Homemade quick tomato sauce (on meatball spaghetti)

I remember coming up with various defenses against making my own tomato sauce for pasta.  Let me eat my words and feast on this homemade quick tomato sauce too!

I must have been blind all this while!  I was going on and on about not having quality fresh tomatoes to make a sauce from scratch, and how I would refuse to splurge on gourmet tomatoes from gourmet supermarkets in a previous post.  The recipe for a homemade tomato sauce that's quick and not requiring even the skin of a gourmet tomato had been silently appealing for my attention from the corner of my book shelf.  It was on Page 32 of a particular book I bought that offered 100 ways to make pasta. 

This is the picture of quick pasta sauce from my pasta recipe book.
And the canned tomatoes & tomato puree.

Having seen enough of how canned tomatoes, be it chopped or whole, had been put to good use in a stew or sauce of some sort, I guess I was ready to abandon the purist idea that tomato sauce for pasta must be made with fresh tomatoes.  I shopped for canned tomatoes and tomato puree yesterday.  I thought it would be easier than hunting for fresh gourmet tomatoes.  It was definitely not.  

The recipe says "400g can chopped tomatoes".  But in the first supermarket I went to, I found canned but diced tomatoes.  Maybe "diced" and "chopped" would be different.  Maybe the next supermarket would have canned chopped tomatoes.  So off I went to the next location.  It was worse than the first.  There wasn't any canned tomatoes in sight!

Fret not!  There is a third location, the last one near home and definitely would offer something not costing a bomb.  It was my "get the food supply for the whole week" day yesterday.  So I was running from wet market to supermarkets in two locations up in the central-north and northeastern part of Singapore; just for that can of chopped tomatoes.  ^_^  I still maintain the unwillingness to splurge on tomatoes, fresh or processed.

At the last pit-stop, I dashed straight for the canned food section and stared at the shelves in disbelief.  No canned tomatoes.  After spending 30 seconds cursing under my breath and another 30 seconds feeling upset and stupid about the rush to satisfy my curiosity in homemade tomato sauce, I decided to walk over to the bottled pasta sauce corner to get my trusty Leggo's Napoletana sauce.  I felt worse.  The Napoletana sauce is out of stock!  How about Prego?  Didn't have the flavor I liked.  *Sigh*  Yes, I could give up and make something else for dinner.  But the kids wanted pasta, and more importantly, I wanted to try making my own sauce.  

Turned on my heels to leave the place and there they were, just right behind me, rows of canned diced tomatoes and tomato puree loomed into my sight! It was placed together with bottles of jams and spreads for bread.  Who in the first place would group canned tomatoes and tomato puree with jams and spreads?!  Anyway, I was simply too overjoyed to question too much about the supermarket's logic or philosophy in their product display.  And it is diced tomato instead of chopped tomato.  At that point, I really could not be too bothered about the nuance anymore.  Diced or chopped, it is tomato processed into small pieces and stored in a metal can which you need to open with a can opener.  Period.


Those are the cans of tomato puree and diced tomato I bought in the picture above.  Just to illustrate how happy I was, I took another picture from another angle. 

The two cans are sitting on Page 32, the recipe to my homemade quick tomato sauce.  I don't think it is so visible in this picture, but if you look at the first picture, you can see that the sauce is really thick, almost dry looking.  Mine on the other hand looked like this.

I wanted the sauce to be slightly more watery, so that every strand of spaghetti is awash with sauce.  Like this...

I had to agree that it is really a quick tomato sauce.  In fact, it was so quick that I managed to shape and pan-fry those meatballs, put together ingredients for the sauce and simmer it, getting the whole pasta sauce ready in 45 minutes flat, including washing up and mopping the floor ^_^.  Well, I had to be quick as I only had 1.5 hours left before rushing off to pick my girl up from her CCA.

The verdict?  
The Tiny Man was first in line to taste it.  He had came sauntering into the kitchen claiming that something smells good, like pasta sauce.  I gave him one meatball covered with many mushrooms and tomato sauce to try.  And he came back asking for seconds ^_^ (So happy!)
The girl protested at the mushrooms, as usual, gingerly picking these out and dumping them into her brother's bowl, as usual.  But she said it was good.  She had a second helping, of which, she took only a couple of mouthfuls.  This is quite confusing.  Did she really like the sauce?  Was it really that good?  But I think I have faith in my end product.  She must have been quite filled up from the first helping, which was quite big for her usual appetite.  
And finally, the chief food taster.  It is a little sour.  Okay, I can rectify that.  Add a little more sugar to mellow out the tang.  But what came next sort of took me off guard.  "It doesn't taste like homemade", that was what the Hubby offered.  Huh?  After clarification, I knew what he meant.  It tasted as good as those commercial ones that I always use.  Phew!  But on hindsight, how does homemade tomato sauce taste like anyway?

