Steamed Salmon Teriyaki with Cheese: a mix between the east and the west!

I don't normally post two recipes in a day (to give time for my blog to grow and for people to read) but because a very good acquaintance of mine, Olivia, asked me today to post the recipe for this from my FB album, I am posting it for her and for my readers too!

I love cooking salmons (and eating them too, of course). Ever since I got to the UK, salmons are half the price that I used to pay while I was in Asia, and so salmons always get on top of my shopping list. Usually whenever I go to my favourite supermarket, Sainsbury's, I absent-mindedly reach out to the seafood rack and grab two packs of skinless and boneless salmon (although later on I find that with a cheaper price, I can get a boneless but not skinless salmon).

Cheese, although is nothing particularly new to me, is pretty new when suddenly the supermarket has one aisle dedicated to them! I know Mozzarella and Cheddar, but I have no idea what Gouda or Leicester cheese are when I first arrived in the UK! So I have been doing so many cheese tasting (on my own), and I found tastes that I like and tastes that I would avoid as well. One of the cheeses that I will be using in this recipe is the black-peppered cheese, which I like because of the hot pepper sensation. The cheese is mild and not that matured and thus it will melt away beautifully when steamed.

I have a huge passion for Teriyaki sauce too, because I believe Teriyaki sauce is one of the sauces that I encountered when I first started learning to cook by myself in Singapore. This recipe is hugely influenced by my mom, who loves everything simple, tasty and homemade-y. Kudos to her for inspiring so many recipes that you will find in the one by two kitchen's album.

Oh and if anyone realises - I grew up in a place where 5-in-a-day was very encouraged and thus I tried incorporating a lot of them (except for the carbs, because to be honest I am an avid South-Beach Dieter).

Please note that a steamer will be needed, as well as a rounded bowl or a bowl to be used in the steamer.

Ingredients:

1. One approximately 250 gram fillet of salmon, skinless and boneless (boneless but not skinless is acceptable too)
2. Lettuce (preferably round lettuce)
3. White cup mushrooms (approximately 4)
4. Spring onions (1 or 2)
5. One slice of black-peppered cheese
6. Teriyaki sauce (preferably Kikoman)

How to Prepare:

1. Arrange a bed of lettuce leaves on the base of the rounded bowl
2. Slice the salmon fillet to around 5 or 6 chunky cubes, and arrange them on the bowl
3. Arrange the white cup mushrooms, alternating them with the salmon fillet (purely for aesthetic reason)
4. Chop the spring onions and sprinkle them above the salmon and the mushrooms
5. Pour teriyaki sauce over the bowl, around one and a half round of pouring will be sufficient
6. If you like it spicy, pour over chilli powders on top of the bowl
7. Put the bowl to the steamer and after the water boils - give 8 to 10 minutes or until the salmon turns opaque and the water from the steamer has condensed to the bowl and mixed with the teriyaki sauce to create a soup-like mixture
8. Place the cheese over the dish, steam for around 3 minutes or until the cheese is melted
9. Carefully move the bowl out of the steamer and serve warm

NOTE about salmons: salmon's skins will be easily removed once they are cooked - so don't sweat over it!

LOVE. the one by two kitchen.

Chocolate Konyaku with Whiskey Fla Sauce

Sssssh! This is one of the world's worst kept secret dessert recipe! The recipe's simplicity and the extreme tastefulness make this recipe the perfect dessert to awe your guests away (proven on my guests, at least!)

I believe Konyaku jelly originated from Japan, and I plainly love the bouncy texture. Konyaku is different from Agar jelly though, as Agar jelly is harder and crunchier than Konyaku. So yeah in a way - both of them are good - but to AWE your guests - I'd go for Konyaku instant jelly instead. I'll post another recipe about Chocolate Agar Pudding later (not the British 'pudding'!)

So - coming back to Konyaku chocolate jelly. I'm a big, proper, and monstrous fan of chocolates. I wasn't before I came to England though! After setting my feet here and discovering the so many ranges of chocolates, I instantly fell in love with them! Now, I have huge problems whenever I have to pass Hotel Chocolat store cos most probably I will exit the store with 2 bags and a guilty face.

