Brunei

Greetings from Brunei Darrausallam, “The land of Peace” - a description that could not be more accurate.

The people here are the nicest people I have ever met. There is no crime at all, it is almost as clean as Singapore, the drivers are terrible and yet no-one ever uses there horn and if you are walking along people will pull over and off you a lift without even having to go via a gem shop! And why is it so peaceful here -because there is no grog. The governance here is an Islamic Monarchy and alcohol is banned from public places. Coming from Warrnambool, the home of the drunken dick head this is a pleasant change. You can drink in your house or hotel and you are allowed to bring 2 litres of spirit and 12 cans of beer in with you but you cannot buy alcohol anywhere.... that is unless you meet an Aussie who gives you the phone number of the Brunei “Milkman”. After a broken English conversation he will send his wife out in a beaten up Datsun to deliver a dozen cans of tiger beer wrapped very tightly in garbage bags – Illegal beer tastes so much better, so I have heard!

Gold and marble is everywhere. There is a saying that there is more marble in Brunei than Italy and more gold than Fort Knox, is easy to believe. Around the Sultans Mosque is a fence spanning several kilometres and every 4 of five meters is a lamp post made of 16 carrot solid gold weighing about a kilo or so! No security because there is no risk it will be stolen. There is a hotel here, the Empire hotel, built by the infamous Prince Geoffrey (whom has now returned and been forgiven for misplacing $1billion). This hotel was forecast to never make a profit in its lifetime even at 100% occupancy!

Sorry to say though that our expected cooking for Prince Qawi did not happen as he had to leave the country in his role as the chaperone of the crown prince.

NB. After publishing this first I have now have to say on our return to Brunei from KK we cook a couple of dishes for HRH.

The men here are true gentlemen - something Rachel is hoping will rub off on me a little. Nothing is too much trouble and if you ask for something to be done if it is possible it will be done immediately. There is also a very interesting way of always telling the truth and never offering lip service, something I think Aussies are a little guilty of. We were taken out a lot to eat in Brunei. During dinner our host would critique absolutely everything to the waiter. I asked if this was just a personal trait but it isn’t, everyone does it and once what is said is said it is over and done. I think this approach especially when it comes to food stems from the fact the average person in Brunei, and throughout most of Asia, has a much deeper and broader knowledge of food than the average Australian. We were also on the receiving end of this mentality which took a little getting used to.

This understanding the Malay people have of food is essential because there is so much choice and the food here is so amazing. This creates a problem though in choosing what to eat; I think that is why the Malay people eat 5 times a day.

Char kway teow (noodles), Nasi Ayam (chicken rice), Satay Daging (Mutton Satay), Fried Chicken in spicy sauce, Chicken Noodle Soup, Hoiken egg noodles, Fish Dumplings, Laksa, Beef Curry, Chicken Curry, more satay, more roti, more char kway teow, chilli prawns, bamboo clams, chinese vegetables, more roti, more laksa, chicken cooked in bamboo, sambal prawns, tapioca leaves with chicken liver in coconut milk, bakso (Indonesian soup), fried green chillis with chicken kidneys, deep fried snake beans with garlic and oyster sauce, fish maw (swim bladder) and sea cucumber hot pot, fried tofu, coral trout salad, crispy skin pork hock, Fried Mee (noodles), more char kway teow, watercress in belechan (shrimp paste), Hainin chicken rice, sour fish soup, pork and prawn in bean curd, fried prawn wonton, chickens feet, pork rib in black vinegar, carrot cake, steamed pork dumplings, pau (steamed pork buns), steamed pork rib, rolled noodles with pork, chicken wings, rice cakes, fried pork chop and steamed pork – THIS IS WHAT WE ATE THIS IN 4 DAYS!

One interesting exception to the quality of food is the quality of the meat. Coming from Australia where the beef is amazing the meat here just doesn’t compare. All the meat in Brunei must not only be Halal, the Halal slaughter must also be witnessed by an official from the Brunei government. Because of this the quality of the meat suffers as the cost of having to send someone to witness the slaughter in a country like Australia is massive and therefore the only option is live import. The hot weather and lack of space means the animals have to be slaughtered stressed and slightly malnourished almost immediately after arriving. An interesting aside, Halal is about respecting the animal in many different ways including when they are alive and the people here have huge concerns about the conditions.

That is Brunei. I could go on forever because it is an amazing place and the friends we have here are wonderful.

We are now in Kota Kinabalu at the most amazingly luxurious resort – The Pacific Sutera. www.agoda.com and you can get yourself a room in a five star resort with a bar in the swimming pool, a 27 hole golf course looking out over the south china sea for about AUD$100. Fly Air Asia and you can get here for about 500 bucks! It is surreal because it is almost empty which is good because it frees up the piano in the lobby for late night drunken jazz and the swimming pool is deserted.

