I never thought this recipe would get the reception that it did when I put it up on my newspaper's website, but it did so I thought I would put it up in this space too.

Spiced Macaroni Soup
Serves 3

3/4 cup elbow macaroni
1/2 cup broccoli, cut into small florets (optional)
1/4 cup finely diced celery
1/4 cup finely diced carrot
1/4 cup finely diced onion
1 large garlic clove, minced
1cm fresh ginger, peeled and bruised
1 stalk lemon grass (white part only), bruised
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
1-2 bird's eye chillies (cili padi)
750ml water
salt or soya sauce, to taste

Spice powder*
1/2 tsp white peppercorns
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp coriander seeds
2 whole cloves

To garnish
fried shallots (store-bought)
torn coriander leaves

Cooked the macaroni in boiling salted water until firm to the bite (al dente). Rinse in cold water, drain and set aside.

Pound or grind all the ingredients for the spice powder with a little salt into a powder.

* If you do not want to grind the whole spices, get each one in powdered form and mix them together. 

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a medium pot. Add diced celery, carrot and onion and fry over medium heat until the onion turns translucent (do not let the vegetables brown), 8-10 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, lemon grass, cinnamon stick, star anise, bird's eye chilli and half the spice powder. Cook for 1 minute, then add the water, cover and bring to the boil.

Taste and add salt or soya sauce and more of the spice powder, if desired. When you're happy with the seasoning, add broccoli florets and cook for 30 seconds. Turn off heat.

Divide the cooked macaroni between three bowls and pour in the soup. Garnish with fried onion and coriander leaves.

I don't use enough Thai holy basil in my cooking ~ but I aim to make up for that omission by cooking this stir fry as much as I can. It's called pad kra pao gai in Thai, and according to this site (from which I also got the recipe), the chicken can be substituted with pork, prawns and even tofu. Being a stir fry, it is a quick dish to make. The chicken is flavoured with common ingredients, and it is the Thai basil leaves that really give it that extra bite. I have added chunks of boiled potatoes to the dish and probably more basil leaves than the recipe called for. It was a hearty meal.

Some time ago, my colleague Ivy got a copy of Jamie's 15-Minute Meals to review. I decided to try my hand at one of the recipes too and chose the sticky squid balls, grilled prawns and noodle broth. It took me 19 minutes to make the dish, but I think it could have been within the time frame had I used two cooking pans as the recipe asks for. I didn't like the amount of washing up I had to do afterwards but that's another story. What I did particularly like about the dish were the squid balls ~ squid meat blitzed with chilli, ginger, coriander stalks, and salt and pepper, formed into balls and pan-fried ~ which were easy to make and delicious. When I made them again for the bowl of noodles here, I put all the ingredients together without even measuring and they were just as good.

If portobello mushrooms weren't so expensive, I'd cook them three or four times a week. Unlike other fungi, portobellos don't disintegrate so easily or shrink when cooked in dishes like stews. They have such an intense flavour, even being compared to meat; and like meat, benefits from being seared before being added to stew-like dishes. That is what I did when I made this mushroom and lentil ragu: braise green lentils in a chilli tomato-based sauce; separately fry thickly sliced portobellos and flavour with soya sauce; combine the two components and simmer for a bit before tucking in. I served them (to myself!) with potato-cheese pierogies only because I had a stash of those and needed to clear out the freezer. Portobellos play second fiddle to no one.

It's not working. I just can't seem to put in the time that I used to into this blog. So, things need to change. The purpose of this space needs to change. As with life, less clutter. Fewer words. Lists and instructions only when necessary. I want to remember what I baked on my day off, what I thought of cooking with those tomatoes I bought yesterday, how I felt when I ate what I cooked today. Recipes... they're just a guide ~ even for bread. I'll follow rules elsewhere, not in my kitchen. And so I kick off today with jeow mak keau, a Lao roasted brinjal dip. Roast brinjal, garlic, chilli till soft; pound everything together. Good with glutinous rice. Good tossed through long pasta. Good start to a much-needed change.

DECONSTRUCTED SUSHI 

I was going to make sushi rolls for lunch today and then decided to try Ivy's deconstructed sushi (mixed sushi platter), which she wrote about for our newspaper column.

Of course, Ivy uses salmon in her dish and I just have surimi or imitation crabsticks (though they're a good quality variety) – the poor (wo)man's version, I suppose.

I can't believe I actually faffed about with the shredded omelette though. Normally, I would just pour beaten egg into a pan, give it a swirl, then just dump it on a plate. Here, I actually took the time to season the egg and water combination with instant dashi, cooked it over a low heat in a covered pan, rolled it up and sliced it thinly. I have to admit though that the egg had a much better taste and texture.

(I didn't plan it, but doesn't the composition of the photo look like Mickey Mouse falling over after being speared in the ear ?)

TAMARIND SQUID CAPELLINI 

This is a scheduled post.

I can't believe I have never posted on one of my favourite dishes, tamarind squid chilli pasta. I guess I think of it as everyday food, so it isn't so unusual that it needs to be featured. But I have posted on more mundane things before, and this really is a good, quick recipe, so why not.

