The Runaway Cook

A diary of culinary adventures

Leaving

Posted by Elizabeth Wednesday, September 29, 2010 comments (0)



Today, everyone is flying home . . . well, most people are flying home. A few brave tadpoles in this pool have decided to venture off into the wild and chance being eaten new habitats. I happen to be one of those insane individuals. I'm fly to Dubai to connect with a flight to Rome. Yes! ROME!! I am going back to Italy to learn about and explore the country on my own and any other that I might run into on my trek to Hamburg, Germany.


I am nervous and worried. I fear this trip may be more challenging than I had imagined before. I fear that maybe not all the fish in this new pond are willing to let this tadpole continue swimming and growing unharmed. Perhaps this new adventure will be the time of my life, changing me, and showing myself that I am stronger than I had ever imagined. Or will it be the event that tries my sole and finds me weak, uncertain, and false. The worst part is I am not sure what the answer will be.


There are so many "what-if's" that I feel like I'm jumping to my death. I am pretty sure that I will not be sleeping in the next 24 hours and that is making my really worried. I can't speak much Italian and that might be a problem along the way. What will I do and how will I get to Salerno and Amalfi? How will I ever figure this out?. . . I wish I was not so alone in all this.




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The Last Night

Posted by Elizabeth comments (0)

How strange to be putting an end to this chapter tomorrow only to begin a far scarier one alone. I can hardly believe that it's been a month since I arrived in a panic from Rome to Singapore.

With only hours left to my stay here in Singapore I have once again traveled to my favorite place, Little India. I feel so natural here, comfortable in the alien parallel universe that it is. I love the people here. Shop keepers are sweet and care about who you are, not how deep your pockets are. I love how genuine and dirt-under-their-fingernails it feels in this cubicle of the city. I just can't get enough of the smell here. I know that it seems like all I talk about is the smell here, but it's just that this sensation overwhelms your body and imprints a memo
ry that covers you like a blanket every time you get a whiff of it.

Tonight I spent the whole evening walking up and down the shadowy streets with friends. Stopping of course to eat at our favorite place Anjappar. This small Indian restaurant is where the best food is. If you go to Singapore you must stop to eat here.

On the menu for us:
Filled flatbreads
Chicken tikka
Biryani
Curried vegetables
Idli
Paratha
Yogurt sauce
Lime juice



These are all favorites of mine. The warm rice pilaf of poultry, spices, herbs, fruits, and nuts that is biryani can calm all my nerves in a second. But beyond the dense curries and refreshing yogurt raita, the most amazing array of Indian foods that are the base to the meal, literally, the bread.

Paratha
My favorite is called Roti Paratha, what I like to say is the baby of a croissant and a tortilla. (See Recipe Below) This flatbread has buttery thin layers just like puffed pastry, yet is cooked flat in a pan like a tortilla. I can't seem to get enough of this stuff and plan on making for myself at home and school.

This bread makes the perfect edible utensil to eat pretty much anything. I love sopping up my curry sauce with it hehehehe. This bread is sold all over and can be made so that the little air pockets are filled with cheese, cinnamon and sugar, or even egg. It's pretty amazing. TRUTH- i actually smuggled in parata to this restaurant from a street vender that makes it just as good but for half the price- eek shhhhhhhh.

Idli
My second favorite is called idli. This is like a pancake made from a sourdough-like, fermented rice and lentil batter. The batter is steamed and comes out with a cake-like texture. Perfect for sopping up anything. I love the flavor of this, it's very similar to a sourdough pancake. . .but better and goes perfectly with juicy curries.

Lime Juice
Lime juice is actually a kind of "lemonade" drink made with these little dark green limes that are not nearly as harsh as the limes we are used to. So imagine lime-ade with none of that acidic harshness in the back of one's throat... that's a "lime juice."

After stuffing ourselves with more Indian food than we ever should have co
nsumed, I tried to slowly walk it off as we hobbled home. Seeing this place at night is like seeing behind the scenes of a magic show. Steam and smoke waft out of the market as they toast spices and prepare for the next day. The music plays louder, people in temple sing and twang their instruments, the incense hang in the cooling air and shops change shape.

I will miss this place like a friend.

