Fresh Corn and Goat Cheese Grits

Five Things Ive Learned About Myself Last Week

by Joy Wilson

My Los Angeles style of driving will piss many people off outside of Los Angeles.

When traveling, I will take an unreasonable, and possibly troubling amount of travel-sized toiletries with me no matter the duration of the trip.

I so so soooo want to be the girl thats awesome at Frisbee football. but Im totally just not.

Im stubborn. I practice. Ill totally be good at Frisbee football one day.

In a canoe in the ocean? Ill jump out. You wont even have to dare me. Life is short and the water is warm.

On a scale of 1 to 10, Ill score a 2.2 in gracefulness returning my body back to the canoe. Whatever. Remember that part about life being short. Yea. Exactly.

Some people might feel like a bikini top is a suitable shirt. but Im pretty sure it just feels like wearing a bra in public. Thats just me.

When on vacation is a warm place with tropical fruits and fresh fish Ill most likely be thinking about cheese grits and my monster kitten. I dunno.

< /p>

Im glad to be back in the kitchen.

I missed you. Seriously. I dont care if you look at me strangely.

Im back in the kitchen with butter and corn and Im no stranger to grits. Remember that Shrimp and Grits dish I made? Insane!

These grits are just a bit different. Theyre mixed with sweet, fresh corn and a big ol chunk of soft goat cheese. Goat cheese melts down in the hot grits, creating an irresistibly creamy dish. Fresh corn adds little bits and bites of sweetness.

This is a dreamy summer dish. Pair grits with a fried egg for breakfast, OR with ribs or barbecue chicken is youre feeling dinnery. Seriously delicious!

Fresh Corn and Goat Cheese Grits

makes 6 small portions, or 3 main portions

adapted from Bobby Flay

Print this Recipe!

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 cups water

1/2 cup milk (I used whole milk)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 cup stone-ground grits

1/3 cup chopped scallions

1 garlic clove, minced

1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (from 2 or 3 ears of corn)

black pepper

4 ounces goat cheese

fresh chopped parsley

Place a medium sauce o! ver medi um heat. Add butter and cook down until butter is browned. Add milk and water and bring mixture to a boil. Add the grits while stirring and reduce heat to a simmer. Add salt. Cook grits, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until medium thick. This may take about 20 minutes.

Heat olive oil in a separate medium skillet. Add scallions and cook for 2 minutes over medium heat. Add garlic and corn, top w 1/2 teaspoon salt and a hearty pinch of black pepper. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes until corn is slightly browned, warmed, and softened slightly.

Add cooked corn mixture and goat cheese to the hot, cooked grits. Stir until goat cheese is melted and incorporated into the grits.

Top with chopped parsley and serve immediately with a fried egg or delicious barbecued food.

Mixture can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge and reheated on the stove top with a splash of water and milk.

Print this Recipe!

Gerai Makanan Japanese BBQ @ Taman Desa: A Smokey Birthday Celebration

"Are you sure you want to eat there?"
"Why wouldn't I? I hear the food's good."
"I have no doubt in that. It's Hunk-san's place after all. But it's your birthday, wouldn't you prefer some place fancier?"

It's funny how quickly everybody assumes that I'm a food snob with high taste just because I write about food. Truth be told I'm easily satisfied when it comes to matters of the stomach. I can tolerate most eating environments and I consider myself quite daring when it comes to trying exotic dishes as long as the food taste good. The only thing I just can't tolerate is BAD food. Seriously, is that too hard to ask for? A pre-requisite which hardly needs to be bestowed upon a snobbish title.

Seriously.



Two evenings later, after agruelingmonth at work, I found myself in the dark backalleys of Plaza Faber in Taman Desa with 3 othermakan friends staring at Hunk-san's new venture with wide eyes. Like an odd mirage out in the dessert, this tiny "gerai makanan" (food shack in english) was a surreal image. Its little signboard hanging out of its side was fuss-free but hardly nondescript, it spelt out exactly what the place was all about: "Gerai Makanan Japanese BBQ."