If the dish looks a little yellow in the picture, that's because I had "preserved" the squid with turmeric powder. My friend Mumtaj told me about doing this when storing uncooked seafood. 

If there's time, I like to grill the tamarind-marinated squid until blackened and caramelised. That's even more delicious. But when I can't wait, it's a quick stir-fry.

Tamarind Squid Chilli Spaghetti
Serves 2

2 tbsp tamarind pulp or 1 tbsp tamarind paste

200g squid (3 medium), cut into 1.5cm rings (leave tentacles whole)

½-1 tsp sugar (preferably palm sugar)

A dash of white pepper

½-1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp cooking oil

2 cloves garlic, sliced into thin chips

1-2 red bird's eye chillies, minced

1 stalk lemongrass (white part only), sliced thinly (optional)

2 servings of cooked spaghetti or other long pasta (reserve about ¼ cup of the cooking water)

Pour a little warm water on the tamarind pulp. Massage to loosen the seeds and pulp. Reserve the pulp but discard the seeds and tough fibres.

Combine the squid, tamarind pulp or paste, sugar, pepper and fish sauce in a bowl. Cover and set aside for 30-60 minutes.

Heat the oil and add the garlic chips. Fry until golden and crisp. Add the chillies and lemongrass and fry briefly, then add the marinated squid. Toss the squid around until cooked (the tentacles will curl). Add a little reserved pasta water to make it saucy (ahem!), then add the cooked spaghetti. Toss together and serve.

AYAM PERCIK 

This is a scheduled post.

I did a guest post for Jenni of The Gingered Whisk some time ago with a recipe for Ayam Percik, literally translated as spattered chicken. Mine isn't as "professional" looking as the ones you'd find at the pasar malam (night market), but for a home attempt, it turned out pretty good. Here's the recipe.

Ayam Percik

(Kelantan-style BBQ Chicken)

Serves 4

4 whole chicken legs (use skinless chicken if desired)

3cm fresh ginger, peeled and grated

2 tsp ground turmeric

¾ tsp salt

Marinade

6-8 dried chillies, soaked in hot water to soften

8 shallots, peeled

2 cloves garlic, peeled

¼ tsp belacan (dried shrimp paste)

250ml thick santan (coconut cream)

1 tbsp seedless tamarind paste

6 fenugreek seeds

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp palm sugar

1 tsp rice flour

Clean the chicken, pat dry and make a few slits in the thicker parts. Combine the ginger, turmeric and salt and rub over the chicken. Cover and set aside while you prepare the marinade.

For the marinade, grind/blend the chillies, shallots, garlic and shrimp paste with a little santan. Place this mixture in a pot large enough to hold the chicken together with the remaining coconut cream, tamarind paste, fenugreek seeds, salt, sugar and rice flour. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the marinade thickens and the oil separates from it (a layer of oil will appear on the surface; this is the coconut oil), about 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Add the chicken pieces to the pot and simmer uncovered, stirring frequently for 20 minutes. (The chicken should be about cooked by this time.)

Remove the chicken from the marinade and grill over hot charcoal or under the oven broiler for 8 to 10 minutes on each side until the chicken is browned, basting it several times with the marinade.

Simmer any remaining marinade over low heat in the pot until it thickens. Spoon it over the cooked chicken and set aside for 10 minutes to allow the chicken to cool. Serve with rice.

BLACK SESAME AND CHOCOLATE TWIST 

I noticed that the black sesame paste (from yesterday's post) that I had made months ago (it keeps well!) was still in the fridge, and I needed to use it up. After weeks of not having much time and only cooking daily meals, I have plunged elbow deep into dough with a vengeance this past week, and so decided to use the sesame paste as a filling for a loaf. 

Since I couldn't leave well enough alone, I added some black-and-white mini chocolate chips to the filling.

The next few posts will be scheduled as I may not be able to blog for some time. And this would be a good time to clean up my Draft folder in Blogger, so these posts will just have a short intro with a picture and recipe. I've had some drafts for over a year!

Black Sesame and Chocolate Twist

Makes 1 large loaf. Serves 10

½ batch basic sweet dough

1 cup black sesame spread

¼ cup mini chocolate chips

Line base and sides of a large loaf tin with parchment paper.

Roll out the dough into a 20cm by 25cm rectangle. Spread with sesame spread and sprinkle the chocolate chips on top.

Beginning from one long end, roll up into a tight Swiss roll. Slice through the middle of the roll lengthwise into two. With the cut side up, twist them together into a rope. Place in the prepared tin, cover and leave to rise to the top of the tin.
Alternatively, shape it into a round like this Russian Rose Braid.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180°C. Bake the bread, 30-35 minutes.

MALAYSIA FLAG CAKE FOR NATIONAL DAY, AUG 31 

HAPPY MERDEKA DAY! 

To all Malaysians, here's wishing you a Happy National Day! And to those of you who are 56 today, Happy Birthday!

