Because I Said So

Going back to Vietnam, leaving this Sunday and coming back Monday night. Haay...

Saw "Because I Said So" this evening, featuring Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore with C and J.
Not your usual chick flick, and surprisingly enjoyable. Diane Keaton seems be playing a lot of 'old woman gets a new lease on life' -type roles lately, and she does them pretty well. Couldn't help noticing Mandy looked a bit plump, but she's a pretty decent actress. Lots of good laughs. Very entertaining.

Good, Tested Paella Recipe

Made paella for the first time yesterday - had a few work colleagues over, as it isn't fun to experiment with a new dish, and not have anyone eat it. Paella's a bit of a commitment as well, sa there are so many ingredients involved! Anyway, result was good, and of restaurant standard if I say so myself.

Got the recipe off the internet, but modified it, as I was cooking for 8!

Ingredients:

• chicken stock --> any stock concentrate will do. In my case I used Maggi Concentrate Stock (chicken) sans MSG.
• shrimp stock --> I used Maggi shrimp stock granules
• saffron/paella seasoning
• salt
• black pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large chorizo sausages, cut diagonally, 1/4" thick
• 1 pack chicken drumlets (the leg-looking part of the chicken wing) --> keeping some chicken meet with bones make the paella very flavourful.
• 1 pack chicken leg fillets --> remove skin for better health
• 1 pack mussels, scrubbed and opened
• 12 shrimps
• 1 large onion, chopped finely
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 4 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
• 4 cups medium grain rice --> assume half a cup of rice for every person eating.
• 1 lemon, cut in lengthwise wedges to garnish

Cooking Instructions:

Note that prep takes about 10 minutes, actual cooking time between 2-2.5 hours.

1. You need to make up about 5 cups of stock. If you are using run-of-the-mill thai jasmine rice like I did, a good ratio to cook the rice is about 1 cup of water for every cup of rice. Since paella is cooked using an open pan (instead of an enclosed one, like in a rice cooker), you'll need additional water to cook the rice, as a lot of the water evaporates away. So I think a 5 cup stock to 4 cups rice ratio works well. So to make the stock, boil some water first, and add in the chicken and shrimp stock mix to taste - make sure its flavourful enough - what you would expect a nice clear soup to taste like, without being to salty.
2. In a separate flat frying pan over a low medium flame, shake in about 1 1/2 teaspoons of saffron powder/paella mix. Toast it, until it begins to aromatize. Transfer the toasted saffron/paella seasoning into the stock pot, and mix well. Taste stock again to make sure it isn't too salty.
3. Begin to cook the meats, using a nice low medium flame all throughout in order to cook the meat evenly, avoid burning it, or charring the oil. Olive oil especially cooks best in a low flame, as the internal aroma of the oil is preserved without burning it away - which makes you lose all that flavour! I find that a nice low medium flame also helps to "sweat out" the meat, meaning the juices flow out nicely and aromatically without "shocking" it with a high flame. That said, it also helps to bring out the flavour. Its best to have a large non-stick wok-type pan with high sides and a flat bottom - there's really no need to invest in a special paella pan if you've got another one that will serve the purpose equally well.
4. So, begin with the chorizo - fry it in about 1 tbsp of olive oil to coat the non-stick pan. Make sure its nicely browned on each side. (About 3 minutes per side). Transfer the chorizo out into a plate. Then using the same pan (add more oil as necessary), lightly saute the chicken drumlets until they are nicely golden on each side. Note that 1 or 2 minutes after you first put the chicken in the pan, add in a bit of salt and pepper and saute. Take the drumlets out and put it into a plate (use the same plate as the chorizo plate, if you want). Then begin to cook the chicken leg fillets, and season accordingly with salt and pepper as necessary, again until it is nicely tanned on the outside. Reason why you don't want to cook the drumlets and the fillets together is that one type of meat has bones, and the other doesn't, hence leading to different cooking times for each type. (The bony meats are bloodier too). Once the fillets are done, transfer out onto the meat plate. Then add in the shrimp to the pan, cook on each side for 2 minutes (or until orange, not red yet), then take out and transfer to the plate. The idea is that you don't want to overcook the meats as they will still be cooked further when you add them to the rice later. What you want is to get a nice golden glaze on the outside, so it doesn't fall apart when you cook it with the rice later. It's best to do this by feel - for the chicken especially, it helps to cook it first over a low medium flame to get even cooking all the way inside the meat, but to get that nice golden glaze, its a good idea to turn up the heat at the last minute and saute it until you get the desired color on the outside.
5. Now that now the oil in the pan is very flavourful, it's time to make the "sofrito", or the base for cooking the rice. Over a low flame, toss in the garlic and saute until the smell come out (and doesn't smell too raw-garlicky). Then toss in the chopped onions and saute with the garlic until the onions are soft and clear. Then add in your tomatoes and a little salt and continue to saute until the mixture becomes dark and thick, which takes about 10-15 minutes.
6. Add the rice to the sofrito, a little bit at a time, making sure it is incorporated well into the mixture. Saute the mixture until the rice turns opaque (about 5-7 minutes).
7. Increase the flame, and add about 4 cups of broth (reserve the other cup for adjusting the rice cooking later) until it comes to a boil. Then lower the flame and simmer this mixture for about 15-18 minutes. About 5 minutes into the simmer, mix in the chicken drumlets, chicken fillets, and chorizo, and ensure its well incorporated into the rice. If the rice is beginning to stick out above the broth, then add in some more broth. At this point, don't stir the rice.
8. Cover the pan with foil/lid, and cook for 2 minutes to ensure the top layer is fully cooked. Covering the pan prevents the liquid from evaporating away, and allows you to cook the top later with the steam.
9. Let the paella rest off the heat, covered for about 5 minutes. Then cook 2 minutes on high to achieve a nice, "tostado", caramelized bottom, i.e. "tutung". Be alert to make sure you're not actually burning the thing!
10. Take paella off the heat, bring pan to the table to show it off, and serve with the lemon wedges.

