Red Curry of Duck & Pineapple

It has been awhile since I’ve updated this blog. I have to admit life has once again taken over to a point where I’ve lost the love for simple pleasures like cooking and baking. I did at one stage consider shutting down this blog but this blog has been my pride and my baby for 2 years and to shut it felt like a waste. Yet maintaining it seemed more and more like a chore than a joy. Torn….that’s how I feel!

Today I was talking to Li San and she was asking advice about Malaysian dishes. I told her to come here and get the recipes she wanted and she said to me “It’s such a waste you aren’t maintaining it! All those nice food!” I thought about it and felt that in so many ways she’s right. Food – the soul to many lives and the thing that brings people together. I’ve realised in my hastiness to seek the material wealth of this world, I’d forgotten what it was like to run hot water over fresh herbs, to smell curry simmering away on the stove and to fill the house with the fragrance of apple pie coming from the oven. Perhaps it is time to return again…perhaps it’s time to say I will learn to have days off and enjoy what has always been my passion and love…perhaps it’s time….

This dish here was a beautiful curry inspired by a recipe in Australian Gourmet Traveller. It was done a couple months ago on one of my cooking sprees, photos were posted on Flickr! but never made its way here till today. I hope you’ll enjoy it every bit we did 🙂 .

Red Curry of Duck & Pineapple

(Adapted and modified from Australian Gourmet Traveller November 2008)

Ingredients:

• 250ml coconut cream
• 60ml vegetable oil
• 200gm good quality red curry paste
• 2 dried limes (in replacement of 4 kaffir lime leaves)
• 60ml fish sauce
• 2tbsp brown sugar
• 500ml coconut milk
• 1 Chinese roast duck, boned and cut into chunks
• 3 long red chillies, halved lengthways, seeds removed
• 1/2 a pineapple, chopped into chunks
• Handful of Thai basil
• Lime, to squeeze

Method:

• Bring the coconut cream and vegetable oil to boil in a pan over high heat. Stir constantly to prevent from burning.
• When the coconut cream ‘splits’ (the oil separates from the solids), add the curry paste.
• Crush the dried limes in your hand and add to the pan, frying till aromas rise from the pan and it is sizzling fiercely. This will take approximately 10-15 minutes.
• Add the fish sauce and cook for approximately 1 minute. Then add sugar and remaining coconut milk. Bring to the boil.
• Add duck and chillies and simmer gently over low-medium heat. Then add in pineapple.
• Stir in basil and squeeze with lime juice just before serving.

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Sydney Updates…Part 2 :)

         

 

 

 

As promised, this is the second part to my Sydney updates. The second lot of friends we had over for dinner were Kaye and Yina with with their respective partners. Kaye and I go way back. We’ve known each other since high school, after I “saved” her ex-boyfriend 🙂 . We then went to college and uni together. Over the years we’ve drifted apart due to our lifestyles and distance. However, since relocating to Sydney, we’ve rediscovered this friendship all over again. 

 

Being a very asian crowd, I opted for a classic Malaysian/Singaporean favourite – Hainanese Chicken Rice. Although the dish is a “one pot – all done” sorta dish, it requires a bit of time and effort when preparing it. Trust me though, the meal is worth every ounce of effort put into it! 🙂

 

Soup:

Ingredients:

• Chicken frame
• Onions
• Carrots
• Celery

Method:

• Bring a pot of water to boil. Add chicken frame and allow it to boil for a few minutes. This will allow all the crap to come out from the frame. 
• Bring a kettle to boil. Throw the whole pot of water away and give it a good wash. Run chicken frame under cold water to stop the cooking.
• Place all ingredients into the pot and bring it to the boil. Cover the lid and place on lowest heat. Allow soup to boil over low heat for a few hours. 

 

Hainanese Chicken:

Ingredients:

• A whole chicken or chicken pieces (drumsticks, chicken wings, chicken breasts)
• Spring onions, cut into half inch pieces
• Garlic, crushed and peeled
• Ginger, slices into think slices
• Soy sauce
• Oyster sauce
• Salt, pepper and sugar
• Shaoxing wine
• Container of ice water
• Cucumber, sliced thinly for serving

Method:

• Place chicken in a large container and marinade with all the ingredients (except for the ice water and cucumber). Leave for a few hours. 
• About 1-2 hours before dinner, cook the chicken. 
• Place a bucket with ice water on the side. Bring soup to boil over medium-high heat. 
• Blanch the chicken, 1-2 minute at a time, a couple of times, carefully lifting it in and out of the pot, try not to bruise the skin. 
• Remove the chicken and dunk in cold water. This is so the flesh stays firm and the skin is sealed. 
• Drain soup into another pot or ladle out as much of the stuff as possible. Bring it to a boil and leave it to boil for a couple of minutes. This is because you’ve previously blanched raw chicken in the soup so some of the impurities would have gotten in. Giving the soup a good boil will help minimize the risk of salmonella. 
• Now, put all chicken pieces into the pot, cover the lid, turn off the heat and leave it for an hour. Make sure that chicken pieces are fully submerged in soup. 

Rice:

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of rice, washed and drained well
• 4.5 cups of chicken soup
• Big knob of butter
• Garlic, crushed and peeled
• Ginger, sliced thinly
• Salt, to taste

Method:

• Heat a wok on high heat, add butter and melt. 
• Add garlic and ginger. Fry till fragrant. 
• Add rice and give it a good toss. Season with salt according to taste.
• Place everything into a rice cooker and top with chicken soup. Cook. 
• When rice is done, remove lid and allow it to evaporate a little. This will allow rice to be grainy and less soggy. 

Chilli Dip:

Ingredients:

• Ginger, big knob (about 2-3cm) – sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Spring onion, just the white part – sliced
• Red chillies – a mixture of chilli padi and red chillies
• Salt and sugar, to taste
• Little bit of chicken soup

Method:

• Place all ingredients into a blender/food processor (or use a pestle and mortar). Give it a good whisk. 

Serving:

• Arrange chicken pieces and cucumber slices attractively on a large plate. Sprinkle some spring onion on top.
• Serve with rice and dipping sauce.

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Savoy Cabbage Parcels

Before Alan made this dish for me, I always thought there were only a couple of things I could make with savoy cabbage – stir fried with garlic and mince or boiled in soup. Once again, this was originally from Jamie Oliver 🙂 (yes, yes, I know…we are starting to look like Jamie freaks!). Jamie’s original recipe had chillies and lime with it as he made it when his wife was pregnant and it was her favourite dish. When Alan first made this, I joked and said I might not like it since I wasn’t pregnant 🙂 ! Since that first time, this has become one of our favourites and whenever I buy savoy cabbage and mince, I’d definitely make it. Even CY who hates vegies has nothing to complain about. 

Ingredients:

• Savoy cabbage
• Chicken and/or pork mince
• Garlic
• Soy sauce
• Oyster sauce
• Salt, sugar and pepper
• Shaoxing wine
• Corn flour

Method:

• Season the mince with the above seasonings for at least 1 hour.
• Peel the cabbage piece by piece and wash it. Bring a pot of water to boil and add the cabbage so it softens. 
• Run the cabbage under cold water and drain it. Put a spoonful of mince at the end of the cabbage stem and wrap it up. Repeat with remaining cabbage and mince.
• In the meantime, bring a wok filled with water to boil. Place stuffed cabbages onto a bamboo steamer and place in the wok to steam.
• Remove steamer from wok when a fork inserted into cabbage comes up clean (approximately 20-25 minutes). 
• Serve with a mixture of soy sauce and black vinegar or chilli sauce. 

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