shiokadelicious!

Simple Versatility

Fried beehoon (rice vermicelli) is a firm favorite and a common staple of informal parties and gatherings in this part of the world. It is a very simple yet versatile dish that also travels fairly well. That is why it is very often a dish of choice for picnics. Yes, picnics. Sandwiches and salads are not the “traditional” or preferred picnic food for most South East Asians. I grew up on picnic food like chicken curry eaten with fried beehoon or chunks of crusty bread.

For one of our Christmas gatherings, we had added a plate of vegetarian fried bee hoon to the rest of the food spread to specially cater for a couple of friends who do not include animal protein in their diets. [This version is not strictly vegetarian (in the Buddhist sense) though, as it uses garlic and onion.]

My style of cooking fried beehoon is rather different from that used in restaurants, which utilizes very high and intense heat (wok-hei) and large amounts of oil to impart a tasty smokiness to the beehoon and to prevent the rice vermicelli from breaking apart. If I was to attempt to fry the beehoon in the same way on a home stove, all I would end up with would be small broken pieces of the vermicelli, instead of nice elegant long and whole strands. The trick is not to stir fry the vermicelli at all…

For the vegetarian version, I used carrots, cabbage, cai xin (green leafy vegetable with small yellow flowers) and Chinese dried mushrooms (rehydrated by boiling them in water with a little oil added), all julienned. Any combination of vegetables can be used. French beans instead of the cai xin, or fresh shitakes instead of Chinese mushrooms for example. I usually just try to include a nice mix of colors (green, red, orange, brown etc) in the vegetables for more eye appeal.

All the vegetables (except the cai xin) are first sautéed in a little hot oil with some minced garlic, and seasoned to taste with light soy sauce, a touch of oyster sauce and pepper. Some hot water (approximately ½ cup) is then added and the pan covered to allow the vegetables to cook through. Once tender, the vegetables are removed from the pan and set aside. Next, the cai xin are sautéed in the same manner, with minced garlic, and seasoned with light soy sauce only. For cai xin, however, I covered the pan only very briefly, as this vegetable (like all other green leafy vegetables) will turn a very unappetizing yellow if covered for too long. This is also set aside.

For the rice vermicelli itself: this needs to be rinsed under running water before being used. I usually use about 2 ½ “slabs” or ½ packet of the vermicelli for a 4-5 person serving.

To cook it: some minced garlic and shallots are sautéed in hot oil, before vegetable stock (approximately 1¾ cups) is added to the wok, along with approximately 1½ to 2 tablespoons light soy sauce, 1½ to 2 tablespoons oyster sauce, ½ to 1 teaspoon sugar, a dash of sesame oil, a little Chinese rice wine and pepper. The stock is allowed to come to a boil, before the beehoon is added. And this is the key: the vermicelli should be tossed continuously, using a pair of chopsticks, until all the stock has been absorbed. Care needs to be taken not to attempt to stir fry or sauté the vermicelli, as this will cause the strands to break into tiny pieces. Stock is continuously added until it is all absorbed and the vermicelli is at the desired tenderness. It’s a bit like cooking risotto I guess. From past experience, I find that about 1¾ cups of stock is generally needed for 2½ slabs of beehoon to achieve the ideal tenderness, and I normally add the full measure of stock right at the start, and do not need to add further amounts after that. However, the quantity of stock required could possibly vary with different makes of vermicelli and possibly even ambient humidity.

After the beehoon has been cooked through, all the cooked vegetables are returned to the wok, and tossed with the beehoon to mix well. At this point, it is possible to add more seasonings if the taste is still not quite there yet.

Very often, fried beehoon is served with the side condiment of sliced vinegared green chilli in light soy sauce. One can also sprinkle some crispy deep fried shallots slices over the top for an added tasty crunch.

Variations:
All types of ingredients, according to personal desires or just whatever is in the fridge/pantry, can be used in cooking fried beehoon. Any of the following, in any combination can be used:

• Strips of char siew (roast pork)
• Cooked fresh prawns
• Egg omelet (lightly beat a few eggs with a fork, season with pepper and light soy sauce, pan-fry into a thin omelet, and cut into strips)
• Strips of chicken (marinade with light soy sauce, a little sugar, a touch of sesame oil, and tiny bit of cornflour, sauté with minced garlic and shallots and set aside)
• Strips of tau kwa (pressed firm tofu) (saute with minced garlic and some seasonings)
• Strips of tau pok (deep fried tofu pockets)
• Hae bee (dried baby shrimps) (saute in a little hot oil with some minced garlic until fragrant - sambal or chilli paste can also be added for sambal hae bee)
• Strips of fresh red chilli
• Chicken stock instead of vegetable stock (I usually prefer using chicken stock actually, if not required to make a non-animal-protein version, as I feel it provides fuller flavors than vegetable stock)
• Pretty much anything that takes your fancy…

Just toss the various cooked ingredients with the cooked vermicelli right at the end, before serving.

Happy Fried Beehoon-ing!

