Ko Ryo Jeong at International Plaza

One issue about staying right in the heart of town is that the (more-affordable) dining choices on weekends are rather limited. The hawker centres and coffeeshops are mostly closed on weekday nights and weekends. So we often end up at shopping centres or fast food restaurants for dinner. 

After the Circuit Breaker, I started looking for more options nearby and chanced on this Korean restaurant that was not along the super busy stretch of Tanjong Pagar Road. The online reviews were not too bad and it has also been operating at International Plaza for a long time. The menu caught my eye as there were some Korean stews and dishes that are not often found at other establishments. We took the chance on this Thursday night to dine here on our own (as Y had to attend an enrichment class and had dinner earlier). 

We ordered an oyster pancake and a Cheonggukjang-jjigae (Extra-strong fermented soybean paste stew) 청국장찌개.  The latter was something I had only seen online, so I was curious how the taste would be like, as it would be much thicker than the normal doenjang stew. Even in local restaurants, I felt the doenjang stew tasted more soup-ish, compared to those home-cooked ones I see online (like on "Home Food Rescue" by Chef Baek Jong-won). This Cheongukjang-jjigae was packed chock-ful with the beans and vegetables, so much so that there was little liquid to drink with. Haha. For most palates, this is a strong-tasting dish. I would describe it as something close to what you would get if you cooked tempeh with an equal amount of broth. Thick, bean-y, substantial, and goes well with a full bowl of rice. 

Hubby gave the oyster pancake thumbs-up.  The oyster pancake was large, and the oysters were fat and juicy. While the pancake was greasy, it was crisp at the edges and not oil-logged.  What I really liked was the generous servings and taste of the side dishes provided. The spicy side dishes helped cleanse the palate after each mouthful of pancake and/or stew. And they were really well-prepared, not commercially-bought basics like potato-mayo salad or seaweed out of a box. 

The dishes were really quite authentic, compared to some of the so-called 'authentic' Korean restaurants in Singapore, which mostly only served well-known favourites like fried chicken and BBQ to go with alcohol. We arrived quite late (after 7.30pm) and I was famished, so I only remembered to take the picture of the side dishes as they were served first. 

This is definitely going to be one of my regular haunts. 

Wagyu beef, sauteed veg, Mac and cheese dinner

24 Oct 2015
After we already had breakfast/lunch at Orchard, we were at Plaza Singapura window shopping to get out of home and away from the awful haze. 

YX requested that I cook dinner tonight (so that she could play at home), so we decided to pop by Cold Storage for main ingredient. I was thinking along the lines of a beef stew, since I already had root vegetables (potato, carrot, zucchini, cucumber) at home. When browsing the beef section, the promotion for Australian wagyu beef  ($2.99/100g) came into view and we decided to get it since it was more worthwhile.

When we got home, I started google-ling for recipe and methods, as I had an awful record of cooking the toughest beef steaks. Learnt a couple of things about wagyu (I have read about it before, about Japanese wagyu and how they are raised specially. But I figured that even for wagyu, there are tender and tough cuts, depending on which part they came from.) And for less than $30/kg, the cut we had probably wasn't that good for me to salvage with my lousy cooking skills. 

Thankfully, the label indicated wagyu topside M4. "Topside" referred to the cut, "M4" the degree of marbling. And the deal we got had the least marbling, for Australian beef is supposedly M4-M12. I decided to just give it a try with no particular marinating (There was not enough lead-time anyway!) A few tips I did apply from reading various blogs (there was even a discussion on an Australian BBQ forum) include,

A. take it out from the fridge 30 min before cooking;

B. Use paper towel to soak up any juices/condensation;

C. Rubbing with butter and marinating with salt and pepper just before applying to heat (1-1.5 min each side);

D. Resting the cooked steak for 10 min before serving on warmed plates.

YX chose macaroni when presented with choice of rice, potato and pasta/macaroni, so I decided to prepare a foolproof Mac & cheese, which I know she would enjoy. Only that I hadn't had any cheddar in the fridge, only open packages of shredded mozzarella and parmesan, which I had used for a pizza recipe earlier. Back to the google-world it was, as I knew it was unwise to throw the mozzarella into the saucepan for the cheese sauce. Thankfully, I found some useful alternatives on   http://www.melskitchencafe.com/tuscan-macaroni-and-cheese-bake/, and decided to use my new box of Philly cream cheese instead. And since I also wanted to use up some of the mozzarella, I decided on a cook-and-airfry Mac & Cheese. 

I started cooking at 6pm, cutting a peeled carrot and a medium zucchini into wedges while the macaroni (1 cup dry) was being precooked. Drained macaroni was mixed with cubed cream cheese (scant 4 oz, I eyeballed my block when cutting as I wanted to ensure I had enough leftovers for a future cheesecake). 

