Sushi course at Sydney Cooking School

Once of my Christmas presents was a Red Balloon Day Experience for a cooking course at Sydney Cooking School; a great choice of present for a sushi lover like me. Finally having a weekend free after an extremely fun and busy January, on Sunday I went to Neutral Bay (North of the harbour) to learn some more about sushi and get better at making it.

In the lesson we learned:

• Some of the history behind sushi
• Visual demonstration of how to fillet a fish, how to present cucumber in interesting ways and how to make teriyaki
• Practical demonstration making normal sushi rolls, inside-out rolls, hand-formed sushi (nigiri) and hand rolls

Since there are a huge number of intricacies associated with sushi, I won’t try and list them all, but here are a few interesting sushi facts (some of which I learnt yesterday):

• In Japan a sushi chef will commonly spend a number of years merely washing rice (at least this was the case when the sushi master instructing us learned)
• Pieces of sushi should be made such that they can be eaten in one mouthful (try telling that to chains like Itsu)
• In sushi bars in Japan, the etiquette is to eat a piece of hand-formed sushi within three seconds of it having been placed in front of you by a chef
• A single piece of hand-formed (nigiri) sushi with the most regarded piece of Toro (Bluefin tuna belly) can cost $100
• Sushi was first developed in south east Asia and raw fish would be preserved by coating it in fermented rice. When eaten, the rice would be thrown away. The Japanese modernised and sophisticated the process into what is now recognised as Japanese cuisine
• Hand rolls in the shape of a cone are an American invention, whereas hand rolls in Japan are similar, but are cylindrical, to maintain the correct balance of the ingredients along the roll

And importantly here’s some food porn:

Cracking On With A Bit Of Cambodian Crabanus

Cambodia will now always be synonymous with crab for me, having gorged on it during my stay there. Starting in Siem Reap (so named as to remind us that Siam [Thailand] destroyed the ancient Angkor city there) I had dinner with a couple of Kiwi chaps who I met on the flight from Vientiane. We found a local seafood place which – amazingly – was only just off the beaten path, but had no other tourists in.

We got stuck into some crab, steamed fish and grilled prawns. As former coastal-dwelling divers and massive seafood fans, they didn’t leave any prisoners, my favourite quote of the night being – after being encouraged to suck the crab shell dry – was “get into it mate, there’s nothin’ wrong with a bit of crabanus, Robbo!” (this is inexplicably hilarious in a kiwi accent) We pretty much ate our bodyweight in fish and looked a bit like this…

I also spent a few days cycling around the Wats (temples) and saw the sunrise at Angkor Wat with my Scottish pal Lynsey as well as getting involved with yet another cooking course, amusingly named “cooks in tuk tuks”. Amusingly, because “tuk tuk?” is the perpetual question asked by lines of charming Cambodian guys along the streets, everywhere you go.

The cooking course taught us few new things, including how to make Amork – the traditional Cambodian curry soup – banana leaf salad and a simple Hibiscus tea. Amork is made with a fairly gentle masssuman-like curry paste and a loose water/coconut milk mix, so it’s a bit soupy.

After a few nights in Siem Reap I headed down to Phnom Penh where at the central market they have excellent seafood, including prawns the size of lobsters, which I went to town on over lunch!

It was very sobering to visit the S21 detention centre – one of the epicentres of the Khymer Rouge regime’s genocide. The trial of some of Pol Pot’s senior staff is currently underway [http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/jun/27/truth-khmer-rouge-court-case] over 30 years on, so in light of having very recently learned about the disgusting torture inflicted on so many people, it’s fascinating and saddening to see this piece of history being addressed and its perpetrators put to justice.

During the Phnom Penh stage, there was time for a trip down to Kep (on the coast) which seems to be a holidaying spot for Cambodians with means and it’s famous for its pepper crab. This allowed for a few days just chilling, dipping in the pool and quaffing seafood, which was a very relaxing way to end the SE Asia portion of my adventure. It’s a lovely area, but there are still a lot of deserted buildings from the genocide era which is a tad spooky.

Finally before I left Cambodia for Aussieland, there was time to drop back into Phnom Penh and had a great meal at ‘Friends’, a Friends International [link] project that helps people off the streets and into the hospitality sector. The food and service were amazing and it was a great way to see out the end of my SE Asia and Cambodian adventures.

