Simply deliciously fabulously good! That’s one sentence to sump it up. Whenever i’m in germany i had less dissapointment when it comes to food. Even the normal cafe whipped up delicious simple meal for under 5 euro. Here are some places that we visited during our stay in Cologne city.
The Ludwig Museum Cafe-Restaurant .
http://www.ludwig-im-museum.de/
Lambs cutlet with polenta and home made vegetables
Lambs cutlet with polenta and home made vegetables. Yummy ,i had this for lunch! Great dish, balance and the polenta adds a nice touch than the usual gratin or pommes.
Black ravioli spinach with prawns in skewers.
Eric decided to choose the Hausgemachte Perlhuhn-Trüffelpanzerotti mit Scampispieß (turkey truffel ravioli pasta and prawn skewers in cream sauce). I like this dish too.Smooth cream sauce and a nice soft bite on the ravioli.
I also had a great freshly made vegetable quiche.One of the best i had ever eten. Soft to the bite and the eggs just takes like fresh soft tofu.Thumbs up! Quiche and salad cost less than 5 euro!
Russian cheesecake
A meal would not be complete without dessert isn’t it? Whenever i’m in France or Germany, the pattiserie and conditorei is a big must stop for me! Eric used to laugh at me calling me an old woman when i told him that i used to hang out at cafes or restaurants for tea or coffee with cakes after lunch. My previous stay in Munich had taught me that cakes in germany is a delicacy. From the berliner bollen to the pretzel and the cheesecakes ahhh cheesecakes they are so deliciously light and creamy and not too sweet. They do not taste like factory cakes.If the outside coating of a berliner bollen is full of sugar, the jam filling is not too sweet and the dough is fluffy and not too sweet either. On average the price of the dessert restaurant Ludwig is around 3 euro.
Dear foodies,
I have been wanting to share with you some kitchen tips for Asian cooking. Here are some of my thoughts on kitchen equipment- why do Asians like to use a wok?
Today i will cover a few topics about rice cooker,wok and pans.
Rice Cooker
Whenever i talk about cooking rice, my advise is – buy an electric cooker. Whether it is a small rice cooker or a big one it doesn’t matter because the cooker works best on itself without bothering us when we are preparing Asian food. Note that when preparing Asian food, you are always busy cutting and frying.Releasing one duty that is cooking rice can be a great help.Also always remember to buy a rice cooker that can switch itself to “keep warm” when it is cooked.
Taking into consideration that i cooked a few dishes within 2 hours without having to worry that my rice is over or undercooked or too soggy gives me a sense of relief. I am always greatful to my rice cooker which has been serving me nice fragrant rice, perfect texture for the last 4 years.I am still using it.
Kuali
You might be wandering what is a “kuali”? Kuali is a Malay term for Wok.Most or in fact all Asian homes in Asia has a kuali or maybe more kualis in their kitchen.They used the kuali for almost everything- Sitr frying ,deep frying,frying an egg,frying noodles etc.However one misconception about cooking with a kuali is that we do not make all those kling klang noises when we cooked with kuali at home. Most of the times those cooks at food stalls or the back kitchen of a restaurant make the noises to attract attention or maybe i may not know why…
Aluminium or Cast iron wok?
It is all about preferances.Most of the times a good iron wok will cost slightly more than the aluminium ones. Aluminium ones heats up faster and also retains a steady heat. Whereas the iron ones takes a slightly longer time to heat up but when it does it can retain extreme heat, food cooks in a shorter period of time and retain its flavour.
Kuali
Myself? I prefer a cast iron wok. The one i have at home and use constantly is the one from Silit. It has a diameter of 36cm but at the same time the base is small meaning i can put the wok even on the smallest ring on the induction plate. It is robust and most important of all easy to clean. Any residue that sticks on the coated surface can easily be removed by soaking it with water within less than a minute i can scrub it off with a soft sponge. Also it is scratchproof. It is lighter in weight than most iron wok and does not give an iron taste in food .Easy for me to carry around. As much as i like a Creuset wok and its products which is also good for its durability,Silit is pretty good for its quality and price factor. With an iron wok food keeps warm longer as it retain its heat for a certian period of time.Not to forget iron woks can be used in most types of stoves.
Enough talk about woks… lets move on to Pans!
All of my pans in my cupboard are non-stick pans. Reason being, i just love non-stick pans.I wash my pans and wok by hand so non-stick pans are easy to clean.It is also ideal for frying if i am not using the wok.Food doesn’t get burn easily too.However always buy a good non-stick pan.One thing to remember is not to use anything metal like a metal slice as it will scratch and damage the surface.
The best quality product will always turn out to be a good investment as it will last you a long time.
The King of Fruits?
Durian!
Ever wondered what this is? The King of Fruits as they call it. Describe as a huge fruit as it can grow as big as 30cm long and 15cm in diameter, this thorny green fruit can be found in South-East Asia.
A vendor in Singapore opening a durian.
The taste- it is hard to say as the tastes vary from one fruit to the other. Sometimes it can be sweet and sometimes bitter sweet. The smell is somewhat very pungent, a distinctive smell. Some people will say it has a fragrant smell while others find it rather unpleasantly over pungent and stinky! It is a love-hate relationship with this fruit. To open it, you need to have the Skills! Prick and pry with all your strength!
I quite like the durians from Malaysia than the ones from Thailand. Durians from Thailand are somewhat very “meaty” and fleshy. Which means just after 2 chunks of the seeds (not the fruit), I get quite full from it. Did I mention when you burp, your burp smells of durian?
I found out that durians are also being sold here in Amsterdam in one of the big Toko. It was vacuumed packed and sealed. Not that I can smell any of the traces though….
Due to the nature that the smell is obviously distinctive and pungent (you can’t hide this fruit as a present to somebody without first vacuumed packed and sealed it. Your whole house would even smell of it- forget about spraying your entire house with an Odourizer as masking the smell doesn’t work) this fruit has a banned put on it in public transports and some enclosed air-conditioned places in Singapore. The solution- if you buy durians in Singapore, you have to ask the vendor to take the seeds/flesh out from the shell, packed and sealed it in a styrofoam and probably you need to cover it with a plastic foil around it in order that the smell is “contained”.
Try it and see if you like it. I do notice though that the prices of durians here are much higher than in South-East Asia as they are being imported.