Green Chicken Curry – Great Eating

Last year, a study on 5,000 men and women conducted in the UK found that:

25% of women think about food every 30 minutes.

10% of women think about sex every 30 minutes.

36% of men think about sex every 30 minutes.

5% of men think about sex every minute.

So, British women think more about food than sex. But they don't think about food as often as men do about sex.

Assuming there're 16 waking hours, one in four British women think about food 32 times a day. Wow, that's a lot! What do they think about? Probably what they long to eat but wouldn't let themselves!

I don't think about food much, certainly nowhere near 32 times a day. Food is for eating, not thinking. When I want green curry, I eat green curry. After that, my mind is free to think about important things like, um, what important things I should think about.

But I do have someone in the house who thinks about food every minute, even when she's sleeping:

As for men who say they think about sex every minute, they must be lying through their teeth. Either that or they have a tumour pressing on the sex part of their brain. Or they need to see a psychiatrist. Whatever it is, they need help! Or maybe they just need a hobby, like cooking?

Check these out:

Basil Chicken	Stuffed Chicken Wings	Laab Gai (Chicken Salad)	Pandan Leaf Chicken

GREEN CHICKEN CURRY (KAENG KHIAO WAN GAI) (Recipe for 4 persons) Curry paste 1 tsp coriander seeds 1 tsp white peppercorn ½ tsp cumin 2 tsp belachan (prawn paste) 4 green chillies 10 green chilli padis 2 medium stalks lemon grass, tender part only 3 tbsp shallots 5 tbsp garlic zest of ½ kaffir lime 1 tsp coriander root 2 tbsp galangal pinch of mace pinch of nutmeg 1 tbsp vegetable oil 150 ml coconut milk (⅔ cup), left to settle for a few hours 450 g chicken (with bone), washed and chopped bite size 1½ tbsp fish sauce 1 tsp salt 200 g eggplant, washed, trimmed, and roll-cut bite size a big handful of Thai basil, leaves only, washed Pan-fry coriander seeds, cumin and white peppercorns till toasty, then pan-fry belachan till fragrant. Wash, trim and peel other ingredients for curry paste as appropriate. Remove seeds from green chillies (just the big ones). Don't touch any cut surface or your hands might burn later. Pound or grind everything till smooth. Skim cream from coconut milk. Heat cream till oil separates. Add vegetable oil and curry paste. Fry over medium heat till fragrant, stirring constantly so that the spices don't burn. Increase heat to high. Add chicken and stir till well coated and heated through. Add fish sauce and salt. Stir till absorbed. Add eggplant, remaining coconut milk, and enough water to just cover everything. Stir to mix thoroughly, bring to a gentle boil, and reduce heat to low. Simmer gently, covered, till eggplant and chicken are just cooked, 3-4 minutes. Taste gravy and adjust seasoning if necessary. Turn off heat. Leave curry, covered, for 45 minutes or up to a few hours to let flavours develop. Curry should thicken as it cools down. To serve, add a bit of water if necessary so that gravy is thin rather than thick, and there's enough to almost cover meat and eggplant. Stir gently to mix in the water, taking care not to break up the eggplant. Reheat curry till gently simmering and oil separates. Place basil leaves in a serving bowl. Pour or ladle curry into the bowl. Stir so that basil leaves are on top. Serve immediately.

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How to Make Black Pepper Crab

Rule number one of crab handling: Make sure it's dead before cutting the string! Ask the crab politely, whilst tapping its legs with a knife or chopstick, 'Hello? Hello? Are you dead?' If it nods its head or says, 'Yes, I'm dead,' beware of the crafty crab! If there's no response and the legs aren't moving, then and only then should the string be cut. I never forget the rule so no, I wasn't bitten. I was just kidding!

Of course, before you check whether the crab is dead, you have to kill it first. The easiest way to do this is to chuck it in the freezer. 15-20 minutes should do the trick, or 30 for the stronger ones.

When buying crabs, choose those that are heavy for their size, and tap the legs to make sure they're alive and kicking. If you like female crabs, go for the ones that have round 'aprons'. The pointy ones are boys – makes sense, right?