Next stop, Perth and South West Australia’s Margaret River wine region

Laos – Plenty of Dining with Rice

After crossing the Thai border with Laos at Chiang Kong, me and my pal Charlie stopped in Huay Xai and got stuck into some traditional Lao cuisine in the form of Lap Kai. This is a meat salad which is cut with beans, chilli, lemongrass, galangal, coriander, lime and suchlike. After this brief stop we got the slow boat down the river to Luang Prabang, meeting some lovely folk along the way.

Typically, I heard equally conflicting arguments and rumour about the boat ride before going on the two-day cruise. Some reported dire conditions and others enthused about the beauty and camaraderie of the confined conditions. I personally found I great and was very happy looking at the beautiful Mekong views in between playing poker, scrabble, chess and various other card games for hours with new friends.

In Luang Prabang I got stuck into another cookery school, which if anything, was better than the first in Chiang Mai. The chef at Tum Tum Chong cookery school, Chandra Vongsalavanh, is a bit of an all-round legend and has plied his trade in busy hotels and restaurants in the West including Germany, Hungary and New York. As well as learning five traditional dishes, we did five or more of his own recipes – a lot to fit into just 4-5 hours, since we also did the obligatory market tour and education price about the ingredients. In the cookery school at Chiang Mai, we all cooked our own dishes, but here we got involved less occasionally, which actually turned out better, as it was easier to pick up the recipes and techniques.

Aubergine salad parcels recipe:

Although I was keen to learn the traditional dishes, my favourite dish of the day was one of his; an aubergine salad which we ate in parcels. I (conveniently enough) was the volunteer who helped cook this one. After warming some chopped garlic and ginger in hot vegetable oil, I added some aubergine pulp gained from steaming some large aubergines. This was stir friend until the spices were incorporated. This was left to cool and we then made parcels in some simple green leaves and blanched cabbage leaves.

In these leaves we put a small spoon of the aubergine and a small slice or two of crispy (small) aubergine, along with a pinch each of chopped lemongrass, galangal, garlic, chilli, ginger and shallots. This tasted absolutely amazing and would be great as a sharing salad for a summer dinner starter with friends.

Interesting sticky rice facts:
- It was also interesting to learn that sticky rice is not only culturally preferred in Laos, but it has broader significance in terms of having a role in wedding traditions. It’s eaten with every meal and also used in wedding ceremonies to underscore the values of equality and everyday diligence.
- Quite often in Laos you’ll be served cold rice with your meal because it’s usually prepared once – in the morning and then used throughout the day. If any is leftover, it is used to make rice crackers.
- [For the uninitiated] With sticky rice, you use your hands to eat it but rolling it into a ball, flattening it and using it to scoop food.
- The powder of cooked and dried sticky rice is used as a thickening agent in many dishes
- Sticky rice is more agriculturally intensive, as it is grown for four months instead of one-to-two with normal rice.
- When you cook sticky rice, it starts very white-coloured and becomes translucent when cooked; the opposite is true of long grain rice.

Cooking Chiang Mai & Thai Food Facts

I’ve cooked a lot of Thai curries before, including making pastes, but was keen to learn more, get some ideas and of course, spend a day cooking. Something which one doesn’t get to do a hell of a lot while on the road.

The course I chose was one outside of Chiang Mai, on a small farm where they grow some of the ingredients you use in the recipes. After visiting a local market to learn about some of the main ingredients such as pastes and rice and the staple flavourings in Thai food (fish sauce et al) we were shown around the garden to see things like lemongrass, kaffir lime plants, chilli plants, basils and papaya growing.

We then got stuck into making a curry paste (I made green) and talked through the curry recipes, which we all did with no problems. I then made papaya salad, tom yam soup, pad Thai and banana in coconut milk. The course was made all the better by out highly enthusiastic chef. Joking and laughing the whole way through, everyone thought he made it a lot of fun.

Few things I learnt:
- orange chills are the hottest. Green ones are more bitter and the seeds aren’t fully grown and the flavour hasn’t developed, while red chills are less hot because they have sweeter flesh and the flavour has started to mellow.
- you can replace green papaya with carrot as it has the most similarities, texture and flavour wise
- of the chilli pastes, green is the hottest as it is freshest; red is milder as dried chillies are used; yellow is made with turmeric. Massuman has bay and clove in, which gives it the more mellow rounded flavour, while Penang paste has peanuts in.
- using coconut milk, one should use 60% cream with 40% water for curry; 50% cream for soup; and 100% for desserts
- fresh green coconuts are where we get coconut juice, but coconut cream is made from pressing the pulp of brown (older) coconuts
- there are two types of rice: sticky rice and everything else! Sticky rice starts off very white (is dryer and more starchy) and becomes translucent when cooked; jasmine & other long grain rices starts more translucent (not dry; contains more sugars) and is white when cooked. Also, when you think about it, if you ask for steamed rice, you get long grain, which is boiled in water, whereas sticky rice is actually steamed. Brown rice is a variety of long grain and simply has more fibre, so takes longer to cook.

