Now I don’t have anyway of know how to measure the % but I can see the starch water that is left behind, which otherwise would have been in the rice I eat. In my opinion is thus – Every little helps even though I eat rice like twice a week. This is not due to diet but more due to the fact I control my diabetes by controlling the food I eat. At this precise moment I like to believe/think this is a really good way of boiling rice with less starch so less carbohydrates and better for me. This is based on judging the cloudy starchy water left behind after cooking. I washed and rinsed the rice 3 to 4 times before putting in the stainless steel pot to ‘steam’ Maybe and just maybe I allow myself to have three times of rice a week! I mean after boiling like this, freeze and defrost would be at least 50% less carbo right? (Wish/Hope)

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Remember when you keep your eggs in the fridge they will set a bit more. If you want to warm up your onsen eggs but not into a hot broth then you can just boil the kettle, pour hot water into a mug, wait a couple of minute then take your eggs from fridge and place in. Do not cover. Then enjoy.

Below are some pics of how I have used my onsen-styled eggs.

I set a temperature of 63C for 50 minutes because when the alarm beeped; when I managed to drain the eggs without breaking any; add in cold water and ice, it takes a couple of minutes too. Set temperature and when right temperature, place in all your eggs and bring to temperature again before setting time to 50 minutes.

After you Sousvide your onsen styled eggs, place in the fridge and use at will. I like to turn the time to 50 minutes instead of an hour just so it is nice when warmed up during serving.

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72 Hours Sousvide Beef Ribs @ 55°C

Ingredients

• Beef ribs
• Smoked garlic
• Black garlic
• Liquid smoke (just few drops)

Instructions

• After vacuumed sealed you can keep in fridge or freeze them until you are ready to use. Defrost in the fridge for a couple of days before Sousvide.
• I left mine in the fridge for a week or so then Sousvide all together.
• After done you can freeze them and again you can defrost in the fridge a couple of days then out in room temperature a few hours before using. You can use hot water to reheat them, pan sear them with butter etc.
• I have 2 bags in freezer and will update this when I cook them.

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Recently I have been asked by some ladies and one man, shocking not, which wok I was using when they saw a particular one in my posts. Short of explaining to them again and again I have decided (more like been persuaded) to do a post on the woks I currently have at home. As Murphy’s Law would have it, during the time I was taking pics and uploading them another lady messaged and asked me to recommend a wok for her everyday usage. So I aim to finish this write up by today.

I have raided my archive and found out when I have bought some of my woks and yes, though I may seem to have a lot but I have given woks as gifts to friends and families. Only the woks in the cardboard box pics are with me still. I am blessed with good friends whom I can gift to and are willing to take my second hand woks if I needed space for new ones. No complains.

Today in between seasoning my newest acquisition I took photos of all my woks. Now to sort them out in order of what? price? usefulness? knocks taking? Hmmmm…… Okay. I finally decided to arrange them in order of how much I love using them. I have decided not to put in prices. I mean, if one is interested then they can search for the best price on the internet. As for me, most of the things I bought are via Amazon then and even more so nowadays.

1. The new kid on the block – Seasoned and used this one today and I love it. It felt like I am back in my very much yesteryears and old memories came flooding back alive. The smell of ‘tong san’ iron and smoke. Nostalgic. This is just like one of those very heavy tong san wok. Today I seasoned it and fried mamak mee goreng with it. The noodles did not stick to the wok at all and in fact all the loose bit of potatoes stuck to the strands of noodles nicely just as this dish should. There were no sticking to the wok that could not be easily scrapped off with my spatula. Now I am excited to try and fry beehoon (rice vermicelli) with it hoping for the bottom lightly burnt BEST bits. It can take very high heat so the wok ‘hei’ aka “breath of the wok” would be GREAT.