Mr Cool Cucumber, Ms Sweet Carrots and the Cilantro Patch Potato Kids

I was tasked with coming up with several “veggie” dishes for Christmas Eve dinner. Ah-ha! I thought. What better time then this to start my new quest for health-ful cooking. No, no bland rabbit food, no green salads (how boring), no stir-fried vegetables (we eat that everyday)…

There has been a jar of St Dalfour fig jam sitting, forlorn and lonely, in my fridge for a good many months now. The family obviously doesn’t seem to like it on their toast. And I had a high suspicion that if left there, that jar of jam would just continue sitting in the fridge, untouched, unwanted and rejected until it was ready to leave this world… So, I decided that, this Christmas, I would try to fulfill its life purpose to be used and enjoyed.

How about glazed baby carrots with fig jam? Sure, why not? The Chinese have the famous ribs dish “Pai Kuat Wong” (literally translated as King of Ribs) which many restaurants cook with a combination of different jams (pineapple, marmalade and others I think) to create that signature sweet and sour taste.

These glazed carrots are almost completely fat-free, yet very flavorful, and so easy to make. The baby carrots were steamed for about 15 minutes or until tender. I combined about 6 slightly heaped tablespoons of fig jam (apricot jam, marmalade or even peach jam would work very well too, I would imagine), with just over a 1 teaspoon of grated orange zest, 2 teaspoons of honey mustard (Dijon would probably have been preferable, but I was out of that), and some roughly chopped cilantro (or parsley) leaves. These were cooked over medium heat until bubbly (approximately 2 minutes or less). The steamed baby carrots were added, and tossed to coat evenly with the jam glaze. Voila! Ready to go.

* * * * * *

Some time back, Josh posted about pommes persillade – potatoes with a simple paste of parsley and garlic. I finally got around to trying this recipe out. I used cilantro instead of parsley (my family strangely will eat cilantro but not parsley), and it worked well.

A huge bunch of cilantro was very finely minced, and combined with finely minced garlic, to form an almost paste-like salsa .

I made this dish with both USA Russet Burbank potatoes and the local yellow-fleshed potatoes. The former worked better – their fluffy texture was more conducive to this type of cooking than the firmer fleshed local variety which is more suited for use in cooking curries.

I soaked the cubes of potatoes in some iced water in the refrigerator for about half hour or so before cooking, hoping that this would help the potatoes crisp up with minimal oil being used. A lot of patience was required to get the potatoes to cook and brown when sautéed in so little oil. Having never sautéed potatoes in this manner before, I had begun to worry that the potatoes just were not going to brown nor cook. But brown they did… after maybe a good 15-20 minutes.

Once they were cooked, the cilantro mixture was added, and mixed well to coat the potatoes evenly. After a quick seasoning of salt and pepper to taste, it was ready to be served.

Come to think of it, this persillade would have worked well with the baby carrots too. Hmmm… that’s an idea for the next time around.

* * * * * *

I decided to add this dish at the last minute. This cool, creamy cucumber salad was inspired by the Indian raita, which is usually served with curries to cool the palate. It was creamy yet low in fat, with the creaminess coming from yogurt instead of cream. Instead of having finely diced cucumbers, I decided to have chunkier pieces of the vegetable in my version. The Indian versions (of which there are countless different versions) very often have raw onions and various spices in them. I wanted to keep the flavors of mine somewhat “cleaner”.

I used a combination of plain yogurt, a touch of lemon juice, salt, sugar, some chopped green onions and some chopped cilantro. I think fresh dill would work beautifully too, instead of the cilantro. The yogurt used was a low fat one. I would have preferred maybe a Greek-style or European-style natural set yogurt which has a richer, creamier texture without being significantly much higher in fat. It wasn’t available at the neighborhood grocery shop, and I didn’t have the time to run out to the supermarket. So, we had to make do. Also, I think the next time around, I would probably use a touch of vinegar instead of the lemon juice. The approximate ratio of quantities I used was: 200g carton yogurt, 1 scant tablespoon lemon juice, ½ teaspoon salt, 3-4 tablespoons sugar. After the dressing was made, it was refrigerated for at least ½ hour for it to chill and for the flavors to meld.

I used small Japanese cucumbers, as they are a lot crispier and crunchier in texture. These were cubed and refrigerated to dry and crisp up a little, before being tossed with the yogurt dressing. The salad was then returned to the refrigerator for at least another 1 hour or more before it was ready to be served.

The final touch: a dash of paprika powder (or cayenne pepper) for a splash of color. A nice, cool, creamy treat without the fat and calories.

Just a thought: this would be a great way to make a fruit salad too… mangoes, watermelon, honeydew, rock melon, bananas, apples, maybe even papaya... wow! limitless possibilities...

Happy Salad-ing!

