shiokadelicious!

Cooking for Tsunami Victims in India

Urgh! I wanted to post this last night, but, for some reason, my Internet Access was down the entire night (so much for cable broadband!). I hope there is still time, and that some of you will donate generously…

I’ve received an email from Devagi Sanmugam (a well-known chef in Singapore) making an urgent appeal for cash donations for a food relief program that she is personally undertaking for some of the tsunami victims in India.

I reproduce her email below:

Hi,

A few of us are planning to leave on Sunday 2 Jan 2026 for India to give/cook food rations for the victims of Tsunami. We're paying for our own air fare and we have made arrangements for our accommodation too.

As you'd have seen on TV lotsa people and children are suffering from lack of food and clothes. I know that there are many organisations out there helping by collecting money, clothings etc.

I appeal to you to contribute some money so that we can buy the basic long lasting necessities like milk, biscuits, bread etc for these victims. If possible we want to pitch a tent to cook them a few meals. I think food is very important to all of us and we have plenty of it here. I do want to help them in someway and I know you too feel that you want to help. Perhaps you don't have the time to leave your work and responsibilities to go there to help. I want us all to start the new year by feeling that we have helped the less fortunate in some way.

Please either give me cash or make a cheque payable to "Devagi Sanmugam" and post it to
Devagi Sanmugam
52 Jalan Leban
Singapore 577589

Please also include your name and address so that I can send you the accounts. What I am planning to do is to get the amount collected from everyone audited and when I return with the receipts, we will have it audited and send you a copy. Rest assured, this is a service to mankind, the money you give wholeheartedly will be used for the Tsunami victims ONLY.

You can help further by collecting from your friends and colleagues and sending a lump sum cheque along with the list of people and the amount you have collected from them so that I can keep them updated of how their money was spent.
I look forward to hearing from you ASAP.

I have attached a profile of myself in case you need to introduce me to your friends. I have also attached a Donations Record sheet that you can fill up and send the cheque with it by Sunday 2nd January 2005.
God be with you.

I wish you a prosperous NEW YEAR .

................your culinary services provider
Devagi Sanmugam
Devagi's Epicurean World Pte Ltd
52 Jalan Leban
Singapore 577589

Tel: 6458 0572 6456 3014
Fax: 6457 3650

So, if you feel you would like to or are able to contribute in any small way (even if just to put the word out), please help. We only have 3 days before they leave.

(I want to just add a small note to her email. It would be best not to send cash by post. If you wish to give cash, please call Devagi and make arrangements to pass her the cash.)

If you would like a copy of Devagi’s profile or the donation form (both are word documents), please send me an email or drop a note in the comments box together with your email address, and I’ll have copies sent out to you.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Another email appeal that I have received, and which I feel is authentic, lists several other avenues for contributing to the relief effort.

These are just a few of the many organizations in Singapore that are currently coordinating collections for the victims in the various countries:

Tisarana Buddhist Association at 90 Duku Rd (off still road) Tel: 63456741

Items: Medicine, first aid items, sanitary pads, toothbrush, toothpaste, tin food, dry food and CLEAN (new if possible) blankets, towels and clothes.

Please pack them in bags or boxes and lable them separately, eg... Food, Blankets, Medicine, Clothes to be seperated and labeled MALE, FEMALE and CHILDREN. Boxes are preferred but please do NOT seal.

19 Dalhousie Lane ( jus behind Tekka Mall )

Collection of essentials ie .... foods, clothes, blankets, towels .... any day before next Wednesday for Sri Lankan victims.

Old Parliament Lane #01-02 , Parliament Lane,
Olivia - Tel: 81131770

Donations of canned food, blankets and clothings.

Donations of Cash: Brahm Education Centre

Cash donations are collected at Brahm Education Centre. Cheques are to be made payable to "Brahm Education Centre Ltd".
Cash or cheque are to be sent to Brahm Education Centre, 9 Lor 29 Geylang #04-02 Singapore 388065. Please indicate "suffering relief program" on the back of the cheque.
Receipts of items purchased for the victims with the cash donations will be collated and accounts on how the funds are dispensed will be available for inspection at the end of the project.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The situation in Aceh, Indonesia (which bore the brunt of both the earthquake and tsunami) is very, very dire. Over 40,000 (and still counting) are dead. Entire towns have been wiped out. The survivors have no shelter, and have had no food or water for four days. They have yet to receive any aid.

