Tom Yum Gài (ต้มยำไก่)

May 29, 2015January 8, 2019 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hey Everyone! Just letting you guys know that I’m currently in Victoria with my family for 9 days; staying in Cranbourne with a family friend. Anyway, yes, besides that, today’s recipe is based on what I uploaded on Tuesday; using the homemade tom yum paste to make a (yes) chicken feet tom yum soup. Now I know what you’re thinking, “Chicken feet, really? And gizzards as well? Ew!” – actually not ew, well in my opinion that is! When I first learnt this dish from my Auntie, she cooked this with these cuts of chicken. My mom even gives the chicken feet a little pedicure; scrubbing them clean and cutting off their nails on each toe – so much work that I myself wouldn’t even be bothered to do! If you’re not into chicken feet, this spicy and sour soup can be made with other meats varying from mixed seafood such as prawns, squid, and clams, or other cuts of chicken, pork, and fish.

Also, I didn’t know this until I did a bit of research, but tom yum is actually a Lao and Thai dish; all along I thought it was just Thai. Anyway, for those of you who don’t know what tom yum is, it is a clear, spicy, and sour soup served widely in many neighbouring countries such as Cambodia, Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore, but has also been popularised around the world. “Tom” actually refers to the boiling process while “yum” refers to a spicy and sour salad; and therefore “tom yum” is a hot and sour soup characterised by the fragrant herbs used to flavour the broth. The basic broth is made of stock and fresh ingredients such as lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lime juice, fish sauce, and crushed fresh chillies. When I first learnt to cook this dish, I added coconut milk to the broth. Over time, we eliminated the coconut milk because my mom can’t eat, or more like, isn’t allowed to have anything with coconut in her diet.

PREP TIME 30 MINS | COOKING TIME 1 HOUR | SERVES 5-6

INGREDIENTS

1kg chicken feet, wash, cleaned, and nails cut off
250g chicken gizzards, washed and cleaned
2.5L boiling water
1 heaped tbsp Homemade Tom Yum Paste (or more if you’ve deseeded your chillies before making it into a paste), likewise, you may use store-bought paste
1 tsp chicken stock powder
4 pcs kaffir lime leaves
3 inch galangal, sliced
2 large tomatoes, quartered
2 pcs red bird’s eye chillies
2 red onions, quartered
2 stalks lemongrass, cut into 2-inch lengths
Juice of 2 limes
Fish sauce to taste

METHOD

Add the all the ingredients, except for the kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, lime juice, and tom yum paste, into a large pot. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes.
Then add in the kaffir lime leaves, lime juice, and tom yum paste. Give it a good mix and then add in the fish sauce about a tablespoon at a time; taste until the seasoning and taste is to your liking. At this point, you may also add in straw mushrooms or oyster mushroom if you wish. Let it cook for a further 45 minutes, or until chicken feet and gizzards are tender.
Serve with steamed rice and enjoy! Quite a nice dish actually for a cold winter night.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Mesa Filipino Moderne

April 26, 2015January 7, 2019 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone and welcome back to an all new Review Sunday! I’ve got three more places from the Philippines that I want to touch on before I start reviewing a couple of places here in Brunei. I’ve actually visited quite a number of places in the Philippines, but I feel like I haven’t had the full dining experience yet in terms of what their menu has to offer. Then there are some other places that I was thinking of writing about, but when I look back at their food, it was all too similar and nothing special really.

Anyway, what I realised when dining out in the Philippines, food is always the same no matter where I go. For example, dishes like sisig, crispy pata, kare-kare, sinigang, laing, buko pandan, leche flan, and many other classic and famous Filipino dishes, though I imagine cooked slightly different to separate themselves from others, all taste quite similar no matter where we have it. In tagalog, I would normally say “nakakasawa”, if you eat the same food over and over you will say or have that feeling nakakasawa, but maybe its because I’ve been eating in the wrong places.

