MCO - Day 75

31 May 2020     Day 75 of Movement Control Order 

        Seafood Sunday! Monsieur Squid and Madame Trout had a brief encounter in the kitchen. Monsieur Squid had emerged from the cool confines of the freezer while Madame Trout had leapt from the Jaya Grocer shopping bag. They enjoyed a tete-a-tete whilst being marinated, and exchanged life stories. But they went into different sauna rooms after that. Monsieur Squid was sent to the wok while Madame Trout was led to the grill pan. Their paths crossed again on the dining table after their beauty treatment. Monsieur Squid was resplendent in his spicy kung po sauce while Madame Trout’s beauty was glistening in her teriyaki sauce. A match made in heaven...for our bellies!

Madame Trout in Teriyaki Sauce

Gleaming succulent juicy flesh of Madame Trout 

Monsieur Squid in Kung Po Sauce

Captivating dried chilli bath for Monsieur Squid

Simple stir-fried “siew pak choy” 

MCO - Day 74

30 May 2020     Day 74 of Movement Control Order 

        This morning, I told hubby that I had run out of ideas on what to cook and supplies in my freezer were running low. It was actually a hint for a kitchen reprieve. However, hubby didn’t take the hint. He must have thought that he had cleverly solved his wifey’s problem by announcing that we would make a stop at the wet market after we were through with some matters at Station 18. Sigh! I have always known that I need to spell things out for my man instead of acting coy and dropping hints. I didn’t do that today because deep down, I still wanted to cook.

        Fleeting thoughts of a takeout dinner from Mokuren now gone with the wind, I hurriedly sought cooking ideas from my new idol, Marion Grasby. And I found my answer in her Tonkatsu. The last time I had that was in a small, unassuming restaurant in Kanazawa, and it was so delicious! Tonkatsu is crispy fried breaded pork cutlet, sometimes drizzled with a Japanese-styled barbecue sauce, also known as Tonkatsu sauce. I didn’t have the Tonkatsu sauce and Panko breadcrumbs (best to be used for making these fried pork cutlets) but a check on the Internet revealed that using other breadcrumbs can work and making your own Tonkatsu sauce is no arduous task. Hence, I made do with what I had in my pantry.

        A Tonkatsu-don (fried breaded pork cutlet with rice) would usually be served with a miso soup. I know hubby definitely prefers his Chinese-styled tofu prawns soup, so that was what I made to accompany my golden meat beauties.

May I present my Tonkatsu with homemade Tonkatsu sauce?

Tofu , prawns and mushrooms soup

MCO - Day 73

29 May 2020     Day 73 of Movement Control Order 

        Thanks to Alexandra Wong (cookwithipohbunny.com), I cooked Turmeric Fried Chicken on Day 42 and it was relished by hubby. Upon a reader’s recommendation, Alexandra later dished up a variation : Braised Turmeric Chicken. Seeing that there’s no frying involved, which means I don’t have to battle with hot oil splatters and an oily kitchen top, I was raring to give it a try.

        It can be a little messy dealing with fresh turmeric but the aroma of fresh turmeric just cannot be substituted with turmeric powder. Donning plastic gloves and using a stainfast plate do help. Alexandra’s recipe called for the use of lemongrass to be fried with the shallots. Unfortunately, I had exhausted my supply of lemongrass so I had to turn to the next best alternative - lemongrass powder. I added that to the chicken marinade instead of frying it with the shallots. It may not be as aromatic as frying them together with the shallots, but, hey, the star of the dish today is the turmeric, not the lemongrass!

        Although I love steamed brinjals as much as hubby does, I have to introduce a different method of cooking these purple berries (yes, brinjals are botanically classified as berries!). I hit upon the brainwave of making it super spicy. A quick search on the Internet brought me to the food blog, thespruceeats.com  and my answer was found.

