The Flavours-Miele All Steamed Up Contest

The Flavours-Miele All Steamed Up Contest

Whoohoo! Oh Wow! I have won the grand prize of a German-made steam oven! I am so happy! I am ecstatic!

The grand prize is the Miele DG1450 Vitasteam oven worth RM6,090 and a workshop for 8 persons with a notable chef at the Miele Gallery. The theme for the workshop is of course steam cooking.

Photo taken from here to show the steam oven

 

Photo taken from here to show the steam oven

The event was a contest on steamed food organized by Flavours Magazine, in partnership with Miele Sdn Bhd.  The contest was open to the public. All can participate by preparing a dish of steamed food and sending a photo of the food you have prepared together with the recipe to Flavours Magazine. Miele Malaysia Sdn Bhd sponsored the grand prize which is the Vitasteam oven. 

The winners were announced in the October 2013 issue of The Flavours magazine. 

The prize presentation was held on the 22nd of February 2014 at The Miele Gallery in Menara Sapura Kencana at Petroleum Solaris, Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur. The steam cooking workshop for 8 persons was conducted by Malaysia's notable Chef Amy Beh.

The grand prize being presented by chef Amy Beh and Alam Tham who is Miele Sdn Bhd's Assistant Marketing Communications Manager

My seven buddies and I had a wonderful time attending the cooking workshop with chef Amy Beh. It was fun and we got to sample and enjoyed the scrumptious food prepared and cooked by the celebrity chef, Amy Beh! 

The theme for the day was of course about steaming food! Chef Amy Beh and Alam Tham selected three dishes for the workshop. They were steamed chicken rice, an assortment of steamed vegetables, cawan mushi (Japanese steamed egg) and steamed chocolate lava cake. 

The steamed food were perfect! So delicious! You can taste the natural sweetness of the steamed vegetables. No sauce or condiment is required. And the vegetables still retained their vibrant colours and crunchiness! The chicken rice was very fragrant. Normally,  steamed chicken white meat can be tough. However, the plump chicken which was steamed using this Vitasteam oven was succulent. It was unlike those steamed by using a wok. The cawan mushi in the cups were steamed to perfection, silky smooth and very tasty.

The creme of the day was of course the dessert! The steamed chocolate lava cake was the favourite item that day. It was served with ice-cream! As we cut into the cake, the molten chocolate lava oozed out, mingling with the vanilla ice-cream.  It was a real treat! Truly sweet decadence for all of us!

 The cawan mushi just out from the steam oven.

 Silky smooth cawan mushi.

 The chocolate lava cake.

 Crunchy and sweet bok choy.

 The steamed chicken rice with the succulent and juicy chicken.

 My buddies with chef Amy Beh and Alan Tham

 Rapt attention!
chef Amy Beh busy demonstrating her cooking skills.

Chef Amy Beh sharing cooking tips with us. 
My buddy busy taking notes

We had a great time at the workshop. It was fun. Chef Amy Beh shared many tips as she demonstrated and explained the cooking processes step-by-step. Alan, being the marketing manager, he is,  won't miss the chance to sell the good points of the steam oven!

I will share with you the recipes which I had learnt during the workshop as well as my steamed cabbage rolls which won me the grand prize!  

Thank you, The Flavours magazine and Miele Sdn Bhd !!

Cheers!

Korean Seafood Pancake ( Haemul Pajeon )

Korean Seafood Pancake ( Haemul Pajeon )

Recipe source :  Beyond Kimchi

According to the source of this recipe, Koreans crave for this traditional  pancake on rainy afternoons. It was suggested that you make the dipping sauce first because once the pancake is done it is so irresistible that you must eat it right away! So prepare the dipping sauce first because you won't have time to do so later.

Making this Korean seafood pancake reminds me of the oyster pancake made by my hubby's cousin and food vendors in Chaozhou, China. Maybe it was because of the starchy glutinous flour base which reminded me of the Teochew or luak  (oyster pancake).

I could smell the fragrance of chives as the pancakes were frying in the pan. Very nice! That evoked a homely and comfortable feeling especially now that our hot and dry weather has taken a turn towards cooler and wetter days. So now I can understand why the Koreans crave for this delicious snack on cold rainy afternoons.