Mesa caught my eye as I was roaming around SM North Edsa with my sisters while my Mom was somewhere along Quezon Avenue doing medical checkups. We were looking for new places to eat, and when a saw ‘new’ I just mean nothing like Barrio Fiesta or Gerry’s Grill – not places that we have been to over and over again every time we visit the Philippines. I had never heard or encountered Mesa in my pervious trips, and what intrigued me was the modernity and interpretation of classic traditional Filipino dishes. I was definitely intrigued when I saw Ostrich on their menu even though I didn’t have any.

SISIG: Sisig in a pouch
Savoury pork sisig wrapped in a pouch (₱190.00)

As mentioned probably in a previous review, sisig is a dish that I never fail to have whenever I visit the Philippines. I was attracted to this dish because I’ve never had sisig this way before. It was a perfect way to start out our lunch at Mesa; the pouches had a very nice golden brown finish to them, and it gave each bite a nice crunch to the sisig filling inside. It was paired nicely with a side of spicy vinegar as well.

SOUP: Sinigang na baboy in guava and pineapple
Pork simmered in broth with guava and fresh pineapple; serves 4-5 (₱290.00)

What caught my eye with this dish as I was browsing the menu was the guava and pineapple part. I’ve never had sinigang with these two fruits before so I was indeed very intrigued to know how the strong flavours would blend together. It actually worked quite well to an extent. I say ‘extent’ because there was one time I had a whole heap of guava flavour in my spoon of soup and the taste overkilled. Nevertheless, an enjoyable dish.

FRESH CATCH: Hito
Crispy boneless with mangga salad (₱340.00)

The only thing that concerned me about this dish was where’s the mango salad? If you’re going to make mention “with” mango salad, I expect it to be of reasonable portioning as a side dish and not just “topped” over the fried fish. Slightly disappointing.

FRESH CATCH: Tilapia
Crispy boneless served with four sauces (₱340.00)

Well, just like the crispy boneless hito, nothing quite special about the four sauces that went with fried fish that in my opinion had not much flavour in the flesh itself. Verging on being overcooked? Quite possibly.

VEGETABLES: Laing 2 ways
Taro leaves, pork, shrimp paste, and coconut cream topped with adobo flakes, served original and crispy (₱170.00)

The taro, or also known as gabi in the Philippines, is low in saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol, and in contrast, high in dietary fibre, vitamin E, vitamin B6, potassium, and manganese. The leaves, stems, and corms are all consumed and form part of the local cuisine, a dish known as Laing. Laing originated from the Bicol region, and no matter where you have it at, and no matter the way it is cooked, it always ends up looking like a pile of… 🙂 I’ve had my fair share from many eateries, and even home-cooked laing, and it always looks like this. But I assure you that it tastes so much better than it looks. I like how Mesa served this dish two ways – basically one with sauce and the other without. Both tasted pretty good and the adobo flakes on top added that extra flavour and crunch to the dish.

MEAT: Pinatayong Manok
“Standing” whole chicken carved right at your table (₱415.00)

Quite possibly one of the reasons why I stopped in front of the restaurant and had a look at their menu; I saw a picture of this dish and I immediately knew I wanted to eat that. It was basically a whole roasted chicken that didn’t particularly have any special taste to it in my opinion, but what I enjoyed was the way it was served to us. It was brought to our table “standing” and carved for us at our table. The chicken was cooked well and was very tender.

MEAT: Pork Binagoongan
Pan fried pork belly sautéed in shrimp paste (₱190.00)

This dish I enjoyed because I love the pairing of a well-cooked pork belly, shrimp paste, and grilled eggplant. This dish did not disappoint at all unlike the others.

DESSERT: Pandan Macapuno Rumble (₱75.00)

I was intrigued to know what modern twist they would put on a classic buko pandan dessert. Nothing special to be honest except the fact that the coconut meat was set with the jelly? That’s all that I could point out that seemed different to the classic ones I’ve had multiple times. Other than that, flavour was good.

DESSERT: Crispy Leche Flan (₱70.00)

This was the dessert that I was most looking forward to only to be disappointed in the end – small, not so crispy rolls of flan that didn’t quite taste like flan in my opinion and more like steamed egg. I was disappointed only because I had a much better first experience with crispy leche flan when I was travelling the city of Lucena just a couple of days before I visited Mesa again.