The town centre of KK, a 10 ringgit taxi ride away is buzzing with people and food everywhere.

The markets are overflowing with the freshest seafood and vegetables. Health regulations seem to be non-existent as the chicken sits uncovered unchilled in the 30 degree heat.

Bright colors and smoke billowing from rows and rows of hawkers selling chicken wings, BBQ fish and satay sticks. We weren’t quite sure what the hawker lady was saying that sounded a lot like chicken arse until we realised she was saying chicken arse. Parsons nose satay skewers. Note that next time we need napkins to wipe stick chicken wing juice of our hands. KK is famous for its seafood and the 4 basketball court sized seafood market with rows and rows of fish tanks filled with every imaginable creature. Ugly stagnant staring stonefish, mantis shrimp in coke bottles to stop them killing each other, scallops flapping about and translucent prawns dancing in the water.

Behind the tanks are the restaurants that transform the seafood into wonderful dishes. The tables, all for at least 12 people are filled with mainly Chinese tourist sharing a lazy Susan of the most amazing dishes.

We worked our guts out in the Millennium restaurant to produce and teach the kitchen French Spanish and Italian banquets. The kitchen staff were wonderful, funny and all spoke very little English. Most of the teaching was done was like playing charades. We’ve got a few kitchen words down pat now. We were always stopped for breakfast , lunch and dinner no matter what. We were more than looked after by these gentle polite hardworking people. Rachel says the first couple of days were quite daunting in a new country and new kitchen. I was at home within minutes. Famous, confident and greeting the staff as old friends. It is such a wonderful experience coming to Millenium we just wish it was longer... although now the hard work is over its all pork and beer from now on.

Sabah Malaysia

When dinner arrived tonight the magnificence of what appeared almost helped to reduce the sadness I felt earlier when the image of the shirtless man in the mirror with a spare tire now circumnavigating his guts so viciously imbedded itself in my mind. I can’t care that I am getting fatter by the second, I shouldn’t, the food we are eating is too good and to pass an opportunity up like this when a simple diet will return me to my handsome self again would be stupid. We are eating food that would make royalty jealous. The culture here in Malaysia is one that ingrains in its people from a very young age an appreciation of eating that is not known in Australia. As one journalist said to us, she lives to eat rather than eats to live - a mentality so obviously shared by the entire population.




The traditional Malay food or Iban (a tribal Malay group) food we have sought is a sensory array of colour, smell and flavour. The dishes are a rich combination of sweet and salty. Dishes that have brilliant elegant simplicity like ox-tail, ginger and tomato soup (pictured right) are eaten alongside rich creamy lingering coconut based curries or salty dried fish, wok braised in tomato and ginger. One dish prepared for us was chicken in bamboo. Old boiler hen is chopped into pieces, marinated in ginger then packed into a large piece of bamboo. The ends are sealed with tapioca leave (also eaten at the end) then a small amount of salted water is poured in. The bamboo is roasted over a fire for several hours. The results is a pinkish brined and braised chicken wet with an overwhelming sweet chicken broth. We ate this with local watercress cooked in belachan (shrimp paste) and chicken livers cooked with tapioca leaves and coconut milk.

Modern Malay (to the good people of Brunei and Borneo I ask forgiveness for referring to your culture as Malay, it is just the similarity tends to make this lazy Aussie categorise it all as Malay) is similar to several other of the surrounding SE Asia countries – in that there is also an availability of Chinese, Indonesian and Islamic food. The Chinese impact on cuisine in Malaysia is almost as significant as the indigenous food itself, in fact, on dish ‘Hainan Chicken Rice’ was created in Malaysia several hundred years ago and it wasn’t until its popularity became so intense that the region in China to which it refers began to produce the dish. Talking about this tonight, our hosts suggested it has been more than a thousand years that Chinese food has been part of Malay life – something shared in Australia that has also had a long history of Chinese culinary involvement.

If you had to chose the signature dishes of Malaysia there are two that really shine, Char Kway Teow (pictured below) and Roti Canai. Char Kway Teow or Kway Teow Goreng (char being Chinese for fried and goreng being Malay for fried) is a noodle dish with a salty fishy dried shrimp sauce and a smoky dark soy wok charred flavour. We have yet to visit Penang the home of this dish, so you will hear us talk about it again, but these noodles are more addictive than anything ever in my life. It is great for breakfast, morning tea, lunch, dinner or supper. The rice noodles become wonderfully silky when the perfect amount of oil is used to lubricate the dry fishy sauce, sweetened with bean shoots and local clams Char Kway Teow is true flavour harmony. It is also a good dish to test the size of your balls with the local ridiculously hot green chillies. Chillies that two chefs in the kitchen where we have been visiting had a competition to see how many they could eat raw, both quitting at 32!

