True Passion - Martin Yan : a story about Chinese Food and Wine

If you like Chinese Food and also a fan of Chinese Food, a home grown TV food channel, Asian Food Channel premieres "True Passion - Martin Yan".  The show is about Martin Yan cooking and pairing it with wine.

Catch it starting Wednesday, 13 July at 8:30 PM on Starhub Singapore Channel 435.
(If you are in Malaysia, tune in on Astro Channel 703; in Thailand, Live TV Channel 65)

If you miss that, here's the schedule for this coming week:
Wednesday, July 13 - 8:30 pm
Thursday, July 14 - 04:30 am / 1:30 pm
Saturday, July 16 - 11:30 am / 6:00 pm / 9:30 pm
Sunday, July 17 - 2:00 pm
After watching the show, if  you want the recipes, you can visit this site for more information:
http://www.asianfoodchannel.com/truepassion_martinyan

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Press Release:

THE ASIAN FOOD CHANNEL PREMIERES ORIGINAL PRODUCTION “TRUE PASSION – MARTIN YAN” IN SINGAPORE
Programme Features Legendary Chef In His First Food And Wine Pairing Series

1 JUNE 2011, SINGAPORE – Singapore viewers and fans will be thrilled to know that the Asian Food Channel (AFC) will be premiering a new original production, True Passion – Martin Yan on Wednesday, 13 July at 8.30pm, StarHub Channel 435.

The exciting eight-part series includes one Chinese New Year special and features world-renowned chef, Martin Yan. Filmed in AFC’s own studio kitchen, Chef Yan cooks a range of delicious contemporary Asian dishes and pairs them with his favourite wines from Jacob’s Creek, Australia’s largest wine brand.  The series also sees Chef Yan traveling to Barossa Valley in Australia visiting Jacob’s Creek vineyards and learning about the intricate details that go into producing an internationally-acclaimed bottle of wine.

Not only a certified Master Chef but also a highly respected food consultant, cooking instructor and prolific author who has published over 30 cookbooks, Chef Yan delights audiences with his infectious personality and stunning dishes in this series which will be broadcasted regionally across eight countries to over 45 million viewers.

Even after appearing in over 3,000 cooking shows broadcasted worldwide, this AFC production is the first ever series where Chef Yan shares his knowledge of food and wine pairing with viewers. Local viewers will also be pleased to know that Chef Yan takes on some of Singapore’s favourite dishes such as Chili Crab and puts his own special touch on them!

“Chef Yan is a household name when it comes to Asian cuisine and has been an inspiration to many. We knew that filming a production with him meant that we had to come up with a new and innovative concept which we have achieved. I am thrilled that AFC is able to provide our Singaporean viewers with relevant Asian content that has such a unique twist,” said Maria Brown, Co-Founder and Managing Director of AFC.

True Passion – Martin Yan is the second cooking series to be fully filmed and produced by AFC. It follows the great success of Best Wan, which featured a mix of recipes from the East and West by Malaysian Chef Wan, along with other documentary programmes covering topics like the use of palm oil in cooking as well as those that chronicled visits by notable chefs like Chef Daniel Boulud and Chef Robert Rainford.

“With the success of Best Wan and the upcoming premiere of True Passion – Martin Yan, AFC is steadily building its portfolio of self-made programmes, producing shows in HD quality that give viewers an in-depth view into the rich culture and heritage behind popular dishes available to them today,” added Ms. Brown.

In line with the premiere, AFC will be launching a microsite dedicated to the production at http://www.asianfoodchannel.com/truepassion_martinyan. The site will complement the series by offering recipes and information so that viewers can easily access details to recreate Chef Yan’s unique dishes in the comfort of their own home. In addition, an online contest where visitors can win exclusive Chef Yan prizes will also be held when the series premieres in July.

Bloggerific Tea Party @ AFC Studio (Asian Food Channel Studio)

Just about a week ago, the Asian Food Channel folks invited a few bloggers to a Tea Party at their AFC Studio located at Orchard Central.

If you have been watching Asian Food Channel, you would have seen their show clips about cooking classes conducted by celebrity chefs. Well, for the classes in Singapore, they are mostly held here, right in the middle of Orchard Road!

