Arroz a la Valenciana (Valencian Rice)

December 15, 2015December 15, 2015 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! Festive Filipino Foods Day 02 of 12 is here with a Latin American dish known as Arroz a la Valenciana, also considered as a part of Filipino cuisine, to share. Arroz a la Valenciana is quite commonly known as a poor man’s paella as the ingredients used to make this is is far less lavish than that of paella, where wine is used for a flavourful Spanish rice dish and a lot of seafood ingredients. The main ingredients in Arroz a la Valenciana consists of glutinous (sticky rice), regular rice, tomatoes, tomato paste, potatoes, carrots, capsicum, chicken, and chorizo – a complete meal, a one-dish meal of meat, rice, and vegetables. It is a great dish for Noche Buena, Christmas, Fiestas, weddings, birthdays, and family get-togethers.

Well, that’s pretty much all I can talk about for this dish, so let’s move on to the recipe shall we?

Arroz a la Valenciana (Valencian Rice) Ingredients

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOKING TIME 30-45 MINS | SERVES 6-8

INGREDIENTS

3 cups water
2 cups plain rice, half-cooked*
1 cup glutinous rice, half-cooked**
1/4 cup raisins
12 pcs chicken wings, cut into 3 (drumette, mid-wing, and tip)
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 brown onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and sliced diagonally
1 chorizo sausage, sliced diagonally
1 potato, cut into chunks
1 tomato, diced
1/4 red, yellow, and green capsicum, sliced
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp achuete powder
1 tsp chicken stock powder
Ground black pepper, to taste

*/**Cook the rice together in a rice cooker; what I usually do for every one cup of rice, I add one cup of water. But in this instance, you want your rice to still be a bit tough and half-done because it will absorb the sauce from when you sauté your chicken.

METHOD

Heat about 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-high. Fry the chorizo slices, about a minute per side until slightly browned. Remove from the pot and transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel.
In the same pot, sauté the garlic until fragrant and golden brown. Next add in the onions and cook until soft, about 2 minutes altogether. Add in the tomatoes and then cook until soft, about a further 2-3 minutes.
Add the chicken and season with chicken stock powder and ground black pepper. Give it a good mix and then leave your chicken to cook for about 5 minutes.
Dissolve the achuete powder in a cup of hot water, then add this into the chicken together with the other two cups of water. Stir in the tomato paste and let the chicken cook for a further 5 minutes.
Add in the potatoes and carrots and allow to cook for a further 5 minutes. Once done, remove the chicken, potatoes, and carrots, leaving the sauce in the pot, and set aside.
Add the half-cooked rice into the pot and give it a good mix until it is well coated in the sauce. Leave to cook further, until all the sauce has been absorbed.
Lastly, add the raisins and capsicum and cook for a further 2 minutes. Turn the heat off and then return the chicken, potatoes, and carrots, together with the chorizo sausage sliced you fried earlier, to the pot and give it a good mix.
Transfer to a serving dish; serve, share, and enjoy!

Arroz a la Valenciana (Valencian Rice)

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Filipino-style Chicken Macaroni Salad

December 14, 2015December 14, 2015 amcarmenLeave a comment

Filipino-style Chicken Macaroni Salad

Hello Everyone! It’s been a while since my last post – but if you are a regular reader, you would’ve picked up from my last post that I’d be taking a short break. It’s not because I needed some time to recover from my mental exhaustion (because let’s face it, I’m still always mentally drained by the end of a long day), but more for the theme for this month’s recipes. From today onwards, you will be expecting a recipe every single day leading up to Christmas – you read that right! I will be sharing with you Festive Filipino Dishes that can be found on the tables of a Filipino family during Noche Buena, some of the recipes that I will be sharing have been influenced by Spanish cuisine. So let’s kick off Day 01 of 12 days to Christmas with a sweet (or savoury?) one: Filipino-style Chicken Macaroni Salad.

First off, for those of you who don’t know, Noche Buena is the Spanish word for the night of Christmas Eve. In Latin American cultures, including Spain and the Philippines, Noche Buena is an annual traditional family feast. The traditional dinner is celebrated at midnight after attending the late evening Mass known as Misa de Gallo. In the Philippines, a whole roasted pig known as lechón, is the centre of all dishes during the feast. It is believed that the tradition dates back to the 15th century when Caribbean colonists hunted down pigs and roasted them whole as the family gathered for Christmas Eve. However, a whole roasted pig isn’t always served in other cultures. For example, in Peru, a large juicy turkey is the star for Noche Buena while in Venezuela, hallacas are quite popular. Actually, I think I may have explained what Noche Buena is in a post last Christmas? I’m not sure. Oh well!

Tonight’s dish is one of the many that can be found on the table during Noche Buena, but it doesn’t stop there. This dish is also typically served during Filipino fiestas and also during family outings and picnics. It is actually a very simple dish that doesn’t require a lot of cooking and complicated steps. The main “cooking” is basically cooking the macaroni until tender, and the chicken to be boiled and shredded. When those core ingredients are ready, all you have to do next is toss all the ingredients together and voilà! Chill it in the fridge for a couple of hours and you’ve got a tasty chicken macaroni salad.

