Salmon with Sour Cream Dill Sauce

One of my fave fish is salmon.  Yes, I am common.  I never claimed to be otherwise.

I eat it not for health reason but simply because it tastes so good.  But it can be an expensive fish so I wait for when it is on the promotions or the reduced items rack. 

Loads of people turn their noses up at the reduced items but I am telling you if you are on a budget, these are life-savers and can give you fantastic meals - if you cook them fast.

Just this week I had lovely roasted parsnips and parsnip mash over two meals.  Parsnips in Singapore are ridiculously expensive and can be rather hard to find.  I think Singaporeans are unfamiliar with this root vegetable and never acquired a taste for them.  So the supermarkets stock them in limited quantities, if at all, and there they languish.  

I love parsnips though.  So, when I saw a bunch of them with a reduced label at my local Cold Storage, I snatched them up faster than you could blink. 

Obviously the supermarket reduced the price as they were getting a little old and had to be consumed by the next day.  I had no problem with that.  It was less than S$3 for 3 parsnips!  That's amazing and I scored 3 meals out of these - roasted parsnip, mashed parsnips from the leftover roasted parsnips and a parsnip and zucchini ratatouille of sorts.  You just cook them on the day itself then pack them away properly for future meals.  See how that works out?

I also scored a lovely piece of shin beef at reduced prices.  Like the parsnips, they had to consumed immediately.  Again, I had no problem with that and made a brilliant stew from it that very day.

So anyway, I'd purchased a pack of salmon fillets earlier this week which was on promotion.  Admittedly, it was not the cheapest but I really had a craving for salmon so I broke out the piggy bank.  Even then, S$4.38 for three salmon fillets is not too shabby.

I decided to cook them with loads of vegetables ... but I had to indulge my need for cream.  So I decided to do a variation of one of my classic, signature sauces.  I made a sour cream dill sauce instead of my usual creamy, dilly cheese sauce. It was yummy but I still miss my creamy dilly cheese sauce.  Maybe its time to go buy some cheese ...

Salmon with Sour Cream Dill Sauce

3 salmon fillets

1 small red onion, peeled, topped and thinly sliced

1 cup cauliflower florets

1 cup French beans, topped and cut into 3-inch sections

About 4 tbsp sour cream

About 2 tbsp white wine

About 1 tsp chicken stock granules

About 2 tbsp butter, cut into cubes

About 1/2 tbsp fresh dill, snipped or 3/4 tsp dried dill weed

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

1.  Season the salmon fillets with salt and pepper.

2.  Heat some butter and olive oil.  Pan fry the salmon fillets. 

If you like them a bit undone in the middle, pan fry them on high heat to sear till you see about 2mm of the base of the fillet turn opaque, before you flip them over.  It really depends on how thick your fillets are.  If you like them well carboned, cook them on medium and flip them over when half of the fillet turns opaque.

Remember to pan fry the skin side to crisp and cook the skin.

3.  Remove from pan and plate.  Keep warm but do net continue to cook or they will dry out.

4.  Saute half the onions in the remaining oil till slightly soft.  Add a bit more oil if needed.

5.  Add the cauliflower floret and saute gently.  Add a little water and chicken granules, cover and let it steam in its own juices till slightly softened.

6.  Add the French beans and continue to saute till they turn a more vivid green.  You want a bit of crunch to the vegetables to complement the silkiness of the sauce and salmon.

7.  Remove from pan and plate with the salmon.

8.  Add the rest of the onions to the pan and saute till tender.  Do not bun the buggers. 

9.  Add the white wine & dill (reserve 1/2 tsp of dill if you are using fresh dill) and bring to the boil, then turn down to heat 

10.  Add the sour cream.  If it is too liquidy, reduce it a little till it is slightly thick.

11.  Start adding the butter cubes a little at a time, whisking them in to thicken and gloss the sauce. Season to taste at this point with the chicken granules & pepper.