Roti canai (cha – nai) is a grilled flat bread, a hybrid of a crepe, strudel dough and a croissant. It is fried in ghee until crunchy then smashed between your hands to create a flaky texture. It is served in the Halal Islamic restaurants with either a stew like Malaysia style sweet curry with cloves, cardamom and small curry leaves or just enough sauce from the same curry to dip your roti into (as pictured, also with Ayam Goreng and bean salad). It is amazing. I swear a lot and it is only me being polite that I don’t describe them now as flipping brilliant. And they cost about 35 cents Australian each. The char kway teow is a little more luxurious coming in at about $1.20.

Entertain us as we need to brag a little more as we sit here belt undone reminiscing on the amazing Chinese meal we ate tonight. Wok fried whole sea bass with mango sauce, Chinese BBQ fresh prawns, Broccoli with Shitake Mushrooms fried garlic and oyster sauce and a chicken with dried chilli and cashew nuts. Chef Matthew from the Millennium restaurant produced this dinner which in all honesty surpassed any food we have eaten at Melbourne’s most famous and highly over acclaimed Chinese restaurant. And should we have had to pay it would be about 10% of the cost.
The markets all over Malaysia and Brunei are colourful arrays of overflowing stands selling everything from chillies, limes, chickens, and fish. Every animal under the sun is available after it has been salted and dried - not to forget Rolllexs and Oackleys! I think the markets primarily supply the restaurants and street hawkers though as the people don’t appear to cook at home, watching the street hawkers the majority of their trade is locals getting a quick bite at lunch or take home packs just before dinner time. Late night trade is more the younger generation socialising and eating together. Each town has a specialty dish and at the market and in Kota Kinabalu Sabah it is spicy BBQ chicken wings. Grilled on metal racks with a dozen wings stretched in perfect unison they’re chopped with scissors then served in plastic bags floating in a spicy sauce. It is quite easy to nail a dozen on your own. We weren’t quite sure what one hawker lady selling satay was saying when we pointed to one particularly odd looking variety, we were confused as it sounded a lot like chicken arse, something we realised to be the case when we worked out they were parsons noses.

To not mention the seafood in KK is not obviously have not gone there. KK is famous for its seafood and the 4 basketball court sized seafood market with rows and rows of fish tanks filled with every imaginable creature is the jewel in this crown. There are ugly stagnant staring stonefish, mantis shrimps in coke bottles to stop them killing each other, scallops flapping wildly about and translucent prawns dancing in the water. Behind the tanks are the restaurants that transform the seafood into wonderful dishes. The tables, all for at least 12 people are filled with mainly Chinese tourist sharing a lazy Susan of the most amazing dishes. We gave the stonefish a go – beautiful. Because the lazy ugly bastards sit all day on the bottom fattening and protecting their sweet white milky flesh with barbarous spikes the result is a sublime texture. I did order a massive sashimi oyster but I just couldn’t come at eating a raw filter feeder from the South China Sea.

Brunei & Malaysia 2010

Malaysia is the food capital of the world. I love making grand sweeping generalisations, people laugh at me for it all the time. I know I haven’t been everywhere but no place I have been even slightly compares with the food obsessed Malays. I love it, I love them. Then within the food capital of the world there is the food capital of Malaysia, Penang.It is unbelievable and overwhelming.I never could have thought there to be such a thing as too much food but after Penang I am not sure.
This small island, home to about a million people seems to have an ADD, OCD obsession with food. Not even the slightest exaggeration, everywhere you look across the capital Georgetown there is a restaurant or hawker preparing the one dish they know best.At any time of day or night you can get noodles, soups, dim sum, rotis, curries, BBQ fish and fried chicken.The list goes on.
Then, like a Russian doll set, within the food capital of the world within the food capital of Malaysia is the food capital of Penang, the Gurney Drive night market.This area is home to a strip of hawkers lined side to side that must be two or three hundred meters long, there would be well over 200 hundred hawkers. I said to you last week the two signature dishes of Malaysia would have to be Roti Canai and Char Kway Teow, I am sorry but I was wrong.
To single out these two dishes would be just stupid. It is perhaps they are so digestible to the western palate, especially the Kway Teow that they have gained such acclaim.These specialties from Penang have just as much importance.
Curry Laksa is one of the noodle soup dishes and is a rich chicken coconut turmeric creamy broth with rice noodles, deep fried tofu and seafood. There are two styles of Laksa – Laksa Sarawak from Kuching and Laksa Penang or Asam (tamarind) Laksa. The first is the recipe I have included and the one we are probably most familiar with. The later is a more sour less creamy style. If you are from Penang you will claim yours is better and vice versa if you are from Kuching. I go with the Sarawak.
Char Koay Kak is similar to Kway Teow also having the smoking dark and slightly charred flavour imparted from the wok but instead of noodles a steamed rice cake is used. The rice cake is fried with egg, beanshoots, garlic, chilli and Chinese chives. An almost identical dish in East Malaysia that we found much better was the carrot cake. Goreng Kuih Lobak
A couple of criticisms of the food in Penang, amongst the various vendors there is a somewhat homogenous nature to all the dishes sold, and sometimes a sense of complacency can be felt in the food. It is almost as though no one wants to shine above the rest. Many signs can be seen claiming ‘The Best’ or ‘Penang’s Most Famous’ but the variations we not worthy of such accolade. One vendor, quietly and inconspicuously preparing his Char Kway Teow over a traditional coal wok burner was a rare exception. Another point, like all fast food, speed and quality are inversely proportionate. Even at the shops we were told had the best Kway Teow in Penang were there were many portions prepared and left to sit in the wok to overcook.