The Konyaku jelly that I use is an Indonesian branded one. It's instant and very easy to use.

Please prepare a Jelly Mould (or any mould will do - preferably round big tin mould or in the one by two kitchen's simple case: a rounded bowl!)

Ingredients:

- For Konyaku chocolate jelly

1. One sachet of Konyaku chocolate instant jelly (mine is Nutrijell from Indonesia)
2. 750 ml of water
3. One cup of sugar

- For Whiskey Fla Sauce

1. One and a half cup of semi-skimmed milk
2. Four tablespoons of whiskey (can be substituted to rum)
3. Approximately three tablespoons of sugar
4. Corn starch/instant granuling powder
5. One middle-sized egg yolk, remove the whites
6. Cinnamon powder

How to Prepare:

- For Konyaku chocolate jelly

1. Pour the Konyaku chocolate jelly powder to the pan, pour the 750 ml water and stir until smooth
2. Bring the mixture to a boil, stir occasionally
3. Pour the mixture to the mould, let it cool before preparing the whiskey fla sauce

- For Whiskey Fla Sauce

1. Pour the milk to the pan, add the egg yolk and stir
2. Pour the sugar in and stir
3. Heat the mixture and stir; add one tablespoon of cornstarch
4. Wait until the mixture comes to boil while slowly adding tablespoons of cornstarch (Note: the mixture will get very HEAVY with moderate amount of cornstarch, please wait until the mixture picks up the heat to determine the sauce's thickness!)
5. Flip the Konyaku jelly (or get the jelly out of the mould) and pour the fla sauce over the top of the jelly
6. Let the sauce cools and sets on the jelly
7. Sprinkle with cinnamon powder
8. Serve!

P.S.: I think what makes this recipe distinctive and unique and appealing to the guests is the whiskey fla or sauce.

For people who does not want alcohol, you can substitute the whiskey with rum flavouring or almond extract!

LOVE. the one by two kitchen.

Korean Tapoki (Tteokbokki), the one by two kitchen way

the one by two kitchen Tapoki dish

I lurveeeeeeeeee Tapoki!

My first addiction to Tapoki was while I was still studying in China. A High School friend of mine who was studying in Hangzhou at that time, Evelyn, introduced me to this spicy and flavourful Korean street food dish, and since then - I became an avid Tapoki lover. Whenever I went to Korean restaurants in China (and there are plenty of them!), Tapoki would always be on my order list! A little while ago before I left China, some of my Korean friends told me that Tapoki actually belonged to Korean street food. I was amazed because I thought the taste was so good it should be a main menu instead of snacks or merely street food! Bless the Koreans for having created this wonderful recipe!

I tried some Tapoki dishes in Indonesia and was very disappointed. They seemed to add so many carrots and to me personally the mixture was just total havoc. Of course everybody is entitled to their own opinion.. And here goes my way of creating the Tapoki dish (if you are from Korea and consider this to be not authentic, let me know the real homemade way of making it!)

I don't really fancy putting carrots on them, because carrots are kind of sweet and it submerges the real spicy taste of the Gochujang sauce. I just think they don't go along! However I do love putting lettuces (round lettuces are the best, although iceberg lettuces will do) - they just mix along well with the taste.

I've heard recipes that use oil to help the rice cakes to not stick out with each other - I personally haven't tried the recipe - but will do and will post it once I tried it!

This recipe will serve around 2 plates for hungry people like me.

