PASTA WITH SAUSAGE

Once you get your aglio olio right, you can add in anything to have it your way. Today I top it up with my favorite Thai sausage and sunflower sprouts.

CATS

Everyone in the team contributed to this promotion spot. We nailed down this idea after two brainstorm sessions and every producer was assigned a different task to script, direct, edit and perform sound design.

It was the winning spot at Promaxbda Asia for best PSA Challenge.

 

ASPARAGUS RECIPE

Australian asparagus, peel off skin at bottom area and cut into bite size

one small piece of butter

pure olive oil

extra virgin olive oil

garlic, chopped

freshly crushed black peppercorn

sea salt

white wine, half a cup

Prepare asparagus

Bring a pot of water to boil, add salt and throw in asparagus. Cook for about 2 minutes. Transfer asparagus into a pot of ice water. Drain away ice water and put asparagus aside for later use. 

Frying

Put a pan over high heat. Throw in butter and pure olive oil. Fry garlic till golden brown. Put in asparagus, add salt and pepper. Stir fry for 2 minutes and add in white wine. Fry for another one minute to let the alcohol evaporate and serve immediately with extra virgin olive oil. Personally i like to squeeze a small piece of lemon to add extra flavor.

I would love to know more asparagus recipes. Share your views.

JUST DO IT

How much do you get if you lose a leg? How much does your wife get if you die in an accident? Are you insured?

OLD STYLE FRIED RICE

One ingredient to give fried rice an old style flavor is chopped dried radish. For this recipe, I’ve added Taiwan sausages to enhance the overall taste.

Ingredients

Cooked Rice – Cook it the previous day and put in the fridge overnight. It helps the rice to break up more easily during frying.

Dried Radish, chopped

Shallots, thinly sliced

2 eggs

Frozen Peas – Do not defrost the peas. Boil a little water and throw them in straight from the fridge. Once cooked, scoop out for later use.

2 Taiwan Sausages, diced

Light Soy Sauce

White Pepper, ground

Flower Oil

Heat up a wok over medium heat, pour in flower oil. Once oil is hot, fry shallots till golden brown. Throw in dried radish. Stir, cover with lid and watch the radish dance in the wok. Throw in Taiwan sausages and fry till aroma fills the air. Throw in peas. Put in rice and use spatula to tap with patient till rice breaks up into individual grains covered with oil. Push everything to one side of the wok. On the empty area, pour in some more oil and crack eggs directly into the wok. Stir to mix yolk and whites together then combine with rest of ingredients. Pour a sufficient amount of soy sauce around the edge of the wok to flow into rice and stir well. Sprinkle white ground pepper and serve.

 

TELL CHANNEL 8

I love taking on projects with minimum promo brief. For this spot, I was only given the email address, hotline number and promo deadline. Meaning the rest is up to me.

So with my right brain, plus an assistant producer who had just lost interest in k-pop and 2 bake bean cans…TA DA!!!

MEATBALLS IN TOMATO SAUCE

This is a dish i fear to cook all along. I fear the meat balls may turn out too tough and taste like rubber. I fear they may not hold together and end up becoming a pot of minced beef stew.

Staring at my blooming rosemary plant being untouched for quite a while, I took the courage to cook it. Combining different recipes from the web, i came up with my own version.

It turns out ten times tastier than i expect it to be.

Meatballs

600g Ground Beef

100g Leg Ham – finely chopped

1/2 Onion – finely chopped

1/4 wedge Parmesan Cheese – grated

5 pieces Biscuit – Crumbs

3 Stalks of Rosemary – finely chopped

1 Egg

Black Pepper

White Pepper

Sea Salt

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and shape them into balls. Makes about 25 balls. Heat up a pot using high heat with olive oil and fry them in batches to seal the external.

Sauce

2 tins of Italy Canned Tomatoes

1/2 an Onion finely chopped

5 cloves of Garlic finely chopped

Half a Carrot grated

2 stalks of Celery grated

2 red chilli finely chopped

1 glass of red wine

Fresh Sweet Basil or Parsley

Black Pepper

Sea Salt

Using the same pot which fries the meatballs, add in more olive oil to the remaining juice and saute the onion till brown. Add in garlic, red chilli and saute till garlic turns brown and oil turns red. Add carrots and celery. Add tomatoes and simmer till the sauce bubbles. Add red wine, black pepper, sea salt, basil and simmer for a while.

Add in the meat balls and simmer for another 30 minutes. Serve with crusty bread or pasta.

Life don’t get any better than this.

UNRIDDLE

Throughout my TV career, this is among the most successful branding i did for a program promo. This tune from our licensed music company “Lullaby of Pain” gives Unriddle a powerful branding.

When the fans of Unriddle heard of a possible sequel, this is what they say: “Just use that same tune to create teasers like the first season and we will know Unriddle 2 is coming.”

Both Unriddle teaser campaigns helped me garner 2 silver awards at Promax Asia in two consecutive years.

Below are the launch trailers for Unriddle 2 following the teasers.

SIMPLEST PORTOBELLO MUSHROOM RECIPE EVER

I got this recipe from a local TV program. I initially doubt how good it will taste till I try it out of curiosity.

The Stars

Portobello Mushrooms (buy the biggest you can get)

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Freshly crushed Black Pepper

The Story

- Pour enough olive oil into pan over medium heat.

- Place mushrooms top side down and cook for 3-4 minutes

- Pour about one teaspoonful of balsamic vinegar onto each mushroom

- Turn mushroom over and cook for another 2 minutes

- Add black pepper and serve immediately

This is it! It’s that simple. The magic here is the balsamic vinegar which will caramelize and goes really well with the mushrooms. If the mushrooms are big enough, you can really eat it with fork and knife just like steak.

I will normally use the left over oil and juice to saute some onions to go with it.

ONE AND ONLY

It is so much cheaper to cook a favorite dish than to film a promo. Thanks to my marketing director, I was lucky to have the chance and budget to shoot this spot.

After it was shown on TV, I received many calls to ask about that tree which was taken at the old bidadari cemetery. Unfortunately, it was being chopped off just after my shoot. I am so lucky!