The place for Char Kway Teow though is Selamat Road. The two most notorious vendors appear to be as famous as the dish itself. One with her oversized bright red chef hat and the other with his ski googles on. When here also try Lok Bak, a pork and fivespice beancurd roll, deep fried with a sweet chilli sauce - completely addictive.
Rojak is a famous fruit and vegetable salad from Penang. I admit I only continued to eat it to be tough in front of Rachel who refused to but this is not my favourite. A thick dark sweet peanut sauce drowns raw fruits and vegetables with pieces of cuttlefish and chopped peanuts. It is a sweet and sour textural experience that I recommend once in everyone’s life.
The voice of one adorably unforgettable Gurney drive vendor selling Rojak and another Penang specialty is still resonating in my head. For the entire dinner he chanted “Rojak” to cheesy early nineties dance as he prepared Pasembur – YouTube “Rojak!Rojak!” for a laugh. Pasembur is salad made with a variety of deep fried aquatic treats, tofu, shredded vegetables and the sweet Rojak sauce. Another sweet and sour delicacy not for my palate, but probably one of the more popular dishes on Gurney Drive.
One curiosity in Malaysia is the idea where restaurants share a common dining room catered by 8 or nine hawkers with a drink vendor. Protocol is to order from the hawker, take a seat then pay as the food arrives. Drink order will be taken at the table. One such place was selling Burbur, a soup style rice porridge made with chicken, pork or fish, Kway Teow Soup where you choose your ingredients then hand it to the vendor who makes it into soup with thick rice noodles, Wan Tan Mee, thin egg noodles served with pork won tons either dry or as a soup, Hoiken Mee or Prawn Mee, a mixture of thick and thin egg noodles with a prawn bisque style broth, poached king prawns, hard boiled egg and fried shallots.
One of my objectives of this trip was to learn about the use of alkaline water in noodle making. Apparently adding ‘draino’ to the noodle batter results in a more elastic texture. The dish where this occurs most is Chee Chong Fun. Imagine rice flour lasagana sheets rolled up with tiny shrimps drizzled with sweet soy, dark soy and a thick chilli paste. It is delicious but most of the vendors use a pre bought product that omits the traditional alkaline water for health reasons, however the one place that hade home-made noodles containing the toxic ingredient were inedible due to the foul taste.
One regret in Penang our inability to find a hawker at the right time of day for Poh Piah. It seems that within the maze of food that is Malaysia there are also rules about what time you do and don’t eat certain dishes. Our bad timing meant we always missed out. Poh Piah is like a big spring roll filled with egg, seafood and lettuce. It originates from the Nonya style of cooking, born in the south of Malaysia in Melaka, this style combines Chinese, Malay and Portugese.
I also mentioned to you the integration of Chinese food into Malay culture but Indonesians influence is also prevalent and wide spread, even as far as Sabah in on the East island. I am not sure who influenced who or weather the close proximity of these two country simply created an endemic style. Such dishes.
Pangang Style BBQ is where fish, prawns, squid or my addictive favourite sting ray, is first either dusted in Tamarind powder or soaked in tamarind water then grilled sitting on a banana leaf on a BBQ. The banana leaf imparts a wonderful smokey herbaceous and slightly piquant flavour, then when the seafood is half cooked a dried prawn and chilli paste is spread across the top. I could eat Ikan Bakar every meal.
Nasi Kandar or Nasi Padang is like the Indo/Malay equivalent of an Islamic Sizzler. You are first given a plate of rice then you choose a selection of meat, vegetable of seafood curries to eat with the rice using your hand. The dishes are prepared in the morning then left sitting out until they are consumed.
I think it is clear everyone in Penang is the gastronomic equivalent of athlete on steroids, say the love children of Chairman Kaga (iron chef) and Flo-Jo. It would be easy to go forever about it but as always in life, there is often a quiet achiever that goes simply about their business in the shadows of the bright lights and often producing better results. This is Ipoh.
According to some internet based pseudo research more than 100 million chickens are killed worldwide every day. After a visit to Ipoh I think most of them must die here. Every restaurant sells chicken. Fried chicken, salted chicken, chicken porridge, chicken wings, chicken satay, chicken noodles, chicken soup...One famous establishment is Lou Wong’s. Here more than two hundred people seated at one time with people fighting for your table as you left all wanting to eat bean shoot chicken kway teow. Steamed chicken with rice noodles in a chicken broth. If you felt like something different you could have their also famous chicken feet but it didn’t seem like there was anything not of the poultry food group available.
What I liked about Ipoh though was all of the dishes famous throughout Malaysia including those from Penang, Melaka, Sarawak and Sabah are available here. Plus, they’re of the finest quality, it is easier to negotiate your way around this smaller town and the vendors have a sense of pride in their product that stops them employing the services of a spruiker to try a force their menu down your throat. One restaurant we walked past was hosting a function for several hundred people that evening, so to cater for this increase they had moved the kitchen out onto the street. It was fantastic. We tried to go in but sometimes the Chinese take their privacy very seriously!
Ipoh is only two hours from KL and I think if you are serious about food check it out on the way to or from Penang. Have dinner at Lou Wong’s and breakfast and lunch at Ipoh Central Cafe. Oh another place to eat at is one of the various shops doing another Ipoh chicken specialty, Ayam Garam. Chicken is wrapped in paper then roasted in a wok filled with coarse rock salt. It is delicious.
And you cannot forget another Ipoh delicacy, and one that don’t cause man boobs, the various cakes, Nyonya Kuih.
Finishing our synopsis on Malaysian food and finishing our time in Malaysia is Kuala Lumpur. An international city and very similar to others. I am sure with a little local expertise it would become a gold mind of culinary delights but I feel the rest of Malaysia had fed us so well. Chow Kit market was one of the more interesting markets we visited, at times like a bovine anatomy class, there was every bit of a cow displayed on wooden boards in the 35 degree heat. Perhaps it was the bar on 32 floor with the swimming pool we spent too much time at the night before or perhaps it was the fact there were big buckets of shit filled with moving snails in them but Chow Kit will make even the strongest feel a little queasy.
And finally, we would like to apologise to entire population of Malaysia for failing to mention all of the wonderful dishes, snacks, treats & meals we ate. We will be back.

