fishie curry

This fish curry is so good I both started and ended my CNY with it: I made it for reunion dinner in the hometown with the fam; and I made it today for the last day of CNY with some friends.

This is actually a recipe from a friend's stepparent, and the only modification I've made is to make the fish vegan and add chilli and some lime kaffir leaves because I'm Malaysian, it's a sickness and I have my own tree now.

Anyway, when I invite you to dinner, definitely feel free to demand I make this curry.

200-300 grams vegan fish

1 inch knob ginger (minced finely)

1 - 2 cloves garlic (minced finely)

1/2 onion, leek, etc, sliced finely

fish curry powder (a Malaysian curry powder is fine)

cumin powder

turmeric powder
whole lot of chilli flakes or oil or something

1 large ripe tomato (grind, slice, dice as you choose. sometimes I use cherry tomatoes cut in half if I don't have bigger tomatoes)

3 - 4 curry leaves
2 lime kaffir leaves

200ml (ish) coconut milk or fresh milk or whichever vegan substitute your soul desires

If you have some snake or french beans you can feel free to chop them into 8cm pieces and add them at a time I will indicate. 

Fry onion thing in oil over medium heat until onions are soft and translucent. Add minced garlic and ginger and fry lightly, stirring all the time. Add water, curry powder, turmeric and cumin, curry leaves. Bring to the boil, simmer until gravy thickens and spices have mixed well. Add tomato mix and fish and cook for 5-10 minutes (until fish looks cooked through).

Add milky product, lime kaffir leaves, and any beans you might be using, bring to the boil and simmer for about five minutes.

Turn off the heat and go eat it all up.

kylie kwong's cripsy skin duck (for cny)

For the end of the Chinese New Year festivities, I wanted to go fancy and ridiculous, so I veganised Crispy Skin Duck with Blood Plum Sauce from Kylie Kwong's heart and soul book. It was so good. SO GOOD.

I especially wanted to go duck because CNY isn't the same without duck. When I went home for the first night of CNY this year, my fam and all the meat-eating family friends got to eat duck, and I don't want to miss out on that luck! (In CNY symbolism, duck means fidelity, but also duck in Australia is expensive so sometimes it's wealth via showing off)

I made a bunch of modifications, mostly because a) the shape of vegan cake, and b) I couldn't find blood plums anywhere that day. But I will definitely be making this again and again and again. I want to try it with a bit less liquid and turned into duck pancakes, and I want to eat it on its own, just like this again.

Also at this party: Cindy and Michael made lo bak go and peanut cookies.

ingredients

a vegan duck (i used a 800g one from the cruelty free shop)
1 tablespoon sichuan peppercorns
2 tablespoons salt
a bunch of plain flour
veggie oil

the sauce!
1 cup water
1 cup white sugar
250g ripe blood plums (I used oranges - kylie says the order is blood plums, blood oranges, oranges)
2/3 cup fish sauce (I use Vincent's vegan fish sauce) (I would use less of this next time - too liquidy)
6 whole star anise
2 cinnamon quills
juice of 2 squished limes

what to do

Grind together sichuan peppers and salt until it becomes a 麻辣 salt. Rub the salt into the duck, and leave to marinade in it for a few hours.

Bring water and sugar to the boil, reduce to simmer for five minutes. After it's reduced a little, add plums/oranges (quartered if plums, eighths if oranges), fish sauce, and spices and simmer for a few more minutes. Kylie says just to simmer for one minute but I wanted to reduce it a little more. Stir through the lime juice and take the whole thing off the heat.

Slice your duckie into fingers, and toss in flour. Heat vegetable oil in wok until a clean chopstick pressed to the bottom starts to bubble. (This is a family trick to tell if the oil is hot enough) Deep fry a few pieces at a time until they're crispy and looking good, then drain a little. Arrange prettily and spoon the sauce over it. Don't through it over in an ugly mess because you're in a hurry, as I was.

EAT IT.

baihe iii [百合素食] [beijing]

Visited Baihe today for lunch! Haven't been for several months, since Charlie's going away in April, but we were at a loose end today and I thought the little walk down would be most excellent. And it was! It was pretty quiet, so service was fast and attentive.





We went with two of my favourites, the peking duck (with pancakes) (half size) and the dry roasted potatoes, as well as the gailan for some greens (listed on the menu as Cantonese vegetables/ 广东菜).





Danni really wanted to try the pipa chicken drumsticks, despite my insistance that they were not very nice. Guess which penguin was right?! They're always weirdly sweet. Seen here served with strawberry jam.




As always, the duck was super delicious, I could totally eat more of that. We also ordered a pot of dragon well tea (龙井茶) which was lovely. 





