Crispy-skin salmon with chorizo and red pepper stew, served with baby potatoes, and a caramelized balsamic sauce

This is a quick and easy recipe that follows the formula of: simple ingredients+common sense=deliciousness. The rule of thumb is: you do not need to be precise to the ounce, but you do need to understand ratios and flavour combinations to cook well. This recipe is an example of the universal fish+tangy flavour combo: fish and TANG belong together: fish and lime, fish and lemon, or fish and vinegar, you may have noticed acidity is applied to many fish dishes, no matter where the cuisine comes from. The smokey chorizo sausage improves the flavour profile of the dish, taking it up a notch.

Ingredients (for 4 hungry adults):
- 4 salmon fillets, with skin on. The skin gives an extra 'dimension' to the texture of the dish, when crisped up
- 1 large smoked chorizo sausage, sliced thinly
- 16 baby potatoes, washed and skin on (or however many you feel like, really)
- 4-5 red capsicums (for this recipe, red capsicums work better than green ones, as they are sweeter)
- A handful of rocket leaves for garnish
- 1 large leek, finely chopped
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Olive oil (standard virgin olive oil for cooking, and extra virgin olive oil to dress the dish at the end)

- 2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed (we do not want the garlic to overtake, so it is better to just 'crush' the garlic cloves)
- Caramelized balsamic vinegar (I got a bottle of 'Little Fish Cafe' caramelized balsamic vinegar from a friend who brought it back from Port Macquarie in Northern NSW. If you do not have it, just use balsamic vinegar, but a little less of it, or it would be a bit more acidic).

Method:

1. Rub salt and pepper on the salmon fillets. NOTE: ensure the skin side is salted. Leave on kitchen bench for a few minutes to allow the seasoning to penetrate. Pat dry the fillets with kitchen towel. These steps ensure that excess moisture in the skin is drawn out, so it becomes crispy when pan-fried
2. Wash the potatoes, and cut them in half. Wash and cut the capsicums into thin strips. Wash and cut the leek into fine pieces. Crush the garlic cloves
3. Heat a good quality non-stick pan on low to medium heat, and add sliced chorizo. Render the fat off the sausage and cook until crispy. Set aside the cooked sausage and leave the fat in the pan
4. Rub a little olive oil on the fish fillets to prevent sticking. Fry the salmon fillets skin-side down in the chorizo fat. Add a little olive oil if needed. NOTE: do not overcrowd the pan so the fish 'fries'. Cook until the skin becomes crispy and golden brown. Turn over to cook the other side. NOTE: the best way to check if fish is cooked on the inside is to poke a bamboo stick in the fillet, and if the white 'protein foam' comes out, then the inside is cooked
5. Boil the potatoes to 90% done. To check, poke a knife in the potatoes, there should be some 'resistance'. This way, when the potatoes are cooked again in the pan, they retain their 'structural integrity'. Drain well
6. Set the cooked fish aside. 'De-glaze' with leek, crushed garlic and capsicum strips. Season with salt and pepper to draw the moisture out of the vegetables and speed up the cooking process. Cook the vegetables until soft and tender. Drizzle a generous amount of caramelized balsamic vinegar over the vegetable mixture and toss in the baby potatoes. Mix well to coat the potatoes. Cook for a couple of minutes, or until the potatoes are 100% tender. Toss the cooked chorizo back into the pan. Check for seasoning
7. Garnish with rocket leaves and drizzle a little virgin olive oil over the top. Serve and enjoy the more-ish crispy-skin salmon on a bed of tender baby potatoes, creamy leek and sweet stewed capsicum, topped with the crispy, sweet and smokey chorizo. The vegetables are well integrated into the slightly smokey, sweet and tangy sauce, and the rocket adds a peppery twist. I don't know about you, but I sure am starving!

Malay-Chinese Take Away on Hunter - It's not laksa, if it's not an aerobics workout