Like all woks and all things in life you have to care for them and this is of no exceptions. This one needs just to be dried after washing and in the beginning I will oil it lightly and wipe with kitchen roll until it goes smooth smooth (The Chinese in me could not resist ). I bought this wok for the high heat it can take and because I find the stamped wooden cover so sexy /wonder if it’s a case of new broom sweeps clean but I doubt it from my woking experiences.

2. De Buyer – Now, I also have a fondness for the de buyer pans but you do REALLY have to care for them. After using you will have to wash, heat and then oil them back ready for the next usage. Failing to do so will equates to rust!!!! You can use steel wool to clean it and it will still be good. The trick to using this is to make sure you heat it well before you add oil and make sure your oil is hot before you start cooking. Then if you fry an egg it will slide off the pan. Yes it is that smooth. Most chefs in restaurants (I watched on television) uses them as they heat up FAST and can take a bit of abuse but you just have to care for them after.

However it cannot take too high heat or they will burn easily and the wok will be brown even before you put food in to cook. Moderate heat is fine but not extreme high heat. That is why I got the new wok.

I have been using this de buyer for everyday cooking. You can also cook sweet sour with tomato sauce, make an asam sambal sauce or red wine jus. The acid in these sauces will make your pan shinny and new again! Wash with minimum detergent. If you are using it just for clean cooking, like frying an egg, or omelette you don’t even have to wash your wok. Just cover it, reheat and use again. It also wipes clean well.

3. Circulon – Infinite Hard Anodised – I have this wok for more than a decade. As this is a non stick wok it has to be taken care of aka use carefully with love. Use only wooden, bamboo or silicon spatula as you do not want to scratch it. This is the biggest problem with non stick wok. Stays nice and dandy in the beginning ……

I have been moving away from woks like these because I don’t dare to use them after scratches appeared and sometimes even bamboo spatula can mark it. It is because of the wide brim I like to reserve the use of this wok to make paste like pineapples, red beans, yam etc ….

4. The Master Class Professional series – These babies are not too expensive and are really versatile to use. This means I do not mind my children using them as my heart would not feel as if I am having a heart attack! They can use metal spoons, forks and generally abuse them and I do not mind as much for they are not too expensive. The best thing for the children is that they are non stick and CARBON STEEL!

This means easy washing, can be abused and don’t mind being soaked overnight but I have yet to need to do so even after abusing and using them for a lot of years. I like to use them for the really sticky sweet sour stuff like ribs and coco-cola marinated ribs that my son is so partial to. I highly recommend this series for those who are undecisive on which woks to buy. Try starting with these as they are inexpensive and good.

I would recommend the one with the extra handle as it easier to carry a bigger and heavier load. I often use the 24cm for making sauces and it’s just simple to use, easier to wash and store.

5. The Le Cruset wok – This is the oldest wok amongst the collection in my house. It must be at least 20 years old. I loved it until it begins to have scratches. Now you can see I love my woks and I do take very good care of them. For the life of me I do not know how them scratches appeared as if by magic. As it is a non stick wok I do not want or dare to use it after but I kept it oiled and in the shed for that one day, I repeat, that one day, when I want to make salted chicken or beggar’s chicken. It is for this reason that I have moved away from heavily non stick coated woks.

6. The Lodge that’s almost a wok – This Lodge pan is so big and powerful with it’s high sides that it is literally a wok, a heavy cast iron wok except for the fact that the sides makes it a bit hard to use a spatula. it’s also much harder for me to carry.

It is mostly used for searing steaks but I have been known to use it to do a mix vegetables stir fry when I am having a few guests over. This is because it keeps the food warm much longer without me having to reheat it later. Nothing much taste as foul as reheated vegetables in my book.

7. The Outdoor Pan – This is one of them Chinese restaurant ‘tai chow’ wok that I bought to use outside in my garden kitchen set up when I want to fry kaki-ayam (chicken feet) or a whole crispy pipa chicken or even an entire oink oink trotter hahahahahaha

This one you can truly abuse but boy you have to wash, clean and then oil it after. Most importantly you need a gas hob to be able to use it.