12.  Pour the sauce over the salmon and vegetables and sprinkle the rest of the fresh dill on top.

Here's a tip.  This sauce is incredible over rice.  I usually cook rice with it.  I know it is a little incomprehensible.  Believe me, the first time I had it over rice, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  I had always had it with pasta or bread but on rice ... holy cow ...

You can use any vegetables you like with this sauce.  I used cauliflower and French beans because I have loads which need to be consumed asap.  I've cooked it many times with mushrooms as an hor 'doeuvres (make the sauce thicker and pour over mushrooms and bake in the oven, then serve with baguettes) and I swear they disappear the instant they hit the table.

I love this sauce.  I just wish it was not so sinful.  One of these days I have to come up with a healthy variation.

Yeah right.

Melt in Your Mouth Beef Stew

On my return to Singapore I went a little nutso.  My fridge was so empty that I felt this compulsive urge to stock up.  This is a highly dangerous urge as it usually leads to much waste and self-recrimination when I cannot utilise all the food I had purchased.

Thus, I have been cooking up a storm to ensure I do not waste.

During my last visit to my local Cold Storage, there were a lot of items on promotion, especially the meats which had remarkably short expiration dates.  One such item was a lovely shin beef which had to be utilised the next day.  I bought that and went to work immediately on transforming this into a melt in your mouth dish.

Recently, I have been feeling nostalgic.  I blame it on Singaporean telly which has been harping on about the past in an attempt to cajole its citizen into appreciating how far the nation has come.  All the going-ons about life in the 60s and 70s made me crave my childhood comfort food.  Besides the jackfruit curry I made recently, I started hankering for a good, old-fashion, simple beef stew just like mum used to make.

The shin beef was perfect for this.  Again I am only cooking for myself so it is a small portion.

Melt in Your Mouth Beef Stew

About 200g of shin beef - cut into big chunks

1 medium-sized red onion, cut into quarters

About 1/2 handful of pearl shallots, peeled and topped

About 1/2 handful of garlic cloves, peeled, topped and crushed

1/2 medium-sized carrot, peeled and cubed

1 stalk celery, trimmed and cut into thick slices

1/2 medium-sized zucchini, topped and cut into cubes

About 1 cup mushrooms, trimmed and quartered

1 bay leaf

About 1 1/2 - 2 tsp tomato paste

Stock - I used a mixture of chicken and beef this time as I had both left over.  I typically use beef stock

About 1 - 1 1/2 tbsp dried mixed herbs

Flour 

Salt 

Pepper

Butter

Olive oil

Wine - I used white this time as I had quite a bit left over but I had to compensate by adding a little beef stock and brown sugar to the mixture.  Normally I would use either red wine, sherry, beer or ale instead but hey, you improvise

1.  Season and flour the beef cubes.  In the meantime, pre-heat your oven to about 200 deg C/about 375 deg F.

2.  Heat some olive oil and butter in an oven-proof casserole pot or dutch oven and brown the beef

3.  Remove the beef and set aside

4.  You can add a little more oil if required but let it heat a bit before adding the red onions and garlic.  Saute quickly to sweat them out a bit before adding the rest of the vegetables.

5.  Saute on medium heat till a little slightly soft.

6.  Add stock just enough to cover.  Add wine to taste.  Don't be an alkie and add too much as it makes more sense to drink with the stew than have it reduced in the stew and make it too tart (if using wine) or too more-ish (if using beer or ale).  I know it is a temptation but drink some as cooking instead.  Try not to burn yourself.

7.  Stir in the bay leaf and tomato paste. Season to taste.

8.  Stick the pot in the oven and leave to cook for 45 mins.

9.  Lower the oven temperature to 180 deg C and leave to cook for another 45 mins.

10.  You might want to check on the stew from time to time in order to gauge how much longer you need to cook it.  But after about 1 1/2 hours, take a knob of butter and stir that into the stew to thicken it and give it s nice gloss.  Sometimes I add some crushed crackers to it to thicken it further.  It really depends on my mood.

