Pad Thai

My Favourite Food <(^-^)>

Pad Thai

Pad Thai or phat Thai is a stir-fried rice noodle dish commonly served as a street food and at casual local eateries in Thailand.


It is made with soaked dried rice noodles, which are stir-fried with eggs and chopped firm tofu, and flavored with tamarind pulp, fish sauce, dried shrimp, garlic or shallots, red chili pepper and palm sugar, and served with lime wedges and often chopped roast peanuts.

 
 It may also contain other vegetables like bean sprouts, garlic chives, coriander leaves, pickled radishes or turnips, and raw banana flowers.

 
 It may also contain fresh shrimp, crab, chicken or another protein.

 
 Vegetarian versions may substitute soy sauce for the fish sauce and omit the shrimp.


Pad Thai is listed at number 5 on World's 50 most delicious foods readers' poll compiled by CNN Go in 2011.


My father is a big fan of Thai cuisine. He knows what is the real taste of authentic Thai food, and
have a high expectation for it. He taught me the best way to eat pad thai and where I should buy.
-Kaito

Beef Bulgogi

My Favourite Food <(^-^)>

Korean Beef Bulgogi

Bulgogi is a Korean dish that usually consists of grilled marinated beef.

 
 It is listed at number 23 on the World's 50 most delicious foods readers' poll compiled by CNN Go in 2011.


Bulgogi is made from thin slices of sirloin or other prime cuts of beef.

 
 Before cooking, the meat is marinated to enhance its flavour and tenderness with a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, pepper and other ingredients such as scallions, ginger, onions or mushrooms, especially white button mushrooms or matsutake.

 
 
 Pureed pears and onions are often used as tenderizers. Sometimes, cellophane noodles are added to the dish, which varies by the region and specific recipe.

 
Bulgogi is traditionally grilled, but pan-cooking has become popular as well. Whole cloves of garlic, sliced onions and chopped green peppers are often grilled or fried with the meat.

 
 This dish is sometimes served with a side of lettuce or other leafy vegetable, which is used to wrap a slice of cooked meat, often along with a dab of ssamjang, or other side dishes, and then eaten together.


Bulgogi is served in barbecue restaurants in Korea, and there are bulgogi flavoured fast-food hamburgers sold at many South Korean fast-food restaurants.

 
 The hamburger patty is marinated in bulgogi sauce and served with lettuce, tomato, onion, and sometimes cheese.

 
 It is similar to a teriyaki burger in flavour.

Tempura

My Favourite Food <(^-^)>

Tempura

Tempura is a Japanese dish of seafood or vegetables that have been battered and deep fried.


Batter
A light batter is made of cold water (sometimes sparkling water is used to keep the batter light) and soft wheat flour (cake, pastry or all-purpose flour). Eggs, baking soda or baking powder, starch, oil, and/or spices may also be added.
 
Tempura batter is traditionally mixed in small batches using chopsticks for only a few seconds, leaving lumps in the mixture that, along with the cold batter temperature, result in the unique fluffy and crisp tempura structure when cooked. The batter is often kept cold by adding ice, or by placing the bowl inside a larger bowl with ice in it. Overmixing the batter will result in activation of wheat gluten, which causes the flour mixture to become chewy and dough-like when fried.


Various seafood and vegetables are commonly used as the ingredients in traditional tempura.


Serving and presentation
Cooked bits of tempura are either eaten with dipping sauce, salted without sauce, or used to assemble other dishes.
 
Tempura is commonly served with grated daikon and eaten hot immediately after frying.

 
In Japan, it is often found in bowls of soba or udon soup often in the form of a shrimp, shiso leaf, or fritter.

 
 The most common sauce is tentsuyu sauce (roughly three parts dashi, one part mirin, and one part shoyu).

 
Alternatively, tempura may be sprinkled with sea salt before eating. Mixtures of powdered green tea and salt or yuzu and salt are also used.

 
Kakiage is a type of tempura made with mixed vegetable strips, such as onion, carrot, and burdock, and sometimes including shrimp or squid, which are deep fried as small round fritters.

 
Tempura is also used in combination with other foods. When served over soba (buckwheat noodles), it is called tempura soba or tensoba.

 
 Tempura is also served as a donburi dish where tempura shrimp and vegetables are served over steamed rice in a bowl (tendon) and on top of udon soup (tempura udon).


In Japan, restaurants specializing in tempura are called tenpura-ya and range from inexpensive fast food chains to very expensive five-star restaurants.

 
Many restaurants offer tempura as part of a set meal or a bento (lunch box), and it is also a popular ingredient in take-out or convenience store bento boxes.

 
The ingredients and styles of cooking and serving tempura vary greatly through the country, with importance being placed on using fresh, seasonal ingredients.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

My Favourite Food <(^-^)>

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Hainanese chicken rice is a dish adapted from early Chinese immigrants originally from the Hainan province in southern China.

Hainanese chicken

 

 Roasted chicken

Often called the “national dish” of Singapore, this steamed or boiled chicken is served atop fragrant oily rice, with sliced cucumber as the token vegetable. Variants include roasted chicken or soy sauce chicken. However it's prepared, it's one of Singapore's best foods.




The dipping sauces -- premium dark soy sauce, chili with garlic and pounded ginger -- give it that little extra oomph to ensure whenever you’re not actually in Singapore eating chicken rice, you’re thinking of it.


My mother will cook Hainanese Chicken Rice for me whenever I am craving for it. I enjoyed eating chicken rice with the chicken liver, but the rice she cooked is not as aromatic and tasty as outside. However, the steamed chicken is really tender and succulent.

That's all for today. :)
-Kaito