Homemade quick tomato sauce
(adapted from "100 great recipes: Pasta", Jacqueline Bellefontaine, Silverdale Books, 2005)


Ingredients (makes enough for 4)
2 tbsp olive oil (I didn't have any, so used peanut oil, purist don't scream)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
400g can chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp dried oregano
salt and freshly ground black pepper (I used my usual white pepper instead)


Method
1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and saute onion for 3-4 minutes until softened.
2. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree and oregano and bring to the boil.  I deviate a little for this step and the rest of the steps that follow are what I did.  
Before adding canned tomatoes, puree and oregano, I added mushrooms and saute for a further 2 minutes.  Then dunk the whole can of tomatoes into the saucepan, swirl the can holding the chopped tomatoes with hot water, and fill it up to half a can.  Empty the water into the saucepan.  Bring to boil.  Once it starts to boil, add tomato puree.  
4. Let the mixture boil simmer for about 5 minutes.
5. Add oregano and continue simmering for another 5 minutes.  
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.  If the sauce is too sour, add sugar to mellow out the acidity.  
7. Let the mixture simmer for another 3-5 minutes and that's about it.  


One last shot to savor.  Yummy!

Simmered chicken with pumpkin

Making this quick simmered dish was probably baited by a vibrant picture of the dish in a food magazine I bought recently.  The orange color of softly simmered pumpkin cubes was so bright, the cubes of chicken were so lusciously coated with a sauce thick with pumpkin puree from the simmering, that I found myself salivating from the back of my jaw ^_^  (Greedy!)

I know the Hubby likes pumpkin, but I wasn't so sure about the kids.  I've made pumpkin pilaf before, but the amount of pumpkin used was small.  It wasn't so much of a main ingredient, but this dish would really feature the soft sweet mushy pumpkin flesh.  I wonder if the girl would like it.  

Since I am writing this in retrospect, I'll just be upfront to say to that the girl did not quite take to the pumpkin in this dish.  She took the chicken, ladle some sauce onto her rice, and in courtesy, showed me that she had taken a few pieces of the orangy squash and that was about it. *Sigh*

The Tiny Man tucked into the chicken pieces too, but I don't remember him savoring the squash.  Only the Hubby appreciated the goodness of the pumpkin.  Or perhaps, he was saving the chicken pieces for the kids?

I liked this dish actually.  Some parts of those pumpkin cubes disintegrated into the sauce after simmering, forming a sort of thin pumpkin puree.  This actually coated all the chicken cubes and permeated those morsels of meat with good old vegetable sweetness. 

What ever it is, the color was still astounding.  Bright and cheery looking, like a bowl of sunshine.  I wasn't too affected by the food tasting squad's reaction to this dish, as we had apple crumble for dessert.  Yes, THAT apple crumble.  They loved it with the ice-cream, especially the kids.  On hindsight, I wonder if it was the ice-cream that saved the crumble.  Nah~  The Hubby was going "真的很好吃！", "I prefer this to the banana one."  ^_^

Simmered chicken with pumpkin

(ingredients adapted from Famous Cuisine, Issue 71, Nov/Dec 2011, cooking method entirely my own)

Ingredients

200g chicken thigh meat, cubed

300g pumpkin, peeled and cubed (I used about 400g)  

50g dried shrimps, soak in water until slightly softened

1 clove garlic, chopped

100ml water

1 tbsp oyster sauce (I use vegetarian oyster sauce)

1/2 tbsp light soy sauce

1/2 tsp sugar

Method

1. Blanched the chicken cubes in water, drain and set aside.

2. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a wok, saute garlic and dried shrimps over a low heat until fragrant.  Add the pumpkin cubes and continue to stir-fry on low heat until the edges of the pumpkin appear translucent.  

3. Add oyster sauce to the pumpkin and stir to mix well.  At this point, add 50ml of water to simmer the pumpkin until 80% softened.

4. When the pumpkin is 80% softened, add the chicken cubes and stir to coat the meat well.  Add the remaining 50ml of water, light soy sauce and sugar.  Simmer until the pumpkin is completely soft and moisture slightly reduced.  

Though it is not in the original recipe, I like to add a dash of pepper before dishing out.  

Braised pork belly in dark soy sauce, aka Lor Bak

I've got to say that I am utterly pleased with this dish which I made yesterday.  Actually I've cooked "lor bak" quite a number of times in the past, but there was not once that I could so wholeheartedly approve of the outcome.  My past "lor bak" making experiences were always plagued by the followings, all of them interconnected, all of them working against me.