Bangkok Woks Really Are Fearsome

In the world of scuba there’s a poorly conceived acronym [link] which is often recalled using the phrase ‘Bangkok Women Really Are Fellas’. I couldn’t help but find parallels between the deceptive appeal and gratuitous misrepresentation of it’s food and the lady boys for which Bangkok is supposedly famed.

I am delighted by some of the foods I see but baulk at others, finding the genuine article seems a challenge. Ghastly stretched chickens hanging in the warm afternoon; fish balls floating like tragic orbs of sickliness ready to spoil a good Tom Yam soup and sticky rubbery glutenous balls of god knows what on skewers. And all the while, amazing skill and food are hiding in plain sight.

Such was the form on my trips to Chinatown Bangkok, during which I managed to eat well, seemingly against all odds. With my post [link] about discovery in mind, I went in with low expectations and tried to find a place where the chef looks harassed and the locals look happy. Before long I was eating the most amazing seafood and seriously contemplating rounding up as many tourists as I could find to say ‘stop what you’re doing and come and eat this’.

First thing I saw was the fish, proudly laid out like a good fishmongers, with all the vegetative accoutrements lined up above. I could barely see the chef as he blurred between his five main pots – main wok, deep fry wok, clam boiling/sauce pot, stock pot, fish steaming pot and around ten flavour pots, which seemed to include tamarind, salt, palm sugar, rice wine, dark & light soy, sesame oil and chopped/dried chilli.

An order comes in. The lone chef adds a healthy portion of oil to the pan. A girl brings him a plate of seafood, including octopus, squid, clams and prawns which he does some minor prep with, scoring the squid, slicing the octopus. Clams go straight into the sauce pot, with half a ladle of stock, from the adjacent stock pot. To his main spoon he adds a sprinkling of four flavours, which hit the wok and are joined by the rest of the seafood. The heat get turned up and the noise is awesome. Another half a ladle goes into the wok this time, both deglazing and welding the flavours together. Fresh chilli and greens go in, followed by the clams and suddenly the whole thing lands on a plate. Without flinching or looking to admire his work, a ladle of stock goes into the pan with a roar, he scrapes the pan and then discards the waste water into a bucket. The next order is up.

This process takes 2 minutes 50 seconds, but feels like 30 seconds flat.

And I sit down.

I order (guess what) and sit where I can see him work. That performance wasn’t an anomaly, it’s continual. All with different dishes… surely everyone is getting different levels of the hand mixed flavours, but no, looking around they are all having a great meal. Mine is certainly as good as I though it would be.

Now bear in mind, this is a rickety street stall with an arrangement of raw food, a picnic table with little surface area, five pots sitting atop canisters of gas with direct burners, rough-looking red plastic furniture, poor street lighting, mopeds ambling past (it’s a side side street, else they’d be trying to set new records) and it’s a dim muggy evening in Bangkok. The chef’s mobile phone goes; I had thought he was listening to music. It’s an order that he shouts to one of the girls, without stopping as a massive plume of flames erupts out of his fearsome wok. He finishes another dish.

No, in fact it was music; as he finishes the dish, he pulls out his phone and changes the tune. With a nod he resumes the next dish, casually managing his stock pot and choosing when to add back into it from steamed dishes to keep regenerating it. And another dish.

Food alchemy.

Thai-style tuna burgers with cannellini bean salad

I usually like my tuna lightly seared or served raw as sashimi, but with either lower quality or older pieces of tuna from a supermarket, you can easily whip them into a wonderful patty and serve as a classy little salad. Because tuna’s pretty meaty – and a bean salad fairly substantial – you can easily adjust the proportions to make it either a lunch or dinner portion.

The credit for this recipe goes to John, I’ve merely made some interpretations on the quantities as they worked when I did it… Best to prepare the bean salad first since that can wait on the side as you prep the tuna burgers.

