Mushroom Sloppy Joe Pizza Naan

I normally dun like the standard pizza base sold in local supermart as most are not partial cook therefore it will take you significant amount of time if you suddenly have pizza craving. Naan is the perfect pizza base alternative as it is readily frozen partial baked and relatively cheaper (you can get 12 frozen partial baked naans at the price of $5.95 at Mustafa) than the frozen pizza base. Sloppy Joe Pizza Naan is the easiest to cook and fastest to make among all my pizza recipe as you do not need to deal with much toppings.



Mushroom Sloppy Joe Pizza Naan

• Delmonte Sloppy Joe Sauce (available in Jason's Market or Cold Storage)
• 300gm of Minced Beef
• 1 Medium Red Onion diced finely
• 1/2 cup of peas
• 1 Brown Mushroom thinly sliced
• 1 Partial Baked Naan
• 2 Cherry Tomato thinly sliced
• Mozzarella Cheese

Sloppy Joe is a thick meat sauce similar to chili con carne or bolognese that can be use as topping for hotdog or filling served with burger bun. Rarely is it used as pizza based sauce as well as a pizza topping. The fastest way to make Sloppy Joe is to grab the really made sauce from supermart. First, you need to brown the onions then add in the minced beef and brown the beef for 10 mins. Add in the Delmonte Sloppy Joe sauce and green peas into the minced beef and onion. Gently stir until the sauce is fully incorporate into the beef. Turn down the heat and let it simmer for 10 to 15 mins then turn off the stove.

Take one naan and spread the Sloppy Joe evenly on the naan surface. Add in the cherry tomato follow by mushroom slice and finally top it off with mozzarella cheese. Pop it into the toaster oven and toast it for 10 mins till the mozzarella start to brown and it's really to serve.

Prawn/Pork Fried Gyoza

Lately, I have been craving for fried gyoza and I decide to have it for breakfast today. For those “十指不占阳春水“ translate literally to those who doesn't do household chores like cooking or cleaning would suggest going to foodcourt or restaurant Ding Tai Fung "鼎泰豐" to settle the craving. Unfortunately, the gyoza offered by the foodcourt or restaurant are unable to satisfied my palate for a more personalized and customize gyoza. I had experiment with many combination of gyoza fillings and by far this is the most flavorful combi that I had concocted. Without further ado, let proceed with the recipe.


Prawn/Pork Fried Gyoza

• 240gm of Minced Pork
• 1 bowl of De-Shell Raw Prawn
• 4 Brown Mushroom finely diced
• 1 tablespoon of finely diced Garlic
• 1 tablespoon of finely diced Ginger
• 2 stalk of finely chopped Spring Onion
• 1/2 slab of firm Tofu
• 2 teaspoon of Knorr Hao Chi powder
• 2 teaspoon of Maggi Chicken essence
• 1 teaspoon of light soya sauce
• 1 packet of gyoza skin (available at Shen Siong Supermart)
• 1 tablespoon of Mirin

For my previous gyoza filling recipes, I always add egg as a binding agent to hold the gyoza filling. From my experience, pan fry egg-bind gyoza filling tend to be quite dry. This time, I decide to replace it with tofu as the binding agent. In a big mixing bowl, mash the firm tofu and add in the rest of the ingredients - minced pork, prawn, mushroom, spring onion, garlic, ginger.

Next add in the flavoring agent - Hao Chi powder, Maggi Chicken essence, soya sauce and mirn into the mixing bowl. Now it is time to get your hand dirty. With a circular motion, blend the mixture until it sticky enough to form a ball. Next it time to fold the gyoza, you can follow the instruction in this video to fold your gyoza. You can fold all your gyoza and place them on tray with wax paper and freeze them in batches and store them in plastic bag. This allow you to take out the amount you need.


Fire up the non-stick frying pan with drizzle of cooking oil, and add in the frozen gyoza let it pan fry for 5 mins then add in 1/4 cup of water and cover with the fry pan and let it steam until the water dry up and wait for another 10 mins and serve. If you prefer much crispy base, leave it for addition 5 mins or more.

