Post Christmas Feasts

After some Christmas Feasting at my mother's house - a yearly tradition for Christmas Day Turkey lunch and Boxing Day Chinese Feast (lobster/crab in Spring Onion and Ginger, Chinese Roast Duck, Roast Crispy Pork are definite contenders), we were lucky enough to be invited to two other feasts over the weekend.

I recently learned that one of my cousins will be going away to work in February and it's been long talked of having a Steamboat Feast.  One of our other cousins hosted the meal at their place and as I like to bring a little something along, I baked a Green Tea Chiffon for dessert.  Post for that one is here.  I have discovered that I omitted to take photos of our feast :(   But I will tease you by telling you that we had three different kinds of noodles; 3 different greens (pak choi/cos lettuce/chrysanthemum greens); 3 different meat balls (fish/pork and beef); thinly sliced beef rolls; fresh prawns; fresh clams; mushrooms (brown chestnut and golden needle-enoki).  The Steamboat pot was split in two compartments and we had two types of broth, one was a herbal tonic, the other plain.  The herbal one was delicately flavoured with nutmeg, cardamon, and dong quai.  It was a delicious and filling feast indeed!

Sunday, we went to visit Mr Leaf's family.  We went out for lunch at a Vietnamese Restaurant, Loong Kee on Kingsland Road, Hackney.  It's one of the few places that serve Steamed Rice Rolls Bánh cuốn which is a favourite with Mr Leaf.  They are similar to Cheung Fun but the rice skins are thinner, more translucent and not as soft.  The filling was a scarce scattering of minced pork and minced black wood ear fungus.  Was not very flavourful on its own and needed the Nước chấm sauce to give it some life.

Mr Leaf's brother likes Frog's Legs so we ordered a starter of Fried Frog's Leg's with Salt and Chilli.  The frog meat tastes between fish and chicken.  

Mr Leaf and his brother always eat this noodle salad dish Bún Thịt Nướng which is topped with grilled pork.  It's rice vermicelli with shredded salad, herbs and whatever topping you select and sprinkled with roasted crushed peanuts (which they did not have in this place.) You moisten it with Nước chấm  mix it up and chomp away.  This is not where we usually go for our Vietnamese meals and Mr Leaf reported the pork not the same cut and taste as his usual choice of restaurant.

I opted for stir-fried rice noodles with mixed meat.  Expecting Ho Fun wide, flat rice noodles like I would in a Chinese Restaurant I was surprised to get very thin rehydrated noodles.  It had a pleasant chew to them and I had all manner of different vegetables stir fried with it (no bad thing in my book).  Son managed to eat a few mouthfuls too so that was a bonus as he is a very discernible diner.

Sister in Law (Mrs Leaf) had Beef Phở.  Noodle Soup in a beef broth with sliced onion, herbs, thinly sliced beef.  It's served with a plate of accompaniments, herbs, raw beansprouts and a lemon wedge.  

In the evening we went to my SiL cousin's house for a pre-New Year Dinner.  We had Coquille St Jacques to start (oops - no photo) which is a French dish of scallops in a white wine sauce served in the half shell topped with mashed potato and grilled. Mains were Steak or Thai Chicken Curry.

Here are a few photos I did remember to take!

Pan-Fried Steak with mixed salad and mashed potato.

 

I had the Thai Curry, there was Red and Green Curry and I had a little of both.  The Green Curry was particularly fiery hot but wonderfully fragranced with kaffir lime leaves, I couldn't tell you how the Red Curry tasted as my mouth was on fire after that!

We had Christmas Cake for dessert (which I had made and decorated) as well as Strawberry Gateau (I believe it was a shop-bought frozen dessert).


I hope you all had a lovely time celebrating the festivities with your nearest and dearest!  

The hostess pictured with my son and his cousin. 

(Apologies for poor photo quality - my camera phone does not perform well.)

Curry - Chicken & Vegetable with Clove Scented Mushroom Rice

If you look carefully at the top left of the picture, you can just make out the drifts of steam coming from the curry

Having a lazy day today.  Only doing the minimum amount possible.  That means cooking meals rather than food for fun.  Also means too lazy to do cleaning or any other housework.  Wanted to cook a roast today after seeing a poster for pork shoulder joint on special offer - just my luck they didn't have any!  Meant to go to shops to buy something but as I was being lazy, I had to raid the freezer.

Last week, I made a vegetable curry from scratch - no jars or pastes.  It kind of came out of my head after reading a few recipes here and there.  It was rather good!  I didn't make note of what I put in it though!  It was an accompaniment for a chicken biryani which I made from paste in a jar.  I deeply regretted not writing the ingredients down!  Sometimes cooking is a bit like that, you get an idea, see what's in the cupboards and throw whatever you have in.

Seeing as there is nothing planned for dinner, I thought I'd try make a curry from scratch again.  Not following any recipe or guidance I've muddled my way through to make something we can eat.  It wasn't too bad either!  Made sure I took notes this time!  I also made some mushroom rice to go with the curry - it was quite nice as it had the scent of cloves.

Chicken and Vegetable Curry

2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds
2 teaspoons whole coriander seeds
6 green cardamon pods
1 medium onion, chopped
2 shallots, sliced
50 g peeled ginger, grated (2 tablespoons)
2 garlic cloves, grated (1 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 large chicken thighs, skinned, de-boned, sliced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 head of cauliflower
handful of green beans
2 tomatoes, quartered
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
salt & pepper
1/2 pint water (or can use stock - veg/chicken)

The onions, shallots and potatoes are from the garden

In a dry pan over a low heat, roast the cumin, coriander seeds for 3-5 minutes until they begin to darken and the aroma from the spices are released.  Tip into a mortar.  Split the cardamon pods and tip the seeds into the mortar.  Grind with the pestle until the seeds have turned to powder.
Sweat the onion and shallot in a large saucepan over a gentle heat for 10 minutes.  The onions and shallots will have begun to turn brown.
Add the ground spices, turmeric, cayenne, grated ginger and grated garlic and continue to fry gently for 3 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.
Turn the heat to medium and add the chicken to the pan and fry until it begins to colour.  Add the water and potatoes and allow to boil before turning heat down to simmer.  Place lid on pan and cook for 10 minutes.
Add the cauliflower florets, bring to boil, cover, then simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the beans and tomatoes and simmer for a further 5 minutes.  Thicken sauce with cornflour paste if necessary.  Check for seasoning.  Serve with your favourite rice or breads.
I would have liked to sprinkle fresh chopped coriander on the curry but didn't have any.  I'm sure the flavour would have been lifted by the fresh aromatic herbs.

I made some rice to go with this dish, I had wanted to make a pilau style rice but didn't want to make it in a pan.  I was looking to make it in the rice cooker so I didn't have to watch the heat.  I made a clove-scented rice and added mushrooms and onion for flavour.


Clove Scented Mushroom Rice

300 g basmati rice (2 rice cooker cups)
480 g water (up to 2 marker on my rice cooker) * or however much water you feel is enough to cook the rice
6 whole green cardamon pods
2 bay leaves
12 cloves
1 medium onion, chopped
6 medium sized mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
salt & pepper

Wash the rice in cold water until the water is relatively clear.  Place in the bowl of the rice cooker and add enough water to cook the rice. 
Add in the spices to the water and cook the rice.
Fry the onion and mushroom in a little oil until soft.  Season mushroom and onion mixture and place on top of the rice when all the water in the rice has been absorbed.  Replace lid and leave to steam for 10 minutes.  Fluff the rice with chopsticks and incorporate the onion and mushroom at the same time.