Katsudon - Japanese Pork Rice Dish

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1. 4 pieces of pork cutlets (kottelettet)
2. 4 eggs separated yolks and whites
3. 2 big onions sliced
4. 1 handful of frozen peas
5. 1 plate of Japanese Panko breadcrumbs (rasp)
6. 50ml soya sauce (optional)
7. 100ml water
8. 50ml Japanese sake
9. 1 TBS sugar
10. 1 packet of dashinomoto (Japanese fish stock powder) (optional)
11. cooking oil

Directions:

1. Make square slits in the pork cutlets, but only halfway through.
2. Coat them with beaten egg yolk and then coat with panko breadcrumb.
3. Fry in deep oil until golden (must put quite a lot of oil in the pan).
4. Turn pork around and fry the other side until golden.
5. Meanwhile, in a pot, add soya sauce, water, Japanese sake, sugar, onions and dashinomoto and bring to boil.
6. Transfer pork cutlets into the pot and cook for 1 minute.
7. Turn the pork around, add the remaining eggyolk and egg white into the pot under low heat.
8. Add the frozen green peas
9. Cover and simmer under low hear for 8 minutes or until egg and peas are cooked.
10. Serve with rice - scoop rice into a bowl and put the pork on top and serve.

Additional Information:

Daddy and I took a course in Japanese cooking class before Joshua was born, and we learned this from our Japanese teacher. This dish is one of My Superstar's favorite and I made it today.

Chinese Steamed Salmon/Den Kinesiske Dampede Laks/蒸鲑鱼[zhēng guī yú]

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking time: 20-30 minutes

Ingredients:
- 4 pieces of salmon fillet
- 1 TBS olive oil
- 1 handful of ginger cut into thin strips
- 1 TBS Chinese Shaoxing rice wine (optional, but not recommended for babies)

Ingredients for garlic oil:
- 2 TBS cooking oil
- 1 - 2 clove garlic, pressed or finely chopped

Ingredients for sauce:
- 2 TBS light soy sauce
- 2 TBS Chinese sesame oil<
- 2 TBS Chinese Shaoxing rice wine (optional)
- ½ tsp sugar (I prefer it without, but My Significant Other prefers it with, your choice)
- A few dashes of pepper powder

Garnish:
- 1 handful of ginger cut into thin strips
- 1 stalk of spring onions cut into strips
- 1 stalk of coriander loosely chopped (optional)

Directions:
1. Drizzle ginger, olive oil and Shaoxing wine (skip this if there is a baby) on fish and steam for 8 minutes.

2. During the last 2 minutes of steaming, heat oil and fry garlic on a separate sauce pan until golden brown.

3. Garnish spring onions and ginger over the fish and pour the sizzling hot garlic oil on top of the steamed fish. (Remember to remove a portion of the fish for baby before doing this!).

4. Meanwhile, heat the sauce mixture on the same sauce pan until bubbles and pour on top of the remaining steamed fish and off the fire.

If you are running short of time, just pour the sauce directly without heating it. It will still taste very good.

For babies:
From 6 months (just skip the sauces).

Nutritional value:
Salmon is high in protein, heme iron, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, niacin, phosphorous, potassium, copper and Omega-3s. There are three kinds of Omega-3s in salmon--docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and alpha-linoleic acid (ALA). Like most fish, there are no carbohydrates in salmon.

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Additional Information:
Salmon is cheaper than cod fish in Denmark, and thus more affordable. Thus, we eat salmon more often than cod fish. I use the recipe for making Chinese steam cod fish with salmon and to our pleasant surprise, it actually tasted very good. My Significant Other likes this very much, and I didn't even add the Chinese rice wine.

Don’t be intimidated by the way the ingredient list is organised. It is basically the same few ingredients, but organised in this way to show how the ingredients are used in the preparation.