For the uninitiated, Hunk-san is Mr. Seiji Fujimoto, who is also the owner of the most sexy udon store in the whole of KL - Sanuki Udon, which happens to be located around this neighborhood too.

Under the red lights of its iconicakachchin lantern, all 8-tables were taken up by mostly of Japanese clients with warm sake in one hand and ice-cold Asahi beer in other, hovering patient! ly aroun d a plastic fold-out table as they wait for their meat slices to cook on the shichirin grill. Our eyes were quickly drawn to another corner where a trail of flickering ember dramatically rose to the sky as a worker prepared a new batch of ogatan (traditional charcoal briquettes made from sawdust) for another table, using an electrical table fan.As we looked in disbelieve at the reality of this whole scene - felt like we warped through space and time and found ourselves in Tokyo - the patrons turned around and stared right back at us with yakuza-like dagger eyes. I think they dislike how we have just intruded their secret hideout.



Yakiniku (), literally meaning "grilled meat", is a Japanese term which is used in the broadest sense to refer to grilled meat dishes. But do not confused this with yakitori, which often refers to grilled chicken (and other form of meats) on skewers - which was served atlast year's birthdaycelebration. Once thought to be a variant of galbi dishes modified by Korean living in Japan, this style of cooking using bite-sized meat and vegetable on griddles over flame of wood charcoal is now widely accepted as Japanese BBQ.

In this yakiniku restaurant, diners could order several types of prepared raw ingredients including beef or pork rsu (loin and chuck slices), karubi or baraniku (short ribs), butabara (pork belly), offal, liver, beef tongue, chicken and a few more variants available from their singular A4 page menu.The ingredients are th! en cooke d by the diners, several pieces at a time, on a grill placed in the middle of the table throughout the duration of the meal. You can choose to either dip the cooked pieces into a sauce mixture of Japanese soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, garlic and sesame or just eat it on its own, as they are typically marinated with salt.

You can also choose to start your meal with an order of Lamb Jingisukan (Japanese-style Mongolian hotplate), and savour on tender pieces of lamb which were very well-marinated. We also ordered the curious Offal Meet Soup, made mostly of tripes and innards slow cooked for hours in a radish soup with plenty of vegetables. You may also want to try the Rice & Egg bowl - Japanese rice, topped with raw egg and drown with the same delicious offal soup gravy. Down this all with a bottle of Ozeki sake, which only cost RM16!

I can now see why the other patrons were so protective of their little secret supper club.



No birthday celebrations would have been completed without a slice of Fatboybakes' cake, which Kenny and his Devil has kindly arranged for in their warm home. The droolsome Salted Caramel Chocolate, complimented with the Diva's freshly brewed coffee was the perfect way to chill out for the rest of the evening. The night ended with sweet smiles, heartylaughterand a gift suited for Le (not so) Petit Prince.

No.1, No.2, and No.3 - thank you for the wonderful evening.

***

Gerai Makanan Japanese BBQ
Center Court, Plaza Faber,
Jalan Desa Jaya, Taman Desa off Jalan Klang Lama,
58100 Kuala Lumpur.
Business Hours:Opens everyday, from 6 p.m until whenever the last customer leaves.

Choux Puffs with Sweet potato creme patisserie

Yay, I finally can put this up. Hi Reese, these are also made with the sweet potato we bought together.. If you need to know how long ago was it, you can ask her. HAHA But I suppose no one is interested to know anyway .lol.

With the purple sweet potato, I made Onde-onde, and with the remaining, I wanted to do something fun out of it. I dont do bread, chiffon cake probably or maybe a cheesecake? But because I didnt want to drive out anywhere to get any extra ingredients and I didnt had much potatoes left, I thought maybe choux puffs would be great cause it uses the very basic pantry staples of flour, sugar, butter, eggs and water / milk. Im pretty sure at any bakers home, youd be able to find those items. Furthermore, the inside of a choux is empty, which means I can have LOADS of purple filling to screw peoples mind. Choux = French; Sweet potato = Japanese or Asian; purple = could be yam; quite confusing isnt it ?

The filling is a creme patisserie mixed with steamed and mashed sweet potato, much like the mont blanc. I was really just trying my luck anyway. The sweet potato ice cream worked, so I suppose this could possibly work as well.