Saturday Cookout Afterthought

It had been months since I last update the cookfreak blog as working life (as an IT professional) had taken a toll in both my mental and physical well-being that I took a 3 month sabbatical from work and cooking (including blogging as well).

With current economic situations and inflation, it take one to wonder how one can appreciate the things around you and the things you do in life. I have friends everyday telling me how "sian" they are with their life even those well-to-do friends showing signs of weariness due to stress. Even now, I do not have any answer to this never-ending rat race that seem to entwine everyone including myself.

But one thing I know for sure is my passion for food and cooking never wanes despite all this. As my friends always made fun of me that - "I live to eat" not like them - "eat to live". Truth to their words, I constantly re-invent ways of cooking common cuisine as well as complex one in an economical way everyone can enjoy. I will be sharing in coming post on how one can roast and grill chicken/fish with toaster oven without the need to purchase expensive conventional oven.

"Twilight Killer" Ramen - NANTSUTTEI Ramen

Being a ramen fanatic, I always take the opportunity to try new Japan ramen restaurants that had set its root in Singapore. Nasutte is among the few that I chosen for my taste test as I absolutely adores Tonkotsu soup based ramen and its well known roasted garlic oil topping.



NANTSUTTEI is located at the 3rd floor of new Millenia Walk extension - Parco Marina. I had the chance to try out NANTSUTTEI's garlic oil tonkostu ramen during their initial first week of operation. If I had the time, I normally would like to grace newly open Japanese restaurant during the first 2 weeks as this is the time you get to taste authentic Japanese cuisine as the Japanese cuisine are prepared under the watchful eye of main store chef from Japan.



I decided to go for the full work and order the Charsiew Ramen ($16.00) and additional topping of ramen egg ($2.00). About 15 mins later, steaming hot Charsiew Ramen was served up to me. Without further ado, I took a sip of the soup and was struck by how full bodied the ramen soup was brewed. It is the best tonkotsu soup base I have ever taste shaming even the popular Ippudo, Tampopo or Ichibantei. The black garlic oil further enhance the richness of the Tonkotsu soup to a new level. If your averse to Garlic, you might want to give this ramen a miss if you happen to be Robert Pattinson of Twilight or Twilight fan.


NANTSUTTEI serve thick curly noodles that doesn't lose it el dente despite soaking in the soup. The ramen egg is perfectly cooked with liquid-center yolk that not much ramen restaurant able to attain. I definitely give 2 thumbs up for impeccable attention in making such delectable ramen.

Saturday Cookout Afterthought

I give advice to my friend's mum over Live Messenger on how to go about using the microwave to cook marinated chicken. As reported by my friend, the outcome was pretty successful. However, he commented it seem so tedious and difficult despite the process of using a microwave to cook the marinated chicken is pretty effortless and simple. I cannot comprehend why so many people perceive cooking as tedious and complex.  

I have a friend that say why you can effortless cook dishes that seem so complex and tedious. Well I have my fair share of failure and this saturday cookout is a failure despite it aesthetic appearance. My dutch rendition of Stampot is too dry and the pan fried skewered bacon wrapped dory fish isn't crispy enough. It would be ideal if it is deep fried.
 
Even in failure, you can learn what could be done to improve the failed recipe. As I always say no one is born a cook, it is only whether you have a heart to cook. 

"Bad Mouth" Fried Chicken Wings - Bonchon 4 Fingers

After BBQ Chicken graced Singapore F&B, 4 Fingers Bonchon Crispy Chicken finally hit Orchard ION B4 to contest with the wealth of diverse F&B outlets with the only contender in Orchard ION for the fried chicken wings is Old Chang Kee unless you want to consider Dong Dae Mun which retail fired chicken cutlet etc. By chance, my makan kaki & me found the Bonchon is not vacant during one late sunday night while we wandering aimlessly in ION prompt us to give this Korean fried chicken a go for our money.

Our first look into the Bonchon menu give us a shock of our life. For 3 mid wings & 3 wingstick (3 Chicken Wings) are priced at $7.95 and for a set meal with drink $9.90. There are 2 flavour of choice :- Spicy Chili or Garlic Shoyu. We ordered $7.95 chicken only set with mixed spicy chili & garlic shoyu in order to try all the Bonchon fried chicken flavours.