1. meaty part of pork belly becomes too dry in an effort to soften the skin

2. braising liquid always dry up quickly, need to top with water so often 

3. as a result of 2, braising sauce tasted diluted or not well flavored, appearance of liquid is not dark enough

4. by the time skin is soft, not enough liquid again to braise the firm beancurd (taukwa) and eggs, so add more water

5. if more water is added again, need more dark soy sauce and salt, so add more of these, braising sauce taste artificial

6. braised taukwa and eggs for too long just to make sure both are evenly coated with the dark brown sauce, taukwa and eggs are tough, the white portion is not bouncy but hard, the yolks are so dry and powdery the kids refused to eat them

Yes, all these problems were there every time I make "lor bak".  I could not believe it when my two kids refused to eat the "lor neng" (braised eggs)!  The two of them are really suckers for eggs of any kind, so it was quite a devastating shock when they announced that they do not like my "lor neng" anymore, but they love my hard-boiled eggs!  What sort of logic is that, I ask you.  And yes, recently, the two of them had become more accomplished in critiquing my cooking.  It used to be anything goes for them, as long as it is prepared by Mummy.

I did try using the slow cooker to prepare this dish.  Even though it produced really succulent pork belly, I felt that the meat tasted more porky than when it was prepared over the stove-top. Perhaps the gentle heat of the slow cooker had worked too well at locking in the flavors of the ingredients?  I am not sure, but it was just too porky for me.  And using the slow cooker did not solve the problem of my kids rejecting my "lor neng".

The techniques I used to put this dish together yesterday drew inspiration from the Japanese.  The "lor bak" was braised using a method that calls for "otoshibuta" (落し蓋), or simply the "drop lid" method.  This cooking method requires a lid to set loosely inside the cooking pot used, such that it sits on the ingredients inside the pot and almost touches the sides of the pot.  Because it is so close to the ingredients (but not tight fitting) that pressure can be released along the small gaps, so that liquid does not boil over and spill.  Secondly, steam will be caught onto the drop lid, condense and flow back into the ingredients, so liquid does not dry up so quickly.  For me, this method worked marvelously for making "lor bak".  The skin was adequately softened, the meaty part wasn't dry.  See the beautiful shine, feel the bounce!

  

For once, I did not have to top up with water so often.  Throughout the whole cooking process, I topped up only twice (compared with at least 4 times previously).  The first time was because the pork belly was still a little tough and the liquid was running a little low, though still enough to braise the meat completely.  I topped up, just in case anyway.  The second time was to have a little more braising liquid to cook and color the taukwa and prepare the "lor neng".

Yes, the "lor neng", the shock that I could not recover from until last night.  Well, this is how my "lor neng" looked like last night.

Does it resemble that moist looking braised egg so strategically placed in the centre of a bowl of ramen that beckons you to take a bite?  I had always been fascinated by the braised egg Japanese ramen restaurants can offer.  And I've always wondered at how is it that their egg yolks can stay so moist, some even still oozing when halved, golden yellow yolks trickling thickly into the hearty ramen stock.  I suppose I can say that the mystery was solved when I borrowed this book, "Harumi's Japanese Cooking" by Harumi Kurihara, from the library.  Basically, you just marinade well prepared hard-boiled eggs in a sauce, no cooking (that no more heating) is required.  That is how the eggs are coated with savory looking brown sauce and yet boast of moist looking yolks in the middle.

For the first time, I could relax and enjoy the process of making "lor bak".  There were no worries of a burnt pot and burnt food, there was no tough taukwa and I could solve the mystery of a succulent "lor neng" all in one pot.

Of course, there is no point in me singing praises about my own cooking, unless those I am trying to please are genuinely pleased with the food I put on the dining table.  Members of the food tasting squad were of course the Hubby and the two kids.  

"It's good!  Umm, it's good!"  That was from the Hubby.

The Tiny Man took two halves of the "lor neng", that's a 200% increase from not taking even one bite.

The girl asked if she could have the last half on the plate; she had three halves.  

Need I say more? ^_^

Braised pork belly in dark soy sauce, aka lor bak

(basically my Mum's recipe but methods inspired by the resilient Japanese)

Ingredients

(Serves 4, two big and two small)

300g pork belly, as lean as you can get hold of

4 eggs

2 small taukwa (firm beancurd), quartered

5 cloves garlic

1 large shallot

3cm stick of cassia bark (or cinnamon stick)

2 star anise

3 tbsp good quality rich dark soy sauce

2 tbsp good quality light soy sauce

2 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine

1 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce

400ml water

some cooking oil (about 1-2 tbsp)

cornstarch solution to thicken braising sauce later

Method

1. Clean the pork belly skin thoroughly, blanch the whole piece in boiling water.  Pat dry and set aside.  There is no need to cut into bite size.

2. Heat about 2 tbsp of cooking oil in the pot that you will be using to braise the pork belly.  Brown the pork belly on all sides.

3. When the pork belly is lightly browned, add the dark soy sauce and let it bubble gently for about 30 seconds.  Add garlic, shallot (both skin on), star anise and cassia bark.  Do place these 4 items into a soup stock pocket if possible as it will prevent your guests from biting into spicy star anise or pick up a piece of garlic or shallot skin.**

4. Add 200ml of water and bring to boil.  Add light soy sauce and 1 tbsp of Shaoxing cooking wine.  Once it comes to boil, lower the flame to medium-low, simmer the pork belly until it is softened to your preference.  When braising, use a drop lid*.  You may need to add another 100ml of water half way through the braising.  Do so if necessary. 

