Daring Cooks - January - Satay Chicken

"The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious and she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day."

Words that should inspire me. Instead, they filled me with one of the most regretful sentiments, nostalgia.


Last year, the Workaholic and I found ourselves in the night market of Kuala Lumpur. It was an adventure that was slightly outside of our comfort zone, if only because we both had fears of eating undercooked anything and spending a day not able to leave the hotel. After scouring the street hawkers, we decided to nibble on small things, and the first thing we had were satay skewers. I've never been a huge fan of satay anything in the past, but they were there, they were small, they were non-committal. We ordered our skewers, the man told us how much it was while holding the meat-covered wooden sticks in the fire and just as we completed the financial part of the transaction, we got our meat. Were we afraid that this was undercooked & going to force us to make use of our international health insurance? Yes. We tenatatively bit in, dipping the meat in the little plastic bag of sauce that came with it. We were delighted. They were fantastic, succulent flavourful pieces of meat that, most importantly, dissolved all fear of hawker food. I fell in love with the food, the scenery and would so love to go back. I think the Workaholic would like to as well.

The satay skewers I made were 1) doomed to never be the satay skewers of my memories, 2) not grilled because my grill is covered in snow, and 3) not on skewers. I don't really think that the skewers made much of a difference, as the idea is to tenderize the meat through the marinade, and the meat was juicy and tender. They just weren't the same spices. This should come as no surprise, the recipe was a British interpretation of Thai, not potentially frightening Malaysian flavour that I had in mind.


The Workaholic bit into his dinner and asked, "Shouldn't they be spicier?" I had to agree. I followed Cuppy's recipe but it just didn't work out for us. The peanut sauce, on the other hand, was fantastic. The Workaholic found it to be too sweet (we don't eat any sugar any more) but I have been eating spoonfuls of leftover sauce out of the fridge (don't pretend as if you never do that!).

We may try other recipes for satay skewers that actually involve me going out to the grill and getting the burn marks I should. I might add fish sauce and chilis. Whatever I do, I'm waiting until the snow melts.

Okra in Coconut Sauce

I only needed green onions, nothing else. But I saw the okra in my local green grocer & I couldn't leave it behind. Just a handful, I thought to myself. When I got home, I realized that my hands had suffered from some mutating growth dysfunction in the store because they had apparently grown. Thankfully, they've since returned to normal.

One of my first posts was about okra, and then I said that my next okra would be different. Well, let's be honest, there's not too much you can do with okra but this is pretty good. Double frying might not be the best thing for you, but it makes it very crispy, and it's a vegetable. How bad can it be?

250 g okra
oil to fry
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 c shredded coconut
1/2 cup milk

Slice okra in 1/4" slices. Fry in hot oil until brown. Remove from oil, drain, and fry again.

In a skillet, warm mustard seeds until they pop. Add curry powder, chili powder and garlic, stirring not to burn. When smell of curry powder hits you, add the coconut.

Duck Into the Year

I wanted to ring in 2010 quietly. My original plans fell through & then I thought, my ideal would be to stay at home with take-out Chinese food. This is what I would have done if I was at home in Canada, where there is good Chinese take-out that is open on New Year's Eve. In Germany, however, there's little Chinese take-out, and I think the only thing open on NYE is the local Donair shop. While I like a good donair, it's not the "pick out the container food that is going to last me until 11pm" food. I decided I was going to make my own. And if you're going to do anything, you might as well do it right. Hence my decision to make a Peking Duck. For 2 people. With homemade Mandarin Pancakes.

Peking Duck
Here I managed to find a 1kg wild duck, which was perfect for 2 people. I thawed it, and plucked it, because my duck still had lots of feathers attached. It reminded me that I should make an appointment with my aesthetician.


Then I dipped the duck into boiling water. I think this is to make the skin taught. I then let the duck dry. After it was dry, I brushed a mixture of:
5 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp soy sauce
4 Tbsp 5 spice powder
2 Tbsp brown sugar
4 Tbsp rice wine
The duck got coated in this & it was poured into the cavity.
Next, the duck is supposed to dry, and I read about putting it in front of a fan. When I brought out the fan, the workaholic grew concerned. He suggested I use the "fan only" feature of the oven. A good idea. My only concern was, how did he know there's a fan only feature and I didn't?

After 6 hours, the duck was dry, so I filled the pan with water, left it on a grate & roasted it at 200°, starting with the breast side down, then up, then down again. I think it was in there for about 1 hour. Let the bird rest & then slice.


Homemade Mandarin pancakes (I'm not going to give a recipe because I'm not good at them), stuffed with Hoisin sauce, green onions, cucumber & carrots, as well as slices of duck. A good way to bid 2009 farewell. Things I'd do different next time: get a bigger duck. It was really good.


As it turns out, we didn't ring in the new year quietly. I got a text message & at 11:40pm, ended up in a bus on the way to a bar where a few friends were getting sparkling wine ready. Oh well, I tried. At least the duck worked.

Happy Holidays! - Eggnog

There are certain things that belong to every family's holiday traditions. My mother's inexplicable purchasing of eggnog belongs to this category. While I didn't really mind it, I was never really a fan of the stuff. Nonetheless, I would get a glass handed to me at random intervals. A few years back, I hosted a holiday party, and a friend who had access to eggnog brought over a carton. The other people at the party loved it. I make no effort to recreate the gelatinous viscosity of ready-made eggnog. I instead prefer something that is rich, creamy and a taste of holiday indulgence.