Previous visits: for CNY and the first visit (which has Englishness, accessibility details and directions)

Baihe Vegetarian / Lily's Vegetarian / 百合素食
23 Caoyuan Hutong
off dongzhimen nei bei xiaojie
Dongcheng District
Beijing

vegan peking duck for cny

Just home from an amazing dinner at Baihe for CNY. Mandarins for starters (and finishes, and prosperity), then noodles, potatoes, gailan, pipa chicken, and the most amazing duck and pancakes:



Highly recommend, would eat again.

On the way home I passed so many fireworks and firecrackers and one lonely red lantern, drifting slowly into the sky and out of sight. My camera's no good for capturing these sorts of things, but I leave you with this, from the driveway to our apartment complex:



恭喜发财！新年快乐！Reports of temple fair food tomorrow, after I've eaten it.

previous visit (includes Englishness, directions and accessibility details)

Baihe Vegetarian / Lily's Vegetarian / 百合素食
23 Caoyuan Hutong
off dongzhimen nei bei xiaojie
Dongcheng District
Beijing

东直门内北小街草原胡同甲23号

china iii: vegetarian lifestyle, shanghai

I swear, there are more than just half a dozen vego restaurants in Shanghai. In fact, Happy Cow lists 26! (Ignore the fact it say 31, it doubles up on some of them) Despite this, not only did we end up dining twice at Godly and Song Yue Lou, we ended up dining twice at Vegetarian Lifestyle in Luwan. Again, we totally had good reasons for this.

Using the directions provided by Happy Cow was excellent for the first visit. Happy Cow notes that it's down a little alley that says 'Las Vegas KTV Club,' off to one side of Songshan Lv. We were lucky to get the last free table on a busy night, and we were quickly seated and my bag was bike chained to my chair. I know that makes it sound like a dodgy restaurant but it's really not.

We started with some genma cha, and then began ordering things. First was the veggies wrapped in beancurd skin (definitely one of my favourite things). We also ordered a 'Thai style' noodle soup, as well as a mushroom dish with nuts that looked like it might be similar to Utopia's houtou mushrooms, some dumplings, and a dish intriguingly listed in english as 'chao amaranth veggies' (this is not what it said in Chinese on the menu).



Aside from the beancurd skin dish, everything else was kind of bland. The amaranth veggies grew on me but was not especially flavoursome; the mushroom dish was okay but nothing exciting; and the dumplings were bland and chewy. The beancurd skin though was very excellent.

The presentation was good and the service was fine, though, and we saw the potential there so we gave it a second try.



We tried a different sort of tofu wrapped veggies; some cha noodles, a soy fish dish, and some crab meat, because C had been so taken by the crab at Godly and we wanted to compare.



The fish came out last and I regretted it, because it was the best. The mock-fishy-flesh was tender and delicious and I lamented that I was too full to fit it all into my belly, though I tried my best. Look at that little fishy shape! Full points for presentation and deliciousness.



The tofu skin was good, as were the noodles. The noodles had that graininess that indicates it's been dry fried with some curry powder, which is my favourite. (who am I kidding - all noodles are my favourites, but especially the ones that remind me of home) We tried to compare and contrast the crab meat with Godly's, but to be honest it was hard. This one was definitely more gingery than the Godly's one, and I think I liked it a little better, but I'd have to sit down with them both and compare them side by side, a hardship I hope to put myself through one day.



I ordered some xiao long bao, but inexplicably this came to us as a takeaway at the end of the meal. Sadly here is where my Mandarin failed me, as apparently I don't understand the word for takeaway? I was too full to try to eat it in the restaurant anyway, so I took it away with me, then completely failed to eat it later. Xiao long bao doesn't heat up very well even if you try to steam it with the hotel kettle, who knew? So I cannot tell you how their xiao long bao is. Damn it.

Some of the waitstaff speak a little English, and most of the menu items are in English and Chinese (and there are some pictures in the menu). But take a Chinese speaker with you if you want to do more than point at the menu items. (One who understands '带走' when they hear it? I don't even know who I am.) Little step up to get into the restaurant, widely spaced tables for Shanghai. Accepts credit card, does not accept tips.

Vegetarian Lifestyle - Luwan
77 Songshan Road
Luwan

Get there on line one on the Metro, South Huangpi Road Station [黄陂南路]

上海
卢湾区
嵩山路77号1楼

vegan goodies at the local iga

So my local IGA (located at 614 Sydney Road in Brunswick, opposite Tabet's) has recently seriously expanded its frozen mock meats range. Thanks to Lizbee for pointing this out to me one day, although returning there last night I noticed they have stuck a piece of paper to the door that says 'vegetarian meals!' to draw attention.



For those vegetarians amongst you, there's a couple of varieties of Quorn down the bottom. There's also a range of vegan mock meats, including some very fishy-tasting fish, the chicken nuggets that Lord of the Fries uses, and many other exciting things! There's even cheap tempeh in there.

