C is for Chinese

It was finally time for the C dinner and it was my turn to cook. I chose Chinese as it's not a cuisine that features on my regular dinner rotation and I very rarely go out to Chinese restaurants as growing up in the country we only ever had the choice of Chinese or Italian if we wanted to go out for dinner.

I wanted to stay away from the standard stir fry option so I started trolling the internet for some inspiration. I came across Kylie Kwong's recipes on the ABC website and decided on a Steamboat. I thought that being able to do all the prep work before everyone arrives and then being able to sit around the table and cook our dinner together would be great fun.

Menu:
Pork Dumplings
Steamed Chicken Buns
Chinese Steamboat
Plain Rice
Egg Custard Buns
________________________________________

Chinese Steamboat
300 g (1 lb 6 oz) squid
300 g (10 oz) organic pork fillet, finely sliced on the diagonal
300 g (10 oz) organic chicken fillet, finely sliced on the diagonal
300 g (10 oz) organic beef fillet, finely sliced on the diagonal
400 g (13 oz) snapper fillets, finely sliced on the diagonal
6 uncooked king prawns (jumbo shrimp), peeled and deveined but with tails intact

Squid marinade
2 large red chillies, halved lengthways, deseeded and roughly sliced
1 teaspoon sea salt
11/2 tablespoons palm sugar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons ginger julienne
1 tablespoon lime juice

Garlic and ginger paste
10 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup roughly chopped ginger
1 teaspoon sea salt

Pork marinade
2 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon Shao Hsing wine
1 teaspoon Chinese black vinegar
dash of sesame oil

Chicken marinade
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon Shao Hsing wine
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
dash of sesame oil

Beef marinade
2 tablespoons Chinese BBQ sauce
1 tablespoon Shao Hsing wine
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper & sea salt mix
dash of sesame oil

Fish marinade
2 tablespoons finely sliced coriander stalks and roots
1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon white sugar

Prawn marinade
1 tablespoon finely diced lemongrass
1/4 cup finely sliced spring onions (scallions)
1 1/2 tablespoons ginger julienne
1 tablespoon Shao Hsing wine
1 teaspoon sea salt
dash of sesame oil

1 bunch choy sum
1 bunch green asparagus
1 Chinese white cabbage
2 cups bean sprouts
1/3 bunch mint
1/3 bunch sweet Thai basil
1/3 bunch coriander
1/3 bunch Vietnamese mint
300 g (10 oz) fresh Hokkien noodles
75 g (21/2 oz) fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded

Stock
3 litres (3 quarts) water
4 spring onions (scallions), trimmed and cut in half crossways
10 garlic cloves, crushed
20 slices ginger
60 g (2 oz) galangal, peeled and sliced
3 lemongrass stalks, bruised
2 tablespoons sea salt

Dipping sauces
combine 3 tablespoons oyster sauce with 1 teaspoon sesame oil
combine 2 tablespoons of each of hoisin sauce, Chinese black vinegar and Chinese BBQ sauce
combine 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce with 2 teaspoons light soy sauce, 1 teaspoon diced ginger and a dash of sesame oil

Rinse squid and pat dry with kitchen paper. Cut the squid down the centre so that it will open out flat. Using a small, sharp knife, score shallow diagonal cuts in a criss-cross pattern on the inside surface. Cut scored squid into 5 x 2.5 cm (2 x 1 in) pieces and place in a bowl.
For the squid marinade, pound chilli and salt into a rough paste with a pestle and mortar. Add palm sugar, pound lightly, then stir in fish sauce, ginger and lime juice. Add marinade to the squid in the bowl.

Place pork, chicken, beef, fish and prawns in separate bowls, then set aside while you prepare the garlic and ginger paste. Pound garlic, ginger and salt together with a pestle and mortar until you have a rough paste. Divide this paste between the pork, chicken and beef.

Add the five lots of marinade ingredients for the pork, chicken, beef, fish and prawns to their respective bowls. Thoroughly mix the contents of each bowl, then cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Trim ends from the choy sum, then cut crossways into 3 pieces and wash thoroughly; drain.