Eggnog
4 eggs, separated
1/2 c sugar
1/2 rum
1 1/2 c whiskey
1 1/2 c milk
1/2 c cream
nutmeg to garnish

Beat egg whites with 1/4 c sugar until soft peaks form. Beat egg yolks separately with remaining sugar until the sugar is disolved. Fold the whites into the yolks.
Slowly add milk and liquor. Whip cream until soft peaks form and fold into the eggnog.
Chill.
Garnish with nutmeg.

I experiment with the liquors. This year, I didn't want to use the good rum, so I used some honey-flavoured rum from the Canary Islands. I also used a little bit of Spanish brandy. The 1.5L of drink are now gone, and although it was great, I'll have to wait until next year to do it again. For now, it's back to work to finish off things for 2009 & you can bet I'll be dreaming of a glass of eggnog in the office.

Bask in Chicken

A few weeks ago, I visited my first cooking class and promised to try out a recipe and blog about it. Because Santa is just a few hours away, I have to make good on my promises now. Otherwise, I'm afraid of getting a shot glass like I did last year. Granted, I did get some liquor to put into the shot glass, but still.

The first time I had Poulet Basquaise was in Nice. My wonderful host made it with olives. The recipe I kinda followed did not have olives, and frankly, in the cooking class, it wasn't all that much to write home about. I think the olives are a good touch. As well as bay leaves. Lots of bay leaves. I used 3 for 2 chicken thighs, but this could easily be doubled. I used dark meat, but breast meat is also possible, which reduces cooking time.

Poulet Basquaise (Basque-style Chicken)
2 chicken legs, cut into drumsticks & legs
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 large bell pepper, seeded & diced
1 can tomatoes (peeled and chopped)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 c black olives
salt, pepper
thyme, bay leaves

In 1 Tbsp olive oil, sautee onion, garlic, pepper until soft. Remove from heat. Add 1 Tbsp olive oil and brown chicken.
Return onions, garlic & pepper to the pot, add remaining ingredients. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.
Serve with rice or quinoa.

My result was certainly better that the original recipe I got in my cooking class, but not as good as the one in Nice. Another reason to go back, I guess. Now that I've officially been a good girl, maybe Santa will even take me to the Atlantic coast of France.

Blood is Thicker Than Stock

This is not a vegetarian soup. The reason is pretty easy: I needed a thickener for the soup but was out of cream. I remember going to dinner a while back & one companion ordering warm blood sausage and liverwurst. At the time, I didn't find the combination of sausage & warm very appealing. I still don't, to be honest, but it reminded me that blood sausage falls apart when warm. I thought it might be the last touch that I needed in an otherwise bland pumpkin soup. I didn't have any cream, so why not?

Result: very tasty, not meaty, subtle depth and no leftovers.

1 pumpkin, cooked in 1 L broth, spices to taste. Cook until tender, add 1 Tbsp blood sausage & puree.

Dark Latkes for the Festival of Lights

From a theological standpoint, Hanukkah is not a significant holiday. From a cultural standpoint, Hanukkah is great! The date varies but it usually takes place some time in December, that is, some time when we could all use as many lights and social gatherings as we can get, and Hanukkah offers 8 days of festivities. 8 days is enough for me to catch up. The first day of Hanukkah was last Friday. I made my latkes - traditional potato pancakes - last night

I miss a lot of things about Canada and multiculturalism tops the list. Needless to say, there is not a huge Jewish community here in Heidelberg, although there is a synagogue and a Jewish University. While they are very open at both institutes (I visited the one and took a class at the other), I never found the same sort of integration that I felt is so natural in Canada. I felt really sad when someone at the synagogue said, "we haven't had any troubles, but on the high holy days, it's still nice to have a police car patrolling the area". I know there is a huge amount of baggage that I am not willing to discuss, nor am I willing to judge one side or the other. I'm selfish & I just want a good latke.

Potato pancakes exist in Germany. They are called "Kartoffelpuffer", "Reibekuchen" or an assortment of other names. They are common for the area that was once the Holy German Empire (Germany, Bohemia, Poland, parts of Austria). These foods that were so common for the area seem to be the dishes that Jews from Eastern Europe (Ashkenazic Jews) took with them to North America. These "Kartoffelpuffer" are present at every Christmas market, indicating that the dish is of local significance, not religious significance. What I don't like around here is that they are only available with applesauce, not sour cream. In Düsseldorf, I had some with herbed Quark (a kind of cream cheese). I was all over it. To top my latkes (or Kartoffelpuffer, or potato pancakes), I used skim quark with a pinch of herbes de provence (my secret ingredient) as well as chives and parsley.

The potatoes are Vitelotte, a dark potato that retains its colour when cooked. They were, honestly, this dark. I added beets and carrots to make me feel less guilty about eating fried food. But let's be honest, the festival of lights is only possible because there was enough oil to light the lamps for 8 days. Oil is an essential part of the holiday. If I only celebrate one of the 8 days, my arteries aren't doing too badly.

Happy Hanukkah to everyone! Enjoy the lights and the fried food!

Midnight Latkes
300g Vitelotte potatoes (or another purple variety)
200g beets
1 carrot
2 eggs
salt
oil to fry

Grate potatoes. Place in bowl of water to allow starch & liquid to escape. Squeeze all liquid out of potatoes and, if possible, retain starch. Add to a large bowl. Grate beets and carrots, squeezing out liquid. Add egg and salt and mix.
Heat oil in a skillet and when hot (a toothpick should bubble) place 2Tbsp lumps of latke batter into oil. Do not overcrowd the skillet.
Cook until solid, turn & continue cooking. Place on a plate with lots of paper towels, and keep warm in the oven.
Serve with apple sauce and skim cream.

Skim Cream
150g quark
1 tsp herbes de provence
1 tsp chopped chives
1 tsp chopped parsley
salt to taste
Mix all ingredients. Allow to sit for 10-15 minutes before serving.