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
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
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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Next> Recipe #24: Baked capsicum stuffed with weirdness
Beef custard? OK that sounds weird. Actually, it is inspired by Asian-style pork custard. Relatively easy to make, it is quite delicious and can be eaten with rice or just on its own.
Ingredients
- Minced beef
- Eggs
- Cornflour
- Water
- Olive oil
- Butter
- Black pepper
- Sea-salt
- Garlic
- Mushroom
- Onion
- Potato
- Carrot
- Celery
- Chili (red or green)
- Broccoli
- Capsicum (red or green)
Preparation
Heat butter in a fry-pan.
Slice garlic, mushroom and onions then sauté in butter until golden brown. Place aside.
Chop vegetables into fine slices or cubes.
Add a little olive oil into heated fry-pan.
Toss chopped vegetables into fry-pan and turn up heat to high. Briefly stir-fry vegetables, then remove and place with sautéed garlic, mushroom and onions.
Dissolve a little cornflour in water.
In a large mixing bowl, beat up eggs, adding dissolved cornflour while doing so. Follow-up with coarse black pepper and sea-salt to taste. Remove and place aside about a cupful of mixture.
Add minced beef into mixing bowl, followed by vegetables, and mix ingredients thoroughly.
Empty contents into a casserole, making sure ingredients are evenly spread and smooth top with a spatula.
Pour remaining egg-cornflour mixture over top and allow to soak into meat and vegetables. There should be a thin layer of mixture over entire top.
Place casserole into a pre-heated oven. If it isn't fan-forced, turn heat to high and bake until top layer begins to turn golden. Then turn heat to low and bake for another hour or until custard is golden brown.
Allow to cool, then place custard in refrigerator and allow to set overnight.
When custard has set (the following day), cut into slices or as you would a cake. Reheat slices as required in a microwave oven or bake in very low heat.
I find that if kept a couple of days, it gets better!
To Serve
Have it with rice or on its own, accompanied by a mildly-oaked Chardonnay or a light red Burgundy.
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Next> Recipe #23: Smoked oyster omelette with silken egg tofu & mushroom
So I wasn't intending to blog this; in fact, I wasn't hungry, nor was I in the mood to cook today. I rummaged my fridge and found half a loaf of par baked Ciabatta bread and an almost-empty bottle of truffle paste. What could I do with them?
Well, the result of my experiment was so surprising that I decided to include it here. Even though it isn't really weird, it is so simple and delightful I don't know why it hasn't been done already (perhaps it has, but I haven't seen anyone do it this way).
Ingredients
- Par baked Ciabatta bread
- Truffle-infused extra virgin olive oil or concentrated truffle oil
- Truffle paste
Preparation
Slice Ciabatta loaf into diagonal pieces (like bruschettas).
Dip in truffle-infused olive oil or concentrated truffle oil.
Place slices on a grilling pan. Grill until golden. Then turn over and grill other side.
Remove from pan, then spread a little truffle paste.
To Serve
This makes an excellent base for bruschettas or enjoy on its own as an appetizer. I simply had mine with organic burgers (yes, they were delightful) and a love red Rhone.
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