Into another saucepan went a half cup of fresh milk and 2 small chunks of frozen chopped spinach (I didn't follow the recipe link above, hehehe). I whisked 2 tsp flour into an additional 0.25cup of milk, and added it to the milk-spinach mixture just before it came to a boil. I drizzled 2 rounds of olive oil on my ramekin to oil the surface. Whatever left over was added to the thickened milk mixture (I still need some fat in the AF process!), which was then mixed with the macaroni-cream cheese. All these went into the ramekin, then into our Philips AF (preheated at 160 deg C), covered with a piece of foil. 

With the carbo-side out of the way, the carrot wedges, which were in the meantime, boiling in the salted-macaroni water (with some fresh boiling water topped up), were drained. I sauteed the zucchini wedges with a chug of olive oil in a preheated frypan, then added a splash of water and the boiled carrots. Just before they were done (this took a while as I like my sauteed veg soft, and to pre-empt YX's complaints of "the vegetables are too hard!"), diced red pepper were tossed in. I turned off the gas after a while, placing the serving plates as lids to keep the veg warm (and you know, warm the plates at the same time). 

By then, the Mac&Cheese had been in the AF for 10 min now, and I didn't want the sauce to dry out, so I removed the foil, scattered shredded mozzarella on top, and left it inside the AF with the power off. I figured the residual heat from the AF and wire basket (and the heat in the ramekin itself) would keep the contents warm, and the "broiling" of the mozzarella cheese could be done just prior to serving.

The multi-tasking cooking (not to mention a load of laundry in the washer and an awful itchy cough that made me cough continuously) made me a bit blur by now. So instead of applying butter on the steak, I just grabbed the nearest available fat (olive oil) and rubbed one side of the steak with a large drop of oil and some salt (I forgot pepper!). My frypan is nonstick, so no fat was applied. I was so ecstatic when I heard the sizzle of the raw meat touching the preheated frypan. 

However that was short-lived as I was distracted and left the first side on for almost 2 mins, by which time the fats and juices were charring at the side of the frypan. I have absolutely poor control over my gas stove, I swear. Flipping over the steak with my silicon spatula, I then watched it during the 1min for the reverse side like a hawk. Removed it from the pan and set it on the warmed plate, then restarted the AF for it to melt the cheese topping. I did some dishes in the half-full sink, then checked for doneness. When the dear hubs said it was okay (it is about medium-done, I guess, my preferred style), I proceeded with the 2nd piece of steak. But I forgot to preheat it, and the steak went on the pan like a limp, wet fish.  So the second piece (which went to the hubs since I was sharing my steak with YX) was more like, medium-rare?!? 

Note to self: 

1. A cool-to-touch ramekin that fits inside AF wire basket should not be used, at least until I find some kind of tongs to extract it out whilst it is hot (and possibly with bubbling contents). I forgot I have the grill pan, which has no walls. 

2. Olive oil didnt seem to go with the steak juices. The juices that drained away were all black. Try (good quality) butter next time. 

3. Grilled/Roasted/AF pasta or rice dishes seem to go well with YX. Can sneak in other types of vegetables next time. 

4. Need to get proper steak knives if we want to cook steaks in future. A serrated fruit knife, while it works, doesn't really work in a dining situation of 3 meat lovers. 

End note: the hubs commented during the meal that it would have cost $100+ to eat such quality, tender wagyu outside. Today? The pack cost <$16, and that includes a 3rd piece sitting in the fridge (I reserved it as I thought 500g might be a tad too much for 2 adults & 1 picky finicky 5 yo gal. Plus, it had almost no marbling.) The other components of the dinner would not cost more than $10 (half block of Philly @$2.80 + root veg@$2 + macaroni and all other condiments from my kitchen)

Ricecooker yam rice for dinner (26 Sep 2015)

YX wanted to watch 中国好声音4, so we were aiming to be home during dinnertime. It was a choice between buying dinner back from the zichar nearby or cooking at home. On the way back from Bugis at 4pm after a quick visit to the Central Public Library, YX said "I want mummy to cook". So that sealed the dinner decision.

On the bus, I was doing a quick google search on an easy ricecooker recipe and hubby suggested yam rice, so I found this recipe: http://www.thetummyescapades.com/mums-mothers-yam-rice/

We could only find baby yam from NTUC, so I used that instead.


My recipe:

5 cloves of garlic

1 waxed sausage

6 fresh shiitake mushrooms (cos I didn't have dried ones on hand)

500g bag of baby yam

240g pork belly, skin removed


For seasonings, I followed the recipe mostly. I wanted to use up my stock of brown rice, so I used 1 cup brown rice mixed with 2 cups of Calrose rice (so that YX wouldn't know the difference!!)


The smell was quite fragrant and we hurriedly gobbled down our respective shares. The picture below is what is being kept as leftovers for my lunch next week.

