Cup Julienne (Pie Tee)

Traditionally, this recipe is to make Pie Tee (top hats). The ingredients usually calls for Yam bean but I have altered the recipe with ingredients that are easily available in the supermarket here. So yam bean has been substituted with swede. Of course, you can use the original ingredient of Yam bean if you can get it at your nearest supermarket.

Photo via Hanamemories

The traditional case can be easily bought in Malaysia but there isn't any available here so instead of making the traditional cups from scratch which I deem tedious, I have created an alternative way of making a cup / top hat to stuff the fillings. Wonton skin was used and it only takes a couple of minutes to make it so nothing as complicated as making mixture and deep frying each and every case.

Cup Julienne / Pie Tee Recipe

serves 6

Ingredients:

• Vegetable oil
• 20 wonton skin / wrapper
• 3 cloves garlic (minced)
• 300g yam bean / jicamma (julienne) *I used swede
• 2 large carrots (julienne)
• 1/2 caup water
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce to taste
• ground white pepper to taste

• spring onion (thinly sliced)
• fried shallots

Methods:

1.  Preheat oven at 180^oC. Brush some oil on a mini cupcake tray. Place a square piece of wonton skin. wrapper in each cupcake mould. Brush with more oil over the wanton skin so it takes the shape of the cup. Place the tray in the preheated oven and bake for a few minutes until golden brown. Repeat. Be careful not to bake for too long as it turns golden really quickly. When the cups are ready, remove the wonton skin cups and place on a wire rack to cool.

2.  Heat some oil on the wok and sauté garlic, then add yam bean and carrots, and fry for 1 minute. Add water and cook until water is reduced and absorbed. Then add soy sauce to taste. Cook until moisture is reduced so it will not make the casing soggy when assembled.

3.  Scoop a spoonful of cooked yam bean and carrots into the baked wonton skin cup. Make sure to squeeze out any moisture if any. Serve with some sprinkling of spring onions and fried shallots.

Tips:

• Yam bean / jicama is a little difficult to get in London so if you are unable to get it near you, substitute with swede. It tastes as good.
• Wonton skin can also be substituted with filo pastry. 

    

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Rick Stein's Turmeric-Marinated Chicken Wrapped in Lime Leaves

The appetising look of this dish caught my eye while flipping through Rick Stein's cookbook. I really like how this recipe has made use of the very fragrant kaffir lime leaves to wrap the chicken to keep moist and from burning. This is a dish made by a Frenchman who lives in Hanoi since the mid-1980s, so he is pretty much local. He made this dish for Rick Stein during his visit in Vietnam.

This recipe is best cooked on a barbecue but cooking on a pan or grill on the stove will still taste as amazing, only without the smokiness from the charcoal barbecue. 

Turmeric-marinated Chicken Wrapped in Lime Leaves

Adapted from Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1kg skinned boneless chicken thighs
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 4 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp lime juice (about 1 lime)
• 3 bird's eye chilli, finely chopped
• 2 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ground white pepper
• 40 double-lobed kaffir lime leaves
• Vegetable oil
• Bamboo skewers

• Vietnamese dipping sauce (Nuoc Cham) - recipe below

Method:

1.  Cut the chicken thighs to about 2.5cm cubes.

2.  Mix the turmeric, fish sauce, lime juice, chopped chilli, shallots and white pepper in a bowl.

3.  Add chicken into the bowl and stir well.

4.  Cover and leave to marinate for about 2 hours or more.

5.  Meanwhile, soak the bamboo skewers in cold water and prepare the dipping sauce (recipe below).

6.  When the marinated chicken is ready, wrap each piece of chicken with lime leaf and thread through the bamboo skewers.

7.  Brush the skewered chicken with some oil and barbeque or grill for about 3 minutes on each side until just cooked. Careful not to burn them.

8.  Place the cooked chicken skewers on a plate and serve with Nuoc Cham dipping sauce. 

Nuoc Cham:

Recipe (doubled) from Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp lime juice (about 2 lime)
• 4 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp palm sugar
• 2 tsp chopped ginger
• 2  bird's eye chilli, finely sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 4 tbs water

Method:

1.  Mix all ingredients in a bowl and divide into dipping saucers before serving.

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Banana Tree followed by Upperfield

About 4 weeks ago, we were at the London Emergenza Showcase Competition. The final 16 unsigned International bands had to compete for one spot to perform at Taubertal Festival in Rothenburg with the likes of Biffy Clyro and Editor. The bands played their original best songs and the panel of judges selected the best based on criteria such as Stage Presence and Song-writing skills. Before heading to The Garage to support these unsigned bands, we made sure we fill ourselves up with some proper meal at Banana Tree so we have enough energy to enjoy the night.

