
• Light soy for seasoning
• 4 small ears of corn, or about 2 cups of corn kernels.
  
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbs water

Method:

To shred the chicken first steam it for about 20 minutes to cook it through (better to overcook than under, as the soup will reduce any dryness anyway and its a little easier to shred when it's not super moist).

Let the chicken cool and then shred by hand (a laborious process, took me 2 episodes of Golden Girls!)

Set the chicken aside.

Remove the corn kernels from the ears by running a knife down the sides.

Puree 1/2 of the corn in a blender with a bit of the chicken stock.

Pour the puree, stock, chicken and remaining corn into a large pot and cook over medium heat for 1 hour, covered.

Add the scallions 5 minutes before ready to serve, reserving some for garnish.

(A bit that i forgot)

Lightly whisk the eggs with the tbsp of water.

Slowly pour the eggs into the soup, constantly stirring the soup with your other hand.

This will create thin whisps of egg throughout the soup which adds a different texture, and richness.

Taste the soup. If it needs it, add soy sauce to taste.

Eat up and think of mum.