As an extension to my last post on ulam and kerabu, which I wrote as a run-up to today's cooking column in the newspaper (this is where to get all the links to the Don't Call Me Chef stories and the other Merdeka-themed stories in the lifestyle section of the newspaper), I wanted to make a cake using typically Malaysian ingredients. And what better ingredient than coconut (any excuse to include one of my favourite flavours into every dish!).

So I started out with a basic yellow cake recipe (a simple 1-2-3-4 recipe), and was going to use coconut extract for the flavouring, but of course being as prone to mishaps as I am, I reached for the lemon extract instead and ended up with a lemon-flavoured sponge!

Oh, well. I baked the cake in a rectangular tin and then cut out a triangle at the top and "pasted" it to the bottom using buttercream to make a wavy flag shape. 

Next was my attempt at cake decoration. I am hopeless at fancy swirls or sugar decorations, so I used an easier way. I iced the cake, piped out the outline of the national flag design and filled it in with dessicated coconut (have to include that somehow!) coloured with food dye. 

All the elements are accurate except for one thing: I just could not get 14 points on the star! It's two points short since it was too small to fit them all in. 

FERN-TASTIC ULAM INGREDIENTS 

I posted on kerabu (Asian salads) and nasi ulam (herbed rice) separately some time ago. For our National Day on Aug 31, Ivy, Indra and I are writing on the theme "Malaysia on a plate" for our Don't Call Me Chef cookery column in the newspaper. For me, the dish that screams Malaysia is nasi ulam, a mix of rice, fried fish, salted fish and prawns, toasted coconut and a whole bunch of herbs, shoots and leaves such as lemongrass, torch ginger, kaffir lime leaves, and various jungle plants.

For the column, I provided a recipe for Nasi Ulam Utara (Northern-style herbed rice; pictured below, top left) so as a prelude, I thought I would reproduce the recipes for the three types of kerabu that I wrote on before. These Malaysian salad dishes are prepared with similar ingredients to those found in a nasi ulam.

Clockwise from top left: Nasi Ulam Utara, served with sambal belacan; kerabu kacang botol; green papaya salad; and kerabu pucuk paku

All recipes serve 4.

Kerabu Kacang Botol (Four-angled Bean Salad)

200g four-angled beans

2 shallots, thinly sliced

2 bird's eye chillies, finely diced

1 tbsp dried prawns, washed and pounded

2 tbsp grated coconut, toasted

2 tbsp lime juice

1-2 tbsp palm sugar

Salt to taste

Pick off the ends of the four-angled beans. Blanch in boiling salted water, about 30 seconds, then run under cold water to stop the cooking process. Cut on the diagonal into 2cm-wide pieces. Toss with the sliced shallots and chillies; set aside.

Combine the remaining ingredients and dress the vegetables.

Green Papaya Kerabu

This salad is loosely based on the Thai som tam.

1 small green papaya (about 400g), peeled, cut into half and seeds removed

1 cup long beans, cut into 3cm lengths

1 tbsp palm sugar

Juice of 2-3 limes, or to taste

2-3 tbsp fish sauce

6-8 bird's eye chillies, thinly sliced on an angle

1 tbsp dried prawns, washed and pounded

6-8 cherry tomatoes, halved and seeds removed

2-3 tbsp chopped toasted peanuts

Grate papaya coarsely and into long strips.

To make the dressing, dissolve palm sugar in the lime juice. Add the fish sauce.

In a mortar and pestle, bruise the long beans. Add the chillies, dried prawns and some of the dressing. Toss well and add the papaya. Bruise the papaya so that it is mixed with the dressing. Add more dressing as needed.

Add the tomatoes and bruise them lightly, blending them with the rest of the ingredients. Serve sprinkled with chopped peanuts.

Kerabu Pucuk Paku (Fiddlehead Fern Salad)

300g pucuk paku (fern shoots)

50g fresh prawns, shelled and deveined

2 tbsp ready-made kerisik

2-3 tbsp coconut milk

2 large red chillies, pounded

2 tbsp lime juice

2-3 tsp palm sugar

Salt to taste

3 tbsp toasted peanuts, coarsely pounded

Pick off the tendrils and tender part of the stalks from the pucuk paku. Cut into 6cm pieces. If the ferns are a little tough, blanch in boiling salted water, about 30 seconds, then run under cold water to stop them cooking further.

Blanch the prawns until pink but still firm. Combine with the ferns.

Combine the rest of the ingredients and toss with the greens.

SOURDOUGH PAPADUM CRACKERS

This month's Sourdough Surprises challenge was to make crackers. I like crackers but I do have a problem with them – I tend to eat too many! They're really hard to resist, savoury ones especially, but even the plain type is moreish. It must have something to do with reliving our childhood – or further back, our baby years, when we were given rusks to chew on while we were teething. 

Well, I'm no psychologist so I shall get back to what we came here for: crackers. I decided to try making sourdough papadum.

Banana leaf rice lunch served in South Indian restaurants in Malaysia. Papadum is at top right.

Although papadums are eaten as a snack or used to scoop up dip, they're typically an accompaniment to a South Indian banana leaf lunch – rice is placed in the centre of a large piece of banana leaf and the meat, fish and vegetable dishes are placed around it with the curry poured over the rice. The food is usually eaten with the right hand although some people use a spoon and fork. The discs of papadum are crushed by hand and mixed in with the rice.

