The Household COO

Since we got married, the hubby has been encouraging me to take cooking lessons from his Mum so that I can learn to cook his favourite dishes. While I am open to the idea of improving my haphazard and makeshift cooking style, I have found it rather difficult to learn how to cook under the tutelage of my MIL.  It was only recently that it really hit me as to why I ran into such difficulties…

I guess the fundamental problem lies in the fact that my MIL doesn’t trust modern technology, whereas I depend upon it like my body relies upon the blood in my veins.  I believe in automating and letting a machine do the hardwork because that is fundamentally what a machine was created to do - to make our lives easier. 

My reliance on technology extends well beyond the four walls of a kitchen.  For instance, when I used to live in Melbourne, I never visited a bank personally.  If I needed money, there was the ATM (and later EFTPOS where I could also withdraw money from the cashier’s till while buying my groceries).  If I needed to pay a bill, there was telephone banking (internet banking was still relatively in its infancy at that time). 

I throw everything in the washing machine, even the clothes with labels that state “handwash”.  While my MIL believes that handwashing produces cleaner clothes, I believe that nothing cleans better than the washing machine.  To my MIL, bread that isn’t kneaded by hand doesn’t taste as good, while I happily throw everything into the mixer for kneading.  I don’t particularly enjoy making bread by hand because I dislike getting dough stuck to my fingers.

In the kitchen, the microwave is my best friend.  In the kitchen, the stove is my MIL’s best friend.  I don’t trust myself to cook rice in anything other than a rice cooker.  My MIL prefers to use a pot to cook her chicken rice.  Even when her rice cooker went on the blink, she resisted using my rice cooker, claiming it was too “complicated” for her with all its fancy functions.

I like my machines because they allow me to just push a button and let everything run with minimal monitoring and guess work required by me.  For instance, one morning I wanted to steam a bun for my son and I started preparing the rice cooker since it has a steam function.  My MIL saw me and asked why didn’t I just use a wok with some water since it was faster.  Sure it may be faster but I would have to wait until the water was boiling and then I would have to keep checking on the flame and the bun to make sure everything was okay.  The steam function on the rice cooker, on the other hand, would do everything by itself and I would be able to prepare my own breakfast without having to worry about the bun.

Beyond our technological differences, the other difficulty I meet lies in the fact that my MIL often cooks using her instincts for quantities.  She doesn’t have a specific recipe that states, for example, 1 tablespoon, 3 cups, etc.  My scientific mind that dislikes having to “guesstimate” quantities, prefers specific instructions and quantities.  In order to replicate someone else’s masterpiece, how else can it be achieved if you don’t have their exact method?

This was the reason why I wanted to shoot a friend of mine who once gave me his “famous” mushroom soup recipe that merely listed the ingredients that went into it but not the quantities.  Anyone with a little bit of cooking sense can make a guess at what ingredients are required in mushroom soup, but getting a great tasting soup requires knowledge of ingredient quantities.

I suppose I sound rather spoilt by technology and perhaps rather lazy to do things by hand.  However, to me, it’s all about speed, efficiency, multi-tasking, minimising errors and simplifying processes.  Yeah, I guess that what having worked in the corporate world does to you…

Thanks to the power failure yesterday, I ended up with a whole pot of brown rice that I didn’t know what to do with.  The power was cut while the rice was partway through cooking and by the time it came back on, it was too late for the rice to be ready in time for dinner so we ended up having to cook a batch of white rice instead.  Since the brown rice was already partially cooked, I had to let the rice cooker complete its cycle anyway.

So the hubby suggested I make fried rice for tonight’s dinner… 

Well, I have made fried rice before - during my home economics class in highschool.  I can’t say it turned out wonderfully - at least my memory of it wasn’t great.  If I remember correctly, the grains of rice were too hard but the rest of it was okay.  All I remembered from that lesson in school was what my teacher said about fried rice being known as the seven-jewelled wonder in Chinese recipes, or something along those lines.  Basically what it meant was that true Chinese fried rice is usually cooked with seven different ingredients blended into the rice.  I didn’t question her since she was also Chinese, so I figured she ought to know what she was talking about.

At home, fried rice was what Mum made whenever she had left overs to dispose of.  So much for “seven-jewelled wonder”…  But mostly what I remembered and loved about my Mum’s fried rice was the Chinese sausages and the lovely colouration from the peas, carrots and corn.  So I decided I was going to repeat that in my batch of fried rice, plus some chicken to appease the hubby’s taste for “real” meat.

