Besides keeping my idle mind active and expanding the menu for dinner, much of this interest stems from one of us (usually me) missing some of the Singapore local delights. Interestingly, besides the usual homemaker/bakers, many of the recipes for local delights are contributed/written by Singaporeans who are living overseas. Then again, if you are living in S'pore, why would you even bother making 'min jiang kueh' or 'bak chor mee'. Just go downstairs and get some from the coffeeshop! But when you are living overseas, many of these food that we take for granted previously are not readily available. So the only way to satisfy those cravings would be to MAKE IT!
Tonight, I tried to make Kimchi Fried Rice (Kimchi Bokkumbap). Hubby and I enjoy Korean cuisine alot and we have found this Korean mart in Victoria Street which sells everything that we want - Korean Tofu Soup base, Korean instant noodles, Bimbimbap Sauce, Bulgogi marinade, Enoki mushrooms and Kimchi! They have so many different types of kimchi that I was lost at which one to buy.
The recipe is taken from "My Korean Kitchen" (http://mykoreankitchen.com/2007/01/03/stir-fried-kimchi-and-rice-kimchi-bokkumbap-in-korean/). Incidentally, the blog owner is a Korean living in Brisbane, Australia.
Well, the fried rice turned out looking quite nice, with the reddish kimchi colour and was slightly spicy. Despite the strong flavour of fresh kimchi, the final rice product is suprisingly mild. I actually expected this dish to deliver a punch when you eat it, like tom yam but the taste of kimchi was kind of diluted. I followed the portions closely, in fact, I think I end up draining the whole jar of kimchi juice and I even added some salt when I found it too bland. I don't know, I've never eaten this dish before so I have no comparison of the 'benchmark'. Perhaps I used too little kimchi? Or was it too much rice? Or perhaps the kind of kimchi I bought? Haha...think we should seriously visit a proper Korean restaurant and try it from the professionals one day.
Last Saturday, I also made this "Prata Sausage Roll" for brunch. Since I bought a whole bag of frozen pratas from Footscray, I thought I should try this recipe (http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com/2008/08/prata-in-bento.html) out. The preparation was rather easy and I used the pan-fried method, as I think it's not so dry. Just fry the prata (thank God they sell frozen pratas here or I'll have to make the pratas from scratch!), fry the sausage, roll together and put it into the oven for a while before serving. I made the second one with egg on the prata. But when eating it, I can't taste the difference. So unless you want the nutritional value of the egg, don't bother.
Speaking of making egg prata with the frozen pratas, I read some smart alec comment that she tried to cut a hole in the prata when it puffs up and carefully pour in the egg mixture. Well, my prata did puff up, but unevenly (as in, some parts didn't puff up at all). And as soon as I made a hole, the puff deflated! Urrgg...I still poured it on nevertheless and the egg flowed right over and outside the prata! I then tried the other method, which is to fry the egg, then when it's slightly cooked, put the prata over it. This one looks like a half omelette but at least it was round and I used it for the sausage roll. I ate the ugly one with sugar and enjoyed it still, cos egg prata with sugar is my all-time favourite!
Tomorrow, I'm gonna try making an adapted version of 'bak chor mee'. There's no 'mee pok' here, so I'll have to find some other noodle substitue. I also hope to find the black vinegar in Footscray, otherwise, I'll just do the tomato sauce version. I'm gonna skip the 'zhu you zar' (fried pork lard?) for sure. Wish me luck!
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