Foodie Weekend - The Fish Bazaar, Habtoor Grand Beach Resort and Spa, Dubai

I've been here in Dubai for almost 10 years but frankly, I must say, I have yet to discover even half of the city.  Things are moving so fast here, buildings appear overnight like mushroom after the rain, new places to eat are opened everyday even when I have yet to try the old ones and people come and go.  I mean as an example the houses across the street keep on changing tenant and I kid you not, every month! 

So when a new friend 'S' invited me over for dinner at a Thai restaurant in Grand Habtoor Resort and Spa here in Dubai, I was thrilled for a few reasons.  One, I was going to get to know a person better (that bit is always a pleasure ) and second, the fact that I had never been to this resort before! Talk about killing 2 birds with one stone, right? :)

The restaurant, The Fish Bazaar was not the usual ordinary Thai joint. If you've been to Bangkok before, you would notice some seafood joints that served seafood the way you wished. All you had to do is choose your fresh seafood and decide the way it should be cooked. Well, The Fish Bazaar was something similar but of course in a different setting. You could decide to dine indoor or outdoor and on good days especially during the winter months, it would be fabulous to eat outdoor. We decided to eat outdoor and ambiance created by the flowing water from the water features, the obvious Thai decor and the soft breeze coming from the sea a few meters away were spectacular!

Besides the seafood that could be chosen from the display cooked the way you wished by the chefs on standby, The Fish Bazaar also served the usual Thai classics straight from the menu. Dishes like Som Tam, Tom Yum, Pad Thai and an array of desserts to finish the meal with were plenty to choose from and I was a happy customer when I saw these familiar favorite dishes of mine on the menu. Honestly speaking, I love Thai food and have been to quite a few Thai restaurants, but so far The Fish Bazaar was the first that offered a tailored dining experience which, in my humble opinion, was a plus.  In the end I was glad I went.. good food and even better company, I couldn't ask for more!  

The Fish Bazaar Habtoor Grand Beach Resort and Spa Booking Information Telephone No : 04 3995000

Foodie Weekend - Baguette Express Dubai

When I first heard of Baguette Express, I imagined another American fast food chain of which I must admit is not my cup of tea since as many know, I am quite careful with what I eat.  Not that I am fussy or such, but I am quite particular on what I cram my body with for health and lifestyle reasons and fast food is definitely not on my list of choice. So, when I attended the opening and tasting session of Baguette Express's 3rd store in Emaar Business Park, Dubai last week, I was surprise to find out 2 things - First that the chain was not American but originally from Scotland and second, it was not the kind of fast food joint I imagined it to be!

Not only that Baguette Express serves fresh affordable light meals and snacks, they can be healthy too (just watch your choice of bread or go without!), offering unlimited variety of over 25 filings stuffed into either baguettes, paninis or wraps. On top of that the store also offers an all day dining choices with the likes of pastas, soups and salads on the menu. While sampling some of the food on display, I had an opportunity to chat a bit with the General Manager, Mr Pawan Jain that informed me of his future plans for the store. In the near future, this store will be hosting Friday brunches, theme buffet nights and very soon, will offer delivery service. Frankly speaking, if I were to be one of those executives working in Emaar Business Park, I would be jumping with joy as this would mean I don't have to compromise my healthy eating pattern even if I had to eat at my office desk! And on my 'cheat' day, I could splurge on one of those desserts on the menu... Tiramisu, anyone?

Baguette Express Building 4 Emaar Business Park Dubai, UAE Tel : 04-3961943 Opens Daily 7am - 11pm

Foodie Weekend - Fettuccine with smoke salmon, mustard and sundried tomatoes

Happy Weekend, everybody! 

It has been almost 2 weeks since I last posted a recipe on Foodie Weekend.  This is because I have been doing some reviews on restaurants in Dubai instead.  It is good for Dubai readers to know more about places to eat here and also for those of you abroad, it would be good reference especially if you are planning for a vacation in glorious Dubai anytime soon. Anyway, in short, expect to see some reviews on top of the usual easy recipes I usually have on this page every weekend.