Papadum is made from a variety of flours. The dough is rolled out thinly into discs and dried out under the sun. I think all the papadum we find in Malaysia is imported from India; I doubt if anyone actually makes their own as it's so easily available.

I've seen dried papadum being cooked directly on a flame and parts of it will char, but when cooking a large batch, as in a restaurant, they are simply fried. The puff up immediately and are drained quickly, then stored in large air-tight containers.

Sourdough papadum ingredients

Besides the sourdough starter, my papadum contains multi-grain and rice flours, ghee, asafoetida powder and dried chillies flakes. I divided the dough into small rounds, then rolled them out into thin discs (about 10cm wide) on greaseproof paper. I didn't put them out in the open air but simply dried them out in a low oven, then cooked some of the papadum directly on a flame and shallow fried the others. The fried ones came out with little blisters all over the surface.

My recipe is sketchy because I didn't really measure anything but just went with the feel of the dough. Roughly, there's three-quarters of a cup of sourdough starter, a quarter cup of rice flour, two tablespoons of ghee, then enough multi-grain flour to mix into a firm dough. After that salt, asafoetida powder and chilli flakes to taste. I left the dough overnight and then carried on with the rolling and drying.

HOTTEOK: SWEET GLUTINOUS RICE PANCAKES 

I've only just learned about the Korean sweet glutinous rice filled pancakes called hotteok. It was after reading a description by the Los Angeles Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold. This is what he says:

“If you are fond of litigation, you should probably turn the page. Because of all the hazards inherent in Korean gastronomy – stray coals, red-hot stones and exploding clams among them – there may be no foodstuff quite so dangerous as the chewy, sizzling street-food staple called hotteok... You will burn your fingers on the pancake, that’s a given; blister your lips; possibly scorch your tongue. But if you’ve never experienced hotteok, nothing can possibly prepare you for the flood of molten brown sugar from its heart, a delicious, cinnamon-scented goo that shares rather too many characteristics with napalm. Am I imagining things, or is that pure evil behind that griddle?”

Oh well now. Burn your fingers? Blister your lips? Scorch your tongue? A flood of molten brown sugar? It all sounded quite intriguing. Since I couldn't get them as street food here in Malaysia, how could I not search for a way to make them at home?

They didn't seem difficult to make and the ingredients were easily available. I wasn't keen on deep-frying them as some recipes suggested, but I saw that the pancakes could also be pan-fried in just a smidgeon of oil and still be crisp enough on the outside.

The dough is smooth when made and becomes 'lumpy' after proofing

So based on two recipes especially, I set about making my own hotteok. First, the dough. It was soft and pliable and yet would break apart easily when I pulled too hard. It certainly wasn't like yeasted bread dough. And when it rose, which wasn't much, it looked spongy and lumpy. More intrigue here.

Filling and frying the hotteok

The filling is like a cinnamon roll filling, with crushed nuts in it. Walnuts are especially used in Korea, but peanuts are apparently also popular. I also had some sesame seed paste, and used that in a couple of hotteok as well.

The picture below doesn't show how gooey the filling really was when I cut into a hotteok, but believe me, it was oozing out. The pancake was chewy and crisp, although the crispness didn't last long. It probably would have if it had been deep-fried.

But I really enjoyed it and can just imagine authentic hotteok being so much better.

The sugar filling turns gooey after cooking

Sweet Glutinous Rice Pancakes (Hotteok)

Makes 8 (about 10cm wide). Based on zenkimchi and beyondkimchi

150g all-purpose flour

120g glutinous rice flour

½ tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp milk powder

1 tsp instant yeast

180-200ml water

1 tsp vegetable oil, plus extra for frying

Filling

½ cup palm sugar

3 tbsp crushed roasted peanuts

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch of salt (omit if using salted peanuts)

Combine all the dough ingredients in a bowl and stir together with a rubber spatula into a sticky dough. It should come together into a smooth ball. Cover the bowl and set aside until the dough doubles in size. The bowl can also be placed inside a plastic bag and refrigerated until ready to use.

Combine the filling ingredients in a small bowl.

When ready to make the hotteok, knead the dough briefly and divide into eight even portions. Form into balls.

Oil the small area on the work surface and place one ball of dough on it. With oiled fingertips, make an indentation in the centre so the sides are a little higher. Place one tablespoon of filling in the centre and pinch the edges together to enclose the filling. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.

Heat up a large frying pan and add enough oil to thinly cover the base. Add the filled balls to the pan in batches. Oil the bottom of a smooth-based bowl, ladle or a rubber spatula and use to press the balls to flatten them. When the bottom is browned and crisp, flip to cook the other side. Remove to a kitchen paper-lined plate. Eat while still warm, but mind the melted sugar filling.

A LITTLE TASTE OF KERALA 

At the time of writing, I should have been packed and ready to fly to Chennai in India, and then on to Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) in the southern state of Kerala for a short holiday.

Unfortunately, the trip has had to be postponed.