Filipino-style Chicken Macaroni Salad Ingredients

PREP TIME 15 MINS | COOKING TIME 30 MINS | SERVES 10-12

INGREDIENTS

500g macaroni*
1 jar (400g) Nata de Coco, drained
300ml dollop cream
250g chicken breast
100ml condensed milk
1 cup cheddar cheese, diced
1 cup fresh pineapple, diced
3/4 cup carrots, minced
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup raisins
Ground salt and pepper to taste

*Aside from macaroni, you can use other types of short cut pasta. Here are some examples: Mostaccioli, Penne, Rigatoni, Cellentani, Rotini, Cavatappi, Fideuà, and Maccheroncelli.

METHOD

Bring a medium-sized pot of salted water to a boil. Once boiling, add in the chicken breasts and cook for about 15 minutes, or until cooked all the way through depending on the size of your breasts (yes I meant to say it that way *cheeky grin*). Once done, drain and set aside to completely cool down.
Meanwhile, mix the condensed milk, cream, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Taste and adjust accordingly to your liking. Set aside.
Then, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once boiling, add the macaroni and cook according to packet instructions (mine was about 10-11 minutes). Once done, drain and transfer to a large mixing bowl together with the dressing.
When the chicken breasts have completely cooled down, shred the chicken meat and add it into the mixing bowl together with the macaroni.
Add all the other remaining ingredients and toss thoroughly until well combined. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and refrigerate for about and hour or two before serving.
Serve chilled and enjoy!

Filipino-style Chicken Macaroni Salad

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Penang Char Kway Teow (Stir-fried Rice Cake Strips)

November 26, 2015 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! First off, I just want to say that this is the last noodle dish for the month of November! There’ll be one more post going up on Sunday on one of my designs, and after that I’ll be taking a 2-week break from blogging. There’s no particular reason for it – well okay, I guess you can say it’s for me to take a short break since I have been complaining for the past however so many posts about being mentally tired. It’s also mainly to go with the theme I have planned for next month; more will be revealed after my 2-week break 🙂

Okay, so before I dive into the recipe for tonight, I’d like to say sorry for a later than usual upload – I just came home from an evening with friends. We met up and did an escape room challenge together; well we split into two teams and did a different room from each other, CSI and Prison Break. Sadly I was in the losing team but they did say that CSI was definitely harder than the other one. Anyway, it was a fun night altogether but we didn’t get to talk much about our experiences over dinner because we didn’t want to ruin it for each other. Instead we vaguely talked about what we encountered and then all unanimously decided to go back again next week and do the rooms that we didn’t get to do tonight. All I can say that our brains were frazzled and scrambled after we got out of the CSI room – but in the end, we all had a great time. (I actually still can’t believe that I’m still mentally capable to write this post after a long day, and then a difficult escape room challenge).

Anyway! Back to tonight’s recipe – I don’t actually eat this dish that often, be it ordering it at a restaurant or making it at home. It’s not that I don’t like this dish, I actually enjoy it but not as much as the other noodle dishes. Char Kway Teow literally means stir-fried rice cake strips and is a national favourite in Malaysia and Singapore.

Here’s a fact that some of you may not know (I didn’t know myself too until I did my research), Char Kway Teow has a reputation of being unhealthy due to its high saturated fat content. It is this way because it made it attractive, in terms of it being a cheap source of energy and nutrients, to labourers since it was mainly served to them. When the dish was first served, it was sold by fishermen farmers and cockle-gathers who doubled as char kway teow hawkers in the evening to supplement their income.

Over time, the dish became increasingly popular and many cooks have developed their own interpretations while still using the same basic ingredients of ricecake strips/flat rice noodles fried with anything from eggs (chicken or duck), onions, garlic, prawns, cockles, Chinese sausage, chives, etc. Pork fat was predominately used to stir-fry char kway teow, but over the years, ordinary cooking oil is now used for health or religious reasons.

I based this recipe from Rasa Malaysia, so go check out the original recipe if you get the chance to!

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOKING TIME 15 MINS | SERVES 4-6

INGREDIENTS

400g kway teow noodles (rice cake strips)
250g prawns, peeled and deveined
100g baby clam meat
100g beansprouts
4-6 large free range eggs, sunny side-up
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Chinese sausages, sliced diagonally
1 small brown onion, diced
Chilli paste
- 30g dried red chillies, seeded and soaked in water until soft
- 3 small shallots, diced
- 2 fresh red chilies, seeded
- 1 tsp oil
- Pinch of salt
Spring onions

Sauce Mix

5 tbsp soy sauce
2 dashes white pepper powder
1 & 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp salt

