Nasi Kuning variation

Flavor was good. Texture not so good (rice sticky and I had to rescue it).

2 cups of rice. 3 cups of fluid including coconut milk. I used too much coconut milk and the result was some wet mess while the rice was still semi-hard. I think the milk doesn't get into the rice properly. I rescued it by scooping out some of the rice into another pot, adding more water and cooking it. Next time, 2 cups water and 1 cup milk I think.

Rest of ingredients. 1 onion (diced and slowly fried in oil together with 10 pieces of cardamon). 2 star anise, one core of lemon grass smashed, 2 garlic, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon tumeric powder, 2 pieces of ginger, half a cinnamon stick.

Fry the onion with cardamon first slowly until onions are nicely translucent and fragrant. Then add rice and carefully coat the rice with oil. Then add the other ingredients and the fluid.

When rice is done, spoon raisins into the rice.

First attempt at vegetable terrine

Did a 3 layer terrine consisting of mashed cannellini beans (white), brocolli (green) and carrots (red).

Taste : good (except the bean layer). Looks : so-so.

Lessons learnt.
1.  I need a deeper terrine dish. The layers were too thin and tended to run into each other.
2. I did not use egg as binder simply because I forgot to buy. I think eggs are essential for the binding (unless I use a larger amount of cheese and/or cream). The terrine was very delicate even after overnight setting.
3. Need to taste the ginger/carrot mix to make sure the ginger is not too overwhelming.
4. Have a broad spoon or spatula handy to handle the slices.

Method.
The beans were soaked overnight, then cooked 15 mins in a pressure cooker with water and sage. Then mashed in blender with a little bit of truffle flakes (canned) and some heavy cream and parmesean cheese (for the binding and some liquid). Add as little water as you think will get the blender going

The brocolli was chopped into medium pieces, and blanched for 3 mins in boiling water until it turned intense green, then cooled and dried in a salad spinner. It was mixed with parmesean and heavy cream, a small bunch of fresh wansui (coriander), and juice from one thai lime. Add a bit of water if necessary for the blending.

The carrots were similarly blanched and then blended with fresh grated ginger (a good thumb) and a little bit of coconut cream.

Carefully spoon the mixture in layers into the non stick loaf tin. Cover the top with cling film and then bake in a water bath at 180C for 40 mins. Then remove the cling film for another 20-25 mins and continue baking until the top feels somewhat firm.

Take out, and let cool. When cool enough, cover the top with wax paper, and then weight down the top with something heavy (used sharpening stone and blind bake ceramic pebbles). Refridgerate overnight.

Simple Mashed Potatoes - this one's a keeper

I've been experimenting with mashed potatoes for some time now. I think the method I used today is a keeper. Hence documenting it.

It's an adapted version of http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/pomme-puree. The critical bit is the milk bath. Mine has less butter. Also I don't use all the fluid - I only use just enough to get a smooth mash so the consistency is somewhere between traditional mash and a pure purée.

Result is very smooth, very velvety mashed potatoes, with a lingering savory finish.

This method used 4-5 medium potatoes.

1. Peel and slice potatoes into approx 1-1.5cm slices.
2. Pour milk into a pot (3/4 litre). Basically you'll be using the milk to cook the potatoes so as much milk as will cover the slices.
3. Put a large chunk of unsalted butter (maybe 100g) into the milk with a large pinch of nutmeg powder.
4. Over a fire, heat the milk mixture till a temp of about 80C (careful temp may continue to rise for a bit if you've been using a strong gas fire). Put in the potato slices.
5. Get the temp back up to about 90C and keep it there for 90 mins. I dialed up my oven to 90C using a thermometer to monitor it and put in the pot.
6. The potatoes will not fall apart as long as you keep it at 85-90C. They'll just grow progressively more tender.
7. Drain the mixture and set aside the liquid. Salt the potatoes.
8. Using a sturdy coarse metal sieve, start pushing the potatoes through the sieve. At intervals, ladle some of the cooking fluid over.
9. Once done, taste the potatoes and add more salt if necessary. Mix well.
10. Add a good dollop of Djion Mustard (a tablespoon or two) to taste. Mix well.
11. If the potatoes look too dry at any point, ladle more of the cooking fluid.
12. Taste, taste, taste.
13. If not serving the mashed potatoes immediately, reserve some of the cooking fluid. When  reheating later, spoon over some fluid before reheating.

Family dinner and first time terrine

Had a family dinner tonight. The only notable things in it :

Good (sort of). Terrine (made with liver, pork belly, bacon, and shoulder. Leeks, mushrooms and spring onions) tasted good, but the texture wasn't so good. It doesn't really hold together very well. Also because of the problem with the blending of the meat, I had large chunks in it. Goes well with the salsa (spring onions, tomato, raw onion, and a tiny drop of apple cider) as well as the traditional corniche of course.

Uninspiring. Carrots cooked low temp with a bit of honey and ginger. Pretty soso and because I didn't dare to use too much ginger, it did not have the ginger taste in any significant way.

Chicken thighs. Thought I'd try low temp cooking. I think my traditional way of brining the meat and then roasting it in the oven would have turned out just as well or better and less hassle. Am I doing something wrong? Also the chicken skin was not dried enough and didn't brown properly - it also tended to fall off.

Do. Not. Evar. Use. A. Blender. To. Mince. Meat.

I made the mistake of buying my own meat to mince, thinking I could mince it in my blender (which is powerful enough to crush ice).

Wrong.

Unless you have a truly unblemished piece of meat, there is gristle in it. Those white, long stringy and very tough (when raw) pieces of flesh. Some got caught in the spindle of the blades and caused the spinning to slow and periodically cut in the safety feature (to prevent over heating).

Cleaning it up is a bitch as well. It just disappears into tiny crevices which you have to tease out with needles and such.