11.  Let it cook in the oven for another 30-45 mins.  You may test the meat to see if it is ready.  Poke.  Poke.  Is your fork going in smoothly like it's butter?  Then it's ready.  Is your fork rebounding back on you with a resentful pronggggg?  Leave it be to cook longer.Go have some more wine while waiting.  Try not to pass out.

12.  Serve with bread, mash anything, dumplings or even rice.

You may also choose to cook the stew with a slow cooker/crockpot.  It will taste just as yummy but the texture will be sightly different.  What's the difference?  The meat and vegetables always seem to hold their shape better when cooked in the oven yet they melt in your mouth if you cook them long enough.  You also do not really have to stir them as much when cooking them in the oven as long as you have enough liquid in your pot.

With a slow cooker, you need to stir because the distribution of heat is directly on the bottom and the sides.  Which means that with the stirring, the meat and vegetables get jostled around.  As they get tender, they tend to lose their shape with all that action, ya know?

Also, I tend to think there is a smokier, more, well, moreish taste to your stew if you are using the oven.   With the slow cooker, it has a cleaner taste, if that makes sense. 

So if you like fork tender meat and soft vegetables, use a slow cooker.  If you like a bit of texture and a smokier flavour, go for the oven.

But the most obvious difference is ... time.  Well duh.

Anyway, I'd made a trio of mashed potatoes, mashed parsnips and mashed pumpkin to accompany my stew.  I had all these leftover so I had to make use of them quickly.  I coated those babies with olive oil, roasted them in the oven, then I just mashed them with cream (yes, I used cream - yes, leftover too), salt, pepper and butter.

That was one satisfying meal and total comfort food.  I was a truly happy camper that night and I even had leftovers.  Nothing better than days-old stew.  Except for days-old curry.  Actually, I can't decide now ...

Conk.

Jackfruit & Green Papaya Curry

I have a love hate relationship with jackfruit.

We had a jackfruit tree in our garden back home.  I think the soil in our garden must have been rather dubious because most of our fruits and vegetables were just lame.  The rambutans were usually tart and tasted unripe no matter how long we left them on the branches.  The mangoes bypassed tart and went straight to sour.  Our cucumbers never grew beyond pygmy sizes and were, you guessed it, tart.  Yes, we ended up having loads of pickles.  Our starfruits were the only things that did alright.  But then again, they are supposed to be slightly tart.  The sugarcane was always slightly dry and bland no matter when we harvested them.

So, our jackfruits were funky tasting.  Worse, they were slimy.  I hated them as a kid.

I refused to eat them and the only way my grandmother could coax them into me was when they were cooked in curry.

Then, simmered in creamy coconut milk and smothered with spices, the jackfruits turned sweet and the sliminess was no longer an issue.

Thus, I associate jackfruit curry with childhood food.  I have not had any for yonks.  So when I saw a blog post by SpiceLines, on a recipe for a jackfruit curry adapted from the Amandari resort in Bali, I was intrigued.  A flood of childhood memories deluged me such that I suddenly developed a massive craving for it.

The recipe had already been fiddled around a fair bit and since it was created by a Westerner, I was rather dubious.  Reading the ingredients list raised even more worries.  I grew up on curries and the ingredients list just seem lacking.  Still, I was willing to keep an open mind.  Furthermore, SpiceLines reported that someone from Singapore had gushed over the dish so I was even more inclined to give it a try.

The recipe actually gave an option of a young jackfruit or papaya curry.  I had a some green papaya leftover so I decided to combine the two.  Hey, I was trying to clear the pantry.  I had some trouble getting young jackfruit from the market so I got the least ripe ones I could.

I was a little rushed for time that day so I went old school.  Which meant I did not measure anything and relied on the ancient art of A-Handful-Of-This-And-That-With-A-Guestimation-With-Eye.