I believe the Indonesian Embassy is still asking for, needing and wanting donations of blankets, milk powder, disposal syringes, canned food, towels and such like, and are accepting the contributions at their Embassy at Chatsworth Road.

On the other hand, I think the Sri Lankan Embassy is no longer accepting donations in kind, as what have been received thusfar are already being sent. Cash donations are still being accepted though.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Finally, Juliette Rossant of SuperChefBlog left a comment in the previous post about the her post on participating in relief efforts. Please go take a look.

And if you have not already found it, there is also this site.

Let us all do our part, no matter how small, to help ease the suffering a little.

Thank you.

Thank You for Your Concern

In the wake of the earthquake and tsunamis, I’ve received several anxious and worried emails asking after me. I’m so very, very touched and warmed by your concern. Thank you for caring.

I am fine. We got home just before Christmas.

However, the utter devastation and staggering (and still ever-rising) human toll have been terribly traumatic to witness on TV and to read about in the papers. All the tragic images and the horrific survivor stories. And knowing people that have been directly affected have brought the tragedy even closer to home. Geographically, it has also been a close call.

For those who may have had friends or family vacationing in the area and are affected, my prayers, thoughts and heartfelt wishes are with you.

And for the rest, if you feel you would like to make a small contribution towards urgent relief efforts, please do contact your local or national chapter of the Red Cross Society, or an International relief organization like Care or Mercy Relief. Medicine, shelter, food, and above all, clean drinkable water are desperately and very urgently needed. Please help.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I’ve been feeling rather emotional, teary and knocked down by the whole thing, and can’t even begin to think about blogging right now, much less blogging about “indulgent” food -- it all just seems too frivolous -- given that so many are just desperate for clean water to simply stay alive.

In the meantime, I wish you and your family a safe and peaceful New Year.

Take care!

Stories to Tell, Stories Untold

My! It has been rather quiet around here lately hasn’t it? No, I haven’t forgotten about the blog; I’ve been busy… lots and lots of cooking and baking (on top of all the other things that Life demands of us every day -- oh yeah, what’s that thing called work again?).

There’s so much I want to tell you about… all the Christmas baking: healthy rich fruitcakes (and no, that is not an oxymoron), Christmas puddings, sugee cakes, yule logs and oh yes, cookies…

I’m up to my eyeballs in cookies. I don’t think I’ve ever baked so many cookies in such a short span of time in my entire life. It all started with a startling (pun intended) realization that I’m not a cookie-baker. That was such a sobering, almost sad discovery. I can bake cakes, make pastries -- heck, I can even make pie crusts without too much angst -- but I just can’t seem to bake good cookies. Or at least cookies like how I want them. None of the cookie recipes I have ever tried seem to come out the way they are supposed to, or how I think they are supposed to. I feel like such a failure. Why can I not bake cookies to save my life? I mean, they’re just cookies. Supposedly some of the easiest things to bake. Even kids can do them, or so the baking-powers-that-be will have you believe.

So I have been determined to put right my woeful state of cookie “unsuccess”. I’ve been churning them out, I tell you; my oven is spewing cookies like there is no tomorrow. Thankfully my friends and family are still gamely chowing them down (I haven’t had to twist any arms, honest) -- the hard-as-rock, the soft-and-insipid, the sweet-and-gooey, the dry-and-bland and everything in between. Even Cookie Monster would be proud!

My kitchen is beginning to resemble a chemistry lab. You know, I never truly realized or fully appreciated how much of a science cookie-baking is -- even more so than cake- or pastry-making, I think. It’s amazing how even the smallest change in one factor can completely alter the taste, feel, appearance and texture of the cookie -- using flour measured before and after sifting produces completely different crumb textures, as does cutting the sugar by even a small amount. Caster sugar, icing (confectioners’) sugar, brown sugar, corn syrups… so many permutations, so many different results. Cake flour, Hong Kong flour, plain flour… which one works best for which type of desired cookie? Baking soda only or baking soda paired with baking powder? Greased or un-greased cookie sheet? Parchment paper or no parchment paper? Bake two trays of cookies at once and rotate half-way through, or just one sheet at a time? What temperature to use? Oh decisions, decisions! And cookies and more cookies. Have I mentioned we are up to our eyeballs in cookies here?