Boiled Barley Grains - Mushroom, carrots "porridge"

I cooked a cup of dry ‪#‎barley‬ with 4L water in my pressure cooker to make barley water in this horrid weather. 

After draining the barley water, I always felt it was such a waste to throw away the beans, but it was too plain tasting to eat on its own. So I've been looking at recipes to use them.

Today I added some diced carrots, mushrooms and garlic to some barley grains, together with stock (I crumbled a small chicken stock cube), wanting to make something like a ‪#‎risotto‬. But I guess the water didn't really dry up as much since I used an electric lunch box steamer. So it ended up tasting like porridge. Still very good, though. 

Im gonna try #barley ‪#‎pudding‬ next. 

Airfryer Agedashi Tofu and Steamed pork mince with salted duck egg 咸蛋蒸肉饼

Last week's simple dinner for me, hubby and girl - Agedashi tofu and salted egg steamed minced meat 咸蛋蒸肉饼.

I learnt from method on http://www.justonecookbook.com/agedashi-tofu-2/. But used only tofu, potato starch, oil to cook tofu in my ‪#‎Philips‬ ‪#‎airfryer‬. Sauce was made from instant dashi, mirin n soya sauce, simmered briefly. When using airfryer instead of traditional oil deep fry, the potato starch continues looking whitish and may taste uncooked. You may wish to brush/spray a thin layer of oil on the tofu cubes instead.

Meat patty method - hand-minced pork with diced water chestnuts, spring onions, carrots. Season with (little) salt and pepper. Crack raw salted egg. Mix egg white with mince mixture, then flatten on steaming plate. I placed salted egg yolk in middle to steam, on low simmering water.
Ps: can skip salt cos the salted egg is already very salty.

Noodling around #2 Our first decent homemade noodles - Bah Chor Mee / minced meat noodles / 肉脞面

After the first failed attempt at homemade noodles, we learnt our lesson and stuck strictly to the instructions and measuring cups this time. We managed to get the noodles looking more like what we see on Youtube and everywhere else. 

I found a super informative blog post on how to prepare one of my favourite dishes, minced meat noodles from tummytroll. Thus, with other preparations (see how I airfry pork lard cubes and "mermaid fish" and prepare soup stock), we enjoyed a lunch of homemade bah chor mee, or "minced meat noodles". 

Silly me forgot to change the Philips noodle maker cutting disc to the thinner angel hair one, so we ended up with fatter noodles. I personally prefer thinner 幼面 for my noodles, but since it represented all our hard work, I slurped through the entire bowl for lunch, anyway. 

Airfryer mermaid fish

The first time I knew about this "mermaid fish" was in the lead-up to Chinese New Year, when my sister bought a whole bag of them and used my airfryer to fry them crisp. I can't stop snacking on them!

Today, I bought just a handful from Chinatown wet market for $1 (approx 30g), and airfried them as topping for my homemade bah chor mee 肉脞面

Airfried pork lard cubes

This needs little introduction. I was trying to prepare minced meat noodles/肉脞面, and wanted to make these as topping/seasonings.

So I dug some of the pork belly skin/fats that I had saved from previous meals and frozen. They were diced into approx 1cm cubes and thrown into my airfryer basket. 

This is how they look like after airfrying (sorry, cannot remember temperature and duration). Just have to keep an eye and check periodically.

Result: These oily morsels were crunchy when fresh from airfrying. After standing for about 30mins, they were softer. I guess they need to be prepared just RIGHT BEFORE serving. 

(I airfried my mermaid fish after these, so I did not need to add any oil)

Pressure cooking - pork rib carrot soup

I finally got down to buying a pressure cooker after eyeing one for the longest time ever! I was sick of pots of stock or beans or braising peanuts for hours on end over the gas stove, and still NOT getting the desired taste/texture I wanted. To be fair, I did try alternative methods of cooking like slow cooker and thermal cooker, but being the impatient me, I wanted something faster and more energy-efficient, without having the gas or electricity plugged in for hours. 

I was only familiar with the WMF brand as it was the one that my mother owned in her kitchen. I was shopping around the usual larger departmental stores (Metro, Takashimaya, OG, Robinsons) and came across an offer for a non-German/non-European brand. It was still quite costly but I decided to just get a cheaper one to use and experiment with recipes first. 

This is one of my first recipes on my "Pressure Cooker To-Cook list", a huge pot of soup stock for saving and freezing in batches. I wanted a pork and ikan bilis stock (according to the recipe shared by tummytroll), but did not have the exact ingredients on hand. 

My version below included Pork Ribs, carrots, onions, garlic, ikan bilis powder (whizzed in the grinder and scooped into DAISO empty tea pouches). It was sweet and flavourful after 30 minutes of cooking under the "High Pressure" setting. The vegetables were all soft and mushy, and the pork tough, but I didn't mind it as I was after only the stock.... Yay.... I am so happy that I can reduce my dependence on instant dashi granules and chicken stock cubes....