Saturday, February 27, 2010

Fetuccine with Anchovies

This is a quick, simple and delicious dish to make.

Servings: 2

Ingredients:
100 gms Fetuccine pasta
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 dried chili peppers, chopped
1 bay leaf
Pinch of crushed black pepper
4 fillets of anchovy
5 small tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil




Anchovies


Instructions:

  • In a pot, boil 2 liters of water for cooking the pasta.
  • In a pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil and then saute the garlic, chili pepers, bay leaf, and anchovies in a low flame.

  • Crush the anchovies with the spatula.
  • When the anchovies are fully crushed and the garlic is already fragrant, add the chopped tomatoes. Heat still set to low.
  • Add a pinch of crush black pepper.
  • Continue sauteing while waiting for the water to boil in a separate pot.
  • When the water is already boiling, add fistful of salt into the pot then add the pasta.
  • Halfway through the boiling of the pasta, scoop a ladle of the pasta water and pour into the pan.
  • Crush the tomatoes with the spatula, still the heat is set to low.

  • When the pasta is already al dente, strain the pasta and add it to the pan where the sauce is being simmered.
  • Turn of the heat, stir the pasta to incorporate into the sauce.
  • Serve while hot.
  • Sprinkle with parmesan cheese on top.

Beef with Brocolli



Ingredients:
1/2 kilo of ribeye or sirloin beef, sliced thinly
2 brocollis
1 green bell pepper, cut into wedges
1 red bell pepper, cut into wedges
1 white onion, cut into wedges
2 stalks onion leeks, sliced
5 pcs. thinly sliced ginger
3 cloves garlic, crushed

For the marinade:
Combine beef, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, pinch of crushed black pepper, 1 tbsp cornstarch and 1 tbsp chinese cooking wine into a bowl and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.

For the sauce:
Combine 2 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp chinese white wine vinegar, and 3/4 cup chicken stock into a bowl.















Instructions:
  • Separate the brocolli by its stems and blanch in a salted boiling water for 3 minutes, then remove.
  • Heat pan or wok with 2 tbsp cooking oil in a high heat.
  • Stir-fry beef for 2 minutes.
  • Add the garlic, onion, onion leeks, and ginger and continue stir-frying for 2 minutes.
  • Add the sauce and bell peppers, stir-frying for 1 minute.
  • If you need to thicken the sauce more, combine 1 tsp of cornstarch with 3 tbsp water and pour into the sauce.
  • Add the brocolli and continue stir frying for another minute.
  • Serve with rice or fried rice.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Pickled White Radish

This dish is a good side dish for fried or grilled foods.

Ingredients:
1 long white radish, peeled and sliced thinly
1 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
4 tsps Japanese soy sauce
1 tsp mirin
Pinch of crushed black pepper





Japanese soy sauce

Mirin


Instructions:

  • In a pot, pour vinegar and sugar then boil for 1 minute or until the sugar has been dissolved.

  • Turn off heat then add the sliced radish.
  • Then set aside for at least 8 hours in room temperature.
  • After 8 hours, strain the pickled radish and discard the vinegar.
  • Place the pickled radish in a container then add the soy sauce, black pepper and mirin.
  • Store in the refrigerator or serve.

Monday, February 22, 2010

KFC 11 Secret Herbs and Spices

In this dish that I made, I have accidentally concocted a spice mix that tasted almost exactly like KFC. So I am now in a quest to discover the secret KFC recipe and this is my first attempt.

To compare my herb/spice mix with the real deal, I went to KFC and bought a gravy and made my own gravy using the following:

1 tsp 5-spice powder (which contains, szechuan peppercorns, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, and fennel seeds)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano powder
1 cup flour


 
The KFC gravy


 
My first attempt gravy

By making the gravy, you can put chicken stock to the thickness that you like and add salt to your taste. 


The 5-spice powder counts as 5 so there should be around 12 herbs/spices in there, but I count szechuan peppercorns and black pepper as one spice. So all in all it's 11.

The result was that my gravy almost tasted just like the KFC gravy, except that it's hot due to the paprika. I also felt that there was something in the KFC gravy that was missing from my gravy.

I created another batch of gravy and replaced paprika with sage and the taste was much more closer to the real KFC flavor. Some people I know who tasted this gravy immediately said it was KFC although I have not told them what it was.

Below is my modified version that has no paprika:

1 tsp five spice (peppercorn, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fennel seeds)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black peper
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp sage
1 tsp oregano

I thought that this might already be the 11 secret herbs/spices of KFC and so I went to the supermarket and bought chicken wings so I can fry them using my spice mixture.

 
I added 1 cup of water to my spice mixture 
to create a batter and then put the chicken 
wings to coat them.


 
The cooked chicken seasoned with my own spice mixture. 
Since I do not have a pressure cooker, I just deep-fried 
the chicken using palm oil

 
My second attempt of gravy, together with the chicken wings.


The result, although the chicken tasted so delicious especially together with the gravy, the smell of the cooked chicken did not smell like KFC. The taste is also not quite there.

But why does the gravy taste so much like KFC and the spice mixture was exactly what I used in cooking the fried chicken? In the fried chicken, I can smell the cinnamon while in the gravy you cannot smell it.

