Ginger Olive Curry Rice

Hello dancing lemons and bouncing cinnamon!

I just arrived from my Cambodia trip the other week. It was a tiring trip crossing the border from Ho Chi Minh to Phnom Penh. It took me and my friend 6 hours to go to the city of Phnom Penh. Then another 6 hours going o Siem Reap to witness the Angkor Wat. That's a long story to tell. I have an upcoming blog for that definitely. One thing I learned about Cambodia is: There's no such thing as Cambodian dishes. I didn't enjoy my food trip there so I was really starving for a good food since I came back to Saigon.

So last Saturday I whipped up this amazing rice dish inspired by Jamie Oliver's Turmeric Rice. I read that recipe from his Ministry of Food book. So my paellera turned out to be my default pan when I cook rice dishes. This rice is so good when you eat with my Chicken Kebab recipe or my Morrocan chicken recipe. In the meantime lemme share you guys this recent concoction I have.

Ginger Olive Curry Rice

Ingredients:

• Jasmine Rice
• Olives and the broth
• Curry Powder
• Coconut Milk
• Ginger
• Lemon
• Ground Black Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper
• Salt & Sugar
• Butter

Procedure:

Heat the pan with butter in medium temperature then add shredded ginger. Saute then add olives, squeezed lemon and olive's broth. Continue stirring for 2 minutes. Add curry powder and cayenne pepper then the coconut milk. Stir and simmer for about 3 minutes then add the rice. Fold the rice with the mixture then add salt, pepper and sugar. Topped it with the olives and serve hot.

Quick and easy to prepare sumptuous dish is always a winner!

hugs,
joanie xxx

Perfecting Fish & Chips

Chuc Mung Nam Moi Saigon!

The flowers are totally complete around Nguyen Hue in time for the Lunar New Year. The entire Vietnam is preparing for their holiday. Gift baskets, Cherry Blossom Trees, Money envelopes and a lot more for this special festival. While inside my apartment I am busy cleaning and preparing my house because I have a visitor coming tomorrow from Manila. We are off to Cambodia on Monday to celebrate Valentines. I hope it will be fun and romantic? Lol!

It's been three years since I started cooking Fish and Chips when I was still in Manila. Tonight is the night where in I was able to prove that I already mastered and perfected the right way to do my Dory Fish and the batter. Lemon or lime plus salt & pepper! Whoah but where's the chips? I didn't take a photo of it because I didn't cook it properly. Maybe because my chips are so old and over staying already in the fridge. Next time!

Tomorrow I will try to get some pictures of Nguyen Hue and how Vietnamese celebrate the Lunar New Year or popularly known as the Chinese New Year. But here, they simply call it TET...

hugs,
joanie xxxx

Aussie Day - Saigon Celebration!

This is the Kangaroo like cake I bought in a French bakeshop here in Saigon called Tous Les Jours.

The big and small bread bun for the English Onion soup I learned from my idol, Jamie Oliver. Of course the Fusilli Pesto, the sausages and pork are part of the dinner meal. I marinated the pork in Coopers stout beer and vanilla ice cream. I can say the tenderness of the porky is sooo awesome. Can't wait to do this recipe again.

Since it's an impromptu celebration, I didn't cook much. Though what I cooked is still too much for me to eat it by myself. So I invited one friend. It increased unexpectedly into four. The night was indeed a good dinner and a simple way to celebrate Ozzie Day. Yay!

'Til next time me dear mates!!!

hugs,
joanie xxx