METHOD

Grind all the ingredients of the chilli paste together using a mini food processor until fine. Heat about a teaspoon of oil in a small frying pan, over medium-high. Stir-fry the chili paste until aromatic, about 3-5 minutes and then transfer to a heatproof bowl. Set aside.
Mix all the ingredients for the sauce together in a small bowl and set aside.
Next, heat up about a tablespoon or two of oil in a large frying pan, or wok, over medium-high. Sauté the garlic until fragrant and golden brown, then add in the onions and cook until soft, about 2 minutes altogether.
Add in the Chinese sausage slices and cook until you can smell the aroma coming from the sausages. Then, add in your prawns and cook until they start to change colour, about 5 minutes altogether.
Add in the baby clam meat, followed by a half portion of the beansprouts and give it a quick mix. The add in the rice cake strips, making sure that you untangle the clumps when you’re adding them to the pan, followed by the sauce mix and chilli paste. Give it a good stir and make sure that all the noodles are covered with the sauce.
Turn the heat off, and then mix in the rest of the beansprouts and the spring onions. Serve immediately with or without a sunny side-up egg on top. Enjoy!

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Malaysian Curry Laksa (Spicy Noodle Soup)

November 24, 2015November 24, 2015 amcarmenLeave a comment

Malaysian Curry Laksa (Spicy Noodle Soup)

Hello Everyone! So, I’ve been told that I don’t write as much as I used to, and that’s only because there’s really nothing much to tell. Well okay, maybe a part of the reason is also that I’m always mentally tired by the end of the day when I get around to writing my blog posts. I try to write them in advance so that I could at least add some enthusiasm to my posts, but I always end up procrastinating – and I’m sorry for that! Just bare with me until the end of the year and hopefully my content will be much better when the New Year kicks in 🙂

Anyway, let’s get down to business for tonight’s post; the last week of Noodle Month! Again, the month just flew right by! December is just around the corner, and sooner or later it’ll be Christmas and then the New Year! Tonight, I am sharing with you a popular dish in Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia – Laksa! I wouldn’t say that this dish is at the top of my favourite noodle dish (only because there are many other noodle dishes that I prefer than laksa), but if I want it, I’ll have it!

The plan was to make my own laksa paste from scratch, and I know it’s no excuse, but time was short on my hands and I just made the decision to buy a ready-made, packeted paste from the stores. Also, if I made my own paste, we’d have a lot of left over ingredients (that is, if we didn’t end up using all of it), or a surplus of paste that would’ve ended up sitting in the freezer for a long time, and eventually in the trash since we don’t eat laksa that often at home. However, feel free to make your own paste and just follow the ingredients from the recipe below 🙂

Before I dive into the recipe, I’ll just talk a little bit about what Laksa is for those of you who don’t know what it is. Laksa is actually a combination of Chinese and Malaysian cuisine that consists of rice noodles/vermicelli served as a spicy soup dish with various meats such as chicken, prawn, or fish. The soup is either based on a rich and spicy curry with coconut milk, or a sour tamarind soup. The elements of a curry laksa can be distinguished by the following:

Coconut milk is used
Curry-like soup (includes curry as one of its ingredients)
Except for bean sprouts, no other vegetable is used
Bean curd puff is used
Served with thick or thin rice vermicelli (usually thick); occasionally served with yellow mee
Hard-boiled egg may be added
Slices of fish cake and either prawns or chicken is used

The original recipe can be found over on Serious Eats.

Malaysian Curry Laksa (Spicy Noodle Soup) Ingredients

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOKING TIME 30-45 MINS | SERVES 4-5

INGREDIENTS

250g thick rice vermicelli noodles
200g coconut milk
100g beansprouts
100g prawns, peeled and deveined
4-5 cups chicken stock
3 pcs dried bay leaves
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 large free range eggs, hard-boiled
1 chicken crown, breasts removed and sliced, bone reserved
1 packet (200g) Malaysian Curry Laksa Paste
1 pc firm tofu, deep fried and cut into chunks
1 pc fish cake, sliced diagonally
1 small brown onion, diced
Salt
Spring onions
Whole black peppercorns

To serve

Sambal

METHOD

Add the reserved chicken bone, chicken breast dried bay leaves, about a teaspoon or two of whole black peppercorns, and salt to a medium-sized pot filled with about 1.5L of hot/boiling water. Turn the heat up to high and leave to boil for about 30 minutes. After about 15 minutes, remove the chicken breast from the stock and set aside to rest and cool down before slicing into it.
While the stock is boiling away, quickly blanch the sliced fish cakes and prawns in the stock, about 2-3 minutes. Remove and set aside.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add the rice vermicelli noodles in and cook according to packet instructions, about 15 minutes for mine.
Drain and then divide the noodles equally into 4-5 individual serving bowls. Top with the beansprouts, chicken slices, fish cake slices, fried tofu, hard-boiled egg slices, and prawns. Set aside.
Heat a bit of oil in a medium-sized frying pan over medium-high. Sauté the garlic until fragrant and golden brown, and then add in the onions and cook until soft, about 2-3 minutes in total.
Add the laksa paste and fry for about a minute or two before adding the chicken stock in. Give it a goo mix and then bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to a slow simmer and then add in the coconut milk. Leave to simmer for about 15 minutes.
Once the soup is done, ladle it into the prepared bowls and garnish with some spring onion. Serve immediately with some sambal and calamansi on the and enjoy!