Starting from a few days ago, I have gone Paleo and planning to do this for a month straight.  It is going to be a challenge especially because I love carb.  For an example, this recipe here, Fettucine with smoke salmon, mustard and sundried tomatoes is one of my favorite cream pastas and it is not possible for me to feast on this for the next month but I still cooked it earlier today for lunch for Captain and the boys. Temptation was great but I did it and went with plain smoked salmon and greens for lunch instead.

This recipe calls for a bit of mustard which goes so well with smoked salmon and the sundried tomatoes.  Now, the original (I'm talking nonna Italiana or Italian grandma's recipe) used mustard powder but I used the old style grainny mustard.  I love the texture and the taste is also milder and not too over powering.  Well, it all depends on your taste bud.  Go ahead and throw in the Dijon if you fancy it strong! 

So without further ado, lets get to work so that you could try out this recipe this weekend!

:: Ingredients ::

serves 4

500 grams of fettuccine or tagliatelle 

200 grams of smoked salmon (about 2 packets), sliced into smaller pieces

1 cup of chopped sundried tomatoes

250 ml of cooking cream (I used low fat)

2-3 cloves of garlic, bruised/crushed

2 stalks of spring onion or chives, chopped (about 1/4 cup)

1 - 1 1/2 tablespoon of old style grainny mustard OR

1/4 tablespoon of mustard powder

2 teaspoons of lemon juice

Some extra virgin olive oil

Some freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

:: Method ::

Boil the fettuccine or tagliatelle in a large pot of boiling, salt infused water, 

setting the time to al-dente or slightly chewy

Meanwhile, in a hot skillet, add some extra virgin olive oil and sautee the garlic

for about 30 seconds.

Add cream, chives or spring onion, mustard, salt and pepper.  

Bring to boil while stirring occasionally.

Add in salmon, lemon juice and sundried tomatoes

Drain the cooked pasta and add to the sauce.

Mix well, sprinkle some Parmesan and serve.

Good luck trying this recipe and please feel free to ask me questions should there be any and I'll be happy to help.  Buon appetito, enjoy!

Foodie Weekend : Chop Suey

It all started with a couple of friends, a passion for food and a longing for a little something of home. The result was a family friendly casual dining experience with fantastic variety of delicious quality food; Chop Suey, located on the Ground Floor of Jumeirah Beach Plaza, Dubai is a new Chinese restaurant that embraces the concept of Chinese cuisine created by immigrants in the United States that spread worldwide to become the Chinese food we all familiar with either through the media or first hand experience. Remember the famous cardboard delivery box from the movies?

Walking into the restaurant greeted by the ever so friendly hostesses Diana and Dina, I could immediately feel the casual, easy dining experience that awaited. I simply loved the minimalist exterior with 'mixed and matched' chairs and the beautiful mural that dominated the room. Glancing through the menu, I could't help but noticing with excitement (besides the 'NO MSG IN OUR KITCHEN' note on the menu) some familiar items like: arrays of dim-sum, spring rolls and great choices of soups to start. Going deeper into the main menu, I could tell a lot of research had been put into creating these fabulous selections. Among others Peking Duck, Manchurian Chicken, Szechuan Style Prawns, Black pepper Wasabi Beef and for the ones with an acquired taste, the Lobster in XO sauce. Also a splendid selection of mouthwatering desserts.

Together with some blogger friends, Lady and Mariam, we sampled many items on the menu and I have to say the ones that I was most impressed with were the Prawn Toast with Sesame, Black Pepper Wasabi Beef, Sizzling Silky Tofu with Broccoli and the unusual yet delicious Green Tea Creme Brulee. 

In my opinion as a fellow customer, Chop Suey had all the quality of a 'must return' restaurant - great authentic food (one of the chefs was from mainland China!), value for money (a 3 course meal for one would be around AED 100 and the portion was good), casual, family friendly setting and location, location, location! I was thinking who needs picnic basket when hitting Beach Park when Chop Suey is just a street cross away?!
For more information on delivery (yes, they do home delivery with cardboard box, chopsticks and all), menu and prices, visit their website www.chopsuey.ae

Foodie Weekend - Thai Chicken Red Curry

Oh, how I love Thai food!  Just thinking about it makes my mouth watery. There is no other just like it. I am Malaysian and Malaysian food is great but Thai food is another whole level, on its own, up there! The harmonious sweet, sour, salty and spicy flavors are just right for my palate. Another great thing about Thai food for me is that the whole household of mine loves it and at least once  a week we would have Thai food at home.  

