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Recipe #28: Petai & bacon omelette in chapati rolls

Ingredients

• Petai (stink bean)
• Bacon
• Egg
• Milk
• White onion
• Garlic
• Shiitake mushroom
• Chili paste
• Sea-salt
• Par-baked chapati
• Olive oil

Preparation
In a fry-pan, toss sliced bacon with chopped onions and garlic. Stir-fry in olive oil until they begin to brown. Then add petai with chili paste and continue to fry.
Whisk eggs with a dash of milk and pour over contents of fry-pan. Turn down heat and allow omelette to slowly cook. Add sea-salt to taste.
As omelette is cooking, heat grilling pan. When ready, place chapatti flat and allow to grill. Repeat depending on number of slices of chapati required.
As chapati bread browns, break omelette into slices and place over half of surface area of chapatti. Quickly roll uncovered half over other half then gently press ends together. As egg cooks it should seal ends so you'll be able to turn over the roll and evenly brown all sides.

To serve
Place rolls over fresh lettuce or simply serve on dish, topped with surplus petai and bacon.

Complement with a refreshing light white, such as a Frascati served chilled.

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Recipe #27: Wasabi & sambal salmon

OK I was very tempted to add petai to this dish; however, I think that might be over-doing it although I would personally want to try that someday. **Eyeshift**

It isn't as weird as it sounds, as wasabi and salmon complement each other. Sambal is just a chili paste with garlic and prawns. You could prepare sambal with belacan as is done in Recipe #25: Stink bean spaghetti or just find a bottle of pre-made sambal belacan paste since only a very small quantity is required.

Ingredients

• Salmon fillets with skin
• Olive oil
• White onion
• Garlic
• Mushroom
• Chili
• Sambal belacan
• Wasabi
• Parsley
• Black pepper
• Sea-salt

Preparation
Sauté chopped white onion and garlic in olive oil until brown, then remove and place aside.
Do likewise with sliced mushroom and chili.
Rub sea-salt over salmon skin, then dry meat thoroughly. Add more sea-salt and black pepper to taste.
Place salmon (skin side down) in fry-pan with simmering hot olive oil. Fry until skin is golden brown and crisp. Turn over and fry salmon on gentle heat until fish is cooked. Remove and place aside.
Toss into fry-pan boiled pasta, followed by sautéed onion, garlic, mushroom and chili. Add wasabi paste and sambal belacan to taste. Mix thoroughly then place on serving dish and top with salmon garnished with parsley.

Complement with a chilled full-bodied oaked Chardonnay.

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Next> Recipe #28: Petai & bacon omelette in chapati rolls

Recipe #26: Fried crispy skin barramundi with sautéed mushroom, garlic & onion on buttered pasta

The name of this recipe says it all: my favourite fish (together with salmon) with my favourite pasta. Quite an UNweird meal, unless of course stink beans is added (which is what I tried with salmon yesterday), and very easy to prepare. Sublimely delicious!

Ingredients

• Barramundi fillet with skin
• Butter
• Mushroom
• Garlic
• White onion
• Green chili
• Black pepper
• Sea-salt
• Parsley

Preparation
Rub sea-salt on skin of barramundi and then dry fillet with a paper towel.
Boil pasta in a saucepan.
In a fry-pan, sauté sliced mushroom, chili, garlic & onion in butter until golden brown, then remove and place aside.
Place barramundi fillet in simmering butter with skin side facing down, turn heat up then fry. Just before butter reaches browning point, turn heat down.
Flip over barramundi fillet and fry until cooked. Turn over again and fry skin until golden crisp. Remove and allow excess butter to drain.
Toss in boiled pasta, sautéed mushroom, chili, garlic & onions in fry-pan and quickly mix with remaining butter, adding black pepper and sea-salt to taste. Place on serving dish and top with barramundi.
Garnish with parsley.

Complement with a fine White Burgundy such as a Premier Cru Chablis.

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Next: Recipe #27: Wasabi & Sambal Salmon

Recipe #25: Stink bean spaghetti

Without a doubt my favourite vegetable, some say stink bean (petai) is an acquired taste. I think I was just born with a natural liking for it... Nothing "acquired" about that. It has a rich, almost opulently aromatic flavour and, because it is rarely fully-cooked, a lovely crunchy yet silky texture. It is known to have many health benefits; it is a natural anti-oxidant and it also has antihistamine properties, something which I appreciated from an early age, as it would relieve my sinus allergies.

This recipe would probably sound better if called, "spaghetti with petai and pork in home-made sambal belacan"; alas, it wouldn't seem as weird.