5. In the meantime, prepare hard boiled eggs.  Eggs MUST be at room temperature.  Place the eggs in a pot, add water (room temperature) and bring the whole thing to boil.  Once the water starts boiling, continue to let it bubble for about 1.5 minutes.  Off the heat immediately after 1.5 minutes and let the eggs sit in the hot water for another 1 minute.#  Shell the eggs and set aside.

6. When the pork belly is adequately softened, dish it out and set aside.  If the braising liquid is running too low to cover taukwa and eggs, do top up.  Another 50-100ml should be enough.^

7. After topping up with water, add the taukwa and remaining 1 tbsp of Shaoxing wine, 1 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce and let it bubble gently for about 15 minutes.  Drop lid is not necessary from this stage onwards.  After 15 minutes, the taukwa will be evenly coated in a dark brown hue.  Before turning off the heat, thicken the sauce with cornstarch solution.

8. Off the heat, add the hard boiled eggs, pushing the eggs to the bottom of the pot.  Return the pork belly to the pot and cover with the lid of the pot.  No more cooking is required now. 

9. Let the eggs sit in the braising sauce, marinating up to 4 hours.

10.  When ready to serve, dish out all the ingredients.  Halve the eggs, slice the pork belly into bite size.  Warm up the braising sauce and drizzle over all the ingredients.

Notes

**Such pockets are available from Daiso.  These are really handy items to have in the kitchen.

*There is no need to buy a drop lid small enough to fit into your pot.  A drop lid can be prepared using aluminium foil.  Just wrap the foil around the lid of the pot you are using.  It will make correct size to drop it comfortably into the pot and sit snugly on top of the ingredients.

#Hard boiled eggs prepared this way will give me the kind of bounciness I like for the white part, and the moist slightly chewy texture that I like for the yolks.  You may need to experiment with the timing a little to get the kind of texture preferred.  But the main points are both eggs and water must be in room temperature, and both eggs and water must be heated up together.

^Even though a total of 400ml of water is specified, not all will be used as this depends on the size of the pot chosen.  Basically, the braising liquid should almost cover the ingredients during braising and simmering.  Experimentation, play-by-ear (or rather eye in this case) is the key.

Have Fun!

Friday's Special #6: Char beehoon

"Char beehoon" is such a common dish here.  Everyone has their unique style, must-have ingredients, and probably some must-have accompaniment, like savory chicken curry to drench the vermicelli or crispy hot spring rolls, to go along with their plate of "char beehoon".

Mum's "char beehoon" is always a colorful platter of green, red, black and white.  Generous strips of green cabbage, red carrots and dried black shiitake mushrooms are carefully tossed so that these can be evenly embraced by thousands of threads of bouncy yet softly crunchy white beehoon.  Mum's char beehoon is usually vegetarian.  No meat will be added.  We are not vegetarian, but whenever we have "char beehoon", there will be chicken curry.  These two go hand-in-hand.  They are inseparable in my family.  Vegetarian "char beehoon" offers a clean, crisp and refreshing taste when eaten with dollops of savory chicken curry.  Adding meat to the "char beehoon" tends to laden the palate with excess richness, especially if chicken curry is offered at the same time. 

My version of char beehoon

The first time I had non-vegetarian "char beehoon" was at my boyfriend's house.  It was a plate of culture shock.  Firstly, there was meat.  Secondly, it was dark brown and had a shine that I was not accustomed to.  And lastly, most importantly, there were no vegetables in sight!  How can you not have greens, I thought to myself.  For someone who grew up with more greens than meat in her plate, it was an amazing sight at that time.  It wasn't polite for me to refuse even a small bite.  But I never regretted that first bite.  In fact, I was totally smitten.  My boyfriend's mother, who is now my Mother-in-law, had used canned stew pork, thick black soy sauce and generous sprinkles of oil to create that plate of shock.  It was such a marvelous jolt that I happily surrendered to its repeated assaults.  To put it in simple language, I stuffed myself with it.

The Hubby undoubtedly adores his Mum's "char beehoon".  He asked me to recreate it shortly after we got married.  I did, but it definitely was not Mummy's "char beehoon".  For one, there were vegetables.  It was not the full meat version Mum-in-law normally makes.  I just had to ensure some form of crispy greens accompany every pop into the mouth.  The Hubby was rather forgiving and supportive; he said it was almost there and that I just needed a few more practices.  A few more practices, as advised, dutifully performed, until this final version was reached a couple of years back with resounding approval.  Of course, not without adding a touch of my own, making this my children's "Mum's char beehoon".  For them, Mum's "char beehoon" is a colorful plate of green, red, black, white and brown strips.  The final touch, the crowning glory I suppose, is strands of golden yellow omelette, for without it, Mum's char beehoon is incomplete. 