Mesa Filipino Moderne is definitely a place to visit if you want to experience modern Filipino cooking at an affordable price. I say that it is affordable because the pricing of their dishes are quite reasonable for the portions you get, so definitely a good value for money indeed. But as I have mentioned in another review before, these prices are not very affordable for the average Filipino, so I guess the value for money on a more general scale wouldn’t be so good. The food I would rate no more than a 6 to be honest – at first glance I was very excited to experience modern Filipino cuisine, but after having dined and looked back at the dishes that I’ve had, I can’t say I was left excited to go back for more. The only dish that I really enjoyed was the pork sisig in a pouch. Everything else was mediocre. Service 8 out of 10; it was exceptional nor was it bad, and the ambience is a sure 10 for me.

Now that I look back at all the dishes that I’ve had and my small disappointments with each of the dishes I ordered, I wonder how they were able to achieve the Best Food Retailer award. I may be jumping into conclusions a bit early as I’ve only tried probably an eighth of the dishes they have on offer, but if I am off to a non-promising start with their menu, I can’t be sure on how the rest will unfold if I visited a few more times and trying other dishes. Anyway, my opinion is my opinion; it may be biased, it may be not. You may agree with me, you may not, that is, if you’ve dined at Mesa.

I’m not sure if there are other restaurants that are much better at modern Filipino cuisine, but this is the first step of my journey to finding out how far we can modernise classic dishes. There is one place I have yet to visit, but have been closely following their Instagram page, and it’s called Sarsá Kitchen+Bar. I must say that their Sinigang Fried Chicken looks very enticing. Maybe on my next adventure to the Philippines I’ll be able to drag some family members over to have some eats.

Mesa Filipino Moderne
3/F SM City North EDSA, Main Building
EDSA corner North Avenue
Quezon City, Metro Manila
Philippines

– Ally xx

Bulalo (Beef Bone Marrow Soup)

April 9, 2015January 7, 2019 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! So today’s dish is also a classic and most favourite Filipino main dish that can be found on, if not all, most menus across the Philippines. Bulalo, as stated in the title above, is a beef bone marrow soup that is light in colour and as the name states, uses beef shanks and marrow bones paired with various vegetables such as bok choy, corn cobs, green beans, etc. Because of the popularity of this dish, many restaurants and eateries across the Philippines specialise in Bulalo. Some of the most famous “Bulalohan” can be found in Tagaytay City (Cavite) and Santo Tomas (Batangas).

It is not a very hard dish to prepare – simple ingredients and simple cooking is all it really takes. In fact, all your really need for this dish is time and patience. The key to preparing this dish though is to choose the appropriate meat, shanks to be specific, and to make it as tender as possible. To achieve this is to simmering the beef for longer periods of time; it also releases all of its flavour. For me, the best tasting bulalo I’ve had to date was at Nina’s Itikan in Santa Clara, Bulacan. Even though they specialise in itik (duck), their bulalo was very rich in flavour. Even my dish that I am going to share with you today cannot match to its flavour!

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOKING TIME 2 HOURS 10 MINS | SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS

1kg beef shank
2L water
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 corn on a cob, cut into 4 equal parts
1 large potato, cut into chunks
1 long red chilli
1 medium sized onion, quartered
1 small bunch bok choy
1 small bunch green beans, trimmed
1 stalk lemon grass, halved and bruised
2 tsp salt
2 tsp whole black peppercorns

METHOD

Pour water into a large cooking pot together with the salt, peppercorns, and lemongrass. Bring the water to a boil. Once boiling, add the beef shanks in and simmer for about 1 and a half hours; if you are using a pressure cooker then 30 minutes should do the trick.
Then add in the chilli, garlic, and onions, and simmer for a further 30 minutes until the meat is tender. Add in the corn, green beans, and potatoes, and simmer for another 10 minutes, then followed by the bok choy. If broth needs a bit more salt, then add in a few teaspoons of fish sauce to season to taste.
Serve hot with steamed rice and enjoy! A great dish to share during cold, rainy day/night to warm up your insides!