Ingredients

60g spring onions, cut into sections of 2 inches
60g chives, cut into sections of 2 inches
160g shrimps, remove shells
180g squids, cleaned and cut into rings
2 red chillies
2 cup water
2 tbsp rice wine
2 eggs, lightly beaten
some oil for frying

Top : Chives

Middle : chillies

Bottom : spring onions

 Squids

Shrimps

For Dipping Sauce

3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp sesame seeds
some chopped spring onions

Make dipping sauce by combining all the ingredients together. Set aside.

 Dipping sauce

For the Pancake Mix

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup glutinous rice flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder         ( I did not add this )

Instructions

1.  Add rice wine to 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Blanch seafood in small portions at a time for 3 seconds. Set aside. Reserve 1 cup of the seafood broth from the pot.
2.  Make batter by combining the broth with the pancake mix. Add in onions and chives and mix well.
3.  Heat a large non-stick pan and add 2 tsp oil on low heat until hot.
4.  Scoop half of the batter mixture into hot pan, spreading it around to make even thin layer. Use a 9 inch pan. 
5.  Scatter half the seafood and chillies on top. 
6.  Pour in half of the beaten egg around the topping and let the pancake fry for 2 - 3 minutes.
7.  Flip the pancake and fry the other side until cooked. Drizzle more oil if needed.
8.  Remove from pan by flipping the pan upside-down onto a serving dish.
9.  Serve immediately with the dipping sauce.

 The pancake frying in the pan

I made two pancakes 

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest  : Korea

Hosted by Sharon of Feats of Feast

Pork Chop with Orange and Parsley

Pork Chop with Orange and Parsley

Recipe source : Adapted from Martha Stewart


My son, YS,  loves the fruity flavour of this pork chop. However, he refrained from eating the oranges even though I had told him the orange segments were just stirred in after the sauce was cooked. To him oranges are best eaten fresh. Me? I love the pork chops and the oranges were simply scrumptious! 

I made some changes to the original recipe. I added salt and sugar to the sauce as I found it bland and slightly too sour for my liking. After browning the pork chops, I added water to simmer them for about 10 minutes to ensure the thick pork chops were thoroughly cooked.

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 pork chops ( 1 inch thick)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 strips orange zest
1/2 cup orange juice
2 oranges, remove peel and pith and separate into segments
1/4 cup parsley leaves, chopped

Directions

 
1.  In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Season pork with salt and pepper and cook until brown.
2.  Lower heat and pour in about 1 cup of water and cover with a lid. Allow the pork pieces to simmer for about 10 minutes or until dry. Transfer to a plate.
3.  Add orange juice and zest to the skillet. Add 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of sugar to taste.
4.  Remove from heat and add in the orange segments. Stir to mix well.
5.  Spoon the orange sauce and orange segments over the pork chops.
6.  Top with chopped parsley.

I am linking this to Little Thumbs Up

The theme for April  2014 is Orange, 

Hosted by Ann of Anncoo Journal

This event is organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids 
and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

This post is linked to Cook Like A Star, All Star Anniversary 

organised by Zoe of Bake for happy kids

  Joyce of Kitchen Flavours

and Mich of Piece of Cake

 

Steamed Stingray In Aluminium Foil

Steamed Stingray In Aluminium Foil

 Recipe source : Doris Choo @ Sumptuous Flavours

This steamed stingray dish is very appetising. The cherry tomatoes lent a sourish flavour to the hot chilli padi and the savoury bean paste. This goes very well with rice. It is simple to prepare for everyday meal and steaming food is by far the easiest method of cooking, almost effortless.

You can place the fish onto a shallow plate and just steam it as it is without the aluminium foil. 

Personally, I prefer packaging it in aluminium foil as all the flavours and goodness are all encased in the aluminium foil during the steaming process. 

I love the burst of aroma and flavour when the aluminium foil is opened. 

Ingredients :

500g stingray

2 tbsp chopped garlic

1 tbsp ginger strips

2 tbsp fermented soy bean

4 bird's eye chili

2 stalks spring onion
100g cherry tomatoes, cut into halves

1 piece of aluminium foil, 45 cm x 45 cm

 

Method

1.  Wash the stingray and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Set it aside

2.  Roughly chop up the fermented soy bean and mix them with the chopped garlic, chillies and ginger strips.

3.  Trim and wash the spring onion. Cut the white parts of the spring onion into 4 cm sections and slice the green parts into small pieces.