Last year, I attended a few sessions here. I was here before for a Spain Cultural Experience hosted by Chef Joseba Jimenez de Jimenez and also Taste of Philippines hosted by Chef Bruce Lim. How time flies!

Located on the 7th level of Orchard Central, they have a fully functional kitchen, a cafe, a mini library and also a retail shop!




The next time you are tired after walking along Orchard Road, why not pop by the AFC Studio for a cuppa and cakes!

While you are having tea, you can browse through their mini library. They have quite a good collection of food related books! When there are no cooking classes going on, you are welcome to sit down for hours and browse their books!





Back to the tea party. The tea party was also a baking class! Sounds so exciting ya?
With the heart shaped mold, I am sure you can guess what we were going to bake!





First of all, let me introduce you to the guy who hosted us. The man himself, Hian Goh, the big boss of AFC. Thanks to him and his business partner, we had our first taste of 24 hours of food related show!

(I am sitting in front of the TV tuning in to the AFC Channel as I type this! - Channel 435 on Starhub TV in Singapore)








Introducing the resident chef of AFC Studio, Chef Sue-Ann Lambert who was our baking teacher. She's a skilled pâtissier! If you are a fan of Laura Calder, Sue-Ann and Laura are both Canadians! It seems they come from the same part of Canada if I am not mistaken. If I got it wrong, it's probably Sue-Ann got excited and started blurting out in French! ;-p



She taught us to bake 2 types of biscuits: Sugar Cookies and Chocolate Chip Biscotti.
Here's the recipe for the Sugar Cookies.

Recipe 1: Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

Dough

• 2 cups flour
• A pinch of salt
• 85g of butter, softened
• 170g sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla 
• 2 Eggs

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160C.
2. Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and mix to combine. Add salt, vanilla and flour and mix until dough just combines.
3. Chill for 30 minutes.
4. Roll chilled dough and cut with desired cutter. 
5. Transfer to baking tray and bake at 160C for about 8 to 12 minutes or until edges of cookies turn golden brown.

Fast forward the kneading, rolling, flattening, molding and baking process....
The cookies were cooled, and it was play time!

Can you spot and recognize the following people?
Dim Sum Dolly, Camemberu, HungryCow, LadyIronChef, CalvinTimo and BakerWhoCooks.




The icing is so eye catching, isn't it?
If you want the recipe for the colourful royal icing we used, here it is:

Recipe 2:  Royal Icing (Using Egg Whites)

Ingredients

• 2 large (60g) egg whites
• 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 3 cups (330g) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

Method

1. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the egg whites with the lemon juice until combined.
2. Add the sifted powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined and smooth.
3. Use icing immediately or transfer into an airtight container before it hardens.
4. Cover with plastic wrap when not in use.

I made quite a few sugar cookies! This was one of it!





5 of the above were my creation! Can you guess which ones?





The 7 of us made so many cookies! We are a creative lot aren't we?




When I saw Chef Sue-Ann demonstrate in front of us, everything looked so easy peasy!
When it was our turn, most of us felt our hands had lead bars on it. It's so heavy and we felt clumsy. Why?


Anyway, here's the recipe for the biscotti that we made.

Recipe 3: Chocolate Chip Biscotti

Ingredients

• 1 cup of white or brown sugar
• ½ stick (¼ cup, 4 tablespoons) of butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• A pinch of salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160°C.
2. Cream the sugar and butter together in a stand-up mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue to beat for a few more minutes, then add the vanilla.
3. Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt, then add to the mixer. Combine well then stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Shape the dough into a log, approximately 12 inches long and 3 inches wide with lightly floured hands. You may find it easier to divide the dough in half and form two shorter logs. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and flatten slightly. Bake for 30 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool until you can handle it. Slice diagonally, into ½-inch slices and return to the baking sheet. Bake again until the cookies turn light brown for about ten minutes. Flip them over and brown for another few minutes. 
6. Allow to cool and enjoy with a cup of espresso!

Yup, in North America they use stick for measurement of butter. The recipe above has the conversion that we can understand.








The biscotti dough on the left was moulded by yours truly, because I was 'volunteered'. The one on the right, Chef Sue-Ann. I did quite ok right?