8. The Sainsbury’s wok – A few years back I discovered this wok in Sainsbury and fell in love with it. Once when it was 50% off (on offer) I have friends helping me ‘sapu’ bought all of them from London to as far north as Northampton! I kept them for gifts and used them for daily cooking. Cheap and cheerful lasting nearly 1 to 1.5 years each wok. My children uses them to fry luncheon meat (SPAM), sausages etc and I do not have to shout at them to be careful of oil spits as the depth is so good. Then I will throw away when the non stick wears off and starts another one. A few have also travelled to Malaysia! I now have only one left and have been using it as a steamer bottom hence the sad situation it is now in. (Pic) I live in a hard water area and there is nothing much that could be done about it. As the wok only cost me £15 then it was much cheaper than buying a steamer 33cm size! The wok came with a tempered glass lid too.

To be continued …………………………..

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SousVide Rack of lamb with a mustard white wine sauce

Ingredients

Vacuumed pack

• 1 Rack of Lamb
• salt and freshly ground pepper

Vegetables

• 1 pkt brocolli spears optional
• 1 bundle asparagus optional

Butternut Squash

• 1 large butternut squash cubed
• 1 tbsp honey optional

White wine mustard and thyme jus

• 1 tbsp Garlic mince
• 2 tbsp Onions mince
• 1 glass/cup White wine
• 1 cups Lamb or chicken stock
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 sprig thyme
• 1 tbsp double cream
• salt and freshly ground pepper

Streaky bacon

• 1 pkt bacon

Instructions

For the Lamb

• Seasoned the lamb rack with salt & freshly ground pepper. Vacuumed sealed and into SousVide machine at 55C for an hour.
• Remove from SousVide and let dry before rendering out the fats. I cross cut the fats like diamond shaped. Fry the fats side for 2 minutes and remove. Use the rendered fat to make the white wine mustard jus.

For the Butternut Squash

• Prepare the butternut squash into cubes and roast in the oven at 180C for up to 45 minutes depending on the size they are cubed.
• Before roasting coats them with butter liberally

For the White wine mustard Jus

• Using the same pan with the lamb fat fry the garlic and onions till translucent but not brown.. Add in white wine. Let it boil down to half.
• Next add in the lamb stock and let it boil down to half.
• Turn off the heat and add in the Dijon mustard and thyme. Then season with salt and pepper and a tbsp of double cream.
• Lastly add in the butter and any juice from the resting rack of lamb. The sauce is now ready.
• Carve the lamb and serve with the boiled broccoli spears.

Vegetables

• Just boil the broccoli spears and asparagus in hot water for 3 to 5 minutes till tender

Bacon

• To get crispy bacon place the strips in between 2 pans and roast in the oven together with the butternut squash

To serve

• Be as artistic as you like.

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SousVide Beef Brisket Steaks in mushroom red wine jus

Ingredients

• beef brisket
• Mushroom Red Wine Jus
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp mince shallots
• 1 tsp mince garlic
• 1 pkt brown chestnut mushrooms
• 1 tbsp Roux mic butter & flour equal amount
• 1 cup red wine
• salt and pepper
• Butternut Squash Puree
• peeled and cubed butternut
• butter

Instructions

Mushrooms Red Wine Jus

• Melt butter and add in the chopped shallots and garlic. when fragrant add in the mushrooms
• Add in the red wine. Reduce to half by boiling before adding the beef stock.
• After adding the beef stock let it reduced to half by boiling.
• Add the roux slowly and stir till it reach the consistence you want.
• When done, add in any excess juice from your beef SousVide and a slice of butter for a glossy jus.

Butternut Squash Puree

• Preheat oven to 200 C/Gas 6. Place squash on a baking tray and drizzle with melted butter. Roast in the preheated oven until tender and slightly brown, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Cool until easily handled. Scoop flesh into a food processor; pulse until smooth. I put into a pipping bag to pipe on plate,

Asparagus

• Just blanch in hot water and just laced with butter.

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