Savoury Mince and Vegetables

A successful family classic proven over time to thrill the worst food critics, beautifully showcased in a Jamie Oliver's cast iron tegame which survived the trip from Perth to Sydney in a suitcase. The dish cooks to perfection thanks to the even heat distribution of cast iron.

The dish combines the simple tastes of onion, garlic, celery and a touch of thyme. There is no curry spice to drown the natural enhancement of flavours achieved through browning of onions, celery, mince and flour.

There is no leftover since everyone wants double serve when Noodle Cook prepares the dish. Leftover savoury mince, if any, is ideal for toast, pasta, pies or rice.

Ingredients

1 onion, diced
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
500 g lean mince
1 tablespoon low salt soy sauce
4 celery stalks, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons dried chives
500 mL water approx
1/2 cup water + 1 tablespoon cornstarch, optional
1/2 cup frozen corn kernel
1 potato
1 cup frozen peas
pepper to taste

Roux:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
2 tablespoons flour
1.5 cup water

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Noodle Cook Chops Like the Professional!

It's a day of chopping onions and vegetables, made easy with the use of a quality Wusthof Trident chef knife, a beautiful 23 cm European made classic that Noodle Cook dreams of owning.

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Classic Sunday Roast Dinner

There's no chance of a tantrum when it comes to the classic Sunday roast dinner of stuffed chicken, potatoes and pumpkin served with two vegies. An hour to cook at 180 degrees Celsius using organic chicken and garden fresh vegetables. Thumbs up by all at dinner.

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Sydney Earth Hour 2009

Sydney plunges itself into darkness for global "Earth Hour" to highlight the threat of climate change. For sixty minutes Noodle Cook watches television by candlelight.

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Sydney, Here Comes the 2-minute Noodle Cook!

A week of solid house bound cooking for the worst food critics. Noodle Cook has to prepare for everything including specialist dietary requirements low fat, low protein, low Na/K/P.

What does a "masterchef" pack in the suitcase without exceeding 23 kg?

Favourite cookware: cast iron, the tegame chosen for versatility
Favourite cookbook: The Food I Love by Neil Perry
Favourite utensil: Whisk (double up for cakes and sauces)
Favourite ingredients: bush tucker herbs and spices
Favourite chef's uniform: green and gold 2-minute Noodle Cook uniform complete with the splashes thrown by the Masterchef Australia judges.

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Osmanthus Chiffon

A beautiful moist chiffon flavoured with peach smelling osmanthus flowers. Just right for a special occasion.

Recipe adapted from Pandan Chiffon by Bakel Singapore

Group A: Batter
4 egg yolks (100 g)
40 g sugar
1.5 teaspoons Ovalett
40 mL water
60 g plain flour
20 g cornfour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder (3.5 g)
1 tablespoon dried osmanthus flowers, milled
30 mL camellia tea oil

Group B: Foam
4 egg whites (100 g)
55 g sugar
0.5 teaspoon cream of tartar (1.5 g)

Whisk egg yolks, sugar, Ovalett and water for 10 minutes. Fold in sifted dry ingredients. Fold in oil.

Separately, whisk the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar until satin-like around 5 minutes.

Gently fold the egg white foam into the egg yolk batter.

Bake at 190 degrees Celsius for 45 minutes.

Variation: Reduce sugar to 70 g. Reduce baking powder to 1 teaspoon to avoid doming. Increase cream of tartar to 1 teaspoon

Comment: The resultant cake looks well formed, and golden. The height is 5 cm. It gives off a lovely peach aroma from the osmanthus flowers. For maximum flavour, eat on the day of baking. The Ovalett has little effect on preparation time and the final outcome.

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Perseverance Bread

There is nothing more romantic than bread by candlelight, and here is why. Some 15 hours after botching up making bagels, Noodle Cook persevered on the longest bread making marathon in history.



The fiasco starts at 7 am, when after 45 minutes the yeast sponge stalls at 30% rise. No chance of bread for lunch, so may as well let the bread rise slowly in the refrigerator. At 5 pm, the dough looks no better.

