20051028

This morning, made a simple soup of spring onions and chicken liver. Used those long, thick japanese spring onion (ねぎ ) and cut them into thick slices. Boiled some water (added salt) in a pot and then added the white bits of the spring onions. After bringing to a boil again, added the pieces of chicken liver and heart. Simmered. When the liver was cooked, added the green bits of the spring onion, a little soya sauce, pepper, and tore in two dried chillis to add some kick. Heated for a little longer and that was it.

Verdict: good, did not use too much water this time (common mistake for me when boiling) so the taste was not too thin. Would be better with some stock and a little ginger though.

20051020

This morning, made an omlette with ladies' fingers/okra. Ingredients: half an onion, chopped finely; 8 or so ladies' fingers, sliced finely crosswise; 2 eggs, beaten. First, fried the onion in a pan until brown. Recalled that the onions here (big brown type) do not brown the same way as the small purple ones (shallots?) back home. Ah well, takes longer and the colour and aroma are slightly off, but will do. Added the ladies' fingers. Toss and fry. Add egg and proceed.

Verdict: dull. The omlette was shaped properly this time and turned out per what I wanted. However, I forgot to add salt and other seasoning while cooking and had to sprinkle salt over the omlette before consumption. Definitely affected the taste. Also, the dish felt like it was lacking something. Was halfway through breakfast before I realised what it was. This dish would be so much better with some sliced ham in the omlette. More egg would also give a better balance. Duly noted for the next time.

20051018

Yesterday's dish: 1) fry chopped garlic, chilli powder, szechuan pepper, star anise in a wok 2) add diced soft beancurd (pressed and drained prior) 3) fry for a minute or so 4) add chopped nira/ chinese chives 5) fry and add a little soya sauce just before finishing.

Verdict: good, but needs more chilli powder. Should have pressed the tofu a little longer as well. Was rushed for time so I only pressed it for about 20 minutes. Pressing overnight is what I usually do but would have resulted in a texture slightly firmer than what I wanted this time.

This morning I sauteed (is this not the same as stir-frying?) some diced chicken, added in green capsicum slices, and added some cheese (Kraft sliced cheddar cheese) in as a last minute decision. Continued heating in the frying pan until the cheese melted into the gravy (a matter of a minute or so).

Verdict: not bad, but I want a stronger cheese flavour.

20051014

What I have been cooking at home recently: omlette with にら/chinese chives, stirfried chicken with sliced carrots, etc.

A few days ago, had some leftovers in the fridge but no rice cooked, and was too hungry to wait for my rice cooker to do its job. So, let's have noodles! Had some そうめん/soumen left. Right. Went though the rigmarole of boiling water, adding the noodles, watching and waiting, draining and cooling. And then I decided to lightly fry the leftovers and noodles together in the frying pan. Fried そうめん?

そうめん is a very fine Japanese wheat noodle that is soft and has this strong tendency to cling and clump together while boiling (at least, in the small pot I use). Usually eaten cold in summer after chilling in ice-cold water. Here I was frying it. Well, it turned out alright, except that the noodles did clump a bit, but not bad overall. Maybe I should have cooled the noodles with icewater instead of tap. Or maybe more oil should have been used.

20051004

Have been cooking, but mainly just putting dishes together without much thought, hence the lack of updates here. However, there was something I did last week. Tried wrapping an egg in aluminium foil and heating it in my oven toaster. No explosions resulted. After some time, I broke open the egg only to find it was barely cooked. I guess more than 10 minutes was needed. Wonder how long it will take to get something like a hard-boiled egg.