i was invited to dine at krish, a new addition to the rochester park stretch of eateries & restaurants. boasting south asian influenced contemporary european cuisine, krish opened its doors only on the 14 nov and occupies two floors of dining areas, a large outdoor patio and greenhouse bar - 6000 square feet in all. i felt in love with the place at first sight, you'll see why.
the deck featuring a greenhouse bar with ample seatings and linkable from the 2nd storey of the restaurant. i love the comfy seats and how the bar lights up by night. it looks like an aquarium! photo courtesy of krish the restaurant.
porch area/main entrance and one of my favorite part of the restaurant. photo courtesy of krish the restaurant.
interior of restaurant on 2nd level. i really love the decor! the whole place is done up really nicely, homely yet elaborate. with balinese, country, modern baroque/rococo and european decor all in one, its really beautiful. photo courtesy of krish the restaurant.
cocktail
i didn't manage any food pics coz it was virtually impossible to take any at night especially when the restaurant was really really dark. these photos were provided by the restaurant as well and i wanna specially mention these two, which are among my favorites. the spiced carrot ravioli with pomegranate and ginger brown butter emulsion as well as the pork belly tikka with tamarind & shaved red onion. the duck confit murtabak and naan chips were really good too!
thanks once again to chloe of ate consulting for the invite :)
lately i've been intrigued by an "alternative" kind of photography. lomography, where the pictures are taken with a holga cam and the colors funky with a distinct black vignette around the border. another kind, which i'm not sure what its called (think its medium format if i'm not wrong), has got really washed out & overexposed effect. since i couldn't achieve the lomo sort of effect on photoshop despite reading a few tutorials, i tackled the latter. this one is really easy to do. what i did was to adjust the offset & gamma correction level under 'exposure' on photoshop.
i remember liking this sort of effect ever since i was very little, maybe during my primary school days. there's this particular kind of diary or autograph book where there'd be lotsa pictures like these in there - a red telephone booth, a bicycle against a lamp post with a flower basket infront, or a steaming cup of coffee near the window sill. i really really love them, even til today. coupled with some handwritten captions, i like how they give a really calm and serene feel.
a bunch of sage. do you like them? i think certain subjects work better, and i'm gonna try photographing a bicycle next. you can see more pics like these here and here . i'm so in love with them!!
lately i've got this obsession with breakfast food. pancakes, poached or scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, mushrooms sauteed with garlic & butter, english muffins etc. and i was rather pleased with my rendition of my breakfast items, especially the hollandaise sauce. making granola is also on my to-do list coz they're really good eaten on their own, with milk or yoghurt. i usually have alot of nuts at home, especially the expensive ones like hazelnuts, pistachios & walnuts for baking plus leftover iranian dates from ramadan few months back so granola is the way to go.
and i tell ya, these are real addicting to eat! as i was mixing the honey & ground cinnamon into the nuts & rolled oats, i couldn't stop stealing bites tho they were unbaked. of coz, as i put these into the oven, the smell of cinnamon that wafted through my kitchen was so intoxicating i couldn't help but eat more after that :p the best part was the toasted hazelnuts and strawberry flavored craisins (dried cranberries) i got from cold storage. felt like i was eating gummy bears. and the good thing is you can add your favorite fruits & nut combination and keep these as "backups" tightly kept in airtight containers in the fridge.
1 cup dried fruits (i used a combination of apricots, dates, raisins & craisins)
directions :
1. in a large bowl combine the nuts, rolled oats, ground cinnamon & salt. mix well.
2. in a small bowl stir together oil & honey. pour this mixture over the dry ingredients and toss together, making sure all the dry ingredients are coated with the liquid. spread onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper or silpat and bake in a preheated oven of 160C for about 30 - 45 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally so the mixture browns evenly.