Chinese Steamed Cod Fish/Den Kinesiske Dampede Torsk/蒸鳕鱼[zhēng xuě yú]

Recipe from Jannie Sze Silfverberg

Preparation and cooking time: 20-30 minutes

Ingredients:
- 750g cod fish fillet
- 1 TBS olive oil
- 1 handful of ginger cut into thin strips
- 1 TBS Chinese Shaoxing rice wine (optional, but not recommended for babies)

Ingredients for garlic oil:
- 2 TBS cooking oil
- 1 - 2 clove garlic, pressed or finely chopped

Ingredients for sauce:
- 2 TBS light soy sauce
- 2 TBS Chinese sesame oil
- 2 TBS Chinese Shaoxing rice wine (optinonal)
- ½ tsp sugar (I prefer it without, but My Superstar prefers it with, your choice)
- A few dashes of pepper powder

Garnish:
- 1 handful of ginger cut into thin strips
- 1 stalk of spring onions cut into strips
- 1 stalk of coriander loosely chopped (optional)

Directions:
1. Drizzle ginger, olive oil and Shaoxing wine (skip this if there is a baby) on fish and steam for 8 minutes.

2. During the last 2 minutes of steaming, heat oil and fry garlic on a separate sauce pan until golden brown.

3. Garnish spring onions and ginger over the fish and pour the sizzling hot garlic oil on top of the steamed fish. (Remember to remove a portion of the fish for baby before doing this!).

4. Meanwhile, heat the sauce mixture on the same sauce pan until bubbles and pour on top of the remaining steamed fish and off the fire.

If you are running short of time, just pour the sauce directly without heating it. It will still taste very good.

For babies:
From 6 months (without adding the salt).

Nutritional value:
Fish are high in protein, heme iron, vitamin D (an important vitamin for strong bones), low in "bad" fats and contain Essential Fatty Acid (EFA's) - Omega-3 fatty acids. The Omega 3 fatty acids from fish are EPA and DHA, which are not found in any other protein source, not even in meat or plants. EFA's found in fish and fish oil products help fight off both physical and mental diseases. Eating fish 2 times a week is recommended for both adults and children by the US FDA.

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Additional Information:
Using cod fish fillets instead of the whole fish help to reduce preparation time to 20 minutes, as you do not need to spend time to clean the fish and its internal organs, etc.

Don't be intimidated by the way the ingredient list is organised. It is basically the same few ingredients, but organised in this way to show the difference the ingredients is used in the preparation.

I tried this out a few years ago, and tried this out again this evening. I took 30 minutes, as I am not so experienced, but it should only take about 20 minutes with experience. I used to take more than an hour making any food when I just started cooking once in a blue moon a few years ago!

Mussel Soup/Muslingesuppe/贻贝汤 [yí bèi tāng]

Adapted from Tue Mantoni's Recipe

Serves 4

Preparation & Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
- 1kg mussels
- 3-4 cloves garlic chopped
- 3-4 onions chopped
- 1 cup white wine
- 250ml or 1 cup coffee cream (kaffe fløde)
- Sprinkling of dried oregano or Herbs de Provence
- 250ml or 1 cup low fat milk
- 250ml or 1 cup water
- 1/2 squeezed lime or lemon
- Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Wash and scrub mussels clean.

2. Fry 3-4 cloves of chopped garlic until golden brown

3. Add 3-4 chopped onions and continue frying until golden brown

4. Sprinkle in oregano or Herbs de Provence and continue frying until golden brown

5. Add 1kg mussels (pre-clean and brush the shells of the mussels) and fry for 2 mins or so (it should not be fully cooked)

6. Add 1 cup of white wine

7. Add 250ml coffee cream (kaffe fløde)

8. Add 1/2 - 1 cup milk or 1 cup water or both, depending on preference

9. Add 1/2 squeezed lime or lemon

10. Add salt to taste

11. Medium heat for 3 mins until it starts to boil

12. Immediately turn to low heat (so as not to overcook the mussels)

13. Simmer and serve with sprinkled basil leaves (optional)

Italian Braised Beef Shanks/Osso Bucco/炖小牛腿肉[dùn xiǎo niú tuǐ ròu]

Serves 4

Preparation Cooking Time: 3 hours

Ingredients:
- 4 beef shanks
- Some flour to coat the beef shanks (about 4 TBS)
- 1 litre water
- 1-2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 leek chopped white portion
- 1 onion chopped
- 3 carrots chopped
- 4 stalks celery chopped
- 2 tomatoes chopped
- 2 TBS cooking oil
- 1 cup (240ml) white wine (optional)
- 1-2 strig of rosemary (optional)
- A few strigs fresh or dried thyme (optional)
- 1 cup of frozen green peas (optional)
- Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the beef shanks and coat them lightly with flour.

