Recipe: Making your own favourite hamburgers

Ok guys, I guess I'll have to admit it: I love beef. No beef about that! (sorry, I couldn't help it) As we speak, my hamburgers are sizzling on the stove and I've got myself a slab of juicy sirloin steak waiting in the fridge for dinner tonight, when I get back from church.

So, I was trawling the internet to see what other people were saying about hamburgers, and you won't believe the number of "genuine burger recipe" claims. There's even a dispute where the burger was born - as Homesick Texan puts it, who cares? I think the more important thing is to understand the basics of burger-ing, then you can create your own perfect burger.


1. Firstly, the most fundamental ingredient, the one that makes or breaks a burger, is the quality of your beef. Obviously, it must be fresh. I don't really mind buying ground beef from the grocery store, but if you like your burger with bits of fat in it, I find it's impossible with ready mince. You'll have to buy a well-marbled steak from the butcher and blitz it in the meat grinder yourself for that.

2. Secondly, seasoning. Most people don't notice the difference seasoning makes, and I don't blame them. I mean, if a burger is slathered in ketchup, mustard, and enclosed in a bun full of other stuff, then it's pretty hard to taste the burger itself. Moreover, every recipe seems to have an opinion what you need to put in. So I'm not gonna claim that my burger is the best - really, you could go just go with salt and pepper. But here's how I've broken down the different components of a burger, so that you can make your very own favourite burger.

(i) Veges: Onion (1/2). Absolute must. Garlic is optional (1 large clove). I also add 2 tbsp of chives or scallions, to give colour, and 2 tbsp of jalapenos, which add tinges of vinegary spiciness. I don't like my burgers chunky, so it's very important for me that all these ingredients are chopped as finely as possible. But I'll confess here: it's probably more because I find chopping therapeutic - there's something very satisfying about seeing vegetables chopped into perfectly symmetrical little bits...

(ii) Herbs: Herbs are what fill the roof of your mouth with a fragrance when you bite into the burger. I think it's important to add your favourite herbs. Mine are oregano (1tsp) and basil (2tsp), which are pretty standard. Rosemary is also an option.

(iii) Wet seasoning: This is totally optional. I add Worcester sauce (1tbsp) and tabasco (3tsp). Mayonnaise flavours and acts as a binding agent at the same time, but I don't really like it in beef burgers, maybe turkey burgers (not my favourite - Elise's dad has the recipe here).

(iv) Binding agent. This is pretty straightforward. If you like your burgers firm, then 1 egg will do the trick. But if you like your burgers a little melt-in-the-mouth, like I do, use 1/2 cup of bread crumbs. If using egg, it should be added last, after all the other ingredients have been mixed.

(v) Salt and pepper to taste.


3. Mix and shape into patties with your hands. Heat 2tbsp of oil in a frying pan. High heat. Or put on grill. 4 mins each side.

Enjoy on their own, or in a bun with lettuce, tomatoes, onions!

Recipe: Easy Chicken Curry, Singaporean-style

I realise that, despite several posts on the topic of chicken curry, I have never actually posted a recipe. Since I made a pot the other night, I thought this was a good excuse to do so here.

I have to confess that my mum's recipe is a lot tastier, but requires somewhat more work too. Hence I've posted my own recipe here, and qualified it as "Easy". Also, if you are looking for a recipe to make rempah (curry base) - sorry again, but again this does not fall under the category of "Easy". I'm going to do a Nigella Lawson/Rachel Ray here: but if you can get decent curry powder in any grocery store, why in the heck do you want to make your own rempah? If you are really dying to, check out my recipe for beef rendang (you might want to tweak it slightly for chicken curry) - the instructions can be found here.

Now, back to "Easy".

RECIPE: EASY CHICKEN CURRY, SINGAPOREAN-STYLE

2x Chicken pieces/per person
(I like a mixture of breast, thigh and drumsticks. If you are using fillets, cut into chunks.)
1x Potato/per person
Sweet potatoes (optional)
1x Onion
3-8x Chilli padi / birds-eye chilli
(how many depends on how hot you want your curry to be - 5-8 chillies will yield a fiery curry)
1 bunch Fresh coriander
4-6x tomatoes
4 tbsp Curry powder
1 can/pkt Coconut milk
1 cup Fresh milk OR Water

1. Season raw chicken with salt, sprinkled generously and rubbed into meat. Set aside.
2. Peel potatoes and cut into chunks. Quarter the tomatoes. Set aside.
3. Chop onion and chillis together finely, or blitz in the blender (pulse mode, so that you don't end up with puree).
4. Using a spoon, blend curry powder with a few tbsp of water. Add 2 tbsp first, then another two etc. until you get smooth paste.
5. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pot (I like my Le Creuset cocotte). Fry (3) for a few minutes until the onions are soft. Add (4) and fry until a shiny layer of oil appears (a few minutes again).
6. Add seasoned chicken pieces and mix until they are well-coated with the curry paste.
7. Add coconut milk. Add some fresh milk or water until the liquid level covers all the chicken pieces completely. Bring to a boil.
8. When boiling, add potatoes, tomatoes, and half of the coriander. Lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
9. Add rest of coriander. Simmer for another 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft.
10. Garnish with a few coriander leaves and serve with fluffy short-grained rice.

