For Christmas, my sister got me this funky goggles specially designed for chopping and slicing onions. It’s very practical for someone like me who cooks a lot. I’ve been using it every time there’s too many onions that need chopping. Otherwise, I rely on my own technique.

How about you, what’s the best Christmas gift you received last year?

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My favourite Christmas pressie

Keeping safe in the kitchen with natural products is very do-able.

* Washing hands with hot, soapy water is just as effective against these bacteria as antibacterial soaps containing triclosan.
* Wash hands after handling meat and eggs, every time.
* Have separate cutting boards
for vegetables, meat, and other products.
* Replace cutting boards when they become scratched. Bacteria can get into the scratches and is hard to remove.
* Soak leafy greens and then wash them several times.
* Use 3% solution hydrogen peroxide and white vinegar to disinfect surfaces. Keep them in separate spray bottles and spray first one and then the other on the surface. This can be used on fruits and veggies as well.

By using common sense and some natural ingredients you can have a bacteria free kitchen naturally.

So, pause from all that cooking, put down your ladle and take a good look around your kitchen. You, too, may be due for a new cutting board. Like they say, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

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Keeping it clean in the kitchen!

When I saw this Nintendo ad on TV, I was so amazed at how the Cooking Guide could change the way we look at cooking, literally — i.e. from the conventional cookbook to this handheld computer gadget! Believe it or not, it may just turn anyone into an instant chef. No one’s ever going to be afraid to step foot on the kitchen again (and the hubby starts to get uncomfortable! haha!).I think, this latest technology can be likened to people preferring to watch TV rather than read a book. Here’s why:1. From 245+ recipes, you can browse by country, ingredients, difficulty, cooking time, cooking technique or even calorie count;
2. If you’re out of ingredients, just tap away and a shopping list will be generated for you. What’s more, it can appropriately determine the quantity of ingredients you need by the number of people you’re cooking for;
3. You get to watch a live cooking demonstration and if you didn’t grasp the last step, just say “repeat” and it will be explained again. Yup! You can use voice commands, especially when your hands are tied, dirty or greasy. Otherwise, you can navigate via the touch-screen.

If all these sound familiar to you, please feel free to share us your experience using the Guide. I could sure use a second opinion before I head for the electronics store.

Post from: Blisstree

Has Nintendo disposed of the cookbook?

Now that you know how to use the chopsticks from my previous post, allow me to follow-through with some fascinating facts that I’m sure will enlighten you. Did you know that Japanese chopsticks are pointed, while Chinese ones are squared-off? Apparently, this makes it easy to take out the bones from fish, which is staple in the Japanese diet.

I further learned from www.orientalfood.com that,

Passing food to another person using your chopsticks is taboo as it resembles a ritual in which bone fragments from the cremated body are removed from the pyre and passed from chopsticks to chopsticks among the mourners. It is also important not to leave the chopsticks sticking upright in the rice bowl. A dead family member’s personal pair is often positioned this way in an offering bowl of uncooked rice placed at the family altar.

So the next time you get your fingers working on those chopsticks, make sure you remember this important food etiquette!

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Chopsticks trivia revealed

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Eating with chopsticks

Do you have the same dilemma as I do when it comes to chopping onions? I remember silly old me, wearing eyeglasses to protect my eyes from getting all teary and stingy. I’m glad to say that’s a thing of the past now! Thanks to my sister, she shared me what she learned from her Thai cooking class.

Before you slice or chop the onion, you simply have to wash it, and the knife, with water. Another tip, which I saw on one of the cooking shows on cable, is to allow the onions to cool in the freezer prior to chopping.

Try these for yourself! Or how about sharing your own technique?

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How not to cry over onions

Omochi, as you usually buy it from a shop, in its plain form, is hard and inedible.  I’m sure someone out there has eaten it, as is, and survived but they would not have any teeth left.  It is only when it experiences heat that it regains its soft chewy texture.

What better way to do that than BBQ it over hot coals.  As it softens on the inside it tends to swell and blister a little on the outside.  This is when it gets a little risky, because if you leave it on too long, it can become quite unmanageable.  So long as the outside crisps up faster than the inside softens everything will be OK.  If it works the other way around, not only will it sag down and disappear between the bars of the BBQ grill, but it will probably drop onto your glowing coals and leave you with nothing but smelly smoke.

I think the secret must be to keep the heat on.  Use a fan to get more air onto the coals and make them glow.  This way, the outside will outpace the inside and you will end up with a golden brown outside and a dangerously hot but delicious inside.

Try throwing omochi on your BBQ at home and see how the guests react.  I know it would cause quite a stir in Australia.  How about where you live?

Post from: Blisstree

BBQ Omochi

Mix dough ingredients in a bowl or food processor. Flour a platter or line with wax paper. Knead dough lightly on floured surface until elastic, then divide into 80 pieces or so, each about the size of a regular gumball.

Roll out each piece into a round about 3 inches in diameter.

Follow instructions for filling and pleating the dumplings in Part 1.

Now that they’re cooked, there’s nothing left to do but to chow down.

This is a basic dumpling wrapper that contains nothing but flour and water. A more enriched dumpling wrapper is available containing egg. If you want, you can add an egg yolk into your dough to replace some of the water.

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Making Jiaozi, Part 2: Dumpling Wrappers

Rempah is one member of the family of basic seasoning pastes upon which many dishes in Southeast Asia — particularly those of Malay, Eurasian and Peranakan influences — are built. The ingredient list tends to be long, and usually includes aromatics such as shallots, herbs and spices, shrimp paste, chili peppers, and nuts. It is the first thing that hits the hot oil and is cooked until fragrant and the oil reappears, thereby permeating everything else that goes into the dish. Storebought curry powder will liven up a bland dish, but curry paste, especially if homemade and fresh, brings a richness several levels higher. Storebought curry pastes are acceptable and used by home cooks everywhere, but why deny yourself the satisfaction of having made it from scratch?

The rempah I’m making in the picture is Bee’s recipe at Rasa Malaysia, which she uses for Nasi Lemak (I’m posting that one in a bit). And here are a couple more: Ching’s Rempah Udang and a vegetarian version from Smitha.

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Rempah

Here’s one of the secrets (not so secret anymore, obviously) for making the fragrant, full-flavored broth used in Vietnamese Pho. Andrea Nguyen teaches this technique in her book Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors. Slightly different from another technique I learned from a Vietnamese friend (and also used by other Vietnamese cookbook authors) where the aromatics, mostly commonly onion and ginger, are roasted in the oven or browned in oil before using. Roasting them stovetop brings about a complexity in flavor that doesn’t come through quite as brightly using the other techniques. And I must say I *love* Andrea Nguyen — she’s one of the most accommodating cookbook authors I’ve ever come in contact with. If you’ve got any questions about Vietnamese cuisine, I strongly suggest you contact her through her website; but do get her book first as she may have already answered you even before you asked!

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Stovetop Roasting for Maximum Flavor