At times I have truly felt like some half-mad scientist throwing in, removing, then adding back in different “chemicals” all in the search of a set of “perfect” cookie recipes that I’m so sure I need in my life...

But enough already. There are only so many cookies one can bake… and eat. I suspect my friends are ready to cut all ties and my family ready to disown me if I don’t stop baking those cookies. Besides, I really don’t think you want to hear about all my Christmas baking escapades in full gory (and boring?) detail. So… I’m off on a holiday. Yes! Yipee! Tra-la-la-la… I’m off on a holi.. holiday!

It’s been a grueling last few months for me… long hours, stress, pressures, anxieties… and dare I say it, maybe even ennui. So, we are off… for a much longed for, eagerly anticipated vacation -- time to refresh the mind, rejuvenate the body, revitalize the spirit and re-inspire the soul; time to be with “me”; time to reconnect with loved ones. Time to reflect on the year that has been, and to give thanks for 12 months that have been so wondrous in so many ways.

And then, time to be with family over the Christmas and New Year’s.

So, I’ll like to take this time to send out early Season’s Greetings to one and all…

To those who are celebrating, I wish you and yours…

A Harmonious and Fulfilled Winter Solstice (Dong Zhi)
on 21 December
(yes, it falls one day earlier this year)

A Joyous and Blessed Christmas

and…

A Very Happy and Peaceful New Year

Happy Holidays!

See you all in 2005…

2004 Food Blog Awards

It was with much blushing delight that I woke up this morning to find that shiokadelicious! has been nominated for Best Overall Food Blog. (Thank you, Deb!)

Yes, Kate at Accidental Hedonist has announced nominations for the 1st Annual Food Blog Awards. The 2004 Food Blog Awards honor the best in food-related weblog writing for the year. What a wonderful idea! As Kate says, we have a great community in all the food-bloggers, and what better excuse (not that we need one, of course) for celebration than food and drink.

So, head on over, check out the 14 categories up for nominations, and let your fingers do the talking (you have until 19 December 2025 to do so). And of course I cannot resist but add that there are still other categories that shiokadelicious! is elegible for (ahem! if I may be so thick-skinned enough to say ; )).

Alrighty, so please do share with the world which food-blogs you feel have inspired your palate, tickled your food fantasies, broadened your eating and cooking horizons or just simply entertained you over the past year.

Have fun!

Some Quick Housekeeping...

I seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties with my shiokadelicious email (AGAIN!).

All emails sent to me during the last 72 hours or so have not been received. You will also not have received any error message, and the emails will seem -- to all intents of purposes at least -- to have gone through. Well, I'm just hoping they haven't been sucked into some black hole of the Internet milky-way... because I sure haven't been receiving them.

Please be a little patient as I try to sort this out... or at least to find out what is wrong.

Thanks!

Update 7 Dec:
*phew*
The email server seems to be working again... more or less. There does still seem to be sporadic delays, but manageable.

Okay... the weekend mail only started trickling in, in dribs and drabs, this morning, so please give me a little time to get the replies out...

Thanks for your patience.

Home-Made Lo Mei Kai II -- Rice Cooker Convenience

If you thought the previous classic Lo Mei Kai recipe was a little too involved -- time- and energy-wise -- here’s a more casual, homey version that’s a lot easier to put together. It also allows for a great deal more freedom to experiment with flavors, textures and aromas; it’s just a lot more fun to make. I find this dish very appealing on other fronts too: the colors are more vibrant, the flavors more complex and the textures more layered and varied.

In this “modern” version of “chicken glutinous rice”, rather than cooking the glutinous rice in the steamer the classic way, the rice is cooked in the electric rice cooker instead; which means that it can be left to cook on its own with no supervision (hooray!). Once the rice goes into the cooker, it’ll happily cook away, and when it’s done, it’ll sit there just as happily, keeping warm until you are ready to serve.

But cooking glutinous rice in the rice cooker also means another departure from the classic method of preparation -- the glutinous rice is cooked in liquid, rather than steamed “dry” without any additional liquids added. This does result in rice with a different texture -- still chewy and sticky, but different. And although different, still very good.

The initial preparation of the glutinous rice is the same as for the classic method:

• Wash then soak the rice for a few hours (about 4 hours or so). Drain well. • In a wok or deep skillet, heat a little bit of oil and very briefly sauté some minced garlic. • Add the rice and toss well to ensure each grain of rice is nicely coated with a little oil. • Season the rice with some light soy sauce, and a pinch of both sugar and salt. Mix well.

