Mutton Chop (Beach Road, Singapore style)

It feels good to drop by my blog, which I have somewhat abandoned temporarily in the name of other pursuits such as raising and developing my toddler - attending her playgroups and devising developmental activities at home - spring cleaning the house which is never ending and trying to finish a course, to name just a few. Despite the silence on this blog, I am still cooking. I have attempted to eat out more than before but each time I finish my meal, I will leave the eatery as a dissatisfied diner. It's hardly tasty. Thus, I'm more and more convinced that home cooking rocks. Hehe.

Cooking these days is all about quick, nutritious and yummy food as I am spending more time on my little one. Make no mistake then that I would often go thru my gastronomy memory bank for recipes I grew up with and food I adored from Singapore. I have many. Too many. This Indian fare which is a common hawker centre food in Singapore is just one of them. I had my first plate of Mutton Chop probably at 7 yrs old. On hindsight, I must have stuffed myself with excessive red food colouring often used with the meat, not to mention the recycled oil used in the frying of the potatoes by the food seller. Yikes!

Not wanting to give up on one of my fav food, I decided I could change some of the ingredients to produce a healthier version of the dish. For instance, I used olive oil for everything and completely omitted the red food colouring. I also used pasta sauce for more flavour in place of canned tomato puree and ready to fry and pre-seasoned frozen potato wedges as opposed to actual potatoes that need to be de-skined, washed and cut up in order to save on preparation time. That's the beauty of home cooking, you control what goes into your system :)

Serves 2-4
Ingredients:
For marinate
500g mutton or beef steak (diced)
4 tbsp light soy sauce
6 tbsp sweet soy sauce (kicap manis)

For meat sauce
10 tbsp tomato puree or pasta sauce
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp sugar (+/- based on preference)
1 tbsp chilli paste (+/- based on  preference). I used the ready to use one as pictured. In Spore "chilli boh" is commonly used and available.
2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp cumin powder
Light soy sauce
Sweet soy sauce (kicap manis)
Oil for frying

Other accompaniments
Frozen potato wedges
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Snow peas (blanched)
Eggs fried sunny side up

Method:
1. Marinate meat with the sauces for at least 30mins.
2. Fry the potato wedges, eggs. Set aside.
3. Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a pan and fry the marinated meat until lightly cooked. Take meat off pan and set aside.
4. Clear the pan of any left over liquid (don't discard, can add to sauce if it requires more liquid)
5. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in the pan. Add pasta sauce or tomato puree, chilli paste and tomato ketchup. Sautee the ingredients over medium heat, stirring them occasionally for abt 3-4 mins.
6. Add the light & sweet soy sauce to taste. Add the cumin and coriander powder. Stir the ingredients well.
7. Add the pre-fried meat cubes and stir the ingredients making sure each meat cube is sufficiently coated with the sauce. Let the ingredients cook for abt 3-5 mins and the sauce slightly thickened.  If too thick, add the leftover liquid from the meat. Add sugar and let it caramelise for a while before turning off the heat.
8. Adjust the taste to your liking. The sauce should be a little sweet and sourish and if you prefer, hot (spicy) as well. Add more/less sugar/chilli to taste. Serve with the rest of the accompaniments.

Roti Prata (Indian Pancake)

Prata is so delicious (your kids will love it, guaranteed!) and flexible that
you can eat it with just about anything.  Here, I have mine with sambal
tumis ikan bilis (cooked chilli paste with anchovies)

When you think of pancake in the Western definition of the word, you would typically think of maple syrup, butter, strawberries, blueberries and even fresh cream.  I've always felt that as a breakfast food, that combination is extravagantly sweet, like a sugar rush dynamite.  I'm not quite a fan of sweet stuff, as I've mentioned before.  If you give me something chilli hot, now that will be a different story.  Yes, chilli hot in the morning.  I am a serious chilli eater and for many Asians, a savoury cooked breakfast sounds more delectable than a sugary one.  Which brings me to another type of pancake.