Salad

Ingredients

• Juice of one lime
• Two tablespoons of olive oil
• One teaspoon of dijon mustard
• Four smallish spring onions, finely chopped
• One can of cannellini beans (rinsed)
• 3-4 tablespoons parsley

Method

Cannellini bean salad

In a mixing bowl, mix the lime, mustard and oil until it has a creamy consistency. Add seasoning to taste – go heavy on the pepper. Now add the spring onions and the beans and mix well. Add parsley later, shortly before serving.

Tuna

Ingredients

• 450g tuna - for 3 people for dinner portions (two each)
• 2 medium sticks of lemongrass, discard ends and outer layers and finely chop
• 1.5 inches squared of ginger, finely chopped
• 2 medium sized chillis, fairly hot, finely chopped (to taste)
• 3 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon soya sauce
• Zest and juice of 1 lime

Method

Tuna burgers

Gently fry the shallots with the chilli, ginger and lemongrass spices; do not brown. Meanwhile, finely dice the tuna in a mixing bowl and add the lime zest and soya. Once the shallots and spices are sweated down, add them to the bowl along with the juice of the lime and form the mixture into six round patties. Fry them in a hot pan with olive oil, browning well on each side and cooking until done in the centre

Serving

Tuna burger with cannellini beans

 

Serve the burgers on top of the canellini beans and bung a bit of parsley on top. The dish is nicely accompanied by a peppery salad of watercress and rocket, dressed with oil, soya sauce and lime juice. Enjoy!

A Christmas cheeseboard with no equal

Although Christmas is perhaps not synonymous with cheese for people, it’s always a feature of chez Clark, come the yuletide period. A household with a strong appreciation for cheese, we use Christmas as the perfect excuse to stock up and have a fromage-fest. Usually on Boxing day, it will be a feature along with cold meats and salad.

This year I’ve come across a couple of new cheeses including Bath Blue, which a pal got for me on a visit to the Great British Cheese Festival which have inspired me to try and create a board with a balance of cheeses and something new. So thought I’d do a spot of research and some ideas from fellow cheese appreciators on what makes a good board. A few of the comments were:

• “Variety – and unpasteurised cheeses ” – Chris
• “Something hard, something blue, something soft and a bit of goat” – James
• “Needs something creamy. Call me Scottish, but oatcakes are a must” - John
• “Something stinky!” – Carla
• “A good cheeseboard shouldn’t be pretty, just rustic” – Ellie (provider of said cheese)

Where to begin! I think there are a few key elements to a good cheeseboard, aside from the cheese itself:

• Accompaniments: jellies, chutneys, nuts, grapes, figs etc
• Biscuits and/or bread: different cheeses work better with different ones. I like soft cheeses on bread, hard cheeses on oat or wholemeal biscuits and blue cheeses on crunchy slim crackers
• Presentation: for cheese there are a few things to get right. Temperature is the most important thing because it affects the taste and spreadability. A nice wooden board is good aesthetically but to Ellie’s comment – it shouldn’t be too pretty!
• Booze: a good port and/or wine to go with is super important

By the way (if you think I’ve missed something from this I love to hear it).

Cheese-wise, I think I’m going to go with the following this year:

• Bath Blue
• Colston Basset Stilton
• Aged mature cheddar
• Cambazola
• Brie
• Goats cheese
• Something unpasturised if I can find it!

And in terms of accompaniments, it will be chilli jelly, spicy chutney, nuts and grapes. Booze-wise, it will be a fairly standard Taylor’s port. I’ll update this post with some pictures once I’ve done the board over Christmas

Carnitas – Slow Braised Mexican Pork Recipe

Burritos have become a growing habit of mine since I first tried one when Daddy Donkey came to town in Leather Lane near where I work in 2007. Since then I’ve become a big fan of the modest burrito, the name of which is derived from the Mexican word for Donkey. Carnitas is currently my favourite filling; it’s slow cooked pork which is remarkably easy to do. Since you use a shoulder joint, it’s also very cheap.

Chilango is currently my favourite burrito joint and it also seems to be benefitting from London’s growing love affair with Mexican food. Fortuitously, I won a bunch of vouchers through the charity raffle associated with the yearly Nom Nom Nom cook off, so I’ve recently been able to indulge my habit for free and share my obsession with various friends.