Ingredients

• Stink bean, preferably fresh, removed from pods and halved
• Belacan (fermented prawn paste)
• Chili
• Minced pork
• Garlic
• White onion
• Black pepper
• Sea-salt
• Spaghetti (thin)
• Olive oil
• Parsley

Preparation
Slice a small quantity of belacan into thin pieces and grill until dry. Make sure your kitchen is very well-ventilated (you'll find out why if you don't already know).
Place grilled belacan pieces into a mortar with coarsely-chopped fresh chili and garlic. Pound with a pestle until a think paste is achieved. I prefer to have coarse chunks of chili although if a finer consistency is preferred, pound longer or mix in a blender (the problem with that is that you'll need another blender for fruits/vegetables as this blender would be quite permanently infused with belacan).
Sauté (additional) chopped chili, garlic and onions in olive oil in a large fry-pan.
Add minced pork and stir-fry until it is cooked.
Sprinkle sea-salt and black pepper to taste.
Toss in belacan chili paste and mix in thoroughly, followed by stink beans. Don't overcook them.
In a saucepan, boil water and cook the spaghetti, then drain and place on serving dish.
Top spaghetti with stink bean/ pork belacan chili paste.
Alternatively, you may toss spaghetti into fry-pan and very briefly stir-fry with stink beans and minced pork.
Garnish with fresh parsley.

Complement with a full-bodied, oaky Chardonnay (a strong Napa Valley white comes to mind).

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Next> Recipe #26: Fried crispy skin barramundi with sautéed mushroom, garlic & onion on buttered pasta

Recipe #24: Baked capsicum stuffed with weirdness

Weirdness begins with an inspiration. This isn't always easy to come by... Begin with a visual image; it should look edible at the very least.

It is quite likely that hardly anyone reads this (*sighs*), so I thought I might as well make it as weird as possible. This recipe isn't as weird as it gets. I plan to go further. However, it is a start...

Ingredients

• Whole capsicum; large
• Minced pork
• Egg
• Mushroom
• Garlic
• White onion
• Chili
• Olive oil
• Black pepper
• Sea-salt
• Parsley
• Za'atar

Preparation
Sauté finely chopped chili, garlic and onions in butter in a large fry-pan. Once they begin to turn golden, remove from pan. Toss in sliced mushrooms and sauté quickly until nicely brown. Then remove and place aside.
In a bowl, whisk eggs and minced pork, adding sautéed chili, garlic, onions and mushrooms while doing so then season mixture with black pepper, sea-salt and za'atar.
Slice base of capsicum so that it is flat and you can stand the capsicum upright. Carve out stem at top and remove seeds so that capsicum is hollowed. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper or foil.
Stuff minced pork mixture in capsicum, "until she just can't take it anymore".
Garnish with parsley.
Bake in pre-heated oven until pork is cooked and capsicum begins to turn golden.

To Serve
You'll very likely have surplus minced pork, which you could bake on bread or fry as a patty and serve with the stuffed capsicum. In either case, they'll look weird.

Weirdness always goes well with *any* wine; in this case, Riesling is recommended.

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Next> Recipe #25: Stink bean spaghetti

Recipe #23: Smoked oyster omelette with silken egg tofu & mushroom

So I found this lovely copper pan, with brass fittings, and thought it would be great to cook omelettes. Since copper distributes heat so evenly, it would be ideal. I invented this weirdly wonderful meal because I found this pan, just as I sometimes concoct dishes based on a specific wine in mind.

Although I have called this smoked oyster omelette, it is really the silken egg tofu that imparts a particularly unique texture. In fact, you could omit the oysters in you wish.

Ingredients

• Smoked oysters
• Silken egg tofu (usually in a vacuum-sealed cylindrical plastic wrapper)
• Mushroom
• Egg
• Milk
• Garlic
• White onion
• Black pepper (coarse ground)
• Sea-salt (coarse ground)
• Za'atar
• Parsley
• Celery
• Capsicum

Preparation
Sauté finely chopped garlic and onions in butter in a large fry-pan. Once they begin to turn golden brown, remove from pan. Place on base of copper pan, spreading them evenly.
While fry-pan is still hot, toss in sliced mushrooms and sauté quickly until nicely brown. Then remove and place aside.
Slice half a block of silken egg tofu into pieces about 1 to 2 cm thick. Gently place in fry-pan and slowly cook until bottom surface turns golden. Turn over and do likewise. Remove from pan and place with mushrooms.
In a bowl, whisk eggs, gently adding milk while doing so. Break remaining half of tofu block into very small pieces then add to egg-milk mixture. Keep whisking until tofu-egg-milk mixture is light and frothy. Add smoked oysters, followed by black pepper and sea-salt to taste. Pour contents into copper pan and spread ingredients evenly. Heat pan gently over low-to-medium heat until bottom of omelette begins to brown.
Place sautéed mushrooms over top of omelette, followed by fried tofu pieces and arrange nicely. Sprinkle a dash of za'atar, finely chopped parsley, celery and capsicums.
Place entire copper pan into pre-heated oven and bake omelette briefly until it turns completely golden brown.

To Serve
Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly and serve meal in the pan!

Complement with a light, zesty white wine.

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