Everything with Fries

I've heard of this restaurant, but never had the opportunity to try it out.  So, one Friday, after not being able to dine at a much anticipated Indian restaurant that decided to close on a FRIDAY(???), we walked down Joo Chiat and chose Everything with Fries for dinner.  The design draws you with it's simple, all white decor, black chalkboard and jars of lemons as accents.  The menu was equally simple: fish, chicken or lamb burger and of course beef.  I went for the classic burger.  Vic went for the lamb.  Unfortunately, the lamb did not impress as it was a bit dry.  They had a selection of fries and seasonings.  We went for the classic seasoning (as suggested by the server) and the McDonald's-sized fries.  The burger was nice and fries decent.  Overall, an okay place, but I don't think I'll be running back to this restaurant anytime soon.

Cute decor

Our buddy, Flo, and my hubby, Vic

Breakfast Casserole

My husband and I decided to make a trip back to the States for Father's Day.  It turned out that my brother and cousin would also be in town for the weekend so we all decided a brunch at home would be a nice way to celebrate our fathers.  Since we would be gathering at my parents, I took the lead in what we would be having for brunch.  I am usually a freak when it comes to dinner parties and I get way too complicated and end up spending the entire meal in the kitchen.  So, this time my motto was simple and easy.  Hmmmm....how do I do that?


I had phase in my cooking life where I obsessed over brunch because I was getting tired of the typical dinner party.  During this phase, I stumbled upon one of the greatest brunch dishes EVER...Crème Brûlée French Toast.  Delish!  Okay, course #1, check (recipe to follow in a later entry). We also needed a savory dish.  I poured over recipe after recipe online, probably for hours, as I often lose track of all the time I spend searching the internet.  I wanted something easy, a one dish wonder, something to satisfy the meat eaters in the group and also incorporate all the things you think of when you think of breakfast.  I think I found the one dish wonder in this yummy breakfast casserole that incorporates all the lovely breakfast treats I love. 

I tested the recipe on my hubby who is always happy to indulge.

Well, the results are in.  It was a true hit and so easy to make.  Sure there is some prep work that needs to be done, but you can do that in advance, pop it in the oven an hour before your ready to eat and voila!  I hope you enjoy it too!

Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients
2 small potatoes or 1 large baking potato

½ zucchini

1 uncooked sausage

1 small onion or ½ a medium sized onion, chopped

½ c chopped mushrooms

3 garlic cloves

1 tsp chili powder, divided

2 tsp garlic/onion spice mix or any other such with herbs, divided

1 tsp dried rosemary or 2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped

1 tsp salt

½ tsp white pepper

½ tsp dried thyme or 1 tsp fresh thyme removed from stems

1 foot long baguette cut into ½ in cubes

8 eggs

¾ - 1 c milk
1 c shredded cheese (I used an Italian mix of Mozzarella, Provolone, Fontina, etc)
1 c freshly grated parmesan

1. Beat 8 eggs folding in 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp pepper, ½ tsp chili powder, 1 tsp garlic onion spice mix, ¼ c parmesan.

2. Slowly pour milk into egg mixture.

3. Add cubed bread to egg mixture and ensure all bread is completely covered by liquid and let soak until all liquid is absorbed, preferably overnight.

4. Sautee onion in frying pan on medium heat for 5 minutes.  Add garlic and sausage that is removed from the skin, stirring frequently.

5. After 5 minutes add mushrooms, ½ tsp chili powder, 1 pinch of salt, 1 pinch of pepper, rosemary and thyme.  Continue to sautee until completely cooked and nice browning has occurred.  Remove from heat.

6. Lightly grease or spray a 8x8 pan with Pam.

7.  Peel potatoes and cut in half crosswise.  Slice potato directly into baking pan with a mandoline or mini hand slicer (which is what I have.  Very handy!), about 1mm thick.  Potatoes should completely cover the bottom of the pan at about ¼ - ½ inch thick layer.

8. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper and a little rosemary and thyme if you wish.

9. Sprinkle with ¼ c shredded cheese and ¼ c freshly grated parmesan.

10. Sprinkle sausage mixture over cheese.

11. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and slice with mandoline or hand slicer, about 1mm thick, directly over pan.  Should cover pan with one layer.

12. Sprinkle with more shredded cheese and grate a bit more parmesan.

13. Pour bread mixture over zucchini, ensuring mixture is evenly distributed.

14. Sprinkle with remaining grated cheese and grate more parmesan.

15. Bake in 375 degree oven for 25 – 35 minutes, checking center for doneness (skewer in center of pan should glide easily through to the bottom without anything sticking to the skewer).  You should not see any liquid and the top should be golden brown as photo.

16. Remove from heat and let set for 10-15 minutes before eating.

Plated up for Vic with a sliced baguette, hazelnut honey, butter and freshly-made guacamole for the casserole.

Korean Crispy Chicken...oy vey!

People always ask me if I cook Korean food.  Well, I attempt to cook Korean food.  I've never followed a recipe.  When I asked my mom to teach me how to cook Korean food she said, you just know.  Her mother never taught her how to cook Korean food.  "You just go by taste."  Uhhh, okay mom.  Thanks. Conclusion, my Korean food repertoire consists of kalbi and moo namul (shredded radish with red pepper).  Sad considering I'm half Korean.  