My char beehoon with garnish

Char beehoon

(A product from the marriage of two Mums' "char beehoon")

Ingredients

400g dried vermicelli, softened by soaking in water, drained

cabbages as much as you like, julienned

carrots, ditto

dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked, ditto (keep soaking water as seasoning)

1 large can stew pork ribs (or use stew pig's trotters if preferred)

2 cloves garlic, chopped

4 shallots, thinly sliced 

Seasoning

3 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce

3 tbsp soy sauce

350ml water

Garnish, my crowning glory

3 eggs (or more if kids are crazy about eggs) 

dash of soy sauce

pepper

dash of sesame oil

Method

1. Prepare seasoning by mixing all the ingredients together.  If soaking water from shiitake mushroom is added, just top up with plain water until 350ml is reached.

2. Canned stew ribs/pork must be processed ahead of time.  This means that meat has to be de-boned, excess fats removed, excess oil floating on top of the sauce scooped out.  Set the sauce aside for use later.

3. Prepare garnish.  Beat the eggs together with the rest of the seasoning.  Heat wok with some oil, wait till the wok is slightly smoking before adding the egg mixture.  Swirl the wok about to spread the egg mixture.  Quickly flip the omelette to the other side and brown it slightly.  Dish out and cut into strands, or any other sizes preferred.  Sometimes, I just chop the omelette into small bite size before dishing them out.

3. Heat up about 3 tbsp of oil (depending on the amount of vegetables used, discretion is necessary here), fry chopped garlic and sliced shallots until lightly browned and fragrant.

4. Add the shiitake mushrooms, fry for about 1 minute.  

5. Add the carrots and cabbage and fry until slightly softened.  Season lightly with pepper and salt.

6. Add 2-3 ladles of seasoning mixture (Step 1), bring to gentle boil, add the whole lot of softened vermicelli.  Toss all the ingredients together slowly and gently with chopsticks.  Toss until moisture has dried up.

7. Continue to add seasoning mixture, a couple of ladles each time.  Repeat Step 6 until vermicelli is almost cooked.  

8. At this point, add the sauce from canned stew ribs from Step 2.  

9. Continue to toss until all liquid dries up.  Can be served immediately, garnished with omelette. 

Notes:

- using chopsticks to toss the ingredients together keeps the strands of vermicelli long and intact.  Frying with a wok spatula only tends to break the strands up.  Usually, I use a combination of wok spatula in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in the other.  I find this a good combination as the spatula works at scooping those vegetables at the bottom of the wok, while the chopsticks works at loosening the vermicelli gently so that the vegetables can be incorporated evenly.

- seasoning liquid control for this one pot dish is important.  Though a total of 350ml of liquid is specified, sometimes more is required, while at other times, not the full amount will be used.  It differs from time to time really, so testing the done-ness and softness of the vermicelli nearing the final stages is important.  

- the same discretion is necessary when adding the canned stew ribs sauce.  What I found is that the vermicelli should be about 90% cooked/soft before adding the sauce.  The effect of adding this sauce is to increase the flavor and richness of this dish, and complete the cooking and softening process for the vermicelli.

- It really takes a few practices before finding that right amount of liquid to incorporate to achieve the level of softness you like.  So have fun trying and failing until you can say "Bull's eye"!

Pan-fried salmon with teriyaki mustard glaze

Grilled teriyaki salmon was the initial plan, but boredom with repetition encouraged experimentation that transformed an already succulent dish into one that works the saliva glands into overdrive.  What a surprise! A normal teriyaki salmon is elevated into a mouthwatering and juicy treat with a simple and generous touch of mustard.  Should there be any expectations?  Perhaps not.  It is enough to have a curiosity to experiment on two ingredients that had been up to now used separately in the humble kitchen.  The hope is for the sweet saltiness of teriyaki sauce to work in harmony with those tangy yellow mustard.  The hope is for both ingredients to agree with each other. 

The peaceful agreement between teriyaki sauce and mustard was astounding.  Neither of them made any attempt to outshine the other, nor bully the other into oblivion.  Such bullying defeats the purpose of introducing two ingredients in the hope that both blend into the formation of something distinctively new, yet retaining the qualities and personalities of the original sources.  

The amalgamation of teriyaki sauce and mustard, reduced into a rich, creamy and shiny glaze, wrapped those salmon pieces with the sweet and salty, perked up yet mellowed and balanced with a prominent flash of sharp tang.  This is a glaze determined to keep the senses busy with enjoyment and surprises.  What a strange sensation...

Pan-friend salmon with teriyaki mustard glaze

(put together in a moment of boredom)

Ingredients

300-450g salmon fillets (about 1" thickness)

6 tbsp teriyaki sauce

1 tbsp fine wholegrain mustard (add more if zapping the brain is the ultimate goal)

a little oil (for pan frying the salmon)

Method

1. Marinate salmon fillets with 3 tbsp of teriyaki sauce for at least one hour, or more if time is not an issue, but not overnight unless tough fish meat is what you seek.