Wash the asparagus and snap off the woody ends, then peel the lower part of the stem and cut into thirds on the diagonal.

Discard outer leaves of cabbage, then slice cabbage in half lengthways, remove core and cut crossways into about 4 pieces and wash thoroughly, pulling pieces apart to separate leaves.

Wash bean sprouts and all the herbs thoroughly; drain well.

Pick sprigs from the herbs.

Blanch Hokkien noodles in boiling salted water until 'al dente' — about 4 minutes. Drain, refresh in cold water, then thoroughly drain again.

Arrange choy sum, asparagus, cabbage, bean sprouts, herbs, noodles and mushrooms in simple serving bowls. Place these on the table, along with the bowls of marinated meats and seafood.

About an hour before your guests are due to arrive, make the stock. Place the water in a large electric wok — about 35 cm (14 in) in diameter. Add all remaining stock ingredients and bring to the boil, simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Turn off heat, cover and set aside.Finally, arrange all the dipping sauces and condiments in small bowls on the table, allowing two bowls of each.

When everyone is ready to sit down and eat, place the electric wok in the centre of the table. Reheat stock and invite your guests to choose their own meat, fish and vegetables to cook in the simmering stock, before dipping them in their favourite sauces and condiments.

Towards the end of the meal the noodles are added to the rich, full-flavoured stock and slurped.

Source: Kylie Kwong

I made some variations to the original recipe which can be found here -http://www.abc.net.au/kyliekwong/recipes/s952592.htm

Alphabet Dinners get a make-over

On and off over the past 4 years we've being doing Alphabet Dinners. Each fortnight we would pick a restaurant which serves cuisine from a country for each letter, i.e. A is for Afghanistan, B is for Brazil, C is for Cambodia etc. In the first year we just scraped in Z before I moved to Canberra for work.

Here are all the restaurants that I can remember...
Inaugural Round of Alphabet Dinners:
A : Arabian - Zumzum Cafe
B : Belgian - Belgian Beer Cafe
C : Caribbean - Yeah Maan
D : Deutch - Hofbrahaus
E : Egyptian - Kanzaman Restaurant
F : French - Paris Go Bistro
G : Greek - Dion Greek Restaurant and Taverna
H : Homecooked - my house (we needed a break and I love to cook :-)
I : Irish - PJ O'Briens
J : Japanese - Akita
K : Korean - Korean Seoul
L : Latin - Bull Ring
M : Mexican - Bluecorn & Mexicali Rose
M: Malaysian - Banana Palm (we always end up having more than one M because there are so many yummy options..)
N : Nepalese - Gurkhas
O : Outback Australian - Flamin' Bull
P : Portuguese - Cafe Goa
Q : Qatar (Middle Eastern) - Mecca Bah
R : Russian - Borsch, Vodka and Tears
S : Sri Lankan - Sigiri
T : Turkish
U : Ukrainian
V : VietnameseW : ??
X : X-base backpakers hostel - it was cheap & they did yummy Asian food...
Y : ??
Z : ??

While I was in Canberra my friends started again from A but there were a few issues with consistency and I think they ended up being pretty slack on the rules and would go to a restaurant with the next letter in the name or just go to a restaurant in a suburb starting with the next letter...not good..

This year we've decided to have Alphabet Dinner Parties. There are four of us so we have chosen our fav cuisines and the rest will be divided up equally. I snagged Morocco, Brazil & Thailand early on and have also got Egypt & Korea in the first half - we'll work out the rest later.

RULES OF PLAY:-
- Each member of the group will have a chance to choose their fav countries and the remainder of the alphabet will be divided up equally;
- Host decides on the country they will prepare a meal from;
- Host gets to invite additional guests if they like;
- Host cooks entree/main/dessert in whatever combination they choose;
- Guests bring drinks & nibbles (including drinks for the host as a thankyou);
- Nibbles should be agreed upon by the host so that there aren't double-ups and to ensure that it fits in with the menu;
- No extra guests can be invited without agreement by the host for obvious reasons :-)

So we start this Saturday with A for Argentina!! I cant wait for a delicious juicy steak.
There will be four of us descendng on the Ascot Vale abode of our first hosts Sharon & Josh and we will come bearing gifts of Argentinean wine, hard cheese, tinned ham (wtf??), olives, salami & proscuitto.

