Cooking up a storm at Micasa All Suite Hotel Rebeccas Table for Four Part IV

Part IV of my fun project Rebeccas Table for Four starts now!!

If you have checked out my -VIDEO, you would know by now this is my 3rd day staying at the Micasa All Suite Hotel, off Jalan Tun Razak.
And for today, I got my crazy culinary, cooking crazy friends to come over to whip up a meal for 8! Yes, 8 pax!!

No sweat though, the kitchen that comes with my Deluxe 2 bedroom Suite is fully equipped & certainly up to the task!

The chefs bought in their supplies!

Preparations are underway. Lunch will be served at 1230pm.

Menu:
Amuse Bouche:G-Raped Tofu from the firstRebeccas Table for Four.

Boxing chicken.

Yin-Yang risotto: (with the scallops pictured below)
Chicken Cordon Bleu ham, chicken thigh and cheese!

MAIN: Lamb 2-ways (Wellington / Stew)

no pic yet! will post soon!

DESSERTS: Banoffee Tart with Mocha Ganache & Salted Caramel ice cream!! Homemade salted caramel ice cream yo!

Stay tuned, I got to go help out in the kitchen now!

For more cooking projects:
Check out Rebeccas Table for Four !
Part I - Tofu steamed with white wine, Butternut Pumpkin Risotto, Pan-roasted Pork Loin.
Part II Homemade Aioli, Pea and Bacon Soup, Dory with Homemade Aioli, Herb Crusted Pork Loin.

I cooked: Japchae (Korean glass noodles)

One of my personal favorite Korean dishes is japchae. Japchae, literally meaning "a mixture of vegetables" is made with dangmyeon, mixed vegetables and meat (optional, hence it is suitable as a vegetarian dish). Dangmyeon, a type of translucent glass noodles is made from sweet potato starch and is similar to Chinese glass noodles, but slightly chewier and thicker.

We spotted dangmyeon when we were out grocery shopping one day and felt inspired to cook japchae. Although it was The Unc's first time cooking japchae, he has cooked plenty other Korean dishes hence we had faith that it would work out well. It can be served either hot or cold, however we decided to serve it a hot main dish.

In Korean cuisine, the vividness of colour is important hence a variety of colorful vegetables are used. The vegetables are usually sauteed separately to preserve their colour as each has a different cooking time.

The noodles turned out to be perfect in taste and texture, and what a feast for the eyes with its beautiful mesmerising colours!

Vibrant colors

Japchae (Korean glass noodles)

Preparation time: 15-20 minutes

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients

150g beef, cut into thin strips (! you can also use chicken or pork)

300g dangmyun or dangmyeon (potato starch noodles)

200g spinach

2 red chilli

2 medium onions, sliced thinly

2-3 clove of garlic

1 shallot, sliced thinly

1 carrot, julienned

2 stalk spring onions, cut into 3cm length

3 shitake mushrooms, soaked and sliced thinly

Soy sauce, to taste

2 tbsp Sesame seeds

2-3 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp brown sugar

3 eggs, yolk and white separated

For beef marinade

1/2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp Shaoxiang cooking wine

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

Pepper, to taste

1. Soak the dangmyeon in cold water for 20 minutes prior to cooking. After soaking, cut into half of the original length (approx 6 inches). Then cook for 5 minutes in boiling water. Strain and soak in cold water, ready for use.

Dangmyeon, before cooking

2. Marinate the beef strips with pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil, cooking wine, and sugar 20 minutes before cooking.

3. Heat a frying pan on medium heat and add the marinated beef strips (No oil required). Cook for 2-3 minutes, until the beef is cooked thoroughly. Remove from heat.

4. For the shitake mushrooms, you can either add them to the beef and cook together, or cook separately. Use the shitake mushrooms to "mop" up the caramelised beef juices left from Step 3.

5. To create a more colorful garnish, the egg white and yolk are separated and cooked individually. Beat the egg white / yolk and season with salt. In a frying pan, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil and cook the egg white first, remove from heat, followed by the egg yolk. After the egg has cooled, cut into thin strips like shown in the picture below.

6. Blanch the spinach in hot water for 2-3 minutes. Remove and blanch in cold water and leave aside.

7. Heat the sesame oil in the wok on a medium heat. Start by adding the garlic and onion, and stir fry for 1 minute, followed by the carrots. Cook for a further 2 minutes, then finally add the spring onions and chilli and give it a quick stir. Add brown sugar and soy sauce to taste.

8. Add the glass noodles, spinach, beef and mushrooms and give it another quick stir to mix the ingredients well together. Garnish with the omelette strips and some sesame seeds.

Simply Cooking: Dakdoritang () - Chicken with Potatoes

I may not be posting up that much of recipes but it does not mean that nothing new is going on in the kitchen. Actually, there are lots of new recipes that I have accomplished but yet to be posted up. I suck! I know. I wish third year is breezy but as I have mentioned in this space so many thousand million times, university is like a Dementor who sucks happy thoughts away from you. That's a bit of exaggeration going on in the previous statement but you get the idea. Currently, I am reading up on 9/11 and Sino-American relations. I find myself smitten by foreign relations. Perhaps, if I were (WERE) to fail to do honours in psychology, I might just do a Masters in Public Administration and Foreign Policy.

Pardon my pep talk and now onto Dakdoritang. Don't you think Dakdoritang is such a cute name for a dish?? Well, not only it is cute, it is the ultimate comfort food that packs a punch into your cold guts!