Malaysian Curry Laksa (Spicy Noodle Soup)

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Singapore Mei Fun (Fried Rice Vermicelli Noodles in Curry Powder)

November 19, 2015November 19, 2015 amcarmenLeave a comment

Singapore Mei Fun (Fried Rice Vermicelli Noodles in Curry Powder)

Hello Everyone! Tonight I will be sharing with you another Singaporean dish that I love. What I love about this is the curry powder that is incorporated into this fried noodle dish. When I first tried this noodle dish, I didn’t expect it to be coated in curry powder – well, I mean, it’s not like the name of the dish was a dead giveaway for what’s in it. So it was definitely quite unique to me when I first tried it – and I loved it!

I kind of went with it on my own after indulging in much of it over the past several years, but I did refer to Saucy Spatula for reference. I also learnt a few things from her blog, the main one being that authentic Singapore fried rice vermicelli (or know as fried bee hoon), does not include curry. Unfortunately, the question of where the addition of curry originated from cannot be answered, however many claimed it to have come from Hong Kong. So why isn’t it called Hong Kong fried rice vermicelli? Well, apparently this noodle dish resembles more towards the Singapore fried bee hoon so I guess why argue with that?

Singapore Mei Fun (Fried Rice Vermicelli Noodles in Curry Powder)

PREP TIME 5 MINS | COOKING TIME 25-30 MINS | SERVES 4-5

INGREDIENTS

450g bee hoon (thin rice vermicelli noodles)
250g char siu pork (Chinese BBQ pork)*, sliced
100g beansprouts
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Chinese sausages, sliced diagonally
2 red bird’s eye chillies, sliced
1 large free range egg, beaten
1 small brown onion, diced
1/2 a head of cabbage, sliced
Tricolour capsicum (1/4 of each), sliced

For the sauce

1/4 cup light soy sauce
3 tbsp cooking wine
1 & 1/2 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp white pepper powder

*If you can easily buy it at the shops, or even your local Chinese restaurant, then I do recommend that you just buy it if you want your fried noodles now and fast! (It takes a considerate amount of time when you’re making your own char siu pork at home). But, if char siu is not available, you can substitute with ham, bacon, or shredded pork.

METHOD

Start off by bringing a large pot of slightly salted water to a boil. Once boiling, add the rice vermicelli noodles and cook according to packet instructions, about 15 minutes for this brand of noodles. Once the noodles are done, drain and set aside.
While the noodles a boiling away, mix the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.
Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high. Add the beaten egg and spread around the frying pan until thin. Fry for about a minute per side, remove and set aside to cool. Once cooled, slice them into thin strips.
In the same frying pan, heat a little bit more oil and then sauté the garlic and chillies until fragrant and golden brown. Then add in the onions and cook until soft, about 2 minutes altogether.
Add the Chinese sausage slices and cook for about 2 minutes. Follow with the char siu pork and capsicum, cooking for a further 3-4 minutes. Finally, add in the cabbage and beansprouts, cooking until just about to wilt.
Add in the drained rice vermicelli noodles together with the sauce and give it a good mix, until the noodles are evenly coated with the curry powder mixture. Turn the heat off, garnish the noodles with some spring onions, and top with the sliced fried egg.
Serve immediately with a squeeze of calamansi or a lemon wedge. Enjoy!

Singapore Mei Fun (Fried Rice Vermicelli Noodles in Curry Powder)

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Singapore-style Hokkien Mee (Fried Yellow Noodle & Rice Vermicelli)

November 17, 2015November 17, 2015 amcarmenLeave a comment

Singapore-style Hokkien Mee (Fried Yellow Noodle & Rice Vermicelli)

Hello Everyone! I’ll keep this short only because I’ve had such a busy day today and I just want my brain to relax and not have to look at a computer screen any longer (since that’s what I have been doing all say today). Then again, who am I kidding, after I write this post I will most likely end up looking at my computer screen but instead of utilising my brain and trying to get words to flow, I’ll be watching shows or random videos on Youtube until it’s time to go to bed *cheeky grin*

Anyway, enough babbling, tonight’s recipe is a dish I first experienced during one of my many travels to Singapore. When I saw a picture of it on the menu boards at a hawker centre that I was at (can’t remember where exactly), it was different to the Hokkien Mee that I usually ate back in Brunei, which apparently I have only just learnt after doing a quick Google search, is Malaysian-styled braised in dark soy sauce. I actually quite like both, and though the ingredients are pretty much similar, I much prefer the Singapore-style Hokkien Mee.

The original recipe can be found over on Rasa Malaysia; I have tweaked the recipe slightly in terms of the order in which the ingredients go in and a few of the processes.