2. Braise the beef shanks by heating the pot with 1 TBS cooking oil and lightly fry the beef shanks for 1 minute on each side until brown.

3. Add half of the white wine and cook for 1 minute (optional).

4. Add water and simmer under low heat for 3 hours (no. 2 on my stove).

5. While the shanks are cooking, wash, rinse and chop vegetables.

6. Heat oil on a separate pan with 1 TBS of cooking oil and fry garlic, leek, onions, dried thyme until brown, then add celeries, carrots and fry for 3 minutes and add salt.

7. Add the rest of the white wine and cook for 3 minutes to let it evaporate (optional).

8. Pour it into the pot with beef shanks and add tomatoes and rosemary.

9. After 3 hours, serve with rice, potatoes or couscous and a teaspoon for eating the marrow.

Pressure Cooking Method:
After step 4 above, add all ingredients into pressure cooker, cover lid and once pressure cooker reaches pressure according to your cooker, let it cook for 30-35 minutes (for me: no. 2 setting on pressure cooker and no. 2 on stove) .


Tips:
1. In order to include a super green vegetable, I sometimes throw in a cup of green peas just 5 minutes before serving and let it simmer for last 5 minutes.

2. If the vegetables in the stew are too overwhelming to finish, scope some of them out together with a little of the oil that is floating on top and blend in the blender to make a sauce to accompany the osso buco. I blended in also some fresh parsley and salt, and viola, a ready and healthy sauce is made immediately.

Nutritional Value:
Beef shank is a good source of phorsphorus, zinc, selenium, iron and vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B12, but it is high in cholesterol and calories.

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Additional Information:
I saw beef shanks in the Danish supermarket, and asked my Significant Other what it is. I have never tried it before, but my Significant Other’s mother made it sometimes, when he was a child. The meat is rather tough, but if you braise it, it gets so tender and juicy. The marrow is very nutritious and it is the best part of the beef shanks, but it is high in cholestrol. This dish is very time-consuming and I only make it during weekends. Osso buco means braised beef shanks in Italian. Besides fish, this is the only meat that J is willing to eat right now, as it is very tender after simmering for 3 long hours.

This dish cost around 125 DKK or 30 SGD for ingredients alone in the Danish supermarkets. The beef shanks alone cost 75 to 80 DKK or 18 SGD, but I can save money if I don’t add in the fresh herbs. Although without the fresh herbs, it will not be an authentic Italian dish, it is still very tasty, because of the flavour from the beef shanks. This dish is very similar to making Chinese soup. I am discovering that there are actually many things in common between Italian and Chinese cooking, apart from the different herbs used.

Most recipes call for using chicken stock, but in my opinion, the beef shanks give a lot of flavour already, and it is not necessary to use chicken stock. I tested making this dish without using the white wine, and it still tasted as good.

I like to make stew such as the Chinese beef stew or the italian Osso Bucco especially on weekend when we usually have a packed programme and I can't reach home in time to make dinner. With stew, I can start making dinner way ahead of time already in the morning when J is still sleeping. Then we can go out, and by dinner time when we reached home, we can just warm the food and eat dinner. I don't have to spend time making dinner.

一种炖小牛腿肉的意大利盘子；（用蔬菜、白酒及原汁汤料泡制的）燉小牛肉

References:
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-osso-buco

Should I use alcohol in my cooking?/Skal jeg bruge alkohol i min madlavning?/烹饪时,我是否应该用酒浸?

Many Chinese and European cooking call for alcohol to enhance the flavour of the dish. Now that we have a child of our own, I find myself re-visiting this topic. I am just wondering whether what my parents told me is a truth or is it just a myth.