The Husband and I had planned to watch some Kathakali performances, eat Keralan food, visit interested sites, perhaps take a boat in the backwaters, gorge on Keralan seafood, explore markets, browse through bookshops, stuff myself... um, ourselves with Keralan food, and more.

I was disappointed... for a second, because I always remember my late father saying that "everything happens for the best". I've always believed in that and things usually work out. My father's parents were originally from Kerala and came to then British Malaya to work in the rubber estates, so perhaps they're telling me, in spirit, that it's not the right time to visit their homeland. *wink*

It would have been good to get out of Malaysia at this time, though. We are experiencing the worst haze (smog) I can remember. I don't think it has ever been this bad. I look out the glass doors of my flat and just beyond my balcony, I can see the haze pollutants just hanging in the air. Outdoors, it's hard to breathe and my eyes hurt. There's an eerie glow all around, which I would describe as pretty if it wasn't hazardous (in some places, it's at dangerous levels).

Well, if you have to stay in, cooking is always a good way to pass some time. And since I had been looking forward to Keralan food in Kerala but not getting to eat it there, I thought I should make a few dishes at home.

Aviyal

Coconut and green chillies are used a lot in Keralan cooking. A dish that contains both of these ingredients is aviyal, a mixed vegetable curry cooked with a fresh coconut-green chilli spice paste. Root and hardy vegetables like potatoes, plantain, carrots, long beans and drumstick pods are often included. I didn't have any of those so I used French beans, sweet potatoes, cabbage and after I turned off the heat, I added spinach so that it just wilted in the hot curry. I think I added too much water though, so the aviyal is not thick enough. And it should be yellow, which means I didn't add enough turmeric powder.

Fried fish with crisp onions

Kerala is also famous for its seafood dishes. Since there was already the aviyal, which has gravy to mix into rice, I just fried a couple slices of tenggiri fish that had been simply dredged in curry powder, turmeric and salt, and then garnished it with fried crisp onions and curry leaves.

Rasam

For me, no curry meal can be complete without rasam – a tamarind-based soup. I like my rasam sour because that's what I grew up with, while the Husband prefers rasam that is not so sour. I add hot water to it to thin it down.

Rasam is kind of a tonic, so I always make extra and drink it like a beverage. Taken on its own, I water it down slightly because without the rice, my version can be too sour even for me.

It was a good meal. It wasn't Kerala, but at least I ate well.

HOT SPICED PLUM CHUTNEY 

Chutney, relish, pickle, achar... whatever you call it, a preserved condiment is a good partner to have when it comes to eating.

Of course, not all preserves are made alike.  Some are sweet, others are hot, and some are sweet and hot. There are also sour preserves and salty ones too.

I keep quite a few varieties on hand. Some can be kept in the store cupboard, others have to be refrigerated. I've recently been enjoying some kumquat pickles my mother made and salted fish achar from a home-based business, both of which I've been having with my rice and curry dishes.

But chutneys, relishes, pickles and achar don't always have to play sidekick: How about a tamarind and date chutney baked into a cake or a sour masala jam of chillies, pineapple and cucumber which can hold its own against meats? And a good mango achar takes centre stage in a grilled cheese and chutney sandwich or sabich, an eggplant sandwich with hard-boiled eggs.

Recently, I got a bag of purple plums and ate most of it fresh. But I got down to the last three and thought I would turn them into a hot and sweet spiced chutney. After pitting the plums, they weighed close to 250g, which made hardly enough chutney to fill a Chinese soup bowl. But I tend to forget what I have in the fridge so if I have too much, it might just go to waste if I didn't finish it. Anyway, the chutney doesn't take long to make (though it needs to sit at least a day before eating), so I can always make more.

I don't have a precise recipe for this plum chutney. The ingredients are all to taste, but here's a rough guide.

Hot Spiced Plum Chutney

Makes ¾ cup

250g purple plums (about 3 medium)

½ tbsp neutral-flavoured oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds

1 small red onion, diced

2 tbsp sambal oelek (red chilli paste)

100ml (scant ½ cup) white vinegar (white wine or rice)

1½ tbsp brown sugar

Water

1 tsp cayenne pepper

¼ tsp each ground cinnamon, ground allspice and asafoetida

Salt to taste

Pit the plums and chop them up into medium-sized chunks.

Heat the oil in a saucepan and toss in the mustard seeds. Stir them around until they start to pop.

Add diced onion and sauté till translucent.

Add sambal oelek (chilli paste) and sauté briefly. Add brown vinegar, sugar and 2 tablespoons of water. Bring to the boil, then add the chopped plums. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat until fruit is soft. Use a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon to break up some of the fruit. Stir occasionally until the mixture has thickened. Add more water if it looks dry.  

Stir in the cayenne pepper and spices. Add salt to taste. Simmer a while longer. Spoon into clean air-tight bottles and store in the refrigerator. Best left a day before consuming.

YELLOW TANGZHONG BUNS 

I learnt something last Christmas that both surprised and saddened me. I had made some braided challah bread to sandwich the meats and cold cuts that the family usually has on the day, and it was everything I've read a challah should be: slightly sweet, rich with eggs and fat, a soft crumb and a glossy crust. I expected it to go down a treat.