New Year’s Food Resolution

Something struck me as I chatted with friends and family over the Holidays. So many were complaining about the damage all the festive goodies that they were imbibing were doing or going to do to their waistlines, not to mention to their arteries too. Such comments were not limited to the women either. The men moaned about high cholesterol, too much fat in the diet and on and on. An internal struggle was being battled out. On the one hand, no one could resist the smorgasbord of food laid out at each and every party and get-together. And perhaps, no one wanted to. Afterall, it is the Holidays, and part of the wonderful warmth and joy of such festive seasons is the sharing of great-tasting food and wine with loved ones. Festive occasions would be infinitely unpalatable if filled with nothing but tasteless rabbit food. Yet, I also found it rather ironic that such a happy time was so filled with guilt… we were eating, but not TRULY, 100% enjoying the food. Didn’t that defeat the purpose of it all? The food was not really being enjoyed unconditionally. Surely, an expanded waistline would have been more “worth it” had the food been experienced and enjoyed without reservations.

That set me thinking… is it really so impossible to have good tasting food that is not overloaded with fat, cholesterol and what have you? Why do so many look askance at “low-fat”, “reduced-fat” or “healthy” food. Foodies, gourmets, cooks/chefs and cooking enthusiasts alike turn their noses up at “low fat” food, declaring them as not “real food”. They wouldn’t be caught cooking “low fat” food, heaven forbid! What sacrilege! Use low fat ingredients? Mon dieu! Never! You call that cooking??!

Too many unsavory jokes and ridicule have been thrown at “healthy” food and those who cook them. Yet, surely, does it not require (in many ways) greater imagination, more experimentation and a deeper understanding of the ingredients, their flavors and how they work with, add to and complement other ingredients, in order to be able to produce food that is not only “low fat” or healthy, but also extremely flavorful?

And so, at the risk of upsetting the food blogging world, I decided I was going to try to bake and cook healthier (and lower fat) food for family and friends this Holiday. Asians, and maybe more specifically the Chinese, are prone to “over-feeding” guests. Dinners for 10 would very often have food enough for 20, gatherings for 30 would have food enough for 50… You get the idea. It’s about “face” and the Chinese concept of hospitality. And with Chinese New Year coming hot on the heels of Christmas, for most people this means that their period of constant and severe over-indulgence in food will be spread over a lengthy 1½ month period! It looks like it may be only the cardiologists and other health-care providers who will be the “winners” at the end of all this.

I guess this is then my New Year’s food resolution and quest. I want to feed my loved ones healthily. My aim (or mission?? Haha, how lofty! ) is to experiment and make healthy adaptations of “conventional” recipes. Actually, a lot of Chinese or Asian cooking, including many of my “standard” family recipes, are already pretty healthy - steaming, braising, simmering, grilling, and stir-frying… In my kitchen, all poultry and meats are religiously trimmed of all excess fat and skin before cooking. Vegetables are sautéed with minimal oil, using broth and seasonings to enhance flavor instead. I think the challenge will lie in experimenting with the much-loved cookie recipes that are such an essential part of Chinese New Year. Admittedly, there are things that can (never?) be made healthier without tasting and looking like crap – pineapple tarts being a case in point. But I think the other perennial favorites like peanut cookies, cashew cookies, cornflake cookies can all be made “low fat”, can’t they? Well, I guess I’ll be finding out over the next few weeks, as Chinese New Year preparations begin in ernest…

Not A Lame Lamb Gamble

My mum made braised lamb shanks for Christmas Eve dinner. It tasted pretty impressive. What was even more impressive to me was that she cooked the dish from a recipe she had never tried before, and which she was making up as she went along! For Christmas Eve dinner too! I thought that was taking quite a high risk. I never knew my mum was such a “gambler”. But I should have remembered how good a cook my mum is. The recipe was simple, yet really tasty and everyone loved it.

She blanched 4 pieces of lamb shanks (bone-in) in a large pot of boiling water for about 1-2 minutes. They were drained and then trimmed of all excess/visible fat. It is much easier to remove the fat after blanching the meat, rather than before. The shanks could at this point be either refrigerated for later use or cooked immediately.

Around 4 large onions (more if you prefer) were cut into strips and sautéed in hot oil for just a few minutes – until they were just starting to become tender. They were removed from the wok, making sure to drain the oil back into the wok. These were set aside for later use.

Using the oil that was used to sauté the onions, the lamb shanks were placed in the wok, and seared on all sides on high heat. The seasonings were then added: red wine or Chinese rice wine (I think my mum only used about 6 tablespoons of the latter, but I think if using red wine, more could be added), around 4 tablespoons sweet dark soy sauce, around 4 tablespoons light soy sauce, approximately 2 tablespoons sugar, pepper, 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce and 1 tablespoon zhu hao jiang. This last marinade sauce does not have an English name. I also do not think it has any equivalent substitute. It is very often used by chefs in Chinese restaurants for ribs, stews, braised beef briskets or tendons (as in ngau lam mein / beef brisket noodles) and other meat dishes. It is a very versatile sauce which is rarely used on its own, but combined with other sauces and flavorings to form different marinades. It can be bought from Kwong Cheong Thye at 63, Geylang Lor 27, and is made from their well-guarded proprietary recipe.

Once the seasonings have been added, around 4 cups (I think) of beef stock (or water would be fine too) was added, and allowed to come to a boil. The lamb shanks were left to simmer on low heat, covered, for around 3½ hours or until the meat was very tender (almost falling off the bone).