Just like on TV, when the dough was put into the oven, in seconds it is ready!
Chef Sue-Ann demonstrates how to transform a piece of baked dough into biscottis!





Now, a participant tries. Not bad! Chef Sue-Ann gave an approving look and smile.





Perfect for your cuppa!

Do you know if you want to host a cooking session as part of a birthday celebration, or a ladies day out baking, or even a man day's out flipping burgers, you can contact the AFC Studio. They can work out something for you depending on your budget.

You can contact them at: http://www.theafcstudio.com/





I have a weakness. When I see books, ingredients or gadgets, I am always tempted to buy them.
I asked if there were any geeky books, and was recommended this book: "What Einstein Told His Cook".

Yup, I saw the book and bought it! Another geeky book to my personal collection!

(A special note of thanks to Kimberly and Jannah from Fulford PR for the invite!)


THE AFC STUDIO
181 Orchard Road,
#07-02 Orchard Central,
Singapore 238896
Tel: +65 6834 4829
Opening Hours: 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Taste of the Philippines by Chef Bruce Lim @ AFC Studio

Today's post was an invited session by Asian Food Channel www.asianfoodchannel.com and hosted at AFC Studio www.theafcstudio.com


Last Sunday, I got invited again by Fulford Public Relations to attend the "Taste of the Philippines" by Chef Bruce Lim at the AFC Studio. Can you guess the reason I attended the session? It's because he has the same family name as me!


Here he is. Chef Bruce Lim. He is the co-host with Angel Aquino on Tablescapes: Life on a Plate airing on Asian Food Channel on Thursdays, 9:30 PM. Have you watched the show?


You can see he's a very friendly and chatty guy, just like in the show!
I noticed he loves his pots too! (now you don't see that in his show right? LOL)





He demonstrated 3 Filipinos recipes to us:
- Smoky Banana Heart Salad (Delicately Stewed Heart Shaped-buds and Smoked Fish)
- Chicken Adobo with Aromatic Pandan Rice (Stewed Chicken with Pandan infused Rice)
- Banana Leaf Wrapped Prawns (Baked prawns and mung bean noodles)


The first dish: The Smoky Banana Heart Salad.

The Filipinos uses banana heart in the cooking like our local Malay and Indian dishes too!
But what makes it different is that Filipinos use Smoked Fish (Tinapa) and lots of Chicharon (crispy pork skin) on top of it!

It was fun watching him cook. As he is a classically trained chef, he likes to plate the dishes nicely. This is what Chef Bruce prepared. The salad here was served on the banana heart outer petals.




It's so nice to have two assistants helping when you are the main chef.
After Chef Bruce prepared the dish, these two lovely resident AFC chefs took over and dished out the rest for the audience.




You can see it's not a lot, but at least we got to try it. It tasted good! I brought along my teenage cousin this time and she said it was nice too! Look like our cousin is now game on trying all kinds of food now! She used to be so so picky!

The banana heart taste crunchy texture. Something like black fungus (hei mu er).  It's really appetizing! I almost wanted to ask for seconds. But I guess not everyone is as adventurous. I saw one person in the front row barely touching it!




The second dish: Chicken Adobo with Aromatic Pandan Rice

Something funny happened when Chef Bruce prepared the pandan rice. We noticed that it's exactly how we cook our chicken rice in Singapore! It's using the exact same ingredients too! (with chicken fat too!) Someone in the audience could not take it anymore and said it out loud: "Hey chef, this is Singapore Chicken Rice lah.... Not Filipino at all!" Everyone burst out laughing.

So, which country's dish is it? Is the Chicken Rice 'rice' an uniquely Singapore thing?

But the Chicken Adobo part was an eye opener to us. There's lots of vinegar and soy sauce used in the preparation of the chicken adobo. The whole studio smell of the sharp distinct vinegar smell. We were thinking how sour will that dish be! My cousin said hey, it smells like 'vinegar pork trotters'.

Chef Bruce says let the magic begin. Don't be tempted to stir the chicken in the pot and just let it boil. After like 20 minutes, miraculously the vinegary smell is gone. It suddenly begin to smell so pleasant! Wow!

The beautifully plated Chicken Adobo with rice by Chef Bruce.




