Lent season brought out all the seafood in me. Hubby loves tempura a lot and so it's one of the dishes that I learned early.

Although I have an allergy to shellfish, I try my best to serve seafood whenever possible. It's good for my family to have a balanced diet. I'm able to eat shrimp as long as it's not saucy or soupy. The higher the essence concentration, the worst is my allergic reaction.

Tempura is a dish that's perfect for my dilemma.

Tip 1: Make sure you use ice water.
Tip 2: Do not overcook your seafood!
Tip 3: Prepare everything, the sauce, the rice, the drinks so as soon as your tempura is done, drained and all, it can be served and eaten immediately

Ingredients:
16 pcs prawn
1 medium sized potato, sliced 1/2 inch thick
1/2 of a medium sized carrot, sliced 1/2 inch think
2 tablespoons oil
1 egg
1 cup ice cold water
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup all purpose flour
500 ml - 1 liter oil for deep frying (depending on the size of your pan)

Serves 2-4 (depending on how greedy one can be!)

Procedures:
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a shallow skillet and fry carrots and potatoes until it's past half-cooked stage. Set aside.

In a small bowl, beat egg and ice water until mixture is frothy.

Add all purpose flour and baking soda. Beat until flour and baking soda is just mixed in. Do not over beat!

Make sure the oil for deep frying is hot.

Dip potatoes, carrots and prawn in the mixture and drop in hot oil. Do it by batches to maintain the oil's temperature doesn't go down.

Serve immediately with tempura sauce on the side. If you don't have tempura sauce, mix lemon juice and soy sauce to create your own sauce.

If you want to add more colour and texture to your plate, then have a little green salad and you're good to go!

Again, it's one of those things that I would normally skip studying... it seems too much of an effort for a very little return... WRONG!

This was hilariously easy and boy oh boy oh boy, the return is massive!

I was at "my disneyland" (a.k.a. supermarket), poultry section when I happened to look below eye level, which obviously is really low as I'm a bit related to the 7 dwarfs.

There I saw these glorious chicken carcasses... alright "bones", happily waiving at me and everyone else, sort of begging for someone to take them. So I happily took 3 of them. At less that AED 4 for 700 grams, why should I skimp?! 

Tip 1: Take off the foam that comes to surface but don't skim the fat off the liquid. The fat will serve as protection for your stock from the bacteria present in air.
Tip 2: Remove the fat before using the stock.


Ingredients:
1 1/2 kilo chicken bones, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 onion, chopped
1 celery, chopped
1 1/2 carrots, chopped
1 bouquet garni
Olive Oil
2 liters of cold water
2 teaspoons of salt
2 bay leaves

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large stock pot. Saute the onion until softened and slightly coloured, around 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

In 2 batches, brown chicken pieces on the pan for a bout 4-5 minutes. Return the onions to the pot. Add celery, carrots, salt to the pot with 2 liters of water. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat to barely a simmer. Simmer uncovered for 4 hours. Skim off foam that comes to the surface.

Add bay leaves 5 minutes before finishing. Strain the stock.

If you'll be storing this for a longer time, 2 weeks to a month, reduce the stock a bit more, approximately another simmering hour to make it more concentrated.

To store:
Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. If you want to freeze it, divide it in half liter volume, it's easier to use this way, ensuring you only de-frost the one you'll be using.

-AcousticChef.... cookin' one tune at a time!

Lent brought out dishes I will normally not cook. First, it's new to my kids. Second, I haven't made it, ever. 

My mom cooks escabeche when we were kids so we'll eat seafood, at least in my case, eat a fish, you know, balance diet and all. I actually love this dish, I can enjoy the taste of fish with the gingery, sweet and sour sauce.

Tip 1: Choose meaty fish so you can enjoy this dish so much better
Tip 2: It's up to you whether you want a whole fish or use fish steaks
Tip 3: Make sure your batonnets are of the same size so they cook evenly

Ingredients:
500 grams king fish steak
4 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 inches ginger, sliced into batonnets
1/2 red capsicum, deseeded and cut into batonnets
1/2 stick celery, cut into batonnets
1/2 small carrot, cut into batonnets
2 spring onions, julienne
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Serves 4

Procedures:
Scrub the fish with coarse salt to clean the steaks. Rinse well and sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon of salt all over the fish and set aside.

Whisk the vinegar, water, sugar and the remaining salt in a small glass bowl until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a skillet and stir fry the garlic until golden brown. Add onion and stir fry until translucent. Add the ginger and vinegar mixture then bring to a boil.

Add the capsicum, celery, carrot and spring onions. Mix well.

Dissolve cornstarch in 2 tablespoons cold water then add to the mixture in the skillet. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens.

Transfer the fish to a serving platter and spoon the cooked veggies and sauce over it.

Serve hot with plain or fried rice and an extra bowl of sauce.

Happy Eating!

Something about this dish intimidates the heck out of me... must be the French in it...

Then I made it. It was ridiculously easy.

Tip 1: Get the big chicken portions, easier to pound and roll
Tip 2: Go easy on the salt, it's always easier to fix it less salted than oversalted
Tip 3: Use a cling film to cover your chicken before you pound it senseless

Ingredients:
4 chicken breast, boneless, skinless
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
6 slices Emmental cheese
4 slices sandwich ham
1/2 cup bread crumbs, seasoned
1 egg, lightly beaten

Cream Sauce
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 sour cream
1 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line your baking dish with a silicon mat or spray is with nonstick cooking spray.

Pound chicken breasts to 1/4 inch thickness. Sprinkle each piece with salt and pepper then place 1 ham and 1 cheese on top before rolling it up. Secure the roll with toothpick.

Coat each roll with egg wash before sprikling bread crumbs all over.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until it's no longer pink. Place 1/2 slice of cheese on top of each roll and return it to the oven until it's nicely melted.

In the meantime, cook your sauce by mixing cream of mushroom, sour cream and lemon in a saucepan. Set aside but keep warm.

Once rolls are cooked, remove the toothpicks and serve as a whole or as medallions topped with the Cream Sauce and white rice.

Happy Eating!