The bright orange roe is what eating crabs is all about for many people. Hence, 'roe crabs' are treasured and more expensive than 'meat crabs' and 'milt crabs'.

Cleaning crabs is quite easy. First, trim and discard the abdominal flap, aka apron. Next, grab the bottom end of the shell in one hand, the body in the other, and pull them apart. If the shell seems stuck, that's a good sign that the crab had been fighting fit until it met you and its destiny. Or maybe it was in the freezer a bit too long. If the latter, wait for it to thaw. If the former, insert your kitchen scissors between the bottom end of the shell and the body, then lever off the shell.

Once the shell is removed, you'll see some spongy brown stuff on the body. These are the gills which should be trimmed and discarded. Next, give the crab a good scrub – don't forget the crevices inbetween the legs – followed by a thorough rinse. Turn the shell upside down so that it drains properly. Looks like a car, doesn't it? (I'm thinking along the lines of the Batmobile.) Hey, that must be why its proper name is 'caraspace'!

After cleaning the crab, twist off the pinchers and give 'em a few good whacks with the back of the cleaver. The shell should be cracked and the meat, ideally, intact. Lastly, chop the body into four or six pieces, depending on the size. And that's all – done! Easy peasy lemon squeezy. I like to trim the last joint on the smaller legs to make them a bit shorter, but that's optional. I also like to trim the two small flaps at the top end of the body, in the middle. These are the manibles, which are part of the crab's mouth. But it's no big deal if you leave 'em. The crab is ready for the wok; all you have to do now is cook it. May I suggest Black Pepper Crab?

How to Make 'BBQ' Sambal Stingray

I was in a restaurant somewhere in India. When the waiter came to set my place, a diner sitting nearby said something to him. It was all gibberish to me but I could tell that the tone wasn't too friendly. Next, the waiter trotted off with the banana leaf he had just laid on the table. And then he came trotting back with a stainless steel plate.

What the . . . ? Oi! Gimme back my banana leaf!

But the busybody diner was beaming and looking mighty pleased with himself. What could I say? I guess he meant well, and thought the 'Japanese' woman would prefer a 'proper plate'. I so would not!

I love banana leaves. To me, rice and curry tastes so much better when it's on a banana leaf rather than a steel (yuks!) or even ceramic plate. It's lots more fun, and I feel good using something that's disposable yet traditional and natural. Who says only modern people are lazy? Whoever first thought of using banana leaves as plates must have hated washing up, just like me!

The banana leaf in sambal stingray is the unsung hero. The sambal – always the sambal! – takes all the glory but even a good one would be even better with the banana leaf's subtle smokiness. Isn't the nicely charred leaf a perfect frame for the gleaming, red sambal? Sambal stingray without banana leaf just wouldn't be the same (though it's still better than no sambal stingray at all).



If you've never bought raw stingray before, you're in for a surprise. It's cheap as chips, much cheaper than chicken. A huge wing as long as my forearm costs only $5. Food prices going through the roof? Don't worry, just roll up your sleeves and make sambal stingray. Don't forget the lime juice!

Check these out:

Black Cod with Miso	Coffee Pork Ribs	Minced Pork & Olive Vegetables Stir-Fry (肉脞炒乌橄榄菜)	Pineapple Tarts	Sake Kabuto Shioyaki (Salt- Grilled Salmon Head

NTUC Chicken

Introducing PAP's new candidate for the coming general elections:

. . Where is the new candidate from? All together now: N-T-U-C! The new candidate has been scratching working amongst grassroots since birth. She's young, only five weeks old. Being a chicken, she relates well to the chicken-wing. She will be contesting in the Ang Mo Kio GRC. 'She's a chicken!' 'Yah, dead one some more . . . .' 'But she will be in the most powerful GRC. We have to vote for her!'

Related posts:

Chicken-Wing	Salted Fish & Tofu Soup	The 'Mee Siam Mai Hum' Mystery	Ayam Panggang

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Chicken-Wing

Election war drums are beating, and the loudest is that of Tin Pei Ling. She is the PAP's 28-year-old candidate who reportedly will contest in Macpherson, under the Marine Parade GRC. Criticism of her candidacy has been fast and furious primarily because of her lack of work and political experience, yet hardly anyone doubts that she will become an MP.