Singapore-style Hokkien Mee (Fried Yellow Noodle & Rice Vermicelli)

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOKING TIME 45 MINS | SERVES 4-6

INGREDIENTS

400g prawns, peeled and deveined
350g squid, cleaned and cut into rings
250g fresh yellow noodles
250g thin rice vermicelli noodles
200g pork shoulder
100g bean sprouts
3 large free range eggs, lightly beaten
3 pcs dried bay leaves
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 pc fish cake, sliced diagonally
1 small red onion, diced
Salt
Spring onions
Whole black peppercorns

Seasonings

1/2 tbsp fish sauce, adjust quantity to taste
Dash of ground white pepper
Dash of sesame oil

To serve

Calamansi (or lemon wedge)
Sambal

METHOD

Add the pork shoulder, dried bay leaves, about a teaspoon or two of whole black peppercorns, and salt to a large pot filled with about 2L of hot/boiling water. Turn the heat up to high and leave to boil for about 30 minutes or until tender. Once done, remove the pork from the stock and set aside to cool before slicing into it.
Meanwhile, blanch the prawns and squid in the boiling stock, about 30 seconds to a minute. Remove from the stock and set aside. Then add in the rice vermicelli noodles and cook as per packet instructions or until just about tender. Once done, drain and set aside.
Heat oil in a large frying pan, or wok, over medium-high and sauté the garlic until fragrant and golden brown. Add in the onions and cook until soft, about 2 minutes altogether.
Turn up the heat to high and then add in the yellow and rice vermicelli noodles, frying for a few minutes until the noodles just begin to sear. Add in about a third of the pork stock and seasoning, continuing to cook until most of the stock has been absorbed by the noodles. Add another third of the stock and then bring the heat down to medium-low to allow the noodles to braise over a slow simmer, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Add in the egg and give it a good mix before adding in the bean sprouts, prawns, squid, and pork slices. Give it a good toss and fry for about a minute before adding in the remaining stock.
Plate up and garnish with some spring onions on top. Serve with a side of sambal and calamansi. Enjoy!

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BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Kolo Mee (Flash-boiled Egg Noodles)

November 12, 2015November 12, 2015 amcarmenLeave a comment

Kolo Mee (Flash-boiled Egg Noodles)

Hello Everyone! Tonight, I’ve got a very popular breakfast/brunch noodle dish to share. I remember when I was growing up, we’d travel at least 20 minutes to our favourite kolo mee place in Brunei for many years! It was kind of like our special Sunday breakfast routine with the whole family before we’d go about and do our grocery shoppings for the week. Since that place closed down a couple of years ago, we barely have kolo mee in our weekly meals – but now that I have my own way of making kolo mee, I can whip it up almost any time I crave for it!

“The secret to amazing kolo mee lies in the use of pork lard. I know this is not very healthy if eaten in large quantities but the reason why it’s used is because it coats each and every strand of the noodles with some seriously delicious meaty flavours.” — The Malay Mail Online, 2013

I guess you could say that my version of Kolo Mee is a little bit healthier (but not entirely) as I use vegetable oil instead of pork lard. Also, traditional kolo mee dishes, especially in restaurants, use quite a significant amount of MSG to enhance the flavour of the dish. The recipe that I will be sharing today doesn’t use MSG at all and is still very tasty! If you want a halal version of this dish, you can substitute the minced pork for minced chicken and just have a generous serving of fish cakes/balls instead of char is pork. You can also get creative and top it with your favourite breakfast must haves like some crispy bacon on the side or topped with a sunny-side up with the runny yolk and all that pizzaz!

Kolo Mee (Flash-boiled Egg Noodles)

PREP TIME 5 MINS | COOKING TIME 20 MINS | SERVES 6-8

INGREDIENTS

450g fresh kolo mee noodles
250g lean minced pork
250g char siu pork (Chinese BBQ pork)*, sliced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 small red onions, diced
1 bunch gai lan (Chinese broccoli), cut into 2″ lengths
1 fish cake, sliced diagonally
1 red bird’s eye chilli, sliced
Chilli Oil
Ground salt and black pepper to taste
Light soy sauce
Sesame Oil
Spring onion

*Apparently, it takes a considerate amount of time when you’re making your own char siu pork at home that is! If you can easily buy it at the shops, or even your local Chinese restaurant, then I do recommend that you just buy it if you want your kolo mee now and fast!

