Singapore

A couple of days in Singapore on my way back from Zimbabwe in July.  I love breaking my journey there in that amazing city, with its juxtaposition of old and new architecture and its lovely, friendly people.  I must have walked 10 kms in a day - in the morning I went to Raffles Hotel and the Singapore cricket Club - wonderful old colonial buildings.  I didn't have a Singapore Sling this time - they are $18 and I thought 10 am was a little early anyway!

In the afternoon I spent a couple of hours in the Artscience Museum at a wonderful exhibition of Annie Liebowitz's photography; then went right up to the observation deck at the Marina Sands Hotel (unfortunately only the 'cheap' section, you have to stay at the hotel to go to the pool deck!).  Then I spent anther couple of hours wandering around the Gardens by the Bay and visiting Cloud Forest and the Flower Dome.  The Flower Dome is quite an experience, and a very popular spot for wedding photographers judging by the number I saw there on a weekday.  I was fascinated how everyone wandered around with their iPhones and point and shoot cameras out taking very close up photos of all the flowers!  Gardens by the Bay is relatively new but they must have spent and absolute fortune on establishing it - in the Flower Dome there are some thousand year old olive trees (which I found a little sad in a way - they should be in a beautiful place in Italy or Spain or Greece and not under a big glass dome in humid tropical Singapore!),

Otherwise the Gardens are fantastic - I had a glass of wine on top of the biggest Supertree while the sun went down, and on the walk back to my hotel I watched a big laser display on the lagoon.

Jo's peanut butter biscuits

These are definitely the children's favourite - and very quick and easy to make.  The last time I was in Zim the "children" (now in their 20s), demolished the whole lot in about 5 minutes flat!

Childrens’ favourite peanut butter biscuits

4 oz butter

2 big tbsps peanut butter

6 oz sugar

6 oz cake flour

1 beaten egg 

1 tsp vanilla

Cream butter and sugar and add peanut butter

Mix in other indredients

Roll into small balls (walnut size)

Press onto greased tray with fork

Bake 180 c  12 - 15 minutes

smashed roast baby potatoes with yoghurt & mustard sauce

These are really quick and easy and delicious.  It's best to use baby potatoes, as they are already a great size – no cutting or peeling required.  Boil them in a big pot in salty water until they are just tender, then crush them gently with the back of a spoon until they crack open, but are still intact. Coat them with plenty of olive oil and a good seasoning of salt & pepper and add a scattering of unpeeled garlic cloves. Roast in a hot oven (200 degrees) for 25 to 30 minutes, turning them once through the roasting process to make sure they are golden on both sides, then transfer them to a serving bowl. Sprinkle with lots of fresh chopped parsley, then serve with the yoghurt and mustard sauce.

for the Yoghurt and Mustard sauce mix together :

250 ml double cream Greek yoghurt
2 heaped tablespoons good quality mayonnaise
juice of a medium size lemon
2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard
30-45 ml chopped fresh dill (or fennel fronds)
some cracked black pepper
a pinch of salt

Foccacia

Homemade foccacia is so much nicer than most supermarket or even bakery foccacia.  Serve it hot from the oven with dips or cheese.  There won't be any left ....

Total Time:

1 hr 50 min

Prep:

1 hr 30 min

Cook:

20 min

Ingredients

2 teaspoons rapid-rising dry yeast

1 cup warm water

2 tablespoons sugar

3 1/2 to 4 cups flour

1 tablespoon coarse salt

1/4 cup olive oil

Toppings:

2 tablespoons olive oil

10 Kalamata olives, pitted and quartered

1 tsp coarse salt

2 tblsp fresh rosemary

or

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan

1 tsp coarse salt

Freshly ground black pepper

basil leaves

Directions

Proof the yeast by combining it with the warm water and sugar in a bowl. Stir it gently to dissolve. Let it stand 3 minutes until foam appears. If you are lucky enough to have a mixer with a dough hook, add to the mixer bowl and turn mixer on low and slowly add the flour to the bowl. Dissolve salt in 2 tablespoons of water and add it to the mixture. Pour in 1/4 cup olive oil. When the dough starts to come together, increase the speed to medium. Stop the machine periodically to scrape the dough off the hook. Mix until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary.  

Otherwise after the yeast and sugar have started to foam mix all your ingredients together in the bowl until they are the right consistency and knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic (very therapeutic!)

Form the dough into a round and place in an oiled bowl, turn to coat the entire ball with oil so it doesn't form a skin. Cover with plastic wrap or damp towel and let rise over a gas pilot light on the stovetop or other warm place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Coat a large, flat baking dish with a little olive oil or line with baking paper. Once the dough is doubled in size, turn it out onto the counter. Roll and stretch the dough out to an oblong shape about 1/2-inch thick. Lay the flattened dough on the baking dish and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rest for about 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees c. Uncover the dough and dimple it with your fingers. Brush the surface with olive oil and then add toppings. Bake on the bottom rack for 15 to 20 minutes.

Pho

A while ago I read a book called The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb.  I think I bought it because I loved the cover but it's actually a very good book too!  It's about an old Vietnamese man who has a pho cart from which he sells the delicious, fragrant soup.  Ever since then I have wanted to try to make pho, and I've finally found a recipe - and it's just as delicious as it sounded in the book - really fresh and herby but still substantial enough for a meal.

"The history of Vietnam lies in this bowl, for it is in Hanoi, the Vietnamese heart, that pho was born, a combination of the rice noodles that predominated after a thousand years of Chinese occupation and the taste for beef the Vietnamese acquired under the French, who turned their cows away from ploughs and into bifteck and pot-au-feu. The name of their national soup is pronounced like this French word for fire, as Hung’s Uncle Chien explained to him long ago. 

“We’re clever people,” his uncle had said. “We took the best the occupiers had to offer and made it our own. Fish sauce is the key—in matters of soup and well beyond. Even romance, some people say.”

—from The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb

Pho (serves 4)

200g flat rice noodles

1 tbs sunflower oil

6 spring onions, sliced on an angle

2cm piece of ginger, very thinly sliced

1 small red chilli, finely chopped

3 cups beef consommé, or good beef stock

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

100g bean sprouts

1 cup coriander leaves, plus extra to serve

1 cup Thai basil leaves, plus extra to serve

1 cup mint leaves, plus extra to serve

400g good quality steak (or rare roast beef)

Cook the steaks quickly in a hot frying pan or on the barbeque until they are seared on each side and very rare in the middle. Cover with tin foil and put aside to rest.

Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions.  Drain and rinse under cold water.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add the chilli, spring onion and ginger and cook, stirring,  for 2-3 minutes until the onion is soft.  Add the beef stock and one cup of water, and bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.  Turn off the heat and stir in the fish sauce and the lime juice.

Slice the steaks into very thin slices.

Divide the noodles into four large soup bowls.  Top with the bean sprouts and herbs and then ladle over the broth.  Top with the slices of steak and some extra herbs.