When I was young, my parents told me that alcohol and caffeine will damage children’s developing brain, and I should not drink it. This is the general opinion of Chinese about alcohol, coffee and children, which runs contrary to Chinese cooking. But my mother hardly used alcohol in her cooking. My brother, sister and I always heeded the advice and never drink a drop of alcohol until we became adults. My Danish friends could not believe that I never drink any alcohol or tried any drugs, and in their minds, I have never “come of age”. The Danes believe that if you make something forbidden, it becomes even more desirable, and it will back-fire to make your child even more rebellious. So everything is freely available in Denmark. You can get harsh in Christiania for example.

I turned to my own case to test this hypothesis – my parents forbade me to drink alcohol, but it didn’t make it more tempting for me to try it. In fact, it was a not an issue at all. My parents did not allow me to drink alcohol, and I did not do so. Simple as that, full stop. I didn’t think so much about it. There wasn’t any peer pressure in the school in Singapore, unlike in Denmark, which I believe will be a lot of peer pressure in school. So, in my case, this hypothesis doesn't stand and is overturned.

Fortunately, I happened to marry a total non-drinker. In my Significant Other’s case, he has proven the Danish hypothesis. It was freely available, he tried it, he didn’t like it, he doesn’t drink it anymore. my Significant Other doesn’t drink AT ALL, and on a very very very rare occasion a glass of beer. His grandfather used to give him exquisite bottles of wine. Not wanting to break his grandfather’s heart, but yet not liking wine, my Significant Other would give the wine to his friends and asked them how they like it. When his grandfather asked whether he enjoyed it, he would tell him how good it was etc. without telling him that it was the verdict of his friends who drank it, not his own.

So for both of us, the alcohol policy in our home is an easy decision, although I like very much to use it in my cooking, as I think it enhances the flavour of the dish. But should I use alcohol in my cooking? Does alcohol affects the brain development of children? Does alcohol evaporate during cooking?

Does alcohol affects the brain development of children?

A limited amount of Science suggests that the developing brain is prone to the deleterious effects of alcohol. This is sufficient enough to make me decide not to use alcohol in my cooking.

Does alcohol evaporate during cooking?

Alcohol’s boiling point is at around 79°C. At boiling point, alcohol evaporates.

I have measured the temperature of my stove at no. 2 for simmering, and the temperature reaches above 93°C to above 100°C. So, I can safely simmer on my stove knowing that it reaches a high enough temperature for alcohol to evaporates.

But how much alcohol evaporates and how long it takes to evaporate?

According to page 12 of the USDA Table of Nutrient Retention Factors Release 6 December 2007, here is a summary of the alcohol retained:

1. Alcohol added to boiling liquid & removed from heat – 85% retained

2. Alcohol flamed - 75% retained

3. Baked or simmered for 15 minutes - 40% retained

4. Baked or simmered for 30 minutes - 35% retained

5. Baked or simmered for 1 hour - 25% retained

6. Baked or simmered for 1.5 hours - 20% retained

7. Baked or simmered for 2 hours - 10% retained

8. Baked or simmered for 2.5 hours - 5% retained

Should I use alcohol in my cooking?

Based on the above, I have decided that from now on, I will not use alcohol in my cooking. I would only use alcohol to enhance the flavour of food when serving guests, but it will not be on our daily dining table. It is not that I am paranoid about raising the IQ of J, although, yes, I admit that I am a super-kiasu mom, and will do the very best for my child. But which mother does not want to give the very best she could give to her child!!! It is just that I don’t want to have any slight guilt conscious over being contributory towards any suboptimum brain development in whatever remote way because of the alcohol used in my cooking.

Oh... parenting is sooooo challenging!!! Prayerfully, I hope that this Danish hypothesis will both be overturned and proven by J… after all he may inherit half of the Singaporean “obey the law” gene from me and half of his dad “non-alcohol liking after freely trying it”gene :-)

References:

http://www.brad21.org/pdf/Nwsltr_6%2007_JGCM.pdf

http://www.mentorfoundation.org/uploads/Adolescent_Brain_Booklet.pdf

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/retn6/retn06.pdf

http://www.ochef.com/165.htm

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/AlcoholEvap.htm

http://www.secondhelpingonline.com/?p=625