I adapted my fried rice recipe from my trusty cooking resource - Healthy Chinese Cooking - with my own personal modifications to the ingredients.  I didn’t get to seven different ingredients (unless you count the rice) but I did managed to include six different ingredients (chicken, chinese sausage, egg, carrots, peas and corn). 

How did it turn out?

Well, I got two votes out of three.  Sad to say that the hubby was less than thrilled to see peas, carrots and chinese sausage in the mix.  Even the corn wasn’t particularly welcomed.  Hubby’s note to wife: no peas, carrots, corn and chinese sausages in fried rice in future; corn is only okay when eaten with steak.  Well!  I like fried rice with peas, carrots, corn and chinese sausages!  And apparently so did Gavin and the maid (who told me my dinner was “sedap” - Malay for “delicious”).

Personally, when I did the taste test after cooking it, I thought it tasted pretty good, too.  The funny thing was that it sort of lost it’s flavour when I sat down to eat dinner and I’m not sure why.  The same thing happened with the soup.  I made soup with Chicken, carrot and cabbage and when I tasted it after cooking, I thought it was pretty good.  Funny how it lost its taste later.  I wonder if this is what some chefs experience when they say they can’t eat their own cooking?  After cooking for so long, it’s like their appetite for food just disappears.

Anyway, if you take the maid and Gavin’s word that my fried rice was yummy and would like the recipe, here it is…

Ingredients

• 1/2 pot of Cooked Rice (this is how much I used, but you might want to decrease the quantity because I think it’s a little too much. The recipe from Healthy Chinese Cooking calls for 2 bowls of cooked rice)
• 1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
• Dash of Pepper
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 Tbsp Concentrated Chicken Stock
• 2 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce
• 3 Eggs, beaten
• 1 tbsp Minced Garlic
• 200g Frozen Mixed Vegetables (peas, carrots and corn)
• 3 pieces of Chicken breast
• 2 Chinese sausages

Method

1. Place rice into a large bowl and break it up so the rice grains are separated.  Add sesame oil, pepper and salt and mix until the seasoning is evenly distributed.

2. Microwave the vegetables on HIGH heat for 2 minutes until cooked.

3. Chop the chicken breast into cubes and marinate with chicken stock and soy sauce.

4. Heat a small amount of oil in a non-stick wok.  Fry the garlic until fragrant, add the meat and fry until cooked through. Set aside.

5. Pour beaten egg into the center of the wok and allow to half-set (do not stir).

6. Add rice, peas, marinated chicken and chinese sausages. Stir to mix.

7. Serve when rice is heated through.

I also made soup, which was basically yesterday’s soup recipe without the cooking wine, and instead of spinach, I added carrots and cabbage.  Tasted pretty good, too - at least, I thought so.

From time to time, my SIL (the chef) returns for an extended holiday break and she spoils us all rotten by cooking up a storm in the kitchen - a storm of desserts, sweets and other treats, that is.  Curiously, I asked her one day why she didn’t make dinner for us.  Before I get to her answer, I should clarify this point.  She does cook meals for us occasionally but not very often.  I thought it rather odd since dinner would give her the perfect opportunity to test out recipes - something I know she really enjoys doing.

Anyway, the reason why she doesn’t really like cooking dinner is because it is difficult to plan when the family has so many specific meal requests.  I never really thought much of it myself until I volunteered to cook dinner one night.  That was when I realised the stress of cooking for picky eaters.  Yes, I know, my son’s a picky eater, too, but when he refuses to eat my cooking, I just offer him my one-stop solution - breastmilk - and he’s happy again.  Unfortunately, I can’t exactly do that for the family. 

Here’s a brief list of meal restrictions in this family (after you read through it, you probably wouldn’t want to cook for us either):

1. There’s got to be dishes with real meat (and by real meat I mean chunks of meat - mince meat doesn’t cut it by a long shot) or the men in the family will be crying murder.
2. My MIL’s a Taoist so we can’t have beef.
3. My hubby and SIL won’t eat pork but my FIL loves the stuff so we have to have at least two different meat dishes (unless it’s Bah Ku Teh, in which case, the hubby will make an exception).
4. My hubby and SIL won’t eat carrots or cauliflower so there has to be a veggie dish that they’ll eat (in fact, there are a lot of veggies the hubby won’t eat - potatoes, lettuce of any sort, zucchini or any other like veggies).
5. My MIL abhores anything that is “ready made” (in the jar or out of a can, etc.), although the other day, I discovered ways to circumvent this issue which is also a trick my late Aunt used to pull with my Uncle who also refuses any food that bears the words “instant”, “quick”, or “easy” on the packet.  The trick is to make it taste like it was made from scratch and make sure you dispose of all the evidence.  My mother, I’ve discovered is also really good at this - she can make packet Rendang taste like the real McCoy, although I’ve yet to learn how she does it.

