Harabu House » Food

Singapore Eats: Takoyaki (Octopus Balls)

Harabu House — Fri, 04 Jul 2014 12:20:30 +0000

Singapore is home to a variety of communities; one particular one is the Japanese community. Singapore has several large Japanese department stores and along with come large food courts with several japanese options for food. One particular Japanese street food is the Takoyaki or Octopus Balls. These balls are stuffed with octopus and fried. They’re served on a platter with a generous dousing of mayonnaise, and special tangy soy sauce and bonito flakes! Simply scrumptious!

Singapore Eats: Ais Kacang

Harabu House — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 12:14:04 +0000

Singapore is located 1 degree north of the equator and is hot and steamy most of the year. There are several local desserts to help cool you off, but this one is my favorite! The malay dessert called Ais Kacang (pronounced “Ice Kachang”. Ais meaning Ice, and Kacang meaning nut).

This dessert starts off with a plate of agar-agar jelly, atap seeds, red beans (similar to azuki beans), corn (on occasion) topped with shaved ice. Then a mix of various syrups (typically Pandan syrup, Rose syrup and condensed milk) are liberally poured over the ice. This is the result! The perfect recipe to cool you down!

Singapore Eats: Pratology

Harabu House — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 12:08:46 +0000

I just came across this wonderful graphic on the science of Roti Prata called “Pratology”. This illustration shows you the variations from the plain roti prata, all the way to the dessert variety. I could use a tissue prata right now!

Singapore Eats: Murtabak

Harabu House — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 12:00:09 +0000

We’ve decided to do a short series on Singapore Eats. Singapore is a food capital of Asia. We’re a food-obsessed bunch and food is the center of everything. Because of our ethnic diversity, Singapore is lucky to have local foods influenced by the Chinese, Malay, Indians and Eurasian communities in Singapore.

After the success of the recent scallion pancakes, I thought I’d try to make a variation on the scallion pancakes called Murtabak. Murtabak, which is spiced mutton (or lamb) filled dough is something i grew up with in Singapore. Back at home in Singapore, people eat this for breakfast or lunch. Each dough is filled with an egg, raw onions and ground spiced mutton.�This is usually served with a fish or chicken curry. Simply divine!

Here in Singapore, this is how Murtabak is served. I could eat platefuls of these!

Homemade Scallion pancakes!

Harabu House — Mon, 05 May 2014 20:47:11 +0000

I decided to try my hand at homemade scallion pancakes. They were really quite easy to make and a delicious afternoon treat for my son after school. There are a ton of recipes on youtube you could follow. Give it a try!

Kiwi Berries

Harabu House — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 11:00:13 +0000

I was at my local korean supermarket today and found a fruit I’d never heard of! Growing up in South East Asia, we were lucky to have all sorts of fruit, both local to the tropics and imported from abroad. So today, I was rather stumped when I came across these tiny grape-like fruit called Kiwi Berries. I’d never heard of it! So i bought a small container, did a little research and discovered that they’re native to Japan, China, Korea and some parts of Russia. They resemble the kiwi fruit both on the inside and in taste too. Apart from the obvious size difference, the outer skin is edible on the kiwi berries, unlike the larger ones. I’m going to have to run out and get another pint! These were gone in a flash! (The bowl can be purchased here.)

Weekend Dessert – Chocolate Framboise (Laura Calder Recipe)

Harabu House — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 15:31:43 +0000

I decided to attempt this recipe this past weekend – Laura Calder’s Chocolate Framboise. It’s actually not that difficult to make. You’ll just have to make sure you buy at least 5 pints of raspberries (2 pints to puree, and 3 pints for the outside). I didn’t buy enough and ended up with a semi-decorated dessert. Still, the end result was incredible – incredibly indulgent and a little goes a long way!

Kimchi Tacos

Harabu House — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 16:13:23 +0000

Those of you who’ve been to NYC know all about the Kimchi Taco trucks. Well, thankfully Asbury Park, NJ has their own version of these delicious tacos for those of us who can’t get to the city each time they have a craving for these. We sampled their spicy pork and fish tacos and we weren’t disappointed!

Destination: Istanbul Eats

Harabu House — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 11:00:52 +0000

From amazing street food to glorious Turkish brunches, here is a sampling of some of the foods we ate during our trip to Istanbul.�

Balik Ekmek (fish sandwich) from the docks at the Galata Bridge

Fresh squeezed orange and pomegranate juice on every corner

The famous Turkish Breakfast/Brunch with an assortments of olives, cheeses and Sujuk (lamb sausage)

Street vendors selling roasted chestnuts, Simit (a Turkish pretzel) and grilled corn

Enjoying a tulip-shaped glass of tea at a roadside cafe on the Asian side of Istanbul

Two varieties of Borek (stuffed pastry dough with meat and spinach)

Best Chocolates on the Planet – MAST BROTHERS, BROOKLYN.

Harabu House — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 12:00:08 +0000

Anybody who knows me, KNOWS that I just LOVE chocolate. I mean, good chocolate, with at least a 70% cocoa content. None of those sickeningly sweet candy bars, where all you want to do is pull your teeth out after one bite. On a recent trip to Williamsburg, I just had to stop at Mast Brothers, a “bean-to-bar” chocolate factory in Brooklyn, to sample their artisanal chocolates for myself. �As soon as you entered, you were literally hit in the face by the aromas of cocoa. And then, right before your eyes, was the sampling table with rows and rows of beautifully wrapped chocolate bars. My other favorite- fine papers. It was so tempting to buy the whole lot. They didn’t come cheap, with the average cost of each bar around the $12 mark. There were samples from Papua New Guinea, Costa Rica, Madagascar and some other far flung places. Still, the place is worth a visit, if you’re in the area, But if you’re unable to, hopefully these pictures will provide you with visions of chocolate heaven.

The Factory

The many beautiful fine papers used to wrap each bar

The two flavors I ended up with were “Vanilla and Smoke” and yes, “Black Truffle”. Yum yum!

And finally, I left with my very own signed copy of the Mast Brothers’ Cookbook!