ASIAN CHICKEN QUESADILLAS

Food connoisseurs are predicting that fusion food will soon bow out like nouvelle cuisine did a few decades back. People will apparently get tired of this food trend and new ones will emerge in place of it.

Do you think so? I think not. For a lot of people, me included, cooking fusion food comes naturally as a result of all the influences absorbed via restaurants, cooking shows, etc. I inevitably cook fusion when I cook as I feel, gathering ingredients from my kitchen and cooking them the way my mood takes me. Although I learn a lot of foreign recipes, I still tune them to my own taste, adding ingredients (a touch of soy sauce perhaps) that I can't do without. Through learning foreign cuisine, I come to discover new cooking methods that can be applied to my own cooking. It is also interesting that a lot of ingredients that is used in my native cuisine is used in a very different way in other cuisines. These things open my mind and gives me ideas on how to re-interpret classic dishes. Isn't that fusion? How can I stop doing that.

WATERMELON AND MARINATED FETA SALAD

I remember the long hot summers when I was growing up. Sometimes the only thing I want to eat are cold chunks of watermelon. Watermelons used to come in different colors: bright yellow, red and salmon pink. Where are they now?

I am just mad about watermelons and am I so glad when summer comes and watermelons are lined up outside the shops. If parking was not so difficult here, I would have jumped out of the car each time I see good ones.

KARI KARI (FILIPINO OXTAIL STEW)

As a Filipino, I naturally love Filipino food. It is the food my tastebuds have been honed on. Although it is one of the lesser known Asian cuisine, those who have tasted it, rave about it. Not much herbs and spices are used but the flavour comes from the natural taste of the best ingredients. A lot of our food are simple and probably doesn't have an edge in terms of presentation. I think for our food to have a wider multicultural fan base, we have to present them in a way which is more universally appealing.

SINGAPORE STYLE CHILLI CRABS

I was in Singapore recently, very, very briefly_ as in on a stopover en route to Manila. Having five hours to spare, I was hoping that my daughter and I could join the free two hour city tour. Unfortunately, we landed there in the early hours and the first available tour started at 9 a.m. and would finish 10 minutes before we were due to board our connecting flight. So that was that, it was just the airport we got to see.

PORK AND PRAWN SIOMAI

I don't know how long people have been enjoying dim sum. Despite the change in food trends, the dawn of food trucks and the inundation of fast food, dim sum has remained a favourite. People all over the world are still fanatics and are always on the quest to find the best dim sum houses in town. We are lucky to have a good one nearby and it never fails to give us pleasure and satisfaction.

Dim sum is the Chinese equivalent of the English high tea. It literally means to touch the heart. I love the concept of little taster portions of different kinds dishes rather than having a full set meal. Having dim sum is a sociable way of eating because the food is shared amongst the people at the table. The more people to share the meal, the better it is because you can order more dishes.

One of my favourite dim sum items is pork siomai (also called shu mai). It is something that we never give a miss. Aside from the taste, I love the bouncy texture. The pork meat has to be chopped rather than minced for a firmer texture. I have used belly pork meat but chose to trim off the fat. Fat is actually the one that makes siomai very tasty. Some actually add extra chopped fat. I believe that cooking at home should be healthier so I did not go that way. "Throwing the pork mixture against the mixing bowl" also gives siomai its characteristic bouncy texture. The meat mixture is picked up and thrown back into the bowl repeatedly until the desired texture is achieved. 

When I went home to the Philippines recently, I was quite surprised to see siomai in every street food cart and even in convenience stores such as Seven Eleven. Although dim sum making is a fine art that is best left to the experts, simple dumplings such as siomai can easily be made at home. The quality would not equal that of the dim sum houses but the resulting taste is definitely something to enjoy. 

Ingredients:


1 1/2 c. of chopped pork belly meat
1/2 c. of raw prawns, cut into cubes
3 cooked Chinese mushrooms, chopped
1 tbsp. light soy sauce
1 tbsp. corn flour
1 tbsp. sherry
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. sesame oil
gyoza or wonton wrappers cut into circles
chopped carrots and frozen green peas for decoration


Method:

Season the prawns with 1/2 tsp. of salt and set aside. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon. Pick up the mixture with one hand and throw back into the mixing bowl. Repeat this process until the mixture becomes sticky. Rinse the prawns and dry very well with some kitchen paper. Add to the pork mixture and mix again. I made 13 big dumplings with this mixture. 


If you are using wonton wrappers, you can trim the corners off to make flower wrappers (round shaped). You can also use cookie cutters to do this. Put a tablespoonful of filling in the middle of a wrapper and gather the sides. The top remains open. To do the pleated sides, it is easier if you set the wrapper on a board. Spoon in the filling, then pleat the wrapper all around. Using both hands, encircle the dumpling with your thumb and forefinger near the edge of the wrapper and squeeze gently while pushing down. This shapes the bottom of the dumpling so it sits squarely on the steamer as well as gives the top a rounded bump. 


Sprinkle the top with chopped carrots or frozen green peas. Gently press to make it adhere to the filling.

Fill up a wok or steamer with water and bring to a boil. Line the steamer basket with Chinese leaves (so the dumplings won't stick) and arrange the dumplings on top. Steam for 15 minutes. Standard sized dumplings would only take ten minutes. Serve with chilli sauce and chilli oil.

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SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALL TOMATO SOUP

People bask in the sunshine in the summer and think that that's just a given. Alas, such is usually not true in ye old Britain. A soggy summer seems to be in the stars (again). I am not altogether sad about the rain. It is ironical that it didn't rain as much as it should have in the past months so the water reserves is now deemed inadequate for the "summer months". As a result, a nationwide hosepipe ban has been declared as early as spring which means we are not allowed to use our hosepipes for whatever watering activities we had in mind. Thus my gratefulness for a spot of rain every now and then. I won't need to lug buckets of water to the back of the garden.

GRILLED LEMON AND THYME CHOPS

It is good to connect. My father was one to nurture old connections, as in he was still in touch with his high school friends from 63 years back up to the last of his days.

On my last home visit, I got to meet up with my high school classmates whom I haven't seen for several decades (I won't be exact). Some of them were my classmates since kindergarten. Meeting up with them brought back such warm familiar feelings. Despite the lapse of time, meeting up awakened that old bond and we just found ourselves chatting and laughing like old times.

TIRAMISU BRIOCHE AND BUTTER PUDDING

This weekend until Tuesday next week, the whole of Great Britain is celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Queen Elizabeth has been the reigning queen for 60 years. Although her face and persona has been regarded as an icon for being the queen, much is to be admired of her personal self Elizabeth. 

No one can come up close to the queen but glimpses of her life has always been shown in film and put to writing. Despite the formality and elegance that her duty calls upon, there still is a sweet, warm person that comes to the front in her unguarded moments. She still is, after all, a wife, mother and grandma. She was part of a normal (albeit royal), loving family until her father reluctantly became king after her Uncle Edward abdicated the throne. A further twist of fate, the early demise of her father, made her a young queen at the young age of 25. How many people on earth would have a life story to compare to that?