City Square Mall Revisit

After persistent badgering from my friend who wanted to go City Square Mall (since he got wind of the mall opening from Today papers), I decided to accompany him since he never set his foot on Little India before. After waiting for 10 mins at Farrer Park MRT, he finally arrive and we set off to City Square Mall. As we cross the road to City Square Mall, we are greeted by white wash Bread Talk Spin-off franchise - Toast Box. Toast Box seem to be severely lacking in customer if you compare to other popular outlet in Orchard road.

I have no idea City Square Mall got 2 basement level until my friend reported to me after he cannot find a freaking POSB/DBS ATM to draw money. So after we have KFC for lunch, we proceed to explore City Square Mall B2 further. When we reach B2, we surpised to find another foodcourt - Banquet operating there. City Square Mall can be consider as the only Mall to have the most foodcourt prior to the one I saw at Level 4. There is alot of shop spaces vacant, so we decide to end the trip early and proceed to Mustafa Centre.

As we cross the road we notice a strange procession across the road. We thought there is Thailand Red Shirt uprising(Link) in Little India as you see a group of people in red drag. But the majority difference is the guys are in red sexy lingerie or dress outfit remind me of the movie Priscilla, Queen of Desert LOL. We have no idea what statement this procession is trying to put through to the public. Seeing the participants so gungho especially the guys wearing sexy lingerie outfit is fairly sporty of them as I cannot anticipate myself doing that in the public. After the procession have passed, we move to Mustafa Centre and did some shopping and end the excursion by having dinner in Juz Acia Doby Ghaut.

Dahi Wali Machli - Dory Fish Yogurt Curry

Northern India cusine is not known for its fish dishes due to it geographical location. However, fresh water or river fishes are still available in Northern India. Dahi Wali Machli is North India fish curry dish that is not widely known until I found the recipe off a curry cookbook. I made some amendment to the original recipe so that it is more suitable for those health conscious without sacrificing the actual taste. For those who never tried before Dahi Wali Machli, it is a light, fresh curry with a tinge of yogurt taste that doesn't overpower your palate.

Dahi Wali Machli - Dory Fish Yogurt Curry

• 6 Pieces of dory fish fillet or sutchi fillet, cut into 4cm chunks.
• 1 Teaspoon of salt
• 1 Quarter slice of Lime
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon of ground turmeric powder
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon of chili powder

Curry Sauce

• 3 Tablespoon oil
• 1 Onion finely chopped
• 1 Teaspoon cumin powder
  
• 1 Teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 Teaspoon chili powder
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 1 Teaspoon of ginger puree
• 2 Green chilies slit
• 100ml of plain yogurt
• 250ml of fish stock
• 1/2 Teaspoon of dried fenugreek leaves (can be found in Mustafa Centre)
• 1/2 Teaspoon of garam masala
  

Marinate the dory fish fillet with salt, chili powder and turmeric powder. Squeeze the lime on the fish and made sure the dory fish is evenly coated with chili and turmeric powder and set it aside to marinate for 30 minutes. Heat a frying pan with a tablespoon of oil and add in the marinated dory fish and pan fried it for 2 to 3 minutes transfer it to paper towel dish to remove the excess oil. The reason to pan fried the fish is to firm up the fish and prevent it from breaking up when you add it into the yogurt curry.

Heat up the saucepan with 3 tablespoon of oil, add in the chopped onion and saute it until golden brown. Add in the cumin, turmeric, chili powder and saute until you can smell the spices begin to release their flavour. Adjust your heat to low so that you do not burn the spices and stir in the ginger and chili and fry it for another 1 to 2 minutes. Next, stir in the plain yogurt and made sure the masala is fully incorporate into the yogurt, stirring constantly to prevent the yogurt from splitting. Increase, the heat until the mixture boil.

Pour in the fish stock and stir it consistently to let the yogurt blend with the fish stock then simmer for 3 to 5 minutes to reduce it to consistency of your liking. Now, add in the salt so that you can fine tune the curry in it final stage. Add in the pan fried dory fish and continue to cook over a low flame for another few minutes. Then stir in the fenugreek leaves and garam masala and cover and turn off the heat. After that you can serve with rice.

Mega Mug

During summer time, I always have insatiable thirst when I'm chilling off at home and the normal size drinking cup or mug doesn't cut it as I don't like to go to kitchen to refill my drink. Therefore, when I pass by major departmental store's, I always scan the kitchenware section for any mug or cup that can fulfill my needs. So far, the result is pretty negative and the closest I got was a 1 litre glass mug retail at $17.00 at few months back at CK Tang.

Due to fragility and weight of glassware, therefore I decide not to purchase the 1 litre glass mug. Upon chance my friend made known to me of a plastic Mega Giant Mug, he encountered in Simpang eatery that might be able to satisfy my need. I decide to resume my search and found the plastic Mega Giant Mug at Guan Huat Lee Household Appliances retailing at $4.50. The mug can hold up to 1 litre of beverage. The 1 litre mug capacity is more than enough to quench my thirst. As the mug is fabricated from plastic, it not arduous task to lift the mug even after it is fill to the brim with your favourite beverage. For those people who have similar insatiable thirst like me, this is a "must have" mug.

Belated Cooking Spree Afterthought

Despite suffering from flu doesn't impede my spirit to cook, as I need to clear some of the offer food items that I stock up during to Hari Raya Holidays as I can't resist.those huge discount given out by the major supermarkets. For this week, I decided to whip a quick & easy Butter Chicken, Butter Garlic Naan Bread accompanied by Dory Fish Herb Nuggets with Salad to satiate my craving for buttery curry.