So, Carnitas: beautifully simple and absolutely delicious. Very quickly I came across a recipe by Homesick Texan, Lisa, which talked me through the different challenges she’d faced in perfecting her Carnitas, before she discovered Diana Kennedy‘s approach.

This approach sees the fatty cuts of pork shoulder simmered in two parts water and one part orange juice for a few hours, before increasing the heat and reducing the water until only rendered fat is left. At this stage, the meat starts caramelising beautifully until you’re left with wonderfully tasting pork. Check out Lisa’s helpful overview here.

Enter guacamole, fresh salsa (tomatillo salsa is the recommended, but they’re not handy in UK supermarkets), salad and crème fraiche and a few tortilla wraps and you’ve got yourself a burrito. Nom.

Holy three-course Asian meal, batman!

This has been a year of many surprises, a coalition government, England’s drawn out failure at the World Cup and perhaps most startlingly, evidence of some nice summer weather. But none of these hold a candle to what took place on Sunday July 11th 2010. On what should surely be a new date for the history books, the annual NomNomNom cooking extravaganza saw London’s food bloggers compete in a three course cook-off in front of a gorgeous posse of judges at The Cookery School. Like the first man on the moon, the stakes were high – but we took one small step for mankind and a giant leap for hungover bloggers everywhere. This highly amusing yearly event helps to support Action Against Hunger – a charity that seems to take a long term view of the food challenges faced in poor countries. Instead of tackling the symptoms, they help people create and develop food sources.

Here’s what went down. The challenge was set, the menu carefully planned, best frocks and socks donned for the big day. Katman and Robin, we came, we cooked and we…… ok well we didn’t win, but as the old saying goes: first is worst, second is the best and third are the ones with the hairy chests.

(Obviously we came second, woop!).

We had a fantastic time and learnt a hell of a lot about cooking under pressure. However as friends know, neither of us are particularly stressed people and not the type to be getting flustered in the kitchen. The cooking was a success and we managed to pull off three pretty epic (self congratulations here) Asian fusion dishes. We tried to make the food as local and sustainable as possible and used various bits and bobs from Robin’s garden. The judges in their infinite wisdom awarded us second place. We could not have been more shocked and were totally delighted. This resulted in a spontaneous double high five and quite a few celebratory vinos!

Now you can be a judge.

We were pipped at the post, but as luck would have it, the online vote is our second chance at redemption. Why should you vote for team Katman and Robin? All our dishes are simple pleasures that any home cook can enjoy. Our menu is also very ‘inclusive’ since it’s completely gluten free and with one minor adjustment can be made nut & seed free. Most home cooks like to try something new, and each of our dishes is remarkably easy to pick up. The starter of spring rolls can be done with out-of-the-packet rolls and just a few simple ingredients including cooked prawns; the beef salad requires only a good piece of beef, an hour to marinade and a simple salad; the sorbet has just four ingredients including fresh strawberries!

We chose a summer menu that would best enjoyed with a few glasses of prosseco outside somewhere green and relaxing, which is what cooking should be all about .

So vote for Katman and Robin if the mood so takes you and support the online raffle for action against hunger to do a good a deed.

Voting takes two clicks and you can even do it daily if you want: just click here.

Nomnomnom – the result!

Our three courses

On Sunday I took part in the Nomnomnom cook-off with Kate who writes Postcards from a gluten free life; we were pitted against nine other pairs of food enthusiasts who all cooked a three course meal at The Cookery School.

The activity was set up in support of Action Against Hunger – a charity organisation that seems to take a long term view of the food challenges faced in poor countries. Instead of tackling the symptoms, they help people create and develop food sources.

My thai beef salad

We had a great time cooking up a fusion menu of Vietnamese spring rolls, Thai beef salad and strawberry sorbet (served with a glass of Proseco). Having thought we had plenty of time to make the dishes come together, the two and a half hours we had went amazingly fast. Ultimately we were part shocked and part relieved that it had all come together!

Given the standard of the cooking, we were very happy to be awarded with the runners up prize – a great Phillips cordless hand blender and a bag full of goodies (see pic). We also met some great folk including EuWen, Danny, Rachel and Carla who we were sitting with while devouring the buffet we’d created. There are more prizes still to be one – you can support Action Against Hunger by entering a raffle with some great prizes.

All in all there was some fantastic dishes that all the competitors had made and we all had a good time picking over the food which hadn’t gone up to the judges for the competition. I think I enjoyed pretty much every ever bite I had.