Paratha

31/2 cups All purpose flour

11/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. Granulated sugar

3/4 cup Ghee, room temperature

(divided)

1 lg. Egg, beaten

3/4 cup Whole milk

1/2 cup Water


  1. In a bowl or heavy-duty stand mixer with a paddle attachment, ombine flour, salt, sugar
  2. Add 1/4 cup of the ghee and rub together with fingertips (or run on low with dough hook)until mixture looks mealy.
  3. Add egg, milk, and water. Using one hand, mix until a cohesive dough forms. (Continue to mix
  4. with paddle until a smooth elastic dough is formed.
  5. Knead into a smooth, soft, elastic dough, about 8 to 10 minutes if or longer if your kneading is not so strong
  6. It should be a bit moist and soft, but not wet. Cut into eight equal pieces, about 4 oz. each
  7. Coat a 12” round of the table with about 2 Tbsp of ghee. Coat hands liberally with ghee.
  8. Stretch the dough into a sheet by flattening and pulling dough
  9. Be sure that dough is coated in ghee on all surfaces
  10. Taking one edge of the round pull dough up into a rope letting the sides ripple into each other as the hang
  11. Swirl the rope into a rosette and let rest 10 minutes
  12. Roll out rosette into ¼ inch round
  13. Using a hot pan, preferably non-stick, add a bit of ghee to the pan and brown dough on both sides
  14. Once cooked and golden brown remove from pan and squish flatbread towards itself to exaggerate the air bubbles
  15. EAT IMMEDIATELY


*** Oil may be substituted for the ghee used in the cooking process and partially within the dough- ghee gives flavor so try to use as much clarified butter/ghee as possible




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STUDENTS!

Posted by Elizabeth Monday, August 2, 2010 comments (0)


It was my first day on the job today, and wheeew what a day it was. After a very interesting breakfast of congee (a porridee of rice that is topped with savory items soy sauce, onion, sesame oil and the like as well as very strange toppings that I have found I really can't swallow :/), terrible scrambled eggs, orange juice that really wasn’t juice, strange salad dressing on

salad and a lotus paste steamed dumpling I was ready to get out of the hotel and into the classroom. It is so hot here. Every time I breathe it’s feels like I’m trying to breathe water, not ideal for a terrestrial mammal.


What we did:


We immediately had a change of schedule this morning. It was forecasted to rain so we took a tour of the spice garden first. I was glad to see all the different spices and herbs and the many plants that they come from. Being in nature with no pressure to perform in the classroom was nice. And figuring out what all these plants were in front of our school was interesting. THe jungle here is becoming less intimidating. I loved our tour guide, AKA Chef Wilson. He made walking through giant killer ants bearable.. . . . yes I just said giant killer ants. Truth- they were not killer but their bites were painful and they really did crawl up our pants- ahhhhh.



After the tour we headed back into the kitchen to make Laksa. I have to admit that even though I am not so fond of shrimp paste, this dish was pretty delicious. Besides my new found approval of food including shrimp paste, I also discovered that I really like this style of learning. Each student is set up with their own in-counter induction burner, pots and pans, and stainless surface. The long tables are set up in the same way as a science lab. This set up along with the overhead mirror in the front made it possible for each student to make the item on demo. I loved it! I felt as though I was learning right from

the chef and could easily follow and reproduce what he was doing at the SAME time he was doing it.


Today was encouraging. I am so glad to have made it here and I am anxious to see what the rest of the week holds.


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First Impressions

Posted by Elizabeth comments (0)

Well I made it. After, over 14 hours of flying and a layover in Dubai, I have landed in singapore. It seems such a shock to have just been in Rome and now here is this tropical place. It’s raining here and as I look around me the waxy leaves of the plants the gloss and beads of liquid make this place seem nearly unreal. Even sitting in the taxi seemed somehow exotic.
I arrive at the hotel and took the “lift” up to my room on the ninth floor. I feel so nervous to meet the other 23 students here. I swipe my key card three times and finally get room 911 open, hopefully that number is just a coincidence and not a sign that I’m going to need an ambulance or something. As soon as I get in the room a place my now broken suitcase in a slightly out of the way place. Unfortunately, my brand new suitcase was crushed during the trip at some point and now there’s a two foot long slash on the side and parts of the hard shell have cracked off completely. But this turn of events will not bring me down, I’m in a jungle of sorts for goodness sake, and this is going to be great . . right?
Just two doors to the left is Chef Kirsten Kleeber’s room. I give her a call to let her know that although I am late I have made it here. After a brief conversation she lets me know that the whole group is about to meet in the lobby and head to a special reception, at which I must be in
perfectly pressed full uniform . . .AHHHHHHHH! I ended up just throwing on my uniform and rushing down nine floors to meet up with everyone.
We left the hotel crossed the street and walked up many, many brick steps to reach the At-Sunrice school. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by

Chef Christop, who proceeded is poking fun at our melting. Yes, after just fifteen minutes outside my chef coat was seriously soaking with sweat and my face dripping with salty water.
Chef Christop led us down more stairs and into a room with a table covered in delicious asian tapas. To

refresh our withering bodies were four pitchers of iced lemongrass tea. THis refreshment was so good that by the time I made it to the table it was gone. . .perfect...

Despite this semi-unfortunate series of events, I did get some amazing asian tapas. Eating was necessary at this point. I have not bee so grateful for such small bites of food in a long time. I hope tomorrow will be better. We have class starting at 7:45am sothis could be a miniature disaster. Another 6 hour time difference is not so good after such a crazy week in Italy... everyone cross your fingers.



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