Dakdoritang is basically chicken with potatoes. I'm not too sure if it is a stew dish or whatnot but it's a delicious Korean recipe that demands little cooking skills and lasts for days :) I made this two or three weeks ago and still have the leftovers in my freezer. :)

The best way to describe its taste? My sister thinks that it's the Korean version of Ayam Masak Merah. :D

A huge picture to torture all of you hungry souls out there.
*evil chuckle*
Recipe: Dakdoritang (Serves 4) - original recipe from here(This recipe has been modified)

-Ingredients:

A:
-8 chicken thig! h fillet s (Use organic!)
-8 baby potatoes (USE BABY), washed

B:
-5 garlic cloves, remove skin and crush
-1 onion, sliced
-2 carrots, skin peeled, cut into chunks
- 1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into 1 cm x 1cm squares (approx.)
-1 cup of frozen peas
-2 tablespoon of tomato ketchup

C: Sauce
-2 cloves of garlic minced
-3 tablespoon of soy sauce
-3 tablespoon of gochujang
-2 tablespoon of Chinese rice wine/cooking wine
-1.5 tablespoon of Manuka honey/honey
-100 ml of filtered water
-A pinch of pepper
-1 drop of sesame oil


-Instructions:

1. Fill half a pot with water. Bring it to boil. When it is boiling, place chicken into the pot. Boil for 10 minutes. Remove chicken and rinse with cold water. Pour water away. This step removes the excess fats from the chicken.

2. In a separate pot, boil potatoes for a good 5 minutes to soften it slightly. Drain with cold water and cut into half. Don't worry if it is semi-cooked! You will have to cook them again later!

3. While waiting for your chicken and potatoes to boil, prepare sauce. Mix ingredients from list C in a bowl. Also, prepare other ingredients. Don't waste time!

4. Using the same pot that you have used for boiling your chicken, place in the chicken and sauce. Bring to boil. Stir well.

5. When it boils, add in garlic, onions, carrots, potatoes and capsicum. Stir for 1 minute. Turn down the heat to a simmer. Simmer for a good 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally

6. Add in frozen peas and ketchup. Amp up the heat. Stir, stir and stir for 5 minutes. Finish with pepper and if you like, some spring onions would enhance the flavors of this bellywarming stew. Best served with guksu (noodles) or rice.


I hope you enjoy this recipe. Have a lovely Sunday. :)

french onion soup

Im firmly of the belief that no matter what ails you in the realm of the kitchen, onion soup can cure it. Never cooked before? Dont think youll be able to pull off the kind of cooking you believe you need to go to a restaurant to experience? Start with onion soup. Have only $5 to spend on dinner? Refrigerator is almost bare? Onion soup is your friend. Want your home to have a transcendent aroma bouncing off every wall, the kind thats so distracting that you dont even know or care whats on the stove, only that you must have it now? Onion soup is waiting for you.

I realize it was unfair to even make a passing reference to weepingly delicious onion soup the other day without refreshing it here. I talked up once in 2006, a lifetime ago (or several, if youre this guy) but it was a very literal recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking which benefits from some streamlining. And yet, not too much. Onion soup is a remarkably simple thing to make but when simplified too liberally Ive seen recipes that instructed you to just caramelize onions for a bit, add stock, cheese etc. the nuance that raises it to the transcend! ent leve l Ive known it to be gets lost. Julia Childs original version with the very long caramelization of onions that I beg you not to skimp on because this is all the work there really is, the slip of raw grated onion, the cheese within and on top of the soup and starting the croutons toasted hard so they dont fall apart in the soup raises the soup beyond the everyday, without making it too difficult to whip up almost any day. Which I promise will happen when you realize the staggering gap between effort and outcome that Childs onion soup manages to bridge.

... Read the rest of french onion soup on smittenkitchen.com

smitten kitchen 2006-2011. |permalink to french onion soup | 6 comments to date | see more: French, Photo, Soup

White Radish

Ingredient Name: White radish, radish, oriental radish, Japanese radish, daikon

Chinese Name: (bi lubo)

One of my favorite roots to eat of all time! Both cooked (in soups, stews, dishes, dim sum) and raw ( as the Japanese appetizers). This type of root absorbs the flavor of whatever ingredients you use to marinate or cook it in and it has a very particular and unique taste that almost borders slightly bitter, but not quite.

What is this?

• Mildly flavoured and pale coloured radish
• It is often found in East Asian dishes (such as soups and stews)
• They can be found in various colours such as green or white and variations in between
• Their sizes vary and can grow to be 8-14 inches in length
• Different varieties of the Chinese radish can come in various shapes as well depending how they are grown and where they come from

Howdo Iprepare it?

• Wash thoroughly in cool water
• Peel skin prior to use as the skin is tougher than regular carrots

Where can I buy this?

• Available in fresh marts in Hong Kong
• Also available in supermarkets

What is the cost?

• Radishes are relatively affordable

Any benefits?

• White radishes aid in digestion
• Low in saturated fats and cholesterol
• Excellent food for weight loss

Any precautions?

• It is considered a cooling food
• Not ideal to be consumed if you have a cough or cold
• Pregnant women and those menstruating should take caution as it may cause contractions if consumed in great amounts

Any additional information?

• Store ina cool, dry place
• You will know that the radish has gone bad when the texture is no longer firm to the touch
• They generally store for up to a week

Boiled White Radish (for use with stew)