kalio ayam (padang chicken curry)

Last week I had three pound cakes on my kitchen counter. Hubs and second son love cake, a well documented fact on this blog, and I love baking. Still, a chocolate pound cake stacked on a coffee pound cake, atop a rum pound cake, may be a bit much. Even then, I'm toying with the idea of a  mocha glazed walnut poundcake or perhaps, one riddled with nutty nibs and scented with the sweet, almost syrupy fragrance of almonds. Hi, My name is Denise... and I'm a bakeaholic.

No, no more cake, at least not for another few posts. But, I have to tell you, that chocolate pound cake was an absolute dreamboat. A deep tan coloured cake of indescribable chocolatey dampness. I won't unleash the adjectives as yet, but I solemnly swear to share the recipe with you soon. It would be a sin to keep something so good, all to myself.

cashew & potato curry

Hi all! It's time for our monthly Nona Nona feature and this month's theme, chosen by me, is cashew nuts. It should be no surprise, if you've read my cashew milk post, which started the cashew craze in my kitchen. Biren of Roti n Rice and Tea Tattler, my blogger buddy, personal friend and Nona Nona partner as always, gamely agreed, though she admitted cashews were a stumper as apart from Indian cooking, you won't find them in many traditional Asian dishes, the few exceptions being Kung Pao chicken, or cashew cookies.

This month marks our ninth Nona Nona collaboration, and next month, when Biren takes the wheel, will be our first Nona Nona anniversary. For a peek at our past Nona Nona features, click on the link. I can't believe Biren and I have been at this for almost a year and I can't wait to see what she has simmering for us next month! 

green chilli chicken

Hello! I hope the new year is strewing only sunshine and rose petals in your path because this morning, I stepped on a tack. *ouch* I haven't decided on any resolution yet, but here's my first post for 2013. Remember how I told you last year that my first born is a fiend for curry devil? Well, true to form, the big boy sheepishly asked for another pot of fire and brimstone, two days after Boxing Day. Awwww! Is there anything more endearing than a boy who loves his mama's cooking?

My heart swelled with maternal affection, but my back protested violently, after a week of Christmas cooking and baking.

keema

I am abashed to admit, that I have entirely become the sort of person who leaves off until tomorrow or better still, next week, what I can do today, or could've done yesterday or um... last week as the case may be, if it won't get me sued or jail time.

Yes, I am referring to last week's post where I seemingly left you high and dry with naan and nothing to dunk it into. I could've given both but I've been told time and again, how "wordy" I am, so I thought it best not to try your patience with two recipes in one serpentine post.

prawn and pineapple curry

The pineapple has to be one of nature's most well considered gifts to tropical dwellers. What I love most is its ability to cross over from raw to sweet to savoury recipes, with complete ease, a triple threat of the culinary world, if you will. Imagine an existence, if you can, without pineapple tarts, pineapple upside down cake, sambal nenas (pineapple sambal), Hawaiian pizza (hah! busted!!) pina coladas or a juicy, golden, stickily sweet wedge of cold pineapple, on a blistering day at the height of summer!

I would eat them a lot more, if not for their prickly, armour-like skin and pesky, tongue shredding 'eyes', I do like pineapples enough though to have learnt from a young age, how to skin them and deftly remove the eyes without mangling them; watching one turn and roll against the knife blade, in my grandmother's worn, wrinkled and masterful hands was worth a month of lessons in culinary school.

beef rendang

First thing I have to say is that rendang is not Singaporean, it's not Malaysian, it is Indonesian, and to be very specific, it is from the Padang area of Sumatra. How do I know? Ask my born and bred Padang mum-in-law, who makes the best rendang I have tasted. Period. 

Still, we love it so much, we've embraced it completely and given it a special place in our hearts and bellies.  Today, I won't be sharing my mum-in-law's recipe with you (come on, are you kidding? Sure she loves me, but she don't love me that much)  but a scrumptious and simpler version I taught my 13 year-old boy to cook.

chicken curry with mustard greens

Curry is HUGE in Singapore. How huge, you ask? It was not so long ago, in the eye of a social storm within our fair isle. It’s a pretty convoluted story, but the gist of it is that two neighbours got themselves in the news, both locally and internationally, when one of the neighbours (foreigners from China) raised an almighty stink about  the other neighbour’s (a local Indian family) habit of cooking curry, which every foodie worth his or her salt knows, is no shrinking violet in the olfactory department. It’s no secret that if you cook curry in an apartment kitchen, the aromatic vapours can snake their way up and down the entire apartment building.

Still, we Singaporeans regardless of race, LOVE  our curry and were quite incensed that the mainland Chinese family had actually tried to stop the Indian family cooking their curry by bringing the matter to the attention of the local Community Mediation Centre. Thus was the Cook and Share a Pot of Curry movement born. Through this movement, and thanks to the power of the internet, over 60 000 people worldwide cooked and/or ate curry either alone or with family and friends, on August 21 2011, to spread the message of tolerance, respect and acceptance of unfamiliar cultures.