Upperfield at Emergenza

I must say that I immediately liked Banana Tree from the first time I visited at Angel. This time, we were at the Soho branch. The interior is filled with bare concrete long tables and wooden benches, no fuss décor that exudes warmth. Even the service complements. It was mid afternoon when we got there so everyone was really hungry. It was not surprising we all had a combo up. With an extra £3.25 each, we get Sesame Glass Noodle Salad, Sweet Corn Cakes, Spicy Crackers and Steamed Jasmine Rice in addition to our main course. What a good deal! Who would miss out on that. If you are not as hungry, I suggest ordering mains and rice separately so you can have less rice and more dishes. That's what we would normally do but not when the tummy's growling like crazy.

Beef Rendang with Special Combo was very flavourful

Crispy chicken with mango and sweet lime sauce.

I ordered the tamarind crispy fish with Thai basil glaze. Everything on the plate was delicious, except the sweet corn cakes. The salad was nutty; the fish, crispy with a tang from tamarind and fragrance of the basil. The vegetarian dish of Spicy Tamarind Aubergine was also very tasty. 

I will definitely be back again to try more of their food. The most tempting dish is the Kajang Chicken Satay. Kajang is a town in Malaysia that is renowned for its satay. I have had them in Kajang and gosh, it was GOOD! I'll also recommend trying a typical Malaysian drink, the spiced Malay 'pull' tea. Will write more after my next visit.

Smile..

Good service, good food and portion big enough for hungry diners.

Frown..

Nothing to frown about.

Will I return?

Will definitely return for some simple and tasty South East Asian food.

BANANA TREE

103 Wardour Street
W1F 0UQ London
(Soho Branch)
Tel: +44 (0)20 7437 1351

Other branches at: Angel, Bayswater, Clapham Junction, Maida Vale and West Hampstead

Back to the Emergenza Showcase

Now that I'm done telling you about Banana Tree, lets get back to the Emergenza Showcase. The 16 bands who played, some were some really good and some, I would say not our cup of tea. Although Black Orchid Empire won, Upperfield was one of our favourites of the night. Even though Upperfield did not make it to Taubertal Festival, they won the best guitarist of the night, taking home a valve amplifier, now an add on to their studio.

Here's my personal Upperfield favourites: 'Hello' and 'Rainbow'. Hope you like them as much and do let me know what you think.

Voted as the best guitarist of the night by the panel of judges. The prize was a valve amplifier from Marshall Amplification.

That's us with the friendly Upperfield

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Sweet and Sour Chicken for Breakfast?!

This is a very delicious chicken dish, although not traditional Chinese, is popular in Western countries. Through my observation, it is rather typical for non-Chinese to order sweet and sour chicken with egg fried rice in a Chinese restaurant and more so at a Takeaway. Guess who is a fan. So being the 'best girlfriend' as quoted by M that very Saturday for being his personal shopping assistant, I decided to top it up with his favourite sweet and sour chicken; deep-fried battered chicken coated with sweet and sour sauce.

Sweet and sour chicken

Normally, I would avoid deep frying at home but since it was a date night in with M, it has to be proper cooking from start to finish. No shortcuts. Although the hot oil spit all over my arms and me swearing gracefully at it, it was  a very good effort. M being all manly, offered to do the shallow frying for me halfway through. The pain was well worth it, as the results were fantastic. I got a rave review from my favourite guinea pig.

"OOOooHhhh MY GOD!! This is like orgy in the mouth!"

I probably would not describe it as orgasmic but it was very delicious indeed. I cooked enough for four and we ate portions for three. M ate like a dragon. Ironic he would say, as I am usually the one with the dragon appetite. As for that little portion of leftover chicken, M suggested...

"Sweet and sour chicken for breakfast?!"

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Adapted from Rasa Malaysia's Bee Yinn

Ingredients:

• 540g skinless chicken fillet (cubed)
• 2 green bell peppers
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3 shallots
• 200g pineapple
• Oil for frying

For the Batter:

• 4 tbs plain flour
• 4 tbs corn flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2  cup water

For the Sweet and Sour Sauce:

• 6 tbs tomato ketchup
• 1 tbs Sriracha Hot Chilli Sauce
• 1 tbs honey
• 2 tsp plum sauce
• 1 tsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp Chinese rice vinegar
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 3 tbs water
• 1 tsp corn starch
• 3 dashes white pepper powder
• 2 tbs oil

Method:

1.  Mix ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and set aside.
2.  Cube the chicken fillet and coat them in the mixed batter.
3.  Heat the oil in a wok. Deep fry the battered chicken and place them on a plate with kitchen towel to drain access oil.
4.  Pour out the oil from deep frying and leave 2 tablespoons of the oil in the wok.
5.  Fry the shallots and garlic until fragrant, add in the bell pepper and pineapple.
6.  Pour in the sweet and sour sauce and let boil.
7.  Toss the chicken quickly to coat them with the sauce.
8.  Serve and decorate it with some parsley leaves if you have some.

Note:

• You can use other chilli sauce or omit it if you like. I had only Sriracha when I was preparing this.
• Make sure the sauce is just enough to coat the chicken. It should not swim in too much sauce.

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