For the choux puffs, I used the recipe from Adriano Zumbo when he did the Pear Perfection challenge for Junior Masterchef. Pear Perfection is on my to-do list but I jus! t never got around doing it. I made 2 sizes, 2 inches and 1 inch puffs just cause. Its up to you on which size of puffs you want to make but just so long as you know how long it should be baked. Anyone should, by now know that, most recipes on my blog are experiments and I just go by feel, hence I cant exactly say how much it yields. Lol. As for the creme patisserie recipe, I used the one from Mont Blancpost and added some steamed and mashed sweet potato.

Purple Sweet Potato Choux Puffs

Choux Puffs
(makes about 12-15)

100g butter, plus extra block of butter to grease tray
5g caster sugar
105ml water
135ml milk
5g salt
135g plain flour
3 eggs
1 egg yolk

Creme Patisserie
450ml milk
1/2 vanilla bean
42g cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 yolk
140g sugar
*cant remember how much mashed sweet potato I used, probably between 150-250g*

Choux batter

Method.

1.Make cream patisserie.Scrap seeds of vanilla pod into 3/4 of milk. Bring to a boil, then turn off heat and let it infuse for 30 minutes. You can do this overnight if you want to. Turn on heat and add in half the amount of the sugar into the milk and let it come to a simmer.

2. In another bowl, mix the remaining 1/4 of milk, eggs and yolk, remaining half of the sugar and corn starch. Whisk tilll everything is combined. Once the milk is simmering, pour a quarter of milk into the egg mixture whilst stirring ! constant ly. Then gradually pour in the rest of milk and dont forget to stir.

3. Pour the entire thing back into the pot, cook over very low heat while stirring with a whisk. Continue till mixture is thickened and when you see blooping bubbles, youll just need a minute more. Make sure you stir all the time to prevent egg curdling or burning.

4. When its ready, pour over a sieve into a clean bowl. Cover with a cling film, making sure it touches the entire surface of the creme patisserie to prevent skinning. Refrigerate and let it cool.

5. Wash, peel and chop purple sweet potato. Steam for about 15-20 minutes or until soft and tender. Mash with a fork. To make sweet potato cream patisserie, lightly beat chilled creme patisserie and add in mashed purple sweet potato. Fill into a piping bag with a nozzle, chill till ready to use

6. Make Choux Puffs. Preheat the oven to 185C.Combine butter, sugar, water, milk, colour & salt in a large heavy based saucepan and bring to the boil.

7.Remove from the heat and quickly beat in the flour with a wooden spoon. Return to the heat and continue beating until the mixture comes together and leaves the side of the pan.Keep beating over low heat for 12 minutes to cook the flour. At this point, you would see a thin crusty layer at the bottom of the pan.Remove from heatand cool slightly.Transfer to the mixing bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-high to release the heat.

8. Add the eggs one at a time beating well between each addition, continue beating until the mixture is thickand glossy (something like a mayonnaise).

9. Fit a round 10mm piping nozzle into a piping bag and fill in choux pastry. Pipe 2 inches round choux mixture.Bake the choux buns in oven for approx 20 minutes, then drop oven to 120C and cook for a further 6-8 minutes until hollow when tapped. Allow to cool before filling with creme patisserie

10. Poke the bottom of the choux puff and fill it up with the sweet potato creme patisserie. Serve im! mediatel y.

*Tip: Choux puffs last longer without any filling, so be sure to only pipe in the filling right before serving.

notice

Sak Restaurant @ Eagle Street, Brisbane

The last time I had an invitation to a restaurant review was when I was back in Malaysia, somewhat when I was still very active in food blogging. That still, invitations were as rare as you see Wagyu beef on menus 2 years ago. However, from what I see in the food blogging scene back in Malaysia, invitations seem to be as common as eating Wagyu beef nowadays.


However in Australia, invitations to me seem to be as rare as eating kobe beef (oh wait, make that Matsusaka beef).