5-10 minutes before the lamb was ready, the previously sautéed onions were added back into the pot, to allow them to cook down a little together with the lamb, and to allow their flavors to meld with those of the lamb. The short cooking time for the onions prevents them from cooking down too much and dissolving completely into the gravy.

Finally, right at the end, the lamb was brought to a boil again, and a little cornflour solution was added to thicken the gravy. Once the gravy comes to a rolling boil again, the heat was removed.

The onions were nicely soft, with a rich caramelized flavor even though they were only briefly sautéed and cooked for only 10 minutes with the lamb. They had absorbed the full richness of all the flavors of the gravy, and went perfectly with the lamb.

We served this with traditional Chinese steamed mantou and also chunks of crusty French baguette. Both worked really well, and were great for mopping up the delicious gravy.

Kudos to my mum. This was one lamb “gamble” that did not turn out lame! This recipe is definitely going into my personal collection of favorite recipes!

Boxing Day

It is the day after Christmas… and the house is quiet again. After the mad frenzy of cooking, baking and preparing for Christmas, and the whirlwind of eating and merry-making with family and friends, this is the short lull before the New Year celebrations start to kick in, in a few days time. The Holidays have been filled with lots of good food, great company, plenty of laughter, warmth, joy and happiness.

There has been so much food over the last few days, I’m not even sure where to begin… there were home-cooked food by both my mum and myself, there were contributions by friends and family, and there were store-bought food… some were Asian-styled, others were Western-styled, and yet others were “East-meets-West”… and all were generously topped with abundant love, warmth and well-wishes. That always makes everything all the more delicious, doesn’t it? I think it could be quite a South-East Asian thing, this mixed palate… it feels completely natural to have such a diverse mix of food at one table. East, West, North, South… it all comes together in a delicious alchemy of gastronomic delights. Everyone tucks in happily to rice and potatoes, curry and turkey, chendol on ice cream, even durian log cake and what have you…

Some of the food we had:

• Braised lamb shanks
• Simmered pork ribs
• Chilli lobster
• Salmon quiche
• Bruschettas
• Cucumber salad
• Glazed carrots
• Pommes persillade
• Mince pies
• Fruit cakes
• Yule log cakes
• Mini Swiss rolls
• Christmas cookies
• Fresh-made hazelnut gelato
• Petit Fours
• Chocolate truffles

There are some others that I cannot seem to recall at the present moment. And there are some I never even got to taste! I was so caught up with being with everyone and yakking away that some of the dishes were polished off before I got round to them… Which also means a lot of the dishes didn’t get their turn in front of the camera. LoL.

It will probably take me a few days to sort out all the food photos from the family photos, and so I’ll be posting the various dishes we cooked in stages.

But… first, I want to talk about desserts. Yes, my favorite topic, and my favorite part of the meal.

I was completely overwhelmed by these…

These were completely and totally sublime! They may look like just ordinary mini Swiss rolls, but believe me, they most definitely did NOT taste like just any ordinary Swiss rolls. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten such a superlative Swiss roll before! The sponge cake was so cottony soft and smooth – light as feather but not airy. It just melts in the mouth – a sweet and smooth sensation. The fresh cream filling was equally light, and complemented by the lightest touch of strawberry jam. It was completely out of this world!

The only down-side… I only got to eat one. They were gone so quickly! Although I do know of some people who managed to wolf down 4-5 of these! (No names mentioned)

I really have to find out where these came from. A friend brought them over, and I haven’t had a chance to ask her where she got them from. Somehow I don’t think they can be found in Singapore. I’ve never tasted anything like it here before. But at the same time, I’m hoping they are available in Singapore. I’m already having a craving for them!

There were also mince pies, of course. Christmas wouldn’t quite be fully Christmas without some mince pies, right? These ones were from Marks & Spencer. And they were very good indeed. I really liked the crust – rich, crispy, light and flaky. This year, they also seemed a lot less sweet than previous years. (It would seem that M&S; has tweaked their recipe, perhaps in response to changing customers’ preferences for less sweetness in food).

Even the mini mince pies were chock-full of luscious spiced vine fruits… Yum!

We also had some mini chocolate yule log cakes, from another friend. These were very good too. Instead of butter cream, these were filled with a light, yet rich-tasting bitter-sweet chocolate mousse, and topped with dark chocolate. These also did fast-disappearing acts, and were enjoyed by both young and old.

Another personal favorite…

Dark chocolate covered almonds with a light dusting of powdered sugar. Mmmm... Perfect balance of the bitterness of dark chocolate, sweetness of powdered sugar and crunch of roasted almonds. (Sorry, I only remembered to snap the picture after most of them were gone, and they had started to “sweat” even though the air-conditioning was on full-blast, and were looking less than picture-perfect). These were from Royce Chocolates, a Japanese brand with a counter in Takashimaya’s Food Hall. I like their chocolate truffles too. Apparently made from Hokkaido cream, these are extremely smooth tasting. They are not quite shaped like the traditional truffles, and are also less sweet. Just divine!