Home Made Egg Bean Curd

Plain Soya Bean Milk - 1000ml
Egg White - 5Pcs
Egg Yolk - 3Pcs
Salt - 1 1/2Tsp
Pepper and Chicken Stock Powder for seasoning

Chinese Style BBQ Sauce

HP Sce - 2Tbsp
A1 Sce - 2Tbsp
Tomato Sce - 1Tbs
Chilli Sce - 1Tbs
Oyster Sce - 1/2Tbs
Sugar - 1Tbs
L&P Sce - 1Tsp
Water - 200ml

Bring all ingredients to the boil with sliced white oninos, galirc and large red chilli.

Kueh Kosui

These delicious rice cakes can be found all over Malaysia. The texture should be just firm enough to hold the mixture together but beautifully soft on the inside. This is complimented with the shredded coconut, making a wonderful snack.

Ingredients

A. Coconut Milk – 7 Cups

A. Screw Pin Leaves – 2 pieces

A. Palm Sugar – 2kg

B. Rice Flour – 500gm

B. Tapioca Flour – 250gm

B. Caster Sugar – 200gm

B. Salt – 1tsp

Bring (A) to the boil. Put into a mixing bowl and slowly add (B) and combine until all ingredients form a smooth liquid.

Strain the liquid and place onto a tray and steam for 30 – 45 minutes (until cooked wobbly).

Refrigerate until cold then cut into pieces.

Before serving, steam for 2-3 minutes, coating with fresh grated coconut.

Nasi Lemak

Another of Malaysia famous dishes on every street corner is Nasi Lemak. Coconut rice is served with hard boiled eggs, cucumber slices, roasted peanuts, dried tiny anchovies, a sweet spicy chilli sauce and if you so choose a meat, curry or fish such as fried chicken, rendang or BBQ fish. This recipe will be a little vague, I will elaborate after I get home but I am sure those of you with a little nous in the kitchen will be able to produce a successful dish.