That being said, after blogging in Australia for close to a year, I am proud to say that Lots of Cravings have been noticed and scored its first invitation in Brisbane last Tuesday (which does not mean I got to eat the Matsusaka beef).



And may I add, not to some faraway place like my first invitation (from what I can remember back in 2008) at the hotel in the KL International Airport (which was an 1 hour drive away).


A couple of weeks ago, I received an invite from the wonderful Caitlin from Cocom PR to Sake, one of the newer additions to the upmarket Japanese restaurants in Brisbane. With the Sydney outlet being a one hatted restaurant and the executive chef being somewhat famous (any chef appearing in MasterChef is considered famous in my eyes), who could say no?


With the menu being the Winter menu, I sat down along with the food bloggers of the town, prepared to be dazzled.

Whisked into one of their private rooms, we were served with our first glass of sake; the Amabuki Daiginjo. Like any good glass ! of alcoh ol, it doesn't burn your throat when it goes down and tastes much more complex than drinking pure alcohol. This glass was a good start, a fruity slant in the mouth.

We were quickly served our amuse bouche, a slice of amberjack freshly caught that early morning with a ginger dressing. On the side, it was a starchy soup which I would have guessed as potato which turns out to be yam. While I would haven't served soup with sashimi, it was an interesting contrast.

When the plate of Southern Blue Fin Tuna sashimi was placed on the table; my eyes glittered. Not exactly a fan of the leaner cut of Akami or the more lay man name of "Maguro", it was the fattier cuts from the belly being the Chu-toro and the O-toro that I enjoy. At AUD 5, 7 and 10 a slice respectively, you better enjoy how the fish melts in your mouth.

Continuing with the sashimi, we had two Kumamoto Oysters topped with a bonito dashi jelly and flying fish roe and a scallop that was lightly seared topped with salmon roe and ponzu sauce. No complaints as all the toppings and sauces complimented t! he fresh seafood.

A venison tataki appeared on the table somewhat similar to a carpaccio except for the light sear on all sides. The topping of crispy ginger chips, pickled pears and plum topped with a sansho pepper dressing are all delicately placed. It is almost like art, alas art does not make you full as I stared for another 5 seconds before polishing the plate.

Days before the dinner, we had been drinking beef bone marrow soup, a cheap delicacy recipe from a Korean friend. Soothing broth and rich creamy marrow although in a different league (lower) to the tuna marrow version here. The lighter and clearer consomme was paired with a spanner crab and yellow tuna dumpling with a variety of mushrooms. A outer tuna layer had a dry texture which is luckily compensated by the sweet almost raw like crab filing.

The Quail done three ways definitely didn't look like it came out from a Japanese kitchen. The main star of the trio is the galantine stuffed with yama-gobo and shiitake mushrooms. It is complimented by a piece of quail karaage and a roasted wing. Although it looks more! comfort able on a table of a French restaurant, the Japanese flavours are evident especially the sweet soy glaze.

Another beautiful plate; this time a winter salad that had persimmon, kumquats, daikon, celery, minza, spinach, renkon and radish with a ginger and guava dressing. Most were lightly pickled or fresh. The highlights were the beetroot leaves and the fried lotus roots.

By this time, we had one more main dish before a dessert and apart from sashimi, this omakase or kaiseki had not seen the appearance of any classic Japanese dishes, like your tempura, nabe, teriyaki or noodles i.e. udon and soba. Despite being labelled as a winter menu, there were no stews or heavy soup dishes that I associate with winter dishes. Everything was very light yet tasty. However, by now, I realised Sake was not having any of that. In a new school of thought, the meal was almost designed to be carb-free and we ended with a bang with the Wagyu beef.

Having eaten Kobe Beef, the Grade 7 Wagyu Sirloin came a close second. Grilled beautifully, it was accompanied with a white sesame and ginger miso emulsion which should be taken in small quantities because of the salty feature, confit sato-imo (tiny yam) and onion bulbs. I would be happy to be served this dish alone but with double the amount of cow.

Wi! th 7 cou rses tucked in, it was finally dessert time (although I was still pretty sure I could survive another 2-3 courses more before calling it a day).