Back from HCM Hols

Ho Chi Minh reminds me of Baguio - it's like Manila back in the 80's. The streets are overrun by more motorcycles than cars, and the best tip to cross the road is just to cross - don't bother looking left or right as you're more likely to get hit that way. If you look straight ahead and walk, the motorcycles just swerve around you.

It's very provincial but quite inspiring too as it's steeped in history and the people are very patriotic (they call what we know as the "Vietnam War", the "American War" - rightly said). Took off during the weekend to "Backpack". By that I mean I stayed in a good hotel, but went to a cheap tour agency, the "Sinh Cafe", which I highly recommend. Our tour guide, Duc, was very knowledgeable - so if you're ever in Vietnam, book your tour with the Sinh Cafe, and make sure you get Duc! Took a day trip around Ho Chi Minh city Saturday, and a trip to Cu Chi Sunday morning.

The morning of the city tour wasn't that great - they took us to see 2 pagodas (built in 1727 and 1768 - I liked the 1768 one better), Bin Tang Market (like Tutuban or DV Mall in Manila) for wholesale goods, a lacquerware factory, the Post Office and Notre Dame Church (materials imported from Marseilles, constructed in the 1800's, I think).

The afternoon was pretty gritty, to say the least. They took us first to the War Remnants Museum, which was all about the American War. The entrance of the museum compound was littered with "souveniers" from the war - tanks, a helicopter, war jets, etc. But the most compelling exhibit for me was the one documenting the immense amount of human rights abuses suffered by the Vietnamese at the hands of the Americans. These included photos of the victims of Agent Orange, children of US and Vietnamese soldiers who suffered from congenital defects, physical deformities, or cancerous skin. Grisly photos showing US brutality, violations of the rules of war, executions of women & children, etc.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Reunification Palace, which was the Presidential Palace of the puppet government of South Vietnam before reunification (and communism). They took us through the whole building equipped with technology from the 70's - analog phones, huge radio transceivers, etc. I was thinking throughout the tour what leaps and bounds office and communication technology has made since then. Quite an interesting bit of that journey was when they brought us to the underground bunker/bomb shelter for the president and top officers to hide in the case of war/bombing.

Sunday morning, we set out at 8:00 AM for the Cu Chi Tunnels, which is that area just outside of Ho Chi Minh where the Viet Cong built over 200km of underground tunnels (think prairie dog) to aid the resistance movement. Very very worth it - we actually crawled 30 meters inside those dark, dank tunnels (40cm wide, and high enough to crouch through) and you could just imagine what the conditions were like during the war. We were also shown some bomb craters, traps used by the Vietnamese guerillas, and how the tunnels were constructed, and used to aid the war. Quite an interesting architectural feat, which I would highly recommend to anyone who wants to go to Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh at night reminds me of Malate in Manila, or the Insadong district in Korea. It has some quite interesting night spots, where you can eat, drink and be merry at very reasonable prices. The streets on the centre of town (landmark is Sheraton Hotel) are lined with trees that are lit at night with tiny golden Christmas lights and looking very pretty. Every corner is filled with interesting shops selling paintings, lacquerware, jewelry, silk items, etc. There are non-seedy spa-type massage places, and a few good restaurants. The restaurant I ate in Thursday evening served Western food (prepared Vietnamese style). There was a classical quartet playing in the background, but the food was very much like what you would find in Celebrity Sports/your typical 80's sports club - think club sandwich that's canteenish, not deli-ish. Think duckpin bowling in Baguio. But I liked the retro-ness of it all - very good vibes. I would definitely go back.