Good Malaysian curry laskas are everywhere, but great laskas are few and far between. As a keen Laska fan, I have been to countless joints in Sydney over the years. My work lunch on most days used to resemble a bowl of steaming Laska soup of some sort. However, in recent years, I couldn't help but noticing that many of my favourite Laska restaurants started to get a tad 'stingey' with their soup, eg, watered-down and bland Laska soup, more carb and less protein in soup, etc. My former all-time favourite: Jimmy's Recipe (500 George St, Sydney), used to have beautifully-rich and spicy Laska. Things started going downhill a couple of years ago, when the ratio of water and Laska paste began to grow. Just when my interest in Laska started to wane, I was pointed to the best Malaysian curry laska joint in town. A friend of mine had been raving on about 'Malay-Chinese Takeaway' (seriously, that is the name) on Hunter St (58, Hunter St, Sydney). I decided to tag along to see what the fuss was about. Judging by the long lunch-time queue and enthusiasic diners, I started to get a good feeling. We ordered chicken and vegetarian laska respectively, and what came out, for less than AUD$9, were small bath tubs of steaming-hot soups with that rich and vibrant 'complexion' that I had been missing. I had my first taste, and found myself devouring the entire bathtub of it in a matter of minutes. All the boxes of a good laska were ticked: complex, flavoursome, spicy and rich paste, tick; generous amount of protein and fibre for your money's worth, tick; the right ratio between laska paste and coconut milk, tick; unlimited supply of dark red spicy sambal to add on top, tick. My white shirt resembled a modern oil painting, dunked in a bucket load of sweat, but it was well worth it!

So, next time if you feel like a good aerobics lunchtime workout, check out Malay-Chinese Takeaway on Hunter, oh, do rememer not to wear a white shirt!

The sandwiches that have started a religion

As much as I love writing about food, I had never thought much of the idea of writing about a sandwich. Let’s be honest, sandwich does not exactly top my ‘interesting food’ chart. I have, however, decided to write about sandwich today, except that I am not just writing about ANY sandwich – I am talking about sandwiches from the BEST sandwich joint in the known (and possibly also the unknown) universe. They come from a little hidden-away shop in the Sydney CBD, whose name, products and reputation, go far beyond its humble shop front: ‘Big Bite on Pitt’. My discovery of the best sandwich shop in the world was purely accidental, and to this day, I am convinced the ONLY two ways to find out about it, is via (a) word of mouth, and (b) accidental discovery. When I was working near the shopping strip in the Sydney CBD, I had walked past lunch-goers queuing outside of a little sandwich shop, tucked away in an old arcade, during lunch time many times, but never bothered to investigate – I had never been satisfied with just a sandwich for lunch. One day, I took the liberty of asking one of the lunch-goers in the queue what the big fuss was about. I still remember the answer distinctively: “They have awesome sandwiches, I come here every day!” Wow! I had never heard anyone speak so passionately about a SANDWICH before, so I better give it a go, I thought! I did, and I have been going there for lunch twice a week since. People talk, and as they do, a religion is underway, and here is why:

1.      You are NOT going to find a sandwich bigger than the ones you get at Big Bite on Pitt. Even someone like me with a stomach as large as the great canyon, has trouble finishing the entire sandwich on a good day. For AUD$9.5, you basically get enough sandwich for two satisfying lunches, on home-baked brown or white bread, with a generous amount of mouth-watering fillings of your choice, and enough salad to earn a couple of heart foundation ticks. If you give the lovely people at Big Bite a smile and tell them how much you love their sandwiches, there is a 50% chance they may throw in a slice of their more-ish cakes for free

2.      You are NOT going to find a more delicious sandwich anywhere else. Their sandwiches are FAR from being ‘pedestrian’ – they are addictive, to say the least, thanks to the wide range of juicy fillings, from the more common sandwich fillings such as ham and turkey, to the daily special fillings such as lemon-pepper chicken, spicy chicken, burrito beef, lamb that is carefully and lovingly marinated in garlic and herbs, sticky Italian sausages, and perfectly-crumbed and juicy veal schnitzel. My absolute favorite is the marinated lamb, served with a creamy yogurt and parsley dressing, and loads of salad, on brown bread. The sensation of biting into the tender and flavorsome lamb, coated in yogurt dressing, refreshing herby salad, and brown bread that is delightfully crusty on the outside, and sublimely soft on the inside, is as satisfying and comforting as a bowl of hot soup on a cold winter day, a refreshing mango lassi on a steamy hot summer afternoon, an embrace from your lover…mmm…joy-gasmic!

3.      Apart from the quality and quantity of the sandwiches, you are also going to get the friendliest and the most generous service, often not offered at other sandwich joints. I often request extra salad on my sandwich, and every now and then, I am lucky enough to get a slice of carrot cake for free.

I think you get the idea here: next time you feel like lunch in the sun with a friend, or just a really good take-away, take A BIG BITE sandwich with ya (or two, if you feel extra confident/hungry). Oh, did I mention from 250 Pitt St?

I love K-town!