There was also fresh-made hazelnut gelato from Venezia (Guthrie House or Centrepoint), served with warm chocolate sauce and chopped toasted hazelnuts. No pictures though, sorry. I forgot… I was too busy enjoying the gelato! I also forgot about snapping the myriad of other Christmas baked goodies so kindly brought by friends and relatives. But I assure you they all tasted yummilicious!

Yes, it was a sweet, sweet Christmas indeed!

Next up, lamb shanks and the other entrees and side dishes…

Seasons Greetings!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU & YOUR FAMILY!

At The Ritz

Given that we will be cooking and cooking, and cooking some more over the next few days, we decided (or at least my mum and I decided) that we would not / did not want to cook for the Dong Zhi family reunion dinner last night and that we wanted to eat out instead. And of course the men didn’t have much of a say in the matter.

We opted to dine at The Greenhouse, Ritz Carlton. I still think this is one of the better buffets in town – with a very wide selection of high quality dishes. There would definitely be something to satisfy all the different tastes/desires of everyone in the family, and we can avoid the discussions and negotiation of where to go, what to eat…

The menu for the Greenhouse buffet changes constantly, day to day. I had been hoping to be able to taste once again a couple of the dishes which I had absolutely loved the last time I was there over 2 months ago – such as the braised “leg of pork” or more commonly known as pork trotters, and the teppanyaki beef tenderloin which were both absolutely sublime! But it was almost all brand new dishes last night. The selection was, as usual, incredibly wide-ranging – there was easily a choice of between 80-100, or maybe even more, dishes!

Needless to say, we never got round to tasting everything. I took only bite-sized pieces of various dishes and still only managed to taste maybe only a quarter to a third of the entire selection that was available!

The pictures are only of the food I did get round to eating Please excuse some of the slightly messy plates… but that’s what buffet dining is about isn’t it? All flavors and textures sort of intermingling on one plate! Haha…

Appetizers… clockwise from the top…

Smoked salmon on a piece of vinegar marinated daikon (or at least I think it tasted like daikon )... rather vinegary.
One of my perennial favorites: Japanese seaweed salad.
Roasted capsicums and mushrooms… another personal favorite. Nice intense flavors and sweetness. There were also roasted eggplants and zucchini but I usually find these too mushy as they absorb the olive oil all too well.
Yet another personal favorite: marinated octopus salad, done here with jellyfish and cubes of fried tau pok.
Thai-style chicken and pomelo salad… I really liked this. The flavors were a beautifully balanced combination of sweet, sour, tanginess and a little chilli heat. The combination of textures (and tastes) was very good too – with juicy pomelo pulp, tender and moist shreds of chicken breast, crispy raw shallots, a little heat from some chilli padi slices and an aromatic finishing touch from the coriander leaves.
In the center: this tasted like vinegar marinated tamago (Japanese egg omelette) to me, even though the label next to the dish said “fish cake salad”. So not quite sure what I tasted there…

This was an interesting twist to the traditional turkey. Instead of roasting the bird, it was smoked, which meant that it was therefore very nicely moist and tender. It was paired with a herbed curry gravy. Interesting idea, but I just wonder whether a more tangy gravy (maybe Thai-style, Vietnamese-style etc) would have complemented the turkey meat better.

I never even got round to the other two thirds of the appetizer stations… the sashimi, sushi, oysters, mussels, king prawns, dim sum items and much more which I cannot now recall.

I skipped the most of the salad stations with a huge variety of Asian and Western styled salads and the bread station too… and straight onto the entrees…

Clockwise from top…
Vegetable curry… I liked this, especially the pieces of paneer (Indian cottage cheese).
Pan-roasted cod fish… beautifully succulent and juicy!
Fried seabass in spicy sweet sour sauce… pretty good too, but I still preferred the cod.
Braised sea cucumber with Chinese mushrooms… yummy and fairly similar to what my mum cooks!
Baked chicken with wood-ear fungus (or was it kelp?) I liked this too.
Braised lamb with gravy and shallot salsa. Didn’t like this, unfortunately. It was very, very gamey, too underdone and yet very chewy.
Lamb curry. Not bad.
In the center: stir-fried seafood pasta. Nice. It was done with lots of garlic, which I love.

I didn’t actually eat the laksa, but “stole” two quail eggs from the bowl. I love quail eggs! Yum! No idea how the laksa tasted though… And in the end, he left much of it untouched too.

Didn’t get round to tasting the chilli crab, braised duck and quite a few other dishes. I decided I needed to save room (a lot of room) for dessert… my favorite part of any meal.

The dessert selection was… well, shall we say, enough to send a dessert and chocolate lover like me into a fit of ecstasy!

And I ate all this…

The glutton that I am… No, actually, I didn’t. I shared most of it. I was behaving myself. Truly. This was probably less than one third of the total dessert selection that was on display. I didn’t even get round to the Asian dessert station and one other dessert station (which I cannot now even remember what it had, haha).