2. Heat a little oil in a non stick frying pan.  Meantime, pat away excess marinate from the salmon fillet.

3. Pan fry the fillets, approximately 1 minute on each side.  If fillets are thicker, increase frying time just a little.  Idea is to brown the outer layer while cooking the fillets lightly.

4. Dish out the fillets and set aside.  Remove salmon skin at this stage if preferred.

5. Clean away excess oil from the frying pan.  

6. Mix 3 tbsp of teriyaki sauce and 1 tbsp of fine wholegrain mustard thoroughly.

7. Pour mixture into cleaned frying pan and reduce slightly.  Return all the salmon fillets into the sauce, coat each fillet evenly.  Sauce would be adequately reduced by the time coating is completed.  

8. Dish out and serve immediately, piping hot.  

Notes:

- I cannot stand fishy smell or taste, so it's got to be piping, piping hot for me.  My girl takes after me in this aspect.

- Do not overcook the fillet at the pan-frying stage as it will be returned to heat again in the coating stage.

- Watch the heat when reducing the teriyaki sauce and mustard mixture.  This really sizzles up fast and caramelize fast too!

- My girl cannot tolerate the soft bouncy fatty salmon skin.  Neither can I.  Remove it if it bothers you, but it really is such a waste of nutrients.  Imagine all the omega-3 or is it omega-6 or perhaps it is both, that goes to the trash bin.

  

My vegetable seller's recommendation: Shark's fin melon soup

"I don't know what to make for soup, I have run out of ideas for soup."  

This was what I said to the vegetable seller I buy all my greens from, an "uncle" who is probably in his sixties.  "Uncle" is in parenthesis, because he is not related to me in anyway.  But he is an "uncle", because this is the way we address any male person who are older than you are (and is already slogging away in the workforce; for a person still studying and is older is called the "gor-gor", which is the Hokkien or Teochew dialect for elder brother), out of affection and respect, as some might explain it.  There is nothing derogatory in this address.  In fact, it is rather habitual.  On the other hand, I should say, it is for the lack of a better term to address this older or elderly person, be it man or woman (the version to address a woman is "Auntie") and avoid being disrespectful.  Anyway, the usage and cultural aspects behind "uncle" or "auntie" used in Singapore is not what I wish to share here.  This vegetable seller "uncle", by the way, has been selling vegetables at the same spot, to my mother and now to me, for almost 30 years.    
What I want to share is how I came to make this shark's fin melon soup.  It is a simple story, resulting from my simple yet desperate utterance.  Basically, after making dinner almost everyday for about 2.5 years after I quit my job, is sort of taking its toll.  I have run out of ideas for soup, even though there are many recipes vying for my attention.  I stood staring at all the beautiful and fresh vegetables at "Uncle's" store, and contemplated for a while on the day I do my grocery shopping.  I can normally decide on what to cook and buy quite instantly as I have a habit of planning my weekly menu.  But this week, try as I might, there is little desire to attempt new dishes or even simply recreate familiar recipes that I had tried before.  I announced my problem to "uncle".  Immediately, he suggested Chinese spinach with fish balls soup.  But I will be making it the following day.  Just as "uncle" was racking his brain to come up with another soup for me, I caught sight of an interesting looking melon in front of me.  It has white, almost translucent firm flesh and a skin that looks a little like a watermelon.  Raising it up, I asked "uncle" what that was.  
"Shark's fin melon.  Boil it until the flesh separate into strips, like shark's fin.  That's why it's called shark's fin melon.  Add some enoki mushrooms and some strips of ham.  The kids will love it."  Those were "uncle's" advice.  To me, it is a cheaper and more humane alternative to a much debated Chinese delicacy.  More importantly, it is something new to add on to my list of soups.  I bought that melon; I think it must have weighed about 800g, and two packets of enoki mushrooms.  I swap ham for bacon.  I could imagine the smokiness and saltiness fried bacon will contribute to the chicken stock I happen to have in the fridge at home.  This was going to be some lip-smacking savory soup.
"Uncle" had suggested another method of preparing the shark's fin melon.  He said to steam the melon, scrap off and discard the seeds, then scrap the strings of flesh into some stock.  Boil the melon in the stock until it becomes a thick soup and the melon stringy, add enoki mushrooms and ham.  He didn't tell me for how long I should steam the melon.  And so, armed with these descriptions, I started creating and cooking my version of shark's fin melon soup in my head as I drove home with my purchases.