Then to my horror, I realised my blender/mixer was kaput.  Argh, out came the mortar and pestle.  And not a good one too as I lost that in the move.  Sigh, I have a crapola, small, wooden one currently.  But I am made of resourceful, pioneer gypsy stock so I just improvised.  It worked out better this way anyway.  I prefer to go old school with my rempah since I can gauge better from smell and feel as I am pounding away when it is just right. 

Remember I am cooking for two here so portions are small.  Anyway, here goes-

You Don't Know Jack Fruit and Papaya Curry (ha!)

(adapted from SpiceLines which adapted from Gary Tyson at the Amandari, Bali)

Rempah -

Two mid-sized red onions and half a handful of red shallots - I like my rempah slightly juicy and sweet

3/4 handful of garlic cloves

About 1 1/2 inch length of garlic

1/2 handful of buah keras aka candlenut

1/2 tsp tumeric powder

About 1 1/4 tbsp of coriander powder - I really don't know as I just went with smell and texture of the rempah

About 8 chilli padis

Vegetable oil

1.  If you are using the mortar and pestle, I advise you to finely chop most of your rempah ingredients so pounding them into a paste will take less time and elbow grease.  If using the food processor, you can chop them up coarsely and let the blades do the work for you.

2.  I do it by batches so I can gauge the right texture and amount of each ingredient.  Add a little of each ingredient and start pounding.  Add the oil in parts regardless of whether you are using the mortar and pestle or food processor.  The oil helps the rempah form to a nice paste.

3.  I cannot tell you how to gauge by smell but you need to watch for a nice paste with still some texture in it.  You do not want a puree.  If you have somehow made your rempah into a soup-like puree, add some candlenuts.  If it is too dry and fibrous, add a little more oil and onion/shallots. If it is dry and fibrous yet strangely greasy, omit the oil and add more onions to soften the rempah.   If it is already too oily, add more ingredients. 

I have to state here I was rather disturbed that there was no lemongrass, cardamom or cinnamon in the rempah and instead these were only used in the curry.  Especially the lemongrass.  Also, I would have preferred galangal to ginger.  I was uncertain that the flavours would come alive.  I was right.  Next time I shall add a little of these to the rempah as well.  

Curry -

About 6 pieces of jackfruit, seeded and cubed

About a cup of green papaya, peeled, seeded and cubed

1 stalk lemongrass, trimmed of the tough outer leaves, cut to about 4-inch lengths and banged around a couple of times with my trusty pestle

About 4-5 fresh kaffir lime leaves

2 cinnamon sticks - mine were the short kind, more like cassia so I used two

About 1/4 handful cardamon pods - about 8-10 I guess

Coconut milk - I pour enough to make sure the curry sauce covers all the vegetables but does not become a soup

About 1 cup of carrot cut into coarse sticks

About 1 cut of french beans, sectioned into 3 1/2 inch sticks

About  1 cup of cauliflower florets

1. Heat some oil in your pot.  I used about 2 tbsp based on the amount of rempah I had

2.  Add the rempah and saute gently till the smell becomes so good you start drooling.  Let your nose tell you when it's ready.  You can't miss it.

3.  Add the fruits and stir gently to coat with rempah and cook for about 5 mins.

4.  Add the coconut milk, cinnamon sticks, lemongrass, lime leaves and cardamon pods.

5.  Bring to the boil, then lower the heat to simmer gently for about half an hour till everything is tender.

6.  If your curry is too thick, it could be two things.  One, you did not add enough coconut milk.  Go add more.  Two, your coconut milk is too thick.  To dilute, you can add either chicken or vegetable stock (if you want a strictly vegetarian dish) to your curry.  Do not add more coconut milk as that's the cause of your problem in the first place.

Be cognizant of the coconut milk you are using.  There are some pre-packed coconut milk which is slightly sweet that we use for desserts.  Do not use those.  If possible, use freshly squeezed coconut milk -not No. 1 or first-squeezed as you will need to dilute those. Canned or packet coconut milk  are cool too but just make sure there is no added sugar.  The fruits will give more than enough sweetness to your curry.

