Cooking with Chef Eric Teo using Yifon Mushrooms & 2012 Calendar Giveaway

Cooking classes, I always enjoy going to them. There's always something to learn from the chefs or teachers. (Or sometimes to see the Chef in person after we heard so much about them, or watch them on TV!) So when I got an invite to attend a cooking class with Chef Eric Teo, I gladly accepted the invitation!


Most of us who watch lots of TV would have watch Chef Eric on cooking shows. The way he sometimes makes his 'disciple' cry on TV, you expect him to be fierce. At the cooking class, he was not what I call, 'his tv personality mode', he was so funny and entertaining. Looking at the photo above, you can imagine ya?

Chef Eric happens to be also the brand ambassador for Yit Hong Pte Ltd.

Yit Hong? I just found out that they have been the main distributor of canned food products from Narcissus and Ma Ling in Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei since 1954.



One thing about attending cooking classes is that everything is prepared for you! No washing up after that too! The class was held at ToTT Cooking Studio at Bukit Timah.


Have you seen these glass bottles of mushroom at the supermarket?
I have, but never bought them because I did not know what to do with them. I just found out from this session that they are ready to eat! Open the glass bottles and you can eat it straight from the bottle!

They have 5 different mushrooms with 6 different flavours.  Eat it on its own, with porridge, rice, noodles or use it as ingredients in your cooking. That evening, we used it in our dishes.

Chef Eric was humorous. Before the class started, he said he usually cook dishes from fresh ingredients, this is one of the rare times you can catch him cooking using ingredients from bottles and canned food. Well, you are the brand ambassador, so you got to use them right? LOL..

Anyway, we were shown how to cook 3 dishes. These 3 dishes are recipes that Chef Eric has prepared and it's available on a limited edition desk calendar that I will give out to a few of you all.

The dishes in the calendar that we prepared were:
- XO King Scallop with Spicy Golden Mushrooms & Crispy Rice Crackers
- Pork Luncheon Meat Bruchetta
- Mini Ham and Cheese Pizza with Assorted Mushrooms

XO King Scallop with Spicy Golden Mushrooms and Crispy Rice Crackers

The recipe that serves two:

Ingredients
1 Bottle of YIFON Spicy Golden Mushrooms, drained
6 pieces of King Scallops
6 pieces of already prepared Rice Crackers
1 tbsp of XO Sauce
1 stalk of julienne spring onions
1 piece of sliced red chili
1/4 tsp of sesame oil

Method
1. Heat up pan over medium to high heat with a little oil.
2. Pan-fry scallops for 30 seconds on each side, add in the XO sauce give it a good stir.
3. Remove the scallops from the pan and keep the leftover XO sauce 'residue' from the pan.
4. Pour in the YIFON Spicy Mushrooms, chilli and sesame oil into the same pan and stir for about 30 seconds.
5. Assemble YIFON Spicy Mushrooms with scallops and rice crackers, sprinkle with spring onions and serve.


Hint: Scallops come in different sizes, the 30 seconds is the usual time used to cook scallops. Use your hand to feel the scallops if you want a perfectly cooked scallop. Scallops are usually soft and when you feel the scallops with your hand and it has kind of 'harden' up slightly, it's about ready, add in the XO sauce and you can set it aside.


Hint: You do not need to clean the pan after taking the scallops. The leftover XO sauce from pan frying the scallops is superb stuff. It gives the mushroom extra fragrance.



You would probably not plate your food at home, but if you are preparing it as a special meal, plate them up. Nicely plated food makes you feel good even before tasting it!


The above, Chef Eric's example of how to do it.


This is my replication. Looks equally good?

It doesn't take much time to prepare. Chef Eric said use the freshest seafood and your meal will come out well even if you can't really cook.