Please indulge me now as I just “have” to show some close up shots of the desserts I did manage to try…

Wow! Rum-soaked cherries with rich chocolate mousse (dark and white). *swoon* Enuff said… *swoon again*

I had very fond memories of this from my last visit. An incredibly rich combination of white chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate mousse. It was one of those “died and gone to heaven” type of chocolate dessert. Last night’s tasted slightly different. The semi-sweet chocolate mousse was flavored with hazelnut, which was nice, but not as rich as previously. But hey, who’s complaining?

Clockwise from top left…
Not too sure what this was (there were no labels at all at any of the dessert stations). It could have been a passionfruit mousse tart with apricot marmalade, maybe? Wasn’t too keen on the combination of flavors anyway.
Kaya (coconut and egg custard) cake. Hmmm… the whole table commented on the rather “unnatural green” of this cake. Similarly, can’t say the kaya taste was that natural either. : (
Rich chocolate tart. Need I say more?

Clockwise from top…
Christmas Stollen and two types of Christmas fruit cakes (one with mixed peel and the other with dried cranberries and golden sultanas). I’ve always liked these types of Christmasy sweet goodies.
This, I do not know what it was… hard to even describe what it was like… a very, very sweet, very dense, cakey kind of cookie with mixed dried fruits. It was hard, chewy, dry, cloyingly sweet… Uh… okay, moving on…
Blond honeycomb cake… this looked beautiful. Even my mum commented how well done the honeycomb effect was – every strand of the honeycomb was long, clear and distinct. Unfortunately, looks are no indication of taste… sometimes. Blond and bland, unfortunately.
White chocolate mousse with rich dark chocolate sponge cake. *she goes into another fit of ecstasy*

This looked absolutely seductive. It tasted rich and chocolaty enough, but rather dry. Everyone agreed they preferred my “death by chocolate” version. *awww… they are so sweet*

Sweet almond soup, made from cooking Chinese almonds for a long, long time to form a thick, smooth, creamy, milky white soup. For some reason, I really liked this version, even though it was very slightly grainy, and not as smooth as some other places. I really enjoyed this.

Okay, and now for the really heart-wrenching part of the evening… hankies out, please…

When I last dined at The Greenhouse over two months ago, I was completely bowled over by their cheesecakes. I just loved the strawberry cheesecake that I had. So much better than Hilton’s I thought (which I have always found to be over-rated even though many would declare them the best in Singapore). Ritz's version was rich yet fluffy, sweet but not too sweet, cheesy but not gaggingly dense. I thought it was sensational. And last night, I had made a mental note: I must have the cheesecake. When we arrived at the restaurant, and as we were led past the dessert station on the way to our table, I spied the cheesecake sitting there, and I grinned. Yeah! I was going to have not one, but two pieces of THAT, I thought…

But… I forgot one important thing about The Greenhouse, especially when it comes to their desserts. Very often they don’t repeat the items. That is, when a cake or dessert runs out during the course of the evening, it is usually replenished with something brand new and different. The good thing about that is that one can sit there the whole night and sample a parade of different desserts. The bad thing is, slow movers could miss out on their favorite dessert. And so it was for me…

By the time I got round to dessert, the strawberry cheesecake was gone. I hoped expectantly that another variety of cheesecake would appear. I waited and I waited… a succession of gorgeous mousse cakes, cream cakes and all forms of desserts appeared as previous ones disappeared from the display counters. But no cheesecake. We sat, chatted, ate, chatted some more, ate some more… still no cheesecake.

Then… as fate would have it, as we were leaving, and were walking past the cake counter again… what did I spy with my two eyes? Not one, but TWO cheesecakes, fresh out of the kitchen!! Oh goodness! If there had not been a steady hand on me I would have turned round and gone back to our table! Haha!

This was what I missed…

This looked like a classic baked cheesecake topped with various dried fruits. Yes, I know, the crust looks overly thick. But… this was what (I feel) contributed to making the strawberry cheesecake that I had tasted the previous time so seductively delicious. It’s something about their crust . In this combination, thick layer of rich, flavorful biscuit base with the creamy and fluffy cheese filling, it just tastes heavenly. *sigh*

But the real “killer” was yet to come. I then spied this…

Oh my gosh! I was definitely going to sit down again. I need to have a piece of this. This looked so unbelievably tempting. A layer of chocolate biscuit crust, sponge fingers on the sides, possibly white chocolate cheese filling, dark chocolate ganache topping and curls of white chocolate sprinkled on top. How could anyone resist something like this?!

I can’t believe this… I can’t believe they did this to me… how could they??! This must be some evil conspiracy! They hid the cheesecakes until I was leaving! I think there must have been some kind of glazed (or crazed?!) look in my eyes. The hand on my shoulder tightened. Someone had read my mind. Yes, for one wild second, I was contemplating grabbing the entire chocolate cheesecake and making a dash for the exit! I stood transfixed. I couldn’t leave. I couldn’t leave without eating a piece of this. “Let’s sit down again”. I had voiced my thoughts out loud without realizing it. Then my feet started to propel me forward, as I was led gently, but firmly, towards the exit. One last turn of the head, one last longing glance, one last long sigh…

I came home and had dreams of this chocolate cheesecake. Maybe, one day… one day, we shall meet again…

Happy Dong Zhi!