For some reason, this week I felt the need to add to my Korean culinary skills and attempt to cook something Korean.  I searched the web and found this funny lady who posts Korean cooking videos, Maangchi.  I thought "awesome" since Koreans notoriously cook without recipes, I could just "see" what she was doing and do the same!  I searched her recipes and found one for fried chicken. Perfect, since the phone line to our much loved Chicken Run has been disconnected for the last 3 weeks.  Vic and I are suffering withdrawals.  They have the BEST crispy chicken EVER!  I challenge anyone to find better chicken, really.  My sister and brother-in-law visited us in Singapore and of the entire trip all they kept saying was "that crispy chicken was incredible!" not "we had such a great time with you," not "Singapore is such a nice place," not "Bali is Beautiful," but "we can't stop thinking about that chicken!" Trust me, it's that good.   


Anyway, since our twice a week dinner option disappeared, I thought I'd try to be a good wife and make my own crispy chicken.  I watched the video of Maangchi as she made the oh so simple sauce and the 6 ingredient fried chicken that's to be tossed in the sauce.  Easy enough, I thought.


Prepped the chicken...check.  Prepped the sauce...check.  Now, just waiting for dinnertime to fry the chicken and toss in the sauce.  


We had a friend over for dinner, so once we started getting hungry, I left Vic and our friend to chat while I went into the kitchen to finish up the chicken.  


Two plus hours, crystalizing sauce, boiling sauce, oil everywhere and a giant burn on the arm later, the damn chicken was finished.  


I have never fried chicken before and now I know why.  Not only did I use an ENTIRE bottle of oil, I could have honestly used another bottle.  This explains all the old Chinese ladies who leave the grocery store with two 1 gallon bottles of oil in each hand.  

I must say, I'm pretty impressed with how the chicken turned out, but I don't know when I'm going to tackle those wings again.  Husband's comment, "it's good, really.  It's just a bit too sweet.  I'll make the sauce next time, you'll see. REALLY???  Go ahead sweetie, give it a go. ;-)


Here's the recipe incase anyone else wants to give at go as well.  


40 chicken wings
2 eggs
1/2 c all purpose flour
1/2 c potato starch
2 tsp salt
pepper to taste


1 c sliced ginger
1 c water
1 c brown sugar
1/4 c vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 c corn starch (or 1 1/4 c sugar and 1/4 c water)


1 tsp chopped red pepper
1 tsp ground red pepper
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

1. Boil water and add sliced ginger.
2. After 5-10 minutes add the brown sugar.
3. Once the sauce begins to thicken and all sugar is melted, about 15 minutes, add the vinegar and soy sauce.
4. After the sauce begins to thicken again, add the corn starch. This is one step that I will leave out the next time I make it and I'll just double all the other ingredients to get more sauce.
5. Keep the sauce on simmer while you make the chicken being sure to stir occasionally.  Keep the heat low so it doesn't burn!
6. Fill a wok with enough oil to fry the chicken, approximately 2L.
7. Wash and pat dry the chicken and place in large bowl.
8. Add eggs, flour, starch, salt and pepper to the bowl and mix until all chicken is well coated.  
9. Test the oil temperature by dropping a bit of the chicken coating into the oil.  Do not being frying the chicken until the oil is nice and hot or else you'll end up in the kitchen for over 2 hours!
10. Fry the chicken once until you get a nice light brown color and remove from oil to drain.
11. Fish out any bits of coating that may be floating in the oil.
12. Begin frying the chicken for the second time.  This is what gives it that great crispy crust.
13. Once the chicken looks nice and browned remove and drain.  
14. Place the chicken in a wide flat pan that is on medium heat and begin to drizzle the sauce over the chicken.  Sprinkle the sesame seeds and chili over the chicken and keep tossing until well coated. Enjoy!

Fresh Vegetable and Quinoa Salad

I've been doing a lot of cooking lately and haven't had the chance to start posting, but today I start!  This is something I came up with because, as usual, I couldn't find all the ingredients I needed and then I just started adding things that I thought would taste good.


There's an abundance of protein from the soy beans and garbanzo beans, about 30% of the RDA for protein.  Not bad for a salad! And, it's incredibly fast and easy to make.  Enjoy!

Quinoa and Vegetable Salad

½ c quinoa

1 c vegetable or chicken stock

¾ c garbanzo beans

¾ c soy beans, shelled and cooked

1 tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley

1 tbsp fresh dill

1 ½ tbsp chopped green onion (about 1 stalk)

1 med sized tomato, diced

¾ c diced Japanese cucumber, or any other cucumber

Juice from 1 lemon

1-2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

Salt & pepper to taste

1. Bring stock to a boil and then add quinoa.  Cover and reduce heat to medium and simmer for approximately 12 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed.

2. Meanwhile prepare all other vegetables.  I prefer raw garbanzo beans so I purchase dried beans and rehydrate them in water overnight.