Pork Luncheon Meat Bruchetta

You would probably like say, wah... "like that also can". Luncheon Meat Bruchetta!
If you entertain people at home like we do quite often, this will probably save you lots of slogging in the kitchen!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
1 Can of Ma Ling Pork Luncheon Meat
1 Roll of sliced baguette
4 hard boiled quail eggs
30g of cherry tomatoes
30g of shallots
20g of sweet basil leaves
30g of diced pineapples

Seasonings
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 pinch of black crushed pepper
1 pinch of salt

Method
1. Slice Ma Ling Pork Luncheon Meat into the size of your sliced baguette and pan-fry both sides till they are crispy (or how you like it).
2. Put the sliced baguettes in the oven for 3 minutes to make it crispy.
3. Halve the quail eggs and cherry tomatoes. Mix them with the sliced shallots, chopped basil leaves and pineapples with the seasoning.
4. Assemble and serve immediately.



Did you notice something? Chef Eric was without his trademark red glasses!
He was arranging the baguette to be toasted in the oven. Don't you love biting into a crunchy baguette?



How many of you have been eating Ma Ling luncheon meat since young?
I have...


For those who need visuals to see how thick and the size of the luncheon meat to cut.
Chef had a little oil on his pan, I totally did not use any oil on mine. ;-)


Above, Chef Eric's sample on how it's done.


Mine's looking quite good too right? If you hate onions or shallots, just omit it.

Tip: Simple stuff that you can prepare for yourself or for parties at home. Quick and simple starter for those who arrive early.

Mini Ham and Cheese Pizza with Assorted Mushrooms

I feel if you have kids at home, this is a good bonding time with the kids in the kitchen!
It won't go wrong, just that it might get real real messy!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
1 Bottle of YIFON Assorted Mushrooms, drained
2 pieces of pizza crust
3 tbsp of tomato sauce
10g of diced red onions
30g of turkey ham
5g of salad leaves
1/4 tsp of olive oil
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of pepper

Method
1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degree, bake pizza crust for about 3 minutes. The pizza crust should be golden brown but soft in the center.
2. Spread tomato sauce evenly. Top with YIFON Assorted Mushrooms, salad leaves, ham and cheese.
3. Drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake for another 5 minutes then serve hot.



These pizza dough were from the freezer sections of the supermarket. Get the brand that you usually buy.

Chef Eric said that if you want a nicer sauce, instead of just tomato sauce, add half amount of tomato paste and half amount of tomato sauce. Add some herbs in it, and it will make a difference.

Don't spread the tomato paste all the way to the sides, leave around 1 cm of tomato paste free zone. That will make it look nicer.



The mushrooms should be drained and put on top of the tomato paste. Add anything you want and the cheese should be on top.


This was Chef Eric's version of it.



My turn to make it. If you want to add seafood like prawns, it's best to gently stir fry them first. If not, leave the prawns on top of the pizza so that it will cook.


I listened to the Chef, have some tomato paste free zone around the sides.
If onions are your nemesis, ban it from your pizza!


I did not waste my luncheon meat from the previous dish! I put them together with my delicious mushrooms. The mushrooms bottle we used was the one with the assorted mushrooms. 3 different kinds of mushroom in it!


Ingredients overflow? Don't worry, gently press it down!
I had the ham, cheese and the prawns on top.



After baking, this is how it looks! Should have put more cheese ya?
Not too shabby looking right?

Really simple dish to prepare too if you are having parties at home.
It's not that expensive too and can be a back-up dish if your other dishes don't turn out the way you want it!


The Yifon Brand range of 'ready to eat' mushrooms!



The next time you walk along the supermarket aisle, pick one up and try.

YIFON Bottled Mushrooms are available in 6 different flavours - YIFON Assorted Mushrooms (containing poku, golden and button mushrooms), YIFON Teatree Mushrooms, YIFON Spicy Nameko Mushrooms, YIFON Bailing Mushrooms, YIFON Spicy Bailing Mushrooms and YIFON Spicy Golden Mushrooms. They are on sale at $1.95 each.

At selected supermarket outlets, if you get 4 bottles of YIFON bottled mushrooms, you can get a limited edition Yit Fong 2012 calendar.



I have 20 copies of calendars to give away. 5 of them are personally signed by Chef Eric Teo as above. There is a recipe for each month of the year. Do you want one of it?

If you do, just drop a comment below telling me which of the 6 flavours you like or you think will like.
Then email me at keropokman @ gmail.com your mailing address so I can post the calendar to you.

The first 5 will get the signed copies.