7.  Add the carrots, beans and cauliflower and cook for another 5-7 mins.

8.  SpiceLine's recipe asks that you remove the spices but I leave them in as curry tastes better the next day and I want my spices.  So I ignored that.  This is where I season to taste.  If it is too sweet, add more salt.  You really do not need that much pepper in this as it cannot assert itself against all the spices.  Just enough to co-mingle happily with its brethren but not for supremacy, OK?

9.  Serve with rice, all nice and hot and comforting.

Truly this dish tastes better the next day.  If it can last to the the day after, even better. The fruits and vegetables can start melting into the curry but it's still super yummy on rice.

I must admit this recipe was a disappointment.  It is what Singaporeans would call an ang-moh curry.  Which just cannot stand up to the Asian palate.  It is too weak and the spices are not balanced enough.  I also made the mistake or following the recipe and not using the amount of chilli padis I wanted.  I really should stick to my instincts more.

The most pleasing thing about this curry is its golden hue.  It is a pleasant curry but not outstanding.  In fact I think a lot of Asians might scoff at it for being weak and pale pretender.  I enjoyed it but I think my memories enjoyed it more as I kept harking back to my childhood with every golden mouthful of nostalgia.  But my taste buds reproached me as I remembered my grandmother's jackfruit curries filled with the harvest of home.

Kailan & Mushrooms

Everything took a back seat today as I suddenly found myself having to deal with some work issues.  Which meant I did not have the chance to do my weekly shopping.  Hopefully I can get to do some tomorrow before work.

But this was a good thing as it gave me a chance to use up some of the stuff in the fridge.  I had half a packet of kailan and quite a bit of shiitake mushrooms which I need to consume before they start going off.  There is also half a packet of tai bak choy left over from the Soup Insomnia expedition, a packet of asparagus and three Japanese cucumbers.  Man, I really need to hustle and use them all up before I bugger off.

I had some leftover mutton curry rice from the previous night as well as a large tub of Soup Insomnia so I decided on a simple dish of vegetables to round off the meal.

Kailan and Mushroom in Oyster Sauce

About 8 bunches of young kailan

8 fresh shiitake mushrooms

1 1/2 cloves garlic

1 tbsp oil

1 cup water

1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp light soy sauce

Pinch of sugar

Dash of pepper

1. Prep time:

- Wash the kailan

- Wash and cut off the woody stalk of the shiitake mushrooms

- Peel, top and mince the garlic

2. Heat the oil and when smoking, add the garlic, quick frying till fragrant

3. Add the mushrooms and stir fry briskly on high

4. Add water, oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar.  Adjust to taste. 

5. Bring to boil and then lower heat to braise gently till sauce is reduced.  If it gets too dry you can keep adding water or stock.  I preferred water this time because I wanted a lighter vegetable side dish today

6. Add the kailan and cover and braise till kailan is cooked, turning occasionally

7.  Plate.  Eat.

This is such a simple dish and a staple in many Chinese households I have been told.  I simple adore it as I love all vegetables from the rabe family.  And it is a beautiful accompaniment to so many dishes and yet it can hold its own as a main dish.  If I was using this as a main, I would use stock instead of water and add some shredded conpoy in the braising to give it more richness and texture.

I had a great meal and was a much happier camper at work because of it.  Maybe I should give this dish a fancy name like Mood Lifter Kailan and Mushrooms.

Soup Insomnia

I have strange sleeping habits because of my work. I call it the Vampire Hours.


It also causes me bouts of insomnia interspersed with uncontrollable lapse of narcolepsy. So when I saw this recipe on happyhomemaker88's blog, I thought it was worth a try. Till I read the recipe. There wasn't a single herb in sight. Darn!