When you consider the fact that my repertoire of Chinese recipes is extremely limited, you’ll understand why I hesitate before volunteering to cook dinner again.

If you compare this list of food restrictions against the list of food restrictions in my family - which is none, maybe you’ll understand why I feel even more frustrated about cooking.  My Dad, my brother and I eat anything and everything my mother serves.  In fact, there isn’t a dish she makes that I don’t like eating.  The hubby likes to think that I have no taste when it comes to food and anything that I dislike means “don’t go anywhere near it without a ten-foot pole” because if I don’t like it, it’s got to be REALLY BAD.

Now that my in laws have gone to the States for a holiday and my SIL2’s convocation, making dinner has fallen back into my hands again.  The good news is that I only have one fussy eater to contend with (the hubby, since Gavin can still be easily placated with milk).

This is a quick and easy recipe my MIL shared with me recently when it comes to stir-frying those dark green leafies…

Ingredients

Bundle of leafy greens
Oil for frying
A dash of Chinese cooking wine
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp minced garlic

Method

Heat the oil in the wok.  Add garlic and stir fry until crisp.  Add vegetables.  Add cooking wine and soy sauce.  When the vegetables are cooked, remove from heat and serve.

Told you it was quick and simple…  I don’t have any pictures, but well, we’ve all seen stir-fried veggies before so I’m sure you’re not missing much. 

There are other alternatives when stir-frying vegetables.  You can also use concentrated chicken stock or the traditional oyster sauce.  The oyster sauce variation is the one you usually see in Chinese restaurants.

Recently my MIL asked me if I could cook and I answered, “Well, that depends on your definition of cooking and your level of expectations.” 

I used to think that if I can make something I can eat, it means I can cook.  Until I realised that what I can eat and what others may deem palatable may not quite fit into the same category.  And then I thought about it again and realised that I can cook.  If my hubby, one of the fussiest eaters I have ever met can tell me that my Ginger and Spring Onion Beef is one of the best he’s ever tasted, then I’ve got to have some merit as a cook, don’t I?

In fact, anyone that can follow a recipe can definitely cook and I can definitely follow a recipe.  So why do I go out of my way to give everyone the impression that I can’t cook?  Or at least, why do I think I can’t cook?

Well today, I finally realised why…  It isn’t that I can’t cook.  It is that I am like a child in the kitchen.  I can’t stop myself from experimenting.  If I just stuck to the tried and tested ways, there’s never any problem.  It is when I decide to get creative that things begin to fall apart.

I don’t know what it is that possesses me when I am in the kitchen.  I get all these crazy ideas of mixing things together thinking it’s going to turn out okay but it almost never does.  Like today, I tried to incorporate Gavin’s rice cereal into my bolognaise sauce because I thought it was such a waste that he doesn’t eat his rice cereal any more. 

So how did it turn out?  Well, let’s just say that the sauce was salvageable, but I would never make it like this again - ever.  I’ll also be eating bolognaise for lunch for the next couple of days.  It would have been the next week if I hadn’t convinced the maid to try some for lunch.  Poor girl… I’ve made her a victim of my mad science.

Sigh… Why do my fingers get so itchy in the kitchen?  Why?  Why?  WHY??

I baked my first loaf of sweet potato bread for Gavin yesterday night.  After a day’s worth of preparation, proofing and baking, the loaf came out of the oven a little over-charred and somewhat crusty.  I wasn’t able to cut it because I had to wait until it cooled so I still don’t know whether it’s edible.

Here’s my request for today - please let it be edible.  And please let Gavin enjoy eating it.

This is the recipe from my SIL: 

Sweet Potato Loaf

Starter
170g sweet potato (medium sized potato)
120g unbleached flour
130g water at room temp
10g sugar
1/4 teaspoon dried yeast

1. Bake potato whole until tender. Cool and mash it. Measure out 130g and set aside.
2. Combine with flour, water, sugar and yeast in a mixing bowl. Whisk until very smooth and to incorporate air for about 2 minutes (it should appear like a thick batter).
3. Cover and allow to ferment for 2 hours at room temperature.