Rendang
This is exactly the recipe as it was given to me;
1. Cinnamon Stick
Cloves
Cardamom
Star Anise

2. Spice (Blend)
Onion – More
Shallot – More
Chillies – More
Ginger – Less
Galangal – Less
Fresh Tumeric – More
Chilli Paste – More

3. Spice (Powder)
Coriander Powder – More
Cumin Powder – Less
Fennel Powder – Less
Tumeric Powder – More

4. Kaffir Lime Leaves
Tumeric Leaves

5. Palm Sugar

6. Kerisik (Toast fresh shredded coconut until brown then grind)
Coconut Milk

Cook 1, 2 & 3. Add 4, 5 & 6. Then add beef or chicken and cook till tender.

Coconut Rice
350g washed jasmine rice
600ml water
10tsp coconut milk
1 head garlic
3-4 shallots, peeled
1 screw pin leaf
1 piece ginger, smashed

Deep fry whole garlic head and shallots until soft, about 160 degrees for 5-10 minutes. Drain of oil on paper towel then place all ingredients in a rice cooker.

Sambal Chilli
80g fresh red chilli
1 large red onion
6-7 cloves of garlic
3Tbs cooking oil
80g dried small anchovies, ground to a fine powder
1 ½ tsp salt
4 tsp sugar

Blend chilli, onion and garlic until a smooth paste. In a wok fry the ground anchovies for about 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook for about 15 minutes. You may need to add a little more oil.

Laksa Sarawak

One of the most beautiful dishes available on every street corner in Malaysia is the Curry Laksa. It is one of the noodle soup dishes and is a rich chicken coconut turmeric creamy broth with rice noodles, deep fried tofu and seafood.

There are two styles of Laksa – Laksa Sarawak from Kuching and Laksa Penang or Asam (tamarind) Laksa. The first is the recipe below and the one we are probably most familiar with.

The later is a more sour less creamy style. If you are from Penang you will claim yours is better and vice versa if you are from Kuching.

To prepare first you must make the curry paste. Roast the shrimp paste in the oven for about 5 minutes on 185 degrees. Shrimp paste (belechan) is an acquired taste and roasting it will stink your house out but it must be done. Puree all the spice ingredients, this is best done with a meat mincer with the finest blade, although a good quality food processor will do but I suggest you first chop all the ingredients as fine as possible by hand. Careful when handling turmeric as it will stain everything in your life orange. After the spice ingredients are minced fry them in a little peanut oil in a wok. This will take about 5-10 minutes but be careful not to burn them. Now add the wet ingredients and cook for a few more minute. This paste will last for a week in the fridge and longer in the freezer.

To construct the Laksa first soak some rice vermicelli in boiling water for about 10 minutes. Strain and place into the serving bowls with a little cooked shredded chicken and a sliced hardboiled egg. In a hot wok fry the Laksa paste with a little peanut oil. Add the chicken stock, ginger flower and coconut milk then boil. Adjust the seasoning with salt/sugar/chicken stock powder and the dreaded MSG. Drop in the deep fried tofu, an absolute must for Laksa, a bought one is fine. Turn down the heat and poach some prawns until nearly cooked, about 2 minutes, then finally add some scallops and cook for about another minute.

To serve add the bean shoots, Vietnamese mint, coriander and Thai basil to the bowls. Pour over the soup, seafood and tofu. Garnish with a small Malaysia lime (calamansi or kastouri) sliced red chilli, chopped peanuts, fried shallots and a spoonful of sambal Penang - see char kway teow recipe. This is one of the sexiest breakfasts you will ever eat.

Curry Laksa “Kuching” style

Paste – spice ingredients
10 shallots (peeled)
10 cloves garlic (peeled)
4cm galangal
4cm turmeric
4cm ginger
12 red chillies
8 stalks of lemongrass
½ cup dried shrimp
1 ginger flower

Paste – wet ingredients
4 limes, juice only
¼ cup Vietnamese mint, chopped
50ml coconut milk/soya bean milk (adjust depending on thickness)
Salt/sugar/chicken stock powder

Soup – per portion
Small hand full rice noodles
1tbs cooked shredded chicken
1 hardboiled egg
Beanshoots
Corriander leaves
Thai basil
Vietnamese mint
3 large green prawns
3 large fresh scallops
Salt/sugar/chicken stock powder
4 pieces of deep fried tofu
1 cup chicken stock
1/3 cup coconut milk

Sungold Field Days 2010

After a great day at The Sungold Field Days in Alansford there were a few requests for the aioli that garnished the lamb stew.

Aioli translates pretty much exactly as Garlic and Oil. There are a couple of variations you can make and which one you choose depends on it's purpose. As an aside I must say though that of all the culinary dishes or condiments that cop a little bastardisation aioli is probably the greatest victim. To often what is called 'something' aioli like dill aioli or lemon aioli is really just a flavoured mayonnaise - which is I think it should just be called.

