The World is a Book...

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." - St Augustine


A small interruption from my EuroTrip photos as I celebrate my birthday...

Yorkshire Pudding 2.0

If you’ve been following this blog you probably have some idea why there’s a 2.0 in the title. Or should it be 1.1?

My first attempt at making Yorkshire pudding wasn’t a great success. But judging from my son polishing off that first batch like there’s no tomorrow, it wasn’t a complete failure either. I have since tried various other recipes and have finally found one I am happy with.

Give honour to where honour is due. The recipe below was inspired by the English episode of SBS’s Food Safari. I’ve tweaked it slightly for a “lighter” version. Instead of using duck/goose fat or drippings I substituted sunflower oil. I also found the 10g of salt on the original recipe a bit much. You decide how much salt to put in. You can even add sugar if you’re so inclined for a sweet kind of pud. Instead of gravy, pour cream or ice cream for a decadent dessert. It’s not so out there come to think of it as the ingredients for this are not that dissimilar to pancakes.

It’s the cooking technique that makes all the difference. The oven must be really hot. The fat in the muffin tins must also be smoking hot. The batter needs that constant high temperature hit until it’s done. Otherwise you would not get that characteristic crater in the middle of this pudding.

Yorkshire Pudding ala Beancounter 2.0
4 eggs
200g plain flour
450ml full cream milk
A bit of salt
Sunflower oil

1. Place your muffin tins in an 180C oven to warm through.

2. Mix together the flour and the salt and make a well in the centre.

3. In a separate bowl beat the eggs and milk together. Pour about a third of the liquid into the centre of the flour well and whisk until all absorbed. Add another third of the liquid and so on. Set aside your batter.

4. Turn the heat up to 220C. Take the muffin tins out and pour about 1 cm of oil in each tin and place back in the oven until the oil is smoking hot.

5. Remove the muffin tray once more and pour the batter into each tin until three quarters full. Return to the oven and cook for 15 -20 minutes until crisp and golden brown. Serve hot with your roast beef.

Braised Beef Brisket (Beef Pares/Chinese Adobo)

We've never cooked this at home when I was growing up. I assumed as a young boy that this was difficult to make. It was a special dish we could only get at Chinese restaurants. It tasted delicious and exotic I was very sure my convictions were nothing but correct. I was wrong, of course, and I'm glad I was...

What I did not realise about this dish is the fact that it has long been "Filipinised." It has an unmistakably Chinese origin but Filipinos have adopted it as their own. "Pares" (literally means "pair") eateries found all over Manila pair this rich beef stew with either rice or noodles for a satisfying meal any time of the day.

Some affectionately refer to this as Chinese adobo. It is easy to see why. It looks like adobo but a slight whiff of this dish tells you it is anything but. What sets it apart is the use of spices not commonly found in Filipino cuisine. Star anise is literally the star here. Leave it out and you'll be left with nothing but chunks of bland boiled beef.






One other very important consideration when cooking this is the right cut of meat. Beef brisket braises the best, I find. But you could probably get away with any highly marbled cut of beef. So, if you feel queasy at the thought of "fat" just do a stir fry. This is why it also makes for the perfect winter meal.





Braised Beef Brisket (Beef Pares/Chinese Adobo)

2kg beef brisket cut in large chunks
1 cup light soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
6 garlic cloves
6 slices ginger
4 stalks spring onion
3 tbsp Chinese wine
3-4 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
Water
Black pepper corns
A bit of oil for sauteing



1. Blanch the beef in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. In a large pot heat up a bit of oil. Saute the ginger, spring onion and garlic for about a minute.
3. Add the meat in the pot and fry for a few minutes.
4. Add the sugar, soy sauce, wine and all the spices. Add water just enough to cover the meat and bring to the boil.
5. Simmer for an hour or so or until the meat is tender.
6. Serve hot with some greens and steamed rice.

Roast Rib of Beef

Although Filipino cuisine has got a lot to offer even in winter (with its rich soups and stews) I find nothing more comforting than traditional English roast beef to counter the cold.



Roasting used to intimidate me. Growing up in a home with no "real oven" to speak of the concept of "oven roasting" was an entirely new arena for me. My early ventures into this style of cooking resulted in mini disasters but nothing big enough to stop me altogether.



Although your choice cut of meat it vital, roasting is more about getting the combination of the temperature and cooking time right. Once you've mastered this roasting is pretty much fool proof. Always bear in mind though that recipes are simply guides. It is important for you to get to know your oven well. There's no better way to do this than to keep watch as you cook. Half an hour in a recipe might mean 35 minutes using your oven...




I prefer to use beef rib roast for this recipe. Not only is it more tender and juicier it also looks more elegant and more sophisticated than other cuts. I like mine "pink" but living in a household dominated by young palates we've reached a compromise as evidenced by my photos.