So I guess I need to create my own 5-spice powder but without the cinnamon then replace it with powdered bay leaves or coriander powder. As I have noted earlier that there was something in the KFC gravy that was missing from my own gravy, although the distinct flavor of KFC is already present in my mixture. I strongly feel it's a spice and not an herb. I also feel that the measurement of each herb/spice is not so important as you can immediately detect the distinct flavor of KFC once you got all the 11 herbs/spices correctly. From there, you can then adjust to your taste. Oh, another good candidate for testing is allspice. Let's see.

My quest continues so please keep posted...

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Deep-fried Breaded Beef

While making this dish, my wife did a taste test and she noticed that it tasted like KFC. I was surprised to realize after tasting it myself that it had a striking similarity to KFC indeed!

The spices that I used was put in haste so I did not really intend to copy the taste of KFC. Luckily, I remembered what I put and come to think of it, I may have accidentally discovered the 11 herbs and spices of KFC.

If you can see from the ingredients, there are 9 herbs and spices that I used, but it was not really 9 but 13 since the five spice powder contained, well, 5 spices namely, szechuan peppercorns, ground cloves, star anise, cinnamon, and fennel seeds.  Now, since KFC only has 11 herbs and spices, I may need to experiment more and try to remove 2 herbs/spices that I used and try to find out also the correct proportions of the herbs/spices.

Once I got the correct herbs/spices, I will update this blog and share to everyone the recipe.

So keep in touch.

Ingredients:
1/2 kl sirloin beef, sliced thinly
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups ice-cold water
bread crumbs
Pinch of cayenne
Pinch of paprika
Pinch of garlic powder
Pinch of onion powder
Pinch of ground white pepper
Pinch of ground black pepper
Pinch of five spice powder
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of ground oregano
1 tbsp salt

 
a cup of flour

 

Breadcrumbs



Instructions:
  • To make the batter, combine flour, water, salt, and all the spices.
 
Make a thick batter

  • Dip the beef into the batter and then dip into the bread crumbs.
  • Then deep fry 2 minutes on each side in a medium high heat.
 
Sumptuous!!!

How To Make Kimchi

Ever wonder how kimchi is made? I will teach you the right way of making homemade kimchi. This kimchi tastes better than store-bought ones, I promise.

Just follow the instructions and you should be able to make your own very delicious and nutritious kimchi. Kimchi is the world's healthiest vegetable, don't you know?

Ingredients:
2 or 3 big chinese cabbages (I only used 2)
2 bunches of spring onions, sliced
Half of a big, long radish
1 small ginger
1 medium carrot
Plenty of sea salt
Half cup dried shrimp
1 1/2 cups chilli powder (use 1 cup if you don't like it to be hot)
4 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar

 
Dried Shrimp

 
 Korean Chilli Powder


 Spring onions, radish, ginger, and carrot

 
 2 cabbages


Instructions:
  • Slice the cabbage in half. Make sure that you don't remove the core of the cabbage so that the leaves do not separate.
 
 


  • Wash properly the cabbages.

  • Remove excess water and we're now ready to salt.
  • Sprinkle salt to each of the cabbages' leaves.
 
  
 

  • Once all the cabbages have been salted, let it rest for 2 to 3 hours.
  • After 2 to 3 hours, wash each leaf of the cabbages to remove all the salt.
  • Remove excess water from the cabbages.
  • The leaves of the cabbages should already be flexible by now and easy to work with.
  • Set aside.
Now let's make the kimchi paste:
  • Peel ginger, radish, and carrot, then chop.
  • Put the chopped ginger, radish, and carrot in a blender.
  • Add 4 tbsp fish sauce and the dried shrimp into the blender.
  • Puree by pulsing. Make sure the veggies have been pureed very well.

  • Remove the veggies from the blender and put in a container.

  • Add the sugar and the chilli powder and mix well.
 
Use 1 cup of chilli powder if you don't like it to be very spicy.

  • Add the spring onion and continue mixing until incorporated.
  • We now have the kimchi paste.

  • This kimchi paste should be able to make kimchi from 3 big cabbages but I only used 2 cabbages so I just stored the excess paste in an airtight container.
We're now ready to make kimchi:

  • Spread paste into each leaf of the cabbages.
 
  
  
 
 
  • Store in a plastic container and then seal.

  • Refrigerate for 3 days and the kimchi should be ready for consumption by then.

Canned Tuna Pasta

This is my version of the Tuna Pasta which I like to be quite hot. This is a delicious meal that my family loves.

Serves: 3 to 4

Ingredients:
200 gms pasta of choice
4 tomatoes, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 cup water or chicken stock
1 chicken bullion (is using water)
2 dried chilli peppers, chopped
1 can tuna
Pinch of crushed black pepper
1 tbsp paprika
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp dried basil
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

 
  
  



Instructions:
  • Boil 2 liters of water in a pot.
  • When the water is already boiling, add fistful of salt then add the pasta.
  • Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a pan.
  • Add the garlic, onion, and chopped chilli peppers and saute in a medium heat until fragrant.

  • Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, paprika and saute for 3 minutes.

  • Add the tomato paste and continue sauteing until the paste has been incorporated.
  • Add the chicken stock or water with bullion.
  • Simmer until the tomatoes are tender.
  • When tomatoes are tender, crush with the spatula.
  • Add all the contents of the canned tuna.
  • Add the basil and continue simmering.
  • When half of the stock has evaporated, scoop a ladle of pasta water and add to the sauce.
  • Put a pinch of pepper and put salt if neeeded.
  • Continue simmering in a low heat.

  • When pasta is already al dente, strain the pasta and add to the sauce.
  • Mix well until the sauce has incorporated into the pasta.

  • Plate and serve while hot.