WINE FOOD MUSIC

I cook with music and it must be there from the moment I draw my knife. I normally keep my mini hi-fi tuned to our local station Class 95FM with non-stop love songs from the 80s and 90s. These are songs with the power to arouse my emotions and awaken all my senses  to create the right aroma, taste, texture and color for my dish with love.

Along with music, tasting a glass of wine when I am cooking increases the sensation to elevate the whole process to a different level. It keeps my momentum going when I need to take short breaks while waiting for the fragrance of the garlic to infuse into the olive oil or when my marinara sauce is simmering away with fresh basil, onions, garlic and Italian canned tomatoes.

Something that adds to the happiness is to appreciate all the ingredients in front of me. I give huge respect to the farmers who had put in hard work to plant, rear and cultivate all the beautiful produce that are able to help me create my dish. No ingredients are to be taken for granted. Every grain of rice, every dash of black pepper is precious and should be treated with great value.

When you cook with passion and love, people can taste it.

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.