Paella

The great thing about going on holiday is sampling the local fare.  No, haven't been on hols recently, neither likely to in near future  :0(  We like to recreate our favourite dishes at home - I guess it's to relive the fun had in sunnier climes when there was nothing more important than, "What shall I wear today?" or "Where shall we eat?"

Paella packed with squid, scallops, prawns and chorizo

Our first holiday together was almost six years ago when hubbs took me away to Spain for a week.  Neither of us had visited Spain so it was a first on many counts.  A popular dish is Paella.  It has several variants; true Valencian Paella (where dish originates) includes rabbit, chicken, beans, seafood or snails.  Seafood is just a mix of prawns, mussels, clams, langoustine and crab.  There is even one made with squid ink!  At home, I make a mixed paella which contains, chorizo (cured, smoked pork sausage which contains spices and paprika), chicken and seafood.

This is how I make mine at home - although I may change the seafood each time I make it the basis is the same.

Scallops halved and squid cut into rings.

Paella


1 onion, chopped
3 chicken wings, jointed then each joint cut in half, tips discarded
150 g chorizo, 1cm cubes, or 0.5cm slices cut in half
paella rice (I measure in a jug up to the 8fl oz mark)

Cooked Tiger Prawns that I used as garnish instead of mussels

1 pepper, red for colour but not essential, cut in small strips
handful of peas
few saffron threads
1 fish stock cube
raw seafood: scallops, prawns, squid, mussels - any mix of your choice,

Chorizo is richly flavoured with paprika which gives it wonderful colour and flavour

The bright sunny colour from just a few strands of saffron

Soak the saffron threads in a little hot water to infuse.  Leave aside for later.

Keep close eye on the chorizo - don't let it frazzle like I did!

Put the chicken pieces and chorizo in a deep frying pan (I use a non-stick pan so I don't even worry about heating it up first and make sure pan is large enough as everything is cooked in it).  I don't add oil as there will be oil from the chicken wings and the chorizo is fatty too.  Fry lightly so the chicken begins to go golden and the chorizo browns lightly.  Remove the chorizo and keep aside for later.  I take it out now because I don't like it to get too hard and crispy.


Add the chopped onion and continue to fry gently until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes.  Tip in the rice and stir to coat all the rice grains in the fragrant chorizo-infused oil.  Keep stirring and frying over a low heat for 1-2 minutes

Dissolve the fish stock cube in 1 pint of water and add to the pan.  Pour in the saffron threads and water.  Turn the flame up to bring the liquid to boil, then turn down to simmer. 
Return the chorizo to the pan and simmer gently for 5 minutes then scatter the pepper strips and peas over the top.  Continue to simmer for another 5 minutes or so until the water begins to fall below the level of the rice. 
If the rice grains are not plump enough,  add a little more water to the pan - they won't be fully cooked at this point as it will continue to absorb liquid and will steam through later.

Add the seafood to the pan.  I nestle the halved scallops into the rice and mussels if I'm using them.  The squid and prawns cook easily so these are just sprinkled on top.

Cover the pan with a lid and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes on a low heat.  It doesn't matter if you get a little golden brown toasty rice on the bottom as it's made like that (bit like clay-pot rice you get in Hong Kong Dai-Pai Dong.).  The steaming should make the rice lift off the bottom of the pan.

If you don't have a large enough lid, cover with square of foil and twist corners - it makes the foil tighten and form to shape of pan

Turn off fire and leave covered to steam through for 5-10 minutes and serve.  It's usually served with lemon wedges but we don't find that necessary.

Taa-Daa!  Looks good with mussels too!

This is a polite sized serving - I ate more than this! :0)

This amount makes enough for three hungry people sized portions (that's me, hubby and his lunchbox) or four polite appetites.

Minh Update - 10 weeks old ~ Little Poser!

(* Edited - as I typed 10 months in the title instead of 10 weeks!?!?!!?  I know babies become a part of your life very quickly but still!)

Got camera snappy yesterday - although am wishing I used hubby's posh camera - his Canon Digital SLR.  I mainly use his Fuji Finepix - especially when snapping whilst cooking and my hands are far from clean and dry!