A bit of heat in a car parked in the setting sun, and the sponge doubles at long last! Punch down, scale, mold... Most cooks would have abandoned the attempt by now. This strange yeast is SLOW. There is no smell of over fermentation even after all these hours.



By quarter to 11 pm, a very hungry John wakes up from the couch after spending the evening waiting for bread. A triumphant Noodle Cook presents a golden brown loaf, hot from the oven, the perfect bread to eat with extra virgin olive oil and black olives.

The used by date on the box of yeast reads 1995. The yeast is at least 15 years old.

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Bitter-Sweet Ending for Gourmet Bitter Melons

Three bitter melons wait on the chopping board, feeling excited about starring in "An Electronic Restaurant". With Noodle Cook, the "masterchef" at helm, nothing can go wrong in a short 2-minute production. Anyway, there is nothing Photoshop and superglue can't fix.



The greatest challenge is how to entice villainous John to eat them and give the thumps up at the same time. Hiding the bitterness with 100% genuine maple syrup seems absurd, even for Canadian raised John. Also, it'll be a shame to adulterate the beautiful flavour of freshly picked bitter melons in a black bean, garlic and chicken stir fry.

When all seem lost, Noodle Cook contemplates dialing 000 or 911. Hangon, that will be jamming the emergency line when lives are at stake. Instead, after the recent Victorian bush fire tragedy, a space-technology like Twitter leads the way in emergencies as important as getting the worst food critic in home cooking to eat an exotic vegetable.

Problems solved, according to Twitter, "mounties" like Allen of Eating Out Loud eats Rocky mountain piles of bitter melons while singing "O Canada".

Noodle: Bitter melon tossed in saute shallots coming up! This is what they eat in Canada!

John: Sorry, I still have the tummy ache from yesterday. No solids yet. I'm watching the best show in Australia, "Corner Gas" made in Canada. You go ahead!

With belly heaving in laughter at the comedy, there is no sign of the claimed stomach ache. No drama this time, since that means there's more bitter melon for one connoisseur of the finer things in life.

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Baking with Ovalett Sponge Cakes Emulsifier

Hosting a tea party is a joy for some. Just check out the spread at Grab Your Fork, where hostess Helen puts on the works with dainty tea cups and antique cake stands. Look for those spectacular red velvet cakes. It could have been high tea at the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, Vancouver Island, Canada.

What if there is only one chef cooking instead of 12 at Helen's tea party? This calls for some shortcuts. There's this product called Ovalett which is used in all-in-one cake method to stabilize egg foam. According to internet research, a sponge only needs 4-5 minutes beating, and the resultant batter bakes to perfection. Most French trained chef would scorn at the idea of stablizing egg foam using some strange coloured gel even if it saves time. Does this product work? Will it save time? Will it make a beginner pastry cook into an instant masterchef? Only one way to be sure...




Product: Ovalett
Other name: SP
Usage: Sponge cake emulsifier for all-in-one sponge mixes
Version: Dragon and Phoenix brand. Product of Malaysia.
Ingredients: propylene glycol, emulsifier, water, sunset yellow colour E110
Please check your regional Bakel website for variation in ingredients.
Appearance: Sticky orange gel. Ordourless.
Availability in Western Australia: Oriental grocers which stock Indonesian products
Recipes: Check out Bakel Singapore




Sponge

Scaled recipe from Bakel Singapore
2 x 55 g eggs (100 g without shell)
90 g sugar
60 g plain flour
20 g corn flour
1.5 teaspoons Ovalett (7.5 g)
1 teaspoon baking powder (2.5 g)
35 g water
25 g butter, melted

Whisk 5 minutes. Fold in melted butter. Baked at 175 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes in 15 cm ramekin.

Notes: Dense, like butter cake. Domed and cracked during cooking. Deflated towards the end of cooking. Sunken centre. 30 % rise. 6 cm high.
Fault: Too much dry ingredients. Too much baking powder. Pan too small; suit ring or tube pan. Insufficient beating time to aerate foam.




