Asam Sotong Goreng (Tamarind Squid)

This recipe is from Mrs Lee's Cookbook and it is extremely simple.It is basically squid marinated in Asam/Tamarind and cooked in its own ink.

You just cut up your squid or you can use baby squid and keep them whole, separating the head and the body. Cut out the eyes and, this is important, make sure you don't break the ink sac because basically the ink sac is your sauce. So after cutting up the squid, marinate them in tamarind, tho I don't really think u need to add water as the recipe stated because squid can get a little watery anyway. But either way, after marinating for 30 minutes drain the squid and toss them into a hot wok with a little oil and cook for a couple of minutes till they're done. Make sure by this stage you've popped the ink sac. Remove the squid and leave the inky sauce to reduce, add salt to taste and pour over the squid and serve!

I love squid and so does Caelyn. What about u?

Dreaming of Greener Pastures

There are days where I wish we could move to another country for a while, to have a change of pace, change of environment, and just to get away from Singapore. Ideally to a western country like Europe or the Americas. Have I over romanticised the idea of moving to another country because maybe the grass really isn't greener on the other side? Or maybe I'm just dreaming of the day we'll be back in Australia again.

Ikan Masak Pedas (Spicy cooked Fish)

This is a very tasty recipe if you like sour type of gravy, I think another name for it is Asam Fish. Even Caelyn likes the gravy. The recipe is from the Joy of Cooking series - Traditional Nonya Cuisine.

Ingredients:
150g lady's fingers/okra, cut into pieces (I didn't have any, but had a yellow zucchini so I used that)
2 tomatoes, quartered
1 stalk lemongrass
2 tbsp tamarind/asam
10 cloves shallots (I substituted with 1 red onion)
5 dried chillies
5 red chillies
1 inch (1/2 tbsp) shrimp paste/belacan
1/2 inch turmeric or turmeric powder
some cooking oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
600g fish

1. Smash lemongrass. Mix tamarind with 3 cups of water.
2. In a blender or mortar and pestle, grind the shallots, dried chillies, red chillies, shrimp paste and turmeric together. Heat up oil and fry the pounded ingredients until fragrant. (This smells sooo good. Be warned, your house will be filled with the smell).
3. Add in tamarind juice, salt and sugar to taste and bring to a boil.
4. Add in lemongrass, fish, okra and tomatoes. Cook for about minutes then serve.

You don't have to use whole fish like I did, fish steaks would be just as good.

Pastry Day

I love pizza in any way, shape or form. So I made these Pizza pinwheels from ready rolled puff pastry. Very very yummy. They tasted even better the next day when I put them on the toaster oven as it grilled the bottom and made the bottom crispy. I also made some pinwheels with nutella filling for hubby as he likes chocolate filled pastries. I also experimented with the Silicopat baking sheet. I put some on it and some just on the baking tray with some cooking oil spray on it. Conclusion: the Silicopat is awesome. Nothing sticks on it. Although puff pastry is quite oily, it will still stick on to the tray without the Silicopat and you'll need to scrape it a little before you'll be able to lift it.

These are the chocolate ones

Also decided to make some almond koniyaku jelly. I just love the moulds. Loved them so much that I decided to make ice in the moulds, now I have teddy bear shaped ice cubes! hehehe..

Silicopat Baking Sheet

My latest acquisition to add to my baking supplies - a Silicopat Baking Sheet! Got it from Phoon Huat for $16.31, it's the Italian cousin of the French Silpat that I see a lot on American cooking shows. Looking forward to using it.

On a separate note, I'm really disappointed that I missed the Mummy 3 on the big screen Movies come and go waaay too fast in Singapore. Why is that, can anyone tell me? I vaguely recall in Australia that movies stick around for ages, like for over a month giving people enough time to plan to go see it. Bummer......