Anyway the two principal variations on aioli are one is a mayonnaise like egg yolk based sauce and the other is just pounded garlic, salt and oil. The mayonnaise one has less of the intense garlic bite and is creamier. This style is best for everyday use with dishes such as fish & chips, stews, sandwiches and one of my favourite dishes to cook 'La Bouride'. La Bouride is a fish stew where seafood is poached in an anise infused fish stock then the liquid is strained off and thickened by pouring hot onto a fresh aioli. The sauce made develops the most unbelievable silky cream texture with an amazing richness. A rough recipe is to poach a fillet of white fish like blue eye or harpuka along with whole pieces of crab, some prawns, a cutlet of another more flavoursome fish such as trevally in about a litre of fish stock with star anise, bay leaves and thyme then spoon the seafood into the serving bowl with some boiled peeled potatoes. Pour the hot stock onto about 200ml of fresh aioli in a food processor on high then onto the seafood and potatoes.

The other style aioli is an intense garlic paste made by crushing garlic and salt in a mortar and pestle then stirring in some oil. This is good for serving with grilled meats. A handy rule would be to use this style for hardcore traditional European food and the egg based for modern trendy Australian food.

Creamy Aioli
Dived the quanties evenly for smaller recipe but don't make less than a three or four egg yolk. It will last in your fridge for at least a week anyway.

12 egg yolks
2 heaped teaspoons of crushed garlic (never use the bought stuff in anything ever)
1 tsp salt
800ml-1000ml Oil (use 1/4 Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 3/4 Veg or Canola)
Juice of 1 ripe lemon

Using a whisk mix egg yolks and garlic in a bowl. When combined slowly add the oil while constantly whisking. When all the oil is incorporated add the lemon juice. The mixture should be thick enough it stays in the bowl when upturned.

Cheers and I hope this helps.

Taste Australia 2009

BRUNEI 2009
Keep your eyes on T.O.F as I am finally getting around to posting my trip to Brunei this year. There will be some great authentic Brunei, Malay, Indo and Chineese recipes, great photos and a few travel tips.

Would the real BBQ please stand up...

Well summer is here and I feel I am expieriencing a little de ja vous, as it was exactly a year ago when I was sitting here telling you that 'summer is here again and it is time to BBQ'. But, over the last year I have learnt a few things that have changed my understanding of what it really means to BBQ.

Over the next few months you will find yourself being invited to your mate's place for a BBQ where standing round talking shit and sinking a few cans you will watch your best intending host pleasuring themselves in their outdoor kitchen. However most likely they will be commiting one of two evils - scortching snags on a nuclear hot fire or stewing steaks on a luke warm hot plate.

It seems the Australian BBQ technique has been adapted from its American and Asian origins to suit our neglected palate and hectic lifestyle. What has long been a slow cooking method is now nothing more than an outdoor extension of the normal household kitchen and because of this we are missing out on the true pleasure of what cooking with fire does to our food.

Rules for BBQ

Use Fire
The first and most important rule is you must use real fire. I have often been called an idealouge because of many things and I am sure the philastines would try a sling a little mud on me here but when it comes to food I practise what I preach and barbequing without coal or fire is nothing more than grilling - or broiling as the yanks would say. Here in Australia "BBQ" has become more of a verb justifying getting pissed during the middle of the day (something I see nothing wrong with) but if you build on this tradition with a genuine wood or coal fired barbie it will make for a better day.

The two sorts of fire you can use are char-coal or wood. Coal is great because it saves you the time of waiting for the wood to burn down until it is coal but if you have the time and the wood you will be rewarded with different flavours imparted by different timbers. Redgum is a trusty favourite but old hardwood building offcuts like jarrah have a beautiful smoking flavour.


Necessity is the mother of invention
After spending a bit of time in Asia over the last year I have really learnt you dont need to spend the money on a fancy 'outdoor kitchen'. Some of the best food I have eated this year has been cooked on make shift satay grills or terracotta coal BBQ's. My favourite at home is the hole in the back yard with an older webber grill sitting on a few rocks. I have easily cooked dinner for 30 people but then the best part is continuing in the Aussie tradition of getting pissed, take off the grill load the fire up with wood and you have a ready to go bonfire.

This Malaysian satay grill has been fashioned out of steel off cuts and is fueled with coal logs, something we could knock up for no more than $100 here in Australia but on which the stall holder makes his livelyhood.