4.  Spread the fermented soy bean mixture evenly over the piece of stingray.

5.  Place the stingray onto the piece of prepared aluminium foil.

6.  Place the white parts of the spring onions on top of the stingray.

7.  Arrange the cherry tomato halves on top and around the stingray.

8.  Wrap up the aluminium foil and secure the edges.

9.  Steam over boiling water for about 30 minutes or until the fish is done.

10. Unwrap the aluminium foil and sprinkle with the sliced spring onion to garnish.

Shredded Chicken Congee 鸡丝粥

Shredded Chicken Congee 鸡丝粥

Recipe source :  Doris Choo of  Sumptuous Flavours

The other night I was contemplating as to what to do with some leftover steamed chicken when SK suggested that we boil some congee and add in the shredded chicken pieces. Well, kai  see chook or shredded chicken congee is a popular hawker fare. It has been some time since we last had kai see chook at our favourite hawker haunt. 

Just thinking about it makes me salivate. So I promptly proceeded to prepare some frozen rice for boiling the congee the next day. I have been a firm believer in using this method of preparing congee ever since my first successful attempt. We like the smooth texture of congee boiled this way using frozen rice.

Ingredients ( serves 2 to 3 )

150g rice
3 litres water, depends on how watery you want the congee to be
1 stalk spring onion, chopped
some chicken meat, shredded
some garlic oil
some ginger oil and ginger crisps
some shallot oil
some sesame oil
pepper to taste
salt to taste

 Preparation for rice :

1.  Wash the rice the night before and soak with enough water to just cover the rice.
2.  Put the rice into a container and freeze the contents overnight. 

Note : It is believed that the cooking time to boil the congee would be cut down and the texture of the congee would be smoother.

Instructions

1.  Place the frozen rice and ice together into a large pot.
2.  Add in water and boil. Once it comes to a boil reduce to medium flame and continue to simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
3.  Stir the contents occasionally to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pot.
4.  It is done when the rice grains have broken and the consistency is smooth and gluey.
5.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
6.  Top with some shredded chicken pieces.
7.  Add sesame oil, ginger oil, shallot oil and garlic oil to enhance the taste. 
8.  Garnish with chopped spring onion. 

Papaya as a home remedy （木瓜）

Papaya as a home remedy （木瓜） 

SK seldom buys papayas because as a child, he had a bad experience eating papayas that were not very ripe and as a result there was a certain bitterness in the papayas. For me, I love papayas and I was surprised to see three ripe and juicy papayas waiting for me on my dining table when I came home last Friday. According to SK he bought them because there were so fresh and ripe. Immediately after dinner we cut open the papayas and had a good time sinking our teeth into the sweet and juicy flesh and we really enjoyed eating them. 

YS our youngest boy commented that after eating the papayas it helped him to pass motion with great ease. It is not only true that papayas help to lubricate the digestive system but can help relieve piles as well. I was told by a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine that eating the dark seeds and the upper part of the flesh of the papayas can relieve piles. But  you need to refrain from drinking water for about 4 hours for it to be effective.

 Look for my other post on relieving piles here.

Fresh and juicy papayas

  Just mouth-watering!

 

Ripe and sweet

Fruity Konyakku

Fruity Konyakku

Recipe source :  Doris Choo of Sumptuous Flavours

I was setting out the ingredients to make fruity konyakku when my youngest son walked into the kitchen. He was restless and needed a break from his homework. He offered to cut the fruits. Then he requested that he be allowed to decorate the fruits in the bowl. I had wanted to present these fruity konyakku in glasses but my son said dessert bowls would look better. So he brought down these bowls from the cabinet. Once the liquid jelly was ladled into the dessert bowls, he dashed out to get his ipad to snap the pictures!

That's not all. He has another request. That I should give him credit for his creativity!

Well, well, I have to give credit where credit is due because all I did was boiled the konyakku jelly. 

Ingredients

10g konyakku powder
100g sugar
Lemon juice, from one lemon
900ml water
 200g strawberry, cut into halves
1 pear, cut into cubes
5 kiwi fruits, cut into thick slices or cut into cubes

Method

1.  Place cut fruits into dessert bowls or glasses
2.  Dissolve konyakku powder in water and boil together with sugar and lemon juice.
3.  Remove from flame and ladle spoonfuls of liquid konyakku over the fruits in prepared glasses.
4.  Allow to cool and set. Chill in refrigerator. 
5.  Serve chilled.