Shark's fin melon soup
(Recreated and improvised based on my Vegetable seller "uncle's" description)
Ingredients
about 600-800g Shark's fin melon
2 packets of enoki mushrooms
3 pieces of streaky bacon
800ml chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp vegetable oil (can be reduced depending on the amount of bacon fats)


Method
1. Cut the shark's fin melon (with skin on and soft spongy portion that holds the seed together still intact) into rather large chunks, measuring about 5cm by 8cm.
2. Steam the melon for about 15-20 mins.  The melon would still retain some raw crunchiness but certain portions would feel juicy and a little soft.  Set aside to cool.
3. Once the melon is adequately cooled, scrap off the seeds (the spongy portion will come off together) and discard.  Scrap the softened flesh off the skin.  It is okay if portions of the flesh comes off in strings, this is how it should look like, strings of melon flesh looking like shark's fin. Set the flesh aside and discard the skin.

4. Cut off the stiff and tougher root portion of enoki mushrooms and tear into strips.  
5. Cut streaky bacon into thin strips, trim off fatty portions if necessary.
6. In a soup pot, heat about 1 tbsp of oil and fry the strips of bacon till slightly browned.
7. Add melon flesh and fry for about 1 minute.  Add the chicken stock and bring it to a boil.
8. Once the liquid comes to a boil, bring the flame to medium-low and simmer till melon flesh soften further and disintegrate further into strings.
9. Add enoki mushrooms, continue to simmer for about 2 minutes.  Before turning off the heat, add salt and pepper to taste.

I love the taste of this soup.  The melon has a sweet scent, reminding me of winter melon.  The smokiness and saltiness of the streaky bacon actually complements the sweet melon very well, balancing both the salty and sweet.  A dash of pepper worked its magic, bringing this simple soup to the level of a hearty chicken soup on a cold winter's day.


Notes:
- A note about steaming the melon.  When I made this soup, I steamed the melon for 15 minutes. The melon was still rather firm, though the flesh near to the spongy core has softened quite nicely to be scrapped off quite easily.  I suppose the melon can be steamed further until completely softened, but I don't know if the flesh would be easily manageable if it is too softly steamed.  
- After simmering the rather firm melon flesh in the chicken stock for about 15 minutes, I find that certain portions of flesh (those parts nearer to the skin) still maintain it's chunky shape.  I had to scoop those out and mash it down lightly with a fork.  These actually fall apart into strings quite easily after being squashed with the fork.








   

Friday's Special #5: Pasta with mini chicken-pork patties

This was meant to be that something special for dinner two Fridays ago.  But it was not to be  as we had an invitation.  So I made this last Tuesday and post it this week ^_^  I wonder if my new year resolution should be "I will not procrastinate posting in my blog".  And look at when I am making my new year resolution? February!?  Well, better late than never, as the saying goes.  Anyway, on with this special.  Usually, I make meatballs instead of patties, and it will be full pork meatballs.  The first time I made meatball pasta was about two years back.  Before that, I will always be frying up my minced meat before emptying a 575g of store-bought chunky tomato pasta sauce.  Two years ago, I bought a recipe book that offers 100 ways to make pasta.  Meatball spaghetti is one of them.  Ingredients are pretty easy to procure, and so I decided to try it out on the kids.  I don't make this very often, but whenever I make it, the kids are always pleased by this deviation from the daily stir-fries I place before them for dinner.  After two years of not so frequent meatball spaghetti, I thought it is time to do things slightly differently.  That's right, a change in the meat type and the shape of these meaty morsels.

I have to confess, first and foremost, that this recipe will be a "guess-timation" with regards to the weight of the meat.  I usually buy my meat from the wet market and the quantities there are usually not in grams or kilograms but how many pieces of chicken breasts deboned and how many dollars of meat to grind.  I'll be providing measurements such as "feels like 300g of such and such..."  And I've never weighed out the other ingredients like onions, or measure the amount of mixed spice, pepper and light soy sauce used to season the meat.  These vary all the time, depending on the amount of meat.  This is really a "play by the eye" type of cooking.  I suppose most cooking will be such. 

To be honest, I have never made chunky tomato pasta sauce from scratch, even though it seems pretty easy when I refer to that pasta recipe book I bought.  The problem lies with the tomatoes available in the local wet market.  They did not look anything like those lusciously ripe red globes from Italy that look on the verge of bursting with sweet and tangy juice (yes, I associate pasta with Italy, ripe and beautiful tomatoes with Italy too).  The tomatoes available here always come with more tang than sweet.  More than often, they appear in shades of dark orange and deep yellow than bear any resemblance to that sunset red which tomatoes making their appearances in Asian Food Network would have.  Then again, perhaps I have not looked hard enough.  And of course what we have here are of a different species from those grown in Italy.  I suppose I could get hold of some very promising tomatoes from gourmet shops or supermarkets.  But the truth is, I am not willing to fork out that extra cash for a pot of tomato sauce ^_^  And so I have stayed faithful to bottles of chunky tomato with basil sauce from Prego or chunky Napoletana sauce from Leggo's.

