Passport & Plate - Mama Nisha's Rice Porridge

spicyapron — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 18:09:44 GMT

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked rice
8 cups filtered water
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon fenugreek seeds
1 pandan (screw pine) leaves, one leaf tied into a knot
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, coarsely chopped
3.5 ounces (100 grams) minced beef or chicken
3.5 ounces (100 grams) diced carrots
¼ cup coconut milk
3 tablespoons cilantro leaves, chopped

How to prepare this recipe
Wash the rice in a big sieve. Do this three or four times, swishing the rice until the water runs clear. Drain and set aside.
Put the rice in a big pot and add 8 cups of filtered water. Bring to a slow boil. Be sure not to let it burn.
Add the vegetable oil, peppercorns, fenugreek seeds and pandan leaves and stir until contents are well mixed.
Add the garlic and ginger and stir for a minute.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and monitor the grains until it resembles a thick, creamy porridge. This should take about 5 minutes.
Add the minced meat and carrots and heat until the meat is cooked and the carrots are soft.
When the porridge is fragrant, add the coconut milk and cilantro leaves. Leave to cook over low heat for 10 minutes while stirring occasionally.
Using a ladle, stir contents and scrape the pot to make sure nothing sticks before serving.

The story behind this recipe
If you ask me what would I choose as my last meal, I have too many favorites to choose from. Doubtless, however, is that the soothing staying power of my mother’s wholesome rice porridge is among the most memorable.
The common definition of rice porridge within the Malay community is Bubur Lambuk (pronounced boo-boor lahm-bok), which has various ingredients and spices such as cumin, fennel, garlic, onions, dried prawns and lots of coconut milk as well as black pepper. A bowl of this is undoubtedly flavourful but can be overwhelmingly flavored with spices.
My mother’s rice porridge has a comforting effect. She said it was a staple for her growing up in our hometown in Penang, Malaysia, and it has become the one thing I look forward during Eid, which marks the end of fasting during Ramadan each year. In many parts of Malaysia, hearty rice porridge is a staple during the breaking of one’s fast. Mosques and suraus (smaller prayer halls) usually prepare cauldrons of rice porridge to distribute to people. Although it is mostly meant for the poor and destitute, everyone is welcome to take home a packet or two.
My mother, Nisha Ibrahim recalled that in her youth, “At 5:30 in the evenings during Ramadan, we would flock to the mosque to get some porridge with our tiffin carriers, but over the years I have used my own recipe, which doesn’t require a lot spices. I use simple ingredients, which create a balanced flavour.”
When she was a child, people didn’t use any plastic containers when they got their porridge stash at the mosque. “We would take those aluminum mugs with the lids so the food would stay warm when we brought it home.”
The added oomph in her recipe comes from the generous portions of fresh garlic and ginger. Both provide a calming effect on the stomach. In the past, whenever I thought of rice porridge, I not only thought of breaking fast but also associated it with nursing a flu to feel better. Now I feel it’s a great meal for any day of the week.

Passport & Plate - Green Lane Beef Curry

spicyapron — Thu, 6 Mar 2014 00:14:39 GMT

Ingredients
For the Garlic/ginger paste:
1 garlic bulb
1 3-inch piece ginger
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Method: Put everything in a blender or mill (not a food processor) and blend until mix becomes smooth paste.

For the Cashew Nut paste:
1/2 cup of raw cashew nuts
1 cup warm water
Method: Soak raw cashew nuts in water and cover for 30 minutes. Drain (but keep water) and process in a blender with four tablespoons of water until mix becomes paste. Add water if need be for smooth texture.

For the beef marinade:
2 tablespoon garlic/ginger paste
1 tablespoon turmeric powder
A pinch of ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon cooking oil (canola or vegetable)
A pinch of salt
Method: Mix ingredients with the beef until well coated and refrigerate for one to two hours.

Ingredients:
1/2 kilogramme/1lb/17.5oz beef, preferably sirloin or brisket, cut against the grain into bite-sized chunks
5 tablespoons vegetable oil (preferably canola)
5 cardamom pods
2 star anise
5 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 screwpine (pandan) leaf, tie into a knot
3 sprigs curry leaves
1 big red onion, thinly sliced
2 medium size ripe tomatoes, cored and chopped
4 tablespoons meat curry powder
2 tablespoons cashew nut paste
1 cup hot water
3 tablespoons coconut milk

How to prepare this recipe
Method:
1) Heat oil in a wok or cast iron pot.
2) Add the four spices, screwpine leaves and curry leaves and sautéed for one minute.
3) Toss in the onions and tomatoes and sautéed until soft and fragrant for about four minutes. The onions should be translucent.
4) Add the beef to the mix. Stir until well coated and cook on slow heat for 10 minutes while making sure it doesn't burn.
5) Add the meat curry powder, cashew nut paste and hot water. Boil on slow heat for 45 minutes to an hour until the meat is cooked.
6) Finally, add the coconut milk and stir. Leave for another 20 minutes and remove from heat.
7) Serve with hot rice or toasted bread. A dollop of plain yoghurt is also an excellent accompaniment to the curry.

The story behind this recipe
My mother, Nisha, is my inspiration when it comes to cooking up a batch of hearty curry. Whatever I know now I learnt from her.
This beef curry, for example, is a classic one with a few tweaks. Green Lane is the name of my neighbourhood where I grew up.
The recipe calls for ginger/garlic paste and cashew nut paste. Consider the ginger and garlic like the bass guitar in a band - the backbone. Without it, the band (curry) is bland and incomplete.
The cashew nuts give it that extra 'oomph' and earthiness.
In my family, the phrase "pass the beef curry" is equivalent to "please pass the salt." It's the mother of all curries on the table at weddings, family dinners and even funerals.
You know how there is always that one dish people rave about (or verbally obliterate if it's horrible) as soon as they leave the event venue? For us, it's (yes, you guessed it) the beef curry. "The meat was too hard", "Not enough salt", "So good the meat melts in your mouth"…you get the picture.
Of course, it takes a lot of patience to make a good curry from scratch but it's not as difficult as some people might imagine. What is most important is that the ingredients like meat and produce are fresh. Granted, there is quite a lot of prep work. I consider myself a curry snob but I will gladly devote my time to teach people how to make good curry.
It's not a state secret that a lot of curries contain coconut milk, which functions as a fortifier to give it that richness. Actually, up until about 20 years ago, my mother stopped using coconut milk ('santan' in Malay) because she didn't like the fattening and calorific factor. She used yoghurt or low fat milk instead.
You will notice that this recipe has coconut milk in it, but not too much. As they say, everything in moderation, and mum approves. Once all the ingredients are added and things get cooking, the curry resembles dark liquid gold and once it hits your tongue, the burst of flavours are like New Year's Eve fireworks in your mouth.

The Flying Ladle

Passport & Plate - Mama Nisha's Rice Porridge

Passport & Plate - Green Lane Beef Curry