Korea is taking over the world by storm: from K-pop to K-food, it seems that the world just can't get enough of what Korea has to offer. As a huge Korean food fan, I have recently discovered the wonderful world of Korean food in the Sydney CBD, in an area known as 'K-town'. Wandering down the streets in K-town is an eye-opening journey in its own right, as you find yourself drawn to all sorts of unusual foods of all shapes and sizes. After nibbling on bits and pieces from here and there along the way in K-town, I found myself craving Korean pancake and stumbled across 'Bon Gal Bi Korean BBQ Restaurant' on Pitt St (LG 375 Pitt St). The aroma drew me in like a magnet, and I knew instantly that it is the right place for something authentic-a cozy little restaurant packed with Korean diners, serviced by friendly Korean waitresses. The menu was deceivingly simply, but I was glad to see a restaurant that is dedicated to perfecting a few dishes, as opposed to over-doing it. I went straight to what I wanted: Korean seafood pancake. I was surprised to see that for only $13, I got a HUGE pancake jeweled with REAL seafood: chunks of juicy squid, tender prawns and the biggest mussels I had ever seen. The pancake was soft, with a slight chew on the inside, and crispy on the outside. While it tasted great on its own, it got even better with the dipping sauce and side dishes (oh, did I mention that they were free?). I kept on telling myself to carefully savor every mouth-full, but found myself devouring the sizeable pancake in a matter of minutes, despite the fact that I had already downed 3 Chinese pancakes, 8 king prawns and a couple of beers less than an hour earlier! The end of the pancake marked the beginning of many more culinary discoveries at K-town, and I walked out of the restaurant, already planning my next stroll to K-town: plan of attack being: no breakfast, no lunch!

Where Not to Eat - Tino's Italian restaurant in Woolooware

I have had many disappointing dining experiences over the years in Australia and overseas, but never considered taking the time to write them down until I started this blog in late 2011. Before I get to the real story about Tino's Italian resteaurant in Woolooware, I need to tell you a little story about Woolooware. Woolooware is a suburb in the Sutherland Shire in NSW, Australia, just around the corner from Cronulla, the popular seaside-suburb in Sydney South. Woolooware, being in the Sutherland Shire, has a predominately-anglo population, and the food there is about as 'vanilla' as its people. To put it simply, anything that isn't steak and chips OR fish and chips, would be considered 'exotic cuisine' in the Shire. A few months ago, a group of friends took me to this Italian restaurant called 'Tino's' in Woolooware that they had been raving about for dinner one Saturday. I was excited and terrified at the same time, because (1) I hadn't had many dining experiences in the Shire worth writing home about, (2) I was slightly worried that my culinarily-naive friends would order something truly terrifying. As much as I kept on telling myself everything was going to be fine, and I was going to have an unexpectedly-good meal, all of my worries were realised. Where do I start? hmm, let's start from the Dukkah the 'committee' ordered as an entree. First of all, there is something odd about ordering Dukkah in an Italian restaurant to begin with (given its middle-eastern origin), even for fusion-food fans like me. When the Dukkah arrived, I was speechless: what was presented to me was a very small quantity of Dukkah (so small I could practically count each seed with 10 fingers), a bowl of pale-looking olive oil that looks like it's 10th press, and a mountain of bread. You do not need to be a math genuis to know that the ratio is way out, and a foodie to know that it will be dry and tasteless. The only thing, other than the tasteless oil, to help down the dry bread was my own saliva, and the only thing I had to add a little taste to the dry bread and tasteless oil was a few seeds and strands of herbs I found stuck between my teeth. I got myself extra Dukkah (and an evil stare) after I complaint to the waitress/restaurant owner that we needed more Dukkah, and the olive oil was of poor quality. After the terrible entree, everything was further downhill from there. I had a seafood pasta for main. The quantity was generous, and that's the only nice thing I have to say about it. The seafood was overcooked, the sauce was bland/underseasoned, and too sour for my pallet, and the pasta was overcooked.

Long story short, I walked into Tino's, hoping to get a good Italian feed, and ended up getting a bad middle-eastern Dukkah entree and bland pasta for main. I walked away, thinking, this restaurant is going on my Where-Not-To-Eat list.