I love mushrooms, so does the Tiny Man.  The Hubby is neutral, anything is okay, he would say.  The problem lies with my girl.  She is totally disagreeable with mushrooms.  She would avoid them like the plague, and sometimes refusing to touch any dish that comes with a little bit of mushrooms.  I love mushrooms, and I love including tonnes of mushrooms into those store-bought pasta sauce.  I am not about to relinquish the pleasure I find in munching on fat juicy bits of mushrooms well coated with tomato sauce.  To please everyone in the family, and most importantly, the Mum (that's me), I add meaty mushrooms.  And by meaty, I really mean MEATY.  It will always be those huge king oyster mushrooms (eryngii) that resemble chicken drumstick (sometimes we call it drumstick mushroom) and fresh button mushrooms or chestnut mushrooms, and the occasional gargantuan portobellos.  Apart from satisfying my palate, choosing these meaty fungi over those more frilly and fragile types has another function.  It makes picking them out easier for my girl.  Simple as that ^_^

The day I made this dish, I could not get hold of any meaty mushrooms from the supermarkets nearby.  I was too lazy to walk 20 minutes to the other supermarket I know would definitely stockpile on these meaty mushrooms, and walk 20 minutes back home.  Of course, I have no intention of driving out just to get these mushrooms.  A compromise was necessary and so I did with a packet of those slightly frilly types of oyster mushrooms from a supermarket very close to home, wondering how it would taste with pasta and tomato sauce.  It did not taste weird.  It did not taste incompatible.  But it didn't have the crunchiness and juiciness of meaty mushrooms.
It had always been simply frying up some minced meat before dumping a bottle of store-bought sauce two years ago.  After the first attempt of introducing meatballs, I had never gone back to just plainly frying up the minced meat.  But things got a little boring, at least for me, not too sure about the kids and the Hubby.  I wanted to add some different texture to pork meatballs (and reduce the fat a little).  Adding chicken breast meat seemed to be an obvious answer and so add the breast meat, I did.  Here's the recipe, shaping the meat into balls or flat round patties is but a personal preference.


Pasta with mini chicken-pork patties
Ingredients (this amount is meant for my 2 kids and my Hubby plus me)
For the meat patties (feel free to roll these into balls)

feels like 300g minced pork (best to mince pork shoulder butt)
feels like 300g minced chicken breast (remove the skin please)
about 1 yellow onion, diced
about 1/2 tbsp mixed spice
about 1 tsp pepper
about 2 tbsp light soy sauce
about 1 egg, beaten
about 1 tsp corn starch


as much mushrooms (or none at all) as you like to eat
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 bottle, about 600g, of your favorite tomato pasta sauce
enough pasta to feed 2 large and 2 tiny being in the family (shapes of course is to your preference.  I've written before that the Hubby loves spaghetti and the kids love fusilli.  Satisfy your bosses!) 


Method
1. Dice yellow onion into about 1cm cubes, fry these onions with small amount of oil until fragrant.  Onions should be slightly browned and soft.  Set aside and allow to cool adequately.  These will be added to the minced meat.
2. Mince the pork and chicken breast meat together (or get your butcher to do it for you).  Add the onions from step 1 (after adequately cooled).  Season the meat and onion mixture with the rest of the seasonings.  Cover with cling film and let the meat rest in the fridge for at least 3 hours.  It is a good idea to prepare this the night before, provided time is available.
3. If using meaty mushrooms, process these into about 1.5cm cubes.  The juicy and bouncy crunchiness is really a pleasure.

4. When ready to prepare this dish, shape the meat into desired size and design.  Heat up some oil in a frying pan and brown your meat morsels.  I usually do not fully cook the meat at this stage.  Dish the meat out and set it aside. 
5. Add the mushrooms (if using) to the remaining oil in the frying pan, add more oil if necessary.  Fry the mushrooms for about 1 minute, if desired, more onions can also be added at this stage.  Add the garlic and fry until garlicky fragrant is detected.
6. Empty your chosen brand of tomato pasta sauce, bring it to a slight boil.  
7. Once pasta sauce starts to bubble gently, add the half-cooked meat morsels and bring to a full bubble.  Basically the meat needs to be fully cooked.  
8. Before turning off the heat, taste for adequate saltiness.  Add more salt if desired.  I will always add another generous dash of dried oregano and pepper.
9. Cook desired amount of pasta in adequate amount of salted water according to packaging instructions (^_^ can I really call this description useful instruction?).  Drain the pasta and drench them with the sauce, adding as many meatballs or patties as you like, then serve.  Tossing the pasta in the prepared sauce is another option, but I normally just ladle the sauce over the pasta.  I love to let the meat flavored liquid find its own path at dressing my pasta.

Notes:
- after all the seasoning ingredients are added to the meat, massage the seasoning into the meat with your fingers in a claw-like manner.  I find this method good in producing juicy meat that is both tight and juicy.  My Mum also taught me another method.  Scoop the whole lot of meat up and slap it back into its container.  Repeat this a couple of times.  One can detect a difference in the moisture level and tightness after a couple of slaps.
- I've specified "about 1 egg, beaten".  This really depends on the amount of meat used.  Sometimes more is required, sometimes less.  This is visual cooking at work.