Sponge Roll

Scaled recipe from Bakel Singapore
3 x 55 g eggs (150 g without shell)
90 g sugar
60 g plain flour
20 g corn flour (or 10 g cocoa powder, 10 g cornflour)
2 teaspoons Ovalett (10 g)
1 teaspoon baking powder (2.5 g)
35 g water
40 g butter, melted

Whisk 5 minutes. fold in melted butter. Baked at 215 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes in 30 cm pie dish.

Notes: Very dense, but acceptable for sponge rolls. Domed during cooking. Deflated towards the end of cooking. Sunken centre. 30% rise. 4 cm high, 3 cm at centre.
Fault: Too much liquid. Too much raising agent. Pan too deep; suit shallow Swiss roll tray. Insufficient beating time to aerate foam.





Genoise Sponge

Scaled recipe from Taste.com.au
2 x 55 g eggs
60 g sugar
50 g plain flour
10 g corn flour
1.5 teaspoons Ovalett (7.5 g)
5 shakes cream of tartar
25 g melted butter
Colouring: 1 teaspoon red fermented rice, milled (ang kak)
Flavouring: 1 teaspoon osmanthus flowers, milled

Whisk 10 minutes. Fold in melted butter. Baked at 180 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes in 15 cm ramekin.

Notes: Chiffon like texture, perfect for genoise, but slightly crumbly. Well formed with 30% rise. 5 cm high.
Fault: Insufficient structure due to too much cornflour or more egg perhaps. Could improve with 1/2 teaspoon lecithin for moisture.

... and the conclusion is an experience baker can achieve better results without baking powder or added emulsifier/stablizer. If sponge making is too hard and takes too long for you, then perhaps Ovalett may be the answer. Making a genoise sponge (butter sponge) is just about foolproof according to the results shown here. Just one more note: the commercial recipes did not scale down well. You'll need to adjust accordingly.

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Homemade XO Chilli Sauce For Instant Noodles

The number of restaurant patrons who come here searching for 2-minute noodles leave disappointed, that is up until now. It is a long standing believe that no high class electronic restaurant serves such a dish. After visiting Rockpool, over the internet, Noodle Cook discovers that 3 hat chef, Neil Perry enjoys XO chilli sauce with egg noodles and lobster. The XO chilli sauce in question is the one used by fine-dining Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong.

What's so special about this XO chilli sauce? It is made with exotic dried scallops, a very expensive delicacy. It takes around 3 hours to prepare: according to Chef Neil Perry's recipe, the dried scallops need 2 hours soaking, 10 minutes steaming followed by 45 minutes cooking in seasoned oil.



To cook 2-minute noodles in 3 hours means lunch is really an early dinner! Since Noodle Cook is the 2-minute expert, here is the cheat recipe. You won't see the golden scallop strands in the sauce, but lunch will be on in an hour!

Ingredients:
3 dried scallops, milled in spice grinder
5 garlic cloves
2 dried chillies, deseeded, crushed
1 tablespoon Kashmiri chilli powder
50 g ginger
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
150 mL Camellia Tea oil

Method:
1. Emulsify all the ingredients with a stick blender
2. Simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour

When cooked, the sauce turns dark brownish red while the solids develop transparency. The oil which floats to the top during cooking looks an attractive orange-red. The garlic cooks to a mush and the ginger loses the raw bite. The sauce is made less pungent by omitting dried shrimps, a typical ingredient in XO sauces.



To cook instant noodles, boil noodles in water for 2 minutes. Drain and discard the water. If eating the noodles with soup, make some stock. A simple stock using dried baby anchovies and carrots works well. DO NOT use the MSG loaded seasoning that comes with many brands of instant noodles. Instead enjoy the intense natural "umami" that dried scallops impart by adding a dollop of homemade XO chilli sauce from the recipe above.

Oh, where is the lobster? Um, with a bit of imagination, those fish balls could well be made from lobster .....

So there you are, instant noodles transformed to fine dining standards with XO chilli sauce (and lobster). Bon appetit!

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