One of my nephews constructed his sandwich with the bread but after a couple of bites, he passed it over to his father. He said the challah was too flavourful and in competition with the meaty fillings.

Now, I appreciate the fact that many people only know bread as those bland square slices that come in a plastic bag or ultra-soft buns with sickly sweet creamy fillings in the centre, but when my own family  rejects something I made... that was disheartening :-(

This Christmas, I have been officially put in charge of bread. I can buy it, make it, whatever... I just have to supply enough bread to be eaten throughout the day. I am still bringing some "plastic" bread and a couple of those so-called "artisan" loaves from commercial producers – hah! How can every loaf purportedly made by hands look exactly alike? – but I am also trying out some tangzhong buns on the family.

Recipes for tangzhong bread – made with a roux – have been making their rounds on the web for some years now. It's credited to Yvonne Chen, the "65° Bread Doctor", and is a bread that suits Asian tastes as it is soft and sweet. Her recipe can be found on many online sites, and I used it for the 300+ slider buns (pictured right) I made for a food fair in September. I made 18 batches in all (each batch produced  17 buns; 18 if I was lucky), and by the fifth batch, I was weighing out the ingredients by memory!

Because the theme of the food fair was "yellow", I made the buns yellow with a roux that contained custard powder. The idea came from Dan Lepard's slider buns recipe, who based it on Yvonne Chen's method. But I like it so much that I have been using custard powder since then. I have also continued making buns because I like the individual portions (and I think they appeal to children too).

I also follow Dan Lepard's brief kneading method instead of lugging out the mixer. I use less yeast in this recipe and allow for a slow rising to suit my schedule. 

We'll have to wait until Christmas day to see if the fussy eaters will find these Tangzhong buns acceptable, but I have a feeling *fingers crossed* things will be okay.

Tangzhong with custard powder

Soft Buns using the Tangzhong Method

Makes 17 slider buns or 10 burger buns. This recipe is a slight modification on Yvonne Chen's, with advice and instruction from Dan Lepard.

Yellow Tangzhong (roux)

Makes enough for dough and glaze

13g bread flour

12g custard powder

125g water

1 tbsp milk powder

Combine the ingredients in a saucepan and mix well. Over medium-low heat, stir until mixture starts to thicken. Keep stirring until thickened and glossy but still soft – stir the roux and the lines should remain; a thermometer should read 65°C. Set aside to cool. It can also be refrigerated for not more than two days.

Buns made for burgers

Dough

350g white bread flour 

2 tbsp full-cream milk powder

40g sugar

5g salt

3g instant yeast
120g tangzhong (from above – reserve the remainder for the glaze)
1 medium (50g) egg
100g warm water

30g butter, softened

Topping

Reserved tangzhong (about 1 tbsp)

Seeds

In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, milk powder, sugar, salt and yeast. Add the tangzhong and egg. Stir together with a wooden spoon or dough whisk. Add water and stir until a rough ball forms. Cover bowl and set aside for 10 minutes.

Spread softened butter on the dough and knead it in the bowl until well incorporated. Cover and leave for 10 minutes. Give the dough a brief knead by stretching and folding it over on itself several times every 10 minutes over half an hour, each time forming the dough into a ball at the end and letting it sit seam side down in the mixing bowl. The dough will be soft and sticky at first but will start to lose the stickiness after every knead and will grow in size each time. After the final knead, cover the bowl and leave to double in size, 1-1½ hours. If making in advance, place the bowl in a large plastic bag and secure (or cover with cling film), then place in the refrigerator to proof until doubled in size, 6-8 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180°C. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Scale into 40g portions for slider buns or 70g portions (approximate; it's actually about 67g each) for burger buns. Leave the dough for a few minutes to relax, then shape them into smooth balls.

Flatten the buns

Mist the bottom of a 10cm-diameter flat-based container with oil (I use a round plastic lid), press the bun to flatten. Press firmly – the dough is robust and can take a lot of pressure – but avoid tearing the buns. Place them on the prepared baking sheet. Cover and leave for 15 minutes.

Just before baking, flatten the buns again. Add a few drops of water to the extra tangzhong to loosen it. Brush top of the buns with tangzhong and sprinkle with seeds. 

Bake until the tops are lightly golden (8-12 minutes for sliders; 12-17 minutes for burger buns). The buns will dome while baking but will fall slightly when removed from the oven to cool.

BRAISED TURMERIC CHICKEN WITH SALTED BEANS 

For a long time, I have felt daunted by the task of cooking Malaysian food. And even though I made up my mind earlier this year that I would try to cook more of it, I have not been doing so. I guess when Malaysian dishes are so easily available just down the road, there's no need to actually cook them at home.

But it's good to have a culinary repertoire – a few uncomplicated dishes that don't take all day to make but are different from the everyday fare and would be a treat whenever they're served.

The recipe for this Malay braised turmeric chicken with salted beans comes from Passion, a collaboration between two hotels in Malaysia: Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur Hotel and The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa. The recipes are the signature dishes of the 13 chefs featured in the book, which also features the fermented beef sausages and sour masala jam that I posted on some time ago.