Anyhow, he had a bath yesterday afternoon after a messy nappy change and he just loves the hairdryer!  Couldn't resist the urge to capture his movements!  Then once dressed he was ready for his milk and looked positively adorable - like butter wouldn't melt!  When he locks his deep dark eyes on you whilst being fed - that's what makes me melt!  Hope he doesn't remember that trick when he's older and been mischievious!

Do you think this is my best side?

Yeah!  I win!

Gimme cuddles!

After Minh had dried off (and stopped posing in the warm currents from the hairdryer!) it was time for an afternoon snack.  Still feeding every 3-4 hours, sometimes even 5 hours!  He only gained 6.5 oz in 11 days when he usually puts on around 7-9 oz in a week.  His dad is now trying to fatten him up by increasing his milk from 5 oz to 6-7 oz.  Will take him for another weigh-in next week so we'll see how Minh is then.

I'm off to attempt to make some macarons - the fancy fiddly french ones.  Don't ask me why - just feel I need to try (and probably fail) these!  Personally, I blame it on far too much blog-surfing and stumbling upon these devillish delights!  How can you not resist after that?!?  Wish me luck, I hear they are notoriously difficult to get right!

Minh Updates - 10 weeks old ~ Breakfast Time

Thought I'd change the scenery here a little today and show you some photos I took this morning.  It's my favourite time because despite being-groggy eyed, it's when Minh is at his cutest.  It's also precious me 'n' him time - no-one else with us and I've not yet decided what we're up to for the day.

He usually wakes me up (yes, can be several times in night/morning) at around 9am.  It's not neccessarily feed-time.  It's his cuddle-time.  He's a good boy now and does sleep in his cot at night. He used to hate it but once he turned 7 weeks he slept in it happily - no unnecessary fuss, crying or tantrums.  Yes, so, he cries and it wakes me up, I pick him up and he is instantly soothed.  We have a double bed right next to the cot (where I sleep so I can tend to his demands) and as I'm ususally still tired, I bring him right in.  He loves it!  It doesn't matter how tired and heavy my eyes are, one smile and chuckle from him and the tiredness just falls away.  (I'm just a sucker really!)

Here's some photos that I hope brighten your day as much as they brighten up mine!

".....there were two in the bed and the little one said, "Rollover, roll over," so they all rolled over and one fell out....."

"Hey!  Where is everybody?!"

"OK, time for milk!"

"So, where's the milk then?"

"Bring me milk or I'll punch ya!"

"Mmm....nice breakfast in bed!"

"That's better.  Fully fed."

"Hi there!"

"Heh heh heh!  Your jokes are the best!"

"See you later, Alligator!"

Too cute to be cheeky!

Steamed Sticky Pumpkin Dumplings

I saw these whilst blog-hopping at the weekend and thought they were great!  I saw them here at Precious Moment.  I tweaked the recipe a little as I wanted to make savoury pumpkins.  My mum loves pumpkins and sweet potatoes so I often bookmark recipes with pumpkin in them.  Today was the first time I'd actually made something pumpkin related from a blog.

Our not very orange pumpkins!

I actually ended up using Butternut Squash.  I have seen small squashes in the supermarkets right now but I used Butternut Squash as its easier to peel - less knobbly bits I suppose.  The squashes are fascinating as they come in different shapes and colours - must take a sneaky snap next time.  The great thing about them is they are smaller than pumpkins so are easier to cut through and to use up.  We had squash braised with belly pork slices today for dinner at mum's - delish!  (Sorry no snaps of that one!)  Love Mondays, that's dinner at mum's day & it was great 'cos as I helped her do the prep for dinner I was prepping the ingredients for these Pumpkin Dumplings and mum also cooked the filling for me.