METHOD

Add about a tablespoon of light soy sauce, and a teaspoon of chilli and sesame oil into about 6-8 individual bowls/deep dishes. Set aside.
In a small frying pan, heat about 3-4 tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium-high. Add the diced onions and frying until browned and crispy. Set aside. In the same frying pan, fry off the fish cake slices, about a minute or two per side. Set aside.
Heat a medium-sized frying pan (or wok if you like) over medium-high. Add about a tablespoon of the oil used to fry the onions and fish cake to the pan and sauté the garlic and chillies until fragrant and golden brown, about a minute or two.
Then add in the minced pork, followed by the ground salt and black pepper. Give it a good mix and leave to cook for about 5 minutes. Add in about 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce and cook for a further five minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, flash-boil the stalks of the gai lan first, then followed by the leaves until tender and wilted. Remove from the boiling water and set aside.
Flash-boil the kolo mee noodles, in batches if you wish, for about a minute or two. Once done, divide equally into your prepared bowls with the sauces and give it a good mix. Top with the minced meat, fish cakes, char siu pork, gai lan, fried onions, and spring onions. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Kolo Mee (Flash-boiled Egg Noodles)

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Pancit Lucban (Filipino Style Stir-Fried Thick Flour Noodles)

November 10, 2015November 10, 2015 amcarmenLeave a comment

Pancit Lucban (Filipino Style Stir-Fried Thick Flour Noodles)

Hello Everyone! So tonight, I’m sharing with you a dish that I think I over indulged in during my recent trip back to the Philippines earlier on the year in March/April 2015. We spent a ridiculous amount of lunches and meriendas in Buddy’s while we visited our relatives in the provincial City of Lucena. Anyway, the dish, known as Pancit Lucban or Habhab, is a version of pancit that originated in the Quezon province. This noodle dish may draw many resemblances to the traditional Pancit Canton, but there are some apparent differences. The main difference is all in the type of noodles used; Pancit Lucban/Habhab uses dried flour noodles known as miki Lucban which are not the same noodles used to make pancit canton. In addition, miki Lucban noodles that are made fresh also have a much softer texture than that of pancit canton.

Here’s a fun fact for you – well okay, it’s not really a fun fact but it is quite interesting and may be one of the reasons you’d probably go out and have a handful of Pancit Lucban. That’s right, a handful. This version of pancit is traditionally served over a piece of banana leaf and is eaten without any utensils. I know what you’re thinking, how exactly do you eat noodles without any utensils?! Well, imagine eating a sandwich. You will need to grab the banana leaf with the noodles in it and put it directly to you mouth. Don’t eat the banana leaf though! Below is a picture of my cousin and my Mom back in 2008 (I think) having some Pancit Lucban from a street food vendor during a dog show/walk in Lucena:

My Mom & Cousin eating Pancit Lucban the traditional way

It’s probably not the most glamorous way to eat your noodles, but it may be an exciting experience especially to those who find this way of eating very foreign to them. Miki Lucban is unfortunately not commonly found in stores around Brunei, not even in the Filipino section. So instead, we used Pancit Canton which actually makes calling this dish Pancit Lucban a sin! *cheeky grin*

Pancit Lucban (Filipino Style Stir-Fried Thick Flour Noodles) Ingredients

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOKING TIME 45-50 MINS | SERVES 6-8

INGREDIENTS

450g pancit canton (or miki Lucban if available)
250g tiger prawns, shelled and deveined
100g snow peas, topped and tailed
3-4 dried bay leaves
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 pcs thin sliced pork belly, cut into 1cm chunks
1 bunch gai lan (Chinese broccoli)
1 carrot, julienned
1 chicken crown, breasts removed and sliced, bone reserved
1 small red onion, diced
1/2 chayote, peeled and sliced
5 tbsp light soy sauce
Ground salt and black pepper to taste
Whole black peppercorns

METHOD

Add the reserved chicken bone, dried bay leaves, about a teaspoon or two of whole black peppercorns, and salt to a medium-sized pot filled with about 1.5L of hot/boiling water. Turn the heat up to high and leave to boil for about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile heat a large frying pan over medium-high and add in the chunks of pork belly. Cook until browned. The oils released from the pork belly should be enough to sauté the garlic and cook the onions, but if needed, add a little bit more oil if there isn’t enough. Then add the minced garlic and sauté until fragrant and golden brown, about a minute, then followed by the diced onions. Cook until soft, about 2 minutes in total.
Add in the sliced chicken breasts, and season with a bit of salt and ground black pepper and give it a good mix. Cook for about 5 minutes. Then add in the prawns, followed by the chayote, carrots, and snow peas. Mix well and leave to cook for a further 3-4 minutes. Lastly, add in the gai lan and cook until just slightly wilted. Once done, transfer to a bowl and set aside.
In the same frying pan, add about half of the chicken stock to the pan together with the soy sauce, ground salt, and black pepper. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the canton noodles in and cook until all the liquid has evaporated (if the noodles are looking a bit dry, you may add more stock, a ladle at a time). Make sure that while cooking, you mix and untangle them periodically. Altogether this should take about 10-15 minutes. Halfway through, add in half of the cooked meat and vegetables to the noodles and mix well.
Serve immediately topped with the extra meat and vegetables, and with calamansi, or alternatively a lemon wedge. Enjoy! Note: best served with a splash of vinegar!