Thai Curry is one dish that we all love.  Over some steamed white rice it is just heavenly.  There are 2 types of curries in Thai cuisine - the red and the green curry.  Well, one might ask "What's the difference?" Well, actually there are not much differences between the 2 besides the color that comes from green chilis and thai basil (green curry) and dry red chilis with red bird's eye chilis (red curry). The rest of the ingredients to make these 2 types of paste are pretty much the same.  

But if you don't want to be complicated in the kitchen, there are many food brands that sell the pre-made paste for both curries.  This is especially convenient for those who live in the areas where ingredients like galangal, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves are not easy to come by. Here in Dubai, it is pretty much easy to get these ingredients, some I even plant in my back yard but still I always have a tub of the ready made paste I bought from the supermarket just in case.

So, this week, it is my pleasure to share with you my favorite, easy to make and super delicious Thai red curry.  This dish is perfect with some steamed rice and you can choose to use either chicken or shrimps/prawns. You may also add some vegetables like eggplant. For this post I used chicken, baby-corn and snow peas, in order to appeal to the boys who do not fancy eggplant.

:: Ingredients ::

(serves 4)

3 chicken breasts cut into chunks
1/2 a pack of  baby corns halves
1/2 a pack of snow peas
1 can of coconut cream or 1.5 cans of coconut milk
2 pieces of kaffir lime leaves (optional)
1 stalk of lemon grass (optional)
2 tablespoons of ready made red curry paste or if you are feeling adventurous and would
like to make your own paste you can get a step by step recipe here
Fish sauce to taste
Some coconut oil or vegetable oil (canola, sunflower) but NOT olive oil

:: Method ::

Heat some vegetable oil in a pot or wok
Add in the red curry paste and stir fry until fragrant.
Add in kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring continuously.
Add the coconut milk or cream.  If you use coconut cream, add in 1/2 a can of water
Add in chicken and cook until bubbling, stirring occasionally.
Once the sauce starts boiling, add in the vegetable and season with fish sauce.
Reduce heat and cook until a glossy sheen of natural oil is produced on the surface.
Remove from heat and serve.

:: Tips ::

No salt is used in this recipe as the fish sauce has already given the dish the salty taste. 

Add fish sauce gradually and keep tasting.

If the sauce is a bit too spicy for you, add some sugar and balance out with more fish sauce.

It is important to keep stirring to avoid the coconut milk from separating or curdling.

Foodie Weekend - Caramelized Onion with Truffle Oil and Mozzarella Puff

Over the years my boys have developed some good relationship with the kitchen especially AB.  He would be happy to come down in the kitchen and help me stirring or chopping something while chatting away or listening to some Al-Green. One of his favorite thing to do of which he got pretty good at is caramelizing the onion. Well, I have to say it takes a lot of patience and practice to do this easy yet tedious job and my son has mastered it.  

That takes us to this simple yet yummy recipe of this week, Caramelized Onion with Truffle Oil and Mozzarella Puff.  These puffs are easy to like as they are light, very tasty, so easy and fast to make that my son could do them on his own. This recipe is perfect for last minute dish or for mom/daughter/son bonding project in the kitchen :) They make great party food too!

Ingredients 

(makes about 15-20 puffs)

4-5 large onions, peeled and roughly sliced

A pack of 24 pieces of ready made pastry skin

1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar

1/2 to 1 teaspoon of truffle oil 

Some salt, brown sugar and pepper

A small bag of shredded mozzarella cheese
Some extra virgin olive oil

1 egg

Method

Caramelizing the onion

Heat some extra virgin olive oil in a pan on medium heat. 

Add onions and cook, stirring continuously until the onions are soft and translucent. 

Slightly reduce the heat,cook until the onions are well browned. 

Add a sprinkle of sugar (if desire) salt and pepper

Add balsamic vinegar and cook until onions are completely caramelized. 

Finally dribble in the truffle oil before removing pan from heat.

Set aside.