This was what we ate. I tell you, Filipino dishes are SALTY!
But we were told that's the way they cook it in the Philippines. Most people eat a lot of rice and not so much meat. So a little salty meat and sauce goes a long way with lots of rice.

The flavour was good, just too salty for local tongues.  But you could see a group of Filipinos amongst the audience eating it as if they have not eaten such nice homeland food in years!




The third dish: Banana Leaf Wrapped Prawns

The secret to this dish is "Aligue". What is that? It's crab butter! What we usually call it crab roe.
Oh man, you should see how much it goes in! Half a big bowl of it! Cholesterol alert!

Chef Bruce wrapping the prawns in banana leaf.




As this was being baked in the oven. I tell you, the whole studio smell so so good!




The taste? It's like wow!

The sauce was a mixture of Aligue, garlic, ginger, onions, chilli sauce, coconut cream. Imagine all this soaked into the Mung Bean noodles (what we call Tang Hoon in Singapore).

My cousin and I thought of Ming Kee's Crab Bee Hoon! It's like a dry version of it. So tasty. (and salty too lah) 

We wanted to laugh at the 4 person sitting on the first row on the left. They were saying that's too much Aligue. Cholesterol ah! Are you sure you want to put so much? (Oh man, shoosh! You are not the chef. haha) Guess what? They finished it all when they were served the dish.




I took a photo of this couple from Philippines who was so excited to see their fellow countryman Chef Bruce Lim cook. They were being interviewed on video when I took a photo of them. I got their permission to post their photo here! They just looked so happy. ;-)




This was my second time attending an AFC Studio course. I would say it is quite a relaxing and enjoyable session. You get to eat what was prepared by the chef as well as a copy of the recipes to take home.

Looking at their course schedule at http://www.theafcstudio.com/courses/ I spotted these interesting sessions coming soon:

Sunday, 25 April there's a Coffee Appreciation Session by Danny Pang. I met Danny before when he was at Geek Terminal. He's a guy who is so passionate about Coffee! Do you know he's also a certified Barista?

Friday, 30 April there will be a healthy ice cream making session! How cool is that? (pun not intended)

You can always pop by the AFC Studio when you are visiting Orchard Central.

AFC Studio
181 Orchard Road
#07-02 Orchard Central
Singapore 238896

A Spanish Cultural Experience @ AFC Studio, Orchard Central

Two weeks ago, I was invited to attend "A Spanish Cultural Experience" hands-on cooking workshop at the AFC Studio. It was one invitation that I gladly say yes!

I said yes because so many things "Spain" were popping in my conversations and emails.
- Few weeks earlier, we got notified that our El Bulli reservation did not get through. They are 'overwhelmed' again. Sigh...
- Mum, sis and I were discussing our trip to UK in the middle of the year. We were thinking of detouring to Spain again!
- "Spain on the Road" has been on the TV when we turn it on!
- Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmare was showing an episode at Costa de Sol in Malaga, Spain!
- I was sorting out old holiday photos, and my Spain photos are all still in a mess. I have so far only managed one post here.



Anyway... back to the event at AFC Studio...

This photo shows Chef Joseba Jimenez de Jimenez, our star of the day.

The cooking class was very hands-on. Participants were invited to "share the stove" with Chef Joseba. The young boy was his best apprentice!

Doing an online search, you can see that Chef Joseba is one of Seattle's most loved Chef! From the Seattle folks too, I found out that he is opening a restaurant in Singapore soon!




Oh, Chef Joseba was such a nice person. He walked around showing the ingredients and posed for photos too! While most people of us were sitting in front, this lady was 'hiding' behind. Chef Joseba noticed her and went to say hi! She is so happy!




For most cooking demonstrations, you got to wait till the end of the session before you get to try anything.
Chef Joseba's session was different. He started by pan frying some Chorizos for us! The smell filled the whole studio and we could not wait to try them! That made our saliva glands start flowing! 
(You can get Chorizo from Cold Storage in Singapore)




The "A Spanish Cultural Experience" was a demonstration of 3 recipes from the "Basque Country" which is a region sandwiched between north-eastern Spain and south-western France.