After paying up $7.95, we move on to "spacious" unique reclining seating area while we wait for the fried chicken to served to us. While we waiting for the chicken served to us, we notice the video adverstisement screening in Bonchon video wall actually is a collection of video comment film from a group of fried chicken lovers "bad mouthing" other fried chicken franchise. Exact details of the comment I won't delve, I leave it those who are interested to dine in Bonchon to take a look. (Note: The video advert was screening during the time of my dinning, as for whether the advert is still screen in Bonchon, I'm unable to verify). After 5 to 8 minutes wait, the fried chicken wings were served to us.

My first glance of Bonchon Fried Chicken Wings, it is very puny like winglet & wingstick if you compared with Old Chang Kee Fried Chicken Wing. I guess maybe the redeeming factor is in its special flavoring sauce that is coated on the fried chicken. I proceed to take a bite on the Spicy Chili flavour. Bonchon is the most crispy fried chicken in Singapore but with a catch. Bonchon is also the driest fried chicken as you can forget about finding any meat juice.

Bonchon crispy crust is due to their special rice flour batter that contribute to its ability to retain its crispiness after being fried for a long time. The spicy chili sauce have a sweet fusion of Gochuzhang (Korean Chili Paste) & Tasbaco sauce which is pretty unique and I quite like it. As for the Garlic Shoyu, it is sweet shoyu with hint of garlic. For a hefty price of $7.95 for 3 dry crispy winglets & wingsticks, it is unlikely I would revisit Bonchon as I prefer crispy juicy chicken.

Handmade Soba That Never Fail To Amaze Me - Shimbashi Soba Raffles City

The sweltering heat bathing Lion City for the past few weeks doesn't seem to abate. Hot food no longer seem tempting to my palate. Nothing beat having soba during hot hot Singapore summer. Normally, I cook dry soba bought from supermarket or Daiso. Irregardless whatever brand of dry soba I purchased, nothing beat freshly made soba kneaded by human hand. Today my craving for quality cold soba prompt me to tried the Shimbashi soba outlet opened in Raffles City Basement. It been 3 years since I last tried the handmade soba at the newly open Shimbashi Soba at Paragon until now I still reminisce the el dente fresh buckwheat taste that deeply imprint in my brain.  

 I went down to the Raffles City outlet with my usual makan kaki, I tempted to take the Soba Serio $12.20 (simply just plain cold soba with soba dipping sauce and nothing else) but my makan kaki as usual indicated Soba serio although you can enjoy a full plate of soba if you calculate based on BOM (bill of material) might not be that valued for money. For value for money, it is best to go for the value set meal that is available in the Shimbashi's menu.

 
I settle for Teriyaki Don Value set that come with complimentary warm or cold soba while my makan kaki ordered the Tempura Don Value set. I ordered cold soba so that I can savor the handmade soba true el dente-ness. If serve warm, the soba will lose its el dente if left to soak in the soap too long. It took about 15 to 20 minutes, before the value sets were served to us.

The cold soba is served in ceramic dish topped with fresh wakame drenched with soba dipping sauce. Unable to hold back any further, I decide to assault the cold soba as its is the primary reason & mission. As I slurped in the cold soba and took my first bite, the memory when I had my first hand made soba in Shimbashi Soba came flooding back. The soba is still as el dente as I remembered with a fresh taste of buckwheat without any floury aftertaste you get from commercial dried soba. The citrus shoyu dipping sauce and fresh wakame is like the the woodwinds & strings in orchestra, compliment the soba very well without overwhelming your palate. You can taste the soba, shoyu & wakame indivdual taste distinctly.

The chicken teriyaki is not too shabby with very crispy chicken karaage drenched lightly with teriyaki sauce. The whole don ensemble is balanced, the teriyaki sauce not overpowering sweet which is good so you can still taste your chicken karaage and it goes well with the japanese rice. I would conclude that Shimbashi Soba's handmade soba never fails to amaze me as rarely I can visit another outlet and still get to savor the same taste & feel as its flagship during its initial opening.