Recipe: The Perfect Steak

My dinner
- a bit overcooked tonight as I was on the phone!

I love a good steak. While The Boy's comfort food is pizza, a home-cooked steak and some bits of rocket do it for me every single time. Eating out, when I was down, I used to mosey to The Well in Clerkenwell for one of their steak frites and a glass of house red. But steaks are as easy to make at home as they are to order.

My all-time favourite is the porterhouse steak (in the US, it is known as a striploin or, as I'm supposed to call it, a Kansas City strip - the porterhouse steak is something else in Americanese), perfectly marbled. That's the bit just behind the rib. It's firm, tender, and fatty all at the same time. My dad likes a good T-bone steak - that's the striploin plus a bit of the tenderloin. The steak in the picture above is a rump steak - the best of Tesco!

British cuts of beef

American cuts of beef

The secret to a perfect steak is to get a good fresh cut of meat (and a charcoal grill - but that's a whole different level of home cooking). The Ginger Pig at Borough Market has served me well these years, but nowadays you can get some fine cow at Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury's etc.. The perfect steak is slightly burnt on the edges, slightly red in the middle, and juicy juicy juicy. And it's so easy and quick too!


RECIPE: THE PERFECT STEAK

Steak
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Rocket
Virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

1. Marinate steak on both sides with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper. Leave for 1/2 hour.
2. Heat cast iron pan (or any grill or frying pan) on high heat for a few minutes. Fry each side of the steak for 1 minute on high (warning: it will and must sizzle and spit) and 2 minutes on medium heat. This will yield a medium-rare steak. 1+4 minutes for a well-done steak.
3. Serve with some rocket dressed with virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.


What's your favourite comfort food?
What's your favourite cut of steak?

My first experiment with royal icing and squeeze bottles

Cookie buttons

'I love you' stars

C's cookie jigsaw birthday card

Mission report: I'm going to get a dang piping set tomorrow.

When we are told that we should be proud of who we are no matter what, we lose our moral compass

I cried when I read this in the London Lite yesterday: 7 month old baby shot while strapped in car seat in an apparent botched home robbery.

How can anyone point a gun to a 7 month old baby's head, let alone execute a young life so pointlessly? I think there is a moral difference between killing an adult and a child - the difference lies in degrees of helplessness.

Anyways, it's not always that a distant piece of news hits so close to home. His name was Sean Paul Aquitania Jr.

Pisa, Italy

Note leaning tower with flag in distance!

The first things that hit you about Pisa are (a) the smell (open sewers, which Matt warned me about), and (b) the flies. Regarding the latter, I actually had 3 good friends who accompanied me in turns on my free Sunday afternoon jaunts. But enough about that.

The conference dinner the night before had involved many drinks and a long evening, so my Sunday started at checkout time. I strolled up Pisa's main shopping street, via Italia, crossed the river bridge which landed me right into piazza Girabaldi, up Borgo Stretto and via Oberdan (or Borgo Largo, as the locals call it).

That, in sum, is tourist Pisa, my friends (sans Leaning Tower).


I did go off the beaten track and wander into a side street at times. In one of those inspired moments, I came across a hole-in-the-wall singing. What was unusual about this was that the singing was (a) in English, (b) a familiar song of praise, and (c) distinctly un-Italian. So I investigated. Turns out that I had stumbled upon what must be Pisa's only English-speaking Protestant church, run by a friendly Filipino couple, Paul and Mary. The entire congregation must have been Filipino, because the sermon was advertised in Tagalog, although I was assured that if I came for their service at 3pm - which, unfortunately, was also my departure time - there would be an English translation. It was a blessing, however, to have met fellow Christians in a foreign city.


It was lunch time, and I went in search of some good grub. Now, it must be said that good food in Italy is not hard to find. But specific places that you have been told serve good food are hard to find. I should have learned my lesson after my previous fruitless explorations of Rome's winding side streets.

I had been recommended 3 places - Vineria di Piazza, Al Ristoro dei Vecchi Macelli, Osteria dei Cavalieri. So I thought I would check them out en-route. First stop - Piazza dei Cavalieri, whose market stalls, though numerous, tried very hard to inspire. I wandered into via Frediano and counted the unit numbers until I found Osteria dei Cavalieri. Hoorah! First hit - it was closed (like everything else).