I'm super pleased by the close proximity to my house of all this mock meat, and given my recent discovery that the range stocked by my usual supermarket is no longer vegan, I'm pleased that so much of it is vegan! More reporting on specific kinds to follow, once I try more of them.

char siu rice of deliciousness at home

I know I only recently said that I try not to eat mock meat too often, yet here I am, again posting about fake meat!



Char siu rice is simple Chinese cooking, fast and easy and tasty. I've served it here with soup, bok choy and carrots in a garlic soy sauce, and on a bed of cucumber and tomatoes. The little bowl is chilli and soy sauce, a spicy but delicious condiment. I've never made char siu rice on my own before, so it was a bit exciting to serve this childhood favourite. Super tasty!

The important thing with char siu rice is to make sure the rice is cooked with stock, not water. A centimetre or two worth of fresh ginger, shredded, should also be added to the rice whilst it is cooking. This adds a really excellent flavour to the rice. Don't serve the char siu on its own, it is best to be plated with cucumber, or tomatoes.

My favourite thing about char siu rice is scooping out the soup and pouring it, one spoon at a time, over the rice.

Char Siu Rice

rice ingredients
2 cups of rice
2 cups of soup
1 cm ginger, shredded

cheatery soup ingredients
5 cups of water
half a carrot (diced)
1 bok choy stem (or celery stem) chopped roughly
2 tsp vege stock powder
salt and pepper
a little ginger (minced)
a dash of light soy sauce

method
To make the soup, bring the water to a boil, add the remaining ingredients. Reduce to simmer with the lid on for half an hour. Remove bok choy and carrot, remove from heat.
To make the rice, mix two cups of the soup with two cups of rice, add the ginger and leave to cook for the usual time.

Prepare the char siu (oven or microwave to heat/defrost), and plate.

kari kapitan - nonya (mock) chicken curry

My childhood memories are filled with spices: eyes watering as my mum added too much chilli; ears echoing as she pounded spice using mortar and pestle; hiding in the front room as she made blachan.

Nonya (from the Malaysian Straits) curries are heavy with chilli and coconut and simmered for hours. The smell weaves through the house and you know deliciousness is ever so slowly nearing. There is a comfort there, still, in curries on all days, no need to restrict them to only cold days.

Kari Kapitan is one of the first things I learnt to cook, I was reluctant to leave my mum's daily provisions without being able to provide it for myself. After we went vegetarian, I did not even try to convert this, because the way the chicken falls from the bone is such an integral part to the dish's flavour, I thought I would not be able to replicate it, and I wanted to leave it perfect in my memory rather than mess it all up.

In January, in preparation for a curry party (which I will blog about eventually), I took a leap of faith and gave it a go, using mock meat (which I never use), and I was so excited as the smells started to float through the house, the chilli and the potato and the garamasala. When I sat down I tried my own curry first, such a slight but I couldn't wait, and it was just as I remembered, the bite of the chilli and the gravy, coconuty and sour and just perfect.

It's so important to me that after all this time, I am able to have one of my favourite foods, something that I thought I wouldn't get to eat ever again. This is the first time I've posted a recipe with mock meat, as I try not to eat it too often, but in this instance there is nothing that will give quite the same texture and result. And it's such a wonderful result.



kari kapitan (Nonya mock chicken curry)

This is a very simple version of an old favourite. It can get more complicated than this, but this is a great way to indulge in an old favourite without too much trouble.

Mock chicken is not for everyone. It's made from gluten, or soy, and occasionally dairy, so check the packet.

ingredients
1 shallot
1 clove garlic, minced
1 heaped teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 heaped teaspoon garamasala
3 curry leaves
3 lime kaffir leaves
3 medium to large potatoes, peeled and diced (some small cubes, some larger)
1 cup mock chicken pieces
a large handful snake beans (cut in thirds)
1 tomato, diced tiny
1 large can coconut milk
1 cup vegetable stock


method
Using a thin-bottom pot, fry the shallot (sliced) in some peanut oil with the garlic, until it starts to discolour. Mix together the chilli and garamasala with a little water until a thick paste is formed, and add this paste, as well as the mock chicken, to the pot. Braise the chicken, and coat well in the paste. Add the potato, tomato, lime kaffir leaves and curry leaves, as well as the stock. Add extra water so that the ingredients are almost but not totally covered. Simmer on low heat with the lid on for about thirty minutes, then add the snake beans. Add extra water if necessary, and replace the lid. Simmer or another twenty minutes, then add the coconut milk. Leave to simmer with the lid off for ten minutes. Smother rice in the gravy and serve.




I am posting this for the WYF Cuisine Event.