Roast Rib of Beef

1kg Beef Rib Roast

Butter

Sea Salt

Black Pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 220C.

2. Rub the salt and pepper liberally over the surface of the meat.

3. To keep the meat moist during the roasting process place bits of softened butter all over the meat (a tip from Inay Carmen)

4. Stand the beef rib in a roasting tray and roast for 15 minutes or until the meat starts to brown on the outside.

5. Lower the heat to 180C and continue roasting for about an hour (Approximately 30 minutes for every 500g. Reduce it to 20 minutes if you want it more pink.).

6. Take the meat out of the oven and rest for approximately 10-15 minutes before carving.

7. Serve with some Yorkshire puddings and roasted vegetables.

Baon – Leftover Steak Dinner

I like my rice plain. But one thing that is almost unavoidable when bringing baon to work is soaking it in whatever ulam I’ve brought. Unless I’ve got separate compartments in my baunan my rice is bound to be infused. The rice and the ulam will go together later on anyway so what am I fussing about? Well, I like to do it in my own terms…

For today, I’ve brought left over steak and vegies. My workmate also gave me some home made bola-bola siopao (Vietnamese style) which I had for breakfast.

Of Fried Noodles and Flat Peaches

Fresh egg noodles and I don’t get along well. I mean, I love eating it but cooking with it is another matter. All my past attempts to work with thin fresh egg noodles were failures. That’s why I am so delighted when a friend of mine introduced me to Kwan Wo Fried Noodles. This is not a product placement hiding behind a blog. I am just genuinely pleased about this noodle!

Fried Noodles are not new I’ve been told. They’ve been around for a while I just wasn’t aware of them. Probably because after so many disastrous endeavours I have steered clear of the fresh egg noodle section. I don’t know why it is called “fried” in the first place when it looks quite fresh to me. But regardless, I’m just so happy that this noodle retains its texture and shape even when subjected to high heat or boiling hot soup.

Ever the advocate for uncomplicated food I made a simple beef stir-fry noodles using this product with some baby bok choy (pechay to us Pinoys). The resulting meal was satisfyingly good (Refer to the recipe at the end of this blow).

Another new discovery in the past week was Donut Peach. I thought I’ve seen every kind of peach that is available. Apparently not! Looking at this peach variety at first you can be forgiven for thinking someone just stepped on it. It looks flat a little bit deformed. Apart from its unusual appearance it tastes exactly like a “normal” white fleshed peach. The other benefit of this strain is that it is easier to eat as it has got a much smaller stone.

Beef Stir Fry Noodles ala Beancounter

200g Fried Noodles
Some slices of beef
Some bok choy
1 clove garlic chopped finely
Oyster sauce
Soy Sauce
Chicken stock
A bit of oil

1. Heat up a bit of oil in a wok.
2. Brown the meat pieces then set aside. You might have to do this in batches to avoid steaming the meat.
3. Add a bit more oil if necessary. Stir fry the chopped garlic for a few seconds.
4. Add the meat back in.
5. Add the bok choy.
6. Add some oyster sauce and soy sauce to your taste.
7. Add about a cup of stock. Let it boil.
8. Add the noodles and cook for about 2 minutes. Serve hot.

Thai Beef Salad (Yam Neua)

It is probably pretty obvious by now how fond I am of Thai cuisine. If you're not convinced yet here's another family favourite that you'll hopefully like as well.

Warm Thai Beef Salad was one of the dishes that got me hooked to Thai cuisine. My idea of what salad should be was totally turned upside down after trying Yam Neua. Salad, which I thought was supposed to be a cold and an unexciting, not very filling nor satisfying, side dish, is one of the main attractions in the Thai gastronomy and a great one at that!

Typical of Thai dishes, this salad also requires you to put together ingredients with very strong flavours of their own but when combined together contributes a nuance to the final taste that it can be pretty difficult to use substitutes.

Coriander root, for example, is a pretty unconventional ingredient that I think has no other alternative (apart from other parts of the coriander plant). Mint is another. Lemon is just not good enough as a stand-in for lemongrass.

Although a food processor can do a decent job in making the dressing I still suggest you acquire a proper mortar and pestle (if you haven’t got one yet) to do this dish. It is a worthwhile investment as you can use it to make all sorts of pastes to add to your cooking repertoire.

You do not have to stick to the selection of salad vegetables I’ve listed in my recipe. Feel free to add or take off ingredients to suit your taste. Also, the levels of sweetness, spiciness, sourness and saltiness can be adjusted to your liking by adding more or less of the dressing ingredients. The dressing can also be used as a marinade for other meats like lamb, pork, chicken or even fish.