Flour Mixture
180g unbleached flour
20g skim milk powder
3/4 teaspoon dried yeast
20g soft butter
130g reserved mashed potato
1 teaspoon salt

1. In a mixer bowl, add dry ingredients (everything except potato and butter) to the starter mixture and with the dough hook attachment, mix at low speed for 1 minute.
2. Add butter and mashed potato and mix at medium speed for 7-10 minutes. Remove the dough, lightly grease the mixing bowl and place the dough back in it to allow it to double in size.  This takes 90-120 minutes.
3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surgace and gently press to form a rectangle. Try to maintain as many air bubbles as possible. Fold the dough over from all four sides into a tight package and set it back in the container.
4. Allow the dough to rise for another 90-120 minutes or until doubled in size.
5. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a loaf.
6. Place it in a lightly greased loaf pan and cover it with a large container or loosely with cling wrap.
7. Allow to rise until centre is about 1 inch above the sides of the pan. This will take 90-120 minutes. If the dough is pressed with a fingertip, the depression should very slowly fill in.
8. 1 hour prior to baking, preheat oven to 200C.
9. Bake the bread for 5 minutes, then lower the temperature to 190C and continue to bake for another 20-25 minutes. Turn the pan around halfway through baking to ensure even colouring.

Darn… after reading through the recipe again, I think I realised what I did wrong.  I missed the fourth proof and I didn’t let the bread rise to about 1 inch above the sides of the pan…  tsk tsk tsk.  That’s what I get for not reading the instructions properly…  Anyway, my request still stands.

Check this out - Cuisine Musings. This is my SIL’s new blog. There’s only one entry there right now, but do stay tuned for more delicious recipes and pictures that will make your mouth dribble over your keyboard.

All I can say is, I’m so glad she’s back from the land down under. I just love being the taste tester!

Here’s a little bit of background about the chef who authors Cuisine Musings:

A Cordon Bleu chef, she’s worked in the kitchen of a fine French restaurant at Crown Entertainment Center in Melbourne. She also won the Mark Thierry award and was personally mentored by the three star Michelin chef for a month in France.

So bookmark her blog. Even if you’re not a chef, the pictures will be worth it!

I have discovered what my biggest failing as a chef is… My need to experiment. I often grow weary of making the same things over and over again and after a while, I get the urge to try something new. As the hubby has just discovered, he is the unfortunate victim of my experiments…

So I took the trouble to learn a new recipe from my MIL yesterday - one of the hubby’s favourites, apparently. So here’s the recipe:

Chicken Rice

Ingredients:
2 pieces Chicken Maryland
6 pieces black mushrooms (softened)
1 Tbsp Oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp corn flour
6 slices ginger
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1 c rice
Water (enough for boiling rice)
1 Tbsp concentrated chicken stock
1 tsp black soy sauce
1/2 tsp pepper

Method:
1. Debone 2 pieces of chicken maryland and marinate with oyster sauce, sesame oil and corn flour.
2. In a pot, boil water with ginger.
3. In a wok, heat up some oil and brown the minced garlic and ginger. Remove garlic and ginger from oil and place into a bowl.
4. Stirfry marinated Chicken Maryland in the oil used to brown the garlic and ginger.
5. Add in chicken stock, soy sauce and pepper.
6. Add in mushrooms.
7. When chicken is cooked, removed from the wok, leaving behind the sauce.
8. Stirfry the rice in the chicken sauce remaining in the wok.
9. Add fried rice into boiling ginger water, stirring every so often. Once the water is starting to dry up, add the chicken and browned garlic/ginger.
10. Cover the pot, reduce heat and continue cooking for another five minutes.
11. Mix well and serve.

I also made a simple dish of stir-fried carrots and broccoli. I apologise for the lack of photos since I’m usually done just as the hubby walks through the door so I forget to snap the photos before we tuck into dinner. Besides, it’s nothing amazing, although I still feel somewhat proud of this mini cooking achievement for a self-professed non-chef.

Ingredients:

2 carrots, sliced into short strips
1 head of broccoli
1 tsp garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp abalone sauce (I used Maggi’s)*
1 Tbsp light soy sauce*
1/2 tsp sugar*
Dash of pepper*
100 ml water*
1 tsp cornflour*

Method:

1. Nuke the veggies in the microwave for a couple of minutes (if you prefer them to be soft, otherwise, omit this step)
2. Heat some oil in a wok and lightly brown the garlic.
3. Add in the veggies.
4. Add in the seasoning ingredients*.
5. Stir until the sauce thickens.
6. Serve.