Inspired by an incident which involved the head chef kicking a soccer ball into his mom's herb garden, causing a big mess, the Chocolate Garden had a dark chocolate bavaroi, chocolate sand, white chocolate sorbet and chocolate liqueur jelly. A mess it tried to replicate but look carefully, again it was plated with care. A beautiful way to finish off the meal and a must order if you love chocolates. Totally unexpected dessert to come out from a Japanese kitchen, where did the black sesame ice-cream go?

As an option, a flight of sake from the Kozaemon label can accompany your meal and you be amazed how the sake interact with each of the dishes. Tasting glasses were in the AUD10 range.

For AUD 115 (just the food), the price appears to be on par with most of the high end places (if not slightly cheaper) and if I had a reason to celebrate, Sake will definitely be at the back of my mind.

Address and contact details:

Verdict: 4 stars out of 5 stars. You get what you pay and even though I didn't have to pay a cent, I be happy to pay the price becauseI definitely enjoyed the flight of ! dishes; flavour profile was distinctly Japanese but were all beautifully plated like Modern Australian fine dining cuisine.
Exactly what you want to get when you leave the choice of what to eat to the chef. Speaking of which,Shinichi Maeda has done a great job in modernising Japanese food away from the typical dishes. A quick look into the ala-carte menu though, still shows you have the option to go back, but why would you if you can have all things fresh and new?

Makan Sampai Kenyang Shiok Shiok - It's Durian Season

If you "shiok" durian and want a feast then you go SS2 (near the Police Station) for one. It was a Sunday & look at the crowd Malaysians truly love their durian.D24 from Pahang for RM10 per kilogram & it's so tasty and wonderful.The satisfied customers, even the senior citizen loves his durian. One more fruit ..... okay.

Recipe: Master Stock Chicken ()

Recently, I've gotten engaged in an interesting debate about the definition of Master Stock. In other words, what makes a Master Stock, Master Stock? From the debate, I've learnt a lot of things. Although I was inaccurate at some point, I am glad that the debate happened because it refreshed memories of having once owned a Master Stock (I used it only three times and it spoilt at the fourth) and the anger over how difficult was it to remove the aroma of the Chinese spices from my apartment.

In Chinese, Master Stock is called (Lou Shui). Basically, it means poaching or braising water that is meant to be reused again and again. In Cantonese, Master Stock is called , an indication that the stock has been around for a thousand years.

Sounds disgusting no?

Well, that's because back in the olden days, people do not need to pay for their gas bills. All they need to do is to gather wood, set it on fire, and let the Master Stock boil away in an earthenware every day. An earthenware is used to keep the stock from iron rust and the smell wood mildew. Some kitchens that sell braised items would have a Master Stock because they braise items everyday. This means that there is a reason to let the fire run the entire day.

Moreover, the layer of fat on top of the Master Stock will prevent the Master Stock from deteriorating. However, there is a precaution. According to one of the articles on Master Stock at MeishiChina.com, too much of fat and the Master Stock will start to develop mildew. Too little of fat, the MasterStock will deteriorate in no time. Most importantly, the stock has to beboiledevery single day if it is not to be frozen.

Apart from that, only one kind of meat is to be allocated to a Master Stock. That is, if you were to use a Master Stock to braise or poach chicken, you cannot use it for pork. However, from the websites I've came across, most people cross-contaminate their stocks with a jumble of ingredients. The most common ones are chicken! mary la nd, pork belly, goose feet and wings and duck gizzard. Sometimes, pork innards were used too!

However, my mom told me that once you use the Master Stock to poach tofu and eggs, the Master Stock is as good as dead because the ingredients can turn the stock can sour. Not sure how that works but it is better to be safe than sorry.

With this knowledge in head, I am confident that I can keep my Master Stock up to next year and prepare something for my parents. I've used my freshly made stock to make Master Stock Chicken. However, my mom did warn me that I have to be really careful with how I deal with my stock. After each use, I am supposed to strain it and then reboil it. Then, I would have to let it cool on the bench and let it drop to room temperature before freezing it. If I were to put it in the fridge, I would need to reboil it everyday.


