Culinary Adventures with Camilla

We visited Singapore by tabletop earlier this week in our Cooking Around the World Adventures . On the Map Singapore is a tiny, heavily urbanized island/city-state in Southeast Asia. It's located at the end of the Malayan Peninsula between Malaysia and Indonesia. from geography.howstuffworks.com A Few Fun Facts Singapore consists one main island and 63 other tiny islands. Almost all of the islands are uninhabited. The national flower, Vanda Miss Joaquim, was first discovered in 1893 by Agnes Joaquim, an Armenian. The orchid is a natural hybrid. Although English is the official National language, the national anthem ‘Majulah Singapura‘ is actually sung in Malay. The flying fox, the world’s largest bat, can be found on Pulau Ubin, one of the islands off mainland Singapore. The Bukit Timah Nature Reserve in Singapore contains more species of trees than the entire North American continent. The Singapore Sling was first served in 1915 at the Long Bar of the Raffles...

Okonomiyaki  is a savory pancake.  Okonomi  means something along the lines of "what you want" and  yaki  means "grilled" or "cooked." We've made it before - during our  Cooking Around the World Adventure   when we traveled to Japan by tabletop. Click to see that post: here . Tonight, it was less "what you want" and more "what's in the vegetable bin." I had green cabbage, purple cabbage, yellow carrots, and a fennel bulb. It was a quick, filling dinner. Ingredients 2 C organic chicken stock 2 C white whole wheat flour 4 eggs 6 C chopped or sliced vegetables (I used a mixture of cabbage, carrots, and fennel) 1 C tuna 1/2 C dried shrimp butter for pan-frying mayonnaise, to garnish okonomiyaki sauce, to garnish Procedure Mix all of the ingredients - except butter, mayonnaise, and okonomiyaki sauce - together in a mixing bowl. Melt butter in a large, flat-bottom pan and spoon 1/2 C batter into a pancake sha...

  Okonomiyaki  is a savory pancake.  Okonomi  means something along the lines of "what you want" and  yaki  means "grilled" or "cooked." We've made it before - during our Cooking Around the World Adventure   when we traveled to Japan by tabletop. Click here   to see that post . Tonight, I decided to add chicken. The batter: 2 C chicken stock, 2 C white whole wheat flour, and 4 eggs. Whisk all of the ingredients together to form a thin pancake batter. Stir in 6 C of cabbage, 1 C cooked chicken, and 1/2 C dried shrimp. Cook in a flat pan until the batter is cooked, the cabbage is softened, and the pancake is lightly browned. I have seen beautiful images of okonomiyaki garnished with okonomiyaki sauce marbled with mayonnaise. We opted for the plop and smear method. So, it wasn't very photogenic, but it was delicious. All the  okonomiyaki  sauce recipes I found were slightly different. I mixed some ketchup, honey, lem...

This is a great recipe for leftover rice. At least I liked it. Riley was a little weirded out by the tiny eyes looking at him. Oh, well... I did use whole shrimps versus shrimp paste; I also didn't have any eggs, so we went without. 4 C cold, cooked rice 2 T olive oil 2 T butter 1 T minced garlic 3 T dried mini shrimp 3 shishito peppers, sliced soy sauce sliced cucumbers for garnish sliced tomatoes for garnish In a large flat bottom pan heat the olive oil. Add the garlic, shrimp, and peppers and cook until aromatic. Add the rice and butter. Break up the clumps of rice with a fork. Cook until completely heated through and sizzling. Season with soy sauce. Garnish with slices of cucumbers and tomatoes.

One thing that is apparent from looking through dozens and dozens of recipes for Burmese salads: they have mastered the art of making salads, from choosing the vegetables to adding extra ingredients for saltiness, texture, fragrance and acidity. This cabbage salad was delicious! Forgive the lack of measurements and significant liberties taken from a traditional cabbage salad. I didn't measure. I simply combined, tasted, and adjusted as needed. I also didn't make this as spicy as it usually is. Chop a head of cabbage into bite-sized pieces, cover in salted water, and place in the fridge for an hour. In the meantime, saute dried shrimp and shallots in a splash of olive until they they are beginning to crisp. Drain the soaked cabbage thoroughly, then put into a bowl. Add the shallots and shrimp mixture, 2 tablespoons lime juice (I used Bearss limes), and a generous drizzling of oil. Mix thoroughly by hand, squeezing the cabbage slightly to bruise it. Taste and add more salt...