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BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Salted Caramel Popcorn Layered Cake

November 9, 2015November 9, 2015 amcarmenLeave a comment

Salted Caramel Popcorn Layered Cake

Hello Everyone! Today is a special day, and that special day is my birthday! For those who want to know, I am 24 years young today, and another year wider, I mean, wiser, but not another year taller unfortunately. It’s been 4 years since I last celebrated my birthday in Brunei with my family, and friends I grew up and went to high school with. It’s been that long because for the past 4 years I’ve spent my birthday’s in Australia, with my friends from uni. I didn’t really plan anything special, I just organised a dinner party at Villa Mauri last Friday night with some friends; exchanging conversations, laughter, and of course, no gathering is complete without some dirty talk! We’ve all not changed one bit 🙂 I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank those who came that night, and also thank everyone else who has greeted me so far. I am so blessed to have family and friends from all over sending love my way. I know, that sounded a bit cheesy.

Birthday with my high school friends at Villa Mauri (November 6th, 2015)

Birthday with my work friends at Patisserie (November 9th, 2015)

I baked this cake yesterday afternoon for my birthday dinner tonight with my mom and my sister. Seriously, I cannot stress out how much I hate frosting – it take so bloody long for me to get it perfect. Well, not so much perfect, but for me to get it to cover the cake. I don’t know if I’m doing it wrong or I should blame the climate, but the buttercream is runny to begin with, so I put it in the freezer to stiffen up a bit before I frost. Then when I start frosting, it quickly becomes runny again to the point that I have to keep placing the cake in and out of the freezer multiple times before I can get the frosting to somewhat cover the cake. But anyway, after much frustration on the eve of my birthday, I managed to get a decent looking cake up I guess (so over it right now – so over baking cakes altogether).

Actually, I think I know the reason (maybe not really) why my frosting was runny. I had a look at the ingredients photo that I took and saw that I had icing sugar in it. At first, I thought that that might’ve been the reason, but when I looked at the original recipe, there was no sign of icing sugar. So why did my frosting go wrong?! 😦 Not enough butter?

Birthday with my family at home (November 9th 2015)

Anyway, I’ve been wanting to make a cake like this for a while; as in the whole salted caramel with caramel popcorn on top kind of cake. I was blown away when I came across it over on La Pêche Fraîche – so beautiful and well photographed. So don’t forget to check out the original recipe over on her blog; she has adapted the different components to making this cake from various recipes (all links have been acknowledged below). Plus, her’s looks much more beautiful, and somehow taller than my cake *cries*.

Salted Caramel Popcorn Layered Cake Ingredients

PREP TIME 20 MINS | COOKING TIME 50-55 MINS | SERVES 8-10

INGREDIENTS

For the yellow butter cake (adapted from Joy of Baking)

120g unsalted butter
4 large free range egg yolks
2 & 1/4 cups plain flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
2 & 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

For the salted caramel (adapted from FoodSwoon)

30g unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp heavy cream
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt

For the salted caramel Italian meringue buttercream (adapted from FoodSwoon)

350g unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tsp corn syrup
Pinch of salt
Half of a batch of salted caramel, cooled, the rest reserved for drizzling (see recipe below)

For the salted caramel popcorn (adapted from the Kitchn)

Popped popcorn from about 1 & 1/2 bags of popcorn
130 grams unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
Big pinch salt, plus a little for sprinkling

METHOD

Yellow Butter Cake:
- Preheat oven to 180C (350F or gas mark 4). Grease 2 x 8.5-inch pans with a little bit of butter.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the plain flour, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes altogether. Scrape the sides of the bowl, then add the egg yolks in and beat for a further 2 minutes. Add in the milk and vanilla, stirring gently to combine.
- Add in the dry ingredients all at once, and stir gently until the batter comes together. Divide the batter evenly between your prepared pans and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
- Set the cakes aside to cool down completely before frosting.
Salted Caramel:
- Heat the sugar, water, corn syrup and salt together over medium-low in a small saucepan . Whisk at the beginning until they dissolve. Once dissolved, leave the mixture to caramelise into an amber colour.
- Once amber, remove from the heat and quickly whisk in the butter and cream. Be careful of any splattering that may occur. Whisk until completely smooth.
- Set aside to cool down before using it.
Salted Caramel Italian Meringue Buttercream:
- Place the water, sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a small saucepan. Heat on low until it reaches to about 115C/240F.
- Meanwhile, as your sugar+water mixture is slowly heating up, place the egg whites in a large bowl and start to beat using a handheld electric mixer. Beat the eggs until soft peaks start to form. Then, slowly stream the water+sugar syrup into the egg whites with the mixer still going.
- Beat the meringue until cooled to about body temperature, and then beat in the butter about 2 tablespoons (30g) at a time. Continue whipping the buttercream until it is silky before adding half of the caramel mixture in.
- Set aside in the fridge until it is time to frost your cake.
Salted Caramel Popcorn:
- Preheat oven to 130C (250F or gas mark 1/2) and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Place the popcorn in a big bowl and make sure not to include any unpinned kernels.
- In a small saucepan, heat the butter, brown sugar, and salt until they begin to caramelise. Whisk well to combine, and then add in the baking soda. Quickly pour the caramel over the popcorn and toss well to coat.
- Scrape the popcorn out onto the baking tray and lightly sprinkle with a touch of salt. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the caramel is completely dry and crunchy. Once done, set aside.
Assembly:
- Stack your cake on a cake stand and frost it with the buttercream. Drizzle the remaining caramel on the edges of the cake and then top the cake with a mountain of caramel popcorn!
- Serve, share, and enjoy!