Very yummy Braised Turmeric Chicken

Spicy Sichuan Brinjals

These were the two bean pastes used for the Spicy Sichuan Brinjals

        Hubby tucked into tonight’s dinner with gusto, and all the labour was worth it! Even I thought this was one of those dinners that you wish you had cooked MORE rice! And surprisingly, hubby loved the non-spicy dish (Braised Turmeric Chicken) more than the fiery one (Spicy Sichuan Brinjals).

MCO - Day 72

28 May 2020     Day 72 of Movement Control Order 

        When I saw a friend post a picture of this on Facebook, it piqued my interest. This was something I knew I wanted to let hubby try, and hopefully draw him out of what he’s usually accustomed to. What’s this? It’s Creamy Tom Yum Prawn Pasta!

        You see, I love pasta in all manners, with the exception of bolognese, and beef. Hubby had made the mistake of ordering a carbonara on his first encounter with pasta and was turned off by the creamy cloying glob. He has, since then, been strongly against pasta. It was only recently that I managed to stir some remote interest in pasta in him when I cooked bolognese pasta. He gradually grew to love the bolognese that I make and keeps asking for it. Argh! I am not keen on it and don’t want to eat it so often. Hence, I must entice him to fall for something else. And what better way to do it than to cook a fiery fusion pasta? Pasta purists out there, please turn away!

        Although the name of the dish is Creamy, I have to stay away from using any cream for my sauce, or else, hubby may be revolted. Therefore, I whisked in flour and milk to create the creamy hint. And I had to remember to make it really spicy to “trick” hubby. So, in addition to the store-bought tom yum paste, I threw in some red chillies and cili padi for good measure.

Creamy Tom Yum Prawn Fresine

Chicken Egg Drop Soup (recipe from
Marion Grasby)

        What was hubby’s verdict? His predilection for all things spicy saved the day. He finished everything in no time!

MCO - Day 71

27 May 2020     Day 71 of Movement Control Order 

        When I cooked Mama Noi’s Thai 3-flavoured Chicken on Day 47, the tasty dish really blew our minds. So when I saw Marion using the same sauce for her salmon, I was keen to try the same. True enough, the flavours of the sweet, sour and spicy sauce worked their magic with the salmon. This Thai 3-flavoured Sauce is a real winner!

Thai 3-flavoured Salmon

Simple hairy gourd soup

My favourite onion omelette, now hubby’s favourite too!

MCO - Day 70

26 May 2020     Day 70 of Movement Control Order 

        Lemongrass aficionado...that’s me! I can have it for food, for drink, for room fragrance and I adore lemongrass shampoo as well as lemongrass soaps. Even the colleague who sits next to me knows my affinity for lemongrass, hence he often mixes lemongrass aromatherapy oil in his aroma diffuser for me to relax after a tiring lesson in class. When I saw this recipe in another Ipohan’s blog, I knew I had to give it a try. The recipe featured in this blog, nofrillsrecipe, sounded good but I wanted to tweak things a little. So in addition to marinating my pork ribs with chopped lemongrass, this lemongrass maniac decided to fry some pounded lemongrass with garlic and ginger before putting the meaty ribs into the wok. Aromatic indeed! Taste wise, hubby preferred the usual pork ribs that I make (Day 6 and Day 34).

Vietnamese Braised Pork Ribs

Stir-fried okra with chillies

        I desperately need a good feet massage as I’ve been on my feet the whole day. Besides doing more decluttering around the house, I attempted to make Radish Cake for tea. Despite adhering to the recipe, my Radish Cake turned out a tad too soft. I must remember to either lessen the amount of water or add more rice flour to the mixture.

Radish Cake

MCO - Day 69

25 May 2020     Day 69 of Movement Control Order 

        With house decluttering being the prime concern of the day, cooking had to take a back seat. What’s easier than Marion Grasby’s Easy Curry Laksa? The only “difficult” part was sourcing all the ingredients and the mise en place prior to cooking. Once all the ingredients had been prepared and ready for the action, the actual cooking itself was a walk in the park. And the best part? Hubby kept saying, “Nice ah! Nice ooh!” 

         Marion Grasby, you rock! ❤️