Once the onion is slightly cooled, spoon some onto a piece of pastry sheet

Be sure not to put too much or too little

Sprinkle shredded mozzarella generously

Using some water or lightly beaten eggs (in my case) seal the edges together

Using a fork, clamp the edges as seen in pic above

Arrange the puffs in a baking paper lined tray.

Brush some lightly beaten egg over 

Using the fork, make some tiny holes on top of the puffs 

(to release the pressure during baking) 

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for about 25 - 30 minutes or until turn golden

If you are feeling adventurous and would like to try and make your own pastry sheet, get the recipe here. Left over caramelized onion make good appetizer dipping. Add some to extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar and serve with warm bread as pre-meal appetizer.

Good luck trying and have a great weekend, everybody!

Foodie Weekend - Tuna, Pine Nuts and Capers Stuffed Pasta Al-Forno

Earlier this week, I had an evening meeting with Blogger's In The City and had to prepare lunch and a quick uncomplicated dinner for Captain and the boys before leaving.  So, I cooked Kampung Fried Rice for lunch and for dinner a dish of oven pasta with tuna, pine nuts and capers. As a habit, I posted the pictures of these dishes on my personal Facebook page and I was asked by many friends and relatives alike for the recipe of the pasta dish.  I actually planned to post another recipe today but on popular demand, I share here today the simple easy recipe of Tuna, Pine Nuts and Capers Stuffed Pasta al-Forno

Pasta al-forno or translated to direct English, baked pasta has many variation. You can have it with meat, vegetable or in my case tuna.  The possibility is endless actually.  It is perfect for this situation of mine whereby I needed to prepare the dish to be eaten later, as I could assemble it earlier and it can be put in the oven whenever needed.  This way, Captain and the boys could enjoy fresh hot dinner even when Mama is away.  Now, this recipe calls for the giant conchiglie (shell pasta) or pipe rigate but if you couldn't find any of these, don't worry as there is another way to substitute for this dish.  Watch out for tips note later!

Ingredients (serves 4)

Stuffing

2 cans of tuna in water or oil (as you prefer)

500 grams of giant conchiglie or pipe rigate

1 large onion, chunk diced

5 large cloves of garlic, chopped

1-2 fresh red chilies, chooped (optional)

1/2 cup of spring onion, roughly chopped

2 tbsp of pine nuts

1 tbsp of capers

1 cup of canned chopped tomatoes

Salt, Pepper

Sauce

1 1/2 can of chopped tomatoes

1 clove garlic

Extra Vigin Olive Oil

Salt, Pepper, Sugar

1 tsp of dry oregano 

1/4 cups of chopped parsley

Topping

1 cup of shredded cheddar or emmental cheese 

Generous amount of shredded mozzarella cheese

Some parmesan cheese for sprinkling

Method

Sauce

Heat some extra virgin olive oil in a pan

Add in crushed garlic, be careful not to burn it

Add in chopped tomatoes, oregano, salt, pepper and a bit of sugar

Stir until boiling

Add in chopped parsley

Set aside

Pasta

Boiled pasta in a salted hot boiling water.  Now, beware of the cooking time. The pasta should be cooked 3 minutes less than the normal cooking time written on the bag.

Drain water and sprinkle some oil over. Roughly toss around.

Stuffing

In another pan, heat extra virgin olive oil

Add in chopped onion, chilies and garlic, cook until fragrance.

Add in pine nuts and cook until onion soften

Add in drained tuna and chopped tomatoes, mix well.

Then add capers, spring onion, pepper, salt

Set aside to cool.

Assembling

Using a little butter, grease the bottom and sides of  a large casserole 

Stuffed the pasta with the stuffing one by one and arrange them side by side.

Once the whole casserole is filled, sprinkle the emmental or cheddar cheese over. 

Next, pour the sauce over and generously sprinkle shredded mozzarella on top.

Finally sprinkle some parmesan and ready to go in the oven whenever needed.

Baking

Bake the pasta covered, in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 30-40 minutes or 

until the cheese melted.

If you prefer the crusty top, bake the last 10 minutes uncovered.

Tips

If you are not able to find the giant pasta, use the normal ones like penne or rigatoni.  Instead of stuffing the pasta, mix the pasta with the stuffing and spread it over the casserole followed by the sauce and so on.  The result will be more like single layer lasagna instead but the taste is equally good!