stir-fried cockle with pineapples

2 tbsp peanut oil

handful curry leaves

2-3 tbsp chilli paste

180g-200g de-shelled cockles, marinated with the juice of one lime right before cooking

150g pineapples pieces

salt, pepper and sugar to taste

1 shot (30ml) rice wine

1 large onion, sliced

handful coriander, chopped

heat the oil in a skillet or wok and fry the curry leaves until fragrant and crunchy. add the chilli paste and saute on high heat until fragrant (be careful, it spatters. if it doesn't, your wok ain't hot enough). now throw in your cockles and pineapples. stir-fry for 2 minutes on high heat, season to taste and deglaze the wok with the wine. cook for a further half minute, stir in the onion and coriander and remove from heat. plate the cockles and sprinkle on some extra coriander for garnish, and flavour of course.

braised vege pasta in tomato curry sauce

serves 2-3

• 1/2 brinjal, cut into large cubes
• oil for deep frying
• 1 tbsps butter
• 1 medium-sized onion, diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp curry powder, mixed with a little water to form a paste
• 1 cup tomato puree
• 2 cups vegetable/ chicken broth
• 1 red capsicum, seeded and sliced lengthwise
• 1/2 chinese napa cabbage, cut into thick slices
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley or basil
• salt and pepper
• parmesan cheese
• 200g pasta, cooked to packet instructions

1. Sprinkle some salt over the brinjal and let sit for about 15 minutes to draw out its moisture, drain.
2. heat some oil in a saucepan. deep fry brinjal for 2-3 minutes; drain on paper towels.
3. remove and leave 1 tbsp of oil in the pan. add the butter and saute the onion and garlic until fragrant.
4. add the curry paste and fry till fragrant, and mix in the tomato puree and broth; bring to boil.
5. add the capsicum and simmer until it is limp, about 10 minutes.
6. add the napa cabbage and reserved brinjal; simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes.
7. season to taste with salt and mix in the chopped herb.
8. serve the braised vegetable over cooked pasta, with a sprinkling of fresh cracked pepper and parmesan cheese shavings.

* i find that drawing the moisture out of brinjal/ eggplant/ aubergine and then deep frying them before braising makes the vegetable (er, technically, botanically it's considered a fruit, specifically a berry. seriously, wiki it.) sweeter in taste and it retains its shape better instead of turning totally mushy during cooking.

rambling about riedel

so i'm officially an employee of The Star now. got my confirmation letter on friday, signed and sent it back to HR today so, hmm, yeah, i guess i'm stuck there for a while. lol, commitment phobe.

covered the Riedel glass tasting on wednesday. got a one-on-one interview with mr. georg riedel, a very imposing character. well-spoken and commands a lot of respect, and respect well deserved considering how far he has brought the company.

Riedel (pronounced "reedle," rhymes with needle) is a family owned Austrian crystal wine glass manufacturer, headed by 10th generation glassmaker Mr. Georg Riedel. Claus Riedel, Georg's father, was the first in history "who thought about wine friendly stemware," believing that the shape, size and rim diameter of a wine glass can significantly affect the enjoyment of wines.

after attending the glass tasting at hilton kl, i have to agree that using the right glass for the right wine could significantly enhance the taste and especially the smell of the wines. as for the material of the stemware, that was an area that we did not delve into, although my online research seems to suggest that there is little or no difference between using glass or plastic stemware of the same shape, size and rim diameter, except for the aesthetics.

which brings to mind a very good quote from mr riedel during the tasting: "if you truly want to insult me, call my glass pretty." they are pretty, but they are functionally pretty. riedel emphasises on grape varietal specific stemware, and to date there are 12 riedel collections, beginning with sommeliers by claus riedel, 10 more by georg riedel (including the Vinum XL collection which the tasting highlights), and the O collection by maximilian riedel.

haha, ok, getting a little academic there, sorry. i guess i'm sorta plotting out how i'm going to write the story.

so after the wine tasting, riedel's distributor in malaysia, muihua sdn bhd treated the media to a wine dinner at senses. and i gotta say, chef michael elfwing is a genius when it comes to food (and a very amicable guy).

his signature "smoking allowed..." first course is fantastical and will rock your pants off. "table smoked tasmanian ocean trout & sugar salted salmon, nordic deep sea shrimp with sour cream & chives." yes, table smoked. they brought out a jar with smoke still trapped in it, and out of the jar comes our smoked ocean trout, which is seasoned just right with a good dill flavour and oh-so-tasty. hmm, the shrimp was a tad chewy though. but, the dish still rox. (paired with clifford bay marlborough sauvignon blanc).