In Singapore, it's called Roti Prata but in Malaysia it's commonly known as Roti Canai.  Prata or Canai, it's an Indian pancake made largely from flour, butter, some sprinkles of salt, sugar, milk and other little ingredients.  Sounds easy peasy, ok. But the trick is in the kneading and flipping the dough.  I've seen Italian chefs doing some fancy pizza boomerang. Nice but that's an optional showmanship. In prata making, flipping is a key technique.  It gives the prata the ultimate post-fried crispy texture.  See video - the guy in white is a Singaporean Member of Parliament.  Told you it's no mean feat, even a honcho can't flip a prata dough! 

I'm so fond of prata that weeks before I left Singapore, my brother bought me prata with fish curry (I love it best like that) almost everyday.  In case I couldn't find prata in Australia, that daily consumption was meant to settle me into the initial period of my migration until I learned to make my own prata.  I was able to endure prata's absence from my life for about 2 months.  It was when friends started posting pictures of this nationally-loved pancake with all sorts of accompaniments (curry, dhal, sambal tumis) on Facebook and tagging me to the pictures that I decided to get into prata action.  I was glad that among the things I had packed with me to Australia were heaps of cook books (I'd stored my mum's recipes in my memory).

I made fish curry to soak my prata into. Over the years, prata in Singapore has been
revolutionised such that there's a mind boggling variety - from mushroom cheese prata
to plane prata (light and long like a paper aeroplane) 

I was quite elated when I found a modified recipe and technique that required no flipping.  Hooray! There were some extra steps to follow, no doubt.  But at least I could be sure I wasn't required to clumsily toss and flip the dough and raise my neighbour's suspicion of dangerous kitchen frisbee going on in my house.  I can safely say no animals or humans were harmed during the making of this prata in my kitchen.

I've decided to just scan the recipe page and share it with you here.  Try making your own prata.  A kilogram of flour goes a looooong prata way!

Fearlessly Simple & Home Cooked

Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani Rice

My kitchen experiment with Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani Rice happened quite accidentally.  I was beguiled by an Indian chef on Youtube one fine day in Ramadan, as I was researching on what to cook for the day's iftar (the meal to break fast).  He not only makes cooking an elaborate dish like this seem like a cinch, his eyes enlarge at every emphasis of the dish's deliciousness.  At the risk of sounding like a Michael Jackson publicity trailer, I decided then "THIS IS IT!".  I would make biryani for iftar and in the process of it, immerse myself in spice therapy.

As Singapore is a fantastic melting pot of cuisines, I have very good recollections of biryani.  Biryani there comes in all tastes and sizes.  There are chicken, beef, mutton and fish biryanis.  It's traditionally (and best) eaten with your own fingers, like many Malays and Indians graciously do.  Right hand, not left.  I can't explain the delight but it's probably something to do with the intimate connection between the food and your own skin. 

For me, the biryani aroma that sticks to the fingers thereafter is nothing short of divine!



This version of biryani involves cooking the meat in and together with the rice



Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cut into 6 parts
4 cups Basmati rice
2 green cardamons
2 black cardamons
1 tbsp mace (javetri)
1 tbsp black cumin seeds
1 tbsp peppercorns
1 cinnmon stick
4 cloves
1 tbsp tumeric powder
2 tbsp ginger & garlic paste
2 green chillies
2 bay leaves
1 cup mint leaves
1 cup coriander leaves
1 cup fried shallots
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tbsp chilli powder
2 cups yoghurt
5 tbsp cooking oil
1 lime
Salt to taste
A few strands of safron
Water

If the list of ingredients appears exhausting to you, you could also use the ready made Biryani Masala Mix from the shop - but nothing beats mixing your own spices!



Unearthing the treasure within - the tender chicken

Preparation:

I'll hand over this section to the aforementioned chef.

Fearlessly Simple & Home Cooked