The chicken in the picture does look a little oily, but when the gravy is slathered on plain white rice,  it's hard not to have a second helping!

Braised Turmeric Chicken With Salted Beans

Serves 2

2 free-range chicken legs
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt
500ml cooking oil
Curry leaves, to garnish

Sauce
20ml cooking oil
60g ginger, sliced
5 shallots, sliced
5 cloves garlic, sliced
5 dried red chillies
250ml water
1 tsp salted beans
50ml sweet soya sauce
1 tsp black pepper, ground
1 tsp sugar

Season the chicken with turmeric powder and salt and deep-fry over medium heat until half-cooked; set aside.

In the remaining oil, fry the curry leaves for a few seconds. Place on kitchen paper to drain.

For the sauce: Heat the oil and sauté the ginger, shallots, garlic and dried chillies for three minutes.

Add water and salted beans, soya sauce, ground black pepper and sugar (no salt is needed as the beans are salty).

Add the chicken to the pan and braise with the ingredients till the chicken is well cooked. Drain.

Serve the chicken with the fried curry leaves sprinkled on top.

FILLED LAYERED FLAT BREADS BEAT SANDWICHES  

The Earth is round (all right, it's an oblate spheroid if we want to be pedantic), but flat breads rule the world.

They're found in just about every cuisine, they're not very difficult to make and a lot of the time, they're cooked on the stove which leaves the oven out of the equation – and my apartment not heating up like a sauna.

Flat breads are my current obsession and lunch of choice. These ones came about after I saw a recipe for a flaky and multilayered Moroccan flat bread called r'ghayef at Diplomatic Kitchen. Although I didn't follow the recipe to a T, I liked the way the dough was wrapped around the filling and then folded to give it multiple layers.

Stretch gently, and be sure to patch up large holes in the centre

The flat bread is made with a lightly yeasted dough which is pliable and can be stretched thinly like strudel dough – you'll be able to see through it. I do the stretching by hand, simply pressing it out and pulling the edges gently until it forms a rough square. If there are holes in the centre of the square, patch them up with a little dough pinched off from the edge.

The filling is spread on, the two sides are folded in and overlapped and then the top third is folded down. Finally, the bottom third if folded under – it forms an 'S' shape if viewed from the side. I haven't shown this very well in the step-by-step picture above, but if this is confusing, do go to Diplomatic Kitchen for a better view.

Another way to make these filled flat breads is to simply roll them up like a Swiss roll and twirl them into snail-shell-shaped spirals as shown in my post on sourdough roti.

I used the curry leaf powder I posted on recently in the filling of one of the breads. Some it was stirred into softened butter (about a tablespoon of each) and that's the green paste seen in the picture.

Another filling was leftover minced beef curry. This made something like the Malaysian murtabak (variations are found elsewhere in the world, of course), which is often served with pickled onion – steep thinly sliced red onion in a mixture of white vinegar, sugar and salt (all to taste). They turn a bright pink after a while, although my onions (below) aren't so bright any more after they had spent a few days in the fridge. The lesson from this is to make just enough for the meal so there are no leftovers.

Filled with leftover curry and served with pickled onion

Flat Bread Dough

Makes 2 layered flat breads

125g all-purpose flour

Large pinch of salt

Large pinch of yeast

100ml water, approximate

1 tbsp butter, softened

Mix flour, salt and yeast together in a mixing bowl. Add almost all the water and stir into the flour, adding more water as needed so that there are no dry bits. Bring the mixture together into a rough ball.

Spread the softened butter on the ball and knead in until fully incorporated. On a work surface, continue kneading until it forms a soft and pliable dough, 10-12 minutes. Return dough to the bowl, cover with a tea towel and set aside to double in size. Because of the small amount of yeast in the dough, it may be best to place the bowl in a large plastic bag and in the fridge to proof overnight.

A note on cooking

After the breads have been filled and folded, leave them aside for about 10 minutes for the dough to relax. Heat up a frying pan or tawa on high heat and lightly oil the surface. Place the bread in the pan and turn down the heat to medium. Using a metal spatula, press the bread so that it flattens and expands outwards. When the bottom is browned, flip it over to cook the other side.

TURN CURRY LEAVES INTO A WONDERFUL CONDIMENT 

Any plant that requires more than weekly watering and occasional pruning is going to die in my care. I've killed many and now have more empty pots than plants on my apartment balcony.

I've tried to grow chillies and coriander and they have not survived past the first fruiting/sprouting. Even mint, which people say will grow wild if you just stick a stalk in soil, starts to wilt after a while. Obviously, I don't have a green thumb.

Curry leaf, or karuvepillai in Tamil, is one of those hardy plants that seem to grow easily. A lot of people have them in pots, many have a tree in their yard, and some even plant them just outside their house gates – and share it with their neighbours.

It's hard to imagine a South Indian curry without curry leaves. They are put in for flavour (many fried dishes also have crisp fried curry leaves as a garnish), but diners often just leave them on the side their plates and they are discarded at the end of a meal. Not me, I love curry leaves and pick them out of the curry (sometimes off someone else's plate!) to eat. 

