Asian desserts - Malaysian / Singaporean

In Rasa Sayang, Chinatown, London, I had some remarkable food. While a bit disappointed with their beef randang, I had a great spicy vegetable and tofu curry and a great sago dessert.
The sago was served clumped in a cup with condensed milk and a strong coffee syrup. It capped the spicy meal very well. As I broke up the sago and let them float in the sweet coffee / milk, i was entranced in the ritual, i couldn't stop.

I don't know why I'm fascinated with asian desserts these days. It started in Japan, in Kyoto. i saw some strange looking green tea wobbly things. I tried one and I was hooked, it made sense for a dessert not to be that sweet, to be made of elements that I would expect in a salty dish. I then fell in love with thai coconut milk and sticky rice desserts, chinese dumplings with sesame and ginger, and I continue to explore and learn.

Is one enough?

Sometimes you have in front of you a box of chocolates. That box has a lot of different chocolates. Sometimes, you can eat the whole box, but sometimes the chocolates are so dense and packed with flavour that you can only savour one at a time. This was the case with this collection of Paul A Young chocolates I got in London recently. These chocolate craftsmen are very inventive with their flavours and aromas. Salted caramel was brilliant, but they had a version with cigar infused onto the outside to give a warmth and a sensation to the lips; the mandarin bonbons had a creamy filling with multiple layers of mandarin, from the juice, with hints of lemon, lime, and rinds. These are complex chocolates and they were great. However, while there is a place and a time for them, sometimes you want more than one chocolate, and it would be a shame to do that with these.

My point of view.

What is my point of keeping this blog going? I realize that it's a way to measure my knowledge on something that I consider a hobby. I think as I constantly criticize the people that compose half my genetic makeup for having inane hobbies, those same genetics led me to a similar path. However, I could always just keep it to myself. My Myers-Briggs personality assessment tells me that I'm a very strong introvert, and I'm working on that, and I do see the point. I hope to gain insight from others, and share as others do what they like in the world.

I also want better food in Kuwait. Dammit. We have some great food, and as a standard, I think Kuwait's up there generally. However, I notice that our food habits have been exploited by globalism in the form of franchises. Our problem in Kuwait is that we never look at the development of ideas and standards of our own, we like to import everything, both materially and consciously. But as in the case of a rebellious teenager, there is a point in which the rest of the world has to be blocked out. If you keep on learning externally, you may end up being a sponge. If you internalize too much, you may end up being completely alienated in your thoughts. And since the world is never black or white, a compromise is always reached.

Institutions are important, whether individually or socially. Context must be understood effectively and the ideas should attempt to pick the strings of the existing mess and find elements that could be lifted, looked at and improved before being relaxed into reality. Critical assessment, thought, opinion are very important. They not only define the individual point of view, but they relate to the larger mess of things in which everything is interconnected. I firmly believe in the relativity of systems and how one small improvement can mean so much. However, if, like in contemporary pop music, we just fill in formulas based on market assessment, brand strength, then what more than profit are we achieving? of course, any business must be profitable, but if it a direct target, you end up getting plastic, food included. Profit should emerge from how good you are. Educate the market by setting examples of what is possible with what we have, and the demand for excellence will be there.

With that in mind, my next couple of entries will be discussing some dishes I had on my recent trip. Good food is good food, no matter where it is.

This is one of Kenichi's classics. Carrot battle. I've watched it twice so far in Ithaca.

In Ithaca

I forgot how good food is in Kuwait. Is my point of view a subjective qualification or is it one that reflects adaptation with age? I feel that my micro-culture, the one that extends around me, has fostered a superb appreciation for the culinary arts. I reflect about this as I linger around Ithaca, NY in the evenings, after I'm done with training. I wasn't sure what to expect but all I can say is that I hope the meal I hope to have on Friday will make it better. I went to a place that advertised itself as "Korean BBQ" on its entrance, however was disappointed to find out that their recommendation was fried rice with beef. I was too hungry, I ordered it. A plate with rice, frozen chopped vegetables, questionable beef and a black lagoon of stained mushy vegetables. The side of pickled radish (i believe), raw onions and drop of black bean paste/sauce. I ate most because I was starving, and it didn't necessary offend as much as underwhelm. I miss my kitchen, I miss Pataya Beach. 

udupi restaurant, kuwait city. thalis.

Once you find it, Udupi Restaurant, Vegetarian, Deluxe, Welcome. A friend heard about this place so we went and tried it out. Another of the several thali restaurants in Kuwait that I seem to be really liking these summer days. I want to develop a ranking for thali restaurants in Kuwait, more for my own interest than anything else. I really like the idea of the thali. I reviewed Green Land a few postings ago, which is located only a couple of blocks away from Udupi, and I couldn't help but compare the two throughout the meal. I wouldn't necessarily say one is better than the other, they offer enough key differences to allow them to be applicable depending on the situation and the mood.