The featured recipe were:
1. Paella al estilo Navarro (Paella in the style of Navarra)
2. Gambas al txoko de Inmanol (Shrimp sauteed with onion and garlic)
3. Tostada de Mojama (Cured Tuna on Toast)

For the first dish, the Paella, Spanish Rice was used. Spanish rice absorbs liquid 3 to 4 times its own weight. That is why Paella is so delicious. It absorbs the essence of all the ingredients into itself!

(Solymer Asia, one of the sponsors of the event brings lots of Spanish ingredients into Singapore. I remember my mum bringing this out of Spain the last time! No need to risk excess baggage now!)




This is the white asparagus. Using the bottled version means less work! Use it straight from the bottle.
(I do realize that we can get fresh white asparagus now in Singapore. Fairprice Finest near my home stocks them!)




This is the Spanish Olive Oil. I bought a bottle of this from the AFC Studio.
I was told this is the same oil that Ferran Adria uses in his cooking! With that statement, I think many of us placed our order for the oil! haha....




Back to the paella dish. The paella was cooked in a paella pan. (left) and also an ordinary pan. (how many of us will have a paella pan at home? :-) )
The broth had to be added slowly. You need patience to cook this!




Around 30 mins later, the Paella is almost done. It was smelling really good!
(I walked to the front to take this photo and I wanted to pinch some to eat!)




When they says it's a hands-on session, they really mean it!
Chef Joseba invited everyone to take turn putting the final touches for the dish. Lemon slices around the pan!




What's a cooking show without tasting food?
If only you can smell and taste it. :-)




The second dish was the Sauteed Shrimps.

Chef Joseba says you got to use Spanish Shrimps. We argued that these can't be from Spain. He said they were Spanish prawns without a doubt. Why? He said he spoke Spanish to them and they understood him! That guy's a joker!




The Chinese have a dish called drunken prawns. Chef Joseba prepared the Spanish equivalent.
There was lots of Scotch Whiskey used in this. It was for the "flambe".

Did I hear you say 'yum'?




The delightful Gambas al txoko de Inmano.




The 3rd dish was the Cured Tuna on Toast.
Chef Joseba cured it earlier in the morning. It's sashimi grade tuna cured in salt. (and I think also the extra virgin olive oil)




After half a day of curing, knock off the salt and slice the tuna thinly. We were told: "Use a very sharp knife".
(If you watch AFC, you can guess what brand of knives they recommended. "The XXX knife is now available at xxx dot com slash shop" sounds familiar? haha...)




Something so simple yet so delicious. The Toastada de Mojama.





For every dish that was served, it was paired with Spanish Wine.
We had 3 different wines. This was the 'bubbly' we had with the Paella.




This is the red wine paired with the cured tuna.
If you want to know where to get Spanish Wine, visit Solymer Asia's website at: http://www.solymer.com




It's an event by the Asian Food Channel after all. Let me show you some behind the scene photos.
The camera man is busy filming.  Chef Joseba's assistant scooping food into plates for us.




Another behind the scene photo. The two important people of the day.
Chef Joseba and the big boss at Asian Food Channel, Mr Hian Goh.




AFC Studio is Asian Food Channel's (AFC) first retail store. Located at the 7th floor of Orchard Central, it has a state-of-the-art kitchen outfitted by SignatureKitchen and has LG's first built-in concept showroom in Southeast Asia.

AFC Studio offers both hands-on cooking classes and demonstrations and serves as a studio for filming of original AFC productions. You can visit their website: www.theafcstudio.com for cooking workshops schedule.

(Hmm.. I wonder if AFC might want to do a local production on this KL Baker. Many people raves about his cake and I want to try it! He is known as Fat Boy Bakes. An Asian version of Anna Olsen's "Sugar"? )

For those in Singapore and you like the food at Wild Rocket. This weekend, (10 April 2010), there's a "Wild Weekend with Willin!" workshop at AFC Studio.

If you have been watching AFC, you would have seen the trailer of "Chef Bruce Lim Cooking Workshop". That's on the 18 April. There's a competition to win 3 pairs of tickets to the workshop. Details of the competition here: http://www.asianfoodchannel.com/chefbruce/


A fellow food blogger, Camemberu was also there. Hop over to her blog to read her account of the event. :-)


THE AFC STUDIO
181 Orchard Road,
#07-02 Orchard Central,
Singapore 238896
Tel: +65 6834 4829
Opening Hours: 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.