Salted Caramel Popcorn Layered Cake

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Pancit Palabok (Filipino Style Noodles with Prawn Gravy)

November 5, 2015November 5, 2015 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! I might keep this section of the blog short (and I say might because I know that even though I’ve said that, my post will always end up being fairly long by the time I finish writing), because I am feeling a bit overworked and tired today – actually I’ve been feeling exhausted since the beginning of the week and it may be due to a mentally challenging Escape Room challenge that I did with a few friends on Monday evening. Small tangent – we all shared the spotlight on dumb blonde moments!

Tanget aside, tonight’s recipe is a dish that I, of course as all dishes I write about, love but isn’t cooked often at home. The only reason I can think of is maybe because it requires a lot of ingredients and preparation I guess. It’s not so much about how long it takes to make the sauce because in the past, my mom would just use a ready-made powdered version of the sauce that you can easily find on the shelves in the Filipino/Asian food section of your local grocers. For tonight’s post though, I will be making the sauce from scratch just because I want to 🙂 This is also the first time that I have tried making the sauce from scratch and it was a huge success! It’s actually quite easy to make, it just requires a lot of time and patience; but I know for sure that I will not be buying ready-made sauce packets ever again! Unless of course, time is not on my side. I mean, if you’re going to use fresh prawns to top your noodles off in the end, then you might as well take an extra step in salvaging the heads and peels to make a delicious sauce, right?

Anyway, before we jump on to the recipe, I followed Trissalicious’ recipe for making the Palabok sauce from scratch so don’t forget to check her blog out too for her take on this delicious dish!

PREP TIME 15 MINS | COOKING TIME 1 HOUR | SERVES 8-10

INGREDIENTS

For the prawn stock

500g fresh prawns, heads and peels reserved
1.5L water
Ground salt
Whole black peppercorns

For the sauce

100g thin sliced pork belly, cut into chunks
3-4 cups prawn stock (see recipe below)
5 garlic cloves, minced
2 small red onions, diced
1 pc firm tofu, finely diced
4 tbsp plain flour
2-3 tbsp fish sauce, adjust quantity to taste
1 tsp achuete powder
Ground salt and black pepper, to taste

Noodles and Toppings

500 grams pancit luglug (cornstarch noodles)*
Firm tofu, deep fried and cut into chunks
Hard boiled egg, sliced
Pork crackling (chicharon), crushed
Prawns, poached
Smoked fish (tinapa), flaked
Squid, cut into rings and poached
Spring onion

*You may also use bihon (thin rice vermicelli noodles) for this dish

METHOD

Make the prawn stock: Add the prawn heads and peels to a medium-sized pot and cover with about a litre and a half of water. Season with a bit of salt and whole black peppercorns. Bring to a boil over high heat and then turn it down to a slow simmer. Make sure to press down on the heads and peels as it simmers away to extract as much flavour as you can. Leave it to simmer for about 30 minutes. While the stock is simmering away, you can get a head start in preparing your toppings for the dish. I recommend that you leave the poaching of the prawns and squid for last, when you sauce is almost ready.
Make the sauce: Heat a large frying pan over medium-high and add in the chunks of pork belly. Cook until browned. The oils released from the pork belly should be enough to sauté the garlic and cook the onions, but if needed, add a little bit more oil if there isn’t enough. Then add the minced garlic and sauté until fragrant and golden brown, about a minute, then followed by the diced onions. Cook until soft, about 2 minutes in total.
Add in the firm tofu and give it a good mix. Then, add in achuete powder and plain flour, followed by the prawn stock. Make sure to add the stock in a bit at a time as if making a roux and make sure to mix well after each addition. The sauce should be quite thick, resembling the consistency of a béchamel – you may add more water if you want your sauce thinner, or likewise, add more flour if the sauce is feeling a bit thin to your liking. Add the fish sauce and season with some salt and black pepper to taste. Bring the heat down to low and let it slowly simmer away for about half an hour (10-15 minutes if you are impatient); but the longer you leave it on the stove, the tastier the sauce becomes!
Cook the noodles: While your sauce is simmering away, cook the noodles according to the packer instructions, about 15 minutes for the pack of noodles that I got. Once done, drain and divide the noodles equally into individual plates. Also, don’t forget to poach your prawns and squid by this point!
Assemble: Top the noodles with a generous amount of sauce and add your favourite toppings! Serve immediately with a squeeze of calamansi (or lemon) juice and enjoy!