Anyway, this is what we did:

Pumpkin Dumpling

300 g butternut squash, peeled and in 1 inch cubes
150 g glutinous rice flour
100 g rice flour
150 g minced pork (any other meat will be acceptable too)
2 shallots, finely diced
1 small carrot, finely diced
50 g butternut squash finely diced
1 spring onion, finely chopped (only as I cut up too many for dinner!)
seasonings: salt, pepper, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil
cornflour paste to thicken
1/2 cup water

Steam the squash until tender.  (As I was at mum's and she always makes soup, I put the squash in a sieve and put it in the soup pot for about 10 minutes or so until soft.)
Mash the squash thoroughly with a fork.  Ideally until no lumps left. 
Mix in the flours in several batches.  Mine seemed on the dry side and I began to doubt whether it would come together, but with some kneading, it soon became a dough.
Fry the shallots in some in oil until fragrant.  Add the minced pork and continue to mix breaking up the meat as it colours. 
Add the carrot and squash and fry for 1 minute before adding the water.  Season according to taste.  The seasonings mentioned are basics to what my mum uses and what our palate is accustomed to.  You can adjust it how you like with chilli, curry powder, spices, herbs etc. 
Cook for a few minutes before thickening with cornflour paste.  You want any sauce to coat the fillings and not be runny or you will encounter problems when wrapping.
Pinch a walnut-sized piece of dough and roll between your palms until smooth.  My dough felt dry and was cracking (maybe the squash isn't as wet as pumpkin mash?) so I put a drop of oil in my palm and kneaded the dough to make rolling easier.  Flatten with your fingers into a 2 inch circle, place 1 teaspoon of filling in the centre and wrap to enclose the filling.  Flatten the ball slightly to resemble a squat shaped pumpkin and mark ridges with the back of a knife.
Use a small strip of pumpkin peel to resemble the stalk and place in the centre of the dumpling.  I used some of the peel from the dark green squash we had at dinner.  Cloves make a good substitute stalk.
Place on a greased steaming rack and steam over a moderate heat for 10-15 minutes. 

Think we made too much filling as this is what's left over!  Or I was too stingy with the filling!

My pumpkins were rather yellow/green in colour as the butternut squash wasn't very deeply yellow/orange in colour.  Perhaps the butternut squash was picked too early in the season and deep orange colour hadn't developed yet?  It looked liked cubed mango before I mashed it!  My younger brother complained that the dumpling skin was too thick and he didn't get enough filling to eat!  As the dough was on the dry side it wasn't so pliable and was prone to cracking.  This made wrapping tricky and probably why the skin was thick.  Next time I will add flour slowly and stop when the dough is wet enough.  I'd probably add 1 tablespoon of oil whilst mixing the dough to make it easier to work with.

The filling can be changed to suit your mood.  Crisp water chestnut pieces would be nice, Chinese mushroom will give it a meaty fragrance, dried shrimps will give it a pleasing sweetness too. 

I shared a dumpling with my brother but almost chomped it all before I remembered to take a photo! 

We made 16 dumplings from this batch of dough and had far too much filling left.  Maybe next time I would halve the quantity of meat.  Now, what shall I make with the left-over cooked meat filling?

Garden Harvest

What I gathered from the garden....

 Not particularly a good garden harvest this year but that is down to little effort, little gain.  This year I haven't paid much attention to the garden - flowers or vegetables.  Some of this is down to being pregnant throughout the growing season (my tum was growing too!).  I didn't know how big I was going to grow and wanted to take it easy as this was my first pregnancy and not being very young anymore, (put it this way, I'm born in Year of the Tiger and I'm no longer in my twenties - let you work that one out!) didn't want to over exhort myself and regret it later.  Some of it is also down to enjoying card-making.  Last summer I started going to card-making workshops and I really enjoy the classes.  Not only do we make beautiful cards, it's a lovely chance to relax and chat with some very lovely ladies.

 Anyway, despite my lack of efforts we have had some courgettes this year.  A Lebanese variety, hence the paler green colour than what is sold in the supermarkets and it (should have) has a slightly bulbous base.  Okay, this one is a little backward!  I blame it on being probably the last one of the season.  The plant is still slowly growing but less vigorously now.  I can see fruit-bearing flower buds at the tip but with the absence of male flowers these fruits not only will not grow larger, they will wither and rot.  Maybe I should grow a variety that doesn't need pollinating.  That will ease the suspense of will it grow or will it rot? 
I only had the one courgette plant this year.  Will definitely plant more next year as it is tormenting waiting for that one courgette to grow larger before you pick it!  In our first year here I had 4 courgette plants and had courgettes coming out of my ears!  Well....you know how the saying goes!  I had plenty to share amongst family and friends and this year it was take it in turns to give courgettes out as there were never enough to go round in one hit!