It is Dong Zhi today… a time for family togetherness… a time for love, joy, laughter and warmth…

Dong Zhi (Winter Solstice) is one of the most important festivals of the Chinese lunar calendar, and falls almost every year on the 22 December (on rare occasions, it may fall on 21 December). Literally translated it means “arrival of winter”. In ancient times, it marked the end of harvest and the return of family members from far and near to the family ancestral home, to gather, celebrate and prepare for the coming of the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year. I suppose Dong Zhi can be regarded as the Chinese Thanksgiving, and like the American Thanksgiving, food, wine and feasting are integral parts of the celebration.

Tang yuan (glutinous rice balls served in a sweet soup) are a must on Dong Zhi. They are eaten to signify unity and harmony within the family and to celebrate the past good year. “Tang” (meaning soup in Mandarin), sounds like “tuan” (meaning reunion), and “yuan” (meaning round) signifies “yuan man” (completeness, fulfillment).

Although tang yuan can now be eaten throughout the year, at restaurants or hawker centers, or can be bought frozen and ready-prepared in supermarkets, they still take on special significance when eaten on Dong Zhi.

They are usually boiled and served in a sweet soup made with ginger and rock sugar. Our family made two versions today… one is the traditional clear ginger syrup soup, with an added South East Asian twist of pandan leaves as aromatics...

The second is a thick red bean sweet soup (red bean tong shui). I’m not sure what the origins of this version are… but this version is commonly served in restaurants and hawker centers. Apart from red bean soup, they can also be served in (black or white) sesame sweet soup (zhi ma hu) or in peanut sweet soup (hua shen hu).

[Interestingly, when tang yuan are served dry, coated with crushed peanuts, they take on a new name and new meaning. Known as “yuan xiao”, they are eaten on the 15th or last day of the Lunar New Year celebrations. But that is for another time…]

The tang yuan we eat nowadays are so different from the homemade ones I remember as a kid. Hardly anyone makes their own tang yuan anymore. It is just so much more convenient, and tastier too, to buy them frozen and ready-made from the supermarket. And they now come with luscious fillings of peanut (yummy), black sesame (very yummy) and red bean (yummy too).

In the days when there was no ready-made tang yuan to be bought, every family would come together on Dong Zhi morning to make tang yuan. These are made from a very simple dough of rice flour and water, and rolled into tiny marble-sized balls. Very often, they are made into white and pink colors, with the pink color signifying good luck. These had no fillings and were simply boiled in hot water until they floated to the surface, and then served in the sweet syrup soup.

I remember these home-made tang yuan to be rather chewy and bland. Today’s modern versions taste infinitely better, however, I so miss the laughter and joy of sitting around the kitchen table… grandmother, aunts, mum, cousins… all pitching in to mix the dough and roll out these little balls of glutinous rice. I miss the chatter, the teasing and the abundant laughter. Yes, today’s factory-made tang yuan may taste delicious, yet the traditional ones of old tasted sweet, rich and full with love, warmth and joy. Back then, families gathered to make and eat tang yuan together… and that truly must be the real meaning of Dong Zhi…

As I sit with my family to eat tang yuan this festive day, I wish one and all...

Happy Dong Zhi to you and your family!

Din Tai Fung

It has been a while since I last posted any of my dining out experiences, simply because all the occasions in the last couple of weeks have felt “inappropriate” for picture snapping. However, tonight, we had dinner with my parents, here…

If you are not a Singaporean, you could possibly be thinking: dinner in a hospital, maybe?? But for Singaporeans, they would probably know this image as part of what is arguably one of the most popular eating places in Singapore at the moment…

This off-shoot of the famous Taiwan-based chain of dumpling restaurants has been open for at least a good 4-5 months now (I think), and yet the lines are still mind-bogglingly long. People are willing to wait, and wait, and wait some more… just to get a table – sometimes for up to 45 minutes or more! This evening, we arrived at around 8pm (just a little after the peak dinner period), and we weren’t shown to our table until almost quarter to nine! When we arrived, there were around 50+ queue numbers ahead of us, and as we were being seated, the latest queue number being given out was about 60 after us!

The front desk staff had very obviously gotten the queuing system down pat - a contrast to the frenzied “(almost) organized chaos” that had ensued when I was last there, shortly after they opened. There is now an electronic queue number display system. A welcome relief for the young ladies manning the front desk – no more shouting out the queue numbers until their voices were raw and hoarse. They can breathe easier now too - no more anxious customers elbowing to crowd in front of the front desk so that they could hear the numbers being called out.

Now, one can relax and sit or stand back, and watch the spectacle of the chefs at work. This must definitely be one of the main attractions of the restaurant, for both locals and tourists alike. A glass “box” right next to the entrance in which over 25 chefs stand, masked and gowned, busily churning out hundreds, if not thousands, of the small steamed meat dumplings that this restaurant is famous for.