Thai Beef Salad

A couple of steak pieces of your choice

Dressing
3-4 pieces coriander root
1 lemongrass - white part only chopped finely
6-8 mint leaves
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 birds eye chilies
Juice of 2 limes
2-3 tablespoons of palm sugar or white sugar
2-3 tablespoons fish sauce

Salad
Iceberg lettuce
Bean sprouts
Cucumber
Spanish onion
Snow peas
Coriander leaves
Mint leaves

1. Combine all the dry dressing ingredients in a mortar and pestle and pound until it turns to paste.
2. Add the remaining ingredients. Adjust the saltiness, sweetness, sourness and spiciness according to your taste.
3. Using some of the dressing marinate your steak for at least half an hour. Set aside the rest of the dressing.
3. In a large bowl combine all your salad ingredients.
4. Barbequing the meat adds more flavour to the final dish but pan frying can work just as well. Heat up a pan on very high heat. Rub the meat with a bit of oil before frying. You decide then how done you want your meat to be. Let your steak rest for a few minutes before slicing.
5. Place the sliced meat on top of your salad. Pour the remaining dressing over the salad. Enjoy on its own or serve with other barbequed meats.

T-Bone Bistek (Beef with Onions Filipino Style)

I did not intend to use T-bone in making this dish. But we’ve got an oversupply of this cut of beef thanks to my father! You see, dad flew to Manila about a month ago. It’s his custom to request his butcher to freeze and vacuum pack T-bone steaks for him for to give to his friends in Manila. Fortunately for us (unfortunately for him) he was not able to check all of them in. He had to leave behind approximately 5 kilos of steak.



Apart from the normal steak and potatoes I’ve used T-bone for stir fries, stews and all sorts of beef dishes. But one that stands out is the Pinoy Bistek.



I’m not a fan of fusion cuisine (western ingredients cooked Asian/eastern style or the other way around) but bistek, in my opinion, is a good example of how it can probably work.



This dish also does not require a lot of ingredients and is quite simple to cook. And because of this the quality of the ingredients is even more pertinent.


Here’s how I prepare mine:

T-bone Bistek ala Kidapawan

2 fairly thick cuts of T-bone steak
Juice of one lime (I prefer calamansi but there were none available)
4-5 tablespoons of soy sauce
3 tablespoons of oil
3 large Spanish onions sliced into rings (if you like onions just add more)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Sirloin is more commonly used for this dish but since T-bone is what we have you need to de-bone the steaks then sliced into fairly thin pieces (the thinner the quicker to cook). Marinate the beef pieces in 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and juice of half a lime. Leave for about half an hour.
2. Heat up a little bit of oil using a pan with a fairly thick base. Sear the marinated beef a few pieces at a time to avoid steaming the meat. You probably need only 30 seconds each side. Set aside the seared meat.
3. Cook half the onion rings in the same pan (if you don’t like the taste of raw onions add them all instead of just half). Add a bit more oil if necessary. Wait until the onions start to caramelise. 4. Add the seared meat back in the pan. Add the remaining soy sauce, lime juice and black pepper and cook for another 2 minutes.
5. Add the remaining onion rings just before serving.
6. Serve with jasmine rice or roast potatoes.

Variation on a Steak

As much as I like steak in a restaurant I love it even better when I cook it at home. I’m yet to encounter my perfect steak meal when dining out. More on that a little bit later.

The closest to perfection in my opinion was the steak I had at Embers in Milton. It was so good there was no need for any sauce or any other accompaniment. But still it fell short.

Although the accompaniment is exactly what it is, an accompaniment it could make or break the deal for me. Steak is not hard to duplicate at home. All you need is your preferred cut of meat, the right equipment (a good grill/barbeque, cast iron plates perhaps) and a bit of cooking skill and voila, you can cook the perfect steak! It just becomes more involved when you try to copy the “other” things that came with your restaurant steak.

I come from a culture that does not consider a meal complete without rice. Rice is present in Filipino gastronomy from breakfast to dinner and anything in between. It is therefore natural that my idea of a perfect steak meal includes rice.

I’ve had steak with the usual suspects (seasonal vegetables and potato – baked/chips/mashed). Other times I’ve had them with more interesting sides like garlic prawns. But I’m not aware of any restaurant that serves steak with rice (in Australia), steaming hot jasmine rice to be more specific.

I like my steak medium rare served on a sizzling plate. It might be horrifying for some but I use supermarket bought sauces. Que horror! purists might say but I just haven’t got the time to make jus for two when we feel like having steak.

Apart from the rice, my preferred side dishes are caramelised carrots and Brussels sprouts (a stuff of nightmares in some cartoon series).

