Fields of gold - Barley

The grains were sowed in winter last year. This is the result by end of July 2010.

Vanilla Essence (part 2)

Vanilla Sticks in Vodka

Remember my post from January 18th? I described how I started to brew up my vanilla essence, using a bottle of vodka and a few sticks of vanilla.

It's almost empty. I forgot to show the results. The aroma is WOW !! Hmmm...maybe I should take a holiday in the Mauritius, come back with a suitcase full of vanilla pods.

Here's a picture how it looks now.

The Black Forest

Those who have toured Germany know: the Black Forest is one of the 'must see'. Here are some photos to revive your memories.

(Click picture for bigger version.)

Winter Food Series: Today, Braised Chicken/Duck!

Chicken cooking...

People can't wait to taste it...

The final dish...

Or rather, Voodoo Chicken (Duck).

Dug into my freezer once again. Yes, got the urge for some meaty stuff. This bird has been sitting in the freezer for 6 months. Which is too long. Decided to tan this duck... easy peesy.

Ingredients

• 1 Chicken/Duck (1.5 – 2 kg)
• a wide and deep pan... even a Wok
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 heap tsp 5 spice powder (for Germans: Lebkuchen-Gewürz)
• 1/2 cup of dark soya sauce
• 1 piece dried mandarin peel (you can dry your own)
• 500 ml HOT water
• salt to taste
• 5 hard-boiled eggs, shelled

Method

Clean chicken/duck. Remove superfluous fat from the ar..

Heat pan, add sugar and let it caramelize. Be careful: I said 'caramelize' and not 'burn'.

Once the caramel takes on a light brown colour, add 5-spice powder.

Stir in for about 5 seconds and add hot water. Why hot water? If you add cold water to caramel, it will splash and you might get burnt.

Slip chicken/duck into the caramel water.

Add soya sauce.

Add mandarin peel (plus 'spare parts' like heart, gizzard, neck, bishop's nose for extra flavour) and cover.

Simmer at medium heat for about 2 hours.

Turn the chicken/duck over after 1 hour.

Add hardboiled eggs 15 minutes before the final 2 hours are over.

Add more water if necessary.

Adjust with salt accordingly.

To serve (Western[*] way) cut duck into 4 pieces with (voodoo) halved eggs, fresh spring onions and sliced cucumber. Dribble sauce over duck. Serve with hot rice. Use sweet-sour chilli sauce as dip.

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[*] Note: Western way

Handmade Hokkien (Chinese) Noodles - Experimenting with different types of flour

Brand 'Rosenmehl' Flour

Hand-made Hokkien Noodles

Brand 'Diamant' Flour

Hand-made Hokkien Noodles

Today I tried to make my own Hokkien noodles. But I wasn't sure which flour to take for best results. So I made some experiments.

Pasta Flour (Brand 'Diamant'

• 250 gm pasta flour
• 125 ml water
• 1 tsp lye water
• 1 tsp salt

Result: Colour is pleasant yellow like hokkien noodles. Chewy texture. Good result.

Allpurpose flour (Brand 'Rosenmehl')

• 250 gm flour
• 125 ml water
• 1 ts lye water
• 1 tsp salt

Result: Colour is yellow but with tinge of grey. Chewy texture. Good result.

In my opinion, both flours are suitable for Hokkien noodles. No big difference in texture. Only a slight difference in colour - all purpose flour has a slight greyish tinge but it is only noticeable when you put the two noodles together.