These calendar have been specially commissioned by Yit Hong Pte Ltd, would you want to 'like' their facebook page? While you are there, why not 'like' my post too? You might win yourself some goodies from Yit Hong. Good luck!

-- 6 Jan 2012 Update: Calendar Giveaway is over --

Asia's Dining Destination @ Marina Bay Sands : Part 3 - Celebrity Chef Restaurants Kitchen Tour

Have you always wanted to find out and go into the kitchens of celebrity chef restaurants? For most of us, we only see it on television, where we see how they cook and sometimes 'shout and scold' in the kitchens.

Well, if you have been following Part I and Part II of my adventures on the Marina Bay Sands Hotel's Asia's Dining Destination package, do you know the package includes a Celebrity Chef Restaurant Kitchen Tour?

Here's a preview of what the kitchen tour is like. The group of us went to 3 celebrity chef restaurants. Guy Savoy, Waku Ghin and Santi. If you behave yourselves and be nice to them, the chefs might be nice to you too and prepare some snacks for you!

Guy Savoy - Celebrity Chef Restaurant Kitchen Tour @ Marina Bay Sands

I have yet to dine at Guy Savoy, so I was quite excited to visit their kitchen.

One of these days, KopiKosongGirl and I want to visit the original Paris restaurant. I can imagine KKG saying, ya, when when? Say say only....


They have a lounge area near the entrance where the champagne bar is located. Guy Savoy has the "Bites and Bubbles" menu where you can enjoy small portions of their famous dishes. Thanks to MBS who hosted us, they arranged for us to have the Bites and Bubbles on one of the nights. We had it sitting at the lounge area.



For those who want the full serving size of food and sit at proper tables, enjoy them at the main dining area. This leg of the coveted Joselito Jamon Iberico greets you when you enter the elegant modernist dining room.



I like the design of their dining chairs! This is part of their dining room.
This dining room is where you dine to see and also to be seen.



This is Chef Charles-Benoit Lacour, Chef de Cuisine chez Guy Savoy.
He was previously at Guy Savoy Paris before deciding to come to Singapore.

Our first impression of him is he is such a nice person! So happy all the time as well. Oh this French man speaks very good English. He was very proud to show us his kitchen.




Kitchen design is not what I do for my day time job, so I don't know how to comment. All KKG and I can think of is, if only we have such space for our own kitchen!

Chef and the restaurant manager was explaining to us that everything is prepared fresh in this kitchen. The ingredients come from all over, mostly from France or Europe, but cooking is done here to make sure it's the best that you can get.



I said we behave ourselves,  we will be rewarded ya?
On the corner of our eye, we spotted a junior chef preparing something for us!



It's Guy Savoy's famous Artichoke Soup with Black Truffles. The Brittany artichokes base soup was so good. I have not cook artichokes before, but this was sensational. The artichokes that I had for meals when I saw studying overseas was nothing compared to this.

The soup was served with a warm flaky toasted mushroom brioche. Such delicious brioche! Can you see the layers on it? We did not have the coveted black truffle butter, we were too shy to ask.

(Some funnies: The other day when I was at the supermarket with my cousin, I showed her what an artichoke is and guess what she said? 9 hours to plant on Smurfs game!)



We got to try their desserts too. The macarons are made freshly in Singapore from imported ingredients.  We asked. ;-)

The teaspoon of the soft foam like quite a delight to the tongue. Whole spoon in the mouth was the instructions on how to eat it. I got to learn how to make these stuff at home!



Someone took a bit of the chocolate, it was so good, she like Oliver Twist, asked for more.
Unlike Oliver Twist, who got no seconds, we got more! A slate of it was brought out for us.



For those who have prefer privacy or business meetings, they have a private room too.
Hint to your bosses! Christmas, New Year or Chinese New Year meals can be held here.



I said from the beginning, this group of people working in this kitchen was a happy lot! See, when we left and looked into the little window outside the restaurant (that can see into the kitchen), the chefs inside waved bye bye!