Most recipes call for a sprig or two, and cooks who grow their own plants can just pluck off what they need. But if you have to buy curry leaves (which I did to make this minced beef curry), they usually come in a bunch or packet, and to use up that amount would take me many, many curries (they can be dried and stored, though).

So, I looked around online and found some curry leaf chutneys and powders (podi). They are popular South Indian condiments and are a good way to use these aromatic leaves. The powder is often sprinkled on rice or flatbreads, and can be used to flavour Indian "soups" like rasam. Recipes abound online, and each has its own special mix of spices. I've kept the mix simple, but I'm already imagining how I can use the powder in combination with other ingredients in various dishes.

Coming up: How I use curry leaf podi

Some of the dhall in this coarsely ground curry leaf powder has remained whole. 

Curry Leaf Podi (powder)
Makes about 3/4 cups

1½ cups firmly packed curry leaves (stems removed)
1 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp asafoetida powder
2 tbsp black gram (urad) dhall, rinsed and drained
3-5 dried chillies, soaked to soften and drained
1 piece dried tamarind (assam gelugor)
Salt to taste

Wash the curry leaves and drain well to remove as much water as possible. Dab with a kitchen towel. In a dry frying pan over medium low heat, toss the curry leaves until they are dry and slightly crisp. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a low flame. Add mustard seeds and sauté until they start to sputter. Add the asafoetida and dhall. Fry until the dhall turns reddish brown, about 2 minutes.

Add the dried chillies (use to taste and tolerance to heat) and tamarind. Stir until chillies start to colour and become crisp, 1-2 minutes.

Add curry leaves and toss together, 1 minute.

Take mixture off the heat and grind to a powder in a mini blender or food processor (how fine is up to individual tastes). Add salt to taste. Cool and store in an air-tight jar.

MINCED BEEF CURRY USED AS A FILLING FOR PUFFS AND BUNS 

Yesterday, I took part in a "gourmet" street food market event called "Food Bites" with my partners Indra and Sree (our enterprise is called Crazy Juliet, a story for another time). Our menu consisted of four types of Mediterranean-inspired sliders, which we described like this:

Pollo alla Parmigiana: Minced chicken breast flavoured with garlic, herbs and parmesan cheese bathed in a marinara sauce. Topped off with mozzarella and a sprinkling of fresh basil.

Lamb Casablanca: Rock the Casbah with this aromatic lamb patty. Served on a bed of luscious hummus and topped with sage-infused caramelized onions.

Soy Nut Wonder (V): The patty is a combination of soy, nuts, mushrooms, herbs and spices. Served with a curry apple sauce and crispy fried mushrooms.

Aubergine Delight (V): Oven-roasted aubergines are the star of this patty. It’s also packed with ingredients like (yellow) capsicum, chilli, lemon and pumpkin seeds. Served with pesto.

All the sliders come in a hand-made soft bun enriched with butter and egg, and topped with a variety of seeds.

Here's a picture of the mini burgers we put together for the food tasting a couple of weeks before the actual event (and before our final tweaking).

Crazy Juliet sliders for Food Bites – photo by Indra

Indra and Sree made all the patties and condiments, and I made all the buns. On the day of the sale, Indra and I assembled the sliders to order and Sree explained the flavours on offer and took care of the money. We started at 11am, the meat sliders were sold out by 2pm (the lamb first), and our last item was gone at 4.03pm.

Man, I don't know how people sell food for a living. It is so much hard work! I was on my feet practically the entire five hours and at the end of it, I was drenched in sweat. We didn't do too badly in terms of profit, though. And we were even asked if we catered for children's parties!

But it's not something I would do very often. Two or three times a year is probably all I can manage. Especially with a full-time job and other interests besides making food.

I was talking to my sister Joyce, who lives in California, about Food Bites. She would have loved to have participated and we would probably have partnered up if she was here. We may have considered making her beef curry puffs. It is the last recipe she posted at her blog WokTales two years ago (being a mum to two small girls is a lot of work and she's put the blog on hold). The curry puffs are similar to what our mother has been making since we were children. They won Joyce first prize at her husband Keith's office baking contest!

I used the minced beef curry as a filling in some bread snacks. I was inspired by the last Daring Baker's challenge to make empanadas, and used one of the dough recipes provided by the host, Patri.

Baked empanada (back) and layered bread cooked on the stove-top

Minced Beef Curry
From my sister, Joyce

2 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped or grated
5cm ginger, finely chopped or grated
6 pips garlic, finely chopped or grated
6-7 curry leaves, finely sliced
675g minced beef
2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
3 tbsp meat curry powder
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tbsp beef stock granules
Salt to taste
½ cup water
1 tbsp lemon juice

Heat oil and cook onions until translucent, then add ginger, garlic and curry leaves; cook another 1 minute. Add beef and cook until beef is browned.

Add potatoes, curry powder, cinnamon powder, beef stock granules and salt to taste. Add water, cover and cook for about 15 minutes until potatoes are cooked.

Add lemon juice, stir and leave to cool before using.