So I decided to wander even further off the beaten track to via Volturna, where Al Ristoro dei Vecchi Macelli resided and had been highly recommended by the concierge. The address given in all the guide books was "via Volturna, no. 49". My friends, I walked up and down via Volturna (which was itself very FAR AWAY from central Pisa but in a decidedly classier area) THREE times. No. 49, I can assure you, is a residential house inhabited by one Giuseppe Grotto, if the name on the doorbell is anything to go by. It is NOT, for all intents and purposes, Al Ristoro dei Vecchi Macelli.

Faint with hunger by now and feet aching, I decided to track down the last on my list - Vineria di Piazza, the supposedly student haunt. So I traced my steps back towards the centre of Pisa, waving hello to the Leaning Tower from afar on the way. The Vineria was supposed to be in piazza delle Vettovaglie, where the city food market was. Alas, my dear friends, not only were all the shops in the square closed, like very other shop in Pisa on a Sunday, I didn't find Vineria di Piazza, which would have presumedly been closed anyway.


Having tracked through Pisa for 2 hours now, and ravenous by then, I decided to go back to my hotel, make my way to the aeroporto, and grab a hamburger there. My heart was heavy as I trudged back down via Italia. How can you come to Italy and not eat?

Then, something wonderful happened. It was that wonderful familiar smell of cooking. I followed it, Pied Piper-like, into a side street off via Italia, into a hole-in-the-wall named Ristorante L'eti Chetta, happily allowed a pretty young waitress to seat me and give me the restaurant's only handwritten menu, some bread, olive oil, red wine, water, and basically let her feed me whatever she thought fit. This turned out to be something called "Filetto di Chianina", which the said waitress confidently assured me was "beef foot". A steak by any other name, juicy and chargrilled (charcoal!) to perfection - I was very very happy indeed, even left part of a bread basket for my friend the fly no. 3. If only I had found it earlier, I mused over my expresso. It was really a very good steak.

That, my friends, concludes my afternoon in Pisa. Oh, and the conference presentation went brilliantly, thank you!

Woody Allen interviews Billy Graham

A very old video that the Rev Meynell dug up and posted on his blog:

Recipe: Mum's Pei Dan Chok (Century Egg Congee)

Picture coming up!

It's past midnight and I just got home from work. It's been an eventful and long day, and the week's only begun! So I was very glad to come home to some home-cooked goodness.

Pei dan chok is commonly found on dim sum menus in London. In Singapore, it is also something mummies make for children when they are sick, or for weekend breakfasts. It's healthy, yummy, and never tastes the same in restaurants. This recipe is from my mum, who got it from her mum, who got it from...

MUM's CENTURY EGG CONGEE (PEI DAN CHOK) (serves 5)
* All ingredients are easily obtainable in Chinatown

Prepared ingredients:
1.5 cups of jasmine rice (washed and soaked overnight)
2 dried scallops (washed and soaked overnight)
120g dried oysters (washed and soaked overnight)(optional)
- I didn't know where to get dried oysters in London, so I used some dried abalone my mum left in my larder (expensive congee, this was!).

300g pork shoulder
2 century eggs, peeled
1 tbsp oil
1/4 tsp salt

1. Drain the rice. Add oil, salt and half a century egg. Mix well with your hand (wear a disposable glove or a clean plastic bag over your hand). The rice should crumble into tiny grains.
2. Add 12 cups of water, pork, scallops, the water the scallops were soaked in, the oysters (drained), and bring to a boil. Simmer for 3 hours, or if you are a working girl like me, just bunk the whole lot in a slow cooker (indispensable for working girls) and put on an auto setting.
3. When ready, dice the rest of the century egg. Take the pork out, shred (I use two forks to do that), and season with a small dose of light soy and pepper. Return seasoned pork and diced egg to the pot. Season with light soy to taste - go easy on the soy!
4. Optional: Garnish with chopped spring onions and dough fritters (you tiao).

Serve hot.

Quick update

Thursday. Was really bad. Woke up feeling very irritable. It didn't get better as the day progressed. Talked to mum (stalwart supporter). Felt better, than nosedived again. I wanted to cry, but the tears didn't come. I didn't know what to do. Insomnia set in again.

Friday. Was better after falling asleep - finally - talking to God, and picked up the conversation in the morning. Talked also to mum again (told you, stalwart). Got lost in Putney, in heels. R and M had invited us over for dinner (roast beef + trimmings + panacotte + chocolate pot), and then we had a lovely lovely time chatting over tea and biscuits.

Saturday. Today. Cleaned my room, sorted my letters, put the laundry in. The Boy called, and we had a small late lunch at Wahaca. I saw a pair of sunglasses I liked. In the office now, but soon it will be time to go. Colleague's leaving do tonight. The Boy's at home preparing his sermon for tomorrow. Plan early night.

Conclusion: Pray Pray Pray. God holds us in His hands.