Waku Ghin - Celebrity Chef Restaurant Kitchen Tour @ Marina Bay Sands

KKG and I have dined at Waku Ghin before. So both of us were excited to see how their kitchen looked like. Compared to the Guy Savoy's kitchen, it's relatively cool in this kitchen. It's an electric kitchen! They use induction cookers here! No open fire, less heat.

(Our small lil HDB kitchen uses an Induction domino as well! We are more Kiasu, have a Gas domino as well. haha. Who knows there might be no electricity one day! MRT can breakdown too you know!)



This was where they prepare the grilled stuff.
My first impression was so neat! Such nice charcoals too!



If you buy Australian food magazines you would notice Chef Tetsuya's appearing in Electrolux advertisements. His kitchen here in Singapore also uses the same brand. The 'toy' that I want is the blast chiller, but there is no way we can have that in our home.  Have always been fascinated by blast chillers when they use it on MasterChef!



This is Sous Chef Cory Soo Thoo. He's Singaporean by the way! He's one of the few chefs that can speak Chinese, so if you bring your parents or grandparents here, they can speak with the chef.

(In the back of our minds, we were wondering, how did he stay so slim? With all the food they prepare, they must have tasted it too! The nosy parker me spotted Tim Tams in their kitchen! They also snack like most of us! Either that Tim Tams and good food has no calories?)



We must have behaved ourselves, because we were going to be served braised lobster with tarragon. (No, we did not behave ourselves, we were asking too many questions! haha..)



KKG and I look at him prepared the food and it brought back memories. Just that the size here was tasting portions. ;-)


Tempting you with more photos of it.
Read our experience at Waku Ghin almost a year ago here.

Santi - Celebrity Chef Restaurant Kitchen Tour @ Marina Bay Sands

Santi is another restaurant in KKG and my list of places to dine. So we were equally excited to take a look at their kitchen.



I like their huge wooden door! Was imagining the huge doors at the Cathedrals in Spain. Not as big as those, but this is big enough.



He's the manager of this place. I forgot his name.



Santi has the biggest glass window to look into their kitchen in all of the Celebrity Chef Kitchen at Marina Bay Sands. You can see the whole kitchen as you walk into the restaurant.



Santi has also cleverly placed their private room away from the rest of the restaurant, but is next to the kitchen. This room has a glass wall, so diners here can look straight into the kitchen through 2 glass walls. This is where you get the best view of the kitchen when you dine at Santi!

Thanks to the folks at MBS, they hosted a dinner for us in this room. Hint to your boss! It's another place to nudge your bosses to visit for Christmas, New Year or Chinese New Year meals.



What a nice and cosy dining room. The brick style wall is to replicate their Spanish origins.
I am such a sucker for the many designs of chairs.



Chairs in their private room. Don't laugh, but I did not get to sit and try these chairs. I should try it out!



Chef de Cuisine, Chef Jose Moncayo. He hails from Barcelona.
Yes, every single mushroom is picked and cut by hand. He better hurry, lots more to go! Now you know why you pay for quality here. Only the best gets to the customer.



The guy in charge of Santi. Chef Daniel Chavez.
A few minutes with him, you feel so at ease. He's so nice to walk us around the whole kitchen. We got to see where they store the meat etc!

He told us, Santi sources for their food locally if possible. If the quality is good enough, they will use local ingredients. Yes, their chickens are from Malaysia. We saw the chickens being hung and dry aged in the special room. I so want to go back one day to try how the aged dry chicken taste like!

They don't waste any parts too. I saw a pig face too! They make delicacies out of it. (You thought only Chinese eat everything right?)



Walking through their kitchen makes you so hungry!
They were so many pots boiling all the various stocks and it smell so good!



We walked to a cooler section of the kitchen and saw someone tempering chocolates!
This section smells so good!



Our reward for good behaviour here, Joselito Jamon Iberico on toasted baguette.
Finally tasted the Joselito Iberico Ham!

Served with the Joselito Jamon Iberico was the Gazpacho Andaluz, one of the nicest chilled tomato I have tried so far. At the bottom of the gazpacho was fish roe. It just goes so nicely.


That's a condensed introduction to the Kitchen Tour. If you like good food and like to see how it is prepared, now you know how you can get to the kitchen tour.  More about booking the MBS Asia's Dining Destination package here.