From Beyond Stupidity
I had the second cooking lesson just now, for dinner. My tutor was the Corn, and one of the judges, so to speak, was Hair Twist. Well, actually it was more like one of those cooking show on TV where the tutor actually does all the cooking...
The Corn is quite definitely a Choleric Melancholy, judging from the fact that she absolutely hates coddling weak people and goes straight to the point, while occasionally displaying feats of intelligence and being decidedly emotional at times--which, really, ought to weaken the Choleric hypothesis. In any case it helps explain why she didn't let me touch the ingredients except for grunt work (skinning garlic, stirring carrots etc) while she took over most of the actual cooking. Still, considering she was about to eat it, it was probably wise of her not to let me do too much.
All the cooking was done with an inductive cooker; we would have used the gas stove, but it was out of gas and hasn't been replenished yet. In any case it probably reduced the mess we might have made, so it was a good thing. The Corn made me wash everything before using, so I don't expect food poisoning...
Implied in the procedures, but not stated, is the fact that before every dish, the pan we used was heated up and some oil was poured into it and spread around its base, then allowed to continue heating to a moderate temperature. The oil used was only enough to cover the base, not enough to, say, dip a french fry in.
We made three dishes; we only planned two at first, but various mistakes on my part forced her to improvise the third one. I've no idea what these are called, but here goes:
Chicken, Stir-Fried with Cili Padi and Ginger
Ingredients: One chicken breast, boneless; three small chillies (red or green), ave. length 5cm; one piece of ginger, preferably young, about 5cm long.
Procedure:
1. Chop up the ginger into tiny bits, the smaller the better. Do not cut hand or fingers.
2. Chop up the small chillies; their eventual size is inversely proportional to the spiciness of the dish (eg small pieces = very hot, large = relatively bland and so on), so cut to taste.
3. Wash the chicken thoroughly and cut away clotted blood and tendons (tendons are recognisable by the white colour and stringy texture). Chop into bite-sized pieces.
4. Throw ginger into heated oil and stir around. Allow to become fragrant.
5. Add chilies and stir until odour changes. Allow appropriate level of spiciness in odour.
6. Add pieces of chicken and stir. Chicken should gradually shrink and become slightly browned as it fries.
7. Add light soy sauce to taste.
Feeds 3.
Baby Chye Sim with Garlic
Ingredients: Baby chye sim, 3 packets (estimated 16 to 17 stalks); garlic (1.5 cloves)
Procedures:
1. Soak baby chye sim in water for as long as convenient.
2. Pull garlic apart to reveal the little bits; smash little bits under flat of knife to remove skin easily. Use slow pressure from hand instead of sudden impact.
3. When all skin of garlic is removed, chop coarsely to taste.
4. Throw garlic into heated oil and stir until fragrant.
5. Drain water from baby chye sim.
6. Remove ends of stalks, then pull apart so that each leaf is on separate stem or piece thereof.
7. Throw baby chye sim into heated oil and rotate so that each leaf comes into contact with oil.
8. Baby chye sim should eventually shrink and soften. While in the process, add salt or light soy sauce for extra flavour.
9. Remove and eat.
Feeds 3.
Egg tofu and Carrots
Ingredients: Egg tofu (one tube); carrots (1.5); starch (unspecified amount)
Procedure:
1. Peel carrots and chop into little cubes.
2. Squeeze tofu out of tube onto hand, gently, and chop into roughly equal pieces. Do not use excessive force or slicing motions.
3. Throw carrots into heated oil and stir until somewhat soft (or as desired).
4. Add tofu.
5. If gravy is wanted, water mixed with starch may be added at any point after this.
6. Eat.
Feeds 3.
I think it was a somewhat distracting experience for the Corn since she knows I'm a total noob in the kitchen and could at any time fatally infect anything with dirt without knowing: that's probably why she kept washing things or telling me to do so.
The Corn is quite definitely a Choleric Melancholy, judging from the fact that she absolutely hates coddling weak people and goes straight to the point, while occasionally displaying feats of intelligence and being decidedly emotional at times--which, really, ought to weaken the Choleric hypothesis. In any case it helps explain why she didn't let me touch the ingredients except for grunt work (skinning garlic, stirring carrots etc) while she took over most of the actual cooking. Still, considering she was about to eat it, it was probably wise of her not to let me do too much.
All the cooking was done with an inductive cooker; we would have used the gas stove, but it was out of gas and hasn't been replenished yet. In any case it probably reduced the mess we might have made, so it was a good thing. The Corn made me wash everything before using, so I don't expect food poisoning...
Implied in the procedures, but not stated, is the fact that before every dish, the pan we used was heated up and some oil was poured into it and spread around its base, then allowed to continue heating to a moderate temperature. The oil used was only enough to cover the base, not enough to, say, dip a french fry in.
We made three dishes; we only planned two at first, but various mistakes on my part forced her to improvise the third one. I've no idea what these are called, but here goes:
Chicken, Stir-Fried with Cili Padi and Ginger
Ingredients: One chicken breast, boneless; three small chillies (red or green), ave. length 5cm; one piece of ginger, preferably young, about 5cm long.
Procedure:
1. Chop up the ginger into tiny bits, the smaller the better. Do not cut hand or fingers.
2. Chop up the small chillies; their eventual size is inversely proportional to the spiciness of the dish (eg small pieces = very hot, large = relatively bland and so on), so cut to taste.
3. Wash the chicken thoroughly and cut away clotted blood and tendons (tendons are recognisable by the white colour and stringy texture). Chop into bite-sized pieces.
4. Throw ginger into heated oil and stir around. Allow to become fragrant.
5. Add chilies and stir until odour changes. Allow appropriate level of spiciness in odour.
6. Add pieces of chicken and stir. Chicken should gradually shrink and become slightly browned as it fries.
7. Add light soy sauce to taste.
Feeds 3.
Baby Chye Sim with Garlic
Ingredients: Baby chye sim, 3 packets (estimated 16 to 17 stalks); garlic (1.5 cloves)
Procedures:
1. Soak baby chye sim in water for as long as convenient.
2. Pull garlic apart to reveal the little bits; smash little bits under flat of knife to remove skin easily. Use slow pressure from hand instead of sudden impact.
3. When all skin of garlic is removed, chop coarsely to taste.
4. Throw garlic into heated oil and stir until fragrant.
5. Drain water from baby chye sim.
6. Remove ends of stalks, then pull apart so that each leaf is on separate stem or piece thereof.
7. Throw baby chye sim into heated oil and rotate so that each leaf comes into contact with oil.
8. Baby chye sim should eventually shrink and soften. While in the process, add salt or light soy sauce for extra flavour.
9. Remove and eat.
Feeds 3.
Egg tofu and Carrots
Ingredients: Egg tofu (one tube); carrots (1.5); starch (unspecified amount)
Procedure:
1. Peel carrots and chop into little cubes.
2. Squeeze tofu out of tube onto hand, gently, and chop into roughly equal pieces. Do not use excessive force or slicing motions.
3. Throw carrots into heated oil and stir until somewhat soft (or as desired).
4. Add tofu.
5. If gravy is wanted, water mixed with starch may be added at any point after this.
6. Eat.
Feeds 3.
I think it was a somewhat distracting experience for the Corn since she knows I'm a total noob in the kitchen and could at any time fatally infect anything with dirt without knowing: that's probably why she kept washing things or telling me to do so.
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