So far, most of my recipes are highly influence by the weekly food product discounts offered by the supermarkets.  This is the only way you can enjoy good food while the savings from the discount is transfer to you directly as supermarket have tendency to mark up the price many folds in order to earn profit from the general consumer. Sometimes, I even go to the extent to purchase quick sale products from supermarket as the discount given is half of it actual price due to the product is nearing expiry. For example, a low fat mozzarella 1kg cost $19.90 but after quick sale the price is half to $9.90, Therefore, you can enjoy some of those relatively expensive food products without the need to break your piggy bank.

However, not all quick sale products I will consider as products like eggs, milk and sauces tend to go bad as it's near end of shelf life as I encountered before milk curds in those quick sale milk.Those quick sale product that I've normally purchase are cheese, crackers or honey as it is known fact some cheese are known to age for many years and still consumable, while honey being high in sugar content basically doesn't turn bad if it fully seal airtight and crackers if you consume immediately doesn't poise any health risk. I hope this small nugget of cost saving advice prove usefully for those who want a taste of epicurean while avoid burning a hole in your pocket.

Chili Cheese Wedges

Why eat chili cheese fries from Carl's Jr when you can made your own no hold bars - Chili Cheese Potato Wedges LOL. My rendition is 2x more meaty, 5x more spicy and 10x more smoky that made Carl's Chili Cheese Fries pale in comparison. Enough blabbering and on to the recipe.

Chili Cheese Wedges

• Tex-Mex Chili - Singapore Style
• Potato Wedges
• Mozzarella (cheddar preferable as it melt easier)

Fried the potato wedges till golden brown and drained on Daiso tempura paper. Heat up the Tex-Mex Chili in the microwave oven for 2 mins. Then top the potato wedges with hot chili and mozzarellla. Serve it while hot.

Pan Fried Cajun Dory Fish

Sometimes it's hard to cook fish as you need to heavily marinate it with sauces or spice to mask the fishiness that comes naturally in them. Recently, I found a way (as recommended by Babette) to remove or reduce the fishiness by pre-marinate in herbs & spice infused water. The end result is the fish have a tint of the herb/spice infused water while still retaining it natural fish flavour.

I decide to do a light cajun pan-fried dory fish to test out Babette's theory. True to her words, the pan fried dory came out quite good as the fish do not have the usual predominant fishy taste which I decide to share with everyone.

Pan Fried Cajun Dory Fish

• 2 Pieces of Dory Fish
• Cajun Spice
• Salt
  

Fish Marinade

• Water
• 1 Green Chili Sliced
• 1 Quarter Lime Juiced
• Few Slice of Juliene Lime Skin
• 1 Chopped Garlic
• Dash of Ground Black Pepper

The dory fish available in Singapore is normally frozen solid. Rather than thaw it. You can made use of the fish marinade to thaw and flavor the dory fist at same time. Get a tupperware about the same size and put the dory fish in. Fill the tupperware halfway with water and squeeze the lime juice into the way. Add in the juliene lime skin, garlic, chili and ground black pepper into the water. Give the fish marinade a good stir to let the spice distribute even in the tupperware and seal it with a lid and marinate for 2 to 3 hours or overnight.

Drained off the fish marinade. Drain off excess marinade from the dory fish with a kitchen towel. You can smell the dory fish no longer have the fishy smell but a tinge of spices from the fish marinade. Sprinkle lightly salt and cajun spice on each side of the dory fish. Panfried both side for 10mins or more till it browned then serve it hot.

Tex-Mex Chili - Singapore Style

Tex-Mex Chili is a spicy meat stew made from chili peppers, meat, garlic, onions and cumin in Texas with its root believe to originate from Mexico. I like the spiciness and beefiness of Tex-Mex Chili brought by the minced beef and chili peppers. Tex-Mex Chili is very versatile as you can serve it over tortillas, nachos, fries or as a topping for hot dog or sandwich.

Cooking Tex-Mex Chili is a challenge in Singapore as Chili spices are not readily available so you need to really substitute with local ingredients in order to made it as close to the original Tex-Mex Chili. Unlike those Carl's Jr chili, my rendition is smokey and beefy as I request the butcher to have the beef coarsely ground.

Tex-Mex Chili - Singapore Style

• 300g Mince Beef
• 1/2 Canned Cooked Kidney Beans
• 1 Medium Tomato Chopped
• 1 Medium Onion Chopped
• 17.5g Old El Paso Chili Seasoning (available in Cold Storage)
  
• 1 Tablespoon of Ketchup
• 1 Drop of Wright's Hickory Liquid Smoke (available in Cold Storage)
• 2 Tablespoon of Habanero Hot Sauce (1 Tablespoon of Chili Padi Paste)
• 1 - 2 Drop of Da Bomb Ground Zero Hot Sauce (Optional)
  
• 1/2 to 1 Cup of Water
  
• Oil 
  

Warm up a non-stick pot with 2 tablespoon of oil. Add the chopped onion until it start to turn color or soft. Add in the tomato for another 10 mins. Add in the mince, kidney beans and EL Paso Chili Seasoning and fried until the oil start to separate. You can add 1/2 to 1 cup of water if you find the chili too dry. Add in the Habanero Hot Sauce or Chili Padi paste as replacement into the chili to spice it up. Next, add in the ketchup to moderate the beefiness of the chili. If you found your Chili too wet, try mashing some of the kidney beans will help thicken the chili. I prefer my chili to have tinge of smoked flavor, so I add in a drop of Wright's Liquid Smoke. For those who like to scale the scoville, you can add in 1 to 2 drop of Da Bomb hotsauce to further hot things up.