Here’s how I do my steak:

Steak
T-bone (the meat closest to the bone is the tastiest)
A bit of sea salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
Olive oil

1. Put the sizzling pan on the stove (preferably gas)
2. Some say do not salt your steak before cooking. I don’t subscribe to this. If you want to do it my way I suggest you salt the steak at least 10 minutes before cooking.
3. Add some black pepper (to your taste).
4. Cover the steak in olive oil.
5. After 10 minutes of marinating thrown your steak on the sizzling plate. Make sure it’s on high heat to develop a nice colour on your steak.
6. Depending on the thickness of the steak medium rare is about 2 minutes on each side.
7. Pour your preferred sauce onto the steak (while still on the sizzling plate) just before serving.



Brussels Sprouts w/ bacon
8-10 Brussels sprouts cut in half
A slice of bacon chopped (Pancetta if you want to be a bit more fancy)
Butter (not margarine)
Sea salt

1. Boil some salted water.
2. Add the Brussels sprouts and cook about ¾ of the way. Drain then set aside.
3. In a pan melt some butter then fry the bacon pieces.
4. Add the Brussels sprouts and cook for another 3-5 minutes.

Caramelised Carrots
1-2 Carrots cut into chip size pieces or mini batons
Sea salt
Butter (not margarine)
Bay leaf
A bit of water

1. Combine all the ingredients together except for the butter. Make sure the water just covers the carrot pieces. Cook over medium heat.
2. Just before all the water has evaporated add the butter.
3. Cook until the pan starts to sizzle and the carrots are starting to caramelise.

Beef w/ Gai Lan for a double iron hit

We’re now about 34 weeks in the pregnancy. And we recently found out the Cherry is a bit anaemic. She’s now taking iron supplements (and will for the duration of the pregnancy) but we’ve also been advised to eat more red meat. That’s not so hard!

The recipe below does not have a lot of ingredients and is also pretty quick to make (as with most stir fries). And the added bonus, you get a double hit of iron! So, eat up!

Beef w/ Gai Lan (aka Beef w/ Chinese Broccoli)

500g rump steak cut into stir fry pieces

1 bunch gai lan

1 teaspoon ginger

1 clove garlic chopped

3 tablespoons oyster sauce

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

A bit of oil

¼ cup stock or water

1. Marinate the beef using 1 tablespoon of the oyster sauce and 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce
2. Prepare the gai lan by cutting the vegetable in half separating the stalks from the leaves.
3. Heat up the wok in high heat. Add a bit of oil. Stir fry the beef in batches to avoid steaming the meat. Set aside the stir fried beef.
4. Add a bit more oil to the same wok. Stir fry the ginger and the garlic for about a minute.
5. Add the stalk part of the vegetable and stir fry for about 2 minutes. Add a bit of stock/water.
6. Add the beef back in and stir fry for another minute.
7. Add the leaf part of the gai lan together with the remaining sauces and stir fry until the gai lan has wilted.
8. Serve with steaming hot jasmine rice.

Lunch Club – Sarah’s Moussaka

Moussaka is supposed to have originated in the Middle East but I think it is more well known as a Greek dish.

It’s like the Greek’s version of lasagne without the pasta. Eggplant is used instead of lasagne sheets. For those of you in low carb diet this is a very good substitute.

Sarah’s version has got a lot more character by using grilled eggplants rather than fried. It would have to be lower in fat too as a result.

sourdough bopp (for carbs!)

The béchamel sauce would have countered that though (with the amount of butter used). But who cares! I brought some sourdough bread to balance the low carbness of the dish!

Here’s her recipe:

Sarah’s Moussaka

3 large eggplants, sliced and salted for 1 hour then grilled for 5 mins each side to soften


Meat sauce
1 large onion finely diced
3 cloves of garlic (or as much as you like) crushed
Beef or lamb mince
1 large tin of whole plum tomatoes
S&P
Chilli
Paprika
Nutmeg

Béchamel Sauce
Knob of butter
Couple of tablespoons of flour
Around 2/3 pint of milk
Grated Parmesan
S&P
Nutmeg

Melt the butter, stir in the flour and gradually blend in the milk. Fold the cheese and the spices into the sauce.


To arrange the Moussaka start with a bottom layer of eggplant, then meat, eggplant, meat, eggplant etc finishing with the white sauce.

You can do the bottom layer with potato, and add slices of zucchini if you like.

Bake for 30/45 mins

Enjoy!

Lunch Club – Mike’s Beef Rendang

Mike cooked Beef Rendang about a couple of weeks ago. That was when we were still having incredibly rich food…with rice, of course.

It was spicy with just the right amount of heat. He served it with Basmati rice rather than the usual Jasmine. There’s the healthy bit for you. Basmati is supposedly low GI in comparison to Jasmine.

He used Bamboe branded Rendang paste. The cooking instructions are printed on the packet.

Thanks Mike! Your curries are good! No fried rice and noodles please…