The rice is then ready to go into the rice cooker, together with some chicken broth or stock. [I highly recommend using broth instead of water; it makes a world of difference to the flavors of the rice. But in a pinch, water will do.]

It took me a couple of attempts before I got the ratio of rice-to-stock to exactly where I like it. As glutinous rice is not normally cooked in liquid, I didn’t want it to turn too soft with the addition of the chicken stock. Yet, it still requires enough of the stock to be able to cook properly -- that being the nature of electric rice cookers. In the end, I have settled on 400ml of stock to 300g of glutinous rice; this produces rice with my preferred level of “Q-Q” chewy stickiness, and with the right balance between soft tenderness and firm bite.

And that’s it! Once the rice and stock goes into the rice cooker, it needs no further meddling. As for the rest of the ingredients, they are prepared separately; and it’s all just a matter of doing some cutting and dicing, and then simply a brief sauté before they are ready to be mixed into the cooked glutinous rice.

The “basic mix” that I use consists of small cubes of chicken, carrots and Chinese mushrooms. From here, I build and layer the flavors and textures as my mood or desires-of-the-moment dictate.

The chicken meat of choice for me is boneless thigh meat; they have so much more flavor and a more succulent, juicy, moist bite. But breast meat will work just as happily.

Cut the chicken meat into small cubes (about 1 cm or so), and season with some light soy sauce, oyster sauce, a dash of sesame oil, a pinch of sugar, some pepper and a little bit of cornstarch (to give the meat a silky smooth texture). Leave to macerate for at least 20-30 minutes or so.

Some carrots and pre-prepped (see previous post for an explanation of this) Chinese mushrooms are also diced finely (round about the same size as the chicken, or slightly smaller for the carrots).

Sauté some minced garlic in a little bit of hot oil. Add the carrots and fry until almost tender. The mushrooms are then added and sautéed very briefly. The chicken goes in and is fried until thoroughly cooked through. Season the mixture with light soy sauce and pepper to taste.

Just before serving, remove the rice from the rice cooker and fluff through with a pair of forks or chopsticks (the rice will be sticky, but it can be done; take note though that spoons and over-zealous stirring will squish the rice and turn it into a sticky paste). Add the chicken mixture and toss to incorporate evenly.

Now, here’s the fun part. I like to add several other ingredients to the mix for an added layer of flavor and texture.

Sometimes I add some deep-fried dried shrimp for a highly fragrant, flaky-crispy, savory crunch, and some finely chopped spring onions (green onions or scallions) for an extra splash of color and aroma.

I find flash deep-frying the small dried shrimps changes their texture completely -- from dense and slightly chewy to very crispy with a light, tender, almost flaky bite. Absolutely delectable! And it complements the sticky chewiness of the rice very well.

Drain the fried shrimps well on absorbent kitchen paper before adding to the rice.

On other occasions, I’ve used finely diced bacon (or even ham) sautéed until crispy, together with some chopped fresh coriander (Chinese parsley or cilantro).

Lap cheong (Chinese preserved sausages) is another delicious possibility. And small cubes of raw cucumbers can add a refreshing crunch to the lo mei kai.

This quick and easy rice cooker version of chicken glutinous rice makes for a wonderful meal in itself or as a highly visually appealing side dish. It’s a very happy dish -- lots of colors, flavors, textures and aromas contrasting and complementing each other all at the same time.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One final aside: glutinous rice is my and my family’s favorite festive stuffing for poultry -- be it chicken, duck or goose. Cooked in the bird, the rice takes on the most incredibly gorgeous, intensely rich, luxurious flavors. It’s so good I usually end up preferring to eat just the stuffing, and foregoing the meat altogether!

We make different variations of the stuffing depending on the type of bird and on our fancies -- Chinese chestnuts, lap cheong (Chinese sausages), dried Chinese mushrooms, dried shrimps, pork, carrots and all sorts of combinations of many different ingredients are all prime candidates for inclusion in the stuffing.

If the bird is braised, raw glutinous rice is used; if the bird is oven-roasted, steamed glutinous rice is best. It’s a fair bit of work, but boy! is it worth it! And it always makes the Holiday celebrations that little bit more special… and tastier!

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All Rights Reserved.
Please contact me for permission to copy, publish, distribute or display any of the images or text contained in this article.