Located on Ahmed Al-Jaber St. in the city, next to the Warba Insurance company building.
It is open all day, from 6:30 am to 10:00 pm. Until 6 pm, I was told, they only serve a thali meal, but I noticed someone at a table nearby eating a dosa, so I'm not sure I was given the best information. After 6, they have more dishes. Walking in for the first time, the man standing at the cashier near the door didn't say hello, he just said "hatha mat'am hindi." i nodded and asked for a table. We were looked at suspiciously, with the staff somewhat bewildered that a group of arabs just sat at a table and plainly asked for 3 thalis.

We were handed the thali tray with what seemed at first a minimum of effort put into the food. You have a choice of chapatis or phuris. Going clockwise in the photo, starting from the left, you have yoghurt, chapati, thali dessert, vegetable curry, soup, creamy lentils, beans/spinach/others stir-fry, hot sauce and phuris in the middle.

As I said, I had some suspicion that the meal wouldn't be that great. But then I started tasting it. Each dish bursting with flavour and seemingly working together quite well. Very balanced individually, with just the right amount of spice, salt. I didn't have a favourite, but I started adjusting each of them with small dollops of yoghurt mixed in, and I seemed to eat the soup the least, simply because it wasn't interactive with the bread, but it was still really good. In general, the food was a bit more spicy than Green Land, but much better than the times I've had the spicy option at Green Land.

The suspicion seemed to wear off as the meal went on when refills started and then after a couple of rounds, some rice that (I hope) wasn't ready earlier. The staff were great, attentive, making sure that your tray was full until you had enough.

And then it was done and it was time for tea. Only tea with carnation milk and nescafe were on offer as after-meal options. The tea was great. Strong and, mixed with the carnation, gave a nice finishing touch for the meal.

Would I go back to Udupi? In short, yes. It's very clean, yet somewhat spartan with the stainless steel utensils. Even the jug of water and drinking glasses were made of the same metal. But honestly, for 1.250 KD per person, 1.000 for the thali alone, and for how good the food was, I was really happy. Fresh food at such a price in the city. And it's timings are very convenient. One thing, though, is that I  like ordering one more dish at Green Land, to add a bit more diversity to the thali, but it wasn't really missed in this experience. Yes, I will definitely go back.

This place is on the upper side of 3.
If you have a thali restaurant in Kuwait that you recommend, please let me know. Thanks.

my version of korean bbq

I have been to a korean restaurant a couple of times now and it inspired me to take a challenge. I always do this, I go to a restaurant and try out their food a couple of times until something clicks and I say to myself, "i can do this better." and i did.  When I research new foods, I conjure up a mental image of what that food would look like, taste like, smell like. Every time I had the food at the korean place I wanted a bit more. Not in the quality of the food, but in the aromas and flavours. I should note that I am quite particular to my own tastes, I have built up an expectation of what various foods should taste like, this time based on a recipe I tried years ago when I was bbqing a lot at the chalet; if I try something I don't like, I think of what could be added to make it that much better. This was the basis of this experiment. This recipe will certainly be added to my repertoire, whether it is authentic or not.

The great thing about Korean BBQ is that it really doesn't need a long time for marination. In fact, I wouldn't have marinated this meat very long anyway as I intended to braise it and have it with polenta. However, I discovered that the ribs were cut for barbecuing and were too large to fit in my crock pot. Instead of giving up, I decided to chop it up and have a go at my homemade gal-bi (korean for bbq ribs). I was glad to be able to control the doneness of the meat, as in the restaurant it is always served quite well done and as you all probably know by now, I'm not a fan of well-done meat. I removed the meat from the bones, tried my best at removing as much of the connective tissue in order to have tender pieces of meat without the rubbery bits that always remain on barbecued ribs. Poured in some soy sauce, sugar, rice vinegar, toasted sesame seeds, sesame oil, some onions, garlic and ginger. I went by smell on this one. I let it sit for an hour or so before I griddled the ribs to my liking.

I also had some bean sprouts that needed to get used. So i blanched them, added many of the same ingredients as the marinade, save the sugar, ginger and rice vinegar, and ended up with a side salad. Korean BBQ often provides you with a myriad of side items to go along with the meat, but I settled with this sukju namul. In fact, being served on the same plate as the almost-caramelized marinade from the meat made for a fantastic harmony.

This will be a dish I will be trying to perfect.