Fish taco-modern mexican

Fish Taco-'Tex-Mex’ 

Ingredients (serves 4-5):

• ·        For the fish and marinade

      4-5 firm white fish filets, boneless (I use hoki in this recipe)
2-3 tbsp olive oil
¼ cup fresh lime juice
Pinch of salt and pepper
2 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tsp of cayenne pepper powder

1 tsp of cumin powder

1 clove of garlic, minced

• ·         For the cabbage salad

      1 red onion, thinly sliced
¼ cup coriander, coarsely chopped
2 cups freshly shredded white cabbage

• ·         For the sauce

      1 cup light sour cream
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp cayenne pepper powder (or to taste)
1 tbsp lime juice
Pinch of salt and pepper (to taste)

• ·         For the salsa and dressing

      1 cup chopped red tomatoes
½ cup chopped red onion
Minced jalapeno (to taste)
½ cup chopped coriander

Half a can of corn kernels

4 red radishes, diced finely
Juice of 1 lime

1 large clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
Pinch of cumin
Pinch of salt and pepper (to taste)

• ·         4-8 flour or corn tortillas (depending on how hungry you are)

• ·         Avocado, sliced

• ·         Tabasco sauce.

Method: 

1.  Place the fish fillets in a large, shallow dish and brush with olive oil. Pour over lime juice, add a sprinkle of salt, chopped coriander, garlic, cumin and cayenne pepper. Allow the marinade to infuse the fish for 30 minutes - 2 hours in the fridge
2. In the meantime, toss the cabbage salad ingredients together - shredded cabbage with red onion and coriander
3. For the salsa, mix the chopped tomato, onion, corn, radishes, chilli and coriander together in a large bowl. Mix garlic, lime juice, salt, pepper and olive oil until the mixture emulsifies.  Dress the salsa with the mixture. Add a pinch of cumin and hot pepper powder, and stir through. Mix well and set aside
4. For the sauce, in a small bowl, mix together - sour cream, yoghurt, chilli and cumin powder, lime juice, salt and pepper. Set aside
5. Preheat a grill pan to medium to medium high. Sprinkle more olive oil on the fish and place the fish seasoning side down to cook. Sprinkle a little more cayenne pepper on the top side of the fish and cook for about 2-3 minutes per side or until the fish is cooked through (when the white protein comes out of the fish, that is a sign the inside is cooked)
6. Remove the fish to a clean platter, allow it to rest 5-10 minutes and then slice into thick strips 
7. Heat the tortillas by placing them on the barbeque grill for about a minute each side
8. To serve, for each taco, place a warm tortilla on a plate, add a few chunks of fish, drizzle with the creamy sauce, and add a handful of salsa and cabbage salad. Oh, almost forgot to mention, there is no ‘elegant’ way of eating a soft taco, so open wide!! :-D

Teriyaki salmon with Japanese coleslaw

Ingredients (serves 4):

·         1 part light soy sauce

·         1 part mirin

·         1 part cooking sake

·         1/3-1/2 part caster sugar (to taste)

·         1 clove garlic, bruised/lightly crushed (optional)

·         4 salmon fillets (around 800 g)

·         Vegetable oil

·         Grated diakon and/or shredded shallots for garnish

Method:

1. Mix the soy sauce, mirin, cooking sake, sugar and garlic. Note: the quantity depends on how much sauce you want to make. The important thing is the ratio of the sake, mirin, soy sauce and sugar. Leave the salmon to marinate in the mixture for 15-30 minutes (note: the longer you leave it in the marinade, the more intense the flavour will be). Meanwhile, thinly slice the shallots lengthways. Transfer to a container of iced water. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes or until the shallot curls (optional)
2. Heat lightly-oiled heavy-based non-stick pan on high. Pan-fry the salmon (if with skin on, cook skin down first) on both sides, brushing occasionally with teriyaki marinade until cooked as desired. Note: when the white protein comes out of the fish, that is when the fish is cooked through. Set aside the cooked salmon
3. Pour in the reserved marinade and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, or until sauce becomes glossy, luster and thickened
4. Serve salmon with garnish, steamed Japanese rice (sushi rice or any short-grain rice) and Japanese coleslaw (see recipe below).

Ingredients for the Japanese coleslaw (serves 4-6):

Ingredients:

·         1/6 of a small red cabbage, shredded

·         1/6 of a small white cabbage, shredded

·         1 carrot, shredded

·         1 shallot, chopped finely

·         1/6 of a Spanish/red onion, shredded

·         Japanese mayonnaise to taste

·         fresh orange juice

·         Salt and white pepper to taste

Method:

1. Mix the shredded cabbages, carrot and Spanish onion and finely chopped shallot in a salad bowl
2. Whisk Japanese mayonnaise and orange juice together in a bowl to form a salad dressing consistency. Note: a lighter salad dressing would suit the rich teriyaki sauce, so make sure not to overload with mayo. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add to the cabbage mixture and toss to combine. Voila!