 I grew onions again Stuttgarter - wanted an easy crop that didn't need any looking after from me.  Might be the reason why the onions are as small as gobstoppers!  I actually pulled these out of the ground during my confinement month when I was supposed to be resting!  They have spent the past 4 weeks drying in the shed.  I tidied them up by removing the loose papery skins and excess stalks.  Weeny looking onions but they sure are strong!  My eyes don't water when peeling chopping onions because I find wearing contact lenses protect my eyes from the vapours.  These little powerful little marbles are the exception!  Won't be eating these raw in a salad!

I usually grow potatoes too.  Another easy to grow crop and the best bit is harvest time.  Scrabbling around on your hands and knees in the dirt looking for buried treasure - or so it seems to me!  I love seeing the pale glint of skin in the dark earth and it feels as if I've struck gold!  I grew these in potato bags.  Black polythene sacks with a few drainage holes in the bottom.  The varieties I grew were Red Rooster potatoes and Charlotte.  Roosters are available in the supermarkets and I like them for roasting as they are slightly floury and roast up well.  They don't disintegrate on boiling either.  Charlottes are a lovely, creamy waxy salad potato.  Great in cooking when you don't want them to disappear to mush.

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.

Cod Fish Cakes & Crab Cakes

Fish is good for you and we should aim to eat 2-3 portions a week.  That's what is drummed to into us and so I have tried to lead a healthier lifestyle - after all, it means you can treat yourself and be naughty once in a while!  As I see my mum most Mondays, we get our first fish portion then.  Mid-week I need to make sure we have something  seafoody and Friday is another fish-day.  (Tonight hubby will be buying fish and chips on his way home!  Yum!  Yum!)  Wednesday, I attempted to make both crab & fish cakes.

My mother in law was a good cook.  Or so I gather.  I never had the opportunity to meet her as I didn't meet my husband until she had passed away some years previously.  My husband tells me about the things she used to make and cook from scratch, however, when I ask him how it was made he often hasn't any idea.  He was too busy playing to be helping his mum in the kitchen and sadly all her recipes are gone too.
One of the things she would make was cuttlefish cakes - like the ones you eat at dim-sum (we always order those - hubbs favourite).  Hubbs tells me he'll make them for me.  Am still waiting.

Anyway, I had a large fish fillet of cod to use (500 g) and if I still lived at home, I'd make a fish pie.  Hubbs isn't a fan - so scratch that idea.  I thought I'd try making fish cakes - not the western style which is cooked flaked fish mixed with mashed potato, but the bouncy Chinese ones. 
Fish cakes I did make, bouncy?  No.  Maybe its the wrong type of fish, maybe it doesn't have a gluey past- like quality to it that is needed for the bounce.  Maybe it wasn't beaten enough.

Not having a food processor, I skinned the fish fillet, then realised I should've just scraped the flesh off the skin and muscle with a spoon.  I did as best I could to break up the meat before mincing it with a large cook's knife.  I then placed the fish into the bowl of my mixer and added 4 Chinese soup spoons of water, some salt, white pepper and 1 tablespoon of cornflour.  I turned the mixer on to beat it for 10 minutes.  It turned into a smooth looking paste.  Next was 2 tablespoons of chopped dill and another mix.  The mixture was formed into small patties and fried in shallow oil until golden on both sides.  It wasn't too mushy, but it wasn't bouncy either.

For the crab cakes, I had a vague idea of what I was doing from a Rick Stein episode (I can't recall which series) where he was making Maryland Crab Cakes.  Basically it's crab meat, crushed crumbs, lemon juice mayonnaise and seasoning.  I had a tin of crab meat, drained it (100 g) and to it, added 3 crushed cream crackers.  I seasoned and squirted about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and a tablespoon of mayonnaise.  To make it more interesting I chopped up some spring onions and threw them in too.  A good ol' mix before leaving in fridge for 30 minutes to firm up.  Then they were simple formed into patties and gently fried until golden.

We ate our fish & crab cakes with new potatoes and salad.  Simple and that was our fish quota for the day.