Then on Sunday I'm having a couple of other friends over for a Moroccan feast - I love my tagine!! I'll be cooking a chicken, almond & prune tagine (I've made this once before & it's absolutely divine!) and couscous with roast pumpkin, raisins and almonds

B is for Brazil

The second alphabet dinner was held on 07Feb09 at Jane's place in St Kilda. Unfortunately it just happened to coincide with the hottest day in Victoria's history - 46.7C. That's just wrong! Luckily there was a cool change at about 6pm.

I knew that I would be misbehaving later in the evening so I went for a 8km bike ride that morning. I was hoping to beat the heat but at 9am and it was already crazy hot and I earned every calorie burned.

After some delicious Spanish bubbly and white wine with some classic nibblies, Jane served up our main -Moqueca de peixe made with Rock ling & prawns. The recipe mentions coconut but it isn't in the ingredients or prep instructions so Jane added coconut milk with the stock.

If you cant find dende oil you should be able to find a blend of Palm Oil and Canola in Woolworths.

Moqueca de peixe
A marvellous seafood stew with the fresh flavours of lime and coconut and finished with Brazil’s favourite mellow dende oil.
5 medallions of white fish (eg. snapper) and/or 1 kg of prawns
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 red capsicum, sliced
5 tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp grated ginger
5 chillies, chopped
1 cup fish or vegetable stock
Juice of 2 limes
120ml dendê oil (optional)
1 bunch of spring onions, finely sliced
1 bunch of coriander, chopped

Pirao
2 cups of fish stock
2 tbsp butter
Butter
2 cups semolina
Seasoning

Marinate the fish in the lemon juice with one clove of garlic and seasoning for at least half an hour.
Sauté the onion, garlic, ginger, chillies, red capsicum and tomatoes, until a sauce is formed. Pour over stock.
Add the fish, season with rock salt and simmer gently until cooked. If using a combination of white fish and prawns, add prawns later as they require less time to cook through.
Stir through chopped coriander.
Place in serving dish and squeeze over lime juice and sprinkle with spring onions and extra coriander leaves. Drizzle over dendê oil.
Serve with rice and pirao.

Pirao
Bring the stock to the boil Add the butter and the semolina slowly, mixing well.
Cook on slow heat till desired consistency, season and serve with moqueca.
You can add small prawns to it as well.
Source: Food Safari.

As we weren't quite ready for dessert we decided to go for a walk down to Elwood beach. It was a lovely night and the cool sea breeze managed to sober me up a little...

When we got back the sweet, dense, baked custard with a layer of coconut that Jane served up were divine. I don't know how much my arteries appreciated dessert but I loved it and they were small enough not to make me feel too guilty..

Quindim
12 egg yolks
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of water
100g shredded coconut
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla essence
Glucose syrup for the baking moulds

Preheat oven to 180ºC.
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Spread a thin layer of glucose syrup to line the baking moulds.
Pour mixture into moulds until ¾ full and bake in water bath for around 20 minutes.
Cool slightly before turning out and serve cold.
Source: Food Safari. Created by Dora Silva

A is for Argentina!

The inaugural Alphabet Dinner Party was held on 17Jan09 at Sharon & Josh's lovely townhouse in Ascot Vale.

The menu consisted of:
Guacamole, caramel & capsicum dip with bread;
Ham, cheese, proscuitto and olives;
Steak, garden salad, mashed potato & roasted veg; and
Alfajores for dessert - simply two pieces of shortbread joined together with caramel and covered in dark chocolate.

A great time was had by all before we piled into the Pug and headed to Mink for a few vodkas.