then there was the "wild caught itoyuri & alaskan king crab." seriously, king crab souffle? genius. another very satisfying course served with the yalumba eden valley wild ferment chardonnay. next up, a glass of louis jadot gevrey-chambertin served with elfwing's "french quail & butternut tart." the quail was stuffed with foie gras and their homemade wagyu bacon. sounds quite heavenly but i found the foie gras's flavour a tad liver-ish. maybe not fatty enough?

then the "tomahawk steak baked with hay" made quite a strong impression with the diners as elfwing wheeled it out still in the clay shell and cracked it open to reveal the huge slab of steak beautifully cooked to medium rare (or was it rare? er, was kinda tired at that point so my memory's a lil hazy. haha, didnt take that much note at that point since i'm not required to write abt the dinner.) the steak was yummy, and the hay flavour quite subtle. it was paired with don melchor cabernet sauvignon, which works fine with the steak but i made the mistake of taking a sip of it after a bite of the "senses black forrest" and the acidity of the wine hit me like a huge slap on the face. big mistake lol. would have graciously accepted the coffee if it wasn't already 11pm and i have to get up for work the next morn.

all in all, a nice event from a PR perspective. mr riedel had issues with one of the wines that was provided for the tasting but i guess i see his point. after all, his guide for picking wine glasses was this: spend as much on a glass as you would on a bottle of wine. good advice, but might present a problem though. in malaysia, wines dont come cheap and most of the wines that are consumed don't come close to the price tag of a riedel. there is a market for his wares in this country, but it's not that huge. perhaps that would change in time...

yawn. still have to cover the malaysia barista championship finals tmrw. night night.

sesame oil mee sua with hard boiled egg

so we just finished prayers for the jade emperor's (tian gong) birthday. my mom was the one doing the prayers, i just helped her prep some of the food and wave some joss sticks around. and after all the prayers are done -- paper house and paper gold burned, god munched down the spirit of the food offerings -- whatever was placed on the altar can now be packed up, preferably in our stomachs. so, i whipped together the mee sua and red-dyed hard boiled egg into a delightfully satisfying late night snack. (emphasis on snack. u'd want to increase the amount of mee sua if this is gonna be your main meal.)

• 1 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tbsp oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 fish balls, halved
• 1/4 tsp ground white pepper
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp shao xing rice wine
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 tsp salt to taste
• 2 bundles mee sua
• handful torn lettuce leaves (cos or iceberg)
• 2 hard boiled eggs, sliced or quartered
• handful coriander leaves
• chopped spring onion
• fried garlic
• pinch ground white pepper

1. heat the oil in a saucepan. saute the garlic on medium low heat until just beginning to brown.
2. add the fish balls and fry on high heat for about 1 minute. season with white pepper, soy sauce and rice wine; cook for another minute.
3. add the chicken stock and bring to boil.
4. season to taste with salt and add the mee sua and lettuce leaves. cook for a minute on medium heat, separating the mee sua with chopsticks.
5. remove from heat. divide the mee sua, fish balls, lettuce and soup between two bowls.
6. top each bowl with an egg each, some coriander leaves, spring onion, fried garlic and white pepper.
7. serve immediately.

note: sadly, my bowl of mee sua didn't actually have spring onions in it, but it still tasted great. it'd be much better with it though.

thanks tseyein for taking the pikchar.

quick update

so as the title suggests, i'll keep this short.

firstly, apologies to my one and only follower on this pathetically miserable blog that doesn't get updated. haha, sorry. u know how i am.

anyway, i got a job as a sub-editor with Flavours magazine (owned by Star Publications), and that's taking up a huge chunk of my life. i've literally worked every damn day since i started work there on dec14, 2009. no kidding. public holidays, saturdays and sundays. the only days i've had off are dec25 for my christmas party, and yesterday and today coz i'm on MC for conjunctivitis. bleh.

so yeah, if u think that getting a job at a food magazine is gonna give me more time to cook, hells no. i get lots of inspiration for food (i spend the whole day reading recipes and articles about food and wine), but i don't get much of a chance to try them. so that sucks. it's kinda like sucking the life out of my passion for food. after a while, every recipe i read feels like a bore.

i'm digressing. my point is, i have a lot more things to say regarding food nowadays, but much less time to do it. i've also accumulated a lot of recipes but no time to publish it. i do sometimes log on to nibbledish to post my recipes coz i have more than one follower on that site. and no, i don't mean just two. i actually have a pretty decent sized following there. pro ranking okay, don't play play. so, check things out over there when things are quiet here.

i will attempt to keep this food blog more updated. (note to self: posts on christmas dinner and all the yummeh yummeh foods that night; high tide; and things-i-don't-like-abt-nibbledish-since-yongfook-sold-it.) till then, happy food hunting.

ps: this sub-ed did not proofread this post coz she needs to go rest her inflammed eyes. gotta work tmrw, good night.