3. Once the Quinoa all the liquid has been absorbed by the quinoa, remove from heat and let cool.  I’m too impatient so I put it in the fridge or freezer for a quicker cool down time.

4. Once all ingredients are sufficiently chilled, place in one big bowl, sprinkle with the lemon juice, seasonings and olive oil and toss until well coated. 

5. Salad can be served chilled or at room temperature.  

Makes about 4 cups.  Serves 3-4.

Melben Seafood - Best Crab Bee Hoon

Where do I even start.  Well, first with a HUGE thank you to Kai for introducing me to the most scrumptious food on earth…Crab Bee Hoon.  OMG! 

I have always been a crab purist, eating it just steamed and maybe with a slight dip in melted butter or a drop or two of lemon juice.  I find that to truly enjoy the taste of such a delicate food you mustn’t slather it with spice after spice after sauce after whatever…If you have a nice, fresh crab it’s so sweet and succulent it truly needs no spice.  The natural seawater would have already slightly salted it and that’s all you really need.  Bad crab, on the other hand can be dry, salty and tasteless, but don’t even go there.  Yuck. 

So, while visiting Singapore, which is now our home, our friend Kai took us to Melben (yes, as is Melbourne).  He strongly suggested the Crab Bee Hoon although I was skeptical.  Once it arrived (in soup), I was a bit hesitant to take a piece as I really don’t like having sauce/soup all over my hands and it was damn hot.  However, once the crab cooled down a bit, I grabbed a piece, took one bite and aaaahhhhh I was in heaven.  Seriously???  Holy crap!  I have never had such a delightful taste dancing around in my mouth.  The buttery soup kept the crab soft and tender, but it wasn’t so creamy that I felt sick after eating nearly ¾ of the crab.  Yup, that’s right, amongst the three of us, I dare say I dominated.   When there is crab, watch out, I do have a tendency to get over zealous. 

I have not even mentioned the noodles that are swimming around in the soup and of course the soup itself.  It’s hard to describe what the flavor actually is.  It’s like a butter cream soup, but not thick.  I found myself slurping the remaining soup in-between bites of crab.  It added to the flavor of the crab and sent me into heaven.

This is our go to restaurant whenever we have visitors unless they are like Adrian and use a fork and knife to eat crab.  Really?? I know your mamma raised you with manners that say no food eaten without fork and knife, but every now and then you need to cast all that aside and indulge.  My mamma raised me as a crab lover like herself and oh how grateful I am for that.  I am too easy to please. Just tickle my taste buds and your “in”. 
Blk 211 Lorong 8 Toa Payoh, #01-11/15 Singapore +65 6353 3120

Best Black Pepper Crab & Chili Crab Thus Far

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Eng Seng Restaurant, Still Road & Joo Chiat Place

When we made plans with Vic’s co-workers to have black pepper crab I was excited about the thought of having crab because I LOVE crab, but I'm not absolutely thrilled about the black pepper part.  I’ve had black pepper crab and chili crab, on several occasions, at well-known places such as Jumbo Seafood.  I know, it’s a bit touristy, but they did become famous for their Chili Crab.  Let’s just say I find the Chili Crab at Jumbo tasty, but not "knock your socks off" delicious.  The gooey, messy part makes me shy away from it altogether because the taste does not warrant dealing with slimy hands all throughout dinner.  But, I digress.  Back to dinner. 

When we arrived it was the usual wait for a table.  20 minutes later we got our table and the fun began.  The black pepper crab arrived first.  Hesitantly, I reached for a manageable piece.  black pepper crab is not as much of a burden as chili crab because the sauce isn’t so wet.  I tore into the crab as I normally do, manners left at the storefront, and much to my surprise I could actually taste the crab.  black pepper crab is normally not that exciting for me because: #1 the s@%t burns my entire mouth and #2 I love crab and you can’t even make out that it’s crab with all that black pepper swirling around in your mouth.  

 The sauce was quite different than all the other black pepper crab places I’ve been to.  There was a slight sweetness/mildness to the pepper that allowed you to actually enjoy the moist and tender crab meat.  There is also a secret to the way they cook their crab, I swear.  They must soak the crab in milk or cook it in milk first because it’s so juicy.  It tastes like they cook it in Crab Bee Hoon Soup, the most delightful dish on earth (refer to previous blog on 7/30/2011), but that’s a whole other story. 

Next came the chili crab.  Again, much to my surprise it was so yummy.  Every other chili crab I’ve had tastes relatively the same.  This one, however, was different.  I can’t quite place it, but again the chili sauce is not just a bunch of chili and egg.  It collaborated with the crab instead of dominating the crab.  The start of the dish was able to shine through allowing me to enjoy each and every succulent bite of the crab meat.  

Words cannot describe how excited I am to have found a place that has black pepper crab that I can endure and actually like (as well as chili crab, although I prefer the black pepper crab). The bummer is Vic (my husband) isn’t as excited as I am about crab.  Anyone ever interested in a crab-eating partner, you know who to call.

p.s. I don’t want to think about the idea that MSG had anything to do with the amazing flavor, so I won’t!