08 Jul 2007, ST
By Chris Tan
Hot fun
Q Fried hor fun is nothing without the slightly burnt ('wok hei') taste but this is almost impossible to recreate using a domestic gas stove. What is the best method to do it at home and get a nicely burnt flavour without burning the meal?
Benedict Andrew Lim Wee Yong
A There's no way of getting wok hei - literally 'wok breath', which doesn't quite equate with 'burnt' but refers to that particular intensity of aroma produced by high-heat cooking - with a non-stick cooking vessel.
However, if you have a good, well-seasoned steel or iron wok, turn your heat (and cooker hood) up to the max, make sure the wok is extremely hot before adding the oil and hor fun, and keep your frying arm moving, you should get at least a modicum of wok hei.
Lacking the above, you might like to try this. I learnt to make Laotian hor fun at a cooking class in Laos.
First, you fry the rice noodle clumps in a little hot oil, until they are lightly browned on the outside. Then you break an egg over them and stir lightly until it's cooked, by which time the noodles have browned a little further and developed a delicious, very lightly caramelised taste.
The other ingredients are stir-fried separately and given a quick toss with the noodles before serving. It's not quite the same as wok hei, but it's jolly good.
---------------------------------
Garlic gaffe
Q I grind fresh garlic when I make popiah but after some time, it turns lime green and loses its flavour. How do popiah sellers prevent theirs from turning green?
Lim Lee Eng
A The aroma and flavour of garlic come from a family of sulphur compounds. Crushing or pounding garlic breaks its cells and allows these compounds to mix and react with other cellular substances, forming new molecules that, while perfectly edible, happen to be a slightly alien shade of green.
To prevent this from happening, you can do three things. First, use new-season rather than aged garlic as the former is less rich in sulphur compounds; second, pound the garlic just before serving time.
Lastly, stir some oil into the garlic paste immediately after pounding. The oil coats the garlic fragments, reducing the amount of sulphurous juice that leaks out.
In the photo, both clumps of pounded garlic have been standing at room temperature for 10 hours.
The garlic on the right was mixed with oil and has darkened a little from its original ivory hue. But as you can see, it's far more acceptable than the Yoda-esque oil-free mound on the left.
Adding salt to the garlic does nothing, while adding vinegar accelerates the colour change.
------------------------------
Powder play
Q Several readers have asked for information about the differences between cream of tartar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda, so here's the lowdown.
A Baking soda, also known as bicarbonate of soda, is an alkaline compound, usually sodium bicarbonate. It neutralises acids in dough or batter. Water and carbon dioxide are by-products of this reaction: Bubbles of the latter expand in the oven's heat, enabling the dough or batter to rise.
It's often used alone or together with baking powder in cakes with acidic ingredients - sour cream, buttermilk, molasses, fruit, honey - and is also added to cookies to encourage browning.
Ammonium bicarbonate is another alkaline compound used for leavening, and to achieve a light, crunchy texture in pastries. This is because it reacts with acids to form ammonia and carbon dioxide - gases which evaporate quickly - but no water.
However, it's pongy in raw form, and the recipe has to be baked long enough to dispel the ammonia fumes.
Cream of tartar is an acidic salt, potassium bitartrate. Its most common role is to stabilise beaten egg white and improve the texture of egg-foam cakes such as chiffon cake.
Baking powder is a mixture of chemicals that react to yield carbon dioxide when liquid is added. It usually consists of an acid salt, an alkali, and a filler, usually cornstarch, to absorb moisture and prevent the compounds from reacting in the jar.
None of the above are interchangeable. Each has different powers and specific roles in baking, so follow reliable recipes closely for the best results.
By Chris Tan
Hot fun
Q Fried hor fun is nothing without the slightly burnt ('wok hei') taste but this is almost impossible to recreate using a domestic gas stove. What is the best method to do it at home and get a nicely burnt flavour without burning the meal?
Benedict Andrew Lim Wee Yong
A There's no way of getting wok hei - literally 'wok breath', which doesn't quite equate with 'burnt' but refers to that particular intensity of aroma produced by high-heat cooking - with a non-stick cooking vessel.
However, if you have a good, well-seasoned steel or iron wok, turn your heat (and cooker hood) up to the max, make sure the wok is extremely hot before adding the oil and hor fun, and keep your frying arm moving, you should get at least a modicum of wok hei.
Lacking the above, you might like to try this. I learnt to make Laotian hor fun at a cooking class in Laos.
First, you fry the rice noodle clumps in a little hot oil, until they are lightly browned on the outside. Then you break an egg over them and stir lightly until it's cooked, by which time the noodles have browned a little further and developed a delicious, very lightly caramelised taste.
The other ingredients are stir-fried separately and given a quick toss with the noodles before serving. It's not quite the same as wok hei, but it's jolly good.
---------------------------------
Garlic gaffe
Q I grind fresh garlic when I make popiah but after some time, it turns lime green and loses its flavour. How do popiah sellers prevent theirs from turning green?
Lim Lee Eng
A The aroma and flavour of garlic come from a family of sulphur compounds. Crushing or pounding garlic breaks its cells and allows these compounds to mix and react with other cellular substances, forming new molecules that, while perfectly edible, happen to be a slightly alien shade of green.
To prevent this from happening, you can do three things. First, use new-season rather than aged garlic as the former is less rich in sulphur compounds; second, pound the garlic just before serving time.
Lastly, stir some oil into the garlic paste immediately after pounding. The oil coats the garlic fragments, reducing the amount of sulphurous juice that leaks out.
In the photo, both clumps of pounded garlic have been standing at room temperature for 10 hours.
The garlic on the right was mixed with oil and has darkened a little from its original ivory hue. But as you can see, it's far more acceptable than the Yoda-esque oil-free mound on the left.
Adding salt to the garlic does nothing, while adding vinegar accelerates the colour change.
------------------------------
Powder play
Q Several readers have asked for information about the differences between cream of tartar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda, so here's the lowdown.
A Baking soda, also known as bicarbonate of soda, is an alkaline compound, usually sodium bicarbonate. It neutralises acids in dough or batter. Water and carbon dioxide are by-products of this reaction: Bubbles of the latter expand in the oven's heat, enabling the dough or batter to rise.
It's often used alone or together with baking powder in cakes with acidic ingredients - sour cream, buttermilk, molasses, fruit, honey - and is also added to cookies to encourage browning.
Ammonium bicarbonate is another alkaline compound used for leavening, and to achieve a light, crunchy texture in pastries. This is because it reacts with acids to form ammonia and carbon dioxide - gases which evaporate quickly - but no water.
However, it's pongy in raw form, and the recipe has to be baked long enough to dispel the ammonia fumes.
Cream of tartar is an acidic salt, potassium bitartrate. Its most common role is to stabilise beaten egg white and improve the texture of egg-foam cakes such as chiffon cake.
Baking powder is a mixture of chemicals that react to yield carbon dioxide when liquid is added. It usually consists of an acid salt, an alkali, and a filler, usually cornstarch, to absorb moisture and prevent the compounds from reacting in the jar.
None of the above are interchangeable. Each has different powers and specific roles in baking, so follow reliable recipes closely for the best results.
No comments:
Post a Comment