3. place on a wire rack to cool. you will notice that the granola may still be sticky when it is removed from the oven but it will become crisp and dry as it cools. make sure to break up any large clumps of granola while the mixture is still warm. once the granola has completely cooled, add in dried fruits and store in an airtight container or plastic bag in the refrigerator. it will keep for several weeks.
frankly, my previous failed attempt on pancakes left me feeling embarrassed much more than anything else. for someone who's got almost 4 years of experience in baking and has dabbled with countless of complicated bakes, there was no reason why i could fail in such simple stuff like pancakes (yes i know i've said that before). i was really determined to get it right and i'm glad i didn't have to wait long. i got it right on the next attempt, all thanks to this video on youtube :D i reckon nothing beats watching a video coz it lets u see exactly how its being done, consistency everything. watching beats studying & reading combined and i'm so glad i decided to go on youtube instead.
end result is extremely satisfying. everything, from taste to smell to texture resembled mcdonalds' hotcakes alot. i had them with spiced honey and salted butter and they were so yum! i did not follow the "conventional" pancake rules eg. taking care not to overmix the batter, or using sufficient butter to oil the pan etc. but i do feel that beating the egg whites separately does result in a fluffier pancake and i'm sticking to this method in future. its almost hard to believe that egg whites and not baking powder would make such a huge difference.
ingredients (makes 7) :
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup milk
1 egg, separated
2 tsps caster sugar
1 tbsp oil
directions :
1. combine flour, baking powder & salt in a bowl and mix well.
2. in another bowl, whisk together egg yolk, sugar and milk followed by oil. mix well and add it into the flour mixture and whisk to combine.
3. whisk egg white until soft peaks, then fold into the above mixture. at this point i refrigerated the batter overnight. this step is entirely optional but it does thicken the batter abit and prevent it from spreading too much when cooking.
4. heat griddle or a non-stick frying pan on medium low heat then scoop batter, about 1 ladleful onto the pan. cook until bubbles appear evenly on the surface, flip it over and cook until golden.
all it took was one sentence from a friend - "i'm eating island creamery's pulut hitam ice cream" over MSN one day that got me into making this ice cream. island creamery's rendition is really good. smooth, coconutty, fragrant and easily one of my favorite flavors. though i didn't have a recipe to begin with, common sense tells me the easiest way to put this together is simply to find a coconut ice cream recipe and add in cooked glutinous rice that has been presoaked and boiled to a mush. and while a vanilla bean ice cream recipe will require you to place the vanilla bean pod together with the cream while bringing it to a boil, i added pandan leaves to the coconut milk. end result was a really rich and fragrant ice cream, better than i expected but a tad too cloying. might consider replacing some of the cream with milk if i'm ever gonna make this again.
i didn't know black glutinous rice's so pretty! haven't really paid any attention in the past and i thought it only comes in one shade - black, but i spotted brown & white grains among the blacks. i also ended up buying the organic one that cost $3 a 500g pack coz i couldn't find the normal ones in the supermarket. was told they taste better but frankly, i couldn't really tell the difference, not especially when the coconut cream's so overpowering.
a delicious mess. quite good when eaten in small quantities :D
recipe adapted from iced : 180 very cool concoctions by jane lawson
ingredients :
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 1/2 cups coconut cream
2/3 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
2 stalks pandan leaves, knotted
handful of black glutinous rice
directions :
1. soak black glutinous rice in water and place it in the fridge overnight. remove from fridge, rinse and boil until it reaches porridge-like consistency. all the grains should be mushy, not firm. place cling film or baking paper over the top to prevent a skin from forming. leave to cool.
2. combine coconut milk, coconut cream, sugar and pandan leaves in a saucepan and bring to a boil. discard pandan leaves.
3. whisk egg yolks in a bowl and pour boiling coconut milk mixture in slow steady stream over the egg yolks while whisking constantly.
4. put mixture back to the stove over low heat and continue whisking until thickens, about 85C or coats the back of a spoon. do not allow mixture to boil. put mixture through strainer.
5. chill the mixture thoroughly, add in glutinous rice & churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions then freeze until firm. alternatively, if you don't have an ice cream maker, you can place the mixture in a shallow metal tray and freeze, whisking every couple of hours until frozen and creamy.
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