Enough of prattling, here's the recipe:



Recipe for the base of the Masterstock:

Ingredients:

Wet:
-750 ml of water
-250 ml of light soy sauce
-75 ml of Chinese rice wine

Dry:
-100 grammes of rock sugar
-A dash of high quality dashi stock (cheat)
-10 white peppercorns, crushed
-12 Szechuan peppercorns
-2 Szechuan dried chllies
-1 cinnamon quill and 1 star anise
-1 piece of dried tangerine skin
-3 bay leaves
-8 cloves of garlic, crushed
-1cm knob of ginger, sliced into pieces
-4 spring onions, root chopped off, cut into halves

Instructions:

1. Bring wet ingredients to boil. Insert dry ingredients. Bring down to simmer. Simmer for 45 minutes, sieve impurities. Set stock aside to cool before storing it in a glass tupperware to be frozen orrefrigerated.

2. Reboil stock before each use.
!


The long cooking time would render the fats that are sitting under skin, ensuring that you get to enjoy the skin without feeling guilty about blowing up your arteries

Recipe: Chicken Masterstock. (Serves 2)

Ingredients:

-Masterstock

-1 chicken maryland cut at the joints

Instructions:

1. Blanch chicken in boiling hot water for 4 minutes to remove blood and impurities. Remove chicken, rinse in cold water. Set aside.

2. Bring masterstock to simmer and then place chicken inside. Simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

3. After 1 hour, the meat should still be intact and not falling off. However, when eating the chicken, the meat should come off the bone without much effort.

4. Serve the chicken with rice or noodles and greens.

5. The stock should be sieved and reboiled again before storing it away.

Chicken served with oyster sauce tossed with shrimp egg noodlesI've discovered the wonders of oyster sauce yesterday. I decided to go adventurous with my noodles and incorporated oyster sauce with my shrimp egg noodles. Will share with you guys the recipe in the next post. :)


My idea of ! comfort food
Have a great Wednesday!

The Chocolate Story With Godiva Chocolatier Pavilion Kuala Lumpur

Cacao or better known as Chocolate, is love by all level ages of people from young till old.is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America, with its earliest documented use around 1100 BC. The majority of the Mesoamerican people made chocolate beverages, including the Aztecs, who made it into a beverage known as xocoltl, a Nahuatl word meaning bitter water. The seeds of the cacao tree have an intense bitter taste, and must be fermented to develop the flavor.

After fermentation, the beans are dried, then cleaned, and then roasted, and the shell is removed to produce cacao nibs. The nibs are then ground to cocoa mass, pure chocolate in rough form. Because this cocoa mass usually is liquefied then molded with or without other ingredients, it is called chocolate liquor. The liquor also may be processed into two components: cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Unsweetened baking chocolate (bitter chocolate) contains primarily cocoa solids and cocoa butter in varying proportions. Much of the chocolate consumed today is in the form of sweet chocolate, combining cocoa solids, cocoa butter or other fat, and sugar. Milk chocolate is sweet chocolate that additionally contains milk powder or condensed milk. White chocolate contains cocoa butter, sugar, and milk but no cocoa solids.

There are many brands of chocolates out there on the shelves but the more famous one which available in KL would be Godiva. The best chocolates MUST come from Belgium which famous for its finest quality.

I am lucky enough to be invited to join a bunch of famous bloggers to attend a private function where we get to see what the famous Godiva brand chocolate is all about.

The company was founded in Belgium in 1926 byJoseph Draps, over the past 80 some years it has grown to become one of the larger premium chocolate brand in the world with annual sales over $500 million. We are fortunate enough to have one in our country located in Pavillion KL where you can purchase a lot of their products as well as have coffee, cakes, and other of their hand crafted desserts.

Bite size cheesecakes

Perfect to go with a cup of good coffee to start the day

Not to mention their awesome macarons which we all love so much and the current hype of the dessert frenzy in KL

I cant say no to this!

Yazeed the brand manager of Godiva Malaysia explains to us all about Godiva and info about chocolates.

We were shown how to make our own chocolate goodies by using the finest chocolates by Godiva

Melted chocolate