Theraphy

I may just be crazy, but there is nothing more relaxing for me to cook when I am stressed out or had a long day. Just the whole planning, preparation, right up to the actual cooking, it is like a tantalizing production. Therapeutic… like I said, I may just have lost it!

I know it is only Monday but I think the whole ‘busy season’ thing is finally catching up. At the head of the week and already wiped out. So what do I do when I walk through the door? If you guessed ‘cook’, then you are right my friend!

On the menu today;
1. Steamed white jasmine rice
2. Watercress soup
3. Sardine Sambal
4. Hairy gourd stir fry

I guess I got carried away! But the leftovers should last me for the week and this is such a life saver when I get home and need to continue working, get to take a quick, hot dinner instead of cereal. Although some nights, like last night, a bowl of Special K Strawberries with soy milk and a juicy peach just hits the spot!

I am usually one who cooks on a whim, usually this is because recipe research and locating my mother’s recipes are too time consuming so I just try to remember how my mom does it, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t!

However, I think I should start recording my recipes here just as a FYI for future references.

Sardine Sambal

1 can Ayam Brand sardines in tomato sauce, discard bones, reserve tomato sauce [I brought this from Malaysia so if any of you have tried a brand available here in Malaysia, let me know ya?]
1 large red onion, sliced
2 sprigs curry leaf, washed and torn up [this releases the fragrance]
1 tbsp plain chili powder [use the ones from Indian stores, this is usually dried chilies ground into a powder. Do NOT use McCormick or American versions]
2 fresh red [or green] chilies, split down the middle
1 large tomato cut into wedges
2 tbsp tamarind water [mix 1 tsp tamarind paste with enough water, strain]

Following items are pounded in mortal & pestle till well blended
1 tsp whole cumin [jintan manis]
3 pips garlic
½ inch ginger

Method:
1. Heat oil in pan, sauté onions till translucent. Add curry leaves and fresh red chili. Stir fry 1 more minute. Add pounded ingredients. Fry till fragrant.
2. Add chili powder, stir fry quickly and add tamarind juice [watch the flame as chili powder burns easily!]
3. Once the raw chili ‘smell’ goes off, add the reserved tomato sauce. Add tomato wedges [I like mine mushy and cooked so I add that early]. Bring to boil. Season with salt/sugar to taste. Add sardines in last to warm up, break it up if you wish to have smaller pieces but take off the heat. Overcooked sardines are tasteless!


Hairy gourd with shrimp and dried beancurd. This is one of my favorite vegetable dishes my mother makes, no matter how much she cooks, there are almost always no leftovers.

Hairy gourd stirfry

1 lbs hairy gourd [I used 3 cute little fellas], peeled and julienned
5 pips garlic, chopped
½ cube chicken stock/granules
10-15 large shrimp
2 pieces dried beancurd sheets, soaked and sliced
2 bundles glass noodles, soaked

Method:
1. Heat oil, add garlic and sauté. Add shrimp and stir fry till slightly pink.
2. Add beancurd sheets and chicken granules, stir fry for 2 minutes, add a little water if needed.
3. Add hairy gourd, mix it up. Season with salt if needed.
4. One minute before turning off the heat [depends on the level of tenderness you prefer your veggies], add glass noodles which cooks very quickly.

I love Chinese soups, it’s light, nutritious and simply delightful to the senses, it is basically the essence of all the good things you put into it [since it is boiled for hours!]. Since I saw fresh watercress at the Asian grocers over the weekend, I knew that this was going to be on the menu sometime this week.

Watercress soup

3 bundles watercress, washed thoroughly as it is lots of dirt [ie: sand]
1 lbs pork ribs/bones
½ cup dried dates, pitted and washed [the red ones sold at asian stores, NOT the sweet black ones you get at Harris Teeter or Publix that comes from California]

Method:
1. Fill a stock pot ½ full with cold water, bring to boil. Drop in the pork bones and let it simmer for 2 minutes. This step is to eliminate the ‘porky’ taste that comes from the scum resulting from the blood/fat. You will see this floating on top. Once the pork has stopped bleeding, dump out the contents into a colander and rinse the pork of the scum.
2. Either use the same stock pot [wash with soap!] or another stock pot, this time filling it up to ¾. Bring to boil. Add pork. Let it boil for 15 minutes, turn down the heat so it simmers. At this point, you will still see foam floating on top, skim that off. This also makes the soup clearer. Let it continue to boil.
3. Once no more scum noted, add in the dates. Let this simmer for at least 1 hour.
4. Add watercress, boil till desired ‘doneness’ and salt to taste if desired.

So there you have it, my ‘therapy’ for the day/week!



But not so much bliss though, it's back to work whilst eating for the chef... gotta love busy season!