Each dumpling is completely hand-made. Each ball of dough is rolled out to the same size and same thickness, the same amount of meat filling is placed in the center of the dough, and the dough is then wrapped around the filling and sealed with PRECISELY 18 folds, to form neat pleated bundles. Yes, apparently, these chefs are trained to put EXACTLY 18 pleats into each dumpling!

It’s quite an amazing sight to watch. So many chefs just standing there, side-by-side around wooden tables, their hands in unceasing movement as they rolled, filled and pleated. Their movements are deft, smooth… almost like a dance. It is almost like watching the well-oiled, smooth mechanisms of a collectors’ watch!

More chefs at work….

(yes, there are a lot of photos tonight… well, we did have 45 minutes of standing around, and so I had volunteer-photographers who went around with my camera snapping away!)

After the dumplings are made, they are steamed and ready to be served. Stacks and stacks of bamboo racks of these dumplings…

Notice the 2 computer screens on the left, which the chef is looking intently at? They are constantly flashing as new orders pile in and the requests for the dumplings grow continuously.

In another section, in the far end of the restaurant, more chefs in another glass “box”… again, in continuous, unceasing activity, as they churned out bowls and bowls of steaming hot soups and noodles…

And so we waited some more… as we watched other diners sitting inside the restaurant tucking into their dinners…

The décor is bright and spacious, with touches of Zen in the wooden furniture, wooden floors, and granite, glass and metal counter tops. Chinese calligraphy paintings hang from the yellow walls. However, the level of activity is probably too frenzied for it to be anywhere near being an oasis of peace and tranquility. Yet, in all its busyness, there isn’t a sense of hurriedness either.

Well, at least, for those of us still on the outside… there are the shallow pebbled ponds of tranquil water and stone sculptures to soothe our minds and enhance our patience!

Finally… we are let in. The service of this place is still incredibly efficient and polite. Everything moves and works with almost clockwork precision – a synchronized dance of food and service. As soon as we are seated, our teacups are filled with piping hot Chinese tea, and within minutes (literally) of our bottoms touching our seats, the food begins to arrive.

This is a dumpling restaurant, and so of course, we ate dumplings, dumplings, and more dumplings : )

Their signature dish: the xiao long bao (steamed meat dumplings with broth) (S$8.50 for 10 pieces) (US$5.00)…

Theirs is a pretty tasty version – almost on par with my all-time favorite in Singapore at Min Jiang Restaurant. The meat filling was lean, moist and juicy with a nice amount of tasty broth. I have to say, the quality is very consistent, with broth in all the dumplings (and therein lies the skill and expertise).

And of course, these xiao long bao dumplings must be eaten dipped in black vinegar and accompanied by raw ginger juliennes.

I also like the vegetable (chives I think) and pork steamed dumplings (S$8.50 for 10 pieces) in this restaurant…

We tried out their vegetable and pork wantan soup (S$6.00 for 8 pieces) (US$3.50) for the first time tonight. Tasty. Actually, these have the same fillings as the above dumplings, only with the thinner and smoother wantan skin and cooked in a tasty pork broth.

The only dumplings I did not really enjoy are the prawn and pork steamed dumplings (S$9.50 for 10 pieces) (US$5.60)…

I found the pork in the filling rather too fatty, and with an almost overwhelming “porky” taste and aftertaste that lingered in the mouth…

All the dumplings have to be eaten whilst hot, as their tops become slightly chewy as they cool.

We also finally managed to try their vegetable and pork steamed bun today. They were sold out the previous time I was here, and according to my brother, they were also sold out as well on each of the various occasions he has dined here in the past.

These are ok. The fillings are again the same as the vegetable and pork steamed dumplings and wantans. I’m just not a big fan of paus (steamed buns) with the denser, more chewy dough, like this one. I prefer all my paus with the soft, fluffy dough of the Cantonese-style paus.

I had very good memories of the beef soup noodles from my last visit, and really wanted to have it again. This time though, I ordered it without the pieces of beef (S$6.00 without beef, S$10.00 with beef), as on the previous occasion I had found the beef, whilst very, very tasty, rather chewy and tough.

The first time I had this noodle dish, I was bowled over by the intensely flavorful beef soup. It was thick and rich and oh-so-“beefy”. So shiok! Tonight, it is still good, albeit a tad watered down. But my craving is satiated anyway and I am happy.

We also tried the pork ribs noodle soup (S$8.00). Very tasty broth, and very tender, moist, juicy and flavorful ribs. Nice!

At the end of all that, we felt as stuffed as those dumplings! Haha…

The marketing psychology and positioning of this restaurant and its operational model absolutely fascinates me. I think these are what draw the crowds and the long lines. Couples, teenagers with friends, young families with children and elderly in tow, tourists… a comprehensive cross-section of society is drawn, like moths to a flame, to its large glass windows and their “display” of chefs, and is then seductively enticed into its interiors to experience its unique culinary adventure. The food is pretty good, but not outstanding. But who said memorable dining experiences are about the food alone?

Din Tai Fung
290 Orchard Road
#B1-03/06 Paragon
Singapore 238859