X’massy
Sarmin, Wei Li, Ivy, CJ, Ira, Gina, Seon, May, Simon, Michelle, CK & Wai Kyan all for Christmas.
Yea, its X’mas & i got all messed up – in the kitchen! Damn, i was so sexcited (oops) about the partay that i’m hosting tonite. Not much happening on the eve as i was attached to some work. Was anticipating Sarmin & Wei Li’s arrival from Andover at 2145 hrs. Reached home at 2200 hrs, and there they were – my ol’ good buddy Sarmin & his steady gf in hiatus, Wei Li. Treat them with some chocs & fixed a quick supper for them before rockin’ my kitchen real hard.
Xmas Morning in Plymouth. Charles Street.
I got 4 dishes to prepare for tonite’s Xmas party here at my cosy lil’ house. And we got around a dozen more of guests who will be bringing their own food to share too. Most typical X’mas dinners will have turkey as a must. This year, I’m gonna have it for a change.
I will cook a grand ala-Porchetta that was featured in Jamie Oliver’s cookbook, but with a fusion & touch of my own flavors. Of course, i still retain the oregano, feta cheese & jalapenos, as the rest i will have them marinated with lime, soy sauce, black peppers, chilli, five-spice, minced celery, butter, garlic for aromatic purposes and a string to piece them together.
Ayam percik
At 0100 hrs sharp, i start off with Ayam Percik first. The process took 1 hour, and its an easy dish. Blend blend blend & this shit is hot as this is one of my ways to make canto’s suffer (Cantonese & Hakka suck in eating spicy food muahahahhaha), simmer the sauce and marinate the bloody chicken in a large tub and stuff them in the fridge so that later in the afternoon i can just lay those pieces on the tray n grill em up in the hot oven.
Next was the potato patties – worked best as a side dish. Skinned the whole bag of potatoes and chop them to large flakes. The whole lot occupy 2 tubs full. Next was the chicken, debone some chicken portions and extract the meat. Minced them fine, add ground peppers & salt while chopping them with the other hand. As for the potato, i ain’t gonna fry em now as it will turn soggy by afternoon. Will only fry them 3 hours before party starts.
Yong Tau Foo
Third was Yong Tau Foo. The reason this was entered as a dish because of my own personal cravings! As for this purpose i got Tau foo, aubergines & peppers as stuffing medium for the fillings. Since Yong Tau Foo is actually made purely using fish flesh, i’m gonna have chicken added instead. I have chosen Mackarel as this has the nicest flesh texture & also less bones which makes it much easier to debone it during the process.
During the process of blending, i almost screw my blender as some meat particles from the meat combo got entangled in between the blade gaps that almost kaputted my blender motor. I was in awe when the smoke comes out & the awful smell of burning motor was shrouding my kitchen..yuck!
I was in the state of panic & manage to troubleshoot only until i figure out the culprit was the ‘unblendable’ particles that was entangled in between the blade-gaps. Got those sorted as the meat combo was blended fine & have them added with some seasoning & tapioca powder. Next was to slit through those aubergines, halved the tau foo and uncapped the peppers & stuff them all up with the meat fillings. Done. Ready to be steamed later.
Ala ‘porchetta’
Lastly was the ‘porchetta’. This is the toughest to make as i have to sort out the layers of meat & slice them in grid sizes to ensure the meat can be evenly cooked when they are roasted in the oven later. Took me almost 45 mins to wash them and slice them as this portion was large. Is understandable as that was part of a pig’s shoulder! Then i placed them on a tray – widespread.
Starting of with some soy sauce & black sauce, i ooze it out on every corner of the meat; add with lime juice, sprinkle the Feta cheese cubes, butter, red peppers, chilli, celery, oregano, ground black pepper,etc. Roll em, and tie them in a shape of a log. In between openings, i use satay skewers to ‘lock’ those openings so that the fillings cannot spill out. That process ends my whole nite of partay prep as all those items are nicely placed in the fridge & ready to be cooked later today..hey, i will do anythin for a decent partay!!