It also looked like a normal Chinese soup, except with less flavour. I am used to Cantonese soups which are stronger in flavour and a load more ingredients, I think, since I learnt most of my Chinese soup-making techniques in Hong Kong or from Hong Kong cooks. This looked rather bland at a glance. And it also included one of my lesser favoured Chinese ingredients - dried, salted fish.


But hey, I will give anything a try once.


I dutifully went and got all the ingredients and decided to substitute half the amount of dried, salted fish with dried oysters, to make it more palatable.


Despite my misgivings (and I had a lot, from the blandness issue to the cooking technique and handling of ingredients), I followed the recipe to the T. Almost. In the end, I had to give in to my need for more flavour and just added one item. I wanna sleep but I also need flavour in my food.


The original cook gave this soup a really long name - er, I will just call it Soup Insomnia, alright? I also halved the recipe as she was obviously cooking for a whole family and I'm just making it for the ole housemate and, well, me!

Soup Insomnia
500g tai bok choy
50g salted fish/dried oysters - I used 50g of each as I found the soup so bland
250g pork ribs - I used spare ribs so there's less pork as I am not keen on it
1 slab soft tofu
1 1/2 L water


Cook all ingredients together on simmer for 4 hours. Season to taste.


That's it. See? She says to season it to taste. Holy cow, I added in half a cube of chicken stock and 1.2 tsp salt with 5 dashes of white pepper before it tasted a level above sky juice otherwise. Wow, so tastelessness cures insomnia? I hope not 'cos I'm doomed then.


The cooking technique also troubled me. I understand the slow cooking concept of traditional Chinese tonics. But there's no herbs in this so pourquoi? Especially because you are using tai bok choy which can get really wilted and slimey when cooked to death like this. And soft tofu? You have to be so careful when you stir then as it will just break apart to little pieces.


I couldn't do it. I dutifully put in half the tai bok choy to cook and added the rest only in the last hour of cooking. Even then I winced to see their state at the end. I actually apologised for abusing them so. I felt so undeserving of their freshness.


The end result is the soup is still not as flavourful as I would have liked but it was easy to down. My Chinese housemate said it smelled good at any rate.


I do not know if it works but I will give it a go and update later.

Update 1:  I drank the soup.  It doesn't work.  I still could not sleep and when I did, it was per normal.  Maybe it needs a few doses before the effects are felt.  I shall keep an open mind until I consume the remainder of the soup tomorrow.

Update 2: Two days later, still no effect although the soup got tastier with each progressive re-heating.  Sigh, so that's a myth busted.  This soup does not work.  The quest continues.

 

The Rain in Singapore

Wow. What a downpour.


I was furiously playing computer games and totally lost track of the time. Till the thunderous pounding of a furious deluge caught my attention. Startled out of my one-handed clicking of touchpad (come on, you do it two-handed???!!), I went to the kitchen to investigate.


Lucky that I did as half the kitchen was getting water-logged. Bravely battling the stinging pinpricks of angry rain drops (more like rain shards), I closed the windows, tackled the dangling knickers and bras of my housemate tossing damply right in front of the windows, stoically rescuing them to dryer climate.


For some reason that rescue mission made me terribly hungry.


So at around 4am, I started cooking. Yeah, Antony Boudain ain't got nothing on my kookiness.


I wanted hot and soupy to warm me up. Unfortunately my fridge boasts a meager crop. I had decided recently I was going to live even more frugally and efficiently than before. Which means I will only purchase enough groceries to last for a day or so and only on the basis on the sales and promotions of the local supermarkets and shops. That way I get fresh food and less waste.


Fantastic theory. Not so fantastic at 4am when you are craving for a winter soup (hey, monsoon is the Asian winter!) to fight off the pelting cold needles of hunger.


I had:


One packet of chicken livers
One packet of shiitake mushrooms
One packet of young kailan
Two medium-sized red onion
Young ginger
Several cloves of garlic


Oh this is sad but workable. Definitely workable.


I went to work. Voila, 40 minutes later, we had a meal. 40 minutes because I spent part of that time mopping up the wet kitchen floor from the home invasion by the rain.