Ingredients:

1. Gochujang sauce - Korean Hot Sauce
2. Long rice cake - one pack
3. Cabbage (preferably round cabbage)
4. Fishball - 6 medium-sized fishballs (from Asian supermarkets: preferably Teochew fishball or if there is any - Korean fishball)
5. Seafood stick (kane stick) - 6 sticks
6. Garlic - crushed and evenly chopped - 1 tablespoon

Gochujang red hot sauce

How to prepare:

1. The long rice cake usually comes up very long, if they do - cut them to two.
2. Slice thin the fishballs
3. Slice the seafood sticks in two
4. Bring a pot of water to boil - put the long rice cake in and simmer until the rice cakes texture becomes soft. Careful not to over simmer them as the flour on the rice cake will start to melt away and the rice cakes become too sticky!
5. Use a strainer/sieve to drain the rice cakes and quickly rinse them with cold water to prevent them from sticking up. Set aside.
6. Put one tablespoon of oil on a pan, heat the pan and put the chopped garlic in
7. Stir the garlic and put the fishball and lettuce in
8. Scoop three tablespoons of Gochujang sauce in (or adjust them according to your resistance level to spiciness)
9. Pour a quarter cup of water and stir the sauce
10. Put the rice cake in, stir until all rice cakes are coated evenly
11. Put the seafood sticks in, stir.
12. Serve!

LOVE. the one by two kitchen.


(edited: basically, I do not know the latinised version of 떡볶이 so apologies for the spelling error if any!)

Smoked Salmon Boat

This is one of my favourite morning breakfasts of the one by two kitchen food album. I'm a huge fan of the South Beach Diet, and although I occasionally cheat, the combination between my sugar allergy and my belief in South Beach Diet usually restrain me from eating carbohydrates. However this salmon boat is a must try for salmon and cheese lover! This is a very 'Western' sort of dish though with Feta/Greek/Goat's cheese which might not appeal to some of my Asian friends. But hey - life is about trying out new stuffs and falling in and out of love (to food as well!)

Right so - Salmon Boat! This recipe is inspired by Johnny, a friend of my roommate and I who came to visit Nottingham and made something similar to this (I alter them to boats cos I found the idea of boats a lot more fun and cuter!) These recipes would give you a lot of servings, depending on how big you like your boat is and of course - the salmon crescents!

Ingredients:

1. Multi-grain brown bread (can be found in Waitrose for those in the UK)
2. Salmon crescent (from Waitrose, can be substituted with Smoked Salmon)
3. Feta/Greek/Goat's cheese, preferably in the round-shaped packaging
4. Fresh basil leaves

How to prepare:

1. Prepare six branches of fresh basil leaves, wash, drain, and dry them
2. Slice the bread around 4 cm thick and store the bread in a cool dry place (we don't want no damp or mouldy bread.. eww!)
3. Slice the Goat's cheese around 1 cm thick and put them back on the fridge (yeah you know)
4. Cut the salmon crescent in half, or if using normal Smoked Salmon, slice the smoked salmon to small pieces and mix them together with a a spoonful of goat's cheese in a small cup and use your tablespoon to roll them to salmon cheese balls
5. Assemble the boat as follows: bread for the base, cheese slice, basil leaves, and top them off with the salmon crescent or the salmon cheese balls
6. Enjoy your quickie, pretty and tasty breakfast!

LOVE. the one by two kitchen.

First Posting - no recipes yet!

Phew! First posting!

First posting is always historical, just like any other first things in the world.

So to mark the blog's first posting, here are the two things of firsts that happen during the this historical time of the blog:

1. My best friend and her friend travelled to mainland Europe for the very first time in their lives - all by themselves because my visa is not yet out! I was just sending them downstairs. Both girls looked well-scared and anxious!
2. I went to Cadbury World for the very first time yesterday (yesterday was 5 hours ago)

OK - for those of you who went WTH after reading the above posts thinking about how this blog should be a recipe blog, keep calm! This first, historical post will only outline the general things about this blog.

This blog would be my blog, in a sense that as well as a recipe collection blog, this blog will also be dynamically synced to my life. My vision to this would be that this blog will progress - and just like the other things in my life - I want this blog to progress and I want it to go far along. Cooking is a passion of mine!

May I also state that the recipes used in this blog are combinations between other people's tried-and-tested recipes, family recipes, my own compulsive recipes out of hunger, recipes resulting from my daydreaming of food in lectures, and just about from a lot of places.

OK, so to be honest after writing the paragraphs I don't feel anything particularly historical - yet. Just a simple, lovely, 5 AM in the morning historical start.

LOVE. *smashes virtual champagne*