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Spicy Carrot, Chickpea & Almond Soup with Roasted Croutons

June 9, 2014December 28, 2018 amcarmen2 Comments

Hello Everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts once again. I’ve been a bit busy with University, preparing for the last 2 weeks to go! It’s been hectic! Also, the weather hasn’t been very cheerful for the past couple of days. Winter is definitely kicking in! It’s cold, damp and miserable. On occasions there’d be rays of sunshine, but Sydney weather being deceptive and all, the sunshine never lasts long. So what better way to warm up that a nice bowl of spicy soup with crunchy croutons? Soup has never tasted so good.

Today I cooked from the UNSW Student Cookbook, a recipe by Serena Coady. This dish was served at the Cookbook Launch last week and I fell in love with it. It tasted so good that I really wanted to make a whole bowl for myself after a measly taste test without the croutons. Today was definitely the perfect time to whip it up. I tweaked the recipe just a bit in terms of using different bread, herbs and beans, and leaving the sour cream as is, but otherwise I pretty much followed the recipe.

To be honest, the title of this recipe doesn’t quite live up to it – the spicy part that was. I was a bit disappointed that my soup was not spicy at all, like I wouldn’t even say it was mildly spicy. So I may have added a bit too much of dried chilli flakes to give it that kick that I was after. Now that really grasped the word ‘spicy’! It may just be cultural thing, I know a lot of my Western friends who can’t take anything spicy at all, or even calling a dish that had a dash of paprika in it ‘really spicy’. I seriously have no comment for that.

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

INGREDIENTS

500g carrots, peeled and sliced
1 medium brown onion, diced
5 cups vegetable stock
1 can (400g) chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup flaked almonds
1 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tsp dried chilli flakes
1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
3-4 slices of Pane di Casa bread from Bakers Delight
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Dollop of sour cream
Ground salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

Preheat oven to 250C.
Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large pot over medium to high heat and sauté onions until soft, about 2 minutes. Add in the carrots with the chillies, paprika and oregano and sauté until combined. Season with a touch of salt and pepper. Increase the heat to high and stir intermittently for 15 minutes until carrots are tender and browned. Add the vegetable stock and chickpeas and bring to a boil. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Add the almond flakes into the soup, saving some for garnish later.
Meanwhile, spread the flaked almonds on a lined baking tray and place in the oven for about 5 minutes or until the flakes are golden brown. Remove and set aside.
Rip the slices of bread into bite size pieces and toss with 1/4 cup of olive oil in a small bowl. Spread onto the same lined baking tray and roast in the oven for about 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside.
Pour the soup over into a blender (working in batches if I does not all fit) and blend on low speed for about a minute until well combined and smooth. Pour into a bowl and add a dollop of sour cream. Sprinkle with almonds, croutons, and paprika. Serve.

A definite favourite winter warmer.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Spinach & Ricotta Triangles

May 24, 2014December 28, 2018 amcarmen5 Comments

Hello everyone! Today has been quite an eventful day filled with food. It kicked off with early start to a Saturday morning where two of my other housemates Lina & Marissa, and myself, caught a bus to Paddy’s Market to shop for some fresh produce. It was Lina’s first time to Paddy’s Market and I think she really enjoyed the fresh produce, and found it a little bit overwhelming at the same time. We shopped for our own food, as well as ingredients for our picnic that we had planned for the afternoon as well. I think I spent about $45 dollars in total for fresh vegetables, meat and seafood – half of the budget went to the seafood though, but then you can imagine buying the rest of the stuff for $20 which I think will last me the whole week plus 1 or 2 days max.

And of course, on our way back we stopped by Chinatown to grab some delicious cream puffs from Emperor’s Cream Puff. I told Marissa to get a box of 20 to share between the 3 of us. She told me while she was lining up, she doubted whether we could finish the whole box. Well, we did. Half of the box was practically devoured in less than 5 minutes, and the rest we finished up on the bus trip back home.

On today’s menu for the picnic, we had Chicken & Pea Soup, Chorizo & Caramelised Onion Sausage Rolls, Penne Salad, Spinach & Ricotta Triangles, and for dessert, Marissa’s Egg Custard (gone wrong, long story short, it ended up becoming steamed eggs). We also had an array of white wine: Chardonnay, Pink Moscato & Sauvignon Blanc, and a bottle of Apple & Pink Grapefruit Schweppes.