Firstly, let me put in the caveat that I do not cook by measurements. I throw in things by feel, taste and the good old culinary senses inherited from my gran. But I will try my best to put in guestimations for the noobs.



Rain Fighting Chicken Liver and Kailan soup
1 packet of chicken livers (about 8 was in mine)
1 packet of kailan (once washed & sorted, it was about 2- 2 1/2 cups)
7 shiitake mushrooms
2 medium-sized red onion
1 knob of young ginger (about 2.5cm/1 inch)
1 clove of garlic
2 black dates
1 tbsp gouzi/wolfberries
Oil (about 1 1/2 tbsp)
Mirin (about 1/2 tbsp)
2 chicken stock cubes (try to use the non-MSG ones)
1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
Sesame oil (I only used about 3-4 drops)
White pepper (about 10 dashes ... eh, let's see ... 2 tsp?)
Water (lots. OK, about 2.5 litres?)


1. Prep time:
- Peel, wash (helps keep you from tearing later too) and slice the red onions into thin discs
- Crush, peel and top the clove of garlic
- Peel and slice the ginger into thin discs


2. Wash the kailan well and start sectioning them by hand into large bite-sizes. For me that is about half the length of my palm. I use the stalks too and if any are a little too chunky, I slice these into slanted, 1-inch sections.


3. Wash and cut the mushrooms into quarters.


4. Clean the chicken livers. Some people may dislike the whitish-grey stuff that floats around ominously in your soup but I am OK with that. If you want to get rid of that, you may choose to pour hot boiling water on your livers and quickly discard that liquid and wash them in cool water and set aside. But I warn you that that may over-cook your livers. I hate over-cooked livers. Ptui!


Oh yeah, there's another process to get rid of the scum yet impart flavour to your livers but that's such a long process I can't be arsed to discuss it right now.


5. Heat your oil in your pot. I had some flavoured oil from the last meal I cooked (it was from frying some prawns with garlic which I saved) so I used that. That aroma was drool worthy.


6. Add the trinity of garlic, onions and ginger and saute away till the smells really get to you.


7. Add the mushrooms and saute till well combined.


8. Add the kailan and saute for about 30 seconds on high till they are bright green.


9. Add the water, add the chicken stock and stir.


10. Bring to boil, lower heat to medium and add all the other ingredients except the liver.


11. Adjust all seasonings to taste and then turn up the heat to scorching high and add the livers.


12. Stir gently so as not to traumatise your chicken livers and once soup comes to boil, turn off the heat and cover.


13. Let stand for about 5 minutes and then you can start serving. How long you do this depends on your preference for the done-ness of your chicken livers. I like mine tender and non-Goodyear tyres like.



So there we had it. A nice, hot, tasty and nourishing soup to fight off the rainy blues. I had so much left over I will be having that for at least 3 meals.


As your livers get more and more tough with each re-heating, what I do is start mashing them roughly to break them up, add rice to make a porridge of sorts to extend my buck. You can also add an egg to it to make it richer. Pasta works well too, instead of rice, to make a pasta soup of sorts.


Let's see. I reckon the cost of this meal was rather economical.


Packet of chicken livers - $1.60
Packet of kailan - $1.60
Packet of shiitake mushrooms - $2.00 (I only used 7 though and there was still 3/4 of the packet left)
Garlic, ginger & onions - $1.70 (but I only used about 1/3 of the lot)
The rest of the ingredients were on hand in the pantry or leftovers from previous meals so I am guessing that the cost would not be more than $2


So, that would be a guestimation of a cost of $6.20 for this dish. Which will divide out into about 3-4 meals for me. Which makes about $2 per meal.


Sweet.


And yes, I know that all self-respecting food bloggers must have the obligatory food porn. And no, there is none to this post. What do you expect? That I would cook, clean and then take photos at 5am on a stormy night? Yes, 5am is still night to me.


Hell no! I ate and went back to bed, replete and happy.