I'm always learning

"How did you learn to cook? Where did you learn to cook? When did you learn to cook? I get asked these questions often. And often I am stumped because my answer would never be as straightforward as naming a person, place or time. Truth be told, I am constantly learning. This week, however, I thought I'd attempt to answer those questions as concisely as I can." Read on here for more.

Based on the subject of this week's column, I thought that I'd share with you 3 of many dishes that are now a part of my cooking repertoire. This first dish of Coconut-Cilantro rice, I read about it 4 years ago in Gourmet magazine. This dish is so good that you don't need to have anything else to go with it. Of course I have adapted and adjusted some of the ingredients to suit my taste such as using fresh coconut that I fire-roasted before grating and grinding it. When the coconut-cilantro paste is added to the ginger-chilie-infused hot basmati rice, your senses are bathed with an indescribable aroma. Promise me you'll try making this dish, just email me and I'll send you my adapted recipe.

I've also learnt to make a lot of new dishes from many of you, my blog friends and this Chicken Congee (Chinese Rice Porridge), I learnt from my gal Jaden over there at Steamy Kitchen. This was the first time I had used dried shrimp and as Jaden rightly instructs, the dried shrimp gives to this dish that "umami" flavour so highly sought in Chinese food.

Now you all know how much I love plantains so I never pass up an opportunity to make or try a new plantain dish. For me, tostones was love at first bite. Have it with a dip or some hot pepper sauce and you'll be saying to the tostones: "Where have you been all my life?" I am serious (lol)

Do you want to learn more about cooking techniques and about the know-hows and whys of preparing certain ingredients and dishes? Well, let me introduce you to a very good friend of mine, Sue. She is the author of the blog Food Network Musings. Apart from reviewing and offering constructive criticism of various FN shows, Sue evaluates by also offering solutions, suggestions and advice based on her more than 20 years of experience as a trained chef and cooking teacher. I've picked up so many valuable tips from her.

• Read her post Jamie wins by a Hare and learn about coating before frying and what adding water to eggs does when coating before frying.
• Today and out to dinner we learn why garlic should sit 10 minutes after we've sliced, chopped or pressed it before cooking
• Make Boome for Danny tells us about heat temperature when cooking mushrooms; we learn what it means to have ingredients "batoned"; and we understand the notion of first deglazing with wine and then using the wine for cooking.
• Call the Cardiologist, the Neely's are Cooking, instructs on the best utensil to use when browning meat. Using a pot with high sides almost ensures that steam will gather up the sides of the pot and wash down on the meat.

There are many more valuable tips and advice, just check her archives. It's well worth the read.

Remember last week's post with my stuffed calamari? I'm sending it over to Marie of Proud Italian Cook and Maryann of Finding La Dolce Vita for the event they are co-hosting: Festa Italiana. You can find more details here.

At Forgive me my nonsense... find out what's important.

Have a great week everyone.

Sometimes love means hard work

The subject of this week's column was steeped in hard work and an education. As you already know by now, the Caribbean is made up of a large Chinese population with Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica having the largest populations. Well, in Guyana, we have a pastry called Chinese cake (yeah, remember I told you about our practical way of naming things). I love Chinese cake and it one of the things I miss not having, well, unless I make it myself thanks to a friend who shared her family recipe with me.

The Chinese cake we make is essentially a pastry-cake that's made with 2 types of pastries and a sweet filling of black-eyed-peas-paste. I'll let you read all about making it here.

As you can see it is still warm with the filling soft and sweet, I was anxious and excited, I couldn't wait. :)

Here the cake has cooled and the filling solidifies.

I have been scouring the internet trying to come up with the original dish that it is inspired from and through my own efforts and in communication with Tigerfish, it is apparent that our Chinese cake is similar in nature to the Chinese mooncake. When you check out the link, you will see how many varieties of mooncakes there are and how they differ from region to region. Ours as you can see looks more like this and the one at the bottom here.

I love mine with peanut punch.

In the Guyanese-Chinese adaption, black-eye-bean paste was substituted for the much loved red-bean paste. My friend Bee over at Rasa Malaysia has some red-bean-paste recipes that you should check out.

Chinese New Year will be celebrated on Thursday, February, 7, so I'd like to wish my fellow country people a happy new year and also to all of my friends celebrating the holidays, especially those that read this blog.

Be sure to check out Jaden at Steamy Kitchen for the feast she's planning. She already has some recipes posted that you can try.

I am sending my Chinese Cake over to another good friend of mine, Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook for her event My Legume Love Affair.

If any of you adventurous ones out there would like the recipe for the Chinese cake, please email me.

A note on last week's post on golden apples, in Jamaica it is also called June plums, thanks Chennette & Ann and Maya alerted me that it is also called hog plums. Each day, there is something to learn.

Over at Forgive Me My Nonsense... this week, I weep for my country.