These are some of the typical comments regarding TPL (emphases mine):

[Tin Pei Ling's] candidacy has actually highlighted a more alarming problem: our powerlessness to do anything about it . . . I am not a resident of Macpherson, but I can only imagine how powerless I would feel if I was.

The Temasek Review

The PAP will field Pei Ling in a GRC team, under the protection of one or two much more experienced PAP heavyweights. Pei Ling will mostly ride on their strengths, rather than her own ability, to sail safely into Parliament.

Mrwangsaysso

With the cur­rent sys­tem in place, you [PAP] are free to do what­ever you want with­out fur­ther con­sul­ta­tion with the peo­ple you sup­pos­edly act for.

Miyagi

The truth and reality is that Tin Pei Ling will get into Parliament.

The Online Citizen

Powerless to do anything?! Really? What's your vote for then? What's stopping voters from kicking out the PAP in the Marine Parade GRC? Without Goh Chok Tong, the reclaimed land in Marine Parade will sink into the sea or what?! Elections haven't started yet but TPL's victory is already a foregone conclusion?

Other countries have voters who are left-wing, right-wing, or shades of inbetween. What we have in Singapore is . . . chicken-wing!

We have a brood of scaredy chickens that do nothing but cluck frantically and run around in circles. In the past, they kept clucking that they couldn't vote against the PAP because most constituencies weren't contested. This time, the opposition is contesting in all constituencies, and the overall quality of opposition candidates is the best we've ever had. Still the chickens run round and round and round, clucking non-stop.

Please, next time you see one of these defeatist chickens, flap your arms and squawk,

'CHICKEN-WING!'

Related posts:

Salted Fish & Tofu Soup	NTUC Chicken	The 'Mee Siam Mai Hum' Mystery	Ayam Panggang

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Herbal Mutton Soup – Good Meh-Eh-Heh?

My mother cooked just about everyday, and not once did she cook mutton, lamb or goat anything – not once. Hence, my knowledge of cooking anything that goes 'Meh-eh-heh!' or 'Baa-aaa!' is pretty paltry. I learn on the job which is, if you ask me, a fun way of learning.

I cooked some lamb chops once. Said chops were marinated with pineapple juice, fresh rosemary and salt, then pan-fried till medium-rare. The chops were delicious but I had a small problem. You know how lamb chops have bones that are curved? I couldn't brown the curved part which had no contact with the pan. Lamb chops served in restaurants are completely seared though, as far as I can remember. How do they do it? Grilling or roasting wouldn't work because the meat would be overcooked by the time the bit which curves inward is brown. The only way I can think of is with a blow torch! Or maybe frying with lots of oil, like almost deep-frying?

My second encounter with mutton, lamb or goat anything at home was goat milk. I had two bottles delivered from Hay Dairies because some channel 8 program said goat milk was nicer than cow milk. Hah! Don't believe anything you see on TV! The first mouthful was indeed rich and milky but it was only for a few nanoseconds. The aftertaste hit me in the face with the unmistakable stench that only goats and sheep are capable of. 'Eeeeeeew!'

Hmm, what to do with two big bottles of goat milk less one mouthful? I made some yogurt, thinking the sourness might disguise the goaty smell. Big mistake! Not only was the stench not lessened by the fermentation, it actually became more concentrated. Double 'Eeeeew!'

Last resort: I heated up the remaining milk, poured the whole lot in a plastic basin, and plonked my feet in it! As me poor, weary feet luxuriated in Cleopatra style, I could hear a goat mama somewhere sobbing, 'You rob me of my milk for this?!' I hung my head in shame, and . . . . Hey, my feet are silky smooth!

And then there was the time when I tried my hand at mutton stew (post here). It was delicious, my neighbour said. 'Woooof! Woof! Wooof!' When am I cooking mutton again? That's the neighbour, btw. 'I just did but sorry, you're not getting any this time.'

I hate to disappoint my furry neighbour but the herbal soup with mutton ribs is too good to, um, go to the dogs.

Check these out:

Silkie Chicken Soup	Sichuan Spicy Beef	Pearly Meatballs (珍珠丸子)	Stir-Fried Crocodile