I think we overestimated the amount of food for 3 people, (and eventually became 4 as we invited our other housemate Sam to join us), for we had SO much food. All in all it was a fun day, well anything that involves food is always fun!

Lina’s Penne Salad with fresh capsicums, corn, tomatoes, and sautéd garlic, mushrooms and zucchini. Drizzled with lemon juice and a touch of vinegar, seasoned with salt and pepper

Marissa’s Chicken and Pea Soup (see original recipe here on Taste). Basically substitute the ham for the chicken drumettes, and without the salami bites

My Mexican Chorizo & Caramelised Onion Sausage Rolls

Today, besides my Mexican Chorizo & Caramelised Onion Sausage Rolls, I also decided to make some Spinach & Ricotta Triangles to add the dishes for Lina is a vegetarian. These triangles are a quick and easy family food, perfect for entertaining food or for a vegetarian lunch or dinner, served with a salad.

PREP TIME 20 MINS | COOKING TIME 15-20 MINS |
MAKES 27 TRIANGLES

INGREDIENTS

3 sheets frozen puff pastry, semi-thawed
100g fresh loose leaf baby spinach, washed and dried
250g ricotta cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 stalk fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
Zest of one lemon
Ground salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp milk

METHOD

Preheat oven to 200C. Combine the egg and milk in a small bowl. Add the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl and mix with a spoon.
Cut puff pastry sheets into 9 squares. Add about a teaspoon (or more) of the mixture in the middle of the pastry square and fold over into a triangular shape. Brush the ends with the beaten egg and milk mixture to secure. Using the tips of the back of a fork, gently press down on the edges to seal the joins. Repeat for the remaining squares.
Space them out on a tray lined with baking paper. Brush the tops with the rest of the egg wash and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until puffed, golden and cooked through.
Serve with salad on the side.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Clam Corn Chowder

May 21, 2014December 28, 2018 amcarmenLeave a comment

Happy Hump Day Everyone! The weather has been nice and warm all week, which is a bit unusual since it’s nearing the end of fall and entering winter next month – I’m not complaining though! And yes, I know that Australian winters aren’t as cold as Northern American and European countries, it’s cold for me because coming from the tropics, it doesn’t get as cold as 24C. I love the heat! I’ve been planning on making this dish for a while now, as in a few weeks ago when the weather dropped to about 10-15C, but I never got around to. I had half a pack of vongole left from my spaghetti alle vongole in the freezer and I wanted to cook it. So yesterday for dinner I decided to make Clam Corn Chowder.

I made this dish once before last year when I went on holiday with my flatmate and two other friends. It was a great winter weekend away at Port Stephens – though it was in the middle of winter, we did very non-wintry activities: parasailing, camel riding and sand boarding. The evenings were a little chillier, and we also had a ‘Christmas in July’ dinner night, where I whipped up a nice pot of Clam Corn Chowder; full of sweet corn, smoky bacon, and delightfully briny clams.

Also, please check out the original recipe that I followed here: Epicurious.

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOKING TIME 20 MINS | SERVES 4-6

INGREDIENTS

1kg NZ Westhaven Vongole
3 hickory smoked bacon slices, diced
1 can (400g) super sweet corn kernels, drained
500g potatoes, wash, peeled and cubed
2 cups fish stock (clam juice preferable if available)
1/2 cup water
3 stalks scallions, chopped
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup thickened cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
Ground salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

In a large pot, melt 1 tbsp of the butter and sauté bacon until lightly browned, but not crisp, over medium heat. Add in the scallions (pale white parts) and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Add in the corn and potatoes, and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Then add in the fish stock, water, and season with pepper. Bring to a boil, uncovered.
Add the clams in and bring to a boil again, uncovered. Stir occasionally until the clams open (about 5-8 minutes). Discard any clams that remain unopened after 8 minutes.
Add the milk and cream to the chowder, remaining butter, and season with salt. Cook until heated through but do not let it boil. Garnish with green scallions and serve with buttered bread roll.