Have a good week everyone.

It's how I like It

There are many of us who grew up watching the women in our families cook - without recipes, with just 1 or 2 ingredients, making the little they had stretch to feed the entire household but at the same time, never compromising on taste. Their ingenuity, creativity and resourcefulness made them the excellent cooks they were and continue to be.

Born out of that, we grew up eating certain things and certain dishes prepared a certain way and, as adults, these are the only ways, or our favourite ways, to have those foods or dishes. And that my friends, is the subject of this week's column - I Like It Like That - it refers to the way, I like to eat certain things because that's the way I grew up eating them. Click here to read the column.

In our home when I was growing up, chowmein was always served with steamed rice.

And whenever my mom was looking for a fast-food dish that was filling and satisfying, she turned to curried eggs.

Various recipes for Egg Curry can be found here, here, here, here, here and here. If you'd like mine, email me.

What are some of the foods/dishes you prepare today the same way you liked them while growing up?

Vegetable Fried Rice

Vegetable fried rice

Ingredients clockwise: diced carrots, garlic, diced sweet peppers, ginger, diced long string beans, green onions

A regular reader of my column wrote asking me what I put in my fried rice when I make it so I thought that I'd share that information with the rest of you also. There are various types of fried rice and that is indicative of what you put in it - eggs, chicken, pork etc. I usually make a vegetable fried rice and serve it with some baked or roasted meat or poultry.

Please let me set the record straight that I am no expert at making fried rice. This is my interpretation of the dish.

Fried Rice

2 cups long grain white rice, steamed
1 cup of finely chopped long beans (bora) or sweet greens peas
1 cup finely diced carrots
1/2 cup of diced sweet peppers (optional)
1 tbsp grated ginger (use more if you like)
1 tsp minced garlic
1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
Dark soy sauce
5-spice powder
Green onions, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Once the rice is cooked, it needs to be cooled completely. Spread it out on a large baking sheet to cool.
2. Cooking fried rice is a very fast activity so ensure that all the ingredients are minced, diced, chopped at the ready.
3. In a karahi or wok, heat the oil until it's hot but not smoking.
4. Throw in the aromatics - ginger and garlic followed by the carrots and beans (or peas) stir fry for 1 - 2 mins
5. Lightly season with soy sauce, black pepper and a sprinkle of five-spice powder
6. Add sweet peppers, rice, soy sauce to season and colour the rice, and a few dashes (shakes) of the five spice powder and mix the ingredients together.
7. Taste the dish for seasoning, you may need to add some salt and more black pepper.
8. Once the rice and vegetables are well mixed, the dish is done.
9. Serve garnished with chopped green onions (scallions, eshallots) sprinkled on top.

Steaming for fried rice

This post is in response to a question asked by a commenter. I hope this technique helps, Grace. I do not have pics at this time but I promise to try and get some.
This technique has been handed down to me by my mother who learnt it from a friend of hers who is Chinese, Auntie Bernice. Here goes.

Advice:

• The best rice to make the fried rice with is the regular white long grain rice but use whatever rice you have.
• Steam the rice way in advance of making it into fried rice as it needs to be completely cool.

1. In a large bowl, wash the rice at least 3 times until the water runs clear.
2. Remove any excess water from the rice.
3. Transfer rice to a pot, and ensure that the rice is level all around.
4. Pour enough water into the pot with the rice until it just covers the rice.
5. With a clean hand, place it plam-side down pressing gently on the rice in the water.
6. If the water does not reach the base of your wrist (beginning of your wrist) then add some more water until when you press down with your hand, the water reaches that point. The base of your wrist it the part that bends - it separates the hand from the forearm, sounds technical but it is not.
7. Once you have established the right water level with the rice. Add some salt, drizzle some oil and stir.
8. Cover the pot and set it on high heat. Warning! do not move away from the kitchen! You will need to constantly monitor the pot because as soon as it gives its first bubble of a boil, you have to turn the flame down very low, let the pot remain covered so the rice can cook/steam slowly.
9. The timing will vary depending on a number of variables: the amount of rice you are cooking, the size of the pot and the size of your burner.
10. If you're cooking three cups of rice, I'd say at the end of 20 minutes, check the rice and give it a stir. You will notice whether or not it is still moist with water, if it is, cover it again and let it continue to steam for another 10 minutes.
11. When the rice is finished cooking, remove it from the heat and let it cool completely.
12. After the rice is cooled, you have to loosen it up (the oil you put in when cooking it will aid in this process).
13. With clean hands, loosen the rice and place it on a flat surface such as a platter or baking sheet.

Whenever you are ready go ahead and prepare all your other ingredients for the fried rice and cook to suit your own taste.

National Dish-Fried Rice?

What do you think? Should we make fried rice a national dish of Guyana? Read the column where I've put forward my case.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all my Chinese brothers and sisters in Guyana!