BBQ is a Slow Cooking Method
Although using fire is the most important rule - what you do with the fire is a very close second as you could quite easily use fire too hot and wreck everything. A little internet psedu-research and you will quickly find one concept is heavily repeated - BBQ is a slow cooking method for secondary or larger cuts. Probably the most famous example from the home of BBQ, America, is pork spare ribs. For spare ribs to be at their best the sweet gelatinous fat dripping meat needs to fall of the bone with only the perfect amount of resistance. A final result which can only be achieved by slow cooking.

Like any of the slow cooking methods it is a waste of time and money if you use fancy cuts of meat. This is not to say that grilling eye fillet outside is not a worthy practise, just in the context of what is truelly a BBQ it doesn't fit.

Why do you slow cook. I will put it two ways. First scientifically - tougher cuts are tough because they have a lot of tendons, fast twitch muscle and fat. These types of tissue need long and gentle application of heat to alter their chemistry to make them palatable, processes such as transforming colagen which is unsoluable into gelatin which soluable. Second gastronomically - Slow cooking changes the tough fats and gristle into tender sticky sweet goodness that when combined with a great marinate will leave you liking your fingers clean.

Some good cuts for slow cooking are shoulder, belly, marylands, shin and neck to mention just a few. Slow cooking whole beasts and birds is good because you get a mixture of all of the cuts with the fat and tendons all still in place.

Fag it up & Keep it Real!
You dont have to ditch the snags and burgers, just start to think outside the square a little. Sure a pre digested Safeway sausage in cheap white bread with sauce or Mums secret recipe rissoles are a good start for the novice, but between Masterchef and Jamie Oliver I am sure you have been shown enough to start to think a little grander. And don't just go for fancy, go for authenticity. Like any of the top chefs and their food, for it to to be truely good it has to have indestructable foundations. It has to have a lineage that can be traced back to authenticity somewhere - even if two styles of cuisine are fused the elements of each must be able to stand alone. Whats all this waffle mean - try things like indonesian BBQ chicken or Malaysian Satay, even American BBQ pork spare ribs.

What I am cooking here is a whole scotch filled marinated with herbs and oil. The scotch took about 45 minutes to cook just past medium rare and was divine. The fire started out hot enouugh to seal the outside then cooled perfectly to continue gently cooking. When you are barbequeing in this way it is important to keep turning your meat, the opposite of hot cooking.


Aussie Style BBQ Tandoori Chicken

Cut the chicken through the breast then push down to flatten out. Cut out any of the small bones like the ribs or the wish bone. For the marinate I use a bought tandoori paste - Pataks is better then Sherwoods. To this paste I add lots of crushed garlic, ginger, salt & pepper, some finely chopped chilli a bit of lemon juice

Marinate for a few hours then cook as pictured. It takes about 35 - 45 minutes depending on the size of the chicken. Size 15 are the best compromise between size and texture, as when the birds get too big the breast are dry by the time the legs are cooked.

My Vietnameese BBQ Chicken Salad

Slow Roast Rosmary, Garlic & Lemon Lamb Chops

PERI PERI Chicken

Home Made Fancy BBQ Jus

Welcome to Tattoo On Food

Hello and welcome to Tattoo on Food. I am Tattoo and this is my blog about a life gourmand.

Looking up gourmand in Wikipedia, it tells me the expression was used in the past not to describe someone simply as passionate about food and wine, but rather someone more so obsessed with gluttony. "A person given to the excess in the consumption of food and wine" to use their words exactly. Strangely I don't mind falling under either definition.

The real love of food is a passion, and for those like me, an obsession. Call it gluttony if you must, but finding room for the 11th course of a degustation is not gluttony, rather the accommodating nature of love. Who would ever want to feel guilt as a result of the culinary Nirvana obtained from eating wonderful foods like sweet, silken, rich foie gras, rinsed with the perfect acidity of an incredibly long and mouth filling Sauternes. Even the pleasure of an M&M peanut or a cheeseburger!

If a life gourmand can be gluttonous in consumption then by the same token it can also be gluttonous in production. Is it not true the great chefs and wine makers of the world have given themselves in excess to their obsession? An obsession we thank them dearly for.

Tattoo On Food (T.O.F) is about discussing the love of food. I will write recipes for dishes I have made, I will review restaurants I have visited and I extend an invitation for you all to do the same. T.O.F will also review wines, offer culinary advice or simply discuss anything relating to the gastronomic world. I will also be inviting my gourmet friends for interviews, to give recipes or just talk about anything food or wine.

My background is as a chef and waiter but do not hold that against me. My love of food is as a personal consumer not a professional producer. There is, however, no better feeling received from giving, than the feeling received when the gifts are from your own hands.

As I live in the South West of Victoria, T.O.F will have a focus on the restaurants and produce of this area, yet T.O.F is not